The Messenger from Hell
Today was not a bad day at all, he decided for the moment. Yes, Mokuba was kidnapped... Yes... He'd effectively been blackmailed into this tournament just so that Pegasus could (presumably) get a hold of KaibaCorp... But all that aside, he'd won his first match, and it would take a lot to take the wind out of his sails now. "Heheheeeee..." As in a lot a lot. Katsuya stared at his two chips, a grin on his face as he continued to giggle fairly moronically. He'd been at it for about thirty minutes... Ever since he and Yugi had agreed to set off and win the next match actually...
As they walked however, his mood was indeed stopped. Specifically by a gurgling sound from his stomach. "Nh..." He looked down, grabbing his middle in question with a frown. "Hnn... I'm getting hungry..." He laughed nervously, turning to the others. They... They had food... Right? They had to have food, they were going to be there for two days..! "When are we havin' lunch exactly..?"
Honda frowned, snorting. Ok that wasn't a good sign... "What do you mean lunch, we didn't bring any food!"
The reaction was imminent. "WHAT!" The teen's eyes went wide as he turned on the others, stomach growling along with his shouts as if to echo. "WE DON'T HAVE ANYTHING!" Noooooo!
Beside him, Bakura nodded, ignoring the groans and grumbles from beside him. "We ate all the snacks on the boat..." Of course they did... "And there's no restaurants on this island..." God damn... There wasn't much of anything on this island, a restaurant would really be pushing it...
Not that he would have minded magically finding one. At the thought of such a thing, Katsuya groaned, rubbing his aching stomach. "Aww man..." No food... For two days... This was going to be hell... They'd be lucky to be alive by the time they got to the castle at this rate! (Maybe that was the plan all along?)
Yugi also nodded, frowning. "That is a problem... This game lasts two whole days, we can't just not eat or drink for 48 hours!" Damn straight Yugi... Damn... Straight...
As the teen said this, the others had turned on Anzu, who had otherwise remained silent. "Mannnn how come you couldn't at least think of somethin', aren't girls s'pposed tah know about these things?" And he wasn't taking this back, even with Kaiba in mind! ...Because she'd have probably gotten a backup plan for if that happened... Probably involving a cellphone and a helicopter. (Apparently, she could pilot one. So could Mokuba, according to the kid, and that was pretty incredible in his opinion.)
The girl scowled, crossing her arms. "Yea, because that's not sexist at all!" Oh shit, he didn't mean it like... (Ok maybe he did...) ...Shit! She continued to hold this foul mood as Honda rummaged around in his bag for something, muttering. "Honestly, you'd think the person who brought us here would feed us! Cheap long haired foreigner..." Something told him 'cheap' didn't have anything to do with it... Hell, anything was easy when your opponent had an empty stomach right?
Beside them, Honda finally pulled out what he was looking for; specifically, a large book entitled 'Wilderness Survival'. Wait, so he brought that and not food? WHY. "Oh well," the teen said with a dismissive sigh. "If it comes down to it, this book can tell us what plants and mushrooms are edible..."
Katsuya pulled a face, reeling back. "Ehhhh! No way man, I'm not eatin' no mushrooms!" He hated mushrooms, hate hate hated mushrooms..! As the group continued walking, the grumbles got progressively louder. Man... If they didn't find anything soon, he might actually consider taking Honda up on his mushroom idea... Ew... About half way into those thoughts, he blinked, sniffing the air a few moments before moving forwards. Now what was that... "Heey... Something smells good..." As the others looked at him with raised eyebrows, he grinned. Something smelled really good actually... Whatever it was was fresh and edible, that was for sure! "It's comin' from th' ocean! C'mon guys, lets go!" Ocean, smell of cooking food... Fish! That had to be it!
He charged off, leaving the others to frown. "Smell," Anzu was muttering as the group followed, their own expressions just as doubting. "What smell..?"
"Just like when he fought Mai... His sense of smell is like a dogs..." Oh just drop the dog comments already! ...Hopefully, this wasn't his nose pulling tricks on him.
As it turned out however, he was right; the smell was indeed genuine, and in a few moments they were lead to an ocean side cliff. Katsuya looked over the rocks, grinning at the sight of a fire pit and roasting seafood propped up along side it. "Look at that," he said with a grin. "I found food!" And boy did it look good.
The others came up from behind, blinking. "H-He's right," Honda shouted, turning to the others. "Fresh roasted fish!"
The blond hopped over the rocks, running towards the fire in question. "And no body's here either," he said with a grin. "The foods our's for th' taking!
"H-Hey!" Anzu frowned, calling after the teen. "Jonouchi! You... Stop that, those aren't yours!" There was more than enough for everyone, it didn't matter!
He turned, grinning. "Au-contraire Anzu! Th' law of th' island is whoever steals th' star chips wins! So stealin' food's jus' as good! It's all part of th' game of life!" Besides, people shouldn't leave fish cooking there, it was a fire hazard. No one would mind if he was preserving nearby wildlife after all... Even though the fire pit was surrounded by bare rocks and was therefore completely harmless. He continued forwards, ignoring those thoughts as Anzu continuing to growl.
"I am never playing a game with you," she muttered, crossing her arms with a huff. "You're worse than a kid, honestly..." The woman continued to curse under her breath, watching as Honda jumped over the rocks to follow. "Ah-" Anzu stared, groaning. "Not you too!"
Honda merely grinned in response, giving a mock shrug as he followed after Katsuya. "Hey, foods food!" And it would do no good outside of their stomachs, so it would be best to eat it now.
As the two continued towards the fish, Yugi rolled his eyes with a smirk. "Ohhhh boy..."
The closer they got to the fish, the better it looked and smelled really- he didn't know who was catching these, but whoever did had a good eye for seafood. "Oh maaaannn these look good," Katsuya said as he grabbed one, practically drooling on the spot. These looked like they were just ready for eating too, he decided, opening his mouth wide.
"Smells good too," Honda said with a grin, grabbing another one. Though the fish were obviously still red-hot, the sticks were oddly cool; they'd probably been soaked in water before being put there really."Let's dig in!"
And of course someone had to ruin it. There was a shout from behind, along with the sound of splashing water. "W-WHAT THE-" The group, who had all taken a seat around the fire by this point, turned as a tanned young man came out from the water, clearly displeased. Still holding a harpoon with a wobbling fish attached to it, he growled. "Why you... You... STOP EATIN' MY FISH YOU THIEVES!" The group blinked as said man fell back into the water, only serving to tick him off even more. Well... That was anticlimactic... And ohhhh shit, he was coming their way now. The teen charged over, pointing the harpoon at them. "ALRIGHT," he shouted, the point directly aimed at Katsuya's throat. Sheesh, that guy moved fast! He'd barely gotten the chance to stand up and he was cornered! (Good thing he wasn't on yard patrol at Kaiba's...) "Lowlifes, eating someone else's fish! You're not getting out of here alive!"
Katsuya growled, waving the fish in the teen's face. "Hey hey, wait a minute! We haven't even eat'n anything yet! Don't go pointin' yer spear at me!" Even though he had literally been about to stuff the thing in his mouth... Tch!
This apparently didn't help either, as the harpoon wasn't moved at all for a small bit. "Then give it back," he roared, the others doing just, replacing all the fish by the fire. The teen in the meantime, quickly snatched his fish from Katsuya with a still set scowl across his face.
