The Assault of the Shadows
Chapter 1
"Joey, slow down!" Yugi Mutou was running at full speed to keep up with his golden -haired companion, a Mr. Joey Wheeler.
"No can do, Yug! I told Teá we'd be there a'12:30, n'th' last time we kept Teá waitin'..." he stopped abruptly, Yugi unable to, effectively smashing into his backside and onto the sidewalk below.
Joey shivered involuntarily, rubbing his arms. "Never...Never again..., but 'nyway, Yug...Yug? Yugi where are ya?"
"Down...here...ow..."
"Whataya doin' down there? C'mon, we gotta go!" And then he was gone. Yugi groaned and stood up wearily, staring off after Joey. He sighed and started running, a faint chuckling emanating from the back of his mind at his puffing, strained breaths as the Millennium Puzzle whacked him in the chest as he ran.
/Oh shut up/
\Why aibou, whatever did I say?\
/It's not like you'd do any better, you're just as short as I am! Just because you're hair and torso are longer, does not mean you're a better runner! So stop laughing!/
The voice did not respond, just lapsing back into mild laughter. Yugi frowned, but said nothing and continued running. His other half, also known as Yami, Atemu, or Pharaoh, was the voice in the back of his mind. They had been together, sharing a body, for four years now,Yami choosing to stay with him until he died instead of going on to the afterlife. It had been two weeks after the ceremonial battle, and now they had accepted an invitation to a tournament in England, and they were leaving in three days. Joey, Tea, and Tristan had wanted to get in as much time together as they could before he left, because they weren't coming, and he was going to stay in England with Bakura for a while. Yami was a bit disgruntled about staying with him, not entirely sure if it was safe for Yugi to be around Bakura, but they hadn't seen hide nor hair of the Spirit of the Ring since Memory World, or the actual Ring since the Ceremonial Duel, and so Yami decided to be lenient. Plus, Yugi had killer puppy dog eyes.
The tournament was to be in London, not too big, but Yami had been itching for a real duel, particularly one not life-threatening or Kaiba-related, and so Yugi had agreed to go as long as they stayed with Bakura. When they informed their friends of this, they immediately filled up his remaining days in Japan with random friendship-y outings, to spend as much time with their spiky haired friends as they could. This particular afternoon, Joey had gone arcade-ing with him for the morning, and then they were gonna meet up with the rest of the gang still in Japan (Teá, Tristan, Duke, Serenity, and Mokuba {Kaiba apparently had better things to do than hang with a bunch of friendship-y dweebs and his arch-rival(s)}) eat lunch and go ice-skating (Teá's idea) (A/N: What do they do when they're not going to school, playing duel monsters, or fighting for the fate of the world?).
Yugi turned the corner to find the gang standing there waiting for him front of Burger World, Teá sternly talking to Joey about something (\Probably why he showed up without you, Aibou.\ smirk*), Tristan and Duke arguing over Serenity, Serenity looking happily oblivious, and Mokuba waving at him, having spotted him in his sorry state as he jogged heavily across the street toward them.
"Hey Yugi! Psyched for ice skating?" Mokuba greeted him cheerily.
Yugi put his hands on his knees for support as he panted, Yami smirking in spirit form behind him. "I was...huff*...until I had to run five blocks to keep up...pant*...with Joey."
"Heh, sorry bout' that, Yug," Joey scratched the back of his head. "Sometimes I forget yer not s'good at runnin', bein'so short'n'all. Wasn't on purpose or nothin'."
"...you'd probably forget your head if it wasn't screwed on...," Teá muttered. "But at least you made it. We can all go eat now! Come on, guys!" Teá pushed open the door to Burger World, and they all rushed in. Tristan put Joey in a headlock.
"Hey Joey, bet you ¥800 I can eat more burgers than you!" (about $10)
Joey threw Tristan off him, knocking to the ground, and grinned evilly. "I'd like ta seeya try! Yer on!" They raced to the queue to order.
Duke held the door open for Serenity. "After you, my lady," he said, smiling charmingly. Serenity giggled, and Duke grabbed her hand and led her towards a table. Teá asked what Yugi and Mokuba wanted, and went to get in line and order (and probably whack Joey and Tristan over the head for being immature). Mokuba and Yugi chose a table right next to Duke and Serenity, sliding into the booth on opposite sides. Mokuba started to chatter on about Kaiba Corp's latest project, but as Yugi was listening he noticed Yami in spirit form looking wistfully out the window. It had been a cloudy day already, and it had just started to rain. Yugi internally frowned.
/Well, there goes our ice skating plans./ Yami started, and turned to look at him. He smirked briefly in agreement and turned back out towards the rain. Yugi raised a brow.
/Mon hitoru no boku, what's wrong?/
[...He approaches...]
Yami frowned. \I don't know. But I have this niggling feeling that something's coming. I can't tell what, or if it's good or bad, but I'm becoming concerned. When ever big things happen to us it's usually life threatening, and we only just came back from the Ceremonial Duel two weeks ago. I just don't want you or our friends to be in danger again so soon.\
[...The Shadows...]
Yugi's expression briefly darkened, but then lit up exponentially. /Whatever happens, Yami, we'll face it together, we always have. I'll always be right here next to you, fighting by your side. You don't have to worry. We keep things straight together!/ He gave his dark a mental thumbs-up.
