Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction ❯ Clubit Academia ❯ Act 2 Chapter !: Ye Olde Forum...e ( Chapter 8 )

Act 2 Chapter !: The Olde forums

 

 

She opened her eyes, the first thing the pupils told her were that they could see nothing.

 

"Where am I?"

 

Digital darkness, a reservoir of data no mortal can comprehend...

 

The words streamed across her glasses, smashing through her like a slush puppie, just as cold and tasting of oil. It flowed through and behind her constantly, scraping her screen, a distance monotone keeping her ears painfully alert.

 

"Shut up!" she shouted after a few seconds of forbidden silence. "The question was completely rhetoirical."

 

As are all questions, when one insists on keeping their ears closed.

 

The tone exploded into the bass of a foghorn ripping through her, scattering her body to winds that did not exist. The sound covered her cadaver like cement being poured in a hole, only hardening the second it touched her. From above, the shadow of a man spoke to her in words that were invisible, incomprehensible.

 

"Sto..." she cried out, her voice as loud as eternity, but with no one willing to listen. The man continued to stare, the darkened slits that portrayed his hollowed sockets piercing through her body. The cement had frozen her now, and she was hotter than she had ever been.

 

You cannot hear anything anymore. You have become worthless to us.

 

The shadow dropped, still silent, the other voice coming from elsewhere. A sword, pulled back ready to stab...

 

You...are not yet fit!

 

 

Hitting her in the face, the umbrella seemed to chuckle to itself as it woke her up. She lifted herself up, unfamiliar with her surroundings, the local scenery of the field appearing alien to her still-sluggish mind. Blinking rapidly, she quickly remembered where she was. One of the academies playing fields, rarely used save for social occasions. She had been reading, and had dozed off when all had gone quiet.

 

It was not quiet now however.

 

There were twenty, maybe thirty students, in various states across the pitch, all with the same apparent course. Some were walking, some were running, all had a certain serious look on their faces, yet still containing some form of excitement.

 

What was going on? She thought to herself, getting up and looking for a student to consult. As if by demand, Guldalf nearly streamed past her until she stuck out an arm and grabbed the boy.

 

“Where is everyone going?” she asked, having the slightest of urges to condemn him for running, merely to be teacher like.

 

“I…dont kow,” he answered obviously, his cheeks red from running. “I jus herd soeting kewl waz gong dwn.”

 

Without another word, the two began to approach the scene, Guldalf doing his best to pace himself to Shariku's walking standards despite wanting to sprint. She let out a slight grin as she felt his frustration.

 

It wasn't that far to walk, but it took just as long to push through the crowd. The corner of the field was filled with another twenty students that were slowly building up to get a look at what happened. Many were trying to push through for a closer look, while those in the middle looked to have given up and were now just chatting casually in the midst of the chaos. It was so tempting to just start knocking them back left and right, but she didn't have to, Duty's shouts clearing a path for her.

 

“Cum on guyz let the teacher through,” he shouted loudly, clearing an almost straight path to her. It was only when they got to the end of the crowd that it took a little longer for the last students to move, their mesmerized faces staring down to whatever was happening.

 

It was Zen. He was lying down on the grassy field, apparently unconscious and without a shirt, the expression of his face twisted, yet pale…r than usual.

 

“Shariku-sama,” a voice said besides the unconscious boy. The sight of the motionless body has caught her so off guard that she had completely missed Yo kneeling there. The Chaos Angel with cat's ears stared up at her, looking a little flustered. She became a little stern at his presence, she preferred to avoid him as much as possible.

 

“What's happened, Nekomimi?” she asked firmly, kneeling down carefully besides the demon duelist. Her fingers went to the pulse on his neck merely out of watching too many hospital dramas.

 

“I don't know. He's not dead,” Yo said with a little panic in his voice, confirming what her fingers were telling her. “I think he's in a coma or something.”

 

“Zen,” she shouted to the fallen duelist. “Zen!” She slapped her, firmly across the cheek, leaving a red welt there that caused everyone surrounding them to audibly cringe. Zen remained motionless. Checking for alcohol, she quickly sniffed his breath, but she already knew the answer to that one. Still underaged, Zen only drank alcohol when he felt like it, but that was extremely rare and he had too much of an ego to let himself lose control.

 

His pulse felt normal, and other than her strike, he didn't appear to have any recent injuries, but she honestly had no idea if she might have missed something though. Regardless, the basic conclusion seemed obvious. “He seems perfectly healthly. It's like he's asleep…or brain dead.”

 

“OMFG his minds been sent to the sha…”

 

“Finish that sentence and I'll kill everyone here and beat you to death with their bodies,” she called out, stopping the n00b in his tracks. There was a giggle further back, but she didn't care; action was needed and she stood up to ignite it.

