Hey Guys!
A little more than a week but better than nearly an entire year! Updates may be a little weird for next week since some idiot decided to cut the wire that creates the internet and the phone on our house and most of the entire street. So while the wifi works, nothing loads and that makes updating hard. I'm putting this up at the library as the police investigate and the internet is put back into place. Hopefully that is soon.
I own nothing of Yu-Gi-Oh! If you do recognize anything from anything else you have read, I don't own that either. I only own Christine, my OC.
Yugi, after Yami had given him control back, sat quietly as emergency responders arrived to take Yugi's grandpa to the hospital. They had asked if Yugi wanted to come with him but I declined in Yugi's stead, he was in a bit of shock. They understood and rushed the old man to the hospital. Once the house was silent again, I turned my attention to Yugi, who was still watching Grandpa in the TV. Jounouchi and Anzu had both gone home to give Yugi some space but I'm not sure if he really noticed their absence. I crossed the room and sat next to him on the couch.
"Hey." I said softly. "It'll be ok."
Yugi didn't reply, he barely even blinked. "Yugi, please answer me. I can't stand to see you like this." The boy finally turned to me, his eyes empty of emotion.
"I let this happen." He said. "I let him take Grandpa."
"Now that isn't true, Yugi!" Grandpa shouted at us from the TV. "It was the blasted Pegasus' fault, he cheated his way to winning."
"Grandpa's right." I gave Yugi a tight side hug. "We'll find a way to right this, even if I have to make sure Jounouchi sucker punches Pegasus right in the face."
Yugi didn't laugh but he did take a calming breath.
"Right." Yugi nodded. "Though, let's see if we can get Grandpa off the TV."
"I can only assume that if the tape is still playing, I'll be fine." Grandpa guessed.
Yugi must have gotten an idea as he jumped off the couch and ran off to his room. "Can you do something to remedy this, Christine?"
I shook my head sadly. Moving souls was practically taboo for me, which didn't help to know that all the enemies here could do it. "I see."
"Let's just see if we can move you into my camcorder, Grandpa," Yugi appeared again with his tape camcorder.
"I'm ready."
Yugi pressed a button on the video player and the tape popped out of the slot, making Grandpa's face disappear from the screen. Yugi had to breathe a moment before he placed the tape into the device and pressed play. Grandpa's face appeared on the smaller screen. "Here!" He called.
"That's a relief." I sighed.
"Yeah." Yugi's voice darkened again.
Pretty much knowing his mood by the tone, I stood from the couch and placed a hand on his shoulder.
"Why don't we go to bed, Yugi." I suggested. "We will be able to think more clearly in the morning."
"Christine's right, Yugi." Grandpa smiled. "It's not like I can go anywhere like this; I'll be here."
"Ok." Yugi agreed despite the dark words that Grandpa intoned.
It would be long night. There was a monster on the loose and he was willing to do anything to get what he wanted.
Next Morning:
The next morning was just as gloomy as last night. Jounouchi had called Honda and explained what had happened and the other boy arrived to school that day with a solemn face and soft words to Yugi, who still spoke to Grandpa in his camcorder. The only one of our group that arrived to school cheerful was Bakura.
"Good Morning, everybody!" He exclaimed as he walked into our classroom.
He was met with the gloom overcast and a few meager hellos from Anzu and Honda. "What's wrong? What's the matter, you guys?"
"We had a pretty long night last night." I disclosed simply from my spot two desks over from Yugi.
"Oh?"
Bakura then noticed Yugi's camcorder and walked over to peer over his shoulder to see what it was. "Hmm? What are you watching, Yugi?"
The white haired boy's face became surprised as I heard Grandpa greet him. "Is this a video phone?" Bakura asked with a shaky voice.
"Nope." Yugi answered immediately. "My grandpa is stuck in this video."
"Huh?!" Bakura exclaimed his confusion.
"It's hard to believe, but Yugi lost a game of Duel Monsters to this weird guy's video recording!" Jounouchi began to explain. "The guy had a Millennium Item and… He used its apparent power to put Yugi's grandpa's soul in this tape!"
