Disclaimer: If we owned Yugioh, we wouldn't have to BUY the manga, would
we?
Dedicated to Mr. T, naturally. He looked into the matter and DN's word count already counts it as a novel. 0.0 We need to get started on stuff we CAN make money on!!!
There was an error involving the weird format ff.net uses and the way we were denoting Queliyg speech. Therefore, some dialogue was lost. To note, the unusually large Queliyg soldier is named "Gerda" and speaks quite intelligently in her own language. She just speaks only a few words of Japanese. Kind of like us, in real life.
Seto Kaiba Red Archery Girl: We felt sorry for Serenity too, and so did Ryin, as you'll see.
Ethelflaed: YAY! We inspired somebody!
Tuulikki: Glad you didn't forget. We didn't. Actually, that was WHY Golden had the nightmare.
Namonaki Pharoah: (grin) You're so funny.
Griffenfire: (glomps back) The other reason we have so much trouble updating is Golden's various addictions and the fact that can no longer write and be on the internet at once. (New computer.)
Katana no Youkai Okami: Of course you can borrow the name Kekatsu! It's not like we can sue you! Not that we would.
Chapter 12: Coming Together
Kaiba's frame had always been imposing, but now, with the metal plating and the cold fear that seemed to be creeping into Seto's chest, he was larger than ever.
Gozaburo's human eye widened at the sight of the young man, and the room froze, excepting Ryin, who was looking from one to the other, and the giant soldier who had come in behind Kaiba, who had her arms crossed and seemed to be at an odd ease.
"SETO!!" he roared, starting forward, his cybernetic hand coming around threateningly. Without a sound, Seto jumped out of his chair, ready to grab anything--
Ryin pointed what looked a little like a TV remote at Kaiba, pressing a button. The huge man froze, an expression of pain and horror twisting into his face. After a moment, he thudded to the floor, a shocked gasp rattling from his chest.
Ryin stood over him, glaring down. "My fondness for your son aside, you are on probation, Gozaburo Kaiba." She glanced up at the soldier. "Gerda!" Gerda acknowleged her with a glassy black stare. =Tell Noa he may return.= The soldier nodded and walked across the room to the other door.
Now Ryin returned her attention to the two humans, one who was staring in amazement, the other glaring angrily from his human eye. "Now then, if you would both take a seat?"
---
Serenity groaned, waking up but not opening her eyes. She was half afraid she wouldn't be able to see anything-- until she noticed the light filtering through her eyelids.
She was lying on something soft and cushy, wearing something light and comfortable. Finally too curious to keep them closed, she opened her eyes.
It was the most gorgeous prison she had ever seen. Carmen gauze curtains obscured the bars in the widows and settled a hazy red glow over the room. Queliyg saw colors in both what humans knew as the "visible" range and a little ultraviolet-- and thanks to her implants Serenity could appreciate the bizarre array of colors in the room. Her clothing....
Whatever the material was, it felt silky. They couldn't possibly have been wasting real silk on her, but it was nice. The soft pink cloth flowed over her arms, held to her wrists by golden colored bracelets. (Once again, she couldn't believe that they would waste real gold on a prisoner.) The collar, a thin line of cloth, hung loosely around her neck, and an obi belt gathered the folds around her waist before sweeping down into a flowing skirt. Her feet had been left bare, but her injured ankle was now bandaged carefully.
Scooting to the edge of the daybed, she tested it carefully on the floor. It wasn't comfortable, but it didn't feel like she was doing herself any actual harm, either.
"I hope you appreciate Ryin's hospitality," came a male voice. Serenity started and stared at its source, which was the young aqua-haired man, standing on the other side of the bars of the door. "She was rather annoyed with me when you and the others were brought in. 'Unnecessary roughness,' she said, and told me I'd developed a mean streak from my father."
Serenity stared at him. "You have a Queyliyg accent."
He nodded. "Not surprising. My name is Noa Kaiba--"
"Your father sold you!!" she exclaimed, standing suddenly, surprised at the continued support of her ankle. Noa backed away, surprised himself.
"You happen to be the first person who I haven't had to tell that."
"Mai told me," she murmered. "We were two of the first wave of prisoners, orphans picked up off the street. One of the elven slaves told her." Serenity sat back down and closed her eyes at the memories.
Noa's eyes softened as he watched the tears start to flow. She was little more than a child, after all.
=Noa-sir,= a voice intoned from behind him. Noa turned to stare up at the soldier.
