Actually, Millennium Slinky, the dragons having human forms wasn't my idea. It came from The Dragon DelaSangre by Alan Troop (and, as you can guess, that's where I got Dar and Job's surname). So it's not mine to give permission for. But I don't think the author of that book's running around suing people who use it.
WARNINGS: I'm probably stretching the definition of PG-13 here. This story contains Millennium Item loans, same-sex relationships, swearing, implied sex, et cetera.
DISCLAIMER: There's a very simple way to tell if I own Yu-Gi-Oh: Go outside and see if there are flying pigs. I do, however, own a dueling deck. If only there was someone to duel...
*blows whistle* "Violation!"
-Mokuba (and I meant nothing perverted by this quote. He was
referring to a rule violation)
Ten: With Justice for All
The intruder who was named Malik had departed after his conversation with an unknown person, vowing to return. Shortly afterward Aaron shoved their Master (now reduced to incoherent babbling) back into the bedroom, informing him in a tone that, as always, exuded extreme lack of patience, that he was in no condition to be running around.
When this operation was completed, Aaron turned back to Cassiel. "Well?" he said. "Why don't we leave?"
And this time Cassiel had no objections.
***
"Rex! Hey, Rex!"
As Rex opened his mouth to reply, Dar grabbed his
arm. "Come on. We have to be at Kaiba Corp. at three-thirty."
"What for?"
"To get what's yours," said Dar. "That's what for."
"You mean…"
Dar nodded. "I hope you kept your duel disk."
***
"Everyone," said Téa, "I'd like you to meet
Angela."
Of course Angela wasn't the little puffball with
a halo that she was in the picture on the card.
She had pale blond hair in twin braids with wide
shiny ribbons, and big blue eyes that in proportion to the beatific face
rivaled those of Yugi and Téa. She looked to be around seven or
eight, and she didn't look at all real. She looked like a painting from
a maybe-fictional time where most girls actually wore dresses like hers
on a daily basis. It was white, or at least Joey thought it was; there
was so much ruffles and lace and ribbon that it was hard to be sure. "Hello,
friends of Téa. It is a pleasure to meet you."
As Joey struggled to come up with a suitable response,
Yugi took over. "It's nice to meet you, Angela."
Joey grinned nervously and nodded. "Same here."
Out of the corner of his eye he saw the guy who
had been in the boys' bathroom that Monday- the guy who, he had been informed,
was Dar DelaSangre, Rex Raptor's (now Esper Roba's) Serpent Night Dragon.
That had been followed up by some decidedly crude transformations by Ken,
culminating in Geoffrey pursuing Ken around the house, demanding he take
it back and that they weren't like that. In the interests of the structure
of the Wheeler house, not to mention his own sanity, Joey had finally wished
Ken back into the card.
Dar was speaking to Rex about something (Joey couldn't
hear for the noise), and all of a sudden Rex's eyes widened and they both
began running for somewhere.
Joey was diverted from his observation by Tristan
waving a hand in front of his face. "Hello, Earth to Joey, are you there?
Or are you dreaming about Jay again?"
Joey blushed but raised no objection.
***
Mokuba began to prepare immediately after getting
home, after telling Chihiro that yes, he had gotten her message. He cleaned
up the room Seto had designated as the Tournament Commissioner's office,
straightening the paperwork scattered across the desk into neat piles so
it at least looked like he had total control of things.
Then, at three-twenty, he sat at the desk (he had made certain that
the chair had wheels, in case he got bored) and started on his math homework
while waiting for Serpent Night Dragon's appearance. He didn't wait long.
"Mokuba," said Jane, "Mr. DelaSangre and Mr. Raptor
have arrived. Shall I open the doors?"
"Yes, please."
The doors slid open and two people entered before
they just as quickly slid shut. Jane was extremely efficient.
Rex Raptor- Mokuba recognized him from the Domino
Regionals. He also vaguely remembered seeing him standing next to Joey
Wheeler during the latter's duel with Esper Roba. He had left the pertinent
Battle City files open on the computer; the one on top delineated Rex's
first and last tournament battle. Mokuba noted, with some amusement, that
a math textbook had been half-jammed into his bag. Then again, he thought
as he swept his math off the desk, he was equally guilty.
