Griff: *playing Dungeon Dice Monsters on a red GameBoy Advance SP, completely oblivious to everything*
Donovan: *whacks Griff with his sword*
Griff: *doesn't notice*
CD: *begins climbing up towards Griff's shoulders*
Chibi Zechs (b-day pressie from Slink!): *follows him*
CD/CZ: *shriek into Griff's ears*
Griff: *glasses break* *blinks* Whaaa...?
Donovan: *taps foot* Well?
Griff: *fixes glasses with Authoress Powers* Well what?
Donovan: Aren't you going to write the Epilogue?
Griff: *pouts* I was waiting for SDGD to review the last chapter.
Donovan: *but you promised yourself to finish the story by your birthday, which happens to have been two weeks ago. So write! *drags Griff to the computer*
Griff: Awww...
Chibi Zechs: *waves* Gwiff dowsn't own Yu-Gi-Oh!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dragon's Daughter, Demon's Hope
Epilogue
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Donovan stood staring up at the KaibaCorp skyscraper, so unlike anything in Arthur's time. Soon he would be going back to England with Alvis, as well as a few of the Japanese students for the second half of the exchange program – Ryou, Malik Ishtar, Otogi Ryuuji, and Rex Raptor. He had yet to meet the latter two.
A short boy, a bit taller than Yugi, walked past him, hands in his pockets, whistling tunelessly. He wore a green hat over his brown-and-purple hair, and he stopped to look Donovan over with his brown {?} eyes.
Donovan turned and looked down, eyeing the boy curiously. Was this a whole city of short people? "What?"
The shorter boy shrugged. "Nothing. You just reminded me of someone I know."
Donovan raised his eyebrows. "Oh? And who is this person?"
"Well, he's not a person, exactly..." The boy suddenly found his shoes very interesting.
"A Duel Monster?" Donovan thought he was on to something, because the boy looked up in surprise.
"Yeah, actually."
"A dragon?"
Blink. "Yeah... How'd you know?"
Donovan pulled Alvis's Serpent Night Dragon card from his coat and showed it to the boy. "Because that's me."
The boy's jaw hit the ground. "You mean – Who are you?"
"A knight." He extended his hand. "Donovan. And you are...?"
"Rex Raptor, dino-duelist." He shook the hand. Donovan noted that this was one of those going on the exchange trip to England. "And this is Dar." Rex drew out his own card. Donovan stepped back as the long, sinewy Serpent Night Dragon materialized before him, then shrank, then became a human teenager.
As could be expected, Dar bore similarities to Donovan. But his hair was perhaps a shade darker than Donovan's, his eyes dark blood while the knight's were sapphire blue, and there was an overall more feral look about him.
They studied each other for a while, red eyes finally meeting blue. Donovan smiled thoughtfully. "I believe we have a lot to talk about."
* * * * *
As it turned out, Dar's story was much like Donovan's own. The Serpent Night Dragon was his natural form, having been formed from the few good parts of the soul of a wicked knight, as was dictated on his card. He'd been adopted into the DelaSangre family by his "cousin" Job, Mai Valentine's Harpie's Pet Dragon. Mai lived in the same apartment building as Esper Roba, who had actually won Dar from Rex in the Battle City tournament. But then Shadi and Senui, the spirit of the Scales, had intervened. Rex became the temporary keeper of the Scales, and with their help regained Dar from Esper. All this had happened while many of the prominent duelists of Domino had discovered that a simple wish for the appearance of a Duel Monster would cause that monster to come alive. [A/N: If you want more on this, read "Ways to Drive an Esper Psycho" by the wonderful TobyKikami. Thanks so much for letting me use Dar, Toby!]
* * * * *
"Darn!" Alvis poked at Ryou's Dark Necrophia, which had just taken out the last of her Life Points. "You're too good, Ryou."
