MythCreatorWriter: Hahaha, I actually got a lot of reviews saying that a writer only fails when they've given up on their stories. So I do suppose I feel a little more accomplished. You have no idea how annoyingly hard it was to write this duel. No clue whatsoever. I'd ramble off about it, but I already did enough of that in the author's note, so I'd rather not waste your time. Yeah, sorry about that confusing part. It's so hard to keep track of everything in a story, I found myself writing about monsters that were already destroyed and having to re-write entire scenes as a result. It sucks! Gnar, I hate that Serenity duel… her failure knowledge makes me want to kill someone. I had to reference that duel a lot because of Nesbitt and, oh man, it really made me hate Serenity. Anyhow, thanks for the review!

Kukki Boo: Hahaha, Vampire Roland… I didn't even know what you were talking about, but it made me laugh all the same. Yeah, writing duels SUCK! (if you read my author's note at the end, you'll understand. I never want to do it again unless it's a duel that's already happened and I'm simply summarizing it) I'm pretty sure I'm the same ol' me, still writing stories, still obsessed with YGO. I think the only thing different is I've got a boyfriend now and somewhat of a social life too, which surprisingly hasn't cut in with my writing time (or has it?o.o maybe it has and I didn't know) Oh yeah, and I'm going to be 18 in a month. Back when I was 14, I told myself it was okay that I wrote fanfiction, but when I was older/when I turned 18, I would have to stop and most likely get a life. Now that I'm close to it… yeah, there's no way in hell I'm stopping. When life hands you lemons, SUMMON THE BLUE-EYES WHITE DRAGON TO DESTROY IT! Hahaha, that was random, but thanks so much for your review! Enjoy!

AmePiper: Dude, I hate WRITING duels. Reading and writing duels are the most painful things in the world, not to mention watching them. I have no idea how I put up with it half the time when I would watch it. Course you enjoyed it more! I took the duel and did what every fan of the show wishes Takahashi did; focus more on the social/emotional aspect of it! This is why I super loved your review to no end since you really made me feel like I did what I wanted to do and presented it well. So I'm proud of myself. And if babe's proud, everybody's proud!:D Lol, thanks for the review! Enjoy the chapter!

Rena Redhead: Honey! You've been such a good reviewer today! It makes me feel like a poopy doo doo brain face. I love you! But onward to your sexy review… yeah, I feel pretty bad for you since I keep updating and you have to keep reviewing as a result. Oh, you know why I think its so uber hard for me to review your stories in a timely manner? I think it's because Custody is so epically awesome and the chapters are pretty long, so it takes me a super long time to be able to review and really grasp every aspect I liked of your story. So yeah… maybe now you'll forgive me… lol. Randomness. I'm glad I really got the message across and you were able to understand. I did have to think about that some since a lot of the cards I used were cards I had in my own deck and I was sure not everyone would know what they meant or how they worked. But anyhow, I better let you go and move on with the story now. Thanks again for your great review and enjoy the chapter!

Chapter 8: Cruel and Unusual Card Games

-M-

I felt like everyone was watching me. I wasn't doing well in this duel, and I felt like there were a thousand people watching me fail. In reality, there were only two other people present; Nesbitt and my brother. Thinking of this, I wondered how Yugi or Joey was ever able to do this. They were always with their friends so when they dueled, there was always a crowd.

And what if they were sucking, what if it just wasn't their day? How were they able to continue knowing everyone was watching them? I could really only think of Joey when this came to mind, since Joey usually never had a duel go his way. I immediately felt bad about referring to Joey as a bad duelist, but I couldn't feel bad for long.

"Are you going to take your turn, or what? I'm about ready to skip you," Nesbitt said, annoyed.

"Shut up Nesbitt; let the boy go at his own pace." I sighed with relief. Seto always had my back, and thank god. I was going to need something to encourage me. It was almost like Seto had read my mind because the next thing he said was, "Come on Mokuba, you can do it. I believe in you." I just hoped I wouldn't let him down.

I drew my next card, and had a stroke of genius, thinking I could use it to my advantage.

