Rewrite of "Get Yarr Game On".

Second half is here. Yay! Hopefully the next chapter won't take nearly as long.

Unknown Location

Unknown Time

Waking up had always been hard for Yuki— sleeping was just so, well, restful, and while being awake had its advantages, transitioning between the two states was a pain. It took forever to get his sluggish mind and body to start up in the mornings, leaving him feeling muddled and slow. He'd tried, once he'd entered secondary school, to get up on time so he could make it to classes, but had eventually given up and decided to just embrace his tardiness. Being on time just wasn't worth the effort.

Despite all his past experience, however, Yuki didn't think he'd ever had this hard of a time returning to consciousness. His body felt so heavy, like his muscles had turned to lead piping, while his head felt like it might float away at any moment from how it was spinning.

Fighting through the dizziness, the Osiris tried to ground himself, managing to move a single finger just enough to feel solid, metal plating beneath him. He frowned (or he thought he did; even the muscles in his face were stiff) at the sensation. Something was off. He cast his mind back, trying to remember what he'd been doing before this strange awakening. He'd been eating breakfast; no, he'd finished breakfast, and then he'd gone for a walk because…

Because he and Syrus had gotten into a fight.

...

"Ghhhah! You did WHAT!? Without ASKING ME FIRST!?"

"I'm sorry. I guess in all the excitement, I… didn't think about that."

"Excitement!? That's your excuse? You just conveniently forgot that I room with you because you got excited!?"

"Of course not, Syrus. I didn't forget that you room with me, I just—"

"No? Then how come you asked Chazz to move in with us without consulting me first!?"

"Because he needed a place to stay. Sure, his parents are paying for renovations on the Osiris Red dorm so he can have his own room, but they won't be done for a few weeks. I just thought he might want to bunk with us until then."

"Yuki, you cannot go around making decisions like that without any consideration for— oh, never mind! I'm wasting my breath! If you want to room with Chazz so much, maybe you should just move in with him! After everything you've put me through, I might need a new roommate anyway!"

...

And with that, Syrus had stormed off— well, as much as anyone his size could, anyway.

It had honestly baffled Yuki how irritable Syrus had been lately. On the bright side, he wasn't as anxious anymore, but this new, constant snappishness wasn't exactly an improvement. Ok, Yuki had to admit that when he'd forgotten Syrus's birthday last Tuesday the other boy's grumpiness had been justified, but lately almost everything he did seemed to set Syrus off. Yuki had tried to ignore it, but Syrus saying he didn't want to be roommates anymore, well… that wasn't something that could be just brushed off. The two of them had planned to be roommates at Duel Academy ever since they'd been old enough to hold their own cards. What could have happened to change Syrus's opinion on the matter so drastically?

It had bothered Yuki so much that he'd skipped his morning class and gone for a walk on the beach to try and sort it out. He remembered coming to the conclusion that Zane had probably said or done something over Winter Break that Syrus was having trouble processing, and had determined to go and confront the Anubis, but that didn't explain his current situation. Confronting Zane was hardly likely to lead to an impromptu nap.

He was feeling considerably less foggy now and began to shift around, opening his eyes to a squint. Almost immediately he froze– and not because of the unfamiliar, grey shapes surrounding him. He didn't know how he hadn't felt it before, the sensation of cold metal clamped around his wrists. That couldn't be right. He was probably just… still half-asleep. Yeah, that was it.

Yuki shook himself, blinking rapidly and trying to wake up already, to get away from what was turning out to be a nightmare. It didn't work. Feeling a rush of alarm, the teenager yanked on his arms, trying to get a look at his wrists, but they were trapped behind his back. Fully panicking now, he thrashed wildly for a minute, unable to orient himself, before finally managing to role over and get his knees under him.

The effort left him sweating, and his heart pounded in his ears as his eyes darted around, taking in his surroundings. He was in a room made entirely of metal, empty except for what looked like pipes and panels built into the wall. Yuki couldn't begin to guess where he might be— a cellar, perhaps? But in which building? Was he still even at the Academy? How long had he been out? What about—?

