Skin

by Usagi Squared

Jonouchi Katsuya will always look out for his friends, no matter how weird things get. That means he will keep on fighting, whether facing maniacs with freaky powers, monsters from a childrens game, or the fact Kaiba's a girl. Wait, what? Warnings inside

45. Chapter 44

Red Skies At Morning

---

After the events of Christmas, things had settled into a mostly regular routine to say the least. She and Jonouchi went their mostly separate ways after the holidays passed, with the blond heading to school during the week and work on the weekends while she herself spent as many possible waking hours in her office. And in any spare time that there might have been, time was either spend with Mokuba or on more work... None of which she spent within Jonouchi's proximity, for obvious reasons (Worse than a dog damn it...). There were of course exceptions to this; Mokuba's first riding lesson was one large example, and despite the fact that she personally didn't see the appeal of horseback riding she did have to admit one thing. He was having fun out there from what she saw, even with the number of times he'd been reminded to sit up straight as the horse he sat on slowly trotted in a circle. Reminders to sit up and down filled the air as she watched that first lesson, and from what Mokuba said after his further ones, the enjoyment didn't change. ...She still didn't see much point in the 'sport' though.

Other exceptions however, seemed to be few and far between thankfully. New years had come and gone, with the moronic blond narrowly catching himself before calling her by her first name... Again. And again. And again...

She swore it, if the blond didn't have a place in her brother's heart for some bizarre and unknown reason, the moron would have been kicked out of the house at the very least with nothing in his possession. As it was however... He seemed to be making at least an increased effort not to use the term, though now that the holidays were over she really couldn't tell how much better that was going... Reassuring herself that Jonouchi was the only one who 'knew' to say the least, was probably the only thing that told her he was likely to continue the correction. So really, whether or not that effort was running well...

It was probably doing better than her work was. That was for sure. Despite all designs she'd been working on, despite prototypes of her secondary duel disk already in development, there was no doubt in her mind that her job had seen far better days than these recent ones. For the past two weeks now, despite the substantial evidence that whatever 'game' the board of directors were working on had since been completed, she'd been blackballed completely with excuses that there were minute glitches that needed to be repaired, electrical errors that had to be looked over, that it simply was not ready, and if she heard another word she would-

"Ne-Nii-sama," her brother asked hesitantly from the side, leaning on the desk somewhat. The woman looked up from her papers, blinking. Normally, having Mokuba in the office would be a fairly rare occurrence to say the least; he had school after all, and unlike herself, Mokuba was legally bound to his classes. As it was however, apparently his school had some sort of 'bring your kid to work' thing going on that day... And given the obvious lack of parents, she was the next best choice to hang around the office with for the working hours. As to when the boredom would get to him... It already had, and she could tell. "Nii-sama," the boy said again, frowning as his sister closed over what she had been working on. "Are you alright..?"

The papers were placed to the side, the woman blinking yet again. Hn? Why ask that? Was there anything that clearly said she wasn't? ...Besides maybe the steady scowl she had whenever she looked over the board's latest reports on their 'progress'? Personally, she was surprised they were able to create anything even resembling an 'MMORPG' from Duel Monsters; there was a fairly large gap to bridge between card games and 'sword-shield' style battling, and to do so without creating something either completely pointless or something that was duel monsters 'in name only' would be nigh impossible. Nonetheless, that was apparently what they were doing... And damn it, enough was enough she was going over there to see what the hell was taking so long. She pushed her chair back from the desk, standing up from her seat. "I'm fine," she said somewhat testily, before looking to her brother with an odd expression. "What about you?"

The boy shrugged, standing up himself as the woman moved over to the door. "I'm alright," he said, holding his hands back behind his head. "I just didn't think your job was so..."

"Boring," she asked with a raised eyebrow, smirking as her brother gave a sheepish shrug. Hn! That was because there wasn't anything for him to do! ...Hah... She shook her head, moving to hold the door open as they both walked out. "I suppose you would see it that way," she muttered, letting the door shut as Mokuba walked out into the room. "I'll tell you what," she continued, the pair passing by the secretary and toward the elevator. "How about we both do something a little more than simply design and management today?"

Mokuba looked up as his sister tapped the elevator button, blinking. "Hn... But what else do you do other than that," he asked, following the woman into the elevator before watching as she pushed the button for the next floor down.

"Not much," she admitted, the elevator doors remaining closed only for an instant as they stopped at the second highest level of the building. Oh definitely not much outside the occasional beta test for a soon to be released product... Like hell she'd let anything out on the market before that after all. The two walked out of the elevator, moving through the spacious hall toward what looked to be a board room. "However," she continued, knowing full well that the board had effectively relinquished their offices in order to appear 'busy' in recent times, "I think it's time we convince a few morons under my hire just why they're still here..."

The door opened inward, five middle to late aged men turning from where they sat at a large table. "Seto-sama," Daimon said from the center, the group standing up briefly to bow their heads in 'respect'. Normally the right thing to do would be bow back but... Quite personally they could all go to hell for what she cared. "...And Mokuba-sama," the man added seemingly as an after thought, both Kaiba siblings sneering somewhat in response. Sounded almost as though that had been tacked on, now why would that be... "Would you care to take a seat," he 'asked', despite likely knowing the answer already.

Seto merely crossed her arms as they stood there, her eyes narrowed. "Unfortunately," she 'admitted with a frown, "There are a number of things I still need to deal with, so I'll only be a moment..." The mostly hidden look of distaste on her face increased, eyes narrowing further "I'd rather not waste any time..."

The men nodded, taking their seats once more without skipping a single beat. "In that case," muttered Oshita, the grey haired man folding his hands over in front of him, "What brings you in here Seto-sama?"

Yes, a very good question, wasn't it? She continued to glare, grip on her arms tightening while she held back a growl. "It's about your 'adventure game'," she stated, gauging the board's reactions. Not a single wince, clench, grimace... "Given previous 'findings'," the woman continued, "You should have long since had a full copy of the game prepared for the final test run. However," the woman continued, Mokuba mirroring her expression from beside her, "You're instead sitting here, claiming otherwise... Regardless of the fact that not only do I have evidence of not one but five completed 'Virtual Reality pods' to run the program, but that you have already hired a civilian to test the program... Without my knowledge," she added darkly, growl forming in the back of her throat. "I don't think you need to ask just how disgusted I am by your actions, which you apparently have no problems with doing despite how unbelievably lucky you are to still be here after your stunt during my absence." Or course, given her tone, it was more than clear as to how little luck had anything to do with it. "You are going to show me that game," Seto demanded with a growl, eyes narrowed into slits. "And you are going to allow me to test it completely, within this current day, before you can clean out your desks and leave... Understand?"

The board turned to themselves, sharing a number of odd glances for a moment. Silent stares were exchanged and a number of them appeared to look to Oka and Ota in particular before the latter coughed and turned forward. "Well," the technical expert stated, Oka nodding from beside him with an odd gleam in his eyes. "How appropriate of you to ask that just now," he continued, smirking. "In fact," he added almost darkly, the others nodding in agreement, "One might almost call it convenient..."

Otaki nodded as well, arms crossed. "Very convenient," he continued with a 'smile'. "We just recently finished with the last of the bugs in the system... As a matter of fact," he added with a somewhat smug grunt as he leaned back against his chair, "We were about to call you down to tell you this!"

"Hn..." Seto snorted somewhat, expression unchanged. Oh yes. 'Very' convenient. There were clearly all rushing for the phone when she'd come in. "I see," she muttered, staring the board down. Still no reactions... And that was never good. "You five seem oddly eager to leave this building," she eventually said, watching as Daimon pulled out a thick pile of bound papers from the side. "Given that whether this program is approved or disapproved you'll be leaving your employment here regardless."

The five merely turned to the woman, either smiling oddly or simply frowning in the case of Oshita. "Yes, well," the aged man stated with a low grumble, "You yourself seem oddly eager to be rid of us yourself," he said with a growl.

Mokuba grit his teeth at the words, scowling as he attempted to stare the men down himself. "And for a good reason," he shouted, the board turning to the boy with mild if not possibly non-existent glares. "After all, thanks to what you did, Pegasus almost killed us both!" ...One way to put it, that was for sure.

There was a small round of awkward coughs with the accusation, Oshita merely nodding his head somewhat in response. "Yes... Well. That is unfortunate," he stated, both siblings before him clenching their fists at the words. Well, he sounded so genuine about it, now didn't he? "But you must understand," he protested, a faux look of scowling worry on his face. "We had no idea that he would attempt such a terrible thing! Believe us when we say this!"

Bullshit. This was complete bullshit. And still they went on, regardless of the fact that they all knew it was a lie... Damn it. "This is correct," Oka stated, adjusting his glasses and leaning forward slightly. "Our deal to create a merger with Industrial Illusions before your return was only to save the failing stock, there was never any foul play intended..." No foul play what so ever hn? She would believe that when the mutt had a PhD in molecular physics... And was teaching it.

And still it went on. "In fact," added Daimon, smirking oddly as he spoke, "Why not let your opinion on the game decide our fates?" Hn? Seto raised an eyebrow at that, listening. They were actually saying that out loud regardless of the fact that she would agree to that when she believed Oka's last words? If she didn't think there was something else going on before... This was enough to send sirens on a rampage. "Perhaps our work will be enough to prove to you our loyalty," he continued, standing up to hand Seto the large binder he'd pulled out. The woman took it, narrowed eyes looking over the blank white cover for a moment. "What do you say," the man asked with a smirk. "If you don't like the game, if it's such a terrible investment and we've wasted all our time, then we'll leave... If not," he added, Seto merely putting the book under her arms as she crossed them, "Then we remain in your employ..."

