Flame: Sorry I'm taking so long. I know, it's been a while, but. . . .
ff.net has been having problems. I couldn't get the new chapter to show up
in the uploaded document manager thingy. Sorry, not my fault. I had this
ready and everything on Tuesday.
Dancer: Owie.
Flame: Yes, Dancer has finally proven herself to be the ultimate klutz. She sliced up her hand, in between the middle and ring finger, three days ago. How'd she do it? She walked into a doorframe. Bled a lot, and it's kinda deep, but she's okay now. Well, actually, we found out that aspirin is some sort of sugar amplifier, so if she takes aspirin, she's not allowed to drink Pepsi.
Also, even though I think I know what the general response will be, I got a review suggesting that the story be turned into yaoi. . . like, Seto/Shay yaoi. Any opinions?
And AngelStarFire? You only get one turn to say anything.
I need ideas for this story, too. Any help would be appreciated, and I will thank all those who offer it at the beginning/end of the next chapter. . . . whether or not I use the idea.
And yes, I have gone back to making up my own words. Most of the time the meaning is clear, so it should be fine. Just remember, Shay didn't exactly receive a first-rate education. . . . . . ^^;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;
Disclaimer: I do not own YGO or Battosei. I only own Shay. Wish I owned a talking computer, though. Minus the attitude problems.
~*~*~*~*~
My life, or life after death, or whatever, returned to its normal, boring pace after the whole dodanko thing. I went back to wandering the house, especially the basement.
Due to the lack of things to do, I discovered something, or more rather someone, that Kaiba had probably hoped I'd never meet.
So it's partially Kaiba's fault for not giving me something to do during the day.
Just thought I'd clear that up.
The basement is actually split in half by a wall. I saw the well-hidden door and decided to investigate.
I floated through the wall and found myself in a large room made to look a lot smaller by the huge computer in it. High-tech room. Better than Kaiba's office upstairs.
The office upstairs is for business, I figured. This is the beauty that does all the fun, albeit highly illegal, stuff. Like hacking. Funny, I never figured Kaiba to be a hacker- or maybe that's just one of the many things he does, and it pales in comparison.
Well, it explains why he's got to hide it. Or shove it into a corner of the basement and hide the door.
I wandered over and looked up at the screen. I was floating about a foot above the ground, yet I had to look UP to see the screen.
The screen was blank, just totally blue. Some numbers were flickering in the top left corner, but I ignored them.
The room was bare and dark, with only the computer. I frowned as I looked around.
Nothing. The guy practically lives down here, yet there's no clue that anyone has ever been in here.
"Who's there?!"
Given my previous reactions to these sort of situations, I think I reacted well. I managed to keep from yelling, but it did take a bit of mental effort to pry myself off the ceiling.
I looked around, panicked, but saw no one. I sighed and rested my head against the palm of my hand. Just my imagination. Or so I thought.
"Hey, you can fly?"
This time I did yell. And this time I didn't come down off the ceiling. I was more interested in finding who was speaking to me. It was a female voice, one I'd never heard before.
"Hey, you can come down. I'm not gonna hurt you."
I looked around suspiciously. Nothing. No one. Just the computer. Maybe something like an intercom?
"You're looking right at me," the voice continued. I scowled and looked closer.
The words that had been said by the mysterious person were written on the computer screen.
"Waddya know," I muttered. "A talking computer."
"Ten points to the bright lad on the ceiling. Now, would you mind getting down?"
If I could blush, I probably would have right then.
"You must be the ghost Master has been talking about," she mused as I floated down. I blinked and frowned.
"Who?"
"You. Ghost. Shay, right?"
I decided to ignore her sarcasm and take the words at face value.
"No, no, no. You said Master."
"Kaiba. Seto Kaiba. Ever met him? No?" she added before I could so much as open my mouth again. "Funny, because he talks about you a lot."
And I'll bet anything none of what he has to say is very flattering.
"He built you?" I asked. She made a positive humming noise. "He built this entire. . . . room?" Again with the hum. I looked around, amazed.
My opinion of Seto Kaiba just went up about three notches.
"You know, you're somewhat famous in here," the computer said, snapping me out of my reverie.
"I am? Why?"
"Took us, Kaiba and me, three hours to find that info on you. Three hours," she repeated. "That's a new record. Normally it only takes an hour at the most."
For three hours, Kaiba searched for all info on me. I don't know whether to be flattered or insulted- it could be that he actually cared, or maybe he just thought helping me find out who I was would get me out of his house all the sooner.
"He also told me to warn him if you ever came down here, but I won't. You're too amusing."
Now that was a flat-out insult, but I ignored it.
"Warn him? How? He's in school."
"I've got his cell phone number."
He carries a cell phone around with him at all times in case I happen to wander across his precious, insultive computer. Gotta love his faith in me.
