Disclaimer: I do not own anything in this story. 'Cept maybe the basic idea of one of the shortest battle sequences in this whole story. That's about it.
Message from:
LooksCanDeceive84@hotmail.co.jp
Message to: GameMaster01@hotmail.co.jp
Sorry I haven't written to you in a while. Things have been pretty hectic over
here.
Your Ojii-chan doesn't seem to be getting any better. At least he's safe. I
haven't seen anything else that appeared even remotely strange. Save an
oversized albino dog when I was walking home. I know foxes are popular over
here, but I very much doubt that we get wolves in Domino. Especially in broad
daylight. But I haven't seen it recently. I guess that's a good thing.
Sure, I didn't see any strange things, myself, but I've heard some pretty weird
stuff. They closed school for a day because of a thunderstorm. People are
saying they swore to seeing faces in the storm clouds. Strange, ne? I also
heard that our homeroom teacher was mugged when he was walking home from his second
job. By some little kid in a ridiculous outfit. He had strange armor, blue
hair, purple-ish skin, and a shield with the numbers '07' on them. And there
are rumors that Kaiba Mokuba was attacked by a huge green monster...
I want to know what's going on around here. I don't know what to believe
anymore. I probably wouldn't have believed any of it if your Ojii-chan wasn't
attacked in front of us. This week just keeps getting weirder and weirder...
Subtlety, Chapter 2: The Island's Hidden Enemies
Seto Kaiba POV
Pitch after pitch. None of the pitches hit any of us, but the backlash sent us
flying. We barely had any time to react. Jounouchi couldn't use that trick he
used when we met Ansatsu, since, from what I could see, he could barely slip his
hand into his pocket before another bomb was chucked at us and sent us flying.
And the leftover smoke was so thick, I could barely see the others. We lost
Honda early on in the fight. Maybe he had backed out of the fight, somehow?
If so, I think that crazy boy became smarter than the rest of us.
Another bomb was tossed. It was just far enough away from me that even the
backlash didn't hit me. In the brief time period, I saw two things. The first
thing I saw was Honda. I shrugged it off at the time, since I only saw him for
a brief second. The second thing I saw was a brief shine of something. Most
likely a sword. Again, it was very brief. I seemed a bit more empathetic
about the latter than the former.
I found myself searching through my trenchcoat for my deck. I pulled out one
card, and was decently satisfied when I found out just which one I pulled. As
for the creature, you can have three guesses which one it is. The last two
don't count.
Instinct kicked in, but I did something completely different from what
Jounouchi had done. I held out the card in front of me, and focused on it. I
felt a good amount of my energy leave me, but I thought nothing of it. I
released the card when it began to glow. One flash of light later, the most
infamous monster in my deck stood in front of me. Yes, it was completely
different than what Make Inu had done, but I'm not Make Inu.
I searched for the flash of silver again, only to find out that the smoke had
veiled it again. Our attacker seemed smart enough to keep away from me. What
good would it do?
I could kill the one attacking us presently, but he's not posing as an
immediate threat. If he's not even striking to kill, why waste an attack on it?
I blinked in surprise. I could actually hear the newcomer through the smoke. I
let my trademark smirk cross my face.
"Blue Eyes," I said, a little bit too calmly, given the
circumstances. "Fire the Burst Stream that way." I pointed about five
meters from the rest of the group. My creature obeyed, firing a wide beam of
white lightning from his mouth. I watched it streak into the thick smoke, a
content smirk on my face. I heard the Make Inu scream something along the lines
of, "You tryin' to kill us?!?" I didn't take much notice to it. I was
focusing on something else?
Did the attack hit?
Blast Juggler chucked more bombs at Yuugi, Jounouchi, and Bakura. The smoke
never cleared.
"Smoke screen," noted another voice. I whirled around. Honda. But he
looked... different, somehow. He had a confident look on his face, which
changed my outlook on him. Another thing that changed was his eyes. I know it's
one of the last of things you look at somebody on the battlefield, but they
were different. I don't know what color eyes he had, but I was sure as hell
they weren't the steely blue color they were now. Honda didn't seem to notice
too well that I was staring at him. "Our new friend is smarter than
Ansatsu was. Blast Juggler's not just a distraction. His attack is veiling the
creature. You have a slim chance of hitting it now."
Honda was making sense.
"And if you don't mind, Kaiba," Honda smirked, drawing a card.
(When'd he get a deck?) "I'd like to take out the distraction."
He tossed the card in his hands. Much like with the Blue Eyes, it began to
glow. Unlike the Blue Eyes, the monster on it appeared in a shower of sparks,
rather than a flash of light. It was a Pendulum Machine. Before I could
question Honda where he found it, he had issued a command to his creature.
"Blast Juggler o koroshita!" {{Kill the Blast Juggler!}}
The creature charged. The pendulum connected to its torso swung into the Blast
Juggler and split it in half upon impact. The demented clown-like machine
shattered and faded. The black smoke cleared almost instantly. I could see the
shocked looks of Yuugi and the rest of them. Even more importantly, I saw the
creature. It was a Sword Hunter.
No clue why it felt it had to hide behind the smokescreen. No matter.
