Kinakao: Hello everyone! Welcome to the 11th chapter! I can't believe we've come so far with our beloved readers.

Mari: Yay! Now we just have to find the last Guardian!

Brian: Isn't my sexiness enough?

Mari: Ewwww….You're my cousin…

Brian: I was talking to Daida over there.

Daida: *In a corner with a Joey plushie*

Kinakao: Since she has not done one before, here is Tamora with our disclaimer!

Tamora: Kinakao does not own YuGiOh or any of the characters from the series. She does own all the Guardians, Brian, the town they live in, Mari's bike, everything else not related from the world of YuGiOh.

Warning. This chapter does contain some foul language and some interesting themes. This chapter is why this fiction is rated T. Please be advised.

Enjoy!

…

Chapter 11: The Not-So-Calm Breeze

The three of us walked out of the school a little after four. Tamora and I walked side by side while Brian walked behind us with a small distance between us. He was incredibly relaxed as we headed towards Charity's house, even though it seemed that his new idea of a pursuit was supposedly at our destination. My cousin was revolting in his girl chasing sometimes. However, he was the first to speak up. "How much farther is it?" His voice was a bit of a whine.

I glanced back at him and took a look at my watch. It was only 4:25, and we were still about two miles from the large house that belonged to the Water Guardian. The city we lived in was a large one, but not so large that you could not travel by foot to most places around the school. "Not much farther. Besides, it looks like you'll need the exercise." I playfully jabbed him in the gut with my elbow by putting my elbow behind me and stopping momentarily as he continued to walk straight into it. "You're getting kind of tubby." I laughed as I continued my walk.

The opposite was the true fact. My cousin, despite his flaws, could actually get almost any girl that he wanted because for some reason I could not see, he was highly attractive to most of the girls in the school. However, I highly doubted that he would be able to pull Charity away from her crush. Maybe before any of us knew that it was real, but now there was no going back on her heart was now set.

Tamora seemed to be looking around more than usual, even though we walked down the dead streets of suburban area. I wondered if she was looking for the last Guardian. To be honest, her new obsession seemed rather off for the girl, as well as most of her behavior lately. Brian noticed the same thing and snuck up behind her and wrapped his arms around her shoulders and neck in a sort of glomp. "Tam-Tam.." He said in a whiney voice, using Tamora's most hated nickname. "Why aren't you having fun with us?" He asked, grinning in her ear.

I was certain that Tamora was going to go nuts on him, but instead she turned her head towards him as they were still walking, and glared. It seemed like she was waiting for something, but when it did not come, she grabbed his arm and through it off of her. "Don't touch me or call me that, Brian Mahogany." She used his full name as a warning. He rose up his hands apologetically, showing her he was just joking. Tamora threw up her fist threateningly to him.

This was more normal, even with the violent tendencies. The three of us had known each other for years, growing up and being best friends through thick or thin. Now, things were so different. Yes, Tamora and I shared our secret, but with Brian and Drew not knowing, it felt so weird. Well, more Brian than Drew, since I could not understand why he still hung out with the smaller boy. How could I tell them I'm some magical being meant to save time itself? I thought wearily.

I listened to them go back and forth with insults, a vague reference of calling Tamora an old woman and Brian being shot down with an insult of being an ugly giant. By the end of it, both of them were laughing. I turned to look at them to see the genuine smile on Tamora's face and I remembered why I knew I never wanted to leave this world. It was my world, the one I grew up in, the one that I had grown to love my friends. "You know you will have to leave it again." A small voice in my mind spoke up. I looked around and saw no shadowy figures, and the voice gave a little sigh. "I cannot materialize in any form in your world." Hope said gloomily.

I had to remember that I was the only one who could hear her, and while the other two were distracted, I walked a little further ahead and muttered gently, "Then how did you do that healing on my wound?" I recalled the gaping wound that had disabled me on Tamora's bedroom floor here in the real world. I put my hand there instinctively, feeling the skin healed without a trace of ever being hurt.

The little voice chirped up, "That was time magic. I can only use it through and on your body." I could almost see her eyes brighten up at the ability to finally use her powers. "I sped up the time of your natural healing on that one spot." She spoke excitedly. I could not help but smile a little at her obvious pride in her authority over time. It had saved my life.

Then the thought occurred to me. "Well, can't we just go back in time to make it when we were back at school so we can find the last Guardian?" I asked, my voice still a hushed whisper. If we could only do that, then we could find her, go back to the world I wanted, and not have to worry about the time that had pass—

"Absolutely not!" Hope shouted in my head, cutting my plan short. I was surprised by the sudden outburst, and without even hearing a thought from me as to why, she answered it all the same. "If you use my magic here to alter the time flow outside of your body, you will not be able to return to this world once you leave it." Her voice was full of ancient sadness. "This goes for all worlds." She concluded, and I could imagine her eyes closing on those words.

