Disclaimer: I swear, whoever made this thing is a complete moron; I mean, of course I don't own Yu-gi-oh, like, if I did, there is no way in hell I'd be writing a stupid fic about it!!
Me: Well hello again everyone!! ^.^ It seems that I have finally returned to life and have been able to update this fic!! Okay, actually, I just had some time off. ^^;;
Yami: *sighs* I seriously don't get you.
Me: Um, that would be a good thing…I guess…. Anywho, onto the reviews!!
To QueenOfHearts3: *laughs* Yes, I do believe it is safe to assume that. Glad you liked it!!
To rox1: Thank you. ^^;; And I'll be sure to email you!!
To YamiYugigirl2k: Ok, let's see here… thank you, I will, no really I will, bye, and yes, I will see you on IM…or I did… oy vey. @.@
To K.C. Whitestar: I'm happy you thought that was funny. I figured I should enter something like that into the story, I mean, Seto and Joey together in a plane? The possibilities are endless!! Lol.
To Amiasha Ruri: It no longer lets you send emails? O.0 Now I have seen it all… Luckily my email address service hasn't resorted to that yet, but there's still time. -.-;;
To Jadesaber: Delighted you liked it, and thanks for reviewing!!
To Lobo Kendo: Indeed, the "homework hiatus" is finally over. Thank God for summer!! *cheers* Although summertime is show time, if ya know what I mean. *sighs* And yes Lobo, I'm very disappointed in you!! What is wrong with you, not being the very first to review for the chapter!? No, just kidding, don't be so hard on yourself, you know I don't mind. ^.~
To Sparky16: Glad you enjoyed it!!
To Meroko1: Why thank you. *blushes* And I'm afraid you not remembering is probably my fault, because I didn't update in so long ^^;; Sorry 'bout that!!
To ShadowKat-Shidobukatsu: Well…yes and no. If you read closely, Seto only gave Mokuba one of his BEWD, and not his deck. That will play a role later on, and maybe Mokuba will be involved too… Whoops!! Don't wanna let ya know too much!! ^.~
To Anya1: I'm very fortunate you understand my problem. Thanks for the review!!
To LilxAznxDragonz: I'm pleased you approve of this fic. I hope this chapter will not disappoint!
Yami: Hey Star, how are we going to get out of this "Summoning Realm"?
Me: Well, I can't tell you now, that would ruin the whole point of the chapter, wouldn't it? -.-;;
Yami: Oh…yeah. ^^;;
Me: *sighs*
Yugi: *laughs* I wish I could say this was uncommon…
//Quotation// - Yami to Yugi through mind talk
/Quotation/ - Yugi to Yami through mind talk
'Thought' – character thought
~*~* and so on – change of scene
**** and so on – author's notes to story or vise versa
(*.*)- author's notes put in story, but not part of it
"Quotation"- Ra/ other god talking
Chapter 10: Lord of the Dragons
***********************************************************************
You could see the fear in the dragons' eyes as the humongous winged beast materialized from the side of the dying plane. Vicious and snarling, the Blue-Eyes White Dragon was one of the most powerful beings in Duel Monsters, and, when given the order, could easily take out any that stood in its path. Its glowering blue eyes were so much like its master: fierce, determined, and cold; yet the rest of its white body was smooth and majestic, giving it the impression of something legendary and mysterious.
Seto's voice rang clearly through the bitter air, stinging it like a bee. "BLUE-EYES WHITE DRAGON, ATTACK THESE FOOLS WITH YOUR WHITE LIGHTNING! SHOW THEM WHO THE REAL DRAGON IS!" Blue Eyes responded by letting out an almighty roar, permitting rows upon rows of razor-sharp pearly-white teeth visible. With a flap of its regal wings, it raised high in the air, took off towards the Kaiser Dragon and blasted it to smithereens.