"Avian? 'Trix? Bubbleman? You guys still around?" Silence. "Clayman? Sparkman? Necroshade?" His voice cracked. "Winged Kuriboh?" Nothing. Yuki felt his lungs constricting, making it harder and harder to breathe, and he blinked and his eyes were wet, and where were his duel spirits, they would never leave him, not willingly, what had—

Calm down. Breathe. The best thing you can do in an emergency situation is remain calm, Mr. Roland's voice recited in his head. He'd never actually thought sitting in on Alexis and Atticus's survival lessons— back in the days when he'd still had playdates with Alexis, before she got cooties— would turn out to be useful, but remembering Roland's instructions was amazingly helpful now.

Some might have called Mr. Kaiba paranoid for teaching six-year-olds how to handle a crisis, but it wasn't as if he didn't have good reason to be. And he wasn't the only one— having been famous since their teens, Yuki's parents and their friends were well aware of the dangers that came with celebrity, wealth, and influence. Every one of them had had to deal with their share of threatening and/or stalker-like behavior; some had even had to face kidnapping or being taken hostage. Once they became parents, naturally they worried about people trying to use their children against them.

It was a fear that Yuki had lived under all his life, but it had always been more like a… general wariness than anything else. Sure, he'd had to take more precautions than most kids did growing up, but the threat hadn't ever actually seemed real to him, not like school and dueling and every other part of his life had been.

Until now. The teenager swallowed hard, suddenly very aware of how vulnerable he was with his hands pinned behind his back. Rely on your senses, the Mr. Roland in his memory reminded him. What can you see? Hear? Smell? Feel? Taste?

A second look around his prison didn't reveal anything new, and he couldn't smell or taste anything unusual either. As for hearing and feeling… Yuki concentrated. Now that he had stopped to notice, he wondered how he'd missed it before: the floor and the walls were steadily vibrating, filling the air with a low humming sound. The Osiris maneuvered around so that he could press his hand flat, first to the wall, then to the floor. The vibrations were strong enough that they made his arm tingle, but definitely more so coming from the floor.

Alright. So I'm above something that's vibrating. Probably some kind of machine… What kind of machines were used around Duel Academy? There were generators to provide power; maybe he was in a room near one of them?

Fiddling with his hands a bit more, Yuki was able to determine that his restraints were a pair of handcuffs, a few metal links providing his only range of movement. Unfortunately, he'd missed Mr. Roland's class on how to get out of those.

Chazz's Room, Osiris Dorm

January 29, 2028

10:31 AM

"GAHH! I CAN'T TAKE IT ANYMORE! The Chazz shouldn't live like a rat in the gutter! I used to be an Anubis Blue— jacuzzi tub, turndown service— a week of renovations and this place still isn't livable!" Chazz clutched at his crossed knees with a death grip, breathing hard after his rant. His counselor said that transitioning between dorms was going to incur a kind of grief and that he shouldn't be surprised if he experienced a bit of denial or anger or depression— and indeed, Chazz was no longer surprised by his emotions.

That didn't make them any easier to live with, though.

"Hey boss, you sound stressed. Oh, yeah, just look at all this pressure building up!"

How convenient— an easy target for his ire. "You! If you wanna be helpful, then get lost!" Yellow burst into streams of fake tears. "And, if you wanna see pressure—" Chazz lunged for the annoying Duel Spirit, intending to crush the little gremlin between his hands no matter how futile he knew it would be. All he accomplished was managing to get stuck in the tiny space between his dresser and his bed after falling off the latter.

"Boss, do you hear that?"

"What?" Chazz asked irritably, grimacing as he twisted his elbow at an awkward angle. Yellow had finally stopped bouncing around the room and had his freakish eye stalks pointed toward the door.

"It sounds like someone is calling for help."

"Yeah, I hear it, too," Green said, popping into existence. "They sound pretty upset."

"They're not the only ones," Chazz growled, twisting himself around painfully so he could get his feet under him.

"Not just upset, they sound scared! Boss, we should go help them out!"

"No."

