I had a blast with the previous chapter. Now things will get a lot more serious, and you'll see why. I originally planned to show the aftermath of the Duel in the previous chapter, but it went on too long so I stopped it where I did. I felt it was the best place to do so. Let's move forward with the main plot, shall we?
Yugioh: The Hope of Six
Chapter 13: Kaiba Arc – Part 3
As soon as the Duel was over, the remaining holograms vanished and all was quiet. Kaiba had shut off the speaker before turning to his head researcher. He looked very satisfied. "It would appear the first Action Duel of KaibaCorp was a success. The Monster holograms were interactive and the Action Cards worked as expected. Not to mention the random time placement for their appearances. Well done." The team smiled and bowed from his praise.
"Thank you, Mr. Kaiba. We are just as pleased about the outcome as you are." Said the head researcher. Kaiba nodded.
"Nothing seemed to have gone wrong at all." Yugi said.
"Agreed." Yusho added.
"What happens now since the test was successful?" Yuzu asked Kaiba, who thought a moment before answering.
"Starting tomorrow, we will begin producing more Action Disks with the perfected Action Duel program. When we have reached a high enough quantity, I will make an official announcement to the Duel Monsters gaming community about the upcoming release of our newest product. I trust that all of you will keep quiet about this until the announcement is made?" Yusho, Yugi, and Yuzu all nodded.
"Of course, Kaiba. We'll tell Yuya to do the same." Yugi told him.
"Good." Said his rival.
"What about my dad and Yuya's mom? Can we tell them? I'm sure they'll be mum about it too." Yuzu asked. Kaiba snorted.
"If they can resist spilling the beans, then let them in on it as well." He said, albeit reluctantly. This pleased the group.
"Everyone's gonna go nuts when they hear about it! Duelists new and old will definitely want a piece of this!" Mokuba said, excited for the upcoming day.
"No doubt they will." Kaiba then turned to Yusho. "I believe we are even now." Yusho nodded.
"Good to know that, Seto." He then looked down to see his son conversing with Pegasus. "Yuya will be excited about the news." He said with a smile.
"By the way Mr. Sakaki, Yuya is an awesome Duelist!" Mokuba praised.
"Thank you Mokuba. He certainly is." Said Yuya's father. Kaiba grunted.
'Yuya may have a unique Deck, but he will be no more of a challenge to me than Wheeler will. No one other than Yugi can match me in a Duel…' He told himself, convinced of his top tier skills.
"Kaiba… are you really going to let Yuya create his own Action Card?" Yuzu questioned. Kaiba merely smirked.
Right after Kaiba had shut off the speaker, Yuya ran toward Pegasus, who lay on his back following his defeat. "Pegasus! Are you okay?!" He asked, sounding very concerned. The older man looked up at him and smiled.
"I am fine, Yuya-boy. Your concern is very much appreciated." He replied before he got back up, dusting off his clothes in the process.
"Why did you redirect that last attack to yourself?" Yuya questioned. Pegasus had put a hand over his heart.
"I couldn't handle seeing another of my Toon Monsters taking a hit, so I took it instead. Plus, it wouldn't have mattered if I didn't. I would've lost any way." He then held out his hand. "Congratulations on your outstanding performance. It truly was a pleasure dueling you today." A happy Yuya shook his hand and nodded.
"Thank you, Pegasus. I feel the same. That Action Duel was actually pretty fun, despite how Kaiba changed it." He admitted.
"It certainly was. So tell me, my boy… is there anything else about Pendulum Monsters I should know about?" Pegasus asked, curious. Yuya figured it wouldn't hurt to say something.
"Well, there is one thing you didn't get to see." He admitted.
"Oh?" Pegasus asked, eager to learn more about such interesting Monsters.
"When a Pendulum Monster on the Field is destroyed and goes to the Graveyard, it goes to the Extra Deck instead. From there, as long as my Pendulum Scale remains intact, I can Pendulum Summon that Monster back onto the Field. Other than that, you've pretty much learned the basics from our Duel today." Pegasus nodded.
