Okay, welcome back for the second chapter of Kiddy Degrade. Just to let you know, if I can stop being a lazy bum and start typing more I hope to update every weekend. This may alter how often I update the Squirrel Stole My Checkbook. If you read it and want me to update my other story more often, just review.
Anyway, speaking of reviews. I got SIX for my first chapter. Thank you everybody! -gives reviewers cake and the reviewers that favorited and/or watched even more cake- If you're allergic to chocolate, let me know, I can give you something else. You know, something I noticed, is my stories tend to have more than an average amount of reviews for a humor Yu-Gi-Oh fanfiction without yaoi. Still though, I have nothing to be proud of yet. I know of a lot of awesome stories that can kick mine any day.
Now let the chapter begin.
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Chapter 2 – Unknown Revenge
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"Okay let me guess…" Joey said, putting a finger to his forehead and meditating. "It's my Red Eyes Black Dragon."
"Nope," Tristen replied, turning the card so Joey could see. Instead of the Red Eyes Black Dragon it was Giant Trunade.
"Aww… Man," Joey groaned.
Boredom had taken the best of them. There wasn't enough time before class started to fit in a small table duel, but it was somehow still long enough to drive them into testing Joey's psychic ability. Truly, it's amazing how many other games you could play with Duel Monster cards.
"Okay, how about…this one?" Tristen asked, holding up another card. Joey took a minute to think about it then jumped up, knowing what it was.
"It's Graceful Die!" Joey said.
"Hey, you actually got it right this time," Tristen praised. However, he took another look at the card. "Huh? Oh. Err… Never-mind. There was a smudge on the card. You got it wrong."
"WHAT? Let me see that?" Joey demanded as he leaned forward to snatch the card out of his friend's hand. He read and saw he indeed guessed wrong... again.
Yugi watched the guessing game from a nearby desk. It was quite sad, really. They had been doing it since the beginning of class and Joey hadn't got a single one right. As a matter of fact, Yugi questioned if he was anti-psychic due to the fact they were only using six cards.
"Well, I almost got it. That should at least count for something," Joey said giving the card back to Tristen.
"Sure… I'll give you half a point to go against the 57 guesses you missed," Tristen joked as he took and reshuffled the card with the other five.
"HEY! I know I was having a losing streak but that's going to change very soon! Give me another!"
Tristen did as Joey told him and picked out another card. He held it up to Joey with it's back facing his blonde friend. Time to see if Joey could actually do this.
"Okay… This time it's Flame Swordsman," Joey stated confidently.
"No…" Tristen dully replied, flipping it to reveal Red Eyes Black Dragon.
Joey twitched madly for a moment. He could've sworn it would be Flames Swordsman. How could his favorite card betray him like that? That was it. Joey would rather be bored than obtain the world record for the most losses at a guessing game.
"Ahh… Who needs to be psychic anyway," Joey said, as he gave up and leaned back in his chair. "There's no such thing as a psychic ability, anyway."
Tristen set Joey's cards back down on his desk. He was kind of disappointed. The pointy haired teenager thought Joey would last much longer in the game. Oh well, it had still been fun to see how many he could guess incorrectly before he lost it. Tristen noticed there were still a couple of minutes before class began so he decided to turn to Yugi for a game.
"Do you want to try?" Tristen asked.
"Uhh… Okay. I guess I could try a few games," Yugi answered cheerfully as usual.
"Okay, I need six cards from your deck," Tristen stated. Yugi nodded and took out his deck. He selected the top six cards and handed them to his friend. Tristen showed Yugi what the cards were then shuffled and picked one of them. Just like he did with Joey, he held the card up with it's back facing Yugi.
"Hmm… Is it… Monster Reborn?" Yugi asked.
"Hey, it is!" Tristen said, revealing the card, "Wow, you got it on your first try even."
"You gotta be kidding me!" Joey exclaimed. "Yugi, how did you do that?"
"I just guessed," Yugi said as Tristen shuffled the card back into the deck of six. Joey groaned and fell back in his seat. He couldn't believe that his friend guessed right on the first try while he hadn't been able to guess any right at all.
"Come on, Joey," Tristen teased, "Don't be a sore loser."
