"President Kagemaru has gone missing?" Youyu frowned.
"You can't really call it 'missing'." Mokuba shook his head. "But it is a fact that he hasn't shown his face in front of anyone for a very long time.
After you told me to look into Kagemaru, bro Youyu, I even specifically activated the spies Kaiba Company planted inside Heaven and Earth Imaging Society to dig up intel..."
"We even have spies in Kagemaru's company?"
"But of course we do." Mokuba nodded. "Because for a while Heaven and Earth Imaging Society really was developing pretty fiercely, and was indeed posing a threat to our Kaiba Group. Of course that's all in the past now. These days they're on the decline; the company might be going under any time...
...Anyway, that's getting off topic. In short, according to our spy's report, lately even the people closest to Kagemaru haven't seen him at all."
"Maybe he decided to put down all worldly affairs and enjoy his twilight years in peace?" Youyu said.
"That really doesn't sound like Kagemaru." Mokuba said. "That old geezer is already over a hundred. Supposedly his body and mind have long since been far too feeble to carry the company banner.
But that old guy's obsession with power is downright terrifying. Even now, he still has absolute say over every big and small affair inside Heaven and Earth Imaging Society."
"But if he never shows his face, there's no way for him to give orders." Youyu scrolled through Kagemaru's career resume on the tablet.
"It is inconvenient, yeah. But he's always participated in the company's meetings via remote video to issue decisions. However... people say his style of doing things has undergone a huge change recently."
"His style?"
"Yeah." Mokuba nodded. "Sometimes his statements in meetings, some of the decisions he makes, are completely different from how he used to be. It feels like he's a different person.
But the higher-ups on the board just think he's gone senile. Right now they're plotting to kick the old guy out."
Youyu stared at President Kagemaru's last public appearance on the tablet screen in his hand—a man in his twilight years, wearing a black suit and bow tie, forcing himself to straighten his back under the spotlights at the podium, trying his best to look vigorous, yet unable to hide the marks left by time's ravages.
"...So I'm guessing it won't be that easy to schedule a meeting with this old gentleman?" Youyu asked.
"True." Mokuba smiled mysteriously. "But don't underestimate me. Even though our spy couldn't dig up more intel, I hacked into Heaven and Earth Imaging Society's server and found a possible location where Kagemaru is currently living."
He took the tablet back from Youyu and quickly pulled up a map.
It was the middle of a vast ocean, a completely isolated island.
"Kagemaru hid a private convalescent center on this island." Mokuba said. "There's a pretty decent chance he's holed up in there."
Youyu couldn't help sighing in admiration—Mokuba really is handy!
Using normal channels, you might spend a lifetime and still never gather this much intel, but Mokuba just made a few calls, then probably hacked into a corporate server on the side during dessert, and a whole pile of information promptly floated to the surface.
"Want me to arrange a plane for you, bro Youyu?" Mokuba asked.
"Yeah, today. I'm going to take a stroll around that island." Youyu nodded. "Thanks, Mokuba."
"No need to be polite, bro Youyu." Mokuba flashed a bright smile. "I'm glad I can help you out too. If you get back early, send me a message; I'll wait and have dinner with you."
"I will." Youyu waved a hand and said goodbye.
Taking off from the top floors of Kaiba Group, it didn't take long for Youyu to find the island Mokuba had marked.
To avoid attracting too much attention, Youyu didn't have the plane land. He simply told the pilot to come back in an hour to pick him up, then jumped straight out of the plane.
Unlike Duel Academy's island, which had already been developed, most areas of this island showed very few signs of human activity.
The island had intoxicatingly beautiful natural scenery. Towering ancient trees and thickets of shrubs wove together into a vast wild labyrinth. Huge cliffs blocked out most of the sunlight; only behind the steep precipice did a sliver of the setting sun's Afterglow shine through, spilling onto the flawlessly emerald lawn.
A thick, ominous atmosphere shrouded the island. Youyu couldn't sense any life coming from it—neither human nor animal.
Instinctively, he felt that President Kagemaru was like someone lost in a kind of fog. The closer he got, the denser and heavier the fog became, burying the truth deep beneath it.
Youyu found the convalescent facility Mokuba had mentioned. It was indeed a luxurious building, with a beautiful exterior and lavish, fully equipped amenities.
But what surprised him was that there wasn't a single guard outside the building. No gatekeeper, no security, not even any janitorial staff.
This made Youyu's "infiltration plan" collapse before it even started—after all, you need someone guarding the place before you can call it an infiltration, right?
In the end he just kicked the door open and strolled straight in through the main entrance without encountering any obstacles.
The lobby was just as deserted. For a moment, Youyu suspected Mokuba had guessed wrong, and that this convalescent facility was actually abandoned and completely uninhabited.
Yet the ceiling lights in the lobby were on. The crystal chandelier spilled its brilliant radiance without holding back. It slowly rotated, the dazzling, luxurious beams shifting with each change of angle.
He knew that old man Kagemaru was filthy rich, but even so, would he really keep the power running permanently to a building on a deserted island like this?
Most people, surrounded by this oppressive, eerie atmosphere, would chicken out in under a minute and be unable to stay here. But Youyu didn't.
Worst case, you just duel, right? In this dimension there are very few people who can scare him when it comes to card games anyway. Whatever's inside, he'd just charge in and deal with it.
So after he went through a few corridors and blasted open a few doors, he finally found something behind one of them.
It was a completely dark room with no windows. The floor and surrounding walls all appeared to be covered in metal, cold and hard.
In the center of the room was a machine device, a robot—a robot built based on the structure of a reptile. It was crouched on the ground, a transparent glass Life Support Pod mounted on its back. Some unknown liquid filled the glass pod, and within it was a blurry human silhouette.
Youyu had seen this apparatus before. In the Three Phantasm arc of the GX Animation, President Kagemaru, the arc's boss, appeared while hidden inside this device.
Kagemaru was a man over a century old, gravely ill; this Life Support Pod directly prolonged his life. Once separated from it, he was like a fish thrown onto the shore, dried out in a matter of moments.
"...I'm guessing you're President Kagemaru?" Youyu took the initiative to speak.
Because of the awful lighting and the liquid inside the Life Support Pod, Youyu couldn't see the person behind the glass clearly. But he was ninety percent sure this was the man he was looking for.
"Duel King." Kagemaru's heavy, hoarse voice came from beneath the Life Support Pod. "I have been waiting for you."
"I don't recall ever making an appointment."
"But I knew that a meeting between you and me was inevitable." Kagemaru said.
"Let me guess, this has something to do with you sending people to Duel Academy to target my students, doesn't it?"
Kagemaru fell silent for a moment and did not answer.
Then the robot carrying the Life Support Pod raised one arm, and the Duel Disc on its mechanical limb unfolded.
"Do you dare... accept my challenge?"