I'M BAAAAAACK!
Bakura: Oh, great, another chapter of this sh-
Ryou: Bakura!
Me: Ugh. Ignoring Baku-kitty-
Bakura: Not a kitty!
Me: I've finally updated this story! For you few readers that I have- I'm not sure how many, I just know I've been barely getting reviews and that most of the reviews I got were from my dad... had to tell him to quit reading!- this is a long chapter for compensation for your long wait... if any of you waited...
P.s. If any of you read my other story Meme Me! which was a meme, you'd know I've been suffering from a terrible case of F.A.I.S.S, Fanfiction Authors Insanity Spike Syndrome. I've got medicine for that now and am feeling a lot better! But I will have crazy tendencies! Now, It's been a while since I had a disclaimer and I feel like I want one right now!
Ryou: So who's going to do that? ...Bakura left the room and now it's only me and you now.
Me: Ry, you should know by now that, when a character is in the same room as the author(ess), the character is the one who does the disclaimer.
Ryou: That's the long version of saying 'me', isnt it?
Me: Yup!
Ryou: *sighs* Hotaru doesnt own Yugioh, Kazuki Takahashi does, she just wishes that he would give it away one day so then she could own it.
Me: I'd bring this series back to life!
Ryou: It'd be filled with Yaoi, then, wouldnt it?
Me: ...Maybeh...
Ryou: ...
Enjoy!
Chapter 25
Lemonie's Story & First Spell
"Should Lemonie tell the whole story or just the reason why she was following suspicious blond?" Lemonie asked.
I banged my head on the table. Will I ever be known as something other than suspicious blond?
"The whole story, if it'd give us good insight." Tèa answered.
"Then Lemonie thinks whole story would be best." She remarked.
The longest time ago, Atlantis was a city of greatness. The Atlantians had created it to last forever…
"And we all know how that turned out." Tristan stated.
"Shush, Tristan." Tèa whispered.
And it did last the longest time, but perhaps the invention of a magical serum helped it.
This serum was created so people could inter-dimensionally travel. It was created after the Atlantians discovered a way with portals, but the serum was created to make traveling simpler.
"Cool… hey, sounds like two people we know…" Joey said.
Everyone, including Lemonie, looked at me and Aeron. This made me a bit nervous. I wasn't going to let them imply that I was related to Atlantis… I'm too boring for that.
"Lemonie, the story?" I urged. Lemonie began her story again and everyone's eyes adverted from me to Lemonie.
Just after this invention was created, a new "race" of Atlantians was born. They were still pure Atlantian, but they were called Atari.
A few centuries later, everyone in Atlantis was Atari, except for one girl. This one girl had been born like the ancients. She had been named Margherita, meaning daisy.
"Margarita? She was named after a beer?"
"Joey… a Margarita isn't exactly a beer. It is an alcoholic drink, yes, but not a beer. Now… QUIT INTERRUPTING‼" Tèa rebuked.
Lemonie sighed.
Once word got out that she couldn't teleport dimensions, she was harshly picked on by other children and even adults. The darkness began to grow inside her as the years passed. She soon became a hateful, dark, cold, and evil Atlantian woman. She had vowed to destroy Atlantis, and that she almost did. Before she could she was defeated by an Atari girl and sealed in a daisy pendant.
Now, millennias later, the pendant was raised out of the water and into the un-refracted sunlight. And she is free…
"Margherita is Lemonie's person. Lemonie is her personal Faerie. And Lemonie really doesn't want Person to get hurt. Person could get hurt for what she is planning to do." Lemonie looked down dejectedly. She obviously cared for this Margherita.
But, Margherita was depicted as evil in her later years. She had good reason to become an angry adult, but not full blown evil. She also seemed very irrational. Although, I hadn't heard every single event in Margherita's back-story.
Wait. She had been evil. She had tried to destroy Atlantis. What would she do now that she was back…?
"Lemonie?" I said carefully. "What is Margherita going to do now, now that she's… free?"
Lemonie looked at me a moment. She seemed to be contemplating on whether or not to trust me. Then she looked at Ryou, Yugi, Joey, and Mokuba.
She looked back at me. She appeared to be studying me. Like she was trying to remember something.
Her eyes widened. She, then, told me something I had guessed. "Person is planning on destroying the world."
Everyone's eyes widened, but no one said anything. Well, everyone but me. My eyes narrowed ever so slightly. I glanced at Yugi and the others. I found that only Aeron had a surprised twinkle in her eye. The others' eyes were glittering with annoyance, anger, or both.
I looked back at Lemonie, who seemed to be staring… at me. Ignoring her gaze, I asked. "Lemonie, do you know anything else? Like where or how she'll strike first?"
"Lemonie doesn't know exactly, but she does know what Person wants and needs for her plan to succeed." Lemonie answered.
"What's that?"
"The Seven Jewel Pyramids."
"The seven what now?" Now it was my turn to be surprised.
"The Seven Jewel Pyramids. Lemonie gave four of suspicious blonde's friends each a pyramid. Sadly, she dropped and lost two of them. The seventh wasn't in the palace under the sea. It is lost." Lemonie responded.
