*please review*

- Title: 'All in the Cards' (3/?)

ch 3 'Desperate Rush!'

By: Dark Hilde,

gundam_deathscythe_hilde@yahoo.com

dark_hilde@yahoo.com

Written: April 3-13th, 2003.

Has not been Betaed, please excuse any mistakes.

Can't type well lately due to broken finger.

FicCatagory: Yaoi, GW/YuGiOh fusion/X-over thingy.

Mostly YGO first to establish storyline. Then GW.

Disclaimers: I Don't own Yugioh or GW. I Do own this story.

Every card used but not shown in the series is in my own deck.

If you know better ones to write in then suggest them. I don't know all of them.

I will not make up new cards, they have to really exist.

Archive: Ask first. DHML is ok, and at my Etherealin_sanity site.

Anyone who archived me before, just ask.

Warnings: AU, Yaoi, some het, Yaoi Lime/Lemon later. May contain spoilers.

Pairings/info/summary: 2x1, 4x3, 5+MC, JouxSeto, MarikxJou, See first chapter's disclaimers.

THIS chapter pairings: Implied: 4x3 and SK+YY, YB+MK.

Notes after chapter's ending.

All in the Cards 3/?

-Desperate Rush!

"Kaiba, we can't wait any longer, where did they say they located my friend?" Yami Yugi growled out at the taller boy who stood beside him in the middle of the alley behind the mall. They had just completed a duel with two Rare Hunters, whom had quickly, after beind defeated by Kaiba's awesome Obelisk God Card, ran back to whatever hole they had crawled out of that morning. Kaiba turned to stare down the Pharaoh reincarnated; no one EVER talked to him like that! Yami stepped forward, grabbed the neck of Kaiba's trenchcoat, then forcefully pulled the boy down to face him at his level. They were then nose to nose. "Where are they!" The slant eyed boy glared for all he was worth into the unrelenting eyes of his much taller, stronger adversary.

"The Aquarium. Now. Let go." Seto sniffed and shoved the Yami away from him. He smoothed out the fabric of his trenchcoat with his right hand. He didn't like how it felt to be grabbed by him, didn't like it at all. The other boy was being too dominant with him. Kaiba liked being in charge of the situation, and Yami had just knocked him out of his rhythm. No one besides his little brother had ever dared to try such a stunt. Amusing though it was to see a hint of desperation in Yami's eyes, Seto felt like decking the little bastard but figured that would only start a fist fight when there were more important things to worry about, like that idiot Mutt and his gang of friends. Someone WAS out to kill them, or something to that degree. By the way that the tri-colored haired boy had been treating him, someone had better be out to kill them, only then would this idiotic rush to save them be worth while.

Yami's dark, slanted eyes grew wide as he realized, from Yugi's memory of the layout of the city, exactly where the Aquarium stood from their current location. It really wasn't too far away! He took off running, shoving the taller boy aside so he could pass, to Kaiba's mild surprise, he'd been shoved hard enough for his back to connect with the brick wall behind him. The brown haired boy followed him closely, watching Yami's thin arms fly from side to side as he had hurredly ran ahead of him. He was still wearing the Dueling Disc on his left arm. It made his thin but muscular limbs look small and girlish, Kaiba mused. Everything about the young boy was odd, especially when he was in his Yami, or 'Darkness' form. He seemed then to be more knowledgeable, more dangerous, lethal even. Kaiba liked this much more darker and daring form of his favorite rival.

When in his Yami form, Yugi seemed much taller; somehow this effect was multiplied by his shiny leather clothing's ability to cling in just the right places to show off more of his figure than was nesscessary. Normally, Yugi wore baggy clothing that was too long for him. It looked as if his growth had been stunted, maybe like he was a child in an adult's outfit. Yugi remained ever petite and pale- much shorter than average- which made him appear to be weak. Yet with Yami this was not the case. How deceitful, the blue eyed boy thought.

Added to that, he spoke like a true head of authority, his voice deep and commanding as the Paraoh himself, rather than the mild, uncertain way that little Yugi, a mere modern day and rather shy teenager, usually sounded. This, and the fact that his 'bad-ass' factor had, at the transformation from Yugi to Yami, jumped through the proverbial roof. (In Kaiba's own opinion, which he rarely ever shared with anyone and certainly wouldn't tell the young Paraoh, of course.) His expression was always serious when Yami came into control, his strength could be seen easily, especially when his eyes became so dangerous to behold. They were no longer the eyes of an innocent child. They had seen far too much blood and magic for innocence to weed its way through the depths of their gaze.

