Chapter I: The End of the Summer
Hello again, GX believers and those who happen to like the stuff we, Peach Wookiee and 15animefreak15, write about this version of the Yugi-verse! For those of you who just happened to click on this story, you might want to check out our series in this Yugi-verse starting with "How We Met." Anyway, this story begins where our previous tale, "Summer Love, Summer Fears" left off. So we hope you really enjoy the continuation of this version of the Yugi-verse.
Disclaimer: We don't own the Yu-Gi-Oh franchise or its established characters. We also don't own any soft drink corporations, vampire lore, Disney property… You get the idea. But Peach does own Annie while 15animefreak15 owns Rosa and Violet. Together we own this story, our own characters that we've established and our version of the Yugi-verse.
Warning: A familiar character will simply mentally snap.
Authors' note: In this version of the Yugi-verse, one well-known character will simply mentally snap because her love is not returned. You have been warned. Thank you.
The end of summertime is bittersweet. It is sweet because we will see the things that grew during the summer ripen to fruition in the autumn. It is also sweet because we remember the good and warmth. It is somewhat bitter as well because we know that the weather will turn colder and winter will be coming. And for school-age people, the end of summer signals the return to school.
For eight of ten high school students in Domino, the return to school this year was their final year in high school. Their summer had been full of good things and bad things. For eight of them, they had seen love strengthen and bring them through horrible things. For five of the eleven kids in that group, summer had seen a bond between siblings start or grow stronger. They looked forward to the school year, and wondered what the future would bring.
"So we're on for Saturday night?" a brown-haired, brown-eyed boy asked for confirmation, little knowing he was being overheard by someone that would do him and his friends harm. A girl with purple hair and green eyes answered affirmatively and then...a young man standing in the shadows saw her. A young woman with brown eyes and ruddy brown hair was standing next to the young man with dreadlocks that the young man in the shadows knew to be her fiancé.
The young man's heart skipped a beat when he saw the lovely young woman, the one he'd been betrothed to before that American scum. Mud brown eyes flashed with anger, jealousy, and hate, before he turned on his heel and swiftly left the museum. Now out in the sunlight, one could see that the young man had olive-colored skin and ebony hair that reached his ears. He was dressed casually, obviously trying to blend into the crowd. This man was Jorge Quienso, the only other man to be engaged to Rosa Jimenez besides Tyson Hassleberry. He had come to America as a student after his failed engagement and knew that Rosa was somewhere in the country. He had heard from his mother that Rosa was being courted by an American boy and then engaged to said boy and currently in Domino, California.
Jorge had been...stalking the pair ever since he discovered their location, waiting for the time when he could claim revenge. "That…that insolent boy! I, his elder by two years, deserve such a fine young woman for my bride!!" he grumbled under his breath, seething with anger and hatred.
"All right, Private Violet! This is going to be one heck of a hoedown!" Hassleberry said happily. "What do you think, Spanish Rose?" he asked Rosa, kissing her on the cheek.
Rosa smiled happily and nodded. "Sí, Ty-Ty. It will be muy divertido!" she replied in pidgin English, kissing him back.
This only made Jorge's blood boil more, as he hid behind a large metal statue for cover. 'How dare he kiss her?! And call her such a filthy American 'nickname!' It's disgraceful...and to think she does the same back,' he thought, glaring at them from behind the statue. Jorge's accent had completely disappeared from spending so much time in America. Of course, he still knew plenty of Spanish curse words, and called Tyson a few under his breath.
"Well, this is going to be great! It beats having a boring Saturday night, sleeping," Annie Hanson, a girl with brown hair and blue eyes said. She was sitting in a wheelchair as the events of the summer had weakened her and left her very much underweight. "One last hurrah..."
"Yup! Hmm…" Violet had her head tilted to the right at almost a perfect ninety-degree angle, staring at a statue. "That's a funny-looking piece of metal," she muttered.
Meanwhile, Jorge had started thinking. 'Perhaps now is my chance. They're throwing a party at night...in the park. I could cut the power and sneak off with Rosa,' he thought, a sly grin coming to his face.
