Learning and Losing
Summary: When the ever popular Yami, Marik and Bakura accidentally meet the Outkasts (a.k.a. Yugi, Ryou and Malik) they get into a very rocky start. But as fate decided it, coincidences keep happening...
Disclaimers: Don't own, don't sue. Duh.
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Chapter Four: From Bad to Worse
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Malik stomped angrily to his classroom. He opened the door and sought his friends. He spotted them next to the window—Yugi reading a book, Ryou, sketching—and walked up to them.
He looked at the sketch Ryou was working on; it was an almost exact replica of the view from the window. A small smile crossed his features. "Nice sketch."
Ryou smiled at him. "Thanks."
Yugi looked up from the book he was reading. "I thought you were composing, Ryou."
"Yugi, I'm out of ideas for now. I'll work on it later. Besides," Ryou smirked. "No inspiration yet. This sketch just might inspire me." He giggled.
"Lucky you. Gifted in music and art," Malik teased.
Ryou shook his head. "It's really easy, you guys."
"You're really lucky. I can't draw," Yugi said mournfully, returning to his book. "Not even stick figures. And I can't sing either."
Malik laughed. "What are you reading, anyway?"
"Greek Myths Volume 1," Yugi said, showing the book to them. "There's Volume 2 and 3 in the library. I might pass by sometime this week."
"I haven't been in the library for a long time," Ryou mused. "Wanna stop by today?"
"Sure!" Malik turned to look at Yugi. "Coming?"
Yugi sighed. "It depends. I don't know if my tutoree wants to study today."
Ryou raised his eyebrow. "You're tutoring someone?"
"Yep." Yugi made a face. "Jock."
"I knew it would be coming sooner or later."
"So that's what the meeting with the principal was about?"
"Yep."
"Good thing we didn't go then," Malik said cheerfully.
Yugi glared at them. "You didn't go. But you wouldn't tutor him anyhow...he'd be dead first meeting. And Ryou's a little busy."
"No duh. So who's the lucky Jock?" Ryou asked.
Yugi rolled his eyes. "Yami Atemu." He groaned. "Fate does have it in for me."
Ryou sighed. "You're not alone. I had a run-in with my evil counterpart awhile ago." He scowled. "He nearly ran me over." He put his pencil down. "Oh yeah, and he drove me to the school. He is such a jerk! I can't stand him."
"Yami's okay...I guess," Yugi said doubtfully. "But I don't like him either."
Malik laughed. "So I'm not alone in this bad morning, huh?"
"You also met your evil counterpart?"
"To say it plainly, yes. He's so honestly stupid, it makes me pity the world." Malik shook his head. "His computer homework looked like some kindergarten kid did it."
"What did you expect?"
"Well...we are in high school, Ryou..." Malik rolled his eyes. "I wonder how he passed elementary."
"Maybe we should start calling them Jerks," Ryou suggested. "Since they call us Outkasts, after all."
"Wouldn't Jocks be a more appropriate name?"
"Check it out," Yugi said, changing the subject before Malik and Ryou began arguing on what to call their evil counterparts. "Looks like Joey and the gang are in this class."
True enough, Joey, Duke, Tristan and Serenity were headed for them, smiling. Malik couldn't help but smile back.
Since they were the top three, the school arranged for them to take as many classes as possible. So their schedule was full, and it switched every semester. They were able to pass all their classes with flying colors; it was a wonder, even to them, how they could handle things so well.
Joey, Duke, Tristan and Serenity were one of the few friends they had. But they had been so busy last semester, they hardly had anytime to talk to them.
"Hey guys!" Tristan greeted them as they reached the three friends.
"Nihao," Yugi said brightly.
"Hola."
"Ahn-young."
Blink.
"What?" Joey said, looking confused.
The three of them blushed.
"We meant hello," Ryou said, smiling nervously. "Sorry...we forgot...it's only the three of us who study a lot of languages."
"For your classes?" Duke asked.
They exchanged glances.
"Actually...for fun," Malik admitted. "We like reading languages up."
"It's fascinating," Yugi added.
Joey shook his head. "You guys are probably the weirdest kids in this school."
"Outkasts, remember?" Yugi said dryly.
"Aww...c'mon, no one calls you anymore," Serenity protested.
"Not to our face, they don't," Ryou said darkly. "Can we please not talk about it?"
Tristan laughed. "Malik, you are affecting Ryou."
"The impossible has happened," Joey joked, and they all burst out laughing.
$$$
"Did you hear? The Outkasts are in our Chemistry class!" Tea squealed to her friends. She and Mai stole a few peeks at the classroom.
"Yup, they're here!"
Marik, Yami and Bakura groaned. "NNNNOOOOO!" –Johnny Bravo style.
Seto raised his eyebrow. "Did I miss something?"
"You definitely did!" Mai giggled. "The guys, excluding you, met their counterparts in the Outkast society yesterday."
"And this morning," Bakura added dully.
"Look at the bright side, we were finally able to introduce ourselves," Marik said, sarcasm dripping.
"Hello? If you were listening to me while I was ranting, that Yugi kid is my tutor!" Yami complained. "Which means I actually have to talk to him! ASSOCIATE with him! EVEN BEFRIEND HIM!"
"Yesterday you said he was okay," Tea pointed out.
"Yeah, but there's a big difference between him being okay and him being my tutor," Yami rolled his eyes. "Can you imagine me associating with an Outkast?"
"Look, there's nothing you can do. You'll be kicked out of the teams, and you'll suffer a worse reputation, you said it yourself," Bakura reminded him.
Yami sighed. "Guess I have to go talk to him, to arrange our meeting." He narrowed his eyes at the thought.
"And here's another good reason to talk to him. He's hanging out with Serenity..." Mai smirked. "...and Joey."
Seto's head snapped up. "What!?"
All of them turned to look where the two girls where pointing; it was true, Joey and his friends were hanging around with the Outkasts. They were, at the moment, all laughing at something.
Yami sighed. "Guess I should go talk to Yugi."
They walked up to them.