"I'll show you who's a sore loser!" Joey shouted, clenching his fist.
"Take it easy. I was just joking."
Joey gave Tristen a threatening look but relaxed again. He was awaiting Yugi's next guess when he noticed Tea had walked rather grumpily into the room. She looked ticked off, really ticked off. Her face was red from anger and her eyes were flaming in a glare that could almost rival Seto's. Tristen and Yugi noticed her appearance as well and were caught dumbfounded by her furious expression.
"Hey Tea," Yugi greeted shakily, "Uh… Is something wrong?"
Tea y sat down forcefully at her desk and slammed her books down. She didn't even bother to look up at her concerned friends. All she was focused on right now was how much she hated this week.
"Hey, what's wrong, Tea?" Tristen asked. Tea didn't reply. She just proceeded to glare at her books as though they were mocking her.
"Tea?" Yugi repeated.
"I found my report," Tea said, not turning her gaze away from the books.
"Hey, that's great, Tea!… but why are you so angry?" Yugi questioned. Tea didn't respond or say anything to answer that question. She simply reached into her notebook and brought out a damp, wrinkled, packet of paper. Black ink streamed from its letters and mixed with the brown dirt painted on it.
"Woah! What happened to your report?" Tristen gasped. Tea finally looked away from her books to look at her friends.
It was only for a brief moment though before she looked back down and hissed venemously, "Kaiba!… That's what happened."
"WHAT? You're telling me rich-boy did that to your report?" Joey blurted out. Yet again Tea didn't say anything but simply nodded once. Looking at the destroyed report that his friend had worked so hard on, Joey could feel his hatred toward Seto. "That no good punk! Who gave him the right to do that? Grr… Next time I see him I'll knock the living daylights out of him."
"He's right there if you want to get started," Tristen pointed out. Seto was at his desk in the corner of the room, quietly typing away on the laptop he had decided to bring that day. Tea grew even more furious seeing him and his usual smug, superior expression. The way he was acting…it was like nothing had happened…just another uneventful day for him.
"Well, Joey?" Tristen asked again.
"Err… I already noticed that. I meant next time," Joey corrected, "Besides, we're in class. It would just be broken up and I'd probably get sent to detention. I'll make sure to get him after school or something. And this time I want to make sure his lesson is as long and painful as possible."
Tristen sighed. As much as he'd like to see Joey kick the snot out of Seto, he probably wouldn't get anywhere. Joey had tried to beat him up several times before in the past but somehow it never happened or it turned into a duel where Joey got his own butt kicked. Who knows, this time may be different, but it was still highly unlikely. Tristen turned his focus back to Tea who was again slumped over her books, but was now glaring over at Seto. The thought crossed Tristen's mind that it was probably a good thing that Tea had never shown any signs of unusual psychic ability, otherwise Seto would most likely be nothing but a pile of ashes on a chair right now.
"I still can't believe he did that to your report, Tea," Tristen said, "How did he even get a hold of your report in the first place?"
Tea took a few more deep breaths to calm down. It didn't help her much but it did relax her enough to explain. "Do you remember yesterday when I was late for class and how I told you that I ran into somebody in the hallway?"
"Yeah, we remember… Wait… Are you telling us that Kaiba was the person you ran into?" Joey asked.
"Yes, and he overreacted. I didn't do it deliberately, it was just an accident that I ran into him," Tea responded as her tone became stressed and angry again. Yugi noticed her hand had curled into a fist and grew a bit worried. Tea was rarely the one to get mad but when she did, there was no telling what she would do.
"Calm down Tea," Yugi told his raging friend, "It was probably going to be lost whether Kaiba picked it up or someone else. Come on, we'll help you get started on that make-up report right after school. With all of us helping I'm sure you'll get it done in no time and you will have plenty of vacation time leftover."
"Sure, a minutes worth!" Tea grumbled. After taking another deep breath, Tea quietly stated, "I'm sorry, guys… but I am just not in the mood to talk right now. Oh, and Yugi, if its okay with you, I would like to do the makeup work by myself. I don't want you guys to have to suffer too because I let my report get into the wrong hands."
"Tea… Are you sure?" Yugi asked in dismay.