"I'd like to think so." He and Alvis were positioned at the far ends of their airplane seats so as to make room to duel, Alvis almost toppling into the aisle across which Bakura and Zekel Sha were snoring contentedly, empty coffee cups scattered around them. Malik was conversing quietly with his yami in Egyptian, and Rex and Dar were simply gazing at the strange cloud formations outside Rex's window.
Otogi had taken a miniature holographic Dungeon Dice Monsters board out of his backpack and begun playing against himself. Donovan put down the book he had been reading and, surprising everyone, pulled a small bag from his pocket and poured an assortment of dice into his hand. "Care for a game?" he asked Otogi.
Otogi shrugged. "Sure."
Alvis looked up from counting her losses to Ryou – twenty-seven. "I didn't know you knew Dungeon Dice Monsters, Donovan. How long have you been playing?"
"Longer than you." He gestured vaguely, indicating the whole group.
"Somehow I doubt that," Otogi said incredulously. "I invented the game."
"In this era, perhaps. But I've been playing for centuries."
Otogi was looking increasingly confused. "You're not one of those Millennium Item spirits, are you?"
Donovan laughed. "I'm not that old." He pulled one side of the Dungeon Dice Monsters board toward himself. "Shall we begin?"
* * * * *
Otogi was growing more and more frantic as Donovan calmly maneuvered his Dungeon Path around Otogi's, closing in on his Die Master from the side. His low-level dice provided quick summonings, allowing him to build a path across the board while his opponent only had a few monsters on the board.
Donovan finally reached Otogi's Heart Points with his team of Knight of Twin Swords, Flame Swordsman, and Dancing Elf. He attacked with each of them, taking out all of the teenager's Heart Points.
Otogi slumped in defeat as his Die Master dissolved. "Why can't I win at my own game anymore?" he asked the ceiling.
"I wouldn't worry about it. There's only two people I could never beat. One of them was Merlin."
The younger boy blinked. "Merlin...?"
Donovan sighed. "Never mind."
* * * * *
"Mom, we're all at least sixteen years old. I think we can walk the mile from here to the house. Besides, there are—" Alvis broke off her first English conversation since arriving in Japan to count the people standing around the airport payphone. "There are six of us. We wouldn't all fit in the car." There was a pause as Alvis listened to her mother. "Yes, I'm sure we'll be all right." She covered the mouthpiece to ask her friends a question. "You'll all eat pizza, right?" Nods and murmurs of assent, then back to the phone. "Yep, that's fine. We'll see you in about fifteen minutes, then. Bye!" She hung up and hefted her bags. "Well, let's get going."
So as not to alarm Alvis's parents, the three yamis had returned to their soul rooms, and Dar was in his card. All were likely asleep.
"Pizza? In England?" Malik mused. "Isn't that an American thing?"
"My mom's American. She treats us to pizza or hamburgers once in a while."
"Ah."
Ryou watched as the houses thinned out, and at the same time grew bigger, eventually becoming mansion-like. He eyed the more frequently appearing pillars and balconies, and tried to force out of his mind the notion that Alvis's parents would be the rich snobs the houses seemed to suggest. They couldn't be, or it would have been evident in their daughter's personality.
They finally reached Alvis's house – one of the larger ones. "Somehow, I'm not surprised," Donovan commented.
"Hm?" Alvis rang the doorbell.
The knight grinned. "After all, one could argue that your father is the rightful king of England."
"Wh-what?" the girl spluttered.
Otogi, Rex, and Malik stared in puzzlement.
Ryou looked thoughtful. "He's right, you know. Being descended from Arthur does give him a claim to the throne."
"Please don't mention that to my mother," Alvis hissed as footsteps approached. "She would completely flip out."
The door swung oven, revealing a smiling, middle-aged woman with Alvis's brown hair.
"Hi, Mom," Alvis grinned.
The girl's mother swept her into a bear hug as the five boys hung back awkwardly. "I missed you so much," she whispered fiercely into Alvis's ear.
"Mom, you're embarrassing me."