Katsuya in question narrowly avoided being scratched by the harpoon as it was swung away from his throat, the blond rubbing his neck and shaking his head with nervous and wide eyes. "S-Sheesh! What are you anyways, you can't be a duelist!"
"So what if I am," he shouted, before Katsuya frowned.
Ok... Yea he was wearing a glove but... Shit, the guy was wearing nothing but shorts and a swim mask outside of that... Not to mention he was harpoon fishing. Though with no food, that was probably underst- Wait. His original thoughts still stood, the man had a harpoon. "No way... You're like.. A castaway right..?" No way he got that harpoon on the ship... No way...
Apparently he had. "WHO ARE YOU CALLING A CASTAWAY!" This was also apparently an insult! Yikes! The teen held his harpoon, pointing to himself with that still unchanging scowl. "My name is Kajiki Ryota! Duelist of the Sea! Now, I'm just going to assume that you're-" He frowned as Katsuya began pointing at his head, coughing with a smirk. "What the hell are you looking at..."
He struggled not to laugh, Honda joining in with him. The serious expression coupled with this... "Gh... Octopus... G..." The octopus in question, about palm sized, was currently stuck to Ryota's swim mask... And made the entire situation completely ridiculous, and over all just too hard to really pay attention to seriously. At all.
The fisherman looked up, reaching around his head before growling. "Hhhhhr..." Ryota quickly snatched the small octopus from his head, tossing it back into the sea with a shout. "SMALL FRY!"
"WAIT!" The two teens reached out as it sailed off into the sea, groaning. No... The food... "Auuuughhh We could've eaten that..." They could have stuck it on a stick and just roasted and toasted it...
They sighed, taking a seat on the ground again. There went the food... "Our octopus..."
Ryota snorted, shaking his head at the attitudes over the octopus before looking towards the group again. "As I was saying... So you guys are duelists too eh..?" Before they answered, Katsuya watched as the teen's eyes were drawn towards Yugi. Oh great... His look of pure RAGE had just changed to a big fat grin. Because that always ended well... Probably thinking about challenging him right now. Ryota appeared to shake it off however, grabbing one of his fish. "Whatever.. Now then, these look like they're about done..." As he was about to put it in his mouth however, the teen looked back at the group. Katsuya, for his part, was looking rather pathetic, staring at the fish... Because quite frankly, he was hungry, and now this guy was going to eat right in front of them. How could he not expect them to stare? "Alright, alright," he finally said, rolling his eyes. "You can eat too!"
The blond beamed, and he and Honda charged forwards to grab some fish. "Alright! Thank's man!" Food... FOOD! Stick in each hand, he quickly began mowing down on the skewered and roasted meal, momentarily forgetting why he was even there in his haste. Behind him, the others laughed and joined in, grabbing fish as well.
"Hey, leave some for us!" "Hahaha!"
A little while later, they'd ended up getting along surprisingly well with Ryota. As in, really well, the blond decided as Ryota put his harpoon to the side in lieu of conversation. "So, Kajiki," Katsuya said later, as they sat along the dying embers of the fire. "You enter this tournament for th' money too?" So far it seemed everyone was going after that prize in particular, though that was understandable really. The card did say 'Great Riches'.
He nodded in response to that, arms crossed. "You bet," he said with a grin. "I'm gonna spend the prize money on a boat, so that my dad and I can fish again!" The teen continued to grin, laughing as he turned to look at the ocean for the moment. "I hear the prize is HUGE! I'm gonna get the latest sonar equipment and everything... I'll get a big catch, every day!"
The group laughed as he said this, grinning. Hey, live on the seas... Better than perfume and France in his opinion, and from what he could tell this was a family business he was funding here. "Cool way t' live man! Go for it!"
At those words, Ryota nodded and continued. "I grew up watching the sea from the day I was born," he began, Katsuya listening intently. "It's like a person to me... I can tell when it laughs, and I can tell when it cries." Ok, that one was a little weirder than his family business theory but... Well, whatever worked he supposed. "But it works both ways," he said with a shout, turning to the group as they jumped slightly. "The ocean watches us too!" A what? He turned back to the sea, drifting off with a fairly blank stare. "A couple years ago, I was out fishing with my dad, like we always did... The ocean was in a good mood..." He'd take that to mean the ocean was calm... From how Ryota sounded about all this at least. "But then," Ryota said with a frown. "It's mood 'changed'." Ok what? Like storm change maybe? Sheesh, translating Ryota's ocean-speak was harder than it seemed... "The sea rose up and swallowed our boat! My dad and I were saved by a passing ship... We were lucky... But our boat was gone, and we couldn't fish anymore!" He gritted his teeth as the group watched in silence, before continuing. "It could be a coincidence... But not long before our boat sank, there was an oil spill not far from it." The man's fists clenched, and Katsuya found himself wondering if that wasn't a coincidence. It... Was just a little bit convenient for the two to happen around the same time... "Those idiots angered the sea," he shouted, grabbing his now clean harpoon from the ground and gripping it tight. "They did it, with their pollution..." He turned, blinking as he noted the somewhat blank and nervous glances he was getting. The man was coming off as just a few screws loose really... "Well, anyway," he said with a cough. "Sorry to bore you with all that... Just forget about me..."
Katsuya laughed nervously, he and the others getting up. "Hahaha... Yea.. Er.. Well, we better be goin!" Before crazy harpoon wielding fisherman decides they ticked off the sea. "Thanks for th' fish," he added honestly, while Ryota blinked. The teen stood, frowning slightly as the others made to take off as well.
"Yea? No problem... Hey wait, you're leaving?" As they nodded and continued off, the teen snorted. "Hey hold on a second there... I don't have time for small fry but..." He adjusted his grip on the harpoon, before tossing it. "You're not getting away! Hold on there Yugi!" The harpoon landed a few centimeters from the teen's foot, the others turning abruptly. Did... Did he just throw a fucking harpoon at them! What the fuck! The teen chuckled, crossing his arms. Ok... Don't move... The man was clearly out of his mind... "Hahaha... Yugi... I'm not dumb enough to let a fish get away after eating my bait!" Katsuya frowned at those words, linking them to the earlier comment of 'small fry'. Ok... Using Ryota's 'ocean-speak'... Wait wait bait? Those fish were there on- Now that he thought about it, there had been more than enough for about six people... Damn it. "More so if it's a big catch like you!" Ryota continued grinning, while the others turned with frowns. "This place is my turf," he said with a grin. "So I left bait for hungry duelists like you! This way, you come to me... On the beach, where the fight is in my favor!"
The blond tensed, clenching his fists. "So we're jus' stupid fish then, that what yer sayin'!" Great... They'd been suckered into a duel with a crazy harpoon throwing guy. What was with their luck, seriously!
And of course... Yugi couldn't well say no when a game was involved... (He'd noticed that really...)
So a few seconds later they were cheering the teen on from the outside of a duel box. The battle went fairly quick actually, regardless of the fact that Ryota had very, very quickly proven himself to be more than some wanna-be-fisherman; he'd quickly swarmed the field with his sea monsters, hiding them in the watery field from any of Yugi's attacks. Once Yugi dried up the ocean that Ryota's monsters relied on using a trick with the tide however, they'd easily been fried up by the his 'Curse of Dragon'. (Too bad they weren't real fish, because they sure smelled like it...)
