Hidy ho! Bet you didn't think Shadi was going to make an appearance, did you? I do have one request for information, what happens to Bakura at the end of the Battle City stuff? I want to include him soon, but they haven't shown the end of Kaiba's tournament on TV yet, so I don't know how Bakura comes out of it. If anyone knows, or knows a website where I might be able to find out, please tell me. Oh, and those of you who don't know much about honorifics (the -chans and whatnot) very close friends often don't use them, that's why some names won't have them in this chapter. And now...ON WITH THE FIC :)
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-Kessen: Bakemono no Hishi (Fight to the Finish: Secret History of the Monsters)
Duel 3: Atarashii Teki (New Enemy)
"What exactly is that?" Kurama asked as Botan placed a metal band that was an inch and a half in diameter around Arumi's left wrist. Botan had arrived outside Kurama's bedroom window shortly after his conversation with Koenma, metal band in hand.
"It's like a ki battery," Botan said, taking a step back to admire the gleaming metal around the unconscious girl's wrist. "It will give her an unlimited supply of ki for about three days, that should be long enough for us to figure out how to get that thing off her." Botan had been just as puzzled as Kurama when she saw the energy stealing bracelet on Arumi's right wrist.
"It is strange though..." Kurama muttered to himself as he sat in his desk chair once more.
"What is?" Botan asked, eager for any light Kurama might be able to shed on the situation.
"I've seen her wear that bracelet before," Kurama answered.
"Well of course you have! If we can't get it off, I doubt she can either!" Botan exclaimed, but Kurama shook his head.
"No, I meant that it's strange that it's never done this before. I don't think I've ever seen her without it, and yet it only started to take her energy this afternoon. Why?" Kurama concluded, gazing with a slightly worried expression at the girl asleep in his bed. Botan opened her mouth, about to say something, but she was interrupted by a loud beep from her communicator.
"Now what could Koenma-sama want? I thought he had work to do..." Botan muttered, retrieving her communicator.
"BOTAN!" Koenma screeched as soon as Botan had switched the communicator on. "Get back here right away!!!"
"What's wrong?" Botan asked, concerned.
"Just get back here!!!" Koenma yelled, the device's tiny speakers crackling at his high-pitched squeal.
"Alright, alright. I'll be there in five minutes," Botan assured the troubled ruler. She closed the communicator and crossed the room to the window.
"That band will take awhile to replace all the energy she lost, but she should be fine by morning," Botan assured Kurama as she opened the window and summoned her oar.
"Arigato for your help," Kurama thanked her.
Botan smiled. "No problem." With that, she shot out of the window and into the night sky.
-()-()-()
Botan hurried down the palace's many corridors, passing ogre's of every color and size as she went. She couldn't even begin to wonder what Koenma had been so worked up about, but she could be sure that it wasn't good. Finally, she reached the doors to his office and hesitantly cracked one opened.
"Botan! There you are!" Koenma greeted her, staring at something on his desk.
"Konnichiwa, Koenma-sama. What's wrong?" Botan said, stepping fully into the room and closing the door behind her.
"This, that's what's wrong," Koenma answered, gesturing to the paper he was reading.
"What is it?" Botan asked, crossing the room to his desk.
"I'm not sure. These...monsters have just suddenly begun to appear everywhere in the Ningenkai," Koenma said, showing Botan the map of the human world he had been reading. There were purple dots scattered over it. Botan wondered at the dots, why purple? Koenma had a system, humans with high spirit energy were blue dots, and demons were red dots. So, what was purple?
"Demons?" Botan asked.
Koenma shook his head. "No, their energy is unlike anything I've ever seen before. It's not demon or human."
"Then what is it?" Botan asked, frowning at the map.
"I don't know," Koenma said, reaching for his remote, "but whatever it is, it's destroying the Ningenkai." He turned the TV on to reveal a human news broadcast showing hundreds of crawling, stomping, and flying monsters destroying a city. He pressed the channel up button, to reveal the same scene in a different city. He continued this, the picture always the same, but in a different location. Botan dropped the map with a gasp.
-()-()-()
In the city of Domino, all was dark and quite, but Yugi knew that the same was not true elsewhere in the world. He had turned on the TV after finishing his homework, intending on watching a Magic and Wizards tournament broadcast, only to find every channel showing yet another city's destruction at the hands of the very monsters he had intended to watch. This wasn't possible, was it? How had the monsters...become real?
"Is this what you sensed?" he asked the spirit, starring in horrified wonder at the TV screen. The spirit didn't answer, just stared as well. Both of them jumped when the phone rang.
"Hey Yug, are you watching this?" Jonouchi's voice came through the receiver when Yugi picked up the phone.
"Yeah," Yugi answered, nodding his head numbly.
"What they heck is goin' on?! Those are Magic and Wizards monsters, aren't they?" Jonouchi asked.
"I-I think so..." Yugi answered, still staring in disbelief at the screen.
"Hey...you don't think they'll come here, do you?" Jonouchi said after a moment.
"I don't know..." Yugi answered, wondering the same thing.