I stopped for a moment and felt my heart jerk with a jolt of agony. "Hope…Did that happen to you?" I asked softly. I could feel her pain, her heartbreak. I wondered if she could remember all of her past even when trapped inside someone else, unlike Yami who could not even remember his own name.

Before the spirit could answer me, Brian was at my side and trying to get my attention. "Marilando…" He whispered into my ear. I growled at the nickname and I moved to smack him, but he jumped back, avoiding my hand. "I was just trying to see if you realized we had arrived." He said, pointing to a gated house.

There, attached by my U-lock to the gate, was my blue bike. I walked over to it, taking out my keys from my backpack and unlocking the lock and slid it into my bag. I wanted to probe the girl inside my head for more information, but I could not with Tamora and Brian's eyes on me. I pulled my bike away from the gate and Brian decided to give me the same bear-hug he had given to Tamora earlier. "Can I grab some snacks from your place, Mari?" His voice was another whine as he smiled innocently at me, using my name as I liked it.

I lifted my hand to get him off of me and was about to reply back when his touch made my heart pulse with a harsh thud. My eyes widened as I the wrist that had come up to throw him off of me revealed to me through a cracked screen the time: 4:44. My breath was caught in my throat as I turned my head to look back at my cousin. His eyes were wide with shock and a little bit of fear, as he tried to let go of me, but could not seem to. I had not realized I was holding my breath until I opened my mouth to gasp in oxygen, but instead words flowed out of me. "Shene Ma Saou Ku Iska!" I reached up to cover my mouth, but it was too late. The blue portal opened above us and my hair whipped around me as if I was being thrown into a whirlwind. I looked out beyond the portal, Tamora's face in utter shock and I noted possibly hints of anger speckled her features before that familiar darkness lulled me to sleep.

…

Sunlight beat against my eyelids and I rolled over to try and ignore the glowing orb's call to me. My shift had me nearly face down in soft grass, which made me smile gently as I could remember the first time I came to the world of YuGiOh, and that I had woken up and was laying on such nice, soft grass like this. At the memory, my eyes shot open and I sat up quickly, looking around. I was in a park, half way under a tree, and I noticed that this tree was not from my world. The people around me all shared the same features as the characters I longed to see. I glanced down at my clothes and smiled brightly. No school uniform. I was wearing my pants and shirt from when I had last been in this world. However, it suddenly hit me. "Where's Brian?" I asked myself aloud, and I stood up to get a better look.

I suddenly heard a crack of a branch above me. I looked directly up and a bright smile met my eyes. There was a girl with long flowing red hair with grey colored eyes who smiled playfully at me as she lay on a branch, clinging to it to support her. "I was wondering when you would wake up." The voice was definitely a higher soprano and bubbly with her giggles. Her eyes narrowed at me as she proceeded to ask. "You are Mari, right?"

My jaw dropped. No…Fucking…Way… I mentally cussed, as I stared at this girl in a tree. It could not be him. That was impossible. I blinked at this girl several times and tried to remember if there was anyone else around us that had been female. I could not remember anyone except for Tamora for the life of me. "A-are you Brian…?" I asked, stuttering a little in my amazement.

Her smile went from cheek to cheek. She tried to stand up to jump down, but the branch cracked again, which sent the girl crashing down to the ground with a scream. I jumped out of the way, afraid to get squashed. She landed with a nice thud right on her rear. She whined in pain as she rubbed her backside gently, wincing a little. "Yeah…It's me." She said, looking at me for support to help her up.

I stood there like a mute for a moment, trying to process this girl. This was an exact duplicate of the Air Guardian in the painting, but it was obviously my very male cousin, Brian, who was operating the wheel of this body. She wore a light green short, yet flowing dress with light blue leggings down to her ankles. Just barely on her feet was a pair of black flats. I finally extended my hand to pick her up and I started to speak as best as I could. "But…Brian…You're a…You're a…"

Before I could finish, Brian cut in with a great big smile and now that she was standing up, she pulled her hand away from me, cupped her hands under her breasts, pushed them upward towards me, and leaned in a little as she said with incredible excitement, "I have boobs now!" She smiled brightly and I groaned. This was definitely Brian. I could feel a headache coming on already.

I shook my head. "I can't believe you're a girl in this world…" I mumbled as I turned to look away, putting a hand over my face with a little bit of my wits gone. If it only was not Brian, I would have loved to have been laughing. Yet, part of me knew this was a serious matter, if not just plain traumatizing for me that would end up costing me lots of money to repair my psyche. "Think up a new name for being here like that." I said, finally sighing and removing my hand from my face. "It's weird for me to call a girl 'Brian.'" I resisted looking down at her chest for verification of his newfound female gender.

