Work Text:
Outline
Cyborgs:
H3B4/ Yugi
- Glass eyes
- Over 50% mechanical enhancements
- Cord jack/ vibration sensitive ears
- Multi-weapon containing arms
- Muscle enhanced legs
- Fire main power; gentle, uncontrollable, luring
J03Y
- Shield main power
- Links to Seto when Kisara dies
V1V1AN
- Speed and agility main power
- Linked to Dartz
MA1
- Ice main power
M4R1K
- Eventually links with Melvin
- Poison main power
K15ARA
- Untearable, electricity conducting, elastic wings
- Electricity main power
- Linked with Seto
M4H4D
- Linked with Mana
- Illusion Main power
RY0/ Ryou
- Linked with Dartz
- Main Power: Darkness
- Stone given to him by Dartz
- Eventually get's Kisara's stone, of electricity
Humans:
Melvin
- Can handle himself
- Marik’s keeper
Tea
- Joey’s caretaker
Serenity
- Mai’s keeper
Seto
- Kisara’s creator and keeper
Atem
- Yugi’s keeper
- Used to be Mahad's keeper
Solomon
- Heba’s grandpa and Yugi's creator
Professor Hopkins
- Helped build Yugi
Pegasus
- Founder of the cyborg association
Dartz
- Owns Vivian, Alaster, Varon, & Raphael
Mana
- Mahad’s keeper
Bakura
- Ryou's eventual keeper
Rebecca Hopkins
- Cyborg mechanic
- Knew Yugi
- Integrates Yugi into the cyborg academy
- Ishizu’s keeper
1SH1ZU
- Healing main power, like the redhead girl from Bleach
RA9H43L
V4R0N
ALA5T3R
0D10N
Mokuba
Tristan
Team Monarch - Leadership
- Yugi and Atem
- Rebecca and Ishizu
- (Formerly) Dartz and Raphael
Team Dragon - Vigor
- Kisara and Seto
- Joey and Tea
Team Leopard - Ferociousness
- Mahad and Mana
- Mai and Serenity
Team Viper - Deviousness
- Bakura and Ryou
- Marik and Melvin
Keeper is a term for pairs that are linked, caretaker is a term for pairs that aren’t linked.
Yugi used to be a normal kid named Heba, then got in an accident and had to be turned into a cyborg. Solomon rebuilt Heba who lost all his memory but eventually got it all back when he linked with Solomon. Because he lost all his memory he was renamed to be Yugi.
Yugi remembered his life as Heba when he linked with Solomon. However, he got sick and rebooted Yugi’s memory before he passed away, knowing that when he found true love and linked with someone again, he would remember everything, leaving him in the care of the Hopkins. They move him to a worldwide cyborg care facility, a place for people who became cyborgs after suffering fatal injuries go to rehabilitate into society, but that rarely ever happens. Most of the time, the person joins the army as their stone’s can get energetically violent at random. The reason why is still unknown, so the facility also works as research for the stone.
Every cyborg has a stone power source from a meteorite which exploded in the earth’s atmosphere and scattered all over the world containing life supplying and power inducing energy. Yugi’s stone is twice the normal size, incubating in the hot deserts of Egypt for a thousand years.
It begins with Yugi waking up in a incubation tube and Rebecca helping him out of it. He doesn’t understand her language but the tone of her voice and she sits him down and pulls a wire from his ear to go over his mechanics on a computer.
Rebecca makes sure he understands names, she is Rebecca, he is Yugi. Rebecca. Yugi. Rebecca. Yugi. Then she walks him around to stretch his muscles, feeds him and sends him back to the capsule.
They continue doing this, moving through to learning words and bringing in new people; Ishizu and Professor Hopkins.
Then they go outside and Yugi is in absolute awe from the explosion of colors compared to the white walls inside. He spends most of his time outside from then on. Rebecca teaches him how to communicate with speech and incase he malfunctions either way. At one point they head into town and Yugi develops preferences like clothing style and food. He likes leather and cheeseburgers.
When Rebecca finds him sufficiently learned and ready to interact with society, she introduces him to his new class at the cyborg academy as a temporary caretaker, they’re all blown away because Rebecca is a high class mechanic of whom they rarely see without a huge project she’s working on.
Yugi is switched between keepers to get to know the place, first with the Leopard Team who find him absolutely adorable, get him moved in and show him around.
