I lied. Toby appears for a moment here, too. Also, sorry about the ridiculous wait time for this chapter. I really got stuck (as evidenced by the fact that it took me forever to write this)

Also, I mentioned before that there will probably not be any solid ships for the story, but I warn you that there may be shippy moments. Mostly for the sake of humor.

Also, the chapter title and some of the lines are inspired by the song "Stay Alive" by Hidden Citizens.

Chapter Six: Stay Alive

When Seto Kaiba received the email, he was immediately dialing.

"Hello, this is Toby Purthing-"

"What the hell is going on?" Kaiba immediately began.

"Oh, Mr. Kaiba, sir, are you referring to the email?"

"Yes," Kaiba hissed. "What the hell do you mean, they're gone?!"

Toby paused a moment. "Well, I don't know, sir. That's all Doctor Bakura would say."

Gone. The team is gone.

The gory scene from the alleyway flashed behind his eyelids. "Holy fuck."

They'd found the other one already, the very thing he had been trying to prevent.

"How was Doctor Bakura's temperament?" he asked. The twitching, jerking creature from the lab came to mind.

"I don't know of he's normally like that, but he seemed particularly… snappish," Toby replied. "Quite the rude man."

No, no, Doctor Bakura was not normally like that. Kaiba had met the man himself. Doctor Reiji Bakura had patience to rival a saint and the gentleness of a spring breeze.

"Fuck," he hissed.

"He just called earlier this evening. He'd already made it to Cairo."

No surprise there. It seemed like the creatures could leap across rooftops like it was an Olympic sport. "What did he say?"

"He demanded that I arrange a flight to get him to Domino as soon as possible."

Kaiba froze, knuckles white. "What did you do?"

"As he demanded. He's on his way to America as we speak."

Cold sweat slicked Kaiba's shirt to his skin. "What?"

"Was… was I not supposed to do that?"

Kaiba gripped the bridge of his nose, eyes squeezed shut. His heart was pounding so hard and fast it made his head hurt and his breath short. "You didn't know any better, but you should've called me first! Or someone!"

"I didn't think it was such a big deal."

Air hissed shakily out of Kaiba's teeth. "The man said the rest of the team was 'gone,' and offered no explanation for their disappearances. For all you know, that man is a murderer."

Toby cursed, voice shaking with horror. "What do I do, Mr. Kaiba?"

Kaiba's thoughts raced in time with his throbbing pulse. "Get a team to meet Doctor Bakura when he lands. An armed team. We have no idea what he is capable of. He needs to be detained and quarantined."

"Quarantined…?"

"I hypothesize that he found another of the organisms and is now infected."

Toby's shaky breaths crackled in the receiver. "What do you think he did to the rest of the team?"

The phantom smell of blood echoed gruesomely through Kaiba's senses. "He ate them. All of them."

Yugi walked from the bus. The mid-morning air was crisp and soft. He shouldered his backpack.

"So you come to this place to learn."

"Yes," Yugi muttered, and he started a little when he realized he said it aloud.

"What are you learning?"

Yugi resisted the urge to shrug. I'm getting a degree in game design and computer programming.

"Games. Like the ones your sloppy housemate was playing?"

Yes.

"I like those games. Especially the one where the characters savagely beat one another to death."

You're… going to have to be more specific.

"You both played. It was a fist fight. It showed the bones breaking at certain parts."

Mortal Kombat.

"Yes, Mortal Kombat. I quite like that one. It stirred my appetite."

Yugi frowned, horrified.

"Speaking of appetite, I desire sustenance."

Yugi sighed. This… thing had an insatiable appetite.

"You can eat enough to sustain me or I can make a snack of one of your kidneys. It's all up to you, really."

Yugi, still walking, pulled off his backpack to scrounge through its contents. He pulled out a banana. The beast all but purred.

"I like these things. Bananas, you call them?"

Yugi began to peel it.

"What are you doing?"

"I'm not going to eat the peel," Yugi hissed.

