Voyage to the Kingdom
In the depths of her soul, Seto Kaiba was a brilliant shade of red. It was a situation she had never been in, something that had caught her completely off guard... Much to her distaste. "G-Gh!" The woman was (for once) completely shocked still, a multitude of information hitting her all at once. Earlier that week... She'd wondered where Mokuba had gone really. He hadn't visited her for a longer period of time than would usually pass, a slight chill falling over her. That same day, before the chill set in, she had heard rustling noises. 'Find it,' someone had been saying. 'Find it!' Find what... What were they looking for? And besides all of that... The woman narrowed her eyes, frowning. Her brother was missing now, 'kidnapped'... And Katsuya would pay dearly for it when she got out of there, she was certain. But for now...
Wh-What... What did he just do! Her window had been closed of course, so she couldn't see... As it was, nothing from her window was every really clear of course, no matter how much more she had been able to see as the days passed. But something had brushed against her lips... Something warm, and it smelled like... The woman brought her fingers to her mouth for a moment, before shaking it off. Whatever! That wasn't the point right now! "M...Moron! Get back here!" That bastard! Calling her 'Seto-chan' all the time, convincing himself that he can just run off and get both himself and her brother killed..! ...Though if he died, she told herself, she wouldn't mind, so long as her brother came back. Still, the way he was acting, none of them would come back! "Use your brain for once, MUTT!"
Seto scowled, answered with silence just as she expected. Her blush died down, fists clenched as she gritted her teeth. Moron... Moron..! She turned back to her puzzle, blinking as a light from the remaining three pieces caught her eye. "...What..?" She knelt down, picking them up. The last three left... It was fairly obvious now, that there was at least one piece missing. A 'base' for these three pieces, something that would connect all of the 'dots' so to speak. Though when she looked at the larger of the three, it looked as though that 'base' might not be needed for it. Whatever it would look like, it'd be big though; the puzzle resembled an orb with one eighth of the sphere cut out, and the pieces were absolutely minuscule in comparison to the chunk missing.
She looked it over, frowning. "This piece..." 'Se' and 'Hito'... She knew this piece. It was the first one she'd found when she'd come here all that time before. Back when she hadn't remembered anything of herself. Seto snorted, fingering the piece as she thought back to that time. "Hn..." She was rather pathetic back then, wasn't she, going through the puzzle for no real reason. Then again... What was she doing now..? Idly, she looked over the kanji on the piece again, eyes narrowed slightly. 'Rapids', 'Shallows', or even, in some context, 'chance'. It was coupled with the kanji for 'person'... And there were a few different ways to read that. The first kanji had only one, almost reflecting its stubborn nature; 'Se'. For the others however, there were many. 'To', 'Ri', 'Jin', 'Nin', 'Tari', and lastly the most common, 'Hito'. For the most part, she had heard 'to', the common end to a boy's name. But today... 'Seri-chan', he had said. The same name from the cold memory... The one that she could now hear in her earliest memories holding this. 'In the end, 'Seto' suits you more'. What was that supposed to mean..? That was a boy's name wasn't it? Besides! They had the same meaning, didn't they? The same kanji? 'Seto'... That was what everyone from age 8 memories and up called her. Half of her life to one name, half to the other... "My name..." She stared at the puzzle piece, before nodding, expression serious. "My name..." Could it be..? Seto smirked, before closing her eyes in relief. "I think... I know what it is." Without looking at the puzzle, which developed a small hole in the side, she clicked the piece into place. It stood tall, creating a division of sorts in the remaining space of the puzzle, leaving naught but a small 'divet' to connect whatever pieces were yet to come. Looking over her puzzle and remaining two pieces, she turned towards her 'window', watching as it opened. "Hurry up, Mutt," she muttered as she sat in her soul, wondering where the last piece would be. "I'll be waiting..."
Somehow, she had no doubts whatsoever that both of them would come back.
It was Monday at last. He'd left for school feeling more than depressed, but in the end, simply walking had picked him up enough to appear at least somewhat 'normal' by the time he got to school. And now that school was on, Katsuya and the others sat around Yugi's desk, staring at the video camera that the 'soul tape' was inside. Apparently, Yugi had spent the weekend fishing the camera out so that he didn't have to just leave the old man in his television... As it was, they were all keeping a close eye on that camera. The image of Yugi's grandfather was on the screen, the man still attempting to tell the others that he felt fine and wasn't going to disappear anytime soon. And of course, he had to add fire to the situation when Yugi had asked about Mokuba... Who he explained was missing after that particular fact... And that didn't help the situation at all. Katsuya hadn't even asked Yugi about the starchips yet... And really, without that question, the prospect of Mokuba being gone was frightening enough.
