Chapter Three
The Dark Magician, that Kaiba had erroneously assumed was his VR simulation of Dark Magician, stopped wagging his finger, and winked at him instead. A subtle, graceful, but somehow dismissive gesture on Dark Magician's part slammed Kaiba's consciousness out of the parrot, and back into his own body, again. While fuming at the abrupt treatment under his breath, Kaiba checked the console in front of him. Only two minutes of real time had passed, and nothing the equipment recognized as out the ordinary had happened that would cause the VR simulator to trip an alarm. On the seventeen screens in front of him, Kaiba watched as Duel Monsters, that he didn't program to act this way, reached for hands, swung children up to massive shoulders, or backs, or in some other way gathered his VR Explorers and brought them back to the now-haunted house for the last part of their VR adventure.
He quickly set to work as some of the monsters were far too massive in form to enter what appeared to be a normal house. He supposed he could have simply increased the scale of the house to accommodate them, but what was the challenge in that? And the children did like the company of the Duel Monsters so. Kaiba didn't want to admit to himself that the fondness of the Duel Monsters for the children played a role in his abrupt decision that the Duel Monsters could join the children for the last part of the VR adventure – the haunted house.
Only seven of the monsters had to be altered, after all, and only two couldn't be simply diminished in size to fit. One of the children liked Thousand Dragon, and Mokuba had the Blue-Eyes White Dragon. After reducing the five easy ones into miniature versions of themselves – small enough to fit in the house, a sparkle effect spilled over the two dragons. The children watched entranced as Thousand Dragon and the Blue-Eyes White Dragon changed into impressive warriors wearing Thousand Dragon and Blue-Eyes White Dragon armor instead. The children turned as one to look up at Dark Magician with highly impressed, shiny eyes.
He held up his hands and shook his head. "I had nothing to do with that! I suspect someone is very kindly watching over us. Be sure to thank Mr. Kaiba for this wonderful adventure when you can, children."
The haunted house, which Kaiba had been worried would be anti-climactic after Dark Magician had hijacked the children into the Shadow Realm, proved to be the biggest hit of the night, instead. Safe and secure in the protective company of their favorite monsters, Kaiba found he was able to adjust the fright level of his haunted house up – without terrifying the children. He smirked in triumph when Jeremy turned and reassured Dark Magician that the effect that had startled the Duel Monster was just 'a VR thing'.
It was with a regretful reluctance that he acknowledged the chiming that indicated the two hour event was over. He knew that by now, Roland and his team would have delivered the Halloween goodie-bags that had been prepared for each of the children. They'd done the walking, as it were, to earn the treats, it seemed wrong that they would have nothing to show for it. That some of the treats in each bag were more for the parents struggling to make ends meet in the face of children with special, and expensive, needs, was not something the children ever needed to know.
Kaiba adjusted the communication interface so that his voice would carry to the children (and Duel Monsters) within the simulator, and their parents or caretakers in each child's room, as well as directly into each child's physical ear via the VR helmet.
"Thank you for taking part in Kaiba Corporation's first VR Halloween Event. We hope that you enjoyed the festivities." Kaiba reflected that this had been quite a bit more fun for him than handing out candy at the front door. Helping these children enjoy the holiday that some of them couldn't take part in at all had been far more satisfying than he'd thought it would be. "For now, please say your good-byes and know that all of you are welcome to join us for Halloween again, next year."
A new screen popped up on Kaiba's console. "All of us?" Dark Magician asked, for Kaiba's ears only, smirking up at him.
"Hmm. We will discuss that, later." Kaiba hissed for only the Duel Monster to hear, and took satisfaction savagely closing the screen. He watched carefully as each child said their good-byes to each other, a completely unintended effect that he quickly sent a follow-up email to the psychologist about, and their favorite Duel Monster. Each Duel Monster, after that good-bye, made things easier by leaving through the front door of the house. That was when Kaiba permitted the VR simulator to release that child's mind and depolarize that child's helmet, the pre-arranged signal to parents and caretakers that the VR session was over.
