A/N: WE DO NOT OWN ANY OF YU GI OH 5DS! ALL RIGHTS GO TO ITS CREATORS! THE ONLY THINGS WE OWN ARE OUR OCS!
Chapter 8: What Once was Extinct
2 Months Later…
Yusei and Adrian had probably traveled half of the country at this point, and with only one unknown ingredient left, they were losing hope. Adrian did not have that skip in her step that made her unique. Yusei, who was usually as patient as a rock, was losing his own patience. On top of that, each day, they traveled a little less than the previous one.
All in all, things were not looking good.
Finally, after a few tense days of traveling, Adrian snapped. "That's it!" she shouted sometime around two in the morning. "That. Is. It! I am done with this! I am sick and tired of trying to do the impossible! I mean, we're only human-Vampires, newly turned at that, and we aren't even adults yet! When do we draw the line?! When?! Because I'm drawing the line to now!" the female Vampire screeched, at her wit's end.
Yusei could feel his patience thinning. "Adrian," he interrupted. "You're not the only one who is tired of this," the male Vampire tried to soothe the female, "No one wanted this, but we are in this situation. But you know what? We've got to make the most of it and not give up, because if we give up, we let them win." He paused a bit to give his words emphasis and let them sink in. "If you want to give up, that's fine, I'll support your decision, but answer me this: would you really give up now, when we have one more ingredient and we've already been searching for two months? Would you?"
There was a pause as Adrian processed his words and formulated a response. Sighing, Adrian muttered, "No. I wouldn't."
Yusei smiled and put his hand on her shoulder as a show of support, "And remember, I'm here with you. No matter what," he assured.
"Pinkie promise?" she asked, half jokingly.
Yusei laughed. "Pinkie promise," he agreed.
The two Vampires had initiated the sacred, unbreakable pinkie promise when Adrian gasped, eyes wide and unseeing. "Adrian? Adrian!" Yusei called, trying to get her attention.
After five more seconds, the female Vampire snapped out of whatever trance she was in and began panting, tired from the experience. "Yusei," she whispered. "I know the last ingredient," she breathed in wonder and disbelief before laughing in glee. "I know the ingredient!"
"Really?!" Yusei asked, shocked.
"Really! It's a scale of a Pangolin!" she cheered.
"A what?" he inquired.
"Pangolin: a mammal that is primarily nocturnal, eats insects, and is covered in scales that it uses to defend itself by rolling into a ball," she recited, showing the side of her that was obsessed with animals. "However, if memory serves me right, they were declared extinct a few years ago by a small group of animal activists," she finished sadly.
Another pause. "Well, professionals have been wrong about this kind of thing before, right?" Yusei asked, his voice on the meek side, not really wanting to give them false hope, but wanting to hope for the best.
"Well… yes, they have," the female Vampire responded. "If I remember correctly, I read in a really old book that several species have been declared extinct only to be found thriving in another place. There's still hope!" she smiled gleefully.
"Where do they usually live?" Yusei frantically asked.
"Umm... oh! They live in the savannas, forests, and grasslands of Africa and Asia! They could be here!" Adrian cheered, practically jumping in excitement.
"Or there," Yusei stated, pointing to a forest a mile or so away.
With a shriek of elation, Adrian sprinted in the direction of forest, leaving Yusei to try and catch up to her.
. . .
Adrian finally let Yusei catch up when they reached the opening of the forest. "Alright, a few ground rules before we enter," the female Vampire declared, "One: be as quiet as you can; we don't want to scare them away. Two: We stay within eyesight of each other, so we don't get lost. Three: If we do see one, stay there. We will figure out how to catch it together. And finally, avoid other humans. Because of their rarity, they may be targets for poachers."
"Yes, Mom," Yusei mocked, "And since when did you become the responsible one?"
"Since animals and the fate of our future became involved," she stated quite seriously. "Well, let's get to it," she commented.
They entered the forest.
"Well, I think it's safe to say that the only things I see are trees, rocks, dirt, plants, and more trees," Adrian commented.
It had been two hours, and there was no sign of any Pangolins. Once again, the two vampires were getting antsy. "Don't forget mosquitoes, moths, trees, campfires, and more trees," Yusei added.