I looked at Aeron. "Um, Lemonie, what color was the lost one?"
"Red."
I nudged Aeron in the side. She took my hint and pulled out her pyramid.
"Oh!" was all Lemonie could say when she saw the ruby object.
"It wasn't lost after all." I simply said.
Everybody had started to talk amongst themselves of what they heard. Joey, though, strained in trying to get everyone's attention. He apparently realized something.
I noticed him, unlike everyone else (including Aeron, which was a bit surprising), and giggled at his vain attempts.
He tried yelling, whistling, and even banging the table. Nothing worked. He rested his head on the table in defeat. At length, I decided to give him a helping hand- mainly to see his reaction; I was in a good mood.
I've never yelled to a group of people before to make them shut up. I always wanted to make sure people liked me, but this opportunity was too good to pass up.
I took a breath to ready myself and then- "YO! SHUT-UP! JOEY'S GOT SOMETHING TO SAY!"
Joey's head snapped up from the table at the same time everyone went quiet.
Wow. I'm good.
All and sundry looked at me in surprise.
"Wow. Didn't know you could yell like that 'Rica." Aeron said, eyes wide.
"I try." Was all I said.
There was a short silence next; everybody, excluding me, was getting over their shock. Many heads turned toward Joey.
"Heheh." Joey laughed nervously. He cleared his throat. "Thanks, Erica, for getting' their 'ttention."
"Welcome!" I replied cheerily.
Next to me, Kaiba smirked. I had a feeling about what was going to be said next.
"Apparently the Mutt's bark isn't as loud today. He used to howl louder than a construction truck." Kaiba teased.
Joey growled angrily, making him sound like a dog, himself. "I ain't a dog, rich boy!"
I resisted the urge to say, 'at least he didn't call you a furry, Joey'. It was so tempting. But had great self restraint.
"Anyway," Joey continued, "I had already said dis, but I feel I need ta evaluate on it."
"What is it, Joey?" Yugi asked.
"Rememba da story? Atlantians gained da powa ta travel through dimensions. Who does dat sound like?"
Crap. Maybe I shouldn't have helped him.
24 eyes rested on me and Aeron now. There was a strange silence. I didn't like it.
Aeron, though, was the one who spoke.
"If you're saying we're Atlantian, then you're sadly mistaken. I know for a fact that I'm Scottish, French, German, Choctaw, and Jewish. I'm not Atlantian." She said. Aeron then looked at me. "But I'm not sure about Erica, though."
I looked at her in shock. "Me? You think I'm Atlantian? For your know, I'm Cherokee, Irish, Italian, Black Dutch, German…" my voice trailed off after that. I knew I had more foreign blood in me than that. I counted all I had in me once, all I knew, and got seven… I just forget what else.
"Anything else?" Aeron laughed.
"Hold on, I'm thinking."
"You forgot, didn't you?"
"Hey! If you had as much foreign blood in you as I do, you'd forget too!"
"Don't forget to count Atlantian."
"Why do you keep insisting I'm Atlantian?"
"Well," Aeron put up her pointer finger (oh boy, a list), "one, look where we are. The story clearly said Atlantians could travel dimensions and I'm pretty sure no other culture can do that. Two, we didn't come here until you solved that puzzle." She motioned to the Millennium Puzzle, which I have kept hung around my neck. "And three, who got the great responsibility of saving the world here, me or you?"
Not knowing what to say, I just lowered my head in defeat and clasped the Millennium Puzzle tightly in my hands. I could ask how she knew I was the one to save the world, but she'd find a reason. She always does. It was rare I won a true battle against her. Probably because, when she and I argue, I jump in without a strategy or facts, she does. And both are good.
There was a diminutive silence, and then Lemonie spoke up.
"If suspicious blond isn't sure, then another story might explain." The tiny Faerie said.
"Another story?" Mokuba spoke up.
"Yes. A legend actually. The legend states: that Person would one day be released and the reincarnation of the Atari girl who sealed her in the pendant would awaken her powers and seal Person away again… or destroy Person… Lemonie forgets which."
I felt eyes dart my way and look back at Lemonie.
"Miss… Lemonie," Atem began, "what does the Atari girl that sealed this evil away look like?"
Lemonie looked thoughtful for a moment, then decisive, then regretful. She sighed. "Lemonie needs a piece of carta."
Everyone looked at her confusedly.
"What?" she asked, confused herself. "Oh, carta. Atlantian for paper."
Heads nodded in understanding and Mokuba ran off to get a piece of paper, since he was the only one who knew where some was and Kaiba was obviously not going to take orders from a Pixie.
The black haired young-teen came back with a blank sheet of white paper. He laid it on the table next to Lemonie and she snapped her fingers.
"Whatever happens, that isn't intended, isn't Lemonie's fault." She declared, which unnerved me.
The Faerie then put her hands on the paper and it began to shine bright with many colors. When the shine dimmed to a calm glow, I leaned toward it for a closer look.
What I saw made my eyes bug out in astonishment.
