FicWad

Chapter 9

Training

Kaiba walked over to the isolation room where Yugi and Atem were currently staying. It had been about a week since the fiasco between them. They were alright now, but they refused to leave each other’s sides. (This included the shower, which gave them some… uh… quality bonding time.)
Yugi snapped on his choker when he heard a knock on the door, “Come in.”
“Are you almost ready?” Kaiba asked as he walked in.
“I am. Atem are you almost done?” Yugi asked his Yami, who was just coming out of the bathroom. He had on dark jeans and socks. A replica of Yugi’s choker was around his neck and he was just shrugging his shirt over his shoulders. (A/N: Drool…)
“Almost. I just have to button up my shirt and put my shoes on,” he replied.
“Well, hurry up. Your trainers are here and they won’t wait,” Kaiba said as he turned around and left the room.
Atem merely rolled his eyes and continued to button up his shirt. He had grown used to Kaiba’s attitude during the few days where they managed to become and stay conscious. A small smirk played across his lips as he noticed Yugi’s gaze on him.
“Like what you see?” he asked casually.
“Very much,” Yugi replied. He walked over to his darker half and wrapped his arms around his neck.
Atem drew him into a deep kiss. It wasn’t heated or passionate, but full of love and trust. It was gentle and meant purely to show just how much the other was loved. They broke apart and stared into each other’s eyes. Atem rested his head on Yugi’s forehead and smiled down at the young one.
“I love you,” he whispered.
“I love you forever,” Yugi whispered back.
They stood there for a few moments and just relished in the other’s presence.
“Come on, we’ve got to finish getting ready. Kaiba’s not going to wait all day for us,” Yugi said as he reluctantly pulled out of Atem’s arms.
“It’s too bad too. I could think of a few things I’d rather be doing,” he replied, another smirk crossing his lips.
Yugi blushed at the tone Atem used as he sat down to put his shoes on, “I know, but we don’t have time. Later.”
“Is that an offer?” Atem asked.
“Maybe… you’ll just have to be a good boy and wait until Kaiba’s done with us,” Yugi said.
Atem chuckled and pulled his own shoes on, “Bribery, huh? And here I thought you were innocent, aibou.”
Yugi laughed, “Remind me again how innocent I’m supposed to be again?”
“More innocent than you really are,” Atem said as he stood up and grabbed his jacket.
“I think my innocence was thrown out the window the first night I told you I loved you,” Yugi replied as he grabbed his own jacket.
“True, very true,” Atem said.
Yugi stopped at the door and turned around to face Atem, “It was worth it though.”
“I’m glad you think so,” Atem replied as he wrapped his arms around Yugi’s waist.
“I do. Aishiteru, Atem,” Yugi said, his arms coming up to wrap around his neck.
“Aishiteru, aibou,” he replied. He leaned in and gave Yugi a chaste kiss, “Come on, let’s get this over with.”
Yugi nodded and opened the door. Kaiba stood there with his arms crossed; a scowl on his face.
“About time. Let’s go,” he said as he started walking away.
Yugi sighed and shook his head as he followed him down the hall. Atem closed the door behind him and fell into step next to the Hikari. They were led to Kaiba’s office where three people were sitting. They stood up as the three walked in.
“Have a seat,” Kaiba said to the five of them as he sat down at his desk, “This is Yugi and Atem, the two who are going to infiltrate the ‘Organization.”
Yugi and Atem nodded at the other three who nodded in return.
“Yugi, Atem, this is Duke Devlin. He’s a master strategist. He’ll be teaching you and the others how to come up with an effective strategy,” he said as he motioned to the dark haired guy. He had green eyes and a red bandana on his head. He waved at the two and smiled.
“The person sitting next to him is Mai Kujaku. She’s mastered several different martial arts, and will be teaching them to you,” he said as he pointed to the woman next to Duke. She had long blonde hair and violet eyes. She smiled at the two and winked.
“The last person of this group is Tea Gardner. She’s a computer specialist. She’ll be teaching you about several different electronics that you’ll be using. She will also be accompanying you on the infiltration as well,” he said as the girl known as Tea smiled at them. She had short brown hair and blue eyes.
“It’s a pleasure to meet you,” Yugi said to them. Atem noticed the look Tea was giving Yugi and wrapped an arm around his waist possessively. Tea understood immediately and backed off. Mai smiled at the display and sat forward a little.
“I just have one question,” she said.
“Yes?” Yugi said.
“You two were Hikari and Yami weren’t you?” she asked.
Yugi’s eyes widened and shot to Seto who shook his head. He hadn’t told them anything about the two look-a-likes.
“It’s okay, cutie. None of us are going to go run off and tell. We want the “Organization” to be destroyed as well, so you don’t have to worry,” she said reassuringly.
Yugi nodded still a little unsure.
“Yes we were,” Atem said for him, “Why do you ask?”
“Oh, I was just wondering. I had a feeling you were,” she said, “Call it woman’s intuition.”
Atem studied her for a moment and then nodded; apparently satisfied with her answer.
Seto cleared his throat to get their attention once more and resumed talking, “You will be training with them until they think you’re ready. You will be spending a few hours each day with them. Most of your time, however, will be spent with Mai, seeing as she has much she needs to teach you.”
Yugi and Atem nodded in agreement.
“You’ll spend the rest of the day getting to know them. Tomorrow you will begin training at 8:00 sharp. No excuses,” Kaiba said dismissing them. The group walked out of his office and decided that they may as will go to lunch and start getting to know each other.

