Recollection & Trust Pt. 2

Recollection & Trust Pt. 2

Lona Beckly sat in front of Murdoc Hunter and his wife in their home. She pulled a small notebook from her purse, along with a pen and rested her elbows against the table, but a harsh look from the other lady and a slow shake of Murdoc’s head made her instead just lean back against her chair. “Murdoc, I must ask you. Do you remember how you and your wife met? I never really knew about it.” Murdoc pulled a toothpick from a small container on the dining table and began to chew on it. “Well, if I remember correctly, we met many times before we had a true introduction. Am I right, dear?” Murdoc’s spouse draped her arms around her husband’s neck, laughing from Murdoc’s jittering reaction as he remembered what their last conversation led to. “Relax, baby. I won’t choke you out. You were right. We ran into each other so many times, I thought you were stalking me…Wait. You weren’t stalking me, were you?” Lona shook her head, knowing where this was going. “Mm-hmm…What! No! I thought you were tracking me!” Murdoc said in his own defense.

“We basically ran into each other on every corner of that freakin’ island!”

“You knew every nook and cranny of a place that I didn’t know left or right of!”

“You’re a private investigator! How hard would it be for you to understand the island’s layout!?”

“It’s an island the size of Asia, woman!! I was good, but not that good!”

“So you’re saying that every time was a coincidence, Murdoc!?”

“I certainly didn’t plan it, Mizuki!!”

“Ok. Whoa, whoa. Let’s stop now, children.” Lona said, wrapping her arms around her two friend’s necks. “How about you tell me exactly how you two met?” She then guided them back to the notebook she laid on the table. “Then we write down what you two agree on and call it as truth, hmm? Now, Murdoc. I know that you have written journals about your travels, but it’s only your perspective. Let’s have her thoughts as well, okay?” Murdoc nodded and sat down, slapping his wife’s rear end. “AHH-What was that for!?” Murdoc smirked. “Punishment for arguing with me. That, and you've got a nice butt.” The silver haired wife giggled a bit, but quickly regained her composure. “So I’ve heard from your employees. But don’t worry, it’s all yours, Edgar.” Lona rolled her eyes. “Please. Our children are upstairs, not too far from us. At least the romance is still there…Wait. Mizuki…hmm…what‘s with that name?” Brushing a few strands of hair from her slender shoulders, Murdoc’s wife removed the dishes from the table from their breakfast. “Oh, Mizuki? It’s Japanese for ‘Beautiful Moon’. It also stuck with me because people say my hair is the color of a full moon. Why do you ask?” Lona looked through her little black book and sighed. “No apparent reason, really. I was just curious, as I haven’t heard that one before. I‘ve heard Robbins, Silver, Tracy, Guita…I won‘t even ask where that name came from…” Murdoc and Mizuki only laughed at their friend’s frustration. “Lona, I thought information was your game, so I figured you‘d have fun figuring out her name.” Murdoc said, removing the now chewed toothpick from his mouth and flicking it into the trash can across the table. Mizuki looked at the trash bin, then back at her husband. “That was pure luck…Anyway, I myself am not really surprised. Not many people know what Mizuki means, but continue to use it anyway.” She returned to the table with a tray containing 3 tea cups and a white teapot to match.

