Under the Orchid Tree

by LadyWinterWolf

Seto and Kisara have searched for each other since they were separated at the orphanage. They finally reunite at Duelist Kingdom after Kisara is found in Pegasus' dungeon. Now she works at Kabia Corp and fits into his life well. Almost too well. Will they fall in love? Or will Kisara's past catch up to her, revealing her powers. Welcome to a cozy, slow burn romance with action.

5. Noah's Game

Hi Everyone! Thank you for taking the time to read my story! It is meant for Kisara to be a part of the existing story for Yu-Gi-Oh while showing a side of Seto others haven't seen. I obviously don't own these characters or any songs included in this chapter. This is my first story so if I should update it, just let me know and I would be happy to change it. I've had this story in my head for a while and I just write it down so I always remember. It isn't my intention to take credit for anything I didn't create. Thanks and I hope you enjoy!

Part 5: Noah's Game

The gang including Kisara, Seto, and Mokuba leave the blimp to investigate the tower. The big five lure them into a room and they drop through the floor disappearing into a virtual world. When a hole in the floor appears at the bottom of Mokuba's feet, Kisara and Seto watch in horror. "Seto!" Mokuba yells as he starts to fall down the hole. Kisara without hesitating dives for him and catches him. She pulls him from the hole and tries to crawl away with Mokuba in her arms. However, the hold gets larger and swallows them both. Kisara holds onto Mokuba tight as they fall into the larger hole together.

Seto reaches for them, "No!" He misses and they fall while Kisara reaches for Seto's outstretched hand, still holding Mokuba tight with the other. Her eyes dart around as she falls in the hole trying to come up with a solution, but soon she falls into a deep sleep with Mokuba. When they wake up, Kisara is still holding him. They squint their eyes trying to get their bearings. The rest of the gang is with them and taking stock of what is around them. Shortly after, Seto and Yu-Gi fall from the sky and join them.

Mokuba pulls away from Kisara to run at Seto, "Seto!" He swiftly turns around to see them both safe, at least so far. Mokuba runs into his arms as he wraps them around his brother, squeezing him tight. Kisara gets up and brushes herself off while the others wonder where they are. Kisara in the background is doing something with her fingers and waving her hands around.

Tristan sees her, "Uh, what are you doing? Can you focus on helping us figure out where we are?!"

Kisara turns to him sounding unaffected by his tone of panic, "Actually, I think we are in another simulation, like when you helped Seto back home."

Joey exclaims, "But doesn't that mean we should be in a VR pod?"

Kisara replies, "We might be! All I know is, this isn't the real world. I'm trying to find out more now."

Joey looks at her skeptically, "How do you know that? And how are you going to learn more when we are stuck here?" She looks at Joey annoyed by his doubts, then uses her hands to open a virtual window in the air. It has a white border and is filled with code that keeps updating and changing. "What the-?" Joey exclaims.

Seto turns to her, not surprised, "What did you find?" She pinches a file and expands it. It shows an image of all of them in VR pods. {I also knew immediately, because I don't have my powers here, but I can't tell them that. This could get dangerous...}

Joey looks in surprise at the image, "Whoa…How did you do that?"

Still annoyed she replies, "Let's just say I'm good with technology."

Joey watches her confused, "Uh, but I thought you were security?"

She starts typing while she replies, "I'm just taking over for Al while he is out. My primary position has to do with hacking, cyber security, and systems. After I heard about your last adventure, I wrote into our systems to have access to the back end code so we could get out if we are in a similar situation."

Joey asks amazed, "Whoa. So uh- what does that mean?"

Seto gives him a glare as Joey notices and returns it. Kisara ignores them and continues, "That means this is definitely our Kaiba Corp technology. But someone else is using it. I think when we 'fell' into this world, they just knocked us out and put us into these pods." She finishes typing and expands a video file, "See?" The video shows Tea being placed into a VR pod by a robot.

Seto turns to Joey angry, "It's best you learn this now rather than later Wheeler. Kisara is always right, so I suggest you don't doubt her again." Kisara blushes as they continue. Seto leans over to Kisara while the rest of the gang tries to figure out what is going on. He whispers so no one can hear, "Well done, my dragon." The hairs on her neck stand up hearing him use her infamous title as an affectionate nick name. She looks at him annoyed as he just smiles.

---

Back in Time-

Shortly after everyone evaluates their situation, the group is separated. Kisara, Mokuba, and Seto are transported back to their memories at the orphanage. Seto doesn't want to be back in the past and keeps repeating it's not real. Mokuba is sort of excited as the first scene shows Kisara and Seto playing chess together in the school classroom. Their orphanage included a school along with room and board. They sit at a table in the back with a chess board between them. Kisara has a lot of pieces off the board and Seto only has a few. This last move could end the game. Seto waits with his arms folded for Kisara to make her move. Her hand hovers over the knight as she debates what to do. Older Mokuba walks up to them and watches alongside his younger self who sits besides the table, watching. "Hey guys." He says cautiously, "That's us!" Seto walks up and joins him. Young Kisara finally decides to move her knight and looks up at young Seto nervous. Young Seto uses his queen and gets rid of her's, ending the game. He doesn't say anything and just sits back with his arms folded, watching her. Young Kisara quivers for a moment in her seat then grabs a hold of the chess board and hurls it against a nearby wall.

Young Seto doesn't move while some pieces fly by his head. He lectures, "You should really learn how to get your anger under control."

Kisara pants heavily then straightens up, "Ugh! Mark my words Seto. One of these days I will beat you."

The corner of young Seto's mouth tugs almost making him smile, but suddenly goes back to being serious, "Sure. Whatever you need to tell yourself."

Mokuba laughs, "You almost had him Kisara!"

She sighs thankfully, "Thanks buddy!" Older Seto turns away from the scene to look at older Kisara. He spies her standing a couple steps outside the classroom. She has a white window of code open and has her back turned to the doorway.

He walks up behind her as she types quickly on a hovering keyboard, "What is it?" He asks.

Kisara keeps typing as she replies, "I'm trying to stop this little show." She turns to face him while maintaining her typing speed, "This is the day." She puts an extra emphasis on 'the' and goes back to looking at the screen, "I don't know about you, but I don't plan in reliving this again." Seto looks over at the younger versions of them in the classroom. His face lights up with recognition. This is the day they were separated and Gozaburo adopted Seto and Mokuba. Back in the classroom, young Kisara walks to pick up the board and bring it back to the table. It has some rips and a couple small holes, but she dusts it off and starts to set it up.

"Okay, one more game. I'm going to destroy you this time." She gives him an evil grin even though her skills don't back up her claim. Young Seto just watches her. On the inside he never wants this to end, but on the outside he keeps a serious expression. One of their caretakers walks in and scans the room like she is looking for something.

Her eyes land on Kisara and she sighs exasperated, "Kisara, what are you doing?" Seto watches Kisara confused while she gives their caretaker a guilty look. "You were supposed to meet me by the door 30 minutes ago! I've been looking for you!"

Kisara gives her an unconvincing apology, "I'm sorry! I just lost track of the time."

"In the classroom? Why are you still here anyway? Classes were let out hours ago."

Kisara fiddles with one of the chess pieces, "Oh well, it's quieter here."

The caretaker puts her hands on her hips, "Well you know you have your doctor's appointment today. I know you didn't forget."

Seto listens surprised, "So that is why you wanted to stay here." He comments.

Kisara gives him a glare, "Shhhh."

"Come on. We have to get going, or else you will be late."

Kisara stands from her chair, "I don't want to go! I already told you, I don't like doctors. I-I changed my mind."

The caretaker rolls her eyes, "Young lady!" Kisara shrinks. Older Seto watches the scene. He forgot how unsure of herself she was back then. Since they were separated, she has earned a powerful reputation, similar to him. However she was able to do it without all the influence of the Kaiba name. This younger version of her is different, and still learning how to carry herself. The caretaker scolds her, "You promised me you would go now that you are friends with Seto and Mokuba. What if something happened? You would make them very worried." Kisara gives her a face of betrayal. It is obvious she told this to the caregiver and didn't want her to tell Seto and Mokuba. "You were the one who agreed in the first place because of these two." Kisara is fuming at the caretaker. She can feel Seto's eyes on her so she turns to see him smirking. Her heart skips a beat as she processes her anger. She turns back to the caretaker.

Despite her age, her intelligence and humor is more developed than other kids. She comments sarcastically, "Thank you Miss. I'm glad you told them."

Mokuba pulls on her arm, "Why don't you want to go? All the kids here go to the doctor eventually!"

The caretaker answers for her, "Kisara has refused each time and never been. I finally got her to agree after she met you two."

Kisara moves the sarcasm aside and starts to shout at her, "Quit ratting me out!" Kisara suddenly feels Seto's arm on her shoulder. He is behind her and walks to stand in front. She maintains her sharp glare at the caregiver until Seto blocks her view. He looks into her eyes with his same grave expression.

"You should go." Kisara gives him a pleading look. For a moment, he sees fear hiding behind the anger in her eyes. He reads her face like a book and squeezes her shoulder tighter to help. Feeling his touch, she looks down and breathes slowly, trying to calm down. He then speaks to the caretaker, "Can we come?"

