First of all, THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU to all my wonderful reviewers.
Oh, and that O_O....was that a flame? Huh? HUH? If you're gonna flame, say
something, don't just fire one shot and leave! All flames will now be added
to the "Pyro Haircut for Yugi" fund. Muahahahaha....
~~Chapter 3: Flowers, sunshine, and....the Forsaken Fortress?!~~
"RYOU!" Bakura screamed, struggling to get out of Mai's grip so he could jump for his brother again.
Mai just rolled her eyes. "Why do you care so much about him? Everywhere me and my pirates go, everyone's a goody-goody-two-shoes who cares about nothing but their family. It doesn't make sense."
Bakura spun around. She'd hit a nerve. "Why do you care? I bet you don't even have a family, or anyone to care about but yourself."
"I do too!" Mai shouted back. "I care about my hair, and nails, and clothes....those are people, too, sort of, and by the looks of you, I'd say you care nothing about them."
Right in the middle of their useless squabble, the postman swooped down and handed a letter to Bakura. "Mail for you from the Forsaken Fortress, sir. Something about Princess Zelda."
Bakura snatched the letter and opened it. "Hmmm...It says:
'Dear Mr. Bakura, it has come to our attention that our latest long-eared hostage is not Princess Zelda. In fact, it is not even a girl. We are not interested in long-eared boys, no matter how feminine they may look. However, we're not going to just hand your brother over, because he can be used for something. You see, our guards are constantly hungry. Fresh meat is their favorite food. Fresh little boy meat. So don't expect to see Ryou again. MUAHAHAHAHA!
Yours Sincerely, The Evil Marik'".
All the people in the little crowd gasped. Then Mai stepped forward. "Hey, dimwit, haven't you noticed? There's another piece of paper here." She grabbed it from Bakura and read it out loud:
'Help!!! I'm trapped in the Forsaken Fortress as Marik's slave. He's not going to eat your brother; it's an empty threat. But you should come before it's too late and rescue Ryou. Watch out for the big bird that guards the place.
--Malik' (A/N: I know, I know, this wasn't in the game, but I wanted to change it, OK? Be thankful it's not exactly like the game.) "Great, now there's two weirdos we need to rescue," said Mai.
"Big bird...he must mean the one that carried Ryou off," mused Bakura. "Hey, Mai, maybe you could take me there in your pirate ship!"
Mai just blinked at him. "Why do I owe you a favor? You've never done anything for me."
Now Bakura was mad. "What do you mean?! I fought off the monsters in the forest for you, and I was going to rescue you, but then that pirate came along and you left. And if you hadn't come here, that bird would've never flown by and grabbed Ryou!" He could have listed hundreds of other reasons why she should take him along, but he just stopped there and glared at her.
Mai glowered back, but she knew that she was beaten. "Fine," she growled, "I'll take you to the Forsaken Fortress, where that giant bird was flying. You can rescue your snot-nosed brother. And then, you're out of my life!"
'Hmm, not a very nice way to comply, but it'll do.' thought Bakura, as he nodded to Mai. "I'll come with you. First, I need to do something, though, so could you wait up?"
"We can't hold up forever, Miss," piped up the nameless pirate, who had been standing quietly by the entire time. "Remember, we're after the TFOW."
"I haven't forgotten that,Rex."
"Sorry, Miss."
"Wait up for the kid. While you're waiting, you can load up my cosmetics."
"That bag is huge!"
"Are you complaining,Rex?"
"No, miss."
Rex slunk off, muttering about the dinosaur fossils he wanted to find, and that was the end of the fight, if you could call it that. "I'll be quick," said Bakura. "I just need to pack some things."
"Good. Be back in an hour and we'll set sail."
Bakura scampered down to his house. He felt bad about it, but didn't want to have a tearful goodbye with his mother, so he crawled into the basement to get his things. After thinking a bit, Bakura opted to travel light, and packed only a shield, a few torches, and a picture of him and Ryou. (A/N: NO NASTY THOUGHTS!) Throwing it all in a bag, he scurried out of the basement, only to find himself face to face with Rebecca, the town brat.
"HI, BAKURA! WHATCHA DOIN'?"
"Rebecca, shhh! I'm busy."
"Wanna play?"
"No!" He checked his watch; an hour had almost passed. "I have to hurry. Go play with Mokuba."
"But all he wants to do is play war! I want to play dolls."
'I can't delay anymore.I'll have to resort to drastic measures,' Bakura thought. "Rebecca, MOVE!" And he shoved her out of the way.
~Ten minutes later~
Bakura ran up to the pirate ship to find Rex and other pirates loading a giant chest onboard, with Mai supervising and yelling things. "Pant.pant.I'm..pant.here.."
"Yeah, yeah. We're not ready yet. Hey, watch the lipstick!"
"That trunk is full of LIPSTICK??!"
