Brothers in Arms Part II

'What kind of freak picks a giant boat to be his Deck Master?' Joey demanded as the boat in question descended into the water.

'It must be really powerful, Joey!' Yugi insisted. Or it had some sort of special ability that Noah thought would be advantageous.

'Or…' Sharee lifted a hand to her chin.

Yugi and the rest of their friends looked over at her.

'What?' Yugi asked.

'Well, I think it just appealed to him,' Sharee said. 'I mean, every culture on earth, or nearly so, have flood myths. But Noah's interpretation has a certain Christian feel to it. I think he picked the Ark because it panders to his God Complex somehow.'

At that moment, the doors on the front of the Ark swung open.

'It's opening up!' Joey exclaimed.

'But why?' Yugi asked.

'It's swallowing every monster that's been sent to the graveyard!' Duke said.

As soon as the last one went through, the doors shut again.

YGO

'Are you wondering what happened to all your monsters?' Noah sneered.

'It crossed my mind,' Kaiba said in a bored tone.

'Just as that sphere hold my brain, my ship now holds a precious cargo of its own, Seto,' Noah said superfluously.

Kaiba glared at him. 'I can see that, kid.'

Noah went on, undeterred. 'And from now on, every time a monster is sent to the card graveyard, it will be rerouted directly into the belly of Shinato's Ark. And there it shall live for the rest of the duel. Let's just say I'm collecting passengers, shall we?'

But there had to be a reason…some benefit that Noah could reap. Still, he wasn't President of KaibaCorp for nothing. Kaiba smirked and chuckled.

Naturally, Noah looked slightly unnerved. 'You find this funny?'

'I find you pathetic,' Kaiba retorted. 'Thanks to your Giant Flood card, you have no monsters on the field or in your hand, and it's my move. So if I draw a monster now, you have nothing to protect you from its attack.'

The kid kept a smirk in place, though. 'I'm afraid you're mistaken, amateur.'

Kaiba ignored him. He's bluffing. All I have to do is draw a monster, and I can attack him directly. 'Prepare to lose now!' Kaiba drew. 'Now, I call to the field, the mighty Spear Dragon!' He played the card and the monster appeared on the field. 'Go! Attack him now with Cyclone Blast!'

'Is that thing supposed to scare me?' Noah sneered as Spear Dragon powered up his attack. 'Cause I can block its attack with ease, Seto.'

Kaiba narrowed his eyes. 'With what?'

Noah pointed up. 'With this! A creature you might recognise that now lives within my ship.' A golden light came out of the Ark and came to a stop in front of Noah. 'Arise, Vampire Lord!'

'That's my monster, kid!' Kaiba snapped.

'Not anymore!' Noah crowed. 'He's a passenger of Shinato's Ark, which means he belongs to me now and, thanks to my Deck Master's special ability, I have access to every monster on board my ship. So go ahead and try to attack me now. My vampire will absorb the impact!'

Spear Dragon fired and Vampire Lord took the blast. He was destroyed.

Noah sneered again. 'Nice try, Seto!' His life points dropped down to 2800. 'You're forgetting one thing, Seto.' Noah drew. 'We're duelling in my world. And I control everything around us.'

The Ark lifted out of the water. The water began to drain away.

'Here's a small taste of my power!' Noah boasted.

Of course, the lava was gone, as one would scientifically expect when water hit lava. However, the primordial jungle that appeared around them was not scientifically feasible. Then again, they were in a world where Noah could indeed change the environment at a whim. And if he'd been here six years…No wonder his ego put everyone else's to shame!

'Quite impressive, isn't it?' Noah bragged. 'I command every part of this place.' He took a card from his hand and set it on his duel disk. 'Welcome to the dinosaur age.'

Kaiba was half-expecting Sharee to call out a correction, just to annoy Noah.

She didn't.

'I summon Giant Rex!' Noah's monster appeared on the field and roared. 'Your Spear Dragon's about to become extinct. 'Giant Rex, attack!'

The dinosaur struck and his Dragon was thrown. He heard Yugi, Sharee, and the dork patrol cry out as they were nearly hit by it. He turned and looked. His Dragon was destroyed, but it hadn't actually hit any of them. Noah started talking again, drawing his attention back.

'Lucky for you, your pitiful Dragon was in defence mode, so your life points were spared. But, I assure you, you won't be so lucky next time, Seto.'

