Game Kings and Ice Queens (Yu-Gi-Oh Season 0)

27 The most dangerous game

"This is it." Yugi sighs as they reach their designated location. Soon they will be able to leave with his grandpa, either that or be in for a nasty punishment.

He looks up at his friends, worried for their safety, but glad for their stubbornness that pushed them to join him no matter what. He's not sure he will be able to do this on his own.

After entering Kaiba land and making their way onto the game tower, they are led into an elevator by two of Kaiba's goons. Already they can feel the atmosphere getting tense.

Once they reach the designated floor, the doors open to a relatively dark room, but there in the center, encased in a glass cube are Kaiba and Yugi's grandpa, playing duel monsters.

He's being overpowered in the game as three Blue Eyes White Dragon holographs hover over him. Meanwhile Kaiba disappears and so soon do the glass cage and the dragons. They all turned out to be holograms.

The friends quickly run up to Yugi's grandpa who's breathing harshly from the shock, but otherwise seems to be alright for now.

"Yugi, I wanted to save you... I lost.... I'm sorry." he pants, upset that he couldn't help his grandson.

He holds out his hand, holding out his deck of cards. "Here. Kaiba is a fearsome young man. He's ruthless in gaming. Be careful." He warns, handing Yugi the deck, knowing he will need it.

"Don't worry gramps. He has us to back him up." Ren assures him, putting a hand on the old man's shoulders. "You can rest now."

Grandpa nods. "Yes, I'm glad. With you all there, Yugi will win."

"Time to cut the sentimentals." Kaiba's voice breaks in, appearing on a screen in the room. "Return the old man and start the game." he states.

The next part happens so quickly they hardly have time to react. The floor beneath grandpa opens up, seeming to swallow him as he disappears into darkness. Ren almost stumbles after as she was crouching so close to him and she would have if it wasn't for Honda and Jounouchi quickly tackling her to the side.

"Grandpa!" Yugi yells in shock.

"Yugi." Kaiba calls. "Keep winning in the hellish attraction called Death-T. Pass my location and the old man will be returned." He is quick to start explaining as they question him. "The game tower has various games on each floor. Start at the bottom and beat each game to go up. Of course, I wait at the top floor."

"Wait big brother." Another voice cuts in as Mokuba steps into their vision. "Don't forget that they'll be facing me first. You don't know if they will clear my game." The boy snickers, looking confident.

"Alright, let's start." Kaiba announces before they are all temporarily blinded by bright lights. Suddenly they are surrounded by loud cheers and they realize that they are in some kind of arena. It seems every visitor of Kaiba land has come out to watch.

"Typical Kaiba to make a grand show of things." Anzu huffs.

"This is insane." Jounouchi mutters, his eyes bulging as he watches the masses of people around them.

In front of them they find large elevator doors opening with thing letters on them spelling Death-T. "Let's try to keep our wits together. Ignore the people and focus on our goal, getting Yugi's grandpa back." Ren states, receiving a few nods.

They enter, watching the doors close before them. There is no going back now. They will have to face whatever Kaiba is throwing at them.

With a tremor, the lift rises until reaching the next floor. Filled with anticipation the watch as their first challenge is revealed.