=What is it, Gerda?=
=Ryin-master has requested your return,= she replied, resting an understanding talon on his shoulder. =I must warn you, however, that you should brace yourself.=
Curiously, Noa followed Gerda, leaving a silent Serenity behind.
---
Joey and Yugi had never been a pair to give up, no matter what the situation. Joey was trying to find a way to scale the walls (although Yugi pointed out it was a long way to the vents and they had no way of knowing they could get into them) when Yami pointed out his own solution.
_Are you sure, Yami?_ Yugi asked, glancing over at Joey a little nervously. _It'll be hard to explain to Joey, you know._
_Have we got a choice?_ Yami replied. Yugi tried to come up with some answer other than "no" to that one. He didn't pull it off.
"Hey, Joey?" Joey fell onto the floor at the calling of his name and twisted to look over at his friend. "There's something-- you kind of don't know about me."
Joey got up and dusted his pants, a puzzled look on his face. "Whaddya mean, Yuge?"
Yugi didn't reply, instead giving his body over to Yami, who spread his arms wide, calling on forces within the Puzzle. "STONE SOLDIER!!!" he boomed, and suddenly a gigantic golem materialized withing the room. Joey fell over from the force of the summoning, his eyes wide and mouth open in an O.
---
At first Noa thought that seeing his father alive and for the first time in nine years was what had made the earth shake. When Ryin jumped to her feet and began swearing at the computer console, however, he knew it wasn't that.
=What is it?= he asked, rushing to her side. The cameras in the "dungeon" cell were fritzing terribly. Ryin shook her head.
=I don't know, Noa,= she hissed, putting a protective arm around him. Kaiba, noting this, snorted.
Seto glanced at him. "Seeing the opinion you seem to have of your own son, I'm even gladder I never took your offer."
"It's not him, you child," he snarled in return, "It's her! Look at how she coddles him--" he was interuppted by his own son.
"You know, father, I still understand Japanese quite well," the soft, accented voice intoned. "And I still have the hearing of a cat."
Ryin stayed out of this, but clucked in laughter even as she ordered Gerda to investigate.
---
Serenity was shaken most rudely out of her thoughts, literally. "What the--"
"Schweee!" A large, green bird was standing outside her cell. It didn't look like a Queliyg, but Serenity accepted that she didn't know much about their culture or lives.
"Hello?" she asked. It stared at her, raptorlike, and chirped. "Do you speak English?" No luck. It seemed to have the intelligence of an animal.
The building quaked again, and the creature lowered its head and began attacking the lock on the door. Curious, she walked up to it and realized it wanted to pick the lock. "Try using your claws," she suggested. "You know, claws?"
The creature looked up at her, almost fearfully, she fancied, then brought forth its claws. Serenity gasped. "Oh, you have wings!"
The lock came loose. Serenity pushed open the door, about to thank her new friend, but as soon as she looked up, she realized he'd vanished. Strange... when had she decided it was male?
---
Bakura stood outside the governor's estate, listening to the thunderous noises from within, Téa, Mai, Kel, Mako, Rex and Weevil behind him. Max had contacted his alien friend Xab're and taken Duke and his wife with him to meet Xab're's ship. Bakura turned to look at his companions, an odd smile on his face.
"What do you suppose is going on in there, eh?" he asked playfully. The others looked at each other.
"Do you know something we don't, Bakura?" Téa asked quizzically, her head tilted to one side. Bakura just laughed and turned back around.
_She's cute when she's puzzled, isn't she, Kekatsu?_ Bakura teased.
_Mmm,_ Kekatsu replied. _I think maybe now's the time to tell Mokuba he can come out from behind that building over there._
_Probably,_ Bakura nodded internally, a smirk crossing his features. He turned again. "Mokuba, you can come out now." The others gasped as the boy, shamefaced, came into view.
"How did you know--?" he asked, brushing some hair from his eyes.
"You aren't the only one who can be quiet. I make a point of using all my senses." Including a few that Mokuba didn't even know about. He turned back around. "You shouldn't have come, Mokuba, but I understand."
Mokuba, tears in his eyes, ran over and hugged Bakura around the waist. A pale hand emerged from his black cloak, and Bakura patted Mokuba's raven hair comfortingly.
---
End Chappie 12. Okay, okay, so it's short, but it ain't nothing, right? We have had such trouble being motivated lately that Silver's boyfriend and her little brother had to torture us painfully with feelings of guilt. And we certainly can't leave you hanging.
Otherwise the guiltiness would've killed us. No, we haven't lost interest in the story. We've lost our minds.