Seto decided that the dragons were less of a threat now; Blue Eyes could take care of them well by itself. Instead, he slowly and clumsily made his way back to the cockpit, for the plane was shaking even more horribly them before and through the hole he could see how fast they were falling. When he finally reached it, he was met with Yami, muttering incoherent curses under his breath and yelling in frustration as he tried desperately to gain control of the plummeting jet. He spotted Seto through the mirror above the windshield. "I CAN'T CONTROL IT! WE MIGHT HAVE TO JUMP!" He noticed a twinge of fear pass through Yami's face at the thought, but it left as quickly as it came.
Seto let out a growl of aggravation. After all he had just accomplished, it might have been for nothing. 'No…there has to be a way out of this…there just has to be!' he though frantically. His mind drifted to the other objects stored in the aircraft's compartments that might be able to help them. 'Let's see…water bottles, extra food, parachutes, blankets, air masks, a life raft, cable cord…' Seto's eyes widened. 'That's it!'
He turned to Yami. "Yami, continue attempting to keep it steady! Whatever you do, don't stop trying, do you understand?" Yami looked doubtful and perplexed, but he nodded and turned his attention back to performing the miracle of controlling the jet. Seto then turned and headed closer to Joey, who was clutching a bolted-down chair with his eyes shut and holding on for dear life. He looked up when he saw Seto coming and scrunched up his face; clearly the wind was so forceful that it stung his eyes greatly to keep them open.
Seto was right next to Joey now. His body blocked part of the air stream going into Joey's eyes so his face became slightly more relaxed. He pointed to the floor under him; his mouth was so dry from the wind he found words quite impossible to form. At first, Joey stared at him as though he was crazy, but gazing down he understood. A small latch was placed in-between the two, and looking closely one could see the outline of a small square-shaped compartment.
Joey pulled it up with enormous difficulty (again, because of the wind resistance) and found many items attached to the bottom by means of a wide back crissed-crossed elastic band that held everything in place. Seto pointed to an extremely long coil of cord and three parachutes. Following Seto's lead, Joey grabbed the selected items. He put on a parachute and gave the remaining ones to Seto, who in turn crawled over and gave one to Yami before strapping one on himself. Seto wasted no time; he knew every second counted. After making sure his parachute was fully secured to him, he once again made his way, Joey following close behind, to the hole in the side of the jet, now considerably larger than before. When the blond was right behind him, he pulled out his deck and summoned his second Blue Eyes, its white glossy skin glowing like the last.
"What are we doin'?" Joey shouted, glancing from the thick cord in his hands to Seto's dragon.
The other teen was ready. "We have to stop this plane from falling, right?" Joey made no motion, but his hazel eyes showed a clear 'yes'. Seto continued. "Then we're going to have to use the only source of power we've got – our dragons!"
Joey looked skeptical. "Are ya outa your mind? We're goin' so fast we're for sure gonna fall right off!"
"Got any other plans!?"
Joey looked straight ahead, past the new Blue Eyes, to the first that was battling fiercely with a Tri-Horned Dragon. "No." he quietly murmured.
"Well then, there's no other choice! We've got to use the dragons!" Admitting defeat, Joey sulkily nodded. "Well then, let's rock and roll." They both grinned.
"Alright then, here's what we do!" shouted Seto over the Tri-Horned Dragon, who let out an agonizing roar as it was defeated. "While building this plane I made loopholes on both of the wings to make it easier to transport. If my calculations are correct, we should be able to string the cord through them and then attach it to one of my Blue Eyes— he pointed to his second dragon, which was flying alongside the plane destroying any monsters who dared to go near it— which could get this thing under control and get us out of this mess!"
At first he thought Joey would yell at him, tell him he was crazy, that that was the stupidest thing he ever heard and it would never work – but, to his surprise, he exclaimed, "Okay then, let's go! Call your dragon over! The sooner we do it, the better if ya know what I mean!"
Seto yelled for his dragon, which obediently flew over to them after destroying yet another adversary. Besides a deep gash on its tail from what looked like a spike, it was perfectly unharmed. He took a couple of labored steps backwards, then ran and jumped, letting the wind take him. He was going so fast that if it has not been for the dragon's wing, he would have flown right off. "Come on!" he screamed to Joey as he found a dragon scale to hold onto. Joey mimicked the CEO and was soon on the dragon as well, the end of the cord swishing at his side.