The woman snorted, narrowing her eyes. "Tch! I believe I am the one who decides that," she stated with a growl before turning. Leave the people who tried to kill her brother under employment, what kind of moron did they thing she was. ...Though despite their position, they could certainly be doing worse, she realized with a mental jolt. "...We'll see how this test goes," she 'decided', before leaving the room with Mokuba. Basement floor two of the research division wasn't it? The button was pushed and a moment later elevator doors opened, Seto and Mokuba both walking in and watching the doors close behind them. She pushed the button, Mokuba watching with a confused frown as his sister stared out the glass wall of the elevator back.

"N-Nii-sama," he said as he bit his lip, the woman beside him merely flipping through the first few pages of the binder. "Nii-sama, doesn't this seem a little bit... Erm..."

"Dangerous," she asked, turning to look at the boy. There was a reason she was looking through this book, and it wasn't just 'for kicks'. "Trust me," the woman said with a growl, continuing to look out the back of the elevator. "If it wasn't for a few very well written forms I found on my desk the first time I attempted to fire these morons, they would be long gone..." As it was they were being extremely stubborn about the only other option. Her eyes narrowed further with those thoughts, the binder closed with a snap as they came to the second basement floor. A smooth and quick ride... Hopefully the 'game' would run just as well. "Either way," she stated, the doors sliding open before them, "It's either I 'test' their game, or we're stuck with them and whatever other stupid attempts to cause problems that they might have at their disposal..." Her eyes narrowed with that, the woman walking out of the elevator with Mokuba at her side. "And there are a large number of more 'permanent' ways they can deal with us," she muttered somewhat quieter as they made their way down the hall, knuckles growing white as she gripped the binder under her arm. Far too many ways for her to risk ticking them off further, despite all of her own power. It didn't take much for a thorn in a person's side to cause pain after all.

Mokuba frowned, swallowing nervously as they walked down the mostly dark hallway toward the research section of the building. He knew full well what 'permanent' meant... "Then," he asked quietly, the only other sound in the hall being their footsteps. "Then what's going to happen to you," he finally said, the boy looking up with a worried expression. "If there's something wrong with this... If...I mean..." Mokuba shook his head, choking somewhat. "It's supposed to directly connect to your spine," he protested, eyes wide. "If even the smallest thing goes wrong, even the smallest thing, what happens if you... If you..."

"I won't die," she said with a tense growl, eyes not once turning back to her brother as she cut the boy off. There was a small span of silence, footsteps echoing through the air. "You have my word on that," the woman continued at a softer tone, looking down at her brother. "I won't lose this game."

The two stopped as they came to the room that the board had cited as their 'development' room, a typically 'identity-less' and thick set guard turning to them as they approached. It was one of three that the board had taken; and home to the second of the 'single' pods that were to undergo testing. "Seto-sama," the guard stated with a bow, before punching a few numbers into the pad on the door's side to let the two in. 2, 5, 2, 2... She blinked, quickly recognizing the code as that of Pegasus' own. Funny how that worked. Even so... Those numbers, what did they spell out... Her thoughts were cut short as the guard spoke again, Mokuba walking into the room ahead of them. "Should I prepare the computer for you," he asked, nodding over to the large 'control center' that sat at the side of the pod.

Seto shook her head, walking past the man and examining the room. "That won't be necessary," she stated, briefly looking to her brother as the boy looked around the immense room as well. Computers, equipment, even boxes filled with spare parts littered the room, the only truly clear area being that of the space around the pod and behind the 'control center' itself. "Mokuba should be able to handle the controls perfectly well with the instructions we've been provided with," she continued, turning to the guard with somewhat narrowed eyes. "...You can leave now," she added darkly, the guard nodding nervously and doing just that. Good. One less problem to deal with. Now then... Seto looked back at the 'pod' in the center of the room, idly listening as the door shut behind her with a series of clicking gears.

"Nnn... N-Nii-sama," Mokuba said nervously, looking at the pod as well before turning back to his sister. "Are you sure there isn't another way to do this, so that maybe... Well..."

"I'll be fine," the woman said with a small nod, cutting her brother off once again. Stop reminding her of the risks... She'd win despite them, just stop reminding her. "I told you that much, didn't I?" Seto turned to her brother, before handing him the binder and moving toward the pod with a mostly stone glare. "I'm going to beat the living hell out of these morons when I'm through with this," she muttered, looking over the pod before turning back to Mokuba. It was already open... According to the book, the device would close in on whoever sat in it automatically, with the rest of the device controlled by the attached computer...

Because hey, that was just so comforting, and helped the already tense situation so much, given how well she knew about the connections this thing had. Numbers were running through her head again, in a failed attempt to calm herself down... 2, 5, 2, 2, 8...

Ah... Her eyes widened slightly as the numbers clicked into place, a single word coming to mind. Perhaps it was just her comparing this situation to an equally hopeless location, but even so... "Mokuba," Seto stated as she prepared to sit in the pod, turning as the boy looked up from the binder. "Before I go under," she continued, sitting partially on the seat in the pod, "The code to this room and the other systems is 'Alcatraz', understand?"

Mokuba blinked, before following Seto's minute gaze over to the camera and nodding. While their wasn't any audio, she wasn't taking any chances that the room wasn't bugged... The look on her brother's face told her that he understood the situation however, and she nodded as well. Good... He got it then. She just hoped he knew the proper conversion of numbers... The woman leaned back in the seat, tensing only slightly as a large headpiece settled over and around her skull, tinted class hiding most of her face from view as steel encompassed her ears and head. Thick cushioned metal revolved from behind her to secure her shoulders into place, preventing her upper body from moving out of the seat. The glass from the above pod began to close over as the device locked her into place, and the pod itself was slowly turning toward the control center as Mokuba made his way to it and looked through the binder in his hands for instructions on the device itself.

A computerized voice came seemingly from nowhere as she sat there, a small drawer coming out just under her fingertips as it spoke. 'Please place your deck in the drawer,' the voice stated, Seto moving her arm up to pull the deck out of her breast pocket. Since coming back from the Duelist kingdom, it remained in that pocket and it would go no where else; if it had been so easily stolen before, when it was hidden away... Well. That wouldn't happen anymore, now would it?

She stretched her arm slightly to hold the cards over the drawer, dropping the deck in and watching as the device retracted into the seat arm with a small click. The glass above her had come into place as well, rendering the entire pod claustrophobic-ally silent as she looked at her brother through the glass. Mokuba was saying something from the other side of the pod... She couldn't hear him, but she had a feeling she knew what he was saying given the expression on his face. 'Nee-sama,' he was saying under his breath, eyes wide with worry. 'Please be alright...'. "I'll be fine," she shouted somewhat, expression unseen behind the thick glass of the 'helmet' around her head. He probably still couldn't hear her... But even so, she would say it. "No matter what, I will win," she continued, nodding as much as the machine would allow. "Start the game!"

Though she couldn't hear the answer, she was able to see as the boy pulled a large switch before him. It took both his hands but it was pulled down, a barely audible click coming from outside the pod. The screens behind Mokuba flashed in response to the action, and again the computerized voice echoed around her in greeting. 'The Game will now begin,' it stated 'calmly'. 'Please remain still, and try to relax.'

Relax? Hn! Because being put into the equivalent of a literal 'death trap' was relaxing... As lights passed through the helmet, but even so the woman closed her eyes. Something was pushing against the back of her neck, and on her forehead... Something cold, but abruptly the sensation vanished, along with the rest of her senses. It was time... Time to see how much work had gone into this 'trap', and into this game... Lights continued to fill into a blur despite the fact that her eyes were closed, lines of code streaming past her eyes and soon enough...

The game had begun.

---

There was nothing but darkness when she opened her eyes, or at least when she believed that she had. Her mind and body thought she had. But she knew for a fact that if she had actually opened her eyes she would have seen nothing but glass and her little brother. And thus the ability to cut off all her sensations was more than proven for the virtual reality world. Tch... Seto blinked a few times, looking around the empty space with a frown. Regardless of cutting her senses off however, this place... There was nothing above, beside, below... Nothing at all. She felt almost like she was floating through a thick cloud of smoke, a heavy blanket of smog, and yet she was having no troubles breathing whatsoever. At least, that was what her mind told her. Darkness... For all she knew there was nothing but darkness... She looked down at herself, breath catching in her throat as her eyes widened. Despite the darkness, she could easily see herself. "G- Where the hell are my clothes?" She didn't even look like herself so to speak, it was more as though she was made of 'light' or some ridiculous other medium. What the hell was this? The closest thing she could call it was glowing, but that? Glowing? Hah!

Nonetheless, this machine was already posing a threat; if it so easily stripped her down to absolutely nothing in only an instant... Who was to say that the board themselves wouldn't have access to that information, ready and more than willing to turn it against her? 'Greetings,' a voice called from above, Seto tensing slightly and turning upward toward the voice. Gh... The computer... 'Welcome to 'Duel Monster Quest' version .10,' it stated 'cheerily', before continuing on. 'Please pay close attention to the instructions given.' The woman merely stared, a frown on her face as the voice continued. Instructions... Hn. 'A number of questions will be asked,' it continued with its emotionless cheer, Seto crossing her arms in response. 'Please answer them honestly.'

Only if they didn't concern herself, how was that? And even then... 'First,' the voice began, Seto listening only slightly as it spoke. 'Decide on your name please.' Name? Hn. "'Kai'," she stated calmly, deciding to stick with her arcade initials to keep things simple. No letter limits, no problems with pronunciation... 'Thank you,' the voice said, its subject snorting somewhat in response. Programmed politeness... How contradictory. Though at least a program was still readable... 'Next,' the voice continued as expected, 'Decide on one of the following battle classes.'

Classes? She raised her eyebrows as what appeared to be floating panels depicting fighting men and woman floated up around her, hovering in place. Well. Hn... So this would be more than just cards. Interesting, she would admit, looking over the panel before her as a description hovered beside it. Even so... She moved her hand, watching as the panels 'scrolled' before her with somewhat raised eyebrows. Hnn... That was interesting. Now then... Her choices were... Warrior, White Mage, Black Mage, Archer... Summoner, Thief, Monk... She paused on the one following the last, skimming over the description. Hn... While the 'stat growth' would never be quite as high as the classes it borrowed skills from, this one was balanced enough... And given that she didn't know what sorts of advantages or disadvantages either 'skill set' would have, the balance would effectively be required, much as she'd prefer a guaranteed powerhouse. 'Red Mage'; she'd have 'magic' (however the hell that would work out) and a sword both from what the description said. Far better than just relying on one or the other in her opinion, though she would have to see how that worked.