"Of course not! There's nail polish, blush, shampoo, conditioner, lotion, lip gloss."
Bakura felt like gagging. "Umm.O.K.should I put my bag in the cabin?" Mai finally turned around to face Bakura. "You don't know much about pirate ships, do you? The captain, me, has a cabin, the pirates sleep in barracks, and the swabbies stay down with the cargo. You, however, will have to make do in the crow's nest."
'Is she kidding? She doesn't look like she's kidding. That crow's nest is tiny! I'll have to scrunch up.' These were just a few of Bakura's thoughts, but he just said, "Okay," and started moving his things up to his temporary "room". After that was done, Bakura saw everyone else boarding the ship, and decided to check out things below deck.
"Lost, little swabbie?"
Bakura spun around. "Who's there?"
"It is I, Joey, your superior. You must now pass the test."
"What test?"
"The one all new swabbies take. Come!"
Bakura sweatdropped, but followed Joey. When they both stopped, he could see switches on either side of him, as well as a bunch of lanterns and a door on the other side of the room. There didn't appear to be any way to reach the door, since both sides of the room were elevated and the floor was, well, on the floor. "I don't get it."
"You press the switch, first. When you do that, platforms come up. You jump back and forth on the platforms until you get to the door." Joey stepped on the switch to demonstrate.
"But those platforms are too far apart. I doubt even you could jump from one to another!"
"I wasn't finished explaining! You have to swing on the lanterns..try not to get burned, lil' swabbie!"
Bakura gulped. This would be tough! Tentatively, he walked over and stepped on the switch. Just as Joey had said, platforms spun up. 'Now comes the hard part.'
He stepped onto the first platform, and realized he would have to jump to grab the lantern. Wallowing in fear, Bakura suddenly realized that he was being a coward. 'It's just a little jump. Where's there to fall? A few feet, that's it. Now, GO!' When he opened his eyes, Bakura found he was already swinging on the first rope. Adrenalin rushed through his body. He wanted to scream, shout, or whoop, but instead he just jumped for the next platform. And the next. And the next. And..you get the point. By the time he had it down pat, Bakura was standing in front of Joey on the other side of the room. Joey just gaped.
"How did you do that?! You cheated! The platforms must be broken!"
"I didn't cheat!"
"Stupid swabbie.Well, I guess I can give you this. Here." Joey handed Bakura a small violet pouch, decorated with a face pattern. "It holds stuff you get from enemies. Unique stuff. Like Knight's Crests."
"Thank you."
"Pirates don't say 'thank you'."
"I'm not a pirate."
"Forget it. Just go. I hear Mai calling you."
Bakura strained his ears, and sure enough, he heard Mai's whiny voice screaming his name. "I'm coming!" He cried, and quickly jumped across the platforms. "Thanks again, Joey." ~Up at the crow's nest~
"Sticks, a shield and a picture of the brat and you. Nice travel pack." Mai laughed as she went through Bakura's things.
"Hey! Get out of that!" Bakura angrily shoved her away from his stuff.
"It's nothing private. Anyway, the reason I called you up here was because we've made it to the fortress."
Bakura looked over where she was pointing with Ryou's telescope. He saw ugly, pig-like monsters patrolling the turrets of the large building. There were huge towers, too, each one mounted with a searchlight. "Wow. How're we gonna get in?"
"We? I'd ruin my nails climbing. You're going in yourself. And I have a plan to get you past the guards."
"What sort of plan?"
Mai didn't answer. Instead, she climbed down the ladder to the main deck, picked up a barrel, and walked out of sight with it. By the time she was back in view, the barrel was gone and she had a huge smile. "Ready?"
"What the hell are you gonna do?!"
"Come here and I'll show you." Her smile was spreading off the borders of her face now, and that had Bakura worried. Whatever made a pirate captain grin with joy was bound to be dangerous. But Bakura climbed down anyway; his curiosity had gotten the best of him. Following Mai, he found the barrel resting on the edge of a large catapult.
"NO, NO, NO!"
"You wanna rescue this 'Ryou' and 'Malik' or not?"
Bakura had no choice. "Fine, I'll do it. But make sure you aim right, ok?"
"Don't worry."
Bakura climbed into the barrel and took a deep breath. 'This won't be so hard. Just as easy as pie. There's nothing to fear but fear itself, just like on those platforms.'
"ANNNNNNNND..FIRE!" Mai shouted, jumping on the other end of the catapult to send the barrel, and Bakura, flying.
He couldn't help it. He screamed. "AHHHHHHH...AHHHHHHHHH..AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!" Feeling himself hit a wall, Bakura attemped to jump out of the barrel, but it was too late. The barrel smashed, and Bakura slid down the wall, eventually hitting the water below. Everything went black.
Back at the pirate ship, a voice was heard. "Oops, guess my aim was a little off."
