Brood: *who managed to get away from the Angry Mob just barely* Phew!
Don't ask how I got out of THAT one, just call it Authoresses Luck, okay?
*peeps around a corner* Oookaaayyy....looks good here....*sneaks around the corner*
Fuu Fuu Choco Taco: *flinging herself at Brood* BROODY-MAMA!!!!!!!!!
Brood: SSSSSHHHHH!!!!!!!!! *looks around feverently* Keep it down!
Choco Taco: Huh? Ooh, the meanie peoples who want to hurt you?
Brood: Yeah! They're out for blood!
Choco Taco: Don't worry! Me and Fuufy-Nilly will take care of 'em!!
Brood: ...........I don't wanna know, but GO TO IT!!! *watches the chibi scamper off*
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
~*~
Yugi stretched heartily when he woke up that next morning. A large yawn escaped his mouth and he looked over at the three others he shared his tent with. Joey was snoring with his mouth hanging wide open, and Honda was sleeping on his tummy, mashing in his usual hair point. Mokuba was sprawled out everywhere, Joey-style, and had somehow wormed his way out of his sleeping bag in the middle of the night. He was shivering lightly.
Yugi's eyebrow went up at this. Mokuba was shivering. He then noticed that it was indeed a very cool morning, and he gave a small shudder as well.
"How did you sleep?" The tri-colored head spun around quickly, looking for the owner of the voice, seeing nobody. Realizing the voice belonged to Anzu, he quickly pieced that she was talking to Amoura.
"Ahhhh....very nizely....vould 'ave been better if Yunet ztayed azleep ALL night!" She then giggled a bit.
"Yeah, she got me too...." There was a short silence in the next tent.
"D'ya think the guys are up yet?"
"Joey? 'Onda? Mokuba? No. Yugi, I'd believe."
"I AM up!" Yugi couldn't help it.
There was another pause, then the two girls burst out gigging.
"Yugi! We're coming over!"
"Oui! 'Ere ve come!" There was a shuffing around, and Yugi heard the girls unzip their "door" and pad the two feet over to the boy's tent. They zipped the door open and crawled inside. Amoura promptly giggled and set her cat down on Mokuba's head, and a second later, Mokuba shot up with a short yell.
"Ammooooouuurrrrraaaaaaa!!!!!" Mokuba let out a long whine in the form of the French girl's name. "Come on! I wanted to sleep longer!" He faked a small pout as he petted Yunet's head.
Anzu rolled her eyes. "And end up more like those two doofus's?" She motioned towards Joey, who had just rolled over, and his mouth flopped open, making his snores higher and raspier sounding. They all winced, and Yugi thought vaguely of getting a roll of his unwashed socks and stuffing them in Joey's mouth.
Suddenly, Honda let out a loud "AAAHHH CHOOOOO!!!," Yunet's very presence jarring him awake.
He shot up quickly, spotting the innocent fuzz ball purring in Mokuba's lap.
"Get....*sniff* it out of here!!" He sneezed a few more times, his now flat hair point bobbing around roughly. Yunet's eyes followed the hair movement lazily, then in a surge of energy, launched herself at Honda's face, batting at his limp hair.
"GAAAAHHHH!! AA-CHO! AA-CHOOOO!!! AAAAA-CCCHHOOOO!!!" Honda sneezed violently, and tried backing away from the kitten in mid-sneeze, but only succeded in rolling over onto Joey's face as he fell over.
"HHEEELLPP! I'M BEIN' MURDERED!!!!!!" Joey's yell shot out from under Honda's side, and Joey shot up and shoved Honda over in the other direction. Yunet had gotten away from Honda after he had backed off and fell over, and was now sitting on Yugi's lap, watching the fun.
The others couldn't suppress giggles as Joey shot around and Honda struggled between sneezes to find a Kleenex. Anzu took pity on Honda and handed him one, and Amoura got Joey to calm down, while giggling herself.
Yugi couldn't help grinning at the scene those two made, and excused himself for an early morning shower.
He opened the door and stepped out carrying his towel, and noticed that a couple of heads were poked out of their own tents, looking towards Yugi's. He realized that the two guys must have made a LOT of noise. Yugi smiled merrily and waved, indicating that it was all okay, and went to the only free makeshift shower there at the time.
Back over at the tent, Joey had finally calmed down and Amoura had Yunet a good distance away from Honda. The little silver tabby kitten mewed sweetly and purred in Amoura's lap. Anzu stretched a bit and yawned.
"We might have to get dressed soon and leave, I really don't feel like being challenged another three times or so like yesterday....I'm still exhausted from all that dueling!
"Yeah," Joey agreed, "They were jumpin' all over me, Amoura, and Yuge like a fat kid on a cupcake...."
Honda broke in here with a chuckle. "Yeah, the only ones getting hit worse than the champs were the ones with only about five or six chips."
Amoura nodded. "Oui....but it zerved to give me more chips! All of uz got more!"
"I lost a few, remember Amoura?" Honda looked her in the eye, and Amoura smiled.
"But it vas just two, you'll make zat back in no time!" Anzu agreed with this and Joey gave him a hearty clap on the back before taking off his t-shirt, reaching for a cleaner one.
Amoura and Anzu's faces lit up in bright blushes at the sight of Joey's well toned upper half and made a scramble for the door, mumbling things about needing to do their hair and stuff like that.
Honda looked over at Joey after the girls scuttled away. "What do ya think's wrong with them?," He asked as he immediately heard muffled giggles. Mokuba looked at the two guys and just shrugged.
"Aa-choo!...AMOURA YOU FORGOT THE CAT!!!"
"Zorry!"
After another few moments and a few clothing changes later, the girls walked out of their own tent and wandered around the camp.
There were many dueling stations, and one was already being used. The girl on the left side looked sort of groggy, like her opponent had dragged her out of her tent.
The morning was chill, with a bit of clouds in the sky. The sun was peeking through some grey areas of the sky, shining through the holograms of the duel stations. Amoura and Anzu watched the duel for awhile until it seemed like the more awake person was done for, then they began moving again.
"Excuse me! Ladies!"
Anzu and Amoura turned around. Behind them, a young blonde man who looked around their age was jogging up to them. He stopped and caught his breath for a moment.
"Sorry to bother you, but have you seen a young black haired girl around here anywhere? On the first day here, we got separated from my friend's little sister, and now she's out there all alone..." His eyes were lit with worry, and he looked between the two imploringly.
Amoura took out her ID and pointed it at him. "If you don't mind...."
"Not at all....," he said, barely paying attention.
While Amoura scanned the young man, Anzu began talking to him.
"So what's the little girl's name? What can you tell me about her?"
He scratched his head lightly. "Well, she's about twelve years old...but doesn't act it very often!," he added with a small chuckle, "And she's got black hair that she usually has up in a ponytail, and really big blue eyes. Her name is Lisa O' Kelly. She's about four foot nine inches tall, and only carrying one big bookbag and a sleeping bag."
"....'EY!!"
Anzu and the young man looked over to the wide-eyed Amoura.
"You are Jerry McGowan!!!!! Ze Irish National Champion!!!!" Amoura was looking at him in an all new light. In fact, it was almost a hungry look.