The red head perked up and smiled, putting his hand to his cheek. "Done! My name here will be 'Bree.'" She said, nodding at her own approval of her name. I was scared to know how long she had been thinking about this. "I just want to know what your full name is, so we can be cousins here too!" She was too good at being a girl. It scared me.

I let out a soft sigh and reluctantly gave out the name, "Rhea Saffron. " It then hit me. Bree knew we were in a new world without any information. "How…How do you know we're in another world? What do you know about this place?" I asked, my eyes scanning her worriedly. My first thought was that the man who had attacked me might have tried to hurt her too.

Now newly dubbed by her name, Bree looked around and shrugged a little before raising her hand up to begin counting off her reasoning. "One, I'm a girl. Two, I just fell out of a tree and did not wake up, so it's safe to assume I'm not dreaming. Three, everyone looks like they were taken from YuGiOh. Four, the park we are in is the exact same one in Domino city, a.k.a. where YuGiOh is based at. And five, I'd have to be blind and stupid to realize somehow we made it into the world of YuGiOh." She smiled as she elevated her five extended fingers up to me. I nodded and pushed her hand away.

A smile started to form on my lips. It dawned on me that I had family here now too, which made this world a place I never wanted to leave. I lifted my wrist to check the time, but my watch was still broken. A small sigh escaped my lips before I hung my arm around Bree's shoulders and grinned at the girl. "Well, I'll tell you a little story while we go off to meet up with our friends." I winked at her. The other girl smiled, and we walked off towards the Kame Game shop as I started to explain how this whole mess started.

Behind us, a dark shadow watched us from behind the trunk of the tree. Only bright, pure white colored eyes sliced with malice could be seen before the figure disappeared.

…

"So wait." Bree said, disbelief in her voice. "You're telling me that Charity Braxton, the loveliest girl at our school, Tamora, the brute that she is, Rayen Black, the mysterious latecomer to our school, and us two were chosen to save the world?" She asked me, her eyes stained with skepticism. We had made it from the park to the front of the Black Clown game shop, which stood just a few blocks away from Yuugi's house.

I nodded, but shot her a sneer. "If you keep talking that way about girls, you're going to be mistaken for a lesbian." I did wonder if for some strange reason that because of the gender flipping that Bree had experienced if she would now start to like guys. I wondered what his type would be and how I could use it for blackmail in the real world.

Bree sent me a mischievous grin and placed a hand on her hip. "Well, I do still like girls. So, I guess I am one here. Besides…" She said as she raised her hand up to run though her long locks and struck a pose. "I think this body is beautiful enough to ensnare any girl I want, straight or not." The confidence she had was overwhelming. It almost reminded me of a certain CEO that lived around here in this world. Either him or the man who played with dice and owned the shop we passed.

Suddenly, I heard my name being called. "Rhea!" I turned and hoped to see a spikey head of hair, but the blonde locks racing towards we was almost as comforting. As she ran for us, I noticed she was being followed by two others: A girl with soft brown hair and another girl with short chopped hair. Smiles brightened on their faces as they saw I had the red head next to me.

Bree leaned closer to me and said calmly, "Are those the other Guardians?"

"Yep." My short reply stated.

"You think they're gonna tackle us?" A hint of fear was now in her voice.

"Probably." I said, bracing myself for the impact.

There, in the middle of the sidewalk, a dog-pile on both Bree and me commenced. Daida managed to hug to the two of us with such force, she had us nearly off balance. It was when Joan and Cleo came in to hug the three of us at the center when we lost our foothold and toppled over. We all laughed while Bree was seeing stars.

As the Earth and Fire Guardians got up off of the rest of us, we all stood up and beamed at each other. "We've got all five now." I said, breathing a sigh of relief. I knew that things would only get harder from here, knowing we had to fight against an evil who wanted to have the power inside me. The power of Hope. But, just to have all my friends around me gave me the courage to know that it was worth it.

Daida's excitement grew as she started to bounce a little. "I have to show you the surprise then!" She exclaimed, grabbing my hand impatiently. "Come on, come on!" She insisted, pulling me along. I looked to the others, seeing Joan and Cleo nodded in approval while Bree looked as confused as I did. I went ahead and started to move along with the Water Guardian, as she suddenly broke into a run. Bree ran after me, as did Cleo, and we headed full speed towards the Kame Game shop.

Joan lingered behind, her eyes locked on one of the shadows near the alley of a building. Nothing could be heard, but she nodded silently, her eyes flashing white for a moment, before they returned to her bluish green hue. She then turned away and ran off after the rest of us.

…

Rhea: Dear holy Ra, what did you do, Kinakao?

Bree: You're just jealous because I'm prettier than you.

Kinakao: Well, this wasn't an awkward chapter at all!

Daida: I heard a rumor that Kaiba might be in the next chapter.

Cleo: You weren't supposed to tell!

Kinakao: Don't miss out on the next chapter!