Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction ❯ Duelists of the Elemental Spirits ❯ Chapter 7: Operation- Hidden Blue ( Chapter 7 )
[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]
By: Sailor Mini Venus 
Anime/Manga: Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Comedy | Type: Continuation | Uploaded On: 05.15.2006 | Pages: 5 | Words: 4.7K | Visits: 216 | Status: Completed
Anime/Manga: Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Comedy | Type: Continuation | Uploaded On: 05.15.2006 | Pages: 5 | Words: 4.7K | Visits: 216 | Status: Completed
Suma Muto- Yami/Yugi
Amane, Taro, and Mana Bakura- Ryou/Tama
Yasu and Ammon Khalid- Bakura/Yume
Zahur and Liam, Ophelia, and Salim Ishtar- Malik/Ashling
Ryan and Matsu Ishtar- Mariku/Holly
Chizu and Yukio Kaiba- Seto/Serenity
Jono, Maiko, and Seth and Kevin Wheeler- Joey/Mai
Disclaimer: I still don't own Yu-Gi-Oh. Oh, I also don't own Yu-Gi-Oh!GX. I do own all OC's in this fanfiction. (and boy, are there alot of them!)
-D-U-E-L-I-S-T-S--O-F--T-H-E--E-L-E-M-E-N-T-A-L--S-P- I-R-I-T-S--D-U-E-L-I-S-T-S-
“Hello?” Rose questions, opening the door. Her eyes widen slightly when she sees who it is. “Oh! Mokuba, I wasn’t expecting you. Do you need something?”
“Um, well, I don’t really need anything. I was just wondering… wouldyougononadatewithme?” As soon as those words leave his mouth in a jumbled mess, Mokuba mentally hits himself in the head. ‘Idiot! What are you, back in high school?!’
“I’m sorry, I didn’t quite catch that.” Rose says. She seems a little amused by his stumbling.
Mokuba takes a deep breath in another attempt to calm his nerves. “I heard that there was a fair of some sort around here and was wondering if you would like to go. Your little sister can come too, if she’d like to.”
Rose seems to consider this for a moment. “Why not? Are we going now or some other time?”
“Now is as good a time as ever.” Mokuba says. “How long will it take you to get ready?”
Rose smiles. “Not long at all. I’ll go get Selene and a jacket and I’ll be ready to go.”
Mokuba smiles as well. “Alright.”
0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0
The next day Frank finds Mokuba happily humming some tune in his office while spinning around in circles in his rolling chair. Frank sweat drops and then leaves the office, deciding not to ruin his boss’s good mood by telling him about the machine that has somehow shorted out.
0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0
Back in Domino City, Malik and Tama have gotten together for their monthly “sparring” match. Ryou is watching the two of them fight from the safety of the kitchen, where he’s making lunch and glancing out the window now and then. He sweat drops when Tama throws Malik only to trip and fall over one of her fans that is laying in the grass.
A loud ‘DONG’ sounds through the house and Taro and Mana can be heard yelling, “I’ll get it!” Moments later sounds of disappointment can be heard as wither Yume or Bakura has gotten to the door before either of the kids.
Ryou sighs and sets down the spoon he’s using and goes into the hall in hopes of preventing yet another argument-turned-shoving-match-turned-fight. Instead of finding his kids arguing with each other and Bakura or Yume, he finds Yugi and Yami standing at the door with four shocked people around them. Apparently Yugi has won the argument, but this time it’s Yami who gets to play "mother". (1)
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“Why does it have to be me?!” Amane hisses, struggling to get out of the situation she’s gotten herself into.
Seth and Amane both just smile and shove the white-haired girl toward the group of three Slifers, one Ra, and two Obelisks. This causes Amane to stumble and fall out from the bush where she was “hiding” with Suma and Seth.
A little over a week has passed since Suma, Ryan, and Ammon visited the abandoned dorm to see if that’s where the rip is. During this week the Larks have been trying to come up with the best course of action for tackling the problem and have noticed a strange energy around Jaden, some of his friends, Professor Banner, and Dr. Crowler. Also during this week, Seto contacts Chizu to make sure everything is going alright. It’s through her dad that she learns that the seven of the non-Larks have the keys that will unlock the beast cards. (Something that Seto and Yami curse Pegasus repetitively for making.)
So now the Larks have decided they need to have Jaden and his friends help them with the dorm. This decision is made after they learn that Jaden, Syrus, and Chumley have been inside the dorm before and could help them out a little. Also, Seto had hinted to Chizu that they would be good allies.
“Hey Amane, what’s up?” Jaden asks, actually remembering her name. “Where’s the others?”
“They’re around her somewhere.” Amane replies vaguely after collecting herself from the fall. “I was actually looking for you guys. I want to ask you something.”
“Well ask your question and then leave.” Chazz says. “We were discussing something important here.”
Amane’s lilac eyes flash dangerously, a tell-tale sign that the temper she inherited from her mom is rising to the surface. She glares at the dark haired Obelisk Blue. “Well excuse me for having a question, Mr-big-bag-Obelisk-idiot. Not offense meant, Alexis.” Before Alexis can say anything she takes a step closer to the group. “And if it’s as important as you’re making it out to be then obviously you’ll remember it after I ask my question. Of course, I might just decide to stay just to spite you.”
In their hiding place Seth and Suma sweat drop.
“She gets so worked up sometimes.” Seth says with a sigh. “And now she’s found somebody to argue with. Is that good or bad?”
“Both.” Suma tells him. “We’ll never hear the end of how much he annoys her. I don’t really blame her for being annoyed since he annoys me too. That and he insulted me.”
Seth grins. “Are we sure that calling you a shrimpy, Yugi Muto wannabe is really an insult?”
Needless to say, Seth gets hit in the head for that comment.