"First, I'll activate the card I set last turn, which was Pot of Greed," I said, clicking the button and then drawing two cards. Nesbitt looked bored and rolled his eyes.

"That took you long enough." I ignored his comment and continued.

"Then I'll set two more cards facedown and summon Lady of Faith onto the field in defense mode." I glanced over at Seto for reassurance and then looked back down at my hand. He looked neither pleased nor disappointed; he was too busy planning his next move, most likely. I sighed. "I'll end my turn." Seto nodded and turned back to Nesbitt.

"Alright Nesbitt, it's my turn now!" Seto drew a card. I began to drift into the deep corners of my own mind, pondering my next moves, and anticipating my fate. But maybe, just maybe, I'd be able to beat this guy. Or at least hold my own. I wanted to smack my face for being so stupid. I really wished I had paid more attention to Seto's duels; then maybe I would have a better idea of what combos to use and what cards to choose.

"And I'll end my turn." I came back to reality just as I realized something had happened in the duel. I looked down at the field and saw that Seto had summoned Gemini Elf to the field in attack mode.

"Seto, don't you remember? Because of the effect of Clockwork Night, your once powerful Gemini Elf's attack points go all the way down to 1400, making it weaker than my Giga Tech Wolf," Nesbitt shrugged, and drew his card for his turn, "But oh well, I suppose you'll have to learn the hard way." Nesbitt held up his next card in the air.

"Now I shall-!"

"Not so fast," Seto said, clicking one of his set cards and activating them, "I activate Shadow Spell on your Giga Tech Wolf. This stops it from attacking, changing position, and lowers its attack power by 700 points." Nesbitt didn't look the least bit afraid, in fact, he actually looked quite calm.

"I'll activate Trap Jammer in response to that." Seto's trap card was destroyed and off the field before it could even be used. "Now, may I continue my turn?" There was nothing else Seto could do, he had to let Nesbitt continue.

"…Fine," Seto said reluctantly.

"Good, and for my next move, I will also activate Tribute to the Doomed! By discarding one card from my hand, I'm allowed to destroy one face-up monster on the field." Nesbitt pointed towards Seto's only line of defense, his Gemini Elf.

Seto's monster was destroyed in an instant, and suddenly the world seemed a little darker. I looked down at my pathetic Lady of Faith and wondered what on earth I was thinking when I summoned that. I couldn't even come up with a good monster to defend my brother.

"Did you think I had forgotten about you, Young Kaiba?" Nesbitt asked, forcing me to look up. I didn't like the look on his face; he already had another plan of action to hurt us. "I'll activate Ookazi, which inflicts 800 points of direct damage to Mokuba's life points!"

My eyes widened as a bunch of meteors suddenly appeared right over Nesbitt's head and suddenly started firing towards me. I held my arms up over my head and shut my eyes, preparing myself for impact. But nothing could stop the realistic feeling of the burning rocks colliding into my body. The force was so strong, I was sent off my feet and onto the ground.

My shoulder was the first to hit the ground, before rolling me in all sorts of direction until I finally skidded to a stop. My body was aching with pain, and I really didn't want to get up. I lay there for a moment, curled up in pain, and with my eyes squeezed shut. Those meteors… rocks… whatever they were… they felt so real. The burning sensation I had suffered still remained on the top layer of my skin. I felt like I was on fire, but I remained still.

"Mokuba?" I think I heard Seto say. I couldn't be sure though. But whoever had said it; helped me to come back to reality. I realized we were still in a duel; that our lives were still at stake, and no matter what, I had to keep fighting. I finally opened my eyes and made my attempts to get up.

"Aw, isn't that cute? The boy hasn't given up hope," I heard Nesbitt sneer. Gosh, I hate that guy so much in that moment. But I continued to push off the ground and get back on my feet. My attention first went right back to Seto, to see how he was looking at me. He looked worried, but worst of all… he looked, astonished. I didn't know what he was thinking and at that point, I didn't want to know.

