DISCLAIMER:
I do not own any of the characters that shall appear in this story, or the concept of the story in general. All of those rights belong to Konami. I only own a handful of characters in the story.
"Auram, we're going to get in trouble!"
"Come on, Ib! Don't be such a child, live a little!"
"But we're not supposed to leave the village! What will you do if somebody sees us?" Ib complained. "Or even something ."
"Come on, you don't really believe those rumours, do you?" Auram asked. Earlier that day, he decided to wander outside of the safety of his village, dragging his childhood friend Ib with him. The two were currently wandering around in the dark, humid, yet also cool jungle. "Have you ever even seen one of those bugs?"
Ib shivered. "I don't even want to think about it. Come on, let's go back! My brother will worry if we aren't back soon!" "And we will be back soon, trust me!"
Ib puffed her cheeks at Auram, annoyed. "You're too much, sometimes."
Auram grinned. "At least I'm not worried about exploring a little, unlike a certain somebody." Ib sighed, before a branch snapped nearby. The two teenagers stopped dead in their tracks.
"Did you hear tha-" Ib started, before Auram squished his hand over her mouth. Slowly, he reached for the short sword on his back.
Another snap. The two were able to pinpoint where the snap came from; somewhere behind them. They spun around frantically.
Auram, gripping his sword tightly, looked around, his head full of wonders. Were these snaps caused by the insects they were being protected from? Was he truly so naive as to be surrounded by a bunch of bugs? Was it the village guard on a lookout mission for them?
Another snap, directly behind them. Ib and Auram jumped, as the latter drew his weapon against his new foe.
"Ruff!"
Auram blinked, before giving a sigh of relief. "Imduk, what are you doing out here?" Imduk just smiled, wagging his tail and panting, as Auram put his sword away.
"Since when do you have a dragon?" Ib asked, curiously.
Auram bent down and patted Imduk. "I guess it's been a while since we've hung out, huh? Your brother's been keeping you way too sheltered."
"Gee, this can only help in that regard." Ib said, the sarcasm practically drooling from her mouth.
"Hah hah." Auram said. "I've had Imduk here for a good few months now. He works with me for the village guard." Ib smiled. "Well that's nice, I've always wanted a pet."
"Why not get one?" Auram asked, standing up. "There's plenty of animals around to capture, and they don't really mind as long as you take care of them." "Ruff!" Imduk barked in agreement.
"Maybe…"
"If you two are finished with your little exploration," somebody said. Ib and Auram turned their heads to see the captain of the village guard. "we could use some help back at the village."
"Big brother!" Ib exclaimed, running to his side, much to the disappointment of Auram.
"I'll get to you in a bit, Ib." the captain said, before turning to face Auram. "What do you have to say for yourself?" "It was kind of amusing, actually." Auram said. "I have yet to see the danger, and we've been out here for a solid twenty minutes at least."
The captain chuckled, before bringing his arm up to smack Auram in the face. This was before Ib grabbed it and held him back.
Auram sighed. "Look, Ningirsu, I'm sorry for bringing your sister along. Things in the village just got so dull, I figured we could use the break."
"So you figured that going into enemy lines with an innocent civilian was the best solution?" Ningirsu asked. "What would you have done if an insect had attacked!?"
"Simple; I would have cut it up into various pieces and brought home dinner for the whole village." Auram said, acting the heroic slice out. Ib gagged at the idea of eating an insect.
Ningirsu sighed. "Come on. I shall decide what your punishments shall be."
"Or, or, here's an idea. Bear with me for this one…" Auram said, following Ningirsu. "We don't get punished."
Ningirsu stopped dead in his tracks. "What did you say?"
"Just a suggestion. Ya know, let us off the hook."
Ningirsu turned to face Auram, the look in his eye much more threatening now. "You know I don't like jokes," he said, grabbing his spear. Its blade was about the same length as that of Auram's sword, with the same curvature, and even a similar guard, which resembled a pair of wings wrapping the hilt at the base of the blade. He pointed the spear right at Auram. "especially when they have to do with my family."
"Brother, stop!" Ib screamed, grabbing Ningirsu's arm and pulling it, but it wouldn't budge.
"You abandon your job, you break our rules, you take my sister into the jungle-" Ningirsu started, but Auram stopped paying attention. In the distance, he saw something glowing.
"I had to send Imduk to look for you, meaning the whole Western border was left unattended!" Ningirsu exclaimed.
Auram turned his attention back to him.
"Why would you do that?" he asked. "Could you not find us on your own?"
