Hey... I'm so sorry about how late this is... I can only say that Dwarves, or Dwarrow, have ruined my life. Especially the one with blond hair with really cool mustache braids.

This chapter I kinda threw together when I wanted to show what Christine could do and a change that I wanted to show in her from everything she has gone through so far. Hopefully you like it, I had fun writing it.

I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh or anything that I may reference in this story. *Edited 7/25*

"Eh?!" Everyone exclaimed after my statement.

I was surrounded on all sides in the living room of the game shop. After bringing everyone here, I bluntly admitted what I was thus bringing out the reaction.

"It's true." I sighed. This was going to be difficult.

"Wait a minute!" Jounouchi exclaimed. "You're saying that you're a witch?!"

"Yep."

"Don't witches have warts?" Miho asked innocently.

"It's a stereotype." I answer with a tick in my shoulder. That was always one of the first questions. "One poor girl gets caught with a wart and suddenly we all get labeled with the feature!"

"Prove it." Honda and Jounouchi challenged at the same time.

I gave a smirk and gave a sly look to Yugi. He was taking it better than the rest of the gang since he saw the confrontation with the witches last night. I waved everyone outside and we reconvened in the backyard.

"Ready?" I smiled when everyone nodded.

I held out my palms and the chill centered in the center of the hands. A white glow appeared, my signature snowflake floating in the middle, and I threw it into the sky.

"Hey!" Honda shouted. "That was probably an illusion of the light."

I raised an eyebrow and pointed to the sky. The sun began to be covered by dark clouds till it was a dim overcast. The temperature dropped quickly and everyone watched dumbfounded when large clumps snow began to fall.

"Wow!" Yugi exclaimed and he went to catch some in his hand.

"Incredible!" Anzu breathed and both she and Miho ran in the small flurry.

"More!" Jounouchi exclaimed and I rolled my eyes.

I swished my hand and more snow began to fall. It soon began to pile up in large drifts. I thought about Marshmallow, the large snow monster that guarded my mind; I hadn't seen him since I was nine, could I bring him out? I giggled, deciding against the idea. That wouldn't end well.

I looked over to my friends and they all gave bright smiles. I gave an evil smile when I saw Jounouchi preparing a snowball to throw at Honda. I materialized a pack of snow in my hand and gave Anzu a wink. She cocked her head in confusion and she smiled when I pulled the ball of snow out.

"Hey, Jounouchi!" I shouted and the blond made the mistake of looking.

My snowball collided with his face and he fell backwards. The rest of us were in stitches at his angry expression.

"This means war." He growled and prepared his snowball again.

I smirked. Multiple snowballs rose from the ground, all poised to strike Jounouchi.

"Are you sure you want war, Jounouchi? I don't think you'd win."

Jounouchi gulped and dropped his snowball. We all laughed again and played in the snow. After an hour or so, I declared that it was time for me to get rid of the snow.

"Aww." Everyone groaned and I gave a smile.

"I can bring it back when you guys want it. Preferably not on a warm summer day; that might get people's attention.."

That seemed to raise people's spirits and they all nodded. I waved my hand at the ground and brought it up to the sky. Everyone watched in amazement as the snow melted and clouds melted away. The warmth of the day returned and everything was as it was before.

"That was incredible, Christine!" Miho exclaimed. "Miho hopes you can do it again soon."

I gave a bright smile and we all went back into the house. Despite being wet and slightly cold, my friends were all smiles. We sat on the couches in the living room.

"So, what else can you do?" Jounouchi asked once he had settled into his seat.

"I can brew potions, though mostly limited to healing ones since those are kinda my expertise, and little summonings."

"Could we see?" Anzu asked, her voice raising in excitement.

My smile faded. It would be too dangerous to bring them. What if I messed up? They would get hurt and it'd be my fault.

"I don't know, you guys." My voice was quiet, even in my own ears. "It can be pretty dangerous in the rituals and I don't think I could live with myself if you guys got hurt."