Right away they got to work. First they flew to the right wing, being as steady as possible while Joey leaned over the dragon's side to look to cord through the fastening, while Seto would hold the other end. It was a very dangerous task; due to the awkward positions Joey was subjected to, he almost fell off numerous times (Seto would have to grab his legs to stop him), and occasionally Blue Eyes would have to change position so it could shoot its White Lightning at an opponent, or dodge a coming attack to keep its passengers safe. But, at long last, they finally got the cord through the second loophole. All that was left now was to somehow attach the cord to the Blue Eyes White Dragon and Seto's plan would be complete.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Yami growled yet again as the plane leaned to the right instead of straight. How they were going to get out of this one, he had no idea. The problem wasn't necessarily while they were in the Summoning Realm, here they at least had the dragons to help them out; the challenge was how on earth they were going to stop the plane from crashing into the ground without seriously injuring or even killing themselves, both in and out of the realm.
Yami had no idea what Seto was up to, but knowing him, it was probably some wild complicated plan that only he would think of. Whatever it was, he very much hoped it worked, but somehow, he had a very bad feeling about it. And that feeling was about to intensify.
At first, he thought it was an illusion of his; but then realization hit him. Through the slightly cracked windshield, a gigantic white dragon with clawed legs and arms flew in front of the jet, just to get close enough to strike. With an almighty roar and a blast of white light from its mouth, it destroyed the dragon close to it. But this was no ordinary dragon, Yami knew. Only one dragon had that presence, that roar and that attack: the Blue Eyes White Dragon. What disturbed him, however, was not the creature that flew over him; it was the people riding on it. There, on top of the dragons back, were Seto and Joey, holding on with all there might, with a long coil of yellow cord protruding from one of Joey's clenched fists. The dragon flew back overhead and was rendered once again out of sight.
'That's it,' thought Yami definitely. 'They've positively lost their minds this time.' It would have been funny if things weren't so serious.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
"Seto!" shouted Joey as he pulled the cord to release the slack. "How the hell are we gonna tie dis around a dragon? There's no way we can get dis cord under it!"
Seto grimaced when he grasped that Joey was indeed right. He now realized that his dragon was much to wide for both of them to lean over on opposite sides and grab each other's end and then tie it, no, that would definitely not work. They could, of course, have one of them stand on top of the plane and do it that way, but that was totally out of question, and possible suicidal, considering that person would have a 99% of falling off from the wind and smooth surface. Truthfully, Seto did not think this would be easy at all, in fact far from it, but now that he comprehended this, his whole plan seemed useless. Undeniably, they had done the first step of it, though it wasn't easy. But the second part… it seemed impossible now.
'Think Seto, think! You've got two dragons, cord, and a falling jet that's about to hit rock bottom. There has to be a way.'
"Seto! I think I got it!"
Seto snapped out of his thoughts and turned his attention towards Joey. While he doubted that the teen could think of a good enough plan, it was better than anything he could come up with at the moment. "What is it Joey?"
Joey cleared his parched throat. "Well, think about it… we've got two dragons out, right? So maybe we don't hafta do anything at all. I mean, they'll do anything we tell 'em to do, so basically dey could do it themselves. What I'm tryin' to say, is let 'em do the work for us."
Seto stared at Joey as if he was insane. "What the hell is that supposed to mean, 'let them do the work for us'? They can't just reach over and tie a loop around a dragon!"
"No, but they can fly, and—"
"I KNOW THEY CAN FLY!" Seto was getting angry with all of Joey's riddles. He was the kind of person who got everything told to him straight forward, and he didn't like to play mind games.
"WHAT I'M TRYIN' TO SAY, IF YOU WOULD STOP INTERUPPTIN'—" Joey literally screamed. "IS THAT WE CAN TIE THE CORD TO THE SECOND BLUE EYES AND MAKE HIM FLY AROUND THE FIRST!"