Dedicated to Mr. T, naturally. He looked into the matter and DN's word count already counts it as a novel. 0.0 We need to get started on stuff we CAN make money on!!!
There was an error involving the weird format ff.net uses and the way we were denoting Queliyg speech. Therefore, some dialogue was lost. To note, the unusually large Queliyg soldier is named "Gerda" and speaks quite intelligently in her own language. She just speaks only a few words of Japanese. Kind of like us, in real life.
Seto Kaiba Red Archery Girl: We felt sorry for Serenity too, and so did Ryin, as you'll see.
Ethelflaed: YAY! We inspired somebody!
Tuulikki: Glad you didn't forget. We didn't. Actually, that was WHY Golden had the nightmare.
Namonaki Pharoah: (grin) You're so funny.
Griffenfire: (glomps back) The other reason we have so much trouble updating is Golden's various addictions and the fact that can no longer write and be on the internet at once. (New computer.)
Katana no Youkai Okami: Of course you can borrow the name Kekatsu! It's not like we can sue you! Not that we would.
Chapter 12: Coming Together
Kaiba's frame had always been imposing, but now, with the metal plating and the cold fear that seemed to be creeping into Seto's chest, he was larger than ever.
Gozaburo's human eye widened at the sight of the young man, and the room froze, excepting Ryin, who was looking from one to the other, and the giant soldier who had come in behind Kaiba, who had her arms crossed and seemed to be at an odd ease.
"SETO!!" he roared, starting forward, his cybernetic hand coming around threateningly. Without a sound, Seto jumped out of his chair, ready to grab anything--
Ryin pointed what looked a little like a TV remote at Kaiba, pressing a button. The huge man froze, an expression of pain and horror twisting into his face. After a moment, he thudded to the floor, a shocked gasp rattling from his chest.
Ryin stood over him, glaring down. "My fondness for your son aside, you are on probation, Gozaburo Kaiba." She glanced up at the soldier. "Gerda!" Gerda acknowleged her with a glassy black stare. =Tell Noa he may return.= The soldier nodded and walked across the room to the other door.
Now Ryin returned her attention to the two humans, one who was staring in amazement, the other glaring angrily from his human eye. "Now then, if you would both take a seat?"
---
Serenity groaned, waking up but not opening her eyes. She was half afraid she wouldn't be able to see anything-- until she noticed the light filtering through her eyelids.
She was lying on something soft and cushy, wearing something light and comfortable. Finally too curious to keep them closed, she opened her eyes.
It was the most gorgeous prison she had ever seen. Carmen gauze curtains obscured the bars in the widows and settled a hazy red glow over the room. Queliyg saw colors in both what humans knew as the "visible" range and a little ultraviolet-- and thanks to her implants Serenity could appreciate the bizarre array of colors in the room. Her clothing....
Whatever the material was, it felt silky. They couldn't possibly have been wasting real silk on her, but it was nice. The soft pink cloth flowed over her arms, held to her wrists by golden colored bracelets. (Once again, she couldn't believe that they would waste real gold on a prisoner.) The collar, a thin line of cloth, hung loosely around her neck, and an obi belt gathered the folds around her waist before sweeping down into a flowing skirt. Her feet had been left bare, but her injured ankle was now bandaged carefully.
Scooting to the edge of the daybed, she tested it carefully on the floor. It wasn't comfortable, but it didn't feel like she was doing herself any actual harm, either.
"I hope you appreciate Ryin's hospitality," came a male voice. Serenity started and stared at its source, which was the young aqua-haired man, standing on the other side of the bars of the door. "She was rather annoyed with me when you and the others were brought in. 'Unnecessary roughness,' she said, and told me I'd developed a mean streak from my father."
Serenity stared at him. "You have a Queyliyg accent."
He nodded. "Not surprising. My name is Noa Kaiba--"
"Your father sold you!!" she exclaimed, standing suddenly, surprised at the continued support of her ankle. Noa backed away, surprised himself.
"You happen to be the first person who I haven't had to tell that."
"Mai told me," she murmered. "We were two of the first wave of prisoners, orphans picked up off the street. One of the elven slaves told her." Serenity sat back down and closed her eyes at the memories.
Noa's eyes softened as he watched the tears start to flow. She was little more than a child, after all.
=Noa-sir,= a voice intoned from behind him. Noa turned to stare up at the soldier.