The gang smiled at me. It made me slightly confused.

"Don't worry!" Honda smiled. "We'll pull our weight and stay out of the way when we need to!"

"Honda!" Jounouchi exclaimed with a smile. "We agree again!"

They laughed stupidly and I fully obliged in freezing their arms together; though I was still careful about catching their skin. They gave me frightened looks.

"You two don't know how much I've wanted to do that when you've done something stupid." I commented, giving the two an evil smirk.

Everyone gave me scared looks then started to laugh. I let the two boys go and I explained to them the ritual. This was a little more difficult ritual than the ones I've normally done. The whole purpose of the ritual was to create crystals - not just any crystal that you can dig up - the type that radiated powers that did a specific job. Some were used as war charms in the olden days while others were used as love talismans. I was going to make shield charms for the shop just in case it was ever robbed.

"When does the ritual start?" Yugi asked.

"I need to start when the lunar eclipse starts, tomorrow night."

"That's not a lot of time to get everything." Anzu told me.

"Don't worry. I've already got everything for it and the last thing is drying out. It should be ready by noon tomorrow."

Everyone nodded. I made them promise to listen to me should anything go awry, which they all did quickly. Once I was assured that they would behave themselves, we all agreed to meet here tomorrow night at six thirty.

"Will everything work out, Christine?" Yugi asked, his voice almost hesitant. "Are you sure it'll work?"

I ruffled the boy's hair and gave a smile when he tried to swat my hand away.

"I appreciate the thought Yugi, I really do. Have faith; I know what I'm doing."

Yugi reluctantly nodded. I could tell he was still concerned but he said nothing that would suggest the was having second thoughts. With nothing else to be said, we returned to our normal afternoon routines.

Next day 6:30 pm:

"Roll call!" I called out just before we left the main house portion of the Game shop and everyone turned to me. "Anzu with the vials of cinnamon extract?"

"Present!" Anzu called.

"Jounouchi with the makhai?"

"What exactly do these things do?" Jounouchi asked as he looked into the see through bottle.

"They're wars spirits." I replied absentmindedly, checking them off my reminder list. "Going to be used in a defensive purpose."

"Oh!"

"Miho with the Lotus petals?"

"So pretty!" Miho cried and I smiled while checking the item off.

"Honda with the sample of the shop?"

"How exactly did you get this stuff?" Honda mused.

Honda held out one of the vials, a small one filled with a red, glowing gas.

"Quite simple." I checked off the item on the list before replying like it was the easiest thing in the world. "Just enter a certain room of the area you want to protect and you take a minuscule piece of anything unmovable and change it into a gas."

"That doesn't seem very simple."

I rolled my eyes playfully and went down the list to the last two items.

"Yugi with my book?"

"Here!" Yugi cried and waved the book. "I would've thought this thing would be so much heavier."

I smiled and checked it off my list. That would be a bad thing to forget.

"That book is pretty cool because it adjusts the rituals it holds to the kinds of rituals that I can use during different celestial phenomena, no matter where I am."

"That's pretty cool!" Jounouchi exclaimed.

Last thing. I took out a bottle with strands of hair from my purse when everyone had turned to look at the book. The gang would kill me if they found out but this needed to be done. I didn't want any of them hurt so I decided late last night to craft personal protective charms for each of my friends. With the power I was expending tonight, they may not be as powerful as I would like them to be but I could easily adjust them if I needed to.

"So, are we all ready?" I asked, popping the small bottle back into my purse.

"Yes, ma'am!" Everyone called back.

I smiled and we all walked out the door. The sun was near set so I didn't have as much time as I had hoped. With it being near dark, there weren't many pedestrians to comment on what we were doing. We were able to reach the park without too much complaint. The park sign was visible in the setting sun, 'Closed'.

"The park is closed." Yugi hummed. "We shouldn't go inside."

