A/N: I just need a moment to respond to a guest's comment on the previous chapter.

Guest: That is the highest compliment you could have paid me, and I am deeply flattered. To be honest, I didn't ship Trustshipping for the longest time, and then I saw two scanned pages from the manga (during the Battle City finals; it's a really great scene between them) where Ishizu is confronting Kaiba right before Yugi's duel with Marik; Kaiba asks her what she'll do if she fails in bringing her brother back, and she says that she'll go down with the island when he blows it up, which makes Kaiba realize that she's willing to die if she fails to save her little brother, just like he was in Duelist Kingdom in his duel with Yugi when he stood on the ledge.

That is why I ship Trustshipping. (^v^)

If you want to see what pages I'm talking about, I do have a pinterest account with this same username and profile pic, and I have a public board called "Rock Bottom Inspiration" where you can check them out. In fact, you can just search that phrase under the "boards" filter and it'll come up.

The Battle City Tournament was announced the following week, but Seto had already informed his friends—Joey, Ryou, Yugi, Marik, and Anzu—of the danger they were facing. Joey, Ryou, and Yugi promised to enter the tournament and help him take down Noah, while Marik and Anzu promised to be there to support their friends no matter what.

"Hey Marik, don't you have a dueling deck of your own, though?" Yugi had asked. He knew that he did, because Ryou and Yugi had helped him put it together at the Game Shop.

"Ah, well, I'm not quite ready for competitive play yet," Marik had replied with a coral blush. "I still need more practice before I'm anywhere near ready for a tournament."

Schools were let out, and though Seto wasn't let off work, he took a few days off anyways. Mai was in town, as well as Bandit Keith—the cheater that Seto had dueled on Pegasus' island. The four friends—Yugi, Seto, Joey, and Ryou—had all received formal invitations to join the tournament, probably because of their rankings in Duelist Kingdom. Knowing that Noah Kaiba was out to get him, Seto didn't feel comfortable leaving Mokuba at home with Serenity, so Mokuba would be staying with him at all times. Amane wanted to see her brother duel, so she tagged along on the condition that she always stay with someone who could interpret for her.

The night before the tournament began, Ryou couldn't sleep, so he crept down to the basement where he could resume work on his models. It tended to calm him and slow down his mind when he needed it. Ever since he'd started modelling again, he'd felt an inexplicable drive to keep going and never stop. A flurry of character, plot, and terrain ideas had been swirling in his mind ever since his birthday, and those ideas were just starting to take shape, just like the lumps of clay that began as amorphous lumps in his hands but slowly transformed into wizards, monsters, and warriors. It truly felt like a muse was whispering the ideas into his mind, inspiring him to create a whole new cast of characters on paper before he forgot his ideas.

"Hey Ryou," Yugi greeted him the next morning as the Bakura siblings approached the line of teenagers that spilled outside the shop where duelists were officially registering for the tournament and picking up their duel disks. Duelists who were officially invited got their duel disks for free, but that didn't stop others from entering too. "We saved you a spot in line."

"Hi Amane!" Mokuba greeted as well, waving one small hand at his self-proclaimed girlfriend.

"Thanks guys." Ryou looked mildly frazzled, but nonetheless pleasant. "I was up late last night and didn't get up quite as early as I'd expected."

"That's fine, nothin' important's happened yet." Joey scratched the back of his head, blond hair helplessly scruffy.

"Mai was here earlier," Seto informed Ryou, looking out of place with his tense posture and mirthless expression. "She already registered."

"Marik's not here yet?"

"I'm sure he'll be here soon," Anzu assured. "He was really looking forward to seeing you duel in another tournament, so I'm sure he wouldn't miss this." Anzu knew that Ryou was still nervous about Marik living with his family—not because Ryou had any concerns about Marik's siblings themselves, but because he'd gotten used to having Marik around and always being there to guide him when he needed it. He was afraid that Marik would be lost without him, quite literally.

They waited in line together for almost twenty minutes and received their duel disks without incident. Ryou was just trying to fasten his to his left arm when Marik appeared.

He was walking calmly, hands in the pockets of his sleeveless heather grey hoodie, until he saw them. His face cracked into a wide grin and one hand shot high into the air to wave at them.

"Hey guys!" he called out enthusiastically.

He almost dashed out across the street without looking, but to Ryou's relief, he did check to make sure no cars were coming before he crossed.

"Hey! I was afraid you weren't gonna make it," Ryou admitted with relief as Marik joined them.

"Are you kidding? I wouldn't miss this for the world!" Marik took Ryou's free hand in his as soon as Ryou finished securing the duel disk to his arm, making Ryou blush a little with embarrassment, but he didn't let go.

