It was Wednesday now, and the gang was gathered in Mai's living room. Tea, who had only recently flown in from Canada, was still recovering from the shock of everything she'd just learned. Yugi, who'd gotten out of the hospital yesterday, reassured her.
"I'm okay, really. We're all doing just fine." He took her hand. He and Tea sat on the couch, while the others sat in a circle on the floor.
"All of us, 'cept Bakura's Dad," Joey said seriously. The room grew quiet; everyone was at a loss for words.
"So…what exactly did Shadi say we were supposed to do?" Tea asked.
"Well," said Yugi. "He said we were supposed to find Zan Carter. Then, he said that we incarnations each have to unlock our powers to defeat Heru, and Bakura's dark side. That's the part that gets me- how do we unlock our powers?"
"Maybe we should start lookin' for that Zan Carter guy first…" Tristan suggested. Tea looked up, and her eyes seemed to light up. "Mai, do you have a computer?" she asked.
"Yeah, why do you ask?"
"May I use it?" Tea stood up, excited.
"Sure, go ahead. It's in my office." Mai hadn't even finished before Tea ran out of the room.
"I wonder what she's up to," said Kisara, looking in the direction that Tea fled.
"It's Tea, who knows?" Joey joked. Serenity giggled in appreciation. In the midst of all this, Bakura was heavily distracted. His gaze was on Kisara, who sat across from him. She had slept in his bed last night again. She'd never explained why, but Bakura assumed it was because she was afraid of being alone. This time period was another world to her, and since she'd arrived, it had been perilous. She knew him better than anyone else, so it made since that she'd want to stay with him. Now, Bakura found that he was beginning to feel drawn to her as well, only not in the same way.
Joey pulled out his deck, and began to thumb through the cards. "Hey, Yuge? Whaddaya say afta we get done savin' the world again, you and I find a new tournament to enter? That is, if Duel Monsters is still ya thing. I know it's been a while."
"Sure Joey, I supposed we could," Yugi replied with a smile. Joey was right: it had been a while, and Duel Monsters didn't really hold the same appeal to him as it used to. He still thought about it every once and a while, but he wasn't sure if he was ready to duel without Atem. Still, he knew he had to move on eventually. As much as it pained him, he knew Atem wasn't coming back.
Joey continued to thumb through his cards, and one card in particular caught Bakura's attention: the Red Eyes Black Dragon. "Joey," he said absentmindedly. "Would you mind letting me see that card for a moment?" Joey froze, looking up at Bakura. "You wanna see my Red Eyes?" Bakura nodded. Joey still didn't completely trust him, but he knew even if Bakura had devious intentions, he wouldn't try anything in a room full of people. Cautiously, he handed the card to Bakura, who took it slowly. Voices suddenly came rushing back to him in shrill, vicious whispers. Dragon Girl. As soon as we kill that girl and obtain the millennium items, we can take over the world! He looked into the dragon's deep, red eyes, and saw a familiar evil. He then looked up at Kisara, whose big blue eyes were filled with worry. Blue eyes. White hair. Blue Eyes White Dragon. Red Eyes, Black Hair. Red Eyes Black Dragon?!
"Kisara, do you remember the other night, when they called you 'Dragon girl?'" Bakura asked.
"Yes." Kisara winced.
"Do you think that maybe_"
"-I have the power of the Blue Eyes White Dragon?" Kisara interjected. All eyes fell on her, and she looked down, stray strands of white hair falling in her face.
"I remember now," she said softly. "Back in Egypt, in my time, Heru and Thief King Bakura were chasing me. They said that I possess the power of the Blue Eyes White Dragon, and that if they kill me, they can take that power. I was running and…I fell through…some sort of portal. They followed me here, and that's when Yugi and Bakura saved me."
"Wow," Serenity whispered.
"This might sound crazy, but do you think…that Heru has the power of the Red Eyes Black Dragon?" Bakura asked, mystified.
"I'd say that it's definitely possible," Yugi said.
"If that's so, than Heru is even more dangerous than we thought," said Bakura. Just then, Tea came back into the room. "Guess what?" She said excitedly. "I found him!"
"Found who?" Tristan asked. At this point, everyone had forgotten Tea had even left.
"Zan Carter, that's who! He's in New York City. I've got his address and everything!" she held up a pink post-it note for everyone to see.
"That's great, Tea," Yugi praised. "How'd you do it?"
"Social networking," she said proudly. Joey rolled his eyes.
"You girls and your Space Book."
"That's Facebook to you, mister!" Tea shot him a disapproving glare. The others simply laughed.
"So then, does this mean we're going to New York?" Tristan asked.
"Of course it does!" Joey jumped up, ready to go.
"Hold on, guys. I don't think we'll have enough money. Traveling is expensive, not to mention the cost of the hotel," said Tea.
"Well, how much do you need?" Mai asked. "Of course, I don't have time to go with you, but I have a little money to spare."
"Let's see," Yugi said, adding it up in is head. "There would be six of us, seven if Serenity comes. The plane tickets would be about 700 dollars apiece…"
"Okay, I don't have that much money."
"Well, then…who do we know who's filthy rich?" Tea asked.
"Kaiba!" was the collective response from everyone.
Once again, I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh, and I never will. What did you think of that chapter? I think I rather liked it. The action is starting to build. I've done some thinking, and I've decided that I'm going to keep the chapters around this length. It's convenient, and it allows me to publish more often.