Me: Hey everyone and welcome back to another brand new chapter to The Millennium Puzzle
Hikari: We do apologize for the lack of updates we didn't mean to let 3 long years slip by without so much as an update
Me: Hopefully with things running a tad bit differently now we can get back to updating our stories because the juices are flowing and I have many story ideas just waiting to come alive
Hikari: So without further ado please enjoy Chapter 23 to The Millennium Puzzle
Disclaimer: We do not own Yu-Gi-Oh! and never will it's the rightful property of Kazuki Takahashi the only thing we do own are the manga's that we buy. We also do not own Heila or Yami Heila for they belong to Animegirl20 she's just kind enough to loan them to us the only one we do own is Arainaina and any others who may appear in future chapters.
"..."- Talking
'...'- Thoughts
(...)- Yami to Hikari
/.../- Hikari to Yami
Duel 23: American Hero (part 2)
'YUGI!' thinks a paniced Hanasaki as he sees Yugi cornered by two of the same guys from the other day completely unaware of the Millennium Puzzle around Yugi's neck that was still glowing, ready to alert Yami at the first sign of danger.
"Don't lie to us" barks the leader of the group as they continue to stare down Yugi in hopes he'll say where Hanasaki was. "We know you know Hanasaki!".
"Really I don't" lies Yugi in hopes the bullies before him would just drop the subject and leave before something bad happened.
'Those punks are picking on people again' thinks Hanasaki as he jumps into action. "CUT IT OUT!" orders Hanasaki as he moves to protect Yugi, shocking him in the process.
"HUH?!", 'Hanasaki' panics Yugi who couldn't believe that Hanasaki would do such a thing. But as Hanasaki continues to stare down the bullies the Millennium Puzzle slowly begins to stop glowing but still faintly pulsated against Yugi's chest in case it had to alert Yami.
"Hey...He sounds like..."murmurs the other teen to his leader as they continue to look at Hanasaki.
'Yeah, no mistake, this is Hanasaki. The play hero from yesterday' thinks the leader.
'GULP' thinks Hanasaki as he continues to hold his ground between Yugi and the bullies trying not to waver. 'URK...Don't be scared...I can flatten these guys when I turn into Zombire'.
"Hey, let's get out of here! We can't handle that guy" scoffs the leader as he turns to leave a baffled Yugi, Hanasaki and bully no. 2, "HUH...?" comes the only remark from the other teen who wasn't sure what his boss was doing.
'PHEW...' sighs Hanasaki who was relieved that the teens decided to leave instead of trying to pick a fight with them right then and there.
'?!', 'They ran away when they saw Hanasaki' thought Yugi in disbelief who wasn't sure what just happened but glad it did because once the bullies had left the Millennium Puzzle had finally stopped pulsated against Yugi and had returned to normal as if nothing had happened.
"Are you okay Yugi?" asks Hanasaki once he turns to face Yugi.
"Yeah, That was incredible Hanasaki" answers Yugi to his friend.
"From now on let me know if you have any problems with bullies, I'll take care of 'em for you" replies Hanasaki as if saying hey I'll protect you.
"O-Okay", 'Hanasaki really seems confident...' thinks Yugi who wasn't sure what else to say with out being rude and saying thanks but no thanks because I have Yami to protect me because then he would have to go into great detail about Yami and the Millennium Puzzle which was defintely something Yugi didn't want to do.
"Hey...Where are we going? Weren't we going to pay him back for last night..." asks the teen once they were far enough away from Yugi and Hanasaki.
"No dumb ass...We just need to know what he looks like...", "That brat is our meal ticket, Let him play hero for now" scoffs the leader of the group as they finally meet up with there third and final member of the group.
'We'll put the plan into action tonight!'
Later that night, Yugi and Yami were upstairs in Yugi's room, Yami sitting over on there bed reading and Yugi over at the desk putting together a garage kit. "Hanasaki really got to me, Now I'm into Zombire too" chimes Yugi as he finishes his garage kit unaware of Yami sneeking glances his way every now and again.
"All right, I've put him together", "Now I just have to paint him and then I'm done" and so with that said Yugi reaches for his can of spray paint and with a swift click on the nozzle Yugi moves to paint his Zombire only to realize that..."ACK! THIS PAINT CAN IS EMPTY!"
