Decoy Damsel Situation


-BRAM!- -BRAM!-

Boxes shifted against the constant pounding at the door, dust falling from the pipes on the ceiling from the force. At the back of the immense pile that they'd been shifting in case it finally gave however, Honda and Anzu were still pushing back with all their strength.

-BRAM!- -BRAM!-

'Open up,' the voices from outside called, Honda and Anzu deciding not to grace the demands with an answer. 'Let us in!' Constant pounding was bruising their arms, and in the morning it was likely that they would be coloured a deep blue-purple. There were deep impressions from the boxes on their palms and sides, both teens holding their push against the door. And still the pounding continued, shouts from outside marred only by an almost soundless buzzing noise from the other side.

-BRAM! Br--

The pounding abruptly came to a stop, Honda's eyes widening as he looked at the door and shook his head. "What th-" The teen pulled back, silence coming through the air as a few stray particles of dust fell to the ground. "They... They stopped," he muttered, looking to Anzu with wide eyes. The woman gave a hurried shrug, as if to say 'well don't look at me!' before muttering came from the other side of the door. It was one-sided... Muttering, pause, muttering, pause... "Hang on..." He leaned against the barricade they'd made, narrowing his eyes as he attempted to make out the words with little success. "What are they talking about..?"

Anzu as well leaned into the pile, frowning as she attempted to make out the words as well. "It sounds almost like they're on a phone," she said after a few moments, narrowing her eyes as well. A lot like they were on a phone actually... And if not a phone, perhaps... A radio? She stood back, shaking her head in slight confusion. The words were completely muffled... She couldn't make anything out at all. So then what... "...What could they possibly be talking about..?"


The 'What' that they could be talking about was a good question actually. To get the answer however, one would have to travel a number of floors up, to the second highest level in the building... To a large and dimly lit room, where on a large sprite filled screen a small victory fanfare was playing. The members of the 'Big 5' all stood up from their observation of the 'game' almost simultaneously, watching as the first of the three... Now two screens since the 'merge' of two parties, under close eye began to show action. Within moments, close and detailed pixel versions of faces came across the screen for a spell... Fires coated the monster that had stood guard in the dungeon cell, and in seconds their captive was a fugitive as opposed to a prisoner. It had only taken moments... But those moments were enough, and those moments were more than shocking.

"How can this be possible," Ota hissed under his breath, the others turning on him almost instantly with the question. The screen seemed almost frozen on a seemingly empty hall, but the five all knew perfectly well who was standing behind that pillar within the game. It should have been impossible... Completely impossible, and yet-

Daimon was the first to answer to the question, eyes wide with a mix of surprise and rage as he turned to the man. "We should be asking you that," he growled, fists clenched tight as the small pixelated form of Seto Kaiba walked free across the screen, striking down a passing monster and vanishing from sight again. "You were the one who programmed the codes required to hold him in place," the man shouted, "You swore that no man of his body type would be able to escape!"

The tech expert grit his teeth, narrowing his eyes. "Not everything relies on game code," he shouted, turning on Daimon as well. "And what does it matter the specifics of what just happened," he continued, "The fact remains that he's escaped! So why don't one of you try coming up with a plan yourselves!" The glares continued to bounce about the table, muttered insults remaining as nothing more than just that.

"I say we deal with this as we should have long ago," Oshita muttered under his breath, glaring at the others as he spoke. The men turned, listening as the older of the group continued "We should have pulled the plug on him hours ago," the man spat, glaring at the screen. "We could have had this dealt with easily had we done that!"

"And I already told you," Oka drawled, adjusting his glasses as he looked the others over. "To do that would be fatal to us, as it would involve over-riding the safety protocols on the pod. It's one matter for the multiplayer system," he continued, turning away from the screen. "After all, those machines haven't entered the emergency mode yet, so they aren't protected... But if an investigation were to occur, finding even the slightest hack, our entire strategy would be shattered," he warned lowly, eyes narrowed dangerously as the others fell silent.

The five fell silent, before Otaki dropped his briefcase to the ground and moved toward the door. "What are you doing," Ota muttered, watching the man leave.

Otaki snorted, pulling the door open and shaking his head. "What does it look like you morons," he said with a growl, "If we expect to get anything done we're going to need to deal with this from the inside!"

The inside..! Ota swallowed, eyes widening briefly. Putting themselves into the game to program it from within was one thing when they were the only ones inside... However with other people playing, they would need to discern those people's actions, work around them, prevent the attack code from targeting them... "You realize what kind of risks that entails," he asked slowly, the others turning to the man as he continued. "We could well end up in the same situation as our victims if we aren't careful! Making all our work pointless!"

"Hn! In that case, we'll just have to be careful, won't we," Otaki answered, bowing his head with a smirk. "You designed most of this after all! Programmed and built it... Why wouldn't it be safe for us to continue the programming while others are playing from within?" Because the mere presence could- Nevermind.

There was an awkward silence, Ota growing slightly red before storming past the man. "Fine," he spat, pushing past the door as the others followed behind. He pulled out his phone, tapping a few buttons in as they moved for the elevator. "We'll need to make sure to get out within half an hour minutes of full override," he continued, one of the others hitting the 'down' button and waiting for the doors to open. "It's the only guaranteed way to get rid of them without leaving any evidence!"

Oka smirked, arms crossed as they stepped into the elevator. "You seem nervous Ota-san," he said almost humorously. "Shouldn't something you put so much work and time into be a comfort rather than a pain?"

The man grit his teeth, fixing the other four with a nasty glare rather than answering as he waited for the phone to pick up. Just did not understand the details of these things, did not... There was a small click, and he turned away from his coworkers. "Saruwatari," he muttered, the guard on the other end waiting for any orders in silence. "Unlock the door to the second single-player room, but touch nothing" he continued, surprised questioning coming from the other end. "Don't ask questions," he shouted, narrowing his eyes as his coworkers merely stared, "Just do it!"

The phone clicked, Ota folding it over and tossing it back in his pocket. The doors to the elevator had long since closed over, elevator moving steadily downward to its destination as the others held seemingly professional gazes. In a few moments, the door was opened... The five headed steadily toward the room, Saruwatari already standing at the side of 'Test Facility 1-B' as they moved in. "That will be all," Daimon told the man as they moved, the guard bowing his head in response. "Go back to what you were doing before..."

"Of course, Daimon-sama," the man said calmly, before making his leave back to those down the hall and outside the multiplayer room. The board in the meantime closed the door quietly behind them, turning to look at the otherwise silent room with frowns. The lights were on of course, given that they couldn't well cut the power and get away with saying 'it was an accident' when there was clear record that they were aware of Kaiba's presence. Unlike before however, during Mokuba's escape, the room had changed somewhat.

The pod, which had opened during override had closed over again. And yet despite this, upon the screen at the side the words 'emergency override' were flashing, sparks literally pulsing from the cord attached to the device. It was a dangerous mode of operations for the device... Glitchy, almost fatal... But extremely well watched and well recorded, the codes unable to simply be erased or altered as with everything else. Only an inside job could fix this... Only that. In silence the men moved past the device, instead walking to the back and moving a small panel of the wall to the side to reveal a number pad. With the others behind him, Ota entered in the code. Five... Five... Five sets of the same number, a code so ridiculously simple that no one would likely guess through it. That was the logic for anyone who found the complicatedly hidden entrance at least. If it had been so carefully hidden, shouldn't it also be carefully coded?

With the code entered in, there was a loud 'hiss' from between steel panels in the room. A door slid first back into the room, and then to the side, leaving a large entrance to a somewhat darker room... A room far larger as well. In the center of the room sat an enormous super computer, to which five virtual reality inducing pods were attached. Though terribly lack-luster in comparison to the 'beta' pods, these machines were more than powerful enough to handle the same, if not more intense programming. There were already cards in the machine, not that they really used them. It had only been to test certain portions of the game that any of them had even bothered to pick up the cards. It served a bit of irony for the situation at least... With the 're-focusing' of KaibaCorp, they'd been forced to create machines based on the games that their current CEO so loved; so why not kill him with it? The men walked in, Ota moving over to a large 'master computer' to the side and tapping a few keys as five pods in the center opened up. Seconds was all that it took for the devices to turn on completely, Ota not looking up from the 'keyboard' as he spoke. "Automatic login is being initiated," he stated clearly, the men taking their seats as the devices closed in on them and held them in place. "Automatic override," he added somewhat nervously, tapping one last key before looking back to his coworkers, "Will initiate fifteen minutes after the completion of the game... If it comes to that."

"Not that that would happen," Oka said with a slight frown, watching his coworker run over to the final open pod.

He stepped in, taking his seat and watching the device close around him and start up. "No," Ota muttered under his breath, the glass sealing over him completely as a timer appeared across the screen on the helmet. "Not at all..."

'One Minute to Moderator Login,' the computer stated, the board members lying back and shutting their eyes in wait. This was it... Perhaps they'd find out how Ota's program had been over run while they were at it as well. There had to be some reason after all... Things like that, things decided by a computer, did not simply 'disappear'. 'Thirty seconds,' the computer continued, a timer appearing on the larger screen outside of the room despite there being no one to see it.

'Three,' the computer calmly counted, Ota silently praying that what could possibly be his most advanced creation wouldn't turn on him, 'Two,' it continued, the screen blackening as sensations and feelings vanished completely with the neural inhibitor taking hold of their minds. 'One...'

-click-

The 'gods' had arrived.


This castle was probably the most ridiculously designed building she had ever seen, after Pegasus' own. With Pegasus, there had been a somewhat 'consistent' way of telling where you were despite the insane number of hallways. Namely the flowers that the man had, for reasons unknown, become so attached to. Or so she had been told by the man's young protege's during the dinner party she had attended before sealing the deal between I2 and KaibaCorp for the 'Duel Box'; despite being raised by someone who was in her opinion a raving lunatic, she had to say... She hoped to hell that Gekko took the company rather than his brother. He was idealistic true, but at least he was somewhat sane. It was not the time to consider the details of company negotiations however, the woman reminded herself as she unconsciously rubbed her almost useless right arm, burnt skin unable to feel the touch for the moment. Rather, it was far more important to figure out how the hell she was supposed to navigate the castle she was in now. Seto held a steady glare as she walked through the halls, any other monsters she spotted passing her by without a second glance. One turn led one way, another turn led one way... One would think it was designed specifically to confuse, rather than hold an entire army of AI programmed monsters. In fact, it probably was, given that half the monster's she'd seen could simply walk through the walls...