But Dar DelaSangre he could never recall having seen anywhere before.
Maybe that was to be expected- Chihiro had warned him, after all. Unlike
Rex, he looked directly at Mokuba, and that combined with his eye color
made Mokuba feel distinctly unnerved.
He decided to get right down to business. "I'm the
Battle City Tournament Commissioner. Please take a seat." Much to Mokuba's
relief, there was no lifting of eyebrows or condescending tone. They both
sat down; Mokuba scooted the chair away from the computer so he was looking
straight at them. "You claim there has been a wrongful disqualification?"
Dar looked like he would like to put it in stronger
terms, but he nodded.
"I'm very sorry, but I don't have the authority
to issue locator cards."
"You could take them back, though," said Dar, "if
the current owner cheated to get them. Couldn't you?"
Mokuba blinked. "Someone cheated? Do you have proof?"
"He was wearing a headset." Those eyes, to be honest,
were freaking Mokuba out. He kept on thinking about how good guys on TV
never had red eyes. "And I doubt he was listening to music. He constantly
stated the cards in Rex's hand, and the ones he had just played. The face-down
ones. Does that sound like cheating to you? It does to me."
Mokuba nodded- he had to. It did, indeed, sound
like cheating. "Do you have evidence?"
"Excuse me- Mokuba?" Mokuba spun the chair around.
"I'm sorry about interrupting," said Sapphire, "but according to onee-sama,
Dar is really Serpent Night Dragon, and he was looking straight at the
opponent since there's not much else to do, so of course he'd see that
kind of thing."
"Oh, it's okay, Sapphire," said Mokuba. He spun
back. "Can you provide me with the name of the alleged cheater?"
"Esper Roba," said Rex. "At least that's what he
called himself."
Great. Just great. Whatever it takes, don't tell
these two what you told the Roba brothers. I know they'll take it the wrong
way.
"Well, this will take time to sort out. You see,
Esper Roba's out of the tournament, too. He lost his only rare card."
They weren't falling for it. "I know that," said
Rex. "But does that mean he gets away with it?"
"Mokuba," said Sapphire, "With all due respect,
I think you should go after that guy, who cares if he's in Battle City
anymore. Wouldn't you want to go after Pegasus? He wasn't exactly the fairest
player, either. And you're willing to let this Roba off scot-free?"
And now I'm between a dragon and a hard place.
"That's different, Sapphire," said Mokuba. "Esper
Roba never tried to take over Seto's company."
"Even if Pegasus hadn't tried that," said Sapphire,
"cheating is still cheating. If Pegasus was in Battle City-"
"Seto would never give him a duel disk."
"- I'm speaking hypothetically, all right? If Pegasus
was in Battle City, and you saw him spying on someone's cards, you'd throw
him out, wouldn't you? If anyone else was spying on someone's cards, they'd
be disqualified, right? And you'd make sure the locator cards got back
to whoever he cheated them from, right?"
"… yes."
"So how is this any different?"
"It's not like that!"
Open mouth. Insert foot.
***
Esper had just about had it with Serpent Night Dragon.
Running in and out all the time, being a smart aleck and simultaneously
buying things for Esper's brothers, like they were homeless or something…
He nearly took the card and ripped it in two. Only, he had no idea how
this worked. The destruction of the card might, heaven forbid, actually
make Serpent Night Dragon stuck in this dimension forever. He couldn't
risk such a thing.
At least that was what he told himself.
He dashed off his homework and took off for his
job at a pace that would have earned him an easy A in PE.
***
"Hikari?"
Hikari pushed herself up and stretched. "Mm?"
Job began to fidget with the collar again. "I was
just wondering… about Bakenrenef."
"Him? Well, for one thing he's currently sharing
a body. Tell you what, if you ever come up with proof of infidelity, I'll
let you stone me." Hikari grinned. "More faithful than the Lady herself,
hm?" She tipped her head to one side and waited for a familiar outraged
shout from a certain knight, but apparently he had other things to do.
