Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction ❯ There's Something About Honda ❯ Blonde and Busty ( Chapter 4 )
[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]
By: Necromaster 
Mai reflects on her relationship with Jounouchi as her team fights against a bunch of kids, but is there more to one of them then meets the eye? Meanwhile, Otogi's concert doesn't go quite as plan, as an old nemesis of Yugi and Anzu arrives with a gang of Victor's thugs, and a god card in hand!
Anime/Manga: Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Action / Fantasy / Romance | Type: Alternate Universe | Uploaded On: 08.26.2005 | Updated On: 08.26.2005 | Pages: 7 | Words: 10.8K | Visits: 157 | Status: Completed
Mai reflects on her relationship with Jounouchi as her team fights against a bunch of kids, but is there more to one of them then meets the eye? Meanwhile, Otogi's concert doesn't go quite as plan, as an old nemesis of Yugi and Anzu arrives with a gang of Victor's thugs, and a god card in hand!
Anime/Manga: Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Action / Fantasy / Romance | Type: Alternate Universe | Uploaded On: 08.26.2005 | Updated On: 08.26.2005 | Pages: 7 | Words: 10.8K | Visits: 157 | Status: Completed
Chapter Four
~ Blonde and Busty ~
Anyone who knew Mai Valentine before you would tell you all you needed to know about her in a couple of words. 'Feisty' was something you were told often, 'beautiful' (with different pronunciations and whistling sounds excluded) was another common word. But probably the most popular thing that everyone mentioned about her was whether she was more for Vivian or Jounouchi. No one who lived outside of a cave hadn't heard of Jounouchi and Mai's romance during the months after Battle City and the competition of Varon. But, as always does happen with famous faces and love, rumours were popping up. Glossy magazines were reporting Mai and Vivian Wong, a person who seemed to fight with Rebecca Hawkins over (as the female gossip columns called him) Yummy Yugi, but seemed to be in Mai's flat alot. Of course, magazines like this were in constant danger, as Mai's main reading diet consisted of these.
But Mai seemed to have taken it in good stride, on the outside, at least. Inside, especially when she and Vivian were merely duelling (and not doing something else which involved two people, which many people thought) she was in a controlled fury, thin lips, messy fringe, similar to the few hours before her duel with Malik at Battle Ship. Of course, these rumours were dying down with Seto inviting her personally to the third tournament (not even gossipers were safe from Kaiba Corporation's tyrant eye) and of course, the eye witness accounts she had refused to take Ryou Bakura to Domino Hospital until Katsuya Jounouchi was with her.
Now that the paparazzi fever over the Valentine name had subdued, Mai and Jounouchi were free to be intimate without cameras flashing around them. Neither of the Blonde ne'er-do-wells had been made particularly sensual in their, albeit conflicting, backgrounds, so anywhere was good kissing. The trash bin outside the sushi bar Anzu now worked at, the McDonalds toilets... But of course, sex was another thing. Somehow, although the two of them had known each other for years (Duelist Kingdom had been, what, three or four YEARS ago now?) they had never got round to mentioning it. Anything remotely near it ended in a couple of stuttered mumbles and the radio being switched on. Jounouchi had talked to Anzu about it (who was a mole for Mai) and said he wanted to, he was 18 after all, old enough to get married. And Mai had said the same thing, and of course, Anzu worked for Jounouchi just as much as she did for Mai, so both new of each other's feelings, but somehow, somewhere along the way, it was blocked. The best answer most of them could come up with was Vivian. The young lady had been left out of the situation completely. But now with everything get so busy, no one was really in the mood for getting worried for the two of them.
Sex was, as it always had been during duelling, in the back of Mai's mind, something both she and her lover had in common. The baking hot midday sun was pulsating down upon the streets of Domino and seemingly onto the back of everyone's necks. Mai was lucky. Blondes tanned well. She looked at a patch of tangerine sky behind her as she brushed some long flaxen locks out of her face to try and safeguard her rear. The boy across from her had a sinister snigger that sounded like he had a marble wedged up his nostrils, causing hoarse whisps of noise to come out as he chattered his yellowed teeth in a hysterical fit. Mai had made sure to comment on the fact he had looked like a big otaku when it started, and the boy had found it hard to realise if this was a compliment or an insult, something Mai found frustrating in people. In fact, this geek was reminding her more and more of Haga. If he summoned a pinch hopper and revealed his hair was actually green, Mai really wouldn't have been schocked. She looked back at her team who had already finished duelling. Vivian had ended with a tie after some greasy haired girl had used a ring of destruction, while Isis had won in pure style against a remotely attractive kid who was obviously hating being in the group, his slouched white sports jacket and baggy jeans the exact opposite of the prim school uniforms that the other two were wearing. Mai always noticed appearance, to her, it made the world of difference between people. It was probably why she had taken to Vivian and Isis so quickly. She got ready to continue the duel as he somehow managed to say 'your move' through his incessant ramblings about her eventual demise.
"You're such a fool! Your harpie ladies can't..."
"Shut the hell up, dorko, before I set the fashion police on you!"
The boy recoiled.
He needs a quick slap from a thorn whip. Lord knows, he never will in reality...
She noticed that the attractive boy member had coughed up some of his coke from her last insult, and she smiled.
At least someone here gets the picture...
She drew her card.
"I activate card of sanctity."
She drew six new cards. The boy smiled and held his six sleeved cards (each with a Pokemon on the back, how sad.)
"I don't need a new hand. MY deck uses perfect hand control. Any good duelist knows..."
"Every good duelist knows." Groaned Mai in a whiny voice that somehow suited the kid. "Grow up. Just wait for the outcome to make your long lecture on how much you lost."
The attractive boy smirked at her with a grin that was so much like Jounouchi's. She blushed and adjusted her short skirt, just in case his smile was misdirected.
"Now, I'll activate Harpie's Hunting Ground."
Although the field changed very little, the boy screamed, in a very girlish way, as he was tied to a target.
"But you have no harpie's out..."
"SHUT THE HELL UP!" She roared, her throat hoarse and dry. Not good in this weather. She placed a monster down.
"Now my harpy lady, arise!" She cried, and as she finished, a horrible cry arose from behind her, causing the geeky girl Isis had drawn with to jump. Mai hummed a little as she saw the boy gasp.
"Now I'll activate elegant egotist to summon..."
"Harpie Lady Sisters?"
"No dumbass. I'll use the card's second ability, to special summon another harpie from my deck."
He suddenly noticed his two remaining face down cards. And then he saw they were now tied up to targets as well.
"Now my harpie ladies get the added ability to destroy your precious two face down cards." Announced Mai, pointing at them with the arm her duel disk was strapped to. The two ladies pounced, and the boy closed his eyes as he felt them brush past him.
"Now I'll equip them both with rose whips, raising their attacks by 500 points. And due to the power up my hunting ground gives them, they have 2500 attack points each."
She gasped as she saw four cute little sheep appear on the field. She once again resisted the urge to hug them. This was Jounouchi's card! How dare he!
"I can chain to your effect you know. And even though my magic cylinders was destroyed, my scapegoat was able to be chained and activate."
"Oh ye of little faith, I've duelled scapegoat tokens so many times in my day... Activate Nightmare Tri Mirror."
Behind her, a gigantic vanity appeared, made of a blackening flesh set with eyes and gnarled hands. From each of the mirrors set into the backlit top area, Harpie Ladies appeared.
"Thanks to them being tokens, and according to Kaiba Corp. rules, they don't count as monsters, so four of them can come out." Stated Mai before the boy could complain.
"Kenta, whip her backside!" Roared the dorky girl. The handsome boy burst out laughing, finding the innuendo cloaked in it. Mai also burst out laughing. Vivian turned to Isis who was staring blankly at the two laughing blondes and the two pale people in school uniforms.
"Mai can NEVER take a preliminary duel seriously." Chuckled Vivian.
"Now my mirror tokens, destroy his sheep tokens!"
The fake harpies gave a simaltaneous roar and chased across the asphalt (Author's Note: I love that word) to slam their long claws into the small puff balls, all of them shattering in a series of shards.
"Now my real harpies, attack him directly!"
He gasped. Both of them had been at 2000 lp and he was taking 5000. Even at full lp he wouldn't have won. How could he lose to a blonde bimbo?
Kenta screeched as he fell to the floor, feeling the thud and ripping, raw pain of the whips against his pale chest.
Mai walked over and took his ante card, slipping the Black Luster Soldier- Envoy of the Beginning he held into the sennen eye sleeve. As the attractive boy noticed Vivian flashing his Mystic Swordsman lv6 (although it was his spare one) and Isis picking the girl's Cosmo Queen for the team win (due to the team winning, the draw went to her) he turned to Mai, and walked over to her.
"That was some duel." He said. She turned to him and saw his eyes had heavy lids that made him look mysterious, just like his swordsmen...
"I'm sure we'll see each other again." He continued. He held out his hand, and Mai shook it warmly.
"What's your name kiddo?" She asked him, not trying to sound too flattered.
"Horus. Horus Fletcher."
She was about to ask why he wasn't running a Horus deck when he raced off down the street in the opposite direction of the rest of his team.
Sweet kid...
Mai turned to see Vivian and Isis.
"We now have a total of five key cards each." Said Vivian, holding up her set, which glimmered in the sunlight.
"Just a couple more duels to go!" Chimed Isis. Mai nodded, looking at the feint speck that was Horus in the middle of the plaza.
Do well Kid...
She still had yet to noitce Ghoul at the tea rooms across from her.
~ Blonde and Busty ~
Anyone who knew Mai Valentine before you would tell you all you needed to know about her in a couple of words. 'Feisty' was something you were told often, 'beautiful' (with different pronunciations and whistling sounds excluded) was another common word. But probably the most popular thing that everyone mentioned about her was whether she was more for Vivian or Jounouchi. No one who lived outside of a cave hadn't heard of Jounouchi and Mai's romance during the months after Battle City and the competition of Varon. But, as always does happen with famous faces and love, rumours were popping up. Glossy magazines were reporting Mai and Vivian Wong, a person who seemed to fight with Rebecca Hawkins over (as the female gossip columns called him) Yummy Yugi, but seemed to be in Mai's flat alot. Of course, magazines like this were in constant danger, as Mai's main reading diet consisted of these.
But Mai seemed to have taken it in good stride, on the outside, at least. Inside, especially when she and Vivian were merely duelling (and not doing something else which involved two people, which many people thought) she was in a controlled fury, thin lips, messy fringe, similar to the few hours before her duel with Malik at Battle Ship. Of course, these rumours were dying down with Seto inviting her personally to the third tournament (not even gossipers were safe from Kaiba Corporation's tyrant eye) and of course, the eye witness accounts she had refused to take Ryou Bakura to Domino Hospital until Katsuya Jounouchi was with her.
Now that the paparazzi fever over the Valentine name had subdued, Mai and Jounouchi were free to be intimate without cameras flashing around them. Neither of the Blonde ne'er-do-wells had been made particularly sensual in their, albeit conflicting, backgrounds, so anywhere was good kissing. The trash bin outside the sushi bar Anzu now worked at, the McDonalds toilets... But of course, sex was another thing. Somehow, although the two of them had known each other for years (Duelist Kingdom had been, what, three or four YEARS ago now?) they had never got round to mentioning it. Anything remotely near it ended in a couple of stuttered mumbles and the radio being switched on. Jounouchi had talked to Anzu about it (who was a mole for Mai) and said he wanted to, he was 18 after all, old enough to get married. And Mai had said the same thing, and of course, Anzu worked for Jounouchi just as much as she did for Mai, so both new of each other's feelings, but somehow, somewhere along the way, it was blocked. The best answer most of them could come up with was Vivian. The young lady had been left out of the situation completely. But now with everything get so busy, no one was really in the mood for getting worried for the two of them.
Sex was, as it always had been during duelling, in the back of Mai's mind, something both she and her lover had in common. The baking hot midday sun was pulsating down upon the streets of Domino and seemingly onto the back of everyone's necks. Mai was lucky. Blondes tanned well. She looked at a patch of tangerine sky behind her as she brushed some long flaxen locks out of her face to try and safeguard her rear. The boy across from her had a sinister snigger that sounded like he had a marble wedged up his nostrils, causing hoarse whisps of noise to come out as he chattered his yellowed teeth in a hysterical fit. Mai had made sure to comment on the fact he had looked like a big otaku when it started, and the boy had found it hard to realise if this was a compliment or an insult, something Mai found frustrating in people. In fact, this geek was reminding her more and more of Haga. If he summoned a pinch hopper and revealed his hair was actually green, Mai really wouldn't have been schocked. She looked back at her team who had already finished duelling. Vivian had ended with a tie after some greasy haired girl had used a ring of destruction, while Isis had won in pure style against a remotely attractive kid who was obviously hating being in the group, his slouched white sports jacket and baggy jeans the exact opposite of the prim school uniforms that the other two were wearing. Mai always noticed appearance, to her, it made the world of difference between people. It was probably why she had taken to Vivian and Isis so quickly. She got ready to continue the duel as he somehow managed to say 'your move' through his incessant ramblings about her eventual demise.