The duel had ended with that very mood in fact, but even after that they were still on good terms. Yugi left the box with 5 chips, half the required amount, and Ryota with only one, but regardless of that the teen was still grinning at the match they'd had and promising a rematch some time soon. So with that, they were leaving the beach again, each with grins on their faces. "Good luck to you guys," Ryota shouted, the others smiling in response. As they moved down the path, they could catch a glimpse of the teen diving back down into the sea, likely to do some more fishing while he waited for his next opponent.
"Man..." Katsuya smiled, shaking his head as they moved towards a more wooded area of the mountain. "What a guy... There's somethin' about him you just can't hate!" Granted, in a competition with so much, it was always good to find someone who was a good sport about losing really. Heck, one more loss and Ryota would be done for, but he was still cheerfully going on about it as though it were nothing... Even with a job on the line.
The others nodded in agreement, Anzu smiling. "I guess all the duelists on the island are here with their own hopes and dreams..." Them included! Though... It was more desperate measures than hopes and dreams he'd admit...
Still smiling, Katsuya moved to the front, heading the group. "Alright," he shouted, moving forwards. He still only had two chips, there was a lot to be done! "Let's go to th' next place!" There was a resounding 'Yea!', and with that, they continued off.
Morning.
Mokuba lay back on the bed in the castle, staring at the ceiling with a frown. Breakfast had come and gone about an hour ago, from what his watch said. That meant he had four hours before 'Crocketts' came back with lunch... And that the tournament had since started half an hour before. The boy's frown deepened, and he sat up. Alright... He had with him his school bag, which had his gym clothes, books, and the hat that came with his gym uniform. In addition, he had his clothes, and the sheets in the room on the bed... Which he'd been gathering over the week by claiming that the food stained them... Before magically loosing them as well... That was about it really. The boy pulled out his locket, frown easing up slightly as he looked over his older sister's photo. "Nee-sama," he whispered, before closing it over with a nod. Alright... Given the lack of people outside the door, the tournament had started that day. Which meant Yugi was on the island somewhere, already playing into Pegasus' plan without knowing.
He bit his lip, crossing his arms. He needed to get out of here... The room he was in was three stories off the ground though, something he'd noticed when he first looked out the open castle window before. A lack of security meant nothing next to being stuck on an island in a tower really. The boy stood up, frowning again. But he had to get out of here, and get Yugi out of the competition... If he willingly forfeited or lost all of his starchips (at least from what he could tell from the speech earlier), he'd 'lose to Pegasus'... And then nothing would stand in his way on the path to KaibaCorp! They'd taken him here, that much was true... Eagerly waiting for him to call for a bathroom break too, he mentally added with a smirk. Now that the tournament had started however, he needed to move!
The boy turned to the bed, putting a plan together. He had just enough to cover himself up... And without cameras, Pegasus wouldn't know what he was doing... Mokuba pulled his bag out from under the bed, along with the sheet's he'd gathered. He had about four in total by this point, having played it safe with the sheet stealing. Add that to the two on his bed, and the blanket, that was seven pieces of 'rope' all together. "Alright," he muttered, pulling out his gym clothes. Now then... What with these being a white t-shirt and standard shorts, he wouldn't stand out as much... In fact, it wasn't likely too many would recognize him at all! He pulled his scarf over his face, stuffing as much of his hair into his hat as possible before turning to the pile of sheets. He had to move quickly in order for this to work... The blanket would be the last part of the rope, being the more likely to be a 'weak link' he decided, going over the ends as quick as possible. Just tie this end to the bed and... There!
He gave an experimental tug on the 'rope', before smirking behind his scarf. Alright! Now to get out of there! Poking his head out the window, Mokuba's eyes narrowed into slits as he looked around for any one watching. After all, there were supposed to be 40 people on this island... One for every two prefecture's of Japan plus the finalists of the World Tournament... And Mutou Yugi. Standing on the edge of the window, Mokuba looked down, swallowing. Y-Yikes... It was really high up... Maybe he should have thought of a different way, or gotten a few more sheets...
Mokuba screwed his eyes shut, shaking the feeling of fear off. He couldn't... He couldn't do that! Not when the fate of his sister's company was literally riding on this... Katsuya might have had the key, but that would only keep the most specific and secret of designs safe; other than that, the company itself was 'easy pickings', with the papers a large asset that would merely ensure its new owner didn't go bankrupt. He had to do this... The boy grabbed the rope of sheets, steeling himself. Now or never! One hop down, and he was half a sheet off the window and two feet from its sill. Another hop, and he was six feet down, his hands clutching the sheet for dear life. He could do this... These knots were strong, they wouldn't fall apart!
Three hops... Four hops... Five sheets... Six... Nothing but the blanket now, he realized with a nervous gulp, looking down behind him. Even with all those sheets, after the knots had been made the rope wasn't as long as he'd like... At the end of the blanket, he'd still be two stories up, and even with bushes below that would hurt. Clutching the blanket tight, he frowned. Something felt off... Was he... "A-Ahhh!-!" He paled as the knot around the blanket began to slip, the stuffing inside rearranging to move through the hole the knot made. "N-No... Ack!" The blanket slipped out completely, and he felt himself fall back. It took all he could not to scream as he attempted to go limp, eyes wide as he stared at the sky. Oh god... Oh god he was... -crash- "UNG!"
The boy coughed as he rubbed a few leaves from his eyes, crawling out of the bush with a frown. Ow ow ow... That hurt a lot... Rubbing his back, he shook it off, frowning. Still... Bruises weren't great and all, but it wouldn't be long before someone saw that rope of sheets. He needed to leave, and fast...
With that the boy vanished into the bushes, not a single guard realizing he was missing until a good three hours after he'd made off.
It was about 5 hours into that first day that the cheer was cut off rather quickly. "Ack! Let go of me," someone shouted, the group turning as they saw someone get dragged away. "S-Somebody, help me!"
"What the..." Katsuya narrowed his eyes as the familiar form of Saruwatari appeared in the distance. Currently, he held one of the competitors in a headlock, glaring at the captive as he continued to shout. They were still a fair distance away, but nonetheless the shouts had them running fairly quickly, not a single one of the group thinking that this could be anything but bad news.
Apparently ignorant to the boy's attempts to kick him, the 'suit' holding him merely smirked. "That's enough kid," he stated roughly, growling. "Now pipe down!" Grabbing the kid's glove arm, he held it up with false pity, shaking his head. "Ohhh... Tough luck! Your glove's empty," he said with a grin, holding the boy's neck tighter. As he continued to struggle, Saruwatari's grin grew. "Now that you've lost all of your star chips, you have to leave the island!"
The boy panicked, shaking his head. "N-No! That's not it! This weird kid stole them from me," he cried, flailing against the man's iron grip. Clearly not wanting to be called a liar for his efforts, he continued with the defense. "He took my cards too! You can search me now, just please listen!"
Saruwatari snorted, unfazed. "I don't care how you lost them! The rules are that if you run out, you have to leave! Now give up!" At this moment, the others had finally reached them, and on Katsuya and Honda's part it was taking all they could to not attempt to throttle the guard right there. Hell, they'd done it before at Death-T, wouldn't be hard to do it again! As it was however, they were blocking the path to the docks, meaning that regardless of a fight they'd be at least passing by...
