Hopelessly Violet

Part 1- Captivating

Months passed until the heat of the summer had changed to chills and snow; the sky was overcast, bestowing a dreary shadow onto the town. One particularly cold day, Joey walked the streets as usual with his gloved hands tucked away inside his jacket pockets. He walked longer than usual, so far in fact that he stumbled upon the largest skyscraper in Domino City. Joey looked up at the building which had two letters attached 50 stories above his head-- 'KC'. Seeing those letters and the unique shape of the building brought an angry look upon his face and his cold hands tucked into his jacket clenched into fists.

"Kaiba Corp." Joey grumbled under his heavy wool scarf. Joey never really cared much for Seto Kaiba, but he always wanted to beat Seto in a duel just to gain his respect. Seto always saw Joey to be inferior to himself, at least that was what Joey always thought. Standing tall, Seto never bothered with Joey nor any of his friends except for, of course, Yami Yugi. 

Joey scoffed then continued to walk away until suddenly a long black car slowed down to follow him. Joey looked over and saw Seto's little brother, Mokuba sitting in the passenger seat sticking his head out the window.

"Hey Joey, why are you walking in the snow?" Mokuba asked as he squinted his eyes as to prevent snow from falling into them. Seto sat next to Mokuba looking the opposite direction with his arms crossed, not acknowledging Joey as usual, "What, a guy can't take a walk? Why do ya care, anyway?" said Joey. Mokuba's eyes widened despite the snow, "My brother created something really cool that I think you would like! He hasn't shown anyone yet. Come on don't be such a grump." Joey caved and agreed to see the surprise. The eagerness Mokuba expressed to Joey had given him a familiar feeling within his body; his heart raced and his stomach felt tight, it was the feeling of anticipation, excitement.

The door to the Kaiba Corp. elevator closed and for the next couple minutes, the three of them stood there saying nothing. Amid the awkward silence, Joey gazed at his distorted reflection on the metal doors trying to predict what he will see once those doors open. The elevator stopped then a woman's voice announced that they had arrived on floor 23. Mokuba stepped in front of them as if to get a head start for when the door opened. "You ready, Joey?" Mokuba asked.

The door slid to the side exposing what looked to be a plain, poorly lit extremely large room with no furniture, black walls and a giant operating system on the far end of the room. Seto left the elevator with Mokuba following close behind, but Joey stood there looking at the boring room, wondering what its purpose was.

After noticing Joey was not yet in the room, Seto turned around to see Joey was still standing in the elevator, "I don't have time for games, Wheeler. Either get out of the elevator now or leave." Seto demanded. Without a second thought, Seto turned around and made his way to the gigantic control panel, putting on his eyepiece and pressing multiple buttons which were flashing different colors. Seto's loud voice startled Joey back into coherency as he blinked a couple times, then finally he left the elevator. Joey had still been confused as to what exactly he had been looking at; what was the big surprise Mokuba just could not wait to show him? Joey snarled and raised his fist, "I don't know what kinda trick you're playing but-" Before Joey could finish his sentence, the walls around him disappeared and in its place was a hyper-realistic virtual reality world. The room in which he was standing had been somehow turned into a huge virtual forest with the feeling of real grass against the souls of his shoes. The sudden change in scenery scared Joey and made him jump, but then soon after hearing the sound of the many forest animals and even after smelling the fragrance of tree bark, he instantly was in pure awe. A deer walked up to Joey, sniffed his jeans then looked up at him. Joey, yet again, had been startled by the harmless deer until it showed no signs of agitation, so Joey just caressed it's snout softly. "I can't believe this is happening! This place looks so real!" Joey exclaimed. Mokuba smiled proudly at what his brother had created with his own hands, "Well, of course! You're really surprised Seto could pull something like this off? It was just a matter of time, really."

Seto pressed a button attached to his eye-piece which then changed the scenary completely. This time, the serene forest transformed into the back of a Blue Eyes White Dragon as it was in flight! Joey put his arm up against his face to shield the harsh winds that had been thrashing against him as the great dragon soured across the sky. Seto stood across from Joey, unfazed by the winds. Mokuba stood next to his brother laughing with his arms spread out side to side embracing the thrill of the winds. Everything was so hyper-realistic, it was so invigorating to all of Joey's senses. 

Not soon after, Seto pressed a button and, in an instant, the virtual reality seized and they were back standing on the hard black floor with the surrounding black walls. "Dat was so cool! Where else can we go?! I wanna ride a Red Eyes Black Dragon, come on!" Said Joey with a goofy grin, but Seto was already in the elevator along with Mokuba, "We're done here, Wheeler." Of course, the adrenaline of exploring the vertual reality world was still pumping in Joey's veins, so abruptly stopping angered him, "What do ya mean we're done?! You're holding out on me, Kaiba. What gives?!" Seto just glared back at Joey with no response, which had been enough encouragement for Joey to listen. 

As the elevator made it's way down, the three stood in awkward silence yet again.

Afterwards, Joey stood outside Kaiba Corp admiring the snow which covered the town like a thick blanket. The falling snow had subsided and the sun had shown briefly once again. Joey rushed back to the Game store with the hope of telling Yugi what he experienced, but Yugi was too busy helping customers. He walked upstairs to his room tired and a tad angry, but his heart was still racing from the adrenaline rush.