"Hmmm… a solid start Noah. A solid start." Gozaburo folded his arms over his chest, his face refusing to betray a single emotion.

Noah though acted like his father had just praised him up and down, thrown him a parade, and then gifted him a statue of himself. "Thank you father! I know it isn't much but I hope that the destruction of Seto's little brother is pleasing to you."

"Hmmm," Gozaburo simply murmured, refusing to say another world.

It made Mokuba want to scream.

'How can he not see what Gozaburo is doing?' Mokuba thought to himself even as he drew his next card. 'How can he not see that he doesn't care about Noah at all? That no matter what he does he will always be found lacking.'

Mokuba knew that he didn't have a childhood that anyone else on the planet could understand. He'd lost his parents and barely remembered them. Seto had been his protector at the orphanage until Gozaburo had adopted Seto… and Mokuba was brought along for the ride. The spare in case Seto didn't live up to Gozaburo's standards… and the way to keep his brother under their step-father's thumb. After Seto had freed them from Gozaburo's grasp the two of them had been a family, with Seto serving as his guardian. And that had been wonderful and amazing… and it had only gotten better when Edwin had arrived in his life and become like a beloved uncle, or at least what Mokuba imagined a beloved Uncle would be like.

His childhood wasn't normal… but he also knew from it that how Gozaburo was treating his own son was wrong. Horribly, horribly wrong.

'Is Noah really that starved for attention that he's willing to let Gozaburo be so passively aggressive and cruel to him if it means he gets a scrap of affection?' Mokuba set his jaw. 'I want to shake him and get him to see how wrong this all is… but I know that would just make him fight against me, claiming I didn't understand. I hate it… but any attempt to get him to see reason isn't going to work! Noah thinks he is in the right and I don't know if I'll be able to get him to see that his father is just using him…'

It was such a frustrating situation to be in. Mokuba had the sense that if Noah could just see what kind of man his father truly was he would turn away from him in a heartbeat. But… he had spent his entire life thinking his father was some grand and amazing man and Mokuba knew deprograming that response would be very hard… especially with the limited time he had to do it.

'I just need to try chipping away at his belief in that man without turning him against me. I need to get him to begin noticing things himself. I can't just scream it at him and hope that he finally wakes up and realizes that this is wrong… I need him to see it for himself.'

It was a frustrating position to be in… but one he had been in plenty of times before. Seto, for as much as Mokuba loved him, could at times be so pigheaded when he believed he was right that even when you showed him the facts he would still find some way to claim that he was right and you were 100% wrong. Mokuba had found that with his brother you couldn't just ram him with the truth; no, what you had to do was give him a few pieces, create a trail to the truth you wanted him to come to, and that would allow him to finally accept it because he felt like he had discovered it on his own. He couldn't handle the idea that he was wrong and someone else was right. But he COULD handle having it be that he changed his mind.

He had to do the same with Noah.

"I'll start," he began, "by activating Freezing Chains of the Ice Barrier, to prevent it from using its effects against my monsters!" The chains, solid steel and coated with ice that cracked and broke as the chains whipped out, wrapped around Sacred Airknight Parsath, causing the fairy to cry out as it struggled against the restraints. "Next, I will summon forth Zuijin of the Ice Barrier!"

The almost ghostly samurai appeared, drawing his frozen blade and pointing it right at Sacred Knight, its threat clear.

"Eh, that's impressive," Joey said, "but its still not as strong as Noah's Deck Master!"

"Joey!" Tea said and Mokuba heard Joey grunt in pain.

"Hey! I'm not rootin' for Noah but I am sayin' that Mokuba needs ta do more ta defeat that brat, especially if all our lives are on the line."

"Assuming Edwin can't just get us out of this," Tristan commented.