I gave him a smile and patted his head. The boy didn't seem very consoled at the gesture.

"Don't worry, I already have that worked out." I gave another smile. "The night guard for the park has a daughter who is Wiccan, so he understands the need for me to get in the park at night. He lets me in."

"Really?" Anzu asked.

"Yep. I've been helping his daughter with a couple of potions that she could work on... What am I doing?" I clapped my forehead. "I don't have time to be talking!"

We ran into the park and I waved at Jun, the security guard. He simply gave me a wave and we continued to run. The group and I finally reached the part of the park I liked. A large opening in the trees, giving the area a good view of the coming eclipse. "All right." I clapped and everyone turned to me. "Nobody move while I get set up, kay?"

Everyone nodded and I closed my eyes. A small breeze blew through the trees, leaving the rest of my group gasping. In my mind's eye, I drew the circle of summoning in a thick sheet of un-melting ice. I remembered having to practice the drawing on sheets of paper for weeks before performing a ritual like this; it was an absolute pain if you got it wrong and messed everything up. I opened my eyes and all my friends were gawking at the incredible new addition to the scenery. "Ok, now I need the ingredients."

An hour passed and two near mishaps occurred. Jounouchi nearly dropped the Makhai and Honda had nearly dropped his vials trying to catch the Makhai; those boys were going to be the death of me. The sun had completely set by the time we finished and the Moon was starting to rise across the horizon.

"How will you know when to start?" Honda asked.

"That's where this handy thing comes in." I pointed to the circle. "The ice will start to glow when the prime time for the ritual begins."

"Neat.." Jounouchi breathed.

It was exhausting to keep up though. My power was connected to the circle so, whether I liked it or not, I was continually powering it up until the ritual was over.

I looked to Yugi. He was crouched near the side of the circle but a smile wasn't on his face like there normally was.

"Is everything alright, Yugi?"

He looked up and I could see something indistinguishable in his eyes. It was like he was sensing something, something I hadn't caught on with yet.

"Something's wrong." He whispered. "I don't know how but I can tell that something is going to happen."

I looked around. I branched my senses and caught the whiff of what Yugi was getting. There was a chill in the air, more than usual. I stood and and held my palm out to the base of the trees. Muttering under my breath, I cast a spell that created a light blue dome shaped barrier that surrounded the grove.

"That should keep unwanted people out. If something does make it in, we'll have time to make preparations."

Yugi nodded but he didn't look completely consoled. I pat his head before sitting back at the edge of the circle. I pulled the bottle of hairs out of my purse, clutching it in my hands. This was for my friends; I wasn't going to let them get hurt for something I do.

Arooooooo

I flinched, quickly putting the bottle back into my purse. What was that?

"Aghh!" Miho shrieked. "What was that?"

"I dunno!" Jounouchi looked like he was going to wet himself. "Christine?"

I stood again. What 'it' was... It wanted in my barrier. It was pushing against it, playing for its weakness. I was regretting having both a barrier and the summoning circle up at the same time. I probably should have gone for something simpler. Thinking on the fly, I came up with an idea to protect my friends in the meantime.

"I have no idea but you all go up into the trees!" I pointed to the surrounding trees.

Arooooo

The howl was closer. My barrier had shattered at the far point, the opposite side of the park. With it shattered like that, my power wasn't going to come back quick enough to go full out like I did on those three witces. I was going to be near useless in a fight.

"We're not leaving you, Christine!" Yugi called.

I shook my head. I waved a hand and the wind blew Yugi and the gang into the largest tree. I wasn't freezing them so I forgave myself for the use of powers on a mortal. "Christine!"

"Just trust me!" I called up to them.

Aroo...

It was here. I snapped my head towards whatever had come all the way here and narrowed my eyes. A large pack of what looked like wolves entered the clearing. Each one looking as hungrier as the last one. A chuckle echoed through the trees.

"Well well well..." The man's voice chuckled again. "A little witch."

