I got reviews! I'm in shock! As celebration, another chappie is being
posted--with the introduction of Mai! By the way, I forgot to mention
something in the first chapter. This story is NON-YAOI! No Ryou/Bakura,
Yami/Yugi, or anything else! But I hope you enjoy this next part, because
Bakura will be up against monsters....
~~Chapter 2: Kidnapping and Pirates~~
"Big brother, that bird's got a girl in it's claws!" squealed Ryou, obviously frightened. Bakura's eyes grew wide as he watched the bird drop its cargo straight into the dangerous forest on the other side of the island. "She's in danger, Ryou...listen, go tell mom what happened and I'll head into the forest and try to find her, ok?" Quickly, Ryou started for the ladder that lead to the ground, but turned around at the last second. "But, Bakura, you don't have anything to defend yourself. That forest is full of terrible monsters..." It was true. No one on the island knew how to use a sword, unless you counted Sullivan, the weird old man who crashed against walls in his house. (A/N: You may have noticed that Sullivan is the dub name for Yugi's grandpa!) 'Wait,' Bakura thought. 'Maybe I could get that crazy old guy to give me a sword!' Then, out loud, he said, "Don't worry, Ryou. I think I know where I can get a weapon..."
Timidly, Bakura stepped into Sullivan's house, to find the old man practicing with his "sword"--a shriveled up Deku Stick. "Um, sir, I was wondering...do you have the time to give me some sword training?" Everyone on the island knew to treat the past swordsman with great respect, especially if you wanted something from him. But the moment Bakura said "sword", he had Sullivan's attention. "Hm? What's this about swords, young man? I'm a little deaf in that ear..." Not believing he was actually talking to this weirdo, Bakura repeated his sentence. "Ah, yes. Sword technique. A fine art for a boy as old as you, Bakura. Here, you can use one of my old ones." And with that, Bakura took the short sword and prepared to learn about bloody duels like the ones he'd heard about in ancient stories. Boy, was he surprised when he got lessons in grass- slicing...
"And so, you have now learned the art of cutting grass. But I suppose you are here to learn to fight, yes?" 'Wow, the old lunatic finally understands something!' Bakura thought to himself, then nodded. He was shocked to see a weird old man show off such complicated techniques. And when he managed to actually perform the spin attack by himself, he went into some sort of jaw- hits-center-of-the-earth mode. (A/N: I am so bad at jokes....) Bakura found himself regretting he hadn't learned this before, so that he could have gotten to the endangered girl more quickly. He was surprised when he realized his training had only taken ten minutes. 'Not as long as I thought, but there's no time. Now comes the hard part...' Bakura gulped and opened his mouth. "I appreciate your time, sir, but I have to get going. And, um, well...I was wondering if you could lend me the sword?" Sullivan nodded happily. "Yes, I feel that the sword is restless and would like some more travelling...Use it wisely, my boy." 'Great, now I'm pals with a guy who thinks swords are alive,' was Bakura's last thought before he left the house with a quick "Thank you" to Sullivan. At that point, he had no idea of the danger he was putting himself in.
Running at top speed, Bakura made his way to the forest path. There was a little fence blocking the way with a sign that said the foret was dangerous, but he paid it no heed and jumped the fence. The whole way up the winding road, his thoughts were on the girl. 'What if monsters have gotten to her? There's a big rock in that forest. Gods, I hope she hasn't hit her head on it. I've heard there's a great fairy in there, so maybe she'll be ok... but that may just be a legend, and--WOAH!' While Bakura had been thinking, he had almost run right into a hole in the bridge that connected the forest with the cliff he was standing on. Fortunately, he screeched to a halt in time and carefully hopped over it. With a gulp, he then strode into the forest, not exactly bursting with confidence. He slowly walked through the overgrown grass, searching for any sign of the girl. He didn't even know why he cared this much about her; it was just a sense he had, a feeling that he couldn't let her get hurt. Then, suddenly, came a noise in the grass ahead of him. It was too loud to be a pig or rat, and too soft to be another person. It had to be--"A MONSTER!!!!" Bakura screamed, as he saw an odd, lizard-like fiend with a sword approach him.