"Mokuba…" I heard my brother say once more in a quiet voice so that I was the only one that could hear it just as I had walked back to where I originally stood. I turned his way once more, and his face looked more worried than ever. "Are you alright?" Seto began walking towards me, just before Nesbitt stopped him.

"Hey! Stay right where you are, Seto! We're dueling here."

"My brother's hurt! Let me just make sure-"

"Negative. I cannot allow you to assist him in anyway. Any action made to assist him will result in an automatic surrender on your part. So I would stay put if I were you." Seto growled and looked back at me. All I could think to myself was that I was failing him. I was failing him, and as a result, we would both lose the duel. "I believe it's still my turn," Nesbitt stated, letting us all know there was more to come.

I wasn't sure at that point how much more I could really handle.

-S-

I think that was the first time I had realized we were in trouble. I'm somewhat of a control freak, therefore I always have this obscure idea that I am in control of most situations I'm in. I know it's bad, but it helps keep me from self doubt half the time. I'm a fighter, and an orphan, if I don't believe in myself, no one else will. But when I saw Mokuba's face, when I really looked him in the eye, it finally clicked in my head that Mokuba didn't know what he was doing.

Or rather, he did… but he just didn't know the moves or combos needed to survive. I had assumed Mokuba had seen me duel so much that it would be natural to just play the game and do it well. But… that was my mistake, and it was a stupid mistake. Because if there's one thing I know about Mokuba, it's that he's not like me and I should never assume he is.

"Alright, now if we've all recovered from my magic card, I'd like to carry on with my turn." I snapped out of my own thoughts and turned back towards the playing field. I was mentally angry with myself for getting so easily distracted. If my focus is ruined, then the game would surely be lost. In a duel, I have to give it everything and all my attention or I will surely fail.

"I'll attack Seto's life points directly with my Giga Tech Wolf!" Nesbitt's monster came charging over to my side of the field and leaped in the air. Opening its jaw before hand, it clamped down on my shoulder and bit me hard. I winced as I began to feel my life points drain away. I took a step back and held my shoulder for a bit. Nesbitt smiled, "You just lost 1700 life points."

I was down to 1500 life points now; that wasn't good. Nesbitt hadn't lost any, and already Mokuba and I had started to go into the danger zone. Mokuba only had 1000 life points left to hold onto, and I wasn't sure how long those would last. But that was when I realized the bright side of the situation, and began to laugh.

Nesbitt eyed me as I was laughing. "And what's so funny? Do you enjoy having so little life points to count on?" I stopped laughing and smirked.

"No, but I do enjoy you having barely anything left in your hand. You don't have enough cards in your hand to activate your deck master's special ability, so our life points are safe for the most part." I hate the feeling where one thinks they have one advantage, only to have that feeling taken right away afterwards. Nesbitt was going to prove us wrong, I could tell.

"I'll activate the card I set on my last turn; Card of Sanctity, which requires each player to draw from their decks until we each have six cards in our hand." At this point, I was massively annoyed. I drew my cards angrily and regretfully, watching Nesbitt's face light up with joy. I knew what his next move would be, and I wasn't going to like it. "Now, I'll discard three cards from my hand to inflict 500 points of direct damage to each of you."

Once again, another glowing beam of light shot out from Robotic Knight and hit us straight on. I cringed when the beam of light impaled my stomach, but kept my balance and stood up. I remembered Mokuba and looked to my side. The boy was bent over now, his hands on his knees. He looked like he had just run a marathon and was gasping for air, but I knew that wasn't the case, because his face was pale and his body weak.

His life points were down to a mere 500… which meant he would only really have one move to be able to try and protect himself. But Mokuba looked so weak, I wasn't sure he'd be able to survive just one more turn with all this pressure. Mokuba had never dueled before, and especially not with holograms like these. All of the newness was finally starting to get to him.

"Lastly, I shall move my deck master, Robotic Knight, onto the field and attack Mokuba's poor excuse for a defense monster and wipe it off the field." Mokuba was still motionless, even when his monster was attacked and destroyed. Nesbitt seemed to be getting very much joy from this situation, and I hated him for it. My brother couldn't handle this any longer, he needed my help. "Your life points maybe safe now, but once I get my turn, you're finished. For now, it's your turn, Mokuba."

