Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction ❯ Do You Dream of Me? ❯ Chapter 48

Disclaimer: I don't own Yu-gi-oh.

 

This is the last of the manga novelization filler! Ryou shows up next chapter!

 

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The next day at school Yugi and Jou showed off what Grandpa had given them. “Super Yo-yo?” Honda asked.

 

“Yup! It's the hottest street item right now!” Jou wasn't lying. “Yo-yos! Everybody wants some!”

 

“Could something so old really be so popular?” Honda wondered, arms folded.

 

“Yup!” Yugi replied. “These new yo-yos are designed so they're easy to play with!”

 

Jou loved yo-yos. “Hey, lemme show you some tricks! I call it my yo-yo tech! First of all, the basics. Dribbling. Then you got your long sleeper.” Their classmates were impressed. He was actually pretty good at this. “And if you put it on the ground while it's in sleep mode, Parade the Pooch!”

 

“What? That's just the old Walk the Dog!”

 

“You're just showing off, giving it a new name!”

 

“Urk… Then I'll show you something really cool!” Jou began to spin it around wildly.

 

“Duck! Duck for your lives!”

 

“Get rid of that thing!”

 

Yugi turned to see who had said that. “Nezumi?”

 

“Hmph.” He turned away. “I don't ever want to see another yo-yo as long as I live!”

 

Jou asked what kind of weirdo has a problem with yo-yos?

 

Nezumi told them he had been beaten up by a yo-yo wielding gang.

 

Jou was outraged! “What? How dare those jerks use yo-yos to steal from little kids! I wish they were here right now! I'd show them!”

 

Honda spoke up. “In the hands of an idiot, a yo-yo is a dangerous weapon.

 

“That's awful!” Yugi agreed with Jou. “Yo-yos aren't supposed to hurt people!”

 

“Please, Jounouchi!” Nezumi pleaded. “Can you get back at them for me? I'll show you where they are.”

 

“Awright! Leave it to me!” Jou vowed.

 

“I think they hang out around the place where I got jacked.”

 

Jou smiled in approval. That must have been hard to ask. Most guys who had been jacked never wanted to go back there.

 

“Okay, Nezumi! I'll get your revenge and you can watch!”

 

“I'll go with you, Jou,” Honda volunteered.

 

“Nah, there are only three dudes, I can handle them on my own.” Jou looked at Honda askance. Was the guy doubting his fighting skills?

 

“Oh, uh, could you come too, Yugi?” Nezumi asked. “It's just `cause I hate to be around fights… I'd feel better if someone like you was there.”

 

“Okay!” Yugi was serious. “I'll go with you.” He felt touched.

 

After school, Nezumi led them into a bad neighborhood. Finally, they ended up at an abandoned warehouse.

 

Jou had a bad feeling about this… This seemed like a setup suddenly. Who would do something like that? He glanced around, looking for gang members.

 

There were some hiding in the shadows there, and there…

 

They all jumped out!

 

Crap, this wasn't just three guys.

 

“Circle around them! Get at their backs!” One of them ordered. Jou looked at each of them. Hirutani wasn't there.

 

They kept feinting at them with the yo-yos, forcing them to huddle together. “Yugi! Nezumi! You get outta here!” Jou ordered.

 

“This way, Yugi!” Nezumi pulled Yugi away from Jou before Yugi could protest.

 

Do you wish me to take over? Yami was frowning. If this was the same opponent… they should have learned from the Summoned Skull. This was foolishness.

 

Jou had to stay locked in place: if he moved, the yo-yos that were barely missing him would slam into him.

 

“Heh heh heh… Now you can't make a move. How does it feel, Jounouchi?” A figure stepped into view. Hirutani! “Take one step and you enter the net of flying yo-yos and come out with broken bones and missing teeth!”

 

Jou had thought Hirutani had given up after what Yami had done. Damn!

 

“See, Jounouchi, I'm the persistent type. I want you and your little friend in my gang and I'm not going to stop `til you're in it. I'll do anything it takes.”

 

Jou growled.

