Disclaimer: I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh! GX
Chapter 6
Revelations
To this day, a certain dinosaur loving duellist cannot recall a time in his life when he was so physically uncomfortable and mentally exhausted as he was when he hauled his muddy, soaking body off the forest floor to look around at a grassy clearing, illuminated slightly by the moonlight despite the heavy rainfall. Hasselberry brushed pine needles off his clothes, getting his hands further covered in mud, as he scanned the area for signs of friends or bears; he found the area deserted of anything but plants, water and mud.
Letting out a yell of complete frustration and fury felt good, he had to admit, but it didn't make him feel better. He was still miserable and lost and alone and uncomfortable and any other number of definitions that meant 'unhappy'.
The clearing's grassy surface was relatively unmarred, leading him to realise that, at some point during his trek across the forest floor, he had unknowingly lost the bear's tracks. Even the tracks that he wasn't sure belonged to the bear were gone now, meaning that he had lost Chazz Princeton one hundred per cent. He was well and truly lost and so tired that even the wet grass was looking like it might make a pleasant makeshift bed; he was so used to the water pouring down on him from the skies above that he was fairly sure he'd never notice it once he lay down.
Was this what being in the actual army was like? Was this was nature fanatics did for fun? He was fairly sure that duelling was the far more sensible option; it was – or at least it was supposed to be – a game played with the duellists dry and warm and hopefully having fun.
Hasselberry was not a quitter, let it be known; he allowed himself to sit down on a nearby lump of wood – no doubt left behind from a fallen tree from long ago – but not to properly close his eyes or fully relax. It was indeed a breather, not the end to a highly unpleasant journey.
And perhaps it was fate – not destiny, he loathed that very word! – smiling on him for the first time that evening that he had decided to sit there for a few moments, because it was from his position, hunched over tiredly on that dirty log, that he heard a shout.
/
"No."
An inquisitive look. A growl.
"Forget it, fuzzball."
Another growl, louder this time; angrier.
"I said no!"
The argument had been going on for the past several minutes, with Momma Bear edging ever closer to her captive human, who was by now pressed up against the wall of the cave, purposefully nudging the dead hare away with his foot. The bear batted the dead animal towards him once again, growling at her disobedient 'cub'; in the eyes of the wild animal, he was refusing perfectly acceptable food and that was not on.
For Chazz, it was not so simple – he had been adopted by a bear, dragged through the mud and was being held captive by a ferocious animal who was trying to feed him a newly killed animal. Fear overruled any other emotion within him save for anger and disgust.
"Look, bear, that thing's not getting any closer to The Chazz, so why don't you go crawl into a river and fish me out a nice lobster!?" he snarled at the bear.
Momma Bear just growled at him again, this time leaning down to pierce her teeth through the hare's shoulder and pick it up – depositing it directly onto her twitching cub's lab, ignoring his shriek of horror and staring at him meaningfully. Chazz did not do as she wanted – fall upon the meat and devour it gratefully – but instead he picked it up and, at inhuman speed, hurled it past her and out the entrance of the cave, where it was followed by one of the larger bears.
As a final act of defiance, he folded his arms and stared pointedly at the bear.
She growled at him, baring her teeth menacingly, but by now Chazz was aware that he was not here to be food and was bold enough to just yell back wordlessly at her. He was so wrapped up in trying to escape that his mind didn't even register just how loudly he had shouted.
Loud enough to be heard by someone sitting in a nearby grassy clearing…
/
"Find the bathroom okay, lad?"
The brunette nodded once in response.
Jaden glared at the old man with such obvious distaste that Jesse frowned at him, irritated that Jaden would show such disrespect to the man who had shown them such kindness. He was blissfully unaware of what Jaden had discovered while he'd been supposedly going to the bathroom.
Herbert – all the time wearing a kindly smile – ushered them gently out the door, bid them goodnight and good luck with finding the campsite, and closed the door behind him. Jesse turned to leave but Jaden did not move, staring intently at the closed door with a horrified expression. Jesse moved to place a hand on his friend's arm, confusion evident in his eyes.
"Come on, Jay, we should head back to camp."
"No. Jess, Syrus is in there!"
"Huh?"
"I went into one of the bedrooms after I went to the bathroom" he explained, hurriedly continuing once he saw Jesse's look of displeasure at the idea of him snooping around in someone else's home, "Sy's asleep in there."
"You seeing things, Jaden? He said he hadn't even seen Sy, now you're telling me he's asleep in there?"
"I'm serious!" Jaden insisted, his tone so rigid that his friend couldn't help but believe him; he had never heard the carefree brunette sound so desperately urgent. "I didn't want to make a scene before I'd told you but we've gotta get back in there and get Syrus out!"
Jesse nodded in agreement – well, if their friend was in there he could potentially be in danger, so of course there was no other option – but he looked uncharacteristically nervous.
"How are we gonna do it?" he whispered.
"I say we just bust down the door and take him down!" Jaden grinned, finding a sense of excitement despite the situation – largely due to the adrenaline rush that one experiences when facing what they know to be a dangerous or unfamiliar situation. "Ready?"
"Ready."
Jaden held up three fingers and slowly folded them into a fist, at which point he and Jesse opened the door uninvited – forcefully, yes, but hardly enough to have it fly off the hinges as they had imagined it would – and barged into the house.
There was a clattering sound from another room and Herbert stumbled out to see what the all the commotion was about, dressed in the same sweater but now wearing red checked pyjama bottoms.
"Lads! What on earth are you doing, barging on into someone's house! Haven't you got enough brain cells in them heads of yours to knock?" he cried indignantly. "I ought to call the police!"
"Give it up, old man; we know you've got our pal in here!" Jaden yelled. "Let him go!"
"What?!" Herbert exclaimed. "There ain't nobody in here except me."
"Oh yeah? Then who's in the bedroom?" the brunette boy persisted, feeling his friend's solid presence by his side. "Cause I've seen him, and he looks a heck of a lot like my buddy Syrus!"
There were several spluttered explanations – none of them coherent enough for the two teens to understand even if they had been properly listening – but eventually Herbert just folded his arms.
"And what're you doing looking around an old man's house? What would your mama think if she knew you were snooping around like a common thief, lad?"
By this point, Jaden had had just about enough; in a sudden burst of anger, he shoved past the old man and led the way to the bedroom in which he had discovered the sleeping body of his friend, opening the door to reveal the same friend still huddled under the blankets.
He glared at Herbert, Jesse doing the same as soon as he was over his initial shock and relief that they had found Syrus.
Herbert could say nothing; he simply hung his head.
Please R&R
