The Ninth Legend
An original fanfanfiction by Evil Neptune
Inspired by the works of High Crystal Guardian
SUMMARY: Learning that there is a disturbance in the fabric of the Realms that stretched beyond the True and Negative Realms' borders, residents of both the True and Negative Home Realms must join together for a third time in order to stop the fulfillment of a legend telling of the destruction of all twelve Realm Groups. Created as an entry to High Crystal Guardian's fanfanfiction contest "Negative Contest."
DISCLAIMER: Yugi Motou, Yami Yugi, Joey Wheeler, Tristan Taylor, Tea Gardner, Seto Kaiba, Mokuba Kaiba, Ryou Bakura, Yami Bakura, Mai Valentine, Rex Raptor, Mako Tsunami, Millennium Items, Duel Monsters, and other related "Yu-Gi-Oh!" elements are copyright 4Kids Entertainment and other related legal entities. The True Realm, Negative Realm, Kawari, Kaeru, Kaze, Saguru, and other related Negative Realm ideas are copyright High Crystal Guardian and are used with her permission. The author claims no ownership over these ideas and is not attempting to make a profit with this work of fan fan fiction.
AUTHOR'S NOTE: This story takes place after the events of "Negative Chaos." This was necessary because I wanted the Negative Realm characters to be more or less used to (if not entirely comfortable with) True Yami and already know most of their True Realm counterparts (in other words, I didn't want to have to write the "meetings and reactions" chapters all over again). However, since the entire story of Negative Chaos has not been completed as of the beginning of this fanfanfiction (August 11, 2003), facts from this story will not be mentioned as I run the risk of getting them wrong. If anything I write contains any glaring errors, I'll try to correct them as best I can.
SECOND AUTHOR'S NOTE: I'm assuming the readers are familiar with both the animé "Yu-Gi-Oh!" and with High Crystal Guardian's "Negative Realm" stories, as no explanations or introductions will be given for characters already featured in one of these mediums. Original characters or characters presumed to exist in HCG's stories but never introduced, of course, are excepted.
FINAL AUTHOR'S NOTE:
"A character speaking."
A character thinking.
\A Hikari talking to his/her Yami through a mind-link.\
\\A Yami talking to his/her Hikari through a mind-link.\\
*A True overhearing his/her Negative's thoughts or vice-versa*
And now, on with the fanfanfiction!
Kawari leapt behind the pair of overturned cars quickly, the report of gunfire blazing in his ears and a spray of bullets clashing to the ground where he had originally stood. He groaned softly in pain and leaned back against one of the car wheels, observing his momentary shelter.
It was much the shape of a triangle--the wall of a brick building made up one side, while the overturned cars made a second wall. The third side was open, his means of entry and escape. At the moment, his shelter also served as his prison; he had no chance of making his way out of it without being shot down by the Hand of the Shadow's agents.
Kaeru, his yami, dived inside the shelter soon after him, stopping only momentarily to fire several bullets rapidly from a stolen pistol. Several screams were heard from the unseen other side, where the Hand's agents stood--Kaeru had excellent aim, and rarely missed unless he was in a blind fury. Three more agents were down for the count.
Sheathing Gin Hebi, which until that moment had been clutched in his black-gloved hand, Kawari groaned, "How is it out there?"
"Not good," Kaeru replied, frowning. "We can hold them off for now, but if they call reinforcements..." he let it hang.
"Everything's going wrong today," Kawari muttered. He pulled a strip of cloth from his pocket and quickly began wrapping it around the deep cut on his arm, using his free hand and teeth to tie it tightly and ignoring the stinging, painful sensation it caused. After a few minutes, he finished; it wasn't perfect, but it would serve as a temporary bandage until he could get the proper medical help.
Kaeru wordlessly bent down, ripping more cloth from his dark gray tee-shirt that was underneath his jacket, and hurriedly bandaged a second cut on his hikari's lower thigh. He'd been stabbed there, god knew how, but the bleeding had been becoming more rapid due to the lighter being's use of his leg, and the spirit knew it had to be bandaged quick.
Kawari frowned at this. "Aren't you going to patch yourself up a bit first? It's not like we're going anywhere for a while."
Kaeru shook his head. "Priorities, aibou. You come first. I can always return to the Ring and form a new body for myself, should it come to it."
