Tea's Little Sister ~Mokuba Kaiba~[Book 1]

Inside Cyber Land

"I'm glad I've got my dueling deck with me, but this life point count makes me a bit nervous. I mean, I know what happens in a video game when you lose a life, but I wonder what happens here. Kind of a scary thought." Yugi commented, a bit uneasily. 
"Tell me about it." Lea agreed, as she nervously bit her fingernails. Mokuba placed a comforting hand on her shoulder. 
"No joke, Yug." Joey replied to Yugi, and that was when the gang had all stopped by to the graveyard. 
"Oh, speaking of scary..." Mokuba commented, before he and the others began walking over there. Lea felt a bit nervous as they arrived there. Mokuba obviously noticed, so he held her hand, which made her blush a bit and she squeezed it tightly. 
"It's hard to believe all of this is virtual and not real." Yugi remarked. 
"Yeah, well, it looks plenty real enough to me." Joey agreed nervously, before the ground suddenly started cracking, and it scared Joey. Then a monster suddenly came out of the ground, and it startled Joey. 
"Zombie alert! Help!" He announced shakily, which caught the others' attentions, and when Lea saw the 'zombies' come out of their cemetaries, she was scared and she buried her face into Mokuba's shoulder, much to Mokuba holding her tightly. 
"Wait a sec. These zombies are nothing but Duel Monsters." Joey remarked, and Lea slowly moved her face away from Mokuba's shoulder to see what Joey meant, and she tilted her head when she discovered that Joey was right. 
"So if I just draw a card, then..." Joey started, as he drew his card from the duel disk, but he got confused when he examined it. 
"And I really don't know what." 
Yugi, Mokuba, and Lea were all exasperated at what Joey just said. 
"Let me show you how it's done." Mokuba instructed, before he began drawing his card from the duel disk.
"I summon the Rude Kaiser!" He announced, before Yugi stepped in. 
"And I summon the Dark Magician!" He announced, before he drew his card from the duel disk. 
Lea bit her lip as she knew that she'd also have to draw a card from the duel disk, but she finally revealed her brave face as she knew that she had no choice. 
"And I summon the Battle Ox!" She announced, before she drew the card from the duel disk. 
Then Rude Gaiser, Dark Magician, and Battle Ox all appeared.
"Attack!" The trio all commanded, before their monsters all went to attack the zombie monsters. 
Lea just looked on in fascination, amazed at how badass she really was at drawing the card, summoning a monster, and commanding it to attack.  
"Wow!" She breathed. 
"So that's how you do it in Virtual World." Joey blinked, amazedly. 
But then the zombie monsters came back. 
"They're back!" Mokuba cried, and Lea held on to him as she trembled in fear. 
"I got em!" Joey assured, before he drew his card from the duel disk. 
"I summon the Flame Swordsman!" He announced, before Flame Swordsman appeared. 
"Go, flaming sword of battle!" Joey commanded, just as the zombies' life points went all the way up. 
"Joey! Cancel your Flame Swordsman's attack! Hurry!" Yugi called out to Joey, urgently. 
Joey was startled at what Yugi said, just as the Flame Swordsman slashed the hell out of one of the zombies but it came back. 
"That dragon's reforming again!" Joey exclaimed in disbelief, before the zombie dragon breathed its breath on the Flame Swordsman, and he disappeared.
"What is going on here?! Everytime we slay one of these zombie monsters, they come back even stronger!" Joey ranted, exasperated. 
"That's true! But no matter how strong their attacks get, they still have one major weakness! Just think about it, Joey. Remember, you defeated them before!" Yugi advised, before the zombie monsters got ready to attack. 
Then it hit Joey, "Oh yeah! Zombies have a zero defense power. So by activating Shield and Sword..." 
Joey then held up his Shield and Sword card and it began illuminating, "I can reverse their attack in defense points, so their attack becomes zero!" 
Then he grinned as the zombie monsters' defense points moved to zero, "Ok! They're all yours, Yug!" 
"Go, dark magic attack!" Yugi commanded Dark Magician, before it attacked the zombie monsters and they disappeared for good! 
"ALL RIGHT!!!" Yugi, Joey, Mokuba, and Lea all cheered happily, as they jumped up from the ground. Then Mokuba lifted Lea up from the ground and spun her around in a circle as the two of them laughed joyfully. 
"Yugi, check this out!" Mokuba suddenly spoke up to Yugi, as he gently placed Lea back down to the ground and released her when he discovered a card that said '5'. 
"Hey, what do you think it is?" Mokuba asked, confusedly. 
"It must be part of some kind of scoring system." Yugi answered, as he examined the card. 
"Hey, my life points aren't going back up!" Joey exclaimed, as he looked at his duel disk and saw that his life points stayed to 1820. 
"That sure can't be good, can it?" Mokuba remarked.