She shakes her head and says sternly, "No. You three will be okay separated for just a little." Seto feels Kisara's body tremble slightly under his hand. He puts both of his hands on her shoulders. He squeezes them tight again in hopes of distracting her from her thoughts. She has no choice but to look at him as he gives her a reassuring look. Tears start to form in her eyes. At the time, Seto agreed with the caregiver that Kisara needed to get a check up. He felt touched that she wanted to go for them. Older Seto watches his younger self, knowing he will regret this later.

Young Seto reassures Kisara, "You can do this. You will be okay, I promise." She tries to focus on breathing to calm herself down. He watches her intently until she settles and her shoulders are relaxed. He feels her apprehension slip away, "Good." He instructs. "Now go, we will be here when you get back." He delicately wipes a tear from her cheek as it starts to streak down her face. "Okay?"

She focuses on his words and looks at him determined, "Okay." Young Seto lets her go and she walks with the caretaker out the door. She gives Mokuba and Seto a small wave. This would be the last time they see her before they reunite after Duelist Kingdom. Older Seto groans and walks back toward older Kisara.

Older Mokuba follows him, "What it is big bro?"

His brother sighs, "I'm done with these mind games." He speaks to Kisara as she continues to type on her floating keyboard, "I don't think I can watch this either." She ignores him and stops typing. Seto watches her examine a piece of code and zoom in with her fingers. He leans next to her to read it. "Is that what I think it is?"

"I'm afraid so."

Mokuba looks at them confused while Seto continues, "How can this 'Noah' do this? This is basically a live feed to our memories."

Kisara starts typing again, "What I'm concerned about, is that they can alter them too. There is an option to delete here, see?" She zooms in another a different set of code as Seto looks concerned. She swipes the zoomed in code away and continues typing on a floating screen with larger amounts of code. "I'm setting up notifications. If he tries alter our memories, it will let us know and can stop him. Hopefully he can't do it to more than one person. I don't know if I can stop more than one attempt." Seto tries to pinch things in the air and mimic her movements. Nothing happens so he tries again. She watches him amused, "What are you trying to do there buddy?" He gives her an annoyed look. Things have definitely changed since they were younger. She raises her eyebrows repeatedly, "Looks like you need my help." She gives him a huge grin, she was enjoying this a little too much. Seto glares at her while her expression turns to understanding. "I'm not sure how I did it myself, but lets try."

---

Gozaburo Arrives-

Seto is trying to open a window of code like Kisara. Mokuba watches their past as young Seto has begun to play Gozaburo in chess. This is the moment when Seto earns their freedom, or at least more freedom than before. Under Gozaburo, Mokuba and Seto were separated and could only spend time together during meals. It is part of the reason why Seto's personality grew distant and cold after than. Behind present Mokuba, present Seto pinches his fingers in the air and tries to swipe his arm to the side, attempting for a window of code to open. After a couple seconds, nothing happens. He groans in disappointment while Kisara reaches for his hands. He flinches when he feels her touch and gives her a look. He begins to sweat as she apologizes, "Sorry I was just trying something else. Do you mind?" He shakes his head quietly and lets her guide him. She holds his wrists and directs them into the air, "Now that I think about it. I chose a gesture that was familiar to me. It is close to something I use when training." She lifts his wrists and swipes them the same way she taught him last. "That works for me, but maybe you need to choose something familiar to you." She lets go of him, but Seto wishes she would stay. "Maybe you should pretend to draw a card or something." He watches her, spell bound by her competence and beauty. He peels his eyes away from her and focuses. He pretends to draw a duel monster card. He lifts his hand dramatically high in the air above his head. A window of code with a blue border appears. He scans some of the lines and smiles at his success. He looks down at Kisara who is beaming, "Nice! You did it!"

"Wait! You can't do this." Both of them turn to see young Seto arguing with Gozaburo in the memory behind them. They walk out of the classroom and start to walk towards the front of the orphanage. Young Seto is screaming at Gozaburo, enraged, "You promised to adopt the three of us!" Kisara watches shocked. She knew that Seto defeated him in a game of chess causing him to adopt them. But she didn't know Seto initially made the deal for all three of them. She looks at present Seto who is looking at her already. When their eyes lock, he looks away, embarrassed he got caught.

Gozaburo replies cooly, he almost sounds impressed, "I admire your moxy kid. You beat me fair and square. Truthfully, I could use an heir so I agreed to your deal. But you didn't tell me the third little monster was a girl." Young Seto gives him an intense look of hatred. "I'll take your brother, but not a third, especially a girl."

Young Seto stomps his foot on the ground hard, "Listen you old windbag. We had a deal. You can't take it back now!"

"I can, and I will. Consider this your first lesson in the real world my boy." His accompanying body guard roughly grabs a hold of Mokuba by the arm.

"Hey!" He shouts, "That hurts!" Seto watches stunned. Present Mokuba runs into Seto's big arms. Present Seto hugs him, knowing this is hard for him to watch. Behind him, Kisara opens another window and types frantically. She tries to stop the scene, but it is a live feed to their memories. The only way to stop it is to erase their own memories. She has no choice but to watch what happens next. The body guard pulls Mokuba into their private car. "Seto!"

Young Seto rigidly breathes at the sight as Gozaburo approaches him, "So what is it going to be, boy?" Seto glares at him and reluctantly climbs into the backseat next to Mokuba. The guard gets in the drivers seat and locks the back doors. Gozaburo stays outside with one of the caretakers, finishing the paperwork she has on a clipboard for him. Once he is done, the orphanage car pulls into the driveway and young Kisara quickly gets out. Seto watches her devastated while Gozaburo gets into the passenger seat. She rushes past the car with a smile on her face, prepared to find them inside the orphanage. She has no idea they are actually right next to her. Gozaburo commands the guard, "Let's go." He starts the engine while Seto tries to open the door. He finds they are locked and starts to bang his fist on the back window.

"Kisara!" He yells as Mokuba starts to cry next to him. Young Kisara's head twists when she hears him. Her eyes go wide when she sees both of them inside the car about to drive away. Present Kisara watches the scene. Her eyes swell with tears and her heart starts to race. She thought enough time had passed where she could watch this, but she is finding out now, she was wrong.

"Seto?" The young version of herself asks to herself. The car starts to leave and turn onto the street.

"Kisara!" Seto is continuing to pound his fist against the glass. His weak frame wants to break it but he fails again and again. Kisara runs after the car and reaches for the door handle to open it. The car lurches out of her reach and turns onto the street.

"No! Seto!" She chases after the car as one of the caretakers tries to stop her. Kisara just misses a car and continues to sprint after Seto. The caretaker runs but then dodges an incoming car and falls to the ground in the driveway, unable to follow. Kisara continues to run and dodge other cars. Seto watches with bated breath to ensure she doesn't get hurt. "No!" She starts to sob heavily as the car drives faster down the street. Before the car crests over a hill, he sees her stop and turn down another street. Present Seto turns to see present Kisara behind him. His heart skips a beat when he sees her crouching on the ground. She hugs her knees and her head curls down into her chest as she starts to shake uncontrollably. She moves her hands to hold them up to her ears, trying to block out the noise out.

Her warm and collected exterior is gone and she looks like a child deathly afraid. "No, this isn't happening again." She mumbles under her breath. Mokuba and Seto also don't want to relive this day, but they aren't reacting the same way she is. They rush to her side as she sits on the group, paralyzed. Seto thinks of how she knew they would eventually be separated and was supported him. But in the end, when the day came, she was beside herself. Seto lets go of Mokuba's hand and crouches down beside her. He uses his long arms and wraps her in a hug. Her back is against his chest as she jumps at feeling his touch, "Ah! Oh, sorry!" She sniffles trying to calm herself. She wipes the tears from her eyes with her sleeve and struggles to say, "I-I'm sorry. I'm fine. I'll just get up now." She tries to stand, but Seto doesn't let her. He hugs her tighter forcing her to stay in place. She sinks into the feeling and wants to get closer. She turns to face him and buries her face into chest. She closes her eyes and waits for him to pull away. He expects it too, but all he can do is pull her closer. He feels tears seep into his shirt and he doesn't care. If it was anyone else he would push them away as quickly as possible, but not her. Kisara is kind, capable, and even terrifying. She isn't used to showing others this side of her, and she is hesitant to show Seto. But this is his way of saying, it's okay. Soon Mokuba joins in and they stay that way for a couple minutes. Seto looks up during their moment and sees a Blue Eyes White Dragon. He is shocked at first, then remembers his own memories. He did see a Blue Eyes White dragon in person that day. He never understood why. He wants to go and examine it. But he feels Kisara's body convulse as she tries to control her emotions. He looks down at her beautiful hair and turns away from the dragon. They enjoy the silence and ignore the scene behind them. All that matters is that they are together now. The dragon screeches then flies away.

---

Reuniting with the Gang-

Seto and Mokuba walk with Kisara down the road. She has calmed down due to Seto's reassurance and Mokuba's distractions. "I-I'm sorry. I don't know what came over me."

Seto scolds sharply, "Stop apologizing. We've already told you it's okay. We understand." She counted eleven. It only took him eleven words to make her feel this way. To feel safe, after so many years of being alone. She shakes her head vigorously trying to push down the urge to apologize again. Her mushy thoughts make her feel like Yu-Gi and his gang.

