15: Call to Arms

Without a destination in mind, Kaiba walked until his feet hurt and his anger burned itself out. His jaw throbbed the entire time; a constant reminder of his failures. His mind kept replaying Jounouchi's words and expressions like a broken record. After night fell, he found himself on a park bench, wondering how he'd lost the last several hours. He should go back to his hotel room, but he was exhausted and hollowed out.

People gave him and his bench a wide breadth. They probably thought he was some kind of delinquent given the large bruise blooming on his face. Which was exactly why he took notice when a pair of knee-high leather boots stopped directly in the line of his downcast sight. He looked up into Kujaku Mai's surprised face and groaned. She stared at him, blinking owlishly several times, before turning on her heel and briskly walking away.

She obviously recognized him, but thankfully, she didn't feel the need to talk to him. But for a brief second, he wondered what she saw on his face that made her lips purse like that. It didn't matter; Kaiba wanted to be left alone. He turned his gaze heavenward, focusing on the few stars he could make out across the dark canvas.

Sometime later, the hurried clicking of heels dislodged Kaiba from his tangled thoughts. With a "go away" on the tip of his tongue, he lifted his head at the exact same second that Kujaku pressed one hand to his aching jaw. His face stung. At first, he thought she'd slapped him. But when she drew back her hand, the cool but stinging sensation remained. Then, he finally noticed the adhesive patch sticking to his face. She deposited a box of Salonpas pain relief patches on his lap before flopping down next to him.

Kaiba tried to muster up some annoyance or anger at her intrusion, but he was tapped out after the events of the last 48 hours. If that meant he never had to feel anything again, that might not be such a raw deal. He slid over to put more distance between them. She would get bored and move on if he ignored her.

She didn't though. "He's got a mean right hook, doesn't he?"

Kaiba winced at the sound of her voice. "I never said Jounouchi did this," he croaked, harsh and gravelly.

Triumphant, she flashed him a wry grin. "You just did."

Fuck, he must be really out of it to fall for that clichéd trick. Kaiba turned his head away, refusing to look at her smug face anymore.

Unfortunately, Kujaku was as good at taking a hint as Jounouchi was. She continued in an amused tone, "It's pretty obvious. Jounouchi and you have been attached at the hip since the competition started, but now you're alone and brooding. Ergo, you two must have fought. Don't be shy, tell your big sis Mai all about it."

Kaiba finally felt a faint spark of irritation, but it was doused as quickly as it ignited. He bit his lower lip and kept his eyes fixed on the pavement.

Kujaku sighed heavily. "Come on, I can help. I've known Jounouchi since he was fifteen, so I've already seen him at his worst. God, he was such a little shit back then. I wanted to knock him around a few times at first too."

Kaiba snorted. It was impossible to visualize the image she was painting of the young Jounouchi. Then again, he'd discovered that he didn't know Jounouchi as well as he thought. He knitted his lips together and waited for her to leave.

After eyeing his bruise some more, she added, "Jounouchi wasn't always this calm and level-headed you know today."

What Kujaku didn't know was that Kaiba had pushed Jounouchi to his— their breaking point. In the end, they retaliated against one another in the ways they knew best: Kaiba with his psychology and Jounouchi with his fist.

"I never knew him to begin with," he murmured to himself, but he suspected Kujaku overheard.

She pursed her lips in disapproval. "You doubt Jounouchi. You shouldn't though."

Finally, he spat past clenched teeth. "Go away, Kujaku. You have no idea what you're talking about."

She silenced him with a hard look. "True, I don't know what your current relationship with Jounouchi is like, but I do know Jounouchi. And I can see how important you are to him. I can see how much he cares about you and helping you succeed in this tournament. So whatever you two are fighting about, he's feeling at least as heartbroken as you look right now."

"I don't..." The objection died on his lips. There was no denying what she said. Heartbroken— it was the perfect description. That was why this hurt so fucking much, because he was heads over heels for Jounouchi. It was why Kaiba kept digging for evidence to the contrary.

His heart sank with the realization, and Kujaku saw it.

Her expression softened. "Know that when Jounouchi loves, he does so wholeheartedly. Whether they're his friends, family, or lovers, he loves them completely. He's incapable of doing anything by halves."

Shit, I lo— that's what Jounouchi started to say while fighting back tears. But then Kaiba also remembered the way that Jounouchi had looked at the former Meijin before he left the room. There had been loyalty, with an edge of protectiveness, wrapped in his expression. From the start, Jounouchi had been one of Yuuki Tatsuya's men.

"And what about Meijin Kawaguchi the third? What was Jounouchi's relationship with him?"