 

“Brado, find Priestess. Get her over her with a stretcher. You and you,” she commanded, pointing to two random boys that looked physically able. “Stay here, she'll need help getting him back to her office. Everyone else, I'm going to need you to drop your shoes off at my homeroom. Make sure you do it, even if you've just got here. Then spread the word that no one's allowed on the field. Also, when you spread the word of what's happened, and you are all bound to do in your mysterious student like ways, please don't spread rumors. They boy is only unconscious from what we can see. We'll keep you updated ASAP.” She finished by clapping her hands, and she felt a little glow as they all snapped to attention and ran off, Brado already way ahead of them.

 

“Nekomimi…” she said to the boy still kneeling.

 

“Hai?”

 

“Inform the ten. We're going to need a meeting”

 

****************************************

 

"Well, to be fair, I haven't even seen her since I was in the Nurse's office."

 

"Yeah, but still mate, you think she would have said something. It's been a week."

 

They were stuck in lunch. It wasn't as great as it sounded. The dining hall, although large, wasn't designed to hold half the student body all at once. Since most students came in at different times, with some not bothering to come in at all, Paine had found dinner flowed without problems in the past week of him being here. Now however, everyone was trapped, and although they had secured seats- Dorou having secured two, an extra one for his feet, it still felt crowded.

 

“Looks like I'd have to wait a little longer now,” Paine grumbled to himself. He knew he was being selfish, being more concerned with his entry into the Shariku Rankings. But something big had happened, and he had no idea what. He knew it had something to do with Zen, but the first rumor that he heard was that the boy was dead, and then that he was being expelled, and now Paine had just decided to wait for the official announcement.

 

He hadn't spoken to Zen much after that first night, but the boy acknowledged him every time they passed in the corridors since. However, Paine had chosen his schedule to be a little tight, and often he could only afford a few seconds of conversation before moving on.

 

“But a meeting between the Ten,” Dorou commented absently mindedly, tossing an apple between his hands that he had appropriated from another student but then lost in the gulf in the crowd. Paine could tell by his actions that the boy had every intention of returning it. “That, my friend, is extremely rare.”

 

“Really?” Paine commented, biting into his own apple that he hadn't stolen. “I thought they'd talk to each other all the time.”

 

“Oh they do,” Dorou said lightly, appearing to fumble the apple for a second but expertly catching it regardless. “But they never have official meetings, too much of a bother to organize for these guys. I can tell you the only reason it's lasting so long at the moment is because one or two of them still haven't shown up yet.”

 

“What?” Paine gasped. “It's been two hours already.”

 

“I have the feeling that we will be out of class all day,” a voice said behind them. Turning, Paine saw a hooded figure, the voice was female and he recognized it instantly.

 

“Be quiet, dude,” Dorou quickly said, apparently also recognizing the voice, although Paine had never seen them together. “If everyone finds out she's here in the room, they'll swarm us for gossip.”

 

Lifting his feet off the chair he had saved for himself, Dorou allowed Priestess to sit down. No one seemed to notice nor care for her presence, which struck Paine as kind of odd, seeing as she looked like some kind of shadow monk in the grey hooded robe she was wearing.

 

“So I guess I might as well ask it and get it out of the way,” Dorou said lazily. “What's happened?'

 

“Mr. Angel found Zen's body lying on the grass,” she started, only to be immediately interrupted.

 

“Is he dead?” Dorou asked, shocking himself far too early.

 

“No, no, he's quite alive,” Priestess quickly reaffirmed. “He's just unconscious.”

 

“Well, then you should be able to fix him up quite easily,” Paine said, completely unable to judge her state of mind without being able to see her face.

 

“There's nothing for me to do,” Priestess commented, sounding more confused than upset. “Medically, there's nothing wrong with him. He's just asleep.”

 

“Really?”

 

“I even pulled out the CATscan machine that we had. All it showed was a brain with no signs of activity.”

 

“You have a CAT scan machine?” Paine said, not sure whether to be shocked or impressed.

 

“I don't know how to understand it,” she quickly explained. “All I could do was operate the basics. I had to send off the results to an expert.”

 

“But still, that's impressive, girl,” Dorou said with a whistle that made the girl blush slightly. “My girl can operate a CATscan. Not bad at all.” He paused for a few seconds, as if considering something. “That is difficult to do right?”

 

“I suppose it would be to those not knowing what they're doing, but in a way I suppose it's just as easy as checking your mail.” The conversation would have continued, but the two of them noticed Paine's expression, disbelief marked on a raised eyebrow.

 

“What, you two are…” he began to say, Dorou's grin confirming it even as he pressed his hand to the boy's mouth.

 

“Keep it down, dude. People will know it's her.” His voice turning to a whisper, Paine edged up closer.

 

“I never would have guessed. This is sort of like the opposites attract type of thing.”

 

“More like it just sort of happened,” Dorou explained with his childish grin.