With all her bottled up disgust and emotions all she can say is, "Ugh!" she throws her hands in the air and repeatedly smacks the top of her head, "I'm the worst!" Seto grabs her wrist before she can continue.

He makes sure she looks at him before saying, "Stop." She only counted one.

{Oh shit. I'm really in trouble here.} Suddenly Tristan appears at the top of a building.

He looks down at them as Mokuba greets him, "Hey Tristan!" Seto looks up and glares at him.

He hears Kisara, "Wait, I don't think that is Tristan." Seto looks and Kisara has already pulled Mokuba behind her. Her manner has completely changed. She is standing tall and focused while keeping her eyes on Tristan. Seto watches Tristan jump down while swinging a metal pole at them. Seto steps in front of them while Kisara jumps back. They both dodge, but Seto jumps forward to block whoever has taken over Tristan's body. Seto and the man fight. Tristan's body struggles while Seto barely breaks a sweat.

Kisara yells, "Do you want me to take care of him?" Without needing to confirm, Kisara automatically protected Mokuba first. But she was his head of security and could take this attacker easily. Seto calls back at her while dodging another swing from Tristan.

He has clearly been training, "No. I can get this one, you always get to have all the fun." She smirks at him while holding tight to Mokuba.

"Enough flirting!" The man yells, angry.

"Hey Tristan!" Kisara notices the gang who joins them. Next a robot monkey arrives as Kisara keeps an eye on attentive eye on Tristan. Seto kicks him so hard into a warehouse door that gives way, causing him to fall inside. Kisara catches up with everyone while Seto still gives them a cold stare. Joey taunts him but Seto just jabs back immediately. Suddenly they hear the roar of an engine. The man in Tristan's body rides out of the building opening on a motor cycle. He aims for Kisara and Mokuba but she looks at him ready. Kisara dodges the motorcycle, missing it by a hair. Her and Mokuba land next to a car. Tristan's body starts to turn the bike back around farther down the street. She quickly opens a window of code and unlocks the car, "Get in Mokuba! Quick!" She commands him but ends up tossing Mokuba inside then quickly starting its engine. She rapidly puts it into gear and drives off in the tunnel down the road. Tristan's body has gained enough speed that he is right on their heels and barrels down the tunnel. Seto also takes a bike and follows them both. On the other side of the tunnel, he almost runs into another member of the big five. After he crashes, he sees Kisara on the floor knocked out behind the big five. Next to her is the car, crashed into the bridge wall.

"Kisara!" His eyes widen when he sees that Mokuba is not with her either. "MOKUBA!"

---

The Split-

Seto defeats the remaining member of the big five in a duel. The gang joined half way through to watch on the bridge. After it's done Seto and runs to Kisara. "Kisara! Kisara wake up!" Her eyes slowly open and she sees Seto.

"Seto?" The gang runs up to meet them. Kisara's eyes widen quickly as she yells, "Mokuba!" She struggles to get up and looks around frantically, but Seto pushes her back.

"Stay down."

She looks at him, horrified. "I'm sorry, you trusted me. I-I lost him." She sounds in disbelief. Most of her life after leaving Seto, was spent training. She = tried to prepare for everything. Even to some extent she has still prepared in this scenario. She can manipulate this world in small ways. But without her powers, is she just that same weak girl under the tree? Without Seto?

Seto gives her a deadly look. "Yes, you did. You promised me that would never happen." She looks at him hurt. He stands and towers over her, "Stay here, I can't trust you anymore." She watches devastated while he walks away. {I don't have my strength here or my power. But, I-I'm supposed to train well enough, so I don't even need them. Fuck.} The rest of the gang runs up to them. Tea kneels down to help Kisara. She watches as Kisara looks like she lost a friend. She feels like she has. Seto turns away from them. "I'm going after him." He runs toward another tunnel without saying another word. Just like that, she feels abandoned. Kisara has six people around her, but she feels alone. She grunts and struggles to get up. By the sheer force of her emotional pain and determination, she stands. She fumbles, clinging to a part of the car wreckage for support.

Tea looks at Kisara, "Are you okay? Are you sure you want to go?" Kisara looks at her touched, "You don't have to, he was a major jerk to you earlier."

"I want to go. I can still try to protect Mokuba wherever he is, and I ... I-" She struggles to find the words regarding Seto. She starts to tear up and tries to turn away.

Joey puts a hand on her shoulder, "It's okay, you don't have to explain." She nods at him saying, thank you. Then turns to Tea, doing the same. She runs into the tunnel after the others. Yu-Gi and Tea decide to join her on the path.

Sprinting through the tunnel, the three of them hear a beeping. Kisara swipes her hand and opens a window of code. "Oh shit." She waves Yu-Gi and Tea, signaling for them to run ahead.

Yu-Gi looks at her concerned, "Are you sure?"

She yells, "Just go!" she softens her tone after seeing his face, "I'm sorry. But this means Noah is trying to alter Mokuba's memories. I can't go with you. I have to try and stop him. Go, please." Yu-Gi nods, understanding she has little time to talk. They continue running through the tunnel while Kisara opens three different windows and keyboards. She cracks her fingers then types like her life depends on it. "Not today you little virtual twerp. What is your deal?" Code keeps appearing on the screens. Kisara knows it's Noah's thoughts digitized into commands for the program. She types commands that block his attempts into Mokuba's thoughts. She switches screens and keyboards occasionally but mainly works with the middle.

Meanwhile, Noah is with Mokuba in a room. They sit in a couch and face a screen. Mokuba's eyes are closed and the screen shows different memories. Noah works on floating controls in front of him. He scowls when the screen changes memories when he is trying to change it. "What is going on?" He continues to push buttons. Suddenly a button is stuck and won't work no matter how many times he pushes it. "How is this happening? This is my domain!" The button starts to turn white and it spreads to the rest of the console. The memories and the controls get brighter. Noah covers his eyes while Kisara's face appears on the screen.

"Whoa... what?" Noah watches in awe, then jumps when she looks at him. "Noah. You need to stop."

Noah twitches with irritation, "Why? You seem to do that for me anyway." She stares at him assessing him, "How can you do this? Who are you?"

Her eyes light up with recognition, "Are you... a Kaiba?"

"How-" Noah trembles, trying to regain control. But he feels helpless for the first time since they arrived, "Who are you?"

"Gozaburo's doing huh? I don't even know what happened, but he was terrible I'm guessing."

Kisara looks up at the ceiling thinking, "Yo-you don't know what you are talking about."

"I'm guessing," she draws out the word, "you passed away young, or your body was at least. Then he adopted Seto and he was next in line for the throne." She puts a hand to her chin to think again.

"Shut up! Just shut up!"

She sucks in air through her teeth, "Hit a nerve did I? Listen to me. We can help you." Noah gives her a shocked look.

"What- I don't need help! I kidnapped you! You- you are the ones that need help."

She continues ignoring him, "Obviously the technology would be difficult. I'm assuming you would want a normal body and not a robot one or something. But if there is technology for shadow boxes and downloading people's minds, we could probably figure it out."

Noah starts to yell, "Just figure out how to upload a life to a human body! Just like that?! Are you crazy, lady?"

She speaks seriously, "If it's not your fault. I want to help you. But if you cross that line, you'll regret it and I can't help you." Noah feels like he is going a million miles an hour after hearing her rushed offer.

For a second his eyes are open to her offer, but the next second he gives her a sinister look, "What is this line?"

She looks at Mokuba, "You're crossing it right now. Messing with any of our memories would put you close, but messing with Mokuba? Let's just say your foot is hovering over the boundary." He gives her a stunned look while she continues, "I found your location. I'll come and meet you."

"What?!"

She replies tauntingly, "See you soon." Noahs grimace disappears from her view as she returns to the tunnel. Her body is white but her regular shade crawls across her skin while she gasps for air like coming up for water. "That was weird. I guess this confirms, I can use my powers and merge them with technology. It might be the same for Yami or Seto." She remembers the buttons and levers on Noah's console compared to her keyboard and screens. Despite this being his world, his controls are primitive. She didn't expect to track him down but it's almost like he was taught by someone. {He has no idea he can manipulate this world simply with his mind. Who is behind this?} She turns her screens off and runs down the tunnel toward Mokuba's location. {I'll guess we will find out sooner or later.}

---

The Truth-

Noah is still shocked after Kisara disappears from his console. He turns it off and wakes up Mokuba.{Maybe I can try something else.} He shows Mokuba memories when his brother was really mean to him, trying to change his loyalty. Suddenly Kisara busts in through a door in the back. Noah jumps at first because he did not put a door there earlier.

"Kisara!"

Her eyes get big and innocent when she hears Mokuba's voice. "Mokuba!" Mokuba gets off the couch and run into her hug. "I found you! Are you okay? Are you hurt?"

Noah replies for him, "He is fine. Don't worry. Nice to meet you Kisara."

She pulls Mokuba behind her, "Looks like you accessed the Kaiba Corp files." She observes.

"Well those still don't explain why you could access our program that way you have?"

She tilts her head, "Really? It's not my vast knowledge of systems or tech?" Noah shakes his head. {Well this kid is smarter than I thought. But I don't think he will guess I have magic powers from a past life of mine in ancient Egypt.} She chuckles at her thoughts without thinking.

