Tori the Hanyou: All right! I'm feeling much better, so I decided to start
this chappie!
Mai: Have you seen Joey? I can't find him anywhere.
Tea: Why is there yelling in the next room?
*Shouting heard in next room*
TTH: Dunno, let's go see.
*Girls all go to next room, where we see Joey yelling at another guy, restrained by Yugi and Tristan*
Joey: WHO THE HELL INVITED YOU ON THIS SET, YOU STUCK-UP, PRISSY-FACED PRE- MADONNA?
Tristan: Would you get a grip already, Joey?
TTH: Oh, I see you guys have met our newest cast member. Okay, everyone, say hi to Seto Kaiba!
*Girls screams heard in background*
Joey: What's their problem? There's nothing to be screaming about with this guy, except screaming with fear at his face!
Kaiba: Face it, Joey, the girls prefer someone of much higher standards than a messy-haired, double-D mutt. (Double-D means 'Dumb as Dog shit')
Joey: Why, you! I'll give you something to talk like that to, try the floor when I'm through with you!
TTH: Okay, you guys, while I get this sorted out, it's time for Chapter 8! *Runs to her computer to type something to shut Joey up*
DISCLAIMER: Nope, don't own YGO, wish I did, though . . .
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
YuGiOh! Trapped in the Next Dimension
Chapter 8: Windwaker
When Tori got inside the elevators, she looked down at the buttons and pressed Field. Immediately, the elevator began another smooth journey down its shaft, until it reached the supposedly never-ending expanse of grass. She stepped out, and realized this place really did go on for a while. There was real weather, the grass was real too, but what most amazed her was there were actual streams flowing through this place. Also, it definitely wasn't the length of the hotel, and that made her wonder. But this was another dimension; people could make whatever they wanted here. She began walking, all the while trying to get her Ligress to come out, though she wasn't angry or scared, but she needed to be able to call on her Ligress whenever she wanted. She and her Ligress worked like a team. The Ligress wasn't exactly a creature you could put under full control, she had a mind of her own that also inhabited Tori's head, and only came out when she felt they were being threatened. But Tori needed the Ligress's full cooperation if they were going to take down Riku.
Sadly, though, the Ligress was in no mood to be ordered around, and she started to get angry, so Tori left her alone. She finally just used her own super-speed to get across the plains faster. She ran for a while, and suddenly stopped when she felt vibrations on the ground. She looked up, and a horse was galloping towards her super-fast. Tori hadn't even known horses could go that fast. She stood firm, knowing that if you showed fear to a horse, they would try to take advantage of you. The horse sped past her as if it didn't see her, and Tori saw it stop and look back. She looked, and two more horses were galloping towards her, with people on their backs. She saw them as two boys. They rode up to her and halted, pulling really hard on the bits, and Tori felt the pain in their mouths, and she winced. She glared at them.
"You shouldn't pull that hard on the bit, it'll make the horse uncomfortable, and some horses will try to throw you off for that," she said to the boys. They looked at her strangely.
"How can you tell if we're pulling hard or not?" one of them asked. Tori froze, she hadn't thought of how she'd explain her abilities. She thought of something quickly.
"Well, uhh, the horses mouths were opening really wide, and they looked uncomfortable anyways," she replied, hoping they would buy it. They shook their heads.
"Anyway, you seen a horse around here? It was going really fast," the other one said. Tori then saw the ropes tied to their saddles. She looked up.
"Why?"
"Cause we wanna catch it, that horse'll earn us big bucks in the races coming up in two days," said the first boy. Tori thought for a minute. There was no way she was gonna let these guys get their hands on another horse to abuse, especially one that fast. She could tell that they'd been mean to their horses, the poor creatures had bruises on their sides from being kicked too much, and their mouths were slightly red, meaning that that wasn't the only time the reins had been pulled too hard.
"What's wrong with the horses you have now?" she asked.