“I was just jo- king…” He trails off as something catches his attention. “Pretty…”
Suma raises an eyebrow, wondering what has turned Seth into a pile of babbling goo, and turns to look in the direction the violet-eyed boy is looking. When she sees what, or rather who, he’s looking at she makes a noise of exasperation. “Seth, don’t sit here and drool. Go talk to her if you think she’s so pretty.”
Seth make a whimpering sound.
“If you don’t go over and talk to her then I will embarrass you by dragging you over to her and personally introduce you to her. Then I’ll stay there and gush about how cute you look together and-” She stops and smirks as Seth practically runs out of their hiding place and then walks over to the pale blue-haired Obelisk Blue girl. ‘I love messing with him.’
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Mokuba yawns widely as he opens the door to the small house he’s renting, at Seto’s insistence, and kicks off his shoes because he doesn’t want to set down the grocery bags in his arms. Then he makes his way to the kitchen to put away the groceries and start making dinner. Before he gets a chance to start dinner, the phone rings.
“Moshi, moshi.” Mokuba tiredly says.
“Mokuba? Is that you?” Rose’s voice drifts through the phone, snapping Mokuba out of his sleepiness.
“Yeah, it’s me. What’s up?” Mokuba asks, hoping nothing is wrong.
He hears Rose sigh in relief before she replies. “Mokuba, can I ask you a favor?”
“Sure.”
“Can you watch Selene for me tomorrow? Her usual sitter is busy and there aren’t many other people I’d trust.”
‘Which is probably key for, “everyone else is busy”.’ Mokuba thinks to himself. “Of course I’ll watch Selene. I need a break from work anyway.” ‘Frank-kun can handle things at work.’
“Thank you so much, Mokuba. I really appreciate it.” Rose tells him. “I’ll repay you some how.”
“No need.” Mokuba tells her. “I’m happy to do it. Really. Do you want me to pick her up?”
“If you don’t mind. Around eight or so is best.”
Mokuba quickly finds a pencil and a sticky note pad and jots this information down. “Alright. I’ll see you in the morning.”
“Bye.”
-Click-
&# 8216;Frank-kun is going to kill me…’ Mokuba thinks as he hangs up the phone.
0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0
The next morning at the office…
“Mokuba-san, where are those-” Frank stops short and looks around the office devoid of Mokuba. “Mokuba-san?” He questions, wondering if his boss has fallen asleep under his desk again. Just to check, Frank walks over to the desk and looks beneath it.
“MOKUBA-SAN!!!!”
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“Creepy…” Amane comments, looking at the dark dorm.
Somehow Amane has convinced Jaden to show them around the abandoned dorm and because the brunette is coming with them, the rest of his crew is there as well.
“We need to split up into groups.” Zahur comments, critically eying the building. “At least one Lark in each. Yasu, how many are we?”
“Eighteen.” Yasu responds immediately. “Two groups of four and two of five. Two Larks in groups of four; three in five.”
Everyone else except for Liam, Chizu, and Suma look between the two in confusion.
“Groups?” Alexis questions. “Wouldn’t it be a better idea to stay together?”
“No.” Zahur says simply. “Suma, how are we arranged? What are the titles?”
Suma quickly snaps into action along with Chizu. “Chizu, Ryan, Alexis, and Jaden will make up team Dark-Seer; myself, Amane, Syrus, and Bastian shall make up team Fire-Void.”
“And Liam, Maiko, Ammon, Chazz, and Chumley will be team Thunder-Shadow; and everyone else, Jono, Seth, Yasu, Zane, and Zahur, will be team Aqua-Earth. Team leaders carry our special walkie talkies and they have already been given out by Zahur and Yasu.” Chizu says.
“The dorm has four different floors, thus why there’s four teams. Team Dark-Seer has the basement; Fire-Void has the first floor; Thunder-Shadow has the attic; and Aqua-Eath has the second floor.” Suma announces.
Yasu takes over the “orders” now. “Larks, you all know the rules, but I’ll review the most important ones for our guests’ and Ryan’s sake. The walkie talkie’s stay on at all times. Stay in your groups. Don’t split up. Stay aware at all times. If you find what we’re looking for then report your location. The same goes if you run into serious trouble. If you must summon then summon. No hesitation. No regrets.” She looks around at everyone. “Talk to your groups inside if you have any questions. You’ll need something to talk about in there or else everyone will be freaking out because of how dark it is in there.”
“Lets move out!” Chizu says cheerfully. “The least time we’ve got to spend in there the better!”
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Team Thunder-Shadow.
“Man, this place is creepy.” Chumley comments, looking around the attic.
Ammon and Liam exchange grins.
“Yeah,” The blonde says, his grin growing wider. “pretty creepy.”
Maiko frowns, already recognizing the signs of the twins plotting something. “Don’t even think about it you two.” She says warningly.
Now Liam and Ammon exchange disappointed looks and file away their plots for later use. Most likely they’ll tell Chizu and Ryan the plans and from there it will grow into something even more stupid that will probably actually work.
“Remember, we’re looking for anything strange or out of place-”
“Like a big mass of glowing purple or shadowy stuff?” Ammon asks.
Maiko rolls her eyes. “Yes. And if you find anything, then tell me.”
Chazz snorts. “Who died and made you boss?”
Maiko smirks and unclips a walkie talkie from her belt. “This.”
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Team Fire-Void.
“You notice they give us the biggest space to investigate.” Amane comments, her accent thicker than normal because of her annoyance. Or maybe it’s fear. She jumps almost immediately after saying this. “Great Scott! What was that?!”
“It was probably just a rat, A’ne.” Suma says dismissively. “No need to be so jumpy about it.”
“A rat?” Syrus asks worriedly. “I don’t like rats.”