The Outkasts looked up when they approached. Ryou narrowed his eyes, and returned to sketching. Malik scowled and looked out the window. The rest, however, greeted them rather nervously.
Mai turned to Serenity. "Hey, Serenity, wanna come with us today? It's Friday, so we can definitely hang out. Seto's house after basketball practice?" Mai asked, grinning.
"Sure. What about you, oni-san?"
Joey turned to look at Seto, who was glaring at Tristan and Duke. "Are we...working on the project today?"
Seto scowled. "Yes. We have to pass this on Monday, you know."
"Your house, then."
"Duh. Stupid mutt." Seto rolled his eyes. "Your computer could never compete with mine."
Joey clenched his fists; Duke and Tristan frowned at Seto.
"Er...Yugi...would you mind if we had that tutor thing today? After classes?" Yami looked at him hopefully.
Yugi closed the book he was reading, and shot a look at Malik and Ryou, who were grinning. He gave them a warning glare, then turned to Yami. "Where?"
"Seto's house."
"I don't know where-"
"I'll drive you there," Yami said quickly. "Do you mind waiting until after basketball practice?"
Yugi pursed his lips as Malik snorted and Ryou started giggling. "Sure."
"You can bring your other friends!" Tea said enthusiastically, indicating to Ryou and Malik. Bakura and Marik started making frantic gestures, but Tea didn't see it.
Serenity clapped her hands. "Really?" she turned to Duke and Tristan. "You guys have to come! It'll be fun, promise! Beisdes, ni-san will be there!"
Duke and Tristan exchanged unsure looks, but nodded. Seto looked like he was about to interrupt, but Mai gave him a warning glare, so he simply scowled at the wall and remained silent.
Yugi turned to his friends, who had stopped acting funny and were shooting each other meaningful looks. "Guys?" He shot pleading looks at both of them that clearly said, Don't leave me at the mercy of the enemy!
Ryou looked away. "E tuh'd fyhd du, Yugi-kun."
Yugi sighed. "Pid Ryou..." If possible, Yugi actually made his eyes go larger and more childlike. Ryou looked to the ceiling, biting his lip. Ahh! Puppy dog eyes! Somebody, blind Yugi!
Malik rolled his eyes, but gave in to Yugi's request. "E's kuehk." Ryou looked down from the ceiling to shoot an amazed look at him.
Yugi smiled at Malik. "Sheshe."
Ryou growled. Hate, hate, hate... "Veha."
Yugi clapped his hands and exchanged high-fives with Malik. "Oac!"
Malik sighed, a small grin on his face. "Yugi, you owe us."
Blink.
"Um...do you guys mind? Next time you hold a conversation, try it in a language we know," Tristan said jokingly. "Honestly...whatever language were you speaking this time?"
The three Outkasts blushed.
"Sorry..."
Everybody looked just as confused as Tristan. Whatever language the three of them spoke in, only the three of them understood.
"So...?" Yami prompted Yugi.
Yugi smiled. "Yeah, we're going."
"I'm not promising to enjoy this," Ryou muttered, glaring at his sketch. Malik patted him, and quickly went back to his seat.
"Coming, Ryou?" Yugi said, standing up.
Ryou nodded. "Whatever."
The three Outkasts went to their seats.
"God is punishing me," Bakura murmured. "An entire afternoon with an extremely violent counterpart. Yup, He's out to get me."
$$$
"I've become so numb, I can't feel you there..."
Marik winced. Bakura was once again singing. He looked around. On one corner, Yugi and Yami were sitting on a table, a stack of books in front of them. Yami looked confused, Yugi looked exasperated. On the other corner, Serenity, Mai and Tea were giggling and gossiping, hardly noticing Bakura's bad singing. Seto and Joey were in front of the computer, Joey looking happy because Tristan and Duke were right behind them, making wisecracks; Seto looking annoyed, probably because of the same reason.
He was sitting on the couch, next to him was Malik, who looked amused, and next to Malik was Ryou, who looked really annoyed.
"And I know...I may end up..." Bakura was oblivious to the world, singing with enthusiasm. Marik was doing everything in his power not to strangle his friends. Malik was toying with a loose thread. Ryou had his hands clamped over ears, trying to drown out the horrible voice in vain.
Malik sighed. "Is he always like this?" he turned to look at Marik expectantly.
Marik blinked. "Are you talking to me?"
The girls burst out giggling.
Malik heaved a frustrated sigh. "Yes, Marik. I am talking to you. Who do you think I was addressing the question to, to the couch? Geez...reality check..."
Marik blushed at his remark. "Yeah...he's always like this."
"I'm becoming this...all I want to do-"
"That's it!" Ryou suddenly screeched, standing up, clenching his fists. "I WON'T TAKE THIS ANYMORE!"
Malik had jumped up to restrain Ryou, and Yugi had hurriedly left Yami to help Malik.
"IF I HAVE TO LISTEN TO THAT HORRIBLE NOISE EVER AGAIN, I'M GONNA KILL SOMEONE!!! PREFERABLY THE ONE MAKING THAT NOISE!"
"Ryou!" Malik started shaking his friend. "Calm down!"
Ryou turned to Malik with crazed eyes. "MAKE HIM SHUT UP THEN!"
Bakura had already slunk away and was hiding behind Yami with terrified eyes. The entire house was quiet, watching Ryou like a ticking bomb.
"Um...Ryou...take a deep breath, and calm down," Yugi said quickly, motioning for Ryou to sit down. Ryou growled, but flopped down his seat, eyes narrowed.
"Keep him quiet," he growled. When nobody made any sound for a few minutes, Ryou began to relax.
Malik and Yugi heaved sighs of relief, and quickly returned to their old positions. Bakura carefully walked to the couch and sat down next to Marik.
"My counterpart is scary," he whispered to him.
Marik shook his head. "Bakura, are you doing this to thwart him? You know he appreciates music—and your voice isn't music," he said, smirking.
"That's for sure," Malik cut in.
They turned to look at the Outkast, who was snickering. Bakura looked frightened.
"I've never seen Ryou get so riled up before," Malik continued. "I suppose this is why we don't normally associate with you people."
