The sound came again, claws clattering over the surface of old buildings and pavement. He turned around once more to find nothing. The duelist ran fingers through his deep blue hair as he sighed. Paranoia, that's all it was. Some freaky things had been going on recently, he'd seen things he knew weren't just holograms. Then again... maybe it was in his head. He believed being high helped his performance and made sure to smoke before he set out each day. His post-lunch high was still fresh and young as thus things showed as slightly warped, things moved when they were actually still and colors appeared where they weren't. The only reason he was out here in the middle of nowhere was so he could smoke in peace, that was another thing; he always had to do it alone so no one could bum it off him. Musouka tightly closed his eyes for a moment before opening them again. The condemned building lot he was in had some weird hallucinations waiting for him. One of the buildings seemed to be dancing off beat to the song running through his head and some of the twisted metal supports peaking from half ruined buildings waved and greeted him. That wasn't the weird part, but rather the odd figure just standing in front of him. He'd seen his share of demons during these trips so this didn't seem to be anything special except for a few details. It was a clean demon for once, the others were always grotesque beings with gender specific organs in places they shouldn't be and gore everywhere. Or they were the opposite and bouncy toon things. Her colors were constant though and she didn't look to have any deformities.
"Now this is what I've been trying to get for years," he grinned drunkenly. "Finally, a hot chick without any hidden surprises."
The purple demon raised her black lip in a snarl before shifting her tri-bladed staff before her. "No further," she hissed. "You stink of poison."
"Cool, a talking one. But why can't you be nicer, like you look?"
Seraph hissed and poked him with the blades, he had failed to heed her warning.
"Damn," he murmured as he backed up. "Stupid hallucination making me miss something." He swatted at her to make her vanish so he could see what he had run into. His hand instead hit her staff. "OW! That fuckin' hurt," he slurred. "I'll go around." He spoke as if he no longer saw her, his eyes didn't seem to focus too well and were slightly glassy and dilated.
"Duelist," a female voice hissed.
Musouka turned back to face her, she reached into her shirt and he grinned widely. "A show for me, you shouldn't have."
"You have something I want," she said while pulling her hand out.
"All yours, baby," he grinned as his arms spread wide. Hallucination or not, he was going to make the most of it.
She spread the cards she held for him to see. "Show me yours."
"I'll show you all you want." He made a move to undo his fly, but before he could tug it open he found her three blades embedded in his leg and lower abdomen, it effectively pinned his hand against him. The pain didn't seem to register more than an annoying and constant dull ache. He grunted as he moved his other hand over sluggishly, the duel disk on it made it heavier than it should have been and his condition only worsened it. The demoness grabbed his free arm and twisted it around behind him, he made a slight sound of discomfort as he tried to look behind him.
"Bondage babe. I'm not into that, leave me alone you freak," he demanded.
"No," she said simply. "Where do you keep your locator cards?"
"In my pants," he laughed. "Take the stick out and you can see for yourself."
Seraph hissed and did so, but not without twisting it first.
This time the pain did register clearly and Musouka doubled over once she let his arm go. He swore he heard something rip when she did that, and since he felt it inside it couldn't have just been his clothing. His lower half and arm were warm and slick, he panicked when he brought his right hand up to see it covered in blood. The burn he felt spreading inside also didn't bode well.
"Where are the locators," the figure demanded again.
"Chill, I'll get them," he cringed before his good hand reached into his back pockets. Three cards were pulled and handed to the demoness. She looked through them and compared them to what she already held. "Useless!" she roared before throwing them back down on him. He gasped when she picked him up by his shirt collar and growled inches from his face. "You have wasted my time, whelp."
"Just wait until my head clears! I am so turning you in for harassment, you don't even have a disk you bitch!"
"You will not live that long," she said in a tone that made him cower. The bright glow of her eyes didn't help much.
"Fucking weed, not letting me see what she really looks like!" he barked when she tossed him on his ass. When he tried to stand she slashed at him, the force bowled him over and the pain became even clearer. "What, what did you do?" he screamed when he sat up to see the damage. Slippery pink ropes of something fell out into his lap and on the ground, a dark pool spread from him and extreme dizziness set in. He wobbled and blinked back the tears that had begun to form. "You fucking whore, you'll pay!" he threatened.
"Maybe," she shrugged. "Or maybe I am just cleaning up." She stepped in closer to him and he tried to scramble backwards but to no avail, her foot planted itself firmly on his ribs. The snapping of bone sounded and once again the duelist cried out, the sound was choked and only half formed but it was a cry none the less. "This has gone on long enough," the purple figure said. "Good bye. At least the state your mind was in dulled the pain for you." Seraph's nose wrinkled as she spoke, since his stomach had been punctured the acids in it had been allowed to spill and eat away at his insides, this wasn't a pleasant scent and she couldn't wait to get away from it.
A sickening splorch-like sound followed the scrape of metal against bone. One last scream died in Musouka's throat before the pain faded along with his vision and other senses.
