Disclaimer: The only things I own in this fanfiction are the e-mail addresses (which I strongly recommend you do NOT attempt to e-mail) the plot, and the plot twists, perhaps the one or two plot holes which I hope will never come. I do not own the characters, the locations, or the monsters in this fanfic. Thank you for your time.



Well, before FanFiction.net deleted Attention Authors and revoked my uploading priveledges for a week (Those people get cranky quite a lot, don't they?), this fic got the most votes. Subtlety. I might need a new name eventually. Subtlety was the first word that came to mind when I thought of this fanfic, but I only wanted a word to describe the summary. So, the title's pending unless I get told otherwise. I need to think of a new one.

Unless, of course, you think the title's okay...

Now, I promised to shift POV and send Yuugi and Anzu e-mails to each other each chapter. As for the e-mails, I made them up. Please do not e-mail them. Or else, you will either: A) Get them sent back to you; or B) Get a strange e-mail that's full of incomprehensible stuff to the non-educated-in-the-ways-of-Japanese-typing, which should be a lot of you. Just a note before the story began.

Message From: LooksCanDeceive84@hotmail.co.jp
Message To: GameMaster01@hotmail.co.jp

Yuugi! Konnichiwa!

You said you wanted me to e-mail you every so often, so I'll send you the first one now. I didn't get to say goodbye to you when you left, since, as you know, I had to take your Jii-chan to the hospital. I wish I could've, though! Jounouchi told me you'd be travelling with Bakura, Honda, and Seto. I'm curious: Why Seto? Isn't he supposed to hate you?

I saw the strangest thing while I was in the ambulance to the hospital. As I stared out the window (because I didn't want to look at your Jii-chan with all of those tubes in him), I saw an albino dog. It looked a lot like Silver Fang, the Duel Monster. He had the same fur, and I think this dog was even as big as Silver Fang, but I'm not too sure about the height. I didn't get a good look at him, since we were kind of speeding through the city, but it was so strange. I just thought you'd like to know, since we have spotted weirder things than a white wolf. Don't worry, I haven't seen the Leghul monster since mou hitori no kimi banished it.

Right now, your Jii-chan isn't doing any better than he was when he first collasped at the Kame Shop. He isn't doing any worse, either, though. He's still unconcious, but the doctor says he should wake up in a day or so. So I think he's doing just fine.

