Paper Mario
By: ~*Brittney a.k.a Hoshi Mizuriu*~
Disclaimer: okay, it's been like about almost a whole year since I updated something. I just suddenly lost interest in writing. But I wanted to about a couple month ago, to pick things up where I left off, but NO. My stupid floppy disk that had all the stories on it disappeared on me! Meh...what a life. Anyways, I just entered High School as a Frosh so I'll be pretty slow doing updates, but hopefully my stories won't suck too bad neither. A word of warning, but if anyone knows me just barely, my humor in stories are pretty wacked, so I don't expect anyone to laugh. If anything, laugh at how pathetically I attempt it. Well, I'll save more rambling for later. This is just a prelude to the whole story, so sorry if you all get confused. Thanks a bunch for bothering with this stupid thing. Oh, one more thing. There will be romance, but I won't have any yaoi or BoyxBoy/GirlxGirl characters. If you want to know what romance I'm going to do, the best info would probably be is to read my other stories that I did.
P.S: nevermind the titles. They're too weird. And all rights for the Paper Mario game are reserved for that company and people who made it only. I don't want anyone suing me for using the story line. I got no money. Seriously.
~*~
Prelude: Beans, Kaiba Land machines and. . .getting pulled out of school??
Started: February. 19, 2004
Finished: February. 20, 2004
~*~
"Mr. Joey Wheeler."
". . . .zzzzzzzzz. . . . . . . ."
"Wheeler?"
"Zzzzzzzzzzzz."
"Wheeler!"
"ZZZZZZZZZZZZ."
The classroom fell dead quiet and watched as the teacher walked from the front of the room from the blackboard casually with a fake but suddenly scary smile. She slowly approached her sleeping dull blonde students desk and called softly, very softly,
"Joey, oh, Joeeeeeeeeeeey. . ."
"ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ." Was his only reply.
The teacher then placed her hands on his desk and took the whistle she had around her neck for such an occasion. Then she took a deep breath blew it, making everyone wince and cover there ears, and then the wrath of the teacher's voice came at the top of her lungs, "ATTENTION!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!! MY EARS!!!!!!!!" Joey cried as he fell back on his chair and on the floor, holding his head, "Owww!!!" Then he blinked and looked straight up at a one pissed teacher and he sweat dropped nervously with a somewhat panicky smile, his Brooklyn accent a little shaky "S-sorry, Ms. B! I was payin' attention! Really!!"
The instructor put her hands on her hips as she stared him down, "Hmm. . . ."
'. . .yeesh. . .even wit' jus one look, it's scary enough as it is!' Joey thought as his smile widen a little more, "Uh, can I help you?"
She continued to give him a look before she closed her eyes and straightened, crossing her arms, "Hmph. Your being called to the principal's office, so I suggest you get going. And take your things with you because I'm pretty sure your not coming back today. Now move out!"
Joey scrambled to his feet and hurriedly put the chair back in it's place before grabbing his bag and books, "Yes, ma'am!" Then he stopped and dared to look up at the teacher, ". . .why am I going? I didn't do nothin' wrong toda- "
"MOVE IT, WHEELER OR I WILL MAKE YOU SORRY AND MAKE YOU GO CRYIN' HOME TO YOUR BABY-SITTER!!"
And with that, Joey zipped out the class door.
The teacher then pivoted around and made it back to the front, picking up her ruler she used for pointing and slapped the desk hard with it with the same fake but scary smile on, "Okay, class. Turn to page 241 in your textbook. . .NOW!!!"
Scared out of their wits, the class did just that, hoping they won't have this substitute teacher for very long.
~*~
"She's like da Drill Sergeant from Hell, that's what she is. . ." Joey mumbled to himself as he rubbed the back of his head where it connected with the floor.
"You said something there, Joey?" A familiar voice asked as the tall Tristen Taylor came up beside his friend, having his schoolbag hanging over his shoulder.
The other teen blinked his brown eyes, "Tristen, you too!?"
"Being sent to the principal? Yup. But the funny thing is, I didn't starts any fights or cut classes or anything like that today. And I'm sure it's not a family thing either. What about you?"
"Well, let's see. . ." Joey thought for a moment, then he shrugged and continued to walk down the hall. "Nope. Nothin' that I can think up neither."
The sky was a bright blue with patches of white clouds here and there and the sun was setting its light heat directly over Domino city, indicating it was just about mid-day. At Domino High, school was about half way over and in a couple more hours it would lead into the weekend where a lot of people had plans to slack off.
The two friends walked in silence until they came to the waiting room before the principal's office, and there Tristen and Joey stared with their mouths open at the three people sitting in the chairs.
"Whoa, no way! Yugi! What are you doing here!" Tristen said in complete surprise as he then looked at the other two in disbelief, "Ryou and Tea?! You guys too!? Of all people, I didn't think you guys would end up here!"