They turned as the only one out of the loop on this came in, smiling widely. Ahhh... Ignorance was bliss indeed. This was going to suck... "Good morning everybody," he called out, Honda muttering a 'hey'. As the teen blinked at the response, Anzu managed to force out a more 'cheery' 'good morning..', Katsuya and Yugi not even really bothering. The albino stood there, confused as the general feeling of gloom sat around them. "Erm... What's wrong... What's the matter you guys?" He looked around, the others merely turning to look at the video camera. The teen walked over, still attempting to instill at least a bit of cheer into the otherwise uncharacteristic depression. "Hnn?" Bakura leaned over, looking at the screen. "What are you watching Yugi?"
"Hohoooo!" Katsuya could see Yugi's grandfather look up from inside the screen, bowing slightly. "You're Bakura aren't you? Good morning!"
Needless to say, watching the teen reel back in shock was mildly amusing... Almost enough to make him lighten up a bit as the boy asked if it was a video phone (to which Yugi bluntly stated no, his grandfather really WAS stuck). Almost. Really, no amount of cheer could successfully bring their moods up at the moment... That much was clear. "I know it's hard t' believe," he said as he followed Bakura's gaze to the camera again, "But Yugi lost a game 'f duel monsters t' a video recording made by th' creator of th' game..." Pegasus... Though now that he thought about it, this guy had to use subliminal messages, mind reading, and a time limit to beat him... Which was really rather pathetic to tell the truth. "Dude had a millennium item and... 'E used 'is power t' put 's grandpa's soul in this video tape..."
Yugi sighed, staring at the tape as the feeling of gloom settled over the group again. Silence fell in the room, and even as the classroom filled that silence persisted. "I don't know what to do," he finally muttered, his grandfather turning to him. "What happens if he can't get back to normal..."
"Hey hey," The old man shouted, voice sounding slightly distorted by the camera. "Don't talk about me as though I'm not here now," he continued, the others jumping at the words. "I'm doing just fine in here! Don't you be getting all depressed now!"
Hahaha, the one in the most danger was giving them a pep-talk... Not a very good pep-talk, but all the same he was the only one doing it. Nonetheless, he thought to himself... "Gramps is right," he said as he cracked his knuckles. Man had a point- if they didn't focus, then nothing would get fixed, right? "Gettin' depressed isn't gonna solve anything! Got it?" Besides. Things didn't get done when they were depressed... And... Well, if they ever needed SOMETHING to get done...
Yugi nodded, smiling slightly. "Right!" The smile widened, before dropping to a near non-existent state. "...I guess I'm alright," he continued, before looking at the puzzle sadly. As the class continued to fill, he made to put the camera in his back, hurriedly apologizing to his grandfather as the old man told him it was fine. Zipping the bag back up, he fingered the puzzle and resumed his stare at the object. "But the other me..."
Behind him, Anzu blinked. "Heh..? You've learned to talk to your alter ego?" Alter ego... That was a new one, but hey, sounded better than 'other Yugi'...
The boy laughed, shaking his head. "It's not like that! I can't speak to him with words... But," he continued, closing his eyes and unconsciously putting a hand over the pendant, "If I close my eyes, I can sense what he's feeling..." So... That was how it worked then... As he drifted into thought on that, the others nodded.
"So he's depressed then," Honda said, crossing his arms as he sat on one of the desks.
He nodded again. "Yea... I think he feels bad about losing to Pegasus..." That would probably be an understatement... Speaking of feeling though.
Katsuya stared, before briefly wondering how the 'other Yugi' heard any of this. What was it, he was the puzzle now? Could he just hear things from inside there, hell, he was a soul... Maybe... He grabbed a notebook from the desk, rolling it up into a makeshift megaphone and aiming it at the puzzle. "OI OTHER YUG'! CAN YA HEAR ME? CHEER UP!"
"H-HAH!" Yugi jumped, before laughing at the action as his friend merely smirked. The others as well snickered at the action, though Bakura merely gave a soft smile and shook his head. "J-Jonouchi-kun, I don't think it works like that..."
Eh, it was worth a shot. He shrugged, putting the notebook down before his expression grew more serious. "That aside... If yah wanna save your Grandad, it looks like we've gotta get back at Pegasus..." And he would do it with his fists. And his foot. Possibly both. All. At once. (However that would work.)
The boy nodded in response. "Yea... That's what he said, 'Come to my Kingdom'..." As Bakura and Honda both raised their eyebrows at the statement, neither of them having been there to see the tape, he continued. "He said that's where they're going to crown the 'King of Duel Monsters'..."
Anzu nodded, frowning slightly. "The Duelist Kingdom... The only problem with all of this is that we have no idea where it is..."
As the table fell silent again, Bakura blinked, turning to Katsuya. "You said Pegasus has a Millennium Item, didn't you..?" Hn?
He snorted. "Not just has... He dug out his EYE to put it in!" The teen visibly looked a little paler at that, and it took Katsuya a moment to steel his thoughts. Hihhh... Sticking an old gold eye in a spot where there was already a real one... That was just something that would fuel his nightmares for weeks to come it was... As to what that had to do with the 'where' in all of this... Unless he was hinting at Egypt. Because that could be a bit of a problem.