"Ehehe....yeah, that'd be me...." He showed his glove, which held about eighteen diamond chips in it. Amoura looked down at hers, where she had eighteen as well. "Lisa's older sister, Faife O' Kelly," Jerry motioned over to where an older girl was standing, interrogating a small group by a tent obviously about her sister, "is 2nd Place in Ireland. I won by a scratch really...."
"........Let'z duel!" Anzu looked at Amoura, wide-eyed.
"Amoura! You're only a semi-finalist in France!"
"I do not care! Did Zeto not tell you all vhat 'appened to moi regarding ze Championzhips!?"
Jerry's eyes grew as he regarded Amoura. "........Heeeyy....I heard about that! It was talked about at our Irish Championships! A semi- finalist girl in the French National Championships got kidnapped until she was gone long enough to call it a forfiet! Something about a bet on the match..."
"Amoura!? Did that really happen to you!?" Anzu stared back and forth between the two, hardly daring to say any more.
Amoura's eyes darkened. "....Oui. Zhall ve duel?"
"....Aye." He then turned his head backwards. "FAIFE!!!!!!!"
The older black haired girl's head shot up and she jogged over. She had shorter raven black hair and deep green eyes. "Jerry? Do these girls know anything of Lisa?"
"No, but I've been challenged to a duel by Amoura Letezaut."
Faife colored slightly, obviously recognizing the fellow Europen title holder's name. "Let me duel her instead."
Jerry's eyes widened and he looked back at Amoura. "Maybe it would be better that way...."
Amoura looked indignant. "I challenged YOU, Monsieur McGowan."
He shook his head. "I have more chips than Faife. I want her to win a few more to catch up with me...." He gave Amoura a big smirk, and she scowled back.
"Listen Amoura....maybe you should just accept....let's not start anything...." Anzu put her hand on the girl's shoulder and spoke lightly. She didn't like the looks being exchanged. She leaned in closer to her ear and lowered her voice to a whisper. "Anyway, he's being cocky. Why don't you beat this Faife into the ground and show him what you're made of...."
Amoura's face twisted into a smile. "Vine. I acczept ze duel vith ze girl."
Faife beamed cockily at her and flashed her seventeen chips. "Thanks, I need to beat Jerry here to twenty-five."
Amoura nearly lost her smile, but plastered it on, and Anzu frowned a bit.
"Do you mind if I pick the field?"
"Not at all, Madame O' Kelly." Faife then pointed.
"That one over there. That's where we'll duel." Amoura nodded slowly, letting her smile fall and be replaced with a more serious demeanor.
The four teens immediately made their way over to the station. As they neared it, Anzu spotted Yugi exiting the male showers area and she waved to where he was toweling his hair. "YUGI!!!!!!!"
The drooped spiked of Yugi's hair bobbed over his eyes as he looked up. He caught Anzu's hand signals and he gathered his things and scampered off to the guy's tents, where Honda was just emerging.
Faife and Amoura were boarding just as everyone else ran up. Some drifters from where another duel had just ended came over to watch this new one beginning to happen.
"Amoura! Do you know what this field is?"
"Not off ze top of my 'ead...."
"It's 50% dark and 50% fire. You really can't tell by looking at it."
"Oui....." /Fire.....zis could vork vell for moi...../
They looked hard at each other. Sparks seemed to be shooting from the two title-holder's eyes.
"DUEL!!!!!!!"
~*~
"Gonna meet Miss Maaaaiii's friends! Gonna meet Miss Maaaaaiii's friends! Gonna meet Miss Maaaaaiii's friends! Lalalalalalaaaaa!!!!"
"Whatever God in heaven gave young girls energy surges in the morning must have had a bit too much nectar before making that decision....." Seto Kaiba rubbed his temples and popped an Advil into his mouth as the young girl danced around the dead fire.
Mai was standing around, holding a hair tie. "Lisa! Didn't you say that you wanted help getting your hair tied up!?"
Lisa paused and bounced on her heels. "I said I wanted KEBBY- KUN'S help! Nyah!" She stuck out her tounge and winked sweetly at Mai, skipping over to Seto.
"Does you head hurt, Kebby-kun?"
"............Just a little bit. Go to Mai and let her tie your hair."
"Oooooo-KAY!" She bounded towards Mai and obediently plopped down on the ground in front of her. Mai sighed and began brushing her raven locks, letting out a smile and shaking her head.
/Kebby-kun....yeesh, that's cute. And he LET'S her? You think you know a guy..../
"Ooh Miss Mai? Can you braid it instead today?"
"Sure kid, why not."
Seto snorted. Mai glared at him for a second and ignored him.
Mai didn't bat an eyelash when Seto said he was going off to get a bit of "breakfast," but Lisa on the other hand....
"Kebby-kun, be nice to the animals this time!"
Mai paused. Be nice to the animals?, she thought ominously as her fingers deftly twisted the black hair into a nice braid.
"Don't worry, it's always humane." Seto walked off without another word.
".........Uuuhhhhhh.......Lisa? What did he mean?" Mai reached the end of the pleat and tied it off slowly.
"Ooohhh....you'll see Miss Mai..." Lisa grinned and glowed with superiority at knowing something that she didn't.
Mai really didn't WANT to see, if what she was thinking was what was going to happen. She let out a shudder and patted the girl's head, signifying that her braid was done. She then bounded over to her bag after a quick but boisterous "Thanks!!!" and then pulled out a coloring book and crayons.
Pulling out her CD player, Mai sat down on a rock and listened to her music. It was only around 7:30 in the morning right now, so they had plenty of travelling time. Mai felt a shudder go up her back as the thought of rejoining Yugi, Joey, and the others. She had a french hand to shake anyway. Then, she thought of HOW Seto was going to help her find them all.
He had made it seem like he was just going to sniff them out and waltz up to them. He even started away from the camp like he knew where he was going. It all struck Mai as funny, since she sure knew that the group and Seto didn't plan on meeting anywhere. These thoughts made her ignore her music completely.
When Seto came back through the shrubbery, Mai was surprised she was on song four already. It had seemed like no time had passed at all. She yanked off her earphones to speak to him, but only got as far as opening her mouth.
Skewered on the end of a long hunting knife was a dead snow white rabbit.
".............SETO KAIBA!!!!!!!!!!!"
"Yay! Kebby-kun brought breakfast!!!"
Seto looked at Mai, who's face was a mask of fury, and over to Lisa, who looked happy that she was going to have food soon. He shook his head at the complete opposite reactions and simply walked over to the brook he had to wade through last night to skin and prepare the little thing.
".....He.....he KILLED that cute bunny!!"
"Yeah! We're going to eat it!"
"........Oh God...."
"Don't worry Miss Mai, it's yummy! And it looked like Kebby- kun got a fat one too!"
Lisa bounced up and swirled, feeling her braid flap around, and dug into one of Seto's side pockets of his bag and got out some matches. Then she got some kindling from a small pile and got a fire going again. Normally Mai wouldn't have charged this task to the hyperactive girl, but she just sat there in a quiet rage until Seto came back, holding the skinned and cleaned carcass.
Mai averted her eyes as Seto and Lisa got it over the fire, and only when Lisa said, "It's dooooooooooone!!!!!!," did she turn back around.