'Maybe don't remind them of that,' Mokuba thought, glancing over at Edwin who suddenly grimaced before his face relaxed. "Well don't worry Joey… because he isn't staying long! I use my monster's effect-" He held up a card, "-to tribute my monster in order to summon General Grunard of the Ice Barrier from my hand to the field!" The warrior, wearing armor forged from the steel-hard ice of the Ice Barrier, appeared with ghostly phantoms holding many ice swords at the ready for his command standing just behind him. "And now I will use his effect to allow for an extra Normal Summon, so I can bring forth Mirror Mage of the Ice Barrier in defense mode!" The ice mage appeared and raised her hand, causing several ice crystals appears floated behind her, though she had no need for a ghostly army to hold them aloft.

"Do you see now, Joseph?" Selene asked with a sniff. "Mokuba understands his deck better than anyone else. It is never wise to believe that a duelist is clueless when it comes to a deck they have personally handcrafted."

"Yeah yeah," Joey said with a roll of his eyes. "I still don't like given that little creep Noah an inch!"

"Then how about this, Joey?" Mokuba said, throwing out his hand, "I activate my trap card, Crackdown!" The card flipped up and a new chain, golden in color, appeared on the field. Mokuba's General grabbed onto the chain and spun it around once before throwing it right at the Sacred Airknight Parshath. "Crackdown allows me to take control of a monster on your side of the field!"

"Thinking of tributing my monster?" Noah taunted. "I'm afraid not… you see, if you tribute a Deck Master the monster that it was tributed for becomes the new deck master. So you would still need to find a way to destroy my deck master to defeat me!"

"Hmmm… good use of the rules, Noah," Gozaburo stated. "Though you are in a dangerous position at the moment… you must be careful not to let yourself rely upon Mokuba's inability to understand all the intricate pieces of the rules of this game to ensure your victory. He is a quick learner, after all."

"Trying to butter me up, Gozaburo?" Mokuba said, eyes narrowed. "It won't work. I see through your lies."

"I never lie," Gozaburo retorted. "It is a lazy and useless tactic. And it makes things to… easy." He smirked at that. "No… so much more interesting to forever tell the truth."

"So you've always told everyone the truth?" Mokuba said, doing nothing to hide his disbelief at that.

"Always."

"Of course," Edwin chimed in, "the truth and THE TRUTH… are two different things. Because the former… all depends on your point of view."

Mokuba frowned at that, considering that point, before an idea began to form in his head. 'You have Noah dancing to your tune, Gozaburo, because he believes what you say is the Truth. But what happens if he learns just what the truth is?' Thus he declared "So when you promised Seto and I a better life?"

"Did I not provide it?" Gozaburo asked simply with a shrug of his shoulders. "Was the room you were given not superior to everything at that orphanage? You had to share a room with 20 different boys, forced to hear them weep, cry, snore, pass wind, murmur, and all other manner of things every night. Meanwhile, with me you had blissful silence in a room that was as warm or as cool as you wanted, with a bed that was not infested with bed bugs and clothes that didn't have holes."

Mokuba frowned at that. "I… suppose… though even a room with a window looking out upon the gardens and the topiary wolves still felt like a prison when I didn't have any freedom."

"You had safety and security!" Gozaburo said with a dismissive wave of his hand. "Freedom… freedom sounds wonderful but none of us are free! We are all slaves to something. You think I didn't have to worry about a thousand things every day? I didn't know the comfort of sleep, where I could let me mind just shut off and I could aimlessly dream. No… I had to think the business. Of ensuring that KaibaCorp remained running. The weight of every person who would find themselves without a job forever pounded upon me, like a hammer driving a spike through my mind-"

Mokuba didn't believe for a second that Gozaburo actually truly cared about his employees. It was a pleasant thought but he didn't believe it. He had never heard from any of the KaibaCorp staff of Gozaburo attending birthday parties or asking them about their families or thinking of ways to make their lives easier. No… he needed them, yes, but only because he couldn't run his business without them. So they were useful but they weren't his focus.

So instead of listening to his ramblings, Mokuba kept his eye on Noah… and saw the older boy wince at the mention of Mokuba's view.