"Quite unusual sculpture...rather modern," Bastion Misawa said in his clipped British accent.
"I think I Horatio's work better, Rosa darlin'," Tyson said, staring at the same sculpture.
"Hey, isn't that one of your brothers??" asked Violet, righting herself.
Rosa smiled and nodded. "Sí, he showed Ty-Ty some of his artwork," she replied.
Jorge growled. 'So he has met her parents...and her brothers,' he thought angrily, fists clenched.
Annie smiled. "Horatio still sounds cool to me, and I hope your dad does come around to him being an artist, Rosa...what was it like in Spain, guys?"
Tyson told them about the whole summer, including the incident when Rosa received a snake bite. "So I know that there are critters like that in Spain that we'll have to watch out for and our future kids will..."
"At least we don't have to worry about Lex having her appendix burst. She doesn't have one anymore!" Jaden said easily. "Lex, you'll have to show everybody your scar later..."
"Jaden...geez," Chazz Rhodes, formerly Chazz Princeton, now Alexis's brother, groaned.
Rosa's scar was clearly visible, since it was on her arm. Violet's wrist scars were also clearly visible. "Oh, oh, I can show you the scar where they put in the chest tube! There's also from the surgery," she stated, somehow excited.
Alexis sighed. "We just can't help but get into trouble, huh?"
"Yeah...maybe the summer'll help us dodge something major at school," Annie said tiredly.
"Yeah...I'm kinda getting bored with having to save the world all the time. I feel like a maid...'Can't the world stay saved for five minutes?'" Jaden quoted Mr. Incredible, laughing.
"Well, maybe you should put out an ad in the newspaper. 'Wanted: Replacement Hero Who Saves the World,'" offered Violet.
"I don't think that would work, Violet," replied Syrus, sweat-dropping.
"I guess I just have to accept it," Jaden sighed. "Oh, well...at least I know I'm not alone in saving the world...I've got all of you with me..."
"You bet, Sarge!"
"To the bitter end, Jaden," Bastion added.
"Yeah, Slacker," Chazz agreed in his typical nonchalance.
"Guess I'm part of this, too," Zane Truesdale said drily.
Annie said, "Me, too..."
"You bet!" replied Violet, grinning.
"Of course!" added Rosa.
"Don't forget about me," stated Syrus, smiling.
"I'll always be here to help, Jay," Alexis replied, kissing his cheek.
"And so will Atticus Rhodes!" added the eldest sibling.
"So...what time are we meeting on Saturday night?" Annie asked.
"Eight o'clock sharp! Just kidding, you don't have to be there on time. Just don't come at ten or something," explained Violet happily. Jorge took note of the time, now having all the information he needed.
Meanwhile...A woman named Camula was drifting in a dark place. It was peaceful and silent as death itself. 'Such a comforting place...but lonely.' She couldn't say how long it had been since she had been imprisoned in this dark place—it could have been an hour, a day...or a century. She remembered her vampire brethren and how they had all died and she remembered being alone in a coffin for centuries until she was found by a man chasing immortality. And then she came to Duel Academy where she lost her freedom in the real world. And now as she drifted, she heard laughter; happy, mocking laughter to her ears.
"It cannot be...they're happy." She knew the source of the laughter. 'Zane Truesdale, Jaden Yuki and Syrus Truesdale...they're happy. I would like to destroy that happiness!' A portal appeared in front of her, revealing the three young men and their friends. She saw Jaden Yuki kissing a blonde girl that she'd seen when she dueled him. She saw Zane with his hand on his little brother's shoulder. And then she saw Syrus locked in a passionate embrace with a painfully thin brown-haired girl. "That's it...I will destroy them...But how?" And then she saw the angry young man at the museum. "I can use him."
And then she saw the brilliant Ra Yellow boy with the purple-haired young woman. "Taniya desired him...perhaps...I can use her as well..." She used the portal to find an Amazonian tiger woman with a scar across her right eye and the capability to turn into a tiger. "I will use them to bring this group down...if I cannot have Zane...I will destroy everyone around him..." Her rage magnified her powers which she used to escape the Shadow Realm and send two mysterious letters to the people she needed to destroy Zane and the people around him. "Meet me in Domino Park tonight at midnight to obtain what you desire. A friend."
