Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction ❯ Ways to Drive an Esper Psycho ❯ With Justice for All ( Chapter 10 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

AUTHOR'S NOTES: New additions to the dramatis personae- Shadi, Ankhkare, and Senui (the latter are AKA Ankh and Scale). The latter two were also created by Indigo Tantarian (go read her stuff if you haven't already!), who has kindly given me permission to use them. I hope I haven't mangled their personalities too much.
Actually, Millennium Slinky, the dragons having human forms wasn't my idea. It came from The Dragon DelaSangre by Alan Troop (and, as you can guess, that's where I got Dar and Job's surname). So it's not mine to give permission for. But I don't think the author of that book's running around suing people who use it.

WARNINGS: I'm probably stretching the definition of PG-13 here. This story contains Millennium Item loans, same-sex relationships, swearing, implied sex, et cetera.

DISCLAIMER: There's a very simple way to tell if I own Yu-Gi-Oh: Go outside and see if there are flying pigs. I do, however, own a dueling deck. If only there was someone to duel...

Cassiel didn't know what to make of it.
The intruder who was named Malik had departed after his conversation with an unknown person, vowing to return. Shortly afterward Aaron shoved their Master (now reduced to incoherent babbling) back into the bedroom, informing him in a tone that, as always, exuded extreme lack of patience, that he was in no condition to be running around.
When this operation was completed, Aaron turned back to Cassiel. "Well?" he said. "Why don't we leave?"
And this time Cassiel had no objections.

"Rex! Hey, Rex!"
As Rex opened his mouth to reply, Dar grabbed his arm. "Come on. We have to be at Kaiba Corp. at three-thirty."
"What for?"
"To get what's yours," said Dar. "That's what for."
"You mean…"
Dar nodded. "I hope you kept your duel disk."

"Everyone," said Téa, "I'd like you to meet Angela."
Of course Angela wasn't the little puffball with a halo that she was in the picture on the card.
She had pale blond hair in twin braids with wide shiny ribbons, and big blue eyes that in proportion to the beatific face rivaled those of Yugi and Téa. She looked to be around seven or eight, and she didn't look at all real. She looked like a painting from a maybe-fictional time where most girls actually wore dresses like hers on a daily basis. It was white, or at least Joey thought it was; there was so much ruffles and lace and ribbon that it was hard to be sure. "Hello, friends of Téa. It is a pleasure to meet you."
As Joey struggled to come up with a suitable response, Yugi took over. "It's nice to meet you, Angela."
Joey grinned nervously and nodded. "Same here."
Out of the corner of his eye he saw the guy who had been in the boys' bathroom that Monday- the guy who, he had been informed, was Dar DelaSangre, Rex Raptor's (now Esper Roba's) Serpent Night Dragon. That had been followed up by some decidedly crude transformations by Ken, culminating in Geoffrey pursuing Ken around the house, demanding he take it back and that they weren't like that. In the interests of the structure of the Wheeler house, not to mention his own sanity, Joey had finally wished Ken back into the card.
Dar was speaking to Rex about something (Joey couldn't hear for the noise), and all of a sudden Rex's eyes widened and they both began running for somewhere.
Joey was diverted from his observation by Tristan waving a hand in front of his face. "Hello, Earth to Joey, are you there? Or are you dreaming about Jay again?"
Joey blushed but raised no objection.

