Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction ❯ Do You Dream of Me? ❯ Pet ( Chapter 21 )

Disclaimer: If I was the creator Yu-gi-oh, I would speak Japanese. I don't and am not.

 

Okay… now hopefully back to regular updates. Still not 100%, but… looks workable, especially as I finished up two fics this week, and will hopefully finish up CJ and Devotion soon as well. Ganbatte, Laryna-chan! (…I watch too many fansubs…)

 

I'd like to thank all my readers who still read this despite the delay, and of course my wonderful C2 staff. Also, right after I post this, the lemon version of the last chapter of Forgiveness and the last chapter of Endless, my PWP of Atem/Yugi/Yami should be up at mediaminer and adultfanfiction.

 

YGOYGOYGOYGOYGOYGOYGOYGOYGOYGOYGO

 

Yugi smiled, pressing the buttons on his new game as he walked towards the school building. Keychain games were getting really popular after the teachers had decided not to confiscate them anymore, and so he'd repaid Anzu's kindness yesterday with digital pets for her and Jou (Honda hadn't wanted one), the most popular kind.

 

They were creatures you `raised' electronically and could see on an LCD screen. He overheard a girl saying she forgot to clean up after her pet and it died, her friend commiserating and reminding her she had to clean up after them every day. He always cleaned up after his. He wouldn't let an animal die, even a virtual one, and he wanted a pet… Yami sleepily suggested keeping the Kuriboh in the real world more, feeling Yugi's desire, and Yugi smiled, hugging him, and thought he'd think about it.

 

As he sat down at his desk Jou ran up to him. “Mornin', Yugi! How's your pet doing?!” Jou really liked his pet. He and Shizuka had had one for a bit, when they were kids, but then his dad had been home alone with it one day after losing his job and they'd never seen it again. And the game was small enough to hide so he wouldn't pawn it for booze. It was kinda fun to take care of it, even if it didn't really matter. He was good at taking care of it.

 

Honda and Anzu walked up, Anzu fiddling with her device, giving her pet a new treat for having learned how to spin around on command, and Honda standing there with his hands in his pockets, smiling a little at Jou.

 

Yugi responded excitedly, glad Jou liked it, “He's in good shape! How's yours, Jou?”

 

“He's cool! He's cool!” Jou nodded enthusiastically.

 

Yugi showed them his pet, a little round one with gloved hands on thin arms and little feet. Its hair looked kind of like his… Anzu exclaimed, “Eeee! It's so cute!” A chibi Yugi! “It's eating its food!”

 

Jou laughed, “Ha ha ha! It looks just like you, Yugi!”

 

“Aha ha ha… you think so? I named him `U2!'” Yugi explained, grinning.

 

“So pets do look like their owners!” Anzu watched it, smiling.

 

“It's strange,” Yugi commented, watching him, fingers itching to press a button, “Even though it's just a game, you get really attached to your digital pet.” Turning to Jou, he added, “Show me your pet, Jou!”

 

Jou grinned. “Sure! No problem!” It looked like a turnip with a single hair curled like a question mark, legs and no hands. It looked them, clearly thinking, `What're you lookin' at?'

 

“It's so ugly!” Anzu commented, shocked. Jou was so excited over that thing?

 

Honda agreed, “Yeah, and it's got your bad attitude!”

 

“Shut up!” Jou growled at them.

 

Yugi said, “They say you transfer your personality to your pet in the way you take care of it! So with thousands of creature types, you can have an infinite number of pets, all of them unique! That's what makes it so much fun!”

 

Yami nuzzled him, waking up a little more to see what made Master so fascinated. -You take very good care of me, but I'm not like you…-- He sighed, unhappy that he was not worthy.

 

Yugi hugged him. -Right, you're not like me, but I like taking care of you anyway!-

 

Yami smiled and hugged him back, before drowsing again. Yugi frowned. If anything, Yami had been more tired than he should be after the …things that had happened with Shadi. He'd hoped Yami would be fully awake all the time by now, but… at least they could talk a little, briefly. And maybe it was a good thing: Yugi didn't really know what to say. What could you say to someone who lived in your mind? What could you talk about with someone who you shared your every thought with?

 

…he wanted to find out.

 

He shook himself awake and asked, “Why don't you want a digital pet, Honda?”

 

Honda winked at him. “Naw, it's not my thing… I've got a dog at home though. I'm too busy taking care of real pets to have time for digital ones. But my dog just came into head. She's been driving me nuts! Least you don't have to worry `bout that with digital pets.”

 

“Digital pets have the ability to mate too!” Yugi corrected him.

 

“What?!” Jou asked, surprised.

 

“See… there's a data port on the back!” Yugi pointed to it.

 

“Hey! There's one on mine too…” Jou thought.

 

“You link it with your friends like this…” Yugi mimed sticking the bottoms of two devices, where the data ports were, together, “Then you can share your pets' personality with each other! That way you make an even more unique pet!”

 

“Wow, I didn't know that…” Jou muttered. “Awright, Yugi! Let's you and I mate right away!” He wondered how this would make his pet turn out. These things were cool!

 

“Okay!” Yugi agreed.

 

Honda grimaced. “I didn't need to hear that…”

 

They linked the two devices together and watched as Jou's pet left his screen, walked up to U2. They regarded each other for a second… and then Jou, Yugi, Anzu and Honda exclaimed in horror as Jou's pet kicked U2!

 

Jou was ashamed of his pet, and Yugi was dejected as well. “Maybe this was a bad idea…”

 

“He's just like you!” Anzu growled at Jou, pissed his pet had reminded Yugi of all the times Jou had made fun of her best friend.

