The disturbance Syrus caused among the Cyber Style apprentices finally ended with Syrus himself and his elder brother Zane Truesdale both falling unconscious. The apprentices he had incited, though initially demanding refunds and somewhat hesitant after witnessing two people faint during a Duel, quickly abandoned that idea.
"Refunds? Absolutely no problem, but the registration fee was paid at the Dojo in America, and refunds are processed in the Himalayas. You'll have to find the exact location yourselves."
Rex had said this, claiming that the Cyber Style Dojo had been located in the Himalayas before moving to America, and the refund office hadn't moved with it – a claim of very low credibility.
The actual reason, however, was Rex's clarification regarding Syrus's previous slander. He had been quite diligent in this, albeit driven by the thought, "If the Cyber Style gets a bad reputation and can't recruit apprentices, won't I be out of a job again?" Still, in the end, he made those apprentices understand that while Syrus was Zane Truesdale's younger brother, not much of what he said was trustworthy.
On this point, even without Rex's explanation, the apprentices who had watched the Duel had more or less realized it. After all, Syrus's changed demeanor during the Duel and his smirk when he knocked his brother unconscious were clear indicators.
With the disturbance resolved, Rex boarded the tour bus with the apprentices and the still-unconscious Marufuji brothers. While it couldn't be denied that his initial intention was to raise funds, Master Sheppard of the Cyber Style agreed to Rex's "slacker travel" plan because the training journey would undoubtedly have a positive effect; experiencing the passage of time could indeed improve the apprentices' skill level.
Therefore, Rex was to continue taking the apprentices to the next historically significant training location. Not going the same way as Hayato and the others, he bid farewell to everyone and drove the bus away, watched by Hayato and the others in front of the hotel. Although Sheppard's allocated budget actually included a portion for hiring a driver, Rex seemed to have pocketed that part as a kickback, taking the wheel himself to earn the driver's pay.
About an hour after the bus departed, Zane Truesdale, who had been unconscious in the tour guide's seat, finally woke up. He clutched his head, seemingly not yet fully recovered from the effects of the previous Shadow Game.
"Oh, you're awake, kid," Rex said casually from the driver's seat, noticing Zane Truesdale's movement, but he felt a sense of relief inside.
Having always only known how to destroy and never how to protect, he was actually quite worried about Zane Truesdale's condition. Even though Hayato, Marik, and Pegasus had all consistently stated that Zane Truesdale was truly unharmed, he still couldn't feel at ease. The bus was actually heading towards a hospital.
But now, it seemed Hayato and the others really hadn't been wrong. Flicking the turn signal, Rex changed lanes, turning towards the highway instead of continuing straight towards the hospital.
"Have we already left the hotel, Mr. Rex?"
"Yep, today's journey isn't a short one, after all. Besides, Hayato said that neither you nor your brother were seriously hurt and didn't need to go to the hospital. I'm heading onto the highway now."
Although, from what Hayato and the others implied, Syrus, who was also unconscious, had suffered some Shadow Game damage, unlike Zane Truesdale, people are different. While Rex cared about Zane Truesdale, he didn't care much for Syrus; that kid's previous behavior had made Rex look down on him even now.
Anyway, Hayato also said that whether he was sent to the hospital or not would only affect how long it took for him to wake up. Shadow Game damage couldn't be cured by a regular hospital, so Rex chose to simply ignore it.
As he spoke, Rex glanced at the rearview mirror and caught a glimpse of what seemed to be a regretful expression on Zane Truesdale's face. Focusing on the road ahead, he casually added, "Also, while there wasn't much time for you to get autographs, I still managed to snag some souvenirs from those guys..."
Zane Truesdale didn't quite catch the rest of Rex's words. After he picked up a cardboard sheet Rex had placed in front of the tour guide's seat, that was all he could see.
The cardboard itself wasn't made of any special material; it was just a regular piece of stiff cardboard. From the incomplete color print on the other side, it looked like someone had randomly torn it off some packaging and cut it into the square shape Zane Truesdale now held. What captured Zane Truesdale's full attention were the words written on it with a marker.
