A Past and Future Pharaoh

Written By: Lady Lunar Phoenix

Original Beta: WhiteSwan

Current Beta: Frazzled Lady Lunar Phoenix

A/N: Man I had to fix some stuff to put peeps back into character.

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It was an eternal 2 A.M., frozen in time, nothing moved, or stirred in this replica of Domino city. Trash that had been drifting in the false wind was frozen in the air, stuck in suspended animation, like a painting. A large window across from a designer dress shop showed only the high class dresses in the window across from it, but not the gang as they walked on by. It was, as Anzu noted during their walk, as though they found themselves within a still life painting of Domino City.

Doors didn't rattle, the trash stayed frozen to their spots even when touched, sound no longer echoed off of buildings. When a monster growled, it didn't bounce off of walls, so they couldn't tell if it was behind a wall or inside a building. Only during battles did sound seem to rise up around them, though only the sounds that they, the monsters and the humans, made.

It was so lifeless that there was an almost silent expectation that they were walking along a straight line. That every turn or twist was just an optical illusion to give further depth to the landscape. It was completely rational to expect that they were in some type of large hallway. That there were no paths that veered off to the left and right and only the long straight path to Kaiba Corp.

For it was Mahaado who guided them in the end, unable to speak when he finally materialized, he was seemingly more aware more of the world they were in. And through his insight they found the horror of the place compounded. They walked along the ground while he had begun to walk towards a building. At first they believed that he was merely taking short cuts as a type of NPC, just cutting through. Which brought back that he was a magician and could go where he pleased.

Yet in their effort to 'explain' the situation, his expression shifted from honest bewilderment to patience and he continued on his way. With Yugi's unwavering faith in his magician they had followed him as the walls gave way to their touch. And finally what Mahaado was trying to convey started to take a frightening shape.

"I think I understand now, Noa is in control of this place and he can redirect us anyway he pleases. But with Mahaado as a NPC he's not subject to the same confusion." Bakura suggested thoughtfully as he looked over at the lavender clad magician.

"Oh... So Mahaado can see what's really here. That's great! I wouldn't have thought to ask our monsters if they were aware of it," Anzu replied, her surprise evident in her voice.

"And Kaiba was accompanied by Blue Eyes, it wouldn't surprise me if he finally opted to just ride on her back. So this wouldn't have bothered him at all, but then how long have we been at this? Have we been going around in circles?" Yugi added thoughtfully as he looked about as though seeing this false city for the first time.

With Mahaado as a guide they had walked through building walls and cars, until the rode that went straight to KaibaCorp HQ finally was revealed. With any concern about Kaiba's safety being answered by the presence on 'top' of the building. Fanning its wings with great sweeps Its head lifted proudly was Kaibas' Blue Eyes White Dragon. The only light visible inside the building was undoubtedly the CEO's office, where who knew what was going on. It was a welcoming sight for the group as they moved onward, the light shinning with the hope of escape amid a computerized reproduction.

The full moon appeared huge in the night sky, resting delicately on the top of the building. The company building stood tall like a pillar that held up the night sky on its very own. The false night sky was a sea of stars, millions of brilliant glittering lights that were normally invisible due to the manufactured lights man had made. It was as grand as only a computer could make, and for all of that was all the more cold and sterile for it.

"Perhaps, now that we know this is only a virtual reality, Noa no longer feels the need to simulate anything? Maybe this is just his brand of Kaiba inspired ego?" Anzu suggested.

All conversation was silenced as a single roar from up ahead rattled the air, as the Blue Eyes White Dragon suddenly took flight. Its massive wings stretched fully out before sweeping downward carrying its body up into the air. Rising up it gave the moon an almost dark waxing shape before a white light emanated from the building's top, washing out the view of everything in front of the gang as it shot upwards. The three monsters with them tried to shield them from the blast even as the light blinded the teens.

Spots floated in their vision, dancing akin to the stars above as they struggled to see what had changed, if anything.