"Not in this light, and Imduk is the only one who knows your scent!" Ningirsu shouted. Auram looked past him again, but the ball of light was gone. "Whatever. Follow me back, and you shall be properly punished." Auram sighed. "Alright, let's get this over with."
Down the street, a clicking sound could be heard, as well as the sound of rubber pressing against the ground and immediately being lifted from it. Another clicking noise is heard, causing the shift of a chain from one gear to another. A metal contraption zooms by, going from one end of the road to the other in a matter of seconds, much to the anger of many drivers and pedestrians, but the rider didn't care. He felt glad that he had the chance to move fast through the streets, even at the inconvenience of others.
"Watch where you're going!" a driver shouted. The rider hadn't even noticed him before that, but he apparently stopped just next to the bike.
"Sorry, in a hurry!" the rider yelled back, lying his ass off. He didn't really have anywhere to be, he just wanted to be home from school as soon as possible, or rather, be away from school as fast as possible.
The rider turned a right corner, leaning into it as he did so, and then doubled his speed. Another turn came up, this one to the left, and involved him crossing the road. Leaning into it, the rider zoomed across the road without stopping, much to the discontent of many drivers taking their kids home from school. There may have been a total of 5 cars who came to a sudden stop, perhaps more, but no one was injured, and no cars had crashed.
The rider cut through the park, although from here he walked, because it was all uphill from this moment to his house. Once on his street, he received a phone call. He took his phone out of his pocket, it was his friend Ashley. He sighed, answering the call. "Yello."
"Hey Dylan, What do you have going on today?" Ashley asked. She sounded moderately serious, but she used her usually cheery attitude - whether it was genuine or not, Dylan had no idea.
"Not a whole lot. I just got home." he said, walking in his house at the end of the street. "Don't you live, like, twenty minutes away?" Ashley asked, curiously.
Dylan laughed. "Not when you take a bike and don't stop for traffic."
He could hear Ashley's disappointment through the phone. "You know, someone ought'a warn ya not to get squished."
"Oh believe me, I get that a lot." Dylan replied. "And look, I haven't gotten squished yet."
"I don't buy it." Ashley said, although Dylan assumed she was being sarcastic, it was hard to tell.
He just laughed it off. "What's up, Ashley?"
"Not a whole lot, I was wondering if you wanted to come by."
Dylan blinked a few times, trying to comprehend what she just said. "How bored are you?"
"Extremely." Ashley said, still sounding moderately enthusiastic. Dylan figured she'd be a good caretaker for somebody's kids, but then he thought of the things that typically come out of her mouth and immediately put that asinine thought aside.
"Well let's see, I might be able to be there in a few minutes." Dylan said, opening the curtains for his dogs. What he saw surprised him.
Coming out of the ground, not very far away, was a large, black and red hand, along with tons of giant insects. He didn't get a very good look at the chaos, however, as it disappeared as soon as he blinked.
"That was weird." Dylan said, out loud. "Ashley, I think I need to lay down for a bit."
Ashley sighed. "You didn't hit your head on the ride home, did you?"
"What!? No, of course not!" Dylan exclaimed. "I just think I need some rest is all."
Ashley paused for a bit. "Yeah, alright. Bye."
The call ended, and Dylan fell face first on the couch. He closed his eyes, desperately trying to sleep.
"How long do we have to walk?" Auram asked, impatiently.
"You're the one who dragged us all the way out here!" Ib exclaimed. "Why are you so annoyed at the prospect of having to walk all the way back?"
"We ran most of the way, why can't we just run back!?" Auram whined.
"Do you really think I enjoyed running all this way!?" Ib exclaimed, gesturing to her attire. She wore a green halter top with a yellow trim, in the center of which lay a blue gem, and then wrapped around her neck with some gold-coloured jewellery. From the waist down, she wore a black belt, which wrapped around her waist entirely and then reached down into her skirt, leaving a triangle shape of skin exposed. The skirt in question was purple, with a red trim, and yellow down the center. It went just low enough to cover a black knot on her left thigh. Below her knees, she wore knee-high open-toed black sandals, with a thick white trim at the top, and a golden trim near the bottom. Below each of her shoulders were two pink armbands with a spot of green on the end, and a golden trim, which fit way too loosely at the ends. They were tied on with orange ribbon. Behind the skirt was a brown shawl-like object, with a green and gold trim. It was also tied on with orange ribbon. Her hair, which was purple, was braided to be as long as her arm, using more orange ribbon, yet she still had enough loose hair to touch her butt.