"What a helpful ability. Thanks for the information. Let me ask you one more little question…" Pegasus then dropped a most unexpected bombshell. "Would you please grant me and my company permission to mass produce Pendulum cards for the public?" He asked with a most innocent looking face. This sudden request sent the boy reeling.
"W-What?!" He shouted. That came completely out of left field for him. "Mass produce?!" Pegasus nodded eagerly.
"Yes! Your Pendulum cards are so fascinating! I know everyone would want to have some of their own, especially if Kaiba-boy's Action Duels will also be a success! So will you allow it? I promise that you will be paid most handsomely for your generosity! Pretty please!" He begged, his hands grasped in front of him.
Once again, Yuya had a big choice to make. Should he really let people of this world have their own Pendulum cards? He didn't know how he felt about it. He didn't tell anyone, but when he saw Reiji use his own Pendulum cards in their battle against his father, Yuya felt more than just surprise. He also felt slightly violated.
With the good Zarc's help, Yuya created his Pendulum cards, and he felt it should be his alone. It made him feel special, knowing that he had something no other Duelist possessed. Reiji had his own Pendulum cards made without his knowledge or consent. Leo did the same of course, but he was the enemy from the start. His son, who was on Yuya's side, should've known better. That fact was compounded when he later learned that Sawatari had Pendulum cards added to his Deck.
"Reiji must've felt he needed to have his own Pendulum cards to battle his father. No doubt he made Sawatari his Pendulum cards after experiencing them himself when you dueled him." Zarc said. Yuya frowned.
'Even so, Reiji shouldn't have done it behind my back.' His spirit partner frowned.
"Perhaps, but what's done is done. It's in the past. Focus on the present, and right now that includes this offer. Unlike Reiji, Pegasus is asking for your approval. Also…" his voice softened. "You really shouldn't feel so selfish about this." Yuya was surprised at him.
'Selfish? How am I being selfish?'
"Just because Pendulum Summoning is your creation doesn't mean you should have it all to yourself. Sharing is caring, right? Why not share your gift with other people? Won't that also bring smiles to them? Look at Pegasus. He made a card game that is popular world wide and that game continues to grow. Don't you want to contribute to that?"
Yuya pondered over Zarc's words. His goal was to make others smile through this dueling, like his father. He really didn't want to come off as some spoiled brat who didn't want to share his favorite toy with a friend. Yuya wanted to be better than that. Maybe this was a way to do so…
"Pegasus, I'm really not interested in making money. But…" he said hesitantly before he gave a warm smile. "I do want to make other people happy, and there's more than one way to do that. So if you think making Pendulum cards for everyone would bring them smiles… then I'm all for it. You got my approval." Pegasus was elated by Yuya's decision as he shook the boy's hand with both of his vigorously.
"Marvelous! I was so hoping you would agree! Thank you Yuya-boy! Still, I must give you something in exchange!" Yuya then came up with an idea.
"How about this? You make Yuzu a Set of Pendulum cards suited for her. Do that, and we've got a deal." Pegasus shook the boy's hand one last time.
"Done! Your girlfriend will have her own Pendulum cards, the first to be made by Industrial Illusions! Thank you once again, Yuya-boy!" Yuya chuckled embarrassingly. He knew this would make Yuzu smile big time.
"Did we miss something?" Yuya and Pegasus turned to see said girl and everyone meeting up with them. Yuya smiled at Yuzu. He didn't want to bring up his surprise for her, curtesy of Maximillion Pegasus. However, there was no reason he shouldn't talk about the overall deal.
"Well, Pegasus and I just..." Before Yuya could say anything, an urgent voice from the intercom interrupted him.
"Mr. Kaiba! We have an emergency! Someone is hacking into our systems!" Kaiba was not happy about this.
"What?! Stop the hack immediately! Shut them out!" He ordered.
"We're trying sir, but whatever program the perpetrator's using is moving faster than we can…" The voice of the employee was then cut off. After that, the lights in the area all went out. Everyone now stood in darkness.
"What's going on?!" Yuzu cried out, hugging her boyfriend.
"Some kind of computer virus?" Yuya guessed.
"Calm down and stay close to me." Yusho told the teens, who immediately did so.