“As long as its not a zombie or mummy or something that wants to kill us because it craves the taste of human flesh.” Amane says, glancing nervously around.
Suma rolls her eyes while Syrus squeaks, “Zombie?!” She turns to Amane and says, “You have been spending far too much time around the boys.”
Amane laughs nervously. “Ha ha ha. No, not really. It’s just kind of fun scaring people.” Then she promptly screams and runs and hides behind Suma when Bastian taps her on the shoulder.
Suma snickers and gives Amane a look. “You were saying?”
“Oh, shut the bloody hell up.”
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Team Aqua-Earth.
Jono and Seth boredly follow Zahur, Yasu, and Zane around the second floor. The two of them think it’s pretty obvious that the rip isn’t on this floor. After all, in all the scary movies and ghost stories everything evil or creepy is found in the basement or the attic. They voice this opinion.
“Just because it doesn’t look creepy doesn’t mean the rip couldn’t be here.” Zahur says patiently.
Zane frowns. “What exactly is this ‘rip’ you keep mentioning.”
“It’s basically a hole in the barrier that separates this realm from the Shadow Realm.” Yasu explains. “Left open or unchecked it could cause a massive power outage or worse; Duel Monsters could actually start coming through. It would start with the lower ranked ones and as the rips grows then larger ones would come through. We have no clue as to how these rips form though.” She glances at Zahur. “Earth, the Key idiots are right. We’d have seen signs of the Shadows if the rip was on this floor.”
“See!” Seth exclaims. “Even Yasu agrees!”
“Yeah, and how much do you want to be that the rip will either be in the attic or the basement.”
“Oh please,” Yasu says. “That would be far too cliché.”
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Team Dark-Seer.
Chizu leads the way through the lowest floor, glancing wearily at the shadows. Ryan brings up the rear and he’s the only one who looks even the slightest bit excited about being in the dark. Alexis and Jaden walk closely together in between the two.
“What do you think they’re looking for?” Alexis whispers.
Jaden shrugs. “No clue. Maybe we should ask so that we know what to look for.”
Alexis nods in agreement. “Good idea. Hey, Chizu?”
Chizu looks back at Jaden and Alexis, her blue eyes glowing in the darkness. “Yeah? What’s up?”
“What exactly are we looking for?” Alexis asks.
Chizu sighs and wracks her bran on ways to explain what they’re doing. Then she remembers a phone call she got from her dad. “You two are key keepers, right? Two of the seven?” She asks.
Ryan perks up, his eyes glittering in the darkness as he blends more in with the darkness. Then he walks ahead of them so he can keep a better lookout and hear the conversation better.
Jaden and Alexis both nod. Both of them are now on guard seeing as how one of their theories (technically, it’s Chazz’s theory) about the Larks is that some of them are Shadow Riders.
“My friends and I, we have many titles.” Chizu continues. “But our main duty is to maintain the barrier that separates the Shadow Realm from our own. We were sent to this academy because we found that there was a rip in the barrier around here. That rip is here in this building.”
Up ahead, Ryan stops and reaches for his deck. His brown and lilac eyes narrow as he peers ahead into the darkness. “Chizu. Call in the others.”
The other three stare at the brunette in either shock or surprise. None of them have ever heard him sound so serious. Chizu is the first to react and she grabs the walkie talkie she has.
“This is team Dark-Seer reporting from the basement. We’ve got something down here.”
/./Team Fire-Void. We’re on our way././ Suma’s voice comes through the device.
/./Aqua-Earth. We’re on our way././ Yasu says.
/./Team Thunder-Shadow././ Now it’s Liam, for some strange reason. He must have stolen the walkie talkie from Maiko. /./Ready or not, here we come!/./
Sure enough, Maiko can soon be heard yelling, “Liam, give me that!” through the walkie talkie.
Everyone not in team Thunder-Shadow sweat drops.
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Soon the groups have joined together and they’re walking through the basement together. Ryan, Chizu, and Jaden are in the lead and Maiko, Amane, Bastian, and Chazz bring up the rear.
“Hey, Zahur?” Liam whispers to his twin. “Why are they all with us?” He gestures toward Alexis in Zane, but means all of the non-Larks.
“Chizu suggested it.” Zahur replies. “I’m not sure exactly why she wanted them to come, but she mentioned it might be for the best.”
Liam frowns thoughtfully. “Maybe she had a vision? No. Nevermind. The items haven’t been working correctly so that can’t be it. Maybe she got a phone call from Uncle Seto or Uncle Yami or someone.”
It goes without saying that the true leaders of all of this are Yami and Seto, however much the CEO tries to deny his past. Because of this, the leadership roles for the Larks fall on Suma, Chizu, and at times Yukio.
A loud roar pierces the air, stopping all thoughts, conversation, and forward movement.
“W-what was that?” Syrus stutters.
“It sounded like a dragon. Maybe there’s a duel going on.” Zane says.
A second roar makes the basement shake (“Since when do duel monsters make whole buildings shake?!” Chazz exclaims.) and both Ammon and Chizu go pale and yell, “Shadow!!” before running past the others into the darkness.
“The hell?” Jono and Seth both mutter.
Suma curses and turns to Amane, who typically picks up the role of second-in-command when Chizu isn’t around. “Get everyone back and make sure they don’t get close to either me or Liam.” Then she turns to Liam. “Sparky, help me get some light in here.”
Liam grins at the prospect of being able to use his power. “Well it’s about time!” He quickly tosses the Millennium Rod to Zahur, who easily catches it. Then he walks over to an electric socket and pulls a paperclip out of his pocket.
“At least it’s not a hairpin this time.” Maiko mumbles, making Seth and Jono both snicker at the thought.
“What is he doing?” Alexis asks. “That’s dangerous.”