"But they could be in real trouble, boss," Green backed up his brother.

"No."

"What's all that racket? Someone help them already so they'll stop yelling!"

"Oh great, the tedious trio is complete," Chazz complained as he sat back down on his bed, rubbing his elbow and glaring at the three Ojama brothers. "Stop messing around. I can't hear anything."

"Maybe that's because you're not listening," Yellow suggested, earning himself another swat.

"Aw, come on, boss. We know you're not as cold-hearted as you like to pretend. You would've gotten rid of us otherwise. Let's go help them out!"

"Yeah," Black agreed.

"Ugh. Alright, fine. We'll go and check it out. Better than staying around this dump anyway," he muttered.

The Ojamas led him down to the long, thin strip of beach beneath the Osiris cliff, via the steep stairs hewn into the cliff face. It was ridiculously hazardous, and someone should tell Mr. Kaiba so, Chazz thought. Not him, of course, but someone.

The former Anubis had been prepared to merely take a walk on the beach, not actually believing the gremlins' claims of a distress call, but when he finally set foot on the sand, he heard it. A man's voice, hoarse with desperation, shouting out a constant stream of words,

"…hear me!? They're floating out to sea! I can't reach them! Somebody help!"

Chazz took off at a run, kicking up sand left and right (that was going to be hell to get out of his shoes later, he grimaced) following the voice. Rounding a heap of rocks, he almost tripped over his own feet in surprise when he saw the dark, spectral, familiar shape hovering on the beach. It was Elemental HERO Necroshade, one of Yuki's monsters. They had been formally introduced over winter break.

"General! The tide's coming in! They're being taken out to sea!"

Ignoring the odd form of address, Chazz glanced over at the waves and felt his stomach drop. Cards. The water was full of cards. Without a second thought, Chazz plunged into the surf, gathering them as fast as he could.

It would have been a horrifying sight for any semi-serious duelist, but Chazz was a spirit-talker. He knew exactly how dire the consequences could be for the spirits of damaged cards.

…

"Man, no wonder they like you so much," Belowski whistled appreciatively after Chazz mentioned having almost all the cards he'd found in the weakling well either re-laminated, re-inked, or both.

"It wasn't like it was hard or anything," Chazz muttered back, unused to getting genuine praise from his peers.

"Are you kidding dude? It's still a huge deal. Their cards are like, their individual portals or something. Without 'em they can't travel back and forth between the worlds."

"Seriously?"

"Yeah, man. It's all because of the millemediterranite."

Chazz knew about millemediterranite, of course— Professor Dean had drilled them on it until they could spell it backward in their sleep. A rare metal found only in the Mediterranean Sea, it was an essential element in both Duel Monsters cards and Duel Disks. Every single card was made up of two layers of card stock with a thin layer of millemediterranite in between. The metal piece had a unique set of grooves etched into it that allowed the Duel Disk to identify and then project the card's information, or (in some cases) reject the card as forbidden. The metal's properties were what had allowed KaibaCorp to make their holograms so life-like.

Not only that, but as its name suggested, millemediterranite was believed to be what the Millennium Items had been made of. (Well, partly at least, Yuki cut in. His father had always thought that the items were mostly pure magic, and that the millemediterranite was merely an insulation coating of sorts, so that people could wield them without melting their own faces off).

That was all information only relevant humans, though, Belowski explained. To Duel Spirits, the cards were their keys to traveling back and forth from their home worlds into the human one. If it was damaged, they could be trapped on the wrong side of the portal: hence why all the spirits in the weakling well had been so desperate to come with Chazz, and so pleased when he'd fixed up their cards. Some of them hadn't been home in years.

…

Chazz had never thought about where the Ojama brothers had come from until that conversation. Apparently, they lived in a kind of swamp full of rich mineral deposits, which was how the three EARTH monsters had gotten their different colors. Who knew? They'd said they'd invite him to come visit, but they weren't sure how he would get there, which was fine by Chazz. Swamps were so not his thing.

