~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Chapter Five

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

'Speaking in Dragon'

"Speaking in English"

Thoughts

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The men glanced at each other, puzzled before one realized "Shit . . . yeh-yeh a Hybrid!"

Seto smirked and brushed his now white hair from his eyes "Correct" he answered "And us Hybrids are far different from normal Dragons" the men and Jounochi flinched when a large pair of leathery blue wings shot out of Seto's back and spread out impressively, he closed his eyes and started muttering something in his native tongue, the men began to panic and tried to run away yet inside they knew that they were doomed.

There was a flash as a bolt of lightning struck the floor, a second struck inches from one of the men who had them cornered. Jounochi backed away and watched the scene with terrified, hazel eyes. A high wind had picked up and the skies were clouding over, there was a low roll of thunder followed by more bolts of lightning, several screams of pain indicated that some of these had hit their targets, feeling drained and dizzy Seto opened his eyes and stopped the spell, the clouds faded away again and the lightning bolts stopped, he put his hand against the cliff face for a moment to steady himself and the other to his forehead, there were still two men alive and they both advanced him.

"Aw look, he's tired himself out" one taunted.

The second grinned nastily "This is the one he has been searching for, I'm sure it is" he said.

"Master Marik will be pleased with us" said the first, the two of them faced Seto and both at the same time made a grab for him but they only grabbed thin air.

Seto, seconds before had spread out his wings to their full span and pushed off from the ground. Jounochi watched wide eyed as the man span around and looked up, Seto narrowed his eyes and managed to kick one of them in the head before gaining more altitude, he cupped his hands together and watched a small white, glowing ball with tiny blue sparks emitting off it form. After a few seconds he took it in one hand and threw it at the two men.

As soon as the little ball of sparks and light hit it literally showered them with lightning. The two fell dead in an instant, covered with blood and burns. Seto struggled to keep himself in the air, his vision blurred and darkness took over.

Jounochi dived forwards as the brunette plummeted back to earth and caught him, getting smacked in the face by the large wings in the process. He laid him down beside the cave opening and watched as Seto's Dragon features faded away making him look, once again human, well as human as you could possibly look with strange coloured markings all over your face.

Sapphire eyes flickered open again tiredly and Seto stared at Jounochi "What da hell were ya thinking?!" the blond exclaimed "Tryin' ta pull a crazy stunt like dat! Yeh could'a hurt yeh'self!"

Seto weakly got to his feet, he managed to scowl "I knew what I was doing" he snarled "You should . . . be thanking me. Had I not done what I had done . . . then you would be dead" his eyes narrowed into a glare as he stumbled forward a little "Humph, what would . . . what would a Human care about a Dragon's welfare anyway?" he demanded, panting heavily.

"I ain't like da others" Jounochi replied.

'Yeah right' Seto muttered, grasping the cliff wall as he felt his knees give out and glaring "You are . . . all the same"

"What made yeh think dat?" Jou asked whilst offering some support for the brunette to help him stand.

"I don't think it, I know it" Seto replied "Humans are nothing . . . nothing but bloodthirsty fools. All they want . . . all they want is power"

"Your power?"

"Everyone's power" Seto answered finally catching his breath and slowing his intake of oxygen "I'm a Hybrid, and you know what that means" he added "Your kind want all that power from themselves, and they don't care how they get it" he said fiercely "You saw me before right?" Jounochi nodded "That is but a small fraction of my power" Seto continued "Your kind think we are nothing but creatures who should become their slaves and that we should use our powers to aide them in war" he hissed "And so do you" he added coldly.

"I dun think dat" Jou replied.

Seto glared "Your Human, of course you think that" he let go of the rocky cliff wall and pushed Jou away from him as he felt his strength returning "Your kind have one-track minds, you all think alike"

There was a feint noise behind them. Little Mokuba had crawled out of the cave and was now clinging to Seto's waist, the brunette's already ice-cold eyes became even colder "You've done your damage, now get lost before I lose my temper, forget my earlier statement about not hurting you and inflict some wounds of my own"

"I didn't do nothin!"

Seto raised an eyebrow "Really?" he questioned whilst taking Mokuba's hand protectively "Then it must have been pure coincidence that those men were able to find us" his eyes narrowed "I know this place like the back of my hand" he stated "Even if it is in ruin I still know every secret it possesses, someone who doesn't live here couldn't have found this place, or even guessed we were going to go here, do you know why?"

"No" Jounochi replied

"Look around you moron, walls surround us at all sides, minus the one we came here by, to the inexperienced eye of your kind it would be like walking into a trap, a dead end" Seto answered "But those men came here, and there is no way it was just a coincidence" his glare became harsher "So you can get out of my sight treacherous Human" he said with disgust "You've had your fun, you've almost gotten my brother and I killed. Now, if I were you I'd leave, before my blade finds your god damn throat!"

Jounochi didn't move until Seto whipped out the sword from beneath his belt "I am giving you my final warning" he hissed coldly whilst advancing on the blond "Take it and leave or ignore it and feel my wrath"

Jou stepped back a little, but he didn't actually go away "Yeh can't boss me aroun' like dat just coz I'm Human" he said "I have rights"

Seto glared "And so do we" he answered "But where are those rights now? Humph, your kind came barging in on our lives when we hadn't even done anything to you and waged war against us, it was probably your kind who killed my real parents!" he snarled "Your kind doesn't care that we have a right to live freely, so why should I care?"

Jou frowned "Yeh can't intimidate me" he stated, trying to sound threatening like the brunette but sounding more scared, and he was scared. Inside he was quaking.

Seto smirked "It looks like I already have" he hissed "This is your last chance, you can leave Mokuba and I alone or I can teach you the hard way why you do not mess with a pissed off Dragon Hybrid who has lost almost everything"

'No big brother' said a quiet voice.

'Eh?' Seto turned and looked down at little Mokuba 'Why shouldn't I teach him a valuable lesson he's sure not to forget? He almost got you killed'

'Because you'd be no better' the boy replied.

'What?'

'If you just killed him . . . without letting him explain or even try to defend himself then you'd be no better than a Human' Mokuba replied.

'But . . . Mokuba'

'NO!' Mokuba exclaimed fiercely 'Just calm down Seto, please'

Annoyed, the brunette glared at the floor and shoved the sword back under his belt. He turned sharply to face Jounochi again "Explain yourself" he stated.

"I dunno how dey came 'ere" Jou answered, he had to hand it to Mokuba, that kid could really calm the brunette down when he was worked up in a temper "Either they followed us or dey knew more den what yeh give em credit fer" he continued.

'They could have seen us leave big brother and followed' Mokuba suggested 'I really doubt Jounochi would try and get us enslaved, because they said they were going to hurt him too . . . remember Seto?'

Seto scowled, he didn't like being ganged up on, especially by his own brother "Fine" he snapped not knowing what else he could do "If he wants the Human can stay with us, if he doesn't then he can get out of my sight"

Mokuba looked at Jounochi "Dere ain't nothin ere fer me" the blond answered "If I try ta go back dey are gonna kill me, I'll go with you guys"

Seto scowled even more, he didn't like the idea of a Human travelling with himself and Mokuba one bit, but he had gone and opened his big mouth and now he was stuck with the consequences "Alright, but you had better be able to hold your own in a fight, I don't want to be saving your ass every time we are attacked. Mokuba and I are going into Human lands, so we will obviously need to be on guard"

"No problem, I can fight!" Jou exclaimed.

"Pft, personally I could defeat you with my eyes blindfolded and one hand tied behind my back" Seto bragged.

"Prove it" Jounochi replied "You 'n' me right now"

"Humph, you wouldn't last two seconds against me" Seto answered as he watched Jou tear a clean piece of fabric from one of the men's jackets.

He walked behind the brunette and fixed it tightly "Right, since yeh think yeh can honestly beat me blindfolded we'll test yeh, oh 'n' hold one hand behind yeh back" Jou was grinning broadly, he and Mokuba shuffled away from him Heh, he'll neva know what hit him

Seto folded his arms instead and stood there whilst Jounochi snuck up on him from his right. The brunette acted like he didn't know where Jou was, but he did. He could sense him approaching, the blonde's fear and mild excitement was being pretty much blasted at him.

After a few seconds Jounochi was right behind him, with one hand Seto gripped his wrist and flipped him over his shoulder, where he then put his foot on his chest and tore off the blindfold, he was smirking and his cold sapphire eyes were mocking "Told you so"

Jou coughed and Seto pulled him to his feet "Dat wasn't fair!" he exclaimed "Yeh could see!"

"No" Seto replied "But I could sense you" he added, his smirk broadened "At least I don't have to concern myself with staying on my guard at night so you wont attack me because you display your emotions so strongly I would sense you a mile away I'd be awake before you could even find something to kill me with"

"Shaddup" Jou retorted, surprised by the brunette's sudden mood change.

'Are we gonna go Seto?' Mokuba questioned.

'Yes' Seto answered, he nudged Jou sharply "C'mon dog, we're leaving" he stated

"What did you just call me?!" the blond demanded,

Seto chuckled to himself "I called you a dog" he answered  "Now come on, we've hardly got any daylight left and I'm sure you will want to sleep soon, considering you are Human"

"What da hell is dat supposed to mean?!" Jou demanded "N' I ain't no dog!"

Seto smirked again "It means that you are weak" he answered "Because you cannot take even one day without rest, and you are. Dog"

Jou glared, he was beginning to have second thoughts about travelling with these two, if all the brunette was going to do was tease and insult him then there wasn't much point, he may as well have shut his mouth and let Seto slit his throat.

TBC

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

JaffaCake11679: Thank you Dragonia, K*Star and Jenna aka Kitty for your reviews! I'm planning on introducing a new character very soon J

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~