The Magicians' Realm Chapter 80: Tomatoes and Lockpicks, a yu-gi-oh fanfic

Chapter 80, everyone! Which has been apparently looked forward to with much excitement, even though it's just breakfast and breakouts that happen….

In other news, just received the new Skulduggery Pleasant book in the mail—appropriate, since he makes a reappearance in this chapter. :D And it's taking all my self-control to not just drop everything and read that thing and not come up for air until I'm done….

Angiembabe, thanks for the review! Perhaps….Aha, no! That was just her being flip. :D Who indeed….Well, if we look at the manga, there is one other guy who's good at it….

Fromtheashtrees, thanks for the review! Yes….I've noticed that. And that—it's surprising what a difference a few feet makes in the riding-in-a-car experience (and now I don't relax in the passenger's seat anymore, because I'm constantly scanning the mirrors out of habit). Eventually you'll get better at it and it won't take so much out of you—BUT DON'T GET COMFORTABLE! My Mom cannot stress that enough. :O

FluffyIdiotIsI, thanks for the review! Yes, her spider-sense is tingling…yes, alas poor Greg—we knew him well, until his job got the best of him. Me too. Yes! Haha—I'm reminded of BlackRoseDragonCK's old Yu-Gi-Oh!/Avengers rewrite (which now unfortunately remains unfinished) with Bakura cast as the Incredible Hulk. Skellington will never know what hit him. XD I might—it depends on the whims of the story, honestly. This whole thing with Bakura? Sent Yuki into the building and Maxwell decided to sideline him without asking me first. The jerk. Yes, it's here! :D

References:

Original characters, + setting © Kineil D. Wicks (myself, not the girl in the story)

They ended up outside a Magician-style house near the forest, a little out of place amid the Commoner-style homes surrounding it, yet managing to blend in enough that it wasn't obvious.

"Why are we stopping here?" Teana felt compelled to ask, waving briefly at someone coming out to retrieve their morning paper.

"I told you, we're having breakfast," Yami said, knocking on the door.

"Are we taking someone else out to eat?"

"No, not really."

"Are we heading for a diner?"

"No, not really."

"Don't tell me you're dropping in on someone—"

"Come in!" someone called.

"No, not really," Yami said, opening the door and ducking under the doorjamb, stepping aside to allow her through. "See? We were invited. Come on, before the bugs get in."

"Can we talk about just barging into people's houses?" Teana asked, stepping through and finding herself in a little foyer. A living room and a kitchen were immediately evident.

Someone stuck their head through a little bar-type window in the wall.

"Yes, that's very rude—go barge into someone else's house."

Teana blinked, recognized the voice before she recognized the face—Skulduggery Pleasant.

And then Idgy leaned out of the kitchen.

"Hey! You're just in time!" she greeted, waving them around and through to the kitchen. "I'm just finishing up!"

"No, no! Come back in an hour or so!" Skulduggery said—Teana entered the kitchen in time to see him grab a plate and hold it away from the table. "These will be nicely taken care of by then!"

"But I was wanting one," Yami protested, holding a chair out for Teana—she sat down, and he quickly followed after pushing her chair in.

"No. maybe half of one. A very small one."

"Skul, share," Idgy ordered, before looking at Teana. "So! How do you like your fried green tomatoes?"

"For breakfast?" Teana echoed blankly.

"With ketchup," a little boy at the table said, pushing a little toy car between the condiments.

"You can't drown your food in ketchup," Skulduggery argued, finally relenting and putting the tomatoes back on the table. "It just isn't done."

"He'll figure it out eventually," Idgy said, putting plates and mugs in front of Teana and Yami and quickly following it with utensils. "Eggs?"

"Um," Teana noised.

"Yes?" Yami asked.

"You want eggs too," Idgy said, nodding at Teana before going back to the stove. "I can tell."

"Hmm," Teana noised, before looking at Skulduggery. "Don't you cook?"

"I'm not allowed to anymore," Skulduggery said.

"I've never seen cast iron do that before in my life," Idgy said. "Besides, I'm the one who used to work at a diner—I'm the professional."

"This is true."

"That honestly sounds like another incident," Teana said.

"This is true," Yami said, looking at Skulduggery. "That was a very Heph and Vul thing."

"An insult!" Skulduggery said, sounding mock-affronted. "I've been maligned! I'm never speaking to you again!"

"Fair enough."

"You should sound more distraught."

"You're talking to me."

"So what are you two doing today?" Idgy asked, putting some eggs and fried green tomatoes on Teana's plate.

"We're going to Ghastly's," Yami said, breaking off from his conversation with Skulduggery.

"You are?" Skulduggery said, all previous irritation forgotten. "I'll go with you then. Work is being uncooperatively slow and dull and I need a new hat."

"You have a million of them," Idgy pointed out, finally sitting down.

"This is true. I'll get you a hat. You only have a couple thousand."

"And what if I didn't want to go to Ghastly's?" Teana asked after their moment of silence, unclasping her hands.

"I think you'd like Ghastly," Yami said, unfolding a napkin. "So what did you want to do today?"

"See you work another full day?"

"No. maybe on special occasions, but twice in a row is too much."

"So you did work a full day!" Skulduggery said, looking surprised. "I thought Maxwell was full of it. I bet you gave everyone heart attacks. I'm sorry I missed that."

"Where were you anyway?" Yami asked.

"Tracking down malicious criminal deviants," Skulduggery said, waving a fork around. "Unfortunately, there was only one available, and he went down without much fuss. I swear, these people seek to disappoint me."