Every pixel in the picture was glowing like colorful embers. Very sparkly. But that's not what shocked me. It was the fact that the image of a teenage girl that looked way too like me!
The girl in the photo had blond, crinkly hair- like me. Dark blue eyes- like me. Every feature looked like me! Way too freaky!
But there small differences though. The hair was longer, close to the back of her knees, and with lighter highlights. It was even wilder. The eyes were a darker blue and they had tints of green at one corner of the iris and purple at the other. Her features were a bit sharper than mine, at least when I last checked in the mirror mine were smoother.
But these were things that were pretty small. The only beg differences were her clothes and the background. But, that only was because of the time difference.
"She looks exactly like ya, Erica!" Joey shouted out. Apparently, I was the only one to notice the small differences.
Still in shock, I slipped out of my seat and onto the floor next to my chair. My hand rested on the tabletop, but it did nothing else. I did nothing else. I just sat there with the same amazed expression on my face.
Lemonie began to speak as everyone was gawking over the picture. It sounded like the basics of how my counter part sealed Margherita in the pendant. It seems that, my counter part had been living a normal teenage life until Atlantis was almost destroyed by Margherita once. Then Atlantis waged war against her and her troops, people and creatures whom she'd stolen the minds and souls of, something Atlantis never did before. Using magic of her own, my counter part had joined the war and used her magic to defeat many enemies and eventually found a way to get rid of Margherita.
Lemonie had told a bit more than that (and in much more exuberant detail) but I was only half listening. My mind was somewhere else.
Me? Atlantian? What the Ra! This is all happening way too fast! I was just at home, preparing for a fan club, hanging out with Aeron, and being as normal I could and should be. Now I'm here, in the universe of my favorite TV show and learning that I'm an Atlantian who has a destiny bestowed upon her and magical powers! Repeat: What. The. Ra! Do my parents even know about any of the things I know now…?
My thoughts went on that train track for a while. I tried denying it to myself; I tried to believe this was some dream. I tried in vain to wake up. But I couldn't. It was all real. I think I finally snapped. I was learning too much about myself within a short period of time. A 13 year old girl can only take so much!
When this train of thought stopped, I realized. I wasn't truly freaked. It was just an emotion all humans practice and have to be the first to feel at revelations like this. I was actually calm. To know this felt normal, actually, it felt better. I felt refreshed.
Really weird.
Above me, I heard what sounded like Yugi saying, "Hey, where'd Erica go?"
I take it he didn't notice me fall on the floor.
Aeron answered, "Um, I don't know." She leaned in her seat and saw me in the floor (FINALLY! SOMEBODY NOTICED! I was beginning to feel a bit emo there for the lack of acknowledgement!). "Oh! There she is! Erica, what are you doing in the floor?"
Hm. I could either come back with 'What does it look like I'm doing?' or 'Inspecting everyone's shoes.' Which one though? Wait! I know!
"Trying to bang my head on the underneath of the table." I replied.
"Why would you do that?"
I was climbing back into my seat when she said this. Once in my seat, I reached over and whacked the backside of her head.
"OW! What in Ra's name was that for!" she rubbed the back of her head.
"Because shut up!"
That silenced Aeron. I only used that line when I was really mad or really, really happy (also really crazy, but according to Bakura, Atem, and- frankly- Joey, Aeron and I are always that). And I do believe I didn't look to happy just then. More like annoyed at how slow Aeron could be.
… No wonder she liked Joey. They were two peas in a pod.
If I was really paying attention to my surroundings at that moment, I'd have heard Mokuba lean over and whisper to Yugi, "Are they always like this?" And an answered, "Yeah, you get used to it." But I wasn't paying that much attention to all that. I was busy still sorting my thoughts and dealing with an Aeron at a slow period… that came out wrong.
Anyway, I settled back into my seat. My eyes rested on the tabletop for a minute. A thought came to me. If my counter part had powers, and all other Atlantians, did that mean I had magical powers too?
I thought on that a moment. I certainly used them when bringing us here. Did I have others though? Surely so. My counterpart indubitably had more than the power to travel dimensions, if she could seal a living person in a small daisy pendant.
My thoughts were sliced through when I heard someone call my name. It sounded like Duke.
I turned my head to face him.
"Hey, mind telling me what's keeping you so calm?" he asked me. "After learning all this, I'd expect you'd be freaking out."
I smiled. With a laugh, I answered, "Believe me, I'm screaming on the inside."
Again, everyone began to talk amid themselves, including me this time. For some reason, I felt more relaxed. I have no idea why.
But, this all ended when Kaiba spoke up moments later.
"You morons. Haven't you noticed that, even with all we know, we're still at square one?" he said coldly.
How did I know a Kaiba-snide-remark was about to pop up?
Everyone-minus one- went quiet, realizing he was right. Joey, that one, just heard up to the word moron. How I know that? He growled and barked, "Hey! Watch it Rich Boy!"
"Quiet, Joey!" Yugi ordered. Joey hushed. "Besides, Kaiba's right. Even though all that information helped us a lot in understanding what's going on, we are at square one again. We don't know when, where, or even how Margherita is going to strike first." Yugi lowered his head in thought. Then, his head snapped back up. There was a flicker of a thought that passed through his soft eyes. "Unless…" his voiced trailed off.