Though 'passing by', he thought with a frown, was far from what they wanted to do at this particular moment. The scowl deepened, and he moved forwards to catch a glimpse of the duelist's panicked and pale face. While Saruwatari wasn't necessarily cutting off the kid's oxygen, he definitely wasn't going easy on him either... And ignorance of alibi's aside, well that... That wasn't playing fair at all really! "Hey Saruwatari," he shouted, the others blinking at the use of the man's name. Saruwatari as well turned, showing just a little surprise at Katsuya's presence. "Let'm go, you heard th' kid! He got his chips stolen, that ain't th' same as losin' a match! Cut 'm some slack!" Regardless of what he'd said earlier about stealing food... This was different; the chips actually affected something. For fish, there was plenty more in the ocean.
Besides, he had a bone to pick with Saruwatari. Who was doing a fairly good job of keeping his past out of his work, given the 'blind eye' he was turning to him. Not that he minded really- it just gave him more incentive to punch the 'monkey herder' in the face. "Hmp! Other participants," he said, seemingly emphasizing that word as his captive muttered cries for help, "Are forbidden to interfere... Unless," he added with a grin, "You want to be disqualified too!"
Definitely not! The blond snorted, turning to the kid. "Hey, you," he said, the boy blinking. "What'd the guy who stole yer stuff look like? I'll go catch'm for yah." Probably wouldn't be too hard... I was an isltand after all, and if they were booting the disqualified people off the island there were probably a few gone from the original group as it was.
He blinked, swallowing nervously. "W-Well," the boy began, still struggling against Saruwatari's hold, "I couldn't see his face... He wore scarf around his neck, and a covered his head with a red cap... He challenged me to a duel, so I passed it off, but the moment I put down my cards and star chips he took them and ran off!"
Great... That wasn't much but... Katsuya looked around, before nodding. Then again, someone attempting to hide like that stood out a lot more than someone who wasn't, so really, regardless of the fact that they only had 'scarf and red cap' to go on it was probably ok. "Alrigh'... Which way did he go?" The boy managed to wrench an arm around his captor's grip, pointing off towards the woods. Alright then... So back where they started then. He nodded before turning to Saruwatari with a glare. "Alright... I'm gonna go catch that thief Saruwatari; so don't go kickin' this kid off th' island!"
Saruwatari smirked, still holding the boy tight. "Eh... I'll think about it.." Translation being 'I refuse to listen to you'. God damn it...
Katsuya frowned, moving to walk away before turning back with a point. "Don't ferget! I promise you, as a man! Star chips are like a Duelists life... I can't forgive anyone f'r stealin' them like that! I'll beat th' crap out of this guy!" As he continued off, he paused, before quickly turning back. "Oh! Almost forgot..." He turned to the boy, grinning. "By th' way... I catch this thief, I'm takin' half your star chips as payment."
"E-Eh..?"
At the boy's confused look, he took off in the direction he'd pointed, Honda shaking his head behind him. "Man... You're a terrible altruist..." Psh, it wasn't a problem!
Katsuya merely ignored that, grinning as he charged forwards. If he got this done, he'd have at least one more star chip, and there would be one less problem on the island. Not to mention it'd be a kick to Saruwatari's face, hehehe... "Lets go!"
As they continued down the path, not a single one of them noticed they were being watched, narrowed eyes peering at them from the bushes.
A full hour later, and still no sign of even a red cap let alone someone with a scarf and a red cap. "Rats," Katsuya grumbled, arms crossed. The sun hung low in the sky, beating down on their backs as they took a rest along the shore of the island. "No matter how much we look we can't find that kid!" Man... This sucked...
"Maybe we should give up," Anzu said with a frown. "I mean... It's been this long..." Only an hour... Not... That long... (Augh...)
The teen scowled, standing up with a clenched fist. "Rggh... No way! If I find that kid, I can get my hands on half th' star chips!" Which would get him that much closer to getting Mokuba back! And who knew how far the guy had been in the tournament!
As he thought of this, Yugi suddenly turned their attention to the ocean, shouting. "Look," he cried. "Over there..! A boat of duelists leaving the island!" Wait what? They left already?
The group looked over, blinking. "Hey," Katsuya said with a growl, looking over the people on the row boat with a glare. It was hard to tell, but given that the guy they saw earlier had a pink shirt and a green vest of all things (The boy looked like a damned watermelon. Terrible terrible...)... He was easy to spot. "The kid whose chips were stolen is on there!" Damn it! "That bastard... I knew Saruwatari would do that! AUGH!" There went half his star chips... "Man this sucks..." At that moment, there was a rustling noise, Katsuya turning abruptly with a partially defensive stance. "Nh!"
"YUGI," a hoarse, poorly disguised voice shouted, a boy stepping out from the bushes. That voice... Sounded almost like Mokuba when he was trying to imitate his sister... But that couldn't be it..! They turned, Katsuya finding himself both elated that the thief was there and confused. This kid... Seemed oddly familiar... He could see why all they had to go on was 'Scarf and Red cap' though; other than that, it was just a white shirt and navy blue pants, effectively the standard gym uniform nation wide! No wonder he didn't bother saying anything, it was basically like saying 'a Japanese kid'! The boy stood there, eyes drifting over Katsuya a moment before turning on Yugi.
Yugi turned, frowning for a moment before smirking. "Hn... It looks like he's after me," he muttered, eying the kid with an odd look. Said kid seemed to have caught Katsuya's narrowed, suspicious glare, and opted to keep silent. For some reason... "Alright," he said, arms crossed. "You want to duel with me?" There was a nod in response, and Yugi moved to walk towards a nearby duel-box. "Ok then... Come with me!" Weird... They had the thief right here and yet...
The kid followed them in, the others standing outside. "Yugi... He agreed t' fight him just like that..." They could have taken him in right there but... This kid... He had to be about Mokuba's age really... He watched as Yugi muttered something, the kid holding out a hand in response. '5'. Probably meant 5 starchips then... "This ain't right... He's gotta know that kid's th' thief, an' yet he's already agreeing t'..." Katsuya shook his head, narrowing his eyes. Twice in a row however, the kid attempted to fight with fairly weak monsters. "This kid really sucks too..." He was no match for Yugi... Hell, Mokuba could probably beat him and he couldn't even-
The door was opened, the kid grabbing the star chips and attempting to make a break for it. "N-Nnn!" Three things happened in that instant; first, Katsuya moved to the door instantly, blocking the kid's exit. Not that hard really, and for a moment as he caught a glimpse of the boys eyes he faltered. Blue... Second, Yugi grabbed his arm, pulling him back easily. The boy struggled, both under the glares of the two teens and against Yugi's apparently iron grip. And third... "AUUUUGH," the boy shouted, still pulling. "Let me go! Let me go," he cried, Katsuya's eyes widening. That voice was-
"I knew it," Yugi said, snatching the hat off as his captive groaned. "It's you!"
As the long black hair was revealed, Mokuba's bandanna fell to his neck, revealing a frightened and tear-stained face. Even Yugi appeared to be surprised however, and as he let go of Mokuba's arm, Katsuya frowned. "Mokuba... I thought you were..." At... Pegasus' castle. Ok, not really a good way to say 'you shouldn't be here' really, lets try something else.
The boy shouted with annoyance as they moved outside, eventually sitting down before the others and staring at the ground. "G-Gnnn..." While the boy wiped his face, scarf hanging around his neck again, Honda leveled a particularly stern glare at him.
"Alright you little weasel," he said with a glare, using a tone similar to when he had spoken to his nephew a few weeks prior. "Come on, fork over the chips you stole! I know you've got them!" Really, why the hell was he stealing starchips anyways!