“Sorry, I was ill-informed. Besides that, how many years have you been dodging the subject of your name!?” Lona said to Mizuki, who only winked while pouring each of them a cup of a red colored tea. “Oh, come now. Every girl is allowed their secrets, right? This one just involves my name. The exception with Terry and Katherine is that they were with Murdoc when everything happened.” Lona sipped her tea before responding. “That’s fine, but why? Embarrassing childhood stories? No?” Mizuki shook her head, smiling. “Nope. Besides, with where I come from I can’t exactly blend in if my name is public knowledge, get my drift?” Lona added a few cubes of sugar before taking another sip of her tea. “Okay, fine. But how about you explain how you ended up dating someone with such an eccentric behavior pattern? I just want to know what you saw in him.” Murdoc, who nearly choked on his own cup of tea, opened his mouth to object, but was closed by a small kiss from Mizuki. “Perhaps I should ask you the same question, Lona. What did you see in Murdoc? I heard from Karla that she tried to pair you two frequently, but failed. Who turned who down in that situation?” Lona shrugged. “Guilty as charged. Mostly it was Murdoc himself that deflected Karla’s planned attacks, but I did wonder how a relationship would have been with him. I still do, after seeing him as a father and husband. He’s become quite the catch.” Murdoc’s face turned a darker shade as he couldn’t contain his embarrassment. Mizuki smirked. “Yes, he‘s definitely the pick of the litter. Despite his wild and childish personality, he certainly knows how to treat a lady.” Murdoc hid his face behind his hands as the ladies in the room laughed from his embarrassed state. “*cough* Um, yeah. You can thank my mom for teaching me proper etiquette. But can we return to the original topic, please?” Lona and Mizuki’s fits of laughter finally diminished as the ex-cop returned to her notebook and cup of tea. “I’m sorry Murdoc. Please, go ahead.” Murdoc scratched his trimmed beard as he collected his thoughts. “Lona, you wanted to know how Mizuki and I met, right? You do at least remember the whole dimension hopping incidents, right?” Lona reached for the glass jar of honey to sweeten her tea even more, getting a weird stare from her male friend. “Of course. That’s the only thing I know about when it comes to you two. I really don’t like to be left out of the loop here. Especially about a particular person‘s name…” Murdoc smiled his trademark grin, while pouring a second cup, while Mizuki‘s face flushed red. “Don’t worry, Ms. Beckly. You’ll eventually find out as you gain more information. Don’t want to spoil the story, now would we?” Lona nodded. “That’s true. I love my detailed information, Murdoc. You know this.” Murdoc sipped his tea, “Yep. And it’s because of how complicated our meeting was, it would be better if I started from when Terry and I met those familiar but unusual faces…”

********************************************** Mario Central: Outer Shore ***********************************************

Murdoc and Terry both stared at the anthropomorphic female rabbit in front of them, as the rabbit known as Vanilla stared looked back at them with a calm smile. They stayed that way for about 3 minutes before Vanilla brushed her lop sided ear nervously. “Excuse me, but it’s rude to stare. Is there anything you need, or shall I leave you two alone?” Terry sighed, moving between the two. “Look, we just met and all, and I do apologize about rushing into you like we did, but we do need to be going.” As Terry began to push his friend away from the tall rabbit, Murdoc stopped him with a stare that Terry never saw before on his face: fear. When Murdoc was sure that the two were a good distance away from any ears, he pulled on Terry’s coat.

“Terry? Where’s my sister!?!?” He whispered frantically to Terry, who began to look around the area nervously as well. “Wasn’t she with us, kid? I thought she ran to the computer with us.” Murdoc slowly began to lose his composure. “But she isn’t here now! Where is she!?”

“Where is who?” Murdoc and Terry jumped backing surprise, as Vanilla was leaning forward into their little huddle. Terry frowned at the smiling rabbit. “OK, how in the heck did you get here so fast!? And how did I not notice you approach us?” Vanilla looked at Murdoc, completely ignoring Terry, and handed him a stack of YuGiOh cards. “These are yours, I presume? They were scatter all across the sand when you bumped into…”

“Excuse me!”

All three were interrupted by a young security officer in a small cart. As he drove next to them, he waved his baton in a threatening manner. “This area is for authorized personnel only! How did you get here!?” Before the two males could say anything, Vanilla pulled a small blue badge from her side. “I am authorized, sir. I’m a staff member personally assigned by Mr. Mario himself.” As the guard looked at the badge, he stiffened completely and bowed numerous times apologetically. “Ahh, I’m sorry Miss Rabbit. I’m a volunteer worker, so I didn’t know…Wait. That doesn’t excuse those two. Unless they are in the tournament, they must leave and enter through the main entrance.” Vanilla pointed at Murdoc. “But he is. I was showing him the way to the prepping area.” The guard huffed, looking at Murdoc with an aggravated look. “I’m sorry, Miss Rabbit, but even if you say that, I still need some kind of proof that he’s a competing duelist. Even if he has a deck of cards, it won’t prove anything! Anybody could sneak in here if that was the case, and if I wasn’t on patrol…”

Terry grunted, growing more irritated by the second. “Does this guy ever shut up!?” Murdoc only sighed. “Apparently not, but Karla could be inside these gates, and if we get kicked out on a technicality, we’ll never know. My suggestion is that we just play along and see how far we can get.”

