((A special thanks to: PirateCaptainBo, Akwon, twilightserius, kousagielric, Insanity-chan and Yana5 for reviewing.))

Sidestory #1

To take place around Chapter 9.
Written on sticky notes while Sekhmet was bored during a late night shift when she was an employee of Shell Gas Station.

Purpose? To answer the blinkin' question of: What the heck is a Spirit other? And what the heck was Joey, Tristan, and Ryou doing when Yugi was asleep anyway? This story also reveals some foreshadowing... (Was I suppose to say that?)

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Hollow Destiny

By EoSekhmet

Sidestory Before Yugi Woke Up

-Training is tough-

Joey frowned as he failed to summon his spirit other yet again. Hotaru's training was tough, but Joey was use to such rigorous activities since his father's training had been far more brutal then this.

This actually involved more mental exersise then physical anyway. Of course, that didn't make Joey any better at it.

Wiping the sweat from his brow the former hunter glanced up at Tristan, who was in a sparring match with Hotaru. The large blob of mist that was following him around was the most basic form of a person's spirit other, it was something that Joey couldn't even form. It didn't seem to be from lack of ability either...

Joey turned his head, scowling.

/'If I ever catch you trying, you'll wish you weren't ever born!'/

He grit his teeth as he heard his father's voice echo in his head.

His mother's "curse" had scared Joey from ever attempting anything that involved summoning, thus why whenever Hotaru tried to get him to summon it was half-hearted and never completed.

But... Just maybe... His father wouldn't ever have to find out?

Joey held his hand out in front of himself and flexed his palm upward. Yugi's visions had reminded him of when he had had a dream that was so vivid he thought it was reality. As a child he had dreamt of a method of summoning, although it had been so long ago that he couldn't remember what he had summoned.

He consentrated, and as he did so he was unaware that his eyes turned from their normal honey color to the color of red wine. The air around him seemed to shimmer, then the space around his palm flexed. He closed his eyes as a black hole split open above his hand.

~~-Master? Is that you? You feel different. You are so weak too... You are afraid of me. Can't I stay with you?~~-

The small girlish voice that echoed in his ears was familiar and soothing.

~~-Master, please find me. I'm really close, but I can't move unless you will me to. And don't cry, please....~~~-

Joey opened his eyes and gasped at the flash of silver and blue in the circular portal he had opened up.

A single glowing sapphire eye glittered at him before the portal snapped close.

"What dah hell?!" He hissed, snatching his hand away as if it was burned and holding it to his chest.

"Wheeler!"

Joey's still wine colored eyes blinked before their gaze turned toward Hotaru. She was glaring at him, as if he had done something wrong and Tristan just looked confused.

"Dude, what's up with your eyes?" Tristan asked.

"More importantly, why didn't you mention that you are compatible with the Shadow Realm?" Hotaru demanded.

"Shadow Realm? What's dat?" Joey asked confused as well.

Hotaru stalked over, each of her steps very deliberate, as if she was making a point with each one.

"The realm of the gods, the place the lords of our world deemed for the souls and spirits of people to become beasts of otherworldly nature. The home of the darkest beasts, call it what you will, it is the place where all summons reside." Hotaru stopped right next to Joey and placed her index finger against the center of her students forehead.

"Normally, anyone with an affinity for the shadows is snatched up by the Court and trained when they are very young. One can only wonder why you were overlooked..."

Joey scowled, his eyes fading back to their natural color.

"My old man was a hunter, I guess he made sure I was kept a secret." Joey muttered.

"Somehow I doubt just any human could keep a secret from the Pharaoh himself." She said in an accusatory tone.

"It's none ah yah business!" Joey snapped.

Hotaru growled and glared.

"Knock it off! We all got secrets that I'm sure we'd rather keep hidden. You've probably got a few of your own Hotaru, so just let em be." Tristan spoke up, moving closer to the pair.

Joey brushed Hotaru's hand asside and looked away. Hotaru tilted her head and narrowed her eyes, her make up making her look like an angry cat.

"You and your friends are just full of surprises, aren't you? I wonder why all of you are together and then I wonder if you all realize how much danger you all are in." She said quietly. Tristan looked at her in confusion.

"What do you mean?" He asked, crossing his arms.

She shrugged.

"The Pharaoh, the king of all vampires is the current ruler of all creatures supernatural, could see your little group as a threat. He has enough power, that he only has to say the word and you'd be dead. It's as simple as that."

"Why is he the ruler anyway? I mean, there are tons of other supernatural creatures that could take that role." Tristan asked.

"Currently there is no other race of creatures with a being powerful enough to defeat the Pharaoh and take that role. Our lord has ruled over us for millennia, why should that change?" Hotaru waved a hand in dismissal.

"Anyway, from now on, I want you to try your hardest to summon your spirit other using the same method you just used Wheeler. Anyone can summon a spiritual ally, but if you can already summon beasts through shadows my methods would only hamper your efforts. Do you understand?" She stated staring at her student.

Joey met her gaze hesitantly.

"I think so, but I got a question for yah."

Hotaru smirked.