"What!?" Bakura frowned at Malik, who simply smirked at him.
"You know what I mean."
Bakura scowled at him, and Marik sighed. "Kura, I don't think Seto would appreciate it if we blew up his house."
Malik laughed. Seto glared at them.
Yugi rolled his eyes and returned to tutoring the confused Yami.
Mokuba entered the room, carrying a tray with a plate filled with food and glasses. "Um...brownies, anyone?"
Duke, Tristan and Joey enthusiastically grabbed the plate of brownies and began eating. With very annoying sounds, I might add.
Malik shot a warning look to Yugi, who looked very worried. Ryou looked ready explode again.
At that moment, the three guys did one of the worst things to do with an angry Ryou around.
They burped.
Ryou stood up, flames surrounding him. Everybody backed away in fear.
"THAT IS THE LAST STRAW!!!!" Ryou thundered. And with that, he grabbed the plate and...
"Yugi, you grab the legs, I go for the arms," Malik instructed, and they tackled the insane Outkast.
Marik watched with awe as Malik knocked Ryou out with a single punch.
"...We shouldn't be here when he wakes up," Yugi said, looking worried. "He'll explode. Literally. Maybe we should go home."
Malik shook his head. "This isn't one of our finer days, if I'm correct."
Yugi rolled his eyes. "Obvious much?"
"We shouldn't hang around these people anymore."
"It's not like we want to."
Everyone blinked, except for Serenity.
"Do they always talk as if there's no one around them?" Mai whispered to Serenity. "They're so weird! Are they always like this?"
"They're like that sometimes." Serenity shrugged. "But you learn to love them. Even when half the time they're talking in freaky languages."
Yugi turned to Yami. "Sorry, Yami, but we have to bring Ryou home before..." he looked around, "...before he kills someone," he finished lamely, but truthfully.
Yami shot a look at Seto, who looked less-than-happy that there was a deranged kid in his house.
"Or maybe we should let him stay here!" Malik said cheerfully. "That way he can kill Bakura and we can live happily ever after."
Scratch that.
Two deranged kids.
Yugi and Malik exchanged high-fives.
Sorry, three deranged kids, one down, two to go.
Yami stood up. "I'll drive you home," he volunteered. Everybody heaved a sigh of relief.
Yugi shook his head. "I don't want to bother you..." Everybody panicked; nobody wanted deranged kids on the streets. Who knew how dangerous this people were!?
"Oh, that's okay. Once you guys leave, Bakura will start singing again..." Yami rolled his eyes. "Maybe we should leave Ryou here and let him kill Bakura. We'll be making the world a better place."
Seto decided that Yami had also cracked. Four deranged kids and his house. Scary combination. The girls were giggling in the background, while Bakura had hidden behind Marik in fear.
Yami took his car keys and left with the Outkasts; Malik carrying Ryou in a very careless fashion. Marik wondered if Ryou would come home in one piece the way Malik was carrying the kid; it was as if Ryou was a disposal toy doll. His counterpart was literally dragging Ryou with one hand.
Weird.
Once they heard the car leave, Bakura groaned.
"My evil counterpart is scary," he said, huddling in fear. "He's an insane psychopath. An insane, cynical, antisocial psychopath. It's not safe in school anymore..."
$$$
"That was the worse Friday of my entire life!" Ryou groused, one Sunday afternoon. He and his friends were Rollerblading around the town park.
"Oh, it was kinda fun," Malik said. "Until the part you started screaming. Making fun of those Jocks, especially yours and mine, was fun. Honestly. So, Yugi, was Yami easy to tutor?"
Yugi sighed. "Not really. He's a little slow." He rolled his eyes. "But he's okay. We had another meeting yesterday. At least he was able to grasp two of the five things I was trying to teach him."
"He's lucky you're really patient," Ryou growled. "He'd be dead by now if it was me."
Malik rolled his eyes. "We're talking about Yami, not Bakura. You can never kill Yami. He's probably the nicest of our evil counterparts."
"Probably because Yugi is the nicest one of us all."
"Which means...my evil counterpart is the most evil of all!" Malik pretended to faint.
Ryou rolled his eyes. "No way. My evil counterpart is the most evil, and that's it."
"Nu uh!"
"You should finally admit that I am the most evil in the Outkasts, and I have the most evil counterpart." Ryou shot Malik a triumphant look.
"That's unfair! Besides, I bet if you provoked my counterpart, he'd be worse than yours!"
"No way!"
"I am more evil!"
"No, I am!"
"I am!"
"I am!"
Yugi decided to change the subject, before Malik and Ryou began bickering again. "Look! Ice cream and hotdogs! What do you guys want?"
Malik and Ryou grinned, momentarily forgetting their argument, and they said in unison, "both!"
Yugi laughed. "Let's have hotdogs first...I don't like skating while eating hotdogs. With ice cream it's okay."
They quickly walked up the counter and bought hotdogs; Malik putting everything, from ketchup to cheese on his dog.
"You'll get a stomachache, Malik," Ryou said, eyeing his hotdog with concern. "Be careful."
"That's okay, I can handle it," Malik said brightly, and he began eating his hotdog.
Yugi sighed. "You know Malik. His stomach is a bottomless pit, and the strongest part of his body. You can feed him coal and he'll digest it just fine."
They laughed.
"Well, there are certain advantages to it," Malik chirped brightly.
"Like what?"
"Like, I can eat two kinds of food that don't mix well and it won't ruin my stomach." Malik smirked, and finished his hotdog. "Hurry up, I wanna get ice cream."
"Your fault," Ryou retorted. "You should have eaten slower."
"Want me to eat yours?"
"No way!"
Yugi laughed, and finished his hotdog. "Less talk, more eating, Ryou. We're both done."
Ryou pouted, and ate his hotdog really slowly.
"Ryou!!"
Slower.
"HIDOI!!!"
Sloooooowwwweeerrr.
"Want me to eat that for you?" Malik asked sarcastically.
Ryou grinned, and popped the rest of his hotdog into his mouth in one go. "All done, gentlemen."