"You're such a fool! Your harpie ladies can't..."
"Shut the hell up, dorko, before I set the fashion police on you!"
The boy recoiled.
He needs a quick slap from a thorn whip. Lord knows, he never will in reality...
She noticed that the attractive boy member had coughed up some of his coke from her last insult, and she smiled.
At least someone here gets the picture...
She drew her card.
"I activate card of sanctity."
She drew six new cards. The boy smiled and held his six sleeved cards (each with a Pokemon on the back, how sad.)
"I don't need a new hand. MY deck uses perfect hand control. Any good duelist knows..."
"Every good duelist knows." Groaned Mai in a whiny voice that somehow suited the kid. "Grow up. Just wait for the outcome to make your long lecture on how much you lost."
The attractive boy smirked at her with a grin that was so much like Jounouchi's. She blushed and adjusted her short skirt, just in case his smile was misdirected.
"Now, I'll activate Harpie's Hunting Ground."
Although the field changed very little, the boy screamed, in a very girlish way, as he was tied to a target.
"But you have no harpie's out..."
"SHUT THE HELL UP!" She roared, her throat hoarse and dry. Not good in this weather. She placed a monster down.
"Now my harpy lady, arise!" She cried, and as she finished, a horrible cry arose from behind her, causing the geeky girl Isis had drawn with to jump. Mai hummed a little as she saw the boy gasp.
"Now I'll activate elegant egotist to summon..."
"Harpie Lady Sisters?"
"No dumbass. I'll use the card's second ability, to special summon another harpie from my deck."
He suddenly noticed his two remaining face down cards. And then he saw they were now tied up to targets as well.
"Now my harpie ladies get the added ability to destroy your precious two face down cards." Announced Mai, pointing at them with the arm her duel disk was strapped to. The two ladies pounced, and the boy closed his eyes as he felt them brush past him.
"Now I'll equip them both with rose whips, raising their attacks by 500 points. And due to the power up my hunting ground gives them, they have 2500 attack points each."
She gasped as she saw four cute little sheep appear on the field. She once again resisted the urge to hug them. This was Jounouchi's card! How dare he!
"I can chain to your effect you know. And even though my magic cylinders was destroyed, my scapegoat was able to be chained and activate."
"Oh ye of little faith, I've duelled scapegoat tokens so many times in my day... Activate Nightmare Tri Mirror."
Behind her, a gigantic vanity appeared, made of a blackening flesh set with eyes and gnarled hands. From each of the mirrors set into the backlit top area, Harpie Ladies appeared.
"Thanks to them being tokens, and according to Kaiba Corp. rules, they don't count as monsters, so four of them can come out." Stated Mai before the boy could complain.
"Kenta, whip her backside!" Roared the dorky girl. The handsome boy burst out laughing, finding the innuendo cloaked in it. Mai also burst out laughing. Vivian turned to Isis who was staring blankly at the two laughing blondes and the two pale people in school uniforms.
"Mai can NEVER take a preliminary duel seriously." Chuckled Vivian.
"Now my mirror tokens, destroy his sheep tokens!"
The fake harpies gave a simaltaneous roar and chased across the asphalt (Author's Note: I love that word) to slam their long claws into the small puff balls, all of them shattering in a series of shards.
"Now my real harpies, attack him directly!"
He gasped. Both of them had been at 2000 lp and he was taking 5000. Even at full lp he wouldn't have won. How could he lose to a blonde bimbo?
Kenta screeched as he fell to the floor, feeling the thud and ripping, raw pain of the whips against his pale chest.
Mai walked over and took his ante card, slipping the Black Luster Soldier- Envoy of the Beginning he held into the sennen eye sleeve. As the attractive boy noticed Vivian flashing his Mystic Swordsman lv6 (although it was his spare one) and Isis picking the girl's Cosmo Queen for the team win (due to the team winning, the draw went to her) he turned to Mai, and walked over to her.
"That was some duel." He said. She turned to him and saw his eyes had heavy lids that made him look mysterious, just like his swordsmen...
"I'm sure we'll see each other again." He continued. He held out his hand, and Mai shook it warmly.
"What's your name kiddo?" She asked him, not trying to sound too flattered.
"Horus. Horus Fletcher."
She was about to ask why he wasn't running a Horus deck when he raced off down the street in the opposite direction of the rest of his team.
Sweet kid...
Mai turned to see Vivian and Isis.
"We now have a total of five key cards each." Said Vivian, holding up her set, which glimmered in the sunlight.
"Just a couple more duels to go!" Chimed Isis. Mai nodded, looking at the feint speck that was Horus in the middle of the plaza.
Do well Kid...
She still had yet to noitce Ghoul at the tea rooms across from her.
Unlike Jounouchi had, and to a lesser extent Mokuba and Ryuzaki (who were still in the infirmary beds, but very much awake,) Ryou Bakura had only just found himself in the hospital bed. The sheets were annoyingly crisp as he felt them, the mattress a muddle of pastel pink and olive swirls that was hard and not at all bouncy. He wanted the room in his apartment, with his bed that almost touched the floor...
He still hadn't noticed Honda sitting beside him. And when he did, he gasped with a slightly high scream. He covered his mouth and blushed.
Be a man...
Bakura coughed gruffly and shrugged his shoulders. Honda seemed to find this amusing, chuckling. Bakura looked at him with a worried expression.
"Has the tournament started yet?"
"It did, last night."
"What happened?"
"You were teamed up with Panik and Bonz." Said Honda, dusting some donut sugar off his jeans. Bakura thought of the names.
Panik was that guy who had captured Mai just after he had duelled Yugi for the first time back on Pegasus's island.
Bonz... Was he that boy he had seen dying in the cemetery at Battle City? What had happened to him? How was he alive...
He shrugged off the question of how both of his teammates survived their near-death situations and smiled.
"They sound..."
"Weird?" Honda butted in.
"There's that..."
Honda laughed at this.
"I was really worried about you. I carried you out to Rebecca's car and she drove you to the hospital."
"That's nice of her." He said, trailing off as he thought of being carried by Honda. He still kept a calm composure,
and saw Honda finally look up from the patch of donut sugar he was slowly swiping away. It seemed this was the main point
he wanted to be getting across, and he was about to say...
"Bakura... I came here... Because I..."
Bakura fiddled with his hospital vest. He looked at Honda.
Is this for real?
"I seem to have lost interest of Shizuka since last night..."
Bakura had to hold in a roar of ecstasy that just managed to release a shaky smile that crept across his lips.
"So, I just wanted to say that..."
Yes?
Honda never did say how he felt that evening. In fact, he didn't say any more on the matter. Neither of them expected the
purple-clad figure to enter, knocking down the door and a couple of old dears in the corridor as a reaction. They didn't
expect the dia dank he slipped onto his wrist. And they never expected the burst of white light to send them sprawling into...
"DARKNESS!" Roared Ghoul, throwing his arms out to let the black light spread around them.
"My manticore has enough power to crush your puny mudora Isis, and then some!" Chortled he, placing a spell on the field.
"Now with my card of safe return on the field, I can draw three cards whenever I special summon a monster from my cemetery."
Mai recoiled , almost tripping over the unconscious form of Vivian behind her. Beside Ghoul lay the sleepy forms of Haga
and Ryuzaki, both whimpering in their forced slumber. The toga wearing man before them was chuckling madly, utterly
enjoying the moment.
"Thanks to the effect of manticore, I'll tribute it to..."
"Stop right there!" Snapped Mai, flicking her hand out to activate her spell. "Activate Harpie's feather storm.
It stops one effect's activation and destroys the monster that used it as long as I have a harpie lady on the field."
A tempest of pink hued feathers erupted from the duel disk, encasing the beast in a cage of wings, lifting into
a hurricane that swept it away, the lilac wind fading away.
"I end my turn after setting two cards..." Sighed Ghoul.
"My move, punk." Snapped Mai, drawing a card. Her face was now drawn in, pale and bitter. She was in her element.
"First of all I'll activate monster reborn to bring back the Manticore you yourself just destroyed. Now I'll activate my elegant egotist, special summoning another harpie lady from my deck to the field."
A decorative sword cracked the grown open, revealing the mighty beast that hovered beside Miss Valentine. On the other end of her field, a set of icey glass cracked apart to reveal another harpie lady, a raucous cry erupting from the duel disk's sound file.
"Now, it's time for you to have a lesson in how to abuse spells correctly. First of all, I'll activate my spell reproduction, discarding my gather your mind and Harpie Grave caller to bring back monster reborn."
Harpie Lady pulled out an elegant crystal ball, a series of flashing lights emitting from it, before a spell card formed in the cloudy mists of the occult sphere, appearing back in Mai's hand.
"Thanks to the effect of Harpie Grave Caller, I can bring back one spell and one monster, as long as the spell has 'spell', 'harpie', 'amazoness' or 'elegant' and a monster with the name 'birdface' 'amazon' 'harpie' or 'pet' in it." She said, picking up one card from her cemetery. "So my cyber harpie will come onto the field in attack mode."
Along with the other two already out, now there was another one, encased in dull pewter armour that set off her beautiful wings. Isis grinned. Just as they hoped.
"Now thanks to my other card in hand, united union of birds, I can tribute a monster from my hand that's a wind element along with a monster from the field to special summon a monster from my deck. So I tribute my harpie brother and my manticore of darkness."
The beast disappeared along with a light from her hand.
"To summon Harpie Pet Dragon in Attack."
Another pillar of wind and feather emerged, this time an almost red, but still pink, dragon formed out of it.
"Thanks to the effect, my three cyber harpies increase my beast's attack by 900 points."
"So that's why you tributed my originally stronger manticore..." Grinned Ghoul.
"That's right, and now my Harpie dragon will attack you directly, easily clearing away your 2400 remaining life points."
The dragon lurched into action, chasing over to swipe at Ghoul... and failing.
"You triggered my trap card, Jelly Reincarnation."
A wall of blue slime covered the field as Ghoul laughed.
"Thanks to the effect of my trap, by discarding my slime charmer~ Doppleganger I can special summon my revival jam in defence."
The dragon splattered the wall, only for it to return as a small monster. Mai groaned and ended, Isis taking up the heat.
"My move..."
She saw the slime reform. Defence position huh? She'd crush that power...
"I summon Zolga in attack mode." She stated, slapping the effect monster onto the disk.
"Now I'll equip it with this card. Fairy Meteor Crush!"
There was a silence over the duelists. The darkness had faded now, and a burning light erupted from the heavens, now held
in Zolga's cupped hands.
"Now my Zolga, attack Revival Jam!"
"Forgotten the special ability?" Guffawled Ghoul, throwing his arms open. Revival Jam exploded in a shower of blue gunge, but
Zolga kept rushing forward. Ghoul gasped as he was thrown back, his life points clocking down to 2200.
"Now I'll set one card and end."
"Draw." Stated Ghoul, picking up his card.
"I'll flip my jam defender. Then I'll summon Berserk Gorilla, tributing it to bring back Manticore."
As a gigantic purple block appeared, the jam flew over it, a fierce look portrayed on the jelly face. As the berserk primate
faded away, Manticore of Darkness reformed, the scorpion tail released a bolt of lightning at Mai.
"Thanks to card of safe return, I draw two cards from you destroying my jam and one more for manticore."
He flicked the three cards off his deck, fanning them out to show his new hand.
"Three new cards. And three cards I need."
He placed them into his hand. He only had one other card, the head of exodia. Now he had the left arm, left leg and right
arm. All he needed was right leg...
"I then tribute my Manticore to bring back another Manti-"
"Halt!" Snapped Isis, flipping up her card.
"Behold my divine wrath magic card."
A blast of thunder came from the sky, making Manticore of Darkness fade away.
"Due to the effect, I must discard my entire hand." Sighed Isis, throwing away the one card she held. "But that's a meagre
price, as thanks to my other card, forced requisition, you have to discard your hands as well."
Mai sighed as she threw away her sinister serpent. Ghoul growled in anger, discarding the four pieces of exodia to the
cemetery.
"I'll end..." Sighed Ghoul. Four pieces were in the cemetery. But there were always duplicates...
