A seagull passed the ocean to the small island nearby but stopped when light illuminated the night when a vessel appeared. The design was that of an albatross, with the wings spanned out wide and the tail fluttered fanlike with small webbed feet tucked away in the hatch. The seagull landed on where the head was, a round orb.
"Shoo, get!" Hermos flapped his arms for the seagull to leave. Instead, the indignant bird squawked at the man and tried to peck him. Hermos brought out his switch blade.
"Hermos! Quit messing with the damn bird!" ordered Timeaus.
Hermos sulked and sat down. Critias rolled his eyes as he navigated the Albatross.
"Where are we?" Noah asked Jono.
"Dunno, I guess we're gonna have to find out," he turned to Timeaus standing next to Critias at the wheel, "hey, Timeaus, how do we find out where the hell this thing landed?"
"Master Jono, I'll know that as soon as Hermos gets the map," Hermos swallowed and went to get the map. He returned with a scroll that wrapped on itself. The map Timeaus spoke of showed the two worlds on a graph, depending on which world the person was in; the map had the Shadow Realm on top and it faded into the human world on the bottom.
"Alright, so we came from the ports at Atlantis and from there we flew to the ice bergs of Noah's country. The Ark Iridescence is where we were, and," Timeaus trailed down the map, "the portal opens on the…Indian Ocean. That's where we are."
"Oh," Jono scratched his head.
"How far are we from Japan?" asked Noah.
"Not too bad, young prince, just some hour's journey."
"True," said Atem coming out of the underbelly, "but I don't know where Yugi will be. Knowing Kaiba," he growled, "he probably made a grand entrance to the finals. They won't be in Domino."
"Yeah," said Hermos smiling, "but my king, we have you and Master Akefia on our side. I can just brew up a tractor potion that will give us the approximate coordinates of you and your loves."
"Good," Atem nodded, "Akefia?"
The man was still down in the underbelly. Atem went back down to find him drinking Critias' whiskey.
"You know he'll be furious if he finds you drinking."
Akefia gulped down the glass, "So? And do you know how we'll find them."
"Yes, but you need to put your scent in a tractor potion."
"Why me?"
Atem bit his lip, "Because as much as I hate to admit, I have not spent enough time with Yugi to lay my scent on him. You on the other hand have Ryou covered in yours."
"Makes sense, let's go," Akefia poured another glass. Atem groaned.
On the Battle City Blimp
Players will be allowed a thirty minute break. The first two duels of Battle City semi-finals have commenced. Motou Yugi defeating Bakura Ryou and Ishtar Marik defeating Ishtar Mana; the rest of the semi-finals will take place in thirty minutes.
The announcement gave the group a relief. Mana slumped on the bed again. Her strength was gone again and the duel against her brother was all she could muster. Marik was somewhere else at the moment.
The tense silence in the room unnerved Yugi. Teana saw this. She clapped her hands, "Everyone, I propose we play a simple game for the next half-hour," she took out note cards and a pen from her purse, "the game is simple. We each write a name of a person, dead or alive, someone famous. Also, the person can be fictional. Now get in a circle," the children did, giving funny looks to Otogi who smiled. "Okay now take a card and write down someone."
When you have, pass it to the left and don't look at the card. The game starts with the first one up asking yes or no questions about the card they have. If you figure it out in less than five questions you win. Okay, lick the back of the cards and put it on your forehead, good. I'll start…"
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Marik stood outside Remy's room. He had avoided him since the truth came out.
He betrayed us; I shouldn't let Yugi's soft heart be the only voice of …Remy confessed to everything. Marik pulled his hair, grinding his teeth. Fuck! I can't trust him. He glared at the door. Just in case.
He knocked. A few pregnant minutes passed and Remy answered surprise on his face. Marik shoved himself into the room. On the table lay the golden rod, the reason for Mana's current state. Next to it was Remy's deck.
"Hi."
"Remy."
Marik stared at the rod as Remy stared at his feet.
"I hate people who hurt my family, always have. It started when those Followers scum killed my mother."
Remy trembled, "I-I'm so sorry. Wha..I didn…"
"Quiet. My sister, Ishizu, doesn't know this but more than one Follower attacked us. I managed to subdue two of them, but there were too many. I had used my power for the first time…and lost my voice. One of the Followers kept trying to persuade the others to let us go. They got into a fight."
"And?"
"He killed all of them. He was a sword caster, meaning his magic melded with his fighting skills. He took me and Ishizu. I struggled for weeks trying to escape with her. He caught us every time…"
The lavender eyed boy was quiet. Remy could see the daze in his eyes.
"Come, sit and tell me the rest."