She tapped the panel with slight hesitation, watching as the others around it abruptly vanished from sight while leaving the 'Red Mage' intact. Hnn... Interesting. 'Thank you,' the voice stated again, Seto looking up briefly as it continued. 'Now,' it asked, 'Please decide on your initial armor.' That wasn't decided with the class? The woman watched as three sets of armor appeared from the panel, the 'Red Mage' vanishing in its place as the three hovered before her. Ahh... This was why; due to the 'jack-of-all trades' status, she had the option of either form of armor... Cloth, leather or metal. Hn...

The woman frowned, looking over her options. If the computer had detected and revealed her gender, she would need to be careful with her choices... For now, there was probably just a blank screen on the 'outside world'; there was no way after all, that the board would dare to possibly reveal a nude player on-screen... Even they had standards, or at least she would think that much.

But who was to say that whatever appeared on the screen after this, when the game itself began, wouldn't do that just as well. Who was to say what would appear on those screens for anyone watching to see? Tight-fitting metal armor was out of the question, given the likely result she would gain... Same with a number of the cloth ones it would seem, given how they were somewhat tightly wrapped to the models on the panels... "This one," she muttered, choosing what looked to be a mix of cloth and leather with a small nod. Neither tight fitting nor too flimsy to stand against whatever the hell would be attacking in this game... Besides the layers of clothing however, the cloak should hide the rest of her from view, provided it remained closed at all times. Now then.

'Thank you,' the voice stated on cue, sounding almost like a broken record to the woman below. 'Please listen carefully to the following instructions,' it continued, Seto in the meantime watching with slightly shocked curiosity as the armor she'd picked appeared overtop of her body. Leather and cloth had simply misted into existence, the feeling of the cloth rubbing against her skin as it weighed her down. Hnn... She flexed her fingers, testing the mobility she had with the gloves she was now wearing. ...Not bad... Though...

Why was it red, she'd have thought white at the very most or- Right. ...Red mage. Never mind that then... She turned her attention back to the voice, crossing her arms as she continued to 'float' in the darkness. 'Each player begins with 2000 lifepoints,' the voice explained calmly, continuing on. 'For each monster summoned, half of the monster's attack will be deducted from your lifepoints.' W-What? What? Since when did summoning require- 'Spells and traps as well require lifepoints, their number depending on skill-level and power-level both.' She grit her teeth, nonetheless listening. Alright... That wasn't too bad... But since when did summoning or setting a card require that? 'In order to gain lifepoints,' the computer added, seemingly unaware of its subject's current scowl, 'Monsters must be defeated. For each monster you defeat, its attack points will be added to your lifepoint count. Money and experience for use in skills will be earned in addition to this from single attacks. However,' the voice warned, Seto narrowing her eyes in response. 'You will not gain experience from attacks inflicted by a summoned monster.'

Hnnn... So in other words, it was a form of 'easy way, hard way'... Summon cards to end a battle quick and risk it all, or simply fight without the cards for a larger prize. 'During battle,' the voice went on, pulling Seto's attention back up once more, 'Only one card may be drawn to start. The option to draw a second card will be given in the event that the opposing monster is either stunned or otherwise incapacitated,' it added, 'pausing' for a moment. 'Alternatively,' it added a split second afterward, 'Spells allowing new draws may be used. However, please keep in mind,' the voice warned, 'That there is a limit of seven cards per player. All cards drawn beyond the limit will be destroyed immediately.' Alright then... The same rules as the game itself, she could live with that. The destruction of the cards were new, but again, she would deal with it. 'Lastly,' the voice stated, Seto bringing her hands to her side as she waited, 'Once all lifepoints have been lost, the game will be over. The option to quit the game or continue from a previous point will be offered.' Would it now? So then there was a fail-safe against actually 'dying' in this place then... Though she had considerable doubts that this voice was telling the truth given who programmed it. Extremely large doubts... 'Thank you for your time,' the computer said 'calmly', an odd sensation filling Seto's body with the words. 'We will now begin the game.'

Alright then. And how would- Seto froze, watching as the blackness below abruptly cleared to reveal the far off ground. The tops of the trees were so far off that she could see the thin space between each one, the small clearings that appeared... In the distance, far to the north of the wood was a desert, and beyond that a wall of sand. Before the desert there sat a single withered patch of land, which brought her attention back to the trees below as the details on their tops became clearer. Falling... She was falling, and yet all the same she wasn't... It was more like the 'board' so to speak was coming to her. The trees below were drawing closer, and yet as she drew close she couldn't feel too bothered by that fact- she wasn't falling after all. She was perfectly fine. She reached the ground, eyes closed briefly as she landed with a silent thump in her feet. And slowly she opened her eyes again to the sound of distant chirping birds and a cold breeze. Seto looked around, calmly taking a few steps forward in silence. Silence was all the wood had besides the distant and occasional chirping. On one of the trees beside her there were a cluster of cicadas. On another, a large flock of birds taking refuge from something unseen. The woman paused, looking over herself now that there was light around enough to see. Better to check for anything else the game dropped on her now, before any battles began, then later in the middle of a fight... Particularly since she didn't know exactly how the battle system would work just yet. So far there were no changes. Besides the red cloak and matching cloth armor she had a long and thin blade at her right side. Idly she wondered what good it would be if she didn't know how to wield a sword... But something told her that programming fixed that. She looked around her left wrist, frowning slightly.

Now this was out of place... "Hn... The deck holder from my duel disk," she said with a snort, looking at the small blinking '2000' on its cover. Lifepoint counter and deck... And just what was she expected to do with her other cards, hold them through battle? Well then... She moved forward in the forest, adjusting the hat her armor came with and looking around. She should probably not attempt to summon any cards for the moment... The draw would of course be random, but she had a feeling that somewhere near the top was one of the magnificent beasts. And as much as she would enjoy blasting through whatever appeared with Blue-Eyes, summoning the dragon would cost her 1500 of her lifepoints; a risk that even she was unwilling to take for the moment. She moved her wrist back down, continuing through the forest. Not as though she could draw a card now of course; she wasn't in whatever this program would consider a battle, that was for sure. And battles aside, she didn't even know the point of this game. How the hell was she supposed to fight if she didn't know what the point of the game was?

A low growl came from behind her, Seto turning with somewhat narrowed eyes. Low as it was, the sound was more than loud enough to silence the birds and the insects both, the entire flock fleeing in a panic. Nothing directly behind her... The woman slowly looked upward, staring high past the tops of the trees in silence. Enormous violet scaled heads sat high above her, golden horns gleaming in the light of the sun. Large and equally golden eyes stared her down, and with a thundering roar the two-headed king rex rose to its full height. The trees? Likely between 40, 60 meters tall. The giant, draconic dinosaur? She could see it's shoulders between the tips, so that probably said something. Even so; she knew what this monster was... And compared to her own deck, this was nothing to sneeze at. She drew a card from her deck holder, frowning. Tch... Much as this card would be handy if she lost life points... She blinked, watching as the card abruptly vanished in her hands. Where... Where did it- 'Card added to hand,' the computerized voice from before called, Seto merely looking back at the two-headed monster that had toppled a number of trees as it walked. Well... She supposed that explained a few things. No cards for now... The woman fingered the handle of the blade she had, narrowing her eyes. "Hn! Trying to beat me with a game like this," she muttered, drawing the sword from her side and holding it tightly in her right hand. This pose she was taking... She wasn't sure how she knew it, but this was a fencer's position... ...Great, the computer could change her own thoughts. Alright... The dinosaur before her stomped closer toward the woman, Seto not moving an inch. She couldn't think about that for now... Instead, she would see how the combat system of this game went. "Bring it on," she growled lowly, blade held at the ready.

The monster merely roared in response, snapping its jaws before bringing one of it's massive and truck-sized feet toward the woman. Closer, closer... Before the beast could have the pleasure of squashing her beneath its toes however she had long since rolloed out of the way. The first of the two heads turned from where it had stepped, looking beneath it's again raised foor before snarling in annoyance. The second turned, uttering a growl and pointing the first toward where she stood; with low and enraged growls the dinosaur stomped forward yet again, the ground quaking beneath its feet. "Grrrrnn... GRAAAAAAOOOO!" She winced slightly as the sound shook through the now mostly clear field, gritting her teeth. "GRAAAAOOOOOOAAAAA!" Tch! Loud enough? The dinosaur opened its two great mouths, a blast of flame charging between their jaws as Seto stared up with wide eyes.

Hang on... Since when did dinosaurs breathe f- She jumped to the side as the flames struck the ground, watching with wide eyes as she came to a stop a full fifteen feet away from the location. Alright... If there was one thing she knew about jumping long distance, it was that that would have ordinarily been impossible if she was actually jumping... Even running before a jump four meters and beyond was unlikely! It was one thing to avoid being turned into charcoal... But that distance... A small smirk came on her face, the woman looking over at the still flaming trees with an odd smirk "...Hnhnhnhnhn..." She chuckled darkly, looking up at the dinosaur as the smirk grew. "Hnhnhnhnhn..." Well now... It looked as though the players in this game had fairly exaggerated reflexes! How fitting in a battle with a monster more than ten times her size. The smirk faded somewhat, and again the woman took a combatant's pose of sorts. As she told her brother before this game began... She would win, no matter what! The blade at her side was held well at the ready, Seto staring down the dinosaur as it turned its heads to strike. The heads both snarled, apparently more than enraged about the the fact that its prey had again dodged the attack. Honestly, the size of a small skyscraper and it couldn't make a hit? "Hn! Pathetic," she shouted up at the beast, the dinosaur in question snarling in response. Come on... Come on! She continued to stare, watching as the closest head finally attempted to smash her into the trees behind her with it's jaws. One jump and the attack was again easily dodged, a low and muffled growl coming from behind her among the sounds of splintering wood.