Jorge continued to glare at his opposition, stuffing his hands into his pockets. His eyes widened in surprise when he felt a piece of paper, and pulled out a small letter. "'Meet me in Domino Park tonight at midnight to obtain what you desire'? I don't know...sounds like a trick..." Jorge muttered, glancing at the group just in time to catch the tanned couple sharing a passionate kiss. His anger peaked again, and he stuffed the letter back into his pocket. "Midnight at Domino Park it is then."
Meanwhile, in the woods of a dimension apart from this world, an Amazonian woman/tiger creature was walking through the woods when she saw an envelope with her name on it stuck to a tree. Curious, Taniya went up, sniffed it and opened it. "Hmmm...well...maybe I could finally win Bastion...wouldn't hurt to hear this person out...Otherwise, I can use the information I get to my advantage..." She didn't know that Bastion was in a relationship, but when she found out, it would be devastating. "I'm sure he's been dying to see me..." And so she walked to the dimensional gate connecting her world and the human world. "This'll be good..."
A few hours later, while the teens were all fast asleep—or in some cases, playing video games—three villains met under the cover of darkness in Domino Park. A human, a vampire, and a duel monster were about to join forces-most likely-and wreak havoc for eleven teens. Jorge Quienso, the human of the trio, leaned his back against the trunk of a tree as he waited for whoever sent him the letter to show up.
And then a tall, strong-looking woman dressed in a fedora and trench coat walked toward him. "Are you the one who sent this letter?" she asked in her smoky voice.
Jorge raised an eyebrow at the woman's appearance, pulling out his own letter. "No, I received one, too. So, obviously, the sender hasn't arrived yet," he replied.
"It's almost..."
And then the huge clock tower in the middle of the city struck midnight. And just a few feet away from them, a slim pale woman appeared in a cloud of smoke. "Hello there...I am Camula, the last of the vampires..."
"I'm Taniya...so what's up? Why have you called us here?"
Jorge bit his tongue to stop his laughter before it could be noticed, having always been skeptical of the supernatural. 'A vampire?? Please, that's about as believable as my father's stories about the Chupacabra,' he thought, but listened in anyway.
"I come to you with a proposition...you each desire...a person, correct?" the vampire asked smoothly, raising a slim turquoise eyebrow.
Jorge stared at this "Camula" suspiciously, wondering how she knew this. "Yes," he replied, frowning.
"Oh, so you're interested in a girl?" Taniya asked curiously. "You know, Camula...I won't need help there...Bastion doesn't have anyone..."
Camula smiled wickedly. "Oh, he doesn't, does he?" She summoned a visual portal and showed Bastion kissing his fiancée passionately.
"No..." Taniya moaned softly. "It can't be..."
"It is...Oh, but it is...they're engaged to be married. Taniya...you must destroy her to get what you want..." Taniya went stonily silent. The sight of Bastion in another's arms stabbed through her like a knife. Perhaps she would've been able to take it, had she seen the relationship blossom and progress in its natural form. But it hadn't happened that way, so Taniya's mind quite simply snapped, clouding with rage and jealousy. "So...Jorge...who is this girl?" Camula asked, certain that she had won Taniya's cooperation, or at the very least, her unallied help.
That did it; Jorge had to know how she knew so much. "How do you know my name? And all of this other information??"
"I have been observing you," Camula said simply. "And Taniya and I were once allies..."
Jorge's eyes narrowed, but he decided he might as well explain. "Her name is Rosa Jimenez. I was supposed to marry her, but her father changed his mind! Then, he allows some American scum named 'Tyson' be engaged to her in my stead!! I want to crush him and take back my woman," he explained, seething.
"Then we share something. A human male caught my fancy, but he gave his soul to save his weak brother. And then he was saved by a boy named Jaden Yuki. I wish to destroy them all thoroughly," Camula explained. Taniya's blue eyes narrowed, formulating her own plan, but choosing to see what Jorge would do. "Perhaps...I could help you," Camula said. "You lost her to this boy...what if you cannot win her heart back?"