Mokuba began to prepare immediately after getting home, after telling Chihiro that yes, he had gotten her message. He cleaned up the room Seto had designated as the Tournament Commissioner's office, straightening the paperwork scattered across the desk into neat piles so it at least looked like he had total control of things.
Then, at three-twenty, he sat at the desk (he had made certain that the chair had wheels, in case he got bored) and started on his math homework while waiting for Serpent Night Dragon's appearance. He didn't wait long.
"Mokuba," said Jane, "Mr. DelaSangre and Mr. Raptor have arrived. Shall I open the doors?"
"Yes, please."
The doors slid open and two people entered before they just as quickly slid shut. Jane was extremely efficient.
Rex Raptor- Mokuba recognized him from the Domino Regionals. He also vaguely remembered seeing him standing next to Joey Wheeler during the latter's duel with Esper Roba. He had left the pertinent Battle City files open on the computer; the one on top delineated Rex's first and last tournament battle. Mokuba noted, with some amusement, that a math textbook had been half-jammed into his bag. Then again, he thought as he swept his math off the desk, he was equally guilty.
But Dar DelaSangre he could never recall having seen anywhere before. Maybe that was to be expected- Chihiro had warned him, after all. Unlike Rex, he looked directly at Mokuba, and that combined with his eye color made Mokuba feel distinctly unnerved.
He decided to get right down to business. "I'm the Battle City Tournament Commissioner. Please take a seat." Much to Mokuba's relief, there was no lifting of eyebrows or condescending tone. They both sat down; Mokuba scooted the chair away from the computer so he was looking straight at them. "You claim there has been a wrongful disqualification?"
Dar looked like he would like to put it in stronger terms, but he nodded.
"I'm very sorry, but I don't have the authority to issue locator cards."
"You could take them back, though," said Dar, "if the current owner cheated to get them. Couldn't you?"
Mokuba blinked. "Someone cheated? Do you have proof?"
"He was wearing a headset." Those eyes, to be honest, were freaking Mokuba out. He kept on thinking about how good guys on TV never had red eyes. "And I doubt he was listening to music. He constantly stated the cards in Rex's hand, and the ones he had just played. The face-down ones. Does that sound like cheating to you? It does to me."
Mokuba nodded- he had to. It did, indeed, sound like cheating. "Do you have evidence?"
"Excuse me- Mokuba?" Mokuba spun the chair around. "I'm sorry about interrupting," said Sapphire, "but according to onee-sama, Dar is really Serpent Night Dragon, and he was looking straight at the opponent since there's not much else to do, so of course he'd see that kind of thing."
"Oh, it's okay, Sapphire," said Mokuba. He spun back. "Can you provide me with the name of the alleged cheater?"
"Esper Roba," said Rex. "At least that's what he called himself."
Great. Just great. Whatever it takes, don't tell these two what you told the Roba brothers. I know they'll take it the wrong way.
"Well, this will take time to sort out. You see, Esper Roba's out of the tournament, too. He lost his only rare card."
They weren't falling for it. "I know that," said Rex. "But does that mean he gets away with it?"
"Mokuba," said Sapphire, "With all due respect, I think you should go after that guy, who cares if he's in Battle City anymore. Wouldn't you want to go after Pegasus? He wasn't exactly the fairest player, either. And you're willing to let this Roba off scot-free?"
And now I'm between a dragon and a hard place.
"That's different, Sapphire," said Mokuba. "Esper Roba never tried to take over Seto's company."
"Even if Pegasus hadn't tried that," said Sapphire, "cheating is still cheating. If Pegasus was in Battle City-"
"Seto would never give him a duel disk."
"- I'm speaking hypothetically, all right? If Pegasus was in Battle City, and you saw him spying on someone's cards, you'd throw him out, wouldn't you? If anyone else was spying on someone's cards, they'd be disqualified, right? And you'd make sure the locator cards got back to whoever he cheated them from, right?"
"… yes."
"So how is this any different?"
"It's not like that!"
Open mouth. Insert foot.

Esper had just about had it with Serpent Night Dragon. Running in and out all the time, being a smart aleck and simultaneously buying things for Esper's brothers, like they were homeless or something… He nearly took the card and ripped it in two. Only, he had no idea how this worked. The destruction of the card might, heaven forbid, actually make Serpent Night Dragon stuck in this dimension forever. He couldn't risk such a thing.
At least that was what he told himself.
He dashed off his homework and took off for his job at a pace that would have earned him an easy A in PE.

