"I just hope you boys know that I'm only agreeing to this stupid plan because it isn't that far to walk!"
"Sheesh," Jounouchi rolled his eyes and whispered to Yugi. "Can you say 'harpy', or what?" Mai, still in clear earshot, growled and turned her head away from him. She found it difficult to remain annoyed with him, however, since Jounouchi had decided to tend to her injury with a piece of fabric torn from the hem of his own button-up shirt underneath his windbreaker when he realized that paper towels from the washroom didn't appear to be enough.
"How can we move along if any one of us would have to constantly hold our leg like that? She can't even walk this way." he had reasoned at the time, brushing away remarks of him seeming gentleman-like.
"Oh, cool it, would ya? It was a joke! Harpy? Get it?" Jou laughed at his own bad joke, trying to look smug in spite of the situation. But to his dismay, he was ignored. The silence that followed only served to allow him to refocus, to remind him of the goal at hand. Yugi's main priority, not uncharacteristic of the smaller one, was to find a way to reconnect with the rest of the group, a sentiment which Jounouchi equally shared. The whereabouts of his sister were weighing heavily on his mind. He needed to feel like he could protect his little sister.
But first, he needed to find her.
Mai rose to her feet while trying to maintain as much of her grace as she could manage with her freshly covered wound. When she dared a glance back in Jounouchi's direction, she spied him already watching her, but he turned away as quickly as she'd looked.
"Do you two really think we're going to find anything of value just by going back to this stupid games booth you keep on about?"
"We won't know until we get there, will we?" Yugi asked optimistically.
"All's I know is, that's the last place we saw the other half of our group. It's the best place to start looking to figure out what happened when we got separated." Jounouchi let his pride swell at his logical idea, and was pleased that Yugi had agreed.
With Mai's bleeding injury tended to as best as possible under the circumstances, the small group pulled themselves away from the shelter of the abandoned snack bar they'd been huddled behind for safety.
Once the troupe turned about, an unpleasantly familiar face greeted them, baring its ugly fangs again, and all three backed slowly away.
"Shit!" Jounouchi called.
"Oh, no." Mai winced, more now from the memory of bitter experience than from her physical wound.
"Looks like our little pal woke up from his nap!"
"What should we do?" Yugi asked, looking at Jounouchi.
"We gotta find some way to put this thing down, this time for good."
"But it's a zombie monster!" Yugi reminded his friend. "In Duel Monsters, under certain circumstances zombie monsters only come back stronger when they die!"
"That's in the game, Yugi. Come on, we can't just keep letting this son of a bitch stalk us forever." Yugi nodded, but his amethyst eyes remained full of worry.
"Then how do we... get rid of it?" Yugi wondered.
"Easy. Gotta kill it."
"Easy!" Mai scoffed. "If it's so easy, then go ahead and kill it, genius!"
"Well," he began thoughtfully, "this thing didn't feel all that much like a hunk of metal under that sick skin when I kicked it. If it is an actual monster, or whatever theory we're goin' with, then the answer's simple. None of us could survive if we, say, got decatip... dectap..."
"Decapitated?" Mai offered impatiently.
"...If we lost our heads," he finished with a hint of frustration. "Or if we got stabbed in a vital organ and bled to death-"
"I'm going to wind up bleeding to death before we even figure out what to do!"
"Right," he nodded, having received the incentive he needed to dive into action. Using the small size of Mai's knife to his advantage he kept the little blade mostly concealed in the closed palm of his right hand at the same time he dashed forward and tried to strike the Dragon Zombie with his left fist.
The beast saw the fist moving toward its massive jaw and reacted accordingly, opening its giant mouth and revealing all of its painfully sharp teeth. But Jounouchi could move quickly as well, and as soon as the monster opened its giant maw he lashed out with his right fist, the hand concealing Mai's blade, and made contact, impaling the roof of its mouth. He believed it wouldn't be enough to simply puncture, however, so he twisted the blade, shoving it upwards to its hilt. Dragon Zombie seemed in too much shock to snap its powerful jaws on his arm, much to Jounouchi's luck, but it hissed with a screeching noise and forced smoky-looking air from the its lungs. Jounouchi quickly jerked his hand back withdrawing the knife, but dropped it with a yelp to grasp his right hand with his left as he watched his own skin begin to bubble and blister. The weapon fell to the ground and skid, finally stopping almost two yards from where he stood.
"Agh!" the blond hissed, his jaw clamped shut to keep from screaming in pain as the skin across his fingers seared like hot oil had just been poured all over them.