Even so, she told herself as she pushed through a large door to enter into a courtyard of sorts, that was far cry from something that could stop her. The woman adjusted the helm she was wearing as she moved forward, passing through the enormous door to an even larger 'courtyard' that could likely double as a forest. Seto looked up at the sky, thick black clouds swirling above in odd patterns as the occasional monster flew through the air. Strange, she thought with narrowed eyes, slowly walking down the courtyard path and looking up to study the sky. The way the clouds were moving she would almost say that she was the one moving through the air, along with the ground she was on... As with the helicopter to Pegasus' isle, the sky was turning against what made sense, appearing to curve against the axis of the planet itself. But this was a castle... There had even been a lava pit inside the dungeons, there was no way that this place was hovering in the air, not with this much land.

Then again, she told herself as she moved through the courtyard, moving past the arch at the far end of the 'forest', this was a game. And in a game, she found herself recalling with wide eyes, barely catching herself on the edge of the wall as bits of ground crumbled beneath her feet, anything was possible. Including the ground simply dropping off into nothingness. Burnt fingers gripped the side of the wall as she caught herself from falling, wide eyes looking out at the large stone ring that hovered around the castle. Despite her general demeanor she couldn't stop herself from taking deep breaths, staring down to what had almost been her end. Down below, far down below, she could see nothing but endless scores of duel monsters, dragons and demons alike all soaring through the air. Monster upon monster, flying in the same direction and occasionally with a flightless one on their back. If she squinted, she noticed, she could see past them. She could make out the small, coloured specs of ground that made up village roofs, rivers, mountains, plains, farmlands... She could literally see an entire country from where she stood.

Not something that was making her feel calm... Not at all, she told herself with a swallow, pulling back from the crumbling courtyard edge. It was by far the last thing on her mind she decided as she stepped back, looking down at one of her 'options' of escape. If it could be called that, she told herself, continuing backward until she was a safe distance away from the edge of the castle. "Tch..." She looked through the arch, watching as a thick stone ring hovered a few hundred meters in front of the cliff's edge. The kanji 'yami' hovered in the ring, a clear sign of what she was standing on. 'The Castle of Dark Illusions'... How the hell did she end up with the luck to end up th- Right. The morons who designed the game. Seto narrowed her eyes, attempting to lower her heart-rate as she calmed down. Computer or no... That sort of height was more than just a 'chill' after almost walking off a cliff. Far more than a chill, when she'd almost brought it on her self. Nonetheless...

The woman turned, biting her tongue in thought. She needed to find a way out of here... Get her deck back and leave this pl-

"GROOOAAAAAAAAOOOOO!" Seto's eyes widened, the woman turning with a jolt as a large white figure appeared in the air. The black clouds against it served as an easy way to keep an eye on the monster as she squinted, attempting to make out the details on the monster only to step back with wide eyes as she realized what the creature was. Enormous and leathery wings beat the air as the dragon closed in, Seto growing almost as pale as the monster's scales as the trees around it flattened against its power. With an echoing quake the dragon landed at all fours, the woman before it holding her arms up in a failed protection as it let loose another roar. "GRAAAAOOOOOOOO!" The force of the air was more than enough to throw her off her feet, sending her flying by a number of meters before rolling to a stop.

"Guh..." She coughed, pulling her self up despite the cracked and broken bones the strike had caused. This monster... She turned, stumbling to her feet and watching as the monster walked over. "Blue-Eyes..." The dragon reared, eyes glimmering with a light that was far from friendly as a second sound came over the air to accompany its low growl. This noise... A frown came over her face, light tones of a pipe coming over the air. Music... An eerie piping melody that hung through the air with a chilling tone... She gripped her urumi, watching as a smug, one-eyed monster leered down from the top of the dragons head. It was well protected... Blue-Eyes scales would be completely untouched by the blades in her hands, but that wasn't the point. She couldn't fight this monster... As strong as she was, she knew damn well that the dragon was stronger. Eyes narrowed dangerously as she stared up at the piper, the woman's hands shaking. "Gh... You bastards," she hissed, despite the knowledge that the target of her rage couldn't hear her. Blue-Eyes was already charging a blast of white flames, the woman unable to move from the spot for a moment as her own monster stared her down. Finally however, with a loud roar she charged, jumping into the air and turning her blades on the piper. "You B- GHN!"

"GRAAAAAOOOOOOOOO!" White flames cracked across the courtyard, cutting off the woman's shouts in an instant. From the jump she had made she was pushed back, urumi dropping from her hands as the robes she wore were set ablaze. There was nothing but white in her vision... Nothing but cracking flames in her ears. Even as she fell to the ground, unable to move, the only thing she felt was a burning pain that stung across any part of her that wasn't covered by the robes she wore. There was nothing but pure white fire... Surrounding her completely as the rest of the world faded out of existence. Taking her dragon... Turning it against her... How dare they, she told herself with a growl, managing to find the strength to reach out as the shadow of her dragon vanished from sight. How dare...

The last thing she saw as the light cleared from view, eyes closing over as her hand dropped to the ground, was a violet suit... Along with the Witty Phantom's grinning face as he spun his cap atop his fingers. The phantom... But that was impossible...

She'd killed him, hadn't she..?


It was probably to be expected that rather than horses pulling the carriages they were in, it was a series of birds. They needed birds to travel the desert, other people had been mentioned using birds... It was probably just something about this game in general really. They weren't Koke that were pulling them though; no... There was only one weird ass bird that came in purple and orange and had no wings, and that was 'Speak'. As to why it was called that, who the hell knew. Personally, he was wondering why the hell the birds were pulling the carriages in the first place... They had a really... Really creepy stare to say the least. Katsuya poked his head out the carriage window, watching as the exit to the cave disappeared behind them. Unlike the entrance on the other side, the 'temple' that was built around this one had fallen into ruin completely. There was nothing but weathered stone behind him, along with a large gaping 'hole' from the cave exit. And damn it, good riddance pretty much described his thoughts on that completely. "Well," he muttered, slowly pulling back in for what the others felt to be the umpteenth time since they'd left. "No one weird seems t' be followin' us... Don' know how we'll be gettin' back if we need t' though..." Because he wasn't going in that cave again. He really wasn't.

Mai shook her head, sighing as Katsuya leaned back on his seat again. "You need to calm down," she said with a slight frown, crossing her arms. "I sincerely doubt that we're in any danger from these people, we just finished saving them after all..."

Beside her, Yugi nodded, a small smile on his face. "That's right... Besides," he continued, looking from Mai to the others. "The queen seems rather polite... And," he added with an honest grin, "She also seems to be modeled with you in mind Mokuba, so I don't think think that we'll have any problems..."

Mokuba blinked, pointing at himself. "Er... You think she acts like me," he asked, Katsuya shaking his head from beside the boy.

"Somethin' tells me... No." He rubbed his head, laughing somewhat as he looked at the boy beside him. "Personally, I jus' wanna know what th' hell th' board was smokin' when they modeled a Queen off yah..."

The boy frowned, crossing his arms with a growl. "Gh- I don't want to know really..."

"It's not just the queen actually," Mai said from the side, leaning against the open carriage window in slight boredom as they traveled. "Though the resemblance is far more apparent," she added with a slight handwave, the boys turning with confused stares. "I'm fairly surprised you boys didn't notice," she said with a small, if not rather surprised smile. "I found it rather obvious once I spotted it..."

Katsuya frowned, leaning back on the carriage seat. "Eh... Spotted what," he asked, the others listening in as well with slight frowns. "I didn' see anyone else w' look-alike faces..." He... Didn't think he did at least... Sure as hell weren't any guards that looked familiar...

The woman shook her head, looking them over with a sigh. "Well, like I said," she began, turning to face them completely. "It's quite subtle! Unless you look carefully at the maid's face it's impossible to notice," she continued, the others staring with continued confusion. There was a moment of silence, Mai giving a somewhat exasperated sigh before explaining. "She's been modeled based off of Kaiba's body type," the woman went on as the others frowned, Mai rubbing her head slightly. "Whoever designed this game essentially took her height and weight and added a few cup-sizes... Of course," she added with a shrug, facing the boys with a slight frown. "Since Kaiba is currently pretending to be male, I'm almost certain that the resemblance is even further off than expected..."

"O-Of course it is," Mokuba sputtered with a cough, going slightly red as he scowled. "Seto-neesama looks nothing like that character... She doesn't even sound anything like that character!" Got that right... Though at least it was just 'different' as opposed to sticking some middle school girl's voice there.

"Hnnn..." The others turned, watching as Yugi crossed his arms in thought and stared at the carriage ceiling. "Actually, now that I think about it..." He looked back down, blinking. "While the hair and eyes are obviously not the same, the facial features are almost identical... The Big 5 don't know the secret," he continued with a slight shrug, shaking his head somewhat, "With that in mind, it's only natural that Kaiba-san's voice would be off... Though... ...I wouldn't know myself," he added with a laugh, scratching the back of his head.

Well, unless Seto ever said anything outside the house in her actual voice (Though the fact that she was even doing that was surprising, according to Mokuba)... Katsuya snorted, shaking his head as he stared out the window and watched a number of trees and village homes slowly pass them by. "Now tha's an understatement," he said with a long sigh, staring out the window a few moments longer before pulling back in. "I guess th' Board figured tha' if Seto-chan made it this far, an obvious character modeling would mean a death sentence..." If everything else already didn't...

"Oi!" Katsuya turned, tensing up as Mokuba scowled at him. "And the fact that the Queen has my face wouldn't get the same reaction," Mokuba growled, the blond laughing nervously in response. Ehhh... S-Shit, digging a hole... Um... What to say?

The blond coughed, looking for something to change the subject with before the carriages abruptly came to a stop. Oh. Hey! That was... That was handy... "A-Ahh... Hey," he said with a nervous laugh, gesturing toward the window. "We're here!"