"Although I can't compare to her in terms of…"
"Don't say it," said Job. "What good is that stuff,
anyway? Our species must propagate otherwise it will die out, therefore
we have the right to mess around."
Hikari laughed. "I think someone's been reading
Yugi's schoolbooks. Bakenrenef said Elaine's been looking about for someplace
where she can do the thing with Michael that allows them to propagate
with abandon."
"It's called a church. Possibly a cathedral."
She groaned. "You don't have to rub it in."
"Sorry."
"So, how long has it been? Two-three thousand years?
I think we'd better get on with it if we ever want to propagate,
don't you think so?"
Job nodded. "But I get to be on top."
***
"Um… I mean…"
Rex Raptor spoke. His voice was low like a match
struck in a dark room and held to a pile of paper, preparing to burst into
angry flames. "You mean… you knew he was cheating? And you didn't do anything
about it? You just sat there and watched him walk off with my cards?"
"Look, it's not like that, I mean, I, well…"
"Dar," said Rex, "Thanks, but I don't think I want
to re-enter. I'll probably just get cheated out all over again."
"Believe me," Mokuba yelled, "if I'd been informed
of this incident earlier I would not have let him off!"
Dar crossed his arms. "And now you're blaming us?"
"I am not!" Mokuba knew only too well how he was
sounding. He sighed and leaned back. "It's like this…"
By the time he had said "this" the doors had slid
shut.
"Mokuba," said Sapphire, "if I've got the words
right, you're in a fix, aren't you?"
"Yep," said Mokuba. "I'm in a fix."
***
Cassiel had expected something horrible to happen
when he touched the card, but the only thing he felt was a slight shock
and then nothing.
They performed the transportation spell in the room
with the tiles, standing in the center of it and Aaron putting one hands
palm-down on top of one of Cassiel's hands which was held out palm-up.
They used their spare hands to grab their staffs, and Aaron shouted words
that Cassiel had forgotten if he had ever known them (then again, Cassiel
preferred the silent brand of magic) and then Cassiel shut his eyes and
left.
It happened much quicker than Cassiel had been able
to do on his own. Aaron located it and the spell was completed in a matter
of moments.
Cassiel expected Aaron to be the one who gave them
the news, but instead Aaron gave him a shove toward the door. Cassiel pushed
it open and said, "Gabriel? Miriam? We have a favor to ask."
***
Look at all that chocolate! The expensive kind,
too!
Shadi automatically turned to look in the store
window. You know, Scale, you're not helping at all.
And when did I say I wanted to help, hippopotamus-mouth?
Scale, please, at least try to be polite!
Oh, shut up, you're a hippopotamus-mouth too.
Shadi's eyes moved to the boat in the harbor. Lady
of Fate. Registered to one Terrence Merrick of Lantern City. He had paid
a visit to Isis Ishtar, who supplied him with a photocopy of the driver's
license of "Terrence Merrick" ("I was informed you would need it," she
told him).
Of course, Malik Ishtar of Egypt had been immediately
identified.
Law enforcement surrounded the boat, waving away
the curious. A television news reporter (several, in fact) stood nearby,
yelling into microphones. The law enforcement was apparently asking them
to leave; they continued on regardless concerning the Abnormal Incident
that had occurred aboard the boat.
Talk about the cosmic balance being upset- no, upset
wasn't the right word, it implied a single weight giving the slightest
favor to one side. It was more to the effect of a cosmic hand grabbing
a cosmic sledgehammer and smashing the cosmic balance beyond recognition.
Isis had also provided him with news reports on
this and another Abnormal Incident. Shadi compared them and found undeniable
similarities. There were no known witnesses to the first occurrence (the
children found outside the school weren't talking) and the alleged perpetrator
of the second occurrence had been reported to not make any physical contact
whatsoever with the crew of Lady of Fate. Too, there had been no medical
explanation for the unconscious state of either the children or the crew.
And in the second incident, witnesses had reported
that the perpetrator had dark hair and an unusual eye color- either red
or brown.