The still growing purple-eyed little Yugi Mouto sheepishly smiled a little with a small nervous laugh, idly fiddling with the golden pyramid, the legendary Millennium Puzzle that was tied around his neck and also harbored the link with him and the King of Games and the ability to change to one personality to another.
Joey stared and then he almost burst into laughter but he held it back with a hand over his mouth, "Wha'd you guys do, set the chem. Lab on fire?"
The shoulder brown haired blue eyed girl, Téa Gardener, glared and crossed her arms as she sat in between the other two boys on either side of her, her voice unamused and flat, "Oh, ha ha ha, very funny, Joey. Just because I can't handle fire that well doesn't mean I want to intentionally burn things. But I didn't even have chemistry today."
"Then what was it? Dressing inappropriately? Break a glass window? Threaten the teacher with a knife?" Joey sarcastically pushed some more with a grin.
"If I HAD a knife, I'll be sure to threaten you with it first." Téa fumed.
The white haired teen, Ryou Bakura, on the other side of her gently laid a hand on her shoulder with a smile, adding a little to the play, "Now, now, Téa. . .I think that's too good for our Joey here."
Tristen smirked, "Yeah. A spoork'll do!"
"An' wha's dat suppose t'mean?!" Now it was Joey's turn to get steamed as he threw a look at Tristen, waving a fist around.
"Calm down, Joey, they're just teasing you." Yugi said with a laugh, waving a hand in front of him.
"Yeah, can't you take a joke?" Téa smiled.
"Lighten up, dude! We're here for ya." Tristen said as he grabbed the blonde and gave him a noogie.
Joey struggle, "Aw, come on! Leggo!" He finally broke away and gave Tristen a look before fixing his hair and looked at the three that were sitting down in their seats, "But seriously. Why are you guys here?"
Ryou shook his head, "We don't know. We were just called here for no reason that we can think of. And it's the same story with Yugi and Téa. Strange, I think."
"No kidding. Joey and I are the top troublemakers of the school, but we haven't done anything today." Tristen said as he sat down beside Yugi, then he grinned, ". . .yet."
Yugi sweat drops, ". . .I don't think that's such a good idea, Tristen."
"Easy, Yug. I wasn't really planning on it."
"Good. Now if your all done talking, I suggest you all sit down." The principal said as he stood at his now opened door dressed in his blue suit as he rubbed his graying hair and fixes them back in place.
Joey and Tristen obediently did so, taking up the last remaining seats in the waiting room as Téa spoke for all of them, "Mr. Saiyu, is there anything we did wrong?"
"Hmm?" Mr. Saiyu looked up at her and waved a hand, "Oh no, of course not. Besides, I'm too old to be chasing around some rascals. You all are too good of a student for that. . ." Then he glanced at Joey and Tristen, ". . .well, most of you."
The two boys grinned widely at their reputation.
Ryou sat up straighter to help ease the tension that was building up earlier, "That's good, but what is the reason?"
The old man thought for a moment as he began to remember, "It isn't for getting into trouble, that's for sure, only that you five are to leave school early today as soon as possible."
"Wait, what? Leave school early? Why?" Yugi asked in disbelief as he thought to himself, '. . .I know it's not Grandpa. He wouldn't call all of us. . .'
The principal took out a crumpled piece of paper from his pocket and read it over, ". . .it says that you have business to attend to with Kaiba in Kaiba Land. And it also says here that you go there as soon as possible."
Everyone stared at him with wide eyes as there was a long and heavy silence filling the room before Joey cleared his throat and raised a hand, ". . .wait, tell me if I heard dis right. All FIVE of us a'e to be pulled out of school, MID-day, right before da weekend, go ta Kaiba Land because we have business with Kaiba? THEE Kaiba of Kaiba Corps.?"
Mr. Saiyu blinked and nodded slowly, "Yes. It shouldn't seem a surprised to you though, right? I mean, you've met and been with Mr. Kaiba before, am I right?"
'. . .not exactly hanging out type of thing. . .' Tristen thought to himself but didn't bother saying anything out loud but just crossed his arms.
"You're not kiddin' us, right, Mr. Saiyu?" Joey asked suspiciously, once more for the record.
"I don't think there was any record in history that says I kid, Mr. Wheeler. Well, you all better get going. Here's the note with my signature if you get stopped on the way out." Mr. Saiyu said as he scribbled down his name on a blank spot on the paper and handed it to Téa. He yawned then stretched and rubbed the back of his aching neck, "I hope this day ends quickly. . .I'll see you five on Monday then. Have a nice weekend."
The five friends watched as their school principal waved as he went back into his office, and with a quiet shut of his door, that was it. Everyone then scrambled over to Téa to look at the note, very clearly don't look convinced.
"This is a first. . .Kaiba pulling us out of school." Ryou pointed out.