Seto dished the bunny meat out on three separate tin plates and Lisa dug into hers happily, and offered Mai a plate. She looked at it slowly as the girl held it out.
"..................................................."
"If you don't want to eat, then your stomach will just have to growl the whole time we're out looking for your little gang." Seto glared hard at her, and Mai glared back.
Finally, her stomach did growl, and she took the plate that Lisa had ended up sitting down next to Mai. She sniffed it, then took a nibble. It was alright, so Mai ate the rest of it, but slowly.
"Why couldn't you just gather berries like everyone else, Kaiba?"
"Because.....some people don't feel like living on a diet of berries for a full month or more on a large unpopulated island." Mai only stared at him, because that was the point she herself had made when Yugi and the others were at the fairground place together.
After they all had eaten, and Mai had gotten over her sympathy for her meal, they all got packed and cleaned up and set out. Lisa skipped along merrily next to Seto, and Mai walked on the other side of Lisa.
At one point when Lisa had skipped away from them to inspect a flower, Mai leaned over and muttered, "Hey, does she know about Mokuba?"
"She's heard about one sentence about him, but knowing her flighty head, she's forgotten already." Seto looked at her slowly, then turned back to their path. "Lisa....let's go. Shouldn't waste time."
Lisa sprang up with the flower in her hand. "Kebby-kun! It's too cold outside for flowers!"
Seto and Mai looked at each other. It was indeed cold that morning, but for some reason, they hadn't payed much attention to that. Mai felt her arm and noticed goosebumps, then over at Lisa, who was rubbing her arms together.
"Brrrrr, Miss Mai! It's colder than it was earlier!"
"Yeah kid....it is.....what's going on here! It's June, right?"
Seto shook his head. "Let's not dwell on it. Let's keep moving."
"Kaiba, how do you know where we're going?"
"Traveller's intuition."
~*~
"DAMN!!!!!!!!!"
A white crowned head was hitting itself against a tree trunk while cursing fervently in every language he knew, and that was about three or four. He had run at least half a mile from where Marik was before stopping to berate himself, and that was at least three hours ago.
"How could I have been so STUPID to believe that Egyptian idiot!!!! Now I've lost the Eye!!!"
Ryou finally couldn't ignore this anymore. \If you remember correctly though, he wasn't lying. The fortress WAS over there.\
"SHUT UP IN THERE!," Bakura yelled directly at the Ring. "You're lucky he didn't get YOU while he was at it!!!"
\.....would he have really gotten ME? You're the spirit tied to the Ring, after all....\
This time he used the link to communicate with Ryou. \\Of course, you blithering idiot! YOU are the one in the Ring right now, and were in there when that sorry excuse for an Egyptian spirit attacked!\\
\Oh. What do you suppose we do now?\
\\We rest. I need to tend to these wounds and plot revenge. I feel tired. I'm going to put out your bag and lie down. Then I'm resting in the soul room. If you move one INCH from the spot I lie down in...............\\
\I get it, I get it......\
Bakura let out the bag and then curled up inside of it, letting Ryou have control.
"Aaaahhhh........" For the first time, he felt the physical pain of what Bakura had just gone through. He ached in his ribs, his head felt stomped on, and one of his legs had cramped up since Bakura had been running while already too tired to walk right. Oh sure, let RYOU take care of the pain parts, while the mad spirit gets to rest his mind in the comparitively cushy soul room. Yeesh.
Indignant, he waited until he felt that Bakura was asleep, then he scooted himself and the sleeping bag over about three inches. "Ha. There. I moved MORE than an inch.....Nyah."
Ryou began to think as we waited for sleep to claim him. Now that the Millennium Eye was out of his possession, he knew that Bakura couldn't try and force him to gouge out his left eyeball anymore.
A question filtered it's way into his head. Was Malik in league with his dark side? Did he really wake up dazed and confused like he'd said? Or was it all just a ruse to get Ryou and Bakura's trust?
Ryou trusted Malik, to a small extent, and Bakura trusted him even less. They did make that deal back in Battle City together, but then it, and the trust, all went up in smoke when Marik came out. So was it Marik they couldn't trust, or the both of them? He knew now that Marik was working as an eliminator for Pegasus, but was Malik really just along for the ride, an innocent party much like Ryou?
Finally he yawned, his eyelids starting to close. Sleep.....
"Ryou?"
Oh no. That voice. Female, and his name pronounced with that rolled "R." It couldn't be. No. No no no no no NO!
He didn't move. He simply lay there, even though he was wide awake now. He was just glad that his other half was asleep, because he'd probably take his frustrations out on making fun of him.
"Ryou!" It was a happier tone this time, and then he heard a person plop down beside him and just sit. What was it with her and finding him when he was sleeping?
Bakura did this on purpose. That had to be it. He planned this. He saw which direction Teodora trudged off in when Malik made her leave and purposely ran towards it when he was running.
It was a silly thought at best, but in Ryou's sleepy and slightly battered brain, it was the best explination for his horrible irony attack. He didn't even think it'd be safe to SLEEP in Teodora's presence, but.............zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz......................
~*~
"Master Pegasus!"
Pegasus Crawford turned his head from his breakfast. "What is it that you want. Funny Bunny was just about to come on....so this had better be good........" He narrowed his eye and glared at the anonymous lackey and gripped his glass of wine.
"Uhhhh......sir.....We've just found that temperatures on the island are flucuating in very unpredictable patterns. It's been just under a week since the duelists got there, and now the--"
"Yes yes, I was aware of that. Things were warm and balmy there up until about the second or third day, then there was that very big storm. Now things are starting to get a tad nippy, am I correct?" Pegasus looked smugly at the young man, awaiting the answer.
"S-s-sir...yes you are correct....temperatures are at around sixty two right now and dropping."
"How quickly?" Still dropping? It was barely ten o' clock yet on the island....
The young underling seemed to gain confidence from the fact that he finally could tell Pegasus something he didn't know. "Sir, the estimated rate of decrease is about three degrees per hour."
Pegasus's eye widened. "That means at about nine this evening, if the rate is constant, the temperature will be at freezing point on that island!"
"....Yes sir. That's what it means. But we're confident that the fluctuating temperature will cause it to increase once again........It could possibly be El Nino...."
"You idiot! It's not El Nino!" Pegasus looked a bit angry at this, then fell silent.
"Terribly sorry sir, didn't mean to be an idiot....."
Pegasus remained silent for a moment. Then he rose from the table, still holding his glass. "Croquet."
"Sir." The loyal servant to Pegasus walked up.
"Record Funny Bunny for me. I'll watch it later. I have business to attend to."
"Y-yes sir..." Never, EVER, had Pegasus ever wanted to voluntarily miss a showing of Funny Bunny. This was indeed a first. Something serious was happening.
Pegasus walked off briskly from the table, making his way from his servants and going down to the first story picture of him and his Cecilia. After hitting the switch and making his way down to his secret base, he sat at his desk.
After drumming his fingers on the desk for awhile, he turned on his extremely large scale monitor. If he was correct, tomorrow was a ship departure day, and by the clusters of heat dots making their way to the pier or already camped out there, he might as well be.
