Yes, another chapter posted in the same day! It was tough with this chapter, so I think, but it seemed to come out alright. Chapter 26 might not be up until sometime in the middle of the week. I'm sorry, but my mom thinks I've been spending too much time here. I had her read the chapter and she found a few mistakes, so I corrected them. Sorry if we both missed something. Thanks jadedvalley! I think I will look into getting a beta reader!
Alright, sorry if this is too long - or too short (depends on how you readers feel) - but I thought it was good like this. Wow... seems like the story is soon coming to a close. I wish it wasn't, I really like how it is coming along. Well at some points.
I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh! or its characters. I only own my OC: Lynn.
Thank you and please enjoy chapter 25!
"Hey guys, check it out." Tea said, loud enough for the rest of the group to hear, staring out one of the windows of Kaiba's helicopter. Her friend, Tristan came up next to her and glanced out the window beside hers.
"Looks like an aircraft carrier." He murmured.
Mokuba seemed to be slightly in awe. "So this is where those military helicopters were taking us…" He glanced up at his big brother, who seemed completely unfazed by the whole situation.
"Roland," at this the man appeared, "take us down." He ordered, as Roland nodded before disappearing back inside the cockpit.
"I have a bad feeling about this, mates." Valon spoke to his comrades, his sapphire eyes glued to the platform that they were about to land on. "A very bad feeling…"
Lynn glanced at him, raising an eyebrow. "Oh, but you don't get a bad feeling when you're going to duel someone and have a fifty percent chance of losing to them?" She questioned, as Valon remained silent.
The Kaiba Corp. helicopter landed – not too gracefully either. Kaiba was, of course, the first to get out and be greeted by a uniformed officer. Valon and Alister seem to stay back behind the rest of the group – closer to the Kaiba Corp. helicopter. Lynn stood between the two, closer to Valon since she was unsure how Alister felt after she had blurted out how she felt towards him. At least I didn't say, 'I love you'.
"Alight, so what's the reason that your had us come here?" Kaiba questioned, staring at the office coldly.
The man, who had a mustache and seemed to be the captain, spoke calmly yet in a firm voice, "I had my men track you all down because we need your help in dealing with a worldwide threat. And I believe our only hope may lie in a card game."
Yami took a step forward, coming to stand beside Kaiba. "You're right. Someone is using the game of Duel Monsters to wipe out the Earth." He informed him, as the officer changed his gaze to look at him.
Lynn looked at Valon, noticing that he was a little tense by this whole exchange.
"Who better," the officer began, "to stop this menace than the Duel Monsters experts?" He questioned, his gaze turning to Kaiba, whom gave a huff.
"So in other words, you're asking us to do your job?"
"We've been following Dartz around for months, but he leaves no evidence behind." The officer spoke grimly, his tone firm. "With no proof, we can't do a thing about it. And Dartz is no ordinary criminal. Without your help, Mr. Kaiba and Mr. Moto, we have no where else to turn to." He finished.
"Wait so Doma is controlling the country's politics?"
The older man nodded.
"Hmph, national authority is unreliable from the start." Kaiba stated plainly, crossing his arms over his chest and closing his eyes.
Lynn watched as Valon seemed to take a step back towards the helicopter. "Um, Valon…?" She tried, watching as his sapphire eyes looked at her – showing how nervous he really was around these guys. "Do you want to go—" She began, nodding towards the helicopter before stopping and seeing him dash off back inside. "I… guess you do…"
That suddenly movement seemed to catch the officer's eye as he stared straight past the gang and at Alister, who seemed completely bored with this whole event. "You have one of the Doma men with you?" He asked softly, keeping his gaze on the red head.
Yami nodded lightly, turning his head to look back at the three – only to find the two. "Dartz's had told them lies, but now they saw the real truth about who Dartz really is and what he is doing is completely wrong."
"Yeah, but one of them was lost to…" Tristan put a hand on Tea's shoulder, shaking his head lightly just in case Lynn or Alister – also thinking Valon was still present – could hear what she was almost going to say about Raphael.
"I see…" He moved his eyes back to Kaiba and Yami. "Allow us to take you as far as we can go to Dartz's hideout. And even to stock your helicopter with whatever supplies you need."
