Chapter Text

Chapter 1 - New Enemies

I weighed my options, looking down at the cards in my hand. Baby Dragon, Thousand Eyes Idol, Alligator’s Sword, and for some reason Swordsman of Landstar. Not exactly a winning combo. My stomach twisted. Not a single heavy hitter in sight.

I gritted my teeth, doing my best not to let it show. This wasn’t going as planned. This wasn’t going as planned at all

I looked across the field toward my opponent.

Seto Kaiba. There he was, standing across from me like he owned the damn place, which he kinda did. Arms crossed, eyes sharp, and that stupid, smug grin spread across his face. Like he already won. Like it wasn’t even a contest.

Damn it. This was supposed to be my glorious victory. The day I’d finally knock that arrogant smirk off his face. My vindication. My moment to prove that, once and for all, I could beat him.

Instead, I was staring down the barrel of defeat, with nothing but a miracle—or a cheating card draw—to get me out of this.

"Stalling, Wheeler?" Kaiba’s voice cut through the air, sharp and smug, like nails on a chalkboard.

“Not at all,” I snapped back, even though I absolutely, one hundred percent was stalling. 

Kaiba’s smirk widened. “Of course you’re not. Take your time. I’m enjoying this.”

Jerk.

Finally, I slapped down Time Wizard in defense mode, more to buy myself some time than anything else. The hologram shimmered into place, the little wizard twirling his clock staff like he had any chance of doing something useful.

Kaiba let out this dramatic huff. “Seriously,” he said, his voice dripping with disdain. “That's what you're going with?”

I opened my mouth to retort—something sharp and not very nice was already locked and loaded—but then, the lights of the duel disks started to flicker. The holograms flickered, too, the brilliant images fading in and out like a bad connection.

And then, with a flash, they disappeared completely.

“What the—?” I muttered, my gaze snapping to Kaiba.

He looked just as stunned as I felt. His duel disk glitched, letting out a faint whine before shutting down entirely. “Impossible,” he growled, glaring at it like he could scare it into working again.

Then, right above the duel field, where the holograms had been, a massive shape materialized. My stomach dropped. It wasn’t a hologram—this thing was way too real. It hovered, shadowy and shifting, a hulking figure that barely had a shape. Its face—or what I guessed was its face—was pure nightmare fuel: a dark void where a face should’ve been, with two glowing holes for eyes, burning like twin suns.

“What the hell...?” I whispered, my words barely audible.

The thing hovered there, massive and silent for a moment, before it spoke. Its voice was a rumble, deep and echoing, like it came from everywhere at once.

“Seto Kaiba,” it boomed, the words heavy enough to make the floor beneath me vibrate. “I have come to destroy everything you love.”

Kaiba didn’t even flinch. He crossed his arms, glaring up at the thing like it was just another opponent. “Yeah?” he shot back, his tone as sharp as ever. “Pick a number.”

The thing let out a laugh—deep and hollow, like it’d been ripped straight from a horror movie. “You think you can stop me, boy? Pathetic.”

My gaze darted toward the audience. Yugi, Téa, and Tristan were standing near the edge of the arena, their faces pale and tense. Téa had a hand over her mouth, her eyes wide. Yugi looked like he was already running through a hundred strategies, his brows furrowed in that determined way he got when things turned sideways. Tristan’s fists were clenched at his sides, his face twisted in concern.

Suddenly, the lights above the arena flickered again, and an eerie, dark smoke began to spill from one of the upper cabins—the VIP section where the staff were supposed to be. It crept out slowly at first, like it was testing the air, and then it poured in thick tendrils, curling downward like living shadows. My gut twisted at the sight of it. Something about that smoke felt wrong .

Kaiba raised a hand to his ear, his sharp voice cutting through the growing tension. “What the hell is—” he barked. I couldn’t hear what the response was—but whatever he heard, it made his eyes go wide. Before I could process what was happening, Kaiba was off, those impossibly long legs of his eating up the distance as he bolted toward the spectator stands.

I blinked. Hold up—Kaiba just left the arena. That’s not allowed, right? We were still in the middle of a duel. Which meant... he forfeited? Which meant... I won ?

I groaned, dragging a hand down my face. “Man, nah, not like this!” I muttered. Beating Kaiba was supposed to be this big, glorious victory, not whatever this mess was.

My eyes darted to the gang. Yugi was already halfway up the stands, hands gripping the Millennium Puzzle tight against his chest. His face was serious—more serious than I’d seen in a while. Téa and Tristan weren’t far behind him, their expressions matching his concern.