'Bingo,' he thought to himself. 'You aren't someone to be wasteful with your money, Gozaburo. So why waste your son's room when you could just give it to me?' No one else would have noticed it. They would have been captivated and enthralled with everything they saw. But Mokuba had had nothing but time on his hands and when he wasn't in his classes he had been given the choice of worrying about Seto… or learning all he could to help him.

He had seen the touches of wear and tear on the toys. How they had been cared for. Loved. They had belonged to someone else and Gozaburo had thought nothing of passing them on to someone else, all in the name of saving a buck.

"You could give me all the toy trains and teddy bears in green shirts that you wanted, Gozaburo… but that didn't give me what I truly needed: love." Mokuba scoffed. "Let me guess… this is where you claim love is fake or for the weak."

"Not at all," Gozaburo said and Mokuba was surprised by that. "Love… is a valuable thing. And like all valuable things… it should never be given out freely."

"Enough of this!" Noah shouted. "This is a duel, not a chance for you to remember how you stole what was mine, Mokuba!"

"Can't steal what is given to you," Mokuba countered. "But… I can steal your Deck Master." His general pulled on the chain and began to drag the Sacred Airknight towards him.

But Noah… smirked.

"Oh no. This is something you will NOT be able to take from me. I activate my Deck Master's special ability: The Three Sacred Treasures." The chain at once shattered into a thousand pieces, each link broken utterly. "So long as I have a spell or a trap card on the field my Deck Master can't be targeted by your card effects!"

Mokuba frowned at that. 'Well… that won't make things easy… but I guess I should have seen that coming. Still…' Out loud he shouted, "But that doesn't mean my card is destroyed! So I can now create a new Crackdown Chain to take control of Meltiel instead!" His General grasped the new chain that shot out of his trap card and swung it at Noah's other fairy, this one captured and dragged to Mokuba's side of the field. "And now I will use this spell card to tribute Meltiel in order to summon two Ice Barrier Tokens!"

The fairy let out a cry as it was suddenly turned completely into crystal clear ice, the chain around it falling away. After a few moments the ice cracked and the top half of the angel fell down and shattered, bits hitting the bottom half and creating two small icy orbs.

"And now I will use these two tokens, along with my Mirror Mage of the Ice Barrier, to Syncro summon a new beast who calls these frigid lands home!"

The Mirror Mage leapt into the air, forming into a ring of energy that the two tokens flew into, forming themselves into beams of light. All of this swirled together until arcing back down towards the ground, slamming into the floor Mokuba and Noah were standing on. From the energy came Mokuba's monster: A massive sabertooth tiger that let out a savage roar…

…only to gasp as lightning hit it.

"I activate my face down: Solemn Judgement!" Noah smirked as Mokuba's monster crashed down to the ground before shattering. "It cost me half my lifepoints… but it was more than worth it to make all that effort… worthless!" Noah giggled and cackled at that. (Noah-2000)

'But you aren't really feeling excited, are you?' Mokuba thought to himself. 'You are thinking about what I told you. About what Gozaburo freely gave.' He knew Noah had to be thinking about what they had both realized, that Noah had been alive and well when Mokuba and Seto were adopted. 'Have you realized it yet, Noah? Have you realized that Gozaburo used you? No… but I will MAKE you realize it!'

~MC~MC~MC~

'What's the matter, Pharaoh?' Yugi asked as the gang worked their way back to where the two of them had left Edwin. Rex had reasoned that the others might be in the same general area, after all. When one had to set up a computer bank they didn't spread out all the systems throughout the building. They had a single server room.

Yugi could tell that his partner was troubled. His steps were a bit more clipped and his answers short when others pressed him on things. Not rude but… caught up in his own head.

'I keep twisting around this entire situation, Yugi,' the Pharaoh said as they continued on. 'I think about this place… and I know we are missing something.' He pressed his hand to the Millennium Puzzle. 'We have unlocked a new power of the Puzzle, the ability to see how pieces can come together, the odds and probabilities of how they came to be where they are and where they might continue to go, and I feel like I am missing one final key piece.'