He ran his fingers along the carvings on the arms of the chair, thinking what he could attribute all these temperature changes to.
Certainly NOT El Nino....but what on this planet could cause such a fluctuation in the very way the world worked?
His hand brushed the sheet on which he'd written down his known information on the Millennium Items. He stared at it for a moment, then his eye widened in understanding.
That was it! The Millennium Items were causing this! Because they were so close together after such a long time.....their powers were resonating from all being on the island. This furthered his thought that the Millennium Tauk was on the island as well.
But causing the temperatures to rise and fall like this....there had to be something different. Maybe the Shadow Games were trying to break free, and possibly it was time for them to be suppressed again. He did hear once that it had to happen once every thousand years....
It couldn't be that though. They weren't due yet. It had to be something else. Okay, not the Shadow Games, and all seven items were on the island. That meant a wonderful playground for Marik, at the least. And possibly, Marik had noticed the signs. If he didn't now, he'd certainly know around six at night or so. That's when it'd be really cold out. He'd have to notice something, afterall.
He was at a loss. If it wasn't the Shadow Games, then maybe the Items were just....happy to see each other again.
Pegasus almost scoffed at the silly idea, but then thought that this might even bring the Items more power. If they felt so much power to change the weather drastically, then that would make his machine all the more effective! He grinned hugely at this wonderful thought and looked at his heat dot screen again. He then opened his laptop and checked out his International Champions.
From America, Keith was still at twenty-six, and Rebecca Hawkins was at twenty four. She was a ruthless little girl, and Pegasus liked that a lot.
His Japanese champs were doing well, as expected of course. Yugi now had twenty, and Jounochi had eighteen. Seto still had his twenty five chips, and Mai Kujaku had fifteen. She had been slowed down obviously, because that was the same number she had yesterday as well. Insector Haga already had twenty-two, and could possibly be looking for another duel to finish off his glove. Dinosaur Ryuzaki was doing fairly well at sixteen chips.
Next he checked out his European champs, and two of their names were in red. That meant that they were in a duel. One Italian champion was already disqualified, named Marco Piazzi. He noticed that he lost all his chips in one fell swoop, which could only mean an eliminator got to him. Upon further inspection of the red labeled duelists, he saw that the duel was with each other.
Aaaahhhh....Faife O' Kelly, the Irish National runner-up, and a French semi-finalist, Amoura Letezaut. Truly a clash of titans. Faife was higher ranked in Europe than Amoura was, but Pegasus, being Pegasus, knew the latest gossip on ALL champion ranked duelists, and knew that Amoura herself could have been a finalist, or even champion herself. He knew also that Amoura came from a dueling background, as her grandmother, Madame Amanda, was a senior champion in France and ranked in Europe as well. In fact, many champions had come from families that had title holding backgrounds, as Faife's own father was a tournament duelist himself, and passed many of his cards to his children.
((A/N: For more on Amoura's Grandmama AND her family, check out Wingleader Sora Jade's "Home Sweet Home!" She borrowed Amoura and Lisa for the college stories of her "Tales of the Child of Fate" and now they're home for the summer! Check it out!))
He chanced a peek at his Asian champions also. There was only one Vietnamese title-holder doing well, at twenty-three diamond chips. Saymao Dinh seemed to be his name. There was a Chinese champion girl doing fairly well, and his Indian and Mongolian champions were for the most part already disqualified.
Pegasus sighed and did a few idle things, as he was bored. He looked up random duelists, trying to pick them out on the heat dot map once he had their coordinates. Looking up "Yugi Motou," he noticed that he was in the same coordinate as the European title-holder's duel. Yugi always seemed to be in the right places at the right time. Just in time for what promised to be a good duel.
Looking up "Seto Kaiba," he realized that he was heading away from the fortress almost directly. Had he found it already? Not doubting Kaiba-boy's mind for a moment, Pegasus figured that he did.
"Ooh duh! Silly me!" Pegasus bonked himself on the head with his hand idly and turned on his intercom. "I want a list of all duelists seen in the fortress area from the beginning of the tournament unto now."
A young man's voice came from the other side of the com. "Sir, there have only been four seen in the fortress area."
"Give me their names."
"In order of them appearing, Insector Haga, Lisa O'Kelly, Mai Kujaku, and an eliminator, Marik Ishtar."
Pegasus nodded and spoke again. "That will be all."
"Sir." The intercom crackled and buzzed off.
He had to look into why only three actual duelists had found the fortress so far. But now, it was back to work. Now to look into why the Millennium Items were acting up.....
~*~
"Excuse me....."
Mai, Seto, and Lisa all whirled around. Behind them was a very good looking brunette man wearing a white shirt and a leather jacket. He had on tight dark blue jeans, and had a pair of sunglassed perched on top of his head.
"Yes?" Mai spoke up, looking intently at this man, feeling a blush rise to her cheeks. His eyes were a nice shade of blue-grey.
"I was wondering....would any of you be up for a duel?"
Seto rolled his eyes. "Listen, none of us--"
"I'll duel you!!!" Mai jumped forward, brandishing her deck.
"Ahhh, such a good looking lady too....what might your name be?"
"Eeehh...I'm Mai. Do you know a duel station close by....?" She stammered a bit, but caught herself. Seto rolled his eyes again.
"But of course....." the man tossed his head of hair, which went down to his shoulders, and Mai felt her knees gel. "Just come this way....."
She followed immediately, and Lisa dragged Seto along for the ride.
Mai barely managed to scramble up the dueling station without blushing as the man kept throwing looks at her. Seto looked at the dueling station slowly, then looked up at the duelists.
"How many chips, my dear?"
"A-a-ahhh....how about four?"
The man flashed his glove of twenty chips. "That's just fine by me, dear."
They input their ID's into the station and their bets, and then looked at each other, Mai's face still on fire.
"DUEL!"
"D-duel!"
~*~
Brood: Ahahahahahaa!! Two more duels for the duel hungry are coming up! Don't mind if I don't get this up for awhile, since 1. Duels take awhile to write! So Nyah! :P 2. My computer has decided it doesn't like me. I'm uploading this from the library as my modem has died, and it wont be back up for awhile. Plus I start school on Friday. Pooey.
Also, I wanna thank Wingleader Sora Jade for extending her well wishes towards my good friend Jeskan in his heart surgery recovery! Thanks 'SJ!!!
Another thing, Myotsi-chan got to me first, 'SJ and said two as well! So they get two, and you get one!
These appearances will be in two new chapter stories coming up soon, one called, "The Castle of the Shadow Games," and another that I haven't named yet. They'll both be cool, and the one I haven't named yet is actually a Halloween story. AND I'm not telling which was one and which was two! So NYAH! :P!
And if I dont get another chance to say so before August 23rd, I want to say "HAPPY ANNIVERSARY" to Wingleader Sora Jade on one whole year of "The Tales of the Child of Fate!" WOO! Go 'SJ on one of the most successful series of stories I've seen on this site! Congrats, and here's to another year, eh?