=What is it, Gerda?=
=Ryin-master has requested your return,= she replied, resting an understanding talon on his shoulder. =I must warn you, however, that you should brace yourself.=
Curiously, Noa followed Gerda, leaving a silent Serenity behind.
---
Joey and Yugi had never been a pair to give up, no matter what the situation. Joey was trying to find a way to scale the walls (although Yugi pointed out it was a long way to the vents and they had no way of knowing they could get into them) when Yami pointed out his own solution.
_Are you sure, Yami?_ Yugi asked, glancing over at Joey a little nervously. _It'll be hard to explain to Joey, you know._
_Have we got a choice?_ Yami replied. Yugi tried to come up with some answer other than "no" to that one. He didn't pull it off.
"Hey, Joey?" Joey fell onto the floor at the calling of his name and twisted to look over at his friend. "There's something-- you kind of don't know about me."
Joey got up and dusted his pants, a puzzled look on his face. "Whaddya mean, Yuge?"
Yugi didn't reply, instead giving his body over to Yami, who spread his arms wide, calling on forces within the Puzzle. "STONE SOLDIER!!!" he boomed, and suddenly a gigantic golem materialized withing the room. Joey fell over from the force of the summoning, his eyes wide and mouth open in an O.
---
At first Noa thought that seeing his father alive and for the first time in nine years was what had made the earth shake. When Ryin jumped to her feet and began swearing at the computer console, however, he knew it wasn't that.
=What is it?= he asked, rushing to her side. The cameras in the "dungeon" cell were fritzing terribly. Ryin shook her head.
=I don't know, Noa,= she hissed, putting a protective arm around him. Kaiba, noting this, snorted.
Seto glanced at him. "Seeing the opinion you seem to have of your own son, I'm even gladder I never took your offer."
"It's not him, you child," he snarled in return, "It's her! Look at how she coddles him--" he was interuppted by his own son.
"You know, father, I still understand Japanese quite well," the soft, accented voice intoned. "And I still have the hearing of a cat."
Ryin stayed out of this, but clucked in laughter even as she ordered Gerda to investigate.
---
Serenity was shaken most rudely out of her thoughts, literally. "What the--"
"Schweee!" A large, green bird was standing outside her cell. It didn't look like a Queliyg, but Serenity accepted that she didn't know much about their culture or lives.
"Hello?" she asked. It stared at her, raptorlike, and chirped. "Do you speak English?" No luck. It seemed to have the intelligence of an animal.
The building quaked again, and the creature lowered its head and began attacking the lock on the door. Curious, she walked up to it and realized it wanted to pick the lock. "Try using your claws," she suggested. "You know, claws?"
The creature looked up at her, almost fearfully, she fancied, then brought forth its claws. Serenity gasped. "Oh, you have wings!"
The lock came loose. Serenity pushed open the door, about to thank her new friend, but as soon as she looked up, she realized he'd vanished. Strange... when had she decided it was male?
---
Bakura stood outside the governor's estate, listening to the thunderous noises from within, Téa, Mai, Kel, Mako, Rex and Weevil behind him. Max had contacted his alien friend Xab're and taken Duke and his wife with him to meet Xab're's ship. Bakura turned to look at his companions, an odd smile on his face.
"What do you suppose is going on in there, eh?" he asked playfully. The others looked at each other.
"Do you know something we don't, Bakura?" Téa asked quizzically, her head tilted to one side. Bakura just laughed and turned back around.
_She's cute when she's puzzled, isn't she, Kekatsu?_ Bakura teased.
_Mmm,_ Kekatsu replied. _I think maybe now's the time to tell Mokuba he can come out from behind that building over there._
_Probably,_ Bakura nodded internally, a smirk crossing his features. He turned again. "Mokuba, you can come out now." The others gasped as the boy, shamefaced, came into view.
"How did you know--?" he asked, brushing some hair from his eyes.
"You aren't the only one who can be quiet. I make a point of using all my senses." Including a few that Mokuba didn't even know about. He turned back around. "You shouldn't have come, Mokuba, but I understand."
Mokuba, tears in his eyes, ran over and hugged Bakura around the waist. A pale hand emerged from his black cloak, and Bakura patted Mokuba's raven hair comfortingly.
---
End Chappie 12. Okay, okay, so it's short, but it ain't nothing, right? We have had such trouble being motivated lately that Silver's boyfriend and her little brother had to torture us painfully with feelings of guilt. And we certainly can't leave you hanging.
Otherwise the guiltiness would've killed us. No, we haven't lost interest in the story. We've lost our minds.