"I don't think it was Kaiba, meaning thee Seto Kaiba, that sent this note." Téa said.
"What do you mean, Téa?" Yugi said as he looked at the note in her hands again.
"Come on. Let's all think about it. Kaiba pretty much hates our guts and gets irritated by the simple sound of our names. It's probably a hoax." She answered.
Tristen stood and threw his back over his shoulders and looked over at them with his dull brown eyes, "Well, hoax or not, we might as well check it out since it's still school time."
Joey smirked and rubbed his hands together, "I'm gonna have fun payin that bastard back for callin' me a dog!"
"Uh oh, he has that look again. . ." Yugi said in a forewarning tone as he stood up with Téa with his bag as well since the teacher's told them to bring their things.
"Actually, I think calling Joey a 'dog' is cuter than calling him a baby kangaroo." Téa teased as she walked out the of the waiting room, leading the group.
"What?! Your takin' Kaiba's side!?" Joey shouted as he trailed after them down the hall. Then he thought and then he smirked widely while he took a sly tone, "Why, Téa. Could it be dat you LIKE him?"
'. . .oh boy. . .Joey's asking for it. . .' Ryou thought as he walked beside Yugi.
"Joey. . ." She said in a stale tone before she turned to him with a scary smile and asked in a sarcastically sweet voice, "Would you like to see that knife you were talking about?"
The brown-eyed teen gulped and shook his head, "N-no! Th-that's okay!"
"Then shut up and let's go." And with that, Téa turned and walked again.
Joey sweat dropped nervously and mumbled to himself, ". . .I'm startin' t'think Téa's more scarier than my English substitute teacher. . ."
Yugi chuckled quietly and followed in line as they walked out the door.
~*~
"Well, we're almost there. You guys called who you're staying with where we are, right?" Téa asked as the group began to approach the last corner they would need to round to reach Kaiba Land.
"My old man doesn't care, so I'm good." Joey said with his hands behind his head. They all stopped by the Game Shop that Yugi's Grandfather owns and dropped off their bags.
"We did, Téa." Ryou answered.
"Now let's go see what all this 'business' thing is about, and the real reason why we got let off from school so early." Tristen said as he stuffed his hands in his pockets, walking along side the group.
They passed the corner and squinted a little from the sudden sunlight that blinded them for a minute. The gate didn't help either, being it metal and towering high. There were pale beige colored stoned walls to shield and conceal what was inside and lined around the whole park. But something was missing. . .
"Hey, wait a minute!" Yugi said, stopping everyone from going any further.
"What's the matter, Yug?" Joey asked as he turned to the shorter boy.
"It's usually busy here. Usually there'd be a long line with a lot of people walking around, but do you see anyone? And the gates are closed!"
"That's st-"Ryou started to say before he was interrupted.
"Well, well, well, if it isn't the philosophy gang." A familiar voice said that belonged to a female with blonde hair and violet purple eyes with her recognizable purple jacket. Mai Valentine grinned a little mockingly at the group of friends with her arms crossed over her chest as she leaned against the wall bordering around Kaiba Land.
"Mai! What are you doing here!?" Tristen reeled a little in surprise.
The young woman's grin widen a little, "I came because I got word that I should come here, so here I am."
"But why? I thought you don't go to anything or anywhere unless there's something you want." Yugi inquired as they came and walked over to her.
"I got nothing else to do. Besides, it's not a crime to be where I want to be, now is there. It's my life so I'm going to live how I want to." Mai answered back, then she raised a brow at them, "And why are you five here. It's not common for kids to be out of preschool this early."
"High School!!" Joey shouted, clearly starting to get irritated.
"Joey, calm down. She's just trying to get on your nerves." Tristen said as he laid a hand on his friend's shoulder.
Mai shrugged, "Whatever. Anyways, why are you guys here?"
"Well, we got called to our principal's office and was given this note. . ." Téa says as she took out the piece of paper with the writing on it and showed it to her, ". . .that says we have to come here as soon as possible because we have business with Kaiba. Probably a prank of some kind."
The woman thought for a moment with her chin resting on her fist as she studied the note in Téa's hand, "Hmm. . .maybe. Either that or something fishy is going on."
"Uh. . .guys. . .?" Ryou quipped up, straying the girls from their conversation and they turned and saw him pointing to the gate, "Sorry to interrupt, but wasn't that entrance closed?"
Mai and Téa backed up away from the wall to the group and looked on as a little fear gnawed at the pit of their stomachs. From the time that they arrived, there was a chain locked heavily at the gate entrance with many keyholes and also an electric security system with voice activation, but all was missing. And there were no lights in the building.
"Dis is getting' creepy!" Joey cried as he backed up a bit before hiding behind Tristen then cautiously peered around the other teens shoulder, "How 'bout we come back later, like next month?"