"It certainly looks like it," Mai said from behind him, before lightly pushing him out of the way to step out of the carriage. The woman stretched somewhat, looking around as she moved forward before staring with wide eyes. "Ahhhh... This place is huge..!"

The boys followed after, stepping out of the carriage and looking up at the enormous castle with equally large eyes. "It... It's bigger than Pegasus' castle," Yugi muttered with wide eyes, the others nodding in silence. So big... How the hell were they supposed to find anything...

"Excuse me..." The four turned, boys staring as the maid from before walked over. The woman bowed slightly, face held mostly impassively. "I must again thank you for your efforts in protecting her highness," she stated, appearing only slightly miffed as the boys attempted to glean any resemblance between the woman and Seto from her face. She coughed somewhat, before gesturing to the side. "We have prepared a banquet for you in our dining hall," she stated calmly, "If you could follow me, I will lead you to the room while her highness freshens up..." There was a span of silence, the woman adjusting her glasses as she fixed the boys with a look that said 'stop staring, now'. Needless to say, they did just that, before nodding and following after the woman.

Mai frowned somewhat as they followed the maid in silence, cape fluttering behind her somewhat as they moved. "Hnnn... I would think that given the cave we just came out of we would be told to clean up as well," she muttered, eyes narrowed as they moved through the torch lit halls.

Katsuya shrugged, shaking his head and turning to the woman. "Eh... It's probably 'cause 'f th' clean up we all get at th' end of a fight," he said, looking back to the front as they came through another hallway. "Heh... I don' think I'd 've gotten within a foot 'f th' carriage otherwise," he said with a laugh, before shuddering with the reminder of the enormous worm that had swallowed him. That... That was not something he wanted to think about right now, he told himself as they walked through the castle. Not at all, he thought as they came to a large set of double doors. Hihhhh...

The maid ahead of them pushed the door in, standing to the side to reveal a large and expansive dining hall already prepared with an almost as large table of food. "After you," she said politely, the four walking in. "Please," the woman continued, moving to join the Queen at the far end of the table, "Take a seat."

They did so, Katsuya looking over the food as his stomach in question growled. "Aww man," he muttered, staring at the meal with a swallow. It smelled... Really good... "F'rgot how long it's been since we started all this..."

Mokuba frowned, shaking his head from beside the blond. "Katsuya-nii," he muttered as his friend started scarfing down the food without abandon, "No matter how much you eat you're only going to be just as hungry when you wake up..." The others turned, Mokuba continuing on regardless as Katsuya seemingly ignored him. "It's just a game, none of the food is actually real..."

"..E-Eh..?" The four turned, both Meyari and her maid staring with wide and confused eyes for the moment as the others froze. Wait- They actually heard that? An awkward silence hung over for a moment before Mai coughed, slightly red in the face.

"Aha... It's nothing," she said with a quick laugh, waving the subject off as Katsuya returned to eating. "A long story, it's just an inside joke, alright?" She turned as Katsuya started choking, eyes wide as the others looked toward him as well. "A-Ah- J-Jonouchi, are you-"

He continued to cough, slamming a fist into his chest before swallowing what was in his mouth to take a large and relieved breath. "Ha-Hahhh... 'M fine," he said with a nod, leaning back and leaving the rest of the food as it was. Damn... Seto was right... "Jus'... Jus' fine... This food," he continued, pointing at the table somewhat weakly with a small laugh, "'S really great, y'outta try it..."

He'd just be sitting out himself, giving his throat a chance to relax really... ...Honestly, he was full anyways... The others turned to their food, shrugging somewhat and slowly taking bites of their own meals. It was a bit of an awkward start... But the others were a little less prone to leaving it as such, thankfully. "Ah... Meyari-sama," Yugi asked, turning to the Queen as they ate. Meyari in turn nodded politely, looking at the boy as he continued. "Earlier in the cave," he began, "You mentioned the 'chosen ones of prophecy'..." The table sounds fell short with those words, the meal postponed somewhat as the boy spoke on. "What did you mean by that?"

The queen blinked, before bowing her head. "I see," she said quietly, tone almost sorrowful as she spoke. "You heard Eri-san then..." Eri? At the mention of the name, the maid turned to face Meyari somewhat, Katsuya blinking in response. So... The maid was named 'Eri' then? Huh. Ok... "I will explain," Meyari said quietly, looking over the four at her table. "For centuries," she began, "The people of Gorador, along with those of Gortas, to the west, have been forced to sacrifice one of their citizens to the Five-God Dragon, the ruler of the Black Castle to the north... Refusal," she continued with a swallow, fear more than evident in her voice, "Results in the destruction of both our lands, regardless of which people refuses action..."

Katsuya swallowed, sitting up in his seat with wide eyes. Er... Y-Yikes... That sounded like the typical video game stalemate he supposed... Except for the part where it wasn't either-or really. That was a little extreme. They stared, listening as the girl continued on. "The exchange has occurred for over 1000 years," she explained, gaze lowering to stare blankly at her plate. "From Gorador, a young maiden is always taken... From Gortas, a young warrior, sometimes native, sometimes not... However," Meyari said with wide eyes, turning to look at the side where an elaborate tapestry hung, "It is possible that despite all this, not all is lost! It was prophesied," she continued almost desperately, "Five hundred years ago by a traveling seer... 'When five by five score years pass from this day, the Legendary Heroes will arise from the far west... And with the aid of the redeemed one, the demon of the north shall fall...'"

'The redeemed one'? And... How many years was 'five by five score', what did that even mean... The four stared at the tapestry, the image of a praying and blindfolded woman at the bottom of the fabric. Probably the seer, Katsuya told himself, moving his gaze from the blond to the rest of the tapestry. From her hands came many rays of light, illuminating the image of what looked to be the same shining white 'bird' from the cavern archway... It fell, seemingly 'dead' from a large dark castle, mechanized head obscured by its wing. And behind the figure he noted, there five unidentifiable shadows... Each of which looked oddly similar to those in the temple outside the cave. "Hold on," Mai asked, shaking her head as the others looked away from the tapestry. "You mean that you believe that... We are these 'legendary heroes'?"

Meyari nodded, turning to the four with wide and confident. "I do," she stated plainly, staring at them as the four blinked owlishly. "Just hours prior our encounter in the cave of the lost, we received news from Gortas that their sacrifice was sent... A young man from a distant land," she explained, Mokuba visibly perking up. "A warrior who was passing through... There is only one sacrifice left," the girl continued with a worried frown, "But perhaps with your help, not all is lost! Perhaps," Meyari added, "Perhaps, this year, no lives will need to be lost..."

Katsuya shook his head, laughing somewhat dryly as Mokuba muttered something about the 'warrior' almost certainly being his sister. "Man," he muttered, still shaking his head before looking to the others with a smirk. "How did I figure that this would happen," he 'asked', crossing his arms as the smirk grew. "Heh... Looks like we're right on Seto-chan's trail," he continued with a grin. "All we gotta do is find this 'Five-God Dragon' and kick 's ass, and then it's all over!"

There was a slight wince from the Queen with those words, 'Eri' sending him an oddly familiar glare that silenced him fairly quickly. Across from him, Mai had a similar response, shaking her head with a sigh as she looked at the younger blond. "Don't think that will more than certainly finish things," she warned, frowning. "This game was programmed specifically to deter us, or at least Kaiba, from what you boys told me... And if that's the case," she continued, tone growing grave, "I wouldn't be surprised if there was a catch..."

More awkward silence filled the air as Katsuya coughed, turning away from the confused stares that Eri and Meyari were sending them. The others as well shifted rather awkwardly under the stares, having realized the again awkward situation they'd thrown themselves into. Er... Maybe they should just not talk about the 'game' for a while, the oddly well programmed NPC's were starting to look a bit edgy about things... And who knew what would happen if that went too far...

"Er..." Yugi scratched his head, before turning to the Queen in an attempt to change the subject. "Maybe we should just focus on the Five-God-Dragon for now," he said with a nervous cough before continuing. "Meyari-sama," the boy asked, bowing his head somewhat. "You said that only one sacrifice was taken, right?" The others turned at this, somewhat curious gazes following Yugi's own as the Queen nodded. "If we act quickly," Yugi continued, "Then maybe, we can keep the second from being taken, while finding the location of the Black Castle!" The others brightened at this, looking over at Yugi for a moment before looking back to the Queen. "Do you know who the sacrifice is," he asked, Eri abruptly paling and turning away with the words.

Well. That look was never good... There went his mood. Meyari swallowed, turning down before speaking. "That would be... Me," she said somewhat hesitantly, the maid behind her wincing as the others bit their lips. Oh... That was a little... Awkward... "In my absence," the girl said quietly, "Eri-san will reign over the kingdom, as she did during the time when I was too young to rule... And I believe she will do a fine job," the queen continued, a somewhat forced smile on her face as she looked toward the four. "I would much rather sacrifice myself than one of my people."

"Your highness," the maid protested somewhat quietly, eyes narrowed as she turned to the Queen. "This kingdom would do far better under the rule of the true royal family-"

"The decision has been made," Meyari said firmly, not looking back at the woman as she stood from her seat, moving back from the table with a sigh. "I will sacrifice myself for this kingdom, as others of this land have done before me... There has been too much pain Eri-san," she continued with a sad smile. "Far too much."

The others as well stood, swallowing nervously before Yugi spoke. "...Meyari-sama," he said with a small bow, the queen turning toward him. "We won't let you sacrifice yourself," the boy stated firmly, a slight frown on his face. "We'll protect you, by any means possible... And we'll stop this Five-God Dragon," he continued, the others nodding in agreement. It was a little weird, the feeling that was going into those words... Though they knew that these people didn't really exist, there was still the sense of responsibility, the sense that if they just stood by and 'let this happen', regardless of whether or not Seto would end up killed in the process, they would still feel an intense guilt over everything that happened. That despite the knowledge that said otherwise, these were 'real people'. ...Why the hell did these NPC's have to be programmed so well damn it! It was just too weird... After all...

They weren't real but... Well... Meyari looked over them, eyes wide before she steeled herself with a nod. "Thank you," she said quietly, before steadying her tone. "Thank you, all of you... Eri-san," she asked, the maid turning from where she stood as Meyari looked over to the woman. "Take these brave warriors to the armory and outfit them with the strongest robes of their size... If we are to fight," she continued with a strong tone, gaze hardened to the seemingly hereditary stare that Mokuba and Seto both had habits of displaying, "Then we must be prepared..."