"What is so funny?!" He yells. A second later, Seto, Yu-Gi and Tea emerge from the doorway Kisara created.

Seto sees Mokuba, "Mokuba!" Kisara turns to see him as he pulls Mokuba toward him. He watches Kisara, still upset an doesn't look at her. She lets go, feeling deflated and chooses to stare at Noah again.

"What is going on here?" Yu-Gi asks.

"I'll tell you what's goin on. Noah was just going to explain himself." She walks closer, "Well go ahead, Noah Kaiba."

Seto listens to her confused, "What?"

"Here is the thing." Noah replies while eyeing the screen. It flashes and shows the tunnel from before, "First, you may need to help your friends." The screen beside him shows Joey, Serenity, Duke and the robot monkey claiming to be Tristan. The big five emerge from an opening behind them and get closer. Kisara turns away from him and opens a window of code.

She starts to type then turns to Noah, "It looks like they may be going against your wishes." Noah's eye twitches while she continues, "I'm going to help them." She glance at Seto who says nothing to stop her.

Tea rolls her eyes, "No! You should rest. You just woke up!"

"Everything is digital here, even my fatigue. So I'll just push through." Kisara says devastated. She types something, then a door appears in front of her. "I can help them. So, I will." She says flatly. She opens another door by typing and points at it, "I'll try to bring them here. Meet us there." She briefly looks at Seto who stares back at her without an expression. She turns away a second later and walks through the first door she created. The remaining four from the Big Five are closing in on the small group. Duke stands in front of Serenity and watches them feeling hopeless. Kisara emerges from the door and appears next to them.

Joey sees her and speaks with hearts in his eyes, "Kisara! Thank god. Can you help us?"

She keeps her eyes on the four approaching and replies, "Hopefully. That is the plan at least." Her body trembles with physical and emotional exhaustion but she stuffs it way down. Joey gently holds her arm and lifts it to place it across his shoulders. She gives him a perplexed look while heavily leaning on him for support.

"I-I noticed you were shaking. I'm trying to help out. You have done so much for us already." At the same time, Seto watches them on the screen in front of Noah.

Mokuba calls to him from the second door Kisara opened for them, "Big bro! Are you coming?" He watches Kisara remove her arm and let go of Joey.

"What's the matter Seto? Jealous?" Noah taunts him from the couch.

Seto glares at him while hearing Kisara reply on the screen, "Thank you, but I'll be alright." Seto's eyes narrow while watching Joey. Noah chuckles then disappears. He turns to walk with Mokuba through the door.

Back in the tunnel. The big four reach Kisara and the group. One of them laughs coldly, "Look what we have here?"

Noah appears to the big four and scolds them. He glares at Kisara, "Now that everyone is here, I'll just make a little surprise." He looks at Kisara, "It might be hard to help your little friends if it gets windy!" Suddenly a large tornado appears in the center of them. The big four scream as they are swept up by the tornado. Kisara tells everyone to hold tight while they hold on tight to objects around them. She opens a portal to the same area with beautiful flower fields and expertly opens it by swiping her hand. She places the door directly in front of each person while fly through. They all fly through the portal and land safely. Kisara is last and coyly waves at Noah before flying head first through the door. He grinds his teeth while watching her. She rolls and lands on her back, looking up at the virtual sky. For a second, she considers just staying there. Getting up meant having to face the gang with their insufferable sappy comments. She also had to face Seto. Suddenly his face flashes in her mind. She covers her face with both her hands. She decides to bite the bullet and lifts her legs in the air. She swings them back to the ground and uses the momentum to swing forward and sit up. In front of her, Tea cries, Tristan and Duke are hovering over Serenity, Mokuba is with Seto by the door she opened earlier. The scene is as expected. Seto locks eyes with her and a chill runs down her spine. She can tell his look is different even though it looks identical to others he has worn before. She looks away and slowly starts to stand.

Once she is upright she leans back with her arms high in the air to stretch. She suddenly feels Joey grab both her shoulders. She jumps at first, "Thank you so much! You totally saved us!" She looks up surprised since she was lost in her thought.

She replies tiredly, "Oh, no problem." The truth was, she did it on instinct. The thought to leave them alone wouldn't have crossed her mind. She was set on this path to always help others when she could. {Maybe... Seto doesn't want that.}

Joey sees the sorrow in her eyes and tries to reassure her, "Hey," he gets quieter, "Don't worry about Kaiba. He is a jerk to everyone." She appreciates that he is trying to help, but she doesn't want it. She wants to tell him she knows Seto can be like this. They have been friends since they were little, but it's clear some things have changed. She wants to tell them to shut up. But in her experience, doing so could cause issues down the line if she needed Joey for some reason.

"Joey, thanks, but I already know that. I-" She gasps feeling the beginning of tears choking her. "Uh," She considers her options. Maybe she didn't have to stay with them. I got to go. But would they need her help again? If so, did she need to be here? To feel this lost? She has made her decision, she is going to run, "I gotta go." She takes a step back from Joey as he watches confused.

"Uh... go? Go where?" She opens another door. It leads to a different environment in the simulation. A cold mountain top with snow slowly falling down on the sedimentary rock. "Eh, where are you going?" She turns to walk through the door as Mokuba takes notice.

"Kisara! Where are you going?" Her head ticks up after hearing his voice. But she continues to look ahead into the door. Mokuba looks at Seto, "Big bro! Stop her!" That is the last thing she hears before walking through the door and closing it. She didn't see if Seto tried to stop her. She didn't care, or care to admit it. She walks up to a ledge and sits with her legs crossed. She swipes her hand to open three screens and three keyboards.

She ties her hair into a high pony tail and starts to type, "I can still get us out of here. On my own." She glances at the snow which is coming down harder and in larger amounts, "That's the way it's supposed to be anyway. I can't believe I thought it would be different."

---

Blue Eyes-

Kisara continued to monitor the rest of the gang from the mountain. She made sure her location was hidden from Noah and whoever else was pulling the strings. She watched as Noah transformed a part of the map into a version of Domino City. Noah and Seto duel due to Seto's needless taunting. She has the match open on one screen while looking for an exit with the others. She partly pays attention. But seeing Seto especially while dueling, makes her feel empty. Suddenly she hears Mokuba's voice on the screen with the duel on. She turns quickly and watches as Mokuba and Seto run toward each other. Eyeing the score, she gasps. {Wait, Seto lost? How?} She regrets not paying attention at this point. Noah laughs and raises his hand above in the sky. He swings it down rapidly as a bolt of lightning hits them both from the sky. Kisara swipes her arms forcefully so the duel is expanded on one big screen. The lightning hits them and after the smoke clears, they are turns into stone. She feels a primal anger rise in her chest. Despite being in a virtual world, her eyes flicker and glow white. Her finger tips turn white and sharpen into claws. She swipes them into the air ripping an X into the blank space. Behind the scratches, is the dueling ground. She kicks the remaining strands of the mountain scene and steps through, emerging right behind the gang. She yells from the side line as her hair and fingers return to normal, "Seto! Mokuba!" She runs as the gang watches confused. They follow her while Noah brags. Kisara tunes him out and looks at Mokuba as a tear comes out his stone eye. She collapses beside them. Getting on her hands & knees, she stares at the ground, shocked and processing what happened. Yu-Gi transforms into Yami and lectures Noah. Tea and Serenity put a hand on Kisara who is crying, her tears drop into the dirt and dry up.

"Kaiba has 400 life points left. Let me take his place!" Yami proposes to take Seto's place in the duel. Kisara snaps out of her stupor and puts a hand on his shoulder.

She interrupts him, gets to her feet and stands up, "No Yami, I'm going to duel him." Yami looks shocked that she called him a different name from Yu-Gi. Most don't realize the difference besides his friends. She looks at Noah, blinking out the tears of her eyes which run down her cheeks.

Noah laughs, "Weren't you just crying earlier?"

She wipes the tears from her eyes, "That is right. You should still be afraid. Now, Let's duel."

Yami replies, "No Kisara, let me do this."

She turns to him with fury in her eyes, "Don't try to stop me Yami, they are my family," She gets quieter and sounds unsure, "Even if they don't want to be." She leans close next to him and whispers in his ear, "I know who you are Pharaoh." He gives a look of shock, "I don't need your help, pity, or anything else you have to offer. Do you remember what happened back then?" He gives her a worried look, "Tell me now! Do you remember, Yami?" Saying his name sounds unnatural. Almost like it slices into her tongue just by saying it out loud.

"I-I don't. My memories were lost to time." He replies sadly. She grits her teeth.

He can hear them collide since he is so close, "I had a feeling. As long as that's true, you don't have to worry about me. But if you do, then you better leave me alone. If you don't, I'll kill you myself." Her voice sounds dark and distorted compared to how she sounded in the past. She pulls away and looks at him coldly, "Also, Seto would die if he knew you saved him. I simply won't let you; we don't need your help." She walks forward as Noah proclaims he will turn everyone to stone shortly. Yami is left frozen in his spot. Young Yu-Gi watched the whole interaction in his mind.

He tentatively addresses Yami, "Uh, Yami? Are you okay? What was that?" Yami remembers flashes. A version of Kisara in ancient Egypt bowing to him while he sits on a throne. The image of her and an ancient version of Seto standing on a balcony, his past self turns away after seeing them. Then he sees ancient Seto across from him while they duel with tablets. It's the same vision he saw with Seto during his duel against Ishizu.