"Oh. Sorry." She dropped a quick peck on her daughter's cheek before releasing her and turning towards the other teenagers. "Can you tell me who your friends are?" she asked, peering up curiously at Donovan.
Alvis gestured to each of the boys in turn. "This is Ryou, my pen pal, you should remember him from the photos he's sent. And this is Rex Raptor, Malik Ishtar – he's from Egypt, originally – Otogi Ryuuji, who created Dungeon Dice Monsters. And this is Donovan."
"A pleasure to meet you, ma'am," Donovan said courteously as he shook Mrs. Drake's hand, guided by lingering remnants of chivalry.
She smiled winningly at him before leading the group of six into a large hallway. "The pizza's in the kitchen." She abruptly slapped her hand to her forehead. "Alvis, I forgot to tell you. Max dropped by this morning. He—"
"Mom, he flew all the way from the United States and you say he 'dropped by'?"
Mrs. Drake laughed. "Right. Anyway, he's sleeping upstairs, so when you show the boys to their rooms make sure you don't wake him up. Jet lag, you know."
Alvis let out a huge yawn herself, which set everyone else off. "Speaking of jet lag, I think ours is setting in. We'd better eat now, then go to bed."
"Good idea." They trooped into the kitchen, where the hot, homemade pizza was waiting for them.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Griff: *stretching* Weeell, I think that's enough for now. It's already, what, four pages long? More? I'll try to get the next part up by next week, so—
Donovan: *chaining Griff to the chair*
Griff: Drat.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Donovan woke to near pitch-blackness. He turned over to look at the glowing clock on the bookshelf beside him – three o' six. Very early by modern standards. But he felt completely awake.
He pulled on a green bathrobe before setting out to find his way back to the kitchen and a glass of water. He almost fell over the copy of The Light Beyond the Forest by Rosemary Sutcliff he had fallen asleep reading, one of a slew of Arthurian novels Alvis had dug up for him. It was pretty good, except for the fact that Mordred was portrayed as a sadistic nutcase with delusions of grandeur.
After a minimal amount of actual searching, Donovan found the kitchen, but realized as he maneuvered his way toward the refrigerator that he was not the only one who had slept off jet lag so quickly.
Alvis was sitting at the kitchen counter in a too-big tie-dyed t-shirt and blue yoga pants, chatting casually with a silver haired man, his back to Donovan, dressed in a purple bathrobe liberally peppered with odd pink rabbits in red overalls. [A/N: You know who he is now, yes? *snark*]
Donovan grabbed a glass from the cupboard and the pitcher of water from the fridge before muttering a "good morning" to Alvis and sitting down beside her.
"Hey, Donovan. This is Max. Max, Donovan."
Max was a young man, good-looking, and upon close inspection Donovan could see that his left eye was glass. He nodded to Donovan, and the knight returned the nod. There was something familiar about Max, but he couldn't think what... He looked like Merlin, that was it. A much younger version of Merlin – and both of them bore a resemblance to Zekel Sha, the spirit of the Eye.
"I play Toon World, which makes my Ryu-Ran a Toon..." Donovan suddenly realized that they were dueling, using a miniature holographic board much like Otogi's Dungeon Dice Monsters one. The red dragon-in-an-eggshell on Max's side of the field made a popping sound and it became suddenly more cuddly-looking.
Donovan grinned at the tiny Serpent Night Dragon hovering a few inches in the air in front of Alvis. The girl was frowning. "Where's a De-Spell when you need one?" But a smile slowly spread over her face. "Gah... Those things are just too cute!"
Max chuckled. "I think I'll play Dragon Capture Jar now, and take your dragon." Alvis's face fell. "So, the dragon's in the jar, and it's your move."
His opponent began mumbling incoherently as she drew her next card. She glared at it, then laid it on the monster card part of the field in defense position. "Go ahead, Max."