“And I suggest you grow a brain! There is no way I’m going to follow a giant mutant rabbit around blindly!” Terry said back to his friend. “I know you want to find your sister, but this is the wrong way to do it.” Murdoc closed his eyes for a second, then opened them again with resolve. “I always have a plan, Terry. You shouldn’t follow that rabbit blindly.” Terry nodded. “Damn straight we shouldn’t.” Murdoc looked at the cards in his hands. “Right. I will follow her around blindly. I need you to look for Katherine wherever you can while I send out a signal for her.” Terry was ten seconds to knocking his close friend on his face. “What the crap are you smoking, kid!?” Murdoc rolled his eyes at Terry. “I don’t smoke. You know this, dood.” Terry grimaced. “Maybe you should start, then.”

“That’s not a very healthy habit, sir.”

Both nearly passed out as they turned to see Vanilla once again looking at them with the very same smile on her face. “Please. Please, stop doing that!” Terry said as he began to lose his composure. “I have to agree. That is rather nerve rattling,” Murdoc said, breathing hard and clutching his chest. Before Vanilla had time to reply, the guard approached the trio with a gruff expression plastered on his face. “Miss Rabbit! If he has lost his entry pass, he will need to go back out and to the front gate to re-register himself. But when he does, he’ll need some sort of ID to prove he is who he says he is, otherwise it’ll be a waste of time. And there isn’t much time left, either if…” As the young officer continued his rant, Murdoc began thinking. ''Okay. I know that if my sister is with us, she wouldn’t be too far from here. And that means that the only place she could be is inside this stadium where a YuGiOh tournament is going to take place. Why YuGiOh and Vanilla are on Mario Land is beyond me, but I need to find a way inside…Hmm?'' As the bespectacled man was deep in thought, he felt a light tap against his stomach. Snapping out of his thoughts, he looked to see Vanilla standing in front of him and her ear slightly twitching. As Murdoc focused more on the ear, he realized that it wasn’t twitching-it was pointing.

Casting his eyes downward, he saw a small black and red card in her gloved hand behind her back. Ahh…She wants me to take this. "Excuse me, guard, dood. I do have my card. It’s right here.” Murdoc waved the small card, noticing that it didn’t have anyone’s name engraved on the front. “Well, as long as you didn’t lose it. Now what about your other friend? Don’t tell me he’s entering as well?” Vanilla shook her head. “No, sir. He’s this participants’ guest. He’s allowed everywhere but the main locker and the stage, correct?” She said with a giggle. The patrol officer blushed. “Y-yes that’s correct. Um, carry on then, people, and excuse my intrusion.” He bowed as he quickly made his way back into his cart and on patrol. Murdoc sighed in relief. “That was a close one. Thanks, Vanilla. I owe you one.” Terry stuffed his hands into his pockets. True, we were close to being kicked out, but isn’t this just a little too convenient? “Excuse me, but where is the restroom? I’d like to relief myself before seeing this guy lose in the first round.” Murdoc smirked. “Says the one who can’t beat me in said game.” Vanilla laughed at the two. “It’s good you two are such good friends. Anyway, the restrooms are straight ahead. The first door to your right will take you to a long hallway. You want the double doors to the left in that hall.” Terry smirked. “Good friends? Hardly. I just tolerate him and his crazy antics.” ''Good luck, kid. I’ll do my part, so you’d better not blow your end of the plan.'' Terry thought as he looked back to Murdoc one last time before beginning to walk in the directions mentioned and disappearing out of sight.