Then with the Dragon Team although Joey is grumpy because Seto and Kisara wouldn't even show up. He and Tea tell him about the academy’s purpose and why Seto is always absent. Seto owns a company and only visits when Kisara is needed or needs to be checked up on. They are rarely needed and Kisara is only checked professionally once a week.
Then the Viper team, who lead him to the training place to test his abilities. They end up being too hard on him and making him scared but nothing happens. Atem steps in a diffused the situation, sending Team Viper off and calling for Rebecca. Yugi doesn’t understand the emotion he was feeling and can’t get out of it, confused and ruffled and Atem calms him down. Rebecca and Ishizu thank Atem and bring him to his room to eat and explain his emotions and get him in his capsule.
Next he visits team Monarch which is just Atem. Atem notices his innocent ignorance and tries to explain everything as best he can. Atem shows him the tactical room and notices Yugi memorize the maps all over the walls with enhanced learning software.
Yugi asks why there is only Atem in the Monarch team and where his partner was. Atem explains that Dartz and Raphael used to be on the team until they found he was stealing cyborg technology and was linked to multiple cyborgs which were linked manually. He also explains that Mana used to partner with Vivian and himself with Mahad, but Mahad was moved to be partnered with Mana since Vivian, a load of other cyborgs and Dartz disappeared. It was Rebecca’s idea to move Mahad to Mana, saying Atem would be needed for the new cyborg (yugi) more than Mana. Rebecca was moved onto the Monarch team and thus so is Yugi under Atem’s care. She still acts as one of the mechanics but will go on missions with atem and yugi when needed.
Yugi starts feeling weak and Atem calls for Rebecca. He helps her plug him into a charging capsule for the night. This triggers a memory of Solomon tucking him in and he dreams about him.
Yugi wakes up for once without Rebecca there. She and Ishizu leave him a list of instructions and he memorizes it as a routine for academy before following it and going out, looking for the garden. He ends up falling asleep under the sun and has a vision of sand and heat and feels for once at home. Atem wakes him up, he was searching for him when he didn’t show up before class. For once Yugi feels fully well rested as he’s been gradually getting weaker (its because he needs time in the sun since his stone incubated in Egypt’s heat for a thousand years). Atem helps him up and Yugi notices his skin is darker than usual and hand is extremely warm. Atem dodges the statement and they head to class.
All the teams, minus Seto and Kisara, are in class in their own conversations and positions and greet Yugi and Atem when they arrive. Yugi sits and listens quietly throughout the lesson, downloading everything with his advanced learning enhancements. When they finish class and head to lunch Joey asks why he wasn’t writing anything down and Yugi answers explains his enhancements. Joey is jealous and asks what kind of Cyborg he is. Yugi does a self assessment and says he is over 50% mechanical, a huge rarity. They others talk about their percentages and then head to training.
At this point, Ishizu retrieves Yugi so they can train in private with Rebecca, Atem tags along instead of go for his own training and they head to a room with hoses on the walls and grates on the flooring.
Rebecca is glad Atem is there to help with Yugi’s power awakening. She places a candle in front of Yugi and tells him to concentrate on it and light it. The three others aside from Yugi watch from a one way room as he sits and stares at the candles. Rebecca informs Atem that nothing could happen for a few hours , Yugi’s enhanced hearing picks it up. Yugi feels something, his heart racing at the prospect of Atem leaving but Atem says it’s okay and stays.
Yugi sits and concentrates. After a half hour of nothing his mind begins to wander. He thinks about his vision of sand and the sun. He thinks of the garden and his nap and waking up with Atem there. Then he sees something. Another vision.
“Keep burning Yugi. Be the light they need. The fire they breath. And the heat they heed.” When he snaps out of it the candle is lit with a violet flame. Rebecca is astonished and accidentally gives exposition.
“Only an hour? That was quicker than before!” Atem questions her and she shakes her head. “Uh- forget that. Good job Yugi!” She gives him a thumbs up. Atem looks impressed. Ishizu nods encouragingly. Yugi looks over at the one way mirror which Rebecca pressed a button to make a regular window and blinks, his eyes adjusting, then smiles slightly looking down at the candle. Then, suddenly his whole body sets on fire with violet flames. Rebecca panics and presses a button and he is drenched in water, putting out the flames. Atem asks what that was about and Rebecca adjusts her glasses.
“Oh dear… Don’t worry, this is normal stone awakening behavior for a stone his size. I just didn’t expect it this early. We’re going to need to fireproof his capsule in case it acts up in the middle of the night. He isn’t used to emotions either. This is going to be so much fun I can already tell.”
“Don’t be a sourprout Rebecca! This is wonderful progress.”