"Aww, these damn old nags are too slow," said the second one, "we need a faster horse to beat Dragon, the champion horse running three years in a row, and that horse we're chasing's just the right one." Tori looked at their horses. No wonder they thought they were too slow, on top of all the other signs of abuse, the horses looked like they'd been running for a long time without any walking or resting. A plan was forming in her head.
"Nope, sorry haven't seen it. You might want to go that way," she said, pointing to her left. "I might have seen a shadow turn in that direction a while back."
"Do you take us for idiots?" said the first boy.
"Actually . . ." began Tori.
"You saw that horse run by, didn't you?" said the second, ignoring her comment.
"I might've, but I'm not telling you which direction it was headed in," she replied smartly.
"You're gonna tell us," said the boy.
"Who says?" she asked.
"We do," he replied, pulling out his whip. The other one followed him. Tori shook her head at them.
"You guys have no idea who you're messing with, do you?" she asked. She felt her Ligress tensing up, ready to fight.
"Sure we do, a smart-mouthed brat who doesn't know how to respect her elders," replied one of the boys.
"You're my elders? I could've sworn you were no more than five," replied Tori coolly. That did it. One of the boys snapped his whip at her. The Ligress became angry, and, super-fast, she grabbed the end of the whip in her mouth, sharp teeth digging into it. She snarled and began to transform again. The other boy snapped his whip at her, but she couldn't grab it, and it hit her. She snarled nastily as she felt the sting drive into her shoulder. The boy raised his whip again to make her let go, and she winced, waiting for the crack. But it never came. A neigh echoed out over the plains, and suddenly Tori realized the second boy was gone. In his place stood the horse she'd seen before. It was a beautiful, yet mighty and muscular palomino mare, and she showed her teeth to the boy, snorting angrily. Tori let go of the whip in shock, and the first boy raised it to attack the mare, but Tori jumped up and grabbed the whip out of his hand, biting the hand with her fangs to make him let go. The boy cried out in surprise, and turned his horse, galloping off after his friend, who had taken off long before.
Tori turned to the mare, who stood with her proud, beautifully shaped head held high, watching the two boys run off with satisfaction.
"You know we're not done yet, right?" she asked the mare. The mare turned to her, and nodded her head. Tori turned to watch the guys go. "Though I can't catch them," she said quietly. The mare turned so her side was facing Tori and got down on her front knees. She nickered, and nodded her head toward her back as if to say, "Get on." Tori stared at her, and came over and lightly climbed onto the horse's back.
As the mare stood up, Tori realized just how big the mare truly was. She stood about sixteen and a half hands from the ground. (Just so you know, that means the horse is five feet six inches tall at the shoulder, that's pretty tall) Tori saw the boys running way ahead, and grabbed the mare's mane just as she felt the mare's hindquarters about to go into gear. They launched away, going at an incredibly fast and smooth pace, and were soon caught up with the boys. They turned their heads around, and seeing Tori on their quarry's back, they immediately became even more frightened. The mare galloped alongside the two exhausted horses, and Tori took one long swipe, cutting the horse's bridle clean off its face. The horse spat out the bit, and Tori then cut off the girth (the strap that goes around the horse's stomach and holds the saddle onto the horse), and the boy toppled from his horse's back. The horse neighed happily, and finding new strength, it galloped far away as Tori and the mare moved in, freeing the next horse, and following the two to make sure they got away safely.
After about an hour of this, they finally stopped, watching the horses run away happily and go over a hill. Tori smelled something from over the hill. More horses. The mare caught their scent too and trotted over to the hill to look. An enormous herd of horses stood in the small valley surrounded by hills. The two that they had freed went into the herd, and soon became lost amidst the mix of blacks, browns, grays, buckskins, whites, paints, bays, palominos, and many, many more colors that Tori didn't even know existed in horses. She stared as they swirled around something in the middle, which she later found out was a small lake, with rivers flowing down the hills into it, and out again down another slope with more rivers flowing out. Tori watched them for a while, until the mare she was riding started walking towards a big black stallion. She nickered at him, and he snorted at her. Tori was suddenly struck with a feeling, like she could hear what they were saying, and it started to come in slowly, but she eventually could hear what they were saying clearly.