"I'm fine Yu-Gi." He struggles to stand despite the only thing being bruised is his mind. "We have to help Kisara?"

Yu-Gi replies while watching her approach Noah, "I think she has it under control." It feels like a trail of fire branches from each step she takes. She is slightly hunched over. It looks like she is about to pounce on his at any second.

"So, are you going to duel me or what?" Noah gives an evil chuckle. He snaps his fingers and the ground beneath their feel shakes. Suddenly the ground lifts only where they stand and flies high into the air.

"I think we will need a little privacy. Don't you agree?" They rise higher and higher into the sky. "Now you won't have your cheerleader squad to cheer you on."

"I don't need them."

Noah smirks, "Lets discuss stakes. If I win, I get to take over your body and return to the real world."

Kisara replies cooly, "And if I win, you set us all free including Seto and Mokuba."

Noah replies laughing, "Yes! Of course as expected!" He gives her a glare, "You know, Seto forbid me from calling him by his first name, but you seem to use it with ease. How does it feel knowing he doesn't consider you family, yet you stand here ready to give up everything for him?" He tries to get a reaction from Kisara, but she looks at him unfazed.

"You have no idea what I have, or what I'm willing to do to keep it. So you better prepare yourself."

He grunts after failing to get a reaction from her, "Now pick your cards, unless you want to use Seto's deck." A window appears in front of her with cards she can select. He continues to cackle while Kisara closes the card selector and opens a different window on her own. "Wha-What are you doing?" He hasn't seen her access their systems before and she does it with ease.

She barely looks up from the screen and replies, "I can see from your programing that you are connected to our servers. If that is the case, you already have my deck on file. I'm going to grab it now."

Noah says nervously, "You-You already have a deck?"

She selects something from the saved decks Kaiba Corp has available, "Yes, and don't be fooled by my nice words earlier. I was trying to see if we could turn you over to our side, but that ship has clearly sailed."

"So, you have played before?"

She looks at him seriously, "I have played this game with more at stake that you can possibly imagine. Even these stakes we have now aren't close to what I've endured in my life. I've played the modern version and the ancient shadow game it is based on, and I am prepared to beat you and bring back my family no matter what." Noah and the gang look in shock at what she just said, "To answer your question before, even if they don't consider me family," Her deck appears in the slot of her duel disc, then she points at Noah threatening him, "I will always protect them, I always have since the beginning." A memory of young Seto and Mokuba in the school yard flashes in her mind. Ren is in front of Kisara while she turns to watch them, with Seto protecting his brother. She glares at Seto, "So, make your move, I believe it is your turn."

Noah extends his arm trying to not give away his apprehension, "No please, ladies first."

The gang looks up at her from below while she draws a card. Yu-Gi talks to Yami in his head, {How does she know about the shadow game? I thought Kaiba didn't believe in that stuff.}

Yami replies, {I guess she isn't afraid to face to past, like Kaiba is.}

Kisara draws a card and places it on the field, "I play a face down monster in defense mode. Then I end my turn."

Noah laughs evilly, "That is it? Big talk! Attack!" His monster attacks her face down card. Before it is destroyed, the card reveals itself to be a white dragon egg. Before it disappears, it hatches and a ray of light points to Kisara's deck.

"Thank you for that. With the special effect of 'The White Stone of Legend' Card, I get to keep my remaining life points and bring a specific card from my deck to my hand. Maybe you have heard of it, it is called, 'The Blue Eyes White Dragon'" The gang watches shocked by her statement.

Joey addresses Yu-Gi, "Hey Yug, doesn't your grandpa have the last card in existence? How is it that Kisara has another?"

Yu-Gi shrugs, "I don't know! She could just be trying to psych out Noah!"

Noah also voices his doubts, "There is no way! Seto is the only person in the world to own those cards!"

Kisara confidently reaches for one card in her deck and moves it to her hand, "Then you have nothing to worry about." She replies cooly.

"Tell me the truth! What card did you pick?"

She looks at him unmoved, "Is your turn over yet?" Seeing he won't get an answer out of her, he nods. "Then I summon the maiden with eyes of blue, in defense mode. She may look familiar to you. I think she is a smoke show personally." She smirks as Noah and the gang watch as the monster appears on the field. Tea gasps, the monster looks exactly like Kisara. She wears a tan, short dress with silver markings on it.

Noah exclaims, "What is this? Are you playing a trick?"

"No joke. This a real card in Duel monsters drawn by Pegasus himself." Her voice gets dark and serious. "Pegasus once took me hostage in his castle. During that time, he used me for reference when illustrating this card." Kisara closes her eyes and goes back to that day. Being barely awake and watching his wrist twist in front of an empty canvas. All she could do is watch while he laughed and monologued. She shakes her head trying to get rid of the memories. {I feel trapped here too. I can't use my powers or instincts to get us out of this. But my power isn't limited to my physical abilities.} She looks back at Noah determined, {My power comes from my mind and Noah is about to see it.} "My maiden also has a special ability, but we will get to that later. Now I also place a spell card face down and end my turn."

Noah thinks, {Her monster is clearly weaker than mine, so she must want me to attack. Her trap card may stop it, but I also have my own trap card to block it.} "I attack your Maiden with Eyes of Blue!" Once the attack hits Kisara's monster, a ray of light shoots out from the maiden and points to a card in her hand. The monster shatters into pieces, successfully destroyed as Noah notices.

"You have activated my cards special effect. I now get to summon to the field, my 'Blue Eyes White Dragon'!" Noah and the gang look in horror as she pulls the card from her hand and places it on her duel disk. The simulation starts to shake to Noah's confusion as white lightning shoots down from the sky to the ground next to Kisara who is standing with her arms folded. It loudly cracks while a Blue Eyes White Dragon appears at her side. The dragon looks back at Kisara to the onlookers' shock, like it can see her. Some times duel monsters will glance at their owners, but not like this. The virtual dragon wraps around her forming a coil with her in the center. It ends with his head by her hand. She pets it fondly, while keeping her eyes on Noah.

"What is going on? The duel monsters can't do that! There are programmed animations they must follow!"

Kisara looks at him with distain, "You are right. Seto programmed those animations, not you, so I'm surprised you say that like you are to thank." Noah grunts with frustration. "However, there is something no one knows, even Seto," She turns to look at the dragon and continues to pet it. She scratches underneath it's neck and gives a small smile, "The Blue Eyes White Dragon and I go way back. Let's just say, we have history." The dragon turns to face Noah and screeches loudly.

Joey yells at Kisara from below, "Hey! What gives! Did you take that card from Yu-Gi's grandpa or what?"

Kisara looks down at him, then looks at Yu-Gi, "Your grandpa didn't tell you? He gave it to me! He makes a great pot of black tea you know!" She smiles warmly.

---

Solomon-

It is a couple months before the Battle City Tournament. Kisara is walking with a large machine she is pushing on a trolly. It has a large glass window and a pen pointing down in the case which makes it resemble a 3D printer. She leaves it outside of Mr. Moto's shop and walks in, causing the doorbell to ring. "Hello! Welcome to Kame Game! How can I help you today?"

Kisara walks up to him and reaches to shake his hand, "Hello Mr. Moto! My name is Kisara, and I work for Kaiba Corp!"

Mr. Moto's eyes narrow as he takes her hand and shakes it, "I don't know if I should be happy about your visit. That Kaiba boy has been bullying my grandson and destroyed by best card! I don't want to see any of you here in my shop."

Kisara holds her hands up in surrender, "I understand you are angry but… how should I explain this?" She pauses to think, "I just started working for Kaiba Corp and I was going through our files when I saw record of Seto's duel with Yu-Gi. I wanted to come here and not only apologize but offer to fix your card for free!" She looks to the side embarrassed, "To be honest, I-I am also a fan."

Solomon looks at her confused, "A fan? Oh, of my grandson Yu-Gi?"

She scratches the back of her head getting more embarrassed, "Um, no… I'm a fan of you, actually. I studied Archeology and even spent a couple years in Egypt digging up artifacts! Or trying to at least!" She chuckles.

Solomon looks at her confused, "You know about me?"

She returns his look of confusion, "You don't know? You are kind of a legend out there. At least regarding my specialty; the era of shadow games. I loved your paper regarding the political landscape correlating with shadow games of that millennia" She stands there smiling to Solomon's shock.

He starts to get excited, "It's nice to meet you! I can't believe someone knows my work." He chuckles, "Normally the kids just look past me."

She continues smiling, "Well they are missing out!"

Solomon smiles, "What can I help you with?"

"Well, as I said I work for Kaiba Corp. I'm head of cybersecurity and research,"

"Wow! You must have lived a thousand lifetimes to get that many degrees!"

She chuckles, "Thanks! I find school easy so I tried to learn as much as I could. Anyway, I developed a machine right outside that puts damaged cards back together again. I've test it out and it seems to be successful. After evaluating our files, I discovered your blue eye white dragon should first! It is the least we can do, as the company Seto represents." She looks at him embarrassed again while asking him timidly, "And ah, maybe I can ask you some questions about your time in Egypt?"

Solomon smiles and says, "That is very kind of you, would you like a cup of tea while we talk?"