Common Room, Osiris Dorm

January 29, 2028

10:44 AM

"Is anyone missing?" Chazz asked, carefully laying out the last card after he'd finished thoroughly examining and cleaning it, to the best of his ability. He'd found Yuki's deck box a little ways up the beach, cards spilling out of it like it'd been carelessly dropped and cracked open. Some cards had remained in the box and were fine, but a majority had at least a little sand on them, and one or two were absolutely soaked, salt possibly already sinking into the cardstock's grain.

Necroshade, the only monster who had simultaneously escaped the water and had the power to maintain his presence long enough to call for help, hovered over Chazz's shoulder, studying the eighty or so cards before him. "No," he said finally, shoulders dropping in relief. "You have our heartfelt gratitude, T- Chazz. It not for you—"

"Yeah, why the heck were you guys just left out there, anyway?" Chazz demanded. "Yuki may be a clueless idiot, but not like that! He wouldn't have just— I mean, not if he…" Chazz trailed off, a horrible sinking feeling in his gut.

Necroshade met his eyes grimly. "I fear our master is in grave danger, young guardian."

Unknown Location

Unknown Time

Yuki was trying to figure out how to dislocate his thumb (he had no idea if it would help, but it was the only thing he'd come up with so far), when he heard heavy footsteps approaching. His attention snapped to the metal panel he'd determined to be the door, his heart rate spiking.

The panel slid aside to reveal two figures, looking not at all like Yuki had expected them to. Instead of generic suits or balaclavas, they were dressed in clothes for seafaring— one was wearing an actual sailor's uniform.

As unusual as that was, though, Yuki was quickly hyper-focused on the other man, much more rotund and heavy-set than his companion, with bushy sideburns, striped shirt, and sailor's cap. From the way he sauntered into the room, grinning from ear to ear, the Osiris had no doubt this was the man in charge.

While the other man began setting up a folding chair he'd been carrying, his boss stepped into Yuki's personal space, leaning in far too close. "Well, hello there, young scallywag. How be ye faring so far?" He gave a deep-bellied laugh at the dumbfounded look on the teenager's face. "What I mean to say is, how are you feeling?

"Fine, thanks. Who are you?"

"Many things to many people." The man winked. "But to you, I am the Admiral."

"Aren't you a little old to be playing dress-up?" The question was out of Yuki's mouth before he had a chance to properly think about it.

The Admiral just barked out a laugh. "Aren't you a little cocky for someone in your position?" By now the second man had finished setting up the chair and quietly left as the Admiral settled into it. "You have no idea where you are, or what I want with you. A little caution might be advisable, hmm? But then, you celebrity types are very adept at putting on brave faces."

"Celebrity?" Yuki forced himself to laugh, despite the anxiety churning in his gut. "I mean, I know my televised duel with Chazz was one-of-a-kind, but I'd hardly call myself a celebrity after one TV appearance."

"Nor would I, but it wasn't just one television appearance, was it? The media was always very anxious for a glimpse of you, back in the days when you'd just arrived. The tabloids were full of ridiculous headlines, like 'How does the New Prince of Games Rank on the Cute Scale' and 'Yuki Muto: Which Parent does the New Arrival Take After More?' People are always so pathetically eager for a look into the lives of the rich and famous, don't you think?"

Yuki's stomach sank as his slim hope that the man didn't know who he really was dissolved into nothing. This— this was exactly what his parents, and Aunt Mai and Uncle Joey and Mr. and Mrs. Kaiba, had always been afraid of.

"What do you want with me?"

"Oh, nothing from you, specifically, my boy. From your parents, on the other hand, I was thinking maybe…15,000,000 yen would be an appropriate price for your safe return."

"15 million yen!?" Yuki gaped.

"Ah, perhaps you're right, and that is a bit too much. Tell you what, I'll lower it down to an even ten million, as a personal favor to you, boy." The Admiral grinned, showing off his yellowing teeth. "You've shown you've got spirit at least, and that's a trait I can admire even in a rich, spoiled brat."

Common Room, Osiris Dorm

January 29, 2028

10:47 AM

Panic, Chazz knew, would not help matters any. Still, he struggled to hold it at bay as he paced frantically back and forth. "A submarine!? What kind of lunatic goes around kidnapping people in a submarine?"