"Mokuba?" Yugi asked the younger Kaiba, who shook his head.
"I highly doubt it's a virus. KaibaCorp has some of the best security software in the business, so this sort of thing shouldn't happen. What could be causing this?" A pissed off Kaiba turned to the business man he disliked with a passion.
"What kind of stunt are you pulling now, Pegasus?! Playing your degrading Toon Dragon within the walls of my company wasn't enough for your demented ego?!" Pegasus held his hands up, shaking his head.
"I swear to you Kaiba-boy, this has nothing to do with me!" He told him, panic and fear evident in his voice.
"I don't believe you!" Kaiba yelled back, clearly not convinced of Pegasus' innocence.
"You should Kaiba. He actually is telling the truth." A new voice had spoken from the intercom, surprising everyone further.
"Who is that?" Yusho wondered. Yugi gasped. He knew who was speaking right then.
"That voice! It couldn't be…!" The voice giggled as a new hologram appeared before everyone. Nearly everyone gasped when they saw who it was.
"Oh, but it is… my soon to be love slave." Said the Asian Champion Duelist recently turned assailant, Vivian Wong.
"Vivian!" Yugi yelled, filled with both shock and anger at seeing her again. Vivian giggled again as she gave a sickening smile.
"Hello Yugi. It has been a while, hasn't it."
"So that's Vivian." Yuya said.
"She definitely doesn't look nice." Yuzu said, still shaken by the situation.
Kaiba snarled at the woman. "Vivian Wong. You must have a serious death wish if you went through the trouble of hacking into my company just to get to Yugi!" Vivian frowned.
"Boy are you wrong. A couple of things really. First off Kaiba, my one and only wish is for Yugi to belong to me and no one else. I have no intention of dying." Kaiba snorted.
"That's a bold statement coming from a lunatic like you." He told her. Vivian ignored that.
"What's the second thing my brother is wrong about?" Mokuba demanded. The woman smirked, placing her hands on her hips.
"I'm so glad you asked, little Mokuba. The second thing is that… I'm not the one who hacked KaibaCorp just now." This stunned the group.
"You're not?" Yuya asked. Vivian shook her head.
"No. I'm not tech savvy like some people are. My employer just opened the door for me, and I came right on in."
"If you're not the hacker, then tell me who it is Vivian! Right now!" Kaiba demanded heatedly.
Yugi and Atem had a strong suspicion it was Lightning. As an highly advanced A.I. like Aqua, Lightning would certainly have the capability to break into KaibaCorp's systems without too much difficulty. Plus, they knew Vivian had recently aligned herself with the evil Ignis. Boy how wrong they were. Vivian's smile widened.
"Why tell you that Kaiba… when you can just see for yourself?" She told him as she looked over to her right. Everyone turned there to see a second a hologram appear. This time it was an older teen boy with short green hair. Yugi, Kaiba, and Mokuba all gasped in complete shock. He looked a lot older than they remembered, but there was no mistaking that face. Noah Kaiba grinned psychotically, enjoying the moment of revealing himself.
"Hello. Remember me… brother?" Noah said to Kaiba in a mocking tone. His voice sounded older as well.
"I-It's not possible!" Kaiba simply could not believe his eyes.
"Noah?!" Yugi and Mokuba exclaimed. Noah chuckled.
"The one and only. Long time no see Mokuba. You too, Yugi Muto. I've waited quite a while for this." He then noticed the other people with them. "I see we also have Maximillion Pegasus himself. What a pleasure. And… we have some new faces here as well." Noah said, referring to Yuya, Yuzu, and Yusho.
"Yugi, who is that? And why did he call Kaiba "brother"?" Yuya asked. Yugi frowned as he turned to him.
"His name is Noah. He is Kaiba and Mokuba's stepbrother, though he looked around the same age as Mokuba when we first met him."
"Stepbrother?" Yuzu said in surprise. Yugi nodded before Mokuba took over.
"Noah is Gozaburo Kaiba's actual son. He was being taught to take over KaibaCorp when a really bad accident happened to him years ago. He was very little then. Noah's mind was then uploaded into a supercomputer to save him. Some time after that, Gozaburo adopted me and Seto. As you guys know, Seto took control of our stepfather's company and forced him out."
