Mokuba's Interview

Mokuba slowly opened one eye, and then the other. For some reason, he couldn't remember what had happened just a minute ago. How long had it been since he had passed out, from a chloroform cloth pressed to his face by someone who'd stalked him at the town square?
He was lying on some sort of lawn chair, only it wasn't the kind you'd see in the neighbor's backyard - it had the shape of a recliner, but it was entirely solid, and padded on the top to support his weight. But he wasn't disturbed by that part. What frightened him so badly was that his feet were bare, and that his shoes and socks were missing. His ankles were trapped in what looked like a pair of wooden stocks, and when he tried experimentally he found, to his dismay, he couldn't move his legs.
He was in the corner of a dark room, with stone walls lit only torchlight, like a dungeon of some sort. Instead of weapons though, it had implements more likely to be found in the average household's bathroom, e.g. ballpoint pens and markers, moisturizing oil, and brushes of all shapes and sizes, from toothbrushes to scrubbing and scouring pads. One other notable thing, however, was that one entire wall was dedicated to feathers, being entirely composed of shelves of them: soft down feathers, long stiff quills, feather dusters, and everything in between.
The only way out was a large metal door at the other side of the room. If only he was able to get out of the stocks. But what was on the other side of the door? And if he got out, would he still be in Domino City?
As he was pondering this, though, the door suddenly opened. A shadowy figure appeared, and as the stranger strode into the room, the cape he was wearing billowed behind him, almost like some sort of wings.
"Well, the little duelist is finally awake," he said, in a smooth voice that sounded no older than 16 or 17. He couldn't have been any older than Seto. But then, Mokuba wondered, what was he doing here, talking to him like he was his master? "Hello, Mokuba Kaiba. I have been waiting to see you."
"Er - who are you, exactly?" he asked, his toes curling reflexively as the stranger stroked them giving him an infinitesimal spasm.
"Me? Well, my name is Andy. But you can call me Fawkes if you like."
"Fawkes. That's a nice name."
"It's my middle name."
"Okay, first of all, where am I? And second, why am I tied up like this?"
The stranger looked at him, his dark brown eyes unfathomable, but even as the trapped boy stared at his shadowed face he could feel the stranger peeling back his toes, one at a time, and sticking them under some kind of metal bar attached to the stocks he was trapped in. "Listen, Mokuba. I know it sounds complicated, but you will understand soon enough. See, my sensei, so to speak, wanted some... information. There is a dangerous enemy on the horizon, and we figured that you would know some useful information about him."
Mokuba shifted his gaze back to his feet. All of his toes were now bent back and wedged under the metal bar, and his tender soles were stretched so tightly that he could feel the tendons pressing against his skin.
"And this is how you get this information?" he asked, confused and, for some reason, a little afraid.
"Oh, I don't know," said Fawkes, but a moment later he scratched a single fingernail down the arch of Mokuba's left foot, causing a much larger spasm to seethe through the duelist's body. "I never did wonder if you would have given the information without any means of coercion. Maybe you would have. But whatever the case, I have to use the coercion method my sensei requested anyway."
The boy sweatdropped. This was far, far more than he had bargained for. That is, if he had ever bargained for it.
"This threat," he said. "What is it, anyway?"
Andy paused, and then sighed. "The Great Leviathan," he finally said. "It is fueled by human souls, and threatens to destroy the human race. The legendary king of Atlantis, wishes to resurrect this Leviathan and unleash it upon humankind. We believe that you have some crucial information that we can use to defeat him, and the monster."
"And you're going to force it out of me?" Mokuba snapped. "Is this some kind of a joke? Are you crazy?"
Andy paused, and placed two of his fingers next to his head. "Oh," Mokuba said. Okay, maybe a LITTLE crazy.
"Listen, Mokuba," Andy hissed. "If my sensei hadn't asked me to use the interrogation method, I would have asked politely and not bothered to stick you in the Tickle Chair. But as it is, I might as well have to make do with what he says. I can promise you this, though: If you can give me as much information as possible, I will let you go without any hard feelings. Just try not to resist, Mokuba - it will only be counterproductive."
"Er, okay. Just promise me you won't overdo it, all right?"
The stranger nodded, smiling, and with that he moved across the room to the feather wall.
"Such cute feet," he said, taking one of the feathers from the shelf and walked swiftly back to where Mokuba had been chained. "What a pity - I would have been happy to spend much longer with them."
They stared at each other for a long moment. Then the stranger glanced down at the young duelist's stocked feet and smiled.
"Nice birthmark," he said.
"Birthmark?" Mokuba asked hesitantly.
"You have a birthmark at the center of your left plantar arch," the stranger said with a smile. "Hmmm, or maybe it's a speck of dirt. Do you mind if I tried to remove it?" As he said this, the stranger dropped the feather, which seemed to gain a life of its own, pressing its quill point into the spot and scratching at it.
Mokuba exploded. This was one of his weakest areas, and he never dared expose it in public. Now that his tormentor had figured out this spot, he was at his mercy.
"HAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAHAHAHAHAAAA NOOOOOO NOOHOHOHOHOHOOO NOT THEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHERRRE!!! HAHAHAHAHA PLEEEEHEEHEEEEASE!!!" he cried, his long black hair shaking wildly as he went into convulsions. "I'M SOOOOHOHOHOHO TICKLIHIHIHIHISH! HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!"
"Is it true, Mokuba," the stranger asked him, "that your brother is the owner of one of the three legendary dragons required to defeat the Leviathan?" The feather continued to tickle the young duelist's left foot, now dragging its tip in larger and larger circles around the ticklish soleflesh.
"AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA NO NO NO! HE IS NOT! HE IS NOHOHOHOHOHOHOT! HEEHEEHEE STAHAHAHAHAP IT HAHAHAHA!"
"He isn't, you say? Then what explains all the rumors about the fabled 'Winged Dragon of Ra?'"
"AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA All right! You caught me!" The feather stopped tickling but still pressed down against the spot on his skin, leaving Mokuba to continue out of sheer panic. "You're right, he WAS the owner of the Winged Dragon of Ra. But the other two are owned by other people! Other duelists!"
"Good, good. And who exactly ARE those people?" Fawkes took another feather from the shelf and started controlling it too. As the first one began working with its soft tip on the skin between the toes of Mokuba's left foot, the other one started scratching at the middle of the arch on his right. It was even worse than the first time.
"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA CUT IT OUT HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH STOP IT HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!"
"Sir, I'm asking you a question... You know, it would be good idea to say something right now."
"I'M - (gasp) - TRYIHEEHEEHEEHEEHEEHEEING!"
"Sir, I'm serious. Of course Dartz won't wait as patient as I am doing right now."
"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA QUIT IT AAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA OKAY OKAHAHAHAHAY!" Mokuba gasped for breath as the feathers paused again. "Whaddya mean?" Andy headed to another shelf and withdrew another item, a plastic hairbrush. "You still know anything that might be useful?"
"Yes! Yes I do! But he -  he didn't want me to tell him!"
Andy smiled. "Then let's see if we can really crank things up," he said, and he began scrubbing Mokuba's foot with the hairbrush.
"AAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAAAHAHAHAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA PLEEEEEHEEEHEEAAASE STOP STOP STAAAAAHP! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA NOOOOHOHOHOHOHO!!!"
"Oh come on, man! You have to tell me whatever you can."
"HAHAHAHAHA (gasp) I SAID I'M TRYING! HAHAHAHAHA The owner - gasp HAHAHAHAHA - of Obelisk the Tormentor - HAHAHAHAHA - I've battled him befohohohohore! His nahahahahame is Joey Wheeheeheeheeheeler!"
"Joey Wheeler? Oh, him. I talked with him yesterday, he told me he knew of this 'Obelisk' guy. The school isn't far from here, really." Andy shifted the brush to his right foot, while the four feathers went for the left.
So they WERE still in Domino City, Mokuba thought. It was a good thing he could still concentrate a little over the maddening sensations on his feet - they were getting a little closer.
"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA YES! THAT GUY! HEEHEEHEEHEEHEE He has a friend, a very powerful one!"
"From what you're saying, the last card, Slifer the Sky Dragon, is owned by that guy. You met him too, am I right?"
"YEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHESSSSSS!!! HAHAHAHAHAHA His name - (gasp) - is Yugi Muto!"
The name made Fawkes stop tickling for a moment. "Yugi Muto," he said, scratching his chin in thought. "I've heard of him before. He beat Max Pegasus a while ago."
"I got trapped in one of his cards trying to stop his diabolical plans," Mokuba took advantage of this narrow window of opportunity. "But he was the one who stopped him in the end."
"Good, good," Andy continued, stroking the pad under Mokuba's right set of toes making him gasp and giggle again. "And now - hehehehehe - Yugi owns all three of the Legendary Dragon cards!"
"I see. But what does that have to do with all that Great Leviathan crap I told you about?"
"The combined might (hehehe) of the three Legendary Dragons is the only thing even remotely powerful enough to destroy him. The light within each is not enough alone, but combined, all three of them may be a match for the sheer power of the Leviathan's darkness."
Andy looked at him, his expression one of wonder. How could a little boy know all of this?
"It looks like my work here is done," Andy said, flipping a switch on the Tickle Chair's control panel. There was a clicking noise, and the Tickle Chair released Mokuba's feet as the interrogator took a familiar set of shoes and socks from another shelf, and a syringe from another.
"Wait - you said you had a deal, right?" Mokuba said.
"I'm honoring it," said Andy as he injected something into Mokuba's hand, causing him to feel a little woozy. "You will be home when you wake up again."
"Er - thanks. I guess."
"Thank you for your time, Mokuba," said Andy. "You were very helpful to us, and anyway it was really fun tickling your feet."
"Well, it was fun. Crazy and horrific, true, but fun."
"Not my problem. It certainly is a pleasure to know you, Mokuba Kaiba."
Andy smiled, his countenance radiating sympathy. And Mokuba couldn't help but smile back.
The older boy turned, paused, and walked out of the door, closing the door behind him and sealing it once more in near-total darkness. As Mokuba's eyelids slowly started to droop, he wondered if, and when, he was ever going to remember this day again.