Oh yeah, and everyone check out this site for me, okay? Tell me what you think in that review I just KNOW you're going to send me!
kevan.org/brain.cgi?Brood%20Mayran ((The URL is without a www., so don't sweat it))
Love, Peace, and Penguins,
Brood Mayran :)
*peeps around a corner* Oookaaayyy....looks good here....*sneaks around the corner*
Fuu Fuu Choco Taco: *flinging herself at Brood* BROODY-MAMA!!!!!!!!!
Brood: SSSSSHHHHH!!!!!!!!! *looks around feverently* Keep it down!
Choco Taco: Huh? Ooh, the meanie peoples who want to hurt you?
Brood: Yeah! They're out for blood!
Choco Taco: Don't worry! Me and Fuufy-Nilly will take care of 'em!!
Brood: ...........I don't wanna know, but GO TO IT!!! *watches the chibi scamper off*
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
~*~
Yugi stretched heartily when he woke up that next morning. A large yawn escaped his mouth and he looked over at the three others he shared his tent with. Joey was snoring with his mouth hanging wide open, and Honda was sleeping on his tummy, mashing in his usual hair point. Mokuba was sprawled out everywhere, Joey-style, and had somehow wormed his way out of his sleeping bag in the middle of the night. He was shivering lightly.
Yugi's eyebrow went up at this. Mokuba was shivering. He then noticed that it was indeed a very cool morning, and he gave a small shudder as well.
"How did you sleep?" The tri-colored head spun around quickly, looking for the owner of the voice, seeing nobody. Realizing the voice belonged to Anzu, he quickly pieced that she was talking to Amoura.
"Ahhhh....very nizely....vould 'ave been better if Yunet ztayed azleep ALL night!" She then giggled a bit.
"Yeah, she got me too...." There was a short silence in the next tent.
"D'ya think the guys are up yet?"
"Joey? 'Onda? Mokuba? No. Yugi, I'd believe."
"I AM up!" Yugi couldn't help it.
There was another pause, then the two girls burst out gigging.
"Yugi! We're coming over!"
"Oui! 'Ere ve come!" There was a shuffing around, and Yugi heard the girls unzip their "door" and pad the two feet over to the boy's tent. They zipped the door open and crawled inside. Amoura promptly giggled and set her cat down on Mokuba's head, and a second later, Mokuba shot up with a short yell.
"Ammooooouuurrrrraaaaaaa!!!!!" Mokuba let out a long whine in the form of the French girl's name. "Come on! I wanted to sleep longer!" He faked a small pout as he petted Yunet's head.
Anzu rolled her eyes. "And end up more like those two doofus's?" She motioned towards Joey, who had just rolled over, and his mouth flopped open, making his snores higher and raspier sounding. They all winced, and Yugi thought vaguely of getting a roll of his unwashed socks and stuffing them in Joey's mouth.
Suddenly, Honda let out a loud "AAAHHH CHOOOOO!!!," Yunet's very presence jarring him awake.
He shot up quickly, spotting the innocent fuzz ball purring in Mokuba's lap.
"Get....*sniff* it out of here!!" He sneezed a few more times, his now flat hair point bobbing around roughly. Yunet's eyes followed the hair movement lazily, then in a surge of energy, launched herself at Honda's face, batting at his limp hair.
"GAAAAHHHH!! AA-CHO! AA-CHOOOO!!! AAAAA-CCCHHOOOO!!!" Honda sneezed violently, and tried backing away from the kitten in mid-sneeze, but only succeded in rolling over onto Joey's face as he fell over.
"HHEEELLPP! I'M BEIN' MURDERED!!!!!!" Joey's yell shot out from under Honda's side, and Joey shot up and shoved Honda over in the other direction. Yunet had gotten away from Honda after he had backed off and fell over, and was now sitting on Yugi's lap, watching the fun.
The others couldn't suppress giggles as Joey shot around and Honda struggled between sneezes to find a Kleenex. Anzu took pity on Honda and handed him one, and Amoura got Joey to calm down, while giggling herself.
Yugi couldn't help grinning at the scene those two made, and excused himself for an early morning shower.
He opened the door and stepped out carrying his towel, and noticed that a couple of heads were poked out of their own tents, looking towards Yugi's. He realized that the two guys must have made a LOT of noise. Yugi smiled merrily and waved, indicating that it was all okay, and went to the only free makeshift shower there at the time.
Back over at the tent, Joey had finally calmed down and Amoura had Yunet a good distance away from Honda. The little silver tabby kitten mewed sweetly and purred in Amoura's lap. Anzu stretched a bit and yawned.
"We might have to get dressed soon and leave, I really don't feel like being challenged another three times or so like yesterday....I'm still exhausted from all that dueling!
"Yeah," Joey agreed, "They were jumpin' all over me, Amoura, and Yuge like a fat kid on a cupcake...."
Honda broke in here with a chuckle. "Yeah, the only ones getting hit worse than the champs were the ones with only about five or six chips."
Amoura nodded. "Oui....but it zerved to give me more chips! All of uz got more!"
"I lost a few, remember Amoura?" Honda looked her in the eye, and Amoura smiled.
"But it vas just two, you'll make zat back in no time!" Anzu agreed with this and Joey gave him a hearty clap on the back before taking off his t-shirt, reaching for a cleaner one.
Amoura and Anzu's faces lit up in bright blushes at the sight of Joey's well toned upper half and made a scramble for the door, mumbling things about needing to do their hair and stuff like that.
Honda looked over at Joey after the girls scuttled away. "What do ya think's wrong with them?," He asked as he immediately heard muffled giggles. Mokuba looked at the two guys and just shrugged.
"Aa-choo!...AMOURA YOU FORGOT THE CAT!!!"
"Zorry!"
After another few moments and a few clothing changes later, the girls walked out of their own tent and wandered around the camp.
There were many dueling stations, and one was already being used. The girl on the left side looked sort of groggy, like her opponent had dragged her out of her tent.
The morning was chill, with a bit of clouds in the sky. The sun was peeking through some grey areas of the sky, shining through the holograms of the duel stations. Amoura and Anzu watched the duel for awhile until it seemed like the more awake person was done for, then they began moving again.
"Excuse me! Ladies!"
Anzu and Amoura turned around. Behind them, a young blonde man who looked around their age was jogging up to them. He stopped and caught his breath for a moment.
"Sorry to bother you, but have you seen a young black haired girl around here anywhere? On the first day here, we got separated from my friend's little sister, and now she's out there all alone..." His eyes were lit with worry, and he looked between the two imploringly.
Amoura took out her ID and pointed it at him. "If you don't mind...."
"Not at all....," he said, barely paying attention.
While Amoura scanned the young man, Anzu began talking to him.
"So what's the little girl's name? What can you tell me about her?"
He scratched his head lightly. "Well, she's about twelve years old...but doesn't act it very often!," he added with a small chuckle, "And she's got black hair that she usually has up in a ponytail, and really big blue eyes. Her name is Lisa O' Kelly. She's about four foot nine inches tall, and only carrying one big bookbag and a sleeping bag."
"....'EY!!"
Anzu and the young man looked over to the wide-eyed Amoura.
"You are Jerry McGowan!!!!! Ze Irish National Champion!!!!" Amoura was looking at him in an all new light. In fact, it was almost a hungry look.