The growls continued behind her, Seto herself landing squarely between the beast's horns and turning back as the cluster of trees in its maw finally cracked into piles of what could barely be called toothpicks. The second head of the giant rex gave a loud and angered roar, Seto grabbing the beast's horn as it's trapped head was pulled cleanly from the ground and branches. It was a difficult grip... But although the horn was easily a number of times larger than herself it served as more than enough to support her balance as the head beneath her rose up. A fierce growl entered the air from the second head, the woman staring it off as she gripped the side of the horn in her free hand. Higher she rose, higher and higher... The second head growled menacingly, its target simply smirking as it rose above the first. Now, she thought as the head she stood on ceased to move, the woman moving away from the horns and toward the weak point of the monster's neck. Come at her... Come on...

Razor sharp teeth that could likely saw her in two on their own were bared in front of her, Seto hurriedly charging down the first head's neck as the second one struck. A swish of air was all she felt as she rushed down the monster's neck, along with drops of blood and saliva from the monster behind her. A loud and ear-splitting 'scream' came through the air as the first neck was severed, before the cries cut short. The second head pulled out as Seto continued to run, the spine she stood on hanging limp as the neck began to bleed out. It wasn't moving... Alright. That was one half of this thing's life then. Seto ran toward the base of the second neck, the dinosaur snarling and storming around in an attempt to throw it's attacker off. "Gh..." The woman stumbled, boots scraping against the side of the monster's scales before she grabbed the crook between the beast's two necks, hanging by her hand as the monster continued it's rampage. "Damn it..." Seto dangled from monster's back, looking down and narrowing her eyes. Well- that was definitely not an option. In that case... "HAH!"

Blood splayed over the woman's face as her blade entered the base of the second spine, the dinosaur abruptly cutting it's cries. Deeper and deeper she pushed it in, before pulling it roughly from the dragon's corpse as it toppled forward to the ground with a resounding thud. Seto stood as the beast came to 'rest', droplets shaken from the blade as she looked over the dinosaur in disgust. "Tch... Remind me to put a 'cleaning' program in this," she muttered, looking over her already somewhat stained clothes. Blood, blood everywhere... Not to mention the fact that she'd likely been drooled on by this stupid beast, though it would probably be better for her mood if she just didn't think of that. The woman slid down the motionless dinosaur's side, before turning as the beast itself began to dissolve into nothing. Vanishing into bits of dust that blew away to nothingness, leaving nothing but a field of ruined trees in her wake... A small beeping sound from her side caught her attention, Seto watching as her lifepoints shot up by a full 1600. Well, she thought with a smirk. There was at least somewhat of a bright side here... Not a bad reward for-

She blinked, freezing as a small band of shadow came over her eyes. The shadow resembled tinted glass to say the least. However, while that in itself was somewhat alarming, the text that appeared with it was a little more surprising. What was this... A menu? The band filled with scrolling numbers, a small stat sheet appearing before her as the numbers shifted around. One stat 'plus 2', another 'plus 3'... 'Welcome to level two', the menu stated in the same familiar computerized voice, Seto idly watching as the blood on her sword and clothes vanished with the dinosaur. Alright, scratch the need for a 'clean' system then... 'Remaining points until level three- 253 of 1200'. That much already? Hn... In her experience most RPG games didn't quite level so quickly... Then again, she supposed the leveling system made sense given the size of the monster. Of course, against Blue-Eyes it would have been a joke rather than the mild blood bath that had just occurred.

Seto walked over to where a card of sorts had fallen on the side of where Two-Headed King Rex's body had been. It merely hovered in the air in the same position the beast had fallen to, standard duel-monster's backing one one side and a small number on the other. '5'. She grabbed the card, idly watching as it vanished and the 'menu' appeared above her eyes again. Hn... She scanned the numbers, hands returning to her sides as she looked it over. An inventory... On the side was a menu labeled 'hand', which she idly noted contained her 'Gift of the Holy Elf' card. On the other side under a small counter however... 'Gold – 5'. Not much per say, but it was only one monster really. Besides, for all she knew '5 gold' was a virtual gold mine. The woman looked around as the menu vanished from sight, sword still gripped in her hand as she walked. Whatever; the battle was over with, and it was time to move on... Heading for wherever she was supposed to go in order to continue this game. It would have helped if there was a way to simply 'log out' really, but as it was it figured that there wasn't. Even if she did 'log out' so to speak, she told herself as she moved, it was more than likely that she'd be told to test the game in full. Damn it. Regardless, no way out save apparent 'death' it seemed...

At least from what she could tell. 'This is what happens to loosers' indeed... She shook the thought from mind, biting her tongue. Why the hell was Gozaburo's twisted 'lesson' coming to mind now of all times? She needed to get out of here. Focus on the game, get it over with, and she could go home with Mokuba... For whatever it was that had him so excited from the start of the morning. Seto's eyes drifted around her as she continued to move, the red cloth of her armor standing out considerably against the green pine. The woods around her were thick and expansive... Dark, far darker than the clouded sunlight she had in the 'clearing' before. The darkness seemed to increase despite the space between the branches above, and as she continued on the path the trees themselves seemed to slowly rot away to nothing but withered and petrified husks. What was once a forest of enormous and majestic pine grew down into a wide expanse of blackened trunks, needles equally dark despite the fact that they rose far above her. The ground itself was littered with branches and needles themselves, all a murky black-brown in colour and crunching loudly beneath her feet. It was neither the scenery nor the prospect of being killed in a virtual reality that by all aspects felt real that had her on edge however...

Rather it was the silence that surrounded her in the meantime. A complete silence, to the point that not a single form of living creature could be heard, with the only sounds that of her feet stepping across the blackened pine. The feeling she had however, was unmistakable. A chilling feeling of paranoia that creeped deep into her spine and had her standing on edge. Someone was watching her... Watching from the side, above or behind... Who the hell knew; but someone was there. Briefly, she paused, standing in place with narrowed eyes. She knew someone was following her. But where... Hnn... She closed her eyes, raising her eyebrows as instead of 'darkness' she saw the menu again. A status screen. Huh... That was... Interesting.

She frowned, 'looking' over the menu while keeping her ears open to her surroundings. It was a simple stats menu, that was for sure... As to how she was supposed to work this menu... She looked over the labels, eyes still closed as a small frown came over her. There were a few tabs on the side... 'Inventory', 'Party' (which was completely black of course), and lastly a section labeled 'Spells'. Now... If she could simply use the spell cards, she thought with a small frown, then why was that there... The frown deepened, and she decided to try something. Alright, either she'd manage to make a complete fool of herself or she'd figure another stupid point of this game out... "...Open 'Spell Menu'," she stated, opening her eyes as the menu itself appeared before her. Similar to when she had defeated the two headed rex, a band of 'glass' appeared before her eyes, a clear list appearing before her. Ahhh... Now this was better...

A list of greyed out spells met her eyes, an almost equally grey list of numbers beside them. There were two sets beside each spell; for the first one, which was likely a simple fire oriented spell given it's name (Fire. How cute.), the list stated '5 Skill Points, alt. 150 Lifepoints'. Skillpoints... The number hovered at the side, and she frowned. She had two; likely one for each level... Was there honestly a point in offering that form of payment if the alternative price was so low? Speaking of the low price...

Life points were certainly something she had a fair amount of for the moment. Hesitantly she reached out at the menu, tapping the first spell and watching as it glowed. From the side, her deck holder beeped, 150 of her recently gained points vanishing as the spell itself flickered into green. Below it, a few of the other spells on the list glowed white, Seto herself listening as a slight rustling noise came over. 'Fire spell purchased,' the computerized voice from before the start of the game stated, its subject only partially listening as she looked back in the corner of her eye. 'To utilize this spell and any others, speak the name during battle. This spell costs 50 lifepoints to cast.'

Speak the name? So 'Fire' basically. Alright, that didn't seem too bad... "...Close menu," she stated, watching as the screen vanished in a small stream of light. She had to admit... That was handy. And lucky that it worked really, given how hands on everything else seemed to be. She adjusted her still firm grip on the blade at her side, frowning as more rustling sounds came from behind. The woman grew tense, shifting her footing and finding herself answered with silence. Someone was watching her... The same as before, only now they were extremely close. Seto's eyes narrowed and she moved her blade to the side, preparing to swing. Someone likely safely out of reach of her blade... Simply swinging it would likely only open herself for attack, but if she waited too long then she'd be in just as much hot water really.

Hn... Perhaps this was a good time to test that 'spell' system... More rustling came from behind, growing louder and louder... And to the left- In an instant she turned, met with black cloth armor and a samurai's helm as a monster she quickly identified as 'Armed Ninja'. "FIRE," she shouted, swinging the blade toward the armed ninja as it charged. Flames coated the sword in an instant as it swung through the air, the heat and sparks shooting off and striking the ninja's feet as he flipped out of the attack's path. Seto backed away slightly, sword at the ready while the ninja merely pulled what looked to be cards from its side. They both stared at the other, the ninja toeing around the small space between trees that they had. So...

The armed ninja... Hn! This one only had a small fraction of power compared to the rex she fought with! Still the ninja stared her down, cards and shuriken held at the ready as they paced around the other. Even so, if this continued on she wouldn't be getting anything done. Perhaps she could get this done quickly... She glanced at her deck holder, drawing a card from it and looking it over with a smirk. This one... Heh! Well now, this would be more than simple. She held her card out, eyes narrowed as she held her ground against the ninja. "Blue-Eyes White Dragon," she shouted, her lifepoints plummeting to 1900 as the card vanished from her hands. Behind her a large and swirling vortex appeared, an ear-splitting roar filling the air as the dragon's hot breath came from behind. White scales shimmered into existence, claws the size of her forearm coming to rest at her side. An echoing growl broke through the area, but even as trees themselves buckled under the pressure of the roar Seto did not wince at all. This would be no contest, she told herself, taking a fighting stance along side the mighty white dragon. No contest what so ever. "Now," she shouted, pointing the dragon forward with her blade. "Attack!"