Drip... Drip... Drip...

What was that sound..?

Drip... Drip...

She felt wet... But it was too dry in the air for that...

What was that sound..?

Drip... Drip...

...Drip...

Seto breathed raggedly while sounds slowly but steadily re-entered her mind, a pressing and nigh unbearable heat making its way into her lungs. It was burning, each breath... The hottest of saunas couldn't compare to the dry feeling coming in and out of her throat. As dry as it felt inside however, the sweat coating her body was worse, leaving her uncomfortably damp against the pressuring heat. And yet it wasn't this discomfort that was pulling her awake after the attack she'd sustained from her dragon. Instead, it was the steady drip of sweat coming off her nose as her head hung down to rest on her chest that was slowly bringing the woman back into consciousness. A constant 'drip' marred just slightly as she moved her head with a small groan. Hot... It was hot in here... So where...

Her eyes slowly opened, the intense red glow of the familiar stone dungeon meeting her eyes. Lava was bubbling below, to the point she could see the edge of the liquid along the far end of the wall, the bridge and exit held safely above the molten ground. "Damn," she muttered under her breath, the feeling of her body slowly returning to her with a vengeance. While her right arm was thankfully spared any pain thanks to already destroyed nerves her right shoulder and side was not spared the feeling in any way. On her left arm... The woman bit her tongue, coughing as she took in dry and heaving breaths. The deck holder was gone... Completely gone... Even so, she forced herself to ignore that as she hung from the same stone cross she had been tied to before. It wasn't the time to think of that... It wasn't the time... This place... She was back in the dungeon...

"I see you've woken up," muttered an eeriely familiar voice, Seto's only response being to frown as she looked up from her position weakly. That sound... The woman attempted a growl as she leveled a weakened glare forward, the voice echoing around the room. That was... From nothing but shadows the demon appeared, slowly fading into existence as the he walked forward on the bridge. He leered smugly as he stopped a few meters away, pulling white gloves over his hands before adjusting the cap on his head with a small chuckle. "Did you enjoy your little run," he asked, eyes narrowed as the woman swallowed. "You certainly provided a minor distraction for us... Running through the castle as you did..."

Nothing but a distraction was she..? Tch... "..." A dry throat served little use for speaking... Attempting to moisten it was pointless however, as her entire mouth was just as barren. She managed to speak nonetheless though, despite the weakness now striking her body as it hung from the rock. "Gh... Majin," she muttered, taking a ragged breath and looking forward with narrowed eyes. How, she thought darkly, looking at the demon with rage. How, how, HOW! "How are you alive," she managed to force out, eyes narrowed in the closest thing to rage that she could physically muster in the face of the monster.

The demon merely held his sneer, looking at the woman from across the room. "'Monster Reborn' you little bitch..." Oh that one was new... "You should be glad you're still living," he hissed, staring the woman down from where he stood a safe distance away. "A direct strike from your precious Blue-Eyes would be enough to burn through the strongest of diamonds," he spat almost bitterly, "And yet you managed to escape with barely a scratch, the only 'damage' being the robes you stole from one of my servants..." The monster shook his head, clicking his tongue almost mockingly. "One could almost say it was actually holding back," he said with a grim sneer, Seto slowly raising her head back up to send an iron glare to the monster. "Out of some sort of cruel mercy for you..."

Bastard... She pulled at the chains, ignoring the burning pain in her shoulder as she leaned forward. "Release me," she spat, pulling violently at the chains that held her in place on the rock as the demon across from her watched in silence. "And you'll find out just how lucky you are to be alive right now..."

He merely chuckled, a wicked grin on his face as he bowed mockingly before the woman. "I don't think I will," he said with a sneer, pulling up from the bow and turning away. "You see 'Seto-sama', as we speak we are retrieving our second sacrifice... And in just a few moments," he said with a wicked and feral grin, "Your wonderfully powerful dragon will bring it right to us like a loyal dog, heralding your end..."

Compare her dragon to trash would they..! The woman snarled, pulling at the chains with renewed strength as her eyes widened. "Gh... Don't you dare," she spat, the demon merely chuckling as he began to vanish from sight. "Don't even think of using my dragon for your own ends, you piece of shit!"

"'Piece of shit'," the demon repeated with a chuckle, slowly fading out of existence from the feet up. "Really dear 'Seto-sama', you can do far better than that... Tsk tsk tsk..." He shook his head, grabbing his hat in one hand as he continued to fade away. "Enjoy your last few minutes of life," he said darkly, his voice echoing about the room as he finally vanished completely. "It's all you'll have..."

"Gh... Get back here," she roared, pulling fruitlessly on the chains as she was left alone, un-charred wrist growing red against the pressure. "GET BACK HERE!"


"Hwaaaaa..." It had probably only been about half an hour since the end of 'dinner', but already the armor had been doled out and for the most part pulled on for a readied battle. "I'm beginning to really get a feel for this game," Mai said with a stretch, walking out from behind the change curtain with a large smile. She straightened out the black and white robes she wore, leaning slightly on the large staff she now held in her hands. "It's nice to get out of form fitting clothing once in a while," she added, stretching again as Yugi swallowed and stared at the seemingly 'out of character' armor Mai was now wearing. The woman cracked her knuckles, looking down at where the boy was sitting on the side with a smile. "You don't look so bad yourself," she added, the boy nodding somewhat nervously as he looked himself over in question. "Very 'steam punk'," she continued with a wink. "I like it!"

"A-Ahh... Thanks... I..." The boy coughed, fingering the large three-bladed boomerang in his hands. It was all fairly interesting how the armor had been handed out really. Whereas Mai's outfit had apparently done a full one-eighty from tight and revealing one-piece to open and flowing robes mostly reminiscent of traditional miko priestesses, Yugi's armor had more or less gone under an 'upgrade' rather than a change. His headband for one had been replaced by a set of leather bound goggles, formerly cloth armor now mostly made up of similarly faded leather and denim cloth. Like Mai, his weapon had been switched out as well; though while Mai's at least appeared to have whip-like attachments on the end, he wasn't completely sure how his 'archer/ranger' had ended up with a giant, folding, three-bladed shuriken of sorts. An odd silence came over the air, the boy coughing as he attempted to think of something to say. These clothes felt a little weird... It was part of the game sure, but... "You look good as well," he finally said with another nod, still somewhat red in the face. "I.." He shook his head, laughing nervously. "I've never seen you wear something other than... Erm..."

The woman laughed as her friend fumbled over a 'polite' way of stating the mostly obvious, shaking her head. "Ahhhh... I see... It's fine if you stare," she said with a smile, taking a seat beside the boy and putting her staff from the side. "I got the same reaction from Anzu-chan... I answered the door in a sweater and jeans," the woman stated casually, "She had the same shell-shocked expression for about ten minutes before she realized I was asking her to come in side! Ahahahaha!" Mai shook her head, still laughing before turning to the boy. Yugi in question was merely nodding at the words, slightly redder in the face than prior despite the considerable covering on the woman beside him.

"Right..." He coughed, placing the boomerang in the sheath on his back and turning away somewhat. "I guess... I'm just a little nervous I guess," he said with a slight laugh, attempting to change the subject. "Actually... About the fight..." Another cough, and the boy shook his head before frowning. "...Mai-san," he asked, turning to the woman before being cut off.

Mai shook her head, still smiling despite her friend's confusion. "There's no need for formalities," she said somewhat dismissively, still laughing somewhat as she leaned against the wall. "Just 'Mai' is fine, it isn't as though we've only met you know..."

There was a small pause, before he nodded again. "R-Right... Alright then Mai-s... Mai," he corrected with a slight cough, turning away a moment before looking back with somewhat renewed confidence. "...I wanted to ask... Why are you helping us?" The woman blinked, turning with somewhat wide eyes as Yugi continued. "I mean... This has nothing to do with you, and you don't even know Kaiba-san that well," he said quietly. "Yet you're helping us, even though you could probably die..."

She stared, smile softening as she stood up and grabbed her staff. "Why am I helping," she repeated, shaking her head before winking. "Because we're friends, aren't we? It's been a long time since there was someone I could honestly say that to," she continued, closing her eyes with a sad smile. "A very long time," she repeated quietly, before looking back at Yugi. "To have someone I want to fight beside is a nice change- so you shouldn't expect me to back down, right?"

The boy blinked, before nodding with a small smile as Mai held a hand out to help him off his seat. "Haha... Right," he said with a smile, adjusting the clothes he was wearing before looking back at the room. "So... How do you think the others are d-"

"O-Oiii," a familiar voice shouted from the other side of the curtain, rustling coming from behind it. "Y-you can't be serious..." The two turned, listening as Katsuya and Eri's voices came from the other side of the room at rising volume. "There's no way I'm wearin' that!" The curtain was pulled back, a mostly un-armed, if at the very least shirtless Katsuya edging away from Eri as the maid scowled rather angrily.

"This is the armor of our very strongest warriors," she insisted with a growl, storming over and going so far as to attempt to pull what looked to be a furred tunic over the blond's head. The blond of course resisted completely, pulling it in the opposite direction as he stumbled backwards. "Now please either put this on or hold still so I can do so for you!"

The blond tensed at those words as he escaped the 'tunic', clambering backwards and away as he tripped back over a trunk. "Ack!" He pulled himself up as the maid continued to storm over, the blond shaking his head with wide eyes as he continued his attempts at escape. "Hi-Hihhh! No way," he shouted in a panic, a number of helmet and armor stands tumbling over as he was continually chased around the room by a still walking maid. "I ain't wearin' that cave-suit! I don' care how strong it is, I've got limits!"

Eri appeared to visibly bristle with anger, hair standing on end as the woman continued her 'attack'. "Now listen carefully," the woman stated lowly, Mai and Yugi sharing raised eyebrows as they watched on with mild confusion. "I was given specific orders to make sure that each of you were armed with our best sets of armor and weaponry," she growled, finally succeeding in grabbing the blond by the arm and pinning him to the ground. She pulled the teen's arm somewhat painfully behind his back, ignoring the small shout of pain as she held the 'tunic' in her other hand. "And I will not go against those orders!"