Marik did as told and Remy got him a soda from the mini fridge.
"He said that I didn't trust him. Of course, how could I? He killed my mother. Then he said this, 'It does not matter where your allegiance lies, however without me you and your sister would be dead,' it was true. I was just a kid and I wouldn't know how to survive or take care of an infant. He did. I never fully gave him my trust, but without him I would not be here. I never asked him his name. I heard it said when the King and the council tried him after Isis had taken us in; his name was Rishid, he had an incurable disease. He was put to the palace's healing ward until his death…and he is the only Follower buried in the royal cemetery."
Remy looked down, his throat was dry so he swallowed spit. Marik offered his drink and Remy took it.
"What are you saying?"
"Remy, you've lied to me, harmed my loved ones, and didn't try to warn us beforehand. Usually, I would have you throttled and begging for mercy; although, your life is on the line like ours. I can't forgive you for what you have done….I can, however, trust that Yugi sees the good in you and…and that it is real."
Marik got up to leave, "Marik," he turned, "I…please believe me when I say I did not lead you on. I never gave the fiends any of the information and-and that I like you. Marik I like…." He trailed off tears spilling.
Remy then felt lips on his and a tongue trying to enter. Marik embraced the human and they kissed, letting the world fade.
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All duelist report to the main room for the next round in the semi-finals
The bingo-machine rolled again with only four balls in it. Remy was six and Strings was three, Kaiba number one and Bandit Keith was eight. The balls burst out of the machine.
"The next duel of the Battle City semi-finals will be Remy against Bandit Keith!" Roland announced.
Remy held Marik's hand tighter. Strings watched this, feeling disgusted. He shrugged and walked to the elevator.
Arriving at the dueling area Strings was hit with the gust of wind. He had stayed in his room during the duels. Now he was out and waiting to see how this Bandit Keith would do against the real Winged Dragon of Ra.
Remy and Keith shuffled each other's deck, a sneer on the American's face the whole time. Remy started to sweat.
"Duelists, to your post," said Roland.
The two parted. Yugi stood in the crowd on the deck. Remy's apprehensiveness and desire to flee was thick. He looked to Keith and saw that the man was leaking confidence. He gave Remy a nod.
"Master," Osiris whispered giddily, "master, my brother Ra is with the boy Remy." He giggled, "Soon you'll see the power of my eldest brother," Yugi grunted. He played Osiris to win against Ryou. The monster toned down his power while attacking the cat, however that left Osiris bitter.
"I feel it," said Yugi.
Remy's deck seemed to be pulsing with the energy of Ra and Keith's was no different.
But, thought the Half-Angel, Ra won't react well to being copied. I hope Remy draws him first or he and Keith are in danger.
Behind the group, Yugi sensed Strings-Grendy-smiling. The man oozed malice more so than Griffin when he fought him. Yugi gulped, he had to be prepared for whatever else Grendy had planned.
"Duel start!"
On the Indian Ocean
"Alrighty! We got the potion up and then we'll find them, wherever they are," said an excited Hermos.
He dipped the red liquid on the map. The scent from the potion was heavy of blood, dirt, and lavender soap.
"Why does it have lavender?" Atem asked bemusedly to Akefia. The man grunted and stole back to the underbelly.
"What was that about?" Jono asked perplexed by the smell too.
"Oh," Atem smirked and whispered, "I know why Akefia has that scent on him. You see, Ryou loves the smell of lavender and Akefia bought him soaps and lotions for him to use, however he and Ryou always share a bath and the only soap they had was lavender. Since then, Akefia has had that scent stuck on him."
Jono snickered, failing to conceal his glee when Akefia came back up with a half-empty bottle of whiskey. Critias saw his whiskey in the man's hand. Timeaus placed his hand on the man.
"Let it go, after we're paid you can buy yourself some good whiskey."
Critias grinded his teeth and went back to the wheel.
"I will kill you if you tell the soldiers about this."
"Akefia, you think me so cruel."
"You are you bastard," Akefia pinched the king's cheeks, "not ten seconds did you go and tell your lizard—"
"Hey!"
"—that my kitten and I share baths with his soap I got him. What if I told the scaly lizard—"
"Ah, now I'm angry."
Jono made to pounce on Akefia but he dodged him, still pinching Atem's cheek.
"—that you have yet to plan for Yugi a proper wedding?"
Noah was sitting with Hermos witnessing the whole charade.
"Atem? That true?"
"It's true," Akefia let go and a red patch was on Atem's cheek. "I meant to do it when Yugi was with us, but I finally had time with him, I did not want to spoil it."
"Sure, whatever, Mai and I still aren't married. I wish we were though," Jono smiled sadly.