She gets excited, "Ooh yes! I'll bring in the machine now, we can go over whatever you want. If you have any apprehension, I understand."

A couple hours later, Solomon and Kisara sit at his counter. Each have a cup of tea in front of them and Kisara is showing him papers. Some include pictures of repaired cards before and after going through the machine. The machine itself is in the corner on the opposite end of the counter. Kisara takes out a bag of cards; some torn up and others complete, "I can demonstrate for you if you want!" She takes out one card that is complete, "We have made sure to include any card that has this signature from the repair, so our duel disks register them." She points at an embossed insignia with the Kaiba Corp logo. "If you like the machine, we can let you keep this one in store! As a gesture of good will."

Solomon looks at her grateful, "Oh thank you! That would really do something for our sales! Being able to repair duel monster cards will help our business!"

She smiles warmly, "That is the idea! Seto mistreated you guys, so I think it was worth revisiting."

"Sounds like you and Kaiba are close if you care enough to fix this."

She looks at him shocked he realized it, "Well yes! We knew each other at the orphanage together."

Solomon thinks, {I didn't know Kaiba was an orphan. That explains a lot.}

"So do you want to try it out?"

"Let's try it on the blue eyes! I feel comfortable based on what you have showed me already."

She looks excited he trusts her, "Okay! Let's do it! As I mentioned before it takes about 30 minutes, but we can talk during that time!"

He looks at her happily, "What do you want to know?"

25 minutes later Solomon and Kisara are laughing over the counter. Solomon wipes a tear from his eye, "I don't remember the last time I laughed that hard! I understand why Nefatari's head is your favorite artifact. At least you acknowledge it might be poppycock!"

Kisara leans over dying down her laughter, "But imagine if it isn't! Keeping an accurate sculpture preserved for that long is insane!" Suddenly the shop doorbell rings and young Yu-Gi walks through the door.

"Hi Grandpa! Sorry don't have time to talk, have to run upstairs then go meet Tea!"

Solomon starts to introduce her, "Yu-Gi you should meet-"

But Yu-Gi is already behind the counter about to go upstairs, "Sorry Grandpa but I got to go!" While he is paused talking to grandpa, Kisara stares at the Millenium Puzzle around his neck. He then runs upstairs while Solomon watches. He notices Kisara watch him go too.

"Sorry about my grandson! I can introduce you when he comes back down."

She shakes her head, "Oh, don't worry you don't have to. I think we already met at Dueling Kingdom, sort of." {Mokuba said he saw me when Al pulled me out of the castle}"Really there is no need to introduce us again! It looks like he is in a hurry!"

"Do you recognize it?"

Kisara nods immediately knowing that me means the puzzle, "Now that he is wearing it, is the prophecy being carried out as expected?"

Grandpa fills her empty cup, "I assume since you know of his prophecy, you also know of your own past life. I recognized your hair from my work. But I haven't seen any ancient writing regarding you for a while."

She looks at him with sparkles in her eyes, "That is because I own them all. You won't find any historical record left on file or on display in any museum."

He looks at her horrified, "But those are meant to be on display to the public!"

She looks sad that she disappointed him, "I-I know Solomon. But you know of my past life's prophecy, don't you?"

Solomon thinks for a moment, "Are you worried it will happen again?"

She puts a hand to her face, "From what I've heard of your grandson, he is nice and so is the Pharaoh. I will only react; I won't go out of my way to hurt anyone unless they hurt me first. Once I know the threat is over, I plan to put them on display. I just-" She sighs, "I'm sorry, I want to prepare as much as possible. Since I don't have my past memories, I don't want another anyone else to learn what happened and repeat history."

She looks down sad while Solomon puts a hand on her shoulder, "I understand. I'm also trying to prepare for what might happen to Yu-Gi. But there is only so much I can do."

Kisara looks down at her cup, "At least he has someone like you to watch over him! I'm also trying to prepare as much as possible at Kaiba Corp. If the prophecy is supposed to be true, then anyone close will get caught up in it. After their duel, I doubt that Seto will never run into Yu-Gi again."

Solomon watches her attentively {Kaiba is lucky to have this girl.}

A couple seconds later, a beep is heard by the machine. Kisara gets up excitedly, "Okay let's see how it turned out!" She takes out the card from the machine. She walks over to Solomon handing him the repaired Blue Eyes White Dragon card. "Here you go! Like new!"

Solomon looks at her, then pushes the card away, "No. You should take it."

Kisara looks at him confused, "What? But it's yours! I think at least you could give it to Yu-Gi." She pauses, "Please don't tell me boss I said that."

Solomon chuckles and puts the card in her hand, "No, I have a feeling that it belongs with you. You have already done so much! Just take it, thank you for being so kind." Kisara takes the card and holds it.

She looks at the detail in the illustration, {How did he know? If anyone deserves it, it's me.} "Thank you."

Solomon smiles, "No problem!"

---

Chaos Rider-

Kisara finishes her story while Yu-Gi remembers that day. "That was you? The nice woman who gave my grandpa his card repair machine?" She nods and smiles.

Noah starts to chuckle, "No matter! My monster is still more powerful than your dragon! I will destroy it with my monster soon enough!"

Kisara scratches the bottom of the dragon's neck and gestures for it to return to the field, "Too bad it's not your turn yet." She says with a steady tone. "Since he was special summoned I can still summon another during my team. I now summon Matriarch of Nephthys to the field and activate my face down card, Polymerization!" Noah looks shocked, "to summon The Matriarch of Chaos Rider!" The merged monster appears. The Matriarch character is coated in white armor. Her helmet has a cover that barely hands over her hairline. In her hand is a large sword about her own height length. She rides the Blue Eyes White Dragon on a large saddle.

Noah watches confused and infuriated, "What? I, How-?"

Kisara stares him down, "Chaos Rider, attack! White Lightning Storm!" A dark cloud appears above Noah's monster's head. Large lighting bolts strike, hitting the Chaos Rider's sword. It grows in length and violently shimmers after being imbued with lightning. She thrusts her sword toward him and charges on the Blue Eyes White Dragon. She rides past and slices Noah's monsters while the Blue Eyes White Dragon also launches lightning from his mouth. His monster is destroyed, and Noah falls to his knees stunned.

"No that isn't possible."

Kisara continues ignoring his agony, "I then place a card face down, and end my turn." Noah gets up slowly while the gang cheers.

Tea shouts, "Way to go Kisara! You show him who is boss!" She smiles and gives Tea a thumbs up. Tea recalls what she has learned about the heroic girl she just met a couple days ago. {I've gotten to know Kisara without Kaiba around. I understand why he cares for her. She is so nice and caring! I think when he was rude to her before, that might have been the only time. Since he then, she has changed. Even now she seems different and angry. I want to be there for her even if Seto won't. The selfish jerk.}

"My turn" Noah yells. He draws a card while more cards flood to his deck. "And I get access to more rare cards."

Kisara looks at him, unimpressed by his statement. "It doesn't matter, nothing you summon will save you from my wrath."

He flinches at her statement, {This isn't the same girl who tried to get me to her side earlier. Has she really given up on me?} His tenderness shows, but only for a second, {It doesn't matter. I wouldn't have joined them anyway!} "I summon Otohime in defense mode. Then I end my turn."

Kisara chuckles, "I see what you are doing, you think I'm going to summon another monster and attack you with both. But after my first attack, you will use Otohime's special ability to stop my second monster from attacking by moving it to defense mode using her special ability."

Noah looks at her shocked, "How did you know that?"

She replies with a deadly stare, "I told you I've played before. I don't know why you are surprised I know this monster's ability. At least have the common decency to put that card face down and have me guess." Noah steps back, "Also, I'm afraid that your strategy is just lame and easy to guess."

Noah looks at her shocked while Joey watches from below, "I guess she took some of Kaiba's lines." He says dryly.

"Is your turn done yet?" She says annoyed. Noah nods again. "Great." She draws her next card and looks at Noah victorious. He gets nervous as she re-arranges her hand. "I now activate my face down spell card, 'Crytal Cave Ritual'. By sacrificing my Matriarch of Chaos Rider, I choose to summon another monster…" Everyone looks at her shocked.

Noah exclaims, "What? How could you have a more powerful monster?"

She looks at him angry, "Did I ask you to interrupt me, you digital brat?" Noah gasps at the sharp insult.

Tristan chimes in sarcastically, "She is morphing to Kaiba before our very eyes."

Kisara continues, "I sacrifice my Matriarch of Chaos Rider to summon…" She places the card on her duel disk. "My Blue Eyes Crystal Dragon!" Everyone watches as crystals start to shoot out of the ground making jagged formations around Kisara. Suddenly a giant dragon flies down from the sky blinding everyone else. Once their eyes adjust, they see the large white crystal dragon with blue crystal eyes. It screeches at Noah and curls around Kisara again like the Blue Eyes White Dragon did, somehow breaking its animation sequence. "There is only one of these cards in existence, and you are looking at it." The dragon screeches at Noah which causes his remaining spell card to be destroyed.

"How did you do that?"

Kisara explains, "This monster is very special, not only does it have a special effect that destroys all spell and trap cards, but it has another special effect." Noah looks at her frozen in his shock. "It also gets to attack, twice."

Noah's eyes go wide, "Wait, No!"

