Hey, everyone! I actually had a little stroke of brilliance and figured out how to add in little thoughts I have in my posts! *sweat drops* Yeah, I know, it's extremely easy, but I haven't really been thinking much these past few days. Thanks a lot for your reviews! I'll sort of start off by saying, Hi! My name is Edie! The main character, Kinou, is based on me, mainly because this whole story started out as a fantasy I had dreamed up in my head one boring summer day. It sort of escalated, so I started to write it down. Right now, on my computer the story as a whole is about 22 ½ chapters long, about 81 pages, and I'm still working! Well, yeah, I suppose I'll just leave it at that and let you know that if you have any questions or anything to say (positive or negative; I'm open to both), just let me know through your reviews! Arigato again!
3. The Transformation~
Suddenly, her feet slammed into solid ground; she would have fallen had Marik not been holding her arm. Kinou slowly tried to take in her surroundings through blurred vision.
It was a sort of living room, but it appeared strangely fake, like a movie set. There were other people standing around, and all of them seemed to be wearing deep purple robes that hid their faces, just like the Rare Hunters that worked for Marik in Yu-Gi-Oh. As her head cleared, she wrenched her arm free of Marik's grasp and sat down on the floor, closing her eyes; she felt as though she had just walked miles and she was out of breath. Someone spoke above her.
"Is that her?" he said.
"Do you honestly think I would make the mistake of bringing back the wrong girl, you fool?" said Marik dangerously.
"No, Master Marik, of course not," the Rare Hunter said quickly.
Kinou looked up to try and take in more of the room. There were at least ten Rare Hunters standing around Marik and her, but from what she could see the room was very big: the ceiling was at least 15 feet high and a large chandelier hung from the top of it. There were various stone benches around the room and curtains of a deep purple hung over the windows, giving the room an eerie feeling. There were no doors. Kinou realised every pair of eyes were on her and she stared fixedly at the floor, still seeing the cold room reflected blearily within it.
"Master, shall we do it now?" asked a voice Kinou recognised as Odion's: Marik's most faithful servant.
Kinou stopped looking at the ground and stared around for Odion; she finally recognised him amidst the mass of robed men. "Do what?" she asked nervously.
"A mere transformation to make you 'blend in' a little better," said Marik with a dark chuckle. "You'd be very easy to spot if you weren't a--what's the phrase? An 'anime'?"
"And how do you propose you're going to do that? Do you have some pixie dust or a magic paintbrush?" asked Kinou sarcastically, standing up and wiggling her fingers in front of her.
"Oh, you'll find it's a lot simpler than that," said Marik with a wry smile, gesturing behind her.
"Wha--" she said, turning around, and her mouth dropped open. There was a strange doorway behind her that she had not noticed because a few Rare Hunters had been blocking it from view. It was not attached to a wall; it was almost in the middle of the room. But instead of looking through and seeing the wall behind it, she saw a black mass that looked like it was swirling gently by itself.
While she was gazing in wonder, Marik had stepped behind her. "Yes," he said, making her jump. "It's amazing what Kaibacorp comes up with these days. It took my Rare Hunters quite a lot of effort to steal this from its top security vault in Kaiba's building." He gazed at it for a few moments, and then shook his head as though he just
remembered why he was there. "Well, in you go." He began to push her toward the blackness inside the doorway.
"Whoa, hold it!" shouted Kinou, placing her hands on the doorway to keep from falling into it. "I don't want to touch--- whatever that is!"
"What you see won't harm you, now go!" said Marik, pushing harder. But Kinou stiffened her arms and he couldn't budge her any further. "Help me, fools!" he shouted at the others standing around him, and they began to bend her elbows, making it harder for her to resist the force behind her. She raised her leg and planted one foot firmly in front of her on the doorframe, thinking that would hold her, but at that moment, Marik stopped pushing her; he threw his weight into her back, and she fell into the doorway.
She did not fall through as easily as she thought she would: the black stuff was soft and offered a little resistance; it began to stretch as she fell into it and when she hit the floor on the other side, it had created a bubble around her. She laid still on the floor for a few moments, holding her breath, afraid she would not be able to breathe within the bubble. She started to panic, claustrophobia taking hold of her. She writhed as holding her breath became increasingly difficult; her sides were screaming at her. Finally giving up, she let out her last breath; before she could attempt to see if she could breathe, she gasped in surprise: she just had gotten the feeling that she had been doused in cold water. Her eyes widened with shock as she looked at her hand: her skin was bubbling. The things on her wrists were fastening themselves to her; she tried to pry them off, but they had already become part of her wrists, almost as if they were painted on. Her hands became smooth, her fingers elongated; she felt her face
and noticed that it had gone smooth as well; she could no longer feel any acne and it felt like her eyes were stretching to become bigger. Suddenly, Marik's hand plunged into the bubble and pulled her out of it.
As she stepped out, she felt very different. She looked up at Marik, who had a triumphant look on his face as he beckoned one of his Rare Hunters forward with a mirror. As she looked into it, she yelled out, and the anime face staring back at her yelled too, but its mouth stretched to twice its original size, its pupils became very small, and a few sweat drops appeared on its face. She stopped and leaned closer to look at herself. Her bangs hung slightly over her face and her eyebrows were pencil thin. Her eyes were big, her pupils were golden, and there were white spots within the gold and black in the centre. Her nose was smaller and pointed and her mouth had no lips; it was just a small oval that displayed her surprise and curiosity.
"Well, if you're quite done, my Rare Hunters will show you to your room," said Marik.
Kinou forced herself to pry her eyes off of the mirror to look at Marik. "What? Before you tell me why I'm here?"
"I will tell you in time."
"How about now?" she asked coolly.
"I think you should rest before I throw anything else at you. Besides, I also require rest; it took a lot of my energy to travel between your world and mine, so I will tell you when we are both ready."
"I'm ready, I think that's enough," said Kinou defiantly, growing steadily angrier.
"Well, I don't. You will find out soon enough. Show her to her room," he said, turning to his Rare Hunters. They moved towards Kinou, but she stepped toward Marik.
"I want to know now!" she shouted.
But he simply laughed and watched the Rare Hunters began to drag her away down a torch-lit hallway behind her.
"I'm not leaving!" she yelled, and with that, she stamped as hard as she could on the foot of a Rare Hunter holding her. He yelped out in pain and let go of her; she used her now free arm to punch the other Rare Hunter that was holding her in the stomach; he let go of her as well. More Rare Hunters replaced the two she had hurt, however, and she couldn't struggle against all of them at once. "Let me go! Get off! Tell me what the hell is going on Marik!" she yelled, but Marik simply watched her struggle with amusement and left through the other hallway across the room.
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