Unless Shadi was very, very mistaken (in which case
Scale would never hear the end of it), the monsters of the Shadow Games
were materializing in Domino City, and even a few in its northern neighbor
Lantern. If that wasn't upsetting the cosmic balance, nothing was.
He had spent a time going through the Duel Monsters
with red eyes. There were many, and in the end he had despaired of any
clues from that avenue.
So now he was paying a visit to the one who hopefully
had regained his memories by now.
A telephone directory (though it contained addresses
as well) had revealed to him the location of Yugi Motou's residence. There
was even a map. But the map didn't look much like how the streets really
were; it took longer than he had expected to find the Turtle Game Shop.
He pushed open the door and an impulse struck him
to turn and bolt, run back to Egypt screaming all the way. Shadi had long
ago learned to disregard impulses as vestiges of a childish mindset, but
this time he was extremely tempted.
A hand reached up and brushed back dark purple hair.
She bowed by putting her spinal cord at a slight angle with her legs, tilting
her head downward, and then returning to her original position. It looked
formal even from her position behind the cash register. "May I help you?"
Shadi permitted Ankh to slide words into his mouth,
as he himself was rendered temporarily mute. "I would like to see Yugi
Motou. And may I ask your name?"
"If you give me yours. Tani Koumori."
"Shadi."
Tani Koumori- or rather, Koumori Dragon- did not
comment on his lack of a surname. Instead she turned and walked to another
door that led out of the store, opened it, and yelled, "Yugi! Do you know
anyone named Shadi?"
"Shadi? Oh- I'll be right there!"
Scale had decided to start grumbling. In Egypt
the monsters never addressed their masters by their given name! When they
spoke, that is! Which was almost never, because they were too stupid to-
This isn't Egypt, Shadi reminded him. Besides,
we are speaking of Pharaoh Yami. He took the advice of a Duel Monster,
you know; it stands to reason he would allow them to be somewhat informal
when addressing him.
Shadi had barely completed his thought when Scale
began to call out. I knew I wasn't really for you, you flea-bitten monkey!
Get a move on, who cares about the stupid Pharaoh?
He had felt some kind of call as well; he contemplated
it with some help from Ankh. I believe- someone has a strong desire
for justice. That is why you are attracted to him, Scale. Your Item is
supposed to bring justice.
Right then Yugi Motou himself started through the
door, the Puzzle glowing as he did. By the time he had passed through the
door proper Pharaoh Yami had taken over. "Shadi," he said. "What brings
you here?"
"I apologize for interrupting," said Shadi, "but
there have been several indications that the balance is upset. One of them
just took place. Will you excuse me for a moment?"
"Oh," he added as he was halfway out the door, "When
I return could you please inform me approximately how many Duel Monsters
you believe have left the Shadow Realm? And explain why you have permitted
them to stay?"
"Yami sighed. "With some of them, I wonder myself."
***
Shadi located this new candidate for the role of
Scale's chosen a short distance from the Kaiba Corp. building. He was about
the age of Yugi Motou, and he walked beside someone with dark hair and
eyes that were not brown but definitely red.
This boy had put the Duel Monster up to those
attacks? If so I wonder why I never recognized him as Scale's chosen one
before this.
Yes! That's him! Right there! Go on, crab-eyes!
Go on!
"Excuse me," said Shadi. "You seek justice, correct?"
The boy blinked. "I guess you could say that. Who
are you?"
Shadi held out the Millennium Scales. "Take these.
They will be a great aid to your quest, but they must be used wisely. And
never, ever think that the Scales are yours to command as you wish, to
remove all obstacles from life for you alone. Those who think that way
are often found unworthy by the Scales themselves."
Nice disclaimer. Now's the part where you hand
the Item over and let me do the rest, you idiotic moronic stupid foolish…
fool! Or I'll send you to Anubis!
Any further ranting by Scale was cut off when the
boy reached out cautiously and took hold of the Item.
Shadi- Scale's soul room has vanished!
I thought as much. Don't worry, Ankh. This boy
is Scale's chosen now, even if it's temporary.
That's what makes me worry.
The Duel Monster shattered Shadi's mental conversation.
"Are you okay?"