~~TBC~~
How did you like it? Huh? I hope you did; Bakura will be in his first dungeon soon! Yay! So..REVIEW ALREADY!
~~Chapter 3: Flowers, sunshine, and....the Forsaken Fortress?!~~
"RYOU!" Bakura screamed, struggling to get out of Mai's grip so he could jump for his brother again.
Mai just rolled her eyes. "Why do you care so much about him? Everywhere me and my pirates go, everyone's a goody-goody-two-shoes who cares about nothing but their family. It doesn't make sense."
Bakura spun around. She'd hit a nerve. "Why do you care? I bet you don't even have a family, or anyone to care about but yourself."
"I do too!" Mai shouted back. "I care about my hair, and nails, and clothes....those are people, too, sort of, and by the looks of you, I'd say you care nothing about them."
Right in the middle of their useless squabble, the postman swooped down and handed a letter to Bakura. "Mail for you from the Forsaken Fortress, sir. Something about Princess Zelda."
Bakura snatched the letter and opened it. "Hmmm...It says:
'Dear Mr. Bakura, it has come to our attention that our latest long-eared hostage is not Princess Zelda. In fact, it is not even a girl. We are not interested in long-eared boys, no matter how feminine they may look. However, we're not going to just hand your brother over, because he can be used for something. You see, our guards are constantly hungry. Fresh meat is their favorite food. Fresh little boy meat. So don't expect to see Ryou again. MUAHAHAHAHA!
Yours Sincerely, The Evil Marik'".
All the people in the little crowd gasped. Then Mai stepped forward. "Hey, dimwit, haven't you noticed? There's another piece of paper here." She grabbed it from Bakura and read it out loud:
'Help!!! I'm trapped in the Forsaken Fortress as Marik's slave. He's not going to eat your brother; it's an empty threat. But you should come before it's too late and rescue Ryou. Watch out for the big bird that guards the place.
--Malik' (A/N: I know, I know, this wasn't in the game, but I wanted to change it, OK? Be thankful it's not exactly like the game.) "Great, now there's two weirdos we need to rescue," said Mai.
"Big bird...he must mean the one that carried Ryou off," mused Bakura. "Hey, Mai, maybe you could take me there in your pirate ship!"
Mai just blinked at him. "Why do I owe you a favor? You've never done anything for me."
Now Bakura was mad. "What do you mean?! I fought off the monsters in the forest for you, and I was going to rescue you, but then that pirate came along and you left. And if you hadn't come here, that bird would've never flown by and grabbed Ryou!" He could have listed hundreds of other reasons why she should take him along, but he just stopped there and glared at her.
Mai glowered back, but she knew that she was beaten. "Fine," she growled, "I'll take you to the Forsaken Fortress, where that giant bird was flying. You can rescue your snot-nosed brother. And then, you're out of my life!"
'Hmm, not a very nice way to comply, but it'll do.' thought Bakura, as he nodded to Mai. "I'll come with you. First, I need to do something, though, so could you wait up?"
"We can't hold up forever, Miss," piped up the nameless pirate, who had been standing quietly by the entire time. "Remember, we're after the TFOW."
"I haven't forgotten that,Rex."
"Sorry, Miss."
"Wait up for the kid. While you're waiting, you can load up my cosmetics."
"That bag is huge!"
"Are you complaining,Rex?"
"No, miss."
Rex slunk off, muttering about the dinosaur fossils he wanted to find, and that was the end of the fight, if you could call it that. "I'll be quick," said Bakura. "I just need to pack some things."
"Good. Be back in an hour and we'll set sail."
Bakura scampered down to his house. He felt bad about it, but didn't want to have a tearful goodbye with his mother, so he crawled into the basement to get his things. After thinking a bit, Bakura opted to travel light, and packed only a shield, a few torches, and a picture of him and Ryou. (A/N: NO NASTY THOUGHTS!) Throwing it all in a bag, he scurried out of the basement, only to find himself face to face with Rebecca, the town brat.
"HI, BAKURA! WHATCHA DOIN'?"
"Rebecca, shhh! I'm busy."
"Wanna play?"
"No!" He checked his watch; an hour had almost passed. "I have to hurry. Go play with Mokuba."
"But all he wants to do is play war! I want to play dolls."
'I can't delay anymore.I'll have to resort to drastic measures,' Bakura thought. "Rebecca, MOVE!" And he shoved her out of the way.
~Ten minutes later~
Bakura ran up to the pirate ship to find Rex and other pirates loading a giant chest onboard, with Mai supervising and yelling things. "Pant.pant.I'm..pant.here.."
"Yeah, yeah. We're not ready yet. Hey, watch the lipstick!"
"That trunk is full of LIPSTICK??!"
"Of course not! There's nail polish, blush, shampoo, conditioner, lotion, lip gloss."