Kisara points at Noah and commands her dragon, "Blue Eyes Crystal Dragon, attack his monster, then attack his life points directly."

"NO! That is impossible! I can't lose!" Noah watches helplessly while the Blue Eyes Crystal Dragon attacks his Otohime, then swoops at him to destroy his life points. The dragon screeches causing white light to come out of its mouth along with hundreds of crystals. He falls to the ground while his life points reach 0.

"I'm afraid you just did, so deal with it. Now set Mokuba and Seto free!" Down below, Seto and Mokuba's stone skin cracks. It falls off them and Mokuba continues to run to Seto.

"Seto!" He hugs Seto while Kisara watches from above with tears in her eyes. "Is it over?"

{Not yet Mokuba} she thinks to herself.

Duke watches as Seto and Mokuba come back to life, "I guess he kept his promise after she won the duel!"

Seto spins around, "Duel? What Duel?

Tea answers, "Your duel. Kisara took over when you and Mokuba turned to stone. She beat Noah in 6 turns!"

Seto looks up to the sky, "She did what?" Kisara is no longer looking at him, but Noah, while they slowly lower back to the ground.

"You've been defeated Noah. Now keep your word and return us to the real world." She lands with her back to Seto, just a couple feet away.

"Kisara," He calls to her, but she can't bring herself to look. She almost turns but decides to walk forward toward Noah across the field instead. She blinks rapidly trying to stop her eyes from filling with tears.

Still on the ground on all fours Noah mumbles, "This isn't how it was supposed to happen at all!"

"You've been all alone in this virtual world for 6 years. I've tried to offer you a way out, but you have refused it time and time again." She makes it to him and crouches, "But this time you messed with my family. I can't stand by and let that happen. You must pay."

Seto's eyes go wide, {Is she talking about us? Did she do this all for us?}

Noah lifts his head and talks back to her, "My father promised me everything, and gave me nothing. I would be head of Kaiba Corp if Seto didn't rob me of my life!"

"You should be angry with your father." She says on response, "Don't put your bullshit on Seto when your father put you here and forgot about you." Noah looks at her shocked hearing it from someone honestly.

Suddenly the sky gets dark and a voice from above speaks, "You have failed me again."

Seto's eyes go wide with recognition, "It can't be!"

Noah looks up the sky and replies, "Father no! Give me another chance!"

"Too late for that!" Gozaburo's face appears in the sky and lectures Noah.

---

Ghosts-

Everyone freezes at Gozaburo's giant face staring at them in the sky. The evil man explains his plan. He admits to adopting Seto while already having a son, Noah. When Noah and his mother got into a terrible accident, he downloaded his consciences online. He kept him in a virtual word for 10 years. Never to age or have any friends beyond the capabilities of this world. Gozaburo explains that he was planning to transfer Noah's consciousness into Seto's body.

"That plan only lasted a short time, right?" Kisara interrupts the head in the sky, "It's because you realized Seto's intelligence surpassed your son's. I mean, it's obvious he surpasses your own intelligence. A simple chess match proved that." She replies mockingly. She didn't need to take his side personally. What she was saying, according to her, were facts. She doesn't hold back and shrugs innocently, "I guess I would be upset too. I understand where you are coming from." Gozaburo is appalled by the girl's comments. He looks at her closely until a flash of recognition flies across his face. Seto sees and starts to run to her.

He yells at Gozaburo desperately, "Leave her alone!"

Kisara watches Seto run at her, surprised. {Why is he doing this? I thought he was mad at me.}

Gozaburo comments, "I didn't realize who you really were." He then addresses Seto, "So, you finally found your white-haired maiden Seto? You asked me time and time again if I found her using my technology."

Kisara interrupts him again, "Rumor around the water cooler says Machion is actually Seto's tech." This time, she was standing up to Gozaburo for personal reasons. He was the one who took Seto and Mokuba away from her all those years ago. Even though Kisara and Seto's relationship is rocky now, she will always hate Gozaburo. Seto reaches her and stands in front, blocking Gozaburo. She watches him tremble slightly while keeping his eyes on Gozaburo. The feel sorry for him, {This must bring up a lot of bad memories for him.}

Gozaburo ignores her reply, "Did you know we found her a couple times, Seto? But if we got a notification, I would just delete it from the system and tell you we didn't turn up anything?"

Seto eyes widen, "What?!"

Gozaburo looks at him evilly, "That's right. I didn't want you to find her, you were always a little brat and wouldn't stop talking about it. So, I made sure you never did. I guess you still defied me, even after all this time."

"That is enough! Get to the point!" he snarls at Gozaburo.

"Very well. Soon none of this will matter." Gozaburo explains that he plans to digitize the entire world using his satellites and underwater base when Kisara interjects.

"Oh! That was you?"

Gozaburo looks at Kisara coldly. "What are you talking about child?"

"My bad," she says coyly, "I forgot that you're old despite the digital upload so let me say it louder." She puts a hand on Seto's shoulder and moves him to the side. After being apart before, her touch makes him feel at ease even when facing his adoptive father. The touch was brief, but it was all he needed. While facing Gozaburo, she yells exaggerating, "Your satellites and underwater base are turned to scrap!" Gozaburo looks in shock.

Seto watches her proud, {Of course she already found his plot. She always thinks ahead.} He tries to pull her behind him again, but she dodges his arm. She doesn't have to energy to look at him. She continues to scowl at Gozaburo. {Is she mad at me?}

"I got rid of those garbage dumps as soon as I came onboard to Kaiba Corp."

Gozaburo grinds his digital teeth while the rest of the gang snickers, "But I can still control the facilities, and I hid it with complicated code!"

"Oh! That was your code? It was a little prehistoric to me, but sure! We can call it 'complicated'" She uses her hands to illustrate air quotes while he looks at her with rage in his eyes, "You see what you can control is a digital environment. All those satellites and underwater bases you have access to, are in a digital world just like this one. They don't effect anything in the real world." She stands confidently gloating while Seto joins in.

"She could accomplish more in a day than you did in a lifetime at Kaiba Corp!" Kisara finally pierces through him with a look.

{Why is he saying this? Does he blame me for Mokuba or not? I-I can't take this.} They lock eyes. He looks at her happy and full of gratitude for winning a duel to set them free. His face suddenly changes when he notices her expression of confusion and sadness.

Gozaburo chuckles, "Well if that is the case, I think I'll take her for myself, since she is so valuable."

Seto's eyes go wide as he steps in front of her, holding out his arms protecting her. "No! You can't!"

While Seto panics, Kisara steels her gaze and flips Gozaburo off, "You'll have to catch me first you old fart." She then opens a window of code and types a command that allows her to disappear.

"Oh no you don't young one! I'll track you down yet." He then disappears in the sky too while Seto yells from the ground.

"Get back here! Leave her alone! Take me!" He stands there shocked imagining Gozaburo taking Kisara away from him.

Next to him Noah giggles, "I'm surprised you care Seto." Seto turns to Noah with a deadly gaze. "We all heard what you said to her earlier. I'm surprised you still care." Seto walks up to Noah, grabbing his shirt and lifts him high in the air.

"You don't know what you are talking about pig."

Joey chimes in, "He is not wrong Kaiba. We all heard you, and we think you were unfair to her before! You are really lucky to have her, you know?" Seto drops Noah, then turns to Joey about to strangle him, but Mokuba chimes in.

"What are they talking about big brother?" Seto turns to Mokuba determined to prove his point.

"Mokuba, I said things to Kisara I... I got mad at her. She promised me she would keep you safe, and she failed." Mokuba looks at Seto with distain in his eyes. Seto has never seen this before, so he is shocked. "Mokuba, what is it?"

He starts to yell at Seto, "Seto! She did protect me. She stopped Noah from erasing my mind while you were trying to get to me in that tunnel!"

"Wh-What?"

Mokuba sighs, "She didn't tell you?" Seto shakes his head, "After Noah took me, he tried to erase my mind so he could control it." Seto looks at Noah with hate in his eyes while Mokuba continues, "Kisara couldn't find me it's true. But she found my mind, and blocked Noah's attempts at taking it over many times. Noah eventually gave up."

Noah chimes in, happy to watch Seto squirm, "It's true, she is really good. I've never encountered anyone that can alter our environment through code while in the simulation. She kept bouncing back each command I sent to alter Mokuba's brain. Eventually I gave up. I bet if I tried now, she would still stop me." Seto stands there frozen, deeply regretting what he has done.

Mokuba continues to yell, "Seto, I don't want to go back to how things were before! I don't want her to go! You know she could leave if she wants!" Seto realizes that Mokuba is right and starts to imagine if Kisara left when they return home. "You better make it up to her soon." Mokuba walks past Seto and towards the gang. Seto puts a hand to his face while processing the full extent of his actions.

---

Noah's End Game-

After some time, Noah tries to convince the gang he is on their side. Seto leaves Mokuba with the gang to go ahead and find Kisara. He isn't sure what he will say, but he needs to say it. Eventually he instead finds Gozaburo who challenges him to a duel. Meanwhile, Noah takes Mokuba and tries to win him to his side one last time. In the end, he is turned to Mokuba's side. The rest of the gang is being chased by Gozaburo's monsters, and Joey stays back to fight them while commanding the girls to run ahead. Noah has opened a portal back to the real world for them. Kisara appears out of nowhere and steps in front of Joey. His heart skips a beat as he white hair barely misses his person.