"Hikari?"
Hikari pushed herself up and stretched. "Mm?"
Job began to fidget with the collar again. "I was just wondering… about Bakenrenef."
"Him? Well, for one thing he's currently sharing a body. Tell you what, if you ever come up with proof of infidelity, I'll let you stone me." Hikari grinned. "More faithful than the Lady herself, hm?" She tipped her head to one side and waited for a familiar outraged shout from a certain knight, but apparently he had other things to do. "Although I can't compare to her in terms of…"
"Don't say it," said Job. "What good is that stuff, anyway? Our species must propagate otherwise it will die out, therefore we have the right to mess around."
Hikari laughed. "I think someone's been reading Yugi's schoolbooks. Bakenrenef said Elaine's been looking about for someplace where she can do the thing with Michael that allows them to propagate with abandon."
"It's called a church. Possibly a cathedral."
She groaned. "You don't have to rub it in."
"Sorry."
"So, how long has it been? Two-three thousand years? I think we'd better get on with it if we ever want to propagate, don't you think so?"
Job nodded. "But I get to be on top."

"Um… I mean…"
Rex Raptor spoke. His voice was low like a match struck in a dark room and held to a pile of paper, preparing to burst into angry flames. "You mean… you knew he was cheating? And you didn't do anything about it? You just sat there and watched him walk off with my cards?"
"Look, it's not like that, I mean, I, well…"
"Dar," said Rex, "Thanks, but I don't think I want to re-enter. I'll probably just get cheated out all over again."
"Believe me," Mokuba yelled, "if I'd been informed of this incident earlier I would not have let him off!"
Dar crossed his arms. "And now you're blaming us?"
"I am not!" Mokuba knew only too well how he was sounding. He sighed and leaned back. "It's like this…"
By the time he had said "this" the doors had slid shut.
"Mokuba," said Sapphire, "if I've got the words right, you're in a fix, aren't you?"
"Yep," said Mokuba. "I'm in a fix."

Cassiel had expected something horrible to happen when he touched the card, but the only thing he felt was a slight shock and then nothing.
They performed the transportation spell in the room with the tiles, standing in the center of it and Aaron putting one hands palm-down on top of one of Cassiel's hands which was held out palm-up. They used their spare hands to grab their staffs, and Aaron shouted words that Cassiel had forgotten if he had ever known them (then again, Cassiel preferred the silent brand of magic) and then Cassiel shut his eyes and left.
It happened much quicker than Cassiel had been able to do on his own. Aaron located it and the spell was completed in a matter of moments.
Cassiel expected Aaron to be the one who gave them the news, but instead Aaron gave him a shove toward the door. Cassiel pushed it open and said, "Gabriel? Miriam? We have a favor to ask."