Bakura felt like gagging. "Umm.O.K.should I put my bag in the cabin?" Mai finally turned around to face Bakura. "You don't know much about pirate ships, do you? The captain, me, has a cabin, the pirates sleep in barracks, and the swabbies stay down with the cargo. You, however, will have to make do in the crow's nest."
'Is she kidding? She doesn't look like she's kidding. That crow's nest is tiny! I'll have to scrunch up.' These were just a few of Bakura's thoughts, but he just said, "Okay," and started moving his things up to his temporary "room". After that was done, Bakura saw everyone else boarding the ship, and decided to check out things below deck.
"Lost, little swabbie?"
Bakura spun around. "Who's there?"
"It is I, Joey, your superior. You must now pass the test."
"What test?"
"The one all new swabbies take. Come!"
Bakura sweatdropped, but followed Joey. When they both stopped, he could see switches on either side of him, as well as a bunch of lanterns and a door on the other side of the room. There didn't appear to be any way to reach the door, since both sides of the room were elevated and the floor was, well, on the floor. "I don't get it."
"You press the switch, first. When you do that, platforms come up. You jump back and forth on the platforms until you get to the door." Joey stepped on the switch to demonstrate.
"But those platforms are too far apart. I doubt even you could jump from one to another!"
"I wasn't finished explaining! You have to swing on the lanterns..try not to get burned, lil' swabbie!"
Bakura gulped. This would be tough! Tentatively, he walked over and stepped on the switch. Just as Joey had said, platforms spun up. 'Now comes the hard part.'
He stepped onto the first platform, and realized he would have to jump to grab the lantern. Wallowing in fear, Bakura suddenly realized that he was being a coward. 'It's just a little jump. Where's there to fall? A few feet, that's it. Now, GO!' When he opened his eyes, Bakura found he was already swinging on the first rope. Adrenalin rushed through his body. He wanted to scream, shout, or whoop, but instead he just jumped for the next platform. And the next. And the next. And..you get the point. By the time he had it down pat, Bakura was standing in front of Joey on the other side of the room. Joey just gaped.
"How did you do that?! You cheated! The platforms must be broken!"
"I didn't cheat!"
"Stupid swabbie.Well, I guess I can give you this. Here." Joey handed Bakura a small violet pouch, decorated with a face pattern. "It holds stuff you get from enemies. Unique stuff. Like Knight's Crests."
"Thank you."
"Pirates don't say 'thank you'."
"I'm not a pirate."
"Forget it. Just go. I hear Mai calling you."
Bakura strained his ears, and sure enough, he heard Mai's whiny voice screaming his name. "I'm coming!" He cried, and quickly jumped across the platforms. "Thanks again, Joey." ~Up at the crow's nest~
"Sticks, a shield and a picture of the brat and you. Nice travel pack." Mai laughed as she went through Bakura's things.
"Hey! Get out of that!" Bakura angrily shoved her away from his stuff.
"It's nothing private. Anyway, the reason I called you up here was because we've made it to the fortress."
Bakura looked over where she was pointing with Ryou's telescope. He saw ugly, pig-like monsters patrolling the turrets of the large building. There were huge towers, too, each one mounted with a searchlight. "Wow. How're we gonna get in?"
"We? I'd ruin my nails climbing. You're going in yourself. And I have a plan to get you past the guards."
"What sort of plan?"
Mai didn't answer. Instead, she climbed down the ladder to the main deck, picked up a barrel, and walked out of sight with it. By the time she was back in view, the barrel was gone and she had a huge smile. "Ready?"
"What the hell are you gonna do?!"
"Come here and I'll show you." Her smile was spreading off the borders of her face now, and that had Bakura worried. Whatever made a pirate captain grin with joy was bound to be dangerous. But Bakura climbed down anyway; his curiosity had gotten the best of him. Following Mai, he found the barrel resting on the edge of a large catapult.
"NO, NO, NO!"
"You wanna rescue this 'Ryou' and 'Malik' or not?"
Bakura had no choice. "Fine, I'll do it. But make sure you aim right, ok?"
"Don't worry."
Bakura climbed into the barrel and took a deep breath. 'This won't be so hard. Just as easy as pie. There's nothing to fear but fear itself, just like on those platforms.'
"ANNNNNNNND..FIRE!" Mai shouted, jumping on the other end of the catapult to send the barrel, and Bakura, flying.
He couldn't help it. He screamed. "AHHHHHHH...AHHHHHHHHH..AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!" Feeling himself hit a wall, Bakura attemped to jump out of the barrel, but it was too late. The barrel smashed, and Bakura slid down the wall, eventually hitting the water below. Everything went black.
Back at the pirate ship, a voice was heard. "Oops, guess my aim was a little off."
~~TBC~~
How did you like it? Huh? I hope you did; Bakura will be in his first dungeon soon! Yay! So..REVIEW ALREADY!