Though Kaiba had, through Isis Ishtar's Millenial Touk, seen through the eyes of an Egyptian Priest (Himself, or so he had been informed by Isis, as he had existed in another life time... He still adamantly refused to believe that little tidbit...) to behold the Paraoh, as Yami had once been many years before, he still wondered what Yami was truly like, Today. The boy running ahead of him had a way of keeping his secrets to himself. Perhaps even he didn't know the whole truth about himself, if the rumors amongst the Mutt and his friends proved true. Amnesia is a cruel thing.

They ran along for a while, Yami in the lead, breathless but still determined, until they reached a turn in the road where they spun the corner too fast. They didn't look where they were going, as people who are running very fast and thinking very slow often do, and ended up slamming into a short blonde boy who was knocked down to the pavement beneath the both of them. When Kaiba looked up, he noticed that the blonde was a duelist in the midst of battle! His opponent stood across the street not far from them, shock written across the other person's face as he stared past two holographic projections of a dragon and an elven woman to see his opponent knocked to the ground by Seto Kaiba and Yugi Motou.

"Ow! Please, be more careful!" The blond boy said as they began to untangle their limbs and Kaiba finally regained his footing. Kaiba slipped his hands around Yami's torso, just beneath the shoulders, and lifted him off of the boy's back into a standing position. Once on his feet, Yami nodded his apology to the boy on the ground. After regaining his composure, and tossing a mild glare at his rival, he continued to run down the street with one goal in mind. He had to help his friends!

Kaiba gave the boy a hand up. He wasn't quite sure why he even bothered. The blonde smiled and turned back to his opponent, saying that they 'will finish this now.' There was a tall, brown haried boy with odd shaped bangs leaning against the wall near them, a look of concern on his shadowed face. The guy was looking from Kaiba, to Yugi, then to the blonde again. The blonde smiled, rubbed his scraped elbow, and told him that everything would be fine. He then drew a card from his deck, smiled even wider, and played his Little Swordsman card, said monster apparating before their very eyes as the duel continued. Kaiba quietly apologized for Yami's unfortunate incident then continued on his way after the idiot Paraoh.

"What's gotten to them?" Quatre asked his lover. Trowa shrugged, saying they should just get on with their duel, as Quatre's opponent was fast becoming impatient. Whatever was going on, they were sure it was none of their business, really.

-

Kaiba Corp Building...

"What? I don't believe you! You're covering for his lazy ass 'cuz he's so damn afraid of me!" Jounouchi shouted at the red haired secretary, who sat at a wide computer screen and popped another pink gum bubble from between her cherry colored lips. He grabbed the edge of her desk and shook it a bit to get her attention. She looked at him from the corner of her left eye while turning away to answer a ringing phone. "Kaiba Corp, how may I help you? Yes? Yes? No. That will be next week, sir. No, he's not in right now. I am sorry. You would have needed an appointment anyway. Uh huh, bai bai."

"You're... ignoring me..." Jou hung his head, feeling defeated already. That wasn't even the worst part. He hadn't even lain eyes on that prissy-assed, holier-than-thou CEO of Kaiba Corp, hadn't even announced his challenge man to man (Other than what had already passed between them in the street earlier that morning.) and he'd only just stepped through the damn door! Kaiba COULD NOT be 'Out at the moment'! It was just unfair! "He's not here. I cannot fathom this."

"Fathom what?" Came a small voice from behind him. Jou jumped when he recognized who it must be, Seto Kaiba's kid shrimp of a brother. The 'nicer' Kaiba kid. Yeah. Jou could definitly get an answer out of him! He turned on his heels and smiled at the little black haired boy named Mokuba. "So he is here!"

"What do you mean?" Mokuba asked him, he walked forward to face him and looked up into his blue eyes. ---*#1.

"You're here, you were with him, so 'dat means he's here and he's just CHICKEN. But wait, he's worse then a chicken; he's a damn duck, always ducking out of the way when I come at him like how 'e ran off this morning!" Jounouch noisily proclaimed. A few people who had been about to enter an elevator looked up at his overly loud proclamation of someone being a fowl, then shook their heads as the door opened for them. The secretary giggled and hung up the phone. "Mister Mokuba, sir, should I have him ejected?"

"No, he's my friend. He can stay." Mokuba said in his little voice, with a kind smile her way. "Jounouchi. I really need you and your friends to stay right here for now, until my brother gets back here. It's an emergency really. There's a group of Rare Hunters after you all!"

"Whatever do you mean?" Yugi's grandfather, Solomon Motou, asked the little boy. Mokuba motioned for them to walk with him.

"They're going to make you all their mindslaves so that they can get the God cards and Millenial Item, I think, from Yugi and my brother! Seto called me and told me if I see you to make you sta-" Jou grabbed the boy by the shoulder and shook him a bit.

"WHAT? Oh god, Yug's in trouble!" Jounouchi said. He had the most desperate, wide eyed look on his face. Mokuba gasped at Jou's sudden actions.