"Now, draw!" Announced Mai, holding the card up.
"Thanks to my sinister serpent being discarded due to forced requisition, it returns to me hand. Now I'll play my new card
of sanctity." Snapped Mai, picking up five cards. Isis picked up six, as did Ghoul.
"Now with our fresh hands, I can make almost any move I desire... Starting with my Harpie's Feather Duster."
Harpie Lady grabbed a gigantic duster, made of elegant feathers, and with a mad flurry, sliced Ghoul's spells apart.
"Now that you only have revival jam, time for me to get rid of that, thanks to my Smashing Ground."
A gigantic fist formed above the jam, and with a mighty slam, it left the field, a few puddles of azure jelly left lying
around.
"Now, I remove Harpie's Brother from my cemetery to summon silpheed, and then tribute it for Roc from the Valley of Haze."
A light flew up from her duel disk, and out of it came a storm of leaves, tossed about by a heavy gale. As they landed, they formed into
a pale mint mage, who disappeared in another surge of foliage to form a chestnut brown bird with a steel grey beak, a slight fog
shrouding it's form.
"Now my Dragon, attack him directly!"
Corgi McDougall was always one for keeping to morals. Eat well, make friends, and sleep when told to. Tonight however,this
had been made near impossible. Her darling Horus had been out all evening. How dare he? He must be in stress. Maybe he was
dead! It did happen, she'd seen it. People would get carried away...
She brushed the feeling away and continued worrying in her motherly fashion. She was the mother hen of their social circle.
How could she let him go like that?
She had now jumped on her bycicle, a baby blue hooded jumper flapping in the breeze, bunny slippers sliding on the pedals,
sushi stained trousers pounding against the mechanism. She couldn't see him anywhere. But where could he be? He wasn't the sort
to do something rash.
And then she found him.
He was sprawled out next to a trash can, eyes rolled into his head, a dent in his stomach as if someone had pushed a key against
it. He was sprawled out like a broken marionette, grey blonde hair now matted and dirty, a sweaty form stained with spilt coke.
She checked his pulse and felt he still had one. Barely. Who could this have been? Hell, any duelist would do for taking rage
out on. She happened to spot two ladies and a man. The two women both looked exotic. One must certainly have been a hooker, her
ragged blonde hair and revealing clothes not appealing to Corgi's sense of dignity. The other woman must have that egyptian
style to attract men with a sense of adventure. How pathetic. She placed her bike beside Horus, and stomped up the road towards
the tea shop, noticing the man and the blonde collapse. The man had a single card held with him, ring of destruction.
The other woman, the egyptian looking one, was looking at the five forms around her. What a disgrace to independent women...
Isis had won the duel, but that didn't matter to her. Rain was now coming from the night sky, and no one wanted to be ill
at this time. She placed Mai and Vivian on one table, the boys at another, propping their limp forms up in the chairs.
stay still damn you...
She didn't want to get involved with anything else. Even though the tarpaulin over the front of the cafe was sheltering the
people from the rain, it was dripping over the edge into Isis's hair, making it more sleek and dark than ever. She shook it
dry, only to spot a girl, around 15 years old, similar to that team from earlier, pouting at her.
"Do you know what happened to my sweetheart?" Snapped the young girl, pointing an angry index at Isis.
"Sweetheart? What are you on about?"
"My beloved Horus Fletcher! You hurt him you fiend!" Snapped Corgi, throwing back her thick strawberry blonde hair and drawing
a duel disk.
She's as bad as Rebecca...
"Duel." They stated, drawing five cards.
As Mai fell into a deep sleep, Bakura woke from a bad one.
He and Honda were sprawled out in the back of a limousine, their forms dripping wet with the rain. Bakura began to rinse out
his perriwinkle and white bar stripe shirt, folding up the edges of his jeans to rub his socks, swishing his long pale hair
around, trying to get it to dry off. Thunder sparked off several miles away, but it was still a clear, crisp sound. He saw
Honda awaken beside him, who dusted off his jeans (again) and placed on the jacket that had been removed from his person.
Honda's hair was no longer an erect quiff, it was more shaggy and wild, almost like Jounouchi's, but with some sort of order
in there. The two of them looked at each other, remembering the hospital, and then turned at the sound of a voice.
"Looking for someone?" Sniggered the captor from behind them, kicking Honda down as he rolled his messy shirt sleeve down to get
ready to bunch the snobby voice. Bakura turned and gasped as he heard the voice, and saw none other than Pegasus J. Crawford.
Looking in front of them, he caught a glimpse of the driver. He was bald, tanned, and dressed in a violet business suit. Beside him
was an associate, reading 'zen in the art of archery' and fiddling with the radio.
"That's Victor and Kaiba!"
The moon was now a clear disc in the sky, yet slightly smudged at the edges by dancing clouds. Yugi and Anzu were arm in arm,
walking with a swagger in their step down the street to the school. Jounouchi was slouched beside them, waiting for his cell phone
to ring.
Ring... please, ring...
He gave up. Mai wasn't going to phone him. Then, he felt the vibration in his pocket. He grabbed his mobile with a sweaty grasp,
almost dropping it, and saw the call was from Isis. He clicked the 'accept' button.
"Hey."
"Mr. Katsuya, Mai is currently knocked out, near the Terrington Tea rooms, sitting in one of the tables. I'm currently trying
to help her, but some kid is duelling me."
"Slap her."
"It's not that simple Mr. Katsuya. I'll talk to you later. Good night." Said Isis in a slightly breathless voice. He knew she
wanted to slap that kid, but obviously her morals were restraining her.
Somehow feeling a weight was now off his shoulders, Jounouchi ran ahead of the others into the school hall, sitting down in some of the middle
seats. Otogi was up at the front, braiding a stray lock of hair. Shizuka was talking to him, and Jounouchi laughed with Yugi
as they admitted they made a cute couple. Anzu whispered to Yugi, and she stood up, strutting off to the loos. Her stilettos
echoed around the hall. Slowly but surely, the seats filled with eager fans of Otogi's band, still unnamed. The other members
had now arrived, all friends of the singer, and sat down around their instruments. Shizuka skipped down and sat next to
Jounouchi.
"Heya Big Brother."
"Hi lil sis."
The two began nattering about family life as Yugi waited for Anzu. The strip bar lights faded down slightly, and everyone
gasped in amazement, although it wasn't particularly anything spectacular. The drums started playing in the shadows, and as
spotlights lit the stage, Otogi bounced on the balls of his feet with the microphone stepping on his toes. He bit his lip
as he listened to the guitar join in, and as his cue came, he began to sing, a rough, and yet sweet voice erupted from him,
Jounouchi being forced to nod his head, Yugi driven to tapping his left shoe, Shizuka fiddling with her hands trying not to
dance. Anzu returned, dancing around as she always did. She giggled as she collapsed next to Yugi, looking tipsy, but still
sober, or at least she said she was.
Shadows on the dawn,
Distant legends of time to pass,
Trapped inside an hour glass,
Sands of time their only friend,
Leading them to a solemn end,
A shadow encased in your sight,
An essence of eternal night,
The river of your heart is straight and true,
It leads me to you,
Through the darkness and the rain…
A sleet of dirty water falls from the heavens,
Can't help by wonder why,
It's me it rains on.
The curtains swept out of the way,
A light like no other,
Welcomes my vision.
A nightmare in disguise,
All logic it defies,
A land beyond the sunset…
Golden horrors,
Jewel encrusted fear,
An eye sealed in a tomb of gold leaf,
A broken sapphire tear.
Damn the people who fear it,
Lose the darkness,
Let it go.
Come down the river of silver,
Let your wonder travel,
To a place that we know.
It's out rapture,
In the golden city of dreams,
An emerald city plaza,
And a dozen ruby streams.
Welcome to El' Dorado,
Found beyond the hopes,
Beyond the glory,
In a land of it's own,
Free from law,
Free from the poor.
The tea is cold,
A stale memory,
Trapped inside the china glass,
Yours words bore me to tears.
Let your hopes go,
Release your love,
Come to your senses,
You'll find help comes in your years.
Ancient City,
Broken lovers.
Dusty men,
And ancient women,
Shuffle through a cluttered road,
Metropolis of metal,
Far from the nature you love,
Let the feelings flood your mind,
Leave your current traits behind,
Feel the rich gems of nature's goldmine,
Diamonds are your friend,
They'll never end…
Waning distance,
Hazy destiny,
Serenade the shady streets,
The last place of eternity.
Damn the people who fear it,
Lose the darkness,
Let it go.
Come down the river of silver,
Let your wonder travel,
To a place that we know.
It's out rapture,
In the golden city of dreams,
An emerald city plaza,
And a dozen ruby streams.
Welcome to El' Dorado,
Found beyond the hopes,
Beyond the glory,
In a land of it's own,
Free from law,
Free from the poor.
A land of freedom,
Never let it slip through your hands,
Like encased air,
A shadow sealed in sterling silver,
Diamond studded hidden corners,
Generosity is out of fashion,
Greed is the new black,
Your true colours out,
Come take my hand,
To the land of dreams.
A shaded group of violinists began to strum away, playing gently as the guitar mellowed, the drum falling to an almost mute
volume. Then, as the pace picked up, everything raised in volume rapidly, and with a long note from Otogi, everything
resumed.
Damn the people who fear it,
Lose the darkness,
Let it go.
Come down the river of silver,
Let your wonder travel,
To a place that we know.
It's out rapture,
In the golden city of dreams,
An emerald city plaza,
And a dozen ruby streams.
Welcome to El' Dorado,
Found beyond the hopes,
Beyond the glory,
In a land of it's own,
Free from law,
Free from the poor.
Damn the people who fear it,
Lose the darkness,
Let it go.
Come down the river of silver,
Let your wonder travel,
To a place that we know.
It's out rapture,
In the golden city of dreams,
An emerald city plaza,
And a dozen ruby streams.
Welcome to El' Dorado,
Found beyond the hopes,
Beyond the glory,
In a land of it's own,
Free from law,
Free from the poor.
The instruments faded out, Otogi bowed, still with the microphone stand balanced on his feet. The crowd erupted into applause, Jounouchi and Shizuka vying for the loudest whistle of approval.
Behind them, cloaked in purple, holding a duel disk in his hand, a man watched from the window set in the roof. He somehow
balanced on the smooth tiles, thick, small dreadlocks blowing in the breeze. He felt against the window for where to shatter
it. The party was about to be crashed...
He still hadn't noticed Honda sitting beside him. And when he did, he gasped with a slightly high scream. He covered his mouth and blushed.
Be a man...
Bakura coughed gruffly and shrugged his shoulders. Honda seemed to find this amusing, chuckling. Bakura looked at him with a worried expression.
"Has the tournament started yet?"
"It did, last night."
"What happened?"
"You were teamed up with Panik and Bonz." Said Honda, dusting some donut sugar off his jeans. Bakura thought of the names.
Panik was that guy who had captured Mai just after he had duelled Yugi for the first time back on Pegasus's island.
Bonz... Was he that boy he had seen dying in the cemetery at Battle City? What had happened to him? How was he alive...
He shrugged off the question of how both of his teammates survived their near-death situations and smiled.
"They sound..."
"Weird?" Honda butted in.
"There's that..."
Honda laughed at this.
"I was really worried about you. I carried you out to Rebecca's car and she drove you to the hospital."
"That's nice of her." He said, trailing off as he thought of being carried by Honda. He still kept a calm composure,
and saw Honda finally look up from the patch of donut sugar he was slowly swiping away. It seemed this was the main point
he wanted to be getting across, and he was about to say...
"Bakura... I came here... Because I..."
Bakura fiddled with his hospital vest. He looked at Honda.
Is this for real?
"I seem to have lost interest of Shizuka since last night..."
Bakura had to hold in a roar of ecstasy that just managed to release a shaky smile that crept across his lips.
"So, I just wanted to say that..."
Yes?
Honda never did say how he felt that evening. In fact, he didn't say any more on the matter. Neither of them expected the
purple-clad figure to enter, knocking down the door and a couple of old dears in the corridor as a reaction. They didn't
expect the dia dank he slipped onto his wrist. And they never expected the burst of white light to send them sprawling into...
"DARKNESS!" Roared Ghoul, throwing his arms out to let the black light spread around them.
"My manticore has enough power to crush your puny mudora Isis, and then some!" Chortled he, placing a spell on the field.
"Now with my card of safe return on the field, I can draw three cards whenever I special summon a monster from my cemetery."
