Hey everybody! Welcome to the second to last chapter of Summer Love. Hopefully, I will be able to post the last chapter by next week before college life starts getting to me. Just a heads up, I want to finish this story quickly so a chapter of Haunting Darkness won't be posted along side with this. Because I want to implement more chapters into it, it will probably be finished in two months, time and school willing. So, without further ado, enjoy!
P.S Because the hikaris are light, they can't summon monsters since they are created from darkness, but for this story, they can summon monsters because I don't want to leave them defenseless or left out.
Yami- Dark Magician
Yugi- Dark Magician Girl
Bakura- Diabound
Ryou- Change of Heart (a spell card but I will use it as a monster)
Marik- Dark Jeroid
Malik- Zera the Mant
Seto- Blue Eyes White Dragon
Jou- Red Eyes Black Dragon
P.S.S Congratulations to the 30th reviewer, Snowdrop! Here's a cookie. Keep up the support guys! Really appreciate it!
Yami and I were escorted right away to Illusion Castle after we agreed to go with Pegasus. We walked side-by-side, our hands linked together, in the middle while Pegasus led in the front and the knight guarded the back. We were heading for the center of the island, which was comprised of small, grassy hills and few rocky outcroppings. The strange thing was I didn't see a single building. I've lived on this island my whole life and I have never seen a castle here, so why were we here?
My silent question was answered right away as I noticed the air shimmer a few feet away from me. A golden castle slowly appeared out of nowhere, but I knew that it must have been an invisibility spell cast over it. No wonder Yami couldn't find it.
The iron gate opened on its own and we continued our trek. We didn't stop until we walked down some stairs that led down to what looked like a dungeon. I leaned closer to Yami for comfort as the damp air and creepy cobwebs discomforted me.
A knight that was guarding a door acknowledged Pegasus and opened the door. When Yami and I entered the room, my heart stopped and I'm pretty sure that Yami's did too. We separated from each other and swiftly ran to our friends' cells.
"Jou! Ryou! Malik! It's me, Yugi," I yelled out to them as I gripped the bars tightly. Their bodies were slumped lifelessly against the wall, so I was afraid that they were dead, that Pegasus lied to get us here. But, my fear was quickly alleviated as I saw Jou's body shift a little.
The knight that was guarding the door came over and unlocked the cell door. I rushed in as soon as he opened it and fell in front of Jou. I wanted to shake him roughly, but I was scared that I might hurt him if he wasn't already injured. So instead, I placed a hand on his dusty cheek and activated my light powers. My hand glowed white faintly. I sent warmth to Jou in order to wake him up.
He groaned lightly and his eyelids twitched until they opened halfway. "Yugi?" he asked weakly.
I smiled brightly, my vision blurred by my tears. I threw my arms around his neck, elated to see him alive.
Once his brain finally woke up, Jou weakly wrapped his arms around me. "It is really you. You're all right," he said, a little louder this time.
I nodded, sniffling on his filthy shirt. Much to my displeasure, I moved away from him so that I could wake Ryou and Malik. Once I hugged and greeted them, I took a closer look at them and did not like what I saw. Their clothes were filthy, obviously, and hung off their bodies, meaning they were emaciated. Their cheeks were hollow-looking and their eyes were sunken in. They also lacked a spark. And to add to their skeleton appearance, they had a faint, stale urine odor sticking to them.
I didn't show it but I was very angry at Pegasus for treating my friends like this. And I wasn't the only one that felt like this. I twisted my head to look at Yami as he examined his friends. I sensed his rage radiating off of him.
Unfortunately, our reunion was short-lived as Pegasus clapped his hands loudly. "Alright, let's get this show on the road. Gather the teens."
I was so focused on my friends that I didn't even notice more knights filling into the room. Three of them came into my friends' cell. I crouched protectively in front of them, my arms out to shield them. I think I hissed at them as well. But that didn't do much. One of the knights picked me up and moved me aside while the other two slung Jou, Ryou, and Malik over their shoulders. I struggled in the knight's hold, but he didn't loosen his grip on me.
Eventually, everybody was taken out of the cell area. Pegasus pulled down a torch and a secret entrance opened to reveal more stairs that led deeper into the castle dungeon. He walked down the stairs with confidence, the rest of us with apprehension.
We reached the bottom of the stairs and continued walking straight until the corridor widened into a large room. My gasp echoed around the room as I saw some strange things in it. Torches lit up the room, casting eerie shadows. There were bowls scattered around the room filled with regular cooking ingredients and not-so regular ingredients. Eight weirdly designed circles were drawn in front of a golden altar. On the altar was a mummy with a huge portrait hung over it of a beautiful blond woman, who I am guessing was the mummy.
The knight that was holdingme tied my hands behind my back. The others were bound up as well, and then we were all placed on the circles. As soon as we were on them, they glowed bright blue and lines drew to the altar. The knights left without a word.
When Yami tried to step out of the circle, he was rebounded backward by what looked like an invisible force field. There was no way out of this. Our friends were too weak and Yami and I were trapped. No one else could save us now.
Pegasus stood in front of the altar, facing it, and raised his arms dramatically. "Now, let's get this started."
He started chanting in a weird language out loud. In an instant, I froze up like a statue. I grunted in pain as I felt a strong force pull something out of my body. My breathing quickened and my vision was slowly turning milky white. I thought I saw a white apparition slowly coming out of me from above my head.
"Yugi," Yami yelled, looking astonished, "your soul is being pulled out of your body!"
I wanted to move, to scream, but I was still paralyzed.