"Man, I guess these virtual monsters are playing for keeps, huh?" Joey snarked, before a giggle was suddenly heard. Everyone all turned towards the thing that was giggling. 
"What is that thing?" Mokuba asked, curiously. 
"I don't know, but it does look pretty." Lea answered, as she discovered that it was some kind of fairy. 
"Hey, I bet it's one of them fairies that they put in these games to help them play us out!" Joey realized, before the fairy started flying away. 
"Wow!" Mokuba breathed, amazedly.
"Quick, let's follow it!" Joey urged, before he and the others began following after the fairy. 
"Ah, I can't keep up!" Joey exclaimed, exasperated, before he stopped for a moment and he looked around to see where the fairy was at, then he was pissed. 
"That slippery little sprite!" He ranted, before Mokuba suddenly discovered something. 
"Look!" He exclaimed, as he ran over to what he just discovered. 
"What is it, Mokuba? Did you find him?" Joey questioned, as he, Yugi, and Lea followed to where Mokuba was at. 
"No, but I think I found what it was trying to show us." Mokuba answered, and the others were completely amazed. 
"It's an entire virtual town!" Yugi exclaimed, amazedly. 
"Let's go explore it!" Joey suggested, before he and the others began walking down to the village to explore it. 
"Ugh! I'm glad we all ate before we got here!" Joey exclaimed, completely disgusted as he saw the roasted frogs hanging. 
"Check this out, Joey!" Yugi called out to Joey, as he discovered what he just found... Which appeared to be the Duel Monster cards in picture frames. 
"Cool!" Joey exclaimed amazedly, before he looked closer at one of them to get a closer inspection. 
"Hey, this might come in handy here. We'll take it!" 
"I don't think that it works that way." Mokuba shook his head, before Joey looked down at the prize under the cards, and he was shocked as hell. 
"2000 points?!" He exclaimed, before he turned around in exasperation and took out his card to examine it. 
"Well, we must have scored at least that many from those zombies." He assured, before he discovered that his card was a '5'. 
"5?! Not even close!" 
"Come on, guys. Let's concentrate on finding my brother first." Mokuba spoke up, impatiently. 
"He's right, let's go." Lea chimed in, before Yugi nodded in agreement with what the pair said. 
"Ok, you guys are right. Let's split up and call this town clues." Joey also agreed. 
"Search every street, and question every virtual person you see. Somebody must have spotted them or know something about what happened to him. Someone, somewhere can help us. That's the way these games work. When we're done, let's meet back at the water fountain." Yugi urged, before he, Joey, Mokuba, and Lea went their separate ways to ask the villagers for some clues. 
As soon as the gang were done, they all went to the water fountain as Yugi had requested, and Yugi asked Joey, "So, Joey, did you find out anything?"
"Yeah, I found out I hate virtual dogs." Joey answered, as a dog was biting into his jacket. Lea giggled to herself. 
"You guys! I got a great lead!" Mokuba suddenly announced, before he pointed to a mountain. 
"See that mountain? Well, an old woman I was talking to said that she saw a man with the prisoner headed there this morning. Supposedly, there's some kind of ancient temple at the top, and the only way to get there is by crossing this desert." Mokuba explained, and Lea was a bit nervous. She hated going through any deserts. 
"Great. So where's our right out?" Joey asked sarcastically, before Mokuba began running through the desert. 
"Wait for us!" Yugi exclaimed, before he, Joey, and Lea ran after Mokuba. 
"Hey! Us includes me!" Joey called out. 
They gang just kept walking through the desert, but it just got even difficult since they were on the outskirts where the sandstorm was at. Joey covered his mouth and nose with his arm and winced, Yugi covered his mouth and nose and his forehead with both of his arms, Mokuba covered his mouth and nose with his bandana, and Lea just held on to Mokuba as her face was buried in his shoulder. 
"I gotta hand it to your brother. This virtual sand, tastes just like real sand." Joey snarked to Mokuba. Lea wanted to uncover her face to snap at Joey, but she couldn't since she knew that the sand was still there. 
"We should go back! It's too rough!" Yugi suggested, urgently. 
"No, we can't! We have to keep going!" Mokuba protested, before he suddenly saw something and it made him stop. 
"It's a sand twister!" Joey exclaimed. 
"Brace yourselves! It's coming right towards us!" Yugi urged, before everyone all braced themselves when the twister went towards them. Mokuba held on to Lea tightly, and Lea just kept her face buried in his chest as she herself held on to him for dear life. 
Just then, the twister was gone and everyone appeared to be passed out. Joey was the first to wake up. 
"Yugi! Yug, wake up, pal! We're alive!" Joey woke Yugi up, before Yugi slowly opened his eyes, then his eyes widened when he realized that he himself and the others actually survived. 
"W-what happened?" 
"That sand twister blew us back into town." Joey replied, before Yugi stood up to his feet. 
"I think it shook the little guy up a bit too." Joey added, before Yugi faced Mokuba and saw that he was a little tired. Lea just hugged him from the side, caring for him. 