Yugi poked Ryou in the stomach, then they went to get their ice cream.
"Well, at least this is taking our minds of our evil counterparts," Malik mused. "I haven't encountered mine since Friday, thank God."
"Neither have I," Ryou said brightly. "Looks like Fate has decided to leave us alone."
Yugi opened his mouth to speak, when he spotted something very familiar. "Guys...I think we spoke too soon."
They all turned to see the three dreaded Jocks walking up to the ice cream place where they had bought their food.
"Oh man...turn back, turn back," Malik said abruptly. "I don't want to see them."
"Do we look like we want to see them too?" Ryou said sarcastically. At that moment, he lost balance, and nearly went toppling straight into Bakura.
The three guys were obviously surprised at seeing them. Yami and Marik had looks of incredulity on their faces, while Bakura had a face that said 'deranged madman at six o'clock.'
"Ryou!" Yugi cried out, and he and Malik skated over to the three Jocks. Ryou had fallen into Bakura's arms, but—thank goodness—his ice cream was unharmed. Yugi and Malik heaved sighs of relief.
"Good thing it's okay," Malik said, looking at Ryou's ice cream.
"Yeah, I'd kill you if it wasn't," Ryou muttered, forcing himself out of Bakura's arms and trying to steady himself. "My poor ice cream...if it had fallen..." I would have killed him, he added silently while glaring at Bakura.
"Are you okay?" Yami asked concernedly—this just proved the Outkasts' theory that Yami was indeed the nicest one of them all. Yugi nearly danced in happiness since his Jock was the best of them all, and even if he was quite stupid, being nice made up for it.
"Yeah, I'm fine," Ryou said quickly. "Sorry about that." He slowly skated back to his friends, holding onto Malik to steady himself.
"Good thing you didn't get any ice cream on Bakura," Marik said, laughing. "He's a clothing fanatic."
Bakura glared at him, then raised an eyebrow at Ryou. "You Rollerblade?"
"Yeah. So?" Ryou looked threatening, putting his hand on his hips. He had finally managed to steady himself, and was now ignoring the dripping ice cream on his hands.
"Isn't it..." Bakura scrunched up his face, "...a girly activity?"
Wrong move, Bakura.
Yugi and Marik watched, torn between amusement and horror, as Ryou gritted his teeth and walked up to his evil Jock counterpart.
Ryou scowled at Bakura, lifted his ice cream in the air...
...and dumped it straight into Bakura's face.
Needless to say, the ice cream dripped all over Bakura's clothes.
The finishing touch was the cone; that looked a lot like his long Pinocchio nose.
Yami and Marik were in shock, halfway torn between laughing their asses off and running away in fear from a slowly becoming furious Bakura.
Ryou gave Bakura a grim smile, and brushed his hand over Bakura's shirt—his hand had gotten some ice cream on it. Bakura simply watched as more ice cream soiled his shirt.
"I'm going to the fountain to clean my hands," he announced darkly to his friends, then stomped away. Everybody watching looked shocked; and somewhat amused, as there was twitching on their mouths.
Bakura, however, was furious.
"That's it!" he suddenly yelped, glaring daggers at Ryou's back. "I can take him shouting at me, I can take him ignoring me, I can take him acting all cynical, and Mr. High and Mighty to me, I can take him threatening to kill me, but dumping ice cream on my face..." he took the cone out of his face and wiped his face with disgust, "...and ruining my clothes...he's gonna pay!"
Yami, Marik, Yugi, and Malik watched in amazement as Bakura marched up to Ryou, who was washing his hands in the fountain...
... and pushed Ryou into the fountain.
"Ryou hates water," Malik said in a horrified voice. "This is not gonna end up pretty, people."
"Shall we back away?" Yugi said in frightened voice.
Malik nodded, and they dragged their evil counterparts a few feet away from the two enemies, where they could still see the fight, but still be completely safe.
"Serves him right," Bakura said harshly, and was walking away from the fountain, when Ryou's hand shot up and dragged Bakura into the fountain with him.
The four onlookers winced.
"YOU...YOU...YOU BASTARD!" Ryou screeched, scowling at Bakura. "I'M GONNA KILL YOU! UGGHHH!" He pushed Bakura down again, and quickly left the fountain, dripping wet. He stomped away without a backward glance to his friends.
Yugi sighed. "Wait up, Ryou!"
The two Outkasts quickly ran after their friend.
Bakura, also dripping wet, finally surfaced from the fountain, choking. Yami and Marik walked up to him and pulled him out of the water. "I can't believe that guy!" he fumed, once he got all the water out of his mouth. "How dare he!"
"Bakura..." Marik groaned. "It was your fault, you know."
Bakura growled at them both. "I never wanna see that Outkast ever again!"
"I doubt he wants to see you again too," Yami said jokingly.
Bakura scowled at him and dragged them both back to his house.
$$$
Eventually the two of them managed to catch up with Ryou, who was already halfway to his house.
"Last week definitely didn't end right, and this week is totally not starting right," Malik said grumpily as they walked toward Ryou's house.
Yugi nodded. "That's for sure."
Ryou simply growled in response.
Malik shook his head. "If we never see them again, it'll be too soon."
"Got that right."
Malik sighed. "And I have a very bad feeling...that it's not over."
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Ryou seems totally OOC in this chapter...but I'm sorta basing him on myself when I'm going evil and deranged on my classmates. Yup, I've done that ice cream thing to someone once, and the plate thing...except my friends tackled me before I could kill anyone.
Besides, in lots of fics Ryou seems so damn weak, and he's my fave character along with Malik, so he can't be weak, since I hate writing about weak characters.
I like portraying him that way, so take it or leave it. :grins:
Besides, I like insane people.
Oh, and a note to SaturnSerenity4ever: Yes, I know it's spelled that way. I'm simply basing this story in a book I've read, and it was spelled that way, as in Outkast. It seemed much cooler than simply outcast, and there's really something more to it, you just have to keep on reading. (Actually, I just spoiled you with those powers thing...it has something to do with the Outkast name)
R&R!