"Jounouchi! No! Get back!" Yugi yelled toward his friend, grabbing him by the sleeve and giving his arm a yank.
"Whah – what the hell happened?!" Jou all but shouted. He'd let go of his hand as it had become too sensitive to touch, but kept his left hand wrapped firmly around the wrist of his injured hand, staring at his blistered fingers.
"Jou! Dragon Zombie has acid breath! You can't let yourself get so close again!"
Before Jounouchi could answer the creature jolted the trio's attention back to itself while it whipped its head violently from side to side. Drool tinted red from the bloody wound in its fat crocodile mouth poured out from both corners of its pained sneer.
"Is it going to die this time?" Mai asked, but the question was left unanswered as the beast tried to regain its bearings.
I gotta do something, Jounouchi said to himself. While it's weak! He tried his best to shake off the pain in his hand and scoped out the ground for Mai's little knife. Whatever had happened to his skin when the monster breathed on him, it hurt, and he definitely didn't want to give it the chance to do that again, so he knew he had to act quickly.
His eyes locked on the target, a generous five feet to his right and slightly behind, and he dove for it. But the teen's motion had been too hasty. Without thinking, he grabbed the knife from the pavement with his right hand, scraping his raw, already oozing knuckles across the rough asphalt, causing him to drop the blade again before getting a firm grip on it. Jounouchi gnashed his teeth and cursed under his breath for his reckless move, but in the same moment he saw in the edge of his field of vision that the squat, flightless dragon had finally stopped shaking its head.
Jounouchi had dived for Mai's knife, putting him the farthest from the beast, causing it to ignore him. Mai was behind him still, keeping away from the danger. But Jounouchi's small friend had been right by his side to pull him away from the jaws of the monster; the monster who bared it fangs and narrowed its eyes at his next victim, the nearest person.
Yugi.
No! Jounouchi's whole body screamed at him. He fought back his own pain and made another grab at the knife. He used his right hand to wield it, despite the blistering, because he knew he might only have one chance to aim true, and doubted his ability to do so with his off-hand. He'd done enough fighting in the streets to know his tolerance for pain was high, but faking practiced skill where he didn't have it was often a dangerous gamble. Ordinarily, were he dueling, a gamble with cards wouldn't scare him away so easily. But when his friends were in danger and timing was everything, he didn't have a moment to spare to think his decision over carefully, trying to account for every flaw. He had to act, before that damned monster took a bite out of his already bite-sized friend.
Jounouchi squeezed his fingers around the hilt of the tiny knife. He wound his right arm back, biting back any burning pain that fought its way to the surface of his mind, and took care to calculate his aim. The next instant the weapon was flying through the air toward the enemy, and collided with a thunk between the beady eyes of the ugly beast.
Jounouchi stood dumbfounded when, instead of sliding neatly into the top of the slobbering monster's skull, the knife struck handle-first and bounced off without leaving a mark.
Dragon Zombie threw its lumbering head back in Jounouchi's direction and stared at him, as if it were mocking him, claiming that the attempt was useless, fruitless, and now it was going to have his little friend for dinner. He had to fight to keep the mental image from surfacing.
Jounouchi's eyes searched frantically for the blade, hoping and pleading that he still had time before...
The monster slapped one meaty, clawed paw toward Yugi, and Jounouchi's senses heightened. He hoped, trusted, that his best friend knew enough and moved quickly enough to jump back as the thing moved toward him, even if the trio together couldn't up and run away due to Mai's injury. But as the blond searched the ground for Mai's knife, he glanced at Yugi and saw him, not moving backward, but bending down.
Is he... that idiot! Is he letting himself get-
"Enough!" Yugi called and stood, preventing Jou from fully forming his panicked thought. Instead of taking a move away from the threat before him like Jounouchi pleaded he would, Yugi leaned toward it and raised both of his hands above his head. To Jounouchi, he appeared to move in slow motion, his next words coming from miles away, allowing his own brain to process that the little knife he'd been looking for, was there, in Yugi's hands reaching above his spiked hair.
"I won't let you..." Yugi growled quietly, then plunged his whole figure downward in a force backed by all of his weight, driving the tiny blade just behind the spot Jounouchi had been trying to strike before, between the zombie's eyes, aiming for the top of the skull where he hoped the bone would be thin enough to penetrate. "...hurt my friends anymore!" he finished more audibly just as his knife made contact. The decaying beast's eyes bulged and blood spurted from the entry point, but Yugi didn't remove the knife. It could only stand, frozen in shock as the reality of the small duelist's surprise attack was absorbed.