And things 'had' changed.

All around them the buildings had vanished from their sight, leaving only a flat land of sorts that looked like some type of scifi recreation of traveling information. Everything was black with light blue beams of light that traveled along slender pathways around them. The sky above still retained its 'sky at night on a primordial earth' presentation save one noticeably and disturbing change. For the moon in all its fullness had been replaced with the sun in full blaze.

It loomed above them massively as a golden churning burning flaming ball of fire above them. For Noa hadn't merely shrank the sun down and placed it where the moon had been. Instead he had placed it at its full size in the moon's place. Ignoring both the incredible world melting heat and all the spectrum's that allowed the dark night to turn into a bright sky blue day.

Once the profound shock began to settle down they realized that all but one of their monster aids were gone. Mahaado was frozen in a defensive posture before them where he would have been able to block the most of the blast while covering for all the group. He knelt there with chunks missing from his armor and long tunic, not as though they had been blasted out. Just square shaped pieces of him were gone, or long running cracks that ran from the helmet to the body.

It was inhumane and alarming, as the poor Mage knelt there with no seeming attempt to get up. But could he? His presence was undoubtedly a product of Kaiba installing the model into the game allowing for Mahaado to possess or appear in person. If that light was some type of... massive delete button! Was Mahaado's presence essentially wiped out leaving him in whatever state he had been in before the light hit them?

"Maha!" Yugi got in front of his failing Magician and wrapped his arms around the hunched over mage's neck. "It's ok Maha, I'll be ok, so leave the game!" Yugi ordered as he watched as Mahaado struggled to move. Yugi looked Mahaado in the eye and only saw a locked in place expression, but in his heart he could almost hear the sound of his helpless Mage trying to help him. "Go back Maha, the gang and I can take care of it from here."

They didn't need to see his face to know the depths of the Mages's devotion to Yugi, or his frustration to be removed from the game. But he could relay what he had seen and heard to those outside the game giving them more data than what Mokuba might be able to glean.

Yugi was left without Mahaado but he began to feel bad about how he must have been acting outside the game. His physical reactions or his emotions, something triggered Mahaado's clear desire to come into the game to reach him. It gave him an idea of how Mokuba must have felt every time someone used him to try and get to Kaiba; a feeling of frustration at being unable to take care of himself to the point where someone else had to bend over backwards for him. It was ironic that he was no longer a physical shrimp compared to his peers and yet Yugi still needed to be looked after like a child.

It was probably why Anzu and Bakura waited for him; they wanted to give him time to recover after losing Mahaado. While he could appreciate and understand their reasoning, at that moment it only annoyed him. Mahaado was sealed away as a monster because of him! Eternal devotion or not, no one should have been forced to live that kind of life! Straightening up, Yugi dusted himself off and began walking straight for the last visible structure in this computerized world. The others fell instep behind him as he walked, moving out of the darkness and into the light that poured out of the Headquarters.

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It may not have ended in as few turns as it had for Bakura to claim a victory but then again Bakura's victory was more from the ignorance and arrogance of Noa. But the fact that Bakura carried cards in his deck that could undermine a power based deck made his victory noteworthy. While on the other hand Kaiba also used a power deck, and when force is used against force it tended to take longer to finish a duel. Though Kaiba's inevitable victory didn't nothing to suppress Kaiba's ego, then again what, short of Yugi could? There was also no one there to bear witness to Noa's outrage at being beaten by someone like Kaiba, especially since Noa knew each of the cards in Kaiba's deck. Which for Kaiba what made the victory all the better was that there was no Yugi to start talking about the 'Heart of the Cards'.

Now Noa just stood there on the other side of the dueling field sulking in that childish anger that he didn't win the duel. Then again what outcome was he expecting to begin with? He never dueled a professional duelist before, and computers didn't generate true random numbers. Kaiba's deck was logged into the computer, all decks were registered when put into the computer. Regardless if it was the Duel Disks or it was a Virtual Reality game, all cards were scanned to validate its authenticity. The moment Kaiba logged in, Noa knew what each and every card was in Kaiba's deck. Moreover; as he controlled the data of this VR world, he could and did change the deck's placement in the disk at his leisure.