He looked at me like he had an idea. A few- including Joey and Tristan- looked at me because there were confused and didn't know what Yugi was thinking. The others looked at me with the same glimmer of realization Yugi had. Me…
"Why y'all lookin' at me?" I said, perplexed.
"Erica," Yugi said, hope gleamed in his eyes and shone through in his voice, "although you might not believe it, everything checks out that you're… Atlantian. The story said that they had more than the power to travel. Perhaps you could help us. Perhaps you could-"
I cut him off. "See if I could use my powers to find out where Margherita is and what she is doing." My eyes were downcast and my words were plain. Uncertainty, fear, and disbelief intermingled with each and every word.
"Yeah, that." Yugi said, his tone and voice soft.
I glanced up at Yugi. He looked so hopeful. I glanced around the room. Everyone else- excluding Kaiba, who just looked like… Kaiba- did too. Even little Lemonie.
I looked back down at the brown tabletop. I just couldn't disappoint them. It wasn't in my nature to dishearten. But…
"Yugi, I'm sorry, but… I-I can't." I said. I took a deep breath, readying myself for whatever, continuing, "That first time was an accident! I was just solving a puzzle I got for Christmas from Santa. Next thing I know, I'm here. I don't know how to cast spells and perform magic. I'm not a witch. I'm just… me!" I looked back up at Yugi with eyes that were on the verge of tearing up. "I can't do it! I'm nothing special! I'm Erica Stevenson, a 13 year old girl attending Sunnyside Middle School who just has an overwhelming fetish for a TV show about card games! I'm sorry but I just can't do it!"
What was wrong with me? Just a minute ago I felt calm, relaxed, refreshed, and whatnot. Now, I felt like I was going to cry, I felt scared. I felt… I don't know.
Wait, I do know. Accepting I'm Atlantian, accepting I'm different is easy. But it's the reality of accepting I'm magical that's hard. You want to know something else about me? Ever since I was a little girl, I had wanted to be magical. To be a witch. To be a fairy. To be just mythical. Now, learning I am…
What if I hurt someone? What if I can't control what I am? I can't be this. I'm not... qualified for it.
It's just…
I felt someone grab my shoulders. I was gently spun around. I learned soon it was Aeron. She looked not disappointed, thankfully, but very concerned.
"Erica," she said to me, "get a hold of yourself! What's with the freaking out and waterworks? You can do this!" Aeron looked at me for a moment. Tears streamed freely down my cheeks as she continued with a sigh. "Erica, what happened to you? When we were little, you used to run around the house with a ladle in one hand and an oversized broom in the other yelling Expecto Patronum at every thing that moved the slightest, and I used to watch you and wonder if you had overdosed on that sinus medicine that the doctor forced you to take. You used to dream of being a witch and, years later when you got out of that phase, you'd just want to be magical in some way. 'Like Sailor Moon or Inuyasha' you'd say. What happened to that Erica? I'd think she'd be showing herself right now and doing the Erica Happy Dance©."
Yeah. I used to dream that. Key word: dream.
"Aeron," I choked out, "the fantasies were wonderful. But, the reality…"
Aeron decided she wouldn't let me finish. "Have become one in the same. Erica, please, stop. I know it's hard to believe, but you gotta calm down and try. Really," Aeron continued with a laugh, "coming into the world of your favorite TV show you can believe, but when it comes to magical powers, you freak out? It makes no sense!"
The tears stopped at this. Sensing she was using humor now made me feel better. I produced a fake pout. "You know I have different comfort zones."
Aeron smiled. "There's Erica! Now, are we done with the waterworks?"
I nodded and wiped my eyes. Aeron took her hands off my shoulders. That moment we heard laughter. It was obviously Lemonie's.
We looked at her and simultaneously- "What?"
Lemonie just shook her head. "Powers awaken with realization. Along with awakening powers come messed up emotions. Suspicious blond will be going through moody spells at times. So… waterworks aren't done completely."
Aeron blinked. "Sooo, you mean to say that it'll be the equivalent to when Erica PMS's for a while?"
My face flushed. "AERON!" I yelled.
Aeron ignored me. "How long will this last? Erica can be pretty hard to deal with when-"
"AERON!"
Lemonie giggled at my frantic ways. "Just next two days."
Aeron exhaled in relief. "That's good. I just don't want to deal with-"
I snapped. At Aeron, I shouted, "AERON! IF YOU DON'T SHUT UP I'LL-!"
"Ah!" she yelped. "See?" Aeron said to Lemonie.
Laughter broke out in the room. It seems our new friends found my anger funny. Or they just felt awkward with the conversation. I don't blame them.
After what seemed like forever of everyone's laughter, everyone stopped. Aeron stopped giggling and asked me, "So, Erica-?"
"Fine. I'll try to use whatever powers I allegedly got." I said to her and smiled.
"Good!" Joey cheered, having overheard.
"Finally." Kaiba muttered.
"But… there's one problem." I said.