For a second, Kujaku was startled, but sadness soon overtook her features. "The last Meijin touched many lives before his passing, including Jounouchi's. I think it'd be best if you heard the story from Jounouchi himself. It wouldn't be right for me to tell you without his permission. I guarantee you he'll tell you if you ask him. He won't lie or sugarcoat his past any more than I would."

"You can't know that," he started to argue. "He doesn't—"

She reached over and patted his knee lightly. The gentle gesture shocked him more than any punch. "I do know. Known him since he was fifteen, remember? Jounouchi may feel that he owes a debt to the third, and he's not wrong to feel that way. Jounouchi and I would both be in a very different place otherwise. But you can't let the ghost of a dead man get in your way. The two of you will work it out. For one thing, Jounouchi doesn't give up that easily."

Kaiba pulled at his hair, frustration bubbling up his throat. "It's not that simple!"

"I never said it would be. But that's because the things that are worth it are never easy," she said sagely.

-x-x-x-

Kaiba didn't have to dig very far to find his answer. Before going legitimate several years ago, Kujaku Mai had been a fighter in the underground Gunpla scene. The discovery gave him some pause.

Underground battles were organized crime's way of profiting off the Gunpla craze. Law-abiding citizens steered clear of the unregulated fight clubs where people were been known to gamble away their entire life savings, or where gangs fights often broke out between rival fighters. While the police and PPSE did what they could to crack down on the illicit fights and gambling, the criminal elements of the world were just as clever at circumventing the efforts to shut them down.

Snooping through databases he technically shouldn't have access to told him that Kujaku had been brought in for questioning by law enforcement on several occasions, but never formally charged. Underground fighters were notoriously hard to convict unless they committed some other violent crime first.

Given all the hints that Kujaku had dropped about their shared past, it wasn't surprising to find Jounouchi in those same databases. The records were four or more years old, and their sizes suggested more substantial reading inside than Kujakus'. Each of them was also sealed by court order three and a half years ago. With a few well placed calls and the weight of his father's name, Kaiba could easily have them all unsealed and Jounouchi's past laid bare before him.

Then Jounouchi couldn't lie even if he wanted to.

Kujaku's words burned themselves into him: "Jounouchi doesn't give up that easily."

He left the files untouched. Like all of Kaiba's other problems, they would still be there tomorrow.

-x-x-x-

After one look at Jounouchi's haggard face and the dark spots around his eyes, Kaiba couldn't hold onto his waning anger. Jounouchi's uniform was wrinkled, and his hair hung wild yet limp. But that wasn't to say that Kaiba's appearance compared favorably— Jounouchi's "mean right hook" left a bruise barely concealed by the cosmetics he purchased earlier, and the sunglasses served double duty in hiding his bloodshot eyes.

The fact that Jounouchi even showed up for the match seemed like a miracle. But like Kaiba himself, Jounouchi was a professional. Whatever personal problems that lay between them, they were part of a larger team effort.

Kaiba focused on the case clutched between Jounouchi's white knuckles. "Is everything ready?"

Jounouchi nodded stiffly.

Kaiba drew his body straight and headed into the arena; Jounouchi followed several steps behind him. Even without looking back at the stands, Kaiba knew that Noa remained a fixture. Instead, he chose to focus on the opponents immediately before him.

Julio and Mario Renato waited at the other end of the battle system— this time, a custom GM Sniper K9 already resting on the console. The twin brothers had climbed and clawed their way up the ranks with shrewdness and an exacting brutality that would make Gozaburo proud. They sneered simultaneously as Kaiba and Jounouchi approached.

"Oi, your support looks like he's about to collapse where he stands," Julio, the younger of the two and the fighter of the team, jeered.

Kaiba glanced back. No, Jounouchi didn't look his best. But he came of his own free will, which meant he intended to see this battle through to the best of his abilities. "We could still beat you with one hand tied behind our backs," he replied coldly.

The brothers' identical glares deepened. Mario responded, "Let's see what you say after we knock you off your high horse, Meijin-san." Though his tone contained not a hint of the respect implied by the honorific.

Jounouchi carefully avoided touching him when he handed over the Legilis. Kaiba swallowed the lump in his throat. He needed to focus on the battle ahead.

"We will now start the first match of the quarterfinals for the world tournament," the announcer stated evenly.

Kaiba set the Legilis down on the console and waited for the world to reform. Heavy rainfall soaking through the concrete urban graveyard that was their battleground. Overall visibility was poor, which could work to either his advantage or disadvantage. A map popped up on his HUD, highlighting three ruined skyscrapers in the next sector over. He waited for Jounouchi's video comm to appear next.

It didn't, but Jounouchi's quiet voice flooded the cockpit, "Their GM Sniper functions best as a long-range unit. These are three of the most likely spots they'll go for."