"Dar, I'm fine. Just fine." Scale's new chosen looked
straight at Shadi. "So what do I do with this?"
Shadi allowed himself a slight smile as Ankh fed
him information. "Its power will allow you to seek justice and find it
when normal recourses have failed." The expression on the boy's face changed
to absolute incredulity.
Probably wondering how I managed to pinpoint
exactly what he wanted, hm, Ankh?
Shadi… I hope Scale won't be with this boy for
very long. It was good of you to warn him, but that won't stop Scale from
taking control.
Not to worry, Ankh. He merely wants the power
of the Scales- he wants justice. That isn't so bad. He isn't a chosen per
se; sooner or later he'll have to return the Item, and he can cast the
Scales away whenever he likes. Though I'd rather he didn't unless in cases
of emergency.
Thank you, Shadi.
The boy had apparently recaptured his voice. "What
the-"
"I will give my name," said Shadi, "if you give
me yours."
"Rex Raptor," said the boy. "So I guess I'm supposed
to find out for myself how to use this thing?"
He had to contend with another impulse, this one
to identify himself as Terrence Merrick. "My name is Shadi. And you are
right, you are to discover the power of the Millennium Scales for yourself.
Perhaps your friend-" insert significant glance at the friend in question
"-can help you discover it. I apologize, but I really must be going."
***
"Greetings, Shadi," said Yami. "We were performing
some… ahem… experiments."
"And that was how they left the Shadow Realm?"
"No," said Yami, "we were trying to figure out how
to get them back, and we figured that out, but they didn't favor that idea.
We've reached a conclusion of sorts."
"What would that conclusion be?"
"There has been some kind of disruption in the Shadow
Realm." Yami fingered his Puzzle as he did so. "Now, apparently, whenever
someone sincerely wishes for a Duel Monster to come to life… they do."
Shadi shook his head, unconsciously denying what
was right before his eyes. "Nothing good can come of this."
Shadi, please, the Koumori Dragon was polite
enough. And they're intelligent-
They are also dangerous. Remember that book I
read? Shadi waited a moment for Ankh to look at his memories of the
contents of that book. Intelligence creates knowledge that their life
is not all it could be, which creates resentment, which makes them dangerous.
But books aren't always right! Like those histories
you read, those were wrong! They're intelligent, they should realize that
their life might not be all it could be, but it wouldn't be productive
to use violence.
Shadi waited a moment for Scale to throw in a sarcastic
remark, but then remembered Scale had gone. Thank you for that self-analysis,
Ankh.
"Excuse me," said Yami. "Have you finished your
conversation yet? I admit, one of mine has been involved in several… incidents."
"Which one?"
"Curse of Dragon." Yami sighed. "I would wish most
of them back to the Shadow Realm, especially her, but Yugi won't allow
it."
"With all due respect, they are that aggravating?"
Yami sighed and turned to the Duel Monsters
nearby, waving them away. They retreated, several with vaguely insulted
or hurt expressions. Then Yami embarked on a remarkably controlled rant.
"It is hard for Yugi to focus on his schoolwork due to the loud arguments
that often occur between Curse of Dragon and Gaia the Fierce Knight on
religious matters. Curse of Dragon and her paramour are often engaged in…
activities. Celtic Guardian is extremely discourteous towards Téa.
Summoned Skull spends much of his time cursing Maximilian Pegasus."
Someone in the next room looked around the edge
of the doorway. Shadi caught sight of wide blue eyes edged in dark strokes
contrasting with skin like that of a typical person in Egypt.
"Koumori Dragon- I suspect she aided Curse of Dragon
in the second incident. Even Dark Magician-" Yami sighed and put a hand
to his forehead. "Two of his cousins recently sought asylum here. Normally
I wouldn't object, but there is simply no place to put them!"
***
Once they were more-or-less secure in Rex's room
with the door shut, Rex reached into his bag. "Dar, that guy said you could
help me with this. Question one: How am I supposed to explain what a large
set of gold scales is suddenly doing in my room?"