He shook his head, clenching his fists. "No! I won't!" The boy tensed as Katsuya moved to sit beside him, refusing to look him in the eye.
"Come on man... It's bad enough we've been worried sick about yah, you could at least give 'm back..." He sighed as the boy continued to clench his fists. "Jus' do it Mokuba... Come on..."
Anzu in the meantime, also leaned down, hands on her knees as she addressed the boy. "Mokuba," she said softly. "We were worried... Are... Are you ok..?" Wellll that was a stupid question... Lets see kidnapping, escaping after a week... Whatever else had gone on that he didn't know about...
And apparently, he thought so to, fixing a glare at the ground while he responded. "O-Of course I am! I'm fine! I just..." He gritted his teeth, wiping his eyes. "All of this... Pegasus sticking his nose in while I'm just trying to wait for my n.. My nii-sama to wake up..! Trying to take what's h... His!" Before anyone could say anything on that (After all, Mokuba had been getting along with Yugi fine lately, so he could have just said something really), he continued. "But that's not the reason I'm doing this... It's not!" He should hope not!
As he said this, Anzu looked over to Katsuya. "Then... Kaiba's still..."
Mokuba was pulled into Katsuya's arms, the blond gaining his more 'calm', 'big brother' attitude as he nodded. "Yea... Vegetative state, 24 hour care... You thought that'd change in just a week," the teen added, frowning. He watched as the boy winced at those words, before continuing with a sigh. "...Greatest doctors in th' world looked at 'im, and they still say s- he'll spend th' rest of life like that..."
As the others tensed, turning away awkwardly with that comment, Mokuba continued to clench his fists. "Feh... You guys think you're so smart," he muttered, addressing the others it seemed. As they frowned in response, the boy continued, face torn between worry and anger. "You don't even know why Pegasus bothered holding this tournament, do you! I don't blame you Yugi, for coming... But Katsuya-nii, I even told you about Pegasus..! You could have at least assumed..."
He blinked, before giving a wry smirk. "Why do yeh think I'm here..? I assumed th' worst... Heck, that's the reason why the tournament's on right? T' kidnap you an' pull us in to get at the company right?" That... Was it right?
The boy smiled wryly, while the others looked at Katsuya with dull surprise. That was an oddly smart guess... And from the kid's expression, he'd at least touched the reason. "Close! I'll tell you why... Yea, Pegasus wants to gain control of KaibaCorp... But to do that, Pegasus has to beat you first," he shouted, turning to Yugi as the teen blinked.
"Wait..." Katsuya frowned, narrowing his eyes. "Why would Pegasus have t' beat Yugi in order t' gain control of th' company..?" That made no sense, what so ever...
The others nodded, though they were considerably more out of the loop given that Mokuba hadn't shared this sort of information with them. "Yea," Anzu said, frowning. "And why would Pegasus want-"
He snorted. "Morons..." Mokuba smiled sadly, wiping his eyes. "Pegasus created Duel Monsters, but it wasn't enough to get the game really going... He needed KaibaCorp to really take off, something he did with the 'Duel-Boxes'... The ones that Nii-sama designed. But after he lost to you, Yugi," he said with a frown, "Well... He was president after all... And without a president, the stock plummeted! So of course, Pegasus took advantage of this! After all, with Nii-sama's machines, his cards were becoming a best sell; if he controlled both halves, he'd effectively gain billions! So when he set up a meeting with the Board of Directors," the boy continued, staring at the ground. "Well... They're the top five stock holders after all..." As the others listened, Katsuya frowned, shaking his head.
So when Mokuba said 'Big Five', that meant... "Th' 'Big Five'... Wait, don't tell me that..."
Mokuba nodded, the others considerably unaware of what was going on. "He did... He made an offer to them, and since they now hold the most control over the company, it was an easy deal... There was only one condition, one thing! KaibaCorp relied on a 'Kaiba' holding the position as 'number one'... When you beat him Yugi, that image crumbled." His frown deepened, and the boy turned to face the teen. "Their condition is that Pegasus beat you, in a game of duel monsters, in order to 'restore' that image!"
As the boy stared at him, Yugi chuckled, smirking. "I see... So Pegasus is really looking forward to beating me then, isn't he..." And it looked like Yugi was looking forward to beating the shit out of
"Gh... Don't laugh Yugi," Mokuba shouted, the one sitting with him rubbing his ears. "Not even you can defeat him, not even you..." He gritted his teeth, eyes wide with fear. "N... Nobody in the world can beat him... Even my nii-sama told me that he was invincible... That's why," he said, Katsuya looking down with a slightly confused frown, "That's why I came up with this plan after escaping... If I could steal all of your star chips Yugi, you'd be disqualified before fighting Pegasus... You wouldn't have lost a real match, so the agreement between Pegasus and the Big Five would be void!"
Honda frowned, crossing his arms. "Wait... So that's why you came to the island? You little snot, you had Jonouchi worried sick! You know how weird that was, having him actually worry about something!" Uh thanks?
The boy shook his head, growling. "Moron! That's not it either! They brought me here," he said with a frown, "The big five! Because I have the key..." As the boy grinned, Katsuya and Yugi shared a glance. Um... No he didn't. But hey, for the sake of covering things up really...
"You... Have the key..." Honda shook his head, before continuing. "The key to what?"
Mokuba continued grinning, before answering. "Hehehe... A little while ago, the Big Five decided to snatch me out of school and search my house... They were going to steal all the documents from Nii-sama's safe, in order to complete the deal with Pegasus... But I'd already hidden the key," he said with a laugh, eyes briefly passing over Katsuya. "And I made a replica out of foil... So when they held me before that safe, and I swallowed the copy in front of them..." He continued to laugh, Katsuya shaking his head with a groan.
"So they brought you here thinkin' it was in yer stomach... Ev'n though it'll probably be mush by th' time it comes out th' other end... Euuuughhh..." He and Honda held fairly disgusted stares as Mokuba continued laughing, shaking his head with a grin. God, what was it with kids and toilet humor... Did he do this crap when he was twelve?
"Haha! Yep! Every time I went to the bathroom, those morons would come running to see if it came out! Heheheeee!" Abruptly, the expression grew serious, and he looked back at the ground. "But I won't let them have Kaiba Corp... Even if they rip open my insides looking for nothing! Katsuya-nii," he said, turning to the blond. "Do you... Do you still have..."
To the others surprise, the blond pulled out the key box and nodded. While Yugi momentarily stared at it blankly, the others instead turned to look at Mokuba. "Yea; didn' know it was that important, but I kept it... You know tha' Pegasus knows yah don' have it though right..? Hell... It's th' reason I knew you were here!"
While Mokuba stared with wide and possibly disheartened eyes, Honda frowned. The others stared at Katsuya as well, their own expressions a fair bit shocked. "Dude... You were in on this too?" Apparently being kept out of the loop was upsetting.
He snorted. "Psh, not this part! All I knew was that I was handed a key, sheesh! Which reminds me..." The blond looked at Mokuba, frowning. "Why didn' yah jus' come t' us once y' escaped in th' first place? Instead 'f you know... Stealin' half th' islan's star chips!" Would have solved a lot of-
Ow! Mokuba quickly smacked the still sitting blond over the head, before standing up. "Moron! Didn't being part of the security team teach you anything?" As the others stared, he snorted, continuing. "If I did that, they'd probably guess who the 'thief' was right off the bat! And just showing up would bring attention to myself as well, doing the same thing! That's why!" Well at least he knew now..!
