Chapter 1
"So it's a duel then?" Joey asks as he is talking to his best friend Yugi on the phone. He was headed home as Yugi was working at his grandfather's shop. It was getting rather dark so he was walking home.
"It's a duel! See you tomorrow, Joey!"
"See ya!" Joey grins as he hangs up. He needed more practice if he wanted to be a champion one day, especially if he wanted to beat Yugi in a duel.
As Joey kept walking down the streets of Domino Town, he kept hearing noises, and not the friendly kind of noises. Harsh whispers in the air and branches scratching nearby windows, yet there was no wind. To make things worse, he swore he saw something following him, flowing into shadows as he looked back.
"Uh, it's getting colder and there isn't even a hint of da wind. Ah! It gets even better! A creepy alleyway that seems to be growing more darker each second! Okay Joey, ya losing it, stop talking to ya'self."
Joey walks down the street some more and stops. It had gotten pitch black. All the shops and lights had gone out except for the moon shining down on the streets. Out in the middle of the road, lay a... duel monster? But that's impossible... You have to be in a duel for duel monsters to come to life. Even if there is a duel going on, the monster shouldn't even be alive, it's a hologram so the monster would have been depleted by now. And besides, it's too quiet.
Joey runs towards the creature and kneels down. It was a black and white monster with a curved head and small body (even smaller than Yugi's). It had a white bowtie, gloves, and a tail. He looked like a cartoon. It was on it's back and was clutching its side and breathing shakily, obviously injured. He went and picked it up carefully with one hand and his phone with the other. He didn't know who else to call, especially in the middle of the night, so he dialed the only person who could possibly be of help; Yugi.
*Ring* *Ring* *Ring* *At the tone please leave a message*
"Ah, screw it." Yugi rarely answers his phone anyways.
"I guess I have to go the old fashioned way and run dere. Hang in dere, little guy..." Joey whispers as his shoes slap the ongoing pavement towards Yugi's shop.
Joey arrived at Yugi's back door with the monster in hand. He pounds on the door hoping it was loud enough for someone to hear it. Luckily someone unlocked the door and it was Yugi, who has a puzzled look on his face.
"Joey? It's the middle of the night... what are you doing here?"
"You're not going to believe me Yug, but I found a monster, not sure about a duel monster, but definitely a monster... it was injured and I was too far away from home to go dere so I came to you."
Yugi's eyes went wide when he saw the little monster in Joey's arms. It was trembling even more than before.
"I'll go get the first aid kit..." Yugi says as he invites Joey inside.
"Thanks..." Joey says as he sets the monster on the couch. He looked closely and saw some details he didn't see before. Faint tear tracks ran down its cheeks and the monster groaned every now and then. What happened to it?
"I got the first aid kit!" Yugi shouts as he runs into the room.
"Thanks Yug... I owe ya one." Joey says as Yugi wrapped the monster's side wound. It was kind of weird... the blood was black.
"It's no problem Joey, you did the right thing. I think he will be fine." Yugi said as he sat next to Joey. "So Joey, tell me what happened. Where did you find him?"
"Well, I was just walking home in the night and I saw this creature in the middle of the street. It was too quiet for a duel to be going on and if it was a hologram it should have disappeared by then. I kneeled by it and saw it was hurt so I did what I would always do, help it."
"That was very kind of you Joey, I'm sure he will be okay. Cross my heart."
"Thanks, Yug... But I just wonder what happened to him... Why was he hurt and unconscious?" Joey looks back at the ground. He got a liking to the little guy, he wanted to help him.
"I... I don't know, Joey. I bet he could explain when he wakes up." Yugi sets a reassuring hand on Joey's shoulder.
"Well, you wouldn't mind if I crashed here for the night then? I don't really feel like running at 1 in the morning."
"Of course, Joey. Stay as long as you need."
"Thanks, Yugi. You're da best! Sorry again for wakin' ya up in da middle of da night..."
"Don't worry about it. Just come to me anytime if you need anything. See you in the morning Joey."
"'Night Yug!" Joey calls out as Yugi enters his bedroom.
Joey sighs sleepily as he looks over to the little monster. As he closes his eyes, he thinks about what could possibly happen now?
Joey wakes up to the sound of mumbling and movement.
"What the- oh, you're waking up little buddy!"
"Boris... come... back..." The monster mumbles.
"Boris? Who is Boris?"
"Come... back... WAH!" The monster sits up fast and pants. His eyes were piecut and completely black. He pants, looking around quickly until his eyes land on Joey.
"Hey there! You're finally awake, glad to see that! My name is Joey, Joey Wheeler."