It couldn't even move before Blue Eyes' attack sent it back to wherever the
hell it came from. Soon afterwards, the dark shadows around us dissapated,
leaving us back in the castle. Luckily enough, none of us were hurt too bad. We
were a little scuffed up. The worst thing was that Honda and I were tired. And
the former of those mentioned before was staring at the card in his hands,
confused to no end. He was just being strange again, I thought.
Yeah, everything was fine. Just fine...
Later that day...
Bakura, Yuugi, and Jounouchi conversed amoungst themselves quietly. I was
working diligently on my laptop. I had some of my own things to do. My company
was already working on Dueling Stations all over Japan. I was working on
something else, at the side. Something a bit more practical, and a lot easier
to carry around, than what was currently out. The last project I had worked on
worked just fine, but it had too many complications to it. I had to re-work it
a bit.
Basically meaning, I had a ton of work to do. Unfortunately, I had reached a
creative slump. Which left me nowhere.
"Ne, Kaiba-kun..." Yuugi said suddenly. {{Hey, Kaiba-kun...}}
"Nani?" {{What?}}
"Can I check my e-mail quickly?"
I groaned, pulled down my current work, and let Yuugi use the laptop.
"What're you working on?" he asked as he opened up his e-mail
account.
"It doesn't matter," I snapped in reply. "I didn't get that far
on it today."
"On what?" came Make inu's voice.
"Nandemonai, zako." {{It's nothing, small fry.}}
Make inu didn't seem to take too well to that. I was surprised Bakura could
hold him back. His little blonde friend did seem to jump the gun a lot.
Finally, it looked like he had calmed down enough, so Bakura released him. And
everybody went back to doing what they were doing. Somewhat.
Yuugi typed quickly on the laptop. Bakura looked over a rather large pile of
cards. He took one from the pile, read it over, and either set it to one side
or another. Deck-building. That was the most logical explanation I could come
up with. Jounouchi hunched over the pile, too, asking Bakura about certain cards
that stuck out to him. "If you don't want it, then can I keep it?" He
muttered that a lot when Bakura told him he wasn't looking for that type of
card for his deck.
I had nothing better to do, so I left the group with themselves. I needed to
think for a bit, anyway. Business-related. I needed some more ideas.
I walked pretty aimlessly for a while. Just lost in thought. More
business-related stuff. I was jogged from my wonderings by Honda. He was
talking to himself, glancing at the wall across from him. Loony. I just kept
walking. As I passed Honda, he looked shocked, but shook it off rather quickly.
I didn't take much notice. I kept walking. It wasn't until I was about to turn
the corner when I heard him speak to me.
"Kaiba!" Honda yelled quickly. "Matte!" {{Wait!}}
I stopped, allowing him to catch up. Don't know why, but I did. So I've grown
empathetic in such a short amount of time. Hn. This trip affected me sooner
than I thought it would.
When he caught up, he nodded his thanks. I glared at him. "What do you
want?"
"Somebody tangible to walk with me," he replied. "Keith's good
company and all, but it's just too weird talking to somebody and having someone
walk through him while you're talking."
"Keith?"
"Bandit Keith," Honda replied. "He's my friend... I
think..."
"Has it ever occurred to you that he's dead?"
"Duh," Honda smirked. "He's hanging around the castle for a
while until he is satisfied. Then he'll cross over. Until then, he said he
would help us out."
"Isn't that nice of him?" I said, my voice dripping with sarcasm.
"He helped out in the last fight," Honda replied. "He told me
you saw him. He possessed me so he could fight. He thought you needed some
help."
"I'd've managed just fine."
"He doesn't care."
"And why did Keith decide to be a nice guy?"
"He wanted to haunt Pegasus into the grave for killing him, but Pegasus's
already dead, so he said he'll leave when this is all over with."
I stopped and glared at Honda. "You were dropped on your head when you
were a child, weren't you?"
Silence. Then Honda glared back. First at me. Then past me. Creepy bastard.
Wouldn't be surprised if he was dropped on his head. I continued
walking. Honda glared at nothing for a bit, then jogged to catch up with me.
"Where're you going?"
"I don't know."
"Then why're you walking?"
"Clearing my head," I shrugged. "Hit a creative slump for
business."
Honda gave me a confused look. He was as much in the dark as I was, although he
was focused on why I was still working, and I was wondering what Honda smoked
to give him those ridiculous fantasies of his. I simply turned around.
"I'm re-creating the Duel Disk."
The confusion in Honda's face was cleared up only momentarily. "Why?"
"I need something more practical than something you chuck at the
opponent," I told him.
"You just want something that a crazy person won't roll on the ground in a
successful effort to mock you."
It was meant to be a joke. Even I knew that. But he was somewhat, vaguely
right.
Honda shuddered suddenly. I turned on my heel abruptly and went the other way.
"Kaiba, where're you going?!?" Honda called after me.
"Whenever you shiver," I answered. "Something's coming. And it's
in my best interest to keep out of this."
I continued walking. Honda didn't follow. He started talking lowly to himself.
Then, he shouted, "Kaiba!"
That was as much as I heard from Honda. Darkness shrouded my vision. Frigid ice
seemed to pierce my veins. And I was still concious. At least I could see
myself. And the slowly-approaching woman in the distance--- NANI?!? {{WHAT?!?}}
"Glad you could make it, Seto Kaiba," she mused. I tucked my hand
into my pocket, searching for my deck. I really didn't trust this lady. As my
fingers wrapped around my cards, she smiled, suddenly within arms-length of me.
"Why the hostility?"
I simply glared at the newcomer. The Dark Elf. "What the hell do you
want?" At least this one spoke. Better than nothing.
"A proper duel," she replied. "You'll have to forgive my
colleagues earlier, with the smokescreen and the sneak attack that nearly
killed that boy... No, I want a regular duel."
"Fine," I replied. "What's the life point count?"
"Oh, not a duel like that," she frowned suddenly, running a
dark-tanned hand through her purple-ish hair. "After all, I don't have
access to cards."
"So, we're fighting like before?"
"Let me finish," she smiled. "You shall use your cards, and I
shall use anything within my power. We each get two monsters to summon."
"I assume you don't count as a monster?"
"Oh, no," she said, shaking her head. "I'm of Duel Monster
origin. I only get one companion in this duel, while you get two. Lucky boy.
But I can attack just fine, while I believe you are merely there to bark at
your servants and give orders. The strategist, if you will. Not that much
different from a regular duel, if you ask me."
"Magic cards?"
"Anything you desire," she replied. "Magic cards can be used as
Trap cards, and Trap cards can be used as Magic cards. Do you follow?" I
nodded. "Good. Normal restrictions apply. But you can't use anything to
regain what you've lost, Magic or otherwise.
"And one more thing. We're not playing with Life Points. The first one to
be hit by the opponent's monster loses, and is to forever fade into the Shadow
Realm. Basically meaning, death follows the loser of this duel."
That's it?
"Fine," I shrugged, searching through my deck. I'd use the Blue Eyes.
That was a given. Should I use two of them for this fight? Was I allowed to
double up on a certain type of monster? I decided against it. I chose Saggi,
instead. I pulled my Magic and Traps from my deck and shoved the rest of my
monsters back into my trenchcoat.
I summoned my creatures a lot easier next time. I found out I could do an
interesting trick with my magic cards. I had three of them set in front of me.
"I'm surprised you didn't summon your Ultimate Dragon, or two Blue
Eyes," blinked my opponent.
"I wasn't aware I could," I answered. "But it doesn't matter.
This will end quickly, regardless."
"You're not worried about the consequences of this fight, are you?"
I wasn't. In one duel, I disgraced my brother, was unable to free him, and I
lost my own soul, after all. "I've lost worse," I scoffed. "You
can move."
The Dark Elf summoned a Mystical Elf. Strange. She'll focus on defense, rather
than attack? And such a weak defense, considering the attack power I had. Of
course, it made Saggi basically useless, due to the low attack power. So much
for the Deck Destruction Virus of Death plan... But why was it in attack mode?
She set and summoned a magic card.
A brown-ish jar appeared next to the playing field. In a wave of purple smoke,
Blue Eyes was gone.
"So, you're relying on cheap tricks to win?"
"Whatever it takes," she answered as two small flashes of red
appeared on the Dragon Capture Jar. "Take your turn, Seto."
I armed Saggi with Megamorph, doubling his feeble attack power. The Dark Elf
left her "companion" in attack mode. But, as Saggi attacked, the Dark
Elf's Reverse Trap was activated. Saggi's attack fell immensely, and Mystical
Elf ripped through my only remaining monster.
"I believe it's my turn," the Dark Elf smirked. "You were right.
The fight would end quickly."
I prayed my own cheap trick would work as she sent her monster in to attack. To
my surprise, it did. I found myself in heavy blue armor. I had pulled a trick
Jounouchi had used. I didn't think I could use Polymerization on myself... The
Mystical Elf was quickly taken care of, disappearing in a shower of blue
sparks.
"I-impossible!"
I smirked. "I think I found a loophole in your rules. No matter. Whatever
it takes."
I outstretched my hand and focused. I felt lightning surging through my veins
before it took form in my palm. A quick twitch of my hand, and the lightning
found its target. The darkness faded back into the castle.
Too easy.
I picked up the cards that had fluttered to the ground. As I pocketed them once
again, I turned around. Honda was gone. Must've went to ask Yuugi-tachi for
help. I rolled my eyes and walked back, lost in thought.
I think I just left my Creative Slump.
I found the group again, just as I had left it. Strange.
"Hey," I said. "Have you seen Honda?"
"Not since that last battle we fought," Yuugi replied.
"Doshite?" {{Why?}}
I shook my head. "Nandemonai." {{Nothing.}}
I opened up my laptop again and started typing. Before I fully indulged myself
in my work, I watched Bakura leave. Jounouchi quickly stole the spot in front
of Yuugi, asking for help in rebuilding his deck. Then I was lost in my typing,
once again.
Next chapter, Bakura Ryou POV. More strange stuff happens. But in this story,
was there any doubt in your mind?