Summary: When the ever popular Yami, Marik and Bakura accidentally meet the Outkasts (a.k.a. Yugi, Ryou and Malik) they get into a very rocky start. But as fate decided it, coincidences keep happening...
Disclaimers: Don't own, don't sue. Duh.
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Chapter Four: From Bad to Worse
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Malik stomped angrily to his classroom. He opened the door and sought his friends. He spotted them next to the window—Yugi reading a book, Ryou, sketching—and walked up to them.
He looked at the sketch Ryou was working on; it was an almost exact replica of the view from the window. A small smile crossed his features. "Nice sketch."
Ryou smiled at him. "Thanks."
Yugi looked up from the book he was reading. "I thought you were composing, Ryou."
"Yugi, I'm out of ideas for now. I'll work on it later. Besides," Ryou smirked. "No inspiration yet. This sketch just might inspire me." He giggled.
"Lucky you. Gifted in music and art," Malik teased.
Ryou shook his head. "It's really easy, you guys."
"You're really lucky. I can't draw," Yugi said mournfully, returning to his book. "Not even stick figures. And I can't sing either."
Malik laughed. "What are you reading, anyway?"
"Greek Myths Volume 1," Yugi said, showing the book to them. "There's Volume 2 and 3 in the library. I might pass by sometime this week."
"I haven't been in the library for a long time," Ryou mused. "Wanna stop by today?"
"Sure!" Malik turned to look at Yugi. "Coming?"
Yugi sighed. "It depends. I don't know if my tutoree wants to study today."
Ryou raised his eyebrow. "You're tutoring someone?"
"Yep." Yugi made a face. "Jock."
"I knew it would be coming sooner or later."
"So that's what the meeting with the principal was about?"
"Yep."
"Good thing we didn't go then," Malik said cheerfully.
Yugi glared at them. "You didn't go. But you wouldn't tutor him anyhow...he'd be dead first meeting. And Ryou's a little busy."
"No duh. So who's the lucky Jock?" Ryou asked.
Yugi rolled his eyes. "Yami Atemu." He groaned. "Fate does have it in for me."
Ryou sighed. "You're not alone. I had a run-in with my evil counterpart awhile ago." He scowled. "He nearly ran me over." He put his pencil down. "Oh yeah, and he drove me to the school. He is such a jerk! I can't stand him."
"Yami's okay...I guess," Yugi said doubtfully. "But I don't like him either."
Malik laughed. "So I'm not alone in this bad morning, huh?"
"You also met your evil counterpart?"
"To say it plainly, yes. He's so honestly stupid, it makes me pity the world." Malik shook his head. "His computer homework looked like some kindergarten kid did it."
"What did you expect?"
"Well...we are in high school, Ryou..." Malik rolled his eyes. "I wonder how he passed elementary."
"Maybe we should start calling them Jerks," Ryou suggested. "Since they call us Outkasts, after all."
"Wouldn't Jocks be a more appropriate name?"
"Check it out," Yugi said, changing the subject before Malik and Ryou began arguing on what to call their evil counterparts. "Looks like Joey and the gang are in this class."
True enough, Joey, Duke, Tristan and Serenity were headed for them, smiling. Malik couldn't help but smile back.
Since they were the top three, the school arranged for them to take as many classes as possible. So their schedule was full, and it switched every semester. They were able to pass all their classes with flying colors; it was a wonder, even to them, how they could handle things so well.
Joey, Duke, Tristan and Serenity were one of the few friends they had. But they had been so busy last semester, they hardly had anytime to talk to them.
"Hey guys!" Tristan greeted them as they reached the three friends.
"Nihao," Yugi said brightly.
"Hola."
"Ahn-young."
Blink.
"What?" Joey said, looking confused.
The three of them blushed.
"We meant hello," Ryou said, smiling nervously. "Sorry...we forgot...it's only the three of us who study a lot of languages."
"For your classes?" Duke asked.
They exchanged glances.
"Actually...for fun," Malik admitted. "We like reading languages up."
"It's fascinating," Yugi added.
Joey shook his head. "You guys are probably the weirdest kids in this school."
"Outkasts, remember?" Yugi said dryly.
"Aww...c'mon, no one calls you anymore," Serenity protested.
"Not to our face, they don't," Ryou said darkly. "Can we please not talk about it?"
Tristan laughed. "Malik, you are affecting Ryou."
"The impossible has happened," Joey joked, and they all burst out laughing.
$$$
"Did you hear? The Outkasts are in our Chemistry class!" Tea squealed to her friends. She and Mai stole a few peeks at the classroom.
"Yup, they're here!"
Marik, Yami and Bakura groaned. "NNNNOOOOO!" –Johnny Bravo style.
Seto raised his eyebrow. "Did I miss something?"
"You definitely did!" Mai giggled. "The guys, excluding you, met their counterparts in the Outkast society yesterday."
"And this morning," Bakura added dully.
"Look at the bright side, we were finally able to introduce ourselves," Marik said, sarcasm dripping.
"Hello? If you were listening to me while I was ranting, that Yugi kid is my tutor!" Yami complained. "Which means I actually have to talk to him! ASSOCIATE with him! EVEN BEFRIEND HIM!"
"Yesterday you said he was okay," Tea pointed out.
"Yeah, but there's a big difference between him being okay and him being my tutor," Yami rolled his eyes. "Can you imagine me associating with an Outkast?"
"Look, there's nothing you can do. You'll be kicked out of the teams, and you'll suffer a worse reputation, you said it yourself," Bakura reminded him.
Yami sighed. "Guess I have to go talk to him, to arrange our meeting." He narrowed his eyes at the thought.
"And here's another good reason to talk to him. He's hanging out with Serenity..." Mai smirked. "...and Joey."
Seto's head snapped up. "What!?"
All of them turned to look where the two girls where pointing; it was true, Joey and his friends were hanging around with the Outkasts. They were, at the moment, all laughing at something.
Yami sighed. "Guess I should go talk to Yugi."
They walked up to them.