Because Yuki had been— kidnapped, that was. By a lunatic in a submarine, if his Duel Spirits were to be believed. Don't panic. Don't panic. Don't panic.

"How are we even supposed to go after him? We'd need a boat, with radar or something, and they're probably who-knows-where by now—" Stop. Take a deep breath. Think. "We need help," Chazz murmured, resigned. "But who can we ask?" If he told someone what had happened, they'd want to know how he knew, and, well, he couldn't exactly tell them the truth. And Chazz had always been a terrible liar.

We need someone who knows about spirits. Not only that, but someone with the resources to mount a search… Chazz almost smacked himself, the answer was so obvious. He knew someone who fit that description exactly, thanks to Belowski.

…

"Yeah, I've heard of it coming on people suddenly like that," Belowski assured him. "It happened that way to some of my friends back at Mr. Kaiba's research labs."

"Research labs?"

"Yeah, ya'know, where he does research on duel spirits and spirit-talkers, like us."

"Mr. Kaiba does research on Duel Spirits!?"

Card Shack, Academy Island

January 29, 2028

11:02 AM

"It's really getting on my nerves, you know? For once I'm investigating something that isn't going to ruin anyone's life, genuinely trying to help, and I can't find anything. Gerard slumped forward over the table with a groan. "I've never run into so many dead ends before, not even when researching my most difficult stories. I'm really sorry, Alexis. I thought I could be of more use."

"Don't worry about it," Alexis said with a sigh. "You tried, and that's more than most people ever did." The first-year Anubis let her gaze wander to the window, staring out across the Quad and propping her chin up with one hand. Her hope that Gerard would stumble across a new clue (that the entirety of KaibaCorp's resources had somehow missed) had faded pretty quickly into their arrangement. It would be cruel (not to mention impolite) to say such a thing aloud, however, so she was left with only her best attempts at acceptance. Fortunately, she'd had a lot of practice at feigning acceptance since Atticus disappeared.

Of course, this time wasn't nearly as frustrating, because although Gerard may have come up empty, the same couldn't be said of Alexis. After all, she'd met the one responsible for the loss of her brother. The "threatening voice shrouded in darkness" wasn't a great lead, but it was something— and the encounter had given her at least one answer.

Atticus's disappearance had been supernatural.

Again, not information she could do a lot with, but it was something.

Alexis was pulled out of her thoughts by the sound of someone entering the Card Shack. Glancing up, she almost did a double take when she saw Chazz, standing out starkly in his all-black uniform, fidgeting in the doorway. The Osiris's eyes swept across the small shop, quickly landing on the small table in the corner where Alexis and Gerard were sitting. An odd expression— was that relief?— broke across his features and he made a beeline toward them.

"Hi, Chazz," Alexis greeted, alerting Gerard to the other student's presence. The journalist shot up from his slouched position, almost knocking his official Card Shack employee visor off his head.

"Oh, look at that. Break's over. See you later, Alexis." He gave a quick bow and hurried off, quickly vanishing from sight among the shelves full of cards. Gerard was lucky there was only one table to sit down at in this place, or else his presence would have been far more suspicious.

Alexis turned to Chazz expectantly.

The Osiris seemed unusually anxious, shuffling from foot to foot and refusing to meet her gaze. Finally he got out, "Can I talk to you?"

"Sure. What's up?' Patience. She needed patience.

Chazz fidgeted and shuffled some more before finally adding, "In private?"

One of Alexis's eyebrows ticked upward. "Of… course." She stood up from the table and motioned for Chazz to follow her, leading him to the Card Shack's back storage room— the only totally private place in the building.

Once they were alone, the Anubis expected her fellow freshman to get right to the point, but instead, he stalled, looking everywhere but at her. Was he… blushing? Was this a confession of feelings? Holy Blue Eyes, she hoped not.

"Look, I need you to call your Dad and tell him there's an emergency."

Oh…kay. She was not expecting that. At least it wasn't a confession. "What emergency? What's happened?"