"So, you can call him up and drag him out of school? What's he gonna say to his teacher? 'Sorry, my household ghost found my illegal computer in the basement and I have to make sure he doesn't destroy anything.'?"
"Actually, he won't say sorry."
"That's right. The bastard's never said sorry, has he?"
"In all reality, he won't say much of anything. He'll just walk out. He's Seto Kaiba; he's allowed to do that."
"He can randomly walk out of school without saying a word? All it takes is one phone call? And they say money can't buy happiness."
"They don't care if he's got all the money in the world. They're more worried about what he and his company can and might do to them if they annoy him."
"What? Buy the school and start selling real food at lunch? Make the janitors clean out the garbage cans more than once a month? Actually pay the teachers the salary they deserve? It's a school, it's public-owned. Kaiba couldn't touch it even with all the power in the world."
She processed this in relative silence. Then,
"You don't know Seto Kaiba very well, do you? If you think he'll actually-- -"
"I know him better than any normal person should ever want to know him. I've seen more than---- NO!!!!"
"You've seen more of what? Kaiba?"
"I can't hear you, I can't hear you, la la la." I covered my ears with both hands.
"How'd you do that? Walk in on him during a bath?"
"I can't hear you, I can't hear you!!!!"
"While he was asleep?"
"I CANNOT HEAR YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
"Bingo," she muttered triumphantly. "So how big----"
"You can stop right there, or I pull the plug," I said evenly, the power cord in my hand. She shut up.
"Where is the goddamn mute button?" I asked myself as I studied the console. Lots of buttons, lots of shapes, lots of colors. No labels. Of course.
"What would happen if I started randomly pushing buttons?"
"You'd have about three minutes, cause I just called Kaiba."
"A blackout in Hollywood, a deadly virus spread to every computer in current existence, an earthquake in Switzerland, and every last drop of money transferred to one Bob Joe Smith's account," I muttered.
"Now, hold on there. I think you're overestimating me a bit much."
"Toilets in Paris all suddenly back up, every left shoe in the country of Canada bursts into flame, and all the cockroaches in the world do the Macarena before taking a swim to Antarctica."
"Now I KNOW you're giving me way too much credit."
"Random doctors in the middle of surgery suddenly decide to act like ducks, all cats start chasing dogs, every tuna fish does a Jaws impression, and the plagues of Egypt suddenly return and cast themselves upon everybody whose last name begins and ends with 'Q'."
"You have serious problems in the head. Did you know that? Several of them."
"And after all that, I still have two minutes left."
"KAIBA!!!!! HURRY UP!!!!!! I DON'T WANNA BE ALONE WITH HIM ANYMORE!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
"Let's see. . . . . ." I muttered. Picked a bright blue triangle and pressed it.
Nothing happened.
"I LEARNED MY LESSON!!!!!! HEEEEEEEEEELLLLLLLLP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
"There went all the left shoes," I announced with a grin. Red circle. I pushed it.
The lights in the room went on, then right back off again. They repeated this several times. I felt like I was standing right under lightning flashes.
"And the blackout in Hollywood," I said. "We need the power here, just to mess with the lights." Another button. I pushed it.
The computer, who had been howling for her master, suddenly went silent.
"That must have been the computer virus. I guess you got it too."
On screen, covering most of the blue, rolled two alternating words:
KAIBA!!!!!!! HELP!!!!!!!!! KAIBA!!!!!!! HELP!!!!!!!!!
Three more buttons, two of which had no effect. The one that did set off some sort of music. It was picking up a radio station.
"The cockroaches are now doing the Macarena, the plagues of Egypt have returned, there went all the money in the world to that lucky bastard Bob Joe Smith."
I saw a purple button, reached over to push it.
A pair of very strong hands grabbed me by the back of my shirt and hauled me away from the computer. I had enough time to squawk in surprise before I was slammed into the ground and pinned there by a foot.
Kaiba kept his foot on me as he leaned over and unpushed all of the buttons I'd pushed.
"Aren't you supposed to be swimming to Antarctica right now?" I asked, then blinked. He was soaking wet. "Or did you already try?"
Kaiba was mad, I could see it. He was shaking from repressed anger, and being soaked to the bone probably didn't help.
He kneeled down next to me, replaced his foot with his elbow, and dropped his face next to mine.
"Never come down here again."
"What'd I do?"
"Literally?" he asked. I nodded. "You had the gates opening and closing, the sprinklers had exploded and were spraying water everywhere, and you turned on the disco lights. My front lawn is now just about any and every color in the rainbow."
"You have disco lights?"
"Mokuba's doing, I'm sure, because last I checked, we didn't. And that purple button you were about to push would have caused a power blackout within a ten-mile radius."
"In Hollywood?"
"No. Here."
He couldn't have been as mad as I thought. In fact, he was almost smiling.
"Sorry," I tried.