The Outkasts looked up when they approached. Ryou narrowed his eyes, and returned to sketching. Malik scowled and looked out the window. The rest, however, greeted them rather nervously.
Mai turned to Serenity. "Hey, Serenity, wanna come with us today? It's Friday, so we can definitely hang out. Seto's house after basketball practice?" Mai asked, grinning.
"Sure. What about you, oni-san?"
Joey turned to look at Seto, who was glaring at Tristan and Duke. "Are we...working on the project today?"
Seto scowled. "Yes. We have to pass this on Monday, you know."
"Your house, then."
"Duh. Stupid mutt." Seto rolled his eyes. "Your computer could never compete with mine."
Joey clenched his fists; Duke and Tristan frowned at Seto.
"Er...Yugi...would you mind if we had that tutor thing today? After classes?" Yami looked at him hopefully.
Yugi closed the book he was reading, and shot a look at Malik and Ryou, who were grinning. He gave them a warning glare, then turned to Yami. "Where?"
"Seto's house."
"I don't know where-"
"I'll drive you there," Yami said quickly. "Do you mind waiting until after basketball practice?"
Yugi pursed his lips as Malik snorted and Ryou started giggling. "Sure."
"You can bring your other friends!" Tea said enthusiastically, indicating to Ryou and Malik. Bakura and Marik started making frantic gestures, but Tea didn't see it.
Serenity clapped her hands. "Really?" she turned to Duke and Tristan. "You guys have to come! It'll be fun, promise! Beisdes, ni-san will be there!"
Duke and Tristan exchanged unsure looks, but nodded. Seto looked like he was about to interrupt, but Mai gave him a warning glare, so he simply scowled at the wall and remained silent.
Yugi turned to his friends, who had stopped acting funny and were shooting each other meaningful looks. "Guys?" He shot pleading looks at both of them that clearly said, Don't leave me at the mercy of the enemy!
Ryou looked away. "E tuh'd fyhd du, Yugi-kun."
Yugi sighed. "Pid Ryou..." If possible, Yugi actually made his eyes go larger and more childlike. Ryou looked to the ceiling, biting his lip. Ahh! Puppy dog eyes! Somebody, blind Yugi!
Malik rolled his eyes, but gave in to Yugi's request. "E's kuehk." Ryou looked down from the ceiling to shoot an amazed look at him.
Yugi smiled at Malik. "Sheshe."
Ryou growled. Hate, hate, hate... "Veha."
Yugi clapped his hands and exchanged high-fives with Malik. "Oac!"
Malik sighed, a small grin on his face. "Yugi, you owe us."
Blink.
"Um...do you guys mind? Next time you hold a conversation, try it in a language we know," Tristan said jokingly. "Honestly...whatever language were you speaking this time?"
The three Outkasts blushed.
"Sorry..."
Everybody looked just as confused as Tristan. Whatever language the three of them spoke in, only the three of them understood.
"So...?" Yami prompted Yugi.
Yugi smiled. "Yeah, we're going."
"I'm not promising to enjoy this," Ryou muttered, glaring at his sketch. Malik patted him, and quickly went back to his seat.
"Coming, Ryou?" Yugi said, standing up.
Ryou nodded. "Whatever."
The three Outkasts went to their seats.
"God is punishing me," Bakura murmured. "An entire afternoon with an extremely violent counterpart. Yup, He's out to get me."
$$$
"I've become so numb, I can't feel you there..."
Marik winced. Bakura was once again singing. He looked around. On one corner, Yugi and Yami were sitting on a table, a stack of books in front of them. Yami looked confused, Yugi looked exasperated. On the other corner, Serenity, Mai and Tea were giggling and gossiping, hardly noticing Bakura's bad singing. Seto and Joey were in front of the computer, Joey looking happy because Tristan and Duke were right behind them, making wisecracks; Seto looking annoyed, probably because of the same reason.
He was sitting on the couch, next to him was Malik, who looked amused, and next to Malik was Ryou, who looked really annoyed.
"And I know...I may end up..." Bakura was oblivious to the world, singing with enthusiasm. Marik was doing everything in his power not to strangle his friends. Malik was toying with a loose thread. Ryou had his hands clamped over ears, trying to drown out the horrible voice in vain.
Malik sighed. "Is he always like this?" he turned to look at Marik expectantly.
Marik blinked. "Are you talking to me?"
The girls burst out giggling.
Malik heaved a frustrated sigh. "Yes, Marik. I am talking to you. Who do you think I was addressing the question to, to the couch? Geez...reality check..."
Marik blushed at his remark. "Yeah...he's always like this."
"I'm becoming this...all I want to do-"
"That's it!" Ryou suddenly screeched, standing up, clenching his fists. "I WON'T TAKE THIS ANYMORE!"
Malik had jumped up to restrain Ryou, and Yugi had hurriedly left Yami to help Malik.
"IF I HAVE TO LISTEN TO THAT HORRIBLE NOISE EVER AGAIN, I'M GONNA KILL SOMEONE!!! PREFERABLY THE ONE MAKING THAT NOISE!"
"Ryou!" Malik started shaking his friend. "Calm down!"
Ryou turned to Malik with crazed eyes. "MAKE HIM SHUT UP THEN!"
Bakura had already slunk away and was hiding behind Yami with terrified eyes. The entire house was quiet, watching Ryou like a ticking bomb.
"Um...Ryou...take a deep breath, and calm down," Yugi said quickly, motioning for Ryou to sit down. Ryou growled, but flopped down his seat, eyes narrowed.
"Keep him quiet," he growled. When nobody made any sound for a few minutes, Ryou began to relax.
Malik and Yugi heaved sighs of relief, and quickly returned to their old positions. Bakura carefully walked to the couch and sat down next to Marik.
"My counterpart is scary," he whispered to him.
Marik shook his head. "Bakura, are you doing this to thwart him? You know he appreciates music—and your voice isn't music," he said, smirking.
"That's for sure," Malik cut in.
They turned to look at the Outkast, who was snickering. Bakura looked frightened.
"I've never seen Ryou get so riled up before," Malik continued. "I suppose this is why we don't normally associate with you people."