Vanilla slowly walked around to face Murdoc. “Now that the guard is out of the way, you’re going to tell me who you are looking for, who your friend is and who you are.” Murdoc’s eyebrow twitched nervously at the sudden change of the rabbit’s behavior. “What reason do I have in telling you my life story?” Vanilla narrowed her eyes and gave Murdoc a glare he knew well. A glare that only a mother could give to their child. “Did I ask for a life story!? I asked you 3 simple questions. I’d like them answered now. You must’ve had some reason for not wanting to leave this area, yes?” Murdoc groaned. Is there really a need to tell you? “Look, I’m looking for my sister, you’ll find out my name since I’ll be participating in this tournament and you can ask my friend when you see him again. There. Questions answered.” Vanilla crossed her arms and sighed. “Well that was certainly a half-baked answer, and it makes you suspicious, but you did answer the questions. That pass is a spare of mine, as you can tell. It has no registration number or name inscribed on it, so it’s a free entry.” Murdoc looked at the small plastic card in his hand. It looked about the same size as a YuGiOh card, and it was completely blank, save the tournament’s logo. “Okay. But if this card is, as you say, blank, where would I go to register…”

“I’m getting to that. Follow me, as there isn’t much time left to sign up.” Vanilla walked past Murdoc and moved inside the large building. Once inside, he noticed that Vanilla wasn’t the only thing out of place. Princess Daisy was talking to Compa, Ragna the Bloodedge was walking around, brooding as usual and Brock was talking to a young lady at a booth. She had long flowing light brown hair and dull brown eyes. She wore a black shirt with the tournament’s logo on the upper left side. Much more was happening as Murdoc took in the sights out a video gamer’s dream world. Characters he knew and didn’t were walking around like it was the norm, and the hallway he stood in was flooded with them. Vanilla tugged on the sleeve of Murdoc’s shirt and pointed to the booth where Brock was getting pulled away by IF. “I know it’s a lot to take in, but before you get lost in here, please follow me as there isn’t much time left. Here is where you register to participate in the Duel Monsters tournament. That is what you’re here for, right!?” The sudden change of attitude nearly gave Murdoc a heart attack. “Whoa, dood! Just calm down, Vanilla. I already told you I was participating, so relax. Anyway, do I need to have anything specific to register?” Vanilla shook her head. “No. Just your ID and that card I gave you. The ID is for verification of later duels, should you move on to the next round and that card will be used to record your deck‘s win and loss records.”

“Oh, come on Vanilla! You’re doing my job!” The young booth girl said as she approached them. Vanilla laugh as Murdoc crossed his arms. “Oh my. Sorry about that, Serenity. This young man here was almost removed from the premises after running into me…” Serenity crossed her arms and raised an eyebrow in confusion. “Wait. He ran into you? Like, literally, crash-boom?” Murdoc blushed as he looked away from the two women. “Yeah, well…I mean I guess I should’ve been watching were I was going, huh?” Vanilla gave the embarrassed man a smile. “Shame, really. You look rather dignified, and yet you’re kind of a scatterbrain, aren’t you?” Murdoc quickly turned around and glared at Vanilla. “H-hey! What gives you the right to say that about me, huh!?” Serenity giggled at the small argument before stepping between them. “Well, I don’t mean to interrupt or anything, but I need to return to my booth. Sir, if you could come with me, I could register you or tell you anything you need to know about, well, anything. Related to the Duel Monsters tournament, that is.” Vanilla nodded as she turned to walk away. “That’s fine, dear. I actually need to check up on a few things myself. Don’t let this troublemaker cause any problems for you!” She said as her figure began to fade away in the distance. “Ugh! I am not a troublemaker…aww, she’s already gone…” Murdoc said before walking over to Serenity’s booth.

***************************************************** Emily’s Bedroom **************************************************

“Whoa, whoa, whoa!! So you expect me to believe that your father, of all people was instantaneously transported with your aunt and uncle in tow to freaking MARIO LAND!?” Jennifer Beckly said in complete surprise at her friend’s tale. While the adults were having their discussion over tea, Emily Hunter and Jennifer were in the former’s room sitting on the floor eating cookies, having a similar discussion of their own. “Shh!! Keep it down. The door might be closed, but they aren’t soundproof, Jen!” Emily said while forcing her hand over Jennifer’s mouth for emphasize. “Ahahaha…Sorry ‘bout that, Emi. You’re right. That is hard to believe.” Emily lowered her head. “…Oh. I won’t talk about it then…”