"I'm Bendy... do you know where Boris is? He was taken by people in suits! I need to find him!"
"Umm... didn't see anyone other than you. I'm sure we can look when everyone is awake. While we're waitin', you wanna take a walk with me?"
"NO! H-How do I know you're not one of them?! I can't trust you!" Bendy shouts. He jumps off the couch and backs into the wall.
"Woah! I'm sorry! Hands up, weapon free! But, can you answer one question?"
"What?"
"Who's Boris? What happened?"
Bendy froze. He looked down at his hands. "I wasn't fast enough... I made a wrong turn and he was taken from me. They are doing something terrible to him. My brother... When they took him, they knocked me out. I couldn't save him." A single tear ran down his cheek.
"Oh... I'm really sorry to hear dat... well... if it make you feel any better," Joey gets up and walks towards Bendy. "My sister is... gonna lose her eyesight... and if I don't get enough money for her operation... she will never see again..." Tears slip down Joey's face too, causing Bendy to untense.
"Oh... I-I'm sorry," Bendy scratches the back of his head, "I guess you can't be them, you're too innocent. I guess I have bad experiences with Joey's. Hehe..."
Joey wipes away his stray tears. "It's okay, buddy. To be honest, I'm surprised you're even standing. With that wound on your side, I thought it would still hurt, right?"
"Huh?," Bendy mumbles as he looks at his side, "Guess I didn't notice it... I have experiences dealing with pain... I can barely feel it!"
"What kind of experiences?" Joey asked nervously.
Bendy eyes go dark with shadow, "It's not of your concern right now..."
"Ok... well, how about you tell me about yourself and I'll do the same?"
"Ok! I guess I'll start with I was created, not born, so I'm made of ink..."
"Huh... I guess that explains the 'blood'."
"Yup. So, I was created and became a popular TV star, Bendy the Dancing Demon!"
"A Demon? Really?"
"Hey! It wasn't my idea! I was created, remember?"
"Yeah, I remember."
"Anyways, I was very popular... Alice and Boris were my teammates... until Henry disappeared. That's when everything went downhill. We were stranded in that studio for thirty years and betrayed by a guy named Joey Drew. He tortured us but we all escaped and never went back... Later I met some friends and now my brother and I are on a journey to find the missing pieces of the ink machine. We found all of them but one."
"Huh... That's why you don't like Joey's... How do you know where the pieces are? Do you have a map or somethin'?"
"We do but you wouldn't be able to read it. It appears blank to everyone except for my me and Boris because it's written in invisible ink. Besides, Boris has it."
"Oh... well... I promise you, Bendy, we will get your brother back. Cross my heart."
"Thank you, Joey!" Bendy runs up to Joey and hugs him.
"You're welcome, little guy!" Joey says as he hugs him back. Bendy attaches to him and looks to the left. His eyes light up.
"OOH! Is that a piano?!"
"It sure is. Why? Do you play?"
"Yes! I love playing the piano. I learned when I was just a little demon. When I first heard music, I knew I had to learn!" Bendy explains as he adjusts the seat to the highest setting and tries to climb onto it.
"A little help?" Bendy asks as his face turns a shade of red.
"Hehehe! Sure, shorty!" Joey laughs as he picks Bendy up and sits him on the bench.
"Hmph! I'm not short! Just... small." Bendy pouts.
"It's okay, I'm just teasing. Actually, the person that patched you up is short too! Don't worry! So, whatcha' gonna play?"
"Oh! I'm going to play my favorite!" He says as he cracks his knuckles. A pleasant tune came off of the piano as Bendy pressed the keys. It was old school for sure, like a jazz, but very catchy. Joey snapped his fingers along as Bendy kept playing.
"That was good," Joey commented as the music came to a stop, "Where did you learn it?"
"It was Henry's song... he made it up just for me. He was very good at making songs for our show. He knew I loved mine so much that he made it my theme song."
"Neat. Could you maybe teach me how to play?"
Bendy's eyes widened. "Really!? You want me to teach you?!"
"Sure, I've always wanted to learn."
"YAY!" Bendy jumped in the air but almost fell off the bench.
"Woah there, shorty. Don't want you to fall. Hehehe!"
"Thanks."
"That's what friends are for!"
"Wait... friend? You're my friend?"
"Of course, why wouldn't I be?"
"Oh... well... I don't know." Bendy looks down and back at Joey and smiles. He jumps at him and wraps his arms around his neck. "Thank you." Bendy says as Joey pats his back.
"For what?"
"Everything."