Kaiba agreed with the assessment. The urban environment played perfectly to the GM's strong suit. If he allowed them get set up in a sniper's nest, it would be an uphill battle.

"What ya gonna do, Kawaguchi?" Jounouchi asked.

Just Kawaguchi— not Kaiba and certainly not Seto. Kaiba's chest ached. There was one clear course of action to take. "I'll smoke them out."

The Legilis took to the air, unleashing its full fury on his targets' foundations. The three buildings were probably already structurally compromised. His beam attacks brought all three crumbling to the ground in seconds without needing to resort to max output. Plumes of dust rose up, providing ideal cover to ambush Kaiba's Legilis. In fact, he was counting on it.

An energy beam shot toward him from the east, but ultimately blocked by a shield of energy bits that Kaiba generated. His main camera zoomed in on the GM Sniper fleeing from the ruins of one of the collapsed skyscraper.

Kaiba fell into hot pursuit. They chased each other through several city blocks, exchanging fire that hit the environment more often than each other. Wait, didn't the GM start the fight with a backpack?

Then the Legilis' left foot snagged on something.

"It's a tripwire!" Jounouchi exclaimed.

The block behind them went up in flames, and only the Legilis' speed and bits saved it from meeting the same fate as the demolished street. Kaiba cursed. When did the Renato brothers have time to set a trap like that? As they cleared the smoke from the explosion, the GM Sniper came into view. Kaiba swerved to avoid the weapon fire sailing straight toward him.

"Tch," he sneered and aimed his beam rifle at the GM standing in the open.

Suddenly, more shots rained from above— one of which made a direct hit on the Legilis' rifle. Kaiba dropped the weapon before it could explode and take the Legilis' arm with it.

"Where the hell did that come from?" Kaiba demanded as he retreated their Gunpla behind a dilapidated storefront.

Jounouchi patched another camera feed through to Kaiba's HUD. It showed a self-propelled artillery unit moving into position on another roof opposite Kaiba. So that's where the GM's backpack went.

"You need to move," Jounouchi urged before the artillery fired another round in their direction.

Kaiba maneuvered the Legilis around to the other side of the building, drawing fire from the GM this time. A blast chipped at the anti-beam coating on the Legilis' shield binder, but another direct hit or two would entirely compromise the protective coating's integrity. The tides was turning on them. Kaiba was down one weapon and up a second enemy unit. He needed to take down the artillery first. But where did it go?

Thankfully, Jounouchi pulled up another map with an indicator. "Double back two blocks and go around the next corner on your left, you can ditch the GM and cut off the artillery. I think it's setting another trap."

With a burst of speed, the Legilis glided around the corner that Jounouchi had pointed out. The artillery's barrel swung 360 degrees to fire on the Legilis. Kaiba fired his beam vulcans first, shooting off each of the unit's legs and knocking it off-balance. Then he finished it off by slicing it open with his beam saber.

"You did it," Jounouchi muttered excitedly.

Kaiba allowed himself the luxury of a small smile.

The GM reappeared at the end of the block, flanking the Legilis from behind. It fired on Kaiba with its sniper rifle, and he barely called up another wave of bits to shield the Legilis in time. The bits exploded like fireworks when they came in contact with the beam's particles. The next rifle shot cut across the row of windows above the Legilis, bringing a wall of debris down on his head. Kaiba pushed the engines to full throttle, hurtling his machine out of the path of the falling concrete and towards the GM.

Panels on the Legilis' shoulders slid open to reveal a diffusion beam cannon on each side. Kaiba fired both cannons down the length of the street. Julio cursed up a storm when one attack took out the GM's main sniper weapon, but the GM itself moved quickly enough to avoid the twin beams. With that, Kaiba should have shut down its long-ranged capabilities and turned the battle back in his favor. Close combat was Kaiba's forte.

He swung both beam sabers at the GM when it evaded the attack with a burst of speed. The GM swung behind the Legilis and threw a rattling punch that dented the Legilis' frame.

"What the fuck? Its speed just jumped. Does it have a Trans-Am system?" Jounouchi asked.

The GM's head camera had turned from green to red.

"No," Kaiba replied. "It's the EXAM system."

Mario Renato's voice crackled over the voice comms. "Save your trump card till the end- it's basic tactics."

The GM ran circles around the Legilis, poking holes with its beam sabers. Kaiba struggled to match its speed. He managed to deflect two blows from the saber with his shield before a final swipe cut the shield in two. The two halves fell away and exploded with a boom. Shit, there went his ability to generate new bits. But the shield's destruction gave him the opportunity to feint left and he chopped off the GM's left hand, sending it and one of the beam sabers flying.