“Grandpa!”
“Professor.”
“Please, please call me Arthur.”
Yugi taps on the glass and waves, drenched and cold but happy to see the professor. Atem gets him a towel and dries him before lending him his jacket.
Yugi dreams that night. A vision of walking down the street and noticing a house on fire. He runs in and finds two children inside. He helps them out of the house but is caught inside and impaled by a beam in the right shoulder and both legs. When the fire overtakes his vision he wakes up to an empty room and stumbles out of his capsule. He runs through the facility to the garden and although it’s still night out he falls asleep in a flower bed.
He wakes up to Atem, Ishizu, and Rebecca looking down at him in the garden. They question why he was there and he shakes his head, not really wanting to talk about it but also finding it hard to remember.
Rebecca takes him back to his room and does a few tests on his mechanical makeup. They have him eat and skip class to get a headstart on controlling his fire power.
After this point whenever he feels extreme emotions he bursts into flames; jealousy, fear, anger, embarrassment, mainly the tips of his hair.
[This plotline was abandoned for this other one]
Yugi is a cyborg captured by the “enemy” which is really the good side. He was linked to Dartz but was captured by the “enemy” and before he could self destruct his link was severed and memory wiped. He wakes up in a white room and just sits until Rebecca makes her way in. Yugi notices there are cameras in the walls but he doesn't know what they are because his memory is wiped. Rebecca looks tense and Yugi tilts his head at her, his eyes focusing and unfocusing.
“Do you know where you are?”
“...Yu...gi.” His voice is glitched and mechanized.
“I said do you know WHERE you are.”
“Yugi.”
“Where! I said where!”
“Yugi.”
Rebecca hmphs. She steps cautiously toward him and he simply watches, not knowing what fear or uneasiness is. He sees her feet walking and kicks his feet trying to imitate. Rebecca stops and watches him struggle, realizing that he has to stand before he can walk. He tries to push himself up and ends up falling several times before Rebecca comes forward and helps him.
“Yugi.”
“Is that your name?”
“Yugi.”
“Your code says H3B4 though…”
“Yugi.”
“Is that all you can say?”
“Yugi.”
Rebecca sighs in unease. She helps him walk and sits him down on a table, hooking the cord in his ear to a jack and running an analysis. She deems him not a threat.
“Well that’s a relief, although also a pain. You can come out here, he’s not a threat at the moment.” Joey, Atem, Ishizu and Seto walk out of the same door she came from.
“Apparently, when we disabled his link he lost all his memory that came with it. All that’s left in his data bank is his name, he doesn’t even know how to talk!”
“Yugi.”
“Did they replace his brain or something? Talking is the first thing you learn!”
“Looks like they almost did. Whoever did the surgery must have worked on his brain for multiple days straight because there’s intricate wiring in every lobe! It’s amazing!”
“Is that why he’s lost his memory?”
“It’s not lost, just blocked.” Rebecca thinks for a moment. “My first guess at how to break the blockage would be to teach him things and maybe trigger some memories. My second theory would be to have him create another link, then maybe the blockage would reverse-”
“We don’t force links here, Rebecca. Ever. Under any circumstances.”
“Of course I know that! I meant that if we teach him our ways here he’s bound to link to someone eventually. But, we could also do a surgery, though it would be very complex. I’d suggest about a 10% chance of success, without looking at the wiring explicitly and without a calculator.”
“Let’s try triggering his memories before Dartz. If that doesn’t work by the time they make their next move… we’ll just have to see.”
“I’ll get started immediately.” Rebecca turns to Yugi, who has been sitting on the table patiently, analyzing their conversation carefully. “Who’s ready for some enrichment?” Yugi tilts his head, blinking his big, violet eyes.
“Yugi.”
“You know, he’s kind of cute!”
“Both you and I know how many lives he’s taken.” They walk out. Yugi stares after him, his chest...
End chapter.
Rebecca teaches Yugi how to talk. And how to eat. And how to walk. And finally how to sleep in his capsule. When he sleeps, he dreams of sand and a hot sun. He doesn’t know what it is, because since he woke up from getting his memory wiped, he’s only seen white walls.
When Rebecca teaches him the next day, he answers sun before she can teach it.
“Sun.”
“...correct.” She becomes noticeably more tense.
“Sand.”
“...actually this is called a beach.” She points to the water. “Ocean.” Points to the sand. “Sand.” Points to sand and ocean. “When they touch they make a beach.”
“Ocean. Sand. Beach.” He points to each.