'Hmph.'

'What?' Noah mocked him. 'Are you feeling frustrated? Because now you realise that I'm more intelligent than you.' He pointed to the skies. 'Look up! My super-human brain sees everything! And with each passing second it grows.' He took on the look of the haughty kid he was. 'When my mind was digitised into that computer, something happened – something unexpected. It seemed my brainwaves were beginning to grow more powerful. I was able to access vast amounts of information in the databanks of my father's computer network. I was constantly absorbing facts and figures. I learned the answers to mankind's greatest secrets. Before long, I became a super-human, infused with knowledge beyond that of anyone on Earth! But all of this wisdom, all of this understanding, all of this intelligence wasn't enough. Something was still missing from my life!'

'And what was that?' Kaiba snarled, beyond irritated now.

'One thing.' Noah waved a finger. 'A thing I was never able to achieve as a human: my father's trust. And once I destroy you, I'll finally prove to him that KaibaCorp should be mine! You're just a lowly human, Seto! You're nothing next to me!'

Kaiba chuckled.

Noah growled in annoyance. 'I missed the joke.'

'Behind your so-called super-human intellect is nothing but a spoiled little brat,' Kaiba stated.

'Is that so?' Noah demanded.

Kaiba glared at him. 'For your entire life, people just handed things to you, Noah. But I had to work for what I have. KaibaCorp is mine cause I earned it!' He shut his eyes in a display of disdain. 'And the fact that you think you can take it away from me by winning one duel proves what I thought about you from the start.'

'And what's that?' Noah demanded.

Kaiba opened his eyes and clenched a fist. 'You're nuts! You must have spent one too many years trapped in that bubble in the sky, Noah!'

Noah tried to make out like he was still in control. 'So, you think I'm insane for wanting to claim what's rightfully mine?'

'You're dead, Noah,' Kaiba stated. 'You died six years ago. Dead people can't inherit things. Trapping me in a virtual game to prove to your daddy that you're not the failure he thinks you are won't change that. You are legally and technically dead.'

Noah glared at him. 'And why do you think my father really adopted you, Seto?'

Kaiba frowned and cocked his head. 'Meaning?'

'Initially, you were meant to be a challenge for me,' Noah said. 'But, after my accident, my father adapted his plans. He held off on declaring me dead for months for a reason, you know.'

What he was insinuating sunk in. Kaiba's stomach turned but he refused to allow a reaction on his face.

Sharee was not quite so silent. 'Gross!'

Glancing over his shoulder, he saw most of the dork patrol mass around her, all talking at once. Yugi, on the other hand, had a look of shocked realisation on his face. So, both Yugi and Sharee had caught onto it, but the others (thankfully) hadn't. Thankfully, with her face screwed up in disgust, Sharee just shook her head at the demands that she tell what was so gross.

Noah spoke up again. 'You know, at first, I didn't actually realise my body had been destroyed. It was only when I tried to leave my room that I realised that something was wrong. Then my father appeared and told me what'd happened, in a manner of speaking. I soon discovered the meaning of my father's words. He created a new world for me to live in. But this world was far from perfect. Everyone and everything in it had programmed automated responses – from the service people I interacted with to the dog my father had given me. The virtual environment I lived in was full of glitches. It became…frustrating. I knew some improvements needed to be made. I had made them by the time by next birthday rolled around. My father had worked out what we wanted to do with you, but how escaped him.'

Lucky for me, Kaiba thought. 'What kind of changes?'

'Oh, you know,' he said flippantly. 'I changed some reactions and I changed the way the dog looked.'

Behind him, he heard Sharee's remark. 'What's the Japanese organisation against animal cruelty? I'm going to send them a very strongly-worded letter of complaint.'

Noah sneered but continued his little story. 'I had even managed, at that point, to get into the systems and learn all there was to know about creating weapons. However, I soon noticed a change in my father's attitude towards me. I told my father about a weapon I had already designed. For some reason, he didn't seem interested. I never understood why. It had a destructive capacity of 98%.'

Kaiba blinked. 'Hold on. Are you telling me that you designed a bomb capable of wiping out all but 2% of the area's population?'

Noah scoffed. 'Don't be ridiculous. Of course not. It could wipe out all by 2% of the entire planet's population.'