I became worried at Bakura's reaction to this news. Ever since the incident with the Millennium Ring, I was curious about when the Ring would begin to call to Bakura once again. Would the mention of the Millennium Eye bring out a reaction? The boy simply seemed surprised at the mention but I felt no energy spike from the Ring, if it was even here.
"What should I do?" Yugi asked both himself and us. "What if Grandpa can't return to normal?"
"Here Here!" Grandpa argued from the camcorder. "I'm doing just fine here! Don't you all get depressed over me!"
"Gramps is right!" Jounouchi exclaimed to Yugi. "Brooding over it won't solve anything, right, Yugi?"
"You're right!" Yugi nodded.
"Look at Jounouchi." I smiled. "The new cheerleader!"
He huffed at me.
"Give me the pom-poms and I'll gladly stand next to my bud!" The blond crossed his arms and gave a defiant look.
I threw my hands up in surrender, conceding the round to Jounouchi.
"It's not a bad thing." I chuckled and rolled my eyes. "Calm down."
Jounouchi nodded and turned back to Yugi as the conversation continued before I had veered it off course.
"Though, while I'm ok, the Other Me isn't." Yugi played with the top of the Millennium Puzzle as he said this.
"What!" Anzu exclaimed. "You've learned to talk with your alter ego?"
Yugi shook his head.
"It's not like I can talk to him with words…" The boy trailed away as he closed his eyes. "But if I close my eyes, I can sense what he's feeling."
"So he's depressed?" Anzu asked softly.
"Yup." Yugi nodded his head as he opened his eyes. "I think he feels bad about losing to Pegasus…"
After this sunk in for a minute, everyone glanced at me, making me slightly uncomfortable.
"Why are you all looking at me?" I asked, taking a defensive stance.
"You know the Other Yugi the best!" Jounouchi exclaimed.
"Yeah?" I raised an eyebrow. "So?"
"Would this kinda be an event he would get depressed at?" Honda asked, finally saying something after his few minutes of silence.
I sighed. Man, Yami, you now owe me.
"Yugi, remember what I told you in Death T?" I asked the boy. "About how your other self would never hurt you?" Yugi nodded. "Well, he is very protective of you and of the entire gang here. I guess… Losing Grandpa was probably a big hit to him and he feels pretty bad about it."
Nobody said anything for what seemed like an eternity. I know I felt bad about this. Yami had thought that after my display for Yugi, Pegasus would have taken me and fought to keep me there but… I shook my head lightly. There was nothing I could do, this was how it was supposed to be.
The sound of a news book crinkling invaded my mind then and I shook myself out of the thoughts fast enough to get jumped by Jounouchi shouting at the Puzzle with the rolled up paper.
"Hey, in there!" Jounouchi shouted. "Cheer up, Other Yugi!"
"That isn't going to help!" I shouted back as everyone gathered their hearing once again.
"Anyways!" Jounouchi continued while ignoring my dirty look. "It looks like if we want to save Gramps, we just have to get back at Pegasus."
"Yeah." Yugi agreed, a serious look on his face. "That's what he said… 'Come to my Kingdom!' He said that's where they're going to crown the King of Duel Monsters!"
"The Duelist Kingdom." Grandpa said aloud. "The problem is we have no idea where that is!"
"It's probably not the name of an island." I said, cutting it out of the pool. "That would be a little too easy to find."
Everyone nodded at that.
"You said that Pegasus has a Millennium Item, didn't you?" Bakura asked suddenly.
"He not only has one, he dug out his own eye to put it in!" Jounouchi exclaimed, pointing to his own eye.
"Maybe if you go to this Kingdom, you'll find the secret of the Millennium Items…" He pulled something out of his pocket. "Like my Millennium Ring."
The entire gang jumped up to get away from the golden object. I had jumped to be behind Yugi's desk and Jounouchi had jumped to be behind me.
"Agh!" Jounouchi near screamed. "You still have that thing!?"
"It's okay!" Bakura soothed. "As long as I don't wear it, it's just a piece of jewelry!"