Kawari shrugged, taking up the gun Kaeru had placed on the ground in case of attack, but all the while keeping his eye on his yami. The spirit's wounds were considerably worse, due to the fact that his body was expandable and could heal itself simply by returning to it's item. The Negative Ryou could count at least six bullet holes in various places (including one uncomfortably close to the yami's heart), other stab wounds, and quite a bit of bleeding. Kaeru would have to return to the Ring soon or his temporary body would die.
"I don't understand," Kawari muttered, after several minutes had gone by in silence between the two. He spoke mostly for a change in sound; the fire of bullets and shouts of the Hand of the Shadow's agents was not something interesting to listen to. "We were supposed to have backup, Kaze told us that in the mission briefing. I'd trust him, so what happened to the squad he was sending to cover us?"
"I don't know," Kaeru admitted, leaning back to sit next to his aibou against the broken, twisted frame of one of the overturned cars. "They should have shown up long before now. Because they didn't, we're stuck surrounded by the enemy in a makeshift shelter and hoping for the best." Neither of them said it, but it was a likely possibility that they could die then and there.
Kawari was about to reply, but at that precise moment a small beep in his left ear claimed his attention. It was his communicator, of sorts; months before, while he had still been Mind-Lost, a silver earring had been installed that was actually a well-hidden radio-like device. The frequency that connected to the earring was well guarded, and practically impossible to tap. It was also private, and usually only used for the white-haired teen's spy missions, when carrying a larger communicator would be foolish if he should ever get caught--while no one would ever suspect an innocent little silver hoop.
Kawari had resented it at first, for it was one of the few things Kaeru had ever done to his body without permission (though, to be fair, how was Kaeru supposed to ask him when his mind was trapped in a labyrinth of the darkest terrors?). Yet now, at this particular moment, he thanked every god he could think of for having it--perhaps he could somehow tell another of his predicament.
Pressing his finger to the silver hoop, Kawari hissed loudly so that he could be heard. "Yes?"
"Where on Earth are you?" Kaze, voice full of frantic anger, spat over the communicator link. "Why aren't you in place? The other squads are standing by, they're waiting for your signal, and you're not there!"
"Listen," Kawari hissed back. "The squad that was supposed to act as backup for us never came. We went through the first part of our mission, and ended up getting trapped in a street full of Hand agents. We can't get out."
There was startled silence on the other side of the line, before Kaze muttered, "What? Never showed?" He contemplated this for a second, before asking, "where are you?"
Kawari glanced up from his little makeshift shelter--or prison--and stared down the road at a smoldering street sign. "Kyofu Avenue."
"Right. Mako and his squad are in that direction. I'll send them over right away; they'll bail you out. We're aborting this mission."
"What?!" Kawari all but shrieked. "You can't abort it, this is important, it's--"
"It's risking too many lives, and something's wrong. I want to find out what's up with that squad that never showed. Blue Eyes, out." The link snapped off, and Kawari sighed.
Kaeru had noticed his hikari's conversation over the communicator, and had taken the time to return to the Ring and form a new temporary body for himself. Now looking as though he'd never suffered an injury, he asked, "What news?"
"Mako and his squad are coming to get us out. Then Kaze's dropping the mission."
"Figures." The spirit sighed and dropped his head back against the car. "Now we wait."
Twenty minutes, they spent in that hell, hoping against hope that death would not come before their aid. After twenty minutes, however, the sounds of gunfire and yelling changed; the yelling became more frantic, the gunfire louder, as if shots were being exchanged. And then...
Kawari's communicator earring snapped on again, and Mako's deep, usually cheerful voice yelled, "We're here, where are you guys?!"
Kawari could not keep the gratitude out of his voice. "Behind the two cars that have been flipped over. One's red, the other's green."
"Got it. I see'em. I'm coming over for you guys, hold on."
The link snapped off once more, and Kawari relayed this new information to Kaeru. The spirit nodded. "Good. Here, give me the gun; I can move around more than you can, and it'll be more use in my hands."
Kawari nodded dully, handing over the weapon and waiting. Only moments later, Mako slipped around the opening in their little prison, staring down at his two fellow Opposition agents.
"Okay, let's get going. Kawari, your leg's wounded, I can see that--don't think you should be walking on it. Here." As the hikari stood, wavering slightly, Mako swung one of Kawari's arms over his shoulder, holding the teen upright. The light looked somewhat annoyed at having to be helped, but nodded gratefully in any case. Even so, he slipped Gin Hebi out of it's sheath once more, aiming to fight off any enemies that were stupid enough to come too close to him and his rescuer.