Careful out there, all right, Yuugi? Keep in touch!

~~~ Anzu




Subtlety

Chapter One: The Island's First Perils

Jounouchi POV



Never thought in a million years I'd be back here again.

Things are very different, of course. There aren't any duelists here, naturally. The competition is long since over. Anzu's not here. Kaiba is here. We're not looking for a fight. No Star Chips, no duelists, no Player Killers...

Just an empty island, devoid of life, save one or two squirrels. No sign that even a person set foot here. There aren't any dueling stations left. There isn't even a lost Duel Monsters card hanging behind.

It's blank. It's bleak. It's boring.

So why'm I here? There's something going on back at home, and mou hitori no Yuugi, the other Yuugi, sensed something coming from over here. He wanted to check it out.

Perhaps it's in my blood, but I followed. It's in Honda's blood, as well. I can't explain why Kaiba or Bakura followed us to the island, but they did. I knew Anzu wanted to follow us, as well, but she had to take care of Sugoroku. I think it was... I dunno. He got poisoned by some over-sized bug and fell into a coma. Anzu wanted to make sure he'd pull through, so she stayed behind.

And that's why we're at this stupid, empty island. I stared around. Not a bird, squirrel, or otherwise in sight.

I have discovered what hell feels like. But I don't know if I should be proud or otherwise.

"Make inu!" Kaiba snapped. "Hurry up! I don't want to waste any time here."

I followed my friends in silence, continually staring at the trees, searching for a sign of life. I think we walked through a familiar patch of land. It was where Yuugi dueled Insector Haga. We walked through the place where Yuugi chased down Haga for the duel, but there wasn't a moth in sight. Which is really surprising, considering there was almost an army of moths when we were following Haga.

"Je-sus!" Honda shouted suddenly, flailing his arms.

We stared at Honda in confusion. The airhead simply rubbed his arms.

"It got colder here for a second," he explained. "Please say somebody else felt that!"

We continued to stare at Honda in confusion. He sighed.

"You didn't. Then never mind. Nandemonai."

"I think you're finally cracking, Honda," Kaiba frowned.

... It seemed likely. But I didn't want to say anything, in case Honda's be pissed about his friend saying he was going crazy. Sure, that never stopped me in the past, but now didn't feel like a good time to joke around with somebody.

We walked in silence for a while. Every single one of us, even Yuugi, was oblivious to the growing shadow. Until Honda got pegged in the arm. The force of the blow sent him reeling backwards. He climbed to his knees. His hand inched up to the dagger embedded in his shoulder. His blood started oozing out from the wound.

A glint of silver. I turned around and faced an endless void of shadows. The world turned frigid, as if I was standing in a freezer. That must've been the chill Honda was talking about before he was the victim of a sneak attack.

Another glint of silver. I saw a man in black. If it wasn't for the dagger, I'd have missed him completely.

Yuugi recognized this one. His eyes narrowed. "It's Ansatsu!" he frowned. "What does he want?"

Ansatsu threw another dagger. His speed was incredible. All I saw of the dagger was a silver blur. I heard Kaiba groan in pain as the dagger whisked past him, leaving a small cut. If Kaiba had turned his head enough to see Honda, the dagger would've rested in his temple, and he'd have died instantly.

Adrenaline was pumped through my veins as the ninja-like man crouched. I could hear the snapping of the ninja-wannabe's clothing. I could hear Yuugi's rapid heartbeat. I actually heard Kaiba's shock. I heard Honda's blood hitting the ground, his breathing slowing.

I reached my hand in my pocket and pulled out one card from my deck. I still don't know why I did, but I guess it was good luck for me. When the card was out of my pocket, blue ribbon-like things emerged from the card and wrapped themselves around me. When the ribbons cleared, I was in a completely different guise.

I had become the Flame Swordsman. Again. Thank God I was life-sized.

Ansatsu sank lower, arming himself with another dagger. I shut my eyes, letting my body move on its own, like during most other fights. This one, I realize, is very different, but why can't I use the same strategy?

It worked quite well. I felt my fingertips heat up, and I heard the crackling of flames. My eyes shot open, just in time to watch a funnel of flames streak out towards the ninja man. He screamed, loud and long. It was the only thing I've ever heard from him, before he disappeared with the flames. Deader than the action on this island.

The shadows cleared. And the island appeared again. But it was still as cold as the world of darkness. Strange.

I felt tired, but only a little bit tired. So it didn't matter to me. My gaze shifted to Honda, hoping he was all right.

Funny. Ansatsu's dagger disappeared, but the wound remained. The blood was starting to pour out from the injured area more heavily. Bakura shifted nervously. He never was one to appreciate the sight of blood. Then again, none of us are...

I helped Honda to his feet. He seemed completely out of it, so I helped walk him. The others stared at me in surprise as I walked on ahead without them.

"Where're you going?!" Bakura asked desperately.

"Honda needs help!" I insisted. "He might die if we don't help him out!"

To my surprise, Kaiba wrapped some kind of bandage thing around Honda's shoulder.

"So he doesn't lose too much blood before we find a place to stop and help him," he explained.