 

“Some kids were stealing medicine supplies from the office last year,” Priestess began to explain.

 

“Yeah, and because I'm the resident theif, I'm the one to get instantly blamed.”

 

“I have apologized many times before,” the girl said, her stern tone making Dorou's grin edge upwards.

 

“It's fine,” he said, completely honest. “But anyway, I got all prideful about it and I hunted down those who were responsible.”

 

“You did?” Paine said, amazed a little himself. “How?”

 

“Please, when you know what you're doing, everyone else looks like amateurs. I found them in about an hour of convincing the teachers not to expel me. That's a point. That would have been the last time the ten did have a meeting.”

 

“But how did you two get together?”

 

“After he found the two thieves, I asked him to help improve security for the nurse's office.”

 

“Heh, and before either of us knew what was going on we were making out on one of the beds.”

 

“Dorou!” she called out, offended by the bluntness.

 

“Well, it didn't happen straightaway. But I was there constantly, you know? Repeating trying to break my own security system to find any flaws. Now, no one should be able to steal from there…”

 

********************

 

The conversation had ended abruptly right around there, Priestess's voice had carried out through the room and many were beginning to bunch up and look like they were going to assault her with as many questions as they could. Pushing themselves out of the room, accidentally knocking a girl with a dead kitty emblem on her hoodie out of a window, they now wandered the corridors aimlessly. Priestess had a pass for obvious reasons, but no teacher had approached them yet.

 

“Still no news…” Dorou complained, checking his keypad for a third time. Paine was between the two of them now. It didn't seemed to have been forced or anything, nor was it natural like they were pretending to keep their distance. But it did feel very awkward for him. He had had no experience in love, and couldn't tell if this meant anything or not for the couple.

 

“So we have the whole day off it seems,” Priestess said, looking generally lost for conversation. “And I have to remain hidden merely to save myself from gossip hounds.”

 

“Priestess? You…didn't happen to meet Shariku when all this happened?” he asked after a few tentative moments.

 

“If you're wondering about your duel, I suggest you leave it for a few days. This is going to occupy the teacher's spare time for a while.”

 

“Right, right,” he repeated. “Just thought I'd ask.

 

“Don't wait too long though,” Dorou piped in. “That lady's crazy. She's probably forgotten.”

 

“Dorou!” Priestess said with a high temperature hiss. “Do not speak that way about a teacher.”

 

“Sorry,” he said, scratching the back of his head. “But it's true.”

 

“I admit, she's a little eccentric…”

 

“It's not even like they have any reason to keep her around either…”

 

“Leave it, Dorou,” Priestess said, scolding the thief with her words and emitting silence into the long corridor.

 

Moments passed, and all that could be heard was the noise from the dining hall a few hundred meters back. Paine looked at the two he was between. Now it was awkward.

 

“You have to learn to watch your mouth, Dorou,” Priestess barely muttered, but her boyfriend appeared to act like he hadn't heard her.

 

Releasing a large sigh, Priestess destroyed any hope for a conversation in Paine's eyes. They paced down the hallway for another half class, until Dorou laughed and jumped ahead of them, stopping them in their tracks just outside a room titled `Ninjas of Konoha', any signs of there being problem with the boy now gone.

 

“Hey, if we're going to have half the day off, why don't we show him that place?” he suggested, looking like he was ready to burst into hyperactivity.

 

“Huh, what place?” Paine was momentarily distracted by what appeared to be a bound and gagged student in the next room, struggling furiously to free themselves, their face drenched in panic.

 

“Dorou, we can't…” Priestess began.

 

“Why not?”

 

“Because all students have been ordered to stay in the Dining Room.”

 

“So? All the teachers are getting ready for a meeting. No one will catch us.”

 

“That's not the point and you know it. There is no reason for us to go there anyway,” she groaned mid sentence, and Paine smirked at what he was seeing, but he still had a bit of curiosity in him.

 

“I don't get it. Where are we going?” he asked, stopping the bickering from turning into an argument.

 

“The Old Forums,” Dorou replied.

 

The Old Forums?” Paine repeated, as if it were some kind of law to do so.

 

“No, we are not. Students are not allowed there any more, except during special training. Not only is it dangerous, but it's forbidden.”

 

“That was in the wrong order,” Dorou deadpanned. “But anyway, you've got a pass. We could just say we were making sure others weren't trying to sneak in there.”

 

“Well…” Priestess began, her milling around showing how tempted she was.

 

“And if anything, we really could be checking to see if anyone was in there. You never know who would try to sneak off.”

 

“But still…” Dorou sighed loudly this time, interrupting his girlfriend.

 

“Okay, let me put it this way. I have your pass.” He flicked the small laminated, yellow card from behind his palm to show her. “And I can run faster than you when you're wearing that thing. Come on, Paine.”

