OK, and on the human-form thing: The dragons can take a human form, although they still retain some attributes of their dragon shape that they can't make go away- i.e. very fair Bakura-esque hair and blue eyes for BEWDs.
Two: Of ESPers, Magicians, and Perfumes
Aaron cursed and brushed back his silver hair, a trait unique to him and Cassiel. All the other members of their family had had hair of a different hue. Theirs ranged from dark purple almost black like their cousin Gabriel's or yellow brighter than gold like their sister Miriam's, but never, ever silver. Aaron's was still as long and disheveled as it had been during seeing duels (maybe more), while Cassiel had cut his an inch or two shorter, and held it back in a ponytail with a wide blue rubber band. "I hadn't meant for it to make so much noise."
"Noise is noise," said Cassiel, "whether or not you meant to make it." He moved the bags inside and closed the door, not forgetting to lock it. He then set about transferring the contents of the bags to the cabinets and refrigerator. "We'll be very lucky if Master's neighbors don't wonder."
Aaron shrugged and began to help Cassiel. "They didn't bother to come by when Master moved in. They shouldn't ought to start coming now."
The doorbell rang.
"Spoke too soon," Aaron muttered.
***
Mokuba typed the last word, then accessed the gate
camera and saw them approaching. He sent a manually typed message to the
gate controls, and as the gate swung open, he said, "Jane, please print
document. Category: Schoolwork. Subject: Language Arts. Type: Essay. Title:
My Great Interest." He rolled his eyes; he couldn't see why he always
had to say please before his brother's brainchild would do anything for
him. Maybe it was supposed to be a subtle way of teaching him social skills.
"Please specify version."
Mokuba's eyes were getting quite a workout. "Jane,
most recent version, please." The printer spat out precisely one double-spaced
page, which he snatched up. "Jane, thank you and good night."
As programmed, Jane logged him out and shut off.
He stowed the essay in his binder and ran to meet Sapphire.
He still couldn't quite believe it. He had just
held one of Seto's Blue Eyes and wished for him to come alive, and he did.
Just. Like. That. As the dragon took shape, Mokuba had panicked, thinking
he would surely smash a hole in the ceiling of his brother's bedroom. Instead,
the form shrunk and morphed into a kid just his age, wearing really old-fashioned
clothes, with the same kind of hair as he had, except it was the opposite
color.
And once this kid Sapphire (although, he emphasized
this fact when Mokuba made the observation, he was NOT a girl) had explained
to Seto what was going on, Mokuba had immediately wished for Sapphire's
brother and sister to come too.
They had come. And once Mokuba had discovered their names…
He might not have been a genius like Seto but he
wasn't stupid either. After a very helpful Jane had brought up a list of
top-grossing movies, Mokuba had taken Sapphire aside and specified the
movie he'd like to watch that night. And in case the title wasn't enough,
he had also given Sapphire part of the cast list. The two of them had laughed,
and though Mokuba doubted Sapphire had remembered the movie title, he definitely
had known to look for the "Chihiro and Haku movie."
***
"Yes, what is it you want?"
Mai had given the Harpy Ladies her key and sent
them off to get into the apartment on her own, groceries and all. She lifted
an eyebrow, sorting through the several things about him that bothered
her. She had seen him earlier, wandering around the Lantern mall with wide
eyes like he was seeing everything for the very first time. She put his
age at seventeen or eighteen- such an age that it was near impossible that
he had never before been in such a ubiquitous modern convenience as a shopping
mall.
His hair- that was the second strange thing. It
was the kind of silver that she thought only old people had. No, wait-
Pegasus's hair had been somewhat close to this shade. But still, it itched
her mind. Pegasus, after all, had been a very strange personage. To say
the least.