"What now?" Aeron groaned.
"I don't know how."
Everyone looked at me for a moment before moaning. Lemonie, though, flew up and sat on my shoulder.
"Lemonie can tell suspicious blond. The spell isn't that hard. But we need a big open space in the fresh air." She said.
Well, we have many choices for that. The park being one of them. But Lemonie said something that got rid of that idea.
"A secluded place would be best." Lemonie said.
"How come?" I asked.
Lemonie peered at me with an eyebrow raised. "Does suspicious blond really want to be chased by people with pitchforks?"
My eyes widened. Hurriedly, I said: "NO! No! I'm good! I'm good!"
"Well, if you need an open, secluded place, the KaibaCorp roof is perfect." Mokuba suggested.
"Really? We could use it?" I asked him.
"Yeah, right Seto?" he asked his big brother.
"Sure, whatever." Was all Kaiba said in response.
"See!" Mokuba said to me with a grin.
"Thanks, Mokuba!" I beamed.
… Kaiba really needs to fix these lights. Mokuba's face seems to get pinker every time I talk to him.
"Alright! To da roof!" Joey hollered.
We entered the roof (Ryou: Um, how can you enter a roof? Me: I don't know, Ry, I don't know.) about thirty minutes after the idea of the roof was made. It was past noon now. How we know this? Joey's stomach grumbled loud and clear.
"Sorry." He said. "Hadn't ate since breakfast."
A few of us giggled, a few didn't.
As everyone left the doorway that lead out to the roof, I stayed near it. All around me, all I could see was sky. I'm pretty sure birds were flying in the air beneath us too.
Yugi looked back to me. "Erica, you coming?"
"No, I think I'm fine here." I replied. I grabbed a hold of the door handle.
Everyone was out in the middle now. Joey was standing at the edge letting his toes hang off. Now how can he do that?
If you hadn't noticed, I have a fear of heights. It isn't irrational, but it keeps me away from most high places. But, I can actually handle some, if I've been to them long enough. Take the Swiss Family Robinson Tree House in Disney World, Orlando, Florida, for example. It's pretty high in the air and I can handle it. That's probably because I've been to Disney World more than once, though.
Aeron looked back at me and smirked. Oh joy, here we go.
"Oh, come on Erica. What's wrong?" she drawled, the smirk turning into an evil grin.
"You know very well!" I retorted, gripping the handle tighter.
"Oh, shoot, we're not that high up. Birds are flying only 50 feet below us." Aeron's evil grin grew wider. I'm amazed my fingers hadn't worn imprints into the handle I was holding.
I gulped. 50 feet! Yeah, that tore it. "I'll just stay here, okay!"
Aeron chuckled evilly. Yugi, who had been listening, though, didn't find it so funny.
"You're afraid of heights, Erica?" he asked, concern in his tone.
"A-a a little." I stuttered nervously.
Aeron stopped her chuckling. "Not so bad she can't tell between virtual and reality flights, but pretty bad nonetheless." She still had her smirk though.
"We're not that high." Joey remarked.
"Yeah," Duke agreed, "and only a great gust of wind could knock us off."
If they didn't shut up soon… I swear I was on the verge of opening that door, running down the steps, and kissing the concrete outside of the tower below.
Tristan mustn't have thought I would. "Whoa! People down there are so tiny, ants are bigger than them! They look like fleas!"
"You can't see fleas." Kaiba huffed.
"Exactly!"
I whimpered. Then, because of nerves probably, I swiftly said, "Well-this-has-been-great-but-I-have-to-go-bye!"
I opened the door as fast as I could and was about to run back down when I felt someone grab my arm. I turned around to find Yugi.
"Yugi?" I cocked my head in a questioning look.
"Ignore them." he said. "It's not so bad when you sit in the middle. It's just the edges that can be a bit freaky."
I looked out to the platform nervously. I really hated heights.
"Here," Yugi said as he slipped his hand into mine, "I'll walk with you!"
At first, I followed slowly, but then I was able to walk a bit of a faster pace.
Joey, Duke, Tristan, Bakura, Marik, and Aeron whistled.
"Oh! Shut up!" Yugi yelled back.
I heard Tèa and Ryou laugh. I giggled as well.
When we arrived in the middle, Yugi sat down. He motioned me to do the same. I obliged.
"See, now, this isn't so bad, is it?" Yugi said with a smile.
"I guess not." I replied looking around. Joey was still standing at the edge; Aeron was staring at Joey; Kaiba and Mokuba were talking to each other on the other side of the circular area; Tèa was counting the grey and white clouds. Atem sat not far from us. Ryou, Marik, and Bakura- in that order- sat along the edge with their feet dangling off; Tristan and Duke were plotting something- I really don't know what, but, if I had to guess, it probably had something to do with Serenity, Joey's younger sister; Lemonie… now where'd she fly off too?
Well, she was a tiny Faerie. I probably just couldn't see her.
"Gosh, it's cold up here." Yugi said, trying to start up a conversation.
"Yeah." I responded. "What happened to that Spring-like day? You know, the day Mokuba came over with news about his pyramid?"
