The Magicians' Realm Chapter 81: Blame Game, a yu-gi-oh fanfic

Chapter 81, everybody! In which we have a massive argument that was a pain to make sure was orderly…and I have a buffer to work on again soon….

The whistle stopping all immediate action is based on a real-life event, where my Mom did the exact same thing in a Wal-Mart to summon my Dad. It works.

Movie this week is Treasure Planet—beautiful movie, seamless integration of 2D and 3D, great characters and music, and not nearly enough love. Honestly….

Angiembabe, thanks for the review! Well, they did just move in with each other maybe two days ago in story-time, so….Yes they are! I've eaten a few, and they're one of Mom's favorite dishes. That is because tomatoes are a part of the nightshade family, same as potatoes. Of course, why we can eat the tomatoes and potatoes (and who the poor sap was who was hungry enough to try it) is definitely the question…my research is failing me. :\ No, he isn't….

FluffyIdiotIsI, thanks for the review! Yes! Famous last words. D: Hahaha, yes! I…don't know, but he's definitely haunted by the experience (do dead men even sleep?...). Possibly—we've seen that he's avoiding Teana's grave, so….Yes, let's!

Guest-who-is-Fromtheashtrees, thanks for the review! Yes….I know—I keep checking the wing mirrors to make sure we're in the lane (like I'm one to school my parents who've been driving longer than I've been living '-'). I feel your pain! TvT/

References:

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

Yami and Kels finally collapsed onto a bench near the Administrator Square, having attempted to run down the questionable cat before finally trying to find everyone else, and not doing too good a job with that, either.

"We could ask Anzu," Kels managed, voice sounding dry. "I bet you she's in the library and being nice enough to stay in one place."

"We could," Yami said, heaving a sigh. "Where is everybody? Did they all take a holiday and not tell me?"

"Or Skellington offed them."

"Not funny, Kels."

"Hey, he bumped off the Administrator."

"We don't know that," Yami said, doffing Horus and rubbing at his scalp vigorously. Wait….

He stood, flung Horus into the air, where the hat morphed into a bird.

"Find Jonouchi and Honda for us!" Yami called.

"Right—on it!" Horus said, winging away.

Kels was glaring at him as he sat back down. "You couldn't have thought of that earlier?"

"I was a little busy with other more immediate topics," Yami snapped back.

"Don't get snippy with me!"

"Hey!"

They looked up to see Yuki, Jonouchi, and Bakura—the last loaded down with projector supplies—running up to them, circled lazily by Horus.

"Found them," Horus said, sounding pompous.

"Great," Yami said. "Now find Honda."

"Gee, thank you, Horus," Horus said, already winging off. "No problem, Yami, so glad I could help."

Horus might have used a few other choice words that Yami had heard Administrator Carter use, but he was already too far away to hear and he had his friends to be immediately concerned with.

"So what's going on?" Jonouchi asked. "Yuki's been kind of vague about the whole thing, and then we had him to deal with—"

"What did you do?" Yami asked Bakura.

"Got arrested and went to jail," Bakura said bluntly.

Yami blinked. "You went to the Administrator Building again, didn't you?"

"Not on purpose. I was actually walking down the street with all this that I rented legally from the proprietor of the Majestic—"

"You actually met him?" Kels asked, sounding awed.

"It was an experience," Bakura confirmed. "Anyway. I was accused of pilfering it and ended up in the slammer. This is news to you?"

"We've been a little busy," Yami said.

"The idiot did an idiot thing," Kels said, thumbing at Yami.

"Do you mind?"

"I do."

"Will someone just tell me what's going on here?" Jonouchi demanded. "Are they bringing back Punkie Night? Please tell me they're bringing that back."

"Punkie Night is over, genius," Bakura said.

"But there's still next year!"

"What's going on?" Honda asked, coming over.

"Found him!" Horus announced. "Now do I get to hear a thank you?"

"And I notice you neglected to mention that it was Administrator Carter what told you about him—" Jonouchi continued, looking at Yuki and pointing at Bakura.

"Do what?" Kels asked.

"And we know we can't trust him because of that film—"

"I—he just told me, all right?" Yuki wailed. "And I had to check to make sure—"

Yami put two fingers in his mouth and whistled as hard as he could, causing all action in the immediate area to stop.

"Just these people, sorry," Yami called to the rest of the street at large. Once the general populace had gone about their business, he focused his ire on his friends.

"I have had," he hissed. "Absolutely no sleep, and I have been running all night, and I am very tired right now. So please—stop talking all at once."

Silence for a beat.

"What happened?" Honda asked.

Oi—this was the part he had been dreading.

"I," he hedged, rubbing his face. "May have brought back Skellington last night."

Silence. For a lot more than just one beat.

Bakura spoke first.

"How screwed are we?"

"Hopefully not very."

"Didn't one of the Administrators die last night?" Honda asked.

"Skellington could have offed him!" Jonouchi said quickly, waving his hands. "Revenge and all that! Wasn't he banished for—he was banished," Jonouchi said, paling as he froze. "What happens to someone whose bones are banished?"