"Joey!" Téa said as she turned faced him, "Your such a coward sometimes! Despite how scared you are, we're going to have to go in there and find out what's going on."
"But why can't we let someone else do dat. . ." The blonde made meekly said.
"Téa's right, Joey. Besides, if it's an emergency, when we call for help they might not get here in time." Yugi pointed out.
"Or they might not believe us. Kaiba may be the worst, but his goons will just make up an excuse to get us off the hook from looking around. Or, they can make up a story and probably put us in jail." Mai also put in.
"S-so we're going in?" Tristen shakily said, starting to get as scared as Joey.
Ryou looked over to them as he came beside them, "Well, we were also called here for a reason. It's best that we go take a look."
"I hope that's a no. . ." Joey and Tristen said in union.
"Stop whining, you cry babies. Shape up and be a man!" Mai sharply said as she shot them a look.
"Let's not waste anytime." Another voice, a more deeper and mature voice said.
Everyone blinked and looked at where Yugi was, only the air around him changed and felt more of the darker type. His shoulders were also broader and he looked taller than he use to be along with the noticeable trait of his hands in his pockets. Finally Ryou pointed out, "I thought Yami came out only for a Duel. . ."
Yami Yugi, the King of Games, turned to look at them over his shoulder with a serious look in his amethyst eyes, his voice taking on a smooth calm but stern tone, "But if there is also danger, then I have no choice. There is something at work here and I would like to see what it is."
"Right. Let's go then." Téa nodded and Yami lead the group, walking forward and past the gates, but just as they were about to reach the dark entry, the gate slammed shut, with all it's missing locks and security system back in place like it was never removed or touched.
Joey yelped and began to tremble while his teeth chattered, "I-I'm not sure if dis was such a good idea!"
"Shut up, Joey! You're starting to freak me out too!" Tristen tried to fight his fear, but it found a way into his voice.
Yami smirked but didn't say anything and they slowly walked one by one into the darkness. They tried sticking close as they tried to see through the dimness since there was barely some light to see by due to the daylight outside Kaiba Land. Joey and Tristen almost clinged to each other in fear as Mai and Téa held hands to keep track of each other while Ryou and Yami walked beside each other.
"So what do you think is going on here, Yami?" Ryou quietly asked him while he tried to see through the bleakness.
"I don't know. My abiou doesn't know either. But hopefully when we find Kaiba, we'll know." The King of Games answered. He turned back to try and see where he was going as he thought to himself, '. . .this is almost like the Shadow Realm itself. . .'
There was a very long and heavy extent of silence, hightening the senses to become more adjusted to the darkness as the site couldn't be used that much. It was also cold while the sound of their footsteps tapping and echoing off the walls didn't help with the mind neither. But then suddenly there was a piercing scream and he stumbled through the darkness till Yami held a frightened Téa by the shoulders, trying to calm her down before he began to talk to her, "Téa, Téa, what's wrong?"
The girl shivered and trembled in his hold while fear had a fierce grip on her shaky voice, "I-I-I tried t-to call to Tr-Tristen and J-Joey, but they never answered! And j-just a few moments ago, Mai disappeared too!"
"Calm down, Téa, I'm right here and so is Ryou. . ." Then after a period of silence, Yami slowly turned and tried to look through the gloom. No matter how good his sense of defense around his emotions, even now fear was starting to knock at the door to his mind, and the link with Yugi wasn't helping either, "Ryou. . .?"
Only silence answered him along with the soft echo of his own voice. There was nobody there or any sign or indication that there was. He then turned back to Téa when he suddenly felt his hand grow cold, only to step back, his eyes wide. What he saw or felt was only empty air and nothing more. The air began to abruptly feel heavy as the fear finally hit where it wanted to and now even the great Yami was a little more than scared.
No one was here.
Yami called out each name into the darkness as long as he could, only to hear his own voice and the dead silence of the space. He ran in directions, any directions and kept on calling until he eventually tired himself out, his body pushed to the limits from searching. His breathing was ragged as the panic sapped at the last of his energy until finally he let the darkness overtake his vision and he blacked out.
To Be Continued. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
O-okay. . .this turned out to be more of a horror prologue than suspenseful. Anyways, I told you I sucked, but this is only a prologue. Hopefully my humor will improve from this stupid thing. And pardon if I'm rusty in my low writing abilities. It's been a long time since I did something this long. I just have too much inspiration. This prologue wasn't much but it's a start for me. The first chapter will hopefully be better, and probably be longer, and take me longer to do. I KNOW this story will NOT be easy, but I'll try! I will say, though, is that there will be a lot of surprises in store for this story. ^-^* And that's all I'm saying! Until next time, see ya!
P.S. FLAME ON! I know you guys all have flames so go ahead and give me your best shot! Show me how crappy my stories are, because I know they suck!