Look at all that chocolate! The expensive kind, too!
Shadi automatically turned to look in the store window. You know, Scale, you're not helping at all.
And when did I say I wanted to help, hippopotamus-mouth?
Scale, please, at least try to be polite!
Oh, shut up, you're a hippopotamus-mouth too.
Shadi's eyes moved to the boat in the harbor. Lady of Fate. Registered to one Terrence Merrick of Lantern City. He had paid a visit to Isis Ishtar, who supplied him with a photocopy of the driver's license of "Terrence Merrick" ("I was informed you would need it," she told him).
Of course, Malik Ishtar of Egypt had been immediately identified.
Law enforcement surrounded the boat, waving away the curious. A television news reporter (several, in fact) stood nearby, yelling into microphones. The law enforcement was apparently asking them to leave; they continued on regardless concerning the Abnormal Incident that had occurred aboard the boat.
Talk about the cosmic balance being upset- no, upset wasn't the right word, it implied a single weight giving the slightest favor to one side. It was more to the effect of a cosmic hand grabbing a cosmic sledgehammer and smashing the cosmic balance beyond recognition.
Isis had also provided him with news reports on this and another Abnormal Incident. Shadi compared them and found undeniable similarities. There were no known witnesses to the first occurrence (the children found outside the school weren't talking) and the alleged perpetrator of the second occurrence had been reported to not make any physical contact whatsoever with the crew of Lady of Fate. Too, there had been no medical explanation for the unconscious state of either the children or the crew.
And in the second incident, witnesses had reported that the perpetrator had dark hair and an unusual eye color- either red or brown.
Unless Shadi was very, very mistaken (in which case Scale would never hear the end of it), the monsters of the Shadow Games were materializing in Domino City, and even a few in its northern neighbor Lantern. If that wasn't upsetting the cosmic balance, nothing was.
He had spent a time going through the Duel Monsters with red eyes. There were many, and in the end he had despaired of any clues from that avenue.
So now he was paying a visit to the one who hopefully had regained his memories by now.
A telephone directory (though it contained addresses as well) had revealed to him the location of Yugi Motou's residence. There was even a map. But the map didn't look much like how the streets really were; it took longer than he had expected to find the Turtle Game Shop.
He pushed open the door and an impulse struck him to turn and bolt, run back to Egypt screaming all the way. Shadi had long ago learned to disregard impulses as vestiges of a childish mindset, but this time he was extremely tempted.
A hand reached up and brushed back dark purple hair. She bowed by putting her spinal cord at a slight angle with her legs, tilting her head downward, and then returning to her original position. It looked formal even from her position behind the cash register. "May I help you?"
Shadi permitted Ankh to slide words into his mouth, as he himself was rendered temporarily mute. "I would like to see Yugi Motou. And may I ask your name?"
"If you give me yours. Tani Koumori."
"Shadi."
Tani Koumori- or rather, Koumori Dragon- did not comment on his lack of a surname. Instead she turned and walked to another door that led out of the store, opened it, and yelled, "Yugi! Do you know anyone named Shadi?"
"Shadi? Oh- I'll be right there!"
Scale had decided to start grumbling. In Egypt the monsters never addressed their masters by their given name! When they spoke, that is! Which was almost never, because they were too stupid to-
This isn't Egypt, Shadi reminded him. Besides, we are speaking of Pharaoh Yami. He took the advice of a Duel Monster, you know; it stands to reason he would allow them to be somewhat informal when addressing him.
Shadi had barely completed his thought when Scale began to call out. I knew I wasn't really for you, you flea-bitten monkey! Get a move on, who cares about the stupid Pharaoh?
He had felt some kind of call as well; he contemplated it with some help from Ankh. I believe- someone has a strong desire for justice. That is why you are attracted to him, Scale. Your Item is supposed to bring justice.
Right then Yugi Motou himself started through the door, the Puzzle glowing as he did. By the time he had passed through the door proper Pharaoh Yami had taken over. "Shadi," he said. "What brings you here?"
"I apologize for interrupting," said Shadi, "but there have been several indications that the balance is upset. One of them just took place. Will you excuse me for a moment?"
"Oh," he added as he was halfway out the door, "When I return could you please inform me approximately how many Duel Monsters you believe have left the Shadow Realm? And explain why you have permitted them to stay?"
"Yami sighed. "With some of them, I wonder myself."