"Yeah, how's that going?"
"Our council is concerned that if Mai marries a dragon beast the line of Kujaku will be corrupted with half-breeds. Fuck it! Shizuka's a half-breed and she is the regent of the mountains if the queen dies, I think that settles enough and she has more power than pure breeds."
"Yeah," said Akefia, "we forest beings seem less stingy about inter species relations. Look at me and Ryou."
"Fuck," Jono spread out his wings, "I'm gonna fly a bit."
"Stay near the ship," yelled Hermos.
"Whatever."
Battle City Blimp
"Barrel Dragon attack his dragon," ordered Bandit Keith.
Remy's Thousand Dragon turned into tiny shards. His life points reach to two thousand and one hundred. He huffs, Keith's armada of metal monsters had him at a disadvantage, but what most worried Remy were the three monsters the American has and the facedown card.
He looks at the crowd nervously and sees Yugi biting his lip. Remy swallows dry, knowing what Keith is doing. And that the face down is the Fake Winged Dragon of Ra.
Remy draws and sees Feral Imp. He then looks at his cards, Mirror Force, Elegant Egotist, Curse of Dragon, and Pot of Greed.
"I play Feral Imp in defense mode and this card face down and end my turn."
"And now Frenchie, watch as I summon the most powerful monster in all of duel monsters; I sacrifice my Metalzoa, Pendulum Machine, and Barrel Dragon," the monsters disappear.
In the background a distorted image of the Winged Dragon of Ra comes into view. Keith looks at it in confusion. Remy on the other hand is shaking. His deck sends painful vibrations through his arm.
"What is the meaning of this?!" Kaiba shouts. "The system should be able to recognize that card. I've had it tested for that purpose."
Roland sweats, confused. The players on the other side are not, they seem cautious. Marik gathered them in a circle with him and Hiroto guarding it and Otogi has his wife behind him.
Yugi struggles out of the pakced space, "Keith, call off your monster. The real Ra is angered!"
"What the fuck are you talking about you brat? Kid, you ruined my chances at Duelist Kingdom, but not now. Ra I comm—"
Thunder rumbled in the sky with lightning flashing dangerously close to the blimp. Mokuba hid behind Kaiba and the brother held his hand. The second light came from the platform. The storm was a spike in magic and it cancelled out weaker spells and charms. The guardians were revealed again and so were Otogi and Teana wings sticking out. Yugi remained the same, but could not take anymore.
He attempted to get up on the arena.
"M-Motou-san, if-if you step onto this platform you are automatically disqualified," said Roland, in awe at the creatures he was seeing.
"I don't care! Keith call it back! Ra will kill you and Remy!"
"No!"
Two lightning bolts hit the duelists on the arena and the storm was gone along with the fake Ra.
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"Follow it," yelled Timeaus. It was dangerous to fly in magical spikes, but with this storm the tractor potion had given the exact coordinates of Ryou's location; although the storm brought rain and large gusts of wind. Jono and Akefia were keeping the ship in tail with flying by guiding it through the debris and Atem was in the underbelly keeping the supplies secure with Noah.
"Captain," said Critias, "he can't hold it for long. We're going to have a bumpy landing soon or else!"
"Fine. Lord Akefia and Jono, find us a spot to land!"
"Aye, aye! Captain."
"Kiss-up lizard."
888888888888
"Remy! No!"
Marik climbed up and Roland repeated what he said to Yugi.
"Calm down, you freaks! They're still in the game."
"Kaiba, Remy got hit by lightning! He can't move, how can they finish the duel!"
"They have five minutes to get up; if one does then he wins. Now don't chicken out and leave me to battle these amateurs Yugi. Get down."
Yugi obeyed. Marik stayed poised to attack Kaiba.
Dream sequence
The waters hit the young Remy's feet as he scurried up the beach. He had to get home on time to his father. The man seemed so worried about something. He got home to find nothing.
Nothing.
The house melted in front of him and then the liquid engulfed him. Remy could not run. Black. Out of the black were purple figures. One offered a pallid hand. Remy took it.
He was older now and held a machete to a pixie. He had used that golden rod his father had to trap it. The blood flowed freely into a vial.
Oceans, green, cool air.
When the world stopped spinning, Remy felt lavender. And warmth. He did not want it to go away. The lavender embraced him. Then…Yugi. Yes it was Yugi. But, he had wings.
Remy.
The voice was inviting.
Remy, wake up.
The lavender nudged him. He could almost hear screaming in his head
Remy.
Remy.
Remy, I love you. Please wake up!
End
The screaming in his head continued. Remy opened his eyes. He then lifted and found the wind biting his face.
"Remy has won the duel."