“Correct!” She pats his head and he enjoys it.
Rebecca is called away and she leaves him alone with the cards. He looks through the cards. Pulling out what looks interesting to him.
“Ocean.”
“Mountain.”
“Forest.”
“....” He pulls out the desert card and stares at it until Rebecca comes back.
“Oh, you were looking through them. That’s the desert.”
“Explain.” Rebecca reels when Yugi uses a words she hasn’t taught yet. She backs away a few steps.
“A desert is a barren kind of landscape where there is little rain and it is very hot. It’s sandy and dry...” Yugi stares at the desert picture and turns it to her.
“More.”
“Uh…”
“This. More.”
“Uhm…” Yugi stares at her, with an unintentional begging expression. She sighs. “This is probably a bad idea, but sure.”
Rebecca takes him to the next room with the computer again and pulls up pictures of the desert. Yugi stares at them all with a longing expression and touches the screen.
“Desert…”
Rebecca pauses and looks up Egypt in the search bar instead of desert. When the images pop up Yugi stares at them and then falls back holding his head.
“Yugi?!” Rebecca steps back and presses a button for help.
“Desert…” Yugi starts crying. “Grandpa…”
“Grandpa?” Rebecca walks forward and hold his shoulders petting his head and shushing him.
“Hot… desert…”
“Calm down, shush. It’s okay. I’m sorry I showed you that.”
The next moment three guards run in and point their guns at him. Rebecca tells them to get back and that it was a false alarm.
Yugi clings to Rebecca who holds him as he calms down.
-
Yugi passes out and dreams about sand, this time knowing what it is. He looks around and sees the pyramids in the pictures. He hears a voice.
“This will be my last expedition. Are you sure you can't come with me?”
“I wish I could, but I've got school and finals soon. Make it worth it. Come back soon.” Was that… his own voice?
He wakes up in his sleep capsule, surrounded by people, his ear jack plugged in and an even bigger wire plugged into him himself.
“...royed the previous base he was held at.”
“Entirely?”
“It was all burned down and flushed out. Luckily we were able to get everyone out before they came full force. I'm still trying to figure out how they found the place. I'd like you to do a scan for any implanted tracking devices.”
“Of course. They're coming at us harder than ever before. He must be really important to them.”
“You must be very careful not to reawaken his link. If you do, whatever forced processing systems might activate again, and then we'll be in real trouble.”
Yugi felt around and touches Atem’s hand. Atem recoils and Rebecca pouts at him, grabbing Yugi's other hand.
“Don't be such a sour puss. Can't you see he's emotional?”
“Yugi?”
“Oh come on, can't he talk by now?”
“It's only been a day! And look how it ended. With this routine we'll have him dead due to stroke by the end of the week!”
Yugi notices the jack in his ear and his data on the screen. The screen is filled with things he doesn't understand but knows is about himself and felt a burning sensation begin in his chest.
[Unapproved scanning in progress.]
[Manually removing connection.]
Without thinking, his eyes focused in and the jack sparked and flew out of the screen, his mechanical ear closing around it.
“Oh shit!”
“Did he get his memory back?”
“Rebecca get back!”
“Everyone shut up!” Rebecca turns to Yugi. “What did you do?” Yugi sits up and stares at her, his eyes focusing.
[Analysis program reactivated.]
“Analysis... program... reactivated...”
“Analysis what now?”
“Uh oh… we reawakened one of his processes.”
“What?!”
“Dont worry! It’s standard for brain damaged cyborgs. I wonder though why he needs it...”
His vision is filled with information he wasn't getting before.
Name: Rebecca Hopkins, Sex: female, strengths: intelligence and aptitude, weaknesses: unknown, specialties: Technology, computer science
Yugi blinked as the information filled his mind.
“Rebecca…”
“Uh…” Rebecca reels as he uses her name. Yugi touches his ear and pouts at her.
“Permission.” Rebecca gawks.
“Are you… telling me to ask permission?” Yugi nods. “Wow. Okay. Can't believe he's angry at me.”
“Define angry.” Yugi tilts his head questioningly.
“To be… upset; with hard feelings for.” Yugi touches his chest.
“Define analysis program reactivated.”
“I could run another scan on your programs. Let me just-” Rebecca reaches for his jack but pauses when Yugi's eyes refocus on her. “May I use your jack?” Yugi looks at her and nods before pulling out the jack from his ear and handing it to her. “Thank you.”
Rebecca plugs him in and runs the analysis.