'I get what you're saying,' Yugi commented as he walked next to the Pharaoh… even though he actually wasn't. it was the oddest sensation, one he and the Pharaoh were still getting used to. This ability to leave their shared body like a spirit. Oh, Yugi couldn't go flying off on his own. He could only really see what the Pharaoh saw, so it wasn't like he could just flitter off to find the others like some helpful ghost. He was tethered to his body, which was a relief because Yugi didn't know if he wanted to ever feel free of it… he worried that he'd never reclaim it again.

It was a childish fear, one he should have long outgrown as he came to know the Pharaoh, but there had been days where he worried that the Pharaoh would choose to simply take over his life and never let go.

In school they had read a story by Edgar Allen Poe about a man that was so consumed by the need for revenge that he drugged the man that had wronged him, chained him in an alcove, and slowly built up a brick wall to seal the space off, entombing him alive within the wall. Yugi's mind had twisted that story into a horrible nightmare where the Pharaoh trapped Yugi within his own mind, placing him in that room that represented his own thoughts and slowly sealed up the doorway.

"Brick by brick, Yugi," the Nightmare Version of the Pharaoh had said as he happily slathered on more concrete before pressing a brick upon the rising wall, "I seal your doom!"

He knew now it was foolish and silly… but he still felt it at times clawing at his mind.

He shook his head, forcing himself to focus on what mattered NOW. 'Let's try going over the facts together, Pharaoh. See if we can't at least find where that missing piece goes. Sometimes that's the best way to deal with a mystery.'

'You're right,' the Pharaoh said after a moment. 'We know that Gozaburo Kaiba was obsessed with what happens after herdies.'

'Both himself and his legacy,' Yugi commented. 'When Noah couldn't be his heir anymore he adopted Seto and Mokuba and worked to turn Seto into his spitting image.'

'Yes… but according to Edwin Gozaburo didn't like it when Seto surpassed him. That's because for as much as he claims he cares about Legacy he is more concerned with himself and his own life.'

'Which is why he reached out and manipulated Pegasus into trying to see if someone could come back from death.' Yugi frowned. 'But he tried to kill himself before he learned what Pegasus did. Or rather he faked his death and fled to the Virtual World. But why?'

The Pharaoh considered that. 'Yes, that is what is troubling. Why set everything up only to abandon it so quickly?'

'…what if Pegasus told him there was a way but Gozaburo didn't like it?' Yugi asked. 'Pegasus said that his end goal was the use the Millennium Items to pull Cecelia's soul from the afterlife and put it in a hardlight construct. But… hardlight can't feel. Can't taste or touch. That's just what it is like living in the virtual world.'

'Yes… yes, I think you are right!' the Pharaoh stated, warming up quickly to the idea.

'So the virtual world… it can't be the final plan for him. It had to be some kind of stop gap.' Yugi frowned. 'But stealing our bodies… that doesn't feel right either. I mean, the Big 5 tried to do that at KaibaCorp… all of this seems unnecessary.' Yugi looked around them. 'I mean… why all of this just for some systems to run the virtual world, when they were able to do that at KaibaCorp, and to have some unreleased cards here. It just doesn't make sense! Gozaburo isn't one for waste… he was someone that thought ahead and tried to plan for everything. He came up with this entire plan to come back into the world.'

'A world… where he must explain how he came back,' the Pharaoh stated.

'Well… yeah.'

The Pharaoh though frowned. 'But Yugi… that would require so much explanation. There would be people that doubted him. People that would question him. And I do not think he is someone that would put up with such tedious things.'

'Then he would steal a body… except we just said that this place isn't needed for that. So… why have this place? Why have all these machines?'

'Why… indeed…' He trailed off and Yugi could tell that his partner's brain was whirling and churning with thoughts. He closed his eyes for a moment and when they snapped open they were sold black with golden rings. He began to twist his head one way and then the other, stopping as he looked about the hallway.

'Pharaoh?'

"Pharaoh?" Brom said, the others turning and looking at the two of them. "What is it?"