'Um...ok...think, Bakura!' After that brief and useless thought, Bakura drew his sword and used the first technique that came to mind--a horizontal strike. It was pretty simple, and he didn't think he had time to try anything fancy at this point. The names of the moves raced through his mind as he executed them; 'Vertical slice! Thrust! Jump attack! Hey...where's the monster?' It didn't take long for Bakura to figure it out. He had actually defeated his first monster! Caught up in his pride, he paraded around with his sword and pretended to be the Hero of Time. This went on for about ten minutes before he remembered that there weren't any cheering Hylians carrying him on their shoulders, and he still had to rescue the girl. Luckily for him, he could see her hanging from a tree up ahead, but what he couldn't see was a way to get to her; the tree she hung from was on a steep ledge, and it was obvious a young boy like Bakura wouldn't be able to climb it. He looked around and noticed a log that looked light. Once again putting on his Hero of Time act, Bakura walked over to it, lifted it up, and propped it against the ledge to make a sort of ladder. While shimmying up it, he noticed that the girl had woken up and was now struggling to free herself. And as he made it to the top, a tall, burly pirate came running through the grass, calling out for someone. "Took you long enough," muttered the girl, who had freed herself from the tree and was now facing the pirate. "I suppose you stopped at a cafe and had a little drink before you bothered saving me?" From the look on the man's face, that could very well have been what he was doing. "Miss Mai, I beg your forgiveness...It took us a while to shoot down that large bird." Neither of them seemed to notice that Bakura was standing there. 'Mai, so that's her name...She seems like a nice one....not!' Without a word to Bakura, Mai spun around and began to walk out, talking to the pirate about paying back the large bird for its kidnapping. Feeling left out, Bakura followed them out of the forest, hoping he could get to Ryou before he alerted the entire village to an attack by a giant bird.
As it turned out, Ryou was waiting for Bakura on the other side of the bridge, and began running towards him when he walked out of the forest. Bakura smiled and waved to his younger brother, happy that Ryou wasn't followed by half the town, armed with torches and pitchforks. Just as Ryou was about to hop over the hole in the bridge, Bakura spotted the giant bird again. He was about to scream and run to protect his brother, but the bird was too fast and grabbed Ryou in its beak. Not thinking at all about the consequences, Bakura flung himself at the bird, hoping to knock Ryou down to the water. However, he severely misjudged his jump capacity, and was only saved by Mai, who was now screaming at him for being stupid and careless. Helpless, Bakura watched his brother be flown away....
~TBC~
Poor Bakura! He does all that, then doesn't get a second glance from Mai. And Ryou is kidnapped! What will become of them? You'll have to review to find out. Press the stupid button already!
~~Chapter 2: Kidnapping and Pirates~~
"Big brother, that bird's got a girl in it's claws!" squealed Ryou, obviously frightened. Bakura's eyes grew wide as he watched the bird drop its cargo straight into the dangerous forest on the other side of the island. "She's in danger, Ryou...listen, go tell mom what happened and I'll head into the forest and try to find her, ok?" Quickly, Ryou started for the ladder that lead to the ground, but turned around at the last second. "But, Bakura, you don't have anything to defend yourself. That forest is full of terrible monsters..." It was true. No one on the island knew how to use a sword, unless you counted Sullivan, the weird old man who crashed against walls in his house. (A/N: You may have noticed that Sullivan is the dub name for Yugi's grandpa!) 'Wait,' Bakura thought. 'Maybe I could get that crazy old guy to give me a sword!' Then, out loud, he said, "Don't worry, Ryou. I think I know where I can get a weapon..."
Timidly, Bakura stepped into Sullivan's house, to find the old man practicing with his "sword"--a shriveled up Deku Stick. "Um, sir, I was wondering...do you have the time to give me some sword training?" Everyone on the island knew to treat the past swordsman with great respect, especially if you wanted something from him. But the moment Bakura said "sword", he had Sullivan's attention. "Hm? What's this about swords, young man? I'm a little deaf in that ear..." Not believing he was actually talking to this weirdo, Bakura repeated his sentence. "Ah, yes. Sword technique. A fine art for a boy as old as you, Bakura. Here, you can use one of my old ones." And with that, Bakura took the short sword and prepared to learn about bloody duels like the ones he'd heard about in ancient stories. Boy, was he surprised when he got lessons in grass- slicing...
