Hybrid – 2. A person whose background is a blend of diverse cultures or traditions; 3.(b) something that has two different types of components performing essentially the same function. (Merriam Webster's Collegiate Dictionary)
Hybrid Theory
Bakura pulled away and raised an eyebrow at Ryou who stared at him with wide eyes. Well, initial contact had gone well, Bakura thought idly.
I'm taking over, think about what you want to tell that Tristan boy when we see him again…
With that Bakura disappeared and Ryou felt a pull and looked over his shoulder. His soul room door flung open and he was pulled inside.
Bakura held back a hiss of pain as normal reality sped up again without him being prepared. Too much time was spent in his other's mind, he concluded. He would have to get out more. He dimly realized that he was talking about himself and the ring to that blonde kid, Wheeler or something.
"…just a little. One thing I don't know, is if any mere mortal can stand against it." Bakura wanted to laugh at his personal joke, but refrained.
Joey's eyes glinted for a moment with determination. "If not, there's no one else who can save Grandpa and the others!"
Bakura ignored him, deciding that the boy rarely had anything worth saying, and looked down onto the platform to watch a little. He saw a man standing near Pegasus, talking on a portable phone. A quick flash through his other's registry of objects and he quickly labeled it a mobile or rather cell phone.
Bakura frowned, somehow knowing that it was important. No one would call in the middle of the Duelist Kingdom Finals if it wasn't. He channeled some of his own energy, but mainly his light's into the Ring. He felt it spread out towards the human and the conversation was magnified for him.
"Then what are your orders, sir?" A static-covered voice asked through the contraption.
The older man, whom Bakura could see, turned away from his boss and glared at the phone receiver. "Listen. Secure all the exits. The boy must not be freed."
"Yes sir."
Bakura felt a smile come over his face. So Tristan had managed to alert security to his presence and intentions for the other boy. If the brunette did manage to free the boy, Bakura would be hard pressed to do something worthwhile to persuade him of his loyalty to their little cause. He had underestimated the handsome, little mortal. Bakura licked his lips slightly and drowned out the inane babble of the others while he formulated a plan.
He mused that even though he wasn't sure if he could move his soul from one host to another that he could at least maintain control of the body for a little while. This would be marginally helpful when it came to getting his hands on that Sennen Eye. A female voice floated by his mind as he started to pay attention again.
"That's right. You can still beat him!" The young brunette called to Yami.
Bakura smirked at the comment. Could the Pharaoh beat Pegasus? He didn't really know or care, so long as an opening was presented to him to steal that Eye. Croquet made another sudden jerk and picked his phone up.
Let's see what Croquet's up to, shall we?
Ryou remained silent, and Bakura had to hold back a smirk. So his other wasn't all that keen on hunting down his little crush? Ah well, it was all workable. He pushed his power into the Ring again and felt his mind float nearer the conversation.
"What?! What do you mean Mokuba's missing? He is instrumental in the plan to take over KaibaCorp! Find him immediately, idiot." Bakura smirked at the other's obvious frustration. "How hard can it be to recapture a soulless body? Do not make me come down there!"
Interesting.
Bakura mused as he turned away from the balcony. It seemed Tristan had done him a favor. Granted it was not expected, nor on purpose, but a favor none the less.
The blonde, of whom the Pharaoh seemed to favor, turned towards him as he started to walk away. "You got somewhere to go, Ryou?"
Bakura swallowed and remained turned away. He forced his voice a bit higher and called from memory his other's faint accent. "Yes. I thought I'd go and check on Tristan."
The girl turned to Joey. "He has been gone a long time."
"Too long, if you ask me! I mean, what could be more important than this match?!"
Bakura sneered, but remained turned away. "I'll be sure to ask him."
/ - / - / - / - / - / - / - / - / - / - / - / - / - / - / - / - / - /
The moment Bakura turned the corner he took off at a run.
The chase is on, little one.
Ryou remained stubbornly silent. Bakura smirked this time. His long legs carried him down flight after flight of stairs until he was sure he was in the castle's 'dungeon'.
Where are you, little Mokuba?