"Noah later would cause us big trouble that nearly got everyone killed. He wanted back everything he felt should've been his, which included my company. The thing was, Noah was supposed to have died in a massive explosion that destroyed the computer his mind was stored in. That was the last time we had seen him." Kaiba never took his eyes of Noah the whole time he was talking. Noah shook his head.
"Come now, Seto. Did you really convince yourself that I wouldn't have a way to save myself from that little mishap?"
'I was right. Noah did make a back-up of himself before he died.' Yugi thought.
"So it would seem. Still, that doesn't explain the changes to his appearance or his personality." Atem told him.
'That's true. When we last saw him, Noah was younger and had changed into a better person. He allowed us all to escape with our lives. Why would he revert back to being our enemy? Also, how and why is Vivian working for him?' Yugi asked.
"I wish I knew. Though, I suspect Lightning may have a hand in this since Vivian is involved."
'But Lightning thinks we're dead. Doesn't he?' Yugi asked him. Before Atem could reply, Yusho spoke up.
"What is it you want Noah? No one here has to get hurt." Yusho said, trying to negotiate calmly. Noah shifted his gaze at the older man.
"It's Yusho Sakaki, right? And those two are your son, Yuya, and his girl, Yuzu Hiragi?" This surprised them.
"You know about us?" Yuzu asked. Noah nodded.
"I've done my homework." He said vaguely before returning his sights on Yusho. "As for not getting anyone hurt… I'm afraid we've already crossed that line."
"Meaning what?" He asked, now sounding a little more concerned. Noah waved an arm to his right, and yet another hologram appeared. This one shocked Yusho, Yuya, and Yuzu more than anyone. The image showed two people gagged and tied up in a dark room of some sort. They also appeared to be unconscious and bruised.
"MOM!" Yuya shouted in horror.
"DAD!" Yuzu yelled, feeling the same way. It was indeed Yoko and Shuzo, not looking so well. Vivian chimed in.
"I met them earlier today while they were out shopping. I made sure we weren't seen, of course. When they refused to play nice and come with me, I "persuaded" them. As you can see, those two paid for defying my wishes."
'Yoko. Shuzo. No…' Yusho was speechless with terror.
"Where are they?!" Yugi angrily demanded.
"With me." Noah answered. "I ordered Vivian to bring back some bait, and she delivered." Vivian pouted at Yugi.
"I originally intended to take your grandpa again, but the old fart wasn't in that game shop of his. I couldn't find him anywhere, so I settled for this pair instead. I knew they were people you cared about so it didn't really matter."
Yugi gritted his teeth, furious at them both… especially the Asian woman. "Why Vivian?! First you attacked Leon and Zigfried, now this! Why are you hurting innocent people?!" Vivian smirked.
"I see you got my message. I was hoping you would. As for my recent actions, I'm just a girl that will do what she must to get what she wants… and I want you, Yugi." The boy shook with anger.
"You're sick!" Yuzu accused. Vivian snarled at the younger girl.
"Watch your tongue, little girl. Unless you want your old man to look worse than he already does." Vivian warned. Yuzu wanted to insult her further, but a look from Yusho told her to keep silent. So she reluctantly did.
"Let them go!" Yuya shouted. Noah chuckled.
"You want them, you'll have to come get them… at my Death-T game tower."
'Death-T?!' Kaiba didn't expect name that to come out of Noah's mouth. He looked at his little brother, who appeared just as stunned as he was.
"Where is this tower?" Yugi asked. Noah then turned to his step brother again.
"It stands where my brother held the semifinals for his Battle City tournament. It had to be rebuilt of course after Seto blew it to smithereens." Kaiba clenched his fists.
"You rebuilt that tower?!" He shouted, pissed even more. That tower represented his and Mokuba's hatred of Gozaburo and his cruel upbringing. The Kaiba brothers destroyed the tower after Battle City to put their past with Gozaburo behind them forever. Now Noah had that same tower rebuilt for his own sick little scheme. Kaiba wanted to strangle the life out of that not so little brat.