In a way it then made sense that Noa couldn't fathom how Kaiba's deck was still working. After his experience with Bakura he had actively removed cards from Kaiba's deck, all three Blue Eyes should have been missing! So how could it be possible that the deck had them? How could Kaiba protect his deck from Noa's control over cyberspace?

"It doesn't make sense! I studied all your styles of dueling! Researched every card and how it could be used and disabled!" Noa argued as he straightened up from where he had collapsed, glaring at Kaiba. The environment began to reflect Noa's dissatisfaction, as the office setting began bleeding away into blackness.

"No, you studied the computer's representation of me, and when it comes to me I go beyond all computer data." Kaiba replied haughtily before dropping into a more serious tone if there was one. "If you wanted to get my attention and drag me into the game you didn't have to go after my game tester the way you did."

"Who better to bring over to my side then the one person who can beat you?" Noa replied harshly his narrowed Japanese eyes staring vehemently into Kaiba's slightly more rounded, mixed blooded eyes. As electric blue lights spend down like thin cords along the blackness of the world.

"Failed copies by a failed program, do you honestly believe they ever stood a chance against me?" Kaiba retorted. "You want my body? Ha, you wouldn't survive in the real world; you're too cut off from how reality works to survive."

"You imbecile! I was born in the real world, I know how it works!" Noa shot back angrily.

"No, you know how the world works for a child, not for an adult. How do you plan to explain your presence, how you entered my body? Pretend to be me? What's the point is there in that? You can never be your real self because of what happened, and by saying that you're 'Noa'? Sure there are those who may recall you, but do you think they're going to treat you like a human?" Kaiba asked dismissively, after all it wasn't like he hadn't spent years in the lion den and didn't learn what they were like.

"They respect my father! Why would they want to stay dealing in toys when they can go back to designing weapons. Adult things!" Noa shot back his knuckles white from how tightly he clenched his fingers. The blue of the lines began to shift into a maroon color as his anger began to spike.

"Oh? And do you think you can learn while being patronized as a child at the same time? When they figure out you're not me, and they'll know quickly, they'll dismiss you as a child you'll be nothing more than a puppet on their strings. Held hostage to do as they wish." Kaiba countered smoothly. "You think the world is controlled absolutely by your very presence? Here in this world perhaps, but not in the real world."

"Do you think I wanted this to happen?! Do you think I enjoy being trapped inside a computer program all my life?" Noa demanded in anger as he gestured around him.

"I can imagine it's a terrible existence," Kaiba's voice softened at the admittance before hardening again, "but then again 'Noa' died years ago, you're a copy of what once existed. Do I believe that a computer program created based off a preexisting person counts as 'life'? Perhaps, but you crossed a line when you brought someone else into what should have been strictly between you and I."

"You just have all the answers don't you?" Noa snapped at Kaiba. "But you're no better then I am, you've walked all over people just as I have!"

"And I'll keep on walking until the very end." Kaiba replied slowly eyeing Noa coldly. "That's why I surpass Gozoboro and you. No matter how terrible the event that came about to bring you into this world you are still a product of 1's and 0's. You're still trying to take someone else's life for your own. This was the way Gozoboro raised both of us, that life only matters if you're strong enough to keep it. You can brag about your dad, you can brag about your knowledge of the computer world. But we both know the path we were put on by that man and we both know the only way to survive is to crush all opposition." Kaiba countered just as, out of the false black, Shinato materialized rising from the ground.

Even without a monster to defend Kaiba, the monster still had the ability to attack and hurt another person. Kaiba's hand went for his deck automatically, a rather odd self-defense for anyone who knew Kaiba's hand-to-hand prowess, then again not everyone got attacked by energy wielding monsters.

"Kaiba!"