Highly doubt-able, I thought. It was a minute or so before everyone crawled out of their hiding spots and back into our other formation. "My father bought it from an antique shop in Egypt, but, as you know, there's a personality inside of it. Just like Yugi's puzzle. I want to find out all the secrets of the Millennium Items! Like, who made them? How do they work? What are they for? I bet Pegasus knows the answers!"
"Like he'll tell us." I muttered.
Suddenly, Yugi stood up straight so fast, he sent his chair clattering to the ground. He then started on his way to the door of the classroom.
"What's up, Yugi?" Anzu asked.
Yugi turned back and I could see a faint crimson light deep in Yugi's eyes.
"I'm sorry." Yugi apologized. "I'd like to be alone for a while. Ahh… Not me, I mean the Other Me!"
Nobody argued with him and let him go. He didn't come back in time for class so as the teacher taught, I began to get worried about him. I shook my head. Yami is a 5000 year old spirit, not someone who needed to be watched on a daily basis like a child but still… I was technically Yami's girlfriend so would it be warranted to be worried about him? Hell yeah.
"Sensei?" I called. "Yugi wasn't feeling well, may I check on him?"
"Very well." The teacher replied, barely looking away from the writing on the board.
"Take good notes for me." I whispered to Anzu.
"Don't I always?" She replied cheekily.
I sniggered then raced out the door to where I knew Yami was probably brooding, the roof. I popped open the door quietly, glancing out before I walked into the open. Yami had his fingers laced through the fence's metal wires and the glare on his face would've killed. I snuck over and leaned on the fence only two steps away from him. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Yami take a glance at me then back to the horizon. We stood in silence for at least a minute until Yami finally pulled away from the fence.
"Was there something else I could've done?" Yami asked, his voice shaking from anger. "Could I have done anything at all to save him?"
I stood silent, not moving from my spot on the fence. It was enough to answer the angry spirit's questions. "I lost him to that monster but… I won't run." Yami's fists clenched. "I'll get Grandpa's soul back."
"I know you will." I finally responded. "Heaven help Pegasus for when you get there."
That made Yami silent again. There was the question again, how did we get there? I shook it off for now since the spirit in front of me needed some sort of comfort. I pulled myself away from the fence and took the few steps over to Yami so I could wrap my arms around his neck, though I needed to stand on my tip toes to do so. "Did you get taller?" I huffed.
"I don't think so." Yami replied somewhat hesitantly.
"You must have since I have to think tall to hug you now."
Thankfully, Yami chuckled finally and wrapped his arms around me. I played with Yami's collar as we both took calming breaths. This was the longest we had been together in a long time and I guess we both wanted it to last. "Don't beat yourself up over this, Yami." I said softly. "Just like I told Yugi last night, we'll make this right." Yami only nodded his head, not replying but at least letting me know me he had heard me. After what seemed like an eternity, I had to pull away. "Yugi and I need to get back to class."
"Ok."
Yami took my hand and nearly dragged me back to the door. I raised an eyebrow at the spirit's behavior. Why wasn't he giving Yugi control back? We had just entered the school again when I spoke again.
"We have a problem with this arrangement."
"How so?" Yami asked, putting up his innocent act.
"You can't exactly be 'Yugi' enough to fool the teacher." I raised my free hand to create my quotation marks. "And the whole gang knows what you look like now."
"I know what I'm doing, Christine." Yami simply said. "We'll be fine."
Yami obviously was trying to pull a fast one on me but… I gave a smirk that made it look like I was a cat that had just gotten the cream. Let's try this… We were only a few feet away from the classroom door when I put my plan into action. I tugged Yami's hand, pulling him back around the corner we had just turned. "Ok…" Yami drawled quietly as I dragged him. "I'm sensing some hypocrisy! You said that you and Yugi needed to go back to class and yet you are dragging…!" I had suddenly stopped tugging him and as he gave me a confused expression, I pulled down his head to kiss me. Yami froze and barely had the chance to realize what was going on as I pulled back and ran back to the classroom, a slight giggle escaping my lips.