The third thing- that was the strangest thing
of all. His clothes were more or less normal- red hooded sweatshirt and
baggy khaki pants that had drawstrings on the ankles. But somehow, whenever
Mai looked at him, she imagined him in the getup of Yugi's Dark Magician,
weird hat and all. The rubber band gone from the odd silver hair, letting
it fall around his face, which was the same kind of dark as the face of
that woman from the Domino Museum.
"Well?" he repeated, almost making her jump. "What
is it you want?"
Mai struggled to keep her voice nonchalant. "Oh,
nothing. Just wanted to make sure nothing blew up in there, after that
racket. You understand."
"Everything's fine in here. Is that all?"
"Oh, I forgot, we haven't properly introduced ourselves."
She stuck out a hand. "I'm Mai Valentine. Don't laugh," she quickly added,
remembering Job's (AKA Harpy's Pet Dragon, although he hadn't looked like
a pet at all) hysterical laughing fit after he had discovered her name
besides Master. Too bad; she liked green eyes. And that collar did look
kind of sexy in a kinky way.
Eyes widened. "Why would I laugh?"
"IT'S VAL! VAL'S COME BACK!"
Before she could answer him, one of the younger
Robas she had discovered living across from her apartment had attached
himself to her. Thomas, she thought his name was. "Miss Val," he said,
grinning up at her with the gap in his teeth extremely evident, "We're
so glad you've come. We wanna see you do that neat trick with the cards
again, you know, when you know what they are before you draw. Not even
Esper can do that-"
Mai allowed herself to be coaxed into the Roba apartment,
all three of the kids who could talk chattering all the way, and she didn't
notice the door to the other apartment close.
***
Cassiel locked the door, or tried to; his hands were
shaking so hard he jammed the key into the wood around the lock several
times before Aaron sighed, reached over his shoulder, and pressed the lock
button. "And you say I don't know enough about these new things."
Cassiel didn't reply, only stare at the door.
We wanna see you do that neat trick with the
cards again, you know, when you know what they are before you draw…
***
It was a long way to Domino from Lantern by automobile,
and it was even longer on foot. Job walked in the shadows on the "shoulder"
of the road, lights going by in a strange quick dance, a dance so quick
he couldn't look at it for long without feeling sick.
He couldn't imagine how anyone could learn to drive
those things. He had seen the controls in his Master's car when they went
to the mall, and they were so complicated he had imagined that they probably
trained from the time they were children, the way Geoffrey Giltia and his
cousin had started training to be knights, the way so many others had been
trained for the duels. That was the only explanation he could find for
why he hadn't seen a single collision on his first or his half-completed
second journey to Domino.
A pair of lights slid out of the darkness, sliding
straight for him. Job leaped up out of instinct, his enhanced legs carrying
him a good distance above the car. As gravity kicked in and he began to
descend, his patience ran out. Instinct really began to kick in.
He tossed the bag containing his purchases high
into the air, thanking whatever force might be out there (Michael Gaia
called it God. Job called Michael Gaia an idiot) that he was still wearing
his constructs, albeit somewhat modified. They obediently melted away as
his wings appeared and he let out a roar of delight. It was cut short by
three facts: One, he definitely couldn't have the new kind of knight, whatever
they called it now, going after him; two, the feeling of the collar expanding
to accommodate his neck; three, in the time it took to transform the bags
had nearly hit the ground.
Job just managed to snatch them in his jaws, almost
shredding the handles. He spread his wings even wider and took flight.
Several of the drivers who saw this focused on it
instead of on the road. They slammed into one another, fortunately causing
no severe injuries. Later on, in the hospital, they never mentioned what
they saw. If they had, they no doubt would have been transferred to a different
sort of hospital. The kind with straitjackets.
But Job paid no attention to this. He had a gift
to deliver. Two, actually.
***
Black Jade had called up Joey and asked him to wish
a few others into being. Joey, once he was convinced this wasn't an elaborate
prank, had happily obliged and hauled said others over to the Motou home,
where Yugi had already made a few wishes of his own. The resulting party
made Yugi and his grandfather extremely grateful that they lived in a part
of the city that was primarily businesses.
