Sakakku
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Chapter 28
xXx
Yami moved with cautious steps to the edge of the roof and peered down. There seemed to be something going on; perhaps it wasn't a good idea to get too close, but he had an odd feeling about the commotion taking place by the front gates.
Slowly, the smaller set of gates swung open, and a group of Rare Hunters marched in. Most of them were centralized around two large bundles, seemingly limp and being dragged across the ground. Two Hunters detached from the main group and moved forward slowly. Yami saw Marik and Bakura emerge from the shadows below him; there must have been a door.
A tall, blonde, and extremely muscular girl was supporting a slightly smaller man with a brown buzz cut. She hefted him on his feet to talk to Marik and Bakura; he wasn't in very good shape. But behind the swollen red face and gashes across his shoulder, Yami recognized one of the Rare Hunters that had attacked him on his way to the palace. A shudder wracked his body. Then that meant- those two limp bundles-
Marik and Bakura moved forward after a brief discussion with the Rare Hunter; the girl began dragging him inside. Marik and Bakura stalked forward, rage vibrating off their entire beings. The Hunters, seemingly nervous, pulled away from the two bodies to reveal Rex Raptor and Weevil Underwood. Weevil's trademark glasses had barely survived; they were hanging off one ear and a lens looked cracked. Other than that, he looked fine, except for a light bruise across his right temple. Rex had a gash across his nose and his hair was a mess. Yami's first reaction was to be glad that they were okay, but suddenly his spirits sunk. That wouldn't be the case for long. Marik was already reaching into his belt and pulling out the Millennium Rod.
"I have to help them," Yami said, unable to pull his gaze away.
Joey, standing at his left shoulder, gave a snort. Seto answered coolly, "There's no point in risking your life for those two."
"They saved me before," Yami said in a controlled voice. "I must intervene."
"You're a fool," Seto said. Yami swung around to face him, furious, but was forced to leap back when the air in front of him suddenly swirled. Appearing in a gust of wind was Spear Dragon. Without a second glance at Yami, Seto swung himself onto the dragon and guided it down.
Yami froze a minute, before Joey's voice broke the silence. "That Kaiba. He won't let you do anything first, no matter what it is."
That mystery solved, Yami pushed all annoyed thoughts of Kaiba's behavior to the back of his mind. "Winged Dragon, Guardian of the Fortress!" Yami and Joey helped each other clamber onto the back of the blue dragon, and swooped down after Kaiba.
xXx
Serenity was transfixed on the battle. The boy must be Yugi; she could tell by his voice and he was about the same height. She didn't know who the girl was; it didn't seem like anyone she'd met.
"They're playing dirty!" she said in outrage, with reference to the Rare Hunters. They were sending their Monsters around the giant bulk of the dragons, trying to strike Yugi and the girl directly. She sucked in a breath as Yugi fell backwards to avoid an attack and the girl took a light blow on the arm.
Trying to fight the terror rushing through her veins, she climbed onto the roof. She couldn't stay there all day. She only wished that there was some way to help.
It was a long, long way down. She edged forward, trying to find somewhere she could climb down. It was looking doubtful; the roof jutted out with only empty space below.
Her foot slipped on the smooth surface and Serenity shrieked in terror. She lay flat on the roof surface, willing her body to stay put. The sounds of the battle raged around her, but there seemed to be fewer unfamiliar battle cries. The primary noises were that of the dragons. She hoped that meant Yugi and his friend were winning.
She sat up suddenly just in time to see the Red Eyes knock out a final Monster. She didn't know what it was called, but it was big, red, and looked like jelly. It slid backwards, knocked into a Rare Hunter, and disappeared. The Hunter lay in a crumpled pile on the ground.
"Yugi!" she called suddenly, waving her arms in a giant arc above her head. Yugi's head jerked up and he glanced around quickly. "Up here!"
He craned his neck way up and squinted at her a while. She was just about to call down who it was, since it seemed he couldn't tell, when his face lit up.
"Serenity!"
He directed the Red Eyes Black Dragon over. She stared at the top of its head, level with the roof. Was she supposed to actually step onto that? She'd fall off as soon as it moved!
"It'll be okay!" Yugi's voice floated up; he was obviously trying to keep the volume down as much as possible.
In a flash, memories came swirling back. This dragon- it had once been Joey's, hadn't it? Her big brother had lost it, and when Yugi got it back, he had let Yugi keep it. Because of friendship and for protection.
With renewed courage, she crawled onto the head of the dragon. She was clutching tightly to its two horns, but the dragon didn't seem to mind. Excruciatingly slowly, but still too fast for her liking, the dragon lowered its head. With her eyes squeezed tightly closed, she didn't realize they were at ground level until she felt Yugi's hand on her arm.
She slid off, scraping the back of her leg, and stumbled into Yugi. He helped her stand up, and she opened her eyes to see him close-up for the first time.
"Serenity," he said, staring with wide violet eyes into her olive/brown/gray ones. "You can see!"
"Yeah," she said, blushing slightly and looking away. "I…"
"Serenity!" A new, familiar voice that she had heard nearly every day for the past year. "You can see!"