"So what now?" Yugi asked. "The tournament officially starts in twenty-five minutes."

"We split up," Seto answered automatically, his eyes scanning the duelists that swirled around them. "We spread out now so when the dueling starts, we don't get too close to each other and crowd the territory. As soon as one of us qualifies, we let each other know. Same thing if one of us gets knocked out."

"Alright, sounds fair."

They all agreed to those terms, and were just about to split up—Mokuba with Seto, Anzu with Yugi, Amane and Marik with Ryou, and Joey on his own—when Mokuba coughed, and it sounded bad enough that his friends looked concerned.

"You have your inhaler with you, right?" Seto asked quietly, receiving a sheepish look from his brother.

"I might have forgotten it." Mokuba looked truly remorseful, and Seto couldn't help but sigh.

"Mokuba—"

"Don't worry about it," Anzu interjected, putting a hand on the child's shoulder. "I'll take him home to get it and bring him back, no problem."

"Uh, I-I think I left it at Joey's house when I was hanging out with Serenity last night." Mokuba spared a brief glance with his brother, the brunette looking back at him with approval. He was clever enough to lie for himself when he needed to.

"Okay, sounds like a plan. We'll be back before you've even finished your first duel."

Seto watched Mokuba and Anzu as they left, but only for a few moments before he turned back to the others.

"I guess I'll see you guys on the other side." Joey lifted a hand to wave as he stepped away, prepared to split off from the group. "Good luck!"

"You too!" Seto called back and went in the opposite direction. Yugi split off too, leaving Ryou and company in the central square, which was a decent enough place to start. He'd likely get a chance to pick off some of the weaker duelists this way, and he didn't mind plucking the low-hanging fruit. Locator cards were locator cards, no matter the skill level of your opponent.

Yugi's first duel was against a shady figure with a dark cloak and a malicious look in his eyes. He put up quite a decent fight, but his deck was so loaded with pieces of Exodia that he couldn't draw what he needed. Yugi, on the other hand, was able to assemble the precise pieces that he needed. After Seto had informed him of the risk they faced in this new tournament, Yugi had told his grandfather—who, like Dr. Bakura, chose to believe the teenagers' stories of ancient spirits and Shadow Magic—and the seasoned gamer had given his grandson the five pieces of Exodia the Forbidden One that he'd secretly collected years ago. Yugi had added them to his deck, and now they helped him to win his first locator card and his first duel of the tournament.

Ryou's first duel was against Rex Raptor, who was unable to withstand Ryou's magic-based strategy with his emphasis on strong monsters. His second duel, however, was with a shady figure (much like Yugi's opponent, except this one didn't have a dark cloak, was bald, and had more piercings than Ryou had ever seen on a single person before). While Ryou managed to defeat him after a difficult struggle, things quickly took a turn for the worse afterward. He turned to look at his sister and ask her how she liked watching the duel, but she wasn't there.

"Amane?" he called, turning to look in the other direction. He knew that calling her name wouldn't do any good, since she couldn't hear him, but he couldn't help it. Panic set in rather quickly as Marik began to catch on. "Did you see where she went?"

"No, I'm sorry." Marik felt guilty because he should have kept a closer eye on Ryou's sister while Ryou was too busy with his duel.

"This is bad," Ryou muttered as he turned in a circle, trying to visually locate his sister in the crowds gathered watching the other duels, and the dissipating one that had been watching them. "This is really bad..." His deaf little sister had gone missing in broad daylight in a busy part of the city. The guilt and fear that quickly consumed Ryou was overwhelming. "Mom's gonna kill me." His defeated opponent began to chuckle, drawing the attention of both teens.

"If you want to see your sister again," he said with an inscrutably vile expression. "You'll go to the docks at the harbor."

"What?" Ryou's hands had started to shake, and Marik reached down to grip one tightly. "What are you talking about? What do you know about this?"

"My employer has an interest in your Millennium Item—"

Unconsciously, Ryou's free hand went to his chest, where the ring rested between his skin and his blue- and white-striped shirt. He always wore it under his shirt, not wanting to draw any attention to himself by having the golden artifact flashing around in plain sight. Seto did the same with his Millennium Rod by tucking it through his belt at his back, where it was hidden by his coat, and even Ishizu kept her necklace out of sight by obscuring it with scarves, but Yugi didn't have much choice but to wear the puzzle in an obvious manner.

"—And if you can use your power to defeat the opponent he has chosen for you, he will release your sister."