And then they moved off. Battling their way through the midst of gunfire and screams, they made their way back towards Mako's squad. The men and women under the ocean-loving agent's command were covering for them, firing and taking out any Shadow of the Hand agents that looked interested in harming Kawari, Kaeru, or Mako.
Eventually, the threesome met up with the rescue squad, moving into the depths of the fighting Opposition agents, where the two injured, white-haired fighters had less of a chance of coming to harm. Then, slowly, but in a practiced manner, the squad began backing off, moving backwards down the street and away from the Hand of the Shadow. The opposing Hand agents did not pursue them, having their own troubles, and so escape was fairly easy.
Nearly an hour later, the squad found themselves in a lightly populated area, and had stopped to take care of the wounded and to check in with Kaze and the rest of the Opposition. It was then that Kawari was given the professional medical treatment he needed, though he looked highly angry at the fuss one of the medical men was making over "just a few cuts."
Kaeru had other things on his mind. What had happened to the squad that was supposed to be covering them? They hadn't shown up, and it had nearly cost himself and his aibou their very lives.
"You're wondering about it too, hmmm?" Kawari asked, frowning.
"Yes."
"I still don't understand...Mako says he tried contacting the leader of that squad, and he got no answer. Nothing."
"I wonder what happened to them. Were they killed?" A possibility, but Kaeru doubted it.
One of the women from the squad overheard their conversation and turned towards them. "Er...sirs...were you talking about the missing men?" she asked slowly, looking concerned.
"Yes," Kawari said, giving the woman a side glance. "Know anything about them?"
"Yes, yes I do!" she said suddenly, her voice sounding excited, but nervous. "I...I think I saw them!"
"Really?" Now both Kaeru and Kawari were listening.
"Yeah. I was on scouting duty, see, and...well, I saw a whole bunch of men walking along on one of the streets, and the next moment...they vanished!"
"Vanished?"
"Yeah...just like if they teleported or something." The woman looked apologetic. "Look, I know I sound crazy, but..."
"Oh no, on the contrary," Kaeru answered, smiling slightly, "you've been quite a help. Thank you."
Once the woman had departed, Kawari turned back to his yami. "Are you thinking what I am?"
"I'm not sure," Kaeru muttered, deep in thought. "I can say one thing, though."
"And that is?"
"Something is seriously wrong with the Balance, and our Realm."
* * *
"How on Earth could Rex's squadron have simply disappeared?" Kaze snapped to nobody as he paced around the briefing room irritably, waiting for the recently-rescued Kawari and Kaeru to show up with their report. "He couldn't have been killed, it was a virtually no-risk route he was following, and he's a more responsible squadron leader than to have gotten lost or sidetracked." His muttering was cut short as Kaeru entered the room, Kawari limping right behind him.
"Well?" Kaze demanded of them boredly. There most likely wasn't much he didn't already know to be gained from the report. "Tell me exactly what happened."
"That's irrelevant," Kaeru told him. "We've heard something much more important. We think we know where Rex's team disappeared to."
Kaze suddenly snapped to complete attentiveness. "What do you know?" he asked Kaeru more seriously. Kawari stepped forward to answer.
"We heard from a member of Mako's unit that she saw Rex and his buddies all vanish into thin air. The way she was going on sorta reminded me of that whole thing when we came through that portal into the True Realm because there was an imbalance or something, or whatever they called it."
This was definitely an unexpected development, Kaze though wryly, as his eyebrows went up. But of course, they knew nothing yet. This eyewitness clearly didn't know what she was seeing, and might have twisted the facts out of proportion. "I wonder if there's any way we can find out exactly what happened…" he mused to himself.
Kaeru and Kawari just gave each other significant looks.
* * *
Meanwhile, in a Realm opposite to the one in which all of Kaze's numerous dendrites and neurotransmitters were currently working full speed, a boy called Yugi Motou was having a nightmare.
He supposed that the Shadowdreams, the prophetic visions of warning sent by the Shadow Realm, couldn't really be called nightmares, but they certainly weren't pleasant. He thought about asking his Yami, his dark side, about them, but he didn't want to get him worried for no reason. The last time he told Yami about a Shadowdream, it had cost him a night of sleep when he insisted upon guarding Yugi from any other disturbing images.