"Relax, Yugi. I think she knows what she wants," Tristen suggested. Yugi hesitated but eventually nodded in response. He looked at Tea with a longing expression. He didn't like seeing Tea this way and really wanted to help her. However, he understood that this time, his friend needed to be alone for a while.
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The day progressed as usual and before anybody knew it, the last bell had rung and students filled the hallways to go home. Tea walked down the hallway alone with head hung and eyes still filled with sullen anger. The subject she was given turned out not to be too bad but she still would never get over Seto's heartless action towards her. At least she would have had a chance if he hadn't been the one to pick up her report. Most everyone else she could think of was fairly decent. So why couldn't it have been someone else who would have done the kind thing and returned her report to her? Oh well…so much for what if and why not…reality bites.
She went outside and felt the wind blow through her short hair. Just then, she remembered the gift the little girl gave her. She lifted it off her neck and looked at it. For some reason the gem didn't shimmer nor sparkle like it did before. It just dully sat there in her hand.
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"Mr. Snuggles and I want you to have this."
"Oh no, I couldn't."
"But you saved him and it will bring you good luck."
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Good luck, huh? Some good luck she had been having. Her report was trashed, her vacation was lost, and she had to type another long endless makeup report. She curled her fingers around the necklace's gem. At that moment, a cynical mood took hold of Tea. She shook her and and shrugged her shoulders. Another glance at the necklace just showed a stone that was now, oddly, dull and somewhat ugly. She was absentmindedly still fingering the strange stone as she moved onward down to the boundary of the schoolyard. That's when she noticed the antagonist of her day. Seto was waiting patiently by the street for his limousine to arrive and take him away from the educational torture called school. He felt Tea's glare burn into his back and looked over his shoulder. The two exchanged dirty looks for minute before Tea walked past him and set forth on her walk home. As she past, she tossed the now ugly necklace to the ground. She didn't care where it landed. It didn't help her in any way. As a matter of fact, it was probably cursed or something and was what had jinxed her. Let the two ugliest things in her life today be left behind her. Tomorrow was another day. Tea shrugged and walked away with a sad grimace. But still, when she was so close to her enemy, Tea had had such a deep and intense desire to actually punch him in the face, right there and then. She wasn't like that, though. The worst she would most likely have done was lecture him, call him names, and insult him. However, knowing Kaiba, he always won those battles, too. It was just no use. Eventually, Tea controlled her emotions and quickened her pace. Oh well, might as well get started on her makeup report as soon as possible.
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The hour hand on the school's large clock just kept moving slowly forward. Seto was starting to grow impatient. All the students of the school were long gone by now and had already started off their weeklong break. The only thing that could be heard was rolled up crumples of paper bouncing along the ground as the wind blew them away. Seto double-checked the clock placed over the school's entrance. It read 5:01. He had been waiting there for about an hour. What the heck was his new limousine driver doing and were the heck was he?
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"Wow, this car is like so rad," said a young lady in her early twenties. Her head was covered by long blonde curls and a goofy grin was plastered on her face.
"I know, but it cost only a small portion of my ever-flowing millions," said Seto's limousine driver. He was dressed up in a rented tuxedo and had groomed himself so well, that he could fool anybody to think he was rich and powerful. Not to mention the girls he had met while crashing last night's party were too shallow and simple-minded to even notice clues that their 'rich' boyfriend was a fake. They weren't even slightly suspicious and everything was going the way he wanted. Unluckily for him though, he was way too caught up in his newfound popularity to notice he was running very, very late on a certain important task.
"So Mr. Nakano, after this little drive why don't we go to your place and have a little fun?" asked another girl as she played with her long black hair.
"Yeah," agreed another on of his 'girlfriends.'
"Will you take us to your awesome mansion?"
"Ladies, ladies," the fraud smiled coolly, "Lets not rush things, here."
"Hey, Nakano? Just curious," asked another girl with red hair, "If you have so much money, why are you driving your own limousine? Don't have a driver?"
"Ah, good drivers are so hard to find nowadays. Plus, I wouldn't trust this expensive of a vehicle to anybody with a lower status," lied the driver.
"Oh! I see," the girl replied cheerfully, actually believing every word he said.
"By the way, what time is it?" he asked.
"Uhh… It's 5:01," the girl with the blond curls said.