The boy nodded. "So then... Perhaps, if you go to this kingdom, you'll find out the secret of the Millennium items..." He grabbed his bag, unzipping it before pulling something out. "Like my ring..." As he pulled it out, Katsuya jerked back with a loud shout.
"HRAAH! You still have that thing!" What the hell! That thing was dangerous! There was no way they could be safe even within a few hundred feet of it, they were good as DEAD with that thing here! The others as well had a similar reaction, jerking back with wide eyes. "T-That thing ain't safe!"
The albino stared, frowning slightly. "It's okay..! As long as I'm not wearing it, it's just a piece of jewelry..." As the others continued to keep a good distance from it, they let him continue. "My father bought this from an antique shop in Egypt... But as you know, there's another personality within it, like Yugi's puzzle..." He zipped the ring back in his bag, frowning a little more. "What I want to do most is find out the secrets of those items... 'Who made them', 'how do they work', 'what are they for'?" He turned to the others, the questions briefly grabbing Katsuya's curiousity as well. "I'm almost certain that Pegasus knows the answer!" Hnn... That... Made sense actually... The man did know his way around the eye... Not to mention he created Duel Monsters.
At that exact moment, Yugi stood from his desk, the others blinking. He had a fairly neutral expression in place, stepping around from his chair and pushing it in before moving past the others. Anzu frowned slightly, watching as he headed off leave the room. "Ah... What are you doing, Yugi?"
The boy turned, blinking. "Sorry... I'd like to be alone for a while..." He coughed, shaking his head. "Well, not me, I mean... The other me..." He left, Katsuya watching with a raised eyebrow. What a mess... One side wants one, one wants the other, what was going to happen if they ever got in some kind of weird argument? Or even a 'not so weird' one? Like what if it was serious or-
A few moments later, he sighed. Now that he thought about it, this was probably the best time to ask about the Pegasus issue... Class would start soon, so seeing how no one else would be there... He headed out as well, the others blinking. "Jonouchi-kun," Anzu said with a frown. "You too?"
He nodded. "Yea... Jus' need tah think..." With that he left the classroom, the others shrugging and leaving it as it was. Yugi would definitely help... He just wished he didn't have to ask.
Walking through the school, it wasn't hard to find the 'Other Yugi'; at least not nearly as hard as he expected. Particularly since he was pretty sure anyone within ten feet of the roof heard him. "PEGASUS!" Katsuya made his way upstairs, opening the door to the roof and keeping back for a few moments. 'Yugi' gripped the fence tightly as he stood there, head lowered slightly in anger and misery both. One could practically feel the wind swirling around the teen in response to his mood at the moment; it was actually a little frightening to say the least, and as someone who fought as much as he did... That was really saying something.
As 'Yugi' turned around to go back to the roof, Katsuya scratched his head and moved out from the door. "Hey... Yug'... I know yeh wanted t' be alone but.."
The teen blinked, looking over his friend a moment before nodding. He'd pulled back a slight expression of calm, or at least calm for him. "It's fine... I was about to return to class anyways..." As 'Yugi' moved to leave the roof however, he frowned; Katsuya was blocking his way, looking rather hesitant about something. "Jonouchi-kun?"
"I..." He pulled out both the glove that Pegasus had sent him and a video camera he'd snatched from security back at the mansion. He'd had them in his hands for a while actually... Only put them down to try the notebook-megaphone thing before. The teen bit his lip, before finally speaking. "I need yer help..."
For a moment, his friend stared at the things, silent. One could practically hear the thoughts of 'both Yugi's, contemplating what this meant. The stare continued with narrowed eyes, before 'Yugi' nodded. "Pegasus... He did the same thing to you then?" The same- Ah... The soul-tape deal...
Katsuya shook his head. "Nah... Hate t' say it but..." The teen paused, opening the side of the camera up so that Yugi could see the screen. "I almost wish he did..." He turned the camera on, allowing the tape to play though the message and the static both. As Yugi watched in silence, frowning as it cut off to nothing but grey, buzzing 'snow' after Shizuka's message, the blond continued. "After her message, he came on th' screen... Pokin' fun about Shizuka's condition, an' about..." He looked, biting his lip. 'Key bearer' he'd said... They probably took him with the thought that he had the key... But if Pegasus knew that was false now...
While he thought of this, 'Yugi's eyes widened with realization, the teen clenching his fists. "Mokuba... That's where he is, isn't he?" Got it in one...
He sighed, taking a seat. "I don' know for sure, but it's th' best shot I've got... Damn it..." The blond scowled, turning the camera off. "Takin' advantage of my sister's blindness... An takin' Mokuba as well... An' it's my fault..." At Yugi's confused and narrowed stare, he reached into his shirt to pull out the pendant. The plastic box gleamed in the sun, faded outline of the key clearly visible to his friend. "Pegasus... I don' know why, but he wants this key... I didn' know what it was, but Mokuba obviously found it important... An' given tha' Pegasus thinks th' same..." He opened the box, pulling the key out and handing it to his friend. Pegasus knew he had it... But he wouldn't know Yugi had it! "Yug... Yah gotta help me! Pegasus all but said he'd kill 'm if I didn' show, but I can't let 'm get this key! I don' know why, but I jus get this feeling... That no matter what happens, I can't let 'm find it!"