"He'll be okay." Yugi assured, before he suddenly heard someone laughing. 
"That ain't no way to be crossing no desert!" The old man laughed, before Yugi and Joey ran over to him. Lea just stayed with Mokuba for a moment, until he was able to wake up. 
"Mokuba, you're alright!" Lea exclaimed, in relief. 
Mokuba faced her and grinned at her, "I'm fine." 
Then Mokuba stood up to his feet, and he held out his hand in front of Lea. Lea blushed for a moment, but she gratefully took his hand and he helped her up to her feet.
"T-thank you." She thanked him, shyly. 
Mokuba smiled and nodded, then he and Lea ran over to where Yugi and Joey were at. They were both talking to an old man who was dressed in a robe and a turban. Both Yugi and Joey seemed to be exasperated as they had no idea what the old man was talking about some Niwatori card that can help them go through the desert. 
"Maybe one of the card stands we saw on the way in has one." Mokuba suggested to the guys, before Yugi and Joey turned around to face him and Lea, completely surprised that Mokuba was awake and well. 
"Yeah! Maybe!" Joey agreed, before Yugi ran over to Lea and Mokuba. 
"It's worth a try! There certainly are plenty of card stands in this town. Surely one of them has to have it!" Yugi stated in determination, before both Lea and Mokuba nodded their heads in agreement. 
Then the gang headed on their way to find some card stands to find a Niwatori card, but they were nowhere to be found. 
"I can't believe it! We checked every stand in town, and not one of them has that Niwatori card." Mokuba exclaimed, completely exasperated. 
"No wonder it's such a prize bird around here." Joey sighed, in agreement. 
"Wait! A prize! That's it!" Yugi exclaimed in realization, before he began running. 
"Yugi!" Joey exclaimed, confusedly. 
"That's what the old man meant!" Yugi replied, which made Joey more confused. 
"Uh, say what?!" Joey questioned, before he, Mokuba, and Lea ran over to where Yugi was at. 
"Come here! Look! It's an announcement of a contest!" Yugi exclaimed, as he looked at a paper that was talking about a contest. 
"'Fame, glory, and the prize Niwatori card await the heroic warrior who can beat our champion. Signed, the Grand Battle Chief and Combat Outfitter of Shadow Coliseum'." Mokuba read the paper, before he and the others all looked at each other. 
"Yes! Let's sign up! I always wanted to be a warrior." Joey cheered, all pumped up. Then he and the others began walking to the coliseum to talk with some toad who worked at the coliseum. 
"One of you as a coliseum warrior? I don't know. This city takes its gladiator matches quite seriously. But if it's a shot as the champion you desire..." The toad began, before he spotted a fly and grabbed it with its tongue. The others all looked on, completely surprised and disgusted as they watched the toad eat the fly. 
"Oh god!" Lea exclaimed, as she looked like she wanted to throw up. 
"Far be it from me to stand in your way!" The toad continued, before he offered the gang a pig mask and a dark blue cape. 
"Here. Your battle mask and combat cape." He gestured, before he started walking. 
"Wow! Is all this stuff really necessary?" Yugi questioned, before the toad stopped to turn around and face Yugi. 
"Yes, if you're going to lose all your life points, you may as well look like a hero." The toad answered, coolly. 
"All of my life points?" Yugi asked, a bit timidly. 
"Give that stuff to me, Yug." Joey suddenly spoke up, and Yugi turned to face him with a questioning look on his face. 
"What do you mean, Joey?" 
"I'm not letting ya risk all your life points for this, pal. I'll fight that champion." Joey answered, firmly. 
"But, Joey, you already have less life points than Mokuba, Lea, and me." Yugi protested, before Joey grabbed the mask and cape out of Yugi's hands. 
"Yeah, well, looks like I'm just gonna have to be extra careful then, huh?" Joey asked sassily, before he faced Yugi and smiled. 
"But so will the champ once he sees the skills that I have." 
"Ok." Yugi shrugged, still a bit unsure. 
"Hey, thanks, Joey." Mokuba silently thanked Joey, before Joey turned around to face him and winked at him. 
"Forget about it. Being a hero is what I do best." 
With that, Yugi, Mokuba and Lea all went outside to sit on the steps to watch the match between Joey and the champion. The toad announced to the crowd, "Ladies and gentlemen! We have at last found a soul brave enough to challange our champion! I present to you, Senior Porkey!" 
Then Joey, who was dressed as Senior Porkey, appeared as the toad had called out. 
"Come on, Joey! You can do it!" Yugi cheered Joey on. 
"Now, introducing our undefeated champ, Madam Butterfly!" The toad announced again, as the woman who had a butterfly mask on and was wearing a red cape appeared as the toad had called out. The woman looked seemingly familiar in Lea's vision... She looked like Mai by the looks of her long blonde hair and purple clothing.