“Yep. His advanced analyzing software has been activated. Before it was just his learning software. He's now collecting data on all of us.” Atem curses and begins to walk out. “Wait! Maybe I can turn it off!”
“It's too late, he's already seen our faces. I'm increasing security and letting out an update.” He walks out.
“Such a drama queen. Yugi, I want you to let me know if any other systems are activated okay?” Yugi nods, in affirmative and she smiles. “Great. Now, let's feed you then get you back in your capsule. I think we've done enough for today.”
-
“Goodnight Yugi.” Rebecca yawns as Yugi's capsule closes and locks. She walks out.
All is silent.
Yugi lays with his eyes closed. Then they peek open and he touches the glass. It sparks with violet electricity and the door mechanism unlocks. He waits and pushes the glass door open. He sees the computer and plugs in his jack.
Access denied. He tries again. Access denied. His vision glitches and eyes focus in.
[Hacking program reactivated.]
The computer screen glitches before filling a bar and opening to the home screen. Yugi smiles and begins surfing the web for pictures of Egypt.
End Chapter
Rebecca yawns and stretches as she walks into Yugi's room. She stops in her tracks however when she finds Yugi sitting in front of the computer which was turned on and logged in surfing through the web, the screen switching between tabs rapidly.
“Yugi?” His surfing pauses and he turns around and smiles.
“Good morning Rebecca Hopkins.”
“Uhm…” Rebecca presses the cuff of her sleeve and talks into it. “Atem, get down here now!”
“What's going on?”
“Just come!”
“Are you alright Rebecca Hopkins?”
“Uhm… I'm fine! You can just call me Rebecca…”
“Very well then. I'd like to inform you that overnight three more programs were reactivated.”
“What?!”
“You asked me to inform you of any program reactivations, correct?”
“Y-Yeah… which programs?”
“At 22:08 PM the Electronic Infiltration Program was reactivated. At 22:09 PM the Language Adaptation Program was reactivated. At 04:57 AM the Synchronization Program was reactivated.”
“S-synchronization Program?! That's real?”
“Were you not aware of the Program? That is strange for you.”
“What do you mean?” Yugi notices the cameras adjust and assumes people have begun to observe their conversation.
“Rebecca, I would like to apologize for infiltrating your equipment without your permission when I asked you not to infiltrate mine.”
“Huh?” Rebecca is bewildered at the suddenly developed situation.
“I'd like to say I felt it would speed up my learning, and while it did it wasn't the only reason. I wanted to know more about Egypt and couldn't help myself.”
“Egypt…?”
“Indeed. You see, I believe my past has something to do with that place.” A beautiful picture of Egypt appears on the screen and he touches it. “When i see it, i feel sad, but at home. It is very strange.”
“I… uhm…” Rebecca runs her hand through her hair and lets out a huge breath. “What does that have to do with me and the synchronization program?” Yugi looks away with slightly shrugged shoulders.
“I must confess, I researched you through your equipment out of curiosity.”
“Well that's not creepy.”
“I apologize.”
“So how did you get out of the capsule without the alarm going off?”
Yugi blinks at her and unplugs himself from the computer, gently placing his cord back in his ear. “I… touched it.”
“You touched it?”
“I touched it and it unlocked. That's all I know. I fear if I search for the reason to this I will activate another Program and wouldn't like to alarm anyone further.”
Rebecca blinks at him and glances at the cameras. “I'll be right back with some food.”
“Very well.”
Rebecca runs out to the other room where Joey and Atem were watching the cameras, Joey pacing and Atem watching the cameras intently.
“Atem-”
“You just left the computer in there?”
“I didn't think he could get out! Even he doesn't know how he did it!”
“Rebecca this was a serious risk. What if he had reactivated more than just three programs? You could be dead.”
“I know that okay! I wasn't expecting-”
“Well then expect. I want the camera footage from last night sent to me asap. Prepare for the worst, because if he reactivates completely, we're going to have to take drastic measures.”
Atem turns and leaves and Rebecca sighs heavily. Joey stares at the door.
“He may be a drama queen, but he's right. It took a point blank blast from Kisara to get him on the ground.”
“But just look at him!” Rebecca gestures toward the screens. “He's not a killer! Whatever he was before must have been enacted by Dartz. Now that's it's all being blocked, he's harmless.”
“Only because he has no reason to be otherwise.” They watch as Yugi touches the glass on the capsule with a thoughtful expression. “Eventually he's gonna get more curious and go digging for answers.”