Ken had gotten an eager reception, doing comic impressions
of various Duel Monsters and duelists alike. The biggest laugh came when
he did Maximilian Pegasus. Ken was truly a Copycat; his imitation of the
re-creator of Duel Monsters was perfect right down to the fancy suit, the
Millennium Eye, and the sophisticated tones. "Was I right? I was right,
right? Oh, do tell me I was right, because I'm a freaky twisted eye guy
whose hobbies are brainless cartoons!" Loud cheer from Fluffy-nobody quite
remembered how he'd picked up the name. Fortunately, Gabriel and Miriam
working together had managed to put his soul in a construct that, while
not exactly looking anything like a human, at least didn't break a hole
in the ceiling.
After Ken had done a considerable number of performances,
everyone headed off to their various devices. Fluffy and Black Jade set
about making a tremendous mess in the kitchen ostensibly baking bread.
Brendan found a book of 1001 poems and settled down for the evening (that
was perhaps Joey's biggest surprise and disappointment of the evening-
he'd never once thought that the Flame Swordsman's Great Interest would
be, of all things, poetry).
Geoffrey and Gabriel were in a secluded corner,
shielded from the rest of the house in the event of magical mishaps. Gabriel
was supposed to be teaching Geoffrey practical magic (another surprise
for Joey- Giltia the Dark Knight an aspiring mage). As it was, Geoffrey
was suffering from a runny nose, watery eyes, periodic sneezing, and a
general feeling of rottenness; this was, Michael explained, from the traces
Michael's horse had left around the house before it was quickly sent back
to the Shadow Realm- Geoffrey was allergic to horses. He couldn't possibly
have learned much of anything unless Gabriel used soul-to-soul contact
to drill the lessons into his subconscious. And Gabriel, as he himself
admitted, was rotten at soul magic going any further than bludgeoning said
soul to pieces with a Dark Magic Attack.
Hikari and Michael had an extremely loud argument,
which became an extremely loud fight involving frying pans, the spaghetti
spoon, and various other kitchen utensils (Yugi prudently hid the forks
and knives). It got toned down when Black Jade pointed out they were acting
almost like Toons. It stopped completely when Ken mentioned that they fought
like an old married couple.
Ailill and Tani Koumori sat on the sofa with a clipboard,
notebook paper, and two pencils; apparently Ailill had learned English
from Geoffrey and Michael some millennia ago. However, his spelling was
atrocious (Yugi guessed that was what you got when you learned it from
people who had learned theirs during medieval times, before the time of
dictionaries). As a result, they were paying absolutely no attention to
the television. Sandy (whether this name was short for his real name, Alexander
Sang, or for Thousand Dragon was never clarified) was next to them, and
he more than made up for their inattention by watching C-Span.
Jinzo simply sulked in a corner.
As it was, nobody noticed Miriam's absence until
Sandy glanced out the window during an especially boring moment and said
quite casually, "Gabriel, shouldn't you stop your sister beating up people
with her staff?"
"She's not my sister, she's my cousin," Gabriel
said almost automatically, and then he had sprinted out the door. It remained
open, and everyone could hear him berating Miriam- after all, Job only
did what his Master told him to do.
***
"I'm very sorry about this," said Gabriel.
Job shrugged, then winced and grabbed the guilty
shoulder. "'s my fault for landing and changing right in front of the shop."
"I hope nobody saw you."
"Somebody did," said Sandy, "but with you as you
are now, that person'll probably be smart enough to not go 'round claiming
they saw a dragon in front of a shop."
Job gave Sandy a long look. "How old're you? You
talk really smart for someone old as you look."
Sandy beamed. "Ten or so right now, but I'm very
old for my age."
Job nodded, comprehending. "Oh yeah- Time Wizard,
right?"
"That's right!"
"Oh, that reminds me- where're my bags?"