By: ~*Brittney a.k.a Hoshi Mizuriu*~
Disclaimer: okay, it's been like about almost a whole year since I updated something. I just suddenly lost interest in writing. But I wanted to about a couple month ago, to pick things up where I left off, but NO. My stupid floppy disk that had all the stories on it disappeared on me! Meh...what a life. Anyways, I just entered High School as a Frosh so I'll be pretty slow doing updates, but hopefully my stories won't suck too bad neither. A word of warning, but if anyone knows me just barely, my humor in stories are pretty wacked, so I don't expect anyone to laugh. If anything, laugh at how pathetically I attempt it. Well, I'll save more rambling for later. This is just a prelude to the whole story, so sorry if you all get confused. Thanks a bunch for bothering with this stupid thing. Oh, one more thing. There will be romance, but I won't have any yaoi or BoyxBoy/GirlxGirl characters. If you want to know what romance I'm going to do, the best info would probably be is to read my other stories that I did.
P.S: nevermind the titles. They're too weird. And all rights for the Paper Mario game are reserved for that company and people who made it only. I don't want anyone suing me for using the story line. I got no money. Seriously.
~*~
Prelude: Beans, Kaiba Land machines and. . .getting pulled out of school??
Started: February. 19, 2004
Finished: February. 20, 2004
~*~
"Mr. Joey Wheeler."
". . . .zzzzzzzzz. . . . . . . ."
"Wheeler?"
"Zzzzzzzzzzzz."
"Wheeler!"
"ZZZZZZZZZZZZ."
The classroom fell dead quiet and watched as the teacher walked from the front of the room from the blackboard casually with a fake but suddenly scary smile. She slowly approached her sleeping dull blonde students desk and called softly, very softly,
"Joey, oh, Joeeeeeeeeeeey. . ."
"ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ." Was his only reply.
The teacher then placed her hands on his desk and took the whistle she had around her neck for such an occasion. Then she took a deep breath blew it, making everyone wince and cover there ears, and then the wrath of the teacher's voice came at the top of her lungs, "ATTENTION!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!! MY EARS!!!!!!!!" Joey cried as he fell back on his chair and on the floor, holding his head, "Owww!!!" Then he blinked and looked straight up at a one pissed teacher and he sweat dropped nervously with a somewhat panicky smile, his Brooklyn accent a little shaky "S-sorry, Ms. B! I was payin' attention! Really!!"
The instructor put her hands on her hips as she stared him down, "Hmm. . . ."
'. . .yeesh. . .even wit' jus one look, it's scary enough as it is!' Joey thought as his smile widen a little more, "Uh, can I help you?"
She continued to give him a look before she closed her eyes and straightened, crossing her arms, "Hmph. Your being called to the principal's office, so I suggest you get going. And take your things with you because I'm pretty sure your not coming back today. Now move out!"
Joey scrambled to his feet and hurriedly put the chair back in it's place before grabbing his bag and books, "Yes, ma'am!" Then he stopped and dared to look up at the teacher, ". . .why am I going? I didn't do nothin' wrong toda- "
"MOVE IT, WHEELER OR I WILL MAKE YOU SORRY AND MAKE YOU GO CRYIN' HOME TO YOUR BABY-SITTER!!"
And with that, Joey zipped out the class door.
The teacher then pivoted around and made it back to the front, picking up her ruler she used for pointing and slapped the desk hard with it with the same fake but scary smile on, "Okay, class. Turn to page 241 in your textbook. . .NOW!!!"
Scared out of their wits, the class did just that, hoping they won't have this substitute teacher for very long.
~*~
"She's like da Drill Sergeant from Hell, that's what she is. . ." Joey mumbled to himself as he rubbed the back of his head where it connected with the floor.
"You said something there, Joey?" A familiar voice asked as the tall Tristen Taylor came up beside his friend, having his schoolbag hanging over his shoulder.
The other teen blinked his brown eyes, "Tristen, you too!?"
"Being sent to the principal? Yup. But the funny thing is, I didn't starts any fights or cut classes or anything like that today. And I'm sure it's not a family thing either. What about you?"
"Well, let's see. . ." Joey thought for a moment, then he shrugged and continued to walk down the hall. "Nope. Nothin' that I can think up neither."
The sky was a bright blue with patches of white clouds here and there and the sun was setting its light heat directly over Domino city, indicating it was just about mid-day. At Domino High, school was about half way over and in a couple more hours it would lead into the weekend where a lot of people had plans to slack off.
The two friends walked in silence until they came to the waiting room before the principal's office, and there Tristen and Joey stared with their mouths open at the three people sitting in the chairs.
"Whoa, no way! Yugi! What are you doing here!" Tristen said in complete surprise as he then looked at the other two in disbelief, "Ryou and Tea?! You guys too!? Of all people, I didn't think you guys would end up here!"
