Chapter 37

Just the thought of having to deal with Duke thinking he was Mokuba, thinking Tristan was him was enough to give Kaiba a serious headache. It was bad enough he had to put up with Mokuba thinking he was Duke thinking Yugi was Catilin, this was just about the last thing he needed. Still, there was something rewarding about the thought that they'd managed to beat the second challenge before their competitors.

'Err, Mokuba,' Mai gave a nervous cough, breaking the slightly tense silence, 'I know that looks like your brother, but apparently its not.'

'What do you…?' As Duke turned his gaze towards her, his jaw dropped open. 'Joey, you're pregnant. How…?'

'He's not,' Kaiba rolled his eyes, 'you lot just think he is. Or, more to the point, you just think she's him.'

'What's that supposed to mean Tristan?' He frowned.

'It means that I'm not Tristan.'

'If you're not Tristan does that mean you're Win?' Duke took half a step back.

'No, it would mean that he is your brother,' Mai folded her arms.

'Wait, are you saying he's Seto?' Duke half shook his head in confusion. 'Then...?'

'The easiest way of looking at this is that Tristan and your brother did some kind of body swap,' she shrugged.

'We weren't the ones to swap bodies Wheeler,' Kaiba shot him a look. 'Nobody has swapped bodies, you've just had your perception and memories altered.'

'Altered how?' Duke stared at him.

'Well for a start you're not really my brother,' he knew he probably sounded slightly cold, but there really wasn't any gentle way of putting it.

'What...?' His face took on a hurt expression. 'But...?'

'If what he's saying is right then you're really me,' Mokuba stepped forward and held up the Squire of Knights card. 'Check your pockets for one of these, I bet you anything it'll be mine.'

Duke did as he was told and eventually pulled the Jack of Dice out of his back pocket.

'I don't understand,' he stared down at the card in confusion, 'are you saying we've switched lives or something?'

'It all depends on what you want to believe,' Mai pulled a face. 'Personally I prefer to believe Kaiba found a way of switching with Tristan, since prior to all this he was the blank slate for a change.'

'What? I don't understand.'

'Right now I think it's easier if you try not to think about it,' Mokuba shot him a weak smile. 'I mean, I'm fully willing to believe I'm really you, because... well some of this situation makes more sense if people aren't who they think they are, but...'

'Okay...' Duke nodded slowly, 'so is there anything else I need to know?'

'Just that Crovell is the one behind all this and we're currently in competition with Mov and Téa.'

'Crovell's behind this?'

'Yeah, apparently he...'

'Look, do we really have time for all this right now?' Kaiba interrupted. 'In case you've forgotten, we've got a challenge to pass. Clearly we made it through the second gate faster than they did, so let's not mess that up by losing this one, okay?'

Mokuba was starting to feel as though Duke was right; it was best not to think too hard about this situation. For a start there was way too much for him to get his head around. After all, he'd only just managed to follow what Mov was talking about when she was explaining the first stage of this little game to him. The idea that he wasn't him, just somebody else thinking he was him because his mind had been altered to think that way... It made his eyes cross and his head hurt every time he even tried to think about it.

Instead he figured it was probably best to just focus on the task at hand. He felt pretty sure at some point he'd have to deal with this whole identity issue thing they apparently all had right now, but until that moment occurred worrying about it felt pointless.

'So does anyone have any ideas about getting across this river then?' Duke folded his arms as he turned his attention towards the gate on the opposite bank.

'How can I have any ideas about how to get across when all I really want to know is where the cameras are?' Joey rolled his eyes. 'I mean, so far we've had a puzzle of sorts, a riddle and now a river crossing, all we're missing is some hyped up presenter and a cash prize.'

'I wouldn't complain if I were you Wheeler,' Tristan shook his head, 'I mean, the easier the challenges are, the faster we can get through them and get out of this place.'

'Yeah, but we're supposed to be proving we have what it takes to look after Jo and Crovell. All these challenges prove is how well we'd do on some made for TV adventure game show.'

'Mov and Téa said we still had things to prove,' Catilin tilted her head to one side, 'maybe these games help us prove it.'

'Again, prove what?'

'How well we can work together as a team. How resourceful we can be when we don't have our powers to rely on. Our ability to know when to trust the judgement of others,' Tristan rolled his eyes. 'Take your pick Wheeler, any of these reason could be true. But right now I think we should be concentrating more on finding a way across the river; all we're doing at the moment is wasting time.'

'Do you think if we knocked one of the trees down we could use it as a bridge?' Kaiba's voice sounded disturbingly childish.

'And how exactly are you planning for us to do that?' Joey cocked an eyebrow.

'Push it,' he grinned. 'If we all push it really hard, it'll up root and fall.'

'Look, you might have come through for us on the last challenge, but I really think you're missing the mark on this one.'

'Why?'

'Because there is no way the nine of us are ever going to be able to push a tree over,' Joey shook his head. 'What, did you lose your mind, along with your memory?'

'No,' Kaiba pouted, 'but at least I know my eyes work, which is more than I can say for you.' He pointed towards a tree, which had already been partially up rooted. 'It's not anchored properly, we could push that over.'

'Looks like he's right again Wheeler,' Tristan smirked.

'Okay, so maybe he is,' Joey gave an exaggerated shrug. 'It still doesn't necessarily mean the nine of us will be able to push that tree over.'

'Oh come on, you said yourself this is like a game show, right? So obviously they're not going to give us a tree that's already about to fall over and then make it impossible for us to knock down.'

'He's got a point,' Duke tilted his head in thought. 'Although the way I see it, only eight of us are actually going to be doing the pushing.'

'Huh?' Joey's face filled with a look of confusion.

'All people currently not seven months pregnant, please raise your hand.'

'Okay, I get your point,' he rolled his eyes as he stared around at everyone else's raised hands, 'but the way I see it, that just makes it harder for you.'

'I'm sure we'll manage,' Tristan shrugged.

'So exactly how are we going to do this?' Mai folded her arms, as she and the others made their way towards the tree. 'Are we all just going to just stand behind it and push or... what?'

'If we could find a thick fallen branch or something, we could put it under for a little leverage,' Duke pressed his lips together. 'That and people pushing on the actual trunk, might just be enough.'

'Do we really have time to look for something like that?' Joey shook his head.

'People not helping to knock this tree down are not allowed an opinion,' Tristan smirked at him.

'Hey, you're the ones saying I can't help.'

'And now we're saying you can't talk either.'

'Actually, you're the one saying he can't talk,' Mai shot him a look. 'And for what it's worth, I agree with him; I don't think we have time to go branch hunting.'

'Then what do you think we should do?'

'I think we should all put our weight behind it and push,' her tone was calm but weighted. 'If that doesn't work then we look for some kind of leverage.'

'Fine.'

Moving into position, the eight of them began to push. After a few moments of straining, Mokuba began to feel the tree moving beneath them. Gritting his teeth, he forced more of his weight behind it, hoping the others were doing the same. The tree began to creak in resentful protest, as more of its roots began to pull cruelly out of the ground. It might have been on its last legs already, but clearly the tree had no intentions of dying quietly. Mokuba would have pitied it, if crossing the river wasn't so important to them. Painfully, he willed up the last of his strength and continued to push.

With shock speed, the body of the tree suddenly crashed loudly into the river, spraying up water like blood from a severed artery. The eight creators of its demise fell back with a deep, exhausted breath. For a few moments they watched in silence, as the gushing water bashed up against the withered bark.

'So I guess we go across now,' Mokuba let out a breathy sigh.

'Yeah,' Duke nodded, 'so who wants to go first?'