Joy: Here I am again with a new chapter. I am not in the greatest of moods to be doing this one…but I will anyway. Sorry about the delay. (sigh) Review Responses…
Dark mage of sea 13: Merina and Yugi? I don't know about that…
Sakura: Arigatou.
Winged Dreams: Arigatou. I try to be as punctual as possible with updates.
Midnights: Heh. Anytime you want more let me know.
Silver Moon Phoenix: Arigatou.
Dark Kuriboh Empire: I see your point. Sorry about the lightning thing. I was gonna add thunder and messed it up.
Please read the announcement at the end of the chapter.
Rescuing Damsels In Distress
Yami looked around cautiously as the three darks made their way into Vargon's castle in the Shadow Realm. They knew Vargon's monsters were sure to put up a fight to keep them away from the two captives. Thus they needed to be cautious and alert.
"Would you stop being so Ra damned paranoid, pharaoh?! I don't see what the big problem is. If any monsters come, I will simply blast them straight to hell," Bakura stated confidently. Yami and Luna gave him a look. Yami rolled his eyes.
"Bakura, just be careful. We don't need to worry about rescuing you, too," Yami said back to him. Bakura gave him a death glare, with was easily countered with a smirk by the pharaoh.
The three rounded the corner to see a Red-Eyes Black Dragon blocking their path. Yami quickly pulled out his Dark Magician and in a flash the monster was no more. He nodded to the others and they continued on their way down a flight of stairs and into the basement of the castle, where the dungeons were. (AN: Yes, Vargon has dungeons in his monster's castle. Gotta love dungeons.)
"Katilli? Cala?" Yami called out quietly, hoping not to draw out any more monsters.
"Wait," Bakura said, stopping suddenly at a fork in the basement hallway. "I…sense something…this way." He headed down the path to the right, the other two following close behind. The three soon came to a corridor full of cells on either side.
"Katilli? Cala?" Yami called out softly.
"Yami?" Yami rushed forward. There, in the cell at the end of the hall, was both Katilli and Cala. They looked a bit drained, but otherwise none the worse for wear.
"Thank Ra!" Yami breathed. "Are you two all right?"
"Besides needing a long rest in my soul room, I'm fine," Katilli replied, Cala nodding in agreement. Luna served as lookout while Bakura used his Shadow powers on the locks of the cell. The spirits then raced towards the front doors of the castle to safety.
When they reached the exit doors they were in for quite a surprise. Standing between them and freedom was a small horde of powerful duel monsters. "Just great," Bakura said, reaching for his deck. Katilli stopped him.
"Wait. There are two many for our monsters to stop. Joy has one monster that could take them all out in one shot, but I hate to bring him out."
"Bull shit! Call him, damn it!" Bakura snapped.
"Sister, if this monster will help us out of this castle, there is little else we can do. You must summon him," Yami urged.
Katilli sighed deeply, then spoke. "Exodia! Come forth!"
…Meanwhile…
"It looks as though Vargon has stopped for a while," Ryou observed.
"You think he's gone?" Merina asked.
Seto snorted. "I highly doubt it. He's waiting for us to lower our guard."
"I don't know, but he'll be back if he is," Joy stated.
After making sure no one was hurt, the group of teens had braced themselves for Vargon's onslaught after the windows bursts. He had tried countless spells and many blasts trying to break the barrier that the dark sides had set up, but to no avail. Finally, things had quieted down.
Amazingly enough, Yugi was still sound asleep, even through all the ruckus and noise, the boy had only stirred a bit without waking up. Joy was starting to worry that he had suffered a serious concussion from his encounter with Vargon. Then…she felt it. In the back of her mind…something…familiar. Then her eyes lit up with recognition.
Katilli!
Yes, aibou. I have finally returned. What an adventure I had.
I was so worried about you.
I apologize, aibou. I did not mean to cause you worry. I fear it could not be avoided.
The Puzzle and Ring glowed as Yami and Bakura returned to their respective items. Joy could tell Ryou was conversing with Bakura.
You better be in one piece, hikari.
I am. But what a night we had. And arigatou for helping Yami and Luna rescue Katilli and Cala.
Hmph. Waste of time. We should have been gathering the Items so we can take care of that freak Vargon.
Meanwhile, Joy told Katilli about what happened, and she and Yami managed to wake up Yugi. The teen let out a soft sigh as he slowly opened his eyes. He blinked several times to clear his vision and sat up slowly, looking around at all his friends. "Hey, everyone? What did I miss?"
"Katilli and Cala are back where they belong," Joy explained with a smile of relief. "Yami and the others saved them."
"Now that that's over with, where is Vargon?" Seto asked. Yami came out of the puzzle in spirit form, followed by Bakura and Katilli.
"Perhaps his monsters alerted him to their defeat at the castle," Yami said. "Or he may have gone back on his own to check up on things."
"The darks can keep an eye on things tonight. Let's get some sleep. We have a busy day tomorrow," Moon Shadow said. The others nodded.
"The tournament starts at eight sharp. Can you all wake us up?" Yugi asked. The dark sides nodded.
And so the tuckered duelists headed up to the bedrooms for a much needed good night's sleep. As Joy prepared for bed, Merina came and knocked on her door. She went and opened it. "Hey, Merina. Come on in."
"Thanks. Um…Joy? What happens tomorrow?"
"The tournament, silly." Joy grinned. Merina rolled her eyes.
"It's gonna seem silly for us all to walk together as a group, and I like to duel at my own pace. With Katilli and Cala back, do we need to stick together? No offense, but there are quite a few of us, and it would draw a lot of attention, possibly instigating another attack by Vargon."
"What do you mean?" Joy asked, tilting her head in confusion.
"Well, I am thinking that we should all go off and duel on our own. We'll still meet up during the finals, but I want to duel on my own. I spoke with Moon Shadow and she doesn't foresee any danger during the tournament, so I figure we're safe to duel our hearts out without that creep coming after us. Do you understand what I mean?"
"Yes, I think I do. And I agree whole heartedly with you, Merina. We'll tell the others about it in the morning. In the meantime, get some sleep.
"I will. I am planning on getting up extra early and heading out. See ya in the morning, Joy!" she called as she left to head to her room.
Joy let out a soft sigh, then climbed into bed, quickly falling into a calm and dreamless sleep.
Joy: Okay…another announcement, as I said at the beginning of the chapter…
The announcement actually stems from something that I have finally observed while writing this story. And it concerns the OCs. I am having difficulty writing about them all and giving them all the credit they deserve and still continue with the main characters and plot. And a very good point was given to me about them that there may be too many by more than one person.
There are two ways I see right now to fix this:
My email is on my bio page and you can email me any time if you want to give me a suggestion on this. You can even flame me if you want about this. I know I asked to use your characters. This is all my fault and I feel horrible about it. (cries)
The future of Total Eclipse is looking pretty dark… Review and see ya next time.