The still growing purple-eyed little Yugi Mouto sheepishly smiled a little with a small nervous laugh, idly fiddling with the golden pyramid, the legendary Millennium Puzzle that was tied around his neck and also harbored the link with him and the King of Games and the ability to change to one personality to another.
Joey stared and then he almost burst into laughter but he held it back with a hand over his mouth, "Wha'd you guys do, set the chem. Lab on fire?"
The shoulder brown haired blue eyed girl, Téa Gardener, glared and crossed her arms as she sat in between the other two boys on either side of her, her voice unamused and flat, "Oh, ha ha ha, very funny, Joey. Just because I can't handle fire that well doesn't mean I want to intentionally burn things. But I didn't even have chemistry today."
"Then what was it? Dressing inappropriately? Break a glass window? Threaten the teacher with a knife?" Joey sarcastically pushed some more with a grin.
"If I HAD a knife, I'll be sure to threaten you with it first." Téa fumed.
The white haired teen, Ryou Bakura, on the other side of her gently laid a hand on her shoulder with a smile, adding a little to the play, "Now, now, Téa. . .I think that's too good for our Joey here."
Tristen smirked, "Yeah. A spoork'll do!"
"An' wha's dat suppose t'mean?!" Now it was Joey's turn to get steamed as he threw a look at Tristen, waving a fist around.
"Calm down, Joey, they're just teasing you." Yugi said with a laugh, waving a hand in front of him.
"Yeah, can't you take a joke?" Téa smiled.
"Lighten up, dude! We're here for ya." Tristen said as he grabbed the blonde and gave him a noogie.
Joey struggle, "Aw, come on! Leggo!" He finally broke away and gave Tristen a look before fixing his hair and looked at the three that were sitting down in their seats, "But seriously. Why are you guys here?"
Ryou shook his head, "We don't know. We were just called here for no reason that we can think of. And it's the same story with Yugi and Téa. Strange, I think."
"No kidding. Joey and I are the top troublemakers of the school, but we haven't done anything today." Tristen said as he sat down beside Yugi, then he grinned, ". . .yet."
Yugi sweat drops, ". . .I don't think that's such a good idea, Tristen."
"Easy, Yug. I wasn't really planning on it."
"Good. Now if your all done talking, I suggest you all sit down." The principal said as he stood at his now opened door dressed in his blue suit as he rubbed his graying hair and fixes them back in place.
Joey and Tristen obediently did so, taking up the last remaining seats in the waiting room as Téa spoke for all of them, "Mr. Saiyu, is there anything we did wrong?"
"Hmm?" Mr. Saiyu looked up at her and waved a hand, "Oh no, of course not. Besides, I'm too old to be chasing around some rascals. You all are too good of a student for that. . ." Then he glanced at Joey and Tristen, ". . .well, most of you."
The two boys grinned widely at their reputation.
Ryou sat up straighter to help ease the tension that was building up earlier, "That's good, but what is the reason?"
The old man thought for a moment as he began to remember, "It isn't for getting into trouble, that's for sure, only that you five are to leave school early today as soon as possible."
"Wait, what? Leave school early? Why?" Yugi asked in disbelief as he thought to himself, '. . .I know it's not Grandpa. He wouldn't call all of us. . .'
The principal took out a crumpled piece of paper from his pocket and read it over, ". . .it says that you have business to attend to with Kaiba in Kaiba Land. And it also says here that you go there as soon as possible."
Everyone stared at him with wide eyes as there was a long and heavy silence filling the room before Joey cleared his throat and raised a hand, ". . .wait, tell me if I heard dis right. All FIVE of us a'e to be pulled out of school, MID-day, right before da weekend, go ta Kaiba Land because we have business with Kaiba? THEE Kaiba of Kaiba Corps.?"
Mr. Saiyu blinked and nodded slowly, "Yes. It shouldn't seem a surprised to you though, right? I mean, you've met and been with Mr. Kaiba before, am I right?"
'. . .not exactly hanging out type of thing. . .' Tristen thought to himself but didn't bother saying anything out loud but just crossed his arms.
"You're not kiddin' us, right, Mr. Saiyu?" Joey asked suspiciously, once more for the record.
"I don't think there was any record in history that says I kid, Mr. Wheeler. Well, you all better get going. Here's the note with my signature if you get stopped on the way out." Mr. Saiyu said as he scribbled down his name on a blank spot on the paper and handed it to Téa. He yawned then stretched and rubbed the back of his aching neck, "I hope this day ends quickly. . .I'll see you five on Monday then. Have a nice weekend."
The five friends watched as their school principal waved as he went back into his office, and with a quiet shut of his door, that was it. Everyone then scrambled over to Téa to look at the note, very clearly don't look convinced.
"This is a first. . .Kaiba pulling us out of school." Ryou pointed out.