Kaiba gave a nod, turning and walking through the group and back to his helicopter – obviously informing Roland what the plan was right now. Mokuba ran after him, not wanting to be left behind.
"Hey, do you guys have any food?"
"Tristan," Tea said sternly, narrowing her eyes at him, "this isn't a time to be filling your stomach." She scolded, suddenly a look of concern flashed across her eyes. "We need to focus on getting Yugi and Joey back…" She mumbled to herself, gazing down sadly.
Lynn watched the three, thinking it was unusually strange to find that Joey was missing. The teenager girl gave a small sigh, before turning and running after the Kaiba brothers – mostly wanting to make sure Valon was alright.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Valon whistled lightly, seeing as the sky had darkened and the storm getting worse. "If this keeps up we'll never be able to reach the temple." He stated, knowing it had been a good eleven minutes or so since they had finally left the aircraft carrier – which he was thankful for.
The storm outside seemed to, indeed, be getting worse by the second. Lightening flashed here and there across the sky at random times while the thunder roared as if it was in rage.
The Australian glanced at Lynn, who sat to his right, before at Alister, who was standing on his left. "You're more aloof then usual, Alistar." The red head gave no remark. "Earth to Alistar, is anybody in there?" Silence only followed. "Alistar, can you even here me in there, mate?"
Slowly Valon's lips turned into a frown, giving away with how annoyed he was that Alister hadn't even bothered to tell him to shut up. He quickly turned his attention to Lynn, who was looking out one of the windows. "Mate, is there something on your mind?"
"No, not really…"
He blinked. "Are you sure, mate? You've been really quiet since…" Valon trailed off, remembering how she started acting when she came back from talking to Alister. "Did something happen between you two?"
"Hmm…?" She turned her head to finally have her hazel eyes stare into sapphire ones. "Oh, I'm sorry Valon. I was in my own little world." Lynn sighed, shaking her head before giving him a small smile. "What were you asking me?"
The girl noticed the look of bewilderment come across his face – as if he just figured something out that seemed totally incredible to him. Nudging him, gently, in the shoulder, Lynn asked if he was OK. "Do you need to lie down, Valon?"
A head shake came from him. "Nope, mate! I'm fine only I just remembered that little kid owes me for something." He stood, grinning down at her. "Wait here with Alistar until I come back."
"Wha…!"
The brunette had already left the two, walking over to Mokuba. Kaiba's young brother seemed a little confused on why he was joining him in the first place.
"Hey," Alister spoke gruffly, making Lynn turn her attention to him – nervous to what he had to say to her. She waited for what seemed like eternity, watching as Alister kept standing there and not saying anything.
"Umm… yes, Alister?" she squeaked, cursing herself – in her head – for doing so.
Alister looked down at her from the corner of his eye, his gray eyes holding back all emotions. "Don't think I've grown soft or anything." He stated, watching Lynn nod a few times. "But…" He paused again, looking straight ahead. "I guess I like you too." He grumbled, turning his head so she couldn't see his face any longer.
Before Lynn could say anything, the helicopter gave a sudden sharp jerk. Tea and Mokuba, it seemed, gave a small scream at this and tried to catch their footing – only Mokuba seemed to knock right into Tristan's poor stomach.
"Everyone, stay calm," Yami caught his footing, glancing at his friends to make sure they were alright before at the others, nodding. "Dartz wants us to reach him." He glanced at Kaiba, as if that was only directed to him.
"Oi, the storm seems to be parting!" Valon yelled, watching the storm clouds part and the temple on the island becoming visible. "We're almost there…"
The Pharaoh nodded at Kaiba. "There's no turning back now."
"Let's go." The head of Kaiba Corp. said simply, as the helicopter came to a land in front of the gigantic temple.
"Alright," Yami began as the gang stood outside the temple, his eyes narrowed at it dangerously. He quickly turned to look at Alister and Valon, who both staring at the giant temple as well. "Will you two please take us to Dartz?" He asked, gaining a nod from Valon.
"Lynn," Alister spoke, as Valon began to lead the group into the entrance of the temple. "Stay here, you'll just get in the way." He informed her, as he began walking after the group.