"Yes, and I'm very pleased with how it turned out. I can't wait to see your reaction when you see it in person."
"And what makes you think I plan to go to your new playground?" Kaiba asked, not sounding the least bit cooperative. Noah's face turned hard and cold before pointing at the hostages.
"Because I'm giving you no choice. If you, Mokuba, Yugi, Yuya, and Yuzu don't show yourselves at the front door of my tower before sunset, then…" He then slid a finger across his throat, sending the group a very clear message. The younger teens shivered with fear.
"Stop this Noah! This isn't the you that saved us! What happened to you?" Mokuba asked, desperate to know the truth. Noah sneered.
"The Noah you knew died in that explosion. Just accept that."
"Noah…" the younger Kaiba muttered sadly.
Kaiba then wrapped an arm around Mokuba. "I'm not letting my little brother anywhere near you, Noah!" Noah sighed in exasperation.
"Did you not hear me, Seto? If all five of you don't come, Yoko Sakaki and Shuzo Hiragi both die. That is non-negotiable." He said firmly. Kaiba sneered back at his stepbrother. Noah then turned to Yugi again, with a twisted smile.
"Yugi, you're free to bring more of your precious friends to lend a hand if you want. In fact, the more you take with you, the more entertaining the experience will be. Just make sure you and the other specified four come." He then gave the group another look. "One more thing. I will be personally monitoring any and all communications from here on out. Telephones, cell phones, radio signals, emails, all of it. If anyone so much as texts someone like a government agency or a rescue team, the hostages will be dead in a heartbeat. I won't take any chances with you lot." Noah then chuckled. "See you at sunset. We will be waiting." Vivian smirked.
"Later, Yugi." With that, all the holograms vanished and the lights came back on.
"Mr. Kaiba, power has been restored! We are back in control!" Said the employee that spoke before the shut down. They all ignored him. Everyone then turned to Kaiba, who looked like he had his mind made up.
"There is no way I'm letting that grown up brat get what he wants. I'm going after him alone." He declared. The others immediately protested.
"You can't!" Yugi told him.
"Kaiba please!" Yuya and Yuzu both begged.
"Seto. That's my wife and my friend he has, and the parents of these children. We can't risk forfeiting their lives." Yusho added sternly.
"I won't put my brother's life in danger, no matter what." Kaiba said flatly.
"But my mom and Yuzu's dad!" Yuya insisted.
"We have to save them!" Yuzu said heatedly. Kaiba gave the kids a hard stare.
"Then go and save them. I'm keeping Mokuba as far from this as possible."
"Noah will kill them if Mokuba doesn't come with us!" Yugi reminded his rival.
"He's most likely bluffing. Noah probably gave that warning just to insure everyone on his guest list shows up." Kaiba figured.
"We don't know that for sure." Yusho told him. Kaiba didn't reply.
"Can I say something?" Pegasus asked, speaking for the first time.
"No. Definitely not." Kaiba said shortly. Pegasus sighed deeply.
"Fine, fine." He muttered while shaking his head.
"Seto, I don't want Yuya and Yuzu to lose their parents because of me. You have to take me with you!" Mokuba demanded. Kaiba stared down at him.
"Not a chance, Mokuba. I'm not letting anything happen to you." He said firmly. Mokuba wouldn't give up that easily.
"I'm glad you care about me and want to protect me, but this is bigger than that. Do you really intend to let good innocent people die just to keep me safe?" Kaiba stayed silent. He still seemed unwilling to compromise. He then turned to the others.
"If any of you got bright ideas, now would be a good time to tell me." He told them. Unfortunately, no one in the group could think of any loopholes to Noah's demands or his communication monitoring. "Heh. I didn't think so." Kaiba muttered disdainfully as he began to march out…
"I have a suggestion." Kaiba stopped in his tracks and looked around for the sound of the new voice, as did Mokuba and Pegasus.
"Who said that?!" Kaiba called out. The voice was female, but Yuzu was the only girl in the room and Kaiba knew it couldn't have been her.
"Where did that voice come from?" Mokuba wondered as he searched.