The dragon let loose a loud roar, the ninja in front of them paling as it attempted to flee. Charging back through the trees it ran, Blue-Eyes merely snorting as it took aim. Heh... As if anyone could outrun Blue Eyes! Immense heat came from behind her, Blue-Eyes charging a white hot blast of flames before letting it loose with a roar. "BURST STREAM," she shouted, watching as the dragon's bluish white flames shot toward the ninja in a solid stream of light, the ninja continuing to run...

Only for Seto to pale, eyes widening with shock. At the last second the ninja turned with narrowed eyes, tossing one of the cards he'd pulled forward... With no way to stop the attack she could only watch the trap fly closer and closer before the flames engulfed it, the paper reduced to ashes in an instant... And before the ninja an immense jar appeared, scaled clay toppling into existence before standing in front of her. The dragon capture jar. "Gh- Shit!" She turned, eyes wide as the dragon she'd summoned was quickly pulled in, a howling roar filling the air as it was compressed into the jar's opening. The eyes of the jar gleamed as it engulfed blue eyes entirely, quivering slightly before if vanished from existence. "...Blue-Eyes..! Tch..." Damn... She turned back to the ninja, eyes filled with rage as it pulled out a katana. Oh, so now it was blade against blade? Damn it... "Bastard..." Who cared if it was programming that determined all of this, that was her Blue-Eyes damn it! She didn't even know that card existed outside of Pegasus' god-damned castle! The woman charged toward the ninja, blade swinging in a single arc toward her opponent. The ninja however merely flipped back, bouncing off the side of a tree and tossing a flurry of shuriken toward her from behind.

Seto grit her teeth, pushing herself to the side and behind the same tree her opponent lept from, tensing slightly as a series of 'thunks' met the air. Just as quickly as the sound hit her ears however she was at the other side of the tree, charging after the ninja once again with her blade. He was just within reach... Despite the difference in power it was more than apparent what the difference between fighting a person and fighting a giant stupid dinosaur was. Even so she continued after the ninja, blade narrowly missing with each strike. Each strike however, pinned the opponent against a tree, and as she approached with what would be the first and final strike a single solid 'thump' he the air... Instead of flesh however, a piece of the tree she had cornered the ninja against fell to the ground, smoke meeting her eyes in the place of black fabric. Thick and heavy the smoke filled the air, the woman coughing as she attempted to clear the air to see. What had started as a thin curtain had quickly developed into a solid and impenetrable fog, Seto taking a step back and turning around with her sword held before her. Shit... Where the hell did that ninja vanish to... As much as she knew this was to disorient her, she also knew that standing stock still would do absolutely nothing for her... There was a reason why smoke bombs worked; it was because they worked. Seto grit her teeth, looking around with narrowed eyes. Damn it... If it hadn't been for that damned dragon capture jar... She swore it, the first chance she got that card would be-

"Gh- Ack!" Something wrapped around her feet, the woman stumbling forward as her sword clattered from her hands. Limbs were wrapped tightly to her sides, leaving her glaring down at her tangled body with grit teeth. Great... A bola? Damn it, how would she get out of- Her eyes widened as a net fell over her, before an immense and blinding pain filled her body not a moment after the thought. "Gh..." Don't scream... "Hah..." Don't scream damn it, this was- "HAAAAA! AAAAAAHHHH!" This wasn't just a shock..! "AAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!" And yet this wasn't nearly enough electricity to kill her, she knew that much... She'd have been rendered immobile if that was the case, completely unable to move! "GAAAAAHHHHH!" But the pain... The pain was more than lasting and intense, burning through her skin and literally jumping from her fingertips as visible sparks laced the net over here. Finally, a few moments after she cut her screams short she felt her body grow stiff. Her jaw clamped tightly shut, eyes locked open as she twitched against the shock... Her limbs stiffened, unable to move, her heart unable to fight against the shock. "Gh... Gh... H..."

Finally... Finally it was dying down. Down to nothing but a numbing pain across her skin as her eyes closed over, the heat from the net still smoking above. Dimly, she could still see through the smoke... Through the now vanishing fog as her captor moved toward her. The ninja stood there with a rope and thick cloth tarp in hand, her blade laying at the man's feet... And finally, she saw nothing but blackness as a final shock and twitch jolted through her system. Hearing nothing but a long, steady tone that rang loudly through her ears...

---

-beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep-

That sound was not a good thing. "H-Hah... Ahhh..." Mokuba froze as the screen flashed, a series of stats appearing along side a small pixelated version of his older sister. Lifepoints froze in place, flashing in and out of red and green, red and green, stats were blacked out, the sprite on screen collapsing to the ground... From the regular and constant monitor that told him of his older sister's status, of her breathing and heart rate had come one single piercing beep, replacing the well placed and balanced blips of a pulse. "N-Nee-sama," he shouted, momentarily forgetting about the earlier silent warning that the room could have been bugged. There wasn't time to worry about that- the steady 'bump bump' of a heart rate had just flat-lined! Hurriedly the override button he'd found from the binder was pushed, Mokuba running over to the pod as the lid hissed open. Behind him as he ran, the screen had replaced the lifepoints bar with the letters 'PAR' before switching to a far more blunt 'GAME OVER'. But that couldn't be true, he told himself as the computer calmly announced that fact. That couldn't be... "Nee-sama," he screeched, shaking the woman's motionless form as a steady 'bp...bp...bp...' came back from the computer. Heart rate was normal again... She was still breathing, but although the device had technically opened up it still held the woman tightly in its grasp. "NEE-SAMA!" He continued to shake the woman by the arms, before stumbling back from the chair with nervous breaths. There was no response, no response at all...

Game over, the computer said? Game over? But that... That couldn't... Doors were closing over top of the already shut 'gate' behind him, locking the boy in the room with the sounds of grinding levers and gears followed by a solid slam thanks to the override. Steam was rising from the computer due to the immense heat it now gave off, the binder laying open by the controls from where he had torn through it with the sudden electrifying blast that erupted through the device itself. In one move that had happened, just one... But... They couldn't... He swallowed, eyes widening as the screens to the side of the main one flicked on in a flash. To see one of the board facing him down from a screen the size of himself... "Greetings Mokuba," Oka said almost cruelly, adjusting his glasses as the boy on the other end of the camera tensed and stepped back from the screen. There was no need to feign respect anymore, not when the position and table of power had turned. No more... And even though he knew that the honorific had been halfheartedly tacked on when they used it, the lack thereof still placed a chilled feeling in his throat. But Oka was not just saying 'hello', that was for sure. "It would seem your older brother was unable to pass the challenge of the game..." Mokuba again swallowed, backing up against the machine where his sister sat, blood draining from his face as the man 'in front' of him continued. "You know," he said, shaking his head with a small smirk as he appeared to stare past and at the pod behind the boy. "If he remains in that state for too long, it'll be impossible to pull him out from the game..."

Impossible? But that... That wouldn't... That wouldn't happen, it... The screen switched, cracking and flashing as Ota came on screen in his coworker's place. "You should listen," he said with narrowed eyes, expression nothing but severe. "Thoughts are nothing but electrical signals after all," he continued, folding his hands before him. "And at the moment, all of those signals for your brother's consciousness are entrapped in that device. If the signals aren't brought back into his body soon," he 'warned', despite the clear sign that there was nothing to be done, "You'll be right back where you were two months ago... And the one you call your brother will be trapped in a line of code, for all eternity!"

"G-Gn... That..." He shook his head, eyes wide before attempting to steel himself. "That won't..." He couldn't let that happen... He wouldn't! Not again... Not... Not again...

"Mokuba," Oka continued, again taking the camera as he addressed the boy with narrowed eyes. "Don't think that you yourself are in any position to protest..." Gh... What? "You are just as caged as your brother; and when those doors open up again, you won't enjoy it..." The boy grit his teeth as the lawyer on screen chuckled, the man's eyes narrowing dangerously. So they were sending someone down to catch him then? Like he'd let that happen! "We'll see you soon Mokuba," the man said darkly, the small screens crackling out a few moments later. "Very soon..."

Gh... Not good... Not good! He turned to look at his motionless sister, biting his lip. Not moving... She was breathing though, and the machines said she was at least alive right? Gh... He couldn't hear what was happening outside the room... He couldn't tell if the people that the board had sent were just down the hall or only leaving for the elevator from their staffroom on the main floor. But he knew he didn't have much time, not if he wanted to help his sister; if the game needed to be beaten to leave this place, then he'd go in and do that himself! But he needed help... He'd done some flipping through that book... It didn't just detail the game, it had the system as well, maybe there were a few things he could do, if he just had time... He pushed one of the buttons on the side of the pod arm, watching as the same card deck drawer opened up in the override. Seto's deck was quickly and carefully pulled out, stowed away in the pocket of his jeans before he ran over to the computer itself in a cold sweat. He needed this binder, he thought as he grabbed it. There were only a few people he could go to that could possibly help with this, and if they were going to help then he would need as much information for them as possible...

Eyes darted around the room, Mokuba scanning for any possible way out. Even a ventilation shaft would work if he was lucky... Come on... He blinked, running over to the back end of the room as he spotted something. Above the pile of left overs... A grate! Alright! Now... He clambered up the large series of boxes at the far end of the room, looking over the grating that covered the shaft with a small grin. He could get out of here, eas- The boy frowned, realization striking him cold. It was bigger down here because the room was industrial but... Looking at the piping above there was no way he'd fit... And even if he took the main shaft up, he'd have to somehow climb straight up the pipes... And thanks to Seto's own security endeavors, that was pretty much impossible!