At Yugi's sudden realization of the paint can, Yami can't help but chuckle at his aibou. "Talk about bad luck, Just when I was almost done" murmurs Yugi from his desk.
"And of course, We don't stock spray cans in our store...And everywhere else is closed now...But I can't stand leaving it like this..." groans Yugi who happens to glance at his clock as does Yami who knew what Yugi was thinking of doing.
"Eight O' Clock...", "ALL RIGHT! I'll go to Hanasaki's and borrow a can of paint from him" was all Yugi said as he decided that right then and there that he would go Hanasaki's for some paint but not before Yami had anything to say about it.
"Aibou, why not let me go get the spray paint from Hanasaki for you" answers Yami who in reality just didn't want Yugi going out at that time of night.
"Are you sure Yami? I mean I can do it" answers Yugi to Yami.
"I'm sure..." begins Yami before crimson hues suddenly land on a book that had been sitting over on Yugi's desk since the carnival at Domino High. 'That's right...with all that's been going on lately I totally forgot about returning Heila's book to her but with them being absent from class I can't very well return it...but what they did was un excuseable...they put Yugi's life in danger because they didn't tell me about Shadi...How can I forgive them for that?'muses Yami before snapping out of his thoughts by Yugi.
"Ah, Yami..." calls Yugi.
"Sorry I was thinking about something, but as I was saying...I'll go to Hanasaki's and get you a can of paint" and so with that said Yami reached over and placed a swift yet gently kiss to Yugi's cheek before leaving for Hanasaki's home.
The walk to Hanasaki's was both long yet silent but that was okay with Yami because it gave him time to think about his life with Yugi and the fact his life was still a complete mystery to him so it gave him time to reflect but as Yami continued towards Hanasaki's another figure was already there lurking in the darkness of the shadows.
"Heh heh..." chuckles the figure as he held an object maybe no bigger than a golf ball in his hands as if waiting for the right moment to throw it.
"You're going back to America tomorrow aren't you dad? When will you be back again?" asks Hanasaki to his father as they sat around the kitchen table enjoying an awesome meal that was prepared by his mother.
"Hmmm...I really don't know..." answers Hanasaki's father who was trying to be honest with his son without giving him false hope of him returning home any time soon.
"Oh well..." murmurs Hanasaki with a gloomy look that started to appear on his face that his father couldn't help but notice before speaking up in hopes to change his mood. "B...By the way Tomoya...I heard an incredible rumor in town", "Last night, some bad guys were beating someone up in the park. But they were stopped by a superhero who appeared out of nowhere... Who knows? It might be Zombire".
"Hmm..." replies Hanasaki to show he was listening. 'Wouldn't dad be surprised if he knew that was me...', "Well good night, Thanks for dinner...I'll be in my room but knock before you come in okay?" was all Hanasaki says before excusing himself from the table to retire to his room leaving just his mother and father at the table.
"Don't you think Tomoya is acting more masculine lately?" asks Hanasaki's mother to her husband who sat across from her at the table. "Ha ha...you think so?" asks the husband back to his wife. 'He gained some confidence after last night...'
Mean while Hanasaki was upstairs in his room changing into his Zombire costume from his father before jumping about his room hitting an air punching bag. "HAAH", "YAAH".
'I have to keep in shape so I can fight evil at any time' were Hanasaki's thoughts before suddenly "EEP!" was Hanasaki's cries when something came crashing threw his bedroom window scaring him in the process.
"W-What is it?!", "This is...A ransome note" exclaims Hanasaki once he picked up the item that came crashing into his bedroom and was able to get a good look at it.
Attention Superhero-
We have your friend! Don't try and stop us!
As Hanasaki reads the note he can't help but see a badly drawn picture of what should be Yugi bound and gaged and above the picture another one that looked like a map and the location of where Yugi was suppose to be held captured.
'Yugi's been kidnapped!', "It must be the work of those punks! They won't get away with this! Yugi, I'm coming to save you" was all Hanasaki says as he jumps from his bedroom window and making a dash towards the location of where Yugi was suppose to be completely unaware of the other teen who was still lurking in the shadows while grabing his cell phone.