Yugi fell backward on his seat, feeling as though his own paralysis mirrored that of his enemy's. Just as he did so the monster also fell limp, as it had when Jounouchi first kicked it, knocking it out. The blood poured in two steady streams, on either side of its face. Jounouchi approached quickly and moved between his friend and the downed dragon and nudged it with the toe of his shoe. No response came and Jounouchi was quick to be satisfied, but his eyes were locked on it, watching, just in case. He reached over and retrieved the knife from the top of the creature's skull.
"Good work, Yug'. Come on, let's move out, while we can."
"Yugi?" Mai asked quietly. When Jounouchi finally turned around Mai was already doing her best to kneel down to Yugi's level, and Yugi was still sitting on his butt, leaning back on his hands in stunned silence. He stared at the beast, presumed dead with its stinking flesh and rotting body, hopefully for the last time.
When Jounouchi finally examined Yugi's face, he saw streaks of tears running down his cheeks. He was sobbing quietly. Jounouchi could see his shoulders trembling faintly.
"Yugi?" Mai asked in his ear again, more urgently this time.
"I—I..." he stammered, then took a shaky breath and tried again. "I just... just hate to see my friends get hurt so badly."
"Tch! This thing?" Jounouchi held up his hand and scoffed, but had to force himself not to flinch. "This don't hurt!" he lied.
"Really?" Mai challenged skeptically. "You made a pretty big fuss about it at first."
Jounouchi ignored her and made a big show of rolling his eyes and shrugging. "And Mai's a girl. Heck, she's probably playin' this whole thing up just for the attention." He cleared his throat before going on in a high-pitched mock female voice, fluttering his eyelashes, "Oh, poor me, with my bloody knee and giant-" Mai socked him in the shoulder before he could finish.
One look at Yugi, glued to the ground now examining his shaking hands, was all it took to tell Jounouchi that his bad humor wasn't having any effect, and the moment was sober once again.
"What about the others? How do we know they're doing any better than us? What if...?" Yugi choked before voicing the rest of his question.
Jounouchi was not content to let it hang. He bent down on one knee, the other in the air which his perched one dangling hand on (considerate enough to conceal his injured hand from Yugi's direct vision), and looked his friend directly in the eyes. He decided to attempt "tough love".
"Hey. We don't know how they're doin' or where they are. What if?" Jou shrugged. "What if they're just fine and you're sittin' here worried about nuthin'? Huh? And if they're not, well, then what're we doin' still sittin' here! Look pal, I know you hate fighting, but you really did us both a huge favor by steppin' in. But we're not getting' anywhere by worryin' about it. Thing was half-dead anyway. You did it a favor, too." He forced a chuckle at the end, but even he didn't feel the humor in it. Jounouchi rose to his feet and offered his clean hand to Yugi.
Yugi didn't immediately take his hand, but stared up at the ugly green sky.
"If the Pharaoh was still... with us," Jounouchi started, but Yugi stopped him, a tiny smile tugging at the corners of his mouth.
If the Pharaoh were still with us, Yugi thought to himself, he would tell me I have no need for tears, that the real solution to this puzzle is to have courage , and trust that my friends will be alright.
The smaller teen sniffled and wiped his face on his sleeve, then allowed Jounouchi to pull him back to his feet, like his old friend had done countless times before.
"Thanks, Jou." His voice was lighter, more steady, but his smile was gone.
"Okay," Mai rolled her eyes and the boys could hear it in her tone. "What are we doing now that we're actually here?" She looked around. The trio stood in a room lined with doors, the same room where they'd last seen the rest of their group.
"We search for clues," Jounouchi answered.
"There has to be something here to help us figure out where our friends went," Yugi chimed in, determined yet optimistic. "Let's start searching the stalls."
The boys started searching behind each door, trying to find anything they could identify as belonging to one of their friends. Mai perched herself against the wall to rest before she would join in.
Yugi opened the first door, to the little closet he saw Anzu had gone into. He was not surprised she wasn't there, since he had already checked behind each door earlier to try and locate his friends; it had been how he came across Jounouchi and interrupted his nap. But now the boys searched deeper, looking more carefully for clues.
The tiny closets had no form of light within them – at least, none that either of them could locate a switch for.
"Must be controlled by some master switch," Jounouchi commented to his group when the question was brought up. So with the doors left wide open to allow for some kind of light from the larger room, they began to examine the stations.