...Would they know that though..? His eyes widened for a moment, before a smirk came over on his face yet again. Smart as some of the guards were, there was no way they knew about every detail of the vent piping... The grate to the shaft was loosely screwed in place of course, so he'd need to fix that; easily done using nothing but a ten yen coin he found earlier, the thin coin slipping into the slot of the screws with ease. Pushing the cover to the side however, he hopped down from the boxes before running to the other side of the room. The doors were opening now, from the outside to the inner barriers; he could hear the gears clicking behind the walls, the whirring sounds as the doors began to rise and come apart. But along the side of the doors was an immense supercomputer tower that was required for anything concerning the VR pod to work, huge and cylindrical in appearance; and it was perfect size to hide behind.

The doors rose open, three guards running in with their weapons drawn. The first one he recognized with an uneasy swallow, Saruwatari moving to glance at Seto's motionless form before continuing to search the rest of the room. Mokuba made his way around the back end of the computer, before hurriedly rushing into the dark hall as quietly as possible lest that search take them to his hiding spot. Shouts were coming from the inside of the room, and even down the hall he could still hear them... 'He's escaped,' they shouted angrily, Mokuba holding his breath as he charged to the nearby elevator. The 'up' button was jammed immediately, Mokuba hurriedly turning to look down the hall as voices began to pick up in volume. Come on... He had to get on the elevator, come on... 'Well go after him, he can't leave!' Come on..!

-ding-

The doors whooshed open, Mokuba running in and hurriedly pushing both the 'G' button and the button to close the doors. Only when they shut did he relax somewhat, moving back to lean against the glass wall of the elevator. Gh... That was... He held the binder close to his chest, breathing heavily as the elevator came to the main floor. No time to relax; they had stairs didn't they? As fast as he possibly could he ran out, not even paying the confused secretary at the lobby any mind as he bolted for the door. There were no guards in the lobby... They were on the sides, or in their own staff-room, waiting for a call... The spinning door was pushed as hard as he could with his shoulder, the sounds of thunder meeting his ears as he left the safety of the small roof that hung above them. Rain poured heavily outside, thunder sounding as the boy charged on toward the busy streets and crowds of Tokyo. Earlier in the day, the radio had stated the near constant down-pour to be a 'nice break' from the constant blasting snow, a 'well needed shower to clean the city' Now?

Now there was rain pounding against the back of his head and neck, his body partially slouched over in an attempt to protect the binder from the elements as he ran. He choked on his breath, running through the streets as people were bumped past him in either confusion or anger at the careless charge. Now... It was the 25th now... He'd planned on having a small birthday party with Katsuya when the blond got back from school, as a surprise. The present still sat in his room even, neatly wrapped in a box, they'd have some cake and even if Seto wasn't much for parties (at all), she'd probably like the food at least...

He didn't expect for that game to happen though. He didn't think that all of this would happen, despite the knowledge on both of their behalves, despite the glaring fact that it was all a giant trap! Mokuba bit back a few tears, taking shuddering breaths as he continued to run through the streets. Wednesday... It was Wednesday... Katsuya didn't have work of course, so he'd definitely be spending some time with his friends on his birthday right? So they would definitely be at Yugi's house, definitely, definitely... He stumbled slightly, tightening his grip on the binder as he ran. It was hard to breath... He couldn't stop running though, he couldn't... Streets were beginning to blur, rain soaking through his shirt and vest until his entire body felt as though it was sitting beneath a pool. In the distance, he could see a large building, a tall 'department' store of sorts with... A clown? Was that what it was...? His eyes widened, and he pushed onward as he took a look at the immense building across from him. 'Black Clown'... Katsuya had mentioned this place... He and Yugi had been wondering what the building would be, particularly since the addition of the clown, which had shot down all ideas the two had come up with; Katsuya had even asked Seto if she had a clue... And to Mokuba's surprise, rather than a glare and a 'do I care, Mutt' the blond had gotten a knowing, if not likely smug smirk.

Something told him that his sister would be giving this store a few devices at special request... Something just told him. Mokuba rasped for breath as the rain continued to pound on his back, the boy approaching the door of the far smaller and humbled looking house/game shop that Yugi called home. There... They had to be there, they had to be... He could hear voices from inside, he could hear them... 'Which reminds me,' Sugoroku was saying, 'You asked me to tell you when the capture jar was released and-' The old man was cut off, a muttered 'nah, I'm good' coming from inside. That voice... He was there... He was...

Mokuba choked again, numbly slamming his shoulder into the door and pushing it forward as he stumbled. Here... He was here... The bell rang above him, those at the store front turning at the sound. All of them, they were all there... "Gh... K-Katsuya-nii," he said with a cough, the blond in question running over with the others as the boy collapsed. How fast had he run? ...How long, he couldn't tell... The binder slipped out of his arms, but while that clattered to the ground warm arms picked him up and pulled the boy close, Mokuba shivering as the door swung shut and closed out the wind and rain.

"M-Mokuba," Katsuya said with a shout, the others coming over and looking down at the boy. Everything was a blur... All he could see through the drops of water on his face were blurs of colour, browns, blacks, reds and blonds swirling in a giant cloud. And cold, so cold... The boy shivered, only just now realizing how wet and cold he was. Numb... His entire body was completely numb, and he could barely hear the others as worried mutterings filled the air. 'Get a pot of water boiling,' Sugoroku was telling Yugi, grandson nodding and hurriedly running off. 'I'll get a blanket,' he had continued, disappearing with those words. "Mokuba," Katsuya was saying, voice sounding more as though it was going through water than through air. "Mokuba what happened," the blond was asking, the others looking on worriedly. Bakura was gone, the boy noted. It was just Honda, Anzu and Katsuya in the room. Where was he...

He looked up at them dimly, taking a few ragged breaths. He'd asked what happened... He had to tell them too, he had to... "N...Nii-sama," he whispered, Katsuya pulling the boy up somewhat awkwardly in his arms as Sugoroku came over with a blanket. 'Bring him downstairs,' the old man was saying, Mokuba dimly feeling himself being lifted up. There wasn't much time, he had to tell them... "N-Nii-sama is... Is..." He took a few more shaking breaths, shivering violently as the cold finally caught up to him.

"Shhh," Anzu whispered worriedly, Mokuba dimly watching as they were led down into the basement. It was a fairly cramped living room that they were brought into there; coffee table, a love-seat and two chairs... There was a bookshelf at the side as well, along with a small television at the other end of the room. As he was placed on the couch, a blanket wrapped tightly around him however, he didn't care where they were. It was warm here, and they were all in the same spot, so he could talk... "Shhh," Anzu continued, wiping a bit of hair from the boy's face as she took a seat beside Katsuya and Mokuba both. "Get warmed up first, then you can talk... You need to warm up, you're as cold as ice," she said with a slight gasp, the woman's hand feeling red hot against his skin.

"Not surprising," Honda was muttering from the side, shaking his head with wide eyes as he leaned against the wall. "The rain out there, even coming from school you'd be soaked to the skin..."

Katsuya swallowed at that, attempting to warm up Mokuba with a bit lip. Constant rubbing against his arms, doing little to dry the wet clothes stuck to his body... "...An' KaibaCorp's about as close as that," he muttered, the boy beside him merely shivering. That far huh... It never seemed that way when they went by car...

"Gh..." The boy sniffed, curling in and into the blanket with a nod. At least he wasn't still out there, right? He'd made it here hadn't he? Yugi came in a few moments later, hoisting a pot of steaming tea as Sugoroku followed with both cups and the binder that Mokuba dropped. Dishes were placed neatly on the table, the binder at the side... He watched as Yugi poured a small cup of tea, handing it to him with a worried smile. Warm... His hands almost pulled back from the cup, the heat stinging against his palms. So warm... "T-Thank you," he said quietly, holding it in his hands for the moment. It'd be too hot to drink... Better to hold it than let it spill because of a burnt tongue right? "Ng... I..."

The others tensed as the boy coughed somewhat, Katsuya in particular frowning. They all looked so worried... He was... He wasn't the one in trouble though, he had to... Suddenly the blond holding him tensed, Mokuba looking up somewhat in response. "...Mokuba," Katsuya asked with somewhat wide eyes, as though only just realizing what the boy's presence entailed. "...Where's yer s-... Where's your brother?"

As a few tears fell at the question, Mokuba could do nothing but clutch his tea cup and fumble with his answer. Where was she? She was... "G-Gone," he said shakily, the others drawing back with frowns at the words. "G...Gone, he..." He took a shaky breath, bringing the tea cup to his lips and slowly taking a sip despite the burn it left on his tongue. Despite how hot it was it still tasted good... He took another sip, calming himself down a little more before continuing. "N-Nii-sama... Nii-sama finally got through to the board of directors, the 'Big 5'," he began, staring at the table as he started his tale. "They finished their game, along with all of the technology for it, so he was going to test it... After he did that," the boy continued, "He'd be able to fire them for what they did to us before..." He grit his teeth, eyes narrowing at the thought of the big 5 as the others listened. "It was a trap... We both knew it was a trap.. But we couldn't do anything about it," he protested, hands clenching the tea cup in his hands. "If we just let them continue on, they could have done something even worse, something even more..! I... ...And now, nii-sama is..."

The others stared in silence, Katsuya audibly swallowing. "Gone," he whispered, shaking his head. "Whadya mean gone... S... He's... De-"

"No!" Mokuba shook his head, eyes wide with disbelief as he turned on the blond. The others flinched at the shout, letting the boy continue. "No, s... He's not, he's not," he continued, shaking his head rapidly. "...But he's trapped," he whispered, turning away and biting his lip. "He can't get out... It's a virtual reality game," Mokuba explained, staring into his tea cup. "When you start it, the body enters a coma almost, and everything that happens, happens in the mind... ...In the computer," he almost corrected, recalling Ota's words with a shiver. "Nii-sama... Something happened to him in the game, and since he didn't 'die' in there he can't just end it and get out! He's stuck, unable to get out, and if I can't fix it... If I can't beat the game for him to pull him out..."