"I don't think it was Kaiba, meaning thee Seto Kaiba, that sent this note." Téa said.
"What do you mean, Téa?" Yugi said as he looked at the note in her hands again.
"Come on. Let's all think about it. Kaiba pretty much hates our guts and gets irritated by the simple sound of our names. It's probably a hoax." She answered.
Tristen stood and threw his back over his shoulders and looked over at them with his dull brown eyes, "Well, hoax or not, we might as well check it out since it's still school time."
Joey smirked and rubbed his hands together, "I'm gonna have fun payin that bastard back for callin' me a dog!"
"Uh oh, he has that look again. . ." Yugi said in a forewarning tone as he stood up with Téa with his bag as well since the teacher's told them to bring their things.
"Actually, I think calling Joey a 'dog' is cuter than calling him a baby kangaroo." Téa teased as she walked out the of the waiting room, leading the group.
"What?! Your takin' Kaiba's side!?" Joey shouted as he trailed after them down the hall. Then he thought and then he smirked widely while he took a sly tone, "Why, Téa. Could it be dat you LIKE him?"
'. . .oh boy. . .Joey's asking for it. . .' Ryou thought as he walked beside Yugi.
"Joey. . ." She said in a stale tone before she turned to him with a scary smile and asked in a sarcastically sweet voice, "Would you like to see that knife you were talking about?"
The brown-eyed teen gulped and shook his head, "N-no! Th-that's okay!"
"Then shut up and let's go." And with that, Téa turned and walked again.
Joey sweat dropped nervously and mumbled to himself, ". . .I'm startin' t'think Téa's more scarier than my English substitute teacher. . ."
Yugi chuckled quietly and followed in line as they walked out the door.
~*~
"Well, we're almost there. You guys called who you're staying with where we are, right?" Téa asked as the group began to approach the last corner they would need to round to reach Kaiba Land.
"My old man doesn't care, so I'm good." Joey said with his hands behind his head. They all stopped by the Game Shop that Yugi's Grandfather owns and dropped off their bags.
"We did, Téa." Ryou answered.
"Now let's go see what all this 'business' thing is about, and the real reason why we got let off from school so early." Tristen said as he stuffed his hands in his pockets, walking along side the group.
They passed the corner and squinted a little from the sudden sunlight that blinded them for a minute. The gate didn't help either, being it metal and towering high. There were pale beige colored stoned walls to shield and conceal what was inside and lined around the whole park. But something was missing. . .
"Hey, wait a minute!" Yugi said, stopping everyone from going any further.
"What's the matter, Yug?" Joey asked as he turned to the shorter boy.
"It's usually busy here. Usually there'd be a long line with a lot of people walking around, but do you see anyone? And the gates are closed!"
"That's st-"Ryou started to say before he was interrupted.
"Well, well, well, if it isn't the philosophy gang." A familiar voice said that belonged to a female with blonde hair and violet purple eyes with her recognizable purple jacket. Mai Valentine grinned a little mockingly at the group of friends with her arms crossed over her chest as she leaned against the wall bordering around Kaiba Land.
"Mai! What are you doing here!?" Tristen reeled a little in surprise.
The young woman's grin widen a little, "I came because I got word that I should come here, so here I am."
"But why? I thought you don't go to anything or anywhere unless there's something you want." Yugi inquired as they came and walked over to her.
"I got nothing else to do. Besides, it's not a crime to be where I want to be, now is there. It's my life so I'm going to live how I want to." Mai answered back, then she raised a brow at them, "And why are you five here. It's not common for kids to be out of preschool this early."
"High School!!" Joey shouted, clearly starting to get irritated.
"Joey, calm down. She's just trying to get on your nerves." Tristen said as he laid a hand on his friend's shoulder.
Mai shrugged, "Whatever. Anyways, why are you guys here?"
"Well, we got called to our principal's office and was given this note. . ." Téa says as she took out the piece of paper with the writing on it and showed it to her, ". . .that says we have to come here as soon as possible because we have business with Kaiba. Probably a prank of some kind."
The woman thought for a moment with her chin resting on her fist as she studied the note in Téa's hand, "Hmm. . .maybe. Either that or something fishy is going on."
"Uh. . .guys. . .?" Ryou quipped up, straying the girls from their conversation and they turned and saw him pointing to the gate, "Sorry to interrupt, but wasn't that entrance closed?"
Mai and Téa backed up away from the wall to the group and looked on as a little fear gnawed at the pit of their stomachs. From the time that they arrived, there was a chain locked heavily at the gate entrance with many keyholes and also an electric security system with voice activation, but all was missing. And there were no lights in the building.
"Dis is getting' creepy!" Joey cried as he backed up a bit before hiding behind Tristen then cautiously peered around the other teens shoulder, "How 'bout we come back later, like next month?"