Moving aside from Katsuya, the teen also getting to his feet, he continued. "In any case... If Pegasus hasn't made a move on you for the key, he's probably up to something... At least I know you've still got it though... Listen, everyone," he said with a determined stare. "I know you probably don't believe me but... While he made Death-T to get revenge, that was never my Nii-sama's real dream..." He swallowed, staring up at everyone with a more honest stare than most of them had ever had the chance to see. "Nii-sama... Nii-sama made a promise, many years ago... To build amusement parks everywhere that poor children could go to free of charge! So that everyone could have fun!" Hey... That was... Wow, that was really noble actually. Why didn't he tell him this before? Mokuba continued, the others staring. "That's why he dedicated his life to KaibaCorp," he said with wide eyes. "And that's why I'll give my life to keep it safe! So that when he wakes up, he can finish his dream, just like he promised!"
The group stood in silence, Katsuya looking down with a nod. Alright... It sounded a little off for Seto but... "...I believe yah, Mokuba!" A few of the others blinked, a little surprised that he had said this so quickly; after all, he had a habit of clearly voicing his hate for Kaiba... Though the blond didn't doubt that they noticed the sudden decline in this 'voicing of hatred' over the past few months really. He leveled an intense stare at him, continuing. "But yah gotta believe in Yug' too, understand?" At Mokuba's frown, he sighed, scratching his head. Alright... Plan 'B'... "Listen... Didn' yah think abou' how he got us here in th' first place? F'r me, it's a lil more obvious, I got that... But f'r Yugi..."
Mokuba frowned, turning to the teen. "What do you mean..."
"Yugi's grandfather," Anzu began, arms wrapped around herself as she looked away briefly. "He... Had his soul taken by Pegasus. We know his tricks... He can read minds, that's why he seems 'invincible'... But if Yugi doesn't fight, his grandfather will never wake up..." As the woman turned to look down at Mokuba again, she gave him a pleading look. "So please... If you could give them back, those starchips... We need every bit of help we can get!"
The boy stared, seeming to hesitate before Yugi nodded in agreement. "I promise you Mokuba," he said, looking down the the stern eyes that could do nothing but speak the truth. "I will defeat Pegasus! You have my word!"
Katsuya looked down at the boy, waiting for his response. After a few seconds, Mokuba looked up at him, and eventually he gave the teen a nod. "...Ok..." He reached out his hand, Yugi waiting to take the star chips. "I... I believe you, Yugi!"
Before the exchange was made however, there was a shout from the side. "STOP RIGHT THERE," Saruwatari stated, standing to the side with authority as the others froze. He held his arms behind his back with a fairly smug look across his face, the light causing a blinding glare to bounce from his sunglasses. "Exchanging star chips outside a duel is a violation of the rules!" Of course it was, bastard... At least Yugi still had three starchips; Mokuba had failed to successfully snatch all of them from the table in his mad-dash it seemed. "One more move," the man said with a smirk, "And you're disqualified!" He chuckled, moving towards them as Katsuya moved to shield the boy. "I finally found you Mokuba... You sure led me on a wild goose chase!" Yea, and like hell he was letting him by...
Saruwatari glared as Katsuya stood between him and the boy, eyes narrowed. "Now then, move aside before I have you disqualified for aiding the thief!"
"Like hell I'm gonna-" He paused as Mokuba shoved past him, giving him an odd look. "What..." 'Don't do it,' he seemed to be saying. 'You'll do more in the tournament than out and off the island, so don't do it!'. And when he thought about it... Damn it, he was right..! But to just stand here while Mokuba was taken... "G- ... Damn it... Two of those star chips are Yugi's! Give 'm back!" As Saruwatari snorted, grabbing Mokuba by the arm rather painfully as the boy moved from behind Katsuya, he snarled. "An' let Mokuba go too! He's already gone t' yah willingly, you don' have t' manhandle him while you're at it! Unless yah dropped yer morals when ye switched companies!"
"Hn!" Ignoring the blond, Saruwatari placed a firm grip on Mokuba, smirking. If anything, he moved the boy into a choke hold, something that had the others move to possibly hold Jonouchi back. "How many times are you going to make me say it? The only way to get star chips is to duel for them, so the answer is 'no'!"
At this, Yugi frowned, stepping forwards with crossed arms. "In that case," he began, eyes narrowing as he pulled out his deck. "I challenge you to a duel!"
Saruwatari merely chuckled, shaking his head. "Hahaha... Sorry, but I don't play games... So I won't be playing you." Which also meant he couldn't release Mokuba If you insist however, I'll arrange for a 'special opponent'!" Ok, that didn't sound good...
Ignoring that, Katsuya moved to attack Saruwatari and get Mokuba out of there; so what if he'd be disqualified! He'd have what he come for, namely Mokuba! He might not particularly agree, but the fact was if they did just that then Pegasus couldn't touch them! And while it would be one last shot at Shizuka's eyes that suffered for it... Even she would tell him that the boy's life topped her vision any day! In the end however, he froze, watching Saruwatari pressed a gun firmly against the boy's skull. "You... You fucking bastard..." He stood there, gritting his teeth. A gun... All he had were his fists, and in a hostage situation... Damn it, why did security training have to come to mind now, when all it did was tell him he couldn't do anything!
He grinned. "Now then... If I were you Jonouchi, I would pay close attention to that duel box, where your friend's opponent is sitting!" The blond gritted his teeth, doing as he was told. No matter how you looked at it, getting Mokuba out of that situation was effectively impossible... By the time he moved... "And please realize this... If you try to make a move for the boy again, I will pull this trigger!" He didn't doubt it either... Damn it... Damn it! He wasn't even allowed to turn around..! "Now then... Yugi," he continued, the teen narrowing his eyes. "Take a look at your opponent!"
The others turned as well, Saruwatari facing them with the same 'or else' stare that he'd leveled with Katsuya. The looked into the duel box, squinting through the oddly thick haze of holographic fog before jumping. "W-When the hell..." There was a shadow in there... And in front of the larger one was...
"Th-That's-" "It can't be, Jonouchi just said..." "But then who-"
Kaiba... That looked like Kaiba, like before at Death-T but... He frowned. No... "Nii-sama," Mokuba said, the boy as well being given a clear view. The fog began to clear, and they squinted as they attempted to make out the details of the person. "Or... Someone who looks like..."
His eyes narrowed, the fog finally clearing to reveal who was in there. "No," he shouted, gritting his teeth. "Look closer!" He clenched his fists, shaking as he looked at the one inside the box. A wooden, clearly false mock-up of Kaiba's form, smaller than the woman's real self sat on the lap of another, wizened old man. The man's mouth was covered with a gag of sorts, a hat lowered over his face to prevent anyone from seeing just who he was. Hands gripped the back and arms of the puppet, and Katsuya found himself shaking as he stared into the box. "It's a puppet tha' looks like 'im," the blond said, holding back a growl as the puppet gave a wave. "An some kinda ventriloquist..."
The puppet continued to 'grin', seeming to leer at Yugi through the box with rage. That bastard... Making fun of her like that... Katsuya looked over at Yugi, who was also shaking with anger at the puppet's mockery. No matter what, after all that had happened... Even not counting the events going on a the house now... This was a new low! "That's your opponent Yugi," Saruwatari said with a laugh, apparently oblivious to the waves of anger emanating off the two teens. "The ghost of Seto Kaiba! Get in the battle box!"