"That's wasteful. The peel has an abundant amount of important nutrients. You'd be foolish not to eat it."

Well, I'm not. Not even animals eat the peel. He pulled the peel down about halfway and bit into the soft flesh underneath.

"That's why they are animals; they are ignorant. Eat the peel."

"No," Yugi replied through a mouthful of banana.

The beast growled.

Listen here, parasite.

An indignant huff. "I am not a parasite."

Don't care. If you are going to coerce me into eating, I am going to eat what I damn well please, however I damn well please. Also, you need to leave me alone. I'm here to learn, and I don't think I can do that when you are chattering your face off like a parrot with ADHD.

A grumble.

Thank you. I'm glad we got that all covered.

Before class, Yugi hurriedly completed all of the homework he had missed. It wasn't much, but he didn't want even this debacle to get him behind in classes. If his GPA dropped too much, he'd lose his merit scholarships. And Yugi literally could not afford to lose his merit scholarships.

"What is the purpose of this 'homework'?"

Practice, basically.

A hum, and then silence. Yugi quietly thanked the beast, and continued with his work.

Yugi's first class went uninterrupted, which was nice. It wasn't until he was walking to his next one that he remembered that Professor Romero had cancelled Wednesday's class. He didn't need to go back until Monday. He turned.

"Yugi."

Yugi blinked, hummed inquisitively.

"I require sustenance."

A sigh through his nose.

"Our metabolism is still acclimating," the creature offered in explanation.

Yugi walked to the cafe. It was a little early to be eating lunch, but he wanted to save the rest of his snacks for later in the day. He pulled open the door and nearly jumped out of his skin at the sound of the bell on the door ringing.

Calm down.

"It startled me."

"Yugi!" Tea called, bounding up to the counter. "You're early!"

He stepped forward, rubbed the back of his neck. "Yeah. One of my classes got cancelled, but, since I was hungry, I thought I'd come by."

"Well, either way, what can I get you?" She said, beaming, blue eyes sparkling.

It was like seeing her with new eyes. Flushed, healthy skin, a good amount of meat on her bones. From the shape of her shoulders under her uniform shirt, it was obvious that she was athletic, in shape. Yet still, she had healthy amount of fat on her. And her hips.

Her hips.

But, Yugi realized with a start, while he could agree with these thoughts, they were most certainly not his own.

And a cold chill crept down his spine.

You are not eating Tea!

"Yugi!" the beast exclaimed in his head, and the thought bounced off the walls of his skull with such force Yugi feared that he would become concussed. "You took this female as a mate, and yet you let her go without creating offspring?! Where are your basic instincts?!"

"Uh, Yugi…? You okay there?" Tea asked, her brows creasing with concern.

Yugi smiled shakily. "Uh, just a club sandwich. Like usual."

The beast kept nagging at him for his attention, but he pushed away the prodding and probing until he made it to his seat.

It's not as simple as that! he snapped.

"I fail to see why it isn't. She's healthy, she's strong, she has the most viable set of child-bearing hips I have ever laid eyes upon -" (Yugi could imagine the beast counting off the reasons on big black claws) "- and she was yours! Any red-blooded human male should have jumped on the chance to partake in those genetics, you realize."

Yugi slapped a palm to his forehead. Uh, no. Men don't really think like that anymore, you realize.

"Then they are fools. Humans exist only to procreate and sow chaos on the natural world. But you, Yugi, are the king of fools. It's not like you will be able to get another female of that caliber-"

"Hey!" Yugi cried, aloud this time. Several other students turned to stare at him, and he waved sheepishly before ducking his head.

"- so you most certainly should have taken the chance while you had it."

Listen, Yugi started, quiet, she just wasn't as into me as I was her. It wasn't fair to expect that out of her, so we broke it off. We're better as friends.

"Well, as friends, you better hope you still manage to fertilize her. She may be the only hope you have."

Wow, thanks for the vote of confidence. Yugi paused. Wait, I never told you that I was in a relationship with her. Can you… see my memories or something?