"Joey!" Téa said as she turned faced him, "Your such a coward sometimes! Despite how scared you are, we're going to have to go in there and find out what's going on."
"But why can't we let someone else do dat. . ." The blonde made meekly said.
"Téa's right, Joey. Besides, if it's an emergency, when we call for help they might not get here in time." Yugi pointed out.
"Or they might not believe us. Kaiba may be the worst, but his goons will just make up an excuse to get us off the hook from looking around. Or, they can make up a story and probably put us in jail." Mai also put in.
"S-so we're going in?" Tristen shakily said, starting to get as scared as Joey.
Ryou looked over to them as he came beside them, "Well, we were also called here for a reason. It's best that we go take a look."
"I hope that's a no. . ." Joey and Tristen said in union.
"Stop whining, you cry babies. Shape up and be a man!" Mai sharply said as she shot them a look.
"Let's not waste anytime." Another voice, a more deeper and mature voice said.
Everyone blinked and looked at where Yugi was, only the air around him changed and felt more of the darker type. His shoulders were also broader and he looked taller than he use to be along with the noticeable trait of his hands in his pockets. Finally Ryou pointed out, "I thought Yami came out only for a Duel. . ."
Yami Yugi, the King of Games, turned to look at them over his shoulder with a serious look in his amethyst eyes, his voice taking on a smooth calm but stern tone, "But if there is also danger, then I have no choice. There is something at work here and I would like to see what it is."
"Right. Let's go then." Téa nodded and Yami lead the group, walking forward and past the gates, but just as they were about to reach the dark entry, the gate slammed shut, with all it's missing locks and security system back in place like it was never removed or touched.
Joey yelped and began to tremble while his teeth chattered, "I-I'm not sure if dis was such a good idea!"
"Shut up, Joey! You're starting to freak me out too!" Tristen tried to fight his fear, but it found a way into his voice.
Yami smirked but didn't say anything and they slowly walked one by one into the darkness. They tried sticking close as they tried to see through the dimness since there was barely some light to see by due to the daylight outside Kaiba Land. Joey and Tristen almost clinged to each other in fear as Mai and Téa held hands to keep track of each other while Ryou and Yami walked beside each other.
"So what do you think is going on here, Yami?" Ryou quietly asked him while he tried to see through the bleakness.
"I don't know. My abiou doesn't know either. But hopefully when we find Kaiba, we'll know." The King of Games answered. He turned back to try and see where he was going as he thought to himself, '. . .this is almost like the Shadow Realm itself. . .'
There was a very long and heavy extent of silence, hightening the senses to become more adjusted to the darkness as the site couldn't be used that much. It was also cold while the sound of their footsteps tapping and echoing off the walls didn't help with the mind neither. But then suddenly there was a piercing scream and he stumbled through the darkness till Yami held a frightened Téa by the shoulders, trying to calm her down before he began to talk to her, "Téa, Téa, what's wrong?"
The girl shivered and trembled in his hold while fear had a fierce grip on her shaky voice, "I-I-I tried t-to call to Tr-Tristen and J-Joey, but they never answered! And j-just a few moments ago, Mai disappeared too!"
"Calm down, Téa, I'm right here and so is Ryou. . ." Then after a period of silence, Yami slowly turned and tried to look through the gloom. No matter how good his sense of defense around his emotions, even now fear was starting to knock at the door to his mind, and the link with Yugi wasn't helping either, "Ryou. . .?"
Only silence answered him along with the soft echo of his own voice. There was nobody there or any sign or indication that there was. He then turned back to Téa when he suddenly felt his hand grow cold, only to step back, his eyes wide. What he saw or felt was only empty air and nothing more. The air began to abruptly feel heavy as the fear finally hit where it wanted to and now even the great Yami was a little more than scared.
No one was here.
Yami called out each name into the darkness as long as he could, only to hear his own voice and the dead silence of the space. He ran in directions, any directions and kept on calling until he eventually tired himself out, his body pushed to the limits from searching. His breathing was ragged as the panic sapped at the last of his energy until finally he let the darkness overtake his vision and he blacked out.
To Be Continued. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
O-okay. . .this turned out to be more of a horror prologue than suspenseful. Anyways, I told you I sucked, but this is only a prologue. Hopefully my humor will improve from this stupid thing. And pardon if I'm rusty in my low writing abilities. It's been a long time since I did something this long. I just have too much inspiration. This prologue wasn't much but it's a start for me. The first chapter will hopefully be better, and probably be longer, and take me longer to do. I KNOW this story will NOT be easy, but I'll try! I will say, though, is that there will be a lot of surprises in store for this story. ^-^* And that's all I'm saying! Until next time, see ya!
P.S. FLAME ON! I know you guys all have flames so go ahead and give me your best shot! Show me how crappy my stories are, because I know they suck!