"Gh-" Katsuya attempted to worm his way out, eyes wide as the others continued to watch. He did not like this position, he did not like this position at allllll... "G-Get off me!"

The light sent an odd glare across the maid's glasses, the woman grinning almost wickedly as she moved forward with the tunic. "Not until you are fully armed!"

HAHHHHHH shit! "That thing is worse than a toga, I ain't doin' it! Nyhhhhaaaa!"

"Ahh..." There was a cough, the two freezing as footsteps came into the room. "Eri-san?" The two turned, Mai and Yugi following their gaze as Mokuba and Meyari both walked out from where they were still getting changed. For all appearances, the only thing that told the two apart was Mokuba's mostly skin-tight 'ninja' garb and Meyari's plain white under-dress... Otherwise, both the Queen and Mokuba had their hair tied back in a pony-tail of sorts, the only other defining detail between them being the slight curve the Queen's body held. Meyari walked over, hair partially pinned up against her head as she handed a pile of dull coloured clothing toward the maid. "I believe that he should perhaps wear these as well..."

The maid stood up, Katsuya doing the same and brushing himself off before taking the clothing from the Queen. He held up the shirt in question, blinking as the sleeves fell to the side of it. "Eh..." He put it back in the pile, looking at the furred tunic the maid still held before turning back to Meyari. "Y' mean that fur thing goes on top 'f this?" There was a calm nod, both Meyari and Mokuba giving somewhat amused smiles as the room fell silent.

Eri abruptly flushed pale with the knowledge, coughing awkwardly before giving a steep bow. "Oh my... I... You must forgive me," she muttered, pulling up and going rather red while Katsuya stepped back with a surprised blink. "I had not realized that the armor came with those particular pieces of clothing... I was under the impression that it was a 'stand-alone'..."

"It's fine," Meyari said with a small smile, shaking her head as the maid continued to flush. "Now," the girl continued, bringing her hands back in front of her. "I need to finish putting on the sacrificial robes," she said rather calmly, turning to the side to look at the boy beside her. "Mokuba-sama," she asked, the boy jumping slightly at the form of address from what was 'royalty', "Could you perhaps help me..?" The boy blinked, before nodding with a small smile.

"Eh... Sure," he said with a nod, an odd expression on his face as he looked toward the others. "Katsuya-nii," he said with a grin, the blond in question looking over. "I'll see you in a bit, alright?"

The blond nodded, grabbing the rest of the armor he'd been handed before smiling. "Right," he said, before moving toward the 'change room' Mai had used and pulling the curtain back. "I'll be right out," he muttered to them, pulling the cover shut behind him and dumping the pile in his arms on a box to the side. Alright, he told himself as he pulled off the rest of his original armor. Lets see what he got... He held up the buckskin clothes he'd been given, shrugging before pulling on the pants. They were fairly comfortable to say the least... Well, he supposed, the shirt following after as he gave another shrug. He supposed that now that he was wearing something underneath that weird-ass 'tunic' he felt better about all this... He pulled the shoes it came with onto his feet, before staring at the gauntlets and greaves that replaced his last ones for a brief moment. Kind of interesting how similar they were to his last ones... Like the other ones, they were clawed, making them resemble (in a somewhat horrifying way) skinned bears arms and legs... Though he had a feeling he could probably get away with kicking a monster in the face to get rid of it with the size of the claws on these ones. He tied the greaves in place around his legs, shaking his head as the claws extended a few inches past the simple moccassin-like shoes he had on. Holy shit... Good luck standing on his toes?

He shook his head, pulling the armor over his clothes before grabbing the last few pieces. The sheath for his weapon was pulled over his shoulder and tied securely in place, the 'tunic' following shortly after... Making sure that the belt was tied tightly around his waist, he grabbed the last piece to put on his head before looking himself over in a glass mirror at the side. "Huh..." He nodded somewhat, before smirking. "I don' look too bad," he said with a grin, adjusting the large bone helm he wore before grabbing the also bone axe from the side to put in its sheath. Huh... Not bad at all... This looked pretty cool actually...

Katsuya walked out from the curtain, watching as Mai gave an approving nod. "Ahhh... Nice," she said with a smile, Yugi as well nodding in agreement as they stood. "Now we just need to wait for Mokuba and Meyari-sama and we'll be ready for anything," she continued, looking toward the other room in question. That was right, they were both getting robed for this right? Though if Mokuba was suddenly a ninja he didn't see why there would be anything else to his own clothes...

Not a moment after that thought however, the two walked out, Meyari presumably being the one wrapped completely in white robes while Mokuba himself appeared to be covered head to toe in almost samurai-esque armor. Looked like he was wrong, Katsuya told himself as the boy came forward and flexed his fingers to test the armor. Very wrong. Hell, with all that covered the two, there was only their eyes visible... A skin-tight mask on the 'ninja', and a large cloak and scarf for the Queen... And while the sheer wide expressiveness of Mokuba's eyes had to throw him off for a moment, Katsuya had to grin. Looking good! "Heh... Man," he said with a laugh, the two looking up at him in silence as the blond grinned. "If I didn' know any better, I'd say you two could've switched places on us! This' insane!"

The two laughed somewhat, the sounds muffled by the cloth veil and mask that one or the other wore. Briefly, he thought he saw the two glance nervously at the other... But that had to be his imagination right? Katsuya moved to say something else, only to tense as he was cut off by a loud thunder clap from outside. Turning to the windows in shocked silence the sounds of rain quickly met their ears, Eri coming out from the side room to stare out the window with wide eyes as what was once a calm sky began spitting out rain and hailstones. "What was that," Mai muttered under her breath, looking through the window as the skies went completely black. Thick sheets of rain covered the lands outside, the stone already dyed a dark grey under the layer of water. "It was clear just moments ago," she continued to mutter, "How could it be raining..."

"They're here," Eri hissed, eyes wide before she turned to the Queen with renewed professionalism. "Meyari-sama," she said with a stern gaze, holding her hands out before her. "For your own sake... Please, stay here, understand?" There was no answer, Meyari merely nodding somewhat through the thick white robes before the maid turned to the others. "The monsters of the Black Castle have come for their sacrifice," Eri explained stiffly, grabbing one of the torches from the wall. "Please... Follow me," she continued, rushing through the door with the others behind them at those words.

It was not far to the battlements from the room they had stood in; merely turning down the hall took them to a door that led outside, both the 'heroes' and the Queen running on to the wet stone behind the maid as the sky took an even darker turn. Rain already pounded the ground from the skies below, the fields in the distance slowly beginning to flood beneath the pressure. Yet for all the rain did as their clothes were instantly soaked through, Meyari and Mokuba both remaining inside the doorway, that was by far the least of their concern. Their problems were a little more... Fatal... Than the rain could be he decided, numerous screeches filling the air as dark 'blots' on the sky developed into monsters. Far more fatal.

"Gh... Don't summon anything," Yugi warned, pulling his boomerang as the monsters slowly moved closer from where they came in. From where they were now they couldn't see any more detail than the colour of their bodies... But it was more than likely that those details would clear soon enough. "We don't know what kinds of monsters will be attacking, it's too much of a risk... There's too many," he continued, gripping his boomerang tightly. Perhaps that was why he had the boomerang rather than the arrows? The blades sure as hell looked like they'd take out a monster faster than the arrows would...

The others merely nodded with the warning, Mai gripping her staff as Katsuya twirled his long-handled axe with narrowed eyes. The battle was beginning... Behind them, Mokuba as well drew his weapons, holding a pair of wakizashi as he stood protectively in front of the Queen. The monsters moved closer... They could now make out the first wave in full, spotting dragons, demons, spell-casters... "I'll hold th' fort here," Katsuya shouted to the other two, both Yugi and Mai nodding in response. The blond took a prepared stance, drawing a card and allowing it to disappear into his 'hand' in silence. Time Wizard... A good card. But even with his general luck he didn't want to risk it. This was a game right? A program right? So if they'd done something to rig his chances... He swallowed, steeling his gaze and replacing his grip on the axe. No matter... "You two c'n handle long range a lot better than I can..." A lot better...

"Right," Mai said, twirling her staff and looking forward as a large eye-ball like creature swooped in. In a single instant the monster was dissolved, six razor sharp, bladed chords piercing through it as the woman swung her staff toward it with the flick of her wrist. "We're counting on you then," she continued, running forward along the wall of the battlement to continue attacking the coming monsters. "Good luck Jonouchi," she shouted, looking back before slicing through a number of beasts in one go.

Yugi as well charged forward, pulling out the boomerang from his sheath and tossing it forward for it to cut through numerous creatures before they even gained the chance to reach them. Watching as the weapon spun through the air, he pulled a card from his deck, glancing at the name before looking back at Katsuya with a small nod and smile. He had something... Turning back to catch his weapon as it returned, Yugi held the card high as the swarm of monsters began to close in. Already Katsuya had been forced to turn his axe to the air, cutting through a few approaching monsters with his new weapon. Looking forward in a moment of rest he had he had to stare in relief. He could see the card from here... This was- "BLACK H- Ach!" He grabbed his hand, hissing as a blade sliced past his fingers to pin the card he had prepared to summon to the ground. Blood seeped from the wound as Yugi looked the hand over, before pulling it back with a wince and watching as his spell card vanished into the air. "Gh... Who..."

"Yugi," Mai shouted, turning from where she was attempting to deal with a large and oversized eagle type monster. The 'Sonic Bird' screeched with rage, attempting to bite through the whips that were now embedded in its wings before moving to try his hand at returning the favor with his talons. Mai quickly ducked under the strike, turning her head back to Yugi yet again as she shouted. "Watch for the Armed Ninja," she continued, pulling her whips taut as the bird she was fighting became little more than tattered ribbons. "He's heading your way!"