"Right, sorry. My bad." Auram said, rubbing the back of his spiky white hair adorned with golden goggles. Around his neck was a red scarf, which faded to blue, before displaying a green, red, yellow, and orange design at the edge, and beneath that, a golden steampunk chest plate, with teal orbs in the shoulders and wrists. On his left arm, he wore a shield with a red design on it. The shield itself was only twice as wide as his arm. Below his chest plate, Auram wore 4 belts; one camo, one orange camo, one scaly, and one that was loose, which he used to hold some teal capsules. Below, he wore some tattered, faded shorts. One leg below that was normal, his left leg. His right leg, however, was made from the same material as his chest plate, with teal orbs on the knee and ankle.
"Perhaps you should think of others for one." Ningirsu said. He had a dark, faded purple hair colour, similar to Ib. He wore a brown scarf, with the occasional lime green or gold stripe, which he wrapped around his entire body, unlike Auram who let his hang loose. He wore a green and brown headband, which covered his forehead. His shirt was brown, not that much of it was visible, however he wore wrist guards, similar to Auram's chest plate. He wore a brown, X-shaped belt, which went down below his crotch level. His pants were grey, however not much of them were visible due to the belt and the golden knee high boots, similar to his wrist guards, except these had a thick purple trim at the top.
"Ruff!" Imduk woofed in agreement. Imduk was simply a baby, teal coloured dragon, with slightly greener horns. He had short wings on his back, nothing he could use. He was constantly carrying around a ball.
"Well excuse me for wanting to have fun!" Auram exclaimed.
"I thought you meant fun in the village!" Ib retorted.
"I wanted a bre-!" Auram started, before Ningirsu quieted the two.
"Something's coming."
The group of village guard stood back to back, surrounding the lone priestess. Auram looked back and forth frantically. Ningirsu reached for his spear, and placed a firm grip on the handle. Imduk placed his head close to the ground and prepared to pounce. Ib was cowering behind everyone, less so due to being scared and more so due to the confinement of the group.
Ningirsu stared ahead, as something rustled in the bushes. "Auram, behind you!"
"There's more on this side, too!" Auram exclaimed, as some ferns shook on his side as well.
"What are they!?" Ib questioned, as she bent down under the protection of her friend, her brother, and the baby dragon.
Ningirsu slimmed his eyes down. "It's the Krawlers."
Dylan woke from his slumber, his head aching as though it had been smashed against a car window. Did he smash it? He couldn't really remember. Maybe Ashley was right, maybe he should take his bike rides a little more carefully. "So, you've finally awoken." a voice said. Dylan whipped his head around to see who was talking, but the only other person in the room was dressed entirely in a black robe, held up by just a black scarf.
"Is this a hallucination? Or is there a cosplayer in my living room?"
The man in the robe said nothing, just sat down. I wasn't able to see his face, and his voice was way too deep to be anybody I knew. "No, you are not hallucinating."
"Oh, well then," Dylan started, shooting up. " get out of my hou -!" Suddenly, he felt lightheaded, and he fell right back down.
"It seems you have been experiencing a variety of other hallucinations." the man said, pointing at me. His hand was white, with glowing blue lines going between his fingers and a golden bracelet on his wrist. "Or, perhaps one powerful one."
"What are you talking about?" Dylan asked, rubbing his head in vain. "I'm just fine."
"Yes, truly, you are, as your kind might say, 'peachy'." the robed man said, lowering his hand. Dylan wasn't able to tell if he was being sarcastic. "Now tell me, if you're 'just fine', why were you unconscious for several hours?"
"Several hours!?" Dylan exclaimed, sitting straight up, but not standing as to avoid falling again. He reached into his pocket, and grabbed his phone. "How long have you been in my house!?"
He went to turn his screen on, but he noticed something. The screen still displayed the "call ended" screen, although it's supposed to go to the lock screen a few seconds after. He was even more freaked out when he saw the time. It was the same time during which he got home from school.
"As I'm sure you've noticed from your device, I have not existed here for too long." the man said. "However, the same can be said of you."
Dylan turned to look at the man, a curious look on his face. "What's that supposed to mean?"
The man simply reached under his cloak, and tossed Dylan a device. It looked like a thick golden bracelet. "Put that on, hopefully on your opposite hand."
Dylan, without much option, held the device in his hands. If he were to walk away, who would know if time would move again? He held the device in his right hand, and slid it onto his left wrist. "Duelist identified." the bracelet said. "Welcome to Duel Monsters… Auram."