Five Years Later…
Kaiba stood in an observation room staring at three screens. Each screen showed an obstacle course set up in three different rooms. The first screen showed Malik and Marik making their way through the obstacle course. Their goal was to get all the way across the room and steal a valuable microchip and then make it back across the room without getting caught. Their mission: stealth and secrecy. Kaiba actually provided live guards instead of computer generated ones. The middle screen showed Ryou and Bakura. Their goal lay inside a locked safe. They were to steal what was in the safe and make it out of the room before the timer ran out. Their mission: quickness and thievery. The last monitor, the one Kaiba was currently watching, showed Yugi and Atem. They were each fighting off computer generated creatures as well as live guards. Their mission was to work as a team and to survive every attack that was thrown at them. So far, each team was doing their absolute best. Serena and Wynter were already done with their training and were on a small spy mission for Kaiba at the moment. Behind Kaiba stood Mai, Tea and Duke. They too were watching the screen to see how the three pairs faired. This was the hardest test they had had so far, and Kaiba was overseeing it to see how well they were doing.
“What do you think?” he asked the three behind him.
“I think they’re ready,” Duke said, “There is nothing more I can teach them.”
Tea nodded in agreement, “They know everything I can give them. They’re ready.”
Mai stood silent, watching the six boys as they moved into the final stages of their tests.
“Mai?” Kaiba asked.
“Give me one more lesson with them. Then they’ll be ready,” she said.
Kaiba nodded and turned back to the screen. He watched as the boys finished their tests and exited each of their respective training rooms. The monitors went black as the four left the rooms to meet with the six. They walked down the hall and waited while the six look-a-likes showered and changed. Malik and Marik were the first ones out, followed by Ryou and Bakura. Yugi and Atem showed up last.
“Good job. You all managed to complete your tests successfully. I’ll leave them to you,” Kaiba said to Tea, Duke and Mai.
“Did we really do good?” Yugi asked them.
“Yes you did,” Duke said nodding, “So good in fact…”
“That there’s nothing left for us to teach you,” Tea finished.
“You mean…” Ryou said.
“Yes, you’re almost ready,” Tea said smiling.
Bakura let out a whoop and hugged Ryou to him.
“Almost Bakura. Not quite though. Mai still has some things to teach you,” Duke said.
Bakura’s face fell and the group laughed. They all turned to Mai who regarded each of them for a moment.
“Come to Domino Park tonight at midnight,” she said before walking away.
They watched her go; confusion on each of their faces. Everyone except for Yugi and Atem turned and started to make fun of Bakura as Mai disappeared around a corner.
Wonder what she’s got planned, Yugi thought to Atem.
I don’t know, Hikari, she did seem rather serious, Atem replied.
Which isn’t like her, Yugi said.
I guess we’ll find out tonight, Atem said.
He and Yugi turned and laughed as Bakura grabbed Marik and attempted to strangle him. He didn’t get very far, because Ryou proceeded to hit him over the head.