Amane makes sure everyone stays away from Liam at least five feet. “He’ll be just fine. Just stay back away from him so that you don’t get hurt.” As she says this Liam sticks one end of the paperclip into the electric socket and begins drawing electrical energy from it. The others watch in amazement as he makes the energy flow along the surface of his skin. He stops when his entire body glows from pure electrical energy.
“Bwahahaha! Just call me Electric Man!” He exclaims.
Suma rolls her eyes. “I think we’ll stick with sparky. Although, ‘the human light bulb’ might work too.” Then she pulls out a lighter and flicks it on and off several times until there’s a rather large fireball in her left hand.
“Pyro…” Liam grumbles, seeing the look in the oldest girl’s eyes.
And so they set off into the darkness with the amazing human light bulb and the pyromaniac magician in the lead.
When they get to the area where the rip is, they find Chizu straining to restrain a large pepper-scaled dragon that has eyes that keep flickering between red and blue. Ammon is off to the side curled up into a ball because of the powerful amount of raw Shadow Magic that permeates the room. Ryan even shudders from the force.
“Non-Larks stand back!” Suma orders, allowing the flames to form the shape of a bow and arrow. She carefully shoots the flame arrow up to the chandelier and the rest of the fire automatically follows. Meanwhile, Liam allows the electrical energy he collect to go up to the chandelier as well. Now that the room is bathed in some light, they can begin.
“Key, Rod, and Ring to my left!” Suma orders. “Eye, Scales, ad Necklace to my right! Chizu, toss to Necklace to Maiko!”
Chizu quickly unclips the item from around her neck and tosses it to the blonde girl all without taking her eyes off the dragon in front of her. Maiko catches the Necklace, puts it on, and quickly takes her place between Ryan, who has the scales, and Yasu, who currently has the eye since her brother is unmoving.
On Suma’s right are Seth and Jono, Zahur and Liam, and Amane.
Suma lifts up the puzzle and then the items begin to glow one-by-one. A golden light shoots out from each item and the beams meet in midair and spread out to cover the area to rip is across. Slowly the light begins to dissipate as the energy from the items sews up the tear. Then everything goes black as a strong, sudden wind blows out the fire.
“Oi, where’d the light go?” Jono asks loudly. “Liam, Suma, can’t you guys give us some light?”
“There’s no electrical energy around here.” Liam speaks up. “If we weren’t underground in a place with no electric sockets then it’d be a different story.”
“I lost my lighter somewhere.” Suma announces. “It must have fallen when we were running.”
There’s silence for a moment while every tries to think of what to do.
“I found a rock! Here, Suma, catch!”
-THUD-
“Ouch! Ryan, that hit my head!”
“Sorry, Yasu.”
“And what the heck is a rock going to do exactly?” Suma asks.
There’s once again silence.
“Okay, forget the lighter and any form of subtlety we have left.” Suma says, frustration laced in her voice. A snap can be heard and a huge fireball appears out of nowhere. The pyro Muto smirks. “Now I feel much better.”
“All right, Roy. (2) Stop showing off and get us out of here.” Maiko says. “Which way are we going.”
“Wait,” Chizu speaks up.
Everyone looks over at the raven-haired teen and they’re all shocked to see her stroking the snout of the dragon.
“Shadow says that he’ll take us out.” Chizu says softly. “He came here to investigate the rip on Aunt Tama’s orders and has been stuck here since. He wants to apologize for any trouble he’s caused.”
“There’s no way I’m getting anywhere near it.” Chazz mutters.
Chizu glares at Chazz, having heard what he said. “Then you can find your own way out.” She says coldly. She then deftly climbs onto the dragon’s head and seats herself between his two horns. “Relax guys, he’s harmless.” She says, noticing the worried expressions on everyone’s face.
“Yeah,” Jono starts in a joking tone. “except for the claws-”
“the fangs-” Seth says.
“the horns-”
“the tail-”
“the spikes-”
“the--”
“Put a sock in it.” Chizu tells them.
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(1) I'd like to thank XxSexiItxX for bringing up the subject of who will be the "mother" in her review. At first I was going to have Yugi be the "mother" again, not wanting to invoke the wrath of a pregnant hormonal Yami. And then I started talking to my yami, Damian, Bakura, and Mariku. (shudders) Never again.
(2) The Roy comment is brought to you by me watching far too much Fullmetal Alchemist. For those who don't know, Roy is the name of a character in the show; Roy Mustang, the Flame Alchemist to be precise. With a simple snap of his fingers, everything explodes. Beware the power of Roy Mustang! ((Al will always be my favorite though! (hugs)))
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Shiro: And again I've come across another chapter that was pretty hard to write. I had no idea where I was even going with it in the beginning, despite having written out chapter summaries and crap. (sighs) At this point, all I've got to say is "thank goddess that this is a shorter story than the others!"
Damian: Shorter? Why? I don't want it to be shorter! Can't it be longer, with a couple of chapters dedicated to ME?!
Shiro: Hmmm... (pretends to think about it) No!
Damian: (pouts) Aww, why not?
Shiro: Because, I want to get all of the stories I currently have posted done and over with before summer. Then I'll take a break and get together my thoughts and sanity and figure out what two stories to post next. (sighs) Sadly, I will have to bring you back for one of them...
Damian: Yay! (hugs) Excuse me while I go spread the good news! (skips off happily humming)
-CRASH-
Shiro: (to Bast) Think I should have warned him about the wall?
(Damian: I'm okay!)
Bast: No, it's more entertaining this way.
Shiro: You're a horrible influence, you know that?
Bast: Well, I am your darker half. It makes sense that I'm a bad influence.
Shiro: Dark doesn't mean evil.
Bast: Tell that to Rye, Bakura, and Mariku.
Shiro: I don't want to... (to readers) I hope you all enjoyed this chapter. The next one should be posted soon.