Shadi located this new candidate for the role of Scale's chosen a short distance from the Kaiba Corp. building. He was about the age of Yugi Motou, and he walked beside someone with dark hair and eyes that were not brown but definitely red.
This boy had put the Duel Monster up to those attacks? If so I wonder why I never recognized him as Scale's chosen one before this.
Yes! That's him! Right there! Go on, crab-eyes! Go on!
"Excuse me," said Shadi. "You seek justice, correct?"
The boy blinked. "I guess you could say that. Who are you?"
Shadi held out the Millennium Scales. "Take these. They will be a great aid to your quest, but they must be used wisely. And never, ever think that the Scales are yours to command as you wish, to remove all obstacles from life for you alone. Those who think that way are often found unworthy by the Scales themselves."
Nice disclaimer. Now's the part where you hand the Item over and let me do the rest, you idiotic moronic stupid foolish… fool! Or I'll send you to Anubis!
Any further ranting by Scale was cut off when the boy reached out cautiously and took hold of the Item.
Shadi- Scale's soul room has vanished!
I thought as much. Don't worry, Ankh. This boy is Scale's chosen now, even if it's temporary.
That's what makes me worry.
The Duel Monster shattered Shadi's mental conversation. "Are you okay?"
"Dar, I'm fine. Just fine." Scale's new chosen looked straight at Shadi. "So what do I do with this?"
Shadi allowed himself a slight smile as Ankh fed him information. "Its power will allow you to seek justice and find it when normal recourses have failed." The expression on the boy's face changed to absolute incredulity.
Probably wondering how I managed to pinpoint exactly what he wanted, hm, Ankh?
Shadi… I hope Scale won't be with this boy for very long. It was good of you to warn him, but that won't stop Scale from taking control.
Not to worry, Ankh. He merely wants the power of the Scales- he wants justice. That isn't so bad. He isn't a chosen per se; sooner or later he'll have to return the Item, and he can cast the Scales away whenever he likes. Though I'd rather he didn't unless in cases of emergency.
Thank you, Shadi.
The boy had apparently recaptured his voice. "What the-"
"I will give my name," said Shadi, "if you give me yours."
"Rex Raptor," said the boy. "So I guess I'm supposed to find out for myself how to use this thing?"
He had to contend with another impulse, this one to identify himself as Terrence Merrick. "My name is Shadi. And you are right, you are to discover the power of the Millennium Scales for yourself. Perhaps your friend-" insert significant glance at the friend in question "-can help you discover it. I apologize, but I really must be going."

"Greetings, Shadi," said Yami. "We were performing some… ahem… experiments."
"And that was how they left the Shadow Realm?"
"No," said Yami, "we were trying to figure out how to get them back, and we figured that out, but they didn't favor that idea. We've reached a conclusion of sorts."
"What would that conclusion be?"
"There has been some kind of disruption in the Shadow Realm." Yami fingered his Puzzle as he did so. "Now, apparently, whenever someone sincerely wishes for a Duel Monster to come to life… they do."
Shadi shook his head, unconsciously denying what was right before his eyes. "Nothing good can come of this."
Shadi, please, the Koumori Dragon was polite enough. And they're intelligent-
They are also dangerous. Remember that book I read? Shadi waited a moment for Ankh to look at his memories of the contents of that book. Intelligence creates knowledge that their life is not all it could be, which creates resentment, which makes them dangerous.
But books aren't always right! Like those histories you read, those were wrong! They're intelligent, they should realize that their life might not be all it could be, but it wouldn't be productive to use violence.
Shadi waited a moment for Scale to throw in a sarcastic remark, but then remembered Scale had gone. Thank you for that self-analysis, Ankh.
"Excuse me," said Yami. "Have you finished your conversation yet? I admit, one of mine has been involved in several… incidents."
"Which one?"
"Curse of Dragon." Yami sighed. "I would wish most of them back to the Shadow Realm, especially her, but Yugi won't allow it."
"With all due respect, they are that aggravating?"
Yami sighed and turned to the Duel Monsters nearby, waving them away. They retreated, several with vaguely insulted or hurt expressions. Then Yami embarked on a remarkably controlled rant. "It is hard for Yugi to focus on his schoolwork due to the loud arguments that often occur between Curse of Dragon and Gaia the Fierce Knight on religious matters. Curse of Dragon and her paramour are often engaged in… activities. Celtic Guardian is extremely discourteous towards Téa. Summoned Skull spends much of his time cursing Maximilian Pegasus."
Someone in the next room looked around the edge of the doorway. Shadi caught sight of wide blue eyes edged in dark strokes contrasting with skin like that of a typical person in Egypt.
"Koumori Dragon- I suspect she aided Curse of Dragon in the second incident. Even Dark Magician-" Yami sighed and put a hand to his forehead. "Two of his cousins recently sought asylum here. Normally I wouldn't object, but there is simply no place to put them!"