"Do you sense something?" Yuri asked, Renard tensing as he prepared for whatever attack might be coming. But Yugi knew it wasn't an attack… no, the Pharaoh was putting together the pieces of the puzzle one more time… and he was pretty sure that they were actually falling into place properly.

"I have a bad feeling I know what this place is for. What Gozaburo's endgame is." He looked to Brom and then Ishizu. "What is the greatest goal of all mankind? The ultimate victory that eludes them?"

"…wealth," Ishizu reasoned. "Power."

"Except," Brom said slowly, "you can't take wealth with you. The Egyptians, dear woman, were wrong about that." Ishizu opened her mouth to complain but snapped it shut when Brom stared her down. "Do not dare argue about such things with me, tombkeeper. I am one of the Lords of Death… I know it far better than you all." He looked at the Pharaoh. "And to cheat me… is the greatest victory."

"To cheat death," the Pharaoh repeated.

"Right, we know that," Yuri said. "The whole stealing bodies thing."

"Except," Renard said and he began to puzzle over the riddle of Gozaburo's plans himself, "is he really cheating death? If you still have to pay a parking ticket… you just postpone when its due… can you say that you 'cheated the system'?"

"Exactly," the Pharaoh stated. "Gozaburo would have thought about using the Virtual World System to steal bodies… and he already had dismissed it. He saw how risky it was, how dangerous. But more importantly… how temporary."

"Temporary?" Rex asked.

"Of course," Ishizu whispered. "He could cheat death once… even if humanity never learned of what he did the gods WOULD know… and they would not be pleased."

Yugi wasn't for sure if Gozaburo had even taken into account the gods. He didn't think Seto's step-father was the kind of man that honestly cared what the gods thought of him, good or bad. But he did think that Gozaburo was the kind of man that wouldn't want to leave anything to chance.

'Just because he managed to get a new body that wouldn't protect him from an accident. He could be hit by a car or caught in a fire or choke while eating some food. And he would have to always be near this place if he wanted to make sure he could quickly get into a new body if his current one failed… and people would begin to notice.'

"Do… do you think that's why he adopted Seto?" Yuri suddenly said and Yugi and the Pharaoh both started at that horrible thought. "That he was setting up Seto to be his new body?"

"I think… that might have been the case. Once."

"Once," Renard repeated. "Meaning you think something has changed."

"I do," the Pharaoh said. "I think Gozaburo was the kind of man who wouldn't take needless risks. As Ishizu stated trying to perform a body swap more than once would draw too much attention, gods or mortals. So he would seek something else. Something more… permanent."

"Like the Virtual World?" Rex asked.

The Pharaoh shook his head. "No. The Virtual World is a flawed reality. You can not taste anything, can not truly touch. There are no smells. You have sight and hearing but everything else is either muted or… gone."

Brom frowned. "There are afterlives that are like that, designed to punish the sinful."

"What are you suggesting, my Pharaoh?"

"I think… this place isn't merely a vessel for Gozaburo's schemes. I think… it is his endgame."

"You mean…" Rex said slowly, "that he wants to make this entire thing… into his new body?"

"I don't know for sure," the Pharaoh said, his eyes finally returning to normal. His tone of voice had made it clear though that despite his words he had a strong feeling on just what the fortress they were in was going to be used for, if Gozaburo got his way. He began to move once more, the others now quickly following him. Even Ishizu went without a fuss. "Come, we need to find our friends and escape this place at once."

Yugi swallowed as he floated beside the Pharaoh. 'If this place is his endgame…'

'Yes Yugi. It means that everyone, inside the virtual world or out here, are in grave danger…'

~MC~MC~MC~

Gozaburo was rather pleased.

'Noah is doing well enough,' he thought to himself as he watched his son draw his next card. 'Not at all holding himself with the dignity and pride that a Kaiba should… but there will be time to get him to better understand how things are done in our family.'

Gozaburo swept his eyes over the duelists that had been brought into the Virtual World, the ones selected by the Big 5 and Noah, and found himself questioning just why he had ever trusted those five men to help him build his empire.