NEXT CHAPTER- Chapter 8: War of Snow
Amane, Taro, and Mana Bakura- Ryou/Tama
Yasu and Ammon Khalid- Bakura/Yume
Zahur and Liam, Ophelia, and Salim Ishtar- Malik/Ashling
Ryan and Matsu Ishtar- Mariku/Holly
Chizu and Yukio Kaiba- Seto/Serenity
Jono, Maiko, and Seth and Kevin Wheeler- Joey/Mai
Disclaimer: I still don't own Yu-Gi-Oh. Oh, I also don't own Yu-Gi-Oh!GX. I do own all OC's in this fanfiction. (and boy, are there alot of them!)
-D-U-E-L-I-S-T-S--O-F--T-H-E--E-L-E-M-E-N-T-A-L--S-P- I-R-I-T-S--D-U-E-L-I-S-T-S-
Chapter 7: Operation- Hidden Blue
Mokuba takes a deep, calming breath and then knocks on the door to Rose’s house. Then he nervously goes over what he wants to say in his mind.“Hello?” Rose questions, opening the door. Her eyes widen slightly when she sees who it is. “Oh! Mokuba, I wasn’t expecting you. Do you need something?”
“Um, well, I don’t really need anything. I was just wondering… wouldyougononadatewithme?” As soon as those words leave his mouth in a jumbled mess, Mokuba mentally hits himself in the head. ‘Idiot! What are you, back in high school?!’
“I’m sorry, I didn’t quite catch that.” Rose says. She seems a little amused by his stumbling.
Mokuba takes a deep breath in another attempt to calm his nerves. “I heard that there was a fair of some sort around here and was wondering if you would like to go. Your little sister can come too, if she’d like to.”
Rose seems to consider this for a moment. “Why not? Are we going now or some other time?”
“Now is as good a time as ever.” Mokuba says. “How long will it take you to get ready?”
Rose smiles. “Not long at all. I’ll go get Selene and a jacket and I’ll be ready to go.”
Mokuba smiles as well. “Alright.”
0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0
The next day Frank finds Mokuba happily humming some tune in his office while spinning around in circles in his rolling chair. Frank sweat drops and then leaves the office, deciding not to ruin his boss’s good mood by telling him about the machine that has somehow shorted out.
0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0
Back in Domino City, Malik and Tama have gotten together for their monthly “sparring” match. Ryou is watching the two of them fight from the safety of the kitchen, where he’s making lunch and glancing out the window now and then. He sweat drops when Tama throws Malik only to trip and fall over one of her fans that is laying in the grass.
A loud ‘DONG’ sounds through the house and Taro and Mana can be heard yelling, “I’ll get it!” Moments later sounds of disappointment can be heard as wither Yume or Bakura has gotten to the door before either of the kids.
Ryou sighs and sets down the spoon he’s using and goes into the hall in hopes of preventing yet another argument-turned-shoving-match-turned-fight. Instead of finding his kids arguing with each other and Bakura or Yume, he finds Yugi and Yami standing at the door with four shocked people around them. Apparently Yugi has won the argument, but this time it’s Yami who gets to play "mother". (1)
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“Why does it have to be me?!” Amane hisses, struggling to get out of the situation she’s gotten herself into.
Seth and Amane both just smile and shove the white-haired girl toward the group of three Slifers, one Ra, and two Obelisks. This causes Amane to stumble and fall out from the bush where she was “hiding” with Suma and Seth.
A little over a week has passed since Suma, Ryan, and Ammon visited the abandoned dorm to see if that’s where the rip is. During this week the Larks have been trying to come up with the best course of action for tackling the problem and have noticed a strange energy around Jaden, some of his friends, Professor Banner, and Dr. Crowler. Also during this week, Seto contacts Chizu to make sure everything is going alright. It’s through her dad that she learns that the seven of the non-Larks have the keys that will unlock the beast cards. (Something that Seto and Yami curse Pegasus repetitively for making.)
So now the Larks have decided they need to have Jaden and his friends help them with the dorm. This decision is made after they learn that Jaden, Syrus, and Chumley have been inside the dorm before and could help them out a little. Also, Seto had hinted to Chizu that they would be good allies.
“Hey Amane, what’s up?” Jaden asks, actually remembering her name. “Where’s the others?”
“They’re around her somewhere.” Amane replies vaguely after collecting herself from the fall. “I was actually looking for you guys. I want to ask you something.”
“Well ask your question and then leave.” Chazz says. “We were discussing something important here.”
Amane’s lilac eyes flash dangerously, a tell-tale sign that the temper she inherited from her mom is rising to the surface. She glares at the dark haired Obelisk Blue. “Well excuse me for having a question, Mr-big-bag-Obelisk-idiot. Not offense meant, Alexis.” Before Alexis can say anything she takes a step closer to the group. “And if it’s as important as you’re making it out to be then obviously you’ll remember it after I ask my question. Of course, I might just decide to stay just to spite you.”
In their hiding place Seth and Suma sweat drop.
“She gets so worked up sometimes.” Seth says with a sigh. “And now she’s found somebody to argue with. Is that good or bad?”
“Both.” Suma tells him. “We’ll never hear the end of how much he annoys her. I don’t really blame her for being annoyed since he annoys me too. That and he insulted me.”
Seth grins. “Are we sure that calling you a shrimpy, Yugi Muto wannabe is really an insult?”
Needless to say, Seth gets hit in the head for that comment.
“I was just jo- king…” He trails off as something catches his attention. “Pretty…”
Suma raises an eyebrow, wondering what has turned Seth into a pile of babbling goo, and turns to look in the direction the violet-eyed boy is looking. When she sees what, or rather who, he’s looking at she makes a noise of exasperation. “Seth, don’t sit here and drool. Go talk to her if you think she’s so pretty.”