 

“It's not like I'm making you one of my henchmen, you know. You'd be my number 2! Second in command! How about it? Does it sound good?”

 

“Sorry to disappoint you, boss monkey! I don't think I'd like it in your cage!” Jou grinned fearlessly.

 

“Heh. I forgot, the first thing I've got to do is stop you mouthing off.”

 

Yugi was grabbed by Nezumi and another kid.

 

Yami twisted free. “So, this was all a trap?”

 

“Not a trap, an invitation. You've got some sweet hardware. That taser fried us so badly we were hallucinating!” Hirutani chuckled. “But you're not carrying now, wouldn't have taken it to school and Nezumi kept an eye on you, right Nezumi?”

 

“Right!” Nezumi nodded.

 

“So you're just a little punk right now. Defenseless.” Hirutani grinned. “A perfect hostage. Get him!” Yami dodged easily.

 

“Get out of here, Yugi!” Jou ordered him, still hemmed in by the yo-yos.

 

“But you need help, Jou,” Yami replied calmly.

 

“This has been my fight all along! I shouldn't have let you handle it before!” Jou shook out his arms.

 

Hirutani laughed. “Jounouchi, you can't move an inch. What's your choice? Swear to join my group, or we'll kill your little friend.” The gang members that weren't holding Jou in place were trying to back Yami into a corner.

 

“Feh. Hirutani, whaddya mean I can't move?” Jou began to walk forward as Hirutani stared.

 

“He moved!”

 

“He went into the yo-yo murder net!” The gang members gloated.

 

Nezumi stared. Why did he do it? He didn't want anyone to actually get hurt!

 

Jou!

 

He'll be fine. He is strong, and his magic aids him.

 

But we've barely shown him anything! Just how to touch the heart of the cards!

 

He has his own heart. Fighting is a game to him, and he has won it many times. Yami approved. Have no fear.

 

Jou made his way over to Yami despite Hirutani yelling to hit him harder. “Are you ready, Hirutani?” Jou asked. “I'm ready to go on offense!”

 

Hirutani laughed contemptuously. “Before you talk big, why don't you look where you are?” They were backed up against a wall. “Even you should realize you're in a no-win situation!”

 

A gang member laughed as well. “We're going to Walk the Dog on your dead bodies!”

 

This was bad, Jou thought. Too many punks, and nothing to fight back with. “Yugi! Can I get a yo-yo?”

 

Yami smiled and held out his hand. “Certainly.” He opened it to reveal Jou's yo-yo.

 

“Thanks bud.” Jou spun it around and grinned menacingly. “This is just what I need to turn the tables! Come and get me, you chumps!” He spun the yo-yo in a circle.

 

“What are you trying?” They all sent their yo-yos towards Jou and Yami.

 

“Bwa ha ha ha! Nice try, Bonzo! Do you think I'm swinging this for fun? Don't you see it yet? Your yo-yos aren't coming back. `Cause I've got `em.” They were all tangled up with Jou's yo-yo!

 

“And now I can take these,” the clump of yo-yos, “and hang them on this hook,” and raise up the hook, laughing, “'Human hanging yo-yo technique!'” The gang members couldn't get loose because their yo-yos were tied to their fingers.

 

“It hurts!”

 

“My finger's going to fall off!”

 

“What?” Hirutani yelled in shock.

 

“Thanks, Ya… Yugi.”

 

“You're welcome, Jou.” Yami smiled. “You take Hirutani, Jou!” That was his fight, “I'll take the rest of them,” but Yami would make it a fair one. The two of them took off running.

 

“After them!” Hirutani ordered. “Don't let them leave here alive!”

 

“They're going upstairs!” The gang members chased after them.

 

“Huh?”

 

“Where did they go?”

 

“There he is! On the roof!” Yami stood there calmly, waiting.

 

Are you sure you do not want to play this game, Master?

 

No, this is more your thing, Yami. I'm not good at active stuff. Yugi shook his head.

 

Thank you. Yami smiled. He loved a good game. He loved to defend Yugi.