"Jou, calm down, we can deal with this!" Anzu said. At her comment, Jou let Mokuba go and tilted his head her way, much like a puppy would do when it didn't understand something. The boy grabbed his shoulder where Jou had probably bruised him, a hurt look on his face. His pleading eyes didn't get through to the blonde duelist though. "If Yugi's in trouble there must be something we can do."

"That's why you have to listen!" Mokuba continued, but Jou would have nothing of it. He glanced around then found the nearest exit, running like mad past a stone statue of a Crawling Dragon near the wide doors of the entryway. The others looked at each other, exchanging confused glances before they all headed out after him. Honda explained his thought on the matter as they ran, "It's all a trap. Jou knows they're after US to get to Yugi, and if he's out there alone, then he's the one in danger, not us. We have to find him and help him! Jou figured this out and I don't think he's too keen on wasting all his time just moping around about it! He's not one to sit back when he thinks he can DO something about the situation."

"But what about my brother, he's with Yugi!" Mokuba reasoned.

"That's better than being alone. But if we're out and about, that's what they want too! We're placing ourselves in danger too. Oh, you just can't win!" Anzu said as she wrapped her purse strap around her right hand, holding it tight against her yellow blouse. The bag had been bouncing against her leg at the rim of her skirt while she ran.

Solomon huffed and puffed as he raced along beside the energetic kids. He was a bit old for this. "We have to find them. We should split up." He suggested. (DH: "And here he's supposed to be the voice of reason... going senile, old man... OH wait, I wrote this... *shuts up now*") "I'll follow Jou, Mokuba, you should come with me. Honda, Anzu, perhaps you should check the south side? Jou's heading north, I think that's where he last saw them." Honda nodded at Mr. Motou's suggestions, he knew the area better because he lived near there.

"Yeah, and I have a cell phone, you can call me if you find him! Jou has the number." Anzu said while pausing a moment to check on a figure she'd seen at the end of the next turn. The dark haired person wasn't Yugi or Seto, so she kept running.

"I have a phone too, I can call my brother again!" Mokuba said, his voice trailing off as he received a few angry glares.. He smacked himself on the forehead and brought the device out of his pocket as they ran along after Jounouchi, who slid his shoes on the pavement only to turn a corner quickly. There was no signal. "Oh, it's not working now!"

"Then let's go our seperate ways and meet up at the Kaiba Corp building once we find him. if we don't find him, then they should have made it there on their own within an hour or so, you think?" Honda said. he didn't wait for an answer. He grabbed Anzu's hand and led her down the next turn to the left. They were heading toward the Police and Fire Station, residential areas and the Pier and the warehouses. Mokuba and Solomon continued down the road, turned the corner that Jou turned, and saw him eagerly awaiting a red light at a cross walk, cursing up a storm at the injustice of traffic regulations. He was heading in the general direction of the Domino marketplace, a popular dueling ground for Duelists to gather, in this area. They came to a stop beside him, both leaning against a lamp post and breathing hard. Jou was tired as well, but he didn't seem to notice. He kept cursing and telling himself that his best friend was in major trouble.

After all that Yugi had done for him, he couldn't just wait around and leave him to the mercy of a whole army of Rare Hunters out for blood! He knew how the scoundrels acted, having had a run in with them on the day of his younger sister Shizuka's eye surgery, just the afternoon before this. He'd gotten the shit beaten out of him, even after he lost the duel, then surrendered and agreed to give in to their demands. They were ruthless, merciless fvcks. Little Yugi wouldn't last a minute against them in a REAL, blood shed and broken bones duel, even with that smart-assed show-off Kaiba there, they'd definitly outnumber them, break an arm or two... or worse... and steal his rarest card... What was that Mokuba had said?

A God card? Yugi and Kaiba each had a God card? Well, a God card wouldn't stop a fist from hitting a face, that was for damn certain.

Shit. Now they'd really be after them. He had to hurry! He couldn't let even Kaiba fall to a fate such as that! "Change light, change, already!"

But he knew the Rare Hunters, nasty as they were, still followed a code of conduct. They had to win whatever they wanted in a Duel, then they were free to smear your blood on the street. It had something to do with ancient Magic, and the possession being transferred from one master to another through dueling and defeat. Jou wondered if Yugi had caught on to this aspect of the game yet. Perhaps the Duel that morning against the Hunter with the rare Exodia Deck had given the young dueling champion a clue. Whoever the hell this Marik was, the asshole had a strict rule book he'd set his goonies out to follow. Jounouchi didn't doubt that they were allowed to kill their victims, or even worse, send the unfortunate souls to the infamous hell that is the Shadow Realm, a world of eternal darkness, should they succeed in a duel. 'Gods knew they had already caused enough damage just out of spite.' Jou thought. 'When I get my mits on those bastards, they're DEAD!'