-()-()-()
Kurama yawned and glanced at the clock to find it was 1:36 in the morning. No wonder he was tired. He set down the book he had been reading since Botan's departure and glanced at Arumi. The girl was sleeping peacefully now, but he still had this unshakable feeling that she was in some sort of danger. That bracelet...he shook his head, pushing the thought aside and resolving not to dwell on it any more until he had gotten some sleep. With one last look at Arumi, he quietly left the room, deciding to sleep in the guest room tonight. He had just closed the door behind him when he heard the phone ring downstairs.
'Now who would be calling at this hour?' he wondered, but he already knew the answer. There was only one person who would possibly do that. Yusuke.
Quickly, Kurama descended the stairs and snatched the phone, listening for a moment to see that the sound hadn't woken Arumi or his mother before putting the receiver to his ear.
"Hey, Kurama?" Yusuke's voice bellowed through the phone.
"Do you have any idea what time it is?" Kurama replied, pulling the receiver back slightly at Yusuke's loud voice.
"Yeah, somewhere around 1:30, right?" Yusuke answered.
Kurama sighed. "What do you want, Yusuke?"
"Have you seen the news lately?" Yusuke asked. Kurama blinked, since when did Yusuke take an interest in current events?
"No, why?" Kurama replied.
"You have to see this!" Yusuke exclaimed. Now Kurama's curiosity had been aroused. Stretching the phone line as far as it would go, he managed to reach the TV remote.
"What channel?" Kurama asked as the dark screen glowed to life.
"Anyone, it doesn't matter," Yusuke answered. "It's on every channel, it's crazy!" Kurama soon discovered what Yusuke meant as the screen flickered to a picture of a burning city. There was some strange kind of monsters he had never seen before as well. There were hundreds of them, they were everywhere. Kurama's emerald eyes widened as he flicked from channel to channel, nothing but the same scene meeting his eyes over and over again.
"It's insane, isn't it?" Yusuke's voice came through the phone, startling Kurama. He had forgotten he was even holding the phone. "It's like the end of world or something!" Yusuke continued.
"What are they?" Kurama managed to find his voice again, the footage playing on the screen having shocked him into silence.
"That's just it, no one knows. I called Koenma when I first saw them, but pacifier-breath says he's never seen anything like them before. Get this, they're not demons, but they're not anything human either."
Kurama shook his head before remembering that Yusuke couldn't see him. "They're completely alien to me."
"Well, if they're not demons, then what are they?" Yusuke asked. Kurama didn't have an answer for that.
-()-()-()
Shadi watched from the desert sands as the city burned before him. He ducked instinctively as a shadow swept over him, some great flying monster passing overhead. This should not have happened, he should have prevented this. Tomorrow, the sun would be obscured by an eclipse and the monsters would spread to every country, every city. There was one last chance, to find the Eye of Anubis that was mentioned in the prophecy. Although he was familiar with the tomb he had visited just hours earlier, he had never heard of this Anubis's eye, and he had no idea how it worked or how it would help, but he knew it was the key to this world's survival from the monsters.
He clutched the Millennium Key around his neck. This would, without a doubt, lead him to the item he searched. He only hopped it would be in time.
-()-()-()
Kaiba Seto felt sweat drip down his face as he watched the story on the news. Those monsters...they were Magic and Wizards monsters, there was on mistake. But how...? Despite his seriousness in the game, it was still just that, a game. None of it was real, the monsters didn't really exist.
"What is going on here?" he growled to himself. He had heard Yugi's and countless other people's claims that the card game was indeed much more then a simple game, but he had always disregarded it. But now...faced with real monsters that were destroying cities all over the world, monsters that were without a doubt the very ones he had prided himself on having the most skill over, he didn't know what to think. Perhaps this was a hoax. Yes, that must be it, this was some elaborate hoax. None of this he was watching was really happening. It was all something some computer geek had cooked up and was feeding as real footage to the news stations. That had to be it!
He laughed to himself as he switched the TV off. Of course that was it! How could he have ever even considered that there were real monsters destroying cities. Some of Yugi's nonsense must have started to rub off on him. The thought of Mutou Yugi brought another scowl to his face. He wouldn't let this news stunt distract him from his real goal. He was going to find a way to beat Yugi and his Egyptian God monsters, and nothing was going to stop him.
"Seto!" a voice called from behind him, making him stop. Mokuba came up behind him, looking pale and worried. "Have you seen the news, Seto?"
"Don't tell me you believe that ridiculous bull! Real monsters, humph!" Kaiba sneered, beginning to walk once more.
"But Seto--" Mokuba started to argue.
"But nothing, Mokuba," Kaiba cut him off. "It's all just an elaborate prank, and not a very good one I might add." Kaiba continued to walk down the hall, neither waiting for his brother or looking back to see if he was following.
"S-Seto..." Mokuba's scared and shaken voice came from behind him.
"What is it now, Mokuba?" Kaiba asked, turning around. The hallway they were standing in was nothing but a large, glass rectangle and Mokuba was starring at something to the right, shaking in fear. Kaiba turned, following his brother's gaze out the window. There, in the early pre-dawn light, a shadow flickered across the sky, coming ever closer.
"It can't be..." Kaiba breathed as the shape got closer. The enormous dragon came into view, gracefully beating it's wings as it passed over their glass hallway, the purplish morning light glistening off its white scales and reflected in its wide, blue eyes.