"What!?" Bakura frowned at Malik, who simply smirked at him.
"You know what I mean."
Bakura scowled at him, and Marik sighed. "Kura, I don't think Seto would appreciate it if we blew up his house."
Malik laughed. Seto glared at them.
Yugi rolled his eyes and returned to tutoring the confused Yami.
Mokuba entered the room, carrying a tray with a plate filled with food and glasses. "Um...brownies, anyone?"
Duke, Tristan and Joey enthusiastically grabbed the plate of brownies and began eating. With very annoying sounds, I might add.
Malik shot a warning look to Yugi, who looked very worried. Ryou looked ready explode again.
At that moment, the three guys did one of the worst things to do with an angry Ryou around.
They burped.
Ryou stood up, flames surrounding him. Everybody backed away in fear.
"THAT IS THE LAST STRAW!!!!" Ryou thundered. And with that, he grabbed the plate and...
"Yugi, you grab the legs, I go for the arms," Malik instructed, and they tackled the insane Outkast.
Marik watched with awe as Malik knocked Ryou out with a single punch.
"...We shouldn't be here when he wakes up," Yugi said, looking worried. "He'll explode. Literally. Maybe we should go home."
Malik shook his head. "This isn't one of our finer days, if I'm correct."
Yugi rolled his eyes. "Obvious much?"
"We shouldn't hang around these people anymore."
"It's not like we want to."
Everyone blinked, except for Serenity.
"Do they always talk as if there's no one around them?" Mai whispered to Serenity. "They're so weird! Are they always like this?"
"They're like that sometimes." Serenity shrugged. "But you learn to love them. Even when half the time they're talking in freaky languages."
Yugi turned to Yami. "Sorry, Yami, but we have to bring Ryou home before..." he looked around, "...before he kills someone," he finished lamely, but truthfully.
Yami shot a look at Seto, who looked less-than-happy that there was a deranged kid in his house.
"Or maybe we should let him stay here!" Malik said cheerfully. "That way he can kill Bakura and we can live happily ever after."
Scratch that.
Two deranged kids.
Yugi and Malik exchanged high-fives.
Sorry, three deranged kids, one down, two to go.
Yami stood up. "I'll drive you home," he volunteered. Everybody heaved a sigh of relief.
Yugi shook his head. "I don't want to bother you..." Everybody panicked; nobody wanted deranged kids on the streets. Who knew how dangerous this people were!?
"Oh, that's okay. Once you guys leave, Bakura will start singing again..." Yami rolled his eyes. "Maybe we should leave Ryou here and let him kill Bakura. We'll be making the world a better place."
Seto decided that Yami had also cracked. Four deranged kids and his house. Scary combination. The girls were giggling in the background, while Bakura had hidden behind Marik in fear.
Yami took his car keys and left with the Outkasts; Malik carrying Ryou in a very careless fashion. Marik wondered if Ryou would come home in one piece the way Malik was carrying the kid; it was as if Ryou was a disposal toy doll. His counterpart was literally dragging Ryou with one hand.
Weird.
Once they heard the car leave, Bakura groaned.
"My evil counterpart is scary," he said, huddling in fear. "He's an insane psychopath. An insane, cynical, antisocial psychopath. It's not safe in school anymore..."
$$$
"That was the worse Friday of my entire life!" Ryou groused, one Sunday afternoon. He and his friends were Rollerblading around the town park.
"Oh, it was kinda fun," Malik said. "Until the part you started screaming. Making fun of those Jocks, especially yours and mine, was fun. Honestly. So, Yugi, was Yami easy to tutor?"
Yugi sighed. "Not really. He's a little slow." He rolled his eyes. "But he's okay. We had another meeting yesterday. At least he was able to grasp two of the five things I was trying to teach him."
"He's lucky you're really patient," Ryou growled. "He'd be dead by now if it was me."
Malik rolled his eyes. "We're talking about Yami, not Bakura. You can never kill Yami. He's probably the nicest of our evil counterparts."
"Probably because Yugi is the nicest one of us all."
"Which means...my evil counterpart is the most evil of all!" Malik pretended to faint.
Ryou rolled his eyes. "No way. My evil counterpart is the most evil, and that's it."
"Nu uh!"
"You should finally admit that I am the most evil in the Outkasts, and I have the most evil counterpart." Ryou shot Malik a triumphant look.
"That's unfair! Besides, I bet if you provoked my counterpart, he'd be worse than yours!"
"No way!"
"I am more evil!"
"No, I am!"
"I am!"
"I am!"
Yugi decided to change the subject, before Malik and Ryou began bickering again. "Look! Ice cream and hotdogs! What do you guys want?"
Malik and Ryou grinned, momentarily forgetting their argument, and they said in unison, "both!"
Yugi laughed. "Let's have hotdogs first...I don't like skating while eating hotdogs. With ice cream it's okay."
They quickly walked up the counter and bought hotdogs; Malik putting everything, from ketchup to cheese on his dog.
"You'll get a stomachache, Malik," Ryou said, eyeing his hotdog with concern. "Be careful."
"That's okay, I can handle it," Malik said brightly, and he began eating his hotdog.
Yugi sighed. "You know Malik. His stomach is a bottomless pit, and the strongest part of his body. You can feed him coal and he'll digest it just fine."
They laughed.
"Well, there are certain advantages to it," Malik chirped brightly.
"Like what?"
"Like, I can eat two kinds of food that don't mix well and it won't ruin my stomach." Malik smirked, and finished his hotdog. "Hurry up, I wanna get ice cream."
"Your fault," Ryou retorted. "You should have eaten slower."
"Want me to eat yours?"
"No way!"
Yugi laughed, and finished his hotdog. "Less talk, more eating, Ryou. We're both done."
Ryou pouted, and ate his hotdog really slowly.
"Ryou!!"
Slower.
"HIDOI!!!"
Sloooooowwwweeerrr.
"Want me to eat that for you?" Malik asked sarcastically.
Ryou grinned, and popped the rest of his hotdog into his mouth in one go. "All done, gentlemen."