'One must be bold and daring if they wish to succeed. There is nothing bold or daring in these picks. Mai Valentine and Pegasus are the two that are closest; Edwin Chaos was higher ranked but they never even attempted to duel him!' It was disgusting and Gozaburo planned to talk with Noah quite a bit if he won about the proper way to assert one's power. 'We do not attack the weak while ignoring the strong. We are not the vultures that circle the dying animal, waiting for it to die and always careful to ensure there isn't some larger, more deadly creature waiting for their chance to get in a nibble.

'We are the might yeagle, diving down from the heavens to snatch up the serpent. Yes, it might bite us and kill us… but we know that the tastiest meat can only be gained by taking such risks!' He shook his head. 'Pegasus and Valentine are at least well known duelists, and apparently Hibiki and Wheeler are moving up the ranks. But Seto? Trapped as a little dog? Chaos placed in a dome? They would have challenged that girl who doesn't even have a deck, if they had been allowed to! At least Noah put a stop to that!' It was just so… aggravating. One only was able to prove that they were the greatest by facing the greatest. It would be like a sport's team claiming they were the best in the world because they only took on teams that could field half of the roster.

Gozaburo had always pushed himself to take on new challenges. To explore new things. He never settled for less. He never allowed himself to believe that something was 'good enough'. No. It had to be the most challenging… because that was how one knew the thrill of life!

"Now then," Noah declared, "I think-"

"Hey," Chaos said, raising his hand, "I really hate to interrupt but… I do have a question."

"I am in the middle of a duel," Noah said snidely.

"Right, aware of that and I actually am not interested in asking you, no offense. This is for Mr. Kaiba."

Noah glowered at that. "My father doesn't have time for your questions!"

"He doesn't?" Chaos asked. "I'm still the sole member of the KaibaCorp Board of Directors… we really do need to find more people. I keep asking Mai but she refuses." He looked at Valentine who merely smirked at him and he shrugged. "But yeah… let's say he does take over Seto's body and you become Mokuba- no offense Mokuba."

"Some taken," Mokuba grumped and Chaos winced at that.

"Again, thousand apologizes. Anyway…" He took a step forward and gestured at Gozaburo. "Its just… if you do take back over KaibaCorp… I will still be the Board of Directors. The rest of the Big 5 got sent to some digital purgatory or hell or something? I think."

"Everyone but Crump," Valentine muttered and Gozaburo smiled a touch at that; he was glad that Crump hadn't been made to suffer. He was good people.

"Right," Edwin said. "So… just you two left. So we need to have a good working relationship."

"You expect us to believe that you will be willing to work with us?" Noah snapped. "After we take the bodies of people you care about?"

"Well… I mean Mokuba will suck but… anyway care if Seto is stuck here? Raise your hands!"

Only Mokuba and, bemusingly, the robotic dog raised their arms up. Not that anyone realized what the dog was doing.

"Right, so the rest of us I think can be encouraged to look the other way. I mean…" Chaos began to pace. "Koyo doesn't know him. Joey and him hate each other despite what the slash fic writers might think." Wheeler mouthed 'slash fic?', clearly confused. "Pegasus stole his soul so he really doesn't have a leg to stand one when it comes to you stealing his soul, Gozaburo. I mean, at least you'd leave it in a digital world instead of a trading card."

"Not my most shining of moments," Pegasus admitted.

Chaos waved him off. "Shhhh, your Uncle Edwin is talking."

"I am older than you… not by much, admittedly, but-"

Chaos continued on. "Tristan and Tea won't say a word if we bribe them." The two teens shot looks at each other. "And Serenity hates Seto most of all."

"I do not!" the girl gasped.

"Oh, you try and deny it but we all know the hate is there, bubbling up near the surface, waiting to be let out so you can call him a mother fucking cock sucker who smells like smegma."

"Smegma?" the girl whispered.