"Alrighty then." He drew, and beamed. "Just what I was looking for. Dragon Piper, in attack mode." The purple creature appeared, and began tooting on its flute, seemingly picking notes at random. The Serpent Night Dragon arose from the Dragon Capture Jar and – pop! – became a rounder, larger-eyed, utterly more adorable version of itself. [A/N: I drew this in my Latin notebook. Kawaii! *huggles Toon SND* This is basically the dragon version of CD, y'know.]
Donovan twitched slightly, and blinked at the sparkly-eyed little creature bouncing around across from him. "Oh, boy..."
The girl beside him was close to falling off her stool in fits of hysterical laughter.
It was at that moment that Rex Raptor and Dar DelaSangre entered the kitchen, Rex in dinosaur-print pajamas, Dar in a red bathrobe. Both of them saw the Toon Serpent Night Dragon before anything else.
Rex simply let his jaw hit the floor, but Dar let his thoughts be known. "Tell me that isn't what I think it is," he demanded, a quivering finger pointed at the small, rubbery blue dragon.
Alvis blinked at him and nodded. Dar twitched and went to sit next to Donovan, his head in his hands. Rex joined him, once he had acquired a bowl of cereal.
Ryou Bakura arrived next, looking extremely tired and grumpy, muttering something about homicidal caffeine addicts. "Please tell me you have a coffee machine."
His hostess pointed toward the side counter, and there indeed was a coffee machine. Ryou made his way around the counter in the direction of the blessed appliance. When he kissed a very surprised Alvis on the cheek and told her she was the most wonderful person in the world, it became obvious to everyone there that he was not used to being woken quite this early by the mad Egyptian spirits sharing his body.
The white-haired boy filled the machine with coffee beans and turned it on before finding a place at the counter, falling asleep beside Max, who he seemed not to have identified yet.
* * * * *
After the duel had been finished (Alvis having been clobbered by the Toon Serpent Night Dragon) and the holographic board had been put away, Alvis had pulled out some more bowls and spoons and an assortment of cereals. The smell of coffee was beginning to permeate the kitchen when—
"COFFEE! COFFEECOFFEECOFFEECOFFEE!!!!"
The spirit of the Millennium Ring, clad only in a pair of Man-Eater Bug boxer shorts, sprang into the kitchen, landing, cat-like, on all fours. He paused to sniff the air, and leaped over the counter, snatching the coffee pot. The spirit clutched the pot to his chest as if it was his first-born son, and snickered evilly as Zekel Sha appeared, panting, at an only slightly more sedate pace, though he had taken the time to don a bathrobe.
"Too slow!" Bakura cackled, grabbing a mug from the counter and pouring himself a cupful of the hot brown liquid. Then, surprising everyone, he tossed to the spirit of the Eye another mug and the coffee pot, still grinning triumphantly. Zekel Sha deftly caught both and began pouring out his own share.
Bakura suddenly caught sight of Max, who was eyeing him with a mixture of anger and fear. The spirit almost spit out his coffee. "Why are we eating breakfast with Maximillion Pegasus?!?!"
Unnoticed by the others, Zekel Sha had darted out of the kitchen.
Bakura's eyes suddenly gleamed with excitement, and he drew the Millennium Ring from a pocket. He held it up, pointing it in Max's direction.
The reinventor of Duel Monsters toppled his stool over in an effort to distance himself from Bakura, and backed away as the tomb robber advanced. "What more do you want from me?" he demanded. "You have the Eye!"
Before Bakura could answer, he was knocked to the ground, courtesy of Alvis and Ryou. "You're not killing anyone, yami," Ryou said decidedly. His yami pouted as well as he could with his face mashed into the floor.
"I can explain," sighed Alvis. "I think I already told you that my mom's American. She introduced me to Duel Monsters when it first came out six years ago. I was hooked right away, and started spending all my money on cards." She grinned. "I was quickly broke, but I got to be pretty good at the game, and competed in a few tournaments. When I got to be Regional Champion – and only because everyone else around here is really pathetic, mind you–"
"You beat Morgan," Bakura pointed out, his voice muffled.