Mai recoiled , almost tripping over the unconscious form of Vivian behind her. Beside Ghoul lay the sleepy forms of Haga
and Ryuzaki, both whimpering in their forced slumber. The toga wearing man before them was chuckling madly, utterly
enjoying the moment.
"Thanks to the effect of manticore, I'll tribute it to..."
"Stop right there!" Snapped Mai, flicking her hand out to activate her spell. "Activate Harpie's feather storm.
It stops one effect's activation and destroys the monster that used it as long as I have a harpie lady on the field."
A tempest of pink hued feathers erupted from the duel disk, encasing the beast in a cage of wings, lifting into
a hurricane that swept it away, the lilac wind fading away.
"I end my turn after setting two cards..." Sighed Ghoul.
"My move, punk." Snapped Mai, drawing a card. Her face was now drawn in, pale and bitter. She was in her element.
"First of all I'll activate monster reborn to bring back the Manticore you yourself just destroyed. Now I'll activate my elegant egotist, special summoning another harpie lady from my deck to the field."
A decorative sword cracked the grown open, revealing the mighty beast that hovered beside Miss Valentine. On the other end of her field, a set of icey glass cracked apart to reveal another harpie lady, a raucous cry erupting from the duel disk's sound file.
"Now, it's time for you to have a lesson in how to abuse spells correctly. First of all, I'll activate my spell reproduction, discarding my gather your mind and Harpie Grave caller to bring back monster reborn."
Harpie Lady pulled out an elegant crystal ball, a series of flashing lights emitting from it, before a spell card formed in the cloudy mists of the occult sphere, appearing back in Mai's hand.
"Thanks to the effect of Harpie Grave Caller, I can bring back one spell and one monster, as long as the spell has 'spell', 'harpie', 'amazoness' or 'elegant' and a monster with the name 'birdface' 'amazon' 'harpie' or 'pet' in it." She said, picking up one card from her cemetery. "So my cyber harpie will come onto the field in attack mode."
Along with the other two already out, now there was another one, encased in dull pewter armour that set off her beautiful wings. Isis grinned. Just as they hoped.
"Now thanks to my other card in hand, united union of birds, I can tribute a monster from my hand that's a wind element along with a monster from the field to special summon a monster from my deck. So I tribute my harpie brother and my manticore of darkness."
The beast disappeared along with a light from her hand.
"To summon Harpie Pet Dragon in Attack."
Another pillar of wind and feather emerged, this time an almost red, but still pink, dragon formed out of it.
"Thanks to the effect, my three cyber harpies increase my beast's attack by 900 points."
"So that's why you tributed my originally stronger manticore..." Grinned Ghoul.
"That's right, and now my Harpie dragon will attack you directly, easily clearing away your 2400 remaining life points."
The dragon lurched into action, chasing over to swipe at Ghoul... and failing.
"You triggered my trap card, Jelly Reincarnation."
A wall of blue slime covered the field as Ghoul laughed.
"Thanks to the effect of my trap, by discarding my slime charmer~ Doppleganger I can special summon my revival jam in defence."
The dragon splattered the wall, only for it to return as a small monster. Mai groaned and ended, Isis taking up the heat.
"My move..."
She saw the slime reform. Defence position huh? She'd crush that power...
"I summon Zolga in attack mode." She stated, slapping the effect monster onto the disk.
"Now I'll equip it with this card. Fairy Meteor Crush!"
There was a silence over the duelists. The darkness had faded now, and a burning light erupted from the heavens, now held
in Zolga's cupped hands.
"Now my Zolga, attack Revival Jam!"
"Forgotten the special ability?" Guffawled Ghoul, throwing his arms open. Revival Jam exploded in a shower of blue gunge, but
Zolga kept rushing forward. Ghoul gasped as he was thrown back, his life points clocking down to 2200.
"Now I'll set one card and end."
"Draw." Stated Ghoul, picking up his card.
"I'll flip my jam defender. Then I'll summon Berserk Gorilla, tributing it to bring back Manticore."
As a gigantic purple block appeared, the jam flew over it, a fierce look portrayed on the jelly face. As the berserk primate
faded away, Manticore of Darkness reformed, the scorpion tail released a bolt of lightning at Mai.
"Thanks to card of safe return, I draw two cards from you destroying my jam and one more for manticore."
He flicked the three cards off his deck, fanning them out to show his new hand.
"Three new cards. And three cards I need."
He placed them into his hand. He only had one other card, the head of exodia. Now he had the left arm, left leg and right
arm. All he needed was right leg...
"I then tribute my Manticore to bring back another Manti-"
"Halt!" Snapped Isis, flipping up her card.
"Behold my divine wrath magic card."
A blast of thunder came from the sky, making Manticore of Darkness fade away.
"Due to the effect, I must discard my entire hand." Sighed Isis, throwing away the one card she held. "But that's a meagre
price, as thanks to my other card, forced requisition, you have to discard your hands as well."
Mai sighed as she threw away her sinister serpent. Ghoul growled in anger, discarding the four pieces of exodia to the
cemetery.
"I'll end..." Sighed Ghoul. Four pieces were in the cemetery. But there were always duplicates...
"Now, draw!" Announced Mai, holding the card up.
"Thanks to my sinister serpent being discarded due to forced requisition, it returns to me hand. Now I'll play my new card
of sanctity." Snapped Mai, picking up five cards. Isis picked up six, as did Ghoul.
"Now with our fresh hands, I can make almost any move I desire... Starting with my Harpie's Feather Duster."
Harpie Lady grabbed a gigantic duster, made of elegant feathers, and with a mad flurry, sliced Ghoul's spells apart.
"Now that you only have revival jam, time for me to get rid of that, thanks to my Smashing Ground."
A gigantic fist formed above the jam, and with a mighty slam, it left the field, a few puddles of azure jelly left lying
around.
"Now, I remove Harpie's Brother from my cemetery to summon silpheed, and then tribute it for Roc from the Valley of Haze."
A light flew up from her duel disk, and out of it came a storm of leaves, tossed about by a heavy gale. As they landed, they formed into
a pale mint mage, who disappeared in another surge of foliage to form a chestnut brown bird with a steel grey beak, a slight fog
shrouding it's form.
"Now my Dragon, attack him directly!"
Corgi McDougall was always one for keeping to morals. Eat well, make friends, and sleep when told to. Tonight however,this
had been made near impossible. Her darling Horus had been out all evening. How dare he? He must be in stress. Maybe he was
dead! It did happen, she'd seen it. People would get carried away...
She brushed the feeling away and continued worrying in her motherly fashion. She was the mother hen of their social circle.
How could she let him go like that?
She had now jumped on her bycicle, a baby blue hooded jumper flapping in the breeze, bunny slippers sliding on the pedals,
sushi stained trousers pounding against the mechanism. She couldn't see him anywhere. But where could he be? He wasn't the sort
to do something rash.
And then she found him.
He was sprawled out next to a trash can, eyes rolled into his head, a dent in his stomach as if someone had pushed a key against
it. He was sprawled out like a broken marionette, grey blonde hair now matted and dirty, a sweaty form stained with spilt coke.
She checked his pulse and felt he still had one. Barely. Who could this have been? Hell, any duelist would do for taking rage
out on. She happened to spot two ladies and a man. The two women both looked exotic. One must certainly have been a hooker, her
ragged blonde hair and revealing clothes not appealing to Corgi's sense of dignity. The other woman must have that egyptian
style to attract men with a sense of adventure. How pathetic. She placed her bike beside Horus, and stomped up the road towards
the tea shop, noticing the man and the blonde collapse. The man had a single card held with him, ring of destruction.
The other woman, the egyptian looking one, was looking at the five forms around her. What a disgrace to independent women...
Isis had won the duel, but that didn't matter to her. Rain was now coming from the night sky, and no one wanted to be ill
at this time. She placed Mai and Vivian on one table, the boys at another, propping their limp forms up in the chairs.
stay still damn you...
She didn't want to get involved with anything else. Even though the tarpaulin over the front of the cafe was sheltering the
people from the rain, it was dripping over the edge into Isis's hair, making it more sleek and dark than ever. She shook it
dry, only to spot a girl, around 15 years old, similar to that team from earlier, pouting at her.
"Do you know what happened to my sweetheart?" Snapped the young girl, pointing an angry index at Isis.
"Sweetheart? What are you on about?"
"My beloved Horus Fletcher! You hurt him you fiend!" Snapped Corgi, throwing back her thick strawberry blonde hair and drawing
a duel disk.
She's as bad as Rebecca...
"Duel." They stated, drawing five cards.
As Mai fell into a deep sleep, Bakura woke from a bad one.
He and Honda were sprawled out in the back of a limousine, their forms dripping wet with the rain. Bakura began to rinse out
his perriwinkle and white bar stripe shirt, folding up the edges of his jeans to rub his socks, swishing his long pale hair
around, trying to get it to dry off. Thunder sparked off several miles away, but it was still a clear, crisp sound. He saw
Honda awaken beside him, who dusted off his jeans (again) and placed on the jacket that had been removed from his person.
Honda's hair was no longer an erect quiff, it was more shaggy and wild, almost like Jounouchi's, but with some sort of order
in there. The two of them looked at each other, remembering the hospital, and then turned at the sound of a voice.
"Looking for someone?" Sniggered the captor from behind them, kicking Honda down as he rolled his messy shirt sleeve down to get
ready to bunch the snobby voice. Bakura turned and gasped as he heard the voice, and saw none other than Pegasus J. Crawford.
Looking in front of them, he caught a glimpse of the driver. He was bald, tanned, and dressed in a violet business suit. Beside him
was an associate, reading 'zen in the art of archery' and fiddling with the radio.
"That's Victor and Kaiba!"
The moon was now a clear disc in the sky, yet slightly smudged at the edges by dancing clouds. Yugi and Anzu were arm in arm,
walking with a swagger in their step down the street to the school. Jounouchi was slouched beside them, waiting for his cell phone
to ring.
Ring... please, ring...
He gave up. Mai wasn't going to phone him. Then, he felt the vibration in his pocket. He grabbed his mobile with a sweaty grasp,
almost dropping it, and saw the call was from Isis. He clicked the 'accept' button.
"Hey."
"Mr. Katsuya, Mai is currently knocked out, near the Terrington Tea rooms, sitting in one of the tables. I'm currently trying
to help her, but some kid is duelling me."
"Slap her."
"It's not that simple Mr. Katsuya. I'll talk to you later. Good night." Said Isis in a slightly breathless voice. He knew she
wanted to slap that kid, but obviously her morals were restraining her.
Somehow feeling a weight was now off his shoulders, Jounouchi ran ahead of the others into the school hall, sitting down in some of the middle
seats. Otogi was up at the front, braiding a stray lock of hair. Shizuka was talking to him, and Jounouchi laughed with Yugi
as they admitted they made a cute couple. Anzu whispered to Yugi, and she stood up, strutting off to the loos. Her stilettos
echoed around the hall. Slowly but surely, the seats filled with eager fans of Otogi's band, still unnamed. The other members
had now arrived, all friends of the singer, and sat down around their instruments. Shizuka skipped down and sat next to
Jounouchi.
"Heya Big Brother."
"Hi lil sis."
The two began nattering about family life as Yugi waited for Anzu. The strip bar lights faded down slightly, and everyone
gasped in amazement, although it wasn't particularly anything spectacular. The drums started playing in the shadows, and as
spotlights lit the stage, Otogi bounced on the balls of his feet with the microphone stepping on his toes. He bit his lip
as he listened to the guitar join in, and as his cue came, he began to sing, a rough, and yet sweet voice erupted from him,
Jounouchi being forced to nod his head, Yugi driven to tapping his left shoe, Shizuka fiddling with her hands trying not to
dance. Anzu returned, dancing around as she always did. She giggled as she collapsed next to Yugi, looking tipsy, but still
sober, or at least she said she was.
Shadows on the dawn,
Distant legends of time to pass,
Trapped inside an hour glass,
Sands of time their only friend,
Leading them to a solemn end,
A shadow encased in your sight,
An essence of eternal night,
The river of your heart is straight and true,
It leads me to you,
Through the darkness and the rain…
A sleet of dirty water falls from the heavens,
Can't help by wonder why,
It's me it rains on.
The curtains swept out of the way,
A light like no other,
Welcomes my vision.
A nightmare in disguise,
All logic it defies,
A land beyond the sunset…
Golden horrors,
Jewel encrusted fear,
An eye sealed in a tomb of gold leaf,
A broken sapphire tear.
Damn the people who fear it,
Lose the darkness,
Let it go.
Come down the river of silver,
Let your wonder travel,
To a place that we know.