 

The gang members came onto the roof and slowly approached him, where he stood near the edge of the roof. “Moron… There's nowhere to run up here!”

 

Yami held out his hand, revealing “A yo-yo?”

 

Jou had showed him a few tricks. Yami demonstrated. Fair warning, after all.

 

They were shocked at how fast he was.

 

Yami let the yo-yo return to his hand. “Let's start the game! The rules are simple. The last one standing on the roof wins! Make your move!”

 

“Fine with me! Get around him!” Hirutani ordered.

 

`Hirutani,” Jou suddenly said from behind him. “Let's settle this once and for all.”

 

“I've heard you say that before. Back in middle school at the start of our beautiful friendship! Remember how we used to fight `til we were both on the ground? Nobody won…”

 

“That was before you were so screwed up in the head. Today, I'm not holding back,” Jou warned him.

 

Hirutani laughed quietly.

 

“Let's go!” And they ran toward each other and started to fight.

 

Meanwhile, the gang was trying to hit Yami with their yo-yos. Yami dodged, aiming his yo-yo not at them but at the metal sheet roof under them, so hard he was punching holes in it. “Run all you like, starhead! Sooner or later, our yo-yo net is going to take you down!”

 

And soon enough Yami ended up in a corner of the roof, with a drop behind him. “That's it, force him to the edge!”

 

“Nowhere to run, loser!” Yami watched calmly as they advanced towards him.

 

“You've fallen into our trap!” They gloated.

 

Yami laughed. “You're the ones who have fallen into a trap!”

 

What?!

 

“This metal roof we're standing on is old and rusted. Weak enough to break with a yo-yo! It crumbles like a cookie. I wonder how long it can hold your weight with all the holes I made under your feet…”

 

“Wha?” They could feel the roof start to sink under them. No way! That was what he was doing?

 

“You don't aim yo-yos at people, you aim them at the ground. Think about that in the hospital!” Yami lectured them.

 

And they fell through the roof. I wonder how Jou's doing?

 

Jou landed a punch on Hirutani's face and taunted him about how he was growing weaker. Hirutani grabbed a piece of broken glass, punched it into fragments and threw it at Jou's face! Some got in his eyes. “Unlike you, I've gotten smarter! Now you die!”

 

Jou couldn't see!

 

Hirutani crept up behind him with a piece of glass, intending to stab it through the back of his neck. But as he walked, the glass crunched underfoot. “You idiot! The glass you threw is telling me where you are!” Jou punched him so hard he went flying. He fell off the edge of the roof but grabbed on with one hand.

 

Jou walked over to him. He could see perfectly well by now. He didn't think anything of it, he always healed quickly. “Well, Hirutani? Want to see my `yo-yo tech' since youre there?” Jou let his yo-yo roll on the ground. “Parade the Pooch! You know, Walk the Dog?” It rolled right over Hirutani's hand.

 

“Ow!” He lost his grip and fell.

 

“I gotta confess that's the only trick I know, still practicing the others,” Jou confessed, calmly regarding the yo-yo.

 

“Jou! Are you all right?” Yami asked, walking over.

 

“Sure.” Jou shrugged. “He only landed a few hits, nothing serious. How about you, bud? Let me guess, perfect score?”

 

Yami laughed. “I taught them a lesson they won't soon forget.”

 

“That's great.” It had felt good to be in a real fight again. That was his kind of game. Duel Monsters had some of the same thrill, but it wasn't the same unless your life was on the line.

 

He'd had one hell of a death wish as a kid, he knew now.

 

Good thing he'd gotten out of Hirutani's gang before it was too late.

 

It wasn't too late. He still had a chance at an education and a normal life.

 

And he had really good friends.

 

“I'm going to get that little rat Nezumi!” Jou promised himself.

 

Yami looked down at Hirutani's body and remembered the Dragon Cards. “Jou, do you mind if I play a game with him as well?”

 

Jou blinked. Why? He'd beaten him, hadn't he?

 

But Hirutani would come back for more. This time he had gone after Yugi, what if next time he went after… “Sure you can.”