Seth make a whimpering sound.
“If you don’t go over and talk to her then I will embarrass you by dragging you over to her and personally introduce you to her. Then I’ll stay there and gush about how cute you look together and-” She stops and smirks as Seth practically runs out of their hiding place and then walks over to the pale blue-haired Obelisk Blue girl. ‘I love messing with him.’
0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0
Mokuba yawns widely as he opens the door to the small house he’s renting, at Seto’s insistence, and kicks off his shoes because he doesn’t want to set down the grocery bags in his arms. Then he makes his way to the kitchen to put away the groceries and start making dinner. Before he gets a chance to start dinner, the phone rings.
“Moshi, moshi.” Mokuba tiredly says.
“Mokuba? Is that you?” Rose’s voice drifts through the phone, snapping Mokuba out of his sleepiness.
“Yeah, it’s me. What’s up?” Mokuba asks, hoping nothing is wrong.
He hears Rose sigh in relief before she replies. “Mokuba, can I ask you a favor?”
“Sure.”
“Can you watch Selene for me tomorrow? Her usual sitter is busy and there aren’t many other people I’d trust.”
‘Which is probably key for, “everyone else is busy”.’ Mokuba thinks to himself. “Of course I’ll watch Selene. I need a break from work anyway.” ‘Frank-kun can handle things at work.’
“Thank you so much, Mokuba. I really appreciate it.” Rose tells him. “I’ll repay you some how.”
“No need.” Mokuba tells her. “I’m happy to do it. Really. Do you want me to pick her up?”
“If you don’t mind. Around eight or so is best.”
Mokuba quickly finds a pencil and a sticky note pad and jots this information down. “Alright. I’ll see you in the morning.”
“Bye.”
-Click-
&# 8216;Frank-kun is going to kill me…’ Mokuba thinks as he hangs up the phone.
0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0
The next morning at the office…
“Mokuba-san, where are those-” Frank stops short and looks around the office devoid of Mokuba. “Mokuba-san?” He questions, wondering if his boss has fallen asleep under his desk again. Just to check, Frank walks over to the desk and looks beneath it.
“MOKUBA-SAN!!!!”
0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0
“Creepy…” Amane comments, looking at the dark dorm.
Somehow Amane has convinced Jaden to show them around the abandoned dorm and because the brunette is coming with them, the rest of his crew is there as well.
“We need to split up into groups.” Zahur comments, critically eying the building. “At least one Lark in each. Yasu, how many are we?”
“Eighteen.” Yasu responds immediately. “Two groups of four and two of five. Two Larks in groups of four; three in five.”
Everyone else except for Liam, Chizu, and Suma look between the two in confusion.
“Groups?” Alexis questions. “Wouldn’t it be a better idea to stay together?”
“No.” Zahur says simply. “Suma, how are we arranged? What are the titles?”
Suma quickly snaps into action along with Chizu. “Chizu, Ryan, Alexis, and Jaden will make up team Dark-Seer; myself, Amane, Syrus, and Bastian shall make up team Fire-Void.”
“And Liam, Maiko, Ammon, Chazz, and Chumley will be team Thunder-Shadow; and everyone else, Jono, Seth, Yasu, Zane, and Zahur, will be team Aqua-Earth. Team leaders carry our special walkie talkies and they have already been given out by Zahur and Yasu.” Chizu says.
“The dorm has four different floors, thus why there’s four teams. Team Dark-Seer has the basement; Fire-Void has the first floor; Thunder-Shadow has the attic; and Aqua-Eath has the second floor.” Suma announces.
Yasu takes over the “orders” now. “Larks, you all know the rules, but I’ll review the most important ones for our guests’ and Ryan’s sake. The walkie talkie’s stay on at all times. Stay in your groups. Don’t split up. Stay aware at all times. If you find what we’re looking for then report your location. The same goes if you run into serious trouble. If you must summon then summon. No hesitation. No regrets.” She looks around at everyone. “Talk to your groups inside if you have any questions. You’ll need something to talk about in there or else everyone will be freaking out because of how dark it is in there.”
“Lets move out!” Chizu says cheerfully. “The least time we’ve got to spend in there the better!”
0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0
Team Thunder-Shadow.
“Man, this place is creepy.” Chumley comments, looking around the attic.
Ammon and Liam exchange grins.
“Yeah,” The blonde says, his grin growing wider. “pretty creepy.”
Maiko frowns, already recognizing the signs of the twins plotting something. “Don’t even think about it you two.” She says warningly.
Now Liam and Ammon exchange disappointed looks and file away their plots for later use. Most likely they’ll tell Chizu and Ryan the plans and from there it will grow into something even more stupid that will probably actually work.
“Remember, we’re looking for anything strange or out of place-”
“Like a big mass of glowing purple or shadowy stuff?” Ammon asks.
Maiko rolls her eyes. “Yes. And if you find anything, then tell me.”
Chazz snorts. “Who died and made you boss?”
Maiko smirks and unclips a walkie talkie from her belt. “This.”
0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0
Team Fire-Void.
“You notice they give us the biggest space to investigate.” Amane comments, her accent thicker than normal because of her annoyance. Or maybe it’s fear. She jumps almost immediately after saying this. “Great Scott! What was that?!”
“It was probably just a rat, A’ne.” Suma says dismissively. “No need to be so jumpy about it.”
“A rat?” Syrus asks worriedly. “I don’t like rats.”
“As long as its not a zombie or mummy or something that wants to kill us because it craves the taste of human flesh.” Amane says, glancing nervously around.
Suma rolls her eyes while Syrus squeaks, “Zombie?!” She turns to Amane and says, “You have been spending far too much time around the boys.”