"Obviously they don't pass on," Kels said drily.

"Focus please," Yami said, rubbing his forehead.

"Right. How did the Administrator die?" Honda asked. "Nobody said anything."

"From what I heard during my unjust incarceration, he dropped dead from fright," Bakura said.

"Which sounds like the obvious thing to do when a guy you offed comes back from banishment," Jonouchi said, jumping back into the conversation. "I'm surprised he stopped at one!"

"I don't think he wanted to."

"Huh?"

"Administrator Carter, I saw," Bakura said. "His collar's all turned up and he's wearing an ascot, but it doesn't quite hide the bruises around his neck from someone as sharp-eyed as myself. Someone tried to choke him recently."

"Skellington, I bet," Honda said.

"Not necessarily," Yami said sardonically. "I know from Dad that there's more than one person who wants to wring Administrator Carter's neck."

"But—then why help us?" Yuki asked.

"All very good questions, let's focus on them later in favor of the ever-more-important question of what do we do about Skellington?" Kels asked.

Silence.

"Run?" Honda guessed.

"I like that plan," Kels said quickly, pointing. "Balthazar has a suitcase that he hopefully hasn't sold yet—"

"We're not running," Yami said tetchily.

"I'm open to better suggestions."

"She has a point," Jonouchi said, pointing at her. "No offense, Yami, but this guy was—is?—is the best of the best—it took the entire Administration plus your great-grandfather and the Civil Branch to take him down. What are we going to do?"

"I'm hoping we can catch him before he's back to full power," Yami said. "If he was in an alternate dimension, then his magic wouldn't be up to snuff at the moment." He hoped.

"That was him not at full power?" Yuki asked, aghast.

"I don't know, I kind of like the sound of running until we can't run anymore," Bakura said.

"We're talking about running from a possibly-implacable dead guy," Yami pointed out. "Where could we possibly go?"

"We—mainly I—have not yet angered him. As far as he's concerned, I'm probably not a blip on his radar."

"Bakura, humor me: why did you get all that projection equipment?"

"Um…."

"Congratulations, you're a blip on his radar: you stole something from a dead guy."

"To be fair, when I usually do that, the dead guy has no objections."

"Yes, well dead guys don't make it a habit to be up and running," Kels said. "But since I'm not a blip on his radar—"

Yami glared at her. "You're a blip on mine."

"This sounds more like your problem. You brought him back."

"And you're going to leave me in the lurch?"

"Maybe."

Jonouchi finally planted himself between the two of them, assisted by Honda. "Knock it off, guys," Jonouchi scolded. "This is serious—it doesn't matter whose fault it is, we're all going to pay for it if we don't get it fixed."

"Wow, that was pretty good," Honda said, looking at him.

"Thanks, I think."

Kels and Yami glared at each other before looking away pointedly.

"So, plan," Jonouchi said. "What is it?"

Yami scrubbed his fingers along his scalp, thinking. "There's a number of things Skellington could be doing right now—we need to figure out what."

"Springing his buddies from the pokey?" Bakura guessed.

"We already did that," Jonouchi said. "And I still haven't heard a thank you, by the way."

"Me neither," Horus put in from his perch on the bench.

"Not me, you idiot," Bakura countered. "Didn't all of Skellington's friends get banished too?"

Silence.

"Ah," Bakura noised. "See, if I were Skellington, I wouldn't be leaving my friends in the lurch. Unless they were incredibly annoying."

"I know what to do the next time you're busted, then," Jonouchi said.

"Me too," Kels said, looking at Yami pointedly.

"Pish," Bakura said, waving them off. "Moving on—think that might be his plan?"

"Maybe," Yami said, thinking. "I mean…they would have tried getting out before, I bet, but it must not work wherever they are."

"Obviously it works from this end," Kels said, with some bite.

"Oh, are you talking to me again?"

"Focus, please," Honda said.

"Depending upon how many people were banished, Skellington might try to do one at a time or a mass summoning spell," Yami guessed, considering. "And if he goes for the big one…it's not the sort of thing you risk doing from memory…."

Bakura snapped his fingers. "Didn't they find that dead Administrator in the Administrator Library?"

"Yes. Skellington's looking for a spell to get his buddies out."

"Is this the sort of thing there would be multiple copies of?" Kels asked.

"Not hardly," Yami said. "If Skellington didn't find it in the Administrator Library…I guess the only place left to look would be the Delvaire Library."

"So you go ask your girlfriend to look for it."

Yami felt all the blood suddenly leave his face.

"While you're at it, start thinking of her sooner," Kels added.

"Hey," Honda said suddenly. "What if Skellington didn't get to finish looking in the Administrator Library? He might try again tonight!"

Yami bit his lip, considering.

"I think I have an idea," he said finally. "Yuki, you're with me."

"And the rest of us, oh fearless leader?" Bakura asked as they dashed off, Horus winging after them.

"We'll meet you in the square!"

"Marvelous. I should have stayed in jail."

"I'll throw you back in," Jonouchi offered.

Yami focused on running for the library and not rolling his eyes and risking missing his footing.

Time was of the essence now.