Ghost? What the hell were they trying to pull! She wasn't dead! "YOU JERKS," Mokuba shouted, struggling against Saruwatari's hold. "THAT'S NOT MY BROTHER! That's not him," he roared, tears visibly building in his eyes again. "My brother's at home, YOU HEAR ME! YUGI," he cried, choking as Saruwatari roughly pulled back on the boy's body. "YUGI! BEAT HIM! BEAT HIM TO A PULP! YUGI!" The shouts persisted, the teens moods only becoming more incensed. Did they have... Any shame... Any honor at all... Doing this when the original sat on a bed, unmoving, unresponsive...
As Yugi moved to pass Katsuya to do just that with enraged eyes, the blond stopped him for a moment. As the teen looked up at his friend, Katsuya stood there, whispering as he shook. "Yugi," he muttered, voice clearly forced to the low volume that it was. It was done barely however, and if he wasn't careful anyone would have been able to hear him at the moment. "Yugi... Slaughter this guy... And leave nothing left..."
His friend looked at him oddly, staring at him with wide eyes before nodding. An odd request from the one who would ordinarily just be content with watching and shouting from the sidelines... The phrase 'beware the silent' seemed oddly fitting here even. "I will," he muttered, turning back to the box. With not a word more he walked into the box, speakers built on the top leaving nothing that occurred within to the audience's imagination.
Behind the group, Saruwatari laughed, grinning cruelly before speaking again. "By the way... Mokuba... I've noticed that you haven't even said hello to me; don't you remember me at all?" It would be a cold day in hell before they forgot him.
The boy growled, glaring up at the man. "Why should I even acknowledge you," he spat, eyes red and cold. "You've obviously handed in your resignation, Saruwatari!"
He chuckled still more, grinning. "Heh heheh... Well, at least I have the honor of being remembered... But did you know," he said with a laugh, the others growing pale. "Even back then, I was still acting as a spy, working for Industrial Illusions!" WHAT? So even back then, when he'd first been pulled into the house... Katsuya tensed, barely keeping himself from turning around. It was only the threat of the gun that prevented it as Mokuba voiced that same surprise. "That's right," Saruwatari said with a chuckle. "While I was 'babysitting' you, I reported all of KaibaCorps confidential information to Pegasus-san, every last thing, right down to all the things I overheard in your 'conversations' with your brother..." It was a damn good thing that gender wasn't mentioned in those conversations then... "And that's not all I stole Mokuba," he added with a grim laugh, Katsuya swallowing as he forced himself to continue looking at the box. "Just watch this duel... And you'll see just how well the Ventriloquist of the Dead does his job!"
Of the Dead..! Again with the ghosts... With... No... Kaiba... Seto wasn't dead! She was alive, he knew it, it'd only been a week after all, and she'd been so close to recovering and possibly beating the shit out of him! She had to be... She... She was alive..!
...Wasn't she?
AN: Dannnnng Pegasus, you know how to make enemies! And here we thought that was Seto Kaiba's forte! All that aside, as one can probably guess, we're incredibly close to the 'wake up date'. Oddly enough, the next chapter is the last completed one that I have on hand, which means that after that it'll take about a day or so to push out the next one... Depending on my muses and moods, not to mention everything else that goes on. To give you an idea, when I started this, I was pushing out one chapter per day, the exception being the first three, which I popped out in one. So that effectively means it took almost a month to get to this point... Not bad. So just keep that in mind while you wait for the chapter after the next, alright?
There's links out to some art for this fan-fic below; not coloured, being in pencil, but I'm working on it!
And before I hit reviews, I have a poll set up on my profile page concerning later plot, specifically 'FemPriest' or 'CanonPriest'. In agreement with one of my reviewer's, Iona, here is what your choices essentially boil down to:
Leave Priest Set as is (Namely Male): This gives our female Kaiba more reason to doubt the past, or simply appear to. It also means that that part of the fanfic follows quite flawlessly, the canon of the anime, leaving Kisara and the Priest's interactions as is... Save for the main cast, who would obviously (On the part of those who are 'in the know' on Seto's secret) be caught slightly off guard when they actually see the legitimately male counterpart.
Make Priest Set female, and throw in CrossDressing: In this case, I'd need to find a reason other than 'Mokuba' (for obvious reasons), but so far it boils down to career choices; after all, this is Ancient Egypt guys. People like Isis and Mana were likely born into their positions, but it's clearly stated in the manga and anime both that Priest Set literally has to start from dirt to get to that position. If the Priest was female (Priestess... Oooh.), this would make a bigger reason for cross-dressing; it's much more likely in this time period to make it as a man rather than a woman, given the education required to make that position. The problem however, is Kisara; unless 'Priestess' Set is randomly into girls, the relationship would have to be reworked a bit here... Possibly a sisterly bond, or something along those lines.
Make Priest Set female, and obviously so: If there are members of the main cast that don't know Seto's female by this point, they'll be even more shocked here. This one is a little more difficult however, as in addition to the already mentioned difficulties with Kisara, unless a woman was directly related to the previous Pharaoh, in other words their daughter, it was otherwise impossible for a woman to take the thrown... Unless, of course, they married and outlived their husband, while giving birth to no male children. Scary thing is, 'Cousin on Cousin' isn't frowned upon at this time... Hell, 'Step-sibling on Step-sibling' isn't frowned upon, which means that if this is the case, Akunadin's likely to pull some sort of twisted marriage contract deal in his drive to put a female Set on the throne... Yikes.
Up to you! So go look at the poll on the profile page!
Anonymous Review Responses
Two more! Hi Hi there Iona! I'm gonna have to respond to this in pieces too... (Wowwwww... You answer everything... *w* ) The dub anime people got off lucky in a way, since the spikes and lines were censored out.
They say it's for children, even the manga, and yet things like people impaling their hands on durable poly-resin happens. HOW DOES IT FEEEEEEEEL.
Anyways. As I said... Understandable if you didn't get it given that my mind tends to do weird things. On the other hand, check out that same website's 'Ice Queen', without the defrost. Now there you'll find some comparison between the trope and a female Kaiba. (As the page says, 'males are just jerkasses'.) On the other points... I've got my poll set up, and art below! Enjoy!
And hello, 'D'! You're right in saying that we're close to Kaiba waking up... And trust me when I say the ventriloquist is the very definition of creepy. (He will forever haunt me...)
Sad part is, whereas Kaiba lost against Yugi, if the ventriloquist wasn't on the bad end of some 'divine intervention', he would have beaten Yugi. This is with a deck that he hasn't had any practice with whatsoever; yikes.
Usagi's Manga & Japan Guide/Corner
The section that's running out of catchphrases really quick! OH NO!
The duel between Ryota (Otherwise known to Dubber's as 'Mako Tsunami' )and Yugi was solved in a show of 'New Rules as the Plot Demands', which Pegasus pretty much has going through this entire tournament. Half of the field, specifically Ryota's half, was made of water, allowing his monsters to hide in it. Later, when Yugi used the card 'Full Moon' to power up his wolf, it pulled the ocean in... Leaving him with a tiny bit of land to take refuge on for the match, while Ryota's monsters swam up to surround that bit of land. Because of this however, when Yugi actually had his card destroy the moon, the monsters were left beached on his side of the field, due to the tide returning to its original position. Mmmmm fried fish. Ryota's a fairly good sport about these things actually...