 

Yugi looked at the screen. “Hold on… not they seem to like each other!” U2 pet Jou's pet. The device went piko piko. “That sound means the data exchange is complete!”

 

“Yup…” Jou smiled, looking at his screen. “My pet's back at home!”

 

Yugi bubbled on about how this should make them change, and Jou thought his pet had better get some of U2's cuteness!

 

Yugi smiled at his device. “Hee hee… What kind of data did you get from Jou? Well, U2? Hee hee…”

 

The device beeped, and U2 looked up and Yugi, and in its little animal mind understood that this was its Master, who took care of it. Yami smiled, and shared a little power with it, and the knowledge with Yugi. Yugi's face started to smile broadly, happy… but then U2 went `Eep!' and started shivering, scared. Something bad was nearby!

 

“Huh?” Yugi said quietly to himself, “He looks scared!”

 

“Hey, Yugi!” They turned around. “You wanna see my pet? My pet is special!”

 

“Oh, Kujirada! You're raising a digital pet too?!” Yugi was surprised. Kujirada hadn't really seemed like the type.

 

“Of course I am! But mine's different from your ordinary pets!” Kujirada boasted.

 

“Hey Kujirada! What makes you think your pet's so special? What, is a thoroughbred? Does it have papers?” Jou asked him mockingly.

 

Kujirada laughed gloatingly, saying, “Don't you know? There are `hidden characters' in these digital pets!” They were all interested, but Yugi was the only one who knew what he was talking about. “Yeah!” Kujirada went on, gratified by their shocked expressions. “The chances you'll get a hidden character are a million to one… they say they come from some kind of glitch… or maybe even a computer virus… nobody knows for sure. The way you discipline them…when you feed them… the owner's personality… when everything is just right, your pet turns into a special pet! And I have one of them! The ultimate hidden pet!”

 

“Wow, could you show it to us, Kujirada?” Yugi asked, excited to finally get to see one. Even Jou was interested, although he didn't want to be.

 

“Well… if you like…” Kujirada said gloatingly, like he was doing them a big favor.

 

It was ugly, much uglier than the one belonging to Jou, who was secretly relieved by that, big and fat with an evil mustache and a black star on its belly. “But how do you know this is one of those hidden characters?” Jou asked.

 

Kujirada told them the star was the sign of a special pet, and that his pet had lasted 2 months when most died after 21 days maximum. “This is the ultimate pet!”

 

Annoyed by his obscene gloating, Anzu chided, “Everyone's pet is special while they last. I don't think yours is so great just because it lives longer!”

 

“Heh… You're just jealous…” Kujirada thought, smiling at the class rep.

 

Yugi frowned at U2. Why was he still so scared? Yugi hoped he wasn't sick.

 

The rest of the day went normally, Yami being just a fraction more awake and Yugi calming down. It had seemed like one thing after another recently! No wonder Yami wasn't recovering fast if he was using up all his energy defending Yugi!

 

Everything was fine, until the next day, while they were waiting for class to start in the morning, Jou pulled his digital pet out from where he'd hidden it in his desk. “Ack! My data is gone!”

 

“What's wrong, Jou?” Yugi said, walking over to him.

 

“I just left the classroom for a moment and my pet disappeared!” He couldn't even take care of a pet… how could he think he could save Shizuka's eyes?

 

“What do you mean?!” Yugi asked, horrified.

 

Jou showed him the screen.

 

“You're right! The screen is blank!” Yugi tried to think of how this could have happened. A glitch? He hoped it didn't happen to U2! Yami stirred, worrying. He didn't want Master to be unhappy!

 

Kujirada got up from his desk and wandered over to Anzu. “Hey, Mazaki… gimme your pet for a while…”

 

Anzu was startled. Something seemed… wrong. “No way!”

 

“Give it!” Kujirada grabbed it off of her desk.

 

“Yeek!” Anzu shrieked, startled.

 

Kujirada laughed strangely, freaking her out more. “Dig in!” He said, slotting his pet and her's together and looking down at the screen. Against her better instincts, she looked as well. Kujirada laughed insanely, watching the screen, “Ahuh-huh-huh! He ate her! He ate her!”

 

“My Peachy!” Anzu yelled. God help her, the jerk was going to be cleaning the classroom for the next month!

 

“Kujirada's pet ate Anzu's pet?!” Yugi was shocked!

 

Kujirada's eyes were glazed, staring at the screen. “M…more… He's still hungry… Yugi! Give me your pet too!” He grabbed the device and connected Yugi's to his, saying, “Rejoice! Your pet will become part of the ultimate pet! Ahuh-ahuh-huh-huh!”

 

U2 freaked and Yugi yelled at him to run away, which he did. Yugi watched horrified as the monstrosity got closer. Why wasn't Yami doing anything, just telling him to calm down?! U2 was grabbed… and then Yugi heard the sound evolution made.

 

U2's hair grew spiky and he punched the monster, destroying it. Yugi cheered! Kujirada was at first shocked, then almost relieved.

 

-Was that why you weren't doing anything?- Yugi asked Yami, cuddling him. -Because you knew he would be okay and didn't want me to worry?-

 

Yami nodded. -U2 is my Master's pet, raised by you. And like you, my Master, he can take care of himself.—

 

Yugi sighed, and pet him. -I can't take care of myself. I need you.- He'd needed so much help… running into Shadi and convicts and bullying teachers… if only he could handle himself, Yami would be awake more.

 

Yami shook his head, and opened his eyes to look at Master so Master could feel he was sincere. -Master, you rescued me from the puzzle. Master, you are strong.—

 

Yugi sighed, and pet him. Not strong enough… but he hid the thought, hid the fear from Yami, so he could go back to sleep, peaceful and protected. Even if Yugi wasn't strong enough to protect him.