It's out rapture,
In the golden city of dreams,
An emerald city plaza,
And a dozen ruby streams.
Welcome to El' Dorado,
Found beyond the hopes,
Beyond the glory,
In a land of it's own,
Free from law,
Free from the poor.
The tea is cold,
A stale memory,
Trapped inside the china glass,
Yours words bore me to tears.
Let your hopes go,
Release your love,
Come to your senses,
You'll find help comes in your years.
Ancient City,
Broken lovers.
Dusty men,
And ancient women,
Shuffle through a cluttered road,
Metropolis of metal,
Far from the nature you love,
Let the feelings flood your mind,
Leave your current traits behind,
Feel the rich gems of nature's goldmine,
Diamonds are your friend,
They'll never end…
Waning distance,
Hazy destiny,
Serenade the shady streets,
The last place of eternity.
Damn the people who fear it,
Lose the darkness,
Let it go.
Come down the river of silver,
Let your wonder travel,
To a place that we know.
It's out rapture,
In the golden city of dreams,
An emerald city plaza,
And a dozen ruby streams.
Welcome to El' Dorado,
Found beyond the hopes,
Beyond the glory,
In a land of it's own,
Free from law,
Free from the poor.
A land of freedom,
Never let it slip through your hands,
Like encased air,
A shadow sealed in sterling silver,
Diamond studded hidden corners,
Generosity is out of fashion,
Greed is the new black,
Your true colours out,
Come take my hand,
To the land of dreams.
A shaded group of violinists began to strum away, playing gently as the guitar mellowed, the drum falling to an almost mute
volume. Then, as the pace picked up, everything raised in volume rapidly, and with a long note from Otogi, everything
resumed.
Damn the people who fear it,
Lose the darkness,
Let it go.
Come down the river of silver,
Let your wonder travel,
To a place that we know.
It's out rapture,
In the golden city of dreams,
An emerald city plaza,
And a dozen ruby streams.
Welcome to El' Dorado,
Found beyond the hopes,
Beyond the glory,
In a land of it's own,
Free from law,
Free from the poor.
Damn the people who fear it,
Lose the darkness,
Let it go.
Come down the river of silver,
Let your wonder travel,
To a place that we know.
It's out rapture,
In the golden city of dreams,
An emerald city plaza,
And a dozen ruby streams.
Welcome to El' Dorado,
Found beyond the hopes,
Beyond the glory,
In a land of it's own,
Free from law,
Free from the poor.
The instruments faded out, Otogi bowed, still with the microphone stand balanced on his feet. The crowd erupted into applause, Jounouchi and Shizuka vying for the loudest whistle of approval.
Behind them, cloaked in purple, holding a duel disk in his hand, a man watched from the window set in the roof. He somehow
balanced on the smooth tiles, thick, small dreadlocks blowing in the breeze. He felt against the window for where to shatter
it. The party was about to be crashed...
The rain was pattering down the windows of the limousine now, the thunder growing distant due to the cobra spit of precipitation. Bakura and Honda were now sitting, rather forcefully, in the backseat of Pegasus' car. The flamboyant billionaire and Victor, who had now moved in from the driver seat to leave Seto. Both stared down their captives.
“We'll make this fairly simple.”
The two teenagers turned to Pegasus who had just spoken, sliding the medusa hand pistol into a glove compartment beside him.
“We need information on Yugi Boy and his little friends. I'm sure Honda can provide us with that information.” Pegasus continued, fiddling with his thumbs, leering over them with an adolescent grin.
“And little Bakura here happens to have a power we've been searching for. The final piece to Zork's requiem.” Said Victor, cleaning a cheese knife as he slid it into the rack beside him. The two students looked at each other. Neither could tell if there was any longing there. They could only sense desperation and a need to escape. Whatever these entrepreneurs were planning, it wasn't going to be pretty.
“What do you mean by Zork?” Asked Bakura, feeling he'd heard the name somewhere before.
“Many millennia ago, a great threat plagued Egypt and the pharaoh Atem with his priests. When your past life, Thief Bakura, summoned Zork Necrophidius, everyone fell before him except for the bravest warriors there were. I'm sure Honda here can remember the moment quite well.”
Honda glared at Pegasus, remembering him, Jounouchi, Anzu, Kaiba and Yugi fighting against that gigantic beast in the town. But was that really an ancient being of evil? He had just thought it was some weird duel monster…
“With the power of Zork at our side, Seto's tournament will be easy to win.”
Bakura stared in anguish through the blackened glass to notice all Seto was doing was driving, his hands clasped hard to the steering wheel. Bakura's face fell. This wasn't what he was expecting. Their friend wasn't exactly saving them.
“Don't bother with him.” Sighed Pegasus, leaning back in his seat. “He can't hear you, he can't hear anyone, and not because of the glass. We happen to have done to him what we've done to every member of NightDuel.”
Bakura was now listening intently, wanting to know why Kaiba was being so hostile.
“We happen to have powers that I'm sure not even you could understand.” Snapped Victor, pulling out a long relic from his trouser pocket, which enlarged as it was fully exposed. He then pulled another from the rack beside him, as Pegasus pulled back his eye patch, showing a golden sphere rolling madly around in the socket.
Anzu, Shizuka and Yugi looked around them. Jounouchi had disappeared off for the toilet and the concert was coming to an end. Yet, some sense of brooding was falling over the trio. They weren't sure what it was, but they weren't looking forward to finding out. Otogi had just finished the penultimate song of the evening, and Shizuka mewed and collapsed against Yugi's shoulder, stretching her arms.
Jounouchi whistled as he zipped up his jeans, washing his hands. He chuckled at the love heart saying `Jounouchi 4 Mai' scribbled onto the mirror, and remembering Honda writing that when he was drunk one night. Squirting some soap onto his hands and working the pink stuff into a thick lather, he washed it off and continued whistling as he strolled down the corridors. They were mainly dark, the rare light illuminating a thin area of the floor. As he stepped towards the auditorium, he jumped to hear a shrill scream, and threw open the doors to see precisely what it was. Inside the hall, Shizuka was screaming as two bulky men in black jumpsuits and balaclavas leapt at her. In an amazing show of strength, Otogi leapt from the stage, throwing one to the ground with a scream as a sickening `click' came as he bent the gruff attacker's neck. As the singer turned to the other one, he was thrown against the far wall by an immense force, sprawled head first against a dent in the wall. Shizuka cried as the other man edged his hand towards her mini-skirt (made of a similar material to short shorts, which she had borrowed from Mai) only for Yugi to throw a roundhouse kick in the man's direction. He was, as he always was in dangerous situations, taller, more mature, and with far wilder hair. Anzu cheered him on until she was winded by a gruff embraced from a man behind her, throwing her handbag round to slap him on the cheek as he arm whirled round with the natural agility to a dancer had. Only two more men were left, and both of them raced at Yugi at Shizuka, throwing them to the ground with immense power, sending them sprawling over to the stage. Jounouchi looked with wide eyes at the two sprawled out forms before him, only to be blocked from the two bodies by a mysterious dark shadow. As he emerged from the darkness, Johnny Steps grinned as the other two men rounded on Anzu and Otogi…
“You can go first.” Snapped Corgi, as Isis pulled a card out from her duel disk with a nod of compliance.
“I'll summon zolga in attack mode, set one card and end.”
A long, navy curtain of a dress appeared, a plain silver head spinning out from it. A metallic roar erupted from the sound file as an oblong appeared behind it.
Corgi drew with a wide grin.
“I'll summon one monster in defence and set a card, ending my turn.”
Isis looked at the face down cards.
How can I trust her…
Isis looked at her hand. It wasn't the hand she liked to see herself draw. She clasped her neck, hoping for a prediction, and merely groped her tanned flesh. She still needed to get used to the lack of the sennen tauk. She shrugged the feeling away and drew a card.
“I'll summon pixie mirror, in defence mode.” Stated Isis, placing the card on the field. The 2100 defence monster flashed out onto the arena, a vanity mirror, frosted over with a rose tinted ice, was being straddled by a small naked female sprite, who giggled as the card appeared. Isis looked at Corgi through the confetti lighting, illuminating their bright red faces in the darkness of the night.
“Now my zolga, attack her defence monster!”
The strange being flew over, and with a blast of light from the stone cold face, the card shattered to reveal a pile of bones, that flew around in the sky before battering Isis with a rain of bodily remnants. Settling back down, it formed into the body of a dog, crimson eyes glaring from the empty sockets in the skull.
“You attacked my skull dog marron, and thanks to the high defence of my wonderful doggy, you take 300 damage!”
Isis cursed her idiocy as her life points clocked down.
“I'll end then…” Groaned Isis.
“Draw!” Giggled Corgi, obviously enjoying the duel now she was winning. So much like Mai.
“I'll set another monster and set a card, ending my turn.” Grinned Corgi, enjoying using surprises to keep Isis on her toes. The Egyptian duelist drew another card.
“I'll summon duster brownie.” Announced Isis, throwing down another monster. Out of the earth in a twirl of lights, a little fairy with matted blue hair and dressed in a dull maid's uniform emerged, holding a gigantic feather duster.
“Thanks to my fairy's effect, for every fairy I have on the field, I can destroy a magic and trap card once per turn. So now my pixie will destroy your two face down cards.”
The little nymph ran over, slapping the first card, which flipped up to reveal a set of tanned female warriors in bear skin tunics, the second flipping up to reveal a lady in a skull mask and tatted cobalt robes, dancing a merry jig with a slight menace in the rattle she made.
“You activated my amazon protection squad and my amazon shaman. Thanks to my shaman card, I can take one amazon monster from my hand and special summon it to the field if it has a star level equal to one of your monsters with the lowest attack.”
“Good thing my Pixie Mirror only has 100 attack points.”
“But it has four stars, allowing me to summon amazon paladin in attack mode.”
From the earth appeared a beautiful blonde woman, also dressed in the strange tunics evident on the others. Isis was strongly reminded of Mai from the hair style.
“And then the effect of my protection squad activates, allowing me to special summon one feline or canine monster from my hand straight to the field.”
The warriors from the card leapt into the air, forming into a golden ball of energy, before spewing down to the ground in a shower of light. From the aura the card gave off, a sleek white tiger, covered in thick scars appeared.
“My amazon tiger gets a 400 attack point boost from every amazon on the field, and luckily, both paladin and tiger count. So now my tiger has 1900 attack points!”
Isis saw the tiger grow a little as it roared at her.
“I'll activate my face down card fairy's masquerade. It allows me to choose two spells in my deck and use them instantly, so I'll choose card destruction and fairy rebirth.”
As all the magic and trap cards faded away, Isis flicked through her deck for the two cards, playing them instantly.
“My first card, card destruction, sends our hands to the cemetery to draw a same amount of cards. It's my second turn, meaning I hold seven cards, and four of them were on the field, meaning I get three cards to my hand. My second hard, fairy rebirth, special summons all fairies discarded from my hand this turn to the field. So both my Airknight Parshath and my hysteric angel will appear on the field.”
In a shower of golden, pastel green and lavender sparks, a centaur man with long blonde hair and beautiful armour, along with a young man with short blue hair, horn rimmed glasses and a prim school uniform, clasping two text books, appeared.
“Johnny.”
Anzu squared off against him, her shoulders straight, tense and drenched in sweat, her handbag lying open on the floor, her clothing messy and dirtied.
“Ms. Mazaki, it's been a while, no?” Chuckled the young dark man, flicking his thick dreadlocks back with an elegant movement as he ran a hand over his sweaty torso. Anzu snorted his disgust, curling a lip. He walked towards her in an ape like stumble, lifting her head so he could see her chin, sniffing it with a strange wonder, kissing it with his raw, chapped lips. Anzu shivered, Otogi and Jounouchi approached, and the two men stepped forward, pounding their fists against their hands as they glared at the two scrawny teens.
“We've got a simple proposition for you, kids.” Snapped one of the men, pulling out a duel disk that stood out on his bulky, clothed wrist. Jounouchi pulled out his disk, letting it snap into place. Anzu followed suit, letting the duel disk click into place on her wrist. Otogi sighed and pulled out his as Johnny and the other man also pulled out their duel disks, loading their decks.
“This shall be a team match for entrance to the blue eyes dome.” Stated one of the two bandits, as Johnny and the other man stepped behind him. “I challenge Otogi Ryuuji.”
Otogi flicked back a stray hair. He chuckled, and looking at his opponent with shallow olive eyes, picked his first five cards.