I narrowed my eyes. Shit, not these things.

"What do you want?" I asked, crossing my arms in an attempt to look threatening.

The man came out of the shadows and my eyes narrowed more. He was a tall man, his face covered in dark stubble. I would've considered him handsome if it weren't for the scars that covered his visible skin. The wolf's skin that adorned his body made his identification easy. Lycaon, the first werewolf from Greek Myths. Some poor witch had accidentally revived him a few hundred years ago and, much to the dismay of her circle who vowed to kill the beast, he still prowled the world with his pack.

"Oh nothing, my dear." Lycaon chuckled. "My pack and I were just looking for a snack."

Jounouchi made an obvious growl and I made a mental note to kick him if we survived. Lycaon looked up and gave a smile. "Our little witch has friends? Why, bring them down. I'd like to meet them."

"I'd rather not." I hissed. "They aren't interested."

Lycaon made a mock pout.

"Now I'm offended." He gave a laugh.

"I suggest you move along, Lycaon. There is nothing here worth your attention."

I tried to play the ego card but it didn't seem to work. The werewolf kept glancing up to my friends up in the tree. His pack baying wildly for the order to attack.

"No no… I am very interested in this spot. A little witch out on her own with only a group of mortals for protection. This is very interesting."

The wolves, heeding an unsaid command, suddenly pounced. I made huff, great.

I held out my hand, breathing a simple spell to counter the immediate threat. The wind blew the wolves back when the came too close. This magic was small so I wouldn't get tired out too quickly, hopefully.

"Christine!" Anzu shrieked from the tree.

I turned and saw some members of the pack trying to climb the tree. I growled audibly.

"You're a real piece of work, you know that?" Lycaon simply chuckled.

I made my own smirk. The air turned frigid. I was pushing the boundaries of my powers now but I had no choice. I kept up the smile so as not to alert Lycaon to my weakness. Lycaon's smirk dropped and his eyes narrowed at me; he seemed awfully mad now.

"What sort of magic is this, witch?"

"Just the cool kind."

I flung my hand toward the base of the tree and a large bank of snow appeared and the wolves growled at it when it began to move. "Let's get moving, Marshmallow." I called. "Time to kick some ass." The snow bank continued to move, creating limbs out of the ice intermingled, till Marshmallow was standing at the base of the large tree. He was exactly as I remembered him, a large snow made monster with icicle claws and glowing blue eyes. I saw that everyone's eyes were wide at the large snow monster.

"These pests?" Marshmallow asked in his gravelly voice, pointing to the wolves.

"Yep, they're being a pain."

Marshmallow's icicle claws grew to saber tooth tiger size and the wolves bayed pathetically till they ran back to their master. Lycaon didn't moved. His narrowed eyes had moved to my face, looking it over with almost extreme curiosity. I kept my face a bright smirk.

"Very well, little witch." Lycaon muttered, his voice two octaves deeper. "Now you get me."

He began to change. His human formed began to collapse on itself. I tried not to flinch at the crunching and cracking of bones during his transformation. By the end, all that was left of the man was a large pitch black wolf. "I don't like to have an audience when I duel." Lycaon growled, his voice able to form out of the large mouth. "We go somewhere more private."

So as to not look frightened, I nodded tightly. Lycaon chuckled darkly, turning on his paws to enter the trees; his wolves parted to create a small pathway for me to follow after. I let go a shuddering breath. I was in no position to be fighting a millennia old werewolf. What was I going to do?! There was only one thing I could do… I turned to Marshmallow before I turned away.

"Keep them safe." I said simply and Marshmallow nodded.

"Christine!" Yugi practically screamed.

I turned to the tree. My friends were staring wide eyed down at me, terrified expressions covering them. I did the only thing I could by giving them a thumbs up. I kept my face in a small smile; they didn't have to know how much trouble I was bound to get into.