For a moment, Kaiba blanked. The kind of devastation…it was the sort of thing you found in a science-fiction novel, not real life. And he wasn't the only one stunned into wordlessness. There was a dead silence all around. Even the dork patrol didn't make a noise. He imagined they were too horrified to say anything.

And Noah seemed proud of it.

'Time out!' Sharee suddenly yelled. 'Did I just hear you say you made an explosive that would reduce the human populace to 2% of its current population?'

'You did,' Noah said with a boastful smile.

'And you don't think that had anything to do with Gozaboro deciding to drop you from his…line of succession, so to speak?' Sharee demanded. 'I'd say it was the clincher!'

Yeah. So would he.

Noah glared at her. 'You don't have any understanding of what I did!'

'Tried to do,' Sharee coldly retorted. 'And, yes, I do. Let's see. What's Earth's population now?'

A number suddenly appeared in front of her, digital floating numbers. Of course, being at a computer interface, Shauna would have access to the answer.

'Right,' Sharee said. 'Now 2% of that is…' she rubbed the bridge of her nose, '…roughly…120,000.' She glared back up at Noah. 'Do you know what that means? It means that, if you set that off, the entirety of Earth's population could fit inside of five sports stadiums and there'd still be seats to fill!'

'Well, that doesn't really affect me, does it?' Noah sneered.

'On the contrary, it would.' Kaiba was disgusted at his callousness. Even he had never placed other people to such disregard. 'KaibaCorp, along with every other company and organisation in the world, would crash and burn. Know why? Because there wouldn't be enough people to sustain business. Everyone who was left would be far too concerned with trying to survive to worry about things like commerce. And wars themselves would entirely stop simply because no one could afford to go to war.'

Noah scoffed. Either he was choosing not to believe them or…he was so used to this world that real-world consequences flew right over his head. That was, to some level, understandable, Kaiba supposed. He'd lived here so long, where things always reverted to their default setting or he could change it at a whim. He had no concept of what things would be like in the real world.

'My father didn't believe that KaibaCorp could be run by a virtual President,' Noah said. 'That is why he started training you for the job, Seto.'

'Noah,' Kaiba said. 'Gozaboro didn't give up on you because of your virtual state. I think that he knew no matter how much knowledge you gained, you'd always be a spoiled brat, expecting to get ahead in the world without making any effort at all. As despicable as your father was, he knew the value of hard work. It was his own determination for power that got him where he was after all.' Kaiba felt a sense of schadenfreude on the next bit. 'And as much as it pained him to admit it, I think Gozaboro knew that I was the best man for the job of KaibaCorp President. And, as for you, Noah, his real son,' he pointed upwards, 'he realised he never should have preserved you in the way that he did. You were now better off isolated in your computer world, out of everyone's way!'

Noah chuckled in a childish way. 'Seto, that could easily be the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard in my entire life.'

Then you should listen to yourself talk.

Noah looked at him with a look of assumed superiority. 'Come on now. My father wanting you to be President?'

Kaiba decided to play some mind games of his own. 'Why do you think he created that digital dump for you? You were in the way.'

'You actually believe my father put me here to focus his attention on you?' Noah demanded. 'Seto, you always thought you were top dog, but of the three Kaiba brothers you're the low man on the totem pole!'

'You're confused, Noah,' Kaiba said calmly. 'That's your slot.'

Noah sneered. 'Why don't we ask Mokuba what he thinks, shall we?'

Oh, no. Kaiba suddenly had a pretty good idea where this was going and his teeth snapped together. 'Let's finish this! It's my move!' He drew. 'Excellent. I play this: Pot of Greed.' He set the card and it appeared on the field. 'It allows me to draw two new cards to refresh my hand.'

Noah sneered again. 'As if that'll save you!'

Kaiba ignored him. 'Now's the time to activate my Deck Master's special ability! Kaiser Seahorse allows me to summon a powerful monster, without having the sacrifice a weaker one.' He played the card in question. 'So now I call to the field my all-powerful Different Dimension Dragon!' The monster appeared on the field. Kaiba then set a few more cards and they appeared on the field. 'Then I'll place these three cards face-down and end my turn, Noah.'

He had a very good idea that he could now quickly end the duel.

YGO

'What's Kaiba thinking?' Joey demanded. 'Noah's dino's gonna blast his Dragon into the Stone Age, just like last time! Noah could win this duel in his next turn. This is not good!'

But Sharee didn't think it was that simple. Kaiba was no fool.