Yugi glanced over at his alarm clock. It read 11:00 P.M. Maybe I'll watch TV for a little while or something, he thought to himself. Try and get myself really sleepy so I won't dream. It was a futile effort, he knew- the Shadowdreams would come no matter what he did to try and stop them- but the idea made him feel better anyway.
He walked down the hallway to the living room of the apartment above his grandfather's game shop where he lived, being careful not to disturb the said grandfather as he walked past his room. Not much chance of that, though, Yugi thought wryly as he listened to Grandpa Motou snore at what must be at least 1,000 decibels. Still giggling a bit inside his mind, he closed the living-room door, sat down on the couch, and flipped on the TV quietly.
"Tonight on the 11-o-clock news," the TV announcer blared, as Yugi prepared to change the channel, "is a string of mysterious murders that have suddenly struck cities and small towns all over Japan, the most recent victim being discovered in a park in Domino City." Yugi's hand froze halfway to the remote. A murder in Domino City? He kept listening.
"This is the latest in a string of several mysterious killings that have plagued the nation for the past month," the announcer continued, as the screen showed pictures of a park in Domino where Yugi often went after school to duel his friends and talk. "This normally-peaceful setting was the site of the freshest victim's body when it was discovered. The victim, a well-known duelist by the name of Rex Raptor, was discovered alone near one of the park's many picnic tables. The murder weapon nor the cause of death could not be identified at this time, as the body was unblemished. Doctors are currently performing an autopsy…" Yugi quickly turned the power off, feeling sick.
Rex Raptor was dead? True, he hadn't been a close friend, but he had been an acquaintance and a fellow duelist, one of his few fellow duelists who had never cheated during his dueling career. And he was dead? This was all too much.
He closed his eyes. It didn't seem real. It was too late at night to seem real. He would wake up in the morning and this would all be a bad dream…
* * *
"So you see, Kaiba-boy, Bakura's analysis was correct. My Millennium Item tells me that it was definitely a True Realm portal that sucked up Rex's little army. The question now is… what do we do about it?"
Kaze lowered his head. He hadn't doubted Kaeru, but as long as you had more than one magic user at your disposal, it didn't hurt to get a second opinion. There was less of a margin for error.
"Reconnissaince," he snapped. "We have to find out why that happened, and if necessary and possible, rescue the team. We can't spare a huge force at the moment, but I'm going to be more prepared for this journey into the True Realm than I was last time."
"Surely you don't mean to go yourself, Kaiba-boy?" Negative Pegasus asked.
"I most definitely do," Kaze responded. "If I want a mission to go right, I'd better be personally involved. Don't worry, I'm leaving the Opposition to the Bakuras while I'm gone, and I'm sure you know they're more than capable. Joey should probably go with me, though… and maybe two more top agents…"
Pegasus did his fake pout that made him so annoying to outsiders. "You can't go have all the fun without me, now, can you? Besides, if the Bakuras are staying here, you should have at least one magic-user with you, and Malik and Isis are busy."
Kaze thought over the suggestion briefly before nodding. "Alright. And one of our other American agents, I can spare them more easily. Possibly Solomon, though he's getting on in his years now…"
"What about Miss Valentine?"
"Mai? The American strategist? I thought she was on a mission?"
"Just completed, successfully. She has managed to install no fewer than 20 Opposition agents in the U.S. government, and got a few of the enemy's agents fired."
"Excellent." Kaze made a log of that information for future use. "Prepare standby agents to open a portal to the True Realm, Pegasus." Without further instruction or pleasantry, Kaze left the room. It was time for a last-minute chat with Kaeru and Kawari before he departed that evening. He left the American-owned Industrial Illusions warehouse where he had been meeting with Pegasus and approached the private helicoptor that would fly him back to the Opposition's base.
* * *
It wasn't some weird dream.
Rex Raptor was really dead, as the newspaper had the exact same story when Yugi woke up that morning. Somehow, it seemed far more real now, reading it in the paper during the light of day, than it had in his dream-state in the night before. And then there was that Shadowdream… It had been warning him of yet another imbalance between the Realms, but…
\\Shadowdream?\\ Yami popped in suddenly. \\Why didn't you tell me about this?\\
\It wasn't a big deal, Yami,\ Yugi replied. \It was a short one, not quite so disturbing as some of the others have been.\
\\You should have woken me up,\ Yami protested grumpily. \\I could have protected you… with all this talk of murder, you don't need more things to worry about…\\
\You'd lose another night's sleep, though! I wanted at least ONE of us to be rested for school, so I don't end up failing that math test today…\
Yami was about to reply, but he was interrupted by what was clearly a knock on the door from downstairs.