Chazz finally looked her in the eyes. "It's Yuki. He's been kidnapped."

Oh. Oh. She took it back; she would have preferred a confession of love to the terror that suddenly gripped her.

…

It wasn't long after Chazz started explaining that Alexis understood why he was asking for her father, as opposed to going to Professor Dean or Chancellor Sheppard. Never mind trying to protect Yuki's cover, no one else would believe them if they claimed they knew what had happened because "the cards said so."

Grimly, she pulled out her phone and speed dialed her father's emergency number, the one that would override anything, even his phone being powered off.

She just hoped her mother wasn't in the room when he answered.

…

Meanwhile, outside in the shop proper, Sadie was restocking shelves while Gerard manned the counter and Miss Dorothy looked over inventories. The younger woman happened to glance out the side window as she reached for more card packs and immediately did a double take, her mouth hanging slightly open.

"Uh, Aunt Dorothy? You're not having shipments delivered by submarine now, are you?"

Miss Dorothy frowned. "No, of course not. Why do you ask?"

"Because one just surfaced a little way out from the dock."

Gerard's face turned a sickly gray. "Did you just say a submarine?"

Bridge of the Deepsea Legend

January 29, 2028

11:39 AM

The Admiral stalked onto the command deck, face fixed in a permanent snarl. Who had dared to give the order to surface, especially while they were still so close to Academy Island? True, it was unlikely anyone had even noticed Muto's brat was missing yet, let alone come to the conclusion that he'd been kidnapped, but no one gave orders on this ship except him.

"What's going on here? Why have we surfaced? I will not tolerate this mutinous—"

"We didn't have a choice, sir," someone, he didn't care to notice who, yelled across the room. "We've been sabotaged. We need to escape on the lifeboats now."

"What!? Who would have…" The Admiral trailed off, a shiver running up his spine. Was it just him, or were the shadows in here growing longer? How was that even possible? There were no windows on the bridge of a submarine!

Something shattered, and then someone screamed, and the Admiral whirled around— only to be faced with two eerie, glowing yellow eyes.

Cockpit, White Dragon of the Abyss

January 29, 2028

1:58 PM

"Okay, let me see if I have this straight." Seto Kaiba rubbed at his temples, trying to ward off his growing headache. "You came across a journalist who had snuck onto the island, illegally gaining access to a school, full of minors, who flat-out told you he was trying to ruin our family's reputation, and your response was to give him unauthorized permission to stay." He turned his icy glare on Dorothy, who as an adult, should have known better. "And you knew about this."

Across from him, his daughter folded her arms across her chest and stuck out her chin, the picture of stubborn defiance. Kaiba cursed the obstinance running through his genes. "He offered to help find Atticus. That was worth any potential risk. You always taught me that family comes first, no matter what. Wouldn't you have done the same for Uncle Mokuba?"

Kaiba ground his teeth. Once upon a time, he would have claimed he'd never needed any help to rescue Mokuba, but at forty-eight, he was no longer the arrogant youth he'd been.

Besides, Alexis knew better from her mother.

Dorothy, at least, had the wherewithal to look apologetic. "I'm sorry, Seto, I should have called to double-check with you. When Alexis came to me and asked me to give Gerard a job as a cover, well… I just assumed it was with your permission." She gave the girl a disapproving look.

Alexis didn't back down. "I didn't lie to you," she said haughtily, "you jumped to your own conclusions based on incomplete information."

"Alexis. Manners."

"I'm sorry to interrupt," the Gerard in question said, looking even more ill than he had when they'd first boarded, "but I get the feeling I'm missing something here…?"

KaibaCorp's CEO sighed heavily and rubbed his temples more vigorously. "There's no harm in telling you, since I'm not letting you out of my sight any time in the foreseeable future. Atticus and Alexis Rhodes are my biological children, enrolled at Duel Academy under an alias to avoid any accusations of favoritism."

The man's mouth opened and closed like a fish before he finally settled on a faint "Oh," and went back to looking at the horizon.