'Yugi' stared at Katsuya for a few moments, frowning. A key... He took the small metal object, twirling in his fingers for a few seconds before pocketing it. "...I understand Jonouchi," he said, before looking up to the blond with his stern gaze. "I won't let it happen!"
The teen smiled, sighing with relief. That took a load off... "Thanks man..." As Yugi moved to go downstairs, the blond moving to the side this time, he grabbed his shoulder. Right... Couldn't forget this part either... "Ah... One more thing..."
He turned, blinking. "Hn? What is it?"
The blond rubbed his head, before stowing his glove in his bag. "Those star-chips... Competitors need at least one t' participate..." Hell, they probably wouldn't let him on otherwise... "...I... I don' wanna lower yer chances in the tournament but..." Katsuya blinked as 'Yugi' handed him one of the chips with no complaint, smiling. He was carrying them with him? ...Wait... He was just giving it to him! "Yug'..."
"We're both in this," The teen stated seriously. "And the fact is, neither of us entered with the goal of winning for the sake of winning." That was true... As Katsuya took the chip and pocketed it, 'Yugi' continued. "Which ever one of us moves forward in this tournament will put an end to this; if it's you, I know you'll free my grandfather's soul... And if it's me, you can count on my aid in getting both the money for Shizuka's surgery and in getting Mokuba out of there." Alright then!
Katsuya stood there for a few seconds, before nodding. They were both in this... No enemies among them! "Yea! It's a deal!"
Little did he know that this wouldn't be the only deal he had to make...
"Fucking pains in the asses... 'yer only livin' here t' work', I pay rent outta my paycheck anyways, since when did this matter!" Katsuya grumbled, carrying a suitcase of clothes down the street as he continued cursing the 'new management' over the hired help.
Apparently, (Most likely due to Mokuba's absence) he wasn't allowed to stay in the house unless he was working his required days. At least, that was what the current member of KaibaCorp running the house, 'Daimon Kogoro' (Who had managed to hold a position as assistant to Kaiba even when the woman hired Isono instead), had told him when he tried to enter the house. 'Don't worry, everything will be right here where you left it- after all, you're only taking vacation for a week right?' Lousy pain in the ass 'big 5'. 'Big' was right, described the stick in each of their pasty little pie holes!
The teen continued to grit his teeth as he moved down the street, seething. He just knew that his stuff was searched through... They'd jumped all too quick at the opportunity to pack his stuff up while he was at school... And with that excuse out of the way, anything he left at the house would have been inaccessible. It made him considerably relieved that he'd given the key to Yugi really... Who knew what would have happened otherwise. Katsuya sighed again, scratching his head as he made his way towards Yugi's house. Hopefully he wouldn't mind him coming over... Heck, worse case scenario, Honda's sister (Honda's parents had died a few years ago, so his sister took up care) had told him he was 'welcome anytime'... Actually, he'd have gone over there if not for the fact that he felt like he could talk about a few more things with Yugi than Honda.
Mostly because all of them centered around this entire key and tournament issue, but nonetheless. At least the game shop was in sight now... "Hey Yug," he shouted, making it down the road just as the boy was opening his door. The boy turned, blinking. "Yugi! Hang on a sec!"
"Jonouchi-kun..." He looked over the bags, frowning. "Jonouchi-kun, what happened..?"
He shrugged, giving a false smile. "'S nothin'... Bastards that got hold 'f Kaiba's company gave me the boot for th' week, sayin' that since I wasn' working right now I wasn' allowed t' stay at th' house." The blond snorted, before looking at the boy. "If it's alright with yah... C'n I stay here th' week? I'll pay yah back, I swear! It's jus'..."
Yugi smiled, nodding. "Of course you can stay! I'll have to ask my mom, but until then, consider it done!" Best friend ever... Everrrrrr. He turned to the door, opening it. "Come on in, I want to show you something." Show him something? He blinked, before nodding. Alright then...
As they walked in, Katsuya leaving his stuff by the door, Yugi led the blond into the kitchen. Taking a seat at the table, Katsuya watched as his friend pulled out five cards from an envelope. Come to think, he'd been looking at an envelope when he'd arrived... "Eh..?" The cards were spread out, and he frowned. "What are these..?"
"From what I can tell, these are the invitation cards," Yugi began, looking at each one carefully. "They were delivered today... Look." He held them out before Katsuya, before continuing. "Each one tells you a little bit about the Duelist Kingdom. First," he began, holding out the card 'Voyage to the Kingdom'. The card had a month, a date, a time, and a location on it... Beneath the image of a ship. "This one tells us when and where to board the boat to take us there..."
Katsuya nodding, getting what it meant. "Right... So end of this week, 9:30 at th' pier." Wow... That was cutting it close... He didn't think that it was literally 'a week'.