"Just. . . . . out," he ordered.
I floated through the ceiling, but I could still hear it when he finally burst out laughing.
Dancer: Owie.
Flame: Yes, Dancer has finally proven herself to be the ultimate klutz. She sliced up her hand, in between the middle and ring finger, three days ago. How'd she do it? She walked into a doorframe. Bled a lot, and it's kinda deep, but she's okay now. Well, actually, we found out that aspirin is some sort of sugar amplifier, so if she takes aspirin, she's not allowed to drink Pepsi.
Also, even though I think I know what the general response will be, I got a review suggesting that the story be turned into yaoi. . . like, Seto/Shay yaoi. Any opinions?
And AngelStarFire? You only get one turn to say anything.
I need ideas for this story, too. Any help would be appreciated, and I will thank all those who offer it at the beginning/end of the next chapter. . . . whether or not I use the idea.
And yes, I have gone back to making up my own words. Most of the time the meaning is clear, so it should be fine. Just remember, Shay didn't exactly receive a first-rate education. . . . . . ^^;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;
Disclaimer: I do not own YGO or Battosei. I only own Shay. Wish I owned a talking computer, though. Minus the attitude problems.
~*~*~*~*~
My life, or life after death, or whatever, returned to its normal, boring pace after the whole dodanko thing. I went back to wandering the house, especially the basement.
Due to the lack of things to do, I discovered something, or more rather someone, that Kaiba had probably hoped I'd never meet.
So it's partially Kaiba's fault for not giving me something to do during the day.
Just thought I'd clear that up.
The basement is actually split in half by a wall. I saw the well-hidden door and decided to investigate.
I floated through the wall and found myself in a large room made to look a lot smaller by the huge computer in it. High-tech room. Better than Kaiba's office upstairs.
The office upstairs is for business, I figured. This is the beauty that does all the fun, albeit highly illegal, stuff. Like hacking. Funny, I never figured Kaiba to be a hacker- or maybe that's just one of the many things he does, and it pales in comparison.
Well, it explains why he's got to hide it. Or shove it into a corner of the basement and hide the door.
I wandered over and looked up at the screen. I was floating about a foot above the ground, yet I had to look UP to see the screen.
The screen was blank, just totally blue. Some numbers were flickering in the top left corner, but I ignored them.
The room was bare and dark, with only the computer. I frowned as I looked around.
Nothing. The guy practically lives down here, yet there's no clue that anyone has ever been in here.
"Who's there?!"
Given my previous reactions to these sort of situations, I think I reacted well. I managed to keep from yelling, but it did take a bit of mental effort to pry myself off the ceiling.
I looked around, panicked, but saw no one. I sighed and rested my head against the palm of my hand. Just my imagination. Or so I thought.
"Hey, you can fly?"
This time I did yell. And this time I didn't come down off the ceiling. I was more interested in finding who was speaking to me. It was a female voice, one I'd never heard before.
"Hey, you can come down. I'm not gonna hurt you."
I looked around suspiciously. Nothing. No one. Just the computer. Maybe something like an intercom?
"You're looking right at me," the voice continued. I scowled and looked closer.
The words that had been said by the mysterious person were written on the computer screen.
"Waddya know," I muttered. "A talking computer."
"Ten points to the bright lad on the ceiling. Now, would you mind getting down?"
If I could blush, I probably would have right then.
"You must be the ghost Master has been talking about," she mused as I floated down. I blinked and frowned.
"Who?"
"You. Ghost. Shay, right?"
I decided to ignore her sarcasm and take the words at face value.
"No, no, no. You said Master."
"Kaiba. Seto Kaiba. Ever met him? No?" she added before I could so much as open my mouth again. "Funny, because he talks about you a lot."
And I'll bet anything none of what he has to say is very flattering.
"He built you?" I asked. She made a positive humming noise. "He built this entire. . . . room?" Again with the hum. I looked around, amazed.
My opinion of Seto Kaiba just went up about three notches.
"You know, you're somewhat famous in here," the computer said, snapping me out of my reverie.
"I am? Why?"
"Took us, Kaiba and me, three hours to find that info on you. Three hours," she repeated. "That's a new record. Normally it only takes an hour at the most."
For three hours, Kaiba searched for all info on me. I don't know whether to be flattered or insulted- it could be that he actually cared, or maybe he just thought helping me find out who I was would get me out of his house all the sooner.
"He also told me to warn him if you ever came down here, but I won't. You're too amusing."
Now that was a flat-out insult, but I ignored it.
"Warn him? How? He's in school."
"I've got his cell phone number."
He carries a cell phone around with him at all times in case I happen to wander across his precious, insultive computer. Gotta love his faith in me.
"So, you can call him up and drag him out of school? What's he gonna say to his teacher? 'Sorry, my household ghost found my illegal computer in the basement and I have to make sure he doesn't destroy anything.'?"