Yugi immediately ran out and got the bags. Job went
through them, at last shouting in triumph, grabbing something, and running
over to Hikari. "Hey, I've got something for you."
Hikari took one look, put the can on a convenient
side table, and kissed Job. On the mouth.
Meanwhile, Joey attempted to figure out just what
was so romantic about a can of bug spray.
Job looked up. "That reminds me, I'd better call
back."
Yugi pointed the way to the telephone; Gabriel went
off and found the phone book. Job looked through it, scribbled down a number,
then dialed an altogether different one after some coaching from Yugi.
Everyone in the Motou residence could hear the shout
from the other end of the line, even if they couldn't really make out the
words.
"HELEN? OR ARE YOU LEDA?" Job shouted right back.
"OH, RIGHT, YOU'RE MACHA. RIGHT. WHAT?" By now, everyone in the same room
with him was holding their ears and wincing. "RIGHT… I DON'T THINK SO!"
Fifty percent of the people in the room decided the best course of action
was to leave to avoid ear damage. "I AM NOBODY'S PET! I DON'T CARE WHAT
THE STUPID CARD SAYS, I'M NO MORE A PET THAN YOU'RE A DINOSAUR!" (At this
point, Black Jade had a laughing fit) "YOU GOT THAT, LEDA? OH, RIGHT, YOU'RE
MACHA. RIGHT."
Long pause. "I'LL CALL YOU BY YOUR NAME IF I DAMN WELL WANT TO! I REALLY
DON'T GIVE A DAMN WHAT SHE SAYS, MACHA. SHE CAN COME DOWN TO DOMINO AND
TELL ME TO MY FACE! MACHA!"
"Um, Job DelaSangre," Gabriel ventured, "I don't
believe it's necessary to shout so loud."
"She's shouting louder," Job shot back, then returned
to the phone. He listened for only a second before flinging it across the
room. Sandy caught it and switched it off.
"I think," he said, "we had better be all getting
back where we came from. That includes Jade." Then, when the Puzzle glowed
and Yami lifted an eyebrow, "C'mon, just for one night. Please?"
Yami acquiesced. "You may be very old for your age,"
he said, "but that doesn't mean you can't have the charisma of a child."
"I choose to take that as a compliment."
"It was a compliment."
Sandy, Brendan, and Jinzo returned to their cards,
while Geoffrey, Jade, and Ken (who was doing a very accurate impression
of Black Jade, plus an insane, Toon-esque grin) accompanied Joey into the
night.
***
"All right, whose turn is it to look after Kyo?"
A hand shot up. "Okay, then, Tommy-"
"Esper," Danny cut in, "Tommy has a big test tomorrow.
The times tables. I'll do his turn this time, if that's all right with
him."
Tommy took out the lollipop, now nearly down to
nothing. "Sure it's all right." The lollipop went back in, then he jerked
it out again. "But don't you have a big test tomorrow too, Danny?"
"Sure, but that's different. I know all that stuff
upside down and around and around."
Charlie shrugged. "I don't have a big test tomorrow.
I'll look after Kyo."
Esper shook his head. "You just went last night!"
"No, I didn't. I fell asleep. You really went last
night, Esper. You did."
Tommy's lollipop finally gave out completely. He
threw the stick into the garbage. "Wait, didn't that card Esper won come
to life? We could get him to look after Kyo."
Danny yelped. "Are you crazy? It's a dragon! Dragons
ate people! It's evil! We can't trust it with Kyo! Kyo's not a glass of
apple juice, Tom!"
"Of course I know Kyo's not a glass of apple juice!"
Tommy yelled right back. "For one thing, I can drink apple juice!"
Esper picked up Kyosuke in question, who had begun
to cry. He fumbled around for the bottle. "Tom, Danny, stop it. I'll watch
Kyo. But," he said before Charlie could protest, "it'll help me do it.
It won't eat Kyo. At least not when I'm watching."