She'd be in there forever. They'd be left with a comatose shell once more, but this time there wouldn't be a promise for her to come back. They wouldn't be able to wait and see what happened... She'd just be trapped... Until the day she 'died'.

Tears began running down his cheeks with that realization, and he took another sip of his tea in an attempt to calm down again. "Trapped in the game," Katsuya repeated with an almost shocked scowl, shaking his head as Mokuba fell silent. "Gh... That ain't a game, that's a murder machine!"

Anzu nodded, her own eyes wide. "And... He's trapped in there," she repeated, swallowing. "He's... Actually trapped inside something like that..."

Mokuba nodded, staring at the table. It sounded like something from a sci-fi movie, or a book... 'Trapped in the game, need to beat it to get out'... Something so bizarre and impossible that you could almost laugh at the idea! ...And now that it was actually happening... That it was actually real... "K-Katsuya-nii," he whispered, head bowed as he stared at the ground. "And Yugi," he asked, the two in question both looking at him with steady nods. "I know that... That nii-sama isn't that nice to you guys..." In fact, if it hadn't been for the holidays, he'd say that was an understatement really... "But I need help," he said with a cough, shaking his head and turning to the others. "I don't want him to die... I... I can't just let him die! Please," he begged, shaking as Katsuya pulled him over, the boy's tea cup placed on the table. "Please, you have to... You have to save him... If he's in there too long, he'll..."

The room went silent for a moment, Sugoroku crossing his arms. "Nnnn... The heads of Kaiba corporation," he said, shaking his head with a frown. "If you aren't careful with that, you'll be worrying about far more than just your brother's life..."

"I know," Mokuba said with a small frown, biting his lip and wincing at the thought. "But even so, I have to try..."

"And you can count us in then," Katsuya said with a stern nod, the boy turning to look at him. "You think we'll jus' leave y' hanging," he asked with a wry smirk, before frowning once more. "There's no way in hell I could jus' stand by an' watch this happen after yah told me about this..."

Beside him Yugi nodded, as did the others. "That's right," the boy said, his own gaze equally as hard. "No matter what Kaiba-san thinks of us, I still see he-him as a friend," he continued, bowing his head. A friend..? Yugi thought that Seto was a friend..? Mokuba stared, listening as Yugi continued. "Mokuba," he said, puzzle seeming to glow as he spoke. "No matter what, we'll help... The bond between you two," the boy continued, a severe stare in place. "It's an important thing. Something that you can't break, right?" He continued to stare, listening as Yugi went on. "So don't worry about anything! No matter what, we'll help, alright..?" He'd...

...They could die... They could all die, but they were still so willing to help... He swallowed, thoughts flashing back to the last time they had been in a situation even comparable to this, back on the board of the 'Monster World'. Back when they had to 'beat the game' to get out, just like they were going to do now. That time, they'd done it because he'd been trapped, and in the end, because it was all or nothing for everyone on the board. But they hadn't known the risks going into that game to start; they'd just been forced to jump into it, caught completely off guard.

With this though... Mokuba nodded, wiping the last of his tears from his eyes as he composed himself. He couldn't cry... He was eleven, he wasn't supposed to cry! They could do this... They could get his sister out of there, and then they'd get rid of the ones who started this in the first place... The big 5 were prepared to deal with Seto, but they wouldn't be ready for an assault on all fronts! They wouldn't know what hit them... They wouldn't expect anything like this..! "Alright," he finally said after a small bit of silence, nodding both to himself and to the others. They could do this... He looked at the binder that sat on the table, before grabbing it and pulling it over. "But before we go," he continued, opening it up and looking to the others with a frown. "...We're going to need a plan."

This would be more than a rescue... This would be an attack that the big 5 would never walk away from!

---

AN: The legendary heroes! YEAAAAAAA! I've actually been really... REALLY looking forward to this arc guys. Although now that it's actually out on paper so to speak, I'm incredibly nervous; mostly because I did a lot of creative licensing here, and now I have no clue how it'll all work out. I can only hope it works well though. Innnn any case...

For the sake of awesome (And visual aspects), I've put the chain on hold for a brief moment to do a chibi run. Now to put this in perspective, it takes a little under an hour for me to ink a chibi... It takes me about an hour and a half to do a full person however, due to the fact that in most cases, the chibi's don't have as many details drawn in. The reason why the chain itself is taking so dang long however is that it's made up of about fifteen, sixteen people. Now... I don't know about you, but sitting down and working at inking that many people when I'm not getting paid for it tends to get tiring. And even if I was getting paid, I'd still take a lunch break and such. In any case (I'm not trying to sound like a jerk by the way; I actually quite enjoy drawing, I'm just saying that if I spent all my time on it, I wouldn't be able to job-hunt or write this fanfic here.)... As you can tell, that chain will take a long time.

As opposed to this amazing 'Red Mage' Seto chibi that I have for you at the bottom... Designed with final fantasy in mind of course, because I am a shameless little video gamer. (I don't even have FFIII...)

Now, in other news...

Poll Results are as of now Unchanged, so you'll have to go to the last chapter to see them.

Andddd...

Anonymous Review Responses

We have two people... And we have someone new! Hello there Maggiemay! …Wow… Thanks for your support! I hope you continue to enjoy the fanfic!

As for your question on the poll… While that is technically an option, the thing is that not only is that exceedingly rare, but the main turning point for the Priest's father Aknadin going 'dark side' to say the least, is when comparing how Set got to his position to how the pharaoh, Atem, was born into it. Despite being raised as a peasant, Set ends up a High Priest at no older than 16; with nothing to turn the tables to his side save intelligence... A pretty damn impressive feat.

If I were to go with this idea however, there would be something other than that intelligence and drive that got Set in, almost certainly. So I'm going to have to turn it down… Though you could probably argue that crossdressing is the far less supported version of this for Egypt. I can bet that no one would be too pleased if a crossdressing Priest was found out…

Ohhhh typos… Yes… Ah… That will either be my editing fail or just me being Canadian. Either way, I hope you continue to enjoy this!

In any case... What can I say Iona? I love making warm fuzzes.

I also enjoy typing awkward conversations, though I don't think the two topics are related. Even so, it's one of those things that I just think would end up happening given the type of person Kaiba is. Of course, keeping everyone in partial suspense on whether or not she's even alright with anything is fun as well, though from my own look at the chapter it certainly didn't seem to bug her as much as it could have.

And hahaha! You can bet that 'something dumb' happened all too soon… Though you're right in saying it helps calm the waters between the two.

Kaiba does act pretty adult all the time, canon or no… But as I was reading the manga, I noticed that… There are absolutely hilarious moments where Kaiba acts so much like his own age that it seems out of character almost. It's like… 'Holy crap! Um… Didn't know this bugged you so much…'

Very long way to go, that's for sure… But honestly, Kaiba's made a lot of headway since 'Death-T' to say the least. And now, FOR YOUR UPDATE!

---

Usagi's Manga & Japan Guide/Corner

The section that's very excited about this arc, how about you?

---

You're probably all sick of my punny little titles aren't you? And yet...

Today's chapter title of pun filled glory is brought to you not by the colour red as in blood or Seto's current amazing costume, but rather in the following saying that you'll find among sailors. It's an old one, and goes like this: 'Red skies at morning, sailors take warning. Red skies at night, sailors delight.' It's rule of thumb on the weather so to speak, as a red sky is caused by the haze of distant clouds; a red dawn meant many clouds in the west, which would be heading the viewer's way within the next few hours. A red dusk on the other hand meant the clouds were already eastward, traveling away, and the storm had already passed. So this title? Despite current weather conditions, very much a reference to all the crap heading (And still going by the way) in Kaiba's direction. Curses!

---

There are a number of different terms for the speed of a horses' gait, and of course, it takes time to get used to all of them when you're riding. So there's no way in hell that Mokuba's going around on a galloping horse just yet. First is the walk of course, which doesn't require much for the rider to do in terms of work save things concerning direction and sitting straight. (Which is harder than it looks if you're an artist like me by the way. Endless slouching HOH!)

Now then. Next you have the trot, which is where you get to sit up and down, up and down, up and down, despite the horse's bounce... Which can get pretty crazy I might add. The fastest trot tends to go eight miles an hour, or 13 kilometers per. Mokuba however, was riding at a 'jogging trot', an extremely slow trot that makes much it less bouncy. (Which is good, since it's very hard to go up and down on your own power on a horse's back without the bouncing, let alone with... Particularly starting out.)

---

And of course Seto's just sitting there going '…Mrn.' during the lessons... But hey!

At least Jonouchi is making a somewhat more conscious effort to not call the woman 'Seto-chan' in front of her.

---

There is nothing more amusing than 'polite snark', and you can bet that as a CEO, Kaiba will be a professional at this. Speaking of polite, fun fact; the average Japanese businessman bows around 300 times every day- the bow is basically their handshake really. (Though handshakes are catching on a little more...) The bow however, is quite a bit more respectful than a handshake however, as it stems from exposing one of the weakest points of the body, the neck, to the other person. A sign of trust and respect basically.

Of which, Kaiba of course has none when it comes to the Big 5... So she isn't about to do any bowing whatsoever. Closest thing you'll get is the 'nod', regardless of who you are I would think; Kaiba's a proud person.

---

So does anyone else wonder how Mai was beta testing this device without anyone knowing? Jonouchi and Yugi I can understand. But Mokuba and Kaiba? Those two should have known, because even if Mokuba didn't initially know, you can bet that if Kaiba knew he'd have said something. And yet no one knows! Which would mean that the Big 5 hired her to test the device behind their backs... Completely.

On another note of hidden things, isn't it a little interesting how they have one pod in one room, one in another, and then three more in the same room? ...This is just me finding plot holes guys, don't mind me...

---

This 'when this happens' comparison seems just a little more plausible than 'when pigs fly', doesn't it? And it does help that molecular physics is something Jonouchi will never likely be interested in. Still; I had fun with that.