The inside of each stall wound up to be identical. A comfortable, reclined leather gaming chair sat in the middle. The helmets were in their places on the hook beside the chair, wires connecting it to somewhere inside the wall. Instead of a television or some type of monitor, all that could be seen was a flat screen installed inside the wall itself, opposite the door. No buttons or controls could be found to turn it on, and no gaming console or hand-held controllers were to be seen, either.
"I don't get it," Jounouchi commented loud enough for Yugi to hear. "How were we supposed to play games anyhow without a controller? I know Yori didn't just put them away. There weren't any when we came here the first time."
Mai peeled herself off of the wall and peeked her head into one of the tiny chambers to begin her own search.
"Everything in these rooms must be controlled by some master setup somewhere," Yugi answered.
"Yori was down here to set everything up. The master controls have to be here, don't they?" Jounouchi asked.
While the walls of the large room were considerably bare and the only doors opened up to the gaming stalls, Yugi glanced around and noticed a small panel in one corner, similar to the fuse box in the basement of his home, and opened the metal cover.
Inside was filled with switches labeled for all of the cubicles, three for each. Thirty switches for ten rooms. Lt., Mon., Cons., they were each labeled.
"What's all this? Jounouchi asked over Yugi's shoulder, having joined him in inspecting the panel of on/off switches.
"Guess I found the master controls."
"What're those abbreviations for?"
"Light, Monitor, Console?" Yugi guessed. It would be logical. All thirty switches were moved to the "off" position.
"Although that still doesn't answer how we would control our characters."
"You dolts," Mai called with a teasing tone. "Look at this!" he boys poked their heads into the stall she'd set herself up to study, trying not to block the light with their heads. She pointed to the arms of the leather chair, where they could see tiny buttons and a joystick on each arm.
Jounouchi smacked himself in the forehead with his palm for not noticing earlier.
"We're wasting our time here, you guys," she scolded.
"It wasn't necessarily a waste, Mai," Yugi suggested. "We did get some of the answers we were looking for."
"We didn't learn anything about how to find the others."
"Except that we'll just have to keep looking somewhere else," Yugi replied with a little optimism laced throughout his answer. Mai rolled her eyes.
Back outside in what could only barely still be called daylight, even with the odd tint, the trio regrouped and tried to hash out a new plan. Jounouchi suggested wandering around to search for more people – hopefully friends – but Mai favored getting somewhere she could actually rest awhile. Finding a suitable place, Jounouchi complained, would take too much time away from finding the others, namely his sister.
Eventually sympathy won the argument and the boys agreed to put their effort toward finding her a place to rest, but to the injured blonde's dismay, doing so still required some hunting, and some legwork.
In order to try to keep her spirits up, or at least her mind somewhat distracted as they moved along the park, Mai decided to strike up a conversation with her much-missed friends. The first topic that came to mind was, oddly, the Pharaoh – or perhaps not so odd, since Jounouchi had mentioned him earlier. "If the Pharaoh was still with us..." had been the start of whatever it was he'd tried to tell Yugi, and she wondered about that other presence her little friend had always harbored. Hadn't he usually made his appearance during wild scenarios like this by this point? Curiosity getting the better of her, she chose to ask Yugi directly.
"I notice you're not wearing your puzzle anymore, Yugi." she observed. "What happened?"
Yugi and Jounouchi shared a glance before looking over at her.
"You sure you're ready for a story that long?" Jounouchi asked.
"I've got nowhere I need to be," she prompted.
A/N: A bit of a lighter chapter here, and a little shorter (I hope it wasn't too dull!). Mai is one of the characters I consider the most interesting, but she never did appear often enough for me. She certainly didn't get the closure with the Pharaoh that I would have liked, nor the closure with Jounouchi that I needed. That's part of why I wanted to write a piece with her in it, but... we'll see whether or not all that actually happens. Time will tell.
I'm doing something I haven't done before here. I'm writing parts of this story – extensions, mostly – as I go along (although the bulk of the structure is ready to go) but that means I'm not even entirely sure yet what's going to happen in the next chapter. (That would be why this is taking a little longer for me to update than I'd like.) Although I do have a few ideas, in some cases I'm just as much in the dark as you guys are. :)
Thanks so much to everyone who's been following, reading, reviewing, enjoying, or any combination thereof! I always appreciate the time you spend here with me. I hope you'll stick around for the next update. I'll be here.