"Ehehe....yeah, that'd be me...." He showed his glove, which held about eighteen diamond chips in it. Amoura looked down at hers, where she had eighteen as well. "Lisa's older sister, Faife O' Kelly," Jerry motioned over to where an older girl was standing, interrogating a small group by a tent obviously about her sister, "is 2nd Place in Ireland. I won by a scratch really...."
"........Let'z duel!" Anzu looked at Amoura, wide-eyed.
"Amoura! You're only a semi-finalist in France!"
"I do not care! Did Zeto not tell you all vhat 'appened to moi regarding ze Championzhips!?"
Jerry's eyes grew as he regarded Amoura. "........Heeeyy....I heard about that! It was talked about at our Irish Championships! A semi- finalist girl in the French National Championships got kidnapped until she was gone long enough to call it a forfiet! Something about a bet on the match..."
"Amoura!? Did that really happen to you!?" Anzu stared back and forth between the two, hardly daring to say any more.
Amoura's eyes darkened. "....Oui. Zhall ve duel?"
"....Aye." He then turned his head backwards. "FAIFE!!!!!!!"
The older black haired girl's head shot up and she jogged over. She had shorter raven black hair and deep green eyes. "Jerry? Do these girls know anything of Lisa?"
"No, but I've been challenged to a duel by Amoura Letezaut."
Faife colored slightly, obviously recognizing the fellow Europen title holder's name. "Let me duel her instead."
Jerry's eyes widened and he looked back at Amoura. "Maybe it would be better that way...."
Amoura looked indignant. "I challenged YOU, Monsieur McGowan."
He shook his head. "I have more chips than Faife. I want her to win a few more to catch up with me...." He gave Amoura a big smirk, and she scowled back.
"Listen Amoura....maybe you should just accept....let's not start anything...." Anzu put her hand on the girl's shoulder and spoke lightly. She didn't like the looks being exchanged. She leaned in closer to her ear and lowered her voice to a whisper. "Anyway, he's being cocky. Why don't you beat this Faife into the ground and show him what you're made of...."
Amoura's face twisted into a smile. "Vine. I acczept ze duel vith ze girl."
Faife beamed cockily at her and flashed her seventeen chips. "Thanks, I need to beat Jerry here to twenty-five."
Amoura nearly lost her smile, but plastered it on, and Anzu frowned a bit.
"Do you mind if I pick the field?"
"Not at all, Madame O' Kelly." Faife then pointed.
"That one over there. That's where we'll duel." Amoura nodded slowly, letting her smile fall and be replaced with a more serious demeanor.
The four teens immediately made their way over to the station. As they neared it, Anzu spotted Yugi exiting the male showers area and she waved to where he was toweling his hair. "YUGI!!!!!!!"
The drooped spiked of Yugi's hair bobbed over his eyes as he looked up. He caught Anzu's hand signals and he gathered his things and scampered off to the guy's tents, where Honda was just emerging.
Faife and Amoura were boarding just as everyone else ran up. Some drifters from where another duel had just ended came over to watch this new one beginning to happen.
"Amoura! Do you know what this field is?"
"Not off ze top of my 'ead...."
"It's 50% dark and 50% fire. You really can't tell by looking at it."
"Oui....." /Fire.....zis could vork vell for moi...../
They looked hard at each other. Sparks seemed to be shooting from the two title-holder's eyes.
"DUEL!!!!!!!"
~*~
"Gonna meet Miss Maaaaiii's friends! Gonna meet Miss Maaaaaiii's friends! Gonna meet Miss Maaaaaiii's friends! Lalalalalalaaaaa!!!!"
"Whatever God in heaven gave young girls energy surges in the morning must have had a bit too much nectar before making that decision....." Seto Kaiba rubbed his temples and popped an Advil into his mouth as the young girl danced around the dead fire.
Mai was standing around, holding a hair tie. "Lisa! Didn't you say that you wanted help getting your hair tied up!?"
Lisa paused and bounced on her heels. "I said I wanted KEBBY- KUN'S help! Nyah!" She stuck out her tounge and winked sweetly at Mai, skipping over to Seto.
"Does you head hurt, Kebby-kun?"
"............Just a little bit. Go to Mai and let her tie your hair."
"Oooooo-KAY!" She bounded towards Mai and obediently plopped down on the ground in front of her. Mai sighed and began brushing her raven locks, letting out a smile and shaking her head.
/Kebby-kun....yeesh, that's cute. And he LET'S her? You think you know a guy..../
"Ooh Miss Mai? Can you braid it instead today?"
"Sure kid, why not."
Seto snorted. Mai glared at him for a second and ignored him.
Mai didn't bat an eyelash when Seto said he was going off to get a bit of "breakfast," but Lisa on the other hand....
"Kebby-kun, be nice to the animals this time!"
Mai paused. Be nice to the animals?, she thought ominously as her fingers deftly twisted the black hair into a nice braid.
"Don't worry, it's always humane." Seto walked off without another word.
".........Uuuhhhhhh.......Lisa? What did he mean?" Mai reached the end of the pleat and tied it off slowly.
"Ooohhh....you'll see Miss Mai..." Lisa grinned and glowed with superiority at knowing something that she didn't.
Mai really didn't WANT to see, if what she was thinking was what was going to happen. She let out a shudder and patted the girl's head, signifying that her braid was done. She then bounded over to her bag after a quick but boisterous "Thanks!!!" and then pulled out a coloring book and crayons.
Pulling out her CD player, Mai sat down on a rock and listened to her music. It was only around 7:30 in the morning right now, so they had plenty of travelling time. Mai felt a shudder go up her back as the thought of rejoining Yugi, Joey, and the others. She had a french hand to shake anyway. Then, she thought of HOW Seto was going to help her find them all.
He had made it seem like he was just going to sniff them out and waltz up to them. He even started away from the camp like he knew where he was going. It all struck Mai as funny, since she sure knew that the group and Seto didn't plan on meeting anywhere. These thoughts made her ignore her music completely.
When Seto came back through the shrubbery, Mai was surprised she was on song four already. It had seemed like no time had passed at all. She yanked off her earphones to speak to him, but only got as far as opening her mouth.
Skewered on the end of a long hunting knife was a dead snow white rabbit.
".............SETO KAIBA!!!!!!!!!!!"
"Yay! Kebby-kun brought breakfast!!!"
Seto looked at Mai, who's face was a mask of fury, and over to Lisa, who looked happy that she was going to have food soon. He shook his head at the complete opposite reactions and simply walked over to the brook he had to wade through last night to skin and prepare the little thing.
".....He.....he KILLED that cute bunny!!"
"Yeah! We're going to eat it!"
"........Oh God...."
"Don't worry Miss Mai, it's yummy! And it looked like Kebby- kun got a fat one too!"
Lisa bounced up and swirled, feeling her braid flap around, and dug into one of Seto's side pockets of his bag and got out some matches. Then she got some kindling from a small pile and got a fire going again. Normally Mai wouldn't have charged this task to the hyperactive girl, but she just sat there in a quiet rage until Seto came back, holding the skinned and cleaned carcass.
Mai averted her eyes as Seto and Lisa got it over the fire, and only when Lisa said, "It's dooooooooooone!!!!!!," did she turn back around.