“Ugh, you’ve gotta be kidding me,” I muttered, and without wasting another second, I sprinted after them.

By the time I caught up to Kaiba, he was already in the VIP cabin. The door hung wide open, and inside was pure chaos. His staff was sprawled across the floor, most of them half-conscious, groaning softly. Smoke lingered in the air, stinging my eyes.

But Kaiba didn’t even glance at the wreckage. He had one poor guy by the collar, shaking him like a rag doll.

“Where is my brother?!” Kaiba bellowed, his voice sharp enough to cut steel.

The guy in his grip barely managed a whimper, his head lolling as his eyes rolled back.

“Useless,” Kaiba spat, shoving him aside and marching to the massive console in the center of the room. His hands flew over the keyboard with a kind of desperate precision, and within seconds, a monitor sprang to life, showing a grainy feed of security footage.

My eyes darted to the little camera in the corner of the room, piecing it together as I watched the playback.

The video showed the room just minutes earlier, filled with staff working at the consoles. Then the smoke began to creep in, thick and unnatural. Mokuba was at the console, shouting something to the others, his face pale. Panic spread through the room as the smoke grew thicker, swallowing everything in its path.

And then it happened.

A tendril of black smoke shot out, coiling around Mokuba like a snake. The air around it warped, rippling like heat off asphalt. Mokuba struggled, his mouth open in a silent shout, but then—just like that—they were gone. The smoke, Mokuba, everything.

Kaiba stared at the screen, his shoulders tense and his hands clenched into fists at his sides.

“I’m sorry,” Yugi said softly, his voice carrying the kind of empathy only he could muster. “It looks like he’s been taken.”

“Again?!” I blurted out before I could stop myself. As soon as I said it, Téa and Yugi snapped their heads toward me, daggers practically shooting from their eyes. I held up my hands in surrender, wincing.

But, come on. The kid gets kidnapped every other month. This was, what, the eighth time now? At this point, it was starting to feel like a lazy plot twist from some third-rate writer. 

Kaiba didn’t even look at me. He was too busy glaring at the monitor like he could will Mokuba back into existence through sheer force of rage.

Before I could dig myself into a deeper hole, the monitor flickered again, and we all froze. The static buzzed louder, and then the image snapped into focus. 

And there it was. The thing.

Void man. Nightmare guy. Whatever you wanted to call it, it had Mokuba in its grasp. The kid dangled in the air, struggling and twisting like a fish on a line. His arms flailed, and he kicked out, trying to free himself, but the shadowy tendrils coiled tighter around him.

“Let me go, you stupid fu**** ****** *** ****** motherfu—!” Mokuba shouted, his voice cracking but fierce. A tendril snapped up and wrapped around his mouth, cutting him off mid-insult. But, wow. Kid had a mouth on him. Not so small anymore—definitely more of a teenager now, and with a Kaiba temper to match.

“Mokuba!” Kaiba’s voice was sharp, almost frantic, though he tried to mask it. He took a step toward the monitor, fists clenched at his sides. “Where is he?! If you’ve harmed him, I swear—”

“Careful, Kaiba,” Void Man interrupted, his voice oozing dark amusement. “You wouldn’t want to provoke me, now, would you?”

Kaiba’s jaw clenched so tight I thought he might break his own teeth. “What do you want?” he spat.

Void Man tilted his head, almost like he was considering the question. “What do I want?” he repeated, a mocking lilt to his tone. “Ah, Seto Kaiba, always so direct. Fine, then. Let’s make it simple. A game. You and me.”

Kaiba’s eyes narrowed. “A game,” he repeated flatly.

Void Man’s laugh was slow and deliberate, like he was savoring this. “Oh, yes. A game. High stakes, of course. You come to me and play. If you win, the boy goes free. But if you lose... well, let’s just say you won’t be worrying about much of anything anymore.”

Kaiba’s fists clenched tighter, his knuckles going white. “Where?”

Void Man leaned closer to the screen, his hollow eyes glowing brighter. “A lovely little place. Abandoned, quiet, full of... history. You’ll know it. The old KaibaCorp research facility on the outskirts of the city. In an hour. Be there.”

Kaiba’s lip curled in disgust, but before he could say anything, Void Man’s voice cut through again.

“Tick tock, Kaiba. Time is ticking. Don’t keep me waiting.”

The screen flickered violently, the image distorting into static before going black.

To be continued....