"Tell them you got it from Kaiba?" Dar laughed;
there wasn't much real humor behind it. "Actually, I'd say don't explain
it." Dar proceeded to take the Scales and shove them under the bed. "What
they know won't hurt them."
"Good point." Rex took out his binder and set to
work on his geometry. Dar perched on the foot of the bed, tilting the tiger's
eye, observing the patterns it formed in the light, and ruminating.
They remained like this for around five minutes,
maybe even ten, before Rex spoke again. "Do you have any idea how to use
this?"
Dar frowned and stuck the tiger's eye back into
a jacket pocket. "Well, once in Egypt we all got dragged out so someone
could explain what they thought happened when we died- I think it was for
the benefit of Geoffrey's idiot cousin. I know scales had something to
do with it."
"Hold that thought." Rex ran to the living-room
bookcase in which the more-or-less common interests of the Raptor family
were advertised. A large section of it was devoted to paleontology- his
father had studied that in college before turning to business (he was responsible
for the older books). Rex had picked it up from him (his father had always
claimed they named him Rex after the St. Bernard his mother had had as
a kid, but he knew better. He knew the real name of the St. Bernard was
Adrian) and his own interest accounted for the newer books. But that wasn't
what he was looking for.
Ah, there it was- Professor Hawkins had given them
a book on ancient Egypt one Christmas several years ago. None of them had
been particularly interested in it, but it stayed on the shelf for the
sake of being polite. Rex yanked it off the shelf and headed back to his
room.
Once there, he turned to the index and located the
section on Egyptian religion, then handed it to Dar. Dar looked through
it some more and then shouted in triumph- a shout quickly cut short when
he remembered where he was.
***
Cassiel let out a dismayed sigh and slumped against
the wall. "You see?" he told Aaron. "They haven't got any room for us."
"Don't be ridiculous. They will."
Cassiel shook his head. "I heard him say it." He
cast a glance toward the cards, which had been left on the counter. There
was no way, he thought, that he could hope they had a place for him here.
Chihiro Snow was right- no honest Master could ever command him with his
card in the state that it was in. Ailill and Tani weren't exactly the strongest,
true, but they were still a long way above him.
Their cards, after all, were completely intact.
***
"So if they aren't telling the truth, then they can
look forward to an eternity of not being."
Rex gaped at the Scales, which were suddenly imbued
with new importance. "And you're saying these can do that?"
Dar nodded. "Yeah, I think so."
So stop yapping and let me do something
already!
This time Rex and Dar both gaped at the Scales.
Go on, fish head! Or are you too scared?
"Rex!" someone yelled outside. "Dinner!"
Rex threw the Scales under the bed while yelling
that he was coming; Dar proceeded to dive under said bed. Rex ran out the
door, not forgetting to shut it.
Dar spent maybe thirty seconds under the bed before
the Scales began to glow.
***
Dinner at the Kaiba house was either loud or quiet,
depending on who you watched. Ryuunosuke was a shrinking violet as always,
allowing himself periodic glances in Chihiro's direction. Chihiro was just
as silent, and she did not allow herself to look at anything but the food.
Seto Kaiba himself combined silence with an icy glare directed toward anyone
who dared to look in his direction.
Mokuba, on the other hand, seemed to have a cascade
of words bubbling out of his mouth- the kind of waterfall in which the
water was piped up to fall down again, in an cycle that would continue
until some piece of machinery broke down. In between sequences of bite-chew-swallow
he told jokes, he laughed at counter-jokes, he recited the events of his
day –except for the parts he had deemed boring.
Usually he spoke this way only with his brother.
But tonight he spoke to Haku and Sapphire. They were cautious at first,
but ultimately responded in kind.
This did not make Seto Kaiba at all happy.
"Yeah, ninety percent is really good." That would
be his science test. "Oh yeah, I got best in the class. But then they said
Seto'd paid the teacher to give me higher than it should be. It was lower,
actually. Because you see, they took points off because I forgot to write
in the class-"
This wasn't the way things were supposed to be.
Mokuba was supposed to tell his triumphs and disappointments to his older
brother first and foremost. Not to a couple of Blue Eyes White Dragons!