"That was a great Duel! (^ω^) Looking forward to your future! --- Pegasus"
"zsbd --- Hayato"
"Keep it up, kid! --- Yugi"
"Hmph, my sister is way more well-behaved! --- Joey"
Noticing Zane Truesdale's expression, Rex said somewhat proudly, "Even though we used to be on opposing sides, they're still a connection, you know. I saw you trying to get autographs from Hayato and the others at the buffet earlier, but you couldn't. Now I've made your dream come true! No need to thank me too much."
"No, I was wondering why they signed on this kind of cardboard, and those messages before the signatures seem a bit nonsensical." Holding the signed cardboard, the usually overly serious Zane Truesdale uncharacteristically complained like a child, yet his lips unconsciously curled upwards into a smile.
"But, thank you very much, Mr. Rex."
Rex smiled slightly at that, but then Zane Truesdale added, "However, I still won't help you hide the matter of the kickback."
"No, why are you still bothering with such unimportant things? Once you've taken my benefits, you should forget all about it! Don't you know that's an unwritten rule in the adult world?"
"Sorry, I can't do that. I'm just a twelve-year-old kid."
On the bus carrying the Cyber Style tour group, Rex and Zane Truesdale's conversation was unknown to Hayato and the others. After checking out of their hotel rooms, they were also preparing to continue their journey to the next destination.
As before, Hayato was still in the driver's seat, and he asked Marik, in the passenger seat, to open the map and start planning the route. After visiting the ruins of the Royal City from three thousand years ago, they now intended to head to their next destination.
But as soon as he opened the electronic map, Marik froze and said to Hayato, "Bro-in-law, is your map broken?"
"No way, I 'borrowed' this from Kaiba; it shouldn't break that easily." Hayato turned his head to look at the Tablet in Marik's hand. Instead of displaying the surrounding map information as it normally would, the transparent Tablet showed several flashing, mosaic-like glitches.
"It's really broken? I could've sworn it was fine last night." Hayato couldn't help but glance at Marik. "Weren't you in charge of the map yesterday? What did you do with it?"
Marik recalled last night. Realizing from Hayato that he had secretly called Marik's sister, yet Marik hadn't remembered it for so long, and knowing he would definitely be in trouble when he returned, a dejected Marik chose to binge eat. He ate two packets of instant noodles in one go, and he vaguely remembered using the electronic map to hold down the noodle bowl at the time.
"No, I didn't do anything," Marik stated emphatically.
Just as Hayato was looking at Marik with a "Do you really think I'll believe that?" gaze, the glitches on the electronic map actually started moving, combining to form a person's avatar. It was Mokuba!
"Ah, found you! Is that Hayato-bro?" On the Tablet, Mokuba looked left and right, seemingly observing his surroundings through the scanning camera equipped on the electronic map. He quickly spotted Hayato next to Marik, who was holding the map, and waved at him with a smile.
Hayato also greeted him, "Long time no see, Naruto."
"Who's Naruto?! I'm Mokuba, Mokuba, Mokuba!" Mokuba's face instantly soured, and he excitedly corrected Hayato. After repeating his name three times, he helplessly said, "This electronic map suddenly went missing earlier, and sure enough, it was in your hands, Hayato-bro. Good thing I installed a backdoor on it so I could locate it anytime."
"That's terrible, Mokuba. How can you do something like that at your age? Hacking into other people's devices is wrong," Hayato said sternly, looking at Mokuba on the electronic map.
Mokuba glanced at Hayato and retorted, "Hayato-bro, you're not one to talk, are you? No, actually, this map was originally mine to begin with."
"Anyway, let's not talk about that. Hayato-bro, I have something important to talk to you about."
Seeing Mokuba's somewhat serious expression, Hayato also became serious and said, "Could it be that Kaiba got trapped in some Virtual World again?"
"No, that's not it at all! Why would you think that, Hayato-bro?" Mokuba tilted his head, looking puzzled.