Seto dished the bunny meat out on three separate tin plates and Lisa dug into hers happily, and offered Mai a plate. She looked at it slowly as the girl held it out.
"..................................................."
"If you don't want to eat, then your stomach will just have to growl the whole time we're out looking for your little gang." Seto glared hard at her, and Mai glared back.
Finally, her stomach did growl, and she took the plate that Lisa had ended up sitting down next to Mai. She sniffed it, then took a nibble. It was alright, so Mai ate the rest of it, but slowly.
"Why couldn't you just gather berries like everyone else, Kaiba?"
"Because.....some people don't feel like living on a diet of berries for a full month or more on a large unpopulated island." Mai only stared at him, because that was the point she herself had made when Yugi and the others were at the fairground place together.
After they all had eaten, and Mai had gotten over her sympathy for her meal, they all got packed and cleaned up and set out. Lisa skipped along merrily next to Seto, and Mai walked on the other side of Lisa.
At one point when Lisa had skipped away from them to inspect a flower, Mai leaned over and muttered, "Hey, does she know about Mokuba?"
"She's heard about one sentence about him, but knowing her flighty head, she's forgotten already." Seto looked at her slowly, then turned back to their path. "Lisa....let's go. Shouldn't waste time."
Lisa sprang up with the flower in her hand. "Kebby-kun! It's too cold outside for flowers!"
Seto and Mai looked at each other. It was indeed cold that morning, but for some reason, they hadn't payed much attention to that. Mai felt her arm and noticed goosebumps, then over at Lisa, who was rubbing her arms together.
"Brrrrr, Miss Mai! It's colder than it was earlier!"
"Yeah kid....it is.....what's going on here! It's June, right?"
Seto shook his head. "Let's not dwell on it. Let's keep moving."
"Kaiba, how do you know where we're going?"
"Traveller's intuition."
~*~
"DAMN!!!!!!!!!"
A white crowned head was hitting itself against a tree trunk while cursing fervently in every language he knew, and that was about three or four. He had run at least half a mile from where Marik was before stopping to berate himself, and that was at least three hours ago.
"How could I have been so STUPID to believe that Egyptian idiot!!!! Now I've lost the Eye!!!"
Ryou finally couldn't ignore this anymore. \If you remember correctly though, he wasn't lying. The fortress WAS over there.\
"SHUT UP IN THERE!," Bakura yelled directly at the Ring. "You're lucky he didn't get YOU while he was at it!!!"
\.....would he have really gotten ME? You're the spirit tied to the Ring, after all....\
This time he used the link to communicate with Ryou. \\Of course, you blithering idiot! YOU are the one in the Ring right now, and were in there when that sorry excuse for an Egyptian spirit attacked!\\
\Oh. What do you suppose we do now?\
\\We rest. I need to tend to these wounds and plot revenge. I feel tired. I'm going to put out your bag and lie down. Then I'm resting in the soul room. If you move one INCH from the spot I lie down in...............\\
\I get it, I get it......\
Bakura let out the bag and then curled up inside of it, letting Ryou have control.
"Aaaahhhh........" For the first time, he felt the physical pain of what Bakura had just gone through. He ached in his ribs, his head felt stomped on, and one of his legs had cramped up since Bakura had been running while already too tired to walk right. Oh sure, let RYOU take care of the pain parts, while the mad spirit gets to rest his mind in the comparitively cushy soul room. Yeesh.
Indignant, he waited until he felt that Bakura was asleep, then he scooted himself and the sleeping bag over about three inches. "Ha. There. I moved MORE than an inch.....Nyah."
Ryou began to think as we waited for sleep to claim him. Now that the Millennium Eye was out of his possession, he knew that Bakura couldn't try and force him to gouge out his left eyeball anymore.
A question filtered it's way into his head. Was Malik in league with his dark side? Did he really wake up dazed and confused like he'd said? Or was it all just a ruse to get Ryou and Bakura's trust?
Ryou trusted Malik, to a small extent, and Bakura trusted him even less. They did make that deal back in Battle City together, but then it, and the trust, all went up in smoke when Marik came out. So was it Marik they couldn't trust, or the both of them? He knew now that Marik was working as an eliminator for Pegasus, but was Malik really just along for the ride, an innocent party much like Ryou?
Finally he yawned, his eyelids starting to close. Sleep.....
"Ryou?"
Oh no. That voice. Female, and his name pronounced with that rolled "R." It couldn't be. No. No no no no no NO!
He didn't move. He simply lay there, even though he was wide awake now. He was just glad that his other half was asleep, because he'd probably take his frustrations out on making fun of him.
"Ryou!" It was a happier tone this time, and then he heard a person plop down beside him and just sit. What was it with her and finding him when he was sleeping?
Bakura did this on purpose. That had to be it. He planned this. He saw which direction Teodora trudged off in when Malik made her leave and purposely ran towards it when he was running.
It was a silly thought at best, but in Ryou's sleepy and slightly battered brain, it was the best explination for his horrible irony attack. He didn't even think it'd be safe to SLEEP in Teodora's presence, but.............zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz......................
~*~
"Master Pegasus!"
Pegasus Crawford turned his head from his breakfast. "What is it that you want. Funny Bunny was just about to come on....so this had better be good........" He narrowed his eye and glared at the anonymous lackey and gripped his glass of wine.
"Uhhhh......sir.....We've just found that temperatures on the island are flucuating in very unpredictable patterns. It's been just under a week since the duelists got there, and now the--"
"Yes yes, I was aware of that. Things were warm and balmy there up until about the second or third day, then there was that very big storm. Now things are starting to get a tad nippy, am I correct?" Pegasus looked smugly at the young man, awaiting the answer.
"S-s-sir...yes you are correct....temperatures are at around sixty two right now and dropping."
"How quickly?" Still dropping? It was barely ten o' clock yet on the island....
The young underling seemed to gain confidence from the fact that he finally could tell Pegasus something he didn't know. "Sir, the estimated rate of decrease is about three degrees per hour."
Pegasus's eye widened. "That means at about nine this evening, if the rate is constant, the temperature will be at freezing point on that island!"
"....Yes sir. That's what it means. But we're confident that the fluctuating temperature will cause it to increase once again........It could possibly be El Nino...."
"You idiot! It's not El Nino!" Pegasus looked a bit angry at this, then fell silent.
"Terribly sorry sir, didn't mean to be an idiot....."
Pegasus remained silent for a moment. Then he rose from the table, still holding his glass. "Croquet."
"Sir." The loyal servant to Pegasus walked up.
"Record Funny Bunny for me. I'll watch it later. I have business to attend to."
"Y-yes sir..." Never, EVER, had Pegasus ever wanted to voluntarily miss a showing of Funny Bunny. This was indeed a first. Something serious was happening.
Pegasus walked off briskly from the table, making his way from his servants and going down to the first story picture of him and his Cecilia. After hitting the switch and making his way down to his secret base, he sat at his desk.
After drumming his fingers on the desk for awhile, he turned on his extremely large scale monitor. If he was correct, tomorrow was a ship departure day, and by the clusters of heat dots making their way to the pier or already camped out there, he might as well be.
He ran his fingers along the carvings on the arms of the chair, thinking what he could attribute all these temperature changes to.