Seraph grunted as she reclaimed her staff from his chest, the blades were wiped clean on his clothing before she turned to leave. Her venture had turned up nothing, she would need to try again. And hopefully there wouldn't be another body, but this duelist had asked for it. The demoness grunted as she slowly climbed to the top of the ruined building, bits of concrete and other material crumbled and fell in dust as her claws tore it away during her ascent. The clouds had finally cleared fully and the mid-afternoon sun shown freely. Once she had reached her destination, Seraph shielded her eyes as she scanned the surrounding area, her ears twitched and searched for any familiar sounds associated with duels. She expected it to be busier with the finals being the following day, yet she caught so few duel sounds. The demoness snorted before she spread her wings. She would check out the closest duel, see what they had to offer.
"It was awful nice of you to give me a ride, Seto," Cloey said as she stepped out of the limo.
"It was no problem at all," the CEO replied as he followed. "I'll even walk you to the door."
"Thank you," Cloey laughed. "But I can handle it on my own."
"Well at least allow me to walk with you? Have you decided if you want to take me up on my offer yet?"
Cloey stopped walking suddenly and the CEO slammed into her. "Shit, that is the day after tomorrow isn't it?" she sighed. "And you have the finals tomorrow..." The blonde closed her eyes for a moment before she began to walk. "I suppose I have to make my mind up now, huh? Before you get too busy with that..."
"I don't mean to rush, but yes. If you wanted you could even come watch the finals, I can allow you in as it's my tournament," he replied after backing up and apologizing for running into her. The two started walking again and before long they were outside Cloey's door.
"Mai's going, she made it. I suppose I can go, for fun," she shrugged.
"If Mai wants, I could give you both a ride tomorrow. Here," Seto said as he reached into his pocket. He pulled out a pen and a slip of paper before he scribbled something on it. "My personal number. Call me when you're ready and I can come by tomorrow to get you."
"Thanks," Cloey blinked as she took it. "Just one question..."
"Hrm?" Seto asked with a raised brow.
"How on Earth do you know how people are disqualified and all that jazz?"
"Well, uh. It's kind of long... short version is a duelist scans all locators, duplicates included, with their disk before and after the duel. They tap a button under the life point counter to signal that they are done. These numbers are stored in the central tracking machine, if they come out with none at the end of a duel they count as eliminated."
"Couldn't they just not scan them then?"
"Ah, but if they try and duel again without having tallied their cards at the end of the previous duel or before the current then they are eliminated and the duel declared illegal. That's when my representatives or myself find them and stop the duel. Or if we're too late, we make the illegal duelist return what they stole from the other and reinstate the victim if they were disqualified in an illegal duel."
"Ah," Cloey nodded. "And this means the disks are um, linked to names so you know whose dueling at any time?"
"Names or numbers, depending on how the duelist wanted to be identified. But most are under names so their duels can be broadcast over the internet for others to watch."
"Cool," Cloey said. Actually, she wasn't all that interesting in it but feigned it anyway.
"I think I know where this conversation is going, so I'll head you off. When the finals come, I will be able to tell who illegal entrants are because almost none of the duelists picked just numbers to be their identifiers. Their names are encoded with all the information their disks send, and in the main computer their picture is stored with that name. If something doesn't match up then they are illegally in."
"But why would anyone want to butt in like that? I don't understand..."
"Some just want the glory, others have their reasons..."
Cloey shook her head as she put the key in the lock, they'd been standing at the door forever and she decided it was time to cut the visit short. "Well I'm sure Mai's looking for me. So if she's home I need to let her know the rain didn't put me in a dangerous position. And if she's not home, there's some stuff I need to do. I'll call tomorrow, though. I'll be prepared too in case the finals run long enough for the date I'm trying to get out of happens soon after."
"Alright," Seto nodded. "I'll let you go then." He simply turned and walked off, a partial smile tugged on his lips as he did so.
Mai sat on the couch with her arms crossed, she had heard all of the conversation. At least the part that was outside the door.
"I'll take him up on the ride. Only because I can't talk you out of it and I don't dare leave you alone with him."
"So does that mean you'll let me go to the fi--hey!" she said. "So you're only letting me go because you'll be there to keep an eye on me? Mai! I'm not a kid, I'm a teen just like you!"
"I'm also going to allow you to worm your way out of this date with Troy," Mai said to change the subject.
"Thank you!" Cloey sighed. "You got me into it in the first place, I wouldn't need to worm my way if not for you!"
"And what did you mean by being prepared?" Mai questioned.
"Prepared to ditch everyone to avoid contact with Troy..."
"Well call him, say you have other plans. I told him you were coming to the finals to watch me. He seemed to take it well then." The blonde fished out the napkin that had Troy's information before she handed it to her sister.
"Whoopee," Cloey muttered sarcastically as she took it.
"I thank you," Seijuu grinned. "With this win I've taken your place in the finals."