Seto said nothing for a minute. Suddenly, however, he looked like he could hug his partner, but being Seto Kaiba, that was out of the question. "Joey, you are a genius!" Joey sweatdropped. "It was nothin'."
'Of course, I should've seen it before!' "BLUE EYES!" the brunette called and his first dragon flew up besides the second. He took his end of the cord and hastily tied it to the dragon's right leg, which was not an easy task, taking into account that he had to use virtually only one hand to do it, and the constant movement from under him didn't help either. But finally, he had it done. Everything was set and ready.
'Ok, now here's where it gets tricky.' "Blue Eyes, you have to fly around this dragon and come up from under it on my side, got it?" he asked. The Blue Eyes White Dragon roared in response. It flapped its giant jagged wings and gained height, flying sideways to the other end, and then started to go down, every so often sending a White Lightning attack to the dragons in front of it (though their numbers had greatly decreased; Blue Eyes had wiped a great deal of them out).
Joey grunted in pain as the cord threatened to slip from his hands. "Seto, I'm loosing it!" he managed to sputter out with what energy he had left. Seto immediately crawled over to the middle of the dragon and grabbed the cord as well. Joey was exhausted; he could see it in his eyes, in his actions, and in his words. In fact, it appeared that he could pass out at any moment. This did not surprise Seto; Joey had been through a lot getting this plan to work, and the continuous wind blowing roughly against them took energy out of both of them. Seto knew they didn't have much time. He certainly couldn't do this by himself, and if Joey passed out… Well, he didn't want to think about it. The point was this had to happen quicker.
"COME ON BLUE EYES, FASTER!" he yelled at his dragon, which was at the moment coming up from the bottom. He looked at the cord in his and Joey's hands, and felt his stomach double over. It was starting to pull. 'No… no, it can't be to short, it just can't…' The Blue Eyes started to make its way to Seto, and the cord got increasingly tighter; so tight, that the second Blue Eyes roared in discomfort. Seto and Joey looked at each other in horror.
"Oh my God Seto… it's too short!" Joey yelled in panic.
"NO IT'S NOT! JUST PULL!" screamed Seto, refusing to believe it. He was not going to give up now, not when they had got this far. Joey didn't want to cause an argument, so he did as Seto had told.
Just when it seemed that it couldn't get any tighter, the first Blue Eyes reared its mighty head and reached its owner. Seto looked worriedly at Joey. "I can…hold it…go…"
"Joey, are you—"
"JUST GO!"
Seto was startled by Joey's spur of liveliness, but for once, did not want to get in his way. He hesitantly let go of the cord, and nearly grabbed it again when he saw Joey start to slide.
"GO!"
Seto finally made up his mind, and grabbed the cord around the Blue Eyes' foot. He weaved his hands like lightning through the cord to untie it and within mere seconds he was done. The freed Blue Eyes flew up and away towards other enemy dragons, and Seto was relived to see Joey was no longer slipping and sliding; unleashing his monster gave more length to the cord, just enough that it wasn't too short (*Ya gotta remember, this dragon is gigantic! So the rope needed to tie around its foot must be at least a fairly large amount*). Joey sighed and wiped the sweat off his forehead. "Here." Seto motioned, and Joey handed him his end of the cord. He tied the two ends together again and again, so much so that the finished knot resembled a big yellow ball. "I think that should hold it." Joey smiled.
And, with two big leaps, they landed on the unbounded Blue Eyes and headed for the plane, now flying steady and under control. They were safe. For now.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Yami exhaled heavily as he felt the plane steady out and rise. Obviously, whatever Seto and Joey had planned to do succeeded, because it was now much easier to direct the jet. He inwardly wondered what they had done to achieve such a feat, but slowly, he began to put the pieces together. 'Dear Ra… the Blue Eyes must be pulling us…' Yes, that was the only possible conclusion, since it was basically all they had that could stop a plane from falling, though he did not know how.