"Oh dear. Tell me we're not dealing with ghosts now too?" Pegasus said, dreading the possibility. Oddly, Yusho and the teens weren't looking around as well. Instead they all stared at Yuzu's backpack. They all looked surprised and apprehensive.
"It is okay. Take me out, Yuzu. I now believe this is why I had to come along." Said the voice again, which indeed seem to come from the backpack. Yuzu nodded reluctantly.
"Alright. If you say so." She then turned to the utterly confused Kaiba brothers and Pegasus. "Relax. She's not a ghost." She assured them as she took off her backpack, extracted her Duel Disk, and held it up.
"She?" Mokuba asked. Before the three, Aqua fully emerged from the Disk. All three gasped. Mokuba and Pegasus were speechless from the appearance of the Water Ignis.
"What is that?" A stunned Kaiba asked, having never seen anything like her before… or had he? He then recalled a small detail from the video footage of Yuzu and Mai's Duel. It was so minuscule that he barely registered it at the time. The video was nearly entirely focused on the Duel itself and hardly paid attention to the spectators. What Kaiba remembered seeing was a small blue something sticking up from Yugi's own Duel Disk as he stood watching with the others. 'This must've been that blue object from the recording! But what am I looking at?' He instantly got his answer.
"Hello. I am Aqua, one of the Ignis that Ray Akaba befriended and helped contact Yugi and the other protectors to come to her aid. Now I wish to aid you in this crisis." She explained, hoping she could make a difference in the conflict to come.
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
"Say what?! Noah's back and he's our enemy again?! You gotta be kidding, Yug!" Joey shouted incredulously.
After leaving KaibaCorp, Yugi called his closest friends and had everyone meet at his grandpa's game shop. When Yugi, Yuya, and Yuzu arrived, they were greeted by Joey, Tristan, Tèa, Serenity, Bakura, Duke, Miho, Mai, and Valon.
Only Solomon was absent, and for good reason. With Vivian on the loose, Yugi insisted that his grandpa be taken to a safe house and have him stay there until the danger had passed. He had been adamant to keep his grandpa out of harms way. Yugi refused to let Vivian target him again. Duke volunteered to have the old man stay at his place until Vivian was caught, and Yugi agreed. Solomon had stayed there for a couple of weeks now and was missing his shop.
It had been the right call, since Vivian confirmed she tried to find him once more. Yugi told him that everything would be fine and that they would visit him when they had a chance. The gang sometimes went over there to play some of his favorite games with him to pass the time, which he felt deeply appreciated for. Mai and Valon just happened to be coming by to visit when everyone gathered. Once they were brought up to speed about Noah and Vivian, the couple understood the predicament their friends were all in.
"From what you guys are saying, Noah makes Kaiba look like a sweet peach." Mai commented. Valon nodded.
"Too right, love." He then looked looked over at a very distressed Yuya and Yuzu. "Sorry about your parents, mates." Both nodded but didn't say anything.
"Me too. I can't believe Noah's alive again and he's done this. I thought he turned over a new leaf after what happened." Tristan said.
"Obviously not. And now Vivian is working for him." Tèa said the name like she just tasted something disgusting.
"I thought the whole Noah thing was in the past now." Serenity said, remembering her terrible time from that incident. She never thought history would repeat itself like this.
"This is really awful. I'm so sorry. I can't believe this happened." Miho said to the younger teens, sounding close to tears. She was in great shock of learning of Yoko and Shuzo's kidnapping. Like Valon and Mai, she was also told about the whole Noah affair. She had heard it from Serenity awhile ago.
"Poor Yuya's mom and Yuzu's dad. They don't deserve this." Bakura said, feeling great sympathy for the two and their kidnapped parents.
"No, they don't." Duke added, angered by this. Joey then slammed a fist into his palm.
"Damn those two! We've gotta save Yoko and Shuzo! There's no ifs or buts about it! Whether he wants it or not, Kaiba's going to need our help if he wants to take down Noah!" He said determinedly.
"Speaking of Kaiba, do you really think he'll listen to… our friend?" Tèa asked carefully. Her boyfriend nodded.
"He'll have to Tèa. It's his only choice." Yugi said.