…Unlike his step-brother. 'That's all you've got? What a pity.' Noah drew. 'Looks like this duel's about to end in my victory, Seto, as I take the Kaiba Corporation by storm!' He turned the card around and lifted it over his head before he played it. 'For now I activate the magic card, Deepest Impact!'

Uh oh. Uh oh. Not for the first time this duel, Sharee braced herself.

The effect of the card flew upwards. 'Open the skies and release your devastating power!' Noah commanded.

The sky suddenly turned red.

'I've got a bad feeling about this,' Duke said.

'Me too – look!' Joey cried. Meteors were flying down at them. 'Take cover!'

Sharee dropped into a crouch and covered her head. She heard all of her friends cry out in alarm as the meteors hit. The ground shook and the dirt was thrown up in heavy dust clouds. Sharee grabbed the collar of her jacket and pulled it up to cover her nose and mouth.

'Tell me when it's over!' Tristan yelled.

'History tells us that the age of the dinosaurs abruptly ended thanks to a meteor shower!' Noah gloated.

Well, yeah. That's the popular theory right now.

You think it could change? Mayet asked amused.

Well, how many things used to be called "the most likely answer" and then later turned out to have an entirely different explanation?

Point taken.

Sharee refocused on what Noah was saying, mostly cause it was getting colder.

She was glad she'd packed a jacket.

'…earth cooled off and the Ice Age began. And, as we all know, there were no dinosaurs on Earth during the Ice Age, so goodbye my Giant Rex.' His own dinosaur monster froze up and was destroyed.

Yugi, of course, was outraged. 'That Rex was his!'

'This is getting weird,' Joey said. 'Call me crazy but, if you ask me, that boy's not right in the head.'

'Of course he isn't,' Sharee said. 'Say what you like about Kaiba, but he was right. Noah was handed everything and then he ended up in here where consequences were even more "not a thing". He may have all the knowledge of a computer but, at the end of the day, he's really just a little boy who thinks he can get everything he wants just because he wants it.'

Noah didn't seem to hear her. Sharee had a feeling her sister had something to do with that. They could hear both Kaiba and Noah just fine, whereas there were times neither of them seemed to hear their group. Sharee actually kind of wished that her sister would mute Noah for them so she didn't have to listen to him.

'You may be wondering why I used my Deepest Impact magic card to wipe out all monsters on the field and cut both of our life points in half.' Noah's life points dropped to 1400. 'Well, it's all part of evolution, Seto. It weeds out the weak and helpless and allows only the strong to thrive.' He took a card from his hand and set it.

Kaiba's life points had dropped to 700. 'Then I'm safe!'

'Guess again!' The card he'd just set appeared on the field. 'My magic card, Ice Age Panic, is about to lead to your extinction,' he took another card from his hand and lifted it up, 'by allowing me to summon the most powerful beast of the Ice Age, Seto. Meet Last Tusk Mammoth!' He played the card and the monster appeared on the field in attack mode in front of him.

'Aw, man,' Joey said. 'That's nuts!'

But Kaiba was obviously not worried. 'Now, time to bring back this: Different Dimension Dragon, return to me now in defence mode!' A portal appeared in front of him and the Dragon in question emerged. 'My beast has the power to travel between dimensions. And now he's back in ours! And, unfortunately for you, my Dragon is stronger than your Mammoth. Now, brace yourself, because I'm about to rewrite history by cutting short the Ice Age, so prepare to lose your Mammoth. His time is up.'

'You should know better than anyone that the past can't be changed,' Noah declared. 'My Tusk Mammoth will destroy your Dragon.'

Sharee was just as confused as her friend.

Tristan made one of those chimp noises. 'Is it me, or is Noah going to attack a monster that's stronger than his?'

Noah was in full gloat mode. 'You're in for quite a surprise now. You'll never defeat me! I'm in control here. Mokuba understands that now. Why can't you?'

Sharee cringed. Kid, if you're trying to piss him off, you're going in the right direction.

'This is my world!' Noah declared. 'And you're my prisoner forever!'

'Go ahead and attack me,' Kaiba said. 'My monster's stronger.'

'Hey, wait!' Yugi suddenly exclaimed. 'Thanks to the special ability of Noah's Tusk Mammoth, both players will lose life points when it's destroyed!'

Joey jumped. 'So, when Kaiba clobbers that thing…!'

'It's like he's attacking himself too,' Yugi said.