"OH, !" swore the driver.
"Something wrong, honey?"
"Oh, umm… I had a business meeting scheduled," he lied again, trying to cover up his fright. Nakano had a huge whopping problem now. Seto was going to have his hide for being so late. That certainly meant no more acting rich guy around the ladies. He'd be lucky if he was let off with just being fired. Knowing Seto's temper however, he might not be that lucky…A queasy sensation hit the pit of his stomach.…he was probably going to get humiliated by Seto first, then fired….He tried to concentrate on a way out of the hole he worked himself into but in doing so, he lost his focus on the traffic and the road for just a few seconds. That was all it took.
"OH MY GOD! LOOK OUT! THERE'S LIKE A DOG IN THE MIDDLE OF THE ROAD!" screamed one of the girls. Nakano snapped back into reality to see the car was about to hit a poor defenseless poodle standing obliviously in the middle of the road.
"HOLY COW!" he yelled, as he yanked the steering wheel right. All his groupies screamed their heads off as the limousine sharply swerved off the road and into a parked car on the side of it. The entire group went silent as the vehicle's engine began to smoke from the friction of the crash. The car they crashed into activated its burglar alarm and it started to wail loudly. All of them just sat there frozen from the fright and the shock of the impact.
Seto's driver gulped. Oh god, he was more than dead. He stuttered a bit then calmly said, "Ladies… we're going to get out of the car… we're going to move to Hawaii… we're going to change our names… and we're never going to speak of this again."
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Seto knew he shouldn't have hired that idiot. He cursed as he finally lost his patience and whipped a cell phone out of his pocket. He started dialing the number to his company when he noticed something sparkle on the ground nearby. It was that same sparkle he had seen from Tea's necklace. Seto began to feel that same odd feeling and this time it was strong. Curious, the CEO flipped his cell phone closed. It could wait. He walked over and leaned down to inspect the unusual necklace.
He recognized it by the shape and sparkle of the necklace's rock. It did seem to be the one Gardner was wearing. However, the color of the gem had changed. Instead of the greenish-blue tint he saw last time, it was a strong pinkish-purple. What was more, the colors seemed to be billowing and moving inside the gem like trapped smoke. Seto reached out to pick it up for a closer examination. What kind of mineral was this anyway? Was it one of those new artificial red herrings? He then noticed a crease in the gem began to form and it started to crack.
"Huh?" Seto was clueless and stunned as to why it was doing so. It was against all the laws of nature. He started wondering if perhaps he was hallucinating. The gem started to crack even more, then all of a sudden, it shattered like glass. Gem pieces were sent everywhere as a pinkish-purple cloud emerged mistily from his hand. Seto let his hand fall back to his side and began to back away. "What the?…" Now, this was one bad hallucination…at least…he hoped it was just an hallucination…
Seto watched the cloud as it began to undulate, spin, and transform into a long snake-like appearance. He wasn't quite sure what was going on here but it didn't look too inviting. Then as suddenly as a gun shot, the cloud dived right around Seto, constricting him. If this had been ordinary smoke, he could have easily walked through it, but this surely wasn't a normal element. It look like gas, but it felt solid, like an actual snake. Seto began to struggle in the cloud's grip. What the heck was this thing? He soon felt the strange gas constricting around him tighter and tighter. Seto flailed even more. He began to panic as he felt the air being slowly squeezed out of his lungs. Eventually, it squeezed so tight he could hardly breathe. He started to feel lightheaded. Was he going to die? There was a flash of light, then everything went black…
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Meanwhile… Joey was watching TV at home when something he intended to do suddenly dawned on him.
"Ah man! I was supposed to beat up rich-boy, today!"
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What the heck? OMG! It's a cliff-hanger! Mwuhahahahaha! Really though, you know already what's going to happen to him so it's not that evil… Well… then again… I am cutting you short from Seto flipping out when he finds out he's several shirt sizes smaller. Oh well… I'm going to enjoy writing the next chapter. That's for sure.
Thank you for reading and I hoped you enjoyed it.
Anywaaay…. Next Chapter…Tea feels guilty and she comes back to the school to recollect the necklace. How will she react when she discovers Seto doesn't look the same as before? Not pity, that's for sure.