'Heh heh heh...He took the bait...', "Yo!The idiot is heading your way, just like we planned" remarks the teen into the phone. "Ok" was the reply from the other.
"Hey, He's coming this way","Heh heh heh" laughs the teen once he gets off his cell phone and relays the message back to his leader and boss who at the moment was painting skulls and cross bones on the wall .
"Heh heh heh...Okay time for stage two" orders the other once he stops with the paint can to glance over to the other teen who reaches for his cell phone once more this time to call a different person. "Okay."
With a quick punch of some numbers the teen was dialing an all too familiar number. "Hello, is this Tomoya Hanasaki's home? You're his old man?", "Hey it's us. We'd like to play some more hero games with Tomoya tonight..."
"The payment this time is..." as this is all being said to Hanasaki's father, Tomoya's dad can't help but go pale and begin to panic at what he was hearing..."500,000 Yen! (1)"
"Heh heh...If you don't want to pay...Then we'll introduce a shocking new plot element. This time the superhero gets beat to death by the bad guys!", "Heh heh heh" laughs the teen on the phone as if saying pay it or else we kill your son.
"I...I don't have that kind of money" pleads Tomoya's father as he tries to reason with them, to explain that he didn't have that kind of money like that. But before he can get another word in inch wise the teen speaks up again, "Here he is...The hero just arrived, old dude...If you don't bring the cash quick the next time you'll see him is in a hospital bed" and with that the line went dead.
"ALL RIGHT, YOU VILLIANS! WHAT HAVE YOU DONE WITH YUGI!?" yells Hanasaki to the teens down below who all but chuckle as if it was all funny to them. But as this was all going on Yami had finally arrived at Hanasaki's home and had just knocked on the front door.
"Good Evening, Is Hanasaki in?" calls Yami at the door when at that exact moment Tomoya's father comes rushing out. "T-...Tomoya is...", "Tomoya is..." was all Hanasaki's father could ramble out to Yami as he tries not to break down crying.
"What happened to Hanasaki?!" asks a concerned Yami to Hanaskai's father trying to understand what was happening. "I-I found this...In Tomoya's room...What should I do?!" answers Hanasaki's father as he shows Yami the so call ransome note that was left in Tomoya's room and the badly draw picture of Yugi.
"!", (Aibou are you still at home?) panics Yami who wanted to make sure Yugi was safe. /Yes...Yami's whats wrong?/ asks Yugi who wasn't sure what was happening. (Nothing, just stay home and if anyone tries to hurt you...use the Millennium Puzzle) was all Yami said before he closed the link with Yugi.
'Hanasaki...You did this for Yugi's sake...!' thinks a determined Yami who flead towards Hanasaki's direction with his father not to far behind. "WHAT'S WRONG LITTLE HERO?" scoffs one of the teens as he punches Hanasaki in the face which sends him flying to the ground. "OOF!"
'URGH...B-...But...I thought I was strong...' cries Hanasaki's mind as he pushes his self up from the ground while the bullies just stood there laughing.
"I'll let you in on something...We were only acting last night", "Your old man paid us to do it" scoffs the leader to Hanasaki who was still on the ground but who was now in shock that his own father had paid them.
"Your lying...", "YOU'RE LYING!" screams Hanasaki as he gets up from the ground and charges the bullies only to be surprised by having a spray can sprayed in the face. "heh heh heh..." laughs the leader as he sprays his face with paint.
"AAGGH!", "My eyes, my eyes!" cries Hanasaki as he falls to the ground in pain as the paint stung his eyes. "BWA HA HA" laughs the leader.
"A little twerp like you could never be strong!" yells the other teen as he kicks Hanasaki in the face which sends him flying in the process."GAAH!".
"THAT'S ENOUGH, YOU SCUM!" comes the barritone voice of Yami who had finally arrived to where Hanasaki was which startles the teens in the process. "I'm the one who's going to play with you".
"What the-?!", "Another wanna-be hero...?" cries the leader of the group as he looks to Yami who had finally approached them along with Tomoya's father. "Tomoya..." calls Hanasaki's father once he was close.
"Oh, you wanna play, huh?", "This should be fun..."
"Tomoya...", "Are you all right?!" asks Hanasaki's father as he gently grabs his son and carefully helps him up while Yami continued to stand up to the bullies.