Once they were more-or-less secure in Rex's room with the door shut, Rex reached into his bag. "Dar, that guy said you could help me with this. Question one: How am I supposed to explain what a large set of gold scales is suddenly doing in my room?"
"Tell them you got it from Kaiba?" Dar laughed; there wasn't much real humor behind it. "Actually, I'd say don't explain it." Dar proceeded to take the Scales and shove them under the bed. "What they know won't hurt them."
"Good point." Rex took out his binder and set to work on his geometry. Dar perched on the foot of the bed, tilting the tiger's eye, observing the patterns it formed in the light, and ruminating.
They remained like this for around five minutes, maybe even ten, before Rex spoke again. "Do you have any idea how to use this?"
Dar frowned and stuck the tiger's eye back into a jacket pocket. "Well, once in Egypt we all got dragged out so someone could explain what they thought happened when we died- I think it was for the benefit of Geoffrey's idiot cousin. I know scales had something to do with it."
"Hold that thought." Rex ran to the living-room bookcase in which the more-or-less common interests of the Raptor family were advertised. A large section of it was devoted to paleontology- his father had studied that in college before turning to business (he was responsible for the older books). Rex had picked it up from him (his father had always claimed they named him Rex after the St. Bernard his mother had had as a kid, but he knew better. He knew the real name of the St. Bernard was Adrian) and his own interest accounted for the newer books. But that wasn't what he was looking for.
Ah, there it was- Professor Hawkins had given them a book on ancient Egypt one Christmas several years ago. None of them had been particularly interested in it, but it stayed on the shelf for the sake of being polite. Rex yanked it off the shelf and headed back to his room.
Once there, he turned to the index and located the section on Egyptian religion, then handed it to Dar. Dar looked through it some more and then shouted in triumph- a shout quickly cut short when he remembered where he was.

Cassiel let out a dismayed sigh and slumped against the wall. "You see?" he told Aaron. "They haven't got any room for us."
"Don't be ridiculous. They will."
Cassiel shook his head. "I heard him say it." He cast a glance toward the cards, which had been left on the counter. There was no way, he thought, that he could hope they had a place for him here. Chihiro Snow was right- no honest Master could ever command him with his card in the state that it was in. Ailill and Tani weren't exactly the strongest, true, but they were still a long way above him.
Their cards, after all, were completely intact.

"So if they aren't telling the truth, then they can look forward to an eternity of not being."
Rex gaped at the Scales, which were suddenly imbued with new importance. "And you're saying these can do that?"
Dar nodded. "Yeah, I think so."
So stop yapping and let me do something already!
This time Rex and Dar both gaped at the Scales.
Go on, fish head! Or are you too scared?
"Rex!" someone yelled outside. "Dinner!"
Rex threw the Scales under the bed while yelling that he was coming; Dar proceeded to dive under said bed. Rex ran out the door, not forgetting to shut it.
Dar spent maybe thirty seconds under the bed before the Scales began to glow.

Dinner at the Kaiba house was either loud or quiet, depending on who you watched. Ryuunosuke was a shrinking violet as always, allowing himself periodic glances in Chihiro's direction. Chihiro was just as silent, and she did not allow herself to look at anything but the food. Seto Kaiba himself combined silence with an icy glare directed toward anyone who dared to look in his direction.
Mokuba, on the other hand, seemed to have a cascade of words bubbling out of his mouth- the kind of waterfall in which the water was piped up to fall down again, in an cycle that would continue until some piece of machinery broke down. In between sequences of bite-chew-swallow he told jokes, he laughed at counter-jokes, he recited the events of his day -except for the parts he had deemed boring.
Usually he spoke this way only with his brother. But tonight he spoke to Haku and Sapphire. They were cautious at first, but ultimately responded in kind.
This did not make Seto Kaiba at all happy.
"Yeah, ninety percent is really good." That would be his science test. "Oh yeah, I got best in the class. But then they said Seto'd paid the teacher to give me higher than it should be. It was lower, actually. Because you see, they took points off because I forgot to write in the class-"
This wasn't the way things were supposed to be. Mokuba was supposed to tell his triumphs and disappointments to his older brother first and foremost. Not to a couple of Blue Eyes White Dragons! Seto was tempted to take the cards and wish with all his heart that they would just be zapped back into them and things would go back to exactly the way they were.
He had been perfectly happy with things the way they had been. Perfectly happy without living breathing Duel Monsters in his house. Perfectly happy without Jane suddenly developing a will of her own.
Perfectly happy without the one happenstance that had wound up with him at the controls of Kaiba Corp. Take out that, and the rest followed. He didn't even quire remember what his surname had been back then (whatever it was it wasn't Kaiba), but he wished for that time nevertheless.
He scraped the last bit off his plate and pushed it away. He got up and walked for the door.
Mokuba didn't even look towards him.