Yami very much wanted to look out the hole and check if Joey and Seto were okay, since he had not seen them or the dragon, but he knew that he had to steer the plane, or what was left of it anyway. And besides, if the plan worked, that was bound to mean that they managed to get to safety, right? 'Well, you never know… this is Joey and Kaiba we're talking about…'
As if to answer his puzzlement, his ears met with a soft thump and Joey's cussing, followed by Seto's. Yami felt the great nervous sensation he had before lighten a bit. They were safe. Yami decided he could spare a look behind for a few seconds. He hurriedly pried his attention from the controls to his two friends, who were practically collapsing from exhaustion. He immediately grew concerned. "Are you guys okay?"
Seto picked up Yami's voice amongst the deafening sounds of both the wind and the dragons outside. "I'm fine," he managed to muster through his parched lips, "but Joey doesn't look so good." Yami nodded, taking notice to Joey's labored breathing and buckling knees. He pointed to the bolted-down seat Joey was holding onto before. "Put him there!" he yelled. Seto took heed to Yami's orders and soon had his friend secure in place in the chair. He then made his way to Yami, but upon reaching him, found him getting out of the pilot's seat.
"I believe this place is yours." He said simply, reading Kaiba's mystified face. Seto stood there tentatively for a minute, but when the plane started to rock ever so slightly from having no pilot, speedily took his position in the captain's seat. With Seto's excellent flying skills, in next to no time the jet was back under control.
Just then, Yami looked ahead of them. "Seto look!" he said. The older Kaiba did so, and what he thought must be bad news, wasn't. Normally, the darkness of the Summoning Realm would go on forever, and it would appear to have no end; now, however, the black had tuned to a light grey and some specks of white light shone through the barrier. "The end of the Summoning Realm." Seto whispered softly. He pursed his lips together, and with relit hope, pushed a red button on the dashboard.
A double set of engines located under the first pair roared to life, and the front of the plane literally soared upwards due to the newfound power. The fastened Blue Eyes bellowed loudly at the change of pace, and had to beat its gigantic wings furiously to keep up. Yami was nearly blown backwards by the force. Joey and Seto found themselves glued to their seats. The other dragons, including the first Blue Eyes, were getting rapidly smaller behind them. And through the windshield, a particular grey spot was getting closer and closer.
Yami gasped as he regained composure. "Seto, please let me know when you're going to do something like that."
Seto grinned sheepishly. "Sorry." He had to fight the urge to turn around at the rival summoners and yell, "Suckers!", but he had more important things to do. For one, the plane was going so fast that it became hard for the Blue Eyes White Dragon to control it, making it unsteady again and leaving mostly Seto in command, which wasn't doing well because the jet wasn't responding to just about anything he did. And second of all, and maybe most important, was to think of a plan to get them on the ground in one piece.
But the plan could wait for now. Seto tried as hard as he could to steer them out of harms way. So far, it was working. The end was near, and no dragons except his Blue Eyes could come remotely close to keeping up with them.
Finally, they were only feet away from the opening. Their dragons started to dissolve in thin air right before their eyes, causing the cord that was once tied tightly to a Blue Eyes fall loosely and fly away. Joey, Seto and Yami all smiled. They were going to make it.
Just before they fully escaped, one of the unknown summoners let out a chilling message. "You may have won now, but next time you won't be so lucky. For we will get you, all of you, and then you will be the ones begging for mercy!" And with that, the plane disappeared out of the void, leaving the travelers inside a very challenging task ahead of them.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Yugi moaned and opened his eyes. 'Where am I?' he thought. His blinked a few times and his blurred vision cleared. The floor underneath him was no longer the uneven rock floor there was before; now, a smooth patterned tile met his feet instead. Enormous golden statues of Egyptian gods played out next to him and around the walls, which were covered in hieroglyphs. Yugi looked above him and found he was tied at the foot of one, which seemed to be a woman with a headdress in the shape of a throne. 'Isis.' He smirked. Yami had taught him well. There were torches in between every statue, making the room faintly stuffy. Amidst the sculptures of Ra and Anubis, a stairway let upwards until it was out of view. 'We must be underground then' Yugi concluded.