"heh heh...Think you can take on all three of us...?" asks the leader as he flicks his cigarette bud at Yami as if daring him to do something.
"Heh heh...I think this'll be fun" snickers Yami as he grabs the paint can that the bullies had left laying on the ground. "Huh...He's dissing us..." remarks another teen as the leader pulls out a pocket knife before charging Yami who decided to start tagging the ground with spray paint as if he was running around in different directions. "Heh heh"
"Damn..." growls the leader when he missed Yami who just continued with his spray paint tagging.
"URK...", "Fast little brat" growls the leader "I'm gonna kill him!" was all that was said because the leader was beginning to get pissed that Yami was dodging there every move thrown his way. "Dammit...I don't have time for tag!".
"Hey! Circle around from the other side!", "Corner him by the bridge".
"Tomoya...are you alright?" asks Hanasaki's father once he was able to get hanasaki out of harms way and was able to do a double take of his injuries. "Yeah...My eyes are just blurry..." answers Hanasaki who can't help but glance behind him only to see Yami.
'Yami...?!', 'Yami is fighting them..?! He's fighting them for me...!' thinks Hanasaki's mind as he tries to understand why Yami was standing up for him. "Now's our chance Tomoya...Let's get you back to the house" remarks Tomoya's father.
'What...?!' was all Hanasaki could think when he heard his father say that. "Come on!", "Tomoya" cries Hanasaki's father who was trying to get Hanasaki to leave while they could but all Hanasaki could do was just look to his father.
"Dad, I won't run away!", "If I run away now, I'll never be strong!" cries Hanasaki who takes off his Zombire mask before turning around and running back towards Yami as if hoping to help in some shape or form.
"TOMOYA...!" cries Hanasaki's father as he watches him run back towards Yami. 'Tomoya...'
"Ha Haa! Got you cornered now...", "Prepare yourself" scoffs the leader as he gloats about cornering Yami.
"Heh heh heh...Fools! Do you think I was just running in circles" chuckles Yami as he looks to the leader of the group as if to say do you think I'm that stupid to do so. "Look at the ground".
"W-What..." come the shock voices of the group as they realize what Yami was saying. "He's been tagging the ground with spray paint" cry the group when they realized that Yami had made all these different markings on the ground with the spray paint.
"I wasn't tagging...Your cigarette butt is the fuse...To set the paint on fire"
"WHA...WHA..." was all that could be said from the shocked expressions of the three that stood before Yami as they watched on in horror.
"Welcome to my maze of fire" remarks Yami as the cigarette finally lights the spray paint that was on the ground on fire.
"AAAGGHH!", "AAGH...My legs" scream the teens as there clothes begin to catch fire while Yami just watches in amusement.
"Ha ha ha ha, That's it run, run to the end of the maze" gloats Yami as he continues to watch in delight at what was going on before him for no one, no one made threats to his friends or pretend to kidnap his Aibou for Yugi was off limits to anyone who dare do harm to him.
"HOT HOT HOT" cry the teens as they make a mad dash for the other end of the piere where water wasn't that far from reach. "Don't worry...if you get out of the maze, your lives will be spared..." chuckles Yami as he continues to watch the teens before him.
"YOWCH!", "EEYAAGH! HELP" come the continue cries of the teens.
"YAMI" cries Hanasaki, as he runs up to the teen in question which has Yami turning to greet Hanasaki once he was close enough. "I'm sorry...It's my fault...I'm such an idiot..." remarks Hanasaki as he hangs his head low in shame once he was standing next to Yami.
'TOMOYA...Your dad was wrong...The true hero's face was hidden behind the mask...The face that got bruised defending your friend' thinks Hanasaki's father as he looks down at the Zombire mask that layed between his hands.
"There's no way I could be a hero..." remarks Hanasaki to Yami.
"Of course you can..." admits Yami as he and Hanasaki turn to leave the blazing ring of fire behind them.
TBC
A/N: Well how was this chapter? Good? Bad? Please R&R...also I know many of my reviewers are wondering when Tea will appear to seek revenge against Yugi for stealing Yami but don't worry she will make a come back but not until future chapters I'm thinking more like after Death-T but again it's future chapters.
Translation
1. 500,000 Yen = About 4,100 dollars in U.S. money