Dark Magician re-entered the VR house once Jeremy had been returned home. He waited quietly as the rest of the children were returned and Mokuba was the only child left. Kaiba watched as Mokuba listened at length and finally nodded to something Dark Magician said to him. The canny Duel Monster kept his voice low enough that the microphone couldn't pick up any distinct words. He sighed, wondering what that was about. Mokuba nodded up toward the ceiling after that, the signal that he was ready to return. It didn't escape Kaiba's notice that both his Blue-Eyes White Dragon Warrior, and Dark Magician merited a hug from his little brother.
"Seto! You made everyone so happy!" Mokuba called out. Kaiba grunted, waiting in his chair, as his little brother extricated himself from the VR pod. He couldn't help the grin that spread across his face when Mokuba plastered himself against his side in a hug. "That trip to the Shadow Realm to meet the real monsters was so awesome! How did you program that without me knowing?" Mokuba stepped away, put his hands on his hips and glared at Kaiba. He was far too excited and happy to stay upset for long, though, and dashed in to hug his big brother again. "I don't care! It was so cool! And thanks for changing Blue-Eyes into that the awesome Dragon Warrior, Seto, so he could stay with me in the haunted house! Did you know he has your face?" Seto started at that. He hadn't programmed that. He leaned forward and called up the programming specs. Sure enough, the algorithm for rendering the Warrior's face had been changed to resemble his. He was sure a certain Dark Magic user, who really had no right to be skilled at programming, too, from inside the program no less, was the culprit.
"Dark Magician wants to meet with you, Seto. I still can't understand how you managed to connect your VR simulation with the real Shadow Realm, though."
Kaiba didn't want his brother to have any false information. "I didn't. I think it's something that – Magician – did."
"He said you would say that, Seto. He also said that was wrong – it's something you did. He said if you want to know what, you'd have to meet him in the VR simulator. He's got to be the real Dark Magician, Seto. There's no way you'd make a VR version that was so..."
"Annoying?"
Mokuba smiled. "Well, yeah. To you. I was going to say disrespectful, though. To you, that is. He's very nice to me." Mokuba slammed his hands over his mouth in shock at what he said.
Kaiba laughed and reached out to tousle Mokuba's hair fondly. "I'm glad he's nice to you, Mokuba. Otherwise I'd have to hurt him – but you wouldn't like that, would you?"
"No, I would not!" Mokuba glared up at Kaiba, before becoming bossy. "Okay, Big Brother, get in the pod."
"What? Now? Mokuba, that program has been compromised! Until I have a chance to debug it..."
"Everything turned out okay, didn't it? The Shadow Realm connection is something you caused, so it can't harm you. Besides, I insist." Mokuba planted his fists on his hips again, and glared.
"You've programmed something you want me to see, haven't you?" Kaiba realized. "Is it a trick, or a treat?"
Mokuba grinned at him. "I'm not telling!" By that, Kaiba knew it was a trick. Knowing his brother, probably followed by a treat, too. Shaking his head at the folly of it all, Kaiba permitted his brother to hound him into the VR pod, lower the helmet onto his head, and demand for him to wait while Mokuba clambered up into the console chair. It was while he was waiting that his apprehension hit him full force. The last time he had done this, the Big Five had trapped his mind in the VR game. He nearly tore the helmet from his head at the distasteful memory, but knotted his hands together instead.
It wasn't the Big Five sending his mind into the VR simulator this time. It was his brother. He trusted Mokuba. And, Kaiba reluctantly reminded himself, Dark Magician, of all "people" wanted to meet him. There might be no love lost between them, but Kaiba was sure Dark Magician wouldn't let anything happen to Kaiba's mind, even if the simulator, or its program, did have a serious flaw in it. If, for no other reason, than to smirk at him about it.
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Author's note –
Next chapter teaser – Mokiezilla!