"Luck," Alvis insisted, "and some intervention on Ryou's part – and yours. Anyway, after I won the regional tournament I met Max." She shrugged. "And the rest is history. We somehow managed to become friends." Alvis glanced down at the spirit she was sitting on top of. "If we let you up, will you promise not to kill anyone?"
"Yes," Bakura replied, rather reluctantly.
Alvis nodded, and she and Ryou stood up. Bakura climbed to his feet, and contented himself with finding a place at the counter and shooting murderous glances at Max from behind a bowl of Rice Krispies.
Max, in the meantime, had righted his own stool and perched upon it. "Actually, the reason I'm here is because I was planning another tournament, just for Europe, and I thought you might like to help." He smiled brightly at the others, apparently confident that Bakura's promise would hold him. "Since you're here, you could enter – you'll be here for the next month, right?" Nods all around. "Great!" Max leaned forward conspiratorially. "I was thinking it should work something like Duelist Kingdom, with the star chips and suchlike, but with updated rules…" So began the tournament the champions of which would be named the Duelists of the Roses.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Griff: Well, I think I like that ending. I'm done! Yippee! *throws confetti* I know the entire story is completely disjointed, and the prologue is obscenely messed-up, so I'm going to fix it up a bit and re-post it. But only after I've done the prequel.
Donovan: Oog...
Griff: Yep, the prequel! What happened to Donovan in King Arthur's time! Sorcery, swordfighting, Dungeon Dice Monsters... I've got a preview up on FictionPress! It's posted as "Dragon's Cove," and is actually the result of an English assignment. Go read it! But anyway, version 1.5 of DDDH will include added scenes, fixed-up scenes, and references to the prequel. As for the sequel (yes, the sequel), I've got a plot planned out, but I'm not going to give anything away. After you've read (and reviewed!) "Dragon's Cove," read TobyKikami's "Ways to Drive an Esper Psyco" for more of Dar. It's one of the greatest things on FanFiction. If you're looking for more Donovan, read Millennium Slinky's "Welcome to Camelot?" It's very funny! *watches Donovan chase Seth around, sword drawn* *snark*
Ethelflaed – Close enough! You get a cameo anyway, because you are a wonderful authoress! Fear the Millennium Bamboo! MOO!! Hey, that rhymes!
Silvie – The ice cream - not quite, but because you're a great person you get a cameo anyway. Yay! *hides from the Random Stick* *helps you glomp Sirius* *Helps you glomp Baku-chan, too* *is sent to the Shadow Realm* *crawls out*
TobyKikami – I love it when people think I'm funny! Well, Rex is here, and so is Dar!
Skyla – This chapter's longer! By quite a bit!
WolfYoukai64 – Ladies and gentlemen, we have a winner! You get a cameo! Congrats! I know how you feel about school... *watches smoke pour out of own ears* By the way, are you ever going to get back to writing Icetor?
Fade – I can too handle a review! Maybe that sugar wasn't a good idea...
Alex Warlon – I know you! You read Toby's stuff! But anyhoo... Arthur and Merlin weren't really supposed to be evil (if you read the rest of the story you'll have seen that Merlin isn't nearly as mean as he seems), but, as I said, the entire story's kind of disjointed. The card seemed to make the most sense out of anything, and I know they had some kind of playing cards in Medieval England. This IS my own, original work. If by the "original fanfiction" you mean "Ways to Drive an Esper Psycho," Donovan is NOT Dar. What gave you that idea? He's a completely different person.
SDGD – Where are you? Is your computer broke? I miss you!
Donovan: *returns, out of breath*
Griff: *randomly huggles Donovan, CD and Chibi Zechs*
Donovan: ^_^;;
CD: *waves* Bye-bye!
Griff: Yeah. Bye for now, and please review! How about this – anyone who reviews this chapter gets a "Road Trip" cameo, if you didn't already. *watches reviewers run away in terror* *blinks* Was it something I said?