"Don't look it up," Chaos said quickly. "And Selene… well, she wants to turn me into a god or a titan so we can have some nice hot giant sex, most likely on top of… well… let's say Paris?" Valentine nodded after a moment. "Paris. Get the Eifel Tower right up her ass as I pound that goddess puss puss."

"You are a vulgar young man," Gozaburo commented.

"I went to college in Flint."

"Ah."

"Anyway… I can work with you, Gozaburo. Easily. I am a bad, wicked man." He flashed a rather devilish smile. "But… I do have a question."

Gozaburo had to admit he was bemused by the entire speech. Yes, Chaos was crude and had a filthy mouth but he seemed like an entertaining sort… even if this was all a trick Gozaburo was willing to hear him out. He motioned for Chaos to keep speaking.

"Right… so just a small question, nothing to do with the whole soul stealing thing and all that. Just… clarification." Chaos was now reaching the point… he had been building to something, that was clear, and finally he had reached the end of it. Good… it was amusing but Gozaburo didn't have time- "You 'died' when you threw yourself out a window. Someone you trusted hooked you up to this system."

"They did. Was that your question?"

"No no, just making sure my facts were straight. My question is… how did Noah end up here?"

Noah frowned. "What are you talking about? You know this. Everyone knows it! I was in a car accident-"

"Were you?" Edwin asked. "Limo or town car?"

"I-"

Noah paused.

Gozaburo at once sensed danger. He had trained himself to recognize when things were becoming risky… dangerous… threatening. It had been a sixth sense that had allowed him to leap into a bull fighting ring and play matador. It had allowed him to trek through the African bush with just a backpack, a gun, and his wits. It had allowed him to know when a deal was too sweet and should be avoided.

And at that moment Chaos was triggering every warning.

"Was it day or night?" Chaos pressed.

"Day!" Noah said... only to stop. "No… wait… I went to bed…"

"What were you doing in the car? Going someplace important? Special?" Noah opened his mouth but Chaos continued on, battering him with more questions. "What about before that? You said you had gone to bed… did you wake up and just go to the car? Or did you get something to eat? Maybe talk to someone?"

"This is all meaningless prattle!" Gozaburo declared.

But Chaos smirked. "A liar… can tell a liar." He took another step towards them. "And you… are a liar, Gozaburo. Where were you when you learned your son was dying?"

"I don't know," he protested. "It all happened so quickly! You can't expect me to remember something like that, not when I learned my son was injured like that!"

Chaos thought shut his eyes. "It was warm out. Sun was shining through the windows. I was playing music on my computer and dancing to it as I ate s'mores and drank some lemonade. There was a knock on the door… it was my dad. I wasn't… I wasn't expecting him. He told me that my mom had taken a turn for the worse… and that we'd have to take her off life support."

Valentine moved towards him and placed a hand on his shoulder.

"I hugged him and he broke down crying. The only time I'd seen my dad cry. I managed, after about 8 years, to drink lemonade again but I will never eat another s'more again. Ever. It was the last thing I ate before I lost my mom." His eyes snapped open and they BLAZED. "I remember every fucking detail because I loved her, Gozaburo. I remember it all and it is a scar on my SOUL. You don't forget such things when people you care for die… so why can't you answer the question?"

Mokuba suddenly spoke up. "Noah… we went over the timeline! Gozaburo adopted me and Seto before your accident!"

"No… no you got it wrong," Noah said desperately.

"There is something wrong here," Chaos said, "but its not the timeline." He moved yet another step towards Gozaburo, staring him down with his glowing eyes, the light so intense that the tears he had begun to shed seemed to evaporate away. "There was no accident, was there?"

"You are being ridiculous-"

"A bad liar doesn't attack the facts they attack the mere thought of questioning them!" Chaos thundered. "Instead of throwing details at me you attack the very idea of me asking. Because you don't have anything to back this up! There was NO accident, was there Gozaburo? There never was! You tossed your son away, used him as a labrat to test this fucking virtual world system, because Seto Kaiba became the new hotness! You never wanted to use Seto as Noah's new body… Seto was going to be your new body."