Yugi nodded, grabbing the next card. "Next is the Duelist Kingdom card... There's an island on it, so this is probably the location we'll be at!" The island itself seemed fairly diverse, and had various labels as well... Beach, mountain, wasteland, forest, 'ocean'... And... Wait, was that a volcano! (What was with this island!)
As the boy put the card down, Katsuya grabbed the next one. "Duelist's Glove..." He frowned as he read the information on it. "All duelists must have at least one star chip on their wrist band at all times..." He snorted, while his friend pulled out the glove and single star chip he had. Figured... Though at least none of these said anything about not bringing people outside the competition; from what Honda was saying earlier that day, he'd have tried stowing away in a crate if he had to.
"These chips must be proof of your status as duelist," he said as he put them back in the box, the chip clipping into the slot on the glove. Better to store them there, where it wasn't likely to be lost really... "We'll probably bet these chips on our duels... And for the last ones.."
Katsuya looked them over, nodding. "Th' Honor of th' King's right, and th' Honor of th' King's left..." The first was labeled simply as 'great wealth', the image of immense riches there. From what he could tell, that would definitely cover Shizuka's eyes; not a bad bonus in addition to busting Mokuba out. The second card however... Was completely blank. Nothing but question marks beneath it.
He nodded. "The Honor of the King's right is probably the prize money... But this other one..." The boy frowned, pulling a face. "Some secret honor that the 'King of Games' can only get... I think..." With Pegasus, it was hard to tell really; for all they knew, it was some sort of trick card.
The blond leaned back on his chair, sighing. "Man... What a mess..." Rubbing his head, he attempted to get some sort of positive feeling about all of this. "Right. One week till we leave..." Katsuya turned to Yugi, gaining a more severe look. "We're gonna need to go at this with all we've got! Let's spend this week trainin' for th' tournament!" Or... At least train him... Yugi was the master at this really...
Yugi nodded. "Yea! Here, I'll help you with your deck!" Aha, see, he knew it too! The boys herded up the cards on the table, before setting things up for the eventing. Honestly... If it hadn't been for the situation that got him there, Katsuya would have said that that night went pretty well.
Regardless of whether or not thoughts through the week were positive or negative, the time until departure passed quicker than expected. Tuesday through Friday, the blond had spent any free time he had working with those cards, attempting to learn his way around as many spells and traps as possible. In his opinion, he wasn't doing too bad... Then again, that could just be him. Walking to the pier, Katsuya and Yugi were followed by Anzu, Bakura, and Honda as well, the three looking around in the silence with frowns. "It's awfully quiet," Bakura said hesitantly as he looked around. "...Is there really supposed to be a ship out here..?"
His friend nodded, Yugi pulling out his 'voyage' card to double check. "The date on the ticket card is tonight... There's no mistaking it!" Besides, they hadn't hit the ocean yet... So really...
Katsuya nodded, before turning around the next building and freezing. "Nh! There it is!" Coming into view just now, the immense ship floated before them, its hull towering over the group of people waiting at its side. "Th' ship..." And what a group it was... There were at least 40 people there!
"Wow..." They walked forwards into the crowd, watching as people all about them compared cards and chatted away. "All these people..!" Oddly enough, most looked to be around their age too. And a lot of them looked like they wouldn't hold in a fist fight. Talk about stereotyping... Most of the duelists there were male too, wonder what Kaiba would say to that... (Probably nothing.)
Bakura blinked as they walked through, noting the cards that a majority were holding at the moment. "They've got the same cards we have..."
Beside him, Yugi nodded. "They've been invited too," he said with a smile. "They're duelists like us!" Briefly, Katsuya looked at the boy incredulously. In other words 'rival's... Not exactly friendship material if they were going to be fighting to get to the end! "Look," he cried, snapping him from his thoughts. The boy pointed towards a few faces in the crowd, eyes wide "Over there!"
Katsuya stared, shaking his head. "That insect dude who won th' last tournament..!" Insector Haga... The bespectacled boy looked over their way, glasses gleaming oddly in the moonlight before he vanished behind a group of people. He looked through the crowd as another 'familiar face' appeared, swallowing. "And th' runner up.." Also in the crowd stood Dinosaur Ryuuzaki, the teen currently looking around with a fairly calm if not expectant gaze. The blond gulped. "Man, tough crowd..." Again, his attention was taken as up on the ship, a man that Katsuya recognized with a chilled feeling of dread, appeared up on the top..
"Attention Duelists," he shouted, Katsuya clenching his fists as the man Kaiba had previously hired for his security stood on the ship. "Industrial Illusions welcomes you to this event! We researched your tournament records, and even unofficial duels," Saruwatari continued, Katsuya mentally snorting at the hidden message in 'unofficial', "And handpicked the best duelists of Japan! The star named GLORY shines above your heads, and any one of you could reach it!" Man was either given a prepared speech, or damn good with his words. "Now is the time duelists," he continued to shout. "Come across the seas and reach for that light! To the Duelist Kingdom!"
