Angel of Light
Authoress: Aisling Kaiba

Me: I'm back with another chappie!

Yami: Oh, no. Not again.

Yugi: Surely it can't be all *that* bad.

Me: Thank you, Yugi. ::Huggles Yugi::

Yugi: Ummm, Aisling? Can't...breathe...please let...go.

Yami: Aisling, let my Aibou go!!!! ::Glares::

Me: ::Blushing:: Sorry, Yugi. ::Lets go of him::

Yugi: ::Gasp:: Thank you.

Me: Who wants to do the disclaimer for me?

::Everyone backs away::

Me: Hmmm...Hey, Mokuba! Come do the disclaimer for me, kiddo!

Mokuba: Okay. My big sister does not own Yu-Gi-Oh...

Yami: ::Interrupting:: Thank Ra for that!

Me: Be quiet Yami.

Mokuba: ::Ignoring us:: Lily belongs to her, her friends belong to themselves, but the names have been changed to protect the innocent. ::Big cheesy grin::

Bakura: You've been around your sister too long.

Me: HEY! I resemble that! (A/N: I meant it to come out that way. Inside joke with my family, don't ask. LOL! 0__0) Anyway, on with the fic!
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::Chapter two::

Lily let out a soft, agonized moan as her emerald eyes fluttered open. She slowly pushed herself up on her hands until she was sitting on her knees. An intense wave of dizziness flooded over her and she squeezed her eyes shut against the nauseating flashes of white light. She leaned forward slightly and vomitted, her slender body wracked by painful coughing.

When she had emptied the contents of her stomach on the ground in front of her, she leaned back and whimpered, her breathing becoming slightly labored. She opened her eyes and looked around at her surroundings, trying to figure out where she was.

"Wh-where am I? What is this place? How did I get here?" she muttered to no one in particular.

Slowly she stood up, wavering on her feet for a moment before she managed to steady herself. She was surrounded on all sides by some kind of forest, but there was no signs of her friends, or anyone else for that matter, and that fact worried her.

"Neilyn! Akira! Reiana! Where are you?! If you can hear me, answer me!" she called.

But she got no response. She waited a few moments, then tried again, but she still got no answer. She looked around nervously, starting to become really frightened now. Her hands rested on her slender hips, and it was then that she realized her pouch that she kept her Duel Monsters deck in dangled from her belt where she normally kept it. She let her hand fall and lightly touch it, taking comfort in its reassuring weight against her side.

Suddenly she felt a strange but powerful sensation flow through her body. Her powers were trying to take over her again. She hissed in agony and fell to the ground on her knees, leaning forward on her hands. She squeezed her eyes shut as her silvery hair fell forward over her face and bowed her head. Tears threatened to flow from her emerald eyes, but she held them back.

"No, no, please. Not now, please. Don't do this to me now," she muttered, obviously in a lot of pain. "Have to...control it. Can't..let it...take over me."

Trying to block out her pain, she managed to clear her mind enough to focus on dampening her powers. After what seemed to her like an eternity, but what must have been only a few minutes, she managed to let the surge of power flow out of her and collapsed to the ground from sheer exhaustion.

Just then, she heard someone or something moving around in a large cluster of bushes behind her. She gasped and scrambled away from the noise. Her eyes went very wide with her fear as she stared at the bushes, half-expecting some large, hideous creature to leap out of the foliage and attack her.

"Who...who's there? Show yourself! I'm warning you, though, I'm an expert in martial arts," she stammered.

That last statement wasn't exactly true, but her stalker, who--or what--ever they were most likely didn't know that, unless they could read her mind. Terrified by this prospect, she slammed her mental shields in place, not exactly willing to take any unnecessary chances here.

Suddenly the movement in the bushes stopped. Lily braced herself, letting out a quiet whimper. That was when she heard the sound of amused laughter coming from the foliage. A wave of confusion swept over her for a moment, then disappeared just as quickly as it came as three familiar figures stepped out of the bushes and came towards her.

Reiana had one delicate eyebrow raised as she spoke. "Martial arts expert, Lily?" she asked skeptically.

Lily shrugged, trying to hide her embarassed blush behind the silvery veil of her hair. "Nani? It was the first thing that popped into my head," she explained nonchallantly as an innocent expression drifted across her face, one that was almost comical. Or it would have been comical, anyway, if the situation weren't so serious.

Neilyn shook her head as she held out her hand to her best friend. Lily took her hand and stood up, brusing the dirt and grass off her skirt as she did so.

"Lily, did it not occur to you that there could have been some wild animal hiding in those bushes that couldn't understand a word that you were saying?" Neilyn asked.

She nodded. "Hai, it did. But I had to try something," she answered timidly.

"So where are we, anyway?" Akira broke in, changing the subject.

The three of them stared at Lily, who shook her head and took a step backwards, putting her hands up in a defensive gesture. Surely they couldn't possibly think that she knew any more about their situation than they did.