"It must've realized it was in the wrong latitude north." (1)
I snickered. It was sort of a nerdy joke. It definitely reminded me of Eldred.
The thought of Eldred made me think of home. What was going on back home in Sunnyside? Had Aeron's Aunt called the police to search for us, since mine were in Peru? Surely she would've called Aeron's or my cell by now to check up on us. What about school? Could've the teachers reported us missing? The Principle? Did they even know we were missing?
… How come I had only thought of this now?
Lost in my thoughts, I hadn't noticed Yugi calling my name.
"Erica? Erica? Earth to Erica!" he said, waving a hand in my face to get my attention.
I shook my head to clear it of those thoughts. "Sorry, Yugi, just thinking." I said cheerfully.
"'Bout what?" he asked, putting his head in his hands.
"Home." I replied.
"You homesick?" he inquired.
"A little. I was just wondering if anyone realized we were missing. I mean, we practically disappeared right in the middle of the school year. Someone should've realized we weren't at school last week."
"Yeah. Hey," Yugi said with a laugh, "'least they'd notice you missing. I haven't been to school in so long, they just forgot I was supposed to be in school!"
I laughed. "Don't they have laws about you going to school here?"
"'Parently not!"
In the corner of my eye, I saw a bright flash of blue light appear behind the door. Said door, then, busted open wide to reveal a very disgruntled Lemonie.
"People left Lemonie in Great Hallways!" she yelled.
"Sorry, Lemonie." I said. Lemonie humphed and flew over to me.
She "stood" in the air. Violet wings fluttering, an angry expression look upon her face, she stood in the stance of a teenage girl with angry attitude. "Now if suspicious blond is ready, we'll start."
I sighed. "As ready as I'll ever be… which ain't much."
Lemonie smiled approvingly and turned to the others, who of which were still talking. She raised her hand in the air and muttered something. All of a sudden, a red flare flew up in the sky and exploded with a loud bang not ten feet above us.
Yugi and I yelped and fell backwards. The others, well…
Joey nearly fell off the building; Aeron caught him and pulled him back, but it resulted in the two falling to the ground (of the roof of course) with a shocked Joey on top of a blushing Aeron. Mokuba jumped into Kaiba's arms. Atem stood up sharply. Tèa, who was laying on the roof, shot up into a sitting position; Duke and Tristan had stopped plotting and now were hugging each other for dear life (did they think a bomb exploded?). Marik, poor Marik, had actually fell off the building. He was lucky Bakura and Ryou had caught hold of his arms before he was out of reach. They were now pulling him up onto the roof.
After they all settled down the rest of the group looked toward me and Yugi. Then, they saw Lemonie floating above us. (We were still on our backs, by the way.)
"Alright." Lemonie yelled at everyone in a boss-like manner. "Every person who is-originally- just here for friends, OUT!"
(Ryou:*exasperatedly* Hotaru, you can't go out of a roof. Me: … but… but… I can't think of anything else! Ryou: *sighs*)
After thinking about what Lemonie said for a moment (you cant go out of a roof), those people who were described as such realized what she meant and left. That meant Tèa, Tristan, Duke, and Marik.
Marik, being the last one who entered the doorway we just left, shut the door behind him. Lemonie turned back to the rest of us. "… Too many extras. Why?"
We just looked at Lemonie. I don't think anyone knew what she meant by that.
Lemonie sighed. "Only people with pyramids stay." She pointed to Bakura. "You," she pointed to Atem next, "and you Lemonie knows for a fact that she did not give pyramids to. Leave."
The two Yamis blinked and looked at their Hikaris for a moment before turning to leave.
After Atem shut the door behind him, Mokuba raised his hand. Lemonie looked at Mokuba and said Kaiba asked, "Um, what about me and Seto? Who owns ours?"
"Lemonie intentionally meant the pyramid for young Mokémon." She simply said. I bit my lip to suppress a laugh. Lemonie, before she got lost, must've heard mine and Aeron's conversation on our way up here. We were talking about a YGO Abridged episode entitled "Who's that Mokémon?"
Mokuba blinked. "…Mokémon?" he looked at his older brother. "Does she mean me?"
"I have no idea. But I know that she better not mean me!" Kaiba answered back.
I let out a short sigh. "She means you Mokuba."
"How do you know?" he asked.
I looked at him for a moment. I really wanted to laugh, but I was able to not to. I looked at Aeron. She seemed to be having a harder time. Peering back to Mokuba, I said, "You might not want to know."
"Is it something really bad?" he persisted.
Aeron spoke up this time. "Mokuba, do you like Pokémon?"
"Um, it's an alright show. I've never really been ecstatic about it… but it's okay."
"It has something to do with that."
That is where the conversation ended.
Lemonie motioned for Kaiba to leave. He, reluctantly, did so. He had already argued that he was able to hold the pyramid also, but Lemonie had sent him off all the same muttering something about forgetting to put a spell on it.
Joey seemed happy.
… At his happiness, Aeron was too. God, her and crush! I wonder if I'm the only one who can clearly prove that it is obvious that she has one. Surely Yugi or someone else had noticed.