"Is this your herd?" said the mare.
"Who wants to know?" asked the stallion.
"I do," replied the mare.
"Yeah, this is my herd. You wanna join?"
"No, thanks, I'm a loner."
"Okay, but you're on your own when someone catches you, like that girl on your back." He then neighed loudly, and it sounded to Tori like laughing. The mare snorted at her.
"Get off, I'll deal with him." Tori didn't argue, though she was a little dazed. How could she hear what they were saying? It wasn't possible, unless that was her Ligress allowing her to understand what they were saying. She slid down off the mare's back. The mare turned to the stallion. "I don't take those kinds of insults too lightly. This girl did not catch me; I was merely assisting her in an important rescue. For your info, those horses that just came back were saved by this girl. I only helped a little, but she did most of the work, and even took a hit for them. She's got a whip welt to prove it." The mare pushed Tori with her nose towards the stallion. Tori looked at the enormous stallion and gulped. He was more than seventeen hands high! (Six feet two at the shoulder) He looked at her with an air of aristocracy, snorting, holding his head high. Tori became a little miffed. How dare he! The mare nickered at her.
"Show him the wound, that'll shut him up." Tori stuck out her shoulder, and the horribly long, deep red gash was visible. The stallion tossed his head.
"I find it hard to believe that you took a hit like that, but since you got the mark, which I can feel is very painful, I'll believe you. Thanks for rescuing two of our members."
"I have a small suggestion, which can help you in future moves. All the old horses, whom I see are suffering from all this moving around that you claim to do," said the mare. Tori realized she'd missed a few important parts of the conversation while her horse-translation senses were kicking in, "I could take them off your hands, that way, they'd be happier, because they wouldn't be driven so hard, and you could move faster without them to slow you down. I'm not taking the mares and foals, just the old horses. You agree?" The stallion swished his tail, apparently in thought.
"Yeah, sure, I was hoping they'd just drop dead, but you can take them, if you really want them," he said.
"Good. Also, there's a huge lake over in that direction. I was there the other day. It should be a good spot for your herd. Good bye." And with that, the mare picked Tori back up on her back, and walked into the herd, rounding up all of the horses twelve years and older, and taking them out, which seemed to diminish the herd's size by about half, heading in a different direction than she'd designated to the stallion.
"So, what's your name?" asked Tori.
"I don't really have a name, why don't you pick one? Seeing as we'll be partners throughout this little journey, too. I'm sure you're creative enough to think of something good," replied the mare.
Tori thought and thought as they walked over the plains for what seemed like hours, and she realized she was getting hot. The mare seemed to feel it, and neighed to the sky. A gust of wind blew up, cooling everyone, when Tori thought of the name.
"It's perfect for you, at least I think so."
"Well, what is it?" asked the mare impatiently.
"Windwaker," said Tori proudly. The mare's ears seemed to perk up at the name.
"You're right, I suppose it is good, isn't it? It describes me pretty well, and it's kinda short, but not too short. I like it," she replied happily. And so, Tori and Windwaker lead the old horses across the plains. Tori had almost fallen asleep on Windwaker's back, when she was jarred awake by sudden stopping. She opened her eyes, and they were looking down on an immense ranch. Windwaker walked calmly down the hill towards the ranch. A group of people was sitting around a fenced-in area, laughing at something. Windwaker let Tori off her back.
"Well, open the gate," she said. Tori looked at the empty fenced-in area they were facing, and found the gate. She raced over and unlatched it. Windwaker drove the old horses into the area, and Tori shut the gate.
"Wonder what they're laughing at?" she asked, pointing at the group of people, who had their backs to them. Tori climbed over all of the fences and looked inside the ring. A boy was standing with a whip, laughing as he cracked it at, what Tori saw horribly, was a young buckskin colt. It was trying to stand up, but its legs were trembling and it fell.