[...are coming...]
Yami smiled at him. \Thank you, Yugi. Let's just hope you are right.\
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Harry Potter was not a happy teenager. Far from it, in fact. Ever since his godfather, Sirius Black, had died last June at the ministry during the struggle with Voldemort and his Death Eaters, Harry had sunk into a moody depression. And being stuck at the Dursley's for most of the summer had not brightened his spirits. He basically had a month and a half (give or take a week or so) to do nothing but sit in his room and brood about all the things wrong in his life at that moment, and wait impatiently for news of Voldemort's movements from the Daily Prophet or letters from his friends. And to mourn his godfather, whom he sorrily missed and wanted desperately for him to be alive again, even if it was only for a few moments so he could say good-bye. Hedwig, his owl, was also mad at him for not letting her out this whole time because Uncle Vernon blatantly refused to let that 'foul beast prowl around our neighborhood, or send rubbish to 'those' type of retched people with whom you associate', so Harry was forced to keep her locked in her cage, feeding her owl treats, three of which lay ignored at the bottom of her cage, amid the mess of snow-white feathers and owl droppings.
Harry picked up one of said owl treats and held it out to her.
"Come on, Hedwig. I'm sorry I can't let you out, but you still have to eat." She glared at him over her wing, and snatched the treat, nicking his finger. He hissed in pain.
"Sssssss! Dammit, Hedwig!" He rummaged around for a tissue or something to wipe the blood off on while sucking on his bleeding finger. "Come on, it's not that bad! The second we get to leave I'll let you out, okay? Dumbledore's coming tonight, just a little while longer. It's not so bad!" He made do with one of Dudley's old socks, wiping red streaks onto the previously white (well, white-ish) cotton, then adjusted his glasses frowning.
"Who am I kidding, this bloody sucks." He threw the blood-stained sock at his door, and laid down on his bed, the sock hitting the polished wood with a quiet thump. He'd lasted a week and a half dead-bolted in his room before Dumbledore's message came, telling him he'd be picked up Friday night at eleven, and the last remaining days couldn't go any slower. He still had about seven hours to go, and that's only if Dumbledore was actually coming, because he still believed it was too good to be true. There was no way he'd be rescued from Dursley hell after only two weeks; he hadn't even packed yet, believing something would go wrong.
An abused copy of the Daily Prophet lay on his bedside table, sporting giant moving pictures of him, Cornelius Fudge, and Rufus Scrimgeour across its multiple pages. Scrimgeour had succeeded Fudge as Minister of Magic, something Harry was thrilled about, but unsure of what he thought of Scrimgeour, not having met him yet (though it was bound to happen sooner or later, he was the Chosen One). And there was also an article talking about the events of last June, and Voldemort's return. There was even an extra packet to instruct you on how to protect your home against dark forces, though just months ago, a ministry worker was carving "I must not tell lies" into the back of his hand for saying anything even remotely related to "dark" forces. It was sort of ironic. But not really.
[...He approaches...]
Harry sighed, and closed his eyes, thinking maybe if he fell asleep Dumbledore would come faster.
[...The Shadows...]
He could almost feel the tick of the miniature grandfather clock Aunt Petunia had on the table in the hallway as it counted down the seconds.
[...are coming...]
A burst of pain shot through Harry's forehead. He toppled off his bed with a shout, onto the floor, straddling his head between his hands.
[…..The Shadows shall not be denied!...]
He didn't know what 'The Shadows' were, but whatever they were, they weren't good.
_$#~|line break|~#$_
A/N: Hey. So this is chapter one. Not much happens, but nothing really ever does in the beginning. It's just supposed to introduce stuff...and stuff. And before you people comment, I'm using a mixture of the dub and the Japanese version of YGO, because I like the use of Aibou, mon hitoru no boku, Koe and Yadonoushi and being in Japan and labels like Memory World and such, but I'm more familiar with the dub names (cept Mutou, of course), because I watched that because Dan Greene's in it, and I LOVE his voice! And his abridged series, but that's different. There might be some references to that, but nothing too extreme. And when I tried reading some other fanfiction with the Japanese names, it took me at least ten chapters and a Google search to figure out who Ryuji Otogi was (the second I found out I felt really stupid). I was gonna start in HP book 5, but I don't really feel like writing about Umbridge. Nothing against her (besides the obvious), I actually really liked her character (makes you really hate her, sign of a good antagonist), but I just don't feel like writing about her. Plus crossovers with Order of the Phoenix have been overdone, there's just so many. Not that there shouldn't be more, I love reading them, I just feel like it's copying off someone else's fanfiction (and when you feel like you're copying off a fanfiction, which is already copying off an original series, you know you're doing something wrong) when I write about it. There have been a couple sixth year ones, but not too many, so I'm going with sixth. Please review! I tried to make the characters as canon as possible! Do they feel like the YGO gang? Is Harry angst-y enough? PLEASE REVIEW! XD
P.S. Oh, and I don't own YGO or HP. Or YGOTAS.
P.P.S. Oh, and also, all the Millennium item holders still have their items (I'll specify if there are any changes in that area).