Their blades clashed in a shower of sparks and crackling energy.

"You don't deserve the title of Meijin," Julio taunted over the voice comms; his cruel laughter ringing in Kaiba's ears.

Gozaburo had a very similar laugh...

Jounouchi fired back before Kaiba could. "Shut up, you don't know what you're talking about. We're going to hand you your asses on a silver platter," he muttered fervently.

"We'll prove it to the world through this war of ours, a real battle that peace-spoiled boys like you can't handle."

Kaiba's blood boiled. He wasn't going to let this nobody mock him. How dare the Renato brothers look down on him? If they wanted war, then he would give them war. He activated the Legilis' Trans-Am system. Plavsky particles saturated the Legilis' frame, imbuing it with a pinkish-red glow.

The GM turned tail and ran. Kaiba automatically gave chase. The GM had a head start, and it was fast on the EXAM system. But the Legilis' Trans-Am was faster and Kaiba caught up to the fleeing machine in seconds. As he barreled down it and aimed for the killing blow, the GM suddenly pivoted to face the Legilis.

"Gotcha," Julio mocked him.

Too late, Kaiba spotted the three metal devices set into the nearby wall and pavement. The air sizzled, a pulse of something rippled through the air, and finally the Legilis shut down. Kaiba jerked the control orbs, but the machine refused to respond. The walls of his cockpit shifted to red. No power was getting through to any of the limbs or joints. "What happened? Jounouchi!"

Jounouchi's voice was frantic when he reported, "Nothing's responding. Something shut us down, just like an EMP."

"Get us back online, Jounouchi!"

The GM loomed over the disabled Legilis. With a brutal kick, it sent the Legilis sprawling on its back.

Mario gloated. "They're bombs that create an reverse GN Field. I made them especially for you— to show you the folly of relying on a machine with only beam capabilities."

The GM slowly thrust its beam saber through the Legilis' chest plate.

Kaiba couldn't breathe. It felt like someone was stabbing him through his lungs. He was helpless, once again snared in another war-crazed maniac's trap. He couldn't lose like this! But that was the reality before him.

"Dammit, Kaiba, move your ass," Jounouchi snapped, fatigue coloring his voice more heavily than before.

The cockpit lights returned to blue, and the Legilis' fingers twitched. The GM continued to torture the prone Gunpla beneath it.

"It's no use. We have nothing left to attack with," Kaiba muttered. The Legilis' PP storage was empty, drained by the reverse GN field. Even worse, the Legilis had been in Trans-Am when the particles drained, meaning they would be operating at reduced capacity even if the machine came back online. EXAM system or not, the GM was going to slaughter them.

Jounouchi's face suddenly appeared front and center on the HUD. Kaiba risked a glance at the video feed, and his heart fluttered like a hummingbird at the sight. Jounouchi leaned in, exhausted and bearing his weight against the holographic console. But his eyes and expression were dauntless and unrelenting. "We can still do this, Seto. Use weapon slot seven."

The use of his given name jolted Kaiba out of his shock. "We don't have—"

"We do. Just trust me!"

Kaiba scrolled through the weapons menu. The console displayed a new armament— one final ray of hope. He selected it. A thin GN blade deployed from inside the Legilis' left arm into its hand. Kaiba turned the Legilis' wrist and slashed up at the GM's arm and beam saber pinning him to the ground. Now missing its right arm, the GM drew back, stumbling in surprise. The Legilis' joints creaked as it climbed back onto its feet.

"No, we can't lose like this!" Julio howled.

The GM tried to punch with its left arm sans hand. Kaiba paid it no mind as the blow landed. It was the GM's death throes. Kaiba roared, moving automatically through kendo stances to hack at the GM. The GN blade cut through the other machine's frame like it was butter.

"Battle ended," the system declared as the Legilis decapitated the GM. The audience cheered and applauded.

Every trembling exhale shook Kaiba's body. He won. His mind was racing, still processing the turn of events. He went to Jounouchi and asked, "How? The Legilis didn't have a sword yesterday."

They stood as close as humanly possible without actually touching, but close enough for Kaiba to feel Jounouchi's body heat radiating off in waves.

"That's because I added it last night." Jounouchi almost smiled, which was more than Kaiba had any right to expect— even if the expression was broken and pained.

More needed to be said between them, but this was a start. "I— Thank you, Jounouchi."

Jounouchi must have worked through the night— the night after they fought and after Kaiba accused him of terrible things out of anger and spite. Kujaku was right; Jounouchi didn't give up easily.

From the stands, a familiar splash of green caught his attention. It was Noa standing to exit the stadium. He glared at his older brother, who bowed his head in acknowledgment from a distance.

Then again, Kaiba wasn't the sort of man to give up either.