-
“It's not that I didn't believe it was real, I have just never seen it run successfully before.” Their lunch had turned into a thoughtful conversation and Rebecca had eventually brought in some tea. “The Synchronization Program creates a temporary link between two stone powered machines, made less stable but more powerful when operated between two cyborgs. However, very few cyborgs actually posses this program, and those of whom I've seen that do are incompatible most of the time.”
“Stone powered? Could you elaborate?”
“You're kidding? You don't know about stones?”
“The majority of my time researching last night was spent watching others play games…”
“Seriously?”
“Yes.”
“Well… thousands of years ago, presumably, a meteorite crashed into earth and exploded in the atmosphere, spreading its ore all over the world. It was discovered by modern society only a hundred or so years ago. It was called Millennium ore. It was discovered to have near magical abilities, capable of giving life and healing wounds and sickness. A decade ago, cyborg technology was developed to help those who were fatally injured and it became dependent on Millennium ore to function as a human would.” Rebecca types on the computer and pulls up a three dimensional scan of his stone and shows it to him. “I was able to get an X Ray scan of your stone when we brought you in. It's twice the size of a normal stone, but otherwise normal. It's right above your heart.”
Yugi touches his chest, staring at the scan. “They heal? Have I been injured?” Rebecca gently takes his forearm and rubs the metal.
“I believe so. Your right forearm, calf, both knees and a bit of your left arm are mostly mechanical. As well as your eyes and bits of your brain.” Yugi clenches his shirt without realizing.
“Why haven't i healed?”
“Well, not all stones heal. They vary in ability actually. Over time, we believe the bits of ore spread over the world marinated in the exposure of different elements they were exposed to. Water, fire, electricity, vibration…” Rebecca trailed off, wondering if she was saying too much.
“Do you know what mine does?” Rebecca visibly tenses and clears the screen. She thinks.
“No. I don't know what it does.” Yugi could tell she was lying.
“Rebecca.”
“Yes?”
“...” He looks at her sadly, not continuing.
“Yeah…” Rebecca sips her tea, thinking. “I wonder… should I bring in some games to play next time?”
Yugi smiles and nods.
-
Rebecca made sure to put the computer away for the night. Yugi dreams about violet fire, explosions, white light, and then he was sitting next to a frail looking boy with white hair in a hospital bed.
“We'll do whatever you want. Just help him get better. Please.”
“Link with me.”
Yugi wakes up in a panic and falls out of his capsule, breathing hard. He curls up on the floor and tries to breath.
Atem comes running in and watches cautiously from the doorway.
“Yugi?”
“I don't want to… please don't make me…”
Atem walks forward and cautiously holds Yugi's shoulders.
“What don't you want to do?”
“I don't want to... to link... with that voice… It made me feel scared and just horrible... I cant…” Yugi tries to breathe and Atem looks at him before pulling him into his chest. “I don't want to… please…”
“Don't worry. I'll never let him near you again.”
-
Rebecca runs in in her night clothes, which is pajama pants and t-shirt to find Yugi fast asleep in Atems arms.
“What happened?”
“I think he dreamt about Dartz. He just fell out of his pod and started crying about how he didn't want to link with a voice, and we both know who he was linked with before. I don't think he even knows what a link is.” Rebecca sighs. Then she crosses her arms and smirks at the two of them.
“Well you two look comfortable.”
“I'm starting to lose feeling in my ass thank you very much. He just passed out after that and is surprisingly heavy.”
“He's 30% machinery, what did you expect?”
“Hes small!”
“You're small!”
“I'm taller than him.”
“Not by much.”
Atem scoffs and looks down, ready to pull him up and put him back in his capsule, but is surprised to find Yugi already looking at him with sleepy eyes.
“You're awake.” Yugi hides his face in Atem’s chest and hugs his waist tighter. “Oh no you don't, you can fall asleep in your own capsule!”
“Aw! Just five more minutes? I want a picture!”
“Hell no!” Yugi squeezes Atem harder, not meaning to take his breath away but doing so anyway. “Ack alright! Five more minutes just stop squeezing me!” Yugi releases his hold but still keeps a firm grip. Atem sighs.
“I hope you realise how ridiculous this looks.”
“It's been acknowledged.”
-
Yugi was put back to sleep and Atem and Rebecca talk in the camera room.
“I can't believe he was ready to suffocate you because you wouldn't hold him. It's like we've tamed a wolf who's showing affection by biting.”
“Unless he was always tame and the bite was just an accident.” Rebecca side eyes him.
“What do you mean?”