She looks to him, "Go. I can hold them off. I summon, my Blue Eyes Crystal Dragon!" The dragon appears out of the sky and takes out the monsters. Joey and Yu-Gi stay behind with her.

"We aren't leaving you." The others leave and go to the arcade.

She raises an eyebrow, "Thanks, but I can hold them off by myself."

Yu-Gi says, "We know you can, but that isn't how we do things." He puts a monster on his duel disk and says, "Go Dark Magician!"

They continue to battle the monster. Kisara convinces Joey and Duke to peel off and return to the real world. They eventually join Serenity and Tea and watch as Noah (In a robot body, not Mokuba's) says he asked Kisara to stay behind. Noah tells her that she needs to go back for Seto and Mokuba. Yu-Gi chose to stay with her too, so she isn't alone. Noah offers to open a shortcut for them. "No need." Kisara opens a window of code and creates two doorways herself, one to Seto and another Mokuba. "Yu-Gi can you get Seto? I-I want to focus on Mokuba." She asks timidly.

Yu-Gi nods, "I don't mean to pry, but I understand he hurt your feelings, I have no problem getting him."

She looks at him tears in her eyes, "Thank you, I want to keep my promise and save Mokuba."

"I understand."

She turns to face him before walking towards the door, "Yu-Gi?"

"Yeah?"

"Please, get Seto out save." Yu-Gi nods determined. They both walk through their doors.

He delivers on his promise and later Seto and Yu-Gi both wake up from their pods. Seto is worried seeing that Mokuba and Kisara are not out yet. Kisara wandering through a foggy space with her Blue Eyes Crystal Dragon. She calls out to Mokuba with no answer. {I've got to illuminate this room quick!} "Blue Eyes Crystal Dragon, light up the room!" Suddenly her dragon glows and the room opens, causing the fog to clear. She finds Mokuba wandering a couple feet away. "Mokuba!" She sees him and shouts.

"Kisara!" Without wasting time, she climbs on her dragon, and they fly towards Mokuba. She scoops him up and lifts him onto the dragon too.

"Are you okay Mokuba?" He nods, "Go Blue Eyes Crystal Dragon! Through the door!" The dragon flies through the door at impossible speed. They are at the arcade again. "Stand on the dance floor quickly!" Mokuba follows her instructions, and they glow and disappear. Seto is standing next to Kisara's pod.

"Kisara! Open your eyes! Come back to me!" Kisara hears him and starts to stir in the pod. "Kisara! You are awake!" He hears Mokuba start to wake up in his pod too. "Mokuba!" He runs to Mokuba's side just as Kisara opens her eyes. Despite hearing his voice, she sees he is not there. Sad and tired, she slowly struggles to get out of the pod. She suddenly sees Yu-Gi's hand outstretched.

"Here, I've got you." She gives her a big smile and takes his hand.

Mokuba wakes up from his pod and yells, "Seto! We need to go back for Noah!"

Yu-Gi steadies Kisara while she looks grateful. Seto spies them, feeling jealousy rise in his chest. Kisara answers Mokuba, "Mokuba no, he stayed back so we could escape before this place blows up. I've also already checked, and he has sealed all the exits. I'm sorry." Mokuba is about to cry. Kisara shakes off her exhaustion to say, "We have to go NOW."

Kisara, Yu-Gi, Mokuba, and Seto run for the blimp. Duke and Tristan stand on the railing ready to help them. Seto picks up Mokuba and tosses him to Duke while Yu-Gi, Seto and lastly Kisara jump onto the ramp.

Kisara trips for a moment and slips, "Woah!" She plans to get her bearings, but Seto catches her before she can. He wraps his arm around her waist and pulls her closer. He thinks about all she has done to save him and Mokuba. He wants to tell her thank you, but she pushes him away giving a look of disappointment. Seto thinks it's directed toward him but she is really disappointed at herself. He lets her go, then she sprints to the control room. He pauses shocked, then chases after her. She quickly turns a corner out of sight and opens a nearby hatch in the floor. She jumps down and waits to hear Seto run past her location. She had designed the blimp to include this hatch and more. She has always learned to put in contingency plans, even with people she trusts the most. She never thought she would have to implement these plans with Seto. She tears up in the hatch while she waits for Seto's footsteps to go past her. Once it does, she hops down a vent in the hatch and lands deep in a compartment hidden under the passenger car. She makes her way towards a secret set up in the base of the blimp. Suddenly the blimp rumbles. Kisara sits in a small control seat in her hiding place. There are screens all around her showing the explosion. Everyone is inside the blimp so they cannot see the giant blue shield that forms around the blimp. Kisara then pushes a button on her seat that sends her shooting further down into the blimp's mechanics. She flies out the bottom of the passenger car with her bare fist first. She makes contact with the inside of the shield and turns it yellow. Everyone braces while Seto runs to the control room.

He sits in the pilot chair, "I'm taking control." he states. The fiery wrath of his stepfather chasing after them. Kisara, directly underneath him and out of sight, holds out her arms holding the force field in place. Her feet suddenly lift off the inside of the shield. Strong gusts of wind bounce off the inside of the shield wall and blow back into her face. Her hair suddenly levitates high into the air like she is underwater and glows white. Her eyes glow white too while she throws back her arms and focuses. Seto hits a button through the emergency glass which turns the blimp into a high-tech jet. They zoom away a safe distance from the explosion. Once they are clear of the threat, everyone sees the yellow outline of the shield, then it quickly fades away. {Wait. Is that one of Kisara's shields? How did she make one big enough for the blimp?} Seto quickly gets up from his chair and looks out the window. He only sees a glimpse of Kisara's hair swing under the jet. {Was that Kisara? I didn't see a rope or her jet boots. Can she get back in?} Worried, he quickly runs to the gallery where the rest of the gang is.

Yu-Gi greets him, "Hey Kaiba! We made it!"

"Spare me the celebration speech Yu-Gi. I'm looking for Kisara." A door across from him opens, and Kisara walks in shortly after. She looks tired and is combing back her hair with her fingers. He looks at her relieved she is safe, "Kisara! Are you okay?"

She looks at him blankly. "Yes, why?"

He walks up to her, "I saw you outside."

The gang looks at her, "You were outside?" Tristan asks confused.

She looks at him back exhausted from the whole ordeal. {Okay, no need to panic. I don't know how much Seto saw. Judging by his reaction. I don't think he saw everything. He would be freaking out way more if she did. Although for Seto that would only mean unfolding his arms to be shocked.} Suddenly getting a headache, she pinches the bridge of her nose. She can't stop thinking about her friendship with Seto and where it stands. Shaking it off, she replies, "Yes, the shields I installed on the outside were jammed." She then points to the bottom of the blimp. "I had to go out there to turn them on manually."

Duke says, "Oh I remember seeing a yellow shield right before we were in the clear. Was that you?"

"Yeah, that was me."

Seto walks up to her, "How did you make a shield of that size?"

She looks at him angry while everyone sees. She replies through gritted teeth, "I'm good at my job."

He looks at her worried, "Are you really, okay?" Everyone watches Kisara to see what she will say.

Feeling tired and emotionally exhausted, she only says, "I'm going to take a shower." She turns away from Seto while everyone sees.

---

Jealousy-

After they leave, the Battle City Finals continue. Seto loses and takes second place. He wonders if Kisara is the reason why. Everything has seemed different since then. Mokuba and Seto are in his room talking. "Big bro, you have to talk to her!" Seto feels tangled in his doubts. "Are you listening?" Seto just glares at him, "Why are you being so stubborn?"

"What do I say?"

"Apologize!" Seto looks at him like he has never tried the word. "Just figure it out!" Mokuba pushes him out the door and closes it. Seto exhales after being reprimanded by his brother. He slowly walks to Kisara's room further down the hall. When he approaches, he hears her bathroom door open inside. After that, he hears Kisara groan agonizingly. He reaches to knock, hesitating at first, then knocks loudly. He practically feels Kisara look through the peep hole before opening the door. She stands in the doorway in a bathrobe. She is ringing out her hair with a towel while looking at him.

She turns and waves for him to follow, "You can come in." She closes her eyes to hold back tears as he steps in behind her, unaware. "Wha-H-Hi." She says awkwardly, betraying her attempts at acting normal. After composing herself, she turns to face him ready. He stares at her while she takes note and matches his gaze. He doesn't say anything for a while, so Kisara starts to brush her hair, waiting. He gazes at her, mesmerized as she continues to challenge him. Their silence is actually a battle of wits, trying to have one talk first.

Seto loses and commands, "We are going now. When you are done getting dressed, join us."

She looks at him hurt he hasn't said anything else regarding before. {If he won't even talk to me about it, why is he inviting me now?} Unknown to her, telling her this is an attempt at apologizing. She puts the brush down and pulls her hair behind her, continuing to stare at him. "I actually think I'm going to stay back here. Make sure the others get back safe."

Seto imagines Yu-Gi helping her out of the pod. He tries to get the image of Joey Wheeler's arm across her shoulders. His face turns to disgust which causes Kisara's heart to sink, "Fine." He turns and walks out the door, leaving her alone. Every step he takes, makes everything around her feel cold. Seto and Mokuba leave in the blue eyes white jet.