As Mokuba was taking his draw phase, I was contemplating how on earth we were going to get out of this one. I glanced at my hand for a moment. I had some good moves I could make, but I had a feeling it wouldn't be enough to save Mokuba's life points. I looked over at my deck master, Vampire Lord, and felt as though it would all have to come down to me sacrificing my own monster to defend Mokuba.

He was my younger brother, after all, and I was willing to throw away any duel to try and save him, even if that meant losing my body in the process. I couldn't let anyone hurt him.

Mokuba barely looked like he could stand on his own two feet, but yet he looked like he was ready to continue on with his turn. I couldn't stand it any longer; I had to do something quick. I opened my mouth to declare moving my deck master onto the field, when Mokuba started saying something else.

"I... shall now… remove my Lady of Faith and the Kuriboh that was destroyed last turn in order to special summon the Chaos Emperor Dragon – Envoy of the End." My eyes widened with surprise and absolute shock as the almighty Chaos Emperor Dragon appeared onto the field. I got frightened when I remember Nesbitt might have a trap card or two to use against it, but saw that Nesbitt had nothing left to defend himself. Even with Clockwork Night's effect that lowered Chaos Emperor Dragon's attack points to 2500, it wasn't enough to save Nesbitt from the fate he brought upon himself.

"No… that's… how on earth…?" Mokuba took another step forward, his body was weak, but his eyes burned with the fire of a true warrior; of a true Kaiba. Mokuba stood up right, his arm with the duel disk attached was no longer held up in front of his face, but hung casually by his side as his other arm did. He looked completely relaxed and in control… because he knew he had won.

"Now… Chaos Emperor Dragon, attack Nesbitt's Robotic Knight!" Nesbitt cried out in fear just before the giant green dragon swooped down and attacked the Robotic Knight. The Robotic Knight was destroyed, burst into little holographic pieces, destroying Nesbitt completely since Robot Knight had been his deck master. Nesbitt had lost… Mokuba had defeated him.

The cards I had set as well as Nesbitt's Machine King had disappeared from the field. The duel disk had vanished from my arm as well, and the duel was over. Just like that, everything went back to normal again, as if nothing had even happened in the first place. I couldn't believe my eyes. My brother had defeated Nesbitt all by himself. In fact, he hadn't just defeated him, he had THRASHED him. I… was ashamed, to have ever thought Mokuba hadn't known what he was doing, ashamed that he had a plan the whole time.

I hadn't been so proud of the boy in my entire life. I was about to call over and congratulate him, when I noticed him started to fall forward. I jumped into action and ran over him, stretching out my arm. I caught him just before he could hit the ground and held him in my arm instead. I kneeled down and held him up, smiling proudly down at my little warrior.

"You did well, Mokuba. You did well." Mokuba opened one eye and smiled up at me; he was exhausted. His body must've been put through so much stress; the boy could barely open one eye. He lifted up his hand and changed it to a thumb up without saying anything. Then his arm went limp and he closed his eyes. He would be okay, he just needed some rest.

In most ways, my brother and I were different. But when it came down to the bitter end, Mokuba would the strength and skill to come out on top. A skill both he and I had gained and achieved after our parents had died and when we had survived whatever the cruel world had thrown at us from then on.

A/N: OH MY GOSH. I FINISHED IT. Okay, so here's a little story for all of you wonderful readers. I started this chapter today, or, to be more precise, this morning. It's not been about 4 hours of literally working on this story and nothing else. I've never felt like I've lost my mind but so utterly happy at the same time like this before in my life. It's the strangest feeling. But yeah… I think there's one incorrect duel monster or trap card thingy, but I had to write, and re-write and paste so much stuff that… well… I think you guys can deal (I would seriously forget what I had written sometimes or what monsters were destroyed and have to re-write entire scenes because of it) But yeah, lots of effort in this chapter, but so glad this duel is over. I think I've rambled enough for now, thanks for reading!