"How do you know about the Millennium Ring?" Ryou demanded, trying not to sound as scared as he felt. He'd never imagined that owning the item would put his little sister in this kind of danger, and it made him want to wash his hands of it entirely.

"That's not important," Strings said, repeating the words that Noah Kaiba was feeding him through his wireless earpiece. "Be there in a half hour, or you might not see her again." Strings threw down his two locator cards and a monster card—the rare card that he'd put up as his ante for the duel—before fleeing the scene with surprisingly speedy parkour.

Marik walked forward, picked up the cards, and tucked them into his pocket as he turned back to Ryou, who seemed to shocked to do anything just yet.

"Come on." Marik grabbed Ryou's hand and broke into a run, pulling him along.

"What are you—" Ryou stumbled a bit, but found his stride after several seconds.

"We're going to the harbor. If that's the only way to get your sister back, then that's what we'll do!"

"We should call the police!" Ryou protested, tugging Marik into a left turn, since Marik really didn't know where he was going.

"We don't know who we're dealing with, though," Marik pointed out as they kept pace with each other, two pairs of sneakered feet pounding on the pavement like staccato heartbeats. "That might make things worse."

"We don't know that."

"But can you really risk it?" Marik asked, glancing at Ryou briefly out of the corner of his eye.

"No."

They ran together with only the sound of their heavy breathing and syncopated steps between them. All Ryou could think about was Amane's well-being, and how he'd failed her as her big brother. They weren't watching where they were going, not as carefully as they should have been, and almost ran into a convertible that had just stopped for a red light.

"Hey, watch where you're—" Mai stopped mid shout as she recognized the teens. "Wait, I know you. Ryou and Marik, right? We met during Duelist Kingdom."

"Yes, I remember," Ryou panted. "If you'll excuse us, we're in a bit of a hurry." Ryou started to tug Marik with him as they went around the front of the blond's car.

"What's the rush?" she asked casually, combing through the curls of her blond ponytail with one hand.

"Someone kidnapped his little sister," Marik answered, pulling Ryou to a halt, although it seemed to irk the white-haired teen. "We have to go to the docks to try and win her back."

"Say no more. Hop in and I'll drive you." Mai nodded towards her empty seats, and Ryou's anxious expression melted into one of gratitude.

"Thanks, Mai." Ryou took the passenger seat while Marik hopped into the back just before the light changed to green.

"Remember, I'm not from around here, so you'll have to give me directions," Mai reminded him. "And some of the roads are closed down for the tournament, so we may have to take an indirect route."

"Okay, you'll want to take a left at the next intersection," Ryou instructed, eyes open for any road blocks. His heart was still pounding too fast, but he didn't have the time to think about it. He just needed to find his sister.

"You can wait here," Mokuba said as they approached the front door of Joey's house. "It'll only take me a minute for me to run in and get it."

"Okay, I'll be right here."

Anzu pulled out her phone and started skimming through the most recent messages from a group chat she was in with her fellow cheerleaders at school. The sound of a crash from inside a few minutes later startled her enough to make her look up.

"Mokuba?" she called out hesitantly. "Is everything okay in there?"

She didn't hear an immediate answer, but as she reached for the door handle, she heard an outcry that chilled her.

"Anzu, help!"

It was undeniably Mokuba's voice.

Anzu rushed inside, but by the time she found the room where the side-table had been knocked over and the glass lamp broken on the hardwood floor, the windows were wide open and Mokuba was gone. His inhaler was on the floor, and as she walked forward to pick it up, she heard the distant roar of an engine. She ran outside just in time to see a glossy black van turn the corner.

Mokuba had been kidnapped.

Anzu whipped out her phone and pulled up Seto's number in her contacts.

"Come on, pick up, pick up, pick up..." She whispered to herself, still standing on the sidewalk staring at the spot where the van had disappeared.

"Hey Anzu. What's up? You're not back yet, are you?"

"Please don't hate me," she burst out, starting to feel the hysteria kicking in.

"What happened?"

"He was inside, and I was outside, and I should have gone in with him, but I didn't, and now he's gone, and I'm so sorry—"

"Gone?" He sounded angry, which made Anzu wither a little. "What do you mean he's gone?"

"They took him, and I don't know who they were, because I didn't see them, but they were inside, and I don't know what to do! I'm so sorry..."

"Anzu, listen to me." Seto still sounded angry, but at least it was a calm anger. "This is what you're going to do. You're going to take a deep breath and calm down. Then you're going to hang up with me and call the police. You'll tell them about the break-in and the kidnapping and answer any questions they have, okay?"

"Okay."

"I'm on my way."