 

Not doing anything to hide his appreciation, Paine laughed as he followed his friend.

 

“Whatever happened to not being a proper thief?” he asked, as he heard the robed girl following behind them.

 

“Friends are different. When you're a group, it's called sharing.”

 

*************************************

 

“We didn't think anything of it really," Kenshin said. "People leave all the time."

 

"And Zen keeps to himself anyway. It's unlikely he would have told anyone if he did leave."

 

"And yet," Shariku said, her voice low, yet seething with fury. "Here he is now. Apparently brain dead. Zen was one of the few who wasn't entirely brain dead. Pathetically obsessed with demons maybe, but he loved dueling more than most people here. He certainly wasn't here to socialize."

 

The meeting had finally started. For once, she wasn't the last there.

 

The members of the Ten all stood in line down the room, a long green carpet separating them as they stood on either side. At the end of the room, Clubit Academia's pop up logo stood proudly upon the wall, changing every few seconds to announce the latest products. In the middle of them all lay Zen himself, lying on top of a table, various medical instruments lined up beside him to monitor his status. It occurred to Shariku that, since Priestess wasn't here, if any of these things started to beep loudly none of them would have a clue what to do except stand there and watch him pulsate and detonate.

 

“So…” Icehawk said, breaking the silence. “Does anyone actually have a clue what is going on? Yo, you were there first. State your report.”

 

“I…er…” Despite his usual confidence, Yo looked a little shaken up. Seeing somebody who he had apparently thought dead at first had did a small number on him. He looked to her restlessly a second, before clearly his throat, his ears looking like they were trying to close in on themselves.

 

“I was walking the halls,” he eventually said. “When two students came up to me and told me they had found someone while exploring the fields. They led me there and we saw him, laying unconscious in the bushes. From what we could tell, he had been there a while, so I dragged him out.”

 

“Which two students?” Strategy Master called out from the far end of his line- with Yo being at the other end communication was a little difficult, but Strategy Master had a tendency to make himself known.

 

“I…” he paused again. “I don't remember. I mean…I didn't recognize them, and when I was on my way down they ended up bringing some friends, before I knew it, they had sunk back into the crowd.”

 

“So they had gotten away from you?” Strategy Master reasoned, sounding very suspicious.

 

“Don't go too far on that line of thought, Strats-chan,” she interrupted. “Let find them first and question them.”

 

“Don't call me that during a meeting…”

 

“The body had been dumped,” YY87 said, sounding like he was talking to himself more than anything, his mask muffling his deep, yet quiet voice. “But who put it there is only a half concern for now. What should be more important is the boy's health. What this one wishes to know, is how this event happened at all?”

 

“Priestess's medical report revealed nothing except a few scars on his upper body,” Shariku reported. “He had a tendency to get into a few scraps. Many of the rougher kids seemed to think of him as the type to get into fights easily.”

 

“So there's nothing to explain what's wrong with him?” Kenshin asked, looking thoughtful. The purple garbed duelist seemed to zone out, like he was trying to think of any possibilities.

 

“Right, I suggest searching for more information and…” She was cut off, a loud tone filled the room and they all recognized it (although, for a moment, Shariku's mind was reminded of something else). The Owner of Clubit Academia had finally got through to them, the mystical leader who had brought them all together and entrusted them with the supervision of his domain… the Ultimate Admin.

 

“IN LIGHT OF THE SITUATION, WE SHALL FORGIVE YO- CHAOS ANGEL'S EARLY INCOMPETANCE. FOR NOW, WE MUST KEEP THIS CALM,” the voice bellowed throughout the whole of the Meeting Room. “STUDENTS WILL PANIC EASILY IF WE ALLOW THEM TO. INFORM ZEN'S PARENTS/ GUARDIAN OF THE PROBLEM AND HOLD TUTOR CLASSES TOMORROW AS WELL. FURTHERMORE, ALERT ALL THOSE THAT ATTEND YOUR LECTURES FOR THE NEXT FEW DAYS. SHIRAKU, YOU WILL BE IN CHARGE OF THE INVESTIGATION PROCESS. STRATEGY MASTER. PLEASE PROVIDE STUDENTS WITH UPDATES. THAT IS ALL.”

 

As the voice finished, they all stood to attention, hearing the tone die in pitch before turning off completely, letting their bodies loosen as they did so.

 

“Why did he pick you?” Strategy Master asked immediately afterwards.

 

“He chose the best, obviously,” she replied, turning off with a grin. “I'll need you all on close call for info, people. Keep regular checks of your keypads.”

 

“Fine then, Pet, I'll get on with the updates,” he replied, also turning off to leave.

 

“Don't call me…”

 

“This one shall inform his friends and offer them any support they may need,” YY87 stated firmly. “One should not forget the friends at times like these.”

 

Soon, everyone started to leave, leaving Kenshin trailing behind.