Joey frowned at the package, hefting it, feeling how cold it was. "Where did this come from?"
"It was just there," said Sandy. "Just there. Like that card from yesterday."
Joey accepted this explanation and opened it. "Holy macaroni!" This call drew Brendan and Geoffrey into the room as well. He turned to face them. "A whole thing of rocky road!"
"You either love it," said Brendan, "or you detest it. Am I correct about this?"
Joey hurriedly shoved it into the freezer. "I love it! With it around I can't see how Téa's so crazy about vanilla!"
Geoffrey contemplated it for a moment. "I think," he said, "you should check and see if Jade stuck another hiku somewhere in there."
"Haiku," Brendan corrected him. "It's hai-ku."
Geoffrey grinned. "I think I should go tell off Dar. It's obvious his Nightmare Sonic Blast has interfered with the proper workings of your mind. Just kidding," he added at Joey's expression. "Brendan's always been like this."
"Damn."

"Jade!" Miriam brushed golden hair from her face. "Lend me a dollar? Please?"
Jade pulled the pockets of the pants he had borrowed inside-out. "No dice." Then, after seeing Miriam's expression, "No kidding, I haven't got anything."
"You liar! I saw him give you eight for your turn!"
He sighed. "I bought ice cream, okay? A lot of ice cream. Satisfied?"

Rex retreated to his room immediately after shoving his plate into the sink. For a moment he wasn't sure he had returned to the same room. It definitely hadn't been that neat when he'd left. This one looked like one of those magazine ads for storage boxes.
Except none of those ads he remembered had people sitting on the bed. One of them, of course, was Dar. The other immediately slid off the bed, folded his arms and glared. "I leave one sloppy fool, and what do I get? Another one!"
"You back off," Dar told him, "or I'll show you what part of that 'evil knight' lives on."
He smirked in response. "I'd like to see you try, you dumb dragon."
Dar looked at Rex. "I hope you don't mind." He grabbed the Scales from their location on the bed and ran over to the window. He then proceeded to slide it open and hold the Scales out of it, as if to let go.
"You buffoon! You wouldn't dare!"
As Rex looked on, Dar's eyes began to shift, first to purple, then to bright blue. He smirked in much the way the other had done just about a minute previously. "I would, oh I would." Then back to dark blood. "Sorry about that, Rex," said Dar. "That would be the evil knight speaking."
What the hell, Rex reasoned with himself,it's not like a little more insanity would hurt. He nodded.
Dar closed the window and tossed the Scales high. They made an arc and landed on the bed once again, only this time they were off-kilter.
Rex looked at their new companion. "What do you want to be called?"
"Pharaoh."
"No, seriously."
"I am perfectly serious! I want to be called Pharaoh!"
"Well, then," said Dar, "you won't be called Pharaoh. How about… Scale?"
The arms, which had come undone during Dar's bluff, now refolded. "Figures you'd decide on what the idiot calls me."
"Rex? What's going on in there?"
Rex grabbed the Scales; their occupant, after a curse in a thankfully low volume, vanished into them. They went back under the bed; Dar joined them once again. "Oh," he told his father while making sure his legs were crossed, "I was listening to something on the radio, that's all."
"I'm not sure you should be listening to that kind of thing-"
"Well, do you see me going psycho, Dad?"
A very long second, and then a smile. "No, my son's as un-psycho as can be."