"Actually, he won't say sorry."
"That's right. The bastard's never said sorry, has he?"
"In all reality, he won't say much of anything. He'll just walk out. He's Seto Kaiba; he's allowed to do that."
"He can randomly walk out of school without saying a word? All it takes is one phone call? And they say money can't buy happiness."
"They don't care if he's got all the money in the world. They're more worried about what he and his company can and might do to them if they annoy him."
"What? Buy the school and start selling real food at lunch? Make the janitors clean out the garbage cans more than once a month? Actually pay the teachers the salary they deserve? It's a school, it's public-owned. Kaiba couldn't touch it even with all the power in the world."
She processed this in relative silence. Then,
"You don't know Seto Kaiba very well, do you? If you think he'll actually-- -"
"I know him better than any normal person should ever want to know him. I've seen more than---- NO!!!!"
"You've seen more of what? Kaiba?"
"I can't hear you, I can't hear you, la la la." I covered my ears with both hands.
"How'd you do that? Walk in on him during a bath?"
"I can't hear you, I can't hear you!!!!"
"While he was asleep?"
"I CANNOT HEAR YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
"Bingo," she muttered triumphantly. "So how big----"
"You can stop right there, or I pull the plug," I said evenly, the power cord in my hand. She shut up.
"Where is the goddamn mute button?" I asked myself as I studied the console. Lots of buttons, lots of shapes, lots of colors. No labels. Of course.
"What would happen if I started randomly pushing buttons?"
"You'd have about three minutes, cause I just called Kaiba."
"A blackout in Hollywood, a deadly virus spread to every computer in current existence, an earthquake in Switzerland, and every last drop of money transferred to one Bob Joe Smith's account," I muttered.
"Now, hold on there. I think you're overestimating me a bit much."
"Toilets in Paris all suddenly back up, every left shoe in the country of Canada bursts into flame, and all the cockroaches in the world do the Macarena before taking a swim to Antarctica."
"Now I KNOW you're giving me way too much credit."
"Random doctors in the middle of surgery suddenly decide to act like ducks, all cats start chasing dogs, every tuna fish does a Jaws impression, and the plagues of Egypt suddenly return and cast themselves upon everybody whose last name begins and ends with 'Q'."
"You have serious problems in the head. Did you know that? Several of them."
"And after all that, I still have two minutes left."
"KAIBA!!!!! HURRY UP!!!!!! I DON'T WANNA BE ALONE WITH HIM ANYMORE!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
"Let's see. . . . . ." I muttered. Picked a bright blue triangle and pressed it.
Nothing happened.
"I LEARNED MY LESSON!!!!!! HEEEEEEEEEELLLLLLLLP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
"There went all the left shoes," I announced with a grin. Red circle. I pushed it.
The lights in the room went on, then right back off again. They repeated this several times. I felt like I was standing right under lightning flashes.
"And the blackout in Hollywood," I said. "We need the power here, just to mess with the lights." Another button. I pushed it.
The computer, who had been howling for her master, suddenly went silent.
"That must have been the computer virus. I guess you got it too."
On screen, covering most of the blue, rolled two alternating words:
KAIBA!!!!!!! HELP!!!!!!!!! KAIBA!!!!!!! HELP!!!!!!!!!
Three more buttons, two of which had no effect. The one that did set off some sort of music. It was picking up a radio station.
"The cockroaches are now doing the Macarena, the plagues of Egypt have returned, there went all the money in the world to that lucky bastard Bob Joe Smith."
I saw a purple button, reached over to push it.
A pair of very strong hands grabbed me by the back of my shirt and hauled me away from the computer. I had enough time to squawk in surprise before I was slammed into the ground and pinned there by a foot.
Kaiba kept his foot on me as he leaned over and unpushed all of the buttons I'd pushed.
"Aren't you supposed to be swimming to Antarctica right now?" I asked, then blinked. He was soaking wet. "Or did you already try?"
Kaiba was mad, I could see it. He was shaking from repressed anger, and being soaked to the bone probably didn't help.
He kneeled down next to me, replaced his foot with his elbow, and dropped his face next to mine.
"Never come down here again."
"What'd I do?"
"Literally?" he asked. I nodded. "You had the gates opening and closing, the sprinklers had exploded and were spraying water everywhere, and you turned on the disco lights. My front lawn is now just about any and every color in the rainbow."
"You have disco lights?"
"Mokuba's doing, I'm sure, because last I checked, we didn't. And that purple button you were about to push would have caused a power blackout within a ten-mile radius."
"In Hollywood?"
"No. Here."
He couldn't have been as mad as I thought. In fact, he was almost smiling.
"Sorry," I tried.
"Just. . . . . out," he ordered.
I floated through the ceiling, but I could still hear it when he finally burst out laughing.