The White Dragon of the Abyss was the Kaiba family's private yacht, designed for speed as much as for comfort, meaning she wasn't the ideal mode of travel for just anybody. Kaiba allowed himself a small smirk as he watched the muckraker's face go from gray to green and back again.

When he'd gotten the emergency call from his daughter, he'd immediately ended the meeting he'd been running and enacted the protocol he had in place for situations like this. It didn't bear thinking about the last time he'd had to do so— this situation was completely different. They knew where Yuki probably was (even though they didn't know as of yet why the submarine had surfaced) and they had a lead on who had probably taken him, thanks to Gerard (whose presence had necessitated Alexis's explanation).

Speaking of which, as frustrated as Kaiba was with his daughter's recklessness, it couldn't be the priority right now. Both his own private security team and the Japanese Coast Guard were bearing down on the submarine's location, the White Dragon easily keeping pace with the much smaller boats, and it wouldn't be long before the rescue operation kicked into full gear. Now had to be the time to gather information.

"Look, you said you know who's behind this. Start talking, and if your information proves useful I might consider taking it easy on you in court."

Gerard's complexion paled another shade, but he still managed to get out, "They call him the Admiral. He was my source for the story about the Rhodes boy's— er, your son's— disappearance. He's known among people in the news business for trading in scandals, or anything that can be used for blackmail, extortion, or even just getting ahead in the stock market. There were rumors he was involved in more nefarious stuff, but those of us willing to go to him for a story tended to just ignore those…" he trailed off in embarrassment.

Well, Kaiba thought viciously, resisting the urge to throw Gerard overboard, at least this fool is beginning to realize he's a fool.

"So when you backed out of your deal with him, he decided to get his payoff a different way." The CEO took out his phone and called Roland, ordering him to immediately start investigating this admiral person. It wasn't the first time KaibaCorp had been the target of corporate sabotage, but Kaiba would agree to spend next Christmas at his in-laws' if some pirate wannabe managed to be the first to succeed at it.

Aft Deck, White Dragon of the Abyss

January 29, 2028

4:51 PM

Yuki didn't know where he was or what was happening. Everything was too loud and too bright, his senses overwhelmed and his mind numb. He thought there might be people nearby talking to him, but he couldn't seem to focus on any of it. Before he could completely withdraw, though, something broke through the haze, a simple tap, tap, tap on the palm of his hand.

"One, two, three, four, five. One, two, three, four, five. Join in whenever you're ready, Yuki. One, two, three, four, five…"

He latched on to the simple sensation, eventually managing to unstick his tongue from the roof of his mouth and join in the counting. "…three, four, five." Blinking in surprise, he realized he could now make out the shape of his own hand, cradled in someone else's gentle grasp. Looking up, he saw an unfamiliar woman in some kind of uniform smiling warmly at him.

"There you are. Welcome back."

"He's back? Yuki?"

Looking past the uniformed stranger, Yuki took in the three familiar faces looking anxiously back at him. "Alexis? Miss Dorothy? Gerard?"

The journalist gave him what might have been a crooked smile but looked more like a grimace. "Hey, kiddo. How're you feeling?"

He stared at them, perplexed. "What happened?"

"How about you tell us what you can remember first, and then we'll try and fill in the blanks." The medic, or whatever she was, suggested.

"Uh… I was…" Fuzzy grayness— wrong, wrong, wrong— danger!— alone—terror— make it stop make it stop make it stop— "I was kidnapped," he said slowly, "By… an Admiral?" The woman nodded encouragingly. "He had me locked up somewhere, had my hands cuffed behind me." He glanced down at his wrists to see the handcuffs were gone; of course, his hands were in front of him now. "He was going to ransom me, and I was…" Alone. Afraid.

The woman waited for a few moments, then probed gently, "Do you remember anything else?"

Slowly, Yuki shook his head. "No. How did I— what happened?"

"We're not entirely sure," a familiar voice spoke up, and he turned to see the tall, imposing form of Mr. Kaiba striding towards them. In fact, now he could see quite a few more people—law enforcement officers hurrying this way and that, some escorting handcuffed prisoners and others hauling aboard load after load of who-knew-what from— Yuki craned his neck,

"A submarine?"