Gh- The armed ninja? Katsuya paled, looking back to Mokuba and Meyari before scanning the building around them. Nothing... There were no monsters coming through the area... He couldn't see anything... 'Armed Ninja'... That was the thing that took Seto wasn't it..? "Gh-" The sound of footsteps came through the air, Katsuya running over to where the two kids stood with wide eyes. "Mokuba! Meyari!" A blur of black jumped across the field, Mokuba turning around only to find Meyari already gone as the ninja stole away with its prize in his arms. In a single motion the ninja pulled himself to the roof of the battlments, running across the stone as the others stared with narrowed eyes. "Tch... Like hell," he growled, running down the battlements on the ninja's tail. A series of boxes stood at the side... Katsuya charged up the pile, flipping himself up to the roof as the ninja headed toward a tower on the side. "Haaaaahhhh!" One step, two step... The blond hopped off the wall of the battlements, pulling himself up the tower roof and shifting his grip on the axe to the bottom of the handle. In a single swift motion the blade was swung forward, axe coming toward the Ninja in a wide arc before an echoing thud was heard over the pounding rain. "Take that," he shouted, the ninja collapsing to the ground in a bleeding twitching mess as his head toppled to the side. Now then... ...Er...

Wait, who was holding the Que- Katsuya jumped forward as Meyari began to fall, reaching out to grab the girl with his free arm as he fell to his stomach at the edge of the roof. Shit! He dug his axe into the side of the roof, extending his reach in an attempt to grab the Queen's hand. Shit, he wasn't going to- "Jonouchi-kun," Yugi shouted, Katsuya blinking and looking forward at the shout. "Look out!"

The blond looked up, hurriedly pulling back onto the roof as his axe came free, a blast of white hot fires burning the ground where he stood moments before. Shimmering white scales almost seemed to glow under the pounding rain, Katsuya stepping back as the dragon stood before him. Times like this he realized how much of a 'break' this was from actual duels... Even his clay dragon topped this one. Even so, the monster was huge... And as it stared him down, the blond had to swallow. "B-Blue-Eyes," he half asked, watching the dragon soar upward with a grinning piper sitting tall on the beast's head. The piper played a steady, dark series of notes on the flute, 'second mouth' grinning wide as it stared the blond down. The piper was missing an arm Katsuya noticed, narrowing his eyes as he looked at the 'stump'. How did that- He froze, slowly adjusting his grip on his axe as he spotted the dragon's second cargo. "Gh-" There, tied firmly to the base of the dragon's leg... "Shit!"

Sitting rather confidently on the bottom of Blue-Eyes hind leg a small white-robed witch sat, chuckling darkly as it tied a final knot in the net rope he held. The queen lay motionless in the net as it dangled below, their ride rising into the air as Katsuya charged at it only to be met with another blast of wife flames. The blond threw his arm up as he was tossed back, skidding across the ground as the flames melted through the stone. He pulled himself up, watching the dragon fly further out of range with wide eyes. S-Shit!

Shocked and angered shouts filled the air... The monsters began to clear the skies, swarming Blue-Eyes in order to take the damage from Yugi's boomerang as he threw it forward. For all that Mai's whips did however, Yugi's boomerang cleaving through monster after monster, the result was still the same. Within moments, all moves to attack were made pointless... And for all the lifepoints they'd gathered in the onslaught, the result was still the same. The seemingly controlled Blue-Eyes was long gone, the storm clouds and rain slowly following behind it... Along with their only hint at Seto's location and the location of the 'Five-God Dragon'. "Damn it," he muttered, gritting his teeth as his fists clenched. "Aaaagh!" He slammed his axe into the roof he was on, kicking the side of the tower with a rage filled shout. "Fuck!"

"Well," Mai said with a somewhat exasperated sigh, the blond turning as he ripped the blade from the ground. "Don't hide your feelings now..."

Gh... Damn it! He jumped back to the ground, walking toward the others. Not good... Not- "Oh no..." The blond frowned, turning toward 'Mokuba' as a somewhat familiar voice came over the field. "Oh no no no no no..." Yugi and Mai also froze, tensing as they turned around to where 'Mokuba' had fallen to 'his' knees. W-Wait... They walked over, shocked into silence as their friend held 'his' hands to his mouth and shook. That wasn't Mokuba's voice... That was... The figure pulled the helmet off their head, tears running down the girl's face as she pulled down the mask. That was the Queen. Oh hell. "Mokuba... They took..." She swallowed, attempting to calm herself down as she continued to shake. "Oh this is all my fault..."

They continued stare, eyes wide as the girl trembled. "M-Meyari-sama," Yugi asked, swallowing as the girl slowly looked toward them. "But..."

"You two... Y' actually switched places," Katsuya said quietly, eyes wide as he shook his head. "But why... Why would y' do that..."

The girl bit her lip, shaking her head as she wiped her eyes. "There were two sets of armor," she finally said, taking deep breaths as the others listened. "Mokuba... He begged me to switch places with him," she explained quietly, "Telling me that if he were to go in my place, he could reach his brother and attack from the inside... I... I can only hope that the Five-God Dragon doesn't strike," she finally said with a shudder, staring at the slowly drying ground for a few moments as the rain stopped completely. "When it realizes that it only has one of the required sacrifices..."

There was an awkward silence, the three remaining 'warriors' sharing a glance. Er... It was supposed to be one male one female right? ...Yea... Uh... About that... "A-Actually," Katsuya said, biting his lip as he attempted to justify what he was about to say, "There's a bit 'f a problem w' that..." The Queen turned, frowning as the blond continued. Well... Not like anything they were saying had made it through the computer right? So... What did it matter if he said this to an NPC? ...Right? ...Right. "Th' sacrifice th' other country got... Th' 'warrior' from another land," he continued, coughing as he rubbed the back of his neck. "'S not a guy," he said somewhat bluntly, the Queen tilting her head.

"Not... He isn't a man," she asked, frowning as she came to her feet. "But that can't be... We were told that..."

Mai as well took in a long breath, a hand on her face as she answered to the statement. "Mokuba's older sister crossdresses," she said fairly plainly, Yugi looking somewhat put off by the sudden revealing of secrets to an apparent stranger. "With Mokuba joining along side her," the woman continued, "That makes one male and one female sacrifice..."

The queen grew pale, growing stiff with realization and looking over the three with wide eyes. "You mean... They're both going to..."

Yugi shook his head immediately, frowning. "No! We won't let them die," he insisted, the others nodding as well. Like hell either of the siblings were dying on their watch! "Meyari-sama," he asked, bowing his head somewhat. "We need to know... If there's any way at all for us to get to that castle..." Any way, any way at all..? The Queen bit her lip, shaking her head. Damn it, there went that-

"There is one." The group turned, watching as the Queen's maid stepped forward with a large book in her arms. The woman flipped the book open to a rather 'mid-way' page, looking over it briefly before turning to the others. "A tale from many years ago, supported by the seer's prophecy... One thousand years ago," she explained, "When this land was still young, an immense and magnificent beast of white escaped from the confines of the Black Castle, falling to this land... However," she continued, holding the open book for the others to look at the image, "It was not alone." The four looked at the page, examining the image of a broken and 'bleeding 'dragon-bird' thing gracing its pages. "It was attacked, viciously, and though it emerged from its airborne battle victorious," the maid added, Katsuya momentarily paying more attention to the question of what the 'thing' was, "It was unable to fight any more... It hid itself in these lands," she continued, looking off to the side of the battlements as she closed the book over. "Burying itself beneath the earth until needed again..."

The others stared, following her gaze to the side before Mai spoke. "So somewhere in this country," she began somewhat hesitantly, still gripping her staff tightly in one hand as the free one rested on her hip, "There's a monster who can take us to the castle?" Now hey, that was convenient...

Eri nodded, face held mostly impassively. "That is correct," she stated, pulling the book under her arm before adjusting her glasses. "But we have very little time," she continued, frowning somewhat. "I have searched hard... But though I have an idea of where the beast lies, I cannot say how to revive it from its thousand year slumber!" ...That part, not so convenient. Damn it. Then again...

She knew where it was? Katsuya blinked, the skies above clearing completely while he stepped forward. "Well... It's still an' idea right," he asked with a slight shrug, scratching his head. "So where is it?"

"Ah..." The maid swallowed, before turning to the side and looking at the edge of the battlements. "Follow me," she stated, moving over to the wall as she held the book tight. "While researching the 'beast', I noticed a series of patterns on the grounds outside the castle..." She gestured off the side, where a large and faded outline of sorts could be seen along the ground. "I believe this may be the final resting place of the 'beast'."

They looked over, staring at what looked to be an enormous white 'outline' of a bird-like creature. "Oh..." Mai stared, eyes wide as they looked over the outline. It sure looked like a giant bird... Dragon... Thing. Seriously, what was it... "Those look like the markings from the Nasca desert..."

The boys blinked, turning to the woman with raised eyebrows. "Er... Nasca," Katsuya repeated, blinking. What..?

She nodded, turning to them with a somewhat blank expression. "They're a large number of ancient geoglyphs in Peru," she explained, looking back at the bird. "My step-father used to tell me about those sorts of things when I was younger, as his work takes him rather far around the globe... These were one of those things," she added rather nonchalantly. Step-dad eh... What was with everyone's relatives and traveling the world? Anzu's parents were in the states, Yugi's dad was always out of the country for business... Mai continued to lean over the wall, looking at the 'bird' in the design before smirking. "Nonetheless... I think I know exactly how to get that 'beast' out from the ground," she said with a wink, turning to the blond beside her. "Wouldn't you say, Jonouchi..?"

"E-Eh..?" Katsuya stared, turning away from the wall with a start. Hang on... "What?"

Yugi blinked as well, frowning somewhat before a look of realization came over his face and he nodded. "A-Ahh... That's right," he said with a grin, looking from Mai to Katsuya. "There's that card..!"

'That card'? What card? "What th' hell are y' talkin' about?"

"Eri," Mai said with a smile, turning to the maid and ignoring the younger blond. "Could you maybe show us how to get to that geoglyph?" The maid nodded, muttering a 'follow me', as Katsuya continued to look over his friends.

"O-Oi," he protested, putting his axe in its sheath. "Seriously, what's going on?"

"We'll explain when we get there," Mai said with a grin, Yugi following behind the woman as she grabbed Katsuya's wrists to pull him off. "For now, let's just move alright?" What!

He yelped slightly, stumbling along as he was pulled down a series of steps. "E-Eh?" S-Seriously... What the hell did he have that would un-earth a giant monster bird! "C'mon," he growled, still tripping over his feet as they were pulled down to the outside of the castle. "Tell me what's goin on!"