“Hey, I never said I didn’t believe you! Look, I know you well enough that I’m pretty sure you wouldn’t lie about something like this. Plus if your dad went to the trouble of putting it up in the attic where it won’t be seen by anyone, that would arouse suspicion, right?” Jennifer said. Emily nodded as she went to the head of her bed post. Reaching behind the large wooden frame, she pulled out a slightly tattered notebook. “This is the information that I just told you and more. The things that happened with him are written in about maybe 40-no wait, 50 or even more of these books. Well, I don’t know how many, but the chest is practically filled with these books!” Emily said waving the notebook around as she talked. As she did that, a small object fell from one of the pages and landed at Jennifer’s knees. “Hey. What’s this thing?” Jennifer pecked it up and gasped. “Emi? Look!” Emily walked over to see why her normally loud friend was so quiet and was soon shocked at what she saw:

A small black and red card with nothing on the front or the back. Except for a peculiar logo that was all too familiar to YuGiOh players. “Now do you believe me, Jen!?” Jennifer swallowed hard, realizing that if everything was true, Emily really would have to keep quiet about her father’s journals. “Emily. What if that’s not what you think it is?” Emily threw her fist down to her side. “What are you talking about!? Of course it’s real…”

“But that’s not what I was asking, Emi. Just calm down and think for a moment. That is a YuGiOh tournament admission card, right?” Emily sat back on the floor, leaning against her bed. “Yeah, so?” Jennifer held the card up and examined it. “There are YuGiOh tournaments here too, you know. This could be the card from a tournament here a few years ago, before you were born.” Emily slowly rose to her feet. “I knew it. You didn’t believe me…” Jennifer quickly stood up to face her friend, whose eyes where hidden behind her bangs. “Now hold on, girl. Remember, I live with an ex-police chief. Some of my mom’s habits to know all information has rubbed off on me, you know?” Emily walked over to her laptop and turned it on. “My dad was a detective, and before that a private investigator. Don’t you think that I would have done my research as well, Jennifer?” Jennifer was speechless as she watched Emily stare at the fully booted computer. She lowered her face to the screen as it performed a retinal scan before a password input.

Jennifer walked over to the computer when Emily motioned for her to, and looked at the monitor as Emily gave various voiced commands. “Internet. Search online for the first 5 YuGiOh tournaments in the year 2000. Search participants by the name of Murdoc Hunter, Vernon, and Edgar.” Jennifer watched in awe as Emily commanded the computer with ease, her face as serious as a military commander leading his troops to war. “Emi, I can understand you wanting to search for your dad in these tournaments, but why the different names?” Emily continued narrowing down the results using her keyboard before turning to Jennifer. “Well, according to this notebook, he had registered his name as Vernon.” Jennifer raised her eyebrows in confusion. “Huh? Why the heck would he-Ack!!” Emily cut her off by tossing the aforementioned notebook at her. “Just read it already! I’m busy.” Jennifer looked at Emily. “Are you sure? Won’t you get into trouble if you’re caught?” Emily looked out of the corner of her eyes and smiled at her busty friend. “If I’m caught, Jen. I trust you.” Jennifer smiled back before finding flipping through the book to find out about Murdoc‘s dueling registration.

***************************************** Mario Central: Registration Booth ****************************************

“So…Serenity, right? This card of mine, I heard from Vanilla, can keep track of the cards in my deck, as well as keep my win loss records?” Murdoc asked while walking with Serenity to her booth. “Yes, that’s right. Oh, and my name is Serenity Wheeler. May I see that card, please?” She took the card and placed it into a small reader connected to a small netbook computer. Serenity then typed a few commands into the computer and squinted at the printing and raising an eyebrow.'' Hmm… that’s strange. This is an unlisted card! Only employees have this kind of card. How did this person…Oh! I remember now. He must’ve dropped it when he knocked Vanilla down.. He probably mistook it for his.'' “Um…Excuse me, but I need to get your information to get you registered. May I have some form of ID?” Murdoc paled.'' Oh, combustible lemon! How many times was I told that I need an ID!? I should’ve figured…'' “Alright…Ok…I…um, where is it? I, um seem to have misplaced it. Would you…” Serenity smiled and waved it off. “Don’t worry about it, sir. You had quite the crash back there. Maybe Vanilla has it, and forgot to give it back to you. I’ll talk to her later and return it to you after your first couple of duels. Your name, username and your deck is what I need.” Murdoc breathed a sigh of relief as he held out his deck of cards. “Ok, then. Thanks, Ms. Wheeler. Vernon Edgar. Username was Dekiller.”

