The Magicians' Realm Chapter 99: Planning for Future Plots, a yu-gi-oh fanfic

Chapter 99 everybody! Yes, surprisingly we're having two updates in a month—let the characters do what they want and got the next handful of chapters, which also necessitates going to the later chapters and getting rid of a bunch of that stuff because it now no longer jives with where the characters are which means rewriting and when did writing for this story get so hard!?

*ahem* In other news, Skulduggery is channeling Early Edition and Quantum Leap and living his best life—honestly this section kicked in because Skulduggery rocked up and insisted on trying his best. The fact that we get to see his detective skills is also a valid reason in his book. Also Fifer's is a real orchard near where I live that I have mentioned before and it has the best cinnamon donuts and apple cider. :D

The chickens, meanwhile, is a running gag with me, my dad, and my own chickens—I'll come in telling Dad they have something to tell him and he'll respond with "they want central air" in the summer and "they want heated seats" in the winter. I, meanwhile, would be happy with an automatic door opener for when it's raining.

Movie this week is The Lost World: Jurassic Park—I love this movie why does it get so much flak seriously?

Angiembabe, thanks for the review! Yes! No—and ah, right—remember the savory American breakfast-food-type of The Frost King? Biscuits like that where they're more like savory flaky buns that go great with jelly, eggs, gravy, and bacon (just not all at once). We also don't recommend introducing them to the floor first.

References:

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

Yami was certain he needed a new approach the next morning.

It wasn't just the fact that they were hopelessly outclassed—it was also the impression that Skellington most likely would not be staying within Delvaire during the day, after his first several attempts fell through. After all, he had to be smarter than that.

Hence his new plan, which involved calling up all his friends, listing the meeting place, and then divesting the linen closet of a few blankets to fill. It almost went off without a hitch too—at least until they were almost to the door.

"And where are you going with all that junk?" Jenna asked, hands on her hips.

"Um," the boys noised, glancing down at their bundles.

"Camping," Yami blurted. Yuki nodded in assent.

"Camping," Jenna repeated.

"Yeah, we're going camping in the forest," Yami said, warming to the idea. "Everyone's going to be there. We'll fish and explore, and Kels is bringing marshmallows."

Jenna was quiet for a long time, to the point that Yami was afraid that she would forbid them from leaving, forcing them to stay inside and away from the mystery danger caused by the thief instead of sneaking out and solving the problem….

"Fine," she said. "How long do you think you're going to be gone?"

"A couple of days," Yami said, at the same time Yuki said "Ten."

"Okay," she said slowly. "You have a week. And you hear anything strange, you come straight home."

"Okay."

"We will," Yuki agreed.

"All right, say hi to Abby and Larry for me, try to stay in their area," she said, waving them off. "And Yami?"

"Yeah?" Yami asked, sticking his head back in.

"No horror stories for your brother."

Yami gave a strained grin.

"You got it."

*\*/*

Teana was still at a loss after breakfast, but in the interest of not spending another day on the couch she left the house with Kineil with the vaguest idea of doing something. She wasn't sure what, but something. At the very least, something that stopped the pounding headache of trying to puzzle her way through those threads that just wouldn't go away. Maybe some fresh air would help.

Kineil had, after much debate, decided to leave her suit jacket on a hanger in the foyer, and Teana followed suit with her own coat after stepping outside briefly—it was really surprisingly warm for the time of year.

Unfortunately, stepping back out had her seeing a familiar black car coming up to park in the round driveway—although she was sure Skulduggery would complain about her assigning so blasé a descriptor to his Bentley.

"Oh dear," Kineil observed as Skulduggery stepped out of the car (again, probably too blasé a descriptor). "If you're looking for Yami he's up at the Administration Building."

"Then it is a very good thing I'm not looking for Yami," Skulduggery said, waving them over. "Come along girls, we have a murder to investigate."

"Ouch—who bought it—oh," Kineil noised, when Skulduggery pointed at her.

"Wait, what?" Teana demanded.

"Well, it occurred to me that what we have here is a very rare and unique chance to solve a murder before it happens, and thus avert it," Skulduggery said, opening the doors on their side and ushering them into the Bentley. "But in order to do that, I'm going to need both the witness and the victim along for the ride. Congratulations, girls, that's you two."

"I get shot in an orchard," Kineil pointed out. "I can just avoid them."

"Ah, but wouldn't you like to know which one specifically?"

"That would be useful."

"See? We agree. Miss Teana, what about you?"

What about her? She wanted to resist this on principle, to dismiss it all as a bad dream—it would be better for her if she could do that, sweep it all under the rug and forget about it all.

Except….

What if she could prevent it? She had been hunting for that one shining thread—maybe this would help.

Maybe she'd feel better for doing something proactive for once instead of just running away.

Deep breath—let it out. "Does the Bentley have air conditioning?"

"I'm insulted you even have to ask," Skulduggery said.

Teana looked to Kineil, shrugged—got in the car. "I guess I'm okay with this—to an extent."

"And I suppose Yami would rather you stay off your feet today," Kineil agreed, sliding into the backseat. Wait until Skulduggery shut the doors and was circling around to the driver's side to speak again. "Are you sure you're feeling okay? Usually you kick up more of a fuss than this."

This was true.

"Maybe there's reasons I act like that that I just never saw fit to tell you all," Teana said, watching a weathervane at the edge of the house. A hot southerly wind was still blowing. "Maybe I finally decided I could afford to give that mindset up."