 

“I guess I'll take him back to the medical room then,” Kenshin suggested, pushing the trolley before hearing anyone's permission. Turning round to reply, Shariku stopped when she saw Yo, just standing there with his face to the floor. She quickly turned away. She wasn't going to be the one who comforted him.

 

“Take a little rest, Yo,” Kenshin said, trailing off behind her.

 

****************************************************

 

“Well, I guess he's not really a bad person. It's just he can be sooo obsessive when he gets into his work.”

 

On the way to the Old Forums, the conversation had quickly turned back to the Ten. Very little of it was actually sounding good.

 

“Obsessive? About what?” Priestess asked, not wishing Dorou to say anything bad of anyone unless he had proper reasoning behind it.

 

“My Soul Deck. The day I got it, he was all over me, asking questions about it. What type? What cards? It was a right pain. Kept me caught up in his office for well over an hour. I didn't even know half of them at the time.”

 

“You can't blame him for being curious. He interrogated me too. None of us know why we got these. Not even the members of the ten that have them.”

 

They finally reached the side door that Dorou had been leading them to all this time. Priestess seemed to have quickly forgotten that she had been chasing them once she had actually caught up. Leaving the building, they headed along the wall. He couldn't remember if he had been in this area yet. Although he rarely ever went outside since getting here, there was nothing in his head to tell him if he had been here or not. Something else grabbed onto his mind for a moment.

 

“Not all of them have Soul Decks?” he asked curiously. “Which ones?”

 

“Just two really,” Priestess answered. “Shariku and Strategy Master. IceHawk only seems to have half of one.”

 

“Shariku hasn't got one?”

 

“Yeah, you'd think with her bossy attitude and all she'd actually have a powerful one,” Dorou commented. “But she doesn't. She doesn't even have a regular deck anymore. She's retired.”

 

“Well, that explains it then,” Paine said, quickly rationalizing it in his head.

 

“Not completely, you see, she's…”

 

“We're here,” Priestess interrupted. He hadn't noticed when it had happened, but they had turned to corner and moved to a large building. It looked just like another of the building here at the academy, just a lot more dilapidated. Crisp bags and chocolate wrappers covered the outside, as overgrown grass reveled in the lack of attention that whatever janitor that existed around here had not given it. The building itself looked the same design as everywhere else, but was completely devoid of windows, the bricks not showing any hint of where they might have once gone. It looked weird to Paine as it occurred to him he had never seen a windowless building before.

 

“Excellent!” Dorou exclaimed, completely forgetting his conversation just as Paine had and rushing over to the apparently self contained building.

 

“And now, let's go,” Priestess said, turning around to leave as if she had rehearsed it thousands of times on the way here, waiting for the novelty to wear off Dorou.

 

“And why should we do that?” the thief asked with a grin, pushing a panel of wood that was resting on the side aside, revealing a small hole that looked to be a larger than necessary air vent. Despite being hidden behind robes, Paine swore he could see Priestess's face scrunch up in frustrated annoyance.

 

“So, you didn't cover up all of them like they had asked?” she said, completely rhetorically. Not wasting any time, she quickly followed behind him into the narrow confines of the air vent, and Paine had to question just how annoyed she really was.

 

“So, you still haven't told me what this place was?” Paine enquired, as he squeezed through the gap, trying not to stare at Priestess difficulty in getting her tall frame through right in front of him.

 

“The name should make it obvious enough,” Dorou began. “Before the place was Clubit Academia, it was just plain old Clubit Forums. It was just this one, four storey building designed as a social place with a shop at the bottom for people to buy ****.” Priestess pushed him. He didn't apologize. “Most would come to purchase cards, and stay to play and chat. As time went on however, it was said to become something different. A place of education and refuge for all. And soon the place…just began to grow.”

 

“These forums were kept up and running for a while,” Priestess continued, as Dorou began to attack something up front that Paine couldn't see. “But it became less worth the effort apparently, mainly because everyone was staying out at the new place. Neither me nor Dorou were there at the time, so we don't know what happened next, but apparently this place got massively vandalized in some weird kind of revenge scheme against some of the higher members. Er…the Ten didn't exist back then, by the way. If they did, they could have probably stopped it.”

 

“Who did it?” Paine asked.

 

“Can't remember their names,” Priestess replied. “Actually I think I was never told. But I wouldn't think it was someone new if it was a revenge scheme.”

 

“Did it,” Dorou muttered, as metal clanked and slid across, before being discarded on what sounded like tiles. The conversation immediately halted, as Priestess and Paine shuffled their way through into the first room of the building.

 

Standing up, Paine found himself assaulted with the smell that seemed to take up residence in all old, musty buildings that had been abandoned for a while. The air was thick and heavy, making it feeling like no one had breathed it in the oxygen for years and it had all built up. The room itself was a simple abandoned classroom; chairs and decks scattered all over as if everyone had to rush out. All the walls were filled with little holes that looked like they came from pin tacks and the three cupboards that were in there were all open and empty. There was no teacher's desk.