"Shame on them."

"Agreed," Skulduggery said. "So in the meantime, hats."

"I want one," the boy—Jack, Teana remembered—said.

"You can't have one yet—you're not tall enough. You have to be able to reach the top of your head."

In response, Jack touched the top of his head.

"I have no excuse then," Skulduggery said. "Wait until this weekend then so we can make a production out of it. And I have to go over proper hat-care with you before then."

Teana looked at Idgy, who shrugged.

"You kind of get used to it," she counseled.

Which worried Teana more than she cared to admit.

*\*/*

"I don't know about this."

"Just—like Yami says: pretend you know what you're doing," Yuki counselled, leading the way through the Administration Building's meandering halls.

"Right," Jonouchi muttered, rubbing the back of his head as he glanced over his shoulder. "I'll just pretend like I'm following you—should be easy, since that's what I'm doing. Plus, they're not about to hang you."

"Hopefully," Yuki muttered.

They walked in silence, pausing only at crossways where Yuki had to remember how to get to the stairs leading to the dungeons.

"So," Jonouchi noised after a while. "How about that Administrator dying?"

Yuki flinched at that. "Uh…can we talk about something else?"

Long silence.

It was several halls later before Jonouchi picked out a different topic. "Seen anything good at the Majestic recently?"

Yuki shook his head. "I've been hanging with Yami—we haven't seen anything lately."

"You guys missed a good Zorro flick, then."

"Maybe we'll go later," Yuki posed, pausing at a stout doorway with stairs leading down.

Jonouchi whistled. "What is that?"

"The stairs to the dungeon."

"Uh-huh. Why are we going into the dungeon?"

"Bakura's locked up. I think."

"Bakura's locked up? Better yet, you think?"

"I got the information from Administrator Carter," Yuki protested, struggling to keep his voice low as they descended. "I'm…not a hundred percent sure."

"Well, this'll be fun," Jonouchi muttered, following him down.

It didn't take long to pass the main portion where…things happened…and get to the holding cells. Cleaning spells were cast regularly to keep the place smelling decently, and it wasn't too much different than the jail cell at the Commoner police station—these cells were just reinforced magically.

Of course, they weren't reinforced physically, which meant that they were susceptible to being picked. Not that anyone ever got far enough to try…hopefully they'd get it.

"Bakura," Yuki tried to call—his voice came out in a squeak.

"Now how are you going to get his attention like that? BAKURA!" Jonouchi bellowed, making Yuki jump.

"We're not supposed to be letting everyone know we're here!" Yuki scolded, slapping Jonouchi on the arm repeatedly. Not that Jonouchi gave any indication he felt it.

Jonouchi's retort was cut off by a sharp whistle.

They looked up sharply, headed in the general direction it came from—

To find Bakura sitting in a cell.

"So!" Bakura greeted. "What are you in for?"

"That was my question," Jonouchi said, hands on his hips and eyeing the bars. "And why am I even getting you out? You can't do it yourself?"

In response, Bakura rapped on the space between the bars—green sparks skittered across an invisible barrier.

"Alas, I cannot," Bakura said. "Although this honestly feels more like it's supposed to be holding Magicians—my mouth feels dry, and I swear my ears popped."

"The cells must be sealed," Yuki supposed. "They stop a Magician from using their magic."

"That bites," Jonouchi said, peering at the lock. "But this isn't too bad. Give me about five minutes."

"I can do it in two," Bakura said.

"Well you're not out here, are you?"

"Why are you in there, anyway?" Yuki asked.

"I…might have been heading down the street with a lot of machinery," Bakura hedged. "For fixing films. Fortunately, said films weren't on me…but it was more than a little frustrating—I had paid for the stuff and everything."

"Did you really?"

"Don't sound so surprised."

"You prefer lifting stuff to paying for it," Jonouchi put in. "You paying for anything is surprising."

"Oh hush you. Let's just say that the…proprietor…of the Majestic frowns upon someone stealing supplies for his films and radio, especially when he goes and pays for it all and orders it. I suppose it's more tolerable being outbid…not that I bought it."

"Knew it."

"I'll have you know I had to pay for the right to borrow the stuff. And then the Administrators go and confiscate it all. I may have to just ask the proprietor to fix the films himself."

"Yami wouldn't like that," Yuki pointed out, glancing about nervously. "Those are supposed to be a secret, remember? We weren't supposed to be there."

"Let's just say that the proprietor is the sort to keep a secret."

"I'm sorry, are we talking about the same guy?" Jonouchi asked, before making a muted noise of triumph and pulling the door open. "Last I worked there, the manager was a hundred-percent jerk."

"I didn't say the manager," Bakura said, stepping through and inhaling deeply. "I said the proprietor. The two are not the same. Ta, by the way."

"I hope that's thank you. Who's the proprietor then?"

"I've said too much," Bakura said, crossing his arms and tipping his head away.

"Why I oughta—"

"Uh," Yuki noised, directing the two older boys' attention back to him. "Can we have this conversation somewhere else? Something bad happened last night."

Jonouchi blinked. "How bad?"

"Real bad?"

"Which reminds me," Bakura said, already heading out. "I need to get my effects back."

Jonouchi grumbled, ran after him, Yuki hot on his heels.

"I still want to know what happened," Jonouchi said to Yuki.

"Not here," Yuki protested. "Later, okay? We'll meet up with Yami and discuss it then."

Jonouchi rolled his eyes, but let it slide. Good.

Yuki was worried enough as it was.