Amane laughs nervously. “Ha ha ha. No, not really. It’s just kind of fun scaring people.” Then she promptly screams and runs and hides behind Suma when Bastian taps her on the shoulder.
Suma snickers and gives Amane a look. “You were saying?”
“Oh, shut the bloody hell up.”
0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0
Team Aqua-Earth.
Jono and Seth boredly follow Zahur, Yasu, and Zane around the second floor. The two of them think it’s pretty obvious that the rip isn’t on this floor. After all, in all the scary movies and ghost stories everything evil or creepy is found in the basement or the attic. They voice this opinion.
“Just because it doesn’t look creepy doesn’t mean the rip couldn’t be here.” Zahur says patiently.
Zane frowns. “What exactly is this ‘rip’ you keep mentioning.”
“It’s basically a hole in the barrier that separates this realm from the Shadow Realm.” Yasu explains. “Left open or unchecked it could cause a massive power outage or worse; Duel Monsters could actually start coming through. It would start with the lower ranked ones and as the rips grows then larger ones would come through. We have no clue as to how these rips form though.” She glances at Zahur. “Earth, the Key idiots are right. We’d have seen signs of the Shadows if the rip was on this floor.”
“See!” Seth exclaims. “Even Yasu agrees!”
“Yeah, and how much do you want to be that the rip will either be in the attic or the basement.”
“Oh please,” Yasu says. “That would be far too cliché.”
0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0
Team Dark-Seer.
Chizu leads the way through the lowest floor, glancing wearily at the shadows. Ryan brings up the rear and he’s the only one who looks even the slightest bit excited about being in the dark. Alexis and Jaden walk closely together in between the two.
“What do you think they’re looking for?” Alexis whispers.
Jaden shrugs. “No clue. Maybe we should ask so that we know what to look for.”
Alexis nods in agreement. “Good idea. Hey, Chizu?”
Chizu looks back at Jaden and Alexis, her blue eyes glowing in the darkness. “Yeah? What’s up?”
“What exactly are we looking for?” Alexis asks.
Chizu sighs and wracks her bran on ways to explain what they’re doing. Then she remembers a phone call she got from her dad. “You two are key keepers, right? Two of the seven?” She asks.
Ryan perks up, his eyes glittering in the darkness as he blends more in with the darkness. Then he walks ahead of them so he can keep a better lookout and hear the conversation better.
Jaden and Alexis both nod. Both of them are now on guard seeing as how one of their theories (technically, it’s Chazz’s theory) about the Larks is that some of them are Shadow Riders.
“My friends and I, we have many titles.” Chizu continues. “But our main duty is to maintain the barrier that separates the Shadow Realm from our own. We were sent to this academy because we found that there was a rip in the barrier around here. That rip is here in this building.”
Up ahead, Ryan stops and reaches for his deck. His brown and lilac eyes narrow as he peers ahead into the darkness. “Chizu. Call in the others.”
The other three stare at the brunette in either shock or surprise. None of them have ever heard him sound so serious. Chizu is the first to react and she grabs the walkie talkie she has.
“This is team Dark-Seer reporting from the basement. We’ve got something down here.”
/./Team Fire-Void. We’re on our way././ Suma’s voice comes through the device.
/./Aqua-Earth. We’re on our way././ Yasu says.
/./Team Thunder-Shadow././ Now it’s Liam, for some strange reason. He must have stolen the walkie talkie from Maiko. /./Ready or not, here we come!/./
Sure enough, Maiko can soon be heard yelling, “Liam, give me that!” through the walkie talkie.
Everyone not in team Thunder-Shadow sweat drops.
0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0
Soon the groups have joined together and they’re walking through the basement together. Ryan, Chizu, and Jaden are in the lead and Maiko, Amane, Bastian, and Chazz bring up the rear.
“Hey, Zahur?” Liam whispers to his twin. “Why are they all with us?” He gestures toward Alexis in Zane, but means all of the non-Larks.
“Chizu suggested it.” Zahur replies. “I’m not sure exactly why she wanted them to come, but she mentioned it might be for the best.”
Liam frowns thoughtfully. “Maybe she had a vision? No. Nevermind. The items haven’t been working correctly so that can’t be it. Maybe she got a phone call from Uncle Seto or Uncle Yami or someone.”
It goes without saying that the true leaders of all of this are Yami and Seto, however much the CEO tries to deny his past. Because of this, the leadership roles for the Larks fall on Suma, Chizu, and at times Yukio.
A loud roar pierces the air, stopping all thoughts, conversation, and forward movement.
“W-what was that?” Syrus stutters.
“It sounded like a dragon. Maybe there’s a duel going on.” Zane says.
A second roar makes the basement shake (“Since when do duel monsters make whole buildings shake?!” Chazz exclaims.) and both Ammon and Chizu go pale and yell, “Shadow!!” before running past the others into the darkness.
“The hell?” Jono and Seth both mutter.
Suma curses and turns to Amane, who typically picks up the role of second-in-command when Chizu isn’t around. “Get everyone back and make sure they don’t get close to either me or Liam.” Then she turns to Liam. “Sparky, help me get some light in here.”
Liam grins at the prospect of being able to use his power. “Well it’s about time!” He quickly tosses the Millennium Rod to Zahur, who easily catches it. Then he walks over to an electric socket and pulls a paperclip out of his pocket.
“At least it’s not a hairpin this time.” Maiko mumbles, making Seth and Jono both snicker at the thought.
“What is he doing?” Alexis asks. “That’s dangerous.”
Amane makes sure everyone stays away from Liam at least five feet. “He’ll be just fine. Just stay back away from him so that you don’t get hurt.” As she says this Liam sticks one end of the paperclip into the electric socket and begins drawing electrical energy from it. The others watch in amazement as he makes the energy flow along the surface of his skin. He stops when his entire body glows from pure electrical energy.