 

“What do you think?” Dorou asked. “Cool, ey?”

 

“Yeah,” Paine replied, his voice full of excitement and the wish to explore. He opened up one of the desks at random, and felt a little disappointed to see nothing. Trying a few others, he soon gave up, when a thought struck him. “Hey, what did those guys vandalize anyway? This place looks a little decrepit, but it's not like everything's broken.”

 

“I don't think anyone knows, mate,” Dorou replied. “None of the older members speak much about it, and no one really says. There has to be something though.” The door squeaked, and both boys turned round to see Priestess trying to rip the old, creaky door open.

 

“Come on then,” she said, sounding impatient under her hood. “Let's get your curiosities out of the way and get out of here.” Without a word, the two boys followed into the hallway, where they were greeted with the same musky aroma all over again. Paine might have found it repugnant if he wasn't enjoying this.

 

The sign on the door he just went through was faded on its copper plaque, but said `Ne ie Ro m' on it in a times new roman font. Ignoring it, his eyes started to stray to the other signs, listing an Anime room, a tournament room. There was even a room that was specifically for the Yu-Gi-Oh! Video Games.

 

“Waste of time,” he found himself muttering. Video games weren't really his thing. He always preferred to read. Wandering past it, Dorou stopped him with a hand, blocking him from going down the rest of the corridor, where there were no doors anyway.

 

“This way, mate,” he said, pointing to a spiral staircase. They ascended quickly, the stairs beings nothing too special, the only thing wrong with them being that three steps in a row were missing and they had to hoist themselves over one at a time using the railings to get past.

 

They ignored the first floor, Dorou saying that there was something more important to show him on the second anyway, and they were quickly made their way there. Reaching it, there was a third floor, but a simple oak door with a tarnished plaque stood in the way, completely locked and barred. It stood out how strange the door looked, standing there on the narrow staircase with no wall to support it. It looked like you might be able to climb around it, but there was no way around, unless you were willing to risk the three storey fall should you slip. By the door handle, there was a suggestions box.

 

“Been meaning to get around that for a while now,” Dorou stated. “But I need to get a rope with one of those hook things attached to it so I can swing across.”

 

“We should definitely do that next time we come here,” Paine suggested, and Dorou hastily agreed. Priestess sped up their movements as they headed to the second floor corridor, which was the same musty grey that the previous one was the limited light not even telling them what colours the rooms had been painted. Not even the air felt lighter as they began to wander past more of the rooms, seeing signs for an online magazine forum as well as various other games that Yu-Gi-Oh! Fans might be interested in. He didn't even recognize any of them.

 

The room they finally stopped by looked just the same as all the others, and the only letters he could make on the sign was `PG' next to each other in capitals. Dorou creaked the door open, looking more excited than Paine felt, even though it was he that was about to be shown something.

 

The room was large, and yet felt quite narrow at the same time. Paine could barely see in front of him, for the light that could enter the building by now was in short supply and he found Priestess holding onto his shoulder to help her navigate. He got about four feet into the room when he bashed his hip into something.

 

“Ow,” he muttered, not expecting anything.

 

“Are you alright?” Priestess asked concerned.

 

“Yeah,” he replied. It was another desk, but it wasn't as light as the other ones he had seen. This one was weighed down with a pile of paper about two hundred pages high. As his eyes slowly adjusted to the darkness, he realized this was the case with all the desks in the room. He could see now dead, processed trees filling the room in a mountain of wasted paperwork. It felt quite sad to have so much waste paper round like this. He couldn't read what was on any of them, but he guessed there must be something worthwhile. “What are they?”

 

“Imagination on paper,” Dorou replied from somewhere within the room- Paine guessed that his night vision must be significantly better than theirs if the thief had gone this far without crying out like he had. “The creative expressions of the people of the Old Forums. I suppose, if you like, their scripts born of whatever in built desires they might have had.”

 

Having a feeling that the common speaking boy might have practiced that all week just so he could spark Paine's interest when he showed him, Paine grabbed the nearest sheet on the top pile of the desk he was at and tried to read it, the shadows of the room quickly denying him. Squinting, he was about to ask whether it would be okay for him to take this home, when the floor disappeared on him.

 

He fell.

 

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Girl in the darkness.

 

 

“Are you kidding? You are not jumping down there.”

 

“But he might be…”

 

“We don't know how deep it is. You'll just break your legs too.”

 

Paine was hearing voices as he slept. It was becoming a regular thing, not out of anything psychological, but because the couple next door never shut up until the late hours of the morning. He hated late nights, almost as he hated wondering why he head was hurting so much when he woke up lately.