Certainly NOT El Nino....but what on this planet could cause such a fluctuation in the very way the world worked?
His hand brushed the sheet on which he'd written down his known information on the Millennium Items. He stared at it for a moment, then his eye widened in understanding.
That was it! The Millennium Items were causing this! Because they were so close together after such a long time.....their powers were resonating from all being on the island. This furthered his thought that the Millennium Tauk was on the island as well.
But causing the temperatures to rise and fall like this....there had to be something different. Maybe the Shadow Games were trying to break free, and possibly it was time for them to be suppressed again. He did hear once that it had to happen once every thousand years....
It couldn't be that though. They weren't due yet. It had to be something else. Okay, not the Shadow Games, and all seven items were on the island. That meant a wonderful playground for Marik, at the least. And possibly, Marik had noticed the signs. If he didn't now, he'd certainly know around six at night or so. That's when it'd be really cold out. He'd have to notice something, afterall.
He was at a loss. If it wasn't the Shadow Games, then maybe the Items were just....happy to see each other again.
Pegasus almost scoffed at the silly idea, but then thought that this might even bring the Items more power. If they felt so much power to change the weather drastically, then that would make his machine all the more effective! He grinned hugely at this wonderful thought and looked at his heat dot screen again. He then opened his laptop and checked out his International Champions.
From America, Keith was still at twenty-six, and Rebecca Hawkins was at twenty four. She was a ruthless little girl, and Pegasus liked that a lot.
His Japanese champs were doing well, as expected of course. Yugi now had twenty, and Jounochi had eighteen. Seto still had his twenty five chips, and Mai Kujaku had fifteen. She had been slowed down obviously, because that was the same number she had yesterday as well. Insector Haga already had twenty-two, and could possibly be looking for another duel to finish off his glove. Dinosaur Ryuzaki was doing fairly well at sixteen chips.
Next he checked out his European champs, and two of their names were in red. That meant that they were in a duel. One Italian champion was already disqualified, named Marco Piazzi. He noticed that he lost all his chips in one fell swoop, which could only mean an eliminator got to him. Upon further inspection of the red labeled duelists, he saw that the duel was with each other.
Aaaahhhh....Faife O' Kelly, the Irish National runner-up, and a French semi-finalist, Amoura Letezaut. Truly a clash of titans. Faife was higher ranked in Europe than Amoura was, but Pegasus, being Pegasus, knew the latest gossip on ALL champion ranked duelists, and knew that Amoura herself could have been a finalist, or even champion herself. He knew also that Amoura came from a dueling background, as her grandmother, Madame Amanda, was a senior champion in France and ranked in Europe as well. In fact, many champions had come from families that had title holding backgrounds, as Faife's own father was a tournament duelist himself, and passed many of his cards to his children.
((A/N: For more on Amoura's Grandmama AND her family, check out Wingleader Sora Jade's "Home Sweet Home!" She borrowed Amoura and Lisa for the college stories of her "Tales of the Child of Fate" and now they're home for the summer! Check it out!))
He chanced a peek at his Asian champions also. There was only one Vietnamese title-holder doing well, at twenty-three diamond chips. Saymao Dinh seemed to be his name. There was a Chinese champion girl doing fairly well, and his Indian and Mongolian champions were for the most part already disqualified.
Pegasus sighed and did a few idle things, as he was bored. He looked up random duelists, trying to pick them out on the heat dot map once he had their coordinates. Looking up "Yugi Motou," he noticed that he was in the same coordinate as the European title-holder's duel. Yugi always seemed to be in the right places at the right time. Just in time for what promised to be a good duel.
Looking up "Seto Kaiba," he realized that he was heading away from the fortress almost directly. Had he found it already? Not doubting Kaiba-boy's mind for a moment, Pegasus figured that he did.
"Ooh duh! Silly me!" Pegasus bonked himself on the head with his hand idly and turned on his intercom. "I want a list of all duelists seen in the fortress area from the beginning of the tournament unto now."
A young man's voice came from the other side of the com. "Sir, there have only been four seen in the fortress area."
"Give me their names."
"In order of them appearing, Insector Haga, Lisa O'Kelly, Mai Kujaku, and an eliminator, Marik Ishtar."
Pegasus nodded and spoke again. "That will be all."
"Sir." The intercom crackled and buzzed off.
He had to look into why only three actual duelists had found the fortress so far. But now, it was back to work. Now to look into why the Millennium Items were acting up.....
~*~
"Excuse me....."
Mai, Seto, and Lisa all whirled around. Behind them was a very good looking brunette man wearing a white shirt and a leather jacket. He had on tight dark blue jeans, and had a pair of sunglassed perched on top of his head.
"Yes?" Mai spoke up, looking intently at this man, feeling a blush rise to her cheeks. His eyes were a nice shade of blue-grey.
"I was wondering....would any of you be up for a duel?"
Seto rolled his eyes. "Listen, none of us--"
"I'll duel you!!!" Mai jumped forward, brandishing her deck.
"Ahhh, such a good looking lady too....what might your name be?"
"Eeehh...I'm Mai. Do you know a duel station close by....?" She stammered a bit, but caught herself. Seto rolled his eyes again.
"But of course....." the man tossed his head of hair, which went down to his shoulders, and Mai felt her knees gel. "Just come this way....."
She followed immediately, and Lisa dragged Seto along for the ride.
Mai barely managed to scramble up the dueling station without blushing as the man kept throwing looks at her. Seto looked at the dueling station slowly, then looked up at the duelists.
"How many chips, my dear?"
"A-a-ahhh....how about four?"
The man flashed his glove of twenty chips. "That's just fine by me, dear."
They input their ID's into the station and their bets, and then looked at each other, Mai's face still on fire.
"DUEL!"
"D-duel!"
~*~
Brood: Ahahahahahaa!! Two more duels for the duel hungry are coming up! Don't mind if I don't get this up for awhile, since 1. Duels take awhile to write! So Nyah! :P 2. My computer has decided it doesn't like me. I'm uploading this from the library as my modem has died, and it wont be back up for awhile. Plus I start school on Friday. Pooey.
Also, I wanna thank Wingleader Sora Jade for extending her well wishes towards my good friend Jeskan in his heart surgery recovery! Thanks 'SJ!!!
Another thing, Myotsi-chan got to me first, 'SJ and said two as well! So they get two, and you get one!
These appearances will be in two new chapter stories coming up soon, one called, "The Castle of the Shadow Games," and another that I haven't named yet. They'll both be cool, and the one I haven't named yet is actually a Halloween story. AND I'm not telling which was one and which was two! So NYAH! :P!
And if I dont get another chance to say so before August 23rd, I want to say "HAPPY ANNIVERSARY" to Wingleader Sora Jade on one whole year of "The Tales of the Child of Fate!" WOO! Go 'SJ on one of the most successful series of stories I've seen on this site! Congrats, and here's to another year, eh?
Oh yeah, and everyone check out this site for me, okay? Tell me what you think in that review I just KNOW you're going to send me!
kevan.org/brain.cgi?Brood%20Mayran ((The URL is without a www., so don't sweat it))
Love, Peace, and Penguins,
Brood Mayran :)