Bakura and Honda felt the scare halt as Victor stepped out, looking in the proximity of the entrance. Pegasus didn't turn to look. He kept his strange gaze upon the two teenagers as they shuffled around. The gun Pegasus was now holding again was all they needed as proof to tell them to sit still. After about ten minutes of heavy rainfall and thunder, Victor splashed back into the car with the limp form of a young boy in his grasp. The person must be two or three years younger than Bakura, and yet he had an incredibly mature look, muscular arms, pale yet tanned in the right light skin, and grey blue hair that fell over his brow like a curtain of frozen rainwater.
“This young man here felt what the sennen ankh can do earlier…” Grinned Victor, showing the long golden key to his prisoners. The dent in his chest showed where it had been inserted to his soul room. Something Bakura remembered from long ago.
“What are you going to do with us?” Moaned Honda, asking what all of them had thought, including Horus, earlier.
“We're going to make you our spies into Yugi's little band of brothers. Both of you have been taken over so many times before I doubt it will effect you.”
The two of them looked at each other nervously. Victor was slowly clambering over to their seats as the car swayed lightly and drove down the highway. The key was coming ever closer towards Bakura's chest, and Honda swore as he tried to leap forward, only to find his hands bound together.
“Don't worry, it won't hurt much. Just let your mind run free…” Sighed Victor, placing the key lightly against Bakura's chest.
Seto Kaiba awoke to find himself driving his own limousine down the highway from Domino. He wondered why precisely he was driving a chauffeur driven car, but shrugged the feeling away as he heard four voices he recognised in the seating behind him. Spinning the car to a halt, he heard the voice of Victor swear as he was thrown against the side of the compartment, the angry snap of Pegasus at his careless driving, and Bakura and Honda give satisfactory yells of glee.
Kaiba jumped out of the driving seat, got out the car, and opened the door into the passenger area, seeing Victor holding two large golden relics and Pegasus holding his sennen eye in the direction of the two boys, keeping their arms locked behind their backs. As soon as he gasped at the sight, Pegasus turned towards him, and he felt his arms lock behind him with a strange force that felt like magnetism, which was apt, as his limbs were like dead lead weights now. Bakura and Honda, now freed, tried to squeeze out the door, only to be blocked by Kaiba being dragged in.
Victor jumped out, picking up the medusa pistol from Pegasus, and leapt into the driver's seat, pushing the car onwards towards the river bridge, hoping it wasn't opening to let a ferry through…
Malik had a long drive back to the hotel. Rishid sat meditating in the sidecar, Isis still in the city, who had phoned to say she'd make her own way back. At this time of night, there were always plenty of mad, drunken drivers, as Malik had learned far too easily, and this night was no exception. Ahead of him, swerving madly, was a car he recognised as a limousine, and suspiciously similar to Kaiba's. That man had always been a bit mad…
Bakura and Honda kept their heads down as Seto sat beside them, keeping a stiff upper lip and a dull expression in his eyes. Pegasus smirked as he pulled a second gun out of the glove compartment, and held it at his rival's neck.
“So Kaiba boy, you finally decide to come to my mercy after all.”
“Spare me the gloating Mr. Crawford.”
“C'mon, we've been through SO much, how could you treat me like an enemy?”
“Because you are my rival in business. A sad twisted freak who likes to play mind games with pawns who have no understanding or intellect.” Snapped Kaiba, tears forming in his eyes as he remembered seeing Mokuba's lifeless body thrown before him at Duelist Kingdom, worried for both his and his brother's life.
“Precisely, that's why you and your brother are the perfect choices for controlling, no intellect or understanding of my sennen magic.” Replied Pegasus with a slight sneer. He grunted, and Kaiba was forced to look down at the ground like the other captives.
It was then they heard the motorbike engine roar behind them. For the five seconds, Pegasus kept his eye away from them, the three Domino students looked out the back window to see Malik and Rishid chasing behind them. They could see Malik was shocked that Seto was in the back, and as Pegasus began to turn back, Honda tore the gun from the American's hand and leapt upon him, Bakura biting the man's leg as he roared in pain. Victor swore again as the car took a sharp swerve, and he got it back on line with the centre of the road. Nothing would stop them now…
Malik had certainly been shocked to see Seto Kaiba wasn't driving. He hadn't been expecting something that bad from a young man like Seto, but still, it was his car. Was it hijacked? The three of them had certainly set themselves on Pegasus quick enough, noticing the car swerve, Malik pulled the bike back, swinging it to the left, so it was head to head with Victor, who was driving. Malik didn't know who the man was, but he had seen him in the mall a few days before. He had been with those people in purple togas.
They must be up to something…
Malik bashed the side of his motorcycle against the car, scratching it with a storm of sparks, snapping Rishid out of his trance and scaring Victor, sending him into another swerve, and trying to get back onto the centre of the road, bashing Malik aside for a second.
Otogi drew his sixth card as he started the duel.
“I'll summon Horus lv4 in attack mode, set one card, and end.”
On Otogi's field in front of the face down card, appeared a small silver bird with glowing ruby eyes and stiff wings that seemed incredibly artificial. The man pulled off his balaclava to reveal a tanned, scarred face, with a thick messy mop of red hair.
“My name is Esparanza, and you'll fear the day you duel me.”
“Just get on with the move…” Sighed Otogi. The tall man drew and grunted.
“I'll summon X-head cannon in attack mode, set one card and end attack your horus.”
A vermillion and azure machine emerged, blocky, with short arms and a rusty cannon head, and fired an electric blue shot at the small bird, who screeched as the attack came near.
“Flip my card up, magic cylinder.”
There was an explosion of lights as a harlequin barrel formed on the field, the attack mounting inside, only to fly back in the direction of Esparanza, destroying X head and some of his life points.
“I end…” Moaned the tall redhead, letting Otogi draw.
“I'll activate summon dice.”
The spell he placed down flipped up, forming a rotating white dice in mid-air. With a large explosion, a tall man in royal blue armour formed out of it.
“How did you…”
“Simple. For the cost of 1000 life points, I can activate the effect of summon dice, and thanks to the roll, I summoned Orgoth the Relentless to the field.”
Otogi saw his life points clock down.
Otogi: 3000 Esparanza: 2200
“Now I can attack directly with my Orgoth and win the duel. My mighty warrior! Destroy this man's life!”
Otogi pointed a thin arm to send his warrior forward, slamming a sword into the ground, and not into his opponent. Around the swordsman, a silver armour covered in thorns and sharp objects appeared, and with an explosion that sent Otogi sprawling back against the far wall, his monster disintegrated.
“Fool! You activated my sakuretsu armour trap card. With the effect, it sends your monster to the cemetery when you attack me.”
“You may have beaten Orgoth the relentless, but Horus can still attack.”
The bird flew up to the man, and with a sharp peck, landed back on Otogi's field with a happy expression on it's artificial features.
Esparanza: 600
“Your move.”
The bulky man drew a card, and grinned.
“I'll summon my casino machine.”
A large, orange machine appeared, falling against the ground with a heavy thump as a single arm appeared from the side, holding a large cannon in the direction of Otogi.
“First, I'll activate my casino machine's special ability. By discarding my night assailant, I can summon tokens equal to the star level of my monster, which means I get three, all with the same stats as my monster.”
Three golden coins with 200 attack and 500 defence were spewed from the cannon, landing on Otogi's side of the field.
“What in the world?”
“Did I forget to mention? The tokens appear on your side of the field in attack mode.”
Otogi looked at the three pieces of money that sat prettily on his side of the field.
“Now I'll remove my night assailant and my X-head cannon to summon Black Luster Soldier- Envoy of the Beginning.”
The two monsters appeared back on the field, disappearing into a midnight blue vortex on the field, and out came a monster that Otogi was scared to look at. With an angry face and glimmering black armour, the monster was a force to be reckoned with, and Otogi knew it all too well from practising against Yugi before now.
“Now my Black Luster Soldier can attack two of your tokens, doing 2800 for each one, 5600 in total, more than enough to wipe your life points out boy.”
The soldier raced forward, smashing the first token into little shards. Otogi's life points clocked down to 200 as the soldier leapt forward to attack the second. The sword caught the token and then slammed against Otogi's chest, sending him even further back against the far wall. A shower of dust and rubble fell from the ceiling, shrouding Otogi. Esparanza walked towards him, and then roared in horror as he saw a kuriboh emerge from the dirt and grime. Otogi held the card in his hand, shaking violently as he got up.
“Don't count me out just yet…” Joked Otogi.
Otogi: 200 Esparanza: 600
“Due to the effect of Casino Machine, for every token destroyed this turn I have to send that many cards to the cemetery from my hand. So out goes my limiter removal and my sinister serpent. I end.”
Otogi managed to draw a card, and looked at it with a smile seen commonly on a delinquent's face after a particularly good idea came to mind.
“I first of all activate tribute to the doomed, discarding my makyura the destroyer to destroy the final token on my field.”
A set of bandages crept from behind Otogi, and then whirled around the coin, smashing it into a decrepit dust on the floor.
“Now I'll activate snatch steal, to take your Slot Machine from you.”
Esparanza looked at his opponent.
He's flipped!
“Ok then…” Muttered the bulky man, as his machine stomped over to Otogi's field. He had one card left in his hand, and he hoped it would work.
“Now I'll activate my card of sanctity, drawing six new cards for me and a fresh hand for you as well.” Snapped Otogi, sending the spell to the cemetery as six golden lights formed in his grasp.
“Now, I'll activate shield and sword, allowing me to swap the defence and attack of all monsters on the field, and now casino machine has 2000 ATK while your soldier has 2500.”
The images blurred for a second as the new amounts totalled up.
“Yes? So what! My monster is still far stronger than yours!”
“Not now… when I activate my magical necromancy.”
The trap card appeared, and Esparanza remembered Makyura's effect as he swore under his breath.
“Now I can discard two cards from my hand, leaving me with two cards, to increase my life points by 1000 for every monster in my cemetery. The two cards I discarded were both monsters, being horus lv6 and lv6 again, and my orgoth also gives me an added 1000. Now I'll activate my final card, graverobber!”
Otogi thanked Jounouchi for giving him his spare copy of this card as his lp dropped back down to 1200.
“Due to it's effect, my only card in hand now is the limiter removal I take from your cemetery, and I'll use it to power up casino machine's attack to 4000.”
The machine grew in size, the cannon also increasing, now taller and bigger than the soldier before him. Esparanza looked through his hand to see if he had any options. There were none.
“Now your own monster, casino machine, will destroy black luster soldier!”
The cannon charged up a fierce amount of energy, and the black-clad duelist covered his eyes as his monster was wiped out and he was thrown back by the rest of the energy that engulfed him, sending him down to 0 life points. He dropped his hand, moaned, and fell to the floor as his eyes glazed over. Otogi stumbled over to the corner to nurse his wounds, as Jounouchi stepped up, along with the second man, who pulled off his balaclava to reveal a pale face, clean shaven, and a slicked down mass of blonde hair that went down to his shoulders, and grinned as he opened his eyes were a piercing pewter grey.
“My name is Domingo, and I shall put an end to what Esparanza started.” He said, kicking his cohort aside, who did nothing but shudder violently for a few seconds, a delicate foam forming at the edges of his lips.
“My name is Katsuya Jounouchi, and for the sake of my sister, I shall defeat you!”
Both readied their duel disks as the second game began.
The toll bridge was coming nearer, and both Victor and Malik gasped as they saw it was going vertical to let a boat through. Just what they hadn't hoped for. Pegasus was now keeping all three of his opponents at gun point by the doorway, ready to shoot it open for them all to fall when the need arose. The car put on an extra burst of speed as it knocked Malik and Rishid aside.
“Keep on it's tail.” Said Rishid calmly, fiddling with his ponytail to vent any worry he had. Malik was sweating, his calm grip now slipping into an adolescent fury to keep hold of the now sweaty handlebars as he sped on down the road. He felt the wheels bump as both he and the car sped up the side of the ever moving road, which was now at around 45 degrees up in the air. It was slowly becoming ninety, ever nearing 180, as they came towards the halfway point, and as they reached the top, it was almost vertical, and as both vehicles thundered over the gap, everything happened at once.
Bakura, Seto and Honda leapt in separate directions as Pegasus shot the door open, all three of them clasping hold of the angry American's arms and neck as the car hurtled over the blank space. Victor pushed the car on, swearing furiously in Egyptian for it to start. Malik and Rishid's motorbike collided with the side of the far bridge, and fell, screaming, towards the waters below. The car thudded down on the other side, and screeched to a halt in a small wooden clearing to the side of the bridge's far end. The form of the young boy had, all this time, been left on some of the spare seats, and as the car shuddered to a halt, he flopped to the floor of the interior area.