And then Chaos suddenly stopped, eyes widening.

"…and before that… you were going to use Noah, weren't you?"

Gozaburo… smirked.

"Well… someone finally figured it out."

~MC~MC~MC~

Guest Omake by Jex

A rule of thumb for any of you out there who wake up to find yourself suddenly living in ~~an anime: take stock before you panic.~~

"No. This doesn't feel right."

A rule of thumb for any of you out there who wake up to find yourself-... In the room you always slept in on your Dads farm?

Take stock and go about your morning as you normally would, nothing to panic about, just a regular day on the fa-

Panic when you see your reflection. You were not that old last night.

Panic more when you realise you're alone, nobody else is in the house, any pictures of your family are faded, yellowed with age. You might suspect at this point you've been alone for a long time.

When the farm suddenly gets rocked by a colossal explosive impact, and you're subsequently knocked off your feet, you can stop panicking for a bit, though that's probably the concussion talking.

As you stagger outside though?

Take stock, you're definitely yourself, if a decade or so older.

Take stock, you're definitely on Earth, in Michigan, on your father's farm.

Take stock, titans arent trying to eat everyone in sight, there aren't zombies swarming your home, and there's not a jelly donut as far as the eye can see.

Take stock, there is a crater, it's on fire, and in the center of those flames? Avery familiar ship.

And as you lock eyes with the newly awakened (and crying) form of an infant wrapped in a very familiar blanket?

Take stock, now you can panic.

Introducing Pa Kevin Kent. The Chaos of Earth 52C. The newly adoptive father of Kal El of Krypton. Superman.

~MC~MC~MC~

Alternate Ending To Chapter 144

Gozaburo chuckled. "Come now, Edwin… all this bluster… you can't seriously believe that I would use Noah like that."

"Yeah know… I think I might actually believe ya, Mr. Kaiba."

Everyone turned and stared. Because it hadn't been Edwin or the Pharaoh or anyone else that had spoken those words. No… it was a frumpy looking American in a trench coat, a cigar dangling from his fingers.

"I'm… I'm sorry but who are you?" Gozaburo asked.

"Sorry, didn't mean to interrupt. Just heard what you were talking about and decided to come on over and tell ya that I believe ya. Because you know… I think you were really broken up about your kid dying. I really do think that. And I am sure this is all just one big misunderstanding."

Gozaburo frowned, tilting his head in confusion. 'Who is this strange man? He dares to interrupt me? Yet… yet it is fine. Because he is agreeing with me! I can use this! Use this to be able to convince Noah that-'

"Oh, what ya all playing? Duel Monsters?" The frumpy man walked around the dueling arena. "Well, ain't that something. My wife, she loves duel monsters. Me? I could never get into it, ya know? She loves all them monsters like the Dark-Eyes Dark Dragon and the Ice Swordsman and all that."

"Those aren't their-" Pegasus began but the frumpy man held up his hand.

"I'll… I'll be with ya in a moment, stranger." He turned back to Gozaburo. "But still, this looks like a fun little game you are playing with your boy. Real fun. You really do love him, don't ya?"

"Of course I do!"

The frumpy man smiled. "Like I said, I believe ya. No way you'd betray him. You love your son like Mr. Pegasus over there loves his wife, right?" Gozaburo nodded. "So, uh, I'll just be on my way." He turned to leave… only to stop. "Oh! One more thing." He scratched his head. "This virtual world… there are ways to observe it from the real world, right?"

"Of course!"

"Thought so… so, uh… why didn't ya ever talk to your boy over there after he was put inside?" Gozaburo opened his mouth but the frumpy man just shrugged. "I mean, I don't know about you but the fact that I can order food from a place with a touch of a few buttons? I think you could have talked to your kid."

Noah's eyes widened and he turned to face Gozaburo… who swallowed, realizing the game was done and he wasn't talking about duel monsters.

"And by the way… the names Columbo. Lt. Columbo."

NEXT TIME!

"So, Mr. Zorc… can I call ya Mr. Zorc?"