Jorge smirked. "The chances of that happening are low. But, in the case that it does happen, I want to make sure that no one else can have her. They both can be destroyed!" he explained, dead serious.
"Then I can give you the means to destroy them," Camula said. "You merely must ally yourself with me...for a price..."
Jorge was intrigued by the offer. "And what would that price be?" he asked.
"Your soul..."
He blinked in surprise. "My...soul??" She had to be joking; there was no way he could pay with his soul! "Impossible. How could I pay you with my soul?"
"You will become one with the shadows should you lose in a duel," she said. "Surely you have heard of the game of Duel Monsters?"
Jorge smirked again, pulling a deck out of his back pocket. "But of course. I have been playing the game since I was a boy," he replied. Jorge thought for a few moments about her offer, and decided there was no way he could lose to an American. "...Fine. I accept your offer."
"Excellent." Camula brushed back her turquoise hair and looked into his eyes. "You are ready to face whatever comes...Taniya...what of you?"
"Bastion..." the Amazonian woman whispered. 'I've lost him...but I can get him back alone,' she thought.
Camula decided to wait for Taniya's response. In the silence, the vampire asked, "When will we have an opportunity to snatch these girls? They are the perfect bait to trap our quarry..."
Jorge grinned, loving when he had the upper hand. "I had an idea. I over-heard them talking about a party next Saturday here in the park. They will all be here, at night..."
"This coming Saturday night...What is your idea, Jorge?" Camula asked.
"Well, it is the night of the new moon. So, if we cut the power, we can ambush them and take the girls. They will all be helpless in the dark," he explained, smirking.
"Hmmm...We will have to incapacitate them, somehow," Camula said thoughtfully.
"Why don't you use some of your vampire powers?" Jorge offered, obviously joking.
"That...is an excellent solution," Camula said softly. "But you doubt me...don't you?"
He face-faulted when she agreed, staring at her with a very shocked look. "I don't believe in such supernatural fairytales like vampires and magic."
"Then allow me to prove it to you..." A man who looked like an older gang member was walking by and Camula moved over to him. "Hello," she said seductively.
The man stopped, about to tell the person off until he saw it was a beautiful woman. "Why, hello there! What's a pretty young lady like you doing out here in the woods all alone?"
"I was waiting for you," she said, moving closer. The man saw her smile, but didn't see her bare her fangs.
He blushed, then grinned and pulled her to him. "Well then, looks like it's a good thing I came along..."
She moved to him as if to kiss him on the neck...and then Jorge heard a blood-curdling scream from the man. She returned with the man a moment later, puncture wounds on his neck. He had a dazed expression on his face. "He is now my servant," Camula said.
The color had drained from Jorge's face, a hand on his neck. 'T-Then...that means that...I can lose my soul,' he thought nervously. "All right, all right. I believe you now."
"Good...good...So, are you still in?"
"Of course! I still want my revenge," he replied, determination filling his eyes.
"Good...and now...what of you, Taniya?"
Taniya looked at Camula. "I'll use my own methods, thank you. I'm an Amazon warrior and I don't need anyone's help to get Bastion back. Don't be surprised if I show up in a couple of days to your little pow-wow. Misawa is mine and I will see to it that he remains that way...I prefer doing a true shadow game to make sure of it..."
"A true shadow game?" This surprised Camula. "You would forfeit your life or his?"
"My life, definitely...but not his...I will make that little weakling Violet pay when Bastion loses life points. When he loses her, he will be mine...body and soul..."
Jorge had to admit that whatever this "true shadow game" was, it didn't sound pleasant. He was actually feeling a little sorry for the unsuspecting couple, but had his own problems to worry about.
Camula nodded. "Then Taniya...I wish you well..." Taniya nodded and left to ready her own plans. Camula sent the gang member away, his having served her purpose and looked at Jorge. "So...what did you have in mind for your trap, young one?"
So our story begins on a rather ominous note. Two faces from the GX gang's past and someone from Rosa's past are plotting to do them harm. So what will happen next? Please read, review and tune in next time for "Friday at the Beach!" Thank you and see you soon!