As the crowd cheered, a young blond woman standing next to them laughed loudly, Katsuya idly noting that each of her breasts were about the size of his head. Wow... Huge would almost be an insult... "AHAHAHAA!" She continued to laugh, those around her looking with confusion. That or lust, it was hard to tell. (Personally, he was confused.) "It's like a pep rally for little kids," she said with a smirk, before narrowing her eyes in mirth. "Then again, most of the people here are children! Ahahahaaa~ Pity... I haven't seen any real competition yet..."
Honda and Yugi both stared with wide eyes, Katsuya blinking a few times as he did a double take. "What a BABE," Honda shouted with a red-faced stare.
"S-She's a duelist too," Yugi asked with a thick blush, Katsuya merely staring. Maybe it was because it'd been a while since he and Yugi had exchanged tapes or something but... Man... This was weird... He swore that a year ago he'd have the same reaction but...
Was it just him or were large breasts suddenly a complete turn off for him? Mentally, he wondered if that had anything to do with a certain 'other' woman he knew... As he disappeared into thought, the blond completely missed whatever the woman said as she left. Was it because of that? Hell... There was no comparing Kaiba to this lady, that was for sure... He continued pondering this, only snapping out of his thoughts when being elbowed by Honda. "Dude! Did you see the size of those?"
Katsuya blinked, before putting up a fake grin. If Honda thought there was someone who'd caught his eye already he'd never hear the end of it damn it... "HAha... Yea! 'Bout th' size 'f my head!" As he pretended to laugh, he watched the woman continue to disappear.
"My name is Kujaku Mai," she said with a flirtatious tone, giving them a wink before turning again. "I'll see you later... Boys~"
As Honda and Yugi both continued inhaling the perfume scent left behind with dreamy expressions on his faces, he shook his head. "Man... What a woman..."
Anzu appeared to have far more negative thoughts on this however, glaring at the boys. "You MORONS," she shouted, crossing her arms. Ignoring the expressions Yugi and Honda both had, she'd probably completely missed what he meant by 'what a woman'. It wasn't a good thing... "I swear, you all hit on anything with breasts!"
Hey, why was she grouping him with those guys... "Ahehehe... C'mon Anzu..." Katsuya shook his head, before turning to the ship. Change the subject, change the subject... "Let's get on board, alrigh'?" Just please don't yell at them...
Beside him, Yugi nodded, having snapped out of his perfume induced haze. "Yea! Let's go!" They hurried onto the ship, climbing up the boardwalk and soon coming to rest along the main railing at the side. With all the people heading inside right now, it'd be best to wait a little before doing so themselves really- as it was, they were lucky to have been allowed 'guests', though why they were so lenient about that was a good question. The rest of the crowd also waited along the deck, a majority of the doors within apparently sealed off. Quiet chatter filled the deck, and few moments later the sound of the ship's horn was released, loud and blaring as it took off into the sea at a relatively decent pace. It was late in the evening now... The darkness was endless... Katsuya stared out, those around him following his gaze in silence. Completely endless, save for the slowly disappearing lights of Tokyo on the shore.
'Mokuba...' His eyes grew distant as he leaned against the railing. A year ago, if he'd never met that kid... He'd be the same but not really, he supposed. Maybe Yugi was right about him being 'different'. Sure he didn't know how but... Well, had it been just him, if he'd gotten that tape, he'd probably just be here for the money to pay for Shizuka's eyes... Hell, he wouldn't have even been able to spend the summer, so who knew what that would have changed about the video! 'Wait for me... I'll put my life on the line... And I'll not only save my sister's eyes, but I'll save you! Even if I don't win, I guarantee it! So wait for me...' Just stay alive, just a little longer...
"Attention everyone," came a voice from behind the crowd. Katsuya turned with a blank stare as Saruwatari addressed them, idly wondering if he'd be disqualified for punching him through the skull. ...He probably would. "I will now show you to your rooms; please, follow me!" Well, that was at least one good thing about tonight... Ship this big, the rooms had to be at least decent... He followed along in the crowd, before staring at the large matted floor they were brought to. Hang on what?
No way... No fucking way! "You gotta be kiddin' me," he shouted, looking at the room with a glare. "Whatdya mean, we're all sleepin' here!"
Honda nodded from behind, glaring. "Yea, come on! Don't we at least get beds?" Or futon's even? Sleeping bags perhaps, rather than a cold matted floor? Sheesh, didn't Pegasus care about his competitors getting there alive?
The guard stood there, coughing slightly. "Only the finalists from the last tournament have been given private rooms," he began, Katsuya opting to ignore him as he rolled his eyes and went to put his things to the side of the room. God damn it... He didn't even have a sleeping bag on him, what the hell... Well, he could probably use his bag for a pillow he supposed.
He looked around the room, fingering his deck before blinking. Hang on... The teen's eyes widened as he scanned his future competition, blinking. Everyone in the room was trading cards... And if he could get a few trades in himself... Katsuya grinned, weaving his way through the crowd as he pulled out his deck. Approaching one of the duelists, the person in question turning as he came near, his grin grew even larger. "Hey... What cards yah got? Wanna trade?"