"Why do you care about Honda?" I mused.

"I don't mind seeing anybody in mental anguish," replied Kaiba. "But physical pain is something different. I hate seeing people in physical pain, no matter who they are."

I nodded. "Where can we take this guy?"

"I have an idea," Yuugi said. "It might not work, but it's worth a shot."

"You're right," I nodded. "Let's give this a shot. What was the idea?"

~*~*~*~*~*~


We stood at the base of the castle. It was the only proof that there were ever people here. Even now, it looked larger than life. Especially now, since there's absolutely nothing here. That made the castle seem like heaven on this hellhole of an island.

"How do we get in?" I asked, shifting Honda's weight so he'd stop slipping off my shoulder. The one question stumped everybody. If we weren't getting in, how could we get Honda some help?

Kaiba laid a hand on the door handle, preparing to open it. But his fingertips barely grazed against the handle of the door before the doors opened with a creeeeeeeeeak, revealing the hallways of the castle. Nervously, we walked into the castle.

As we walked through the empty hallways, we saw quite a few things. A huge pit by the one pathway, the same place where the dueling station would appear during... well, duels. We also saw a dark red stain on the carpets. How that got there, none of us wished to know.

"The blood's leaking through the bandage!" Bakura pointed out.

"In here," Yuugi smiled, opening one of the doors. "Lucky for us, most of the rooms are unlocked."

We laid Honda on the bed in the room. Kaiba stripped one of the pillows of its case and used the pillowcase to re-wrap Honda's wound. Honda fell asleep before the make-shift bandage was completed, the lazy bastard. Bakura threw a blanket over him, since Honda was kinda shivering. We let Honda rest a bit as we left the room.

Yuugi, Bakura, Kaiba and I took a walk down to the old dueling lookout place. We leaned over the rail as if we were staring out into the ocean, only looking into the huge black hole. Some view, right?

"Why'd you come out here, Kaiba-kun?" Yuugi asked suddenly.

"I've heard you met with some of the same problems I have," Kaiba replied. "Huge bugs, beasts, all modeled after the monsters in the game. A Cyber Commander met me in the streets. It had everything, the same hair style, skin tone, and weapons. It was almost hard to believe."

"What happened?" Bakura promted.

"Nothing, really," Kaiba said. "But it was strange, regardless. The thing that got me coming here was a hulking, green demon. Hitosume Giant. It attacked Mokuba. Damn near killed him. I'm still thanking Kami-sama for the save."

"How'd Mokuba survive?"

"I'm still confused," answered Kaiba. "I had Mokuba in my arms, ready to take the last few blows for him. But shadows overfell the Hitosume Giant, almost like the shadows that Ansatsu appeared in. I heard the Hitosume Giant roar, and then it fell silent. When the shadows cleared, the giant was nowhere in sight."

"Where's Mokuba now?" I asked him.

"Under intensive care." Kaiba stared off into the darkness of the pit. "When I heard you guys were going through the same thing, I decided to come along. Mokuba'll be safe, I can tell. I want to find out what's behind the giant, the commander, Ansatsu...

"I swore to Mokuba I'll protect him. And I'd rather kill myself than let anything more happen to Mokuba."

"How ba---"

A loud scream came from Honda's room. I jumped from my place on the railing and ran down the hall. I burst into Honda's room.

"Honda, you all right in here?!" I asked.

... He didn't look fine, anybody can tell you that. He was curled up into a little ball, his knees against his chest. He sat up as far against the wall as he could. One shaky hand was extended, the index finger pointing at a blank space on the wall. Honda's tanned eyes were open in shock.

"... Well?" I shifted my weight to one foot.

Honda's gaze turned to me. "Y-you don't see 'im?"

"... See who?"

"Y-yer k-k-kidding!" Honda laughed.

"What am I supposed to look at?" I scratched my head and looked at the blank wall. "Cuz I don't see a damn---"

"Uso! Uso! Usooooooo!!!" insisted Honda, pointing at me rather than the empty wall.

"Iie," I replied. "Honest to God."

Honda groaned. "I must be cracking. Maybe that sneak attack from the wannabe-ninja messed with my head..."

"You don't think the blade was poisoned, do you?" I asked. "Cuz it was hard enough finding a boat that was willing to drop us off here."

"Why didn't we take one of Kaiba's helicopters again?"

"Kaiba's announcement that he was coming along for the ride was sort of last-minute."

"... Oh, yeah!"

"Point is, it'd be hard to get some help for you if y' are poisoned."

"So," Honda frowned. "You'll leave me to die, and abandon my body on this bed?"

"I didn't say that," I joked. "The least I can do is bury you when you die."

"... Gee, thanks."

"Any time," I smirked. "I'll leave you alone to your hallucinations."

With that, I left the room and shut the door. I joined the others back at the railing and leaned over the side.

"What was up with Honda-kun?" Yuugi asked.

"He's goin' crazy," I answered. "Maybe a bit of rest will do good for him."







In the next chapter, it's Honda POV! An e-mail from Yuugi to Anzu, then we get to find out why the hell Honda was screaming his head off at the wall! Maybe, in the next chapter, I can honest-to-Kami-sama say why Honda's so damn important in my story! Why I bothered to put him in! ^-^

... As long as I get a few reviews. You wouldn't mind telling me about my story, would you? Pwease?