Seto was tempted to take the cards and wish with all his heart that they
would just be zapped back into them and things would go back to exactly
the way they were.
He had been perfectly happy with things the way they had been. Perfectly
happy without living breathing Duel Monsters in his house. Perfectly happy
without Jane suddenly developing a will of her own.
Perfectly happy without the one happenstance that
had wound up with him at the controls of Kaiba Corp. Take out that, and
the rest followed. He didn't even quire remember what his surname had been
back then (whatever it was it wasn't Kaiba), but he wished for that time
nevertheless.
He scraped the last bit off his plate and pushed
it away. He got up and walked for the door.
Mokuba didn't even look towards him.
***
Joey frowned at the package, hefting it, feeling
how cold it was. "Where did this come from?"
"It was just there," said Sandy. "Just there. Like
that card from yesterday."
Joey accepted this explanation and opened it. "Holy
macaroni!" This call drew Brendan and Geoffrey into the room as well. He
turned to face them. "A whole thing of rocky road!"
"You either love it," said Brendan, "or you detest
it. Am I correct about this?"
Joey hurriedly shoved it into the freezer. "I love
it! With it around I can't see how Téa's so crazy about vanilla!"
Geoffrey contemplated it for a moment. "I think,"
he said, "you should check and see if Jade stuck another hiku somewhere
in there."
"Haiku," Brendan corrected him. "It's hai-ku."
Geoffrey grinned. "I think I should go tell off
Dar. It's obvious his Nightmare Sonic Blast has interfered with the proper
workings of your mind. Just kidding," he added at Joey's expression. "Brendan's
always been like this."
"Damn."
***
"Jade!" Miriam brushed golden hair from her face.
"Lend me a dollar? Please?"
Jade pulled the pockets of the pants he had borrowed
inside-out. "No dice." Then, after seeing Miriam's expression, "No kidding,
I haven't got anything."
"You liar! I saw him give you eight for your turn!"
He sighed. "I bought ice cream, okay? A lot of ice
cream. Satisfied?"
***
Rex retreated to his room immediately after shoving
his plate into the sink. For a moment he wasn't sure he had returned to
the same room. It definitely hadn't been that neat when he'd left. This
one looked like one of those magazine ads for storage boxes.
Except none of those ads he remembered had people
sitting on the bed. One of them, of course, was Dar. The other immediately
slid off the bed, folded his arms and glared. "I leave one sloppy fool,
and what do I get? Another one!"
"You back off," Dar told him, "or I'll show you
what part of that 'evil knight' lives on."
He smirked in response. "I'd like to see you try,
you dumb dragon."
Dar looked at Rex. "I hope you don't mind." He grabbed
the Scales from their location on the bed and ran over to the window. He
then proceeded to slide it open and hold the Scales out of it, as if to
let go.
"You buffoon! You wouldn't dare!"
As Rex looked on, Dar's eyes began to shift, first
to purple, then to bright blue. He smirked in much the way the other had
done just about a minute previously. "I would, oh I would." Then back to
dark blood. "Sorry about that, Rex," said Dar. "That would be the evil
knight speaking."
What the hell, Rex reasoned with himself,
it's not like a little more insanity would hurt. He nodded.
Dar closed the window and tossed the Scales high.
They made an arc and landed on the bed once again, only this time they
were off-kilter.
Rex looked at their new companion. "What do you
want to be called?"
"Pharaoh."
"No, seriously."
"I am perfectly serious! I want to be called Pharaoh!"
"Well, then," said Dar, "you won't be called Pharaoh.
How about… Scale?"
The arms, which had come undone during Dar's bluff,
now refolded. "Figures you'd decide on what the idiot calls me."
"Rex? What's going on in there?"
Rex grabbed the Scales; their occupant, after a
curse in a thankfully low volume, vanished into them. They went back under
the bed; Dar joined them once again. "Oh," he told his father while making
sure his legs were crossed, "I was listening to something on the radio,
that's all."
"I'm not sure you should be listening to that kind
of thing-"
"Well, do you see me going psycho, Dad?"
A very long second, and then a smile. "No, my son's
as un-psycho as can be."