Chapter 29: Gozaburo's Favor
In a tall tower, a black-haired senator named Roy Lassard is looking over some sketches presented to him by Pegasus. He's dressed in a red suit with a white tie. He hears his intercom.
"Mr. senator, your family is here to see you." He hears the building's secretary from the other end.
"Ah, perfect. Tell them I'm coming to greet them in the lobby." Roy tells the secretary through the intercom.
"Right away, sir." He hears the secretary. He picks up his suitcase and heads to the lobby. Once there, he meets his brunette wife, Mia Lassard and his two daughters Liane and Zaria. Liane, having golden blonde hair tied in a single ponytail is 28 years old and Zaria with shoulder-length black hair is 25 years old. Mia is holding a birthday cake and a bouquet of balloons.
"Daddy!" Liane and Zaria greeted the senator with a loving hug. Roy laughs with delight.
"Happy birthday, Roy." Hailey tells her husband, presenting the cake. There is a message written in blue icing, which reads: "To the greatest dad in the entire world. Happy Birthday!"
"Sweetie, you didn't need to do this." Roy said.
"And miss out on the best day of your life?" Mia asked him.
"Good point." Roy admitted. He looks around and sees one among his family missing. "Say, where's Dylan?"
"He's somewhere dueling in that tournament. I'll tell him about the party later." Liane said.
"Typical Dylan. When he's not with us, he's either trying to avoid us, or in the middle of a duel." Zaria sighed.
"Say, Louise, would you kindly take this cake to my desk? I'm going to give my family a tour of the headquarters."
"Sure thing. And might I add, happy birthday, sir." The secretary, Louise accepted, taking the cake from Mia. Roy leads his family on a personal tour of the headquarters.
After the personalized tour, Roy leads them to his station. The cake is on his desk. "And this is where I get the job done."
Zaria spotted some papers on the desk next to the cake. She picks them up and sees some well-detailed art drawings. "What are these, Dad?"
"Oh, I see you found my artworks. While I'm not busy helping the world evolve, I like to draw some card designs. I'm going to send them to Pegasus after the party." Roy said. Zaria shows the drawings to her mother and sister.
"Daddy, these drawings are the best!" Liane said.
"I can't wait to see them when they're printed!" Zaria said with glee.
"All in due time, my little pixie." Roy told his daughter. "For now, let's celebrate my big day."
Liane went ahead to dim the lights while Mia lit the candles on the cake. Roy sat in his place in front of the cake.
"Ready, girls?" Mia asked her daughters. The ladies then started singing to their husband and father.
"Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy birthday dear Roy, happy birthday to you!" Mia, Liane, and Zaria sang the Happy Birthday song with serene voices.
"Mia, that voice of yours is exactly why I love you." Roy said to his wife with a pleased smile.
"I know. Now, make a wish." Mia said.
Roy silently made his wish, but before he could blow out the candles, a squad of Shadow Troopers storm the office and aim shock blasters at him.
"Senator Roy Lassard, you are coming with us!" The lead Trooper said.
"Who are you?!" Roy interrogated. One of the Troopers responds by firing at Mia. The shot paralyzed her.
"Mia!" Roy yelled.
The Troopers then fired at Roy and his daughters, incapacitating them as well. Before Roy blacked out, he saw the silhouette of a man in crimson with a bionic arm.
The man Roy saw was Gozaburo Kaiba, having received his upgrades after he lost his duel against Jack. He saw the entire Lassard family passed out from the shock blasts.
"Targets are down. Repeat: targets are down. Permission to proceed with extraction, Mr. Kaiba, sir." The lead Trooper spoke to Gozaburo.
"Permission granted." Gozaburo confirmed. The troopers then proceeded to pick up the motionless bodies of Roy and his family. Gozaburo eyed the cake left on the counter, the candle still burning.
"Happy birthday, senator." Gozaburo said with a tone of malice as he blew out the candles on Roy's cake, darkening the room.
At the base, Declan and Leo Akaba are watching Seto Kaiba defeat a holographic duelist with his Blue-Eyes White Dragon.
"Seto Kaiba. It's surprising someone like him can become president at his age." Leo commented.
"There are those who are a lot smarter than you think them be, father." Declan told his father. "He took over KaibaCorp when he was 13 years old."
Yuya and Zuzu come in after Kaiba leaves the simulation room. "Hey, guys." Zuzu spoke.
"Yuya, Zuzu." Leo greeted.
"Did you see the news report today?" Yuya asked them.
"What news?" Kaiba asked. Yuya then showed them a news article from his Duel Disk. The article headline reads: "Famous World Senator Missing."
