Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction ❯ It's All in the Cards ❯ The Arena Secrets ( Chapter 2 )

"Um, Tristian, are you sure you know what you're doing?" Yugi asked as he watched the brown-haired boy jab a bobby pin, supplied by Tea, into the window lock of the duel stadium arena.

"Of course I do." He replied confidently, working on the lock. "I saw it in a movie." The others gave out a small groan, Joey slapping himself on the forehead.

"Here Trist, let me help you with that." Joey said, sitting down on the ground and kicking the window, the lock snapping and it opening. He gave his typical Joey grin and a thumbs up before wiggling down into the basement room.

"Joey!!!" Tea shouted softly, looking around nervously. "What if there was an alarm trigger in that lock? We could have all been caught!"

"Relax Tea." Ryou replied while wiggling through the small opening. "What Joey did was a bit rash I admit, but at least it got the job done." The rest of the group dropped down into the dirty basement room and walked out down the service hallway, Joey leading the way, Tristan close behind, and Yugi, Tea, and Ryou all bringing up the back. Joey and Tristian both pushed opened the rusty grate at then end of the hall and climbed up onto the arena floor, the room pitch black save for several moonbeams shimmering from the small windows way up the arena walls. The dueling platform loomed in front of them; a silent monolith compared to them. Suddenly, there was the sound of footsteps and the beam of a flashlight could be seen from around a corner of the arena.

"Hide!" Yugi said forcefully, yet quietly as he jumped underneath a viewing bench. Ryou quickly joined Yugi under the bench while Tristian and Tea jumped back down the service hallway and Joey hopping inside a garbage can. It seemed like forever; the beam of light slowly turning and shining on where they were hiding. Finally the boy behind the light passed the spot where Yugi and Ryou were hiding, both of them getting a clear view of the short, long-haired boy.

"Mokuba?" Yugi said quietly; Mokuba, startled, looked around to see where the source of the voice came from. Yugi slipped out from underneath the seats and tapped Mokuba on the shoulder, causing him to jump in the air and drop his flashlight, the metallic clang echoing throughout the empty arena.

"Yugi?!" Mokuba said quietly, still recovering from the shock. "I thought you were a night guard, you scared the living daylights out of me!"

"Sorry Mokuba." Yugi said, grinning slightly. "What are you doing here this late at night?"

"I should be asking you that question." Mokuba replied, picking the flashlight back up and looking around to make sure no one else got the jump on him. "After all, Kaiba Corp. does own this arena, and seeing how my brother has disappeared, I-"

"That's what we're here for." Yugi interrupted. "To find out what happened to your brother, as I'm sure that's what you're here for as well."

"We're?" Mokuba said, slightly in shock. "Who else is here with you?" Yugi motioned for Mokuba to wait and called out his friends, who came out slowly and cautiously, making sure that it wasn't some ambush. When they saw it really was Mokuba they all went over and greeted him, Joey being the last having a little difficulty getting out of his hiding spot. They all took turns telling Mokuba of what had happened since the day that Seto Kaiba and Yugi dueled.

"Oh wow…" Was all Mokuba could say, sitting down in one of the folding chairs reserved for teammates of the one dueling.

"Mokuba." Ryou said after a brief moment of silence, moving to the front of the small group. "If we could replay the battle with Yugi and your brother, then we might find some of the answers that we need. Could you by chance turn the power on in here?"

Mokuba nodded, taking out a small remote. "Yeah, I had to turn off all the systems to prevent any alarms from going off, which is lucky for you guys, since that window was set with an alarm trigger." Everyone took a look at Joey, who just grinned sheepishly. "Anyway, I'll power up the dueling arena."

There was a loud hum as Mokuba pressed the small red button, the lights in the roof slowly powering up and brightening the arena. Tristian and Tea, who were closest to the dueling platform, heard the power grid on the floor springing to life.

"Joey, Tristian, why don't you guys start dueling?" Yugi asked once the humming stopped. "The others and I will stay down here and try to figure out what happened during the last duel."

"Sure Yugi," Joey answered, taking out the deck of cards that he always carries with him. "C'mon Trist, let's see how bad I can kick your butt!"

"In your dreams Joey!" Tristian replied, running up to the opposite side of the platform and taking out his own deck of cards. "My new cards will take you down!"

While the two started their duel Yugi, Mokuba, and Ryou moved around to an arena electrical panel and Mokuba opened it with a key on a keychain, which had an unusually large amount of keys on it.

"There's quite a lot of keys on that keychain Mokuba." Ryou said, watching as the boy put the keys back in the small satchel he was carrying. "What are they all for?"

"They're my brother's actually." Mokuba replied. "He keeps a spare set of all the keys in the office at home on this keychain, they unlock all the dueling arenas in the city." Mokuba opened the door and the three looked at the large mass of wires and switches on the inside.

"So, uh, do you have an idea what we're looking for?" Yugi asked, staring hopelessly at the wires. Mokuba shook her head and started moving wires to the side, the voices of the two duelers shouting above them. As Mokuba pulled away a sheet of metal more wires came out, a small, purple box attached to the side of it with various instruments and dials on it.

"I don't remember that in Seto's blueprints…" Mokuba commented as he touched the box cautiously. Suddenly a red light on the bottom left corner started blinking, going steadily faster every second. The three backed up, not knowing and fearing what might happen next.

Meanwhile, Tristian and Joey's duel raged on, and Tristian had just wiped the board clean of monsters with a dark hole card.

Joey merely pulled out his next card and held it up in the air, "I lay down Battle Ox, in attack mode!" Once Joey put the card on his reader board the electronics whrrred slightly and the image of a large, armored anthro ox appeared on the field. "Not bad, don't you think?"

"I would say so," Tristian replied as he drew his card from his deck. "But I've got something a little better. I summon Amphibian Beast, in attack mode!" A scary fish-like creature appeared on the battlefield on Tristian's side, roaring loudly. Suddenly the purple box glowed for a second, then the power shut down and everything went dark.

"That's exactly what happened to me and Kaiba." Yugi told Mokuba, who started resetting all the power grids. After a few minutes the lights hummed back to life. Mokuba disconnected the purple box from the main power grid and put it in his satchel, then closed up the platform panel.

"So, what did we figure out?" Tristian asked as he walked up to the three, Tea and Joey coming up close behind him.

"I don't know…" Mokuba replied, looking down slightly. "We found something that shouldn't be there, but I have no clue what it is… I sure wish my brother was here, he could figure it out I'm sure."

"Well, let's ask him." Tea said. "We could go to the zoo tomorrow."

"I've got a better idea!" Joey shouted, "let's go to the zoo, bust in and get Kaiba out of there!" The rest of the group looked around at each other except for Mokuba, who was utterly confused at this point.

"I will have to agree with Joey on this one." Tristian said. "After all, Kaiba is an expert in this technology stuff, right?" The others nodded and agreed; they all walked towards the main doors. Once they walked through the doors Mokuba reactivated the alarm system power.

Realization suddenly came to Yugi and he turned to Joey and Tristian, asking, "uh, you guys didn't remove your cards from the board after the power went out, did you?'

"I took off my card…" Joey replied, looking at Yugi questionly.

"Yeah, me too." Tristian replied. "Why do you ask Yugi?"

"Uh, nothing." Yugi replied, a nervous knot tying in his stomach, "let's just get to the zoo."