… Hey, wouldn't it be funny if Joey noticed?
… Oh, c'mon! You know it would!
Anyway, Lemonie then motioned the rest of us- which was me, Aeron, Joey, Yugi, Ryou, and Mokuba- to the side. She then performed some sort of spell.
The next thing I knew the floor beneath us was gone and I had splashed into the cold water of a giant fish tank. Just then, the Jaws theme music came out of nowhere and there was a gigantic shadow swimming towards us. A shark fin popped out of the water just above the shadow. As the music sped up, I saw a giant shark head. Rows upon rows of bloodstained teeth grinned at me.
I wonder who screamed the loudest. I also wonder where that girlish scream came from, because I know the sound didn't come from either me or Aeron.
"OOPS! SORRY!" Lemonie shouted over our screams of pure terror.
Right when the shark was two inches from us, it all disappeared and we were sitting on concrete again.
Behind us, the door opened. Atem, Marik, and, surprisingly, Bakura stuck their heads out.
"We heard screaming." Atem explained.
"We were wondering if you were ok." Marik added.
"We also heard a peculiar shriek. We wondered if you two girls were ok since we're gentlemen." Bakura said.
I resisted the urge to say that he was overestimating himself and said instead, "Well, if you mean that girly shriek, it wasn't us. So stop trying to be a gentleman Bakura."
Bakura grimaced and stuck his head back in the door. I could hear laughter from inside.
Atem looked toward Yugi. "What happened, Yugi?" he asked.
Yugi blinked once before plainly stating like it was no big deal, "Lemonie performed a spell that put us in the same tank as Jaws the shark."
Atem's eyes widened and began to object when Yugi just told him everything would be alright and shooed him off. It ended up being quite funny so I took a video of it to sell to Bakura later.
Marik was the only one that remained. "…Whose scream was that though?" was all he asked.
Aeron and I looked at the boys. Mokuba, Yugi, and Ryou shook their heads in saying it wasn't them. Joey, though, looked down sheepishly.
Giggling, I turned to Marik. "Does that answer your question?"
Biting his lip afterwards, Marik replied, "Yup."
He stuck his head back in the door. Again, laughter.
"Hey! You'd scream too if ya'd known ya were 'bouts ta die 'n a shark movie reference!" he yelled at the door.
Ryou put a hand on his shoulder. "Calm down, Joey."
"Yeah, Joey," Aeron said, "you've been listening to mine and Erica's conversations for too long."
I snickered.
Lemonie tried again. This time, white chalk lines appeared. There was a circle drawn in the center. A big one. It kind of divided the platform we were on in two. In the middle of the circle was a hexagram (also known as the Star of David). Lines jutted out to the edges of the circle from the points of the six sided star.
Joey took a look at the drawing and blurted out, "Ay, couldn't we do dis ourselves?"
"Yes," Lemonie retorted, "but humans take too long and Lemonie really needs to get going on showing suspicious blond how to do spell so she can do it."
Joey said no more as Lemonie flew up to me and motioned me to follow her. I did so and ended up standing in the middle space of the hexagram.
"Sit down." Lemonie instructed. I did so.
"So," I asked, "how do we do this thing?"
"You'd scream too if ya'd known ya were 'bouts ta die in a shark movie reference!" came a muffled, angry, voice from the door.
"What's going on out there?" Tèa asked, worried.
"The little titch made a mistake in a spell and nearly killed the gullible idiots out there." Bakura answered.
"A pot shouldn't call a kettle black, Bakura." Tristan stated.
"What does kitchenware have to do with this?" the Thief King asked in reply.
The others who were stuck behind the door just shook their heads.
"You're an idiot." Atem told the white haired Yami.
"Ah, ah, ah." Bakura said to Atem, wagging his pointer finger. "You should be nice to me."
"Why?"
"Because, the girls sold me a picture that you might not want to get out."
"They already sold you that?"
"About a week ago actually, the day we came over with our pyramid. They printed it off the computer not a few days ago and gave it to me."
"So? Go ahead. I've done stupider… wait that came out wrong."
Everyone but Atem began to giggle, and, because of his protests, began to laugh.
Lemonie had just finished teaching me the spell when I heard laughter come from behind the door. Lemonie, my friends, and I turned to the door.
"Now, what's so funny?" Yugi stated. I shrugged.
"Ok. You five," Lemonie pointed to those standing next to the door, "keep a hold onto your pyramids tightly. Lemonie doesn't want to gather them up from the ground below in pieces."
Everyone took their pyramids out and held onto them.
"Why do we need these again (at the moment)?" Joey asked.
"Because, suspicious blond needs to use their power to locate their brothers. That is the only way to find Person. Person isn't stupid, she is smart, so Lemonie would be surprised if Person didn't have the other two pyramids by now."
"I feel like a monk meditating." I thought aloud.
Lemonie turned to me. "Ok. Just do what Lemonie said, and suspicious blond can start."