I had calmed down as I walked back into the class and sat at my desk without a word. Yugi came in at least two minutes later and he glanced over at me with a confused expression. He probably remembered bits and pieces of when Yami was in control but he was blocked for when Yami was walking me back. I held back the snigger that threatened to come out in the middle of class at the expression.
It was a long day of classes but eventually Yugi and I were at the door of the game shop. The sign was flipped to 'Closed', painfully reminding me that Grandpa was in the hospital because of the monster Pegasus.
"I'm home!" Yugi called as he unlocked the door of the shop.
"Ummm…" Grandpa drawled from his spot on the camcorder screen. "Welcome home?"
Both Yugi and I raised an eyebrow then we both remembered that Grandpa was in the camcorder. I was so used to him being gone fully since that was how the anime went, so I had to get used to that.
"I totally forgot you were in there, Grandpa." I breathed.
"Yeah, it scared me a little." Yugi agreed. "I'm so used to hearing you inside the shop!"
"Yeah." Grandpa sighed. "But I'm getting used to being in here."
That was a damper on my heart but I shook past it. We'd get Grandpa out of the tape. I came out of my thoughts to see that Yugi was pulling a small envelope off the door.
"I wonder what it is." Yugi asked himself aloud.
He pulled the envelope apart and gasped when he pulled out playing cards. "Duel Monster Cards!" He glanced up at me as if to ask me if I knew what they were but he looked back to the card quickly. "Did somebody accidentally leave these here?"
"I highly doubt it." I replied. "Since the popularity has spiked, nobody leaves any cards lying around."
"Yugi, show me the cards!" Grandpa shouted and I held the other cards while Yugi held the camcorder and the main card in front of the screen.
"It says 'Voyage to the Kingdom'!" Yugi read from the card. "It shows a time and place."
"It's finally come!" Grandpa began ominously. "The invitation… The ticket to Duelist Kingdom."
We couldn't think about it much longer since the rest of the gang suddenly arrived.
"Hey, Yugi!" Jounouchi called.
"Jounouchi?" I asked.
"Why did you come all the way here?" Yugi asked as well.
Jounouchi pulled out a small package from his pocket and began to open it.
"Brace yourself!" He said. "Look what I just got!" He pulled out a small tape, like the one Yugi had received last night. "A video tape addressed to me! The mailman delivered it today!"
"You got one too?" Yugi asked, a sort of fear growing in his eyes.
"Anyways, can I watch it here, Yugi?" Jounouchi continued without really answering Yugi's question. "I don't have a video player."
Yugi of course agreed, and the entire gang ran inside the shop and up to the living room where the boy set out all the cards he had just received. There were five in total, each with a different image. Yugi picked up the first card that was decorated with a large boat.
"This one tells you when and where to board the boat that goes to Duelist Kingdom." He explained. "One week from now at 9:30pm at the Domino Pier."
"Only a week away?" I asked. "That means not a lot of time to prepare."
Nobody wanted to even consider that thought so we went on reading the different cards.
"Next is the Duelist Kingdom card." Yugi continued. "There's an island drawn on it. So the tournament is probably on a small island called Duelist Kingdom."
Anzu then turned to me.
"Your guess about it being not being an island was wrong then, Christine."
"Apparently so." I huffed. "How peachy."
Yugi picked up the next card that had the image of the strange glove that he had received in Pegasus' package.
"That's the glove you got before, right?" Anzu asked.
Yugi nodded then pulled the box from last night over and picked out the glove and the two golden stars that were secured inside.
"These star chips must be proof of your status as a duelist." Yugi theorized. "And you bet on each of your duels."
He put the stars down and picked up the last two cards. "Then the last two cards… Honor of the King's right is probably the prize money the winner will receive. However, there's nothing written on the other card. It's probably some secret prize that only the one who becomes 'King' can get. And that's it for the cards."
"Let's go ahead and watch Jounouchi's video." Anzu proposed and the blond was ready in an instant.
"Here goes!" Jounouchi called as he set the tape inside the slot.
Yugi's TV only showed static for a few seconds until a face that none of us recognized appeared. She looked a lot like Jounouchi but her hair was a near dark brown. She gave a sweet smile and a wave.