I turned back to follow Lycaon into the woods. His wolves lead me into a smaller grove where Lycaon was practically lounging next on the roots of an old tree. When he saw me enter the grove, he lifted himself onto his four legs and prowled towards me.

"Any last words, little girl?" Lycaon asked.

"I should be asking you that." I taunted, surprisingly able to keep my voice steady.

Lycaon chuckled and pounced. I darted from corner to corner of the clearing, jumping away from his bites. I continually froze him to the ground, hoping that would give me enough time to think of a plan but he always managed to break through.

"Getting tired?" Lycaon taunted. "You can always give up."

I huffed and puffed to catch my breath. Why couldn't I think of something to stop him? I was being dumb and forgot something about this wolf... Silver!

I didn't have any... Well, time for a new plan

Lycaon suddenly pounced again and chuckled when he caught my shoulder with his claws. I gave a shriek of pain, freezing the wolf's chest to get him away from me. I gasped for breath while the wolf began to chuckle. "Don't feel bad, little girl." He started to taunt again. "It's not like I haven't been bested since Iliana."

That was hard to compete against. Iliana, the Queen of all witches. She was powerful beyond all comparison. Born a lowly girl in the mountains of modern day Greece, becoming a servant to the powerful priests of Egypt and then somehow became its queen, marrying a Pharaoh whose name was lost. How could I compete with that? I was a silly little girl that had gotten in over her head. An idea struck me then. What if I did the same thing she did? I could try to summon the silver pike that killed him before... No, that's dumb! I didn't have the strength to pull it off.

Another thought hit me. I can't give up. Yugi and the gang were counting on me to come back alive. Yugi would never let it down and Yami... Damn, I don't even know how he'd react. I breathed. I had to relax.

"There is no way I'm giving up." I looked the wolf right in the eyes and he laughed.

"What a cute little girl." He chuckled. "Something hit you? Your friends? As soon as I deal with you, your friends are next on my list. Starting with the boy with the spiky hair."

There went my temper. No way in hell would he touch Yugi. My vision grayed slightly as my temper exploded. The wolf's cocky expression faded into almost pure terror. He wasn't looking at my face though, he was looking at something behind me. I didn't care what he was looking at; his threat would remain an empty one. My body glowed with energy, more than I had felt in my entire life, and in my angered state, I could faintly see the shadow of a spear floating overhead. I didn't care how it got there; my gaze was locked on the wolf in front of me.

"Begone." I hissed and I lowered my hand.

I had somehow closed my eyes. When I opened them again, I was gasping for air, trying to calm myself down. I couldn't feel the blood from my wounded shoulder dripping down my back so I figured that the influx of power must have healed me. Lycaon's pack was gone and so was his body; it must have faded back to where it belonged. Despite that influx of power though, I was exhausted and could feel myself wobbling on my feet. With one last gasp for air, I collapsed and all went black.

"Christine?" I heard a voice call softly in the darkness. It sounded like Yami's but my mind was too fuzzy to fully decipher it. "Silly Mer. It's time to get up."

I opened my eyes and saw Jounouchi and Yugi smiling down at me.

"What...?" I asked, my voice hoarse.

"And she wakes!" Jounouchi gave a woot and his smile broadens.

"Are you alright, Christine?" Yugi asked.

Everything felt so heavy. I fought to keep my eyes open. I tried to clear my throat but it only became a cough. Yugi flinched at the sound but I was able to give him a smile.

"Yeah..." I began hesitantly.

I still felt slightly exhausted. Even with the rest restoring my powers, I felt so strange. I didn't know how to describe it but it felt like my body was at the tail end of calibrating itself. Had my body been trying to reject my powers entirely? It took an extra few minutes for my body to relax but everything settled normally again. I would need to be careful in the coming days. "What's going on?"

"We've been taking turns on watching you and watching your circle." Jounouchi explained as he helped sit me up.

Marshmallow was sitting in the corner of the clearing, watching for danger while Anzu, Honda and Miho all were sitting near the still dark circle.