"That oughtta teach you to defy me," said the boy as he continuously snapped the whip at the colt. Tori saw it had spirit, but that was being destroyed by the second as the whip continued cracking. She felt each whipping tear painfully at her heart.
"STOP IT!" she screamed, jumping over the fence into the paddock, grabbing the end of the whip before it could snap again, and it wrapped painfully around her hand. She winced, but held strong. The boy holding the whip looked at her with a look of part amazement, part confusion, and part anger.
"Who the hell are you, and why did you do that?" he said, "How dare you interrupt our fun!"
Tori snarled at the boy. He was pretty tall, about six feet, and had dark blue eyes with brown hair.
"How can you call this fun?" she yelled at the boy, "Who do you think you are, hurting horses like this? If I didn't know better, I would've definitely said you were the Devil himself, coming up to do unfair things to innocent creatures!"
A girl jumped down from the fence, a blonde girl with green eyes.
"How dare you insult Seto Kaiba!" she cried, getting angry.
"How dare you take pleasure in such a horrible thing!" Tori shot back, becoming furious. The boy gave a good tug on his whip, unraveling it from Tori's hand, also cutting through her skin. Tori gritted her teeth, trying to keep from crying out with pain as the blood flowed from the open marks. The boy raised his whip to strike the colt again, when Tori cried out Windwaker's name. Everyone looked around, confused as to who Windwaker was. The horse had soon leaped over every fence, jumping into the paddock, striking out with her hooves. The boy yelled in surprise, nearly falling over, dropping the whip. Windwaker fell to her front hooves, snorting, pawing the ground, ears back in fury. The young colt looked up weakly. Tori walked to the edge of the paddock and opened the gate, letting the two-year- old colt walk out. She let it out to the open field, and told it to wait. She went back to the ring, where the guy called Seto Kaiba was recovering from Windwaker's surprise attack. He stared at the horse as if she were God coming down to strike him dead.
"H-how did you get this horse?" he asked Tori as she came back.
"I didn't get her, we're working together temporarily," said Tori.
"I have sent riders out to find and catch her for months, and none of them have succeeded. I was about to go find her myself, but now I don't have to," he said, getting an evil smirk.
"Don't waster your time, none of your fences can keep her in," said Tori. As soon as she spoke it, Windwaker had leapt out of the paddock, jumping each fence to the open field.
"Tootles," said Tori as she followed.
They had soon reached the field, and Tori got back on Windwaker. Windwaker explained that they were going to get the colt away from there, and then take him to that large herd they'd seen before.
A few hours later, when the colt's strength and spirit had been recovered, and he had been taken to the large herd, Tori gasped. She had forgotten all about her friends! They were probably freaking out right now! She explained her dilemma to Windwaker, who agreed to get her to the elevators as fast as she could go.
As they rode, Tori was aware of a strange feeling. She knew she and Windwaker were running, but it seemed as if she were on a statue, and the world moved underneath them.
They reached the elevators by nightfall, and Tori was amazed. Though they had been going super-fast and had ridden a great distance, Windwaker had hardly broken a sweat. She bid goodbye to her new friend, and got on the elevators, pushing the button labeled floor 10. She was soon up at the top floor, and hurried out towards her room. She unlocked the door, and went in. It was pitch-dark. 'Oh, shit! They're probably out looking for me!' she thought.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Tori the Hanyou: Well, chapter 8's FINALLY done!
CRASH!
TTH: Not again . . . *gets up to find Kaiba standing over one pissed-off teenage boy
Kaiba: When are you gonna learn, Wheeler? You can't beat me if you try.
*Stalks off, leaving a very disgruntled Joey piled in a bunch of boxes
Joey: Oh, I'm gonna KILL HIM!!!!!!!
*Jumps up and runs after Kaiba, pursued by the other boys
TTH: Umm, anyways, Kaiba's been introduced. If there are other characters you would like me to put in here, please review and say so! CYA!
Shout outs:
Lilly Starwind: Hope you don't get sick, too! Thanks for reviewing!
Indygo: Thanks for reviewing again! I really appreciate it! Keep up the good work on your story, too!