12:10 p.m.: Domino Park
“Where is she?” a frustrated Bakura snarled, “She was supposed to be here ten minutes ago.”
“I’m right here,” a voice said from behind him. The group turned around and watched as Mai stepped out of the shadows.
“You really do need to calm your temper, Bakura,” she said.
“Yeah, yeah,” he replied.
“I’ve called you here for one last training session,” she said.
“In the middle of the night?” Bakura asked incredulously.
“Hush, Bakura,” Ryou scolded.
Bakura grumbled but did what Ryou said.
“Anyway, this is my final lesson, and probably my most valuable,” she said, “Have a seat.”
The group sat on the ground. They were all thankful that it was the middle of summer and that the weather had been warm lately.
“Tell me, what do you see?” she asked.
“Trees,” Bakura said.
“Grass,” Ryou said.
“A side walk,” Serena replied.
“Fireflies,” Atem murmured.
“Stars,” Yugi said quietly.
“Good. Now close your eyes. What do you hear?” she asked.
“Cars in the distance,” Malik said.
“The small creek behind us,” Wynter said.
“Crickets,” Marik said.
“The wind,” Yugi said.
“Keep your eyes closed. What do you taste?” Mai asked.
Each of them opened their mouths and tried to taste the air.
“Saltiness,” Ryou said.
“Last night’s rain,” Atem replied.
“Bad breath,” Marik said, causing the group to laugh a little.
“It’s kind of hard to describe,” Bakura said after a moment, “It’s almost like a freshness.”
The group nodded their agreement. They were a little surprised that Bakura said that, but let it go.
“Very good. Now, what do you smell?” she asked them.
There were several sniffing sounds as the group sniffed the air before replying.
“Car exhaust,” Wynter said.
“The earth,” Yugi replied.
“Joey,” Serena said.
“Joey?” Bakura asked opening his eyes.
She shot him a glance and said, “Wet dog.”
“Oh,” he said before closing his eyes.
Mai smiled and stifled a laugh, “One last one. What do you feel?”
“Dew,” Malik said immediately.
“Softness,” Ryou spoke up.
“Coolness of the breeze,” Atem said.
“Warmth,” Yugi whispered.
“Good. You can open your eyes now.”
The group opened their eyes and looked at Mai. She had bent around and was grabbing something from behind her. She turned back around to the group with something cupped in her hands.
“Life is precious. Everything has a life, from the crickets, to the bacteria in the creek,” she said, “Even this frog.” She opened her hands a little to show them the frog she had there, “It is a wonderful gift. I say gift because it can be destroyed easily.” As if to prove her point, she snapped the frog’s neck; killing it.
Yugi winced and a gasp was heard from Ryou, but they didn’t turn away. Mai turned around and set the dead frog behind her.
“What I’m trying to say is that when you go on this “mission” you will be forced to kill. I won’t say that you may be forced to kill, there’s no maybe about it. You will end up killing someone. Someone with a life,” she said.
Yugi and Atem understood what she was trying to do immediately. She was giving them a way out. A way to leave and not come back; to live life and not risk dying. Atem looked at Yugi who nodded at him.
“Thank you Mai,” Atem said, “We understand what you’re trying to do, but we can’t leave now. We have to go through with this, no matter what.”
Mai nodded. She figured that that’s what they’d say. She had to try though.
“Very well,” she said, “Then I leave you with this. What you’re attempting to do could very well get you killed. You are attempting to set right a wrong that should never have been allowed to happen. If you’re successful, and alive, by the end of it all, you will have given this world a major gift: The chance to live.”
“I want you to remember this time and this place. This is what you are fighting for. You are fighting for freedom. Freedom to live how you want. Remember this, when everything is at its worst. When you think that you can’t go on, when there is no hope left. Remember my words and the things you feel here. This is what you are willing to give your lives up for. Not revenge, not to destroy some stupid monarchy like system. This. The ability to do whatever you want. To be free to be yourselves. To be able to live,” she finished.
The group nodded. They were humbled by her words. She had given them a gift herself. She gave them something to fight for, something that was more precious than any other reason they had. The will to live.
“We understand, Mai,” Yugi said, “We’ll treasure what we have, and hopefully, what others will soon have as well.”
“Good,” she sighed, “I’m done then. There is nothing left for me to teach you.”
“We’re finally ready,” Wynter said. It was more of a statement than a question.
“Yes, you are ready,” she replied as she got up. The group followed suit and stood up as well.
“Why don’t you all stay out here for a while? Just relax and not worry about tomorrow?” she suggested.
“I think we’ll do that,” Atem said.
She nodded and picked up the dead frog. She wanted to bury it before any animals got to it.
“Did you want help Mai?” Serena and Wynter asked her.
“Sure, why not?” she said.
The three girls headed off to bury the frog while the rest of the group split up as well. Marik and Malik went and sat under some trees to talk quietly. Ryou dragged Bakura over to the creek so he could dip his feet into it. Atem and Yugi chose to walk through the park, enjoying the night air and the stars. The mission was the last thing on everyone’s mind as they enjoyed what little peace they were given that night.