'We've got to stop him!' Téa insisted.

Sharee raised an eyebrow at her. 'I hate to state the obvious, but if Kaiba doesn't attack the Mammoth, Noah will have the Mammoth attack his Dragon. Doesn't matter which way you slice this, he's losing life points.' Unless one of his down cards is there to negate any battle damage he takes.

As if to prove her point, Noah gave the order. 'Mammoth, attack!' His Mammoth charged.

'Activate trap card!' One of Kaiba's face-down cards flipped up. 'Ring of Destruction!' The ring emerged from the card and then flew across to wrap around the Mammoth. 'This will stop your monster in its tracks.'

Noah smirked. 'I see that you're getting desperate, Seto. It's true your Ring of Destruction will destroy my Tusk Mammoth, but I'm afraid you'll lose life points too.'

'Not when I activate my magic card, Ring of Defence.' Kaiba's second down card flipped up. The device displayed on the face emerged and activated. 'It will shield my life points.'

The Mammoth was destroyed. Kaiba's life points were unharmed. Sharee grinned. Around her, all of her friends cheered.

'Looks like your Ice Age is over,' Kaiba said as the blizzard died down and the snow slowly vanished. 'I guess you don't control everything here.'

'Hey, Yug,' Joey said. 'They're both down to their last chunk of life points.'

Yugi agreed. 'Yeah. Let's just hope Kaiba can wipe out Noah's first.'

'All right.' Kaiba drew. 'Now, it's time to finish you off!'

Noah scoffed. 'Ha! I'm shaking in my boots.'

'You should be,' Kaiba said. 'First I'll switch my Dragon from defence to attack mode.' The Dragon in question moved. 'Next, I'll send my Thunder Dragon to the card graveyard, where he'll be absorbed by Shinato's Ark.' He took one of the cards from his hand and discarded it. The Thunder Dragon appeared, only to fly right into the Ark hanging over Noah's head. 'But not before his special skill kicks in.' Two cards flew out of Kaiba's deck and came to float in front of him. He snatched them out of the air. 'Giving me two more dragons! But that's not all, Noah. Next I'll use Polymerisation to fuse them both together,' there was a bright light and a new dragon appeared on the field, 'forming Twin-Headed Thunder Dragon!'

'I'd hate to meet that thing in a dark alley,' Joey remarked.

But Kaiba wasn't done yet. 'And thanks to my Quick Attack magic card,' he set a card on the field, 'I can attack right now! And with no monsters to protect you, your life points are as good as gone.'

'You seem to have forgotten about the powers of my Ark, Seto,' Noah sneered. 'Every monster that has been sent to the graveyard lives onboard.' Two of the monsters in question came down. 'And I have access to all of them – observe!'

Sharee tensed.

'I thought Kaiba had him that time,' Téa remarked.

'I guess not,' Joey said.

Kaiba started laughing.

'Or maybe he does,' Sharee suggested.

'You fool,' Kaiba said to Noah. 'You fell right into my trap. Now, I can wipe out what's left of your life points and end this family feud. I didn't forget your Deck Master's ability. I wanted you to summon those monsters. For one reason: so I could play this.' He activated his only remaining face-down card. The card glowed as it activated. 'It's called Dragon's Rage, and here's how it works. If my monsters' attack points are higher than your monsters' defence points, the difference comes directly out of your life points. Prepare yourself as Different Dimension Dragon attacks your Giant Rex!'

Different Dimension Dragon opened his mouth and let the blast rip.

Giant Rex was destroyed. Noah's life points dropped to 400.

'One monster down,' Kaiba said, 'and one more to go.'

Even as Joey and Yugi cheered, Sharee did not like the look on Noah's face.

'This is where it all ends!' Kaiba declared. 'Now, Twin-Headed Thunder Dragon, attack his Giant Soldier.'

Then…a portal opened and Mokuba dropped out of it.

Everyone froze.

His eyes were glazed over and he raised his arms in front of Noah protectively. As Noah gave Kaiba the ultimatum, Sharee felt a knot grow in her throat. She barely even noticed the sting of her nails digging into her palms. The only thing that stopped her from yelling something obscene was Mayet's hand on her shoulder. Noah clearly thought himself clever.

He was nothing more than a coward.

'What's going on?' Téa asked.

Sharee growled out the answer. 'Noah's using Mokuba as a human shield.'