"That must be Tea, come to walk to school with me," Yugi said aloud. He slumped down in his chair a bit. Somehow, the thought of school didn't seem appealing. He listened to his grandfather, who was downstairs opening up the game shop, open the door.
Suddenly, someone burst up the stairs in front of Yugi, and it most certainly wasn't Tea.
"Yugi, we need to talk!" a hoarse voice exclaimed, sounding very out-of-breath.
"Rex Raptor!" Yugi shouted, leaping up from his chair in surprise. "You're supposed to be dead!"
"I know! It's all over the news! But I clearly am not dead, am I? I had a good night of sleep last night, never went to the park late at night, and certainly wasn't murdered!"
Yugi was bemused. "Is… is someone playing a very bad joke or something?" he asked nervously.
"No," Rex replied darkly. "Because I saw the body this morning."
"What?!"
"I saw the body," Rex repeated, "and it's an exact replica of me. If I didn't know any better, I'd say it was me, and even weirder, THIS was found on the body." Rex pulled out his treasured Two-Headed King Rex card from his back pocket.
"That's your favorite card, right?" Yugi asked confusedly.
"No, it isn't," Rex replied. "Because my favorite card is right here." He pulled his dueling deck, encased in a card protector, from his backpack and removed his own three copies of the Two-Headed King Rex card. "And the other card isn't a fake, either," he added. "It's real. Which means…"
"Someone probably knows you really, really well," Yugi mused, as his mind turned over possibilities.
Yami had a suggestion. \\Or maybe this isn't the same Rex Raptor.\\
\What do you mean, Yam- OH!!!\
* * *
"Are you sure you'll be alright without us, Kaze?"
"Quite, Kaeru. Pegasus is going with me, and one magic-user has been enough in past situations. I really need a trusted agent like you to look over the Opposition while we're gone this time. There were too many negative consequences for our dissapearance last time, and well… if we ever are going to repair this world, I can't let that happen again."
"Don't worry, we got ya covered," Kawari replied with a grin. "Kaeru 'n I won't let anything stupid happen."
"I know you won't, or I wouldn't be leaving the Opposition to you," Kaze replied with the faintest trace of a grin. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I believe our mages have succeeded in opening the portal to Yugi Motou's residence in the True Realm. I'll see you all soon." In Kaze's trademark style, he walked out of the office without so much as a backward glance.
"You think we're gonna be okay without Kaze?" Kaeru wondered aloud.
Kawari's reply was swift and confident. "Don't worry. After all, what's the worst that can happen?"
* * *
End of Chapter One
CLOSING AUTHOR'S NOTES:
Well, that's a first chapter, anyway. I'll probably have about six or seven by the time this story's done. I realize there wasn't much action to start with here, but I wanted to get this story going and I had some basic setup work to do. I had to introduce the characters, get Kaze and his team into the True Realm, and I had to sort out the whole Rex's death mystery before I could actually begin the plot. Don't worry, it's coming next chapter!
A note about characters: I realize a lot of people hate Pegasus and Mai, but give them a chance! Don't worry, I plan to make both Negative Pegasus and Negative Mai likeable characters (Negative Mai, especially, is going to be a lot more intelligent and less preppy than her True Realm self). I wanted new N. Realm characters to develop, and they were the only obvious choices who were still alive in the N. Realm. In addition, I'm planning to introduce some OC's, including an OC antagonist, who will all be introduced next chapter.
In addition to all this, I'll say right now that I plan to have lots of duels in this fic. This chapter was the exception, as the "setup" chapter, but every chapter after this should have at least one duel. I love writing duels, and I wanted to invent some new cards for some of my OCs to have, so that's the main reason why. In addition, there will be some violence in future chapters, but nothing bloody or gorey (I can't stand that stuff). I may have a character or two die, but if so they won't have an ultra-violent death, or else they'll die "offstage." I'm still not even sure about that part yet.
Chapter Two will be coming as soon as time allows, which may be a while, considering that I'm on vacation for the last week of summer, school starts next week and I have taken entirely too many extremely difficult classes (like the loon I am), but I will work on this sporadically. I has priority over all my other fics because there's a deadline. Anyway, seeya!