Gulping, I closed my eyes. I was facing toward Atlantis, which made me feel like… well a person from that one religion that has to face the city of Mecca to pray. I forget what it's called. I think it's Jewish. How I forgot, I'll never know. Facing this way gave my friends a side view of me. In truth, I'd rather have complete privacy for this but, hey, you don't always get what you want.
I focused on the darkness in front of my eyes and the darkness that lead to my soul room (apparently, soul rooms are common within everybody).
Once inside, I couldn't hear or see anything in the real world. Games and toys littered the ground at my feet and the walls with the hieroglyphics stared at me.
The white door with the blue orbs was still there. I walked over to it and opened it. Sauntering inside, I headed to the golden daisy print on the wall. The silks on the floor slid under my feet.
I placed my right hand on the center of the daisy and whispered, "Erakutsi Nire zuten."
The room began to shine with white light. I covered my eyes to keep it from blinding me. I, in truth, felt nothing happening. But, I knew there was.
"Did she start 'er whatchamacallit yet?" Joey asked.
"For the tenth time, Joey, I DON'T KNOW!" Yugi snapped.
"Alright! It was jus' a question! Don't have ta get snappy!"
Aeron sighed. She looked at her friend. I hope Erica's alright over there.
The blond had been sitting there motionless and silent for a good five minutes now. Not a hum or twitch! It began to worry Aeron; she had no idea what this spell was going to do or what would happen. It freaked her out.
The next thing she heard was a warning from Mokuba. "Guys! Look at the pyramids!"
Everyone looked down at their pyramids (most of which were in their owners laps or on the ground in front or beside of their holders).
They were glowing.
Where was I? It looked like I was in the sky. Weird.
I looked down at myself, my hands. I was see through! What the heck!
I looked down below me. I was floating above what looked like a small-ish town. The concrete far below should've made me scared, but I guess the fact that I was see through kept me from being, well, scared.
"Here're the pyramids you wanted Margie."
My eyes widened. What?
I looked down again, but to my right this time. There was an alley there. Inside the alley were three teenagers and a purple haired woman.
The teenagers had given the purple haired something. My breath caught in my throat when I saw what it was. Two gemstone pyramids. One of Emerald and the other of Clinohumite (an orange gemstone).
"Margie?" the purple haired woman inquired. "Is that my nickname from you?" the adolescents nodded sheepishly. 'Margie' sighed. "I would rather my minions call me Master or Margherita. Or Master Margherita." She then continued in a murmur. "Yes I like that one."
My eyes amplified in horror. This was the Margherita we were to battle? She hardly looks that menacing. Although, I hadn't seen her angry yet.
"What now, Master Margherita?" one teenage girl said. She and what must have been her sister both had jet black hair and dark brown eyes.
"Well, Kara, we must now find the rest. There are five more." Margherita said.
"Where are they, so we may get them?" Kara's sister asked.
"I will have to fly you there. A few days' flight and then you'll be in reach. Remember though, you can only win the pyramids off of those stupid mortals." she looked pointedly at the third teenager, a dark-skinned boy. "You can not steal them."
The boy's hand shot up in the air.
"No, Logan, I already told you cannot keep them." Margherita deadpanned.
Logan put his hand back down and looked to the ground. "I thought maybe you forgot."
Margherita face-palmed.
"Margherita," Kara's sister said, "how do we win these pyramids off of our enemies?"
"You challenge them, Sara, to something." Margherita explained; she apparently wasn't in any hurry. "Anything really. As long as it's something you can win. You can use dice, cards, monopoly money, I really don't care. So long as you get those five pyramids."
Sara, Kara, and Logan nodded.
Margherita crossed her arms and closed her eyes. "Oh, and one more thing. The seven pyramids together don't have enough power for what I plan to do. I also need 13 souls. Two for each of the first six, you see."
"What of the 7th pyramid?" Logan asked.
"The thirteenth soul that I need has to be a powerful one. It will be worth the two needed for the seventh and more… depending on the amount of sparks the soul has."
"Sparks?" the three minions said in unison.
"You mean you don't know what sparks are?" Margherita deadpanned.
The three shook their heads.
The villain looked as though she was resisting the urge to slap her forehead in disbelief. She sighed. "I'll explain it on the way."
The next and last thing I saw of the group was four crows flying off toward the East.
Bright light blinded me before I was sent hurling back to my body on top of KaibaCorp Tower.
I opened my eyes to see that I was back where I belonged, in my body and not floating above a random city like a ghost. I gasped at the sudden return. I also felt a bit light headed.
I heard collective shouts as Yugi, Aeron, Mokuba, Joey, and Ryou pelted towards me. They were all asking me what happened and if I was okay and things like that. Because of my swimming head, I couldn't make out one question from another.
"YO ONE QUESTION AT A TIME PLEASE!" I shouted, closing my eyes and holding my head with a hand.
A silence fell between my friends. Lemonie, who had just floated casually up by that time, asked what everyone seemed to want to know. "What did suspicious blond see?"
My waters that made my head swim calmed a bit. I opened my eyes and looked at Lemonie and the others. "Y'all ain't gonna believe this." I chuckled, letting the country accent I got from my dad's side of the family show.
(1)- I'm using the English names so I just made them North.