Serenity got her first sight of Mai Valentine, standing behind the girl she'd glimpsed from the rooftop. Her first thought was that Mai was really pretty, and then she was rushing forward to hug the girl who had become her best friend and mentor.
"Mai?! How'd you get here?"
The ginger-haired girl motioned toward the broken-down section of wall. "She came in that way."
"My leg was feeling better, so I decided to come help you guys," Mai said, pulling away from Serenity. Her dark eyes were flashing. "I found where you'd passed by easily enough…"
Yugi smiled at her and hastily introduced her to Ezra. The two of them seemed the most nervous. "Let's go find Anuba," Ezra said, already moving in the direction her jackal had bounded off to.
"Anuba?" Serenity asked as Yugi grasped her hand and began tugging her. She'd become so accustomed, while traveling with him before, to holding his hand that it really didn't register that she no longer needed it; she could see perfectly well so far. Indeed, Mai was probably the only one to notice, and she didn't say anything besides a faint tugging of her lips as she followed them. She instead listened avidly to Yugi's explanation to Serenity, since she hadn't known the full plot before now either.
Ezra was only vaguely listening to Yugi; she was more interested on the distant, faint sounds that grew louder as they hurried along. She could only pray that Anuba had found Yami in time.
xXx
Marik was half-blinded with rage, intent on making those who had helped the Pharaoh pay, when a whirlwind caught him off guard. He and Bakura tumbled back a few feet before the Millennium Ring lit up a furious red and stilled them.
Seto clenched his fists; he hadn't realized that the magic of the Millennium Items could be used to counter the Monster's attacks! He'd been hoping to catch Marik and Bakura by surprise. His dragon couldn't attack a second time until it had rested!
Luckily, Winged Dragon swooped in to try and finish the job. A fireball sped toward Marik and Bakura, but two Rare Hunters frantically sent their Monsters in to intercept the attack.
"Get them!" Marik hollered, waving his arms in annoyance at the remaining Hunters. Hastily, they began Summoning their Monsters. Yami called out his Magnet Warriors, choosing not to combine them yet, since they could cover more ground separately. Alpha and Beta plowed through familiar looking Monsters while Gamma covered Winged Dragon as Yami and Joey dismounted; the sense of déjà vu was disconcerting, even if Marik and Bakura didn't seem to recall the warping of time.
Several Monsters Seto recognized as Birdface were attacking him; he had at least four swooping around Spear Dragon. In the confusion, he didn't have time to get off the dragon. It was even hard for him to Summon, because every time his hand inched towards his deck Spear Dragon would be jolted and he'd have to grab on. Eventually, he brought out Vorse Raider, who leapt off and latched onto the neck of a Birdface. The Monster couldn't keep alight, and Seto's beast dragged it to the ground, where it ground its opponent's face into the grass and dirt.
That still didn't solve his immediate problem, however: getting down. Spear Dragon had been on the defensive long enough to attack, and it promptly did so. The ensuing tornado sent the Birdface sprawling, and he quickly looked for an opening.
Across the field, a dark shape. Not a Duel Monster; a jackal. Anuba was bounding happily towards the battle.
He began to tell Spear Dragon to fly over, but the dragon's valiant effort finally gave out. A stream of light came shooting up from the ground; Seto couldn't tell where the attack had come from. But it pierced the dragon's right wing. With a high-pitched shriek, Spear Dragon went tumbling towards the earth. Seto managed to jump aside and out of the way so he wouldn't be crushed by the falling body; looking over his shoulder after he landed safely on the ground he saw various Monsters swarming his faithful dragon. He forced himself to look aside; he had bigger worries.
He was standing next to Wheeler, who seemed tired. Seto supposed he'd overexerted himself with the Summonings- go figure. Anuba dashed between the two of them; she didn't show any inclination to stop, but Seto grabbed at the pack strapped to her back as she ran by. It snapped open, and the bundle fell to the ground. It spilled over to reveal the Millennium Key and the Scales, gleaming brightly in the sun.
Everyone stopped moving. The Rare Hunters froze; the Monsters stopped attacking. Marik and Bakura stared in shock and delight at this little package so conveniently poured into their laps.
Yami broke the silence first: "KAIBA!"
Snapping out of his reverie, Seto lunged for the closest item, the Key. Bakura made a motion as if to move forward, but Anuba snarled viscously for the first time that Seto had ever heard her and leapt at him, jaws snapping. Marik swiped at her with the Rod; her body glowed purple and started to fly backward. Yami acted on instinct and saved the animal with his own magic; gold overtook purple and Anuba landed softly on her feet.
The distraction had been enough. With all his strength, Seto picked up the Key and hurled it in a straight, fast line directly at the center of Bakura's forehead. Joey seemed shocked, like he didn't understand what Kaiba was doing, but Seto felt a grim triumph. Right before the Key hit Bakura's head, a black vortex opened. The dark light soon spilled out onto the entire field, absorbing everyone's vision. The only things visible were the Millennium Items, glowing softly. Suddenly, the Millennium Scales flashed white and floated up in the air of their own accord. In one pan was a small, seething mass of light gray fluff. In the other pan was a giant black stone; when Yami stared into it long enough he saw the eyes of the Gods, glaring back at him.
Bakura floated into view, hovering between the evenly-balanced scales. Voices were swimming around him, