Chapter Three: Demon fishies? O.o;
Warnings: Shounen-ai, one-sided (for now) Yami/Yugi, Seto/Jounouchi, Malik/Ryou and Marik/Bakura. Pure, pointless, strange fluff. More explanations from the monsters, too.
DISCLAIMER:
I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh. Don't sue me. I'm poor.
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DEEDLEEDLEEDLING! DEEDLEEDLEEDLING! Yami jerked awake, panting and bathed in sweat.
"Wha....?" DEEDLEEDLEEDLING! He glared at the phone, then glanced at his clock-radio.
"Five AM? What kind of asshole..." He picked the phone up, intending to give whoever it was on the other end a large piece of his mind.
"Who the hell is it?"
"Yami! Yami, I finished it! It's done!" Yami sighed as he recognised the voice of his best friend.
"Seto? What are you talking about, and WHY did you decide to tell me whatever-the-hell this is at five in the morning? I got to sleep less than three hours ago!" Seto giggled, a very, VERY out-of-character thing for him to do.
"The virtual pods! I finished the fourth copy of the prototype five minutes ago!" Yami's eyes went so wide, Seto could almost hear them bugging out.
"Th-they're..... done?" Yami stammered. Seto grinned and nodded.
"Yep!"
"Program?" Yami asked.
"Done." Was the reply.
"Soundtrack?"
"Mokuba remixed a few of my old compositions on his keyboard for the town, field and dungeon themes. And I used that recording I got of you playing the opening theme to Chrono Cross on your violin for the "Loading" music."
"And you already have the pods... So, you need a beta tester?"
"Why else do you think I called? Bring Malik and Marik, too. Remind them to bring their decks. And grab that one we were building for Mokuba."
"Okay, but why Malik and Marik?"
"The more people are in your party in this game, the safer you are. Just like any RPG."
"Oh, I get it. Okay. Give me an hour or so, okay? Okay. See you then. Bye." Yami hung the phone up, and flopped back on his bed.
"Son of a bitch. The crazy bastard did it." He then rolled over, picked the phone up and tapped a number into it.
RIIIIIIING! RIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIING! "I tawt I saw a puddy tat!" Malik snapped awake, as his Tweety bird phone went berserk. He grabbed blearily for the handset, and flopped back with it pressed to his ear, yawning ponderously.
"Moshi moshi?"
"Malik? 'Zat you?" The Egyptian blinked a few times, until he could place the voice in his head.
"Yam man?"
There was an exasperated sigh from the other side of the line. "Yes. It's Yami. And DON'T call me Yam man, got it?"
"Yes, Yam man."
"Shut up, please. Go to Seto's house, and bring your brother. Now."
"Okieday. See you there?"
"Yeah. 'Bye, Malik."
"'Bye."
"'Bye."
"'Bye."
"Okay, Malik, I am hanging up the phone now. 'Bye!" CLICK! Yami scampered off, showered quickly, and got dressed. As he passed the nightstand, he snagged the puzzle as an afterthought, figuring Seto would like to see it. Laden with his deck, an extra half-built one for Mokuba, three extra booster packs, his shoes and the puzzle, he slipped silently out the door, leaving a note to his grandfather on the kitchen table.
Meanwhile...
Malik dropped the handset back into the cradle, then climbed out of bed, began to walk to the bathroom, and stubbed his toe on a small, heavy box that lay on the floor.
"OWWWWWWWWW! OW! OW! MY FOOT IS BROKEN! MARIK! I AM GOING TO KILL YOU!" For he was certain that it was his twin who had dropped the box on the floor of their shared room, because said twin was not a neat freak like he was. There was a muffled snicker from the bed across the room, then Marik sat up and looked across at his twin.
"Who was that?"
Malik plucked the small, rectangular box off the floor, and shook it. "Yami. He wants us to meet him at Seto's house. What IS this thing?"
Marik shrugged. "All I know is that it's from Isis. I have one too, but Dad wouldn't let me open mine until you had yours. Said something about Isis saying to open them together." He walked over to Malik and sat next to him on his bed, then waved a narrow, square box under his nose. "This one's mine. Ready to find out what's in here?
"You bet. On the count of three?"
Marik nodded. "Okay. One..."
"Two..."
"Three!"
The twins immediately began shredding the brown paper that covered their prizes, Malik dropping his in a nearby trash can, and Marik chucking his wad across the room. They looked each other in the eyes, then looked down at the boxes that lay in their laps. "Now?" Malik asked breathlessly.
"Now." His twin agreed. They wasted no more time, but yanked the lids off the boxes, laid them aside, and pulled the layers of cotton batting out, freeing their prizes.
"Woah..." Marik murmured, lifting a large golden ring out of his box by it's leather cord, then blinked as the small, dangly prism-shaped bits ornamenting the edges pointed at Malik's gift. "Huh?"
Malik was too busy playing with his own item to notice the odd behavior of his brother's. "Look at this!" He cried, gleefully brandishing the golden rod.
Marik watched the pointers on the round ornament moving with the swinging rod. "Hey, Malik, look at this, mine is pointing at yours." Malik blinked, then shrugged.
"Oh well. Hey, look, a letter!" He snatched the piece of paper from the box on Marik's lap, and held his brother off with his free hand as he read it.
"Dear Marik.... OW!" He dropped the letter involuntarily and yelped as his twin yanked his sandy-blond hair. Marik at once let go of his brother's bangs and sat back in the half-light of pre-dawn to read it.
"Dear Marik, blah blah, dig is going well, yadda yadda... WHAT THE FUCK?!" He yelped, dropping the letter, allowing Malik to retrieve it from the floor.
"What's wrong? 'Dear Marik... dig is going well... I'll be here a few more months... give Malik my love... Sennen items?'" Malik blinked. "What, exactly, are sennen items?"
"Don't you remember world history? They're artifacts from ancient Egypt! People have DIED hunting for these things! This must be the Sennen Ring-" He pointed at his own item. "-And that must be the Rod." He pointed at his brother's, then paused a second and grinned maniacally at his twin. "Yami and Seto are going to be SO jealous." Malik didn't reply.
"Malik? Hey, Mal, wake up!" He waved one hand in front of his twin's blank lavender eyes, then shrugged. "Okay, be that way. I'll be in the shower." Malik didn't move at all, his eyes focused on the golden rod in his hand. His head, however, was whirling with revived memories of Egypt. But, just as he seemed on the verge of some great discovery...
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHH!" Catastrophe.
"GET OUT! OUT!" Marik screamed indignantly. A moment later, a white haired figure was propelled into the hall in a cloud of steam. Malik blinked and shook his head at the strange apparition as it turned and began hammering on the locked bathroom door.
"I'm going nuts..." He sighed and rubbed his temples with his right hind.... which still held the Sennen Rod. As soon as it touched his bare forehead, Malik jerked away as though he had been burnt, because he had heard a strange voice inhis head. "Okay, I'm definately going nuts." Was all he could say when he turned around to discover an almost-exact duplicate of the white-haired boy across the hall. However, this one was looking directly at him, and Malik got an odd sense of deja vu. "Have I met you somewhere before?"
Ryou just smiled, stepped forward, stood on tiptoes and kissed Malik gently on the cheek. "I missed you."
At this point I decided to let them alone to sort things out. Well, okay, I didn't exactly DECIDE to let them be- truth be told, I fell out of the tree I was perched in when I leaned forward to get a good look at Malik and decide if his blush could light the town for a week or just a few days, and I was too winded to climb back up. A three-story fall through the branches of a large oak tree will do that to one... good thing I managed to keep my concentration on that recording spell when I got snagged on that broken branch. What? No, I'm not Ryuujin. My name is Aika, last of the Maha Vailo. Eh, what? Oh. Don't worry, we'll catch up with the gang at Seto's residence- Ryuujin and the rest of my adopted family should already be there. In the meantime, I'll expound on what I'm guessing Ryuujin has told you.
Please don't complain, unless you'd rather not have anything to think about until we reach Seto's residence. Hmm? I thought as much. Anyway: I'll outline the facts for you. First, you may have noticed the fact that we're all monsters from Yami, Yuugi, Seto, Jou, Malik, Marik, Bakura and Ryou's decks. There's a reason for that. You see all the cards in their deck are under their protection, so we're somewhat safe from Yamimakai, and anyway, we're their guardian spirits. I happen to be Malik's guardian, for instance, and Akuma is Yami's. There are probably two or three more of our sort in hiding, but we haven't found them yet, so we're pulling double shifts protecting their charges too. Huh? Mokuba's guardian and/or guardians? He or she or they haven't been found yet. Nor has/have Marik's or Ryou's, for that matter. I'm hoping they've not been killed already. What? Oh, how the rest of us are assigned. Let me see now... Ryuujin and her brother Sennen alternately protect their master, Seto the Blue-Eyes is assigned to Sakura, his sister (Simply because she's our only healer, and we NEED her alive. Anyway, it's just confusing trying to talk to him and his master together. Seto- that is, Seto Kaiba- needs a nickname...), Akuma is Yami's guardian, Shade is Yuugi's (I, personally, think Yuugi needs to hook his guardian and Yami's up- you should see the furtive glances those two have been throwing at each other! I'd do it myself, but I must keep up my "innocent" persona. Heh heh heh...), Bahamut is Jounouchi's, and Destroyer is Bakura's. That's all of us... My, I have good timing! There's Akuma. I'll pass what's left of this spell to him, he knows what's going on better than I do.
Okay, let's see here... Good. Hello, this is Akuma, the Magician of Black Chaos. We've just reached- SHADE! It's my tu-
All right! I have control, now! I'm Shade the Dark Magician, we're at Seto Kaiba's house, and Master Yami and Master Yuugi are just about to test Seto's latest invention- the virtual pods! Of course, Master Yami doesn't believe Master Yuugi exists right now, but we can fix that, 'cause we get a big part in this game, too! I can hardly wait- YAY! Master Yami's finally arrived! Here, you can see what he's doing yourself!
Yami jogged down the steps to the basement and let himself in. "Hey, Seto." The brunette looked up from his tinkering and grinned gleefully.
"All right! Yam man's here! Mokuba!"
The short, black-haired boy poked his head out from behind the pod Seto was tinkering with. "Hi, Yami!"
Yami grinned and waved. "Hey, short stuff. C'mere for a second, will you?"
Mokuba nodded, unplugged his soldering iron, laid his goggles and gloves aside and trotted over to Yami, who drew him over to a corner, and whispered, "What's up with him?"
"Well, let's see. He bolted down here around midnight... And from the clutter that was surrounding him this morning, I'd say, since then, he's eaten three bags of Cheetos, drunk six pots of expresso, and half a case of jolt cola. Besides which, he was up all night working on those things. I barely managed to pry him away long enough to get him to shower before you got here. Sleep deprivation makes him obsessive..." Mokuba sighed, then grinned. "Oh, well. I'm glad he got the pods done, anyway. Now I have an excuse to beg him to help me build a deck!" Yami laughed.
"Actually, I've already taken care of that." He plucked a half-built deck and three unopened packs from his pocket. "This was supposed to be for your birthday, but it's only a few days 'til then anyway, so... Happy early birthday, kiddo. There's a Raigeki, a Mirror Force, a Magic Cylinders, three Magic Jammers, three Seven Tools of the Bandit, three Man Eater Bugs, three Masks of Darkness, three Magicians of Faith, a Summoned Skull, a Monster Reborn, a Pot of Greed and a Change of Heart in there. The packs are for you to customise it. Sound good?" Mokuba's eyes went wide.
"Definately! Thanks, Yami!" He gave the spike-haired one a hug, then sat down cross-legged to open the first of his packs. "Let's see... Harpie's Brother, La Jinn the Mystical Genie of the lamp- phew, what a name!, 7 Coloured Fish, Trap Hole, Ryu-Kishin Powered, Curse of Dragon- Yay! I love this one!, Tremendous Fire, Ookazi, and... EEE! A FLUTE OF SUMMONING DRAGON!" He at once leapt to his feet and began dancing. "A super rare in my very first pack!"
Yami grinned. "Down, tiger, you have two more packs to open!"
Mokuba nodded, and ripped into the second one. "Koumori Dragon, Raimei, Tornado Wall, Umi, another 7 Coloured Fish, Card Destruction, Malevolent Nuzzler, a Winged Dragon Guardian of the Fortress #1, and a Mountain Field Card." Mokuba pouted. "Darn it. Nothing good."
Yami shrugged. "Can't win them all. Besides, there's still one pack left."
"Oh, yeah. Let's see what's in the last one... Koumori Dragon again, Harpie's Brother again, 7 Coloured Fish again, Umi and Mountain cards again... Dian Keto the Cure Master, Gaia the Fierce Knight, and..... OHMYGOD! A LORD OF DRAGONS!" The hyper 13-and-363-365ths-year-old leapt to his feet and danced in circles, waving his prize over his head wildly, scattering cards everywhere. Yami yelped as Mokuba nearly stepped on his Magic Cylinders.
"HEY! Watch it!" The spike haired one rescued the scattered cards and handed them back to Mokuba. "How about you finish your deck, put it someplace safe, and THEN gloat?" Mokuba grinned.
"Okiedays! I know what theme I'm going to make it, too! It's going to be a Lord of Dragons deck!" Snatching his cards, Mokuba sat down and began building his deck. "Harpie's Brother... Curse of Dragon..." A card dropped over his shoulder, and a deep, slightly sarcastic voice added, "Red-Eyes Black Dragon."
Mokuba looked up and grinned at the twin blondes who were leaning down and watching him. "Hi, Malik! Hi, Marik! Seto's been waiting."
"Thanks, kiddo." Marik grinned and hopped over his head, followed by his slightly shorter twin.
"Ano.... Marik, do you want your Red-Eyes back?" Marik turned, grinned, and shook his head.
"Nah. You need it, and I have another one anyhow." The smile on Mokuba's face could have illuminated half of Domino town.
"Really?! SUGOI! Thanks, Marik!"
Marik grinned. "Don't mention it." He then turned to Seto. "The pods ready?"
"Affirmative. We just need to haul them over to the wall outlet and plug 'em into the wall and the main computer."
Malik walked over to one and poked it. "There is no way four and a half people can move this thing."
"I resent that remark." Mokuba pouted from where he sat, shuffling his new deck and tucking it into a small pouch, which he tied to a belt loop of his bluejeans.
"Sorry, short stuff, but Marik's right. You're too small to be of much help here." Yami smiled wryly at Mokuba, before turning to Malik, Marik and Seto. "So, who has a plan?"
"I do." Yami and company turned as one organism to see who or what was speaking, and were greeted by the sight of the four spirits of their sennen items. Pandemonium ensued. "OH MY DEAR SWEET LORD! I'm hallucinating again! Wait, you see them too?! Are we ALL HALLUCINATING?!"
Yuugi sweatdropped as the four item-holders stampeded for the first hiding place they saw- behind the bank of computers lining one wall. "Eh... Something tells me that they don't believe we exist..."
Ryou sighed. "I do believe you're right... But Malik seemed to remember me a few minutes ago..."
Jou blinked, adorably clueless as usual. "What? We're just trying to help..."
Bakura scowled, completely ignoring the mess. "He didn't even thank me for trying to save him from that booby trap..."
Ryou turned to his brother with fire in his normally gentle chocolate brown eyes. "Oh, come off it! We have bigger problems than you not being thanked for being a BLOODY STUPID IDIOT and not realizing that Marik was PERFECTLY safe."
Bakura scowled at his little brother. "Shut up. You weren't exactly happy when Malik-"
Ryou cut him off. "Finish that sentence, and I swear, you will be singing treble to the end of your days."
Yuugi sighed and stepped between the two, who were snarling viciously at each other. "As much as I enjoy watching you two trying to kill each other, we DO have bigger problems."
The two white-haired brothers scowled halfheartedly, knowing Yuugi was right. "Truce?" Ryou asked softly, offering his hand to Bakura.
"Truce." His brother took the pro-offered hand, then turned to survey the wreckage of the room. "Now what?" The other three also glanced around the room, which was, indeed, badly messed up by the mad flight of Seto, Mokuba, Marik, Malik and Yami.
"First order of business: Convince Yami and company we exist, and don't wish to kill them." Yuugi stated firmly, stepping resolutely forward. Jou sighed.
"Easier said than done, Yug'. Much easier said than done."
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O.o; woah. Biiiiiig.... And pointless.... don't worry, next chapter the plot will unfold a little. I think. I'm making this up as I go along.... though I do know the ending.... Eep. I ramble. Anyway, R & R, pretty please? I thrive on the opinions of my reviewers. And read the other fic I put up a couple days ago... Even if you think it sucks. I need the criticism.
Warnings: Shounen-ai, one-sided (for now) Yami/Yugi, Seto/Jounouchi, Malik/Ryou and Marik/Bakura. Pure, pointless, strange fluff. More explanations from the monsters, too.
DISCLAIMER:
I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh. Don't sue me. I'm poor.
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DEEDLEEDLEEDLING! DEEDLEEDLEEDLING! Yami jerked awake, panting and bathed in sweat.
"Wha....?" DEEDLEEDLEEDLING! He glared at the phone, then glanced at his clock-radio.
"Five AM? What kind of asshole..." He picked the phone up, intending to give whoever it was on the other end a large piece of his mind.
"Who the hell is it?"
"Yami! Yami, I finished it! It's done!" Yami sighed as he recognised the voice of his best friend.
"Seto? What are you talking about, and WHY did you decide to tell me whatever-the-hell this is at five in the morning? I got to sleep less than three hours ago!" Seto giggled, a very, VERY out-of-character thing for him to do.
"The virtual pods! I finished the fourth copy of the prototype five minutes ago!" Yami's eyes went so wide, Seto could almost hear them bugging out.
"Th-they're..... done?" Yami stammered. Seto grinned and nodded.
"Yep!"
"Program?" Yami asked.
"Done." Was the reply.
"Soundtrack?"
"Mokuba remixed a few of my old compositions on his keyboard for the town, field and dungeon themes. And I used that recording I got of you playing the opening theme to Chrono Cross on your violin for the "Loading" music."
"And you already have the pods... So, you need a beta tester?"
"Why else do you think I called? Bring Malik and Marik, too. Remind them to bring their decks. And grab that one we were building for Mokuba."
"Okay, but why Malik and Marik?"
"The more people are in your party in this game, the safer you are. Just like any RPG."
"Oh, I get it. Okay. Give me an hour or so, okay? Okay. See you then. Bye." Yami hung the phone up, and flopped back on his bed.
"Son of a bitch. The crazy bastard did it." He then rolled over, picked the phone up and tapped a number into it.
RIIIIIIING! RIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIING! "I tawt I saw a puddy tat!" Malik snapped awake, as his Tweety bird phone went berserk. He grabbed blearily for the handset, and flopped back with it pressed to his ear, yawning ponderously.
"Moshi moshi?"
"Malik? 'Zat you?" The Egyptian blinked a few times, until he could place the voice in his head.
"Yam man?"
There was an exasperated sigh from the other side of the line. "Yes. It's Yami. And DON'T call me Yam man, got it?"
"Yes, Yam man."
"Shut up, please. Go to Seto's house, and bring your brother. Now."
"Okieday. See you there?"
"Yeah. 'Bye, Malik."
"'Bye."
"'Bye."
"'Bye."
"Okay, Malik, I am hanging up the phone now. 'Bye!" CLICK! Yami scampered off, showered quickly, and got dressed. As he passed the nightstand, he snagged the puzzle as an afterthought, figuring Seto would like to see it. Laden with his deck, an extra half-built one for Mokuba, three extra booster packs, his shoes and the puzzle, he slipped silently out the door, leaving a note to his grandfather on the kitchen table.
Meanwhile...
Malik dropped the handset back into the cradle, then climbed out of bed, began to walk to the bathroom, and stubbed his toe on a small, heavy box that lay on the floor.
"OWWWWWWWWW! OW! OW! MY FOOT IS BROKEN! MARIK! I AM GOING TO KILL YOU!" For he was certain that it was his twin who had dropped the box on the floor of their shared room, because said twin was not a neat freak like he was. There was a muffled snicker from the bed across the room, then Marik sat up and looked across at his twin.
"Who was that?"
Malik plucked the small, rectangular box off the floor, and shook it. "Yami. He wants us to meet him at Seto's house. What IS this thing?"
Marik shrugged. "All I know is that it's from Isis. I have one too, but Dad wouldn't let me open mine until you had yours. Said something about Isis saying to open them together." He walked over to Malik and sat next to him on his bed, then waved a narrow, square box under his nose. "This one's mine. Ready to find out what's in here?
"You bet. On the count of three?"
Marik nodded. "Okay. One..."
"Two..."
"Three!"
The twins immediately began shredding the brown paper that covered their prizes, Malik dropping his in a nearby trash can, and Marik chucking his wad across the room. They looked each other in the eyes, then looked down at the boxes that lay in their laps. "Now?" Malik asked breathlessly.
"Now." His twin agreed. They wasted no more time, but yanked the lids off the boxes, laid them aside, and pulled the layers of cotton batting out, freeing their prizes.
"Woah..." Marik murmured, lifting a large golden ring out of his box by it's leather cord, then blinked as the small, dangly prism-shaped bits ornamenting the edges pointed at Malik's gift. "Huh?"
Malik was too busy playing with his own item to notice the odd behavior of his brother's. "Look at this!" He cried, gleefully brandishing the golden rod.
Marik watched the pointers on the round ornament moving with the swinging rod. "Hey, Malik, look at this, mine is pointing at yours." Malik blinked, then shrugged.
"Oh well. Hey, look, a letter!" He snatched the piece of paper from the box on Marik's lap, and held his brother off with his free hand as he read it.
"Dear Marik.... OW!" He dropped the letter involuntarily and yelped as his twin yanked his sandy-blond hair. Marik at once let go of his brother's bangs and sat back in the half-light of pre-dawn to read it.
"Dear Marik, blah blah, dig is going well, yadda yadda... WHAT THE FUCK?!" He yelped, dropping the letter, allowing Malik to retrieve it from the floor.
"What's wrong? 'Dear Marik... dig is going well... I'll be here a few more months... give Malik my love... Sennen items?'" Malik blinked. "What, exactly, are sennen items?"
"Don't you remember world history? They're artifacts from ancient Egypt! People have DIED hunting for these things! This must be the Sennen Ring-" He pointed at his own item. "-And that must be the Rod." He pointed at his brother's, then paused a second and grinned maniacally at his twin. "Yami and Seto are going to be SO jealous." Malik didn't reply.
"Malik? Hey, Mal, wake up!" He waved one hand in front of his twin's blank lavender eyes, then shrugged. "Okay, be that way. I'll be in the shower." Malik didn't move at all, his eyes focused on the golden rod in his hand. His head, however, was whirling with revived memories of Egypt. But, just as he seemed on the verge of some great discovery...
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHH!" Catastrophe.
"GET OUT! OUT!" Marik screamed indignantly. A moment later, a white haired figure was propelled into the hall in a cloud of steam. Malik blinked and shook his head at the strange apparition as it turned and began hammering on the locked bathroom door.
"I'm going nuts..." He sighed and rubbed his temples with his right hind.... which still held the Sennen Rod. As soon as it touched his bare forehead, Malik jerked away as though he had been burnt, because he had heard a strange voice inhis head. "Okay, I'm definately going nuts." Was all he could say when he turned around to discover an almost-exact duplicate of the white-haired boy across the hall. However, this one was looking directly at him, and Malik got an odd sense of deja vu. "Have I met you somewhere before?"
Ryou just smiled, stepped forward, stood on tiptoes and kissed Malik gently on the cheek. "I missed you."
At this point I decided to let them alone to sort things out. Well, okay, I didn't exactly DECIDE to let them be- truth be told, I fell out of the tree I was perched in when I leaned forward to get a good look at Malik and decide if his blush could light the town for a week or just a few days, and I was too winded to climb back up. A three-story fall through the branches of a large oak tree will do that to one... good thing I managed to keep my concentration on that recording spell when I got snagged on that broken branch. What? No, I'm not Ryuujin. My name is Aika, last of the Maha Vailo. Eh, what? Oh. Don't worry, we'll catch up with the gang at Seto's residence- Ryuujin and the rest of my adopted family should already be there. In the meantime, I'll expound on what I'm guessing Ryuujin has told you.
Please don't complain, unless you'd rather not have anything to think about until we reach Seto's residence. Hmm? I thought as much. Anyway: I'll outline the facts for you. First, you may have noticed the fact that we're all monsters from Yami, Yuugi, Seto, Jou, Malik, Marik, Bakura and Ryou's decks. There's a reason for that. You see all the cards in their deck are under their protection, so we're somewhat safe from Yamimakai, and anyway, we're their guardian spirits. I happen to be Malik's guardian, for instance, and Akuma is Yami's. There are probably two or three more of our sort in hiding, but we haven't found them yet, so we're pulling double shifts protecting their charges too. Huh? Mokuba's guardian and/or guardians? He or she or they haven't been found yet. Nor has/have Marik's or Ryou's, for that matter. I'm hoping they've not been killed already. What? Oh, how the rest of us are assigned. Let me see now... Ryuujin and her brother Sennen alternately protect their master, Seto the Blue-Eyes is assigned to Sakura, his sister (Simply because she's our only healer, and we NEED her alive. Anyway, it's just confusing trying to talk to him and his master together. Seto- that is, Seto Kaiba- needs a nickname...), Akuma is Yami's guardian, Shade is Yuugi's (I, personally, think Yuugi needs to hook his guardian and Yami's up- you should see the furtive glances those two have been throwing at each other! I'd do it myself, but I must keep up my "innocent" persona. Heh heh heh...), Bahamut is Jounouchi's, and Destroyer is Bakura's. That's all of us... My, I have good timing! There's Akuma. I'll pass what's left of this spell to him, he knows what's going on better than I do.
Okay, let's see here... Good. Hello, this is Akuma, the Magician of Black Chaos. We've just reached- SHADE! It's my tu-
All right! I have control, now! I'm Shade the Dark Magician, we're at Seto Kaiba's house, and Master Yami and Master Yuugi are just about to test Seto's latest invention- the virtual pods! Of course, Master Yami doesn't believe Master Yuugi exists right now, but we can fix that, 'cause we get a big part in this game, too! I can hardly wait- YAY! Master Yami's finally arrived! Here, you can see what he's doing yourself!
Yami jogged down the steps to the basement and let himself in. "Hey, Seto." The brunette looked up from his tinkering and grinned gleefully.
"All right! Yam man's here! Mokuba!"
The short, black-haired boy poked his head out from behind the pod Seto was tinkering with. "Hi, Yami!"
Yami grinned and waved. "Hey, short stuff. C'mere for a second, will you?"
Mokuba nodded, unplugged his soldering iron, laid his goggles and gloves aside and trotted over to Yami, who drew him over to a corner, and whispered, "What's up with him?"
"Well, let's see. He bolted down here around midnight... And from the clutter that was surrounding him this morning, I'd say, since then, he's eaten three bags of Cheetos, drunk six pots of expresso, and half a case of jolt cola. Besides which, he was up all night working on those things. I barely managed to pry him away long enough to get him to shower before you got here. Sleep deprivation makes him obsessive..." Mokuba sighed, then grinned. "Oh, well. I'm glad he got the pods done, anyway. Now I have an excuse to beg him to help me build a deck!" Yami laughed.
"Actually, I've already taken care of that." He plucked a half-built deck and three unopened packs from his pocket. "This was supposed to be for your birthday, but it's only a few days 'til then anyway, so... Happy early birthday, kiddo. There's a Raigeki, a Mirror Force, a Magic Cylinders, three Magic Jammers, three Seven Tools of the Bandit, three Man Eater Bugs, three Masks of Darkness, three Magicians of Faith, a Summoned Skull, a Monster Reborn, a Pot of Greed and a Change of Heart in there. The packs are for you to customise it. Sound good?" Mokuba's eyes went wide.
"Definately! Thanks, Yami!" He gave the spike-haired one a hug, then sat down cross-legged to open the first of his packs. "Let's see... Harpie's Brother, La Jinn the Mystical Genie of the lamp- phew, what a name!, 7 Coloured Fish, Trap Hole, Ryu-Kishin Powered, Curse of Dragon- Yay! I love this one!, Tremendous Fire, Ookazi, and... EEE! A FLUTE OF SUMMONING DRAGON!" He at once leapt to his feet and began dancing. "A super rare in my very first pack!"
Yami grinned. "Down, tiger, you have two more packs to open!"
Mokuba nodded, and ripped into the second one. "Koumori Dragon, Raimei, Tornado Wall, Umi, another 7 Coloured Fish, Card Destruction, Malevolent Nuzzler, a Winged Dragon Guardian of the Fortress #1, and a Mountain Field Card." Mokuba pouted. "Darn it. Nothing good."
Yami shrugged. "Can't win them all. Besides, there's still one pack left."
"Oh, yeah. Let's see what's in the last one... Koumori Dragon again, Harpie's Brother again, 7 Coloured Fish again, Umi and Mountain cards again... Dian Keto the Cure Master, Gaia the Fierce Knight, and..... OHMYGOD! A LORD OF DRAGONS!" The hyper 13-and-363-365ths-year-old leapt to his feet and danced in circles, waving his prize over his head wildly, scattering cards everywhere. Yami yelped as Mokuba nearly stepped on his Magic Cylinders.
"HEY! Watch it!" The spike haired one rescued the scattered cards and handed them back to Mokuba. "How about you finish your deck, put it someplace safe, and THEN gloat?" Mokuba grinned.
"Okiedays! I know what theme I'm going to make it, too! It's going to be a Lord of Dragons deck!" Snatching his cards, Mokuba sat down and began building his deck. "Harpie's Brother... Curse of Dragon..." A card dropped over his shoulder, and a deep, slightly sarcastic voice added, "Red-Eyes Black Dragon."
Mokuba looked up and grinned at the twin blondes who were leaning down and watching him. "Hi, Malik! Hi, Marik! Seto's been waiting."
"Thanks, kiddo." Marik grinned and hopped over his head, followed by his slightly shorter twin.
"Ano.... Marik, do you want your Red-Eyes back?" Marik turned, grinned, and shook his head.
"Nah. You need it, and I have another one anyhow." The smile on Mokuba's face could have illuminated half of Domino town.
"Really?! SUGOI! Thanks, Marik!"
Marik grinned. "Don't mention it." He then turned to Seto. "The pods ready?"
"Affirmative. We just need to haul them over to the wall outlet and plug 'em into the wall and the main computer."
Malik walked over to one and poked it. "There is no way four and a half people can move this thing."
"I resent that remark." Mokuba pouted from where he sat, shuffling his new deck and tucking it into a small pouch, which he tied to a belt loop of his bluejeans.
"Sorry, short stuff, but Marik's right. You're too small to be of much help here." Yami smiled wryly at Mokuba, before turning to Malik, Marik and Seto. "So, who has a plan?"
"I do." Yami and company turned as one organism to see who or what was speaking, and were greeted by the sight of the four spirits of their sennen items. Pandemonium ensued. "OH MY DEAR SWEET LORD! I'm hallucinating again! Wait, you see them too?! Are we ALL HALLUCINATING?!"
Yuugi sweatdropped as the four item-holders stampeded for the first hiding place they saw- behind the bank of computers lining one wall. "Eh... Something tells me that they don't believe we exist..."
Ryou sighed. "I do believe you're right... But Malik seemed to remember me a few minutes ago..."
Jou blinked, adorably clueless as usual. "What? We're just trying to help..."
Bakura scowled, completely ignoring the mess. "He didn't even thank me for trying to save him from that booby trap..."
Ryou turned to his brother with fire in his normally gentle chocolate brown eyes. "Oh, come off it! We have bigger problems than you not being thanked for being a BLOODY STUPID IDIOT and not realizing that Marik was PERFECTLY safe."
Bakura scowled at his little brother. "Shut up. You weren't exactly happy when Malik-"
Ryou cut him off. "Finish that sentence, and I swear, you will be singing treble to the end of your days."
Yuugi sighed and stepped between the two, who were snarling viciously at each other. "As much as I enjoy watching you two trying to kill each other, we DO have bigger problems."
The two white-haired brothers scowled halfheartedly, knowing Yuugi was right. "Truce?" Ryou asked softly, offering his hand to Bakura.
"Truce." His brother took the pro-offered hand, then turned to survey the wreckage of the room. "Now what?" The other three also glanced around the room, which was, indeed, badly messed up by the mad flight of Seto, Mokuba, Marik, Malik and Yami.
"First order of business: Convince Yami and company we exist, and don't wish to kill them." Yuugi stated firmly, stepping resolutely forward. Jou sighed.
"Easier said than done, Yug'. Much easier said than done."
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O.o; woah. Biiiiiig.... And pointless.... don't worry, next chapter the plot will unfold a little. I think. I'm making this up as I go along.... though I do know the ending.... Eep. I ramble. Anyway, R & R, pretty please? I thrive on the opinions of my reviewers. And read the other fic I put up a couple days ago... Even if you think it sucks. I need the criticism.