"What is it?"

Joey crossed his arms and thought carefully before speaking.

"How did you serve the Pharaoh?"

Hotaru laughed.

"I was a summoner of course! I also helped train the High Priest Seth's charge in the art of self-defense. Why are you so interested?"

"Because I was wonderin', if you've met ah guy by the name ah Seto Kaiba in his service."

Tristan rose an eyebrow and Hotaru looked unimpressed.

"Why?"

Joey shook his head.
"My old man made a deal with his old man when we were just kids so I got to know him and I was just wondering how he was doin'. He was a jerk, but I respected him because we were in similar situations." Joey shrugged, and Hotaru snorted and rolled her eyes.

"Kaiba is the current CEO of Kaiba Corp. and yes I did bump into him. He seems in good enough health, but I didn't make it a habit of involving myself with someone like him."

Joey smiled a bit.
"Yeah, I know, he's like a living machine." Joey chuckled before letting out a sigh and walking towards one of the windows in the training area. Tristan stared at him with an odd expression and Hotaru rolled her eyes again.

"How well did you know him Wheeler?" She asked.

"Fer a few years when we were kids we'd hang out while our dads did business. He may have acted like a cold jerk but he'd always play with me. I know that sounds really stupid, but fer the longest time he really was my best bud."

Tristan rolled his eyes this time. Joey was starting to sound really sappy.

The blonde sighed and gave a lopsided grin to his reflection in the window.

"He use ta call me puppy or mutt all the time. It drove me absolutely nuts!" Joey laughed.

"Honestly man, the sentimental crap is starting to get to me." Tristan commented. Hotaru moved her hand so she could examine her fingernails with a bored expression on her face.

"Wasted time if you ask me... You know, he probably doesn't even remember you to be honest Wheeler."

Joey growled and turned his head to glared at the both of them. Tristan burst out laughing and Hotaru nodded with a smirk on her face. Joey just grumbled and turned to stomp out of the room a streak of red staining his face.

Hotaru watched him leave with a knowing grin on her face. The next time she saw the high priest she would be sure to mention Wheeler to him and see how he reached. Obviously if Joey felt effected by him to this degree he might be someone important to him.

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(( NOTE: I had way to much fun with Hotaru in this....))

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'I wonder how father is doing. He's probably buried in his work somewhere and doesn't even realize I'm gone.' Ryou thought to himself... and the other occupant of his head.

//He probably is wondering about your well-being Ryou-Rinae.//Virazuka disagreed.

"Not a chance! My father doesn't let anything distract him from his work! Not even me." Ryou chuckled in a matter-of-fact tone, as he flopped back into the bed in his room and stared boredly up at the ceiling.

'What about you Zuka? What where your parents like?' He asked his demon.

Virazuka was quiet for a short time before Ryou suddenly felt a weight settle onto the bed beside him. He gasped, slightly startled as a very pale, childlike female version of himself that was wearing only a pale slip curled up beside him. Her head rested against his chest and her tiny fingers curled up in his shirt near his shoulder and through his long hair. She shivered before letting out a sigh.

"I was created by two slaves who had been banished by our kind for crossing whomever had the power to do that. I was clutched with several others, but only myself and two others lived through our first few years. After those years I never saw any of what you would call my siblings or parents again." The child whispered in Virazuka's voice. Ryou tentatively curled an arm around the girl's back. She purred and nuzzled her face into his chest in response.

Assuming that the child was his snake demon Ryou smiled a bit.

"Who put you to sleep?" He asked.

She chuckled and began to play with his hair.

"It got cold for me to move about on my own after a while. So I settled down and went to sleep. Unfortunately I did not realize that doing so would put me in hibernation for hundreds of years. It was my own folly." She explained.

Ryou frowned.

"How are you maintaining the form you're in?" He asked curiously. She giggled childishly.

"Very carefully?" She teased.

Ryou chuckled.

"Oh, a mystery." Ryou rolled his eyes and wondered if snake demons were at all ticklish. The girl snarled baring her tiny fangs.

"Try it and I'll make you regret it human!" She ordered.

Ryou smiled mischievously.

"Oh really?" He asked pushing himself up and making himself look intimidating.

"Meep!" Was the only response from the girl before she tried to dash out of the way, but was unsuccessful in avoiding Ryou's pounce.

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((I do not own any Yugioh characters. All of the OC's names are donated to me. Virazuka and Duchess are mine however.

Are snake demons ticklish? ... The world may never know... But Virazuka's last few lines are definetly a tribute to my younger brother and one of my good friends.

Whenever I'd ask my good friend to explain something that he either didn't want to explain or couldn't, he respond with "Uh... Very carefully?" Like he wasn't really sure how he did it.
"Meep!" Comes from a character from my younger brother's Naruto role play. The character had a speech impediment and animals would viciously attack him for no reason. The character was fond of crying "Meep!" whenever an animal would look like it was about to attack him.

I really had way to much fun with this. Hopefully while I'm having a bit of a writer's block for this story I can put in a few side stories.

Review if you liked it!))

Sekhmet