Mai: Have you seen Joey? I can't find him anywhere.
Tea: Why is there yelling in the next room?
*Shouting heard in next room*
TTH: Dunno, let's go see.
*Girls all go to next room, where we see Joey yelling at another guy, restrained by Yugi and Tristan*
Joey: WHO THE HELL INVITED YOU ON THIS SET, YOU STUCK-UP, PRISSY-FACED PRE- MADONNA?
Tristan: Would you get a grip already, Joey?
TTH: Oh, I see you guys have met our newest cast member. Okay, everyone, say hi to Seto Kaiba!
*Girls screams heard in background*
Joey: What's their problem? There's nothing to be screaming about with this guy, except screaming with fear at his face!
Kaiba: Face it, Joey, the girls prefer someone of much higher standards than a messy-haired, double-D mutt. (Double-D means 'Dumb as Dog shit')
Joey: Why, you! I'll give you something to talk like that to, try the floor when I'm through with you!
TTH: Okay, you guys, while I get this sorted out, it's time for Chapter 8! *Runs to her computer to type something to shut Joey up*
DISCLAIMER: Nope, don't own YGO, wish I did, though . . .
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
YuGiOh! Trapped in the Next Dimension
Chapter 8: Windwaker
When Tori got inside the elevators, she looked down at the buttons and pressed Field. Immediately, the elevator began another smooth journey down its shaft, until it reached the supposedly never-ending expanse of grass. She stepped out, and realized this place really did go on for a while. There was real weather, the grass was real too, but what most amazed her was there were actual streams flowing through this place. Also, it definitely wasn't the length of the hotel, and that made her wonder. But this was another dimension; people could make whatever they wanted here. She began walking, all the while trying to get her Ligress to come out, though she wasn't angry or scared, but she needed to be able to call on her Ligress whenever she wanted. She and her Ligress worked like a team. The Ligress wasn't exactly a creature you could put under full control, she had a mind of her own that also inhabited Tori's head, and only came out when she felt they were being threatened. But Tori needed the Ligress's full cooperation if they were going to take down Riku.
Sadly, though, the Ligress was in no mood to be ordered around, and she started to get angry, so Tori left her alone. She finally just used her own super-speed to get across the plains faster. She ran for a while, and suddenly stopped when she felt vibrations on the ground. She looked up, and a horse was galloping towards her super-fast. Tori hadn't even known horses could go that fast. She stood firm, knowing that if you showed fear to a horse, they would try to take advantage of you. The horse sped past her as if it didn't see her, and Tori saw it stop and look back. She looked, and two more horses were galloping towards her, with people on their backs. She saw them as two boys. They rode up to her and halted, pulling really hard on the bits, and Tori felt the pain in their mouths, and she winced. She glared at them.
"You shouldn't pull that hard on the bit, it'll make the horse uncomfortable, and some horses will try to throw you off for that," she said to the boys. They looked at her strangely.
"How can you tell if we're pulling hard or not?" one of them asked. Tori froze, she hadn't thought of how she'd explain her abilities. She thought of something quickly.
"Well, uhh, the horses mouths were opening really wide, and they looked uncomfortable anyways," she replied, hoping they would buy it. They shook their heads.
"Anyway, you seen a horse around here? It was going really fast," the other one said. Tori then saw the ropes tied to their saddles. She looked up.
"Why?"
"Cause we wanna catch it, that horse'll earn us big bucks in the races coming up in two days," said the first boy. Tori thought for a minute. There was no way she was gonna let these guys get their hands on another horse to abuse, especially one that fast. She could tell that they'd been mean to their horses, the poor creatures had bruises on their sides from being kicked too much, and their mouths were slightly red, meaning that that wasn't the only time the reins had been pulled too hard.
"What's wrong with the horses you have now?" she asked.