Serenity nodded before focusing back to her work, inputting everything she needed to make the pass a legit one. “Alright, Vernon. Here you go. This pass is what you will need to enter participant only areas, as well as entering the arenas to face your opponent.” Murdoc reached over the booth window to receive the pass and a small packet and gift bag. “Hmm? What’s in here, Ms. Wheeler?” Serenity giggled as she walked away from her booth to face the young man. “Please, just call me Serenity. This is pretty much a gift bag. It’s got a few nice collector cards in a tin, some card sleeves, a coliseum map and event guide. The usual things you would get in events such as this. Also, if you would follow me to the machine to your left…” She pointed to a large contraption that resembled a vending machine. It had three small dispensers, and a screen built into the top. “This is where you register your deck, and any changes you make between matches. The slot to the left is where you place your un-sleeved deck. It will scan your cards to ensure that you don’t have any banned or illegal cards, or any fakes. The cards will show up on screen here. When the verifier has finished it’s job your deck is then placed into the database, and it will dispense a micro SD card that is readable by your duel disk…OH! Your duel disk!! I need to get your duel disk!” Serenity bowed politely and rushed back to her booth. “You can start verifying your cards while I’m away. I’ll be right back, Vernon!” Murdoc raised his eyebrows at the energetic young lady. “Hmm. She certainly has her work cut out for her. Ok. Remove sleeves, place in first slot.. whoa!” Murdoc quickly removed his hand as the machine immediately sucked each card into a thin slot by vacuum force, reading each one individually and displaying them on the screen. Each card was validated and was shown in full detail before a prompt asking for the user’s pass to be received. “Huh? Where does it go?” Murdoc looked around the machine only to see a white gloved hand pointing to a thin slot below the display screen. “My, my. I suppose it’s a good thing you didn’t break your glasses when we crashed.” He turned around and saw Vanilla standing there with a warm smile on her lightly furred face. “Place the card right here, Vernon. And I must say, that’s a very unique deck you’ll be using.” Murdoc smirked sheepishly as he slid his card into the reader. “How’d you find out my name? and how long were you around here, Vanilla? It’s like you’re a spy or something.” Vanilla laughed as she ruffled his hair. “Don’t be silly, dear. I’m just light footed. By the way, the registry’s done. I can hardly wait to see you dueling…wait, where is your duel disk?”

As if on cue, Serenity ran up to the, out of breath and holding a rather large box in her hands. “I’m sorry I took so long, but I didn’t have anymore with me so I had to get a reserve from the storage. Anyway, here you go, Vernon. A brand spanking new duel disk!” Murdoc’s eyes lit up like a kid in a toy store. “Sweet! A duel disk! Hey, win or lose I can keep it right? Say I can keep it! I can keep it, please??” Both females laughed at his child-like behavior. “You might want to sync it with your deck first. Take that micro SD card I mentioned earlier and slid it into the receiver under the life point counter. Wow, that’s a pretty interesting deck.” Serenity said in awe while looking at the screen while Murdoc pulled his deck from the right slot and place it into his duel disk, activating its functions. “What’s the big deal? It’s something that my mom duels with and I got it from her. Nothing major.” Vanilla’s smile quickly turned stoic, but was unnoticed by Murdoc, who was too entranced by his duel disk. “Your mother dueled, Vernon?” Vanilla asked, an air of seriousness in her voice. Murdoc nodded, looking up at Vanilla, whose face had become kind again. “Yeah. I mean, she’s okay, but I usually beat her!” However, Murdoc had caught an underlining point in Vanilla’s question: Your mother dueled…

Murdoc, not wanting to seem suspicious yet, kept to his plan of sending a signal to Karla and getting back home. But now he had a side objective:

Find out what Vanilla, or anyone else knows, about his missing mother, Sonya.