'Wait. Did he just say… ?' Adrian thought.
"Campfire?!" the Vampires quietly exclaimed in tandem.
"There," Yusei pointed to a campfire devoid of humans, but not of their presence.
Around the fire was four large rocks, probably used for sitting, and next to each rock was a pack and sleeping bag. However, at one of the rocks there was a wire cage covered in a thin piece of cloth. However, the duo could clearly see a scaly tail poking from one of the gaps. Adrian gasped, "That's it! That's the Pangolin!"
Yusei analyzed the camp more, and came to a conclusion, "I'm guessing that this is a poacher's camp, and the Pangolin is their latest catch."
"Let's get that scale and free it," the female Vampire said, determined to correct this injustice.
"Agreed."
Stealthily, Adrian crept into the camp with Yusei keeping watch for any sign of the poachers returning. The girl watched where she stepped in case of traps or other noisy objects that may alert them of her presence. She finally made it to the cage, and peeked into it, double checking that this was what they were after. Seeing that it was just a frightened Pangolin, Adrian picked up the cage, and made her way back to where Yusei was waiting behind a tree, taking care to be extra careful. 'Safe,' Adrian thought.
"Let's get out of here," Adrian suggested.
"Agree-" Yusei was interrupted by a shout of rage coming from the other side of the clearing.
"Where is the Pangolin?!" a male voice hollered in anger.
The man looked around before the moonlight made the metal of the cage glint, catching his eye. The man saw the two Vampires and snarled. "Get them, boys!" he commanded, pointing at the duo, "Secure the package alive! Kill the perpetrators!"
"Run! Yusei commanded, tugging on Adrian's sleeve to get her running.
The duo weaved their way through the trees, using the increased speed all Vampires held to their advantage. "Which way did we come from?" Adrian frantically asked as they jumped over a rock.
"Um, that way!" Yusei said, pointing to the left of them.
"Go that way, I'll go this way. We'll split up to lose them, but we will stay within eyesight of each other if possible," she instructed him, and he nodded in agreement. "On my mark…" she waited until they were about to jump over a large log obstructing their way. "Now!" she yelled, and they jumped over it, Yusei sprinting in the other direction.
They heard the poachers' grunts of surprise a ways behind them, and then the sound of leaves rustling when they had to stop to get over the log and decide who would chase who. After a minute, the poachers finally scrambled over the log, and took chase.
But it was already too late. Yusei and Adrian were long gone before they could even look up after them.
. . .
The two Vampires finally ran out of the forest, and doubled over, panting for breath. "Whew! That was a close one! Remind me not to do that again!" Adrian remarked.
Yusei gave a short laugh at that, "Knowing you, Adrian, you'll do it again… somehow. How's our little passenger?" he asked, changing the topic.
Adrian set the cage down and peeled back the cloth covering it. Peering into the cage, she gazed at the hunkered down form of the Pangolin before she made a verdict: "Scared, but he'll live."
"That's good. Now how are we going to grab that scale?" he asked, not wanting to bring pain to the small, and frankly adorable, creature.
"Like this," Adrian stated, and reached into the cage to begin tugging on different scales to see if they would be easily removed. Finally, she found one, and gently tore it off. "There!" she said victoriously.
"Didn't that hurt it?" Yusei questioned, still worried about harming the creature.
"Not really. Pangolins shed their scales after a while, so that one was about to come off anyways," she explained to reassure her friend.
Yusei nodded, understanding the concept. "Well, one ingredient down, one more to go," he sighed.
"Yup. Before that," Adrian grabbed the Pangolin and carried him to the edge of the forest, and set him down. "Go little guy! Be free!" she urged, shooing the animal away. The Pangolin complied with ease, and darted deep into the forest, out of sight. Nodding in satisfaction, the female Vampire turned back to her companion. "Well, what's on the activity list?"
"Shelter," he responded. "There's about two more hours until sunrise. We need a safe spot to rest, preferably away from poachers."
"Alright, I can dig that. Survival is kind of important," Adrian nodded in agreement.
Shaking his head in amusement, Yusei just said, "Let's just get out of here before trouble finds us again."
"Or the other way around!" Adrian added.
"Or the other way around," Yusei repeated to pacify the girl. They walked off with that.