Yugi poked Ryou in the stomach, then they went to get their ice cream.
"Well, at least this is taking our minds of our evil counterparts," Malik mused. "I haven't encountered mine since Friday, thank God."
"Neither have I," Ryou said brightly. "Looks like Fate has decided to leave us alone."
Yugi opened his mouth to speak, when he spotted something very familiar. "Guys...I think we spoke too soon."
They all turned to see the three dreaded Jocks walking up to the ice cream place where they had bought their food.
"Oh man...turn back, turn back," Malik said abruptly. "I don't want to see them."
"Do we look like we want to see them too?" Ryou said sarcastically. At that moment, he lost balance, and nearly went toppling straight into Bakura.
The three guys were obviously surprised at seeing them. Yami and Marik had looks of incredulity on their faces, while Bakura had a face that said 'deranged madman at six o'clock.'
"Ryou!" Yugi cried out, and he and Malik skated over to the three Jocks. Ryou had fallen into Bakura's arms, but—thank goodness—his ice cream was unharmed. Yugi and Malik heaved sighs of relief.
"Good thing it's okay," Malik said, looking at Ryou's ice cream.
"Yeah, I'd kill you if it wasn't," Ryou muttered, forcing himself out of Bakura's arms and trying to steady himself. "My poor ice cream...if it had fallen..." I would have killed him, he added silently while glaring at Bakura.
"Are you okay?" Yami asked concernedly—this just proved the Outkasts' theory that Yami was indeed the nicest one of them all. Yugi nearly danced in happiness since his Jock was the best of them all, and even if he was quite stupid, being nice made up for it.
"Yeah, I'm fine," Ryou said quickly. "Sorry about that." He slowly skated back to his friends, holding onto Malik to steady himself.
"Good thing you didn't get any ice cream on Bakura," Marik said, laughing. "He's a clothing fanatic."
Bakura glared at him, then raised an eyebrow at Ryou. "You Rollerblade?"
"Yeah. So?" Ryou looked threatening, putting his hand on his hips. He had finally managed to steady himself, and was now ignoring the dripping ice cream on his hands.
"Isn't it..." Bakura scrunched up his face, "...a girly activity?"
Wrong move, Bakura.
Yugi and Marik watched, torn between amusement and horror, as Ryou gritted his teeth and walked up to his evil Jock counterpart.
Ryou scowled at Bakura, lifted his ice cream in the air...
...and dumped it straight into Bakura's face.
Needless to say, the ice cream dripped all over Bakura's clothes.
The finishing touch was the cone; that looked a lot like his long Pinocchio nose.
Yami and Marik were in shock, halfway torn between laughing their asses off and running away in fear from a slowly becoming furious Bakura.
Ryou gave Bakura a grim smile, and brushed his hand over Bakura's shirt—his hand had gotten some ice cream on it. Bakura simply watched as more ice cream soiled his shirt.
"I'm going to the fountain to clean my hands," he announced darkly to his friends, then stomped away. Everybody watching looked shocked; and somewhat amused, as there was twitching on their mouths.
Bakura, however, was furious.
"That's it!" he suddenly yelped, glaring daggers at Ryou's back. "I can take him shouting at me, I can take him ignoring me, I can take him acting all cynical, and Mr. High and Mighty to me, I can take him threatening to kill me, but dumping ice cream on my face..." he took the cone out of his face and wiped his face with disgust, "...and ruining my clothes...he's gonna pay!"
Yami, Marik, Yugi, and Malik watched in amazement as Bakura marched up to Ryou, who was washing his hands in the fountain...
... and pushed Ryou into the fountain.
"Ryou hates water," Malik said in a horrified voice. "This is not gonna end up pretty, people."
"Shall we back away?" Yugi said in frightened voice.
Malik nodded, and they dragged their evil counterparts a few feet away from the two enemies, where they could still see the fight, but still be completely safe.
"Serves him right," Bakura said harshly, and was walking away from the fountain, when Ryou's hand shot up and dragged Bakura into the fountain with him.
The four onlookers winced.
"YOU...YOU...YOU BASTARD!" Ryou screeched, scowling at Bakura. "I'M GONNA KILL YOU! UGGHHH!" He pushed Bakura down again, and quickly left the fountain, dripping wet. He stomped away without a backward glance to his friends.
Yugi sighed. "Wait up, Ryou!"
The two Outkasts quickly ran after their friend.
Bakura, also dripping wet, finally surfaced from the fountain, choking. Yami and Marik walked up to him and pulled him out of the water. "I can't believe that guy!" he fumed, once he got all the water out of his mouth. "How dare he!"
"Bakura..." Marik groaned. "It was your fault, you know."
Bakura growled at them both. "I never wanna see that Outkast ever again!"
"I doubt he wants to see you again too," Yami said jokingly.
Bakura scowled at him and dragged them both back to his house.
$$$
Eventually the two of them managed to catch up with Ryou, who was already halfway to his house.
"Last week definitely didn't end right, and this week is totally not starting right," Malik said grumpily as they walked toward Ryou's house.
Yugi nodded. "That's for sure."
Ryou simply growled in response.
Malik shook his head. "If we never see them again, it'll be too soon."
"Got that right."
Malik sighed. "And I have a very bad feeling...that it's not over."
$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
Ryou seems totally OOC in this chapter...but I'm sorta basing him on myself when I'm going evil and deranged on my classmates. Yup, I've done that ice cream thing to someone once, and the plate thing...except my friends tackled me before I could kill anyone.
Besides, in lots of fics Ryou seems so damn weak, and he's my fave character along with Malik, so he can't be weak, since I hate writing about weak characters.
I like portraying him that way, so take it or leave it. :grins:
Besides, I like insane people.
Oh, and a note to SaturnSerenity4ever: Yes, I know it's spelled that way. I'm simply basing this story in a book I've read, and it was spelled that way, as in Outkast. It seemed much cooler than simply outcast, and there's really something more to it, you just have to keep on reading. (Actually, I just spoiled you with those powers thing...it has something to do with the Outkast name)
R&R!