The three hostages and Horus' limp form were taken through a pass in the woody area, Pegasus carrying the body of the child as Victor held the two guns behind the heads of the bound school children, leaving Kaiba to lead the way, also chained up by the magnetic force of the sennen eye.
They kept walking for around five minutes, only the sounds of flustered birds, wildlife and cracking twigs breaking their silence.
Eventually, they reached what they could only call a sinister looking compound, made entirely of metal. Victor staggered over to the front entrance, muttering a password into the intercom, and the door opened to let them all through. As Pegasus gave the body to two people in togas who walked up, Victor stepped into an open elevator, which disappeared off into the main building. Pegasus saw the other three, all with sinister looks on their faces. The bridge could be seen now closing in the distance, and Bakura began to cry as he thought about Malik.
Honda wrapped his bound arms around Bakura, more as a friend than anything, and let the pale young boy cry a little.
Seto did nothing. He had little affection for madmen and their helpers who tried to kill him. And that was why he was hating Pegasus and Victor right now. They had been dragged from their tournament so quickly, without any explanation, due to some Egyptian magic trick. He didn't believe it for one second. No matter how much evidence people had, he wouldn't accept any of it. The flamboyant American businessman stepped into an automatic door to the main building, leaving the three of them to wait.
After about fifteen minutes, he stepped back out, with two lifeless forms beside him. Kaiba and Honda were shocked as Bakura tore himself away from his friend's arms. Ryuzaki and Mokuba, both with similar marks in their chests, were standing before them, along with the boy from earlier.
“Kaiba Boy, don't do anything rash, I have to explain something very important to you…”
“We'll make this fairly simple.”
The two teenagers turned to Pegasus who had just spoken, sliding the medusa hand pistol into a glove compartment beside him.
“We need information on Yugi Boy and his little friends. I'm sure Honda can provide us with that information.” Pegasus continued, fiddling with his thumbs, leering over them with an adolescent grin.
“And little Bakura here happens to have a power we've been searching for. The final piece to Zork's requiem.” Said Victor, cleaning a cheese knife as he slid it into the rack beside him. The two students looked at each other. Neither could tell if there was any longing there. They could only sense desperation and a need to escape. Whatever these entrepreneurs were planning, it wasn't going to be pretty.
“What do you mean by Zork?” Asked Bakura, feeling he'd heard the name somewhere before.
“Many millennia ago, a great threat plagued Egypt and the pharaoh Atem with his priests. When your past life, Thief Bakura, summoned Zork Necrophidius, everyone fell before him except for the bravest warriors there were. I'm sure Honda here can remember the moment quite well.”
Honda glared at Pegasus, remembering him, Jounouchi, Anzu, Kaiba and Yugi fighting against that gigantic beast in the town. But was that really an ancient being of evil? He had just thought it was some weird duel monster…
“With the power of Zork at our side, Seto's tournament will be easy to win.”
Bakura stared in anguish through the blackened glass to notice all Seto was doing was driving, his hands clasped hard to the steering wheel. Bakura's face fell. This wasn't what he was expecting. Their friend wasn't exactly saving them.
“Don't bother with him.” Sighed Pegasus, leaning back in his seat. “He can't hear you, he can't hear anyone, and not because of the glass. We happen to have done to him what we've done to every member of NightDuel.”
Bakura was now listening intently, wanting to know why Kaiba was being so hostile.
“We happen to have powers that I'm sure not even you could understand.” Snapped Victor, pulling out a long relic from his trouser pocket, which enlarged as it was fully exposed. He then pulled another from the rack beside him, as Pegasus pulled back his eye patch, showing a golden sphere rolling madly around in the socket.
Anzu, Shizuka and Yugi looked around them. Jounouchi had disappeared off for the toilet and the concert was coming to an end. Yet, some sense of brooding was falling over the trio. They weren't sure what it was, but they weren't looking forward to finding out. Otogi had just finished the penultimate song of the evening, and Shizuka mewed and collapsed against Yugi's shoulder, stretching her arms.
Jounouchi whistled as he zipped up his jeans, washing his hands. He chuckled at the love heart saying `Jounouchi 4 Mai' scribbled onto the mirror, and remembering Honda writing that when he was drunk one night. Squirting some soap onto his hands and working the pink stuff into a thick lather, he washed it off and continued whistling as he strolled down the corridors. They were mainly dark, the rare light illuminating a thin area of the floor. As he stepped towards the auditorium, he jumped to hear a shrill scream, and threw open the doors to see precisely what it was. Inside the hall, Shizuka was screaming as two bulky men in black jumpsuits and balaclavas leapt at her. In an amazing show of strength, Otogi leapt from the stage, throwing one to the ground with a scream as a sickening `click' came as he bent the gruff attacker's neck. As the singer turned to the other one, he was thrown against the far wall by an immense force, sprawled head first against a dent in the wall. Shizuka cried as the other man edged his hand towards her mini-skirt (made of a similar material to short shorts, which she had borrowed from Mai) only for Yugi to throw a roundhouse kick in the man's direction. He was, as he always was in dangerous situations, taller, more mature, and with far wilder hair. Anzu cheered him on until she was winded by a gruff embraced from a man behind her, throwing her handbag round to slap him on the cheek as he arm whirled round with the natural agility to a dancer had. Only two more men were left, and both of them raced at Yugi at Shizuka, throwing them to the ground with immense power, sending them sprawling over to the stage. Jounouchi looked with wide eyes at the two sprawled out forms before him, only to be blocked from the two bodies by a mysterious dark shadow. As he emerged from the darkness, Johnny Steps grinned as the other two men rounded on Anzu and Otogi…
“You can go first.” Snapped Corgi, as Isis pulled a card out from her duel disk with a nod of compliance.
“I'll summon zolga in attack mode, set one card and end.”
A long, navy curtain of a dress appeared, a plain silver head spinning out from it. A metallic roar erupted from the sound file as an oblong appeared behind it.
Corgi drew with a wide grin.
“I'll summon one monster in defence and set a card, ending my turn.”
Isis looked at the face down cards.
How can I trust her…
Isis looked at her hand. It wasn't the hand she liked to see herself draw. She clasped her neck, hoping for a prediction, and merely groped her tanned flesh. She still needed to get used to the lack of the sennen tauk. She shrugged the feeling away and drew a card.
“I'll summon pixie mirror, in defence mode.” Stated Isis, placing the card on the field. The 2100 defence monster flashed out onto the arena, a vanity mirror, frosted over with a rose tinted ice, was being straddled by a small naked female sprite, who giggled as the card appeared. Isis looked at Corgi through the confetti lighting, illuminating their bright red faces in the darkness of the night.
“Now my zolga, attack her defence monster!”
The strange being flew over, and with a blast of light from the stone cold face, the card shattered to reveal a pile of bones, that flew around in the sky before battering Isis with a rain of bodily remnants. Settling back down, it formed into the body of a dog, crimson eyes glaring from the empty sockets in the skull.
“You attacked my skull dog marron, and thanks to the high defence of my wonderful doggy, you take 300 damage!”
Isis cursed her idiocy as her life points clocked down.
“I'll end then…” Groaned Isis.
“Draw!” Giggled Corgi, obviously enjoying the duel now she was winning. So much like Mai.
“I'll set another monster and set a card, ending my turn.” Grinned Corgi, enjoying using surprises to keep Isis on her toes. The Egyptian duelist drew another card.
“I'll summon duster brownie.” Announced Isis, throwing down another monster. Out of the earth in a twirl of lights, a little fairy with matted blue hair and dressed in a dull maid's uniform emerged, holding a gigantic feather duster.
“Thanks to my fairy's effect, for every fairy I have on the field, I can destroy a magic and trap card once per turn. So now my pixie will destroy your two face down cards.”
The little nymph ran over, slapping the first card, which flipped up to reveal a set of tanned female warriors in bear skin tunics, the second flipping up to reveal a lady in a skull mask and tatted cobalt robes, dancing a merry jig with a slight menace in the rattle she made.
“You activated my amazon protection squad and my amazon shaman. Thanks to my shaman card, I can take one amazon monster from my hand and special summon it to the field if it has a star level equal to one of your monsters with the lowest attack.”
“Good thing my Pixie Mirror only has 100 attack points.”
“But it has four stars, allowing me to summon amazon paladin in attack mode.”
From the earth appeared a beautiful blonde woman, also dressed in the strange tunics evident on the others. Isis was strongly reminded of Mai from the hair style.
“And then the effect of my protection squad activates, allowing me to special summon one feline or canine monster from my hand straight to the field.”
The warriors from the card leapt into the air, forming into a golden ball of energy, before spewing down to the ground in a shower of light. From the aura the card gave off, a sleek white tiger, covered in thick scars appeared.
“My amazon tiger gets a 400 attack point boost from every amazon on the field, and luckily, both paladin and tiger count. So now my tiger has 1900 attack points!”
Isis saw the tiger grow a little as it roared at her.
“I'll activate my face down card fairy's masquerade. It allows me to choose two spells in my deck and use them instantly, so I'll choose card destruction and fairy rebirth.”
As all the magic and trap cards faded away, Isis flicked through her deck for the two cards, playing them instantly.
“My first card, card destruction, sends our hands to the cemetery to draw a same amount of cards. It's my second turn, meaning I hold seven cards, and four of them were on the field, meaning I get three cards to my hand. My second hard, fairy rebirth, special summons all fairies discarded from my hand this turn to the field. So both my Airknight Parshath and my hysteric angel will appear on the field.”
In a shower of golden, pastel green and lavender sparks, a centaur man with long blonde hair and beautiful armour, along with a young man with short blue hair, horn rimmed glasses and a prim school uniform, clasping two text books, appeared.
“Johnny.”
Anzu squared off against him, her shoulders straight, tense and drenched in sweat, her handbag lying open on the floor, her clothing messy and dirtied.
“Ms. Mazaki, it's been a while, no?” Chuckled the young dark man, flicking his thick dreadlocks back with an elegant movement as he ran a hand over his sweaty torso. Anzu snorted his disgust, curling a lip. He walked towards her in an ape like stumble, lifting her head so he could see her chin, sniffing it with a strange wonder, kissing it with his raw, chapped lips. Anzu shivered, Otogi and Jounouchi approached, and the two men stepped forward, pounding their fists against their hands as they glared at the two scrawny teens.
“We've got a simple proposition for you, kids.” Snapped one of the men, pulling out a duel disk that stood out on his bulky, clothed wrist. Jounouchi pulled out his disk, letting it snap into place. Anzu followed suit, letting the duel disk click into place on her wrist. Otogi sighed and pulled out his as Johnny and the other man also pulled out their duel disks, loading their decks.
“This shall be a team match for entrance to the blue eyes dome.” Stated one of the two bandits, as Johnny and the other man stepped behind him. “I challenge Otogi Ryuuji.”
Otogi flicked back a stray hair. He chuckled, and looking at his opponent with shallow olive eyes, picked his first five cards.
Bakura and Honda felt the scare halt as Victor stepped out, looking in the proximity of the entrance. Pegasus didn't turn to look. He kept his strange gaze upon the two teenagers as they shuffled around. The gun Pegasus was now holding again was all they needed as proof to tell them to sit still. After about ten minutes of heavy rainfall and thunder, Victor splashed back into the car with the limp form of a young boy in his grasp. The person must be two or three years younger than Bakura, and yet he had an incredibly mature look, muscular arms, pale yet tanned in the right light skin, and grey blue hair that fell over his brow like a curtain of frozen rainwater.
“This young man here felt what the sennen ankh can do earlier…” Grinned Victor, showing the long golden key to his prisoners. The dent in his chest showed where it had been inserted to his soul room. Something Bakura remembered from long ago.
“What are you going to do with us?” Moaned Honda, asking what all of them had thought, including Horus, earlier.
“We're going to make you our spies into Yugi's little band of brothers. Both of you have been taken over so many times before I doubt it will effect you.”
The two of them looked at each other nervously. Victor was slowly clambering over to their seats as the car swayed lightly and drove down the highway. The key was coming ever closer towards Bakura's chest, and Honda swore as he tried to leap forward, only to find his hands bound together.
“Don't worry, it won't hurt much. Just let your mind run free…” Sighed Victor, placing the key lightly against Bakura's chest.
Seto Kaiba awoke to find himself driving his own limousine down the highway from Domino. He wondered why precisely he was driving a chauffeur driven car, but shrugged the feeling away as he heard four voices he recognised in the seating behind him. Spinning the car to a halt, he heard the voice of Victor swear as he was thrown against the side of the compartment, the angry snap of Pegasus at his careless driving, and Bakura and Honda give satisfactory yells of glee.