"Aww, these damn old nags are too slow," said the second one, "we need a faster horse to beat Dragon, the champion horse running three years in a row, and that horse we're chasing's just the right one." Tori looked at their horses. No wonder they thought they were too slow, on top of all the other signs of abuse, the horses looked like they'd been running for a long time without any walking or resting. A plan was forming in her head.
"Nope, sorry haven't seen it. You might want to go that way," she said, pointing to her left. "I might have seen a shadow turn in that direction a while back."
"Do you take us for idiots?" said the first boy.
"Actually . . ." began Tori.
"You saw that horse run by, didn't you?" said the second, ignoring her comment.
"I might've, but I'm not telling you which direction it was headed in," she replied smartly.
"You're gonna tell us," said the boy.
"Who says?" she asked.
"We do," he replied, pulling out his whip. The other one followed him. Tori shook her head at them.
"You guys have no idea who you're messing with, do you?" she asked. She felt her Ligress tensing up, ready to fight.
"Sure we do, a smart-mouthed brat who doesn't know how to respect her elders," replied one of the boys.
"You're my elders? I could've sworn you were no more than five," replied Tori coolly. That did it. One of the boys snapped his whip at her. The Ligress became angry, and, super-fast, she grabbed the end of the whip in her mouth, sharp teeth digging into it. She snarled and began to transform again. The other boy snapped his whip at her, but she couldn't grab it, and it hit her. She snarled nastily as she felt the sting drive into her shoulder. The boy raised his whip again to make her let go, and she winced, waiting for the crack. But it never came. A neigh echoed out over the plains, and suddenly Tori realized the second boy was gone. In his place stood the horse she'd seen before. It was a beautiful, yet mighty and muscular palomino mare, and she showed her teeth to the boy, snorting angrily. Tori let go of the whip in shock, and the first boy raised it to attack the mare, but Tori jumped up and grabbed the whip out of his hand, biting the hand with her fangs to make him let go. The boy cried out in surprise, and turned his horse, galloping off after his friend, who had taken off long before.
Tori turned to the mare, who stood with her proud, beautifully shaped head held high, watching the two boys run off with satisfaction.
"You know we're not done yet, right?" she asked the mare. The mare turned to her, and nodded her head. Tori turned to watch the guys go. "Though I can't catch them," she said quietly. The mare turned so her side was facing Tori and got down on her front knees. She nickered, and nodded her head toward her back as if to say, "Get on." Tori stared at her, and came over and lightly climbed onto the horse's back.
As the mare stood up, Tori realized just how big the mare truly was. She stood about sixteen and a half hands from the ground. (Just so you know, that means the horse is five feet six inches tall at the shoulder, that's pretty tall) Tori saw the boys running way ahead, and grabbed the mare's mane just as she felt the mare's hindquarters about to go into gear. They launched away, going at an incredibly fast and smooth pace, and were soon caught up with the boys. They turned their heads around, and seeing Tori on their quarry's back, they immediately became even more frightened. The mare galloped alongside the two exhausted horses, and Tori took one long swipe, cutting the horse's bridle clean off its face. The horse spat out the bit, and Tori then cut off the girth (the strap that goes around the horse's stomach and holds the saddle onto the horse), and the boy toppled from his horse's back. The horse neighed happily, and finding new strength, it galloped far away as Tori and the mare moved in, freeing the next horse, and following the two to make sure they got away safely.
After about an hour of this, they finally stopped, watching the horses run away happily and go over a hill. Tori smelled something from over the hill. More horses. The mare caught their scent too and trotted over to the hill to look. An enormous herd of horses stood in the small valley surrounded by hills. The two that they had freed went into the herd, and soon became lost amidst the mix of blacks, browns, grays, buckskins, whites, paints, bays, palominos, and many, many more colors that Tori didn't even know existed in horses. She stared as they swirled around something in the middle, which she later found out was a small lake, with rivers flowing down the hills into it, and out again down another slope with more rivers flowing out. Tori watched them for a while, until the mare she was riding started walking towards a big black stallion. She nickered at him, and he snorted at her. Tori was suddenly struck with a feeling, like she could hear what they were saying, and it started to come in slowly, but she eventually could hear what they were saying clearly.
