Chapter 50
'Are you okay?' Jaden found himself studying Chumley as they walked along. 'Only you seem a little… quiet.'
'So would you be, if someone just held a dagger to your throat.'
'Yeah I guess,' he tried to shake his uncertainties. 'So where exactly is Sy's body?'
'Not far.'
'Well how far is not far exactly?'
'Not far,' he gave a callous shrug, 'how much more do you need to know?'
'I was just wondering,' he narrowed his gaze on him. 'Are you sure you're okay?'
'I'm fine,' he folded his arms defensively.
'Are you sure, only you seem…' suddenly his eyes caught sight of something gold on Chumley's right wrist.
'Only I seem what?'
'Never mind,' he shook his head and forced a tight smile. 'Is that Sy just up ahead,' he pointed towards a heap on the ground just ahead of them.
'Looks that way to me.'
'Do you know why Nayta challenged him and not you?'
'You really should ask her that.'
'Did you see the duel?'
'What's with the tenth degree,' he rolled his eyes.
'I just want to know what happened.'
'You know, don't you?'
'Know what?' He blinked at him in innocent confusion.
'Don't play dumb you arrogant little runt,' he lifted his right arm, causing the cuff to turn into a gold dueldisk. 'But then, from what I know of you, playing dumb is pretty much all you can do.'
'I wouldn't know about that,' the heap which was Syrus got to his feet, 'he's definitely a good duellist and would make for a much more fitting host for one of us.'
'Is he compatible?' Chumley shot him a look.
'Not completely, but he's definitely more compatible than either of the hosts we have right now,' Syrus folded his arms as he arrived by Chumley's side. 'He's going to be a tough one to beat though, want a little help.'
'No, I think I can take him,' Chumley smirked and fixed his gaze on Jaden.
'I'm not duelling you Chumley,' Jaden pulled himself into a defensive stance. 'I don't know what's going on with the two of you, but...'
'Who said you had a choice in the matter,' Chumley slotted a card into his dueldisk and activated it, 'Light to Shadows, you know what this means I hope.'
'You can't force me into a duel like this...'
'Oh I can, but if you really don't want to duel me then you can always forfeit. Of course that would mean I get your soul and your body just like that,' he snapped his fingers. 'So what's it going to be kid? A duel against a friend or a one way ticket into my deck.'
He couldn't believe it and almost every single inch of him was fuming with anger. Somehow... somehow his Khine had managed to exclude him, Tristan, Kaiba and Yugi from whatever it was Jo and Crovell were planning. Something about that settled poorly in his stomach making him wonder what exactly it was his Khine knew that he didn't. A part of him did its best to sort through the memories he'd gained from his Khine, but unfortunately they'd been filtered and the pieces he was missing were definitely big ones.
'Pacing isn't going to help you know,' Yugi shot him a sympathetic look.
'What would you know?' Joey half glared at him.
'I was just trying to help. I'm worried too, you know. In fact,' he folded his arms, 'I'm probably three times more worried than any of you can be.'
'What makes you think that?' Tristan glared at him.
'Raise your hand if your child is mortal immortal.'
'That doesn't mean we're any less worried you know.'
'Doesn't it? I mean, it's not like you ever have to worry about your kids dying. I do.'
'Why not worry about your own death,' Kaiba's face filled with a look of angry distain, 'because if you keep insisting you're the only really worried one you're not going to live very much longer.'
'Is that a threat? Because excuse me for not being scared of the blind guy.'
'That's low,' Tristan took a defensive step towards him.
'Not as low as your IQ will be, the second I remove that Chip from your arm.'
'What the hell has gotten into you?'
'Nothing,' he shifted his gaze away.
'Well you'd better watch it, because if I didn't know any better, I'd say you were turning back into Re.'
'That's not possible and you know it.'
'All I know is that you've suddenly gotten one hell of a chip on your shoulder.'
'Maybe because I'm worried about my son.'
'Wow, chill would you,' Joey gave a heavy sigh. 'We're all worried here, but there's no need to bite each others heads off about it.'
'Fine,' Yugi rolled his eyes, 'fine, fine, fine, fine, fine, fine, fine.'
'So what's the plan exactly?' The female Arados glanced around Giya.
'We head to the Yatnuh,' the tone in Jo's voice was unreadable. 'I mean, if the three of you are going to fully connect and reshape the universe, that's where it's going to be.'
'Reshape the universe,' Simüte shot her a look, 'is that what we're doing here?'
'You know what I mean,' she averted her gaze. 'If we're going to do what needs to be done...'
'From how well prepared the two of you are, I'm pretty certain you could have stopped things from reaching this point,' Simüte folded his arms. 'So why didn't you?'
'Because both need to be dealt with, permanently and this is the only way to do it,' Crovell shrugged.
'You're a very destructive force Crovell Lutoni and right now I'm not sure if that's a good thing or not.'
'Well that doesn't surprise me. If you knew what you were actually dealing with here you and my father would be getting along.'
'Your father and I haven't been getting along, because he does not agree with disciplining you.'
'You're wrong.'
'Then why do all three of his kids appear to be nothing more than anarchists?'
'Because you're judging us all wrong,' the female Arados jumped in. 'We have a lot of respect for our father. I mean, he is the First.'
'How could I forget,' he rolled his eyes. 'Only, if you have so much respect for him, then why did you run off into the arms of evil in the first place?'
'Because I asked him too,' the female Taylor's voice was edged with sorrow, 'because he's a loyal friend.'
'Loyalty,' Simüte relented slightly, 'I can understand that. But you were all very naive if you thought you could trust her word.'
'Maybe.'
'There is no maybe about it; you should have known she was not to be trusted. She did try to kill you after all.'
'How much about our lives do you know about exactly?' The female Lus frowned at him.
'A lot more then I should, I'm sure,' he smirked, 'but you're friend Drake was very talkative.'
'That was the whole point of letting him go back there,' Jo gave a heavy sigh. 'Now let's get going already, we have an important task ahead of us or had you forgotten?'