When the three teens departed, Aqua was left at KaibaCorp with Yusho, explaining her "suggestion" to Kaiba and Mokuba. As for Yusho and Pegasus themselves, they volunteered to keep Yugi's grandpa company until this whole thing was over. They figured it was the least they could do.
"Are you sure this friend of yours knows what she's doing?" Miho asked. She was the only one in the group to not know about Aqua and the other Ignis. They all felt it was best she shouldn't know unless it was necessary. Serenity promised a month ago before she went home to keep it a secret, even from her own friends. That included her own best friend. She didn't like it, but she had kept her word.
"I believe in her, Miho." Serenity said with certainty.
"Yeah. Our friend is really kind and dependable. I'm sure she can help us." Yuzu assured her, though it sounded forced. Miho nodded, taking their word for it.
"What's this "Death-T" tower Noah mentioned anyway?" Tristan asked after a moment. The name alone definitely did not sound inviting.
"He didn't explain that. I'm pretty sure he wants us to find out for ourselves." Yuya said.
"I think it's safe to say anyplace with the word "Death" in it can't be kid friendly." Zarc said with certainty.
'No arguments there.' Yuya replied to him. He snapped out of his mental chat when Joey spoke up again.
"So Yugi, whats the plan? Are we coming with ya or what?" He asked. Yugi seemed very reluctant.
"To tell the truth Joey, I really don't want anyone here to get involved, especially for those who dealt with Noah before." His best friend grunted.
"Like that's gonna stop us, particularly me. Right guys?" He asked around. Everyone all nodded.
"I'm definitely going with you Yugi." Tèa declared as she took Yugi's hand.
"I'll always have your back, man." Tristan said.
"Me too. Besides, if Joey and Tristan are going, so am I." Serenity confirmed, taking Tristan's hand in the process. She promised herself to look after Tristan and insure nothing would happen to him this time.
Tristan smiled back at her from this as he gave her hand a light squeeze. "And after we save the day, we'll have our date." He told her. Serenity nodded, who wanted to have that date as much as he did.
"I will go too." Miho declared, rather louder than she intended, making her feel more than a little embarrassed.
"Miho? Are you sure? We don't know how dangerous this could be." Serenity asked in surprise. Miho nodded.
"My best friend is about to put her life on the line for her friends' families. I can't be your closest friend if I'm not willing to do the same." Serenity looked at her, worried. Miho, however, seemed to have decided to come no matter the danger. She was forced to accept and hope she would be alright.
"Count me in too." Mai said. "I feel I should do something to make up for the trouble I caused before." She felt determined to redeem herself no matter what it took. Valon smirked as he intwined his fingers with Mai's.
"I'm not about to let you hog all the action, Mai." He said, also seeking redemption for his misguided misdeeds while working for Dartz. Mai rewarded his participation with a kiss.
"I figured you wouldn't." She told him warmly.
"I'm coming as well." Bakura said. "I want to assist however I can." He said. He knew the evil spirit from his Millennium Ring caused a ton of trouble for his friends, and he wanted to negate all that by being helpful.
The gang all turned to Duke, who was the only one left who hadn't volunteered. "Believe me, I want to help kick Noah's butt again with you guys, but I'm sitting it out this time. Someone has to help Yusho and Pegasus watch over Yugi's grandpa. You never know what might happen." He said. Yugi nodded in understanding.
"I agree Duke. I think we have more than enough people to cover us. Thank you." He said. He then turned to the rest. "And thank you all for coming to help."
"Yeah, thank you guys." Yuya said gratefully.
"Thank you. Together I know we can save Yuya's mom and my dad." Yuzu added as well. They all nodded. Just then, they all heard a loud noise coming from outside the shop.
"What's that?" Yuya asked as they all headed out to check. The whole gang stood in awe as a helicopter flew down and landed in the middle of the street. As the copter parked, they saw Yusho and Pegasus in the middle area, with Kaiba himself in the pilot seat of the cockpit with Mokuba sitting next to him. Kaiba then spoke to the group through his head set.
"Listen up dorks! Everyone who is coming, get on board now! We are heading to the Death-T tower immediately!"
To be continued.