"Is this your herd?" said the mare.
"Who wants to know?" asked the stallion.
"I do," replied the mare.
"Yeah, this is my herd. You wanna join?"
"No, thanks, I'm a loner."
"Okay, but you're on your own when someone catches you, like that girl on your back." He then neighed loudly, and it sounded to Tori like laughing. The mare snorted at her.
"Get off, I'll deal with him." Tori didn't argue, though she was a little dazed. How could she hear what they were saying? It wasn't possible, unless that was her Ligress allowing her to understand what they were saying. She slid down off the mare's back. The mare turned to the stallion. "I don't take those kinds of insults too lightly. This girl did not catch me; I was merely assisting her in an important rescue. For your info, those horses that just came back were saved by this girl. I only helped a little, but she did most of the work, and even took a hit for them. She's got a whip welt to prove it." The mare pushed Tori with her nose towards the stallion. Tori looked at the enormous stallion and gulped. He was more than seventeen hands high! (Six feet two at the shoulder) He looked at her with an air of aristocracy, snorting, holding his head high. Tori became a little miffed. How dare he! The mare nickered at her.
"Show him the wound, that'll shut him up." Tori stuck out her shoulder, and the horribly long, deep red gash was visible. The stallion tossed his head.
"I find it hard to believe that you took a hit like that, but since you got the mark, which I can feel is very painful, I'll believe you. Thanks for rescuing two of our members."
"I have a small suggestion, which can help you in future moves. All the old horses, whom I see are suffering from all this moving around that you claim to do," said the mare. Tori realized she'd missed a few important parts of the conversation while her horse-translation senses were kicking in, "I could take them off your hands, that way, they'd be happier, because they wouldn't be driven so hard, and you could move faster without them to slow you down. I'm not taking the mares and foals, just the old horses. You agree?" The stallion swished his tail, apparently in thought.
"Yeah, sure, I was hoping they'd just drop dead, but you can take them, if you really want them," he said.
"Good. Also, there's a huge lake over in that direction. I was there the other day. It should be a good spot for your herd. Good bye." And with that, the mare picked Tori back up on her back, and walked into the herd, rounding up all of the horses twelve years and older, and taking them out, which seemed to diminish the herd's size by about half, heading in a different direction than she'd designated to the stallion.
"So, what's your name?" asked Tori.
"I don't really have a name, why don't you pick one? Seeing as we'll be partners throughout this little journey, too. I'm sure you're creative enough to think of something good," replied the mare.
Tori thought and thought as they walked over the plains for what seemed like hours, and she realized she was getting hot. The mare seemed to feel it, and neighed to the sky. A gust of wind blew up, cooling everyone, when Tori thought of the name.
"It's perfect for you, at least I think so."
"Well, what is it?" asked the mare impatiently.
"Windwaker," said Tori proudly. The mare's ears seemed to perk up at the name.
"You're right, I suppose it is good, isn't it? It describes me pretty well, and it's kinda short, but not too short. I like it," she replied happily. And so, Tori and Windwaker lead the old horses across the plains. Tori had almost fallen asleep on Windwaker's back, when she was jarred awake by sudden stopping. She opened her eyes, and they were looking down on an immense ranch. Windwaker walked calmly down the hill towards the ranch. A group of people was sitting around a fenced-in area, laughing at something. Windwaker let Tori off her back.
"Well, open the gate," she said. Tori looked at the empty fenced-in area they were facing, and found the gate. She raced over and unlatched it. Windwaker drove the old horses into the area, and Tori shut the gate.
"Wonder what they're laughing at?" she asked, pointing at the group of people, who had their backs to them. Tori climbed over all of the fences and looked inside the ring. A boy was standing with a whip, laughing as he cracked it at, what Tori saw horribly, was a young buckskin colt. It was trying to stand up, but its legs were trembling and it fell.
"That oughtta teach you to defy me," said the boy as he continuously snapped the whip at the colt. Tori saw it had spirit, but that was being destroyed by the second as the whip continued cracking. She felt each whipping tear painfully at her heart.