---

We've encountered another plot hole oh noooooes! Similar to the magic 'Of course I can work this duel disk. Fool' business of the Yugi VS Kaiba match, we have here a bit of an issue concerning the VR pod… How did Kaiba know what to do with it? How did Mokuba know what to do with it? Hell how did anyone, particularly Honda and Anzu shortly in the same episode know what to do! This was probably partially explained by the dub actually, when it's apparently been programmed by Kaiba himself…

Of course, that same handwave makes the 'Our Queen is Mokuba in a dress' deal just a liiiittle more awkward in hindsight. (Just a tad.)

---

Remember those numbers from the Duelist Arc? The ones I challenged you to decode? TOO LATE NOW, AHAHAHA! That's right everyone; I took Japanese Pegasus' password of 'Alcatraz' and coded it through telephone numbers. 2 gets you A and C. 5 gets you L, 7 is R, and 8 is T… Leaving 9 with Z.

So 'Alcatraz' is 25228729.

---

How the hell did Mokuba hear anything through the glass of that pod? It seems largely impossible to me. It's like talking through a car window with three meters of space between you; ain't happening. And yet, for the sake of keeping conversation going, this happens in not only this scene, but in a good number of shows and anime and such... Since... Well... It keeps conversation going, adds drama... etc.

---

Yea guys. That Red Mage. I went all out on this one, you can already tell! Erum… As for glowy Kaiba though, for some reason I didn't think that the VR would really bother with the actual clothes. Probably the part of me that keeps watching digimon, I dunno. To be specific on the matter, Seto couldn't actually see any details on herself beyond the 'light'… But what with the lack of binding and things, she has a right to be worried since she's still very clearly not a boy when the binding and clothes are pulled off. Especially since everyone and their dog knows about the habit of giving the female rpg-player skimpy armour in games, and since we see the sprite on a screen in the real world…

Hnnnnn yea... One of those times where cross-dressing gets a tad difficult.

---

The rather amusing 'Wait, dinosaurs breath FIRE?' scene is inspired by the fact that in one game, and only one, the Two Headed King Rex actually does breath fire. It makes sense given that it looks more like a dragon, but Kaiba's main confusion comes from the fact that when the game started out, dinosaurs were weak against flames.

---

Yea guys. That 'Fire'. (There will not be any 'Fira' 'Firaga' business though. That would be silly... Upgrades yes, but not like that.) The spell system is a little different if you haven't guessed though… Trust me when I say, when you have a spell card, it's much better to use that than rely on one's own spells. Mostly because of the difference in effects of course, not to mention how damn almighty some of those spells can be. Anyways.

---

A note on ninja! Mostly to explain why the armored ninja wears Samurai things... Real ninjas didn't fight against the samurai, they technically were the samurai. To be specific, they were to the shogun and leaders of feudal Japan as today's 'special agents' and organizations are to the government… So basically, you could argue that ninja = the FBI. Ooooooh, now isn't that just cool.

Also, the black clothes/body suit came from the noh stage plays; people would wear black when moving things on the stage, to give the feeling that they themselves weren't there. Ninja would wear the same thing as these stage hands, creating surprise when they actually turned out to be people in the play. Actual ninja tended to blend in with other people… Though they probably did do the whole 'black cloth' thing if they were sneaking around in the middle of the night.

---

For some reason, the beeps that we hear when we flash back to the 'real world' sound eerily similar to the blips of a heart monitor… Now an electric charge would be more than enough to put a bit of a damper on how well that machine responded for a split moment thus the long 'bleep', but given that in the 'real world' we still see Kaiba sort of choking in pain from a visible electric shock, despite the fact that technically there should be no sounds coming out in reality (Due to the mind and body's sensations being separated for the moment)... Ummmmm… I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that hurt. A lot. Hence the above screaming... Which thankfully remains unheard to the world. Because trust me when I say; similar to during the first penalty game she got, which was mentioned somewhat off-handedly when someone said that they heard a woman screaming from the school building, she was not trying to hide her voice with that much pain on the mind, that was for sure.

In any case, as you can probably guess, Kaiba is quite incapacitated for the moment... To say the least. However, rather than being 'dead', which really would allow her to quit the game, she's merely been shocked to shit for a 'paralysis' attack (Which does very little to the lifepoints), and as we will see soon enough, tied to a stone cross... (Or... Weird tablet thing in the case of the dub.) Without her sword or, as Mokuba makes sure of so that he himself can help out, her deck. All she has is her lifepoints and herself... Needless to say, she is not having a good day. And Mokuba is having conniptions about the day himself to say the least.

---

Now… Here's the fun part. For someone to be 'trapped in the computer', that would mean that all that makes up 'you' has been moved out of the body. So rather than the game being a thing of the mind, cleverly stringing you along until you finally keel over in the case of being 'trapped'… This would imply all of the specific signals that jump neuron to neuron in your brain being replicated in the computer while those of conscious thought and feeling (Not the ones for your vital functions!) are actually turned off so to speak. The body enters a coma/vegetative state, and 'you' enter the computer… And if you're not careful when you play by those rules, you could argue that you're stuck in that position.

Who knows really, it's a form of fiction that can't completely be proven or disproven at this point; no one wants to play around with zapping the brain like that just now, that's for sure!

---

So, um… Anyone else wonder how Mokuba had the time to take the deck and leave through the ventilation as the doors were opening. Keeping in mind that Saruwatari ducked under the door to run in first…

Now obviously things have been rearranged for the sake of this chapter, furniture wise. But that's mostly to support reality; small as Mokuba is, ventilation shafts tend to branch out to reach their destination, getting smaller as they go. Now, while Mokuba could have gone up through the main piping to reach the bigger tunnels… He would still have had to go up at least two floors (My fault again, sorry.). Crawling through an air vent is loud and very very noisy, and due to the space, climbing upward would be nigh impossible with either a deck of cards in his hands (As in the anime), or with a binder in his arms and the deck in his pockets… Hell, even if his arms weren't occupied it'd be more than easy to reach the 'exit' before Mokuba, heading him off immediately... Particularly with the sound to guide them.

---

Here's some irony for you; using the date set up for Christmas, I can now have weekdays for any actually set dates… Now as we know, this is the year that Battle City will happen for the fanfic people... So you could say cataclysmic things begin to occur around then, right?

Ahhhh, but did you know that the date set up matches that of 2012. BOY that's convenient/really cool. (I love it when things like this happen…) Pity that the end of the world won't work out.

---

The sounds that Mokuba hears from inside the building are a reference to the conversation that actually occurs in the Gameshop shortly before Mokuba comes in. (Or at least that's what we hear in Japanese. The dub is completely different.) Sugoroku tells them that he's got some new cards in, and Jonouchi eagerly asks what they are... I randomly decided to use this to tie up Jonouchi's earlier thoughts concerning the Dragon Capture Jar, which he had considered getting when he first saw it... In the end... 'Eh, maybe not', as seen above.

---

Interesting thing here; between the time that Mokuba enters the game shop and the time where he actually explains what the hell happened, nightfall occurs... Completely. Though this was probably because the kid was completely soaked, so his current physical condition was probably the more important factor in things.

Speaking of Mokuba's condition, he's in a good deal of shock right now; now for the first part, this saved him, as shock kept him from completely freaking out when his sister was mentally electrocuted to shit. It allowed him to think rationally enough to get the hell out of the building and through the rainstorm over to Yugi's house. Once he gets there however, the adrenaline is gone; shock has come back with a vengeance, leaving him cold and largely 'unstable' for the moment given all that's gone on... And do remember that Mokuba's only eleven. Now, this probably isn't as serious a hit in the anime; it's not really stated what 'stuck' means, not stated that this would induce an endless coma-like sleep, etc etc. Without those specifics, it takes a moment before that sort of fate actually hits you.

But for the Mokuba who has experienced Death-T, this is an extremely frightening if not paralyzingly traumatizing thing. As he realized in this chapter; Yugi promised Kaiba would come back, and that's what happened, because Yugi allowed that to happen. But the big 5 could give a rat's ass about what happens to the woman; which means that in that case, there really would be no hope for Kaiba coming back.

---

There's a small dialogue switch here; Jonouchi has Anzu's line of 'that's not a game' from the anime.

An interesting note here in addition to the above, but this is also where Mokuba tells everyone about Kaiba's goal of building a number of amusement parks worldwide in the case of the anime. It's actually what convinces Anime-Jou to help; he instantly says 'I didn't know that!', before stating that they won't abandon Mokuba, and they'll definitely help out.

For some reason though, Mokuba's statement on amusement parks was his answer to Sugoroku saying that dealing with the Big 5 would be dangerous… (Understatement) Hnnnn.

---

FanArt and My Art Section

Hey everyone! Got another picture for you, you can use it as a bit of a reference for Kaiba's above 'Red Mage' outfit if you want... It's pretty heavily based on the Final Fantasy red mage if you haven't already guessed by the way (Ehehehe)... I'll be posting little 'reference chibi's as we go for things like outfits, since that goes much faster than simply drawing a full reference while I'm trying to work at that chain. Other sketches are in the scanner, so you should be seeing them next chapter...

And in the meantime enjoy the chibi, remove the spaces for your link!

Red Mage - http: / /i5. photobucket. com/ albums/ y153/ natasha_unos_1/ YGO% 20Fanfic% 20-% 20Skin/ ChibiRedMage. jpg - The power of cute compels you! The power of cute compels you! Basically, I wanted to draw Seto in her red-mage wear, but wasn't in the mood for a full-body drawing. As you can see, I've already started shading it; the eyes have a gradient, which I apply to each colour before putting in the solid shadow. (That way, the eyes don't look quite as creepy when I post a flat coloured piece of art. HAHAAAAA yea... You can probably guess from this that things like that fur-skin... Thing... Jonouchi had in this arc won't happen. ...Mostly. (*points way, wayyyy back to a design sketch*)

In any case, that's it for this chapter! Have fun until the next one guys!