"It's your card," Yugi shouted as they ran, Katsuya turning back somewhat to look at the boy.

"My card," he repeated with raised eyebrows, his friend nodding in response.

"The time wizard," the boy stated with wide eyes, still grinning. "Your card can turn back time to when the 'beast' was above ground, a thousand years ago!" Oh. Right. Time Wizard did thousand year jumps. Wait...

That worked in reverse!


AN: Awwwwwwwhhhh and all that Kaiba did was reversed? What was the point in that Usagi? Actually there was a lot... Now Kaiba doesn't have the deckholder. Also, it's what spurred the Big 5 into making what Ota calls the 'stupid decision' and go directly to the source. Whoo! In any case, not much left... Two, maybe three chapters, all depends on how I finish all this. But that's besides the point!

First off, there is some more art, since this entire arc has me on a creative string... Pictures! Mostly we have Mai in clothes you have likely never seen her in before, along with the rest of the armor for the characters. ...Still, pity Kaiba didn't get to keep the Priestess robes. Really.

Also, the poll results...

Still Unchanged.

So we move on to other things...

Anonymous Review Responses

Three today! First off, MaggieMay!

Grow a new brain huh… That sounds interesting…

Also, yea, I can see how that would result in pain.

Oh! The wounds don't heal because the injuries only stop bleeding at the end of battle. Though an amputation would obviously grow back if it was too serious (Given that monsters are programmed not to cause that unless they're super powerful and OKO people), the Witty Phantom's life points just… Aren't enough to heal that arm. (At least she can't feel or see it…) ...Keep in mind, the injury is technically self inflicted too; it's quite likely her own life is preventing it from healing.

MIB you say? ACTUALLY, that's what made me want to write that scene. Heheheeee…

Enjoy the next bit!

Hey there Iona!

Yessssss, yes he did get his commupance… And then he came back! AGHH. He'll get what's coming though. Again. He's the kind of man who deserves… Two deaths really. I think it's more 'hooray for skipping the other spells on the list in favour of FLAMES' rather than a 'hooray pyrokinesis' though. But hey, it did work…

Too bad all that rage she spent just doubled… The grinding teeth of rage are really… Grinding… Right about now...

Oh trust me, you haven't seen anything yet! Those two are about to have a moment of insanity that no one else will ever know about… Keeping Honda on track is more difficult than it looks.

I made a mistake; epic!Mokuba comes in buckets next chapter. It's still buckets of Epic!Mokuba though, not to mention a fair amount on Mai's part as well. And she could use some, after the anime made her the designated victim of every… Single… On-screen duel…

Yesss, I'm dangling it in front of your face along with sugar cubes and straw… Enjoy the update~

Now now Cynical Gamer, I am not an abusive person! …I think.

Actually, it gets even creepier if he's perfectly fine with just possessing/being a lady… Since… He proves it. So on the one hand, we have the opportunity for Noa to be a creeper in terms of hitting on Kaiba and possibly pulling a reveal using 'more' than a school uniform (Though school uniforms are seen as fairly 'sexy' in Japan soooo I dunno.), or… Pulling the reveal while somehow showing how he'll top that. Yikes. Um. No more details on that me-thinks.

So yea, as you said. Wait and see I guess… It'll probably develop based on what Kaiba and Jonouchi's relationship is like at that time really.

What am I planning? I don't think you want to know that Gamer... (-cough- Sometimes, I don't even know myself…)

Well… Not many male stares mind… You can bet that she was glad to not be in school during February, as Valentines Day is made up of girls giving the guys they crush on chocolates. And… It's… Only… The girls giving away the chocolate.

Needless to say, Kaiba pulls off the crossdressing so well (As planned), the desk would be swamped with food that she wouldn't even be eating. (As it is, she gets that kind of reaction from her secretary. Much to her (albeit silent) distaste.) And you're very right… It's expected with the character growth...

And aaaaahh, got you now. I guess since they weren't using resources on the island they didn't care until people tried entering the castle… Also, in Jonouchi's case, they actually stole Haga's glove after Yugi beat him. I guess the gloves are 'one-size fits all'?

Oh you're going to love the big reveal… When we get there. *mad cackling*

And yaaaay~ My chapter is awesome~ Yes, poor Jou indeed. He certainly won't sleep too well for a bit… And damsel in distress? Oh certainly not! …Granted it ended up horribly turned around on her in this chapter (With her own dragon no less)… But that was mostly because the point of her escape was not only for the incredibly epic escape, but also to create a decently legitimate reason for the Big 5 to endanger themselves by entering the game in the first place. Simply going in because Yugi was getting close didn't seem to make much sense since they still thought that the 'Five God Dragon' would be showing up at the time…

Actually, if you think about the fact that the flaming one is the Millennium Rod… *winkwink*


Usagi's Manga & Japan Guide/Corner

The section that wants Witty Phantom to stay dead damn it... (You so know that was the Big Five's doing.)


I probably don't need to explain this particular title, given the main reasons why Mokuba was captured instead of Meyari...


If you haven't guessed now, the brief moment of silence and rest that Honda and Anzu got was due to the rather annoyed conversation that Ota was having with Saruwatari. …Despite the fact that I hate all five of the board, I couldn't help but feel slightly bad for making Ota the but of the jokes in this chapter; but really, the others have no experience with electronic devices… So it's quite likely that they just sort of sat around while Ota did all the work. Damn. No wonder he had enough gall to challenge three people at once in the Noa arc (Ota was the robot guy.). Hell, beginners or not, challenging three people at once is the stupidest thing ever.


Fun fact; the dub changed Otaki's original role... Apparently, he wasn't originally in charge of finance. He was in charge of human resources. He was the Head of Personnel. Which... Actually makes a lot more sense, given that he's somewhat more expressive compared to his coworkers (not to mention the penguin deal...)... Still a creepy old man though.

And speaking of creepy old men, I have to wonder what the age difference between the Big 5 is; Oshita is by far the oldest of course, which is probably followed by Daimon and Otaki... But both Oka and Ota look, in terms of anime age, like they're barely in their mid thirties! But they've been working with Gozaburo since Kaiba was at least ten. I am so confused... Makes more sense for Ota than Oka; stereotypical yes, but the fact is, you're more likely to find a younger guy in that line of tech, unless they did something godly to the computer world. (*coughIfyouknowwhatImeancough*) But a lawyer in that position? Eh, he is good, have to admit that I suppose...


In any case, yes; the panel for the door lock was left open... As they actually have to close it. (Normally, it was just Ota in the pods though. There's always one person out there. Now... Dun dun dunnnnn…


The dialogue for Kaiba's scene is very loosely based on that of the initial dialogue from the first anime encounter with the Witty Phantom. After demanding to be released only to be find out he's about to be sacrificed to a computer program, Kaiba calls the disappearing monster a bastard in a sense (He says 'kisama', which technically means 'you'. Translates loosely to 'bastard' though.) before gritting his teeth and sitting there... Because seriously, what else can he do? In any case... I would imagine Kaiba would have a similar reaction with Blue-Eyes, given the one that we saw in Battle City's Kaiba VS Jonouchi...


Here's an interesting thing; the birds pulling the carriages in the scene mentioned are that of 'Droll Bird', a rather little known monster known as 'Speak' in the Japanese version. It's… A pretty weird monster. I would compare it to a multicoloured dodo bird.


Of course, this conversation in the carriage draws fairly loosely from actual anime dialogue as well; originally, after Yugi mentions that Meyari was likely modeled off Mokuba, Jonouchi gains a rather teasing grin, saying 'Ahhh, how low of them! (The big five)', which gets a rather angry 'Shut up!' in response. (In the dub, Jonouchi calls Mokuba 'My lady'... Which gets a similar response, naturally.) I find it a little interesting that Jonouchi wants to know how they'll get back though... Is it really that hard to walk Jou? (One can only assume he just doesn't want to go near that cave.)


Yes, I based the maid's design loosely off Kaiba's face. Mostly to make Jonouchi feel that much more awkward in the costume scene. Also to make me feel that much less awkward while typing that scene, because seriously, can you imagine an old lady doing that? Haaaaaaaahhhhihhhh...

Innn any case. I had a feeling that if the Big 5 decided to do that with Meyari, they'd have... Probably thrown in another 'take that!' at Kaiba. Of course, in fanfic land, they don't realize that Kaiba's already female, which means that their attempts to feminize the body type work really... Weird. It's also my own personal 'take that' to what most genderbends do actually; which is essentially rack up the hourglass and extend the hair past the shoulders. I occasionally see a well drawn genderbend with short hair and natural or at least modest curves. Yugi doesn't count though, since his size makes him moe-material anyways. ...Actually, I think one of them was a Kaiba one. Hurmmm...


Bit of a plothole I found; when Yugi first goes through a game with Yami Yugi willingly, namely the Death-T matches against Mokuba and Kaiba, he says afterward that 'he remembered everything.' However, during the duel against Pegasus, their entire initial strategy lies in the fact that after placing a card face down, the other mind doesn't know what it is. It makes me wonder if the matter is mostly keeping certain thoughts private... If that's the case, Yugi's statement still stands; though Yami obviously allowed Yugi to see the memory of his duel against the ventriloquist (Which involved Kaiba's spirit briefly appearing... And speaking with her own voice before covering it with her false one.), it's possible that details like the voice were just... Lost. So Yugi really doesn't know what Kaiba legitimately sounds like... Though that probably makes it much easier for him to call Kaiba a 'he' as opposed to a 'she'.


You can probably tell I'm just winging it with the country names by now; originally in the anime they were 'Gorland' and 'Gortas' respectively… Huh. Interesting. One out of two isn't bad though right?


In the anime, Mokuba initially starts this conversation up at the table by asking about Kaiba, as the moment Meyari mentions someone from a far off land being taken as sacrifice, he links the term to his brother; Yugi just beat him to the punch here though, asking about the entire thing right off the bat.


A 'score' is twenty years. 'Five by five score' means five times five score, or five times 100 years. So Five hundred years basically.