"Jounouchi, what are you doing here!? I thought you were dueling in the Tournament too? Did you lose already?" Sounded a familiar voice from behind the group at the crosswalk. Ryou Bakura walked up to Jou and smiled sweetly. He held his right elbow with his left hand, as if he'd been hit there, though there was no mark apparant, and glanced out at the moving traffic. Jou noted he also wore a Duelist's Disc on his right arm.

"Hah! I never Lose! Bakura, man, I need your help. I gotta find Yugi!"

"Why, is something wrong? Whatever's the matter?" The boy asked, his british accent falling through. He blinked at the forceful tone that Jounouchi had used towards him. He seemed pretty mild mannered and quiet, shy even, like little Yugi was most of the time.

"There's a group of Rare Hunters, very nasty people, out to hurt Yugi and we gotta help him! You haven't seen him around anywhere have you?" Jou asked, his eyes pleading with the white haired boy to give him some sort of positive answer. Ryou shook his head sadly and then ran his hand through his unruly hair.

"I could help you locate him. How about we split up. You and mister Motou take the East side by the park and Mokuba and I can check out the West roads near the schools. That way we can cover twice as much of the city at once." Ryou smiled at the black haired boy as he said this.

"Are you ok with that, Jou, Mokuba?" Solomon asked. He'd regained his breath and was ready to move again, provided the traffic would finally let them cross the busy street. The two boys nodded and the crosswalk light snapped on as the signal light turned red. Jou ran across as soon as he could and Mr. Motou followed behind him.

Bakura took Mokuba's hand and led him down the crosswalk in the opposite direction. "We'll find your brother, don't worry." He told the boy, who nodded in response, eyes scanning the crowds in the distance. "We're supposed to meet back at the Kaiba Corp building, when we find him!" Nodding, Ryou turned his head to scan the clusters of people that were milling around a nearby coffee shop. As they walked along it seemed that the light around him had grown much darker. Ryou's Yami had come out to play once more. He sneered at his glazed over reflection in a mirror-like surface of a shop window. His spikey silvery hair was standing out on all ends, but not much worse than normal, if only a little wind were blowing it around. The shadows around his eyes had become darker and the slant to his gaze much more sharper. Mokuba had never seen his Yami, and probably didn't even know it existed, which was just perfect, in Bakura's opinion. The ancient spirit detected absolutely no suspicion from the young boy beside him.

With a quick glance to be sure that no one was looking, and he was completely positive that no one was, Yami Bakura slammed his fist against the back of the little boy's head. Mokuba fell unconscious into Bakura's arms. He lifted his prize in both arms gently, for he wasn't that heavy at all, then carried him down a side street, down to a dead end at an apartment building, to a quiet place where they could be alone. He'd lain the boy down on the ground near a large closed dumpster which would obstruct any passing souls' view of what was about to transpire. Bakura grinned to himself as he held the Millenial Eye in the palm of his hand, feeling the weight of the Millenial Ring beneath his shirt as well, and slipping the blank soul card, which he had saved from Duelist Kingdom just for this purpose, out from his shirt pocket to lay it beside the boy on the ground. He would now have everything that he had wanted, and with Marik's help, it would happen sooner than he'd planned. Little did the infamous Tomb Robber know that Heero Yui had been watching his every move from inside one of the surrounding buildings...

TBC

FOOTNOTE: #1: Someone complained that Jou's eyes are brown. I heard they're blue, from a website, several fanfics, and the series in english. I dunno. I will look it up. I can always edit it later in a revision, but for now, I like Jou with blue eyes. And Kaiba with MossGreen or Brown hair. Not Peridot green, like in the Japanese version, ok? I am author, I have spoken...besides, we'll chalk it up to contact lenses, hairy dye, and bad-ass anime looks. Yeah... -Brown eyes in the Videogame, someone told me-

--#2 Not much GW now, I have left that for the next chapter as I needed this one to develop some important plot, it will be like a scene change, with them interacting here and there. I am not sure yet. Wufei, Duo and Heero's up next...

--#3 I thought I would ask around if anyone wanted to be a Duelist in this story to duel against Duo(Male or F.), Quatre (A guy...) or Wufei (M. or F., Female prefered...). I would just need a name and a character description, favorite element or color, and whatnot, replied offlist. If you know about the cards, then favorites can be incorporated into the storyline. (Provided they aren't limited in the series to main characters. I can tell you which these are.) First come first serve- Replies on DHML and FF.net will count as well. I already have 2, and need 3 more.

--#4 I've just found out writing JouxSeto is hard, like writing 4x1. *falls over* I just NEVER see it around anywere that's why I am going to write it.