What disturbed the hikari the most, however, were the weapons lined up on the walls, ranging from pointed spears to metal swords. He felt like ice cube had dropped into his stomach. "I must be in a dueling arena… that's why all the statues are lined up on the perimeter, not in the middle, and the reason for the weapons…" Yugi whispered. Remembering that Tea, Tristan and Grandpa were also with him before, he searched frantically around for them, but to no avail. Wherever he was, he was there by himself… or so he thought.
"So," a voice said in the shadows. "It seems you have figured out the purpose for this room."
Yugi would have jumped, if he were not tied so tightly. He turned his head to the owner of the voice, and found Sheantu stepping out from the darkness.
'I should have known…' "Where are we? Why are we here?"
Sheantu laughed his snakelike laugh. "Do you think I would be so foolhardy to tell you where we are? That would ruin everything! But, I shall tell you something, since you have been such a good guest." He snickered. "This is the place where I dueled the pharaoh, before he sent me to that wicked Shadow Realm. This is the place where I lost it all, and where I shall gain it all back."
Yugi's eyes widened. "What do you mean?"
Again, Sheantu laughed. "You shall see soon enough."
Yugi gulped. "Wh…where are the others?"
Sheantu grinned mischievously and started to circle the little one, his narrowed elusive eyes never wavering from the opposing pair. "They are not here. But do not worry they are safe." He said, observing Yugi's worried expression. "They will not be harmed as long as I do not order it. Not that it matters," he added, "for both they and you will stay here forever."
"That's not true!" Yugi exclaimed. "Yami and Joey will get us out of here!"
Sheantu smirked. "You did not hear?"
He looked up. "Hear what?"
"Well, it seems that that boy Kaiba has joined your little group of 'rescuers'."
Yugi looked both confused and surprised. "Seto? But why? He's never done anything for me before, in fact he seems to want nothing to do with me…" he trailed off, remembering all the snide remarks Seto made whenever he came face to face with him.
"Well," replied Sheantu, "it seems that Kaiba does indeed have a soft spot for you, one which he does not willingly show very often." He scowled. "I'll admit, this was not part of my original plan… but it does not matter. Because in the end, none of them shall prevail, no matter who they take with them."
"That's not true!" Yugi cried. "They'll get here!"
"Is that so?" Sheantu said slyly. "How do you know that they're actually looking for you?"
"Because!" answered Yugi. "Because I know Yami and Joey, they have to be looking for me…"
"Yes, but how well do you really know Kaiba?" Sheantu said, still circling Yugi.
Yugi was taken aback by the question. How well did he really know Kaiba? They weren't really friends, just rivals, and he definitely wasn't sure Seto would go out of his way to save him, even if his life was on the line. "You're wrong…" he whispered softly.
"You just think that, but if you only knew where they are right now, you'd think differently," Yugi fidgeted. "But enough chit chat. Unlike you, I have… things… to attend to, so if you'll excuse me…" He vanished in a cloud of smoke.
"Yami…" Yugi whispered hoarsly into the hazy air. "Yami… please come soon, I don't know how much longer I can take any more of Sheantu's tormenting. Please brother, hurry."
And with that, he curled up into a ball and cried himself into a plagued sleep.
***********************************************************************
Me: Wah!! I'm so mean!! *sniff sniff*
Yami: Wow… did you actually write a semi long chapter?
Me: Yeah… I kinda felt obligated to do it cuz it took soooooo long to get this update out… That and I'm going to Maine for 10 days on Saturday, and school starts on the 4th. So I had to get it out before then, otherwise it would've been much longer.
Yugi: Well that was nice of you… I think…
Me: Yeah, and my reviewers deserve it. For dealing with me. ~.^
Yami: O…k…. o.0;;
Me: *laughs* Review please!!