"It seems this Admiral," Mr. Kaiba sneered in a way that let you know exactly how absurd he found the moniker, "has had his hands in quite a few illegal dealings. Blackmail, extortion, fraud, the occasional kidnapping, but most of all smuggling. Multiple government agencies have been trying to track him down, but until now his mode of operations was a mystery to them." The CEO glanced at Yuki. "There'll be quite a few important people wanting to thank you before this is all over."

"Me? But I didn't do anything!"

Mr. Kaiba snorted. "Not according to that submarine's cameras. They showed me the footage. You're damn lucky that your efforts to sabotage that thing actually paid off, instead of blowing up in your face."

Yuki was well-versed enough in Kaiba-speak to accept the I'm-relieved-you're-alright for what it was, but otherwise, he was still confused. "What sabotage? And how did you even find out about what happened, Mr. Kaiba?"

"Alexis called me after Devlin's kid alerted her. He'd seen enough of what happened on the beach to put two and two together. Naturally, I alerted the island's security team, as well as my own personal one and the Japanese Coast Guard. We expected a more difficult search, but by the time we got here the submarine had already surfaced, forced to a stop by whatever you did. The boarding party found you wandering the halls, completely unresponsive."

"Which isn't anything to worry about," the medic cut in. "People can often experience a dissociative episode during a time of intense fear or panic. Your mind went into a type of survival mode, shutting off the part of itself that records memories in order to protect you." She reassured.

"Oh." Yuki shared a glance with Alexis, wishing he was more assuaged by the woman's explanation. It would make sense, he thought, if it wasn't the first time it had happened…

Alexis sent him a commiserating look, but then, to Yuki's horror, it crumpled and she began to cry. It was only a few tears, not full-blown sobbing or anything, but it still made his gut roil at the idea that he had done this to her. "I'm so glad you're alright, Yuki. When Chazz told me what happened… I was really scared."

"I'm… sorry? Please, Lex, you don't need to— wait, why are you calling me Yuki?" Thank goodness, a distraction. "My name's Jaden, remember?" He tilted his head pointedly toward Miss Dorothy and Gerard.

"Yeah, about that," Alexis said apologetically, wiping her eyes, "we had to tell the police who you really were, and, well, there was no real way to hide that from Gerard."

"Oh." Yuki looked at his other two friends. "Surprise?"

Miss Dorothy barked out a laugh. "Not a very big one, I'm afraid. I've known who you really were from the moment I met you."

"Wha—!? You have? How?"

Mr. Kaiba snorted. "You didn't really think your parents and I were just going to set you loose at Duel Academy without any adult supervision, did you? Dorothy knows the identity of every celebrity kid-in-disguise on that island, for security reasons."

…

The rest of the day was both mind-numbingly boring and exhausting— he had to give a statement and answer a bajillion questions, some of which seemed to repeat themselves over and over again. In between, Gerard explained to him about the Admiral having been the one to send him to the island, and apologized for his deception, which Yuki waved off. Alexis also managed, during a brief reprieve, to murmur that it was his duel spirits who had really witnessed the kidnapping and managed to catch Chazz's attention by yelling for help— yes, they were all fine; Chazz was taking good care of them for now.

Sometimes Mr. Kaiba or one of the law enforcement people would come by and deliver news— it turned out the Admiral had learned Jaden's true identity from one of the TV people Mrs. Devlin had brought onto the island. That had really set Mr. Kaiba off, that the woman who was obsessively concerned with her own son's safety could be so careless with someone else's.

Speaking of which, Yuki got a chance to call his parents and assure them he was alright, another thoroughly draining conversation. He hated it when his mother cried.

Finally, Mr. Kaiba had dinner delivered by helicopter and sent everyone below deck to one of the White Dragon's various cabins to get some sleep. It was the first time in years that Yuki had gone to bed without saying goodnight to his duel spirits beforehand.

He spent a long, long time staring into the darkness, his stomach clenching with anxiety.