"Really?" Kineil asked, sounding stunned—rounded on Skulduggery the moment he was in the car. "I want to pick up lotto tickets—I have good feelings about my odds."

"Excellent," Skulduggery said, buckling up and starting the car. "We can get those after we solve your murder."

"And then I'll be doubly lucky—I like it."

"Glad you agree. And now—the game's afoot."

*/*\*

"So what's the plan?" Kels asked, once they were all met at the intersection leading to her house. "There is a plan, right?"

"I'd like to revisit my plan of sending every separate piece of Skellington to a different country so he can never be reassembled," Jonouchi offered, hand half-raised.

"I've got a couple of pickle jars full of loose change," Honda said, adjusting his hold on his rifle to scratch his back. "How much do you think the postage would be?"

"I'm more concerned with why do you have a gun?" Anzu said to him—glanced at Kels when she waved a little, sighed when she turned to show that she too had a gun attached to a strap currently slung over her shoulder.

"Look, the chances are real that Skellington is probably hiding out in the woods now that he knows the town isn't safe," Yami said. "We need a safe place to plan—so we actually have a plan when we find him—and then we need to track him down. Kels, what about your place?"

"I can't guarantee my chickens' silence," she said. "I think they're plotting against me."

"Actually they're currently complaining about no central air," Yuki offered.

"So they're plotting to kick us out of our house—tell them we don't have central air either."

"They know magic is a thing and you have Magician friends."

"So this is your fault," she said to Yami.

"I will pay you an aurel a week for the rest of your life if you would just please stay on topic," he begged of her.

"I want that in writing."

"Back to the topic at hand," Bakura said, pointing. "I saw the Administrative Detectives leaving the Administration Building—what if we just let them catch Skellington?"

Silence.

"I mean longer shots have happened," Honda said, shrugging.

"Yeah," Yami said. "Speaking of long shots, what are the chances of Skellington not saying how he found himself here? Weirdly enough, our current plan is still less fraught with peril."

Kels snapped her fingers, pointing at him. "Abby and Larry's—we can plan there, if anyone asks we're planning an exploration of the woods, and your grandpa Larry will never remember."

"I resent your implications of Larry's memory."

"Am I wrong?"

"No." Consider. "And they've got plenty of spells around their place, so it's a safe place to plan…let's do it."

"Excellent," Jonouchi said, pumping his fist as he followed. "And if Abby pushes those kale chips again I'm using them to kill Skellington a second time."

"More power to you if you manage it."

"Yeah sure," Bakura said, picking up the pace. "Let's continue the conversation after we're safe from creepy skeleton Magicians."

"Fair enough."

*\*/*

"So," Skullduggery said as he drove through town and towards the farmlands to the east. "To confirm our current knowledge of the incident: you said that one Kineil Wicks gets shot in the back in an orchard."

"I did say that, yes," Teana said. "Kind of regretting it, but yes."

"Ah, but you see, that gives us a starting point for this, us solving a future-murder. First, we must narrow things down and find out which orchard. From there, we can see about puzzling out the nitty-gritty of the details."

"And you really don't have anything better to do?"

"The downsides of doing your job too well," Skulduggery said, humming a little as they started reaching farmland.

"So long as this doesn't end with me actually getting shot I'm fine," Kineil put in, lounging in the backseat and fanning herself with her hat, tie loose and first two buttons of her shirt undone. The car might have had air, but the air outside was still unseasonable.

"Well one does meet their destiny on the road they take to avoid it, but in our case…hmm, there's orchards to the west too, this may take some driving. Ah well, we have until three I suppose. If not, there's always tomorrow—by the way Kineil in the interest of keeping with the novelty of solving a future-murder I'm going to need you to avoid such locations until we've got things nailed down."

"Bold of you to assume I was actually going to ever go to another orchard as long as I lived."

"Yes, well…Miss Teana you've been quiet—are we in the general area?"

"I don't know," Teana admitted, scanning the trees as they went by—some leaves were turning brown and dropping, the fruit still evident on the branches, but that could have been from the heat over actually turning for autumn. "This feels wrong though—I think we're in the wrong area."

"Ah good—process of elimination. Congratulations, Miss Wicks, you can still go to Fifer's."

"Good," Kineil said. "Because that one I was actually kind of sore about. I don't suppose—"

"No," Skulduggery said. "No food in the car."

"We could stop for lunch."

"So long as the lunch is not in the car." Reach the end, where the fruit trees gave way to corn fields, turn down a side road, waving at the scarecrows busy harvesting. "Miss Teana, any details which might narrow things down?"

"I think west—closer to the mountains, but not too close," she said, thinking, trying to keep the incident itself hazy—trying to do as Skulduggery asked, bringing up that one incident, had it replaying in her mind over and over again, and she'd rather not. "It was later in the year though, the trees had mostly turned."

"Ah, so we have a time frame as well! You're okay during the spring, Miss Wicks."

"Yay for me," Kineil said, startling Teana a little, forcing herself to remember that yes, Kineil was still alive—for now.

"We'll swing by this orchard on our way back west just to be sure," Skulduggery said, making another turn. "Be thorough in our process of elimination. And then once we find the crime scene, we can go from there."

Peachy, she thought drily as they drove by the fruit trees in question.

Now here was hoping Skulduggery was right.