 

“Mate?” one of the voices enquired. “You alright, mate?”

 

“Paine? Can you hear us? Are you alright?” Pain. Yes, that was it. That was what he was feeling. He tried to respond, to answer whatever noise was calling him, but a fog was in his way. It wouldn't let the words leave his mouth, much less travel through the digital air to whatever was speaking to him.

 

“I'm going down.” Dorou. That was Dorou speaking just then. He tried to sit up, but something wouldn't allow him. His mind clearing, it still stayed on one side of groggy.

 

“For God's sake…” A long pause. Probably filled with embarrassment. “Let's take the stairs. It's pitch black down there anyway.”

 

“Wait,” he finally got out, his voice tricking the murk that was in the way by knocking on the wall and getting around it. However, the ears it was trying to reach had already walked away.

 

Silence, nothing save the sound a television makes when it's turned on. He briefly wondered where it came from, when he realized that he was able to move again. Rising up to his feet, he surveyed his surroundings, questioning if his eyes were open or not. Kicking blocks of scattered floorboard under him, he noticed the presence of something in his hand.

 

He was still holding the sheet of paper.

 

Not that it did him any good of course. Not even Dorou could read this in this level of black. His hands darted around aimlessly, trying to find something in this nothingness, his feet stumbling a lot slower this time as he moved round inch by careful inch. He considered kneeling, and edging to the nearest wall. That might be best after all, since the floor did appear to have easy to make holes built into it and he did have another floor to go after this one.

 

Soon, after a few minutes of crawling that he hoped wouldn't be interrupted by someone turning the lights one, he found the wall, and tried to etch along it. This was the best way out, he supposed. Just find the door and get out of there. Find it. That's all he had to do.

 

The phone rang.

 

************************************************

 

“This can't be right,” Dorou complained, pacing around the bottom floor corridor as if he would see his answer all of a sudden. He was acting stupid, and it was becoming hard for him to remain calm. She couldn't entirely blame him. “Where could he have gone?”

 

They were in the doorless corridor again, situated on the bottom floor. The floor directly above them had also been bereft of doors, and they had gotten worried that their new friend had perhaps fell two full stories on his back. But in their panic, they had forgotten that this floor had just as many doors as the one before it.

 

She had never really thought about it before, the last two times she had been here were spent trying to convince Dorou to leave- his own insatiable desire to explore countermanding any of her commands, but this corridor made as much sense as the building having no windows. She remembered there had been whole conversations by most of the new members as to why this building suffered from bricked up rooms and corridors that led no where, but no one could ever really get the conversation to go any further, as it often resulted in it being discovered that people were sneaking in there and not even the older non-teaching members seemed to be willing to let such incidents off.

 

She knew she shouldn't have come here, that she shouldn't have let them. Dorou had to be kept on a leash at times like these, not allowed to run free and into trouble. He meant well, but friends always got hurt while he got away scot-free.

 

“I'm going back upstairs,” Dorou insisted, turning around to head back up the spiral staircase.

 

“No,” she called back to him, trying to think it through logically. She didn't actually have much logic behind her, but something was telling her that this was the floor they wanted. “We should stay here, and try to find a way in. Maybe break down one of the walls.” She looked down to her Duel disk, hidden under her rags. “Shame I can't summon the flood really.”

 

“Some sweet little Christian we are.” Holding back the urge to lift her nose into the air, she turned off and headed for the nearest door she could find.

 

“The Lord helps those that help themselves,” she quoted. It wasn't from the good book, but it would do. “Besides, I don't believe there is anything in there about causing damage to abandoned buildings anyway.”

 

*************************************

 

Why was there a phone in the Old Forums?

 

Why was it even working?

 

And what were the chances of there being a hole between him and picking it up?

 

The chime of the phone came intermittently every three seconds. It seemed just that bit longer than a regular phone, but it definitely was one. Hesitantly, he turned to the direction it sounded, hoping his ears were good enough to not go the wrong way and miss the call, something that was quite likely when he was only moving a meter every five seconds.

 

Dragging himself across the floor (which, as far as he knew, wasn't even there. It didn't feel like the floorboards from before and felt smooth, like it should be shiny) he made his way, hearing the phone grow louder, sounding more in his right ear than his left. Soon, he realized it was right above him, and he got up instinctively, his head banging into something and leaning back down as he did so, the pain in his head rattling again.

 

The ringing stopped and was replaced by a light mumble. It took him a few seconds to realize that the phone was now right beside him, and he had to scramble to pick it up, the mumbling becoming louder and angrier by the moment. Tentatively, he put his lips to the mouthpiece. “Hello?”

 

“Where Have You Been?” the voice asked. It reminded him instantly of Stephan Hawkings, but he felt it better not to ask if it were the scientist. “You Are Supposed To Pick Up Instantly.”