"Distinguished world senator Roy Lassard was celebrating his 45th birthday with his wife, famous actress Mia Lassard, 42, and two daughters Liane, 28, and Zaria, 25, when the senator and his family mysteriously vanished from his office in Domino City. Investigators are currently looking into his whereabouts." Leo read the article aloud.
"That sounds awful! I wonder what happened to them." Zuzu said.
"Maybe the pressure of his work drove him to take his family and go into hiding." Leo thought aloud.
"Either that, or someone bearing a personal grudge kidnapped them." Declan deduced.
"Kidnapped?!" Zuzu gasped.
"It is a possibility." Declan nodded. "However, we can't be sure until we get some clues."
"Who would kidnap a famous senator and his family?" Yuto asked from within Yuya's mind.
"If I were this despicable madman, I would go after an enemy instead of a high-ranked official." Yuri said.
"As much as I dislike agreeing with him, Yuri's right." Yugo agreed with his Fusion Dimension counterpart. "What kind of villain would go this far to kidnap someone, let alone a senator, of all people?"
Roy soon wakes up in an abandoned warehouse. Roy looks around the desolate room.
"Roy!"
"Daddy!"
The voices of his wife and daughters turn his attention to a steel cage with the girls inside.
"Mia! Girls!" Roy shouted, attempting to get up, but finds that he is chained to a chair. "What's going on?!"
"Well, looks like the big man's finally awake." A mystery voice filled the room. Roy spotted the silhouette who spoke.
"Hey! Who do you think you are?!" Roy yelled.
"Senator, is that any way to greet... a familiar face?" The silhouette spoke before stepping into the light, revealing Gozaburo.
"G-Gozaburo Kaiba?!" Roy gasped, recognizing him.
"In the flesh… so to speak." Gozaburo confirmed, showing off the cybernetic arm.
"What is it you want from me now, Gozaburo?" Roy asked. "Money? Power?"
Gozaburo turned his back towards Roy and eyed the clear skies through the lone window in the warehouse. He proceeded to speak. "Revenge."
"Oh. A bit of both." Roy spoke.
"During my years as company president, KaibaCorp was the world's leading weapons manufacturer." Gozaburo said. "I took in Seto and his twerp of a brother to teach them that you can't trust anyone but yourself. But he used my teachings against me and took everything from me!"
"Hey, not my fault your so-called son took over. And besides, I prefer KaibaCorp as a gaming corporation anyway." Roy glared.
Gozaburo slammed his mechanical arm onto the table, leaving a clear indent in the metal tabletop.
"And it's about time I took it back." Gozaburo smirked.
"Well, forget it! I don't want any part of your revenge scheme." Roy argued.
"Oh, senator. Don't tell me you forgot about our deal all those years ago, did you?" The former KC president asked him.
(Flashback – 9 years before the Duelist Kingdom tournament)
We see a man driving a car on the highway. It was a fancy car, but not too fancy. The car had an intricate design. The man driving it looked like he was in a bad mood.
"The perfect ending to what may be the worst day of my life. The boss turns me down for a raise, my son needs braces, and Mia's is making meatloaf for dinner." The man complained. "At what point did I become life's punching bag?" He starts hearing police sirens. He quickly changes lanes to let the police cars pass.
"What's their hurry?" The man asked as he kept driving. Another car drove past him.
"Sheesh, push me aside, bigshot. Not like there's any point in moving aside to make way for Charles Gonzales." The man known as Charles said. A limousine then drove past him, almost running him off the road.
"Whoa!" Charles yelped. "Oh, that does it. No signal, no nothing, just treat me like I'm invisible. Sorry comrade, not today." Charles said as he stepped on the pedal and chased after the limousine. When he caught up, he rolled down the window.
"Hey buddy! Yeah I'm talking to you, bozo!" Charles yelled. "Think you own the whole road? Why, if I had two cents, I'd..." But before he finished, the window rolled down revealing to be Gozaburo Kaiba. The then KaibaCorp CEO eyed him.
"Huh?" Charles asked as he put his hand down and waved innocently. He rolled up the window and drove away.
"That was Gozaburo Kaiba. I just cussed out Gozaburo Kaiba." Charles said looking a bit scared.
"Change of plans, driver. Follow that car!" Gozaburo ordered as the limo driver gave chase. The car chase began. As the limo kept up, Charles tried getting away to lose the limousine.
"What happened to all the cops?" Charles said looking scared. Just when he thought he lost the limousine, it caught up to him and blocked his path. Then Charles pulled in reverse, and drove away, past a gate and into the forest.