"It's more complicated than that, but, in short, yes." And then the rush of babbling returned. "My point is that you should jump on that, both literally and figuratively, before another male claims her womb -"

Yugi nearly slammed his head on the table. Enough! Jesus, you are the most exhausting being in existence!

"Don't hyperbolize."

Please, please let me eat in peace.

"Fine. Perhaps eating will settle your sour disposition today."

Yugi rolled his eyes.

They were hidden amongst the crowd. Perhaps if one stood and watched, observed all the people in the terminal with utmost scrutiny, they would notice. The shifty glances toward Gate 13. The subtle rustling of clothing. Hands momentarily settling on bulges in clothing.

Guns.

Perhaps if one stared closely enough, they would see the nude earpieces.

When he came, they would capture him. If he became violent, they would call in the armored men who had greater firepower.

But, for now, it was a waiting game.

The flight from Cairo had been delayed do to an oceanic storm, but its arrival was scheduled for any minute now.

Any minute now.

And, surely enough, the plane landed, roaring loud enough to be heard even from within the airport. If one cared to notice, a collective tension settled over various men and women inside the building.

They'd seen the videos.

They knew what these monsters were capable of.

They waited. And they waited.

Finally, passengers disembarked from the aircraft.

They'd studied the photos, what to look for. Sunken cheeks, darkened veins, circles around the eyes, twitches. With those haunting images in mind, they combed through the jet-lagged commuters. One by one, exhausted face by exhausted face, the flyers trudged through the gate. Yes, they looked haggard, but no where near that foreboding sickliness from the still-shots of that disturbing video.

They knew Doctor Bakura boarded the plane. But there was no telling if the organism had found a new host during that sixteen-hour flight.

But, eventually, the trickle of people slowed, until it seemed that the plane had emptied itself.

Doctor Bakura did not exit the plane. Immediately, heads turned, suddenly, chins tucking into lapels and lips barely moving to murmur into microphones.

Doctor Bakura did not exit the plane!

Now, the commuters dotting the place did notice. Their animal instincts picked up on the rising panic, the acrid fear and wrought tension wreathing the air, thick like some dreadful blanket.

It was a KaibaCorp plane, so gaining permission to search it was easy.

But that panic raised, ever higher, a tidal wave shadowing them with its terrible height.

Somehow, somewhere, Doctor Bakura had escaped.

Doctor Bakura was gone.

Yugi waited patiently at the bus stop. He looked at his old, beat-up digital watch. He was actually on time today. He sighed, relaxed back against the bench.

But the shadow in his head was restless.

"Yugi."

"What?" he whispered, head tipped back, eyes closed.

"We are being watched."

"I'm pretty sure you're just paranoid," Yugi muttered. He was sure the other people waiting were giving him strange looks. But he was too tired to care anymore.

"No. Don't be obvious about it, but look over your left shoulder. Leaning against the 'University Center' sign. That man."

Yugi sighed, this time exasperated, and made a show of twisting in his seat and grabbing the back of the bench to stretch his back and sides. Surely enough, there was a man there. Tall, but somehow completely bland. He wore a long jacket, fitting for the cooling weather.

"He has a gun."

How do you know these things?

"Instinct."

Wow. Great explanation. A plus.

"Do not get on that bus."

You know what happened the last time I walked home? I got a parasite. That's what happened.

"We can't be sure if he knows where we live. If you ride the bus home, it might mean our certain doom. And that of your roommate."

Yugi stiffed, and he leaned his elbows on his knees. Okay. What do we do?

"We'll walk. He will try to ambush us in a less populated area. As a matter of fact, we'll lead him right to one."

Yugi worried his lower lip with his teeth. What if he has buddies?

"We'll take care of them, too."

I don't want to kill any more people, Yugi whimpered.

"Sometimes you must do what you have to do to survive. Even if it means taking another's life to spare your own."

I'm not an animal.

"You can pretend to be civilized. But you are an animal."

Yugi shook his head.

"Does the wolf apologize, Yugi?"

No.

"Neither should you."