"Hey, don't look at me. I have no clue where we are either," she said.

"Well, we'd better figure out something soon, or we'll be stuck here for a very long time," Akira pointed out.

"She's right. Come on, let's at least see if we can find a way out of this forest. It's making me extremely nervous," Lily spoke up quietly.

The others nodded their agreement and they started walking. The heat from the sun bared down on them through the trees, but they didn't even take any notice of it at all.

Finally, after what seemed like hours of walking in silence, they came upon the end of the forest, or at least an opening, anyway. They stared down at the clearing below them, just slightly farther down the hill that they were standing on, and would have fallen over in shock if it hadn't been for Neilyn grabbing onto her arm.

"What the hell?!" Reiana blurted out before she could stop herself.

"Are those what I think they are?" Lily asked, her voice trembling almost as badly as the rest of her body as she gestured down towards the clearing.

"They look like--" Akira started.

"--Dueling arenas," Lily finished quietly.

"You don't really think we're--" Neilyn said, her voice trailing off before she could finish her thought.

Neither Akira or Reiana said anything. Lily merely stood there, nodding, clearly dumbstruck, when an odd thought came into her mind. Maybe it had been her powers going out of control--without her or the others even realizing it--that had brought them here, not that she was complaining, really. She shuddered slightly, though, as if she'd suddenly become cold and shook herself mentally to get rid of that train of thought.

~Even if that is the case, there's no way I can tell the girls that. They'd never believe me anyway. They'd just think that I was crazy~ she thought.

Suddenly they heard someone or something coming up behind them. Lily tensed, and her eyes went very wide with fear. She and the others turned back around just in time to see several figures emerge from the foliage. Lily gasped in shock when she saw them.

One was a tall boy with blonde hair and light caramel brown eyes wearing a green jacket, white t-shirt, blue denim jeans, and sneakers. Another boy stood next to the blonde. He was about the same height, give or take a few inches. His brown hair was slightly spiky, and came to a point in the front. He also had brown eyes, though his were a slightly darker shade than those of the blonde. He wore a white shirt, which was more or less concealed by his long brown trench coat, dark pants, and brown boots.

Beside the brunette stood a girl who was only slightly shorter than him. She had shoulder-length brown hair, and her bangs dangled slightly above her blue eyes. She wore a long-sleeved beige and pink jacket-type blouse, a short skirt that was the same shade of pink as her shirt, and brown, calf-high boots.

Standing just in front of them were two other boys. The taller of the duo was a shy albino boy. He was paler than the rest of his group, and appeared almost fragile, like porcelin. Mysterious chocolate brown eyes peered out from underneath white bangs, the rest of his snow-colored hair falling just past his shoulders and framing his pale face in an almost endearingly cute way. (A/N: You can tell who my favorite is, ne?) He wore a white, long-sleeved sweater with a green shirt underneath, the collar clearly visible above the top of the sweater, blue jeans, and sneakers. A strange-looking necklace dangled from a length of brown cord around his neck. It was a gold ring, inside which was a gold pyramid. A slightly odd version of the Egyptian Eye of Ra was engraved into the middle of the pyramid. Five gold pointers dangled from the bottom the pendant.

The other boy was shorter than the rest of the group. He had spiky, tri-colored hair that was an odd combination of crimson, ebony and gold, and large, innocent violet eyes. He wore a white shirt, a dark blue jacket, dark blue pants, and sneakers. Around his neck was a black choker with a silver buckle adorning it. Dangling from a length of brown cord was what looked like a gold, upside-down pyramid with the Eye of Ra symbol engraved in the center of the pendant. Both he and the blonde each wore a red glove with gold stars adorning the silver wristband of the gloves.

Both groups merely regarded each other in silence for a long time. Lily recognized them instantly, though she didn't let it show on her face or in her emerald eyes. Instead, she decided it was best for the other group to initiate the introductions, so as not to frighten them or make them needlessly suspicious. Her friends seemed to agree with her on that particular train of thought, because they stayed stoically silent. Lily locked gazes with the snowy-haired boy for a long moment before she turned away, a faint blush coloring her pale cheeks.

Apparently realizing that the girls weren't going to speak first, the boy with the tri-colored hair stepped forward.

"Hello. Who are you?" he asked cheerfully.
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TBC...MWA HA HA HA HA HA!!!! Evil cliffie, ne? And I know, I took my own sweet time getting this put up. ::Hides behind Ryou:: But I promise, it was worth the wait. Part of Lily's secret has been revealed, but the rest of it won't come until later. Oh, and if anyone has any ideas for a good transformation prophecy kind of spell, let me know in a review, b/c the one I have right now sucks. Okay, I will say no more lest I ruin the story. Oh, and any flames will be used to light the demented pony, dice-boy, and his cheerleaders on fire. Ja ne!
*Aisling Kaiba*