Yami looked on, helpless. He growled to himself and his shadows appeared, swirling around him. His forehead creased in concentration as he tried to break the barrier with his shadows. He sighed in relief as they managed to slip under the shield and infiltrate my circle. The shadows coiled around my soul like a lasso and tried to pull it down back into my body.
I saw Yami struggling, so with a bit of strength I had left, I tried to pull my soul back into my body on my own. A white light outlined my body and gradually, but surely, my soul was returning to my body. Luckily, Pegasus didn't notice; he was too busy chanting.
Finally, my soul returned to my body. When that happened, all of the invisible barriers shattered. The weirdly designed circle lights disappeared, leaving the room somewhat dim. The ingredients that were scattered around the room burst into flames, leaving ash in its place. I crumbed to the ground, coughing and desperately gasping for air.
Pegasus gasped in shock when he saw his ritual fail. "No!" He gripped the sides of his head. "This is impossible!"
Yami fidgeted with his ropes until they came loose. He threw them aside and ran to me. He kneeled beside me and untied my hands.
"Are you all right, Yugi," he asked me as he gently helped me sit up, his baritone voice laced with worry.
"I'm fine now," I answered rather hoarsely.
I saw movement to my right and turned my head to see Ryou's mean look-a-like break out of his bonds with ease and untying the rest of our friends. Somehow, the failure of the ritual revitalized them because they looked much better and stronger than before. When they were all untied, they came to us as I was still recovering from my condition.
"You!"
Everybody looked up at Pegasus. He glared at Yami and me with such rage in his eyes. I flinched back at the intensity.
"You two ruined my ritual to bring my precious wife back," the silver-haired king yelled. "Now you will all pay!"
Suddenly, several purple shadows appeared on both sides of Pegasus. They materialized into toon-looking monsters.
Everybody reeled back at the strange and creepy beings except Yami. He just stared at the monsters with familiarity.
"He can do that too," he whispered to himself, but Seto heard him.
"Wait, you mean you can do that too," he asked.
"Yes, but I've only been able to summon one monster, not several."
"Well then, if you can do it Yami, then so can we," Bakura said confidently.
He closed his eyes and seemed to be concentrating on unlocking something within him. In a few seconds, small wisps of shadows converged beside him and revealed a huge monster with a muscular torso, large, feathery wings, and a snake as its body. Everybody took a step back from Bakura except Marik who stared at his friend with amazement.
His dark purple eyes glinted maniacally. "Awesome! I wonder if I can do that too."
Sure enough, when he concentrated too, shadows materialized beside him and showed a deformed blue creature with two claws on its head.
When Bakura and Marik summoned their monsters, Ryou and Malik radiated white light just like I did. Their monsters appeared in a burst of light. Malik's monster was a huge, turquoise metal-looking dinosaur. Ryou's monster was an angelic being with an angel wing on the left side and a bat wing on the right. A black and red heart rested in the middle of its chest.
Jou and Seto held hands. No light or darkness emitted from them but their monsters still appeared nonetheless. A light blue dragon and a black dragon both gave out thunderous roars as soon as they were summoned.
Yami and I stared at our friends' monsters with amazement. Yami had a huge grin on his face, obviously impressed.
Confidently knowing that our friends had our backs, he turned to me. "Yugi, are you ready?"
I smiled back. "Yes."
He helped me stand up and immediately summoned his Dark Magician. The purple magician respectfully bowed to him, ready to protect his master.
I was a little hesitant on summoning my monster, but with the help of Yami's encouraging smile, I concentrated and my monster appeared in a burst of light. She looked vaguely like Mana except with white skin. She wore a cute pink and blue magician outfit and held a wand in her right hand.
I stared at her with an incredulous expression. "Dark Magician Girl," I asked, the words tumbling out of my mouth without any thought.
She turned her head to me and nodded, smiling brightly.
Seeing my monster summoned, Yami glared at Pegasus whose mouth was gaping wide open. "Now Pegasus, you can't hurt us. Just let us go and we can avoid this fight. But, if you want us to fight, we'll happily oblige."
Pegasus regained his composure. "I will not back down in my own castle. This will all be your graves. Monsters, attack!"
Pegasus' toon monsters rushed toward us. In turn, our monsters rushed toward his and they clashed in the middle. Energy balls flew everywhere, stray beams were fired, and monstrous roars cacophonied around the room; it was mass chaos. The monsters were attacking so carelessly that the chamber started to fall apart. Dust and small bricks fell from the ceiling. Cracks crept up the walls. The whole room trembled.
I held unto Yami tightly, afraid that the room might collapse on us. He wrapped his arms around my waist protectively. Seto and Jou held each other. Ryou and Malik seemed to instinctively gravitate to Bakura and Marik.
I really hope that this room stays intact until the battle is over, I thought to myself.
Thankfully, the battle was finishing up. The only monster remaining was the toon version of the Blue Eyes White Dragon. Realizing that it was alone with eight opposing monsters, it tried to run away but Blue Eyes wouldn't have it. It stomped on it, making it disappear. Blue Eyes let out a triumphant roar.
Pegasus took a shaky step back when our monsters started advancing towards him. They circled around him, but left a small gap in the middle for him to see us, particularly Yami.
His forehead glowed with the Eye of Ra. "It's over Pegasus," he said loudly. "We won. As your punishment, you are to be sent to the Shadow Realm for all eternity!"
"Noooo!" was all Pegasus managed to scream before being consumed by the shadows, leaving behind no trace of his existence.
And that's it for now! Only one more chapter to finish this story and then I can move on to finish Haunting Darkness. Please review!
