A/N: Hello again, readers, In this chapter, things will begin to take place in the Duelist Kingdom Arc (With a nice number of changes of course!) and will take a look at some more OCs that Lizzie befriended (note that some historical things in this may or may not be accurate.). To those who have continued reading, thank you! I do not own the Yu-Gi-Oh! franchise, otherwise, I would make an uncut remake of every series. "It's Time to Duel!"
Chapter 6, New Friends and Kidnapping
A few weeks after the Chance Cup, Lizzie walked through the halls of Domino High with her new friends Maki and Akane. they were walking out of their classroom, where they just studied about the Shang Dynasty in China. Lizzie loved history lessons, it gave her opportunities to learn more about the older time periods which influenced the modern day, that and she was planning to become an archeologist when she graduated from high school. She seemed interested in many of the cultural pieces of the Shang Dynasty, such as their culture being based on agriculture mixed with hunting and animal husbandry or their use of oracle bones for history recording.
Akane Kawaguchi was humming a song from another of their friends' bands while they were walking. Lizzie met the freshman student in her first P.E. Class and they found they got along splendidly ever since. She had smooth and flowing long red hair and lively amber eyes. She had an athletically built body from training at her father's dojo in Kyoto, and was often seen outside school in her light green martial arts uniform with the kanji symbol of her family and dojo on its back, preferring to go barefoot or at least wear light boots.
Maki was talking with her friends about her favorite manga series gone anime in great detail, 'what was it called again? Oh right, "Yokai Detective Shiki Fujimoto", how could I forget, its the show Akane's mom voice acts in. Not too bad for a modern/supernatural hybrid manga.' Lizzie chuckled to herself thinking about how she met Maki. Lizzie met Maki Fukui when Lizzie was headed to the local bookstore to buy extra textbooks for school. She bumped into Maki when she had been reading a book on old Japanese folktales. After a discussion on said subject plus Duel Monsters shortly after, they learned they were in the same class as each other, and the ever cheerful Maki offered to hang out with Lizzie more often.
Maki had curly lavender colored hair and slanted green eyes. She is very thin and somewhat frail. She prefers a blue and green kimono and sandals oftentimes, especially during formal occasions, but wore the Domino High School uniform when at school, or when a kimono would be a liability or unsafe. She wears a brass bracelet on her left arm that she seems to treasure quite dearly, but Lizzie had yet to ask about it.
As they were preparing to leave school they encountered their other friends. Kamau Vito and Yasuhiro Kimura were waiting for them at the entrance to the school, Kamau let loose his surprisingly well-known carefree grin upon seeing the girls headed their way "Yo Lizzie, how was class today? Learn anything new? I heard you guys were learning about Ancient China this time!" Lizzie let loose a small smile, Kamau moved here from San Francisco because of his father being hired by Kaiba Corporation earlier this year, and he was actually a founding member of the Hex Punks, and American boy band that a number of the girls at Domino High fangirled over for some reason.
"Yeah, the subject today was the Shang Dynasty to be exact, I wish you two were in the same class as us. I know how much you love cultural studies like this!" Akane said in a teasing yet playful way. Kamau truly did love cultural studies, more so than Lizzie did considering he was borderline obsessed with books on ancient history and cultures. Kamau has dusky brown skin, short curly black hair and light brown eyes. He likes to wear tan cargo pants and a T-Shirt of the Hex Punks outside of school.
Kamau mock groaned "awwww man, and here we had to study about the Civil War, boooooring!" Yasu gave the girls an apologetic look for his peer's behavior before they all shared a laugh and prepared to hang out for awhile. Or they would have had Draco not gone missing again. Draco was enrolled in Domino High along with Lizzie by Mrs. Mutou, who wanted them to continue their normal studies in addition to Duel Monsters study, as well as make more friends. Sighing exasperatedly, Lizzie told them to go on without her and meet at Kame Games later tonight, then set out to find her best friend.
Scene Change
Draco, as it turned out, had fallen down an open manhole on the way home and wound up lost in the sewers of Domino City. This isn't exactly new for him, as something similar happened to him in the city of Sygh-Varths in the Mythic Realms continent of Rondeval a couple years ago trying to escape the Empire's Soldiers during his training. He continued to wander through the sewer system until he heard a voice calling his name. Looking up, he found Lizzie looking for him above another open manhole and called her name. Lizzie looked down the manhole, her nose plugged with one hand "DRACO!? How did you get down there? You were supposed to wait for the rest of us!" she shouted down to him.
Draco rubbed the back of his head with a sheepish look on his face "um, I can explain later. I'm sorry, but could you please help me out of here, I'm kind of stuck down here." Lizzie groaned and looked for a way down. the ladder was broken and was midway through repairs, so that wasn't an option, but while looking she lost her balance and fell into the sewers, landing right on top of Draco. the two of them were stuck in an awkward position, both blushing furiously before getting themselves back up and profusely apologizing before looking for a way out.
After several wrong turns, backtracks, and one incident of Lizzie almost drowning in sewage water, the two friends got out of the sewers and heading back home to Kame Games. Of course, due to their time in the sewage they had to clean themselves off *very* well that day before Yugi and his friends got home. Later that night, Grandpa Mutou thought it would be a great idea to watch the Regional Duel Monsters Championship as part of their training.