Maybe this night would be better than he thought, he decided a number of minutes later. Got a few new cards, sorted out his deck... Heck, like Yugi was saying as they took up 'residence' in a corner of the room, this was like a sleepover! "Ahhh..." They walked back out on deck, giving Yugi some time to talk to his grandfather through the camera. After all... Wouldn't want that particular weakness to come out right? "Feel that cool ocean air!~"
As he leaned against the railing, a voice from the side caught his attention. "...Hn..?" It was that bug guy, what was his name... 'Haga', right? Insector Haga, what was he doing here instead of inside? Hell, they had their own rooms (Not. Fair.) from what he'd heard from the others. He tensed as Yugi handed the boy his five exodia cards to show, biting his lip. Please don't do what he thought was going to happen, please please please- AUUUUUUUGH. Watching with wide eyes as they were thrown over the side of the ship, he tossed his jacket to the ground with narrowed eyes. "Shit!" He jumped off, growling. Damn it... Those were Yugi's trump cards... The cards that could well mean his grandpa's life, Mokuba's life, Shizuka's eyes... They could. Not. Lose. Those. Cards! "I'll get those cards Yugi, no worries!"
He could hear the shouts from the others as he hit the water, swimming to the surface with a cough. The blond turned through the water, grabbing wildly as he attempted to look around for the cards in the darkness. Where were they... The water was identical in colour to the sky, and it was pure luck really that the cards floated. One... He heard shouts above to grab rescue equipment, the blond continuing to search fruitlessly. The water was frigid and rough, tossing him about more than the volley ball or even his opponents during judo in Gym class. Two... Maybe they were underwater... He dove down, squinting as he ignored the sting of the ocean water on his eyes. Where... Where... As the ring landed, he looked around and surfaced, gasping for breath. Two... He could only find two... Grabbing the ring, Katsuya allowed himself to be reeled in, scowling darkly. There were five cards meant to complete Exodia, and he'd only found two. He continued to cough as he clambered back on the deck, taking the towel that was handed to him while sending a narrowed glare to Haga. Bastard... He'd be first to go in the tournament, guarantee...
Getting to sleep that night wasn't easy, knowing there were thieves like that brat on board... But even as he rolled over, he convinced himself to do it anyways. After all... Tomorrow was day one of the tournament- and after that, it was only a matter of time before they came across Pegasus. They needed all the sleep they could get...
Lives depended on it.
AN: Suddenly that 'childrens card game' ain't so kid friendly eh? As for the above, don't worry Kaiba! You'll forget alllllll about it. Guarantee. Bakura's reaction coming into the classroom makes me laugh to this day... 'HI EVERYONE! ... Why are you sad? D: ' I guess that's just not the reaction he normally gets... In any case, be happy, for the infamous Mai has appeared! YESSSSSSSSSSSSS.
Anonymous Review Responses
Hey there Iona! Dead dog indeed- though he may or may not be upset when Kaiba wakes up and he finds that he was 'right' about her 'not hearing anything'. (Forgetting important things tends to suck.) If it's not one person it's another... This arc will be fun, I can tell you that... And trust me when I say, as the plot goes, that won't be the only leverage he has against Jonouchi. Not by a long shot. I'll leave it at that, and tell you I agree on the averted kick to the crotch... Though in Yugi (rather Yami Yugi's)'s defense, he tends to go through a relatively fair battle before beating the shit out of his victims... Particularly in the anime, where people didn't die because of him during that arc. From what I can tell at least. It's hard, when all you see is 'glass shattering' and then the victims going 'AUUUUUGH'. And then nothing. NOTHING. Eh, oh well, ahahaha~
Usagi's Manga & Japan Guide/Corner
The section that for once, might not actually have anything to do with the chapter! (...Lies.) It will also separate each topic with a line.
Interesting point while on the topic of Kaiba, but while reading the fairly handy, fan-made 'Yu-Gi-Oh Wiki', a part of Kaiba's description caught my eye... And I quote:
'Throughout the series he is shown, deep down beneath his stony, ice-cold exterior, to be incredibly lonely, and wishes to be more open with people, but is unable to do so because of his belief that everyone is alone. At various points during the series he opens up momentarily, but only to people he respects, (particularly Yugi though usually when no-one else is around and always shutting down again when other people arrive) and these occurrences increase in frequency towards the later series- indeed the last episode he is visibly hurt when Joey accuses him of having no friends.'
Note the use of dub names... But really, the entire wiki tends to stick to them. In any case, time to bring up why I stuck that here... Compare that to the below, which is the description of a Tsundere character, on the ever-so-handy TV Tropes page... Rather, on the 'Defrosting Ice Queen' page, as Tsundere now more commonly means someone who acts both harsh and sweet. (Kaiba doesn't do the latter. At all.) Remove the spaces to get to that page, as fanfiction doesn't support links... http: / tvtropes. org /pmwiki /pmwiki. php/ Main/ DefrostingIceQueen ... Keep in mind that there would be no complete defrost. That would be silly.You could also compare to the 'Kuudere' (Which should link out from that page), which... May or may not be closer depending... But given the more audible emotions we see Kaiba having, I'd think it best to compare FemKaiba to the Ice Queen rather than the Kuudere.