The spirit was going to get lost if he continued any further looking for a moving target in these corridors. He, again, fed some of his energy into the Ring. The Ring pointed to the left with three of its spikes and he smiled.
The spirit turned a few more corners, following his Item, until he heard voices ahead. Slowing, he looked around the edge, in a way grateful for the shadows.
Tristan stood with Mokuba on his back, facing Bakura whom he could not see. Bakura could see two guards coming, but their pace indicated that it was not a usual mid-finalist round check. Ryou still would not respond to him, even though he had graciously left their link open. It had taken some convincing on his part to get the boy to admit his feelings for Tristan, but he had cracked after some mental and a little physical…persuasion.
"Look, he's got Mokuba!"
"Stop him!" Another guard cried out. Bakura rolled his eyes. And this was all Pegasus could afford?
"Hold it right there!" Bakura snorted this time. Like the boy would really turn around and give himself up.
Tristan growled and turned around to face the guards, Bakura raised an eyebrow. Tristan didn't seem to notice the weight of the younger Kaiba on his back. Too many other things to think about really.
"No place left to run, punk. You're surrounded," a guard sneered as he took a step closer. Tristan slid around to face him, and then glanced back at the other one. Bakura raised another eyebrow as the brunette's backside was presented to him. At least Ryou had good taste.
"Now hand over the kid, tough guy." Growled one of the security members, who looked surprisingly like a gorilla in Bakura's opinion, probably as smart as one, too.
"No. Come and get him." Bakura smiled. Well, the boy had spunk. He could give him that at least. He stepped out of the shadows, always having been attracted to well announced entrances.
"Lay one hand on the boy and you will rue the day you imbeciles were ever born."
In response the guards looked at each other and then in the direction that they thought the tomb raider's voice had come. Unfortunately, the halls created an interesting echo, and the guards ended up looking off to the spirit's left.
Tristan turned to regard Bakura, whom he could see. "Ryou, get outta here!" Upon more slander from the guards and a disinterested look from his 'friend' Tristan felt the fear beginning to rise in him. He knew that he could get away from the security, but Ryou was another story. He figured the other boy would rather try and reason at the end of a gun barrel rather than try to out run the shooter.
"C'mere, punk," the bigger of the two guards growled.
"You heard him. Now step out of those shadows right now," piped in the other.
Tristan swallowed and the shouted in the direction that the guards were yelling. "Run for it, Ryou! Go on, save yourself!"
The guards apparently couldn't see Bakura, though how they managed that, what with his bright silver-colored hair and all was beyond the tomb raider. "Step outta those shadows! Or else."
Bakura sighed quietly, something else of Ryou that he had picked up that displeased him.
"Or else you'll do what, you pathetic little drones?"
"Huh? We warned ya." Came another one. They really needed to work on their response times. Tristan's eyes widened, but narrowed as he caught on to the fact that it wasn't the normal Ryou he was talking to.
"Yes, and now I am warning you. Don't trifle with me," Bakura replied evenly. He reached into his other's jeans and pulled out his deck and removed a card. Looking at it, he decided it would do…for now.
"What's that?" One of the guards asked.
Bakura smiled and held the card up, creating a link between it and the Ring. "Chain Energy!"
Iridescent cords broke forward from a point that Tristan could no more see let alone discern. One of the guards spoke up.
"Urg. What on earth--I'm stuck!"
"Me too. But how?" The uglier one replied.
Tristan watched in amazement as Bakura used the Shadow Realm's energy to bind the guards. What was going on…? He would have stood there gaping longer, had the urge for an explanation not taken over.
"Ryou! What'd you do?!"
The Ryou look-alike, turned and gave Tristan a not so innocent look back. If he hadn't been so confused by the magic, Tristan would have sworn that the other had winked at him.
"Come. Now is our chance to escape." Bakura responded, turning back and running off into one of the darker halls.
This couldn't be a good thing, but by the looks of it the guards were not about to stay idle even in the confines of the Chain Energy. He looked over his shoulder as the other spoke. "Uh, okay." When Bakura started off, it only took Tristan a moment to realize that he wouldn't be able to catch up. Shifting the weight of the boy on his back he looked down a darkened hallway. "Hey, wait up!"
To Be Continued…