"I don't believe it! Bug Boy vs. Dinosaur Breath!? that should be me in there!" Joey complained irritably. Joey had been training harder than ever before ever since the events at the Abandoned Manor just in case another incident like that happened again, and also to find a way to save Michael. That was not to say that he wasn't interested in the regular tournaments, he just had more motivation to hone his dueling skills than most now. "I know you've been training for weeks," Téa said "but those guys are in another league, you're just not ready yet."
Draco spoke next, his eyes glued to the duel between Rex Raptor and Weevil Underwood as though watching a pair of dueling comedians "Téa's right you know, you need more experience in dueling before you can take on Rex Raptor for the champion's title, he has a purple dinosaur for crying out loud! PURPLE!" he remarked sarcastically, while Lizzie wondered if he knew about a certain television show in her world that creeped her out. Joey looked a little disappointed hearing this "Oh, sure. Rub it in why don't you?" he said in return before nodding off for awhile.
Yugi commented on how his grandpa's training must be getting to Joey as Lizzie prodded him with her finger, then Tristan teased "well I guess that saying is right; You snooze, you lose!" as Joey woke up, annoyed with his friend for that witty remark. Grandpa came in with a package for Yugi and complimented his students' on their progress. Joey was especially praised, but when Joey tried to hug him, Grandpa Mutou walked towards Yugi to give him the package, apparently from Industrial Illusions, leaving Joey sprawled on the floor, twitching.
After the duel was over, Yugi opened the package and everyone looked inside "It's a glove..." Téa observed "And stars!" Joey added. Tristan suggested the video within might have more info on these objects. Draco looked wary when looking at the tape, and Lizzie had felt a shiver run down her spine for some reason. Ever since she got her soul back from the Dark Entity, she seemed to have a close connection to what Draco called "the Spirit World", and had begun to see her cards in the form of spirits in her dreams.
When the tape was put in the cassette player, a picture of Maximillian Pegasus appeared on the screen "You know, this reminds me of one of those videos I watched online the other day, talk about creepy..." Lizzie said as Pegasus said he was going to duel Yugi through the video tape. Draco saw a glint of golden light from behind Pegasus' silver hair, where his eye would be and his eyes widened "LIZZIE, GET BACK!" he pulled out a Non-Spellcasting Area card and a barrier went around the two as Yugi, along with Lizzie and Draco went to the Shadow Realm while the others were frozen with magic.
Yugi looked back at his friends, noticing only Lizzie and Draco were unaffected by Pegasus' magic "What have you done to my friends! where have you taken us!?" Pegasus chuckled at this and stated that they were no longer in their world, and that they would be returned to normal after their duel "Although I am quite curious about those two, nobody has been able to resist my magic like that before." he observed. The Millennium Puzzle glowed and Yugi seemed to show more confidence "Start the clock and make your move Pegasus." then the duel started.
Pegasus placed one facedown card "Nervous, Yugi-boy? You should be, you have *never* faced a duelist like me before." Yugi took a card from his hand "You may be good, but I will defeat you, and save my friends!" Pegasus smirked and stated "You won't save anyone with that dragon card!" Lizzie looked stunned, the spiritual energy coming from Pegasus was tremendous, she could barely move or breathe. Draco on the other hand was furious; How DARE Pegasus use one of the Mythic Realm's most sacred relics' powers in such a way! Before he said anything though, Yugi summoned his Koumori Dragon to the field, only to have it absorbed by the Dragon Capture Jar Trap Card.
Things turned out pretty one-sided from that point on, even after Yugi summoned Dark Magician, Pegasus took control of the him using the Eye of Illusion Spell Card, destroying his Celtic Guardian, leaving him with too little life points to win the duel on time. Pegasus said that next time they dueled it would be at much higher stakes. Yugi refused to be a part of Pegasus' sick game, but Pegasus used his Millennium Eye to steal Grandpa Mutou's soul, thus using him as bait for Yugi.
When they left the Shadow Realm, Solomon collapsed and Yugi was shouting for his grandfather, pounding at the T.V. . Needless to say, everyone but Draco and Lizzie were quite confused. Lizzie's other friends then arrived, and Lizzie explained what happened to all her friends with tear-filled eyes. It felt as though her parents had died all over again, but she knew that wasn't the case here, so she made a promise to herself. 'I will save Mr. Mutou... I will bring him back!'.
Elsewhere, at Pegasus' Castle, Pegasus was speaking with his attendant, Croquet "Did you send the other package?" said employee nodded "Yes, Mr. Pegasus, the youth should be getting it sometime tomorrow." Pegasus acknowledged that and dismissed Croquet, then entered another room, where a young boy with teal hair, about 8 years old was waiting, his eyes softened seeing this brave boy for some reason "Are you sure he come here like you said?" the child spoke "definitely, sir. It isn't in his nature to refuse." Pegasus agreed, then left the room and closed his normal eye 'Just wait a little longer, Cecilia. I will bring you back, one way or another...'.
Chapter End
A/N: Well, there's another chapter for you, thanks to a spark of inspiration. Well, looks like things will begin in earnest soon, and I have good news. I'm going to try to make another chapter asap, so just wait awhile longer. "Duel Standby!"