 

“May I ask who's speaking?” Paine asked politely, not sure what else to say. There was a long silence, with a quiet noise somewhere in the atmosphere of the phone.

 

“Who Is This?” it finally said, and Paine sat down cross legged to answer.

 

“It's Paine59 from the forums,” he answered, only just realizing there was someone who could help him. “Listen, you've got to help me. Me and… Just me sorry. I was searching round the Old Forums when I fell down a hole. I'm not hurt but I don't know where I am. Could you get someone to bring…” He stopped, the noise was clearer now. Typing?

 

“I Am Sorry. I Have Dialed The Wrong Number. Goodbye.”

 

“No, wait,” but he was only answered with a beeping dial tone. He dropped the phone back on the hook, missing half of it in the darkness before getting it on and growling in frustration. What had that been all about? Had he made it sound wrong when he decided not to tell them his friends were here? He didn't want to risk getting them into trouble. From what he had heard, it happened to Dorou a lot anyway.

 

Then again, perhaps it had been a good thing they had hung up. This place was off limits as far as he could tell- though he only had Priestess's word for that, and that might have been to detract him from going- but the last thing he wanted was to get expelled from this place. In such a short time his life had changed so much. Not just living in a new place, but making new, fun friends- as well as other strange teachers. On top of that, he got to duel every day, as part of a curriculum. He couldn't let go of that. If he ever lost this Duel Disk…

 

His thoughts stopped, the angst being frozen in realization before it could fully ripen. He had his duel Disk with him. It wouldn't provide much light, but he could still get some from its battery. He hadn't used it today, and it was fully charged. Turning it on, he tried to get see something in the area around him, and was greeted with a brief impression of the floor.

 

He trekked on, now kneeling close to the floor to keep an eye on it, lest it should run away and hide from him again. He still couldn't make out what it was made from, but at least he could see it. Traveling down the musty room, he hit the wall again. No longer able to tell which direction he had come from in the pitch darkness, he started to edge along it regardless, aiming for a door. It wasn't long before his hand secured an elegant brass handle, much different from the simple metal ones he had come across earlier. Not waiting, he opened it, and slid into the next room.

 

Almost instantly, he could sense that the mustiness had gone, but in its place was a line of smoke that wafted into his nose. There was a fire in this room, though it wasn't providing much light. He could barely see anything coming from it, and it was like the darkness was so intense, that it actually overcame the light that protruded from the small, dancing flames. He started to walk towards it, when he heard another sound. Something rubbing against a wooden floor. A broom?

 

“Hzooz Iqxcz,” a voice said. It was soft, quiet. Far too soft and far too quiet actually. He hadn't heard it. The person came closer, revealing grey clothing covering their body.

 

“Er, hey. Am I glad to see you,” he replied, hoping that was what had been said. He stopped cold, as he realized he couldn't see the head in the darkness. Should he ask if it was Priestess? He didn't want to be rude.

 

“Xb xr gvvu bv wxkxqool fzzb lvk qb oqrb,” Priestess moved in closer, soft footsteps barely upsetting hollow floorboards, as if the shoes had no grip to them. “X hqu ezzc sqxbxcg wvj lvy. X ncvs xb fyrb cvb hqkz rzzf ovcg wvj lvy, eyb wvj fz ib hqr ezzc qc zbzjcxbl. Eyb qb oqrb, fl Ijxcmz hqr mvfz.”

 

Nope, he hadn't understood that either. This wasn't Priestess. Had he gone deaf in the fall or something. “I was wondering if you could help me. I fell down a hole on the second floor and got a little lost.”

 

“Uv lvy cvb jzmvgcxrz fz?” The voice was definitely not talking English, but now it sounded a little sad as well. Were they foreign? That would be some bad luck. They weren't exactly in an environment to communicate through other means.

 

“Paine,” he said. “I'm Paine. Paine59.” To empathize this, he patted his own chest.

 

“X ncvs shv lvy qjz,” the voice replied. He heard heavy breathing, as the voice drew distant. “Eyb xb rzzfr ivy uv cvb lzb ncvs shv X qf.”

 

He didn't hear what sounded like a name. Wasn't he clear enough? It didn't sound French, and he didn't know any other foreign languages.

 

“Izjhqir, X sqr bvv hqrbl. Sz rhqoo hqkz bv sqxb bhzc, svc'b sz” It had become soft again, and he could barely hear it anymore. “Shxorb X uvc'b hqkz ycbxo dyrb fxucxghb bhxr bxfz, X svyou oxnz bv rzz lvy qgqxc ezwvjz bhz szzn zr vkzj. Iozqrz hzqj fl kvxmz el bhzc.”

 

Then, it was gone. And so was the fire. A loud hum filled the room, and he realized it was coming from his duel disk. It switched itself off as the hum hit its loudest point, and he fell unto darkness.