"Yeah, yeah," the brunette muttered. "Well at least I know there are other girls that duel," she said. "Was beginning to think Mai was the only other besides myself."
Seijuu couldn't help but laugh at the statement, he may be in a female body but was still male. The other girl gave an odd look but it was shrugged off.
"Guys just think they'll have an easy duel if they challenge a girl. Most are discouraged," Seijuu replied.
"Yeah, but at any rate. If I had to loose my slot, I'm glad it was to another girl at least. Now go show those guys what we can do!"
Seijuu rolled his eyes but didn't let the other see. "I will," he replied in the most cheerful voice he could muster.
"I... suppose I should just go now. Too many others desperate for a battle. The quicker I can get out of here the less I'll have to deal with a challenge."
"Well I didn't take all your cards," Seijuu snorted.
"No, but from what I understand all eight slots are filled. So unless I'm lucky enough to find another finalist that's still itching to build their deck I don't have much luck. Ah well, I got a killer deck out of it so I'm happy," the girl beamed.
"Good for you," Seijuu scowled.
"Hmm?" the brunette asked.
"I said that's very good you did. At least you came out with something in the end."
"I don't even remember what the big prize was supposed to be anymore, so whatever. This is a good enough one for me. Well, later. I'm going to scurry off now, best of luck to you," the other said with a wave.
"As if I'll need it," Seijuu chuckled. "I'll get what I want from Seto so I can finally have my revenge. It's been five thousand years coming..."
The silence had yet to be broken, the three figures simply stood there, the two duelists stared at the purple demoness. It was her that finally broke the silence, a low hiss followed by the growled out name, "Malik."
"Seraph Reaver," the one she addressed grinned back. "I was beginning to wonder if I would see you again after Bakura and I had our little misunderstanding..."
"You would not have seen me had I not just been down another street. You are in my way, move," she said simply.
"Why would I do that? You aren't as happy to see me as I am to see you?"
"No." She looked to the much taller and larger figure behind him. She had no idea what he was capable of and decided leaving would be best.
"How rude of me. This," Malik said he pointed to the other, "Is Rishid. Much like Bakura trusts you, I trust him. He is my right hand man."
"Good for him," the demoness grunted. She gathered magic to shift realms, just as her form began to fade out Malik lunged at her, Rishid rushed in as well to snag his arm. Her shift had been early enough that Malik was able to go with her, Rishid too came along for the ride.
"Are you insane?" Seraph snarled as she bat Malik's hand off where he had snagged her robe. "You have no means with which to shift between the realms anymore. I can strand you here easily! The both of you, and no one would ever know."
"Do you think I would have let you drag us here if I thought I would never leave?" he laughed. "The Rod and Lilith were not the only things I possessed to travel between realms. And when all is said and done, I plan to add you to my collection." His eyes had a dangerous glint. Behind him Rishid simply stood with his arms crossed over his chest, his ghostly hazel eyes watched the demoness carefully.
"I do not accept."
"I think you should, it is very possible I have found your master and have him somewhere."
"He would never allow himself to be caught by the likes of you or anyone!"
"He would. If we hit him with a tranquilizer dart before he knew what was happening." Malik glanced over his shoulder to Rishid and the other pulled out a used dart and tossed it at her feet. Seraph narrowed her eyes as she kneeled to get it, her gaze never once leaving the two. She drew the dart to her nose and inhaled, the action was followed by a hiss. The dart did smell of her master.
"It's in your best interest to accept. You are bound to him in two ways, even if one bond wasn't strong enough I'm sure the other would remind you of what he is."
"Call your monster," the demoness snapped.
"I may lack the Rod, but I know enough of this realm to call upon and command a monster. One-on-one are the regulations of this. Any level of monster is allowed, both sides may use magics, no traps. Magics that bring a monster back or destroy them are not allowed. Each can only use any magic once but because one side has used it that doesn't mean the other can't. We fight to get a winner, not let a Black Hole take care of the opponent. One win determines it all."
"Are you that confident?" the demoness smirked.
"Oh yes, I am," Malik purred. "But I shall let you make the first move." Malik's eyes closed as he concentrated, Rishid backed away so as not to interfere. Through the murky depths of the realm a clawing sound echoed as his summon drew near. The clawing eventually became more of a scuffle and it was obvious his chosen monster walked on more than two legs. The crab beast more or less shuffled to Malik's side before it rose up on it's two strongest legs, pincers clicked in warning as it's singular eye turned to study the demoness. "I told you I was confident," Malik chuckled. "I know your weakness," he added in a sing-song voice. "My monster's strength matters not in this duel, all are even in that area here. It's the special abilities that count, is that not correct my little hydrophobic soon-to-be pet?" he grinned darkly. "My Crab Turtle will grant you the first attack," he waved the beast forward. It took it's place and raised a pincer to block it's eye from any attack she may unleash.
Ah, -now- things are really beginning to fall into place. From now on it should be fairly fast paced.