'Cave of the Lost'? But Usagi, it was called the Cave of Death! Ahhhh, but that's what Gortas called it... And appropriately so, they have the side with all the murals and creepy bats. But on the other side, you're exiting a maze right off the bat. So 'the lost' makes a little more sense to tell the truth.


Jonouchi doesn't have any issues mentioning 'Seto-chan' in front of Meyari and Eri for the same reason he didn't have problems mentioning Kaiba by that name in front of Mai during the duelist kingdom; the NPC's don't know who he's talking about when he says 'Seto-chan', so they can't guess that it's Kaiba. Not only that, but these are NPC's we're talking about so… Yea. Who are they going to tell, if it doesn't even concern them?


Oddly enough, the conversation of Kaiba's second scene draws almost every line from the actual scene in the anime. Well… Obvious lines aside of course (Monster Reborn bitches.)… But seriously! The third/fourth encounter, and it's based off the first one in terms of cannon... What are the chances?


Kaiba's deck holder is gone because of something that happens in the anime; when Mokuba arrives to save Kaiba, he simply hands Kaiba the deck holder and Kaiba pulls it on his wrist. The question is however, given that we see the duel disk on Kaiba's wrist earlier while he's captured, where did the first one go? In any case, taking the deck holder means that Kaiba not only can't use any spells... It also means that she gets to suffer the same risks as every other monster. Namely the fatal 'KO' strike. See... With the lifepoints bar, having a certain amount meant that even getting your damn head cut off was still survivable.

Fat chance now.


A note on burns for the sake of making sure you know I'm not pulling the wool over your eyes on Seto's burnt arm (Besides the fact that she should have been absolutely howling with pain when her arm was on fire)... She burnt it to the fifth degree. The game is letting her move the arm that's true but... She really did burn all her nerves out, in addition to a bit of her muscle! A first degree burn hurts like hell, reddening the skin, but otherwise doing little else. A second degree burn varies from either touching past the first layer of skin to cause blisters and intense pain (Along with a clear fluid coming off...), to reducing the feeling in the burning area as it moves on past to the 'reticular dermis' layer of skin. The skin then either looks red or considerably paler... And disgusting.

Next we hit third degree, which is the first one that requires skin grafting to 'heal' (Thank you Virtual World?), and is charred and leathery, with the area feeling minimal pain if any. Fourth comes next, when all the skin has been burnt off and the function of the arm begins to be affected... And finally we hit fifth degree, which exposes and affects muscles and blood vessles and is possibly fatal given that you could bleed out. There's an either-or shot at amputation here; but if it isn't needed, that arm will be scarred to shit. (There's one more level after this; sixth degree, which exposes bone and tends to be very very very fatal for obvious reasons.)

Of course, like Jonouchi's sliced arm, bleeding only lasts as long as the battle. There wasn't enough time for her arm to bleed out, especially since it barely reached the fifth degree. It's guaranteed that her shoulder is in the third and second degrees though and... That hurts like hell, as said above. (Even so, be glad that her arm is covered by fabric.)


As said before, 'Majin' is 'Demon' in Japanese (From 'Majin Desu Satan', or 'Demon Death Satan'.)... So you could take how Seto is referring to the monster one or two ways; one is that she's tired of calling him 'phantom' and settled for his Japanese name... And another is that she's really just calling him a demon.


Did you guys think that Mai would wear her usual clothing in the middle of winter? She's actually wearing something similar in the pod right now (Given that it's late January...); wait until everyone sees that. For the fanfic, her other clothes (Corset, mini-skirt, etc.) are more 'duelist clothes'; remember, she was notorious for using her feminine traits to her advantage in a duel... I'm almost certain that her wardrobe was partially inspired by that. (Among other things.)


By the way guys, Yugi isn't red because of anything romance or sex related, he's legitimately embarrassed about his outfit (Though it really does look good on him; he's just modest like that.). Though it certainly doesn't help that Mai's breasts are about two inches above his head. At all.


In the anime, after Yugi asks why Mai is there, she says 'there's no need for formalities'… Seems a little out of place really. In any case, given that Mai only uses honorifics with two people (Anzu-chan and Shizuka-chan respectively. You can bet she's taking pains to avoid saying 'Kaiba-chan' though.), I took a wild guess and figured that she'd be the type to insist on fewer uses of 'san' with her own name.


A more serious note on Mai's treatment concerning the 'friend' deal... Which actually likely concerns Jonouchi as well, actually... But as excitable as the Japanese tend to be about foreigners, it's a whole other matter if you look foreign and you live there. Being blond would have basically stuck a giant glowing sign above both their heads yelling 'Hey! Single me out!'. Jonouchi likely just dealt with that as he did everything... Namely by beating the crap out of anything that looked at him wrong. (Remember, he was, before becoming friends with Yugi, a jerkass with heart at best.) Mai however... Well, guys and bullying tend to be a deal that is very physical. Fists and insults go flying.

When girls bully, it is harsh guys; I found that out the hard way after switching from a school where I was the 'girl among the guys' (And therefore just subject to elementary school knockouts. Rather, watching them, as half the guys were still going on about 'not hitting girls') to being the very odd girl out. It is behind-the-back turn-everyone-against-you in style, and I tell you... I would not be surprised at all if being ostracized in that fashion played a heavy role in setting Mai on her 'fight alone' path... Which of course, was soundly broken by Yugi and the others, who could care less about anything like that. (And really, speaking with real-life here, would you be surprised about that given Yugi's hair? Really?)

It's actually things like this that make me wonder which shadow game from battle city was worse; the manga one, where Yami Malik sent out torture device after torture device out on the field in a way that each injury taken by the monster was dished out to Mai as well (Malik actually gets his head cut off, picks it up from the ground while he's explaining these rules, and calmly puts it back on his shoulders. AAAAAAAAAH!)... Or the anime one, where she was literally robbed of all her memories of really... Anyone she ever cared about. It's a tough choice... (And certainly explains why the hell she fell into such a deep pit during the Doma arc.)

In any case, as her first 'real' friends... These guys are people she will jump in front of a car for, I'll say at least that much.


Interesting fact; Meyari refers to everyone (Rather, to Mai, Jonouchi, Yugi, and Mokuba) with the honorific 'sama'. This is likely due to their assumed status as the 'legendary heroes', which in her opinion places them at a higher status than herself.


Armed Ninja just took out Yugi's Black Hole with it's 'flip effect'; it can pick one card on the field (IE, Yugi's hand before summoning) and reveal it. If it's a spell, it's destroyed. (Traps are set back into place.)


So here's a weird fact; despite having apparently switched outfits completely, Mokuba still rips off the dress to reveal the same armour Meyari was wearing once he gets to the castle. WHAT, WHAT? How did it all fit? How did those shoulder cover things not poke through the dress? AAAAAHH. (Meyari's 'ceremonial robes' are meant to hide this themselves actually. Mokuba can actually fit his helmet under that.)


In a blink-and-you'll miss it scene before the 'Queen' is kidnapped, we get a pan-over for everyone... If you look at 'Mokuba' and 'Meyari's eyes, you can tell that they've switched; Mokuba's eyes are normally held in a semi-glare like Kaiba's, whereas Meyari has 'Moe' eyes (Very wide ones)... And if you're watching, you can see rather clearly that the armored one has the Moe eyes while the apparent Queen is suddenly 'glaring'.


So… Here's a thought. If Jonouchi has such crappy grades and reputation in terms of knowledge, why was it that he was the one to mention that the lines looked like the nasca lines? I sure as hell didn't know about those things for most of my life... (Actually, though I heard about them in passing once, the full knowledge didn't come until I started watching 5Ds.) In any case, these lines are huge, made using varying shades of dirt… Some of them are over 270 meters across though, and that's 890 feet! The desert that they're located in is extremely dry… Thanks to the lack of wind there, they've remained in tact for well… Years.


Yes, I gave Mai a step-dad… Will we ever see him? Good question. Mai lives very very much on her own, and as it is, I'm pretty sure that Anzu will still remain the only one to know where she lives specifically soooo… Yea. Your guess is as good as anything really. It was mostly me being silly and throwing in detail. … Or was it. (I am such an ass. Holy crap. I need to go douse myself in cold water, right now.)


Some would call Jonouchi a bit dim for missing the fact that he's got Time Wizard… But he's not thinking in terms of turning back time (And as it is, the time wizard turns time forward), he's thinking in terms of simply digging things. Ohhhh well… Keep in mind that the Time Wizard, outside this one time, is only ever used to turn time forward by a thousand or so years (I say 'or so' because... Dinosaur fossils.)... It's never used to turn it back, so it's only natural that the fact flies over Jonouchi's head. Oh well~


FanArt & My Art Section

For your link, the spaces must be removed! W-chaaaaa...

Two pictures for you, all of which concern the appropriately epic armor upgrades above~.

Mai & Jonouchi - http: / / i5. photobucket. com/ albums/ y153/ natasha_unos_1/ YGO% 20Fanfic% 20-% 20Skin/ MaiJouFinalArmor. jpg - Oooooohhh I fudged up Mai's face... But I still really, really like how I managed to draw her hands well since... Hands are the bane of any artist's existence really. Also her whip-staff thing, which in my head works somewhat like an urumi... On a staff. Yessssss... Jonouchi on the other hand has been freed the embarrassment of that terrible loin-cloth thing. That axe by the way is completely made of 'bone' in the 'it's not going to shatter on contact' sense. So's the helmet for more obvious reasons, though I completely fudged that one (as usual.). I do have to say, I like how their armor came out...

Dark Yugi, Mokuba, and 'Meyari' - http: / / i5. photobucket. com/ albums/ y153/ natasha_unos_1/ YGO% 20Fanfic% 20-% 20Skin/ YYugiMokuArmor. jpg - Careful now, the last one's a TRAP. (*cough* Right, anyways...) You can probably tell I went absolutely wild on these. Well... On Mokuba's ninja armor (Which fits perfectly under those robes.), especially on Yugi/Yami Yugi's upgraded armor... And boomerang. You can probably guess I was reading too much '666 Satan' (AKA, 'O-Parts Hunter') actually, but hey, that boomerang is BADASS. I'll probably colour both of these... Maybe... Don't really know, I need to get back to that durarara chain...

Well, until then everyone! Enjoy the chapter!