"Look, during The Big Five incident, Kaiba was trapped once. Then during Battle City, Noah trapped him again. Plus, he was involved with the Stone Tablet of the King's Memories not long ago. All in all, hasn't he been trapped in a Virtual World three times already?" Hayato counted on his fingers. "Especially during The Big Five incident, you, Mokuba, came to us saying the same thing, asking us to rescue him."
"It's true it's related to my brother, but it's not like that," Mokuba shook his head, denying it. "I don't quite understand what 'King's Memories' is, but a few days ago, my brother really did change suddenly. It's like he suddenly grew up."
"He used to look down on other Duel Monster Cards, only acknowledging the power of the _Blue-Eyes White Dragon_. But suddenly, he told me that the Thunder Dragon Deck I just collected was actually pretty good. It was as surprising as chocolate suddenly disappearing from the fridge."
Although it sounded a bit strange for Kaiba's younger brother, Mokuba, to say that Kaiba had grown up, truthfully, sometimes the older Kaiba was actually less composed than the younger Mokuba. For instance, Kaiba often acted on impulse, while Mokuba could generally maintain calm reasoning.
The best example was Duel Monsters. The moment you mentioned Dueling, Kaiba would immediately have a Duel Addiction relapse, but Mokuba didn't have such a strong addiction, and he would never recklessly squander things just to Duel.
"That was probably a few days after he came back from the Millennium World. Also, if you're talking about the chocolate you left in the lab fridge, I think I ate it," Hayato said with a mischievous grin, earning a glare from Mokuba.
"Stop interrupting me when I'm getting to the point!" Returning to the main topic, Mokuba recounted his experiences from the past two days. "After an experiment failed to yield expected results, my brother suddenly decided to go to Egypt, saying he was looking for you, Hayato-bro, and Yugi and the others. He didn't tell me what for, but you know how he always acts on impulse; I've gotten used to it."
"But after he flew his jet—whose taste I still can't approve of—to Egypt with me, he suddenly vanished on the way!"
"Suddenly vanished? Did Kaiba get lost?" From the back seat, Joey chuckled maliciously after hearing Mokuba's words. "A grown man just suddenly gets lost? Is Kaiba a complete idiot when it comes to directions?"
Mokuba corrected him, "No, he didn't get lost. My brother and I were walking one after the other on the street, waiting for the jet to refuel, and then we were going to find you, Hayato-bro, and the others. We only went out because my brother was afraid I'd be bored and just wanted to wander around with me. There weren't many people on the street at all."
"But all of a sudden, my brother was just walking normally in front of me, and he just vanished right before my eyes, as if he'd been 'spirited away' like in legends!"
"Suddenly gone? An idea has just popped into my head!" Pegasus suddenly exclaimed excitedly upon hearing this. "Is there more, Mokuba-boy? Kaiba-boy's situation has given me quite a few card design ideas, mmmph—!"
Pegasus, who had leaned forward to the front, had his mouth covered by Hayato and was pushed back. Hayato then told Joey and Tristan to keep an eye on this guy who went wild whenever inspiration struck, before turning to Mokuba on the electronic map and saying, "Suddenly vanishing and all that, Mokuba, you must have tried to contact Kaiba, but couldn't reach him, right?"
Seeing Mokuba nod, Hayato continued, "I understand. So, Mokuba, your purpose for hacking into this electronic map must have been to ask for our help, right? Send over the map data; we'll set off to find you right away."
"Okay, I've already sent the data, Hayato-bro. I'll be waiting for you at the spot where my brother vanished." Seeing that Hayato understood the purpose of his call without needing further explanation, Mokuba quickly pressed something on the other end. Mokuba's avatar on the electronic map disappeared, and the map display reverted to normal, showing the surroundings of Hayato's group. Simultaneously, the destination had been automatically entered, and a red line guided them from their current location to a certain spot.
Seeing that Mokuba's call seemed to have ended, Hayato smiled and turned around, saying, "There's no need to worry about Kaiba's safety at all, but what if we get to see that guy's embarrassing side? Everyone, are you ready?"
"We must leave immediately and be the first to mock Kaiba!"
Marik quipped, "Why are you so enthusiastic in a situation like this, Bro-in-law?"
(end of chapter)