"You and Valon might need me." She insisted, running after him and coming to a walk once she was at his side. "Besides, I'm a part of this too now, remember?" She glanced ahead, as Alister turned his cold gaze to her.
"Fine, but don't expect me to rescue you."
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
"I'm not too fond of the snake motif." Tea said, as they arrived in the large room – where the alter was and stone tablets seemed to have carvings of people.
Kaiba looked at her in disgust. "Then can't you just wait outside?" He remarks as Tea glared at him.
"We must all stick together." Yami told him, his eyes scanning the room.
Tristan came to a halt as his eyes looked at the carvings carefully. "What's with the all the people chiseled in stone?" He questioned, scratching the back of his head. "They almost look realistic…"
"That's because this is where a soul goes once the seal of Orichalcos captures it." Valon informed them, as a loud gasp came from Tea. The Pharaoh's eyes widened as he looked at all the people whose souls were kept in stone. Lynn scooted closer to Alister, never remembering all of this when she was brought to Dartz to be questioned. Her eyes landed on Valon, who was staring at one of the tablets intently. "Mai!"
"Look, there's Weevil." Yami said, as he continued his search for Yugi. He finally found his young companion and ran forward towards the small figure chiseled in one of the smaller stone tablets.
An unwanted laugh came from somewhere in the room, before it slowly stopped and the owner of the laugh spoke, "It's too bad your friends turned out to be such stiffs." Before anything else could take place, a ball of blue fire erupted – quickly dispersing and allowing Dartz to be in its place.
"Due to the careless of my employees, I would be the only one left." His eyes flashed to Valon and Alister – who were now staring at Dartz, eyes narrowed. "But thanks to Miss. River, there," His aqua and gold eyes turned their gaze to the girl, "I am not."
"Who cares?" Kaiba glared at Dartz, who now turned his attention to him. "All I want is my company back, so can the small talk." He finished, taking a step forward towards the man.
Dartz had an amused smile on his face. "All of you want something. I even want something and that is all of your souls on my wall." He gave a small chuckle. "I even was kind enough to pick out which spot to place you all." He pointed up to the tablets that were beside Yugi – which had suddenly cleared.
"Party tricks don't scare me."
"I demand that your release our friends!" Yami cried. "As well as the rest of the souls you captured!"
Lynn quickly glanced up at Alister, who had his eyes narrowed at the person he once worked for. "Alister, maybe we and Valon should go get some air." She tried, only to get no response from the red head. She quickly turned to see Valon walking back over to them, giving Alister a small nod – who had turned his attention to him.
"Lynn," Valon gazed at the girl, "you should go back to the helicopter. Alister and I will help the Pharaoh out as much as we can." He took a glance at his duel disk, then back at her. "We'll be fine, I promise."
"Are you kidding? After I almost lost both of you once already, you're going to risk your souls again?" Valon flinched lightly as she glared at him. "There's no way I'm risking that."
"I told you were you just going to get in the way." Alister mocked as his gray eyes looked down at her form.
"You should actually listen to the girl." Dartz suddenly announced, as the three turned their eyes back to him. "Or would you rather hear the truth about everything?" He gave a smirk – the meanest smirk one couldn't even imagine.
"What truth would that be, eh?" Valon snapped, his eyes glancing quickly to the tablet that Mai's soul was being kept within. Alister, it seemed, remained silent as his eyes only narrowed further – secretly wondering what 'truth' Dartz was about to tell them.
Dartz only gave a menacing laugh.
Ooh... will Alister and Valon hear the truth about what Dartz's did to them? And if they do, will they be able to control their anger and not have the seal reappear and take their souls? Or will they completely lose it and have their souls be taken? What will Lynn do when/if that does happen? Find out next time in chapter 26 of Yu-Gi-Oh! Waking the Dragons!
I want to thank all of you - my readers, my reviewers, and my supporters. And of course the cast of Yu-Gi-Oh! who have been great in working with me on this story. Plus my OC, Lynn. Yay, Alister at least admitted that he liked her too. But how far in liking is it? Again, find out in the next chapter. (Which I'm praying I'll be able to post tomorrow - or later tonight? - but don't count on it...)
Thanks again and feel free to review!