"Hi there, Katsuya!" she greeted. "How's my big brother doing?"
Big Brother?! Wait a minute… It was Shizuka, Jounouchi's younger sister!
"Jounouchi!" Yugi exclaimed. "Did she just say 'Big Brother'?"
"I didn't know Jounouchi had a sister!" Honda exclaimed.
I quickly silenced the shouting with a glare as the younger girl was still speaking despite all our noise.
"It's been a long time!" She smiled again. "Hee hee… I'm sending you a video so you won't forget what I look like, but I wish I could see your face too!"
Jounouchi seemed to flinch at that statement. "Actually, I really wanted to see you in person instead of sending you a video… but you're so busy and we live so far apart. I wanted to see your face… for one last time." One last time? Oh… "Katsuya, please, don't tell Dad about this video… Well, that's all, take care of yourself. Goodbye, Big Brother."
The screen returned to showing only static leaving all of us to stare at Jounouchi's back. He remained silent until he finally gave an explanation.
"My parents… split up around six years ago." He explained to us. "My sister went with my mom. They live pretty far away. My sister has had problems with her eyes since she was born… The doctors said that she would go blind eventually."
We all gasped at the words. I couldn't help but be angry at the doctors. They can tell that she could go blind but do nothing to help her and probably prevent it from happening. "When she sad 'one last time', that means... the docs told her that time has finally come…"
"But that's awful!" Yugi exclaimed.
"Isn't there anything they can do?" Anzu asked.
"They say with the most advanced treatments out there, she has about a 50% chance of a successful operation to cure her… but where can I get that kind of money? I'm her big brother but I can't do anything to help her! Not one thing! I'm useless!"
Even with some of his hair covering his face, I saw a lone tear slide down Jounouchi's cheek. It was the worst thing imaginable for me. Knowing that there was nothing I could do to help the person I cared for most. We all sat around the blond in a sad silence, the only sound was a piteous 'Jounouchi' that came from Anzu. I wanted to comfort my friend but I was slightly convinced that he didn't need or want our pity; he had gone through so much alone already and was not used to having to explain so much of himself to us. A shiver went down my spine as I saw Yugi stand up and walk over to Jounouchi. I considered pulling him back but I recognized the way Yugi now held himself, Yami had taken over. He took Jounouchi's shoulder and the blond turned around quickly.
"Cheer up, Jounouchi!" Yami practically instructed him.
"Yugi…?" Jounouchi managed to ask before Yami interrupted him.
"Don't give up! Remember this card?" Yami held out the Glory of the Kings Right Hand card before Jounouchi. He then picked up the two star chips on the ground. "These star chips are proof that you are a duelist. Take one of mine!"
Jounouchi took the little star chip like it would break if he touched it. He stared at it then looked back to Yami.
"Yugi… Are you serious?!"
"Shall we go win those prizes?" Yami asked, not answering Jounouchi's question.
After a moment of what seemed like hesitation, Jounouchi's fist finally closed on the star chip. "Let's go to the Duelist Kingdom as Duelists, to save Grandpa, and your sister!" Jounouchi nodded slowly but I could see the determination in his eyes. "We've got one week left, so we'll train in Duel Monster strategies until then!"
"You bet!" Jounouchi exclaimed.
Suddenly, the blond got a strange gleam in his eyes. "And I know my first opponent!" He whirled to face me, pointing to me like I was a criminal. "You better get ready, Christine, cause I'm coming for you first!" I couldn't help but smirk at it.
"You think so, Jounouchi?" I raised an eyebrow. "I guess we just have to find out."
Yami looked like he wanted to protest but stopped and sighed. Jounouchi giggled like a child as he ran over to where he and Yugi were going to start putting together his deck. When no one seemed to be looking at the both of us, I gave Yami a very surreptitious wink, making him laugh and have to move away from me.
You better watch your back, Pegasus. We're on our way!
That good? It was mostly info to get started on the road to Duelist Kingdom but next week will be the boat and meeting the competition! Excited!
See ya soon!
RobynHood3