“Bwahahaha! Just call me Electric Man!” He exclaims.
Suma rolls her eyes. “I think we’ll stick with sparky. Although, ‘the human light bulb’ might work too.” Then she pulls out a lighter and flicks it on and off several times until there’s a rather large fireball in her left hand.
“Pyro…” Liam grumbles, seeing the look in the oldest girl’s eyes.
And so they set off into the darkness with the amazing human light bulb and the pyromaniac magician in the lead.
When they get to the area where the rip is, they find Chizu straining to restrain a large pepper-scaled dragon that has eyes that keep flickering between red and blue. Ammon is off to the side curled up into a ball because of the powerful amount of raw Shadow Magic that permeates the room. Ryan even shudders from the force.
“Non-Larks stand back!” Suma orders, allowing the flames to form the shape of a bow and arrow. She carefully shoots the flame arrow up to the chandelier and the rest of the fire automatically follows. Meanwhile, Liam allows the electrical energy he collect to go up to the chandelier as well. Now that the room is bathed in some light, they can begin.
“Key, Rod, and Ring to my left!” Suma orders. “Eye, Scales, ad Necklace to my right! Chizu, toss to Necklace to Maiko!”
Chizu quickly unclips the item from around her neck and tosses it to the blonde girl all without taking her eyes off the dragon in front of her. Maiko catches the Necklace, puts it on, and quickly takes her place between Ryan, who has the scales, and Yasu, who currently has the eye since her brother is unmoving.
On Suma’s right are Seth and Jono, Zahur and Liam, and Amane.
Suma lifts up the puzzle and then the items begin to glow one-by-one. A golden light shoots out from each item and the beams meet in midair and spread out to cover the area to rip is across. Slowly the light begins to dissipate as the energy from the items sews up the tear. Then everything goes black as a strong, sudden wind blows out the fire.
“Oi, where’d the light go?” Jono asks loudly. “Liam, Suma, can’t you guys give us some light?”
“There’s no electrical energy around here.” Liam speaks up. “If we weren’t underground in a place with no electric sockets then it’d be a different story.”
“I lost my lighter somewhere.” Suma announces. “It must have fallen when we were running.”
There’s silence for a moment while every tries to think of what to do.
“I found a rock! Here, Suma, catch!”
-THUD-
“Ouch! Ryan, that hit my head!”
“Sorry, Yasu.”
“And what the heck is a rock going to do exactly?” Suma asks.
There’s once again silence.
“Okay, forget the lighter and any form of subtlety we have left.” Suma says, frustration laced in her voice. A snap can be heard and a huge fireball appears out of nowhere. The pyro Muto smirks. “Now I feel much better.”
“All right, Roy. (2) Stop showing off and get us out of here.” Maiko says. “Which way are we going.”
“Wait,” Chizu speaks up.
Everyone looks over at the raven-haired teen and they’re all shocked to see her stroking the snout of the dragon.
“Shadow says that he’ll take us out.” Chizu says softly. “He came here to investigate the rip on Aunt Tama’s orders and has been stuck here since. He wants to apologize for any trouble he’s caused.”
“There’s no way I’m getting anywhere near it.” Chazz mutters.
Chizu glares at Chazz, having heard what he said. “Then you can find your own way out.” She says coldly. She then deftly climbs onto the dragon’s head and seats herself between his two horns. “Relax guys, he’s harmless.” She says, noticing the worried expressions on everyone’s face.
“Yeah,” Jono starts in a joking tone. “except for the claws-”
“the fangs-” Seth says.
“the horns-”
“the tail-”
“the spikes-”
“the--”
“Put a sock in it.” Chizu tells them.
-D-U-E-L-I-S-T-S--O-F--T-H-E--E-L-E-M-E-N-T-A-L--S-P-I -R-I-T-S--D-U-E-L-I-S-T-S-
(1) I'd like to thank XxSexiItxX for bringing up the subject of who will be the "mother" in her review. At first I was going to have Yugi be the "mother" again, not wanting to invoke the wrath of a pregnant hormonal Yami. And then I started talking to my yami, Damian, Bakura, and Mariku. (shudders) Never again.
(2) The Roy comment is brought to you by me watching far too much Fullmetal Alchemist. For those who don't know, Roy is the name of a character in the show; Roy Mustang, the Flame Alchemist to be precise. With a simple snap of his fingers, everything explodes. Beware the power of Roy Mustang! ((Al will always be my favorite though! (hugs)))
0-0-0-0
Shiro: And again I've come across another chapter that was pretty hard to write. I had no idea where I was even going with it in the beginning, despite having written out chapter summaries and crap. (sighs) At this point, all I've got to say is "thank goddess that this is a shorter story than the others!"
Damian: Shorter? Why? I don't want it to be shorter! Can't it be longer, with a couple of chapters dedicated to ME?!
Shiro: Hmmm... (pretends to think about it) No!
Damian: (pouts) Aww, why not?
Shiro: Because, I want to get all of the stories I currently have posted done and over with before summer. Then I'll take a break and get together my thoughts and sanity and figure out what two stories to post next. (sighs) Sadly, I will have to bring you back for one of them...
Damian: Yay! (hugs) Excuse me while I go spread the good news! (skips off happily humming)
-CRASH-
Shiro: (to Bast) Think I should have warned him about the wall?
(Damian: I'm okay!)
Bast: No, it's more entertaining this way.
Shiro: You're a horrible influence, you know that?
Bast: Well, I am your darker half. It makes sense that I'm a bad influence.
Shiro: Dark doesn't mean evil.
Bast: Tell that to Rye, Bakura, and Mariku.
Shiro: I don't want to... (to readers) I hope you all enjoyed this chapter. The next one should be posted soon.
NEXT CHAPTER- Chapter 8: War of Snow