Kaiba jumped out of the driving seat, got out the car, and opened the door into the passenger area, seeing Victor holding two large golden relics and Pegasus holding his sennen eye in the direction of the two boys, keeping their arms locked behind their backs. As soon as he gasped at the sight, Pegasus turned towards him, and he felt his arms lock behind him with a strange force that felt like magnetism, which was apt, as his limbs were like dead lead weights now. Bakura and Honda, now freed, tried to squeeze out the door, only to be blocked by Kaiba being dragged in.
Victor jumped out, picking up the medusa pistol from Pegasus, and leapt into the driver's seat, pushing the car onwards towards the river bridge, hoping it wasn't opening to let a ferry through…
Malik had a long drive back to the hotel. Rishid sat meditating in the sidecar, Isis still in the city, who had phoned to say she'd make her own way back. At this time of night, there were always plenty of mad, drunken drivers, as Malik had learned far too easily, and this night was no exception. Ahead of him, swerving madly, was a car he recognised as a limousine, and suspiciously similar to Kaiba's. That man had always been a bit mad…
Bakura and Honda kept their heads down as Seto sat beside them, keeping a stiff upper lip and a dull expression in his eyes. Pegasus smirked as he pulled a second gun out of the glove compartment, and held it at his rival's neck.
“So Kaiba boy, you finally decide to come to my mercy after all.”
“Spare me the gloating Mr. Crawford.”
“C'mon, we've been through SO much, how could you treat me like an enemy?”
“Because you are my rival in business. A sad twisted freak who likes to play mind games with pawns who have no understanding or intellect.” Snapped Kaiba, tears forming in his eyes as he remembered seeing Mokuba's lifeless body thrown before him at Duelist Kingdom, worried for both his and his brother's life.
“Precisely, that's why you and your brother are the perfect choices for controlling, no intellect or understanding of my sennen magic.” Replied Pegasus with a slight sneer. He grunted, and Kaiba was forced to look down at the ground like the other captives.
It was then they heard the motorbike engine roar behind them. For the five seconds, Pegasus kept his eye away from them, the three Domino students looked out the back window to see Malik and Rishid chasing behind them. They could see Malik was shocked that Seto was in the back, and as Pegasus began to turn back, Honda tore the gun from the American's hand and leapt upon him, Bakura biting the man's leg as he roared in pain. Victor swore again as the car took a sharp swerve, and he got it back on line with the centre of the road. Nothing would stop them now…
Malik had certainly been shocked to see Seto Kaiba wasn't driving. He hadn't been expecting something that bad from a young man like Seto, but still, it was his car. Was it hijacked? The three of them had certainly set themselves on Pegasus quick enough, noticing the car swerve, Malik pulled the bike back, swinging it to the left, so it was head to head with Victor, who was driving. Malik didn't know who the man was, but he had seen him in the mall a few days before. He had been with those people in purple togas.
They must be up to something…
Malik bashed the side of his motorcycle against the car, scratching it with a storm of sparks, snapping Rishid out of his trance and scaring Victor, sending him into another swerve, and trying to get back onto the centre of the road, bashing Malik aside for a second.
Otogi drew his sixth card as he started the duel.
“I'll summon Horus lv4 in attack mode, set one card, and end.”
On Otogi's field in front of the face down card, appeared a small silver bird with glowing ruby eyes and stiff wings that seemed incredibly artificial. The man pulled off his balaclava to reveal a tanned, scarred face, with a thick messy mop of red hair.
“My name is Esparanza, and you'll fear the day you duel me.”
“Just get on with the move…” Sighed Otogi. The tall man drew and grunted.
“I'll summon X-head cannon in attack mode, set one card and end attack your horus.”
A vermillion and azure machine emerged, blocky, with short arms and a rusty cannon head, and fired an electric blue shot at the small bird, who screeched as the attack came near.
“Flip my card up, magic cylinder.”
There was an explosion of lights as a harlequin barrel formed on the field, the attack mounting inside, only to fly back in the direction of Esparanza, destroying X head and some of his life points.
“I end…” Moaned the tall redhead, letting Otogi draw.
“I'll activate summon dice.”
The spell he placed down flipped up, forming a rotating white dice in mid-air. With a large explosion, a tall man in royal blue armour formed out of it.
“How did you…”
“Simple. For the cost of 1000 life points, I can activate the effect of summon dice, and thanks to the roll, I summoned Orgoth the Relentless to the field.”
Otogi saw his life points clock down.
Otogi: 3000 Esparanza: 2200
“Now I can attack directly with my Orgoth and win the duel. My mighty warrior! Destroy this man's life!”
Otogi pointed a thin arm to send his warrior forward, slamming a sword into the ground, and not into his opponent. Around the swordsman, a silver armour covered in thorns and sharp objects appeared, and with an explosion that sent Otogi sprawling back against the far wall, his monster disintegrated.
“Fool! You activated my sakuretsu armour trap card. With the effect, it sends your monster to the cemetery when you attack me.”
“You may have beaten Orgoth the relentless, but Horus can still attack.”
The bird flew up to the man, and with a sharp peck, landed back on Otogi's field with a happy expression on it's artificial features.
Esparanza: 600
“Your move.”
The bulky man drew a card, and grinned.
“I'll summon my casino machine.”
A large, orange machine appeared, falling against the ground with a heavy thump as a single arm appeared from the side, holding a large cannon in the direction of Otogi.
“First, I'll activate my casino machine's special ability. By discarding my night assailant, I can summon tokens equal to the star level of my monster, which means I get three, all with the same stats as my monster.”
Three golden coins with 200 attack and 500 defence were spewed from the cannon, landing on Otogi's side of the field.
“What in the world?”
“Did I forget to mention? The tokens appear on your side of the field in attack mode.”
Otogi looked at the three pieces of money that sat prettily on his side of the field.
“Now I'll remove my night assailant and my X-head cannon to summon Black Luster Soldier- Envoy of the Beginning.”
The two monsters appeared back on the field, disappearing into a midnight blue vortex on the field, and out came a monster that Otogi was scared to look at. With an angry face and glimmering black armour, the monster was a force to be reckoned with, and Otogi knew it all too well from practising against Yugi before now.
“Now my Black Luster Soldier can attack two of your tokens, doing 2800 for each one, 5600 in total, more than enough to wipe your life points out boy.”
The soldier raced forward, smashing the first token into little shards. Otogi's life points clocked down to 200 as the soldier leapt forward to attack the second. The sword caught the token and then slammed against Otogi's chest, sending him even further back against the far wall. A shower of dust and rubble fell from the ceiling, shrouding Otogi. Esparanza walked towards him, and then roared in horror as he saw a kuriboh emerge from the dirt and grime. Otogi held the card in his hand, shaking violently as he got up.
“Don't count me out just yet…” Joked Otogi.
Otogi: 200 Esparanza: 600
“Due to the effect of Casino Machine, for every token destroyed this turn I have to send that many cards to the cemetery from my hand. So out goes my limiter removal and my sinister serpent. I end.”
Otogi managed to draw a card, and looked at it with a smile seen commonly on a delinquent's face after a particularly good idea came to mind.
“I first of all activate tribute to the doomed, discarding my makyura the destroyer to destroy the final token on my field.”
A set of bandages crept from behind Otogi, and then whirled around the coin, smashing it into a decrepit dust on the floor.
“Now I'll activate snatch steal, to take your Slot Machine from you.”
Esparanza looked at his opponent.
He's flipped!
“Ok then…” Muttered the bulky man, as his machine stomped over to Otogi's field. He had one card left in his hand, and he hoped it would work.
“Now I'll activate my card of sanctity, drawing six new cards for me and a fresh hand for you as well.” Snapped Otogi, sending the spell to the cemetery as six golden lights formed in his grasp.
“Now, I'll activate shield and sword, allowing me to swap the defence and attack of all monsters on the field, and now casino machine has 2000 ATK while your soldier has 2500.”
The images blurred for a second as the new amounts totalled up.
“Yes? So what! My monster is still far stronger than yours!”
“Not now… when I activate my magical necromancy.”
The trap card appeared, and Esparanza remembered Makyura's effect as he swore under his breath.
“Now I can discard two cards from my hand, leaving me with two cards, to increase my life points by 1000 for every monster in my cemetery. The two cards I discarded were both monsters, being horus lv6 and lv6 again, and my orgoth also gives me an added 1000. Now I'll activate my final card, graverobber!”
Otogi thanked Jounouchi for giving him his spare copy of this card as his lp dropped back down to 1200.
“Due to it's effect, my only card in hand now is the limiter removal I take from your cemetery, and I'll use it to power up casino machine's attack to 4000.”
The machine grew in size, the cannon also increasing, now taller and bigger than the soldier before him. Esparanza looked through his hand to see if he had any options. There were none.
“Now your own monster, casino machine, will destroy black luster soldier!”
The cannon charged up a fierce amount of energy, and the black-clad duelist covered his eyes as his monster was wiped out and he was thrown back by the rest of the energy that engulfed him, sending him down to 0 life points. He dropped his hand, moaned, and fell to the floor as his eyes glazed over. Otogi stumbled over to the corner to nurse his wounds, as Jounouchi stepped up, along with the second man, who pulled off his balaclava to reveal a pale face, clean shaven, and a slicked down mass of blonde hair that went down to his shoulders, and grinned as he opened his eyes were a piercing pewter grey.
“My name is Domingo, and I shall put an end to what Esparanza started.” He said, kicking his cohort aside, who did nothing but shudder violently for a few seconds, a delicate foam forming at the edges of his lips.
“My name is Katsuya Jounouchi, and for the sake of my sister, I shall defeat you!”
Both readied their duel disks as the second game began.
The toll bridge was coming nearer, and both Victor and Malik gasped as they saw it was going vertical to let a boat through. Just what they hadn't hoped for. Pegasus was now keeping all three of his opponents at gun point by the doorway, ready to shoot it open for them all to fall when the need arose. The car put on an extra burst of speed as it knocked Malik and Rishid aside.
“Keep on it's tail.” Said Rishid calmly, fiddling with his ponytail to vent any worry he had. Malik was sweating, his calm grip now slipping into an adolescent fury to keep hold of the now sweaty handlebars as he sped on down the road. He felt the wheels bump as both he and the car sped up the side of the ever moving road, which was now at around 45 degrees up in the air. It was slowly becoming ninety, ever nearing 180, as they came towards the halfway point, and as they reached the top, it was almost vertical, and as both vehicles thundered over the gap, everything happened at once.
Bakura, Seto and Honda leapt in separate directions as Pegasus shot the door open, all three of them clasping hold of the angry American's arms and neck as the car hurtled over the blank space. Victor pushed the car on, swearing furiously in Egyptian for it to start. Malik and Rishid's motorbike collided with the side of the far bridge, and fell, screaming, towards the waters below. The car thudded down on the other side, and screeched to a halt in a small wooden clearing to the side of the bridge's far end. The form of the young boy had, all this time, been left on some of the spare seats, and as the car shuddered to a halt, he flopped to the floor of the interior area.
The three hostages and Horus' limp form were taken through a pass in the woody area, Pegasus carrying the body of the child as Victor held the two guns behind the heads of the bound school children, leaving Kaiba to lead the way, also chained up by the magnetic force of the sennen eye.
They kept walking for around five minutes, only the sounds of flustered birds, wildlife and cracking twigs breaking their silence.
Eventually, they reached what they could only call a sinister looking compound, made entirely of metal. Victor staggered over to the front entrance, muttering a password into the intercom, and the door opened to let them all through. As Pegasus gave the body to two people in togas who walked up, Victor stepped into an open elevator, which disappeared off into the main building. Pegasus saw the other three, all with sinister looks on their faces. The bridge could be seen now closing in the distance, and Bakura began to cry as he thought about Malik.
Honda wrapped his bound arms around Bakura, more as a friend than anything, and let the pale young boy cry a little.
Seto did nothing. He had little affection for madmen and their helpers who tried to kill him. And that was why he was hating Pegasus and Victor right now. They had been dragged from their tournament so quickly, without any explanation, due to some Egyptian magic trick. He didn't believe it for one second. No matter how much evidence people had, he wouldn't accept any of it. The flamboyant American businessman stepped into an automatic door to the main building, leaving the three of them to wait.
After about fifteen minutes, he stepped back out, with two lifeless forms beside him. Kaiba and Honda were shocked as Bakura tore himself away from his friend's arms. Ryuzaki and Mokuba, both with similar marks in their chests, were standing before them, along with the boy from earlier.
“Kaiba Boy, don't do anything rash, I have to explain something very important to you…”