Can you see any similarities perhaps? (Or maybe it's just me with rose coloured glasses.) Because if you can, you will never look at Kaiba the same ever again.
An interesting note that I recently dug up (also has nothing to do with this chapter), which answers to an earlier comment made on Zorc's design... You wonder what Takahashi was on when he designed him? Meds. He had a stomach ulcer during that time, and was rather groggy and stressed out during that time... Hence why, in the Bunkoban (Re-printed version with a few changes), the snake is made to swirl around Zorc rather than stick out where it is... Like a certain part of a man's anatomy.
Interesting thing to note, but in the manga, Ryuuzaki isn't... Actually that bad. In fact, if he showed up more often it's more likely he'd be an ally than an ally judging by his later actions... As it is, what with many fillers soon being involved, you might notice a few personality tweaking on his part to closely match that... A jerk he may be, but not a jerkass.
Daimon Kogoro is the Japanese name of the Big 5 member 'Lector', was the assistant to Gozaburo before the man's death. According to the anime, he was also assistant to Kaiba... Though given Isono(Roland)'s own status as assistant, I'm fairly certain that Daimon's title is in name only, seeing how Kaiba reduced the entire Board of Directors to a figurehead status. (Something they quite eagerly took back after Kaiba went comatose... What with that betrayal losing money on their part and all.)
Other corresponding names are...
Ootaki Shuuzou - Crump. The penguin guy, I mean... -cough- Former company accountant. Figurehead-ed, and upset.
Ota Soichiro - Nesbitt, the Technical Expert. Upon Seto's take over, he was ordered to destroy all equipment involved with weapons manufacture and tasked with replacing it with game related things instead. This did not make him too happy, as one can likely guess. (Mostly because, in his mind, all of his amazing 'amazing' equipment is... Not being used properly. LIES.)
Ooka Chikuzen - Johnson, the company's Legal Advisor... He's very good at lying. (As apparently, he convinced a jury that a water phobic man stole a boat. W-..What?) Like the others, Johnson was effectively reduced to a figurehead state. Which he did not like.
Oshita Konosuke - Gansley, VP of Business Strategy. Before any of you say 'VP? VP But Mokuba's the VP!', let me tell you this. There's more than one VP in a company... Sort of like how there are multiple managers for different sections of a company. Generally, when there's a large group, the two 'highest ranking' will be 'Executive VP' and 'Senior VP' respectively. Something tells me Mokuba effectively fills both roles though... Anyways, Gansley, of course, ended up figure-headed...
A point on Mokuba now, in addition to being the VP of... Probably everything given that Kaiba prefers dealing with everything himself... (Though it's likely that there's more than one VP.)...Is apparently also KaibaCorp's representative. Huhhh? Ok Kaiba, if that's what you wanna do... Then again, a kid representing a game company makes a fair amount of sense.
'Kujaku Mai', (Mai Valentine if you hadn't guessed. I really hope you did though.) oddly enough, is only an inch shorter than Jonouchi. Jonouchi is 5'8, while Mai herself is 5'7... Which isn't bad for a woman really, given that the average height is 5'3.8, which is just shy 5'4, for a woman. (Huh. I'm average height...) Kaiba of course far surpasses 'average lady height', but that's because I didn't change the height between genders for the sake of... Well, both humor and general accuracy. To put it in perspective of heights, I'll list the rest of the main cast. Yugi is 5 feet dead on at the end of the series (In otherwords, during GX, but not early on in the manga and anime. Otherwise, those would be some serious size issues between him and the others.). Anzu however, is the average height of 5'4... Honda however, is 5'9, almost two inches taller than Bakura (Who is 5 feet, 7 and a half inches.)
As for Kaiba... (Brace yourselves...) Kaiba's almost 6'2''... That is half a foot taller than Bakura and Jonouchi, almost a full foot taller than Anzu (just those two inches standing in the way...).
I altered a fair amount of Jonouchi's dialogue in the latter half of the chapter; notably, opinions on Mai change considerably... This isn't actually written in an attempt to make a love monopoly, believe it or not, but rather... Just... altered tastes. (Also humor, but more later) Is Mai hot? Yes, very much so. Jonouchi would be out of character to say otherwise. So why is he not drooling over her here? Because he's gotten so damn attached to the one in a coma that Mai's other assets just don't click. At all. Now obviously this affects a good deal of story line here, given a few choice sections of Yu-Gi-Oh that focus on that 'unofficial' pairing, sooo... You'll see how I handled that later on. ;)
Do duel monster cards float? Well, they will for a few minutes at least, being flat. Sadly, their dark brown and black backing makes for a hard target on the seas, doesn't it Jonouchi.
That's all for now! Until next chapter!