"It still hasn't activated." I muttered distastefully with a groan. "How annoying."

Jounouchi and Yugi laughed at the extra huffs of annoyance I let out; it must have let them know that I was better. The two helped balance me on my feet, never letting me go just in case I fell to the ground. As soon as I could balance on my own, I was nearly knocked to the ground when Anzu and Miho ran over to hug me.

"Miho is glad you're alright, Christine!" Miho squeaked when she managed to get a hold of me. "Don't ever do that again!"

"Ok! Ok!" I tried to pull away from the hugs. "I get it!"

"No you don't!" Anzu shouted, making me flinch back. "You could've died! We saw that Marshmallow was injured when you were, so don't play down this!"

I blushed brightly. Great, I was even worrying them through Marshmallow. I was thoroughly surprised when Anzu suddenly gave me a tight hug. "Don't do it again." I finally gave a gentle laugh.

"Agreed."

I was finally released from her tight grip. We shared one last laugh before I noticed my circle had lit itself a gentle blue color. Finally! "Ready to see what we came for?"

Everyone nodded and smiled. Yugi handed me my book and we all settled in spots along the circle. I muttered the incantation, keeping my gaze off of each ingredient that was being pulled out its container in rapid succession. With another breath of words, four bright red crystals had replaced the ingredients and were floating in the air. I willed them to fall into my basket but I wasn't done with the circle.

I was surprised. My powers were stronger now; normally, I would be completely exhausted by now but I still felt like I could climb a mountain. It was a great feeling.

I then reached for my purse, opening the special pocket that I kept the small bottle in.

"What's that?" Honda asked and I simply smiled, not replying to his question.

I pulled the small bottle once more, popping off the cork. The small hairs flew out and when I began to mutter the incantation, a different incantation was being echoed in my mind. I didn't know what the words meant; I highly doubted that I could repeat them if I heard them again. I watched as crystalline covers encased the hairs then began to glow a soft silver color, the same as the crystals themselves. They were about the size of the crystals from the Disney Atlantis ones so they would be easy to carry in pockets; I did always value convenience. Once they were fully formed, I made them float to their respective owners.

"What are...?" Anzu began to ask, flipping hers between her hands.

"A gift from me to you." I interrupted. "I don't want you all to get hurt like what nearly happened tonight..." I sighed. "They'll protect you from magical and some other types of damage but they have a limit on how much in a single day."

"I guess I should start to count my punches then." Jounouchi muttered and all of us laughed.

With a wave of my hand, my circle vanished leaving nothing in its wake. I had to send Marshmallow back into my mind, much to Jounouchi's dismay; he thought the snowman was super cool. It was past midnight by now and Grandpa was most likely worried about us. The gang and I all made sure we cleaned up our mess before we dashed out of the park. We all walked home quietly when a hand silently pulled me backwards. I went willingly since I felt the burst of magic when we left the park.

"Can I help you, Yami?" I asked, giving the spirit a sly look.

"Promise to keep your word on not doing anything stupid?" He asked, eyebrow raised.

I breathed a slight laugh. Even he was breathing down my neck about it.

"Yes, I give you my word."

Yami huffed his approval, keeping his hand wrapped around my wrist. I raised my eyebrow at the light hold. Why wasn't he letting go? A fun idea hit me then. Why not have a little fun? To mess with him, I slid my hand out of his grasp, down his wrist and interlocked our fingers. I was graced with a blush that covered the entirety of Yami's face and most of his ears. I had to stifle a laugh at the reaction. "You're so funny, Yami!" I teased and pinched his cheek.

He muttered darkly, something about getting revenge but I wasn't concerned. He wouldn't hurt me, even if he wanted to.

Hopefully you liked it! If I end up doing more with this story, like adding on the other seasons, I would like it if you remembered the the name Iliana. If I do more, she will definitely be important to the story.

Thanks greatly and hopefully I'll update soon!