"And so, you have now learned the art of cutting grass. But I suppose you are here to learn to fight, yes?" 'Wow, the old lunatic finally understands something!' Bakura thought to himself, then nodded. He was shocked to see a weird old man show off such complicated techniques. And when he managed to actually perform the spin attack by himself, he went into some sort of jaw- hits-center-of-the-earth mode. (A/N: I am so bad at jokes....) Bakura found himself regretting he hadn't learned this before, so that he could have gotten to the endangered girl more quickly. He was surprised when he realized his training had only taken ten minutes. 'Not as long as I thought, but there's no time. Now comes the hard part...' Bakura gulped and opened his mouth. "I appreciate your time, sir, but I have to get going. And, um, well...I was wondering if you could lend me the sword?" Sullivan nodded happily. "Yes, I feel that the sword is restless and would like some more travelling...Use it wisely, my boy." 'Great, now I'm pals with a guy who thinks swords are alive,' was Bakura's last thought before he left the house with a quick "Thank you" to Sullivan. At that point, he had no idea of the danger he was putting himself in.
Running at top speed, Bakura made his way to the forest path. There was a little fence blocking the way with a sign that said the foret was dangerous, but he paid it no heed and jumped the fence. The whole way up the winding road, his thoughts were on the girl. 'What if monsters have gotten to her? There's a big rock in that forest. Gods, I hope she hasn't hit her head on it. I've heard there's a great fairy in there, so maybe she'll be ok... but that may just be a legend, and--WOAH!' While Bakura had been thinking, he had almost run right into a hole in the bridge that connected the forest with the cliff he was standing on. Fortunately, he screeched to a halt in time and carefully hopped over it. With a gulp, he then strode into the forest, not exactly bursting with confidence. He slowly walked through the overgrown grass, searching for any sign of the girl. He didn't even know why he cared this much about her; it was just a sense he had, a feeling that he couldn't let her get hurt. Then, suddenly, came a noise in the grass ahead of him. It was too loud to be a pig or rat, and too soft to be another person. It had to be--"A MONSTER!!!!" Bakura screamed, as he saw an odd, lizard-like fiend with a sword approach him.
'Um...ok...think, Bakura!' After that brief and useless thought, Bakura drew his sword and used the first technique that came to mind--a horizontal strike. It was pretty simple, and he didn't think he had time to try anything fancy at this point. The names of the moves raced through his mind as he executed them; 'Vertical slice! Thrust! Jump attack! Hey...where's the monster?' It didn't take long for Bakura to figure it out. He had actually defeated his first monster! Caught up in his pride, he paraded around with his sword and pretended to be the Hero of Time. This went on for about ten minutes before he remembered that there weren't any cheering Hylians carrying him on their shoulders, and he still had to rescue the girl. Luckily for him, he could see her hanging from a tree up ahead, but what he couldn't see was a way to get to her; the tree she hung from was on a steep ledge, and it was obvious a young boy like Bakura wouldn't be able to climb it. He looked around and noticed a log that looked light. Once again putting on his Hero of Time act, Bakura walked over to it, lifted it up, and propped it against the ledge to make a sort of ladder. While shimmying up it, he noticed that the girl had woken up and was now struggling to free herself. And as he made it to the top, a tall, burly pirate came running through the grass, calling out for someone. "Took you long enough," muttered the girl, who had freed herself from the tree and was now facing the pirate. "I suppose you stopped at a cafe and had a little drink before you bothered saving me?" From the look on the man's face, that could very well have been what he was doing. "Miss Mai, I beg your forgiveness...It took us a while to shoot down that large bird." Neither of them seemed to notice that Bakura was standing there. 'Mai, so that's her name...She seems like a nice one....not!' Without a word to Bakura, Mai spun around and began to walk out, talking to the pirate about paying back the large bird for its kidnapping. Feeling left out, Bakura followed them out of the forest, hoping he could get to Ryou before he alerted the entire village to an attack by a giant bird.
As it turned out, Ryou was waiting for Bakura on the other side of the bridge, and began running towards him when he walked out of the forest. Bakura smiled and waved to his younger brother, happy that Ryou wasn't followed by half the town, armed with torches and pitchforks. Just as Ryou was about to hop over the hole in the bridge, Bakura spotted the giant bird again. He was about to scream and run to protect his brother, but the bird was too fast and grabbed Ryou in its beak. Not thinking at all about the consequences, Bakura flung himself at the bird, hoping to knock Ryou down to the water. However, he severely misjudged his jump capacity, and was only saved by Mai, who was now screaming at him for being stupid and careless. Helpless, Bakura watched his brother be flown away....
~TBC~
Poor Bakura! He does all that, then doesn't get a second glance from Mai. And Ryou is kidnapped! What will become of them? You'll have to review to find out. Press the stupid button already!