Fun fact: Two stories is the height that a human being can easily survive a fall at. Young children tend to get a way with this more though... Oddly enough. On the topic of Mokuba's 'great escape' (Which was written using only that tiny tiny scene we get from the anime), I changed a few things for very good reasons... First, I didn't know the height of the tower, but I'm fairly certain it was more than three stories... Which would be very very bad for Mokuba, so I wrote that down a bit. (The sheets make a shorter rope because of the length it takes for a good strong knot.) As for his clothes, there's a good reason for this. Most of it is the fact that Katsuya, what with him living in the same house as Mokuba, would know exactly what clothes the kid had the day he went missing. Which means that he'd be recognized instantly when he showed up before the group, and I personally didn't want that... What with my slight amusement at the 'duel' between Mokuba and Yugi. So instead, I took advantage of Japan's schooling system; in elementary school, there actually is a bit of uniform in the learning, and that's in the form of gym clothes (Which is fairly common around here as well really), and in some cases, the school has a uniform in the same way that high schools and middle schools over there do. These generally consist of shorts and a t-shirt... Not very common though, hence why it says 'gym clothes' up there. As a side note, the gym clothes of course have pants/long sleeve equivalents...
Nowadays, the 'uniform' for elementary school students is essentially just a hat/umbrella that they absolutely have to use walking to and from school... It's bright yellow, and used to help motorists spot them. While this is generally done only with the really, really young students now from what I can tell, Mokuba's still wearing a brightly coloured hat rather than a toque; oddly enough, this will actually make it more difficult to tell him from some other kid because, well... Aside from the scarf around his neck, it's about the same wardrobe of every other small kid his age. In fact, as there's also a hat (red) in many gym uniforms as well... Making it even harder to really tell whose clothes they are. (To bad it didn't last.) As another Japan related note, the colour of backpacks is sometimes regulated as well, since the bag itself is fairly uniform and specific for school purposes. There's a lot (And I mean A LOT) of other information on schools in Japan on this page here... Same as usual, remove the spaces!
http: /hararie- japan- tokyo- tokyo. com/ japanese_ culture/ temporary- category- a/ japanese- school- uniform /
Another 'Fun Fact', but 'Saruwatari's name literally means 'Monkey Herder'. Given that his job tends to involve rounding up kids and shoving them off on boats when we see him, this makes sense. By the way, Saruwatari is known as 'Kemo' in the dub, and is the guy who says 'ATTENTION DUELISTS!' all the time. 'Crocketts' on the other hand is Pegasus'
The title of this chapter, 'The Messenger from Hell', is the same as the title of the manga chapter that takes place in the last section of this current one; specifically, it's when Mokuba's talking to Yugi about his older brother's condition. I thought it oddly appropriate.
Mokuba's words to Yugi and the others have been altered heavily, in lieu of the fact that A) he's already getting along at least slightly well (This happens when your life literally ends up in the other's hand.)... And B) the original scripted conversation was already used in an earlier chapter. As it is, he's still a slight bit snippy at first, mostly for the reason that his plan has just been shattered. There's also a small bit of dialogue switching, in a one-sided format; one of Anzu's lines was pawned off to Jonouchi.
Another thing that was changed (obviously) is the handling of Mokuba's hostage situation. There was obviously no gun, and no backup in the manga, but the fact is, it's a little interesting how four people missed him being dragged off during that duel. I mean, seriously, why didn't a single one of them keep an eye on the kid! It was fairly obvious that the intent behind the choke hold was less than good. Annnnnd yet... We're in that situation...
And now for a new section...
FanArt and Self-Made Art
The part of the fanfic where Usagi either attempts to get people to draw her stories, or she just wastes time drawing them herself.
Warning: These images are very, VERY BIG. I'm putting these on PhotoBucket for now, as I tend to prefer putting finished art on my DeviantArt account... For now however, there are four finished pencils, soon to be joined by a fifth. In this section, I put my inspiration, the title, the link, and the scene that I'm depciting in the image... Whether it happened, will happen, isn't happening... Notes on any text contained on it... Also stated down below~. Remember, remove the spaces for your link... Each image is separated with a line. And with that, here we go!
'If Noa Was Less Godly' - http: /i5. photobucket. com/ albums/ y153/ natasha_unos_1/ YGO%20Fanfic%20- %20Skin/ Tasha. jpg - Title pending! It's of a scene that will not happen, unless, of course, you want it to... Let me know if that's the case, because it'd be easy to work in. Inspired by the fact that although Noa (Obviously... 'Noah' from the Virtual World.) technically is the 'God' of his little virtual world... But he never really takes advantage of that outside of his duels and being 'all knowing'. At all. Heck, if he wanted, he could turn all of those guys into ants, and when you think about it, you have to respect him for not doing that. Asshole that he was near the end about Mokuba's body, he did turn around after all... And he's a better 'person' for it. - Text featured in this picture... There's a lot. It's essentially the following, as my scanner didn't pick up on it well. By the way, if it's in brackets, it's not text that's on the paper. It's me talking to you.
Anzu, Otogi, Shizuka, Honda - 'F-Female!'
Jonouchi, Yugi - 'We knew this...'
Seto - Na-Nani! (Actually, shown here is the hiragana character 'na', and the kanji character 'nani', or 'what'. Effectively 'Wh-What!' )
Noa: I decided to leave the shoes as is, if that's ok with you.
'The Red String of Fate' - http: / i5. photobucket. com/ albums/ y153/ natasha_unos_1/ YGO%20Fanfic%20- %20Skin/ Tasha1. jpg - Title taken from the fact that the scene it depicts is from that corresponding chapter. It's basically what the picture shows; the figurine Kai, with a very not-Kaiba expression (Which was purposefully emphasized), and a very 'confused' Jonouchi.
'THIS IS MY SECURITY TEAM' - http: / i5. photobucket. com/ albums/ y153/ natasha_unos_1/ YGO%20Fanfic%20- %20Skin/ Tasha2. jpg - In which I completely fail at making Isono look good. In any way at all. So many things wrong with his pose that I will have to fix... Oh well! Depicts a scene that happens (obviously) after the Duelist Kingdom Arc; specifically, this is around the time that Kaiba's going to the museum to meet with Ishizu. What with the Big Five having taken over a majority of her hired help, Kaiba's stuck with using the only people she actually knows aren't working for I2 or some other competitor for 'bodyguards'. Guess who took 'second best'. One can practically see the conversation between these three before hand too...
'Wait, I'm your bodyguard?' 'Until I finish flushing through the other ones... You're the best one I have.' 'SWEET.' 'That wasn't a compliment, Mutt.' '...GH. YOU-!'
Sucks to be Kaiba I guess. (Seriously, her 'bodyguard' is shorter than her now. By half a foot. Not to mention, we've seen quite clearly that Kaiba is more than capable of beating the shit out of any moron that comes his/her way.)
'Meganekko' - http: / i5. photobucket. com/ albums/ y153/ natasha_unos_1/ YGO%20Fanfic%20- %20Skin/ Tasha3. jpg - Also taken from the chapter it's from, this scene happened... But I never wrote it. It was originally intended to be the lunch scene during the summer in Osaka, with Jonouchi and Mokuba at the festival on the bridge. For some reason, Mokuba ended up too tall. Nonetheless, I liked how he came out, so I left it in the sketch... After all, with a computer, I can just scale the sketch down and draw it out properly.
And that's all for now... Until the next chapter everyone!