Rebecca giggles. “You're starting to like him~!” she says in a sing song voice.
“He's… He has the potential to be dangerous.”
“Because of what Dartz did to him.” Atem sighs. “But we have the potential to undo all of that.”
“It’s not just Dartz programs. He obviously has advancements beyond normal stone powered cyborgs. I watched the footage and all he did was… poke the glass! I’d like to find out who worked on him. We need to find out who he was before he was linked. And soon.”
“They’re coming?
Atem nods. “We need to move again, to another base. Have you found a tracking device?”
Rebecca shakes her head. “I scanned but found nothing. I planned to do a physical in the morning then this happened. If I find nothing, we’ll have to assume they’ve found a way to track his stone’s power signature.”
Atem sighs and Rebecca continues. “But nothing will work unless you trust him more. Are you done blaming him for Dartz actions?”
Atem looks at her and nods.
-
In the morning Rebecca brings food, tea and a deck of cards into his room. She has Yugi eat then conducts a physical, having him take off his skin tight, form fitting shirt and feeling around his skin.
“Alright Yugi, I need you to take off your shirt, I need to perform a physical.”
He complies. “For what purpose?”
“Just as a… checkup. To make sure your human parts are functioning alright.”
Yugi looks down in thought and talks while she proceeds. “Rebecca I feel as though we haven’t been entirely honest with each other.” Rebecca pauses, her concentration broken at the comment but continues trying to act cool.
“Oh really?”
“My systems allow me to notice and agonize over very small details and facts, made no easier to handle with my eyes being mechanical as well.” Rebecca hums, noticing a small lump between one of the disks in his spine. She concentrates on it and boom. It’s the tracker.
“From the information I’ve gathered since I woke up in this place, I’ve come to the conclusion that I did something against my best interests… for the betterment of someone else.”
Rebecca pauses and removes her hands, rounding to look at Yugi face to face.
“Is this about your dream last night?” Yugi nods, a sad and searching look on his face.
“I dreamt about a boy, although his hair was long and white I just knew it was a boy. He was very sick, and I know because I said I would… do anything if he got better… Rebecca what does it mean to link?”
Rebecca sighed and hands Yugi his shirt and he puts it on. “Yugi… there are bigger things at work at this point in time, and if we’re ever going to get a good outcome from any of it I need to be honest with you. You… are very dangerous.” Yugi stares at her at a loss. “There are things you don’t remember, programs that if reawakened could lead to a lot of people getting hurt. We’re trying to prevent that by helping you remember your life before you became dangerous and locate and delete those programs so we can stop the people who used you. If I told you what it meant to link it might trigger a bad memory and…”
“I don’t want to hurt anyone…” Yugi’s eyes grow sad and Rebecca takes his hands.
“And neither do I. So please, trust me when I ask you not to look further into that memory. It will only hurt you.” Yugi nods.
“So that thing in my spine…” Rebecca freezes.
“Don’t think about that either!”
“It is quite hard to ignore…”
“Well then let’s play a game!” They play cards and Yugi easily beats her at… everything they try to play.
“This is no fair!”
“I think it is, a genius like you against my advanced learning system is like a computer against a computer.”
“But you keep winning!”
“Games obviously aren’t your field of expertise.”
Atem comes in and motions to talk to Rebecca. “Sorry, be right back.” Yugi nods and looks in the bag she brought for other games. He finds Duel Monsters at the very bottom and pauses. He looks over the cards until he reaches the Dark Magician. He gets a memory then.
“I win again!”
“Such a smart boy! I taught you well.”
“There are just some things you can’t learn through research.”
“Nice win Heba! Mind if I have a turn against you? I just got some new cards at this store downtown and I’d like to try them out.”
“Sure Ryou!”
“Ryou…”
“What was that?” Yugi looks up and finds Atem, Rebecca and Joey looking down at him. “You’ve been staring at that card a while now…”
“I remembered something.” All their expressions become a mix of surprise and alarm. “An old man and the boy with white hair, his name was Ryou. We used to play this game.” Yugi shows Rebecca the cards and she looks through them.
“Duel Monsters?” Yugi nods and Rebecca hums. “Interesting. Did you remember anything else?” Yugi thinks.
“I did remember something, about the old man. He went on an expedition, I believe to Egypt…”
“How do you know?” Rebecca asks. Yugi touches his chest.
“I saw pyramids and sand... and fire...” He froze and the others around him tensed. He looked up as his mind muddled.