"STOP IT!" she screamed, jumping over the fence into the paddock, grabbing the end of the whip before it could snap again, and it wrapped painfully around her hand. She winced, but held strong. The boy holding the whip looked at her with a look of part amazement, part confusion, and part anger.
"Who the hell are you, and why did you do that?" he said, "How dare you interrupt our fun!"
Tori snarled at the boy. He was pretty tall, about six feet, and had dark blue eyes with brown hair.
"How can you call this fun?" she yelled at the boy, "Who do you think you are, hurting horses like this? If I didn't know better, I would've definitely said you were the Devil himself, coming up to do unfair things to innocent creatures!"
A girl jumped down from the fence, a blonde girl with green eyes.
"How dare you insult Seto Kaiba!" she cried, getting angry.
"How dare you take pleasure in such a horrible thing!" Tori shot back, becoming furious. The boy gave a good tug on his whip, unraveling it from Tori's hand, also cutting through her skin. Tori gritted her teeth, trying to keep from crying out with pain as the blood flowed from the open marks. The boy raised his whip to strike the colt again, when Tori cried out Windwaker's name. Everyone looked around, confused as to who Windwaker was. The horse had soon leaped over every fence, jumping into the paddock, striking out with her hooves. The boy yelled in surprise, nearly falling over, dropping the whip. Windwaker fell to her front hooves, snorting, pawing the ground, ears back in fury. The young colt looked up weakly. Tori walked to the edge of the paddock and opened the gate, letting the two-year- old colt walk out. She let it out to the open field, and told it to wait. She went back to the ring, where the guy called Seto Kaiba was recovering from Windwaker's surprise attack. He stared at the horse as if she were God coming down to strike him dead.
"H-how did you get this horse?" he asked Tori as she came back.
"I didn't get her, we're working together temporarily," said Tori.
"I have sent riders out to find and catch her for months, and none of them have succeeded. I was about to go find her myself, but now I don't have to," he said, getting an evil smirk.
"Don't waster your time, none of your fences can keep her in," said Tori. As soon as she spoke it, Windwaker had leapt out of the paddock, jumping each fence to the open field.
"Tootles," said Tori as she followed.
They had soon reached the field, and Tori got back on Windwaker. Windwaker explained that they were going to get the colt away from there, and then take him to that large herd they'd seen before.
A few hours later, when the colt's strength and spirit had been recovered, and he had been taken to the large herd, Tori gasped. She had forgotten all about her friends! They were probably freaking out right now! She explained her dilemma to Windwaker, who agreed to get her to the elevators as fast as she could go.
As they rode, Tori was aware of a strange feeling. She knew she and Windwaker were running, but it seemed as if she were on a statue, and the world moved underneath them.
They reached the elevators by nightfall, and Tori was amazed. Though they had been going super-fast and had ridden a great distance, Windwaker had hardly broken a sweat. She bid goodbye to her new friend, and got on the elevators, pushing the button labeled floor 10. She was soon up at the top floor, and hurried out towards her room. She unlocked the door, and went in. It was pitch-dark. 'Oh, shit! They're probably out looking for me!' she thought.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Tori the Hanyou: Well, chapter 8's FINALLY done!
CRASH!
TTH: Not again . . . *gets up to find Kaiba standing over one pissed-off teenage boy
Kaiba: When are you gonna learn, Wheeler? You can't beat me if you try.
*Stalks off, leaving a very disgruntled Joey piled in a bunch of boxes
Joey: Oh, I'm gonna KILL HIM!!!!!!!
*Jumps up and runs after Kaiba, pursued by the other boys
TTH: Umm, anyways, Kaiba's been introduced. If there are other characters you would like me to put in here, please review and say so! CYA!
Shout outs:
Lilly Starwind: Hope you don't get sick, too! Thanks for reviewing!
Indygo: Thanks for reviewing again! I really appreciate it! Keep up the good work on your story, too!