"Come on, go, go." Charles said looking more scared, but then his car broke down. He had no choice. He got out of the car and ran away.
He got far enough and sat under a tree to rest. But just as he was resting, two pennies land in front of him.
"There's your two cents." He hears Gozaburo's voice. He turns around and sees Gozaburo with Kemo and another guard.
"Now, what was it you were going to do to me?" Gozaburo asked.
"Listen, I'm sorry. I just had a rough day. Boss turned down my raise, and…" Charles said still looking scared.
"Now, now, my rude friend. Surely we can't have people cursing at each other on the freeway. It's simply not polite." Gozaburo says as the guard approached him, cracking his knuckles.
"Stand down. I've got this." Gozaburo said. He then grabbed him by his lapel.
"I think it's about time to teach you some manners." Gozaburo says looking angry.
"Please don't, I have a family! A wife, a little boy, and two grown girls. Please, I'll do anything to make it up to you! Anything!" Charles begged.
"Anything? Says you?" Gozaburo asked as Charles nodded.
"Good." Gozaburo says as he lets him go, dropping Charles to the ground.
"Wallet." Gozaburo demands.
"Oh sure, I don't have much cash." Charles says as he gives it to him.
"Oh please, don't insult me." Gozaburo ordered. He grabs out Charles' Driver's License and looks at it.
"Charles Milton Gonzales. That's you. Lousy picture, but I've seen worse." Gozaburo said. "Address, height, weight, blah, blah, blah! Okay, here's the deal: I'll let you off, if you promise to do a little favor for me."
"Whatever it is, I'll do it." Charles spoke.
"Of course, I haven't figured out what that favor is. So, until that time comes, I'll let you live your meaningless life, and when I need you, I'll call. Understand?" Gozaburo asked him. Charles hesitantly nods.
"I'll be in touch." Gozaburo says with a low chuckle, then he and his guards left.
(End Flashback)
"Oh, that." Roy remembered. "What do you want me to do?"
"Oh, nothing dangerous." Gozaburo said. "See, after I received these upgrades, I had an idea. I figured I'd use you to challenge Seto to a rematch. And with you and your family as my hostage, he'll have no choice but to accept."
"You want me to send a challenge to Seto Kaiba from you?" Roy asked. Gozaburo snaps his robotic fingers. A camera is set up in front of him.
"Does this answer your question?" Gozaburo asked him with a smirk.
Later, Kaiba is looking at the Blue-Eyes White Dragons in his deck. Yugi and Tea walk in and see him. Yugi has a DVD labeled "For Seto" in his hand.
"Hey, Kaiba. We have something for you." Yugi said, showing him the DVD.
"What's this?" Kaiba asked.
"Why don't you play it and find out." Tea said. Kaiba reluctantly put the DVD in the disc player. A video of Roy appeared.
"Seto Kaiba, if you are watching this pre-recorded message, then I am in need of your help." Roy spoke in the video. "You're probably thinking 'How could this stranger know me?' That I can explain. My name is Roy Lassard. I am a high-ranked senator living in Japan. When my family came to visit me on my birthday, I provided them with a tour of the building. However, just before the festivities began, a squad of soldiers in purple armor suddenly appeared and knocked us out. The next thing I know, I'm here, chained to this chair. I looked around and saw my family in a cage. Standing next to it was the last person I expected to see. All I can say much further is this: You don't know me, but the people who abducted me and my family know you, and not in the way you think. Again, I need your help, Kaiba."
After he finished his message, someone shoves him out of the way. Gozaburo steps into view with a laugh. "Hello again, Seto. Long time, no see."
"YOU!" Kaiba snarled.
"I can see that Mr. Lassard's message went through." Gozaburo said. "Listen up: The Big Five and I have abducted this pathetic man and his family. And if you value their safety, you will come to these coordinates and face me in a duel. Should you refuse, well, let's just say things will not be pretty, especially for Mr. Lassard. You have 2 hours to make your decision. Don't keep me waiting."
"That animal! To think he couldn't get any lower than this!" Kaiba scowled.
"It sounds like a trap, Yugi." Tea said.
"it is a trap." Yugi confirmed. "But what other choice does he have? If he doesn't accept this challenge, who knows what Gozaburo might do to them?"
"Yugi…" The King of Games hears Kaiba speak. "Tell Master Koga I'm heading out."
"Okay, but aren't you still competing in the tournament?" Yugi asked him.
"The tournament can wait. This is personal." Kaiba proceeded to walk to where Gozaburo's challenge is located.
To be continued…