“Something is here…” Just then the three other’s mechanical gauntlets chimed with an alarm and Atem swore.
“They’re here. Goddamnit!” He pressed a few buttons and an alarm filled the room, lights switching to red and doors shutting and locking.
“It’s the chip!” Rebecca cried. “We need to get it out of him and move to the next base!” The information filling Yugi’s vision began to glitch and fill with hacking code. His ears filled with static as Rebecca pushed him to go back into his capsule, yelling something he couldn’t make out. A voice filtered through the static.
“...I found you...”
[Unapproved infiltration by user -REDACTED- identified.]
[Emergency temporary shutdown initiated.]
[PREPARE FOR TOTAL MECHANICAL SHUTDOWN.]
The text that was filling his screen all began to cut and glitch out and the last thing he saw before his vision blacked out was the ceiling opening up and a claw coming down on his capsule.
-
Soft static filled his mind. He felt cold, and although his eyes were closed and he was floating in a black void of unconsciousness, a white light, as small as a star, twinkled in the distance.
He heard a voice and the static quieted.
“Yugi… help me...”
-
[Restarting systems…]
[Scanning systems…]
[Scan Complete. Reviewing report…]
[Programs Reactivated: 5/15]
[Mechanical Damage: 0%]
[Reviewing most recent report…]
[User -REDACTED- not found.]
[Shutdown success: 100%]
[Restart Complete: Good Morning Heba!]
He opened his eyes and saw a new white ceiling through the capsule glass. Angry muffled voices sounded from outside his capsule which was laid horizontally facing up. His spine was throbbing a little at the midsection of his back and he reached forward to tap at the glass.
The muffled conversation continued but the capsule was raised to stand upright, revealing a pensive looking Rebecca, Atem, and a whole crowd of people.
A girl with lilac hair hiding behind a taller blonde woman, a brunette girl standing proudly next to a long haired man, also with brown hair and both with darker skin, a darker skinned woman with long dark hair, and standing as though against them all a towering brown haired man with blue eyes and his shorter, white haired and blue eyed companion who met Yugi’s eyes as he looked at them.
He felt a flash of a memory when he saw it; white hair…
Everyone’s heads snapped to him as he banged on the glass excitedly, receiving mixed expressions of scorn and fear.
The glass remained shut, provoking frustration and the next time he hit the glass a violet electric spark surged over the capsule from the glass and the lid popped open.
He heard gasps and cries of shock as he darted forward and threw himself onto the white haired person.
“Yugi, don’t-!”
“Ryou!” He laughed as he squeezed the person tight and rubbed his face in their chest.
“Yugi,” Yugi peeked an eye open to look at Rebecca and stalled when he saw how tense and fearful she looked.
“Yes?”
“That’s not Ryou.” He blinked both eyes open and pulled out of the hug he had wrapped the person in to look at them properly. Looking up he felt he recognized the face, but determined it was definitely not the person he thought it was. Ryou, the person in his dreams, was male, and as he looked down he found himself presented with two very womanly breasts.
“Oh…” As he looked around he found the group had backed up a considerable amount from before, even Rebecca and Atem, all except the woman’s companion who was glaring at him with a scalding cobalt glare.
“Sorry, I thought you were someone else. My excitement deterred my analysis program…”
“Goddamnit Rebecca now he’s seen my face!”
“I didn’t wake him up! I didn’t even put him to sleep, he just shut down as soon as the attack began!”
“Attack?” Everyone turned again to the confused cyborg who looked to Rebecca at a loss.
“Can’t you put that thing back in it’s capsule?” The tall man continued. Yugi regarded him with a tilt of the head but nothing more.
“He’s not a thing-” Rebecca glanced at Atem as he gripped her arm and shook his head before gritting her teeth and straightening her back.
“I’m going to give him a checkup,” Rebecca continued in a more collected voice. “Now that the chip is destroyed and he’s awake. I’d like to not trigger any memories so if you and Kisara would leave now, we can continue this conversation when I’m done.” The man scoffed at her and turned on his heel towards the exit.
“I’d rather it just be put down, but have it your way. Kisara.” The woman standing next to Yugi turned and followed without a word and Yugi unknowingly took a step as her white hair trailed along behind her.
Rebecca put a hand on his shoulder to get him to look her in the eyes, which he did once they disappeared behind the sliding door.
“I’d like to scan your systems if that’s alright?” Yugi nodded and went with her to sit on the new examination table with the same computer next to it.
“Have I met them before?”
“That’s… a bad memory to look into.”
[It ends there ;n;]