A pause ensued, but the clamor of Yugi's own thoughts filled his head.

"Let's go."

The cold surged through his limbs, and he was standing. The beast took control, manipulating Yugi's body like a puppet on strings. Yugi let it.

He passed, dreamlike, through the crowd, away from the bus stop.

"He's following."

Yugi grunted, and, instead of remaining dormant, and instead of fighting back, he worked in tandem with his guest to walk faster along the sidewalk. We'll go to the industrial district. It's all but abandoned there.

"Good thinking."

I'm still not happy about this.

"It wouldn't matter if you were. You know I could easily overpower you and kill him. Right here. Right now."

Do you always resort to coercion?

"For the most part."

But, like this, working together in body, Yugi could feel it. They were bleeding into one another mentally, too. He sensed the beast's thoughts more clearly, and could feel that the beast was feeling him, too. Heightened sight, smell, awareness. He could feel the beast tampering with his bodily processes. Lungs taking in greater capacity, as was the heart, hormones feeding into his bloodstream.

It was priming them up for combat.

"You were right. More have joined him. There's another flanking us across the street, and one behind him several yards back."

I noticed.

"We might not make it to the industrial district at this rate."

If they're following us, they know what you are. They're not going to start a scene where everyone can see. They'll wait.

"I wouldn't be so sure. They seem impatient."

They walked faster. The footsteps trailing them picked up speed.

"They know we know."

Without even looking back, they broke into a sprint.

Cold pounded through his veins. The beast was pumping his muscles with raw power. Yugi felt like some wild animal bounding through the streets. They made no pause for the car about to go over the crosswalk. A horn blared, sharp and dull in their ears, but they slid, graceful, unharmed over the hood and onto the sidewalk onto the other side. They resumed the break-neck pace as if nothing happened.

"They're keeping up pace surprisingly well."

And then the beast slowed.

What are you doing? We'll outrun them at this rate!

"That much is true, but what then? They will not stop. They will continue hunting us. Today, tomorrow. It matters not to them, as long as they get us in the end."

I hate it when you're right, Yugi replied, and he honestly felt like crying from all the overwhelming feelings.

"Shit!"

The beast tried to tug their body to duck, but was too slow.

Electricity, hot and biting, sizzled at Yugi's shoulder.

They'd been tased.

But they plowed on, only stumbling momentarily before the strings were disconnected from their clothing.

"The bastards!" the beast snarled.

The chase continued through the streets of Domino City, and they dodged any more attempts to stun them with electricity; the attacks hardly harmed them, but the beast found them abhorrently annoying.

Final, they made it to the industrial district. They cornered themselves in an alleyway.

The men, now a total of six, advanced upon them.

"You've got no where to run, kid. Come with us."

Yugi snarled, jagged teeth flashing and inhuman tongue rolling.

The cold surged up and out, encasing Yugi, and suddenly he was towering over them.

A scream echoed through the abandoned streets and warehouses, following closely by a gunshot and an enraged roar that shook windows in their frames. Those hefty men were no match for the hulking black beast; they went flying like ragdolls in the face of the monster's brute strength. Bones crunched, flesh split, blood dripped onto the dirty pavement.

Muscles tore, skulls imploding under the snapping bite of huge jagged teeth.

It was a bloodbath.

Nothing but carnage was left behind.

With huge black claws, the beast rifled through bloodied, shredded jackets. Despite its size, it managed to delicately pinch the object between foreclaw and thumb.

KaibaCorp.

Ryou Bakura lifted his head when the door opened. His grin split his fair face wide.

"Dad! You're back early."

There was no response.

"Dad… you're not looking too hot. You might want to lay down."

"... What is it, Ryou? Do I not get a hug from my favorite son? I've been gone for so long…"

"Of course!" Ryou chirped. He stood, wrapped his lanky arms around his father. He wrinkled his nose but ignored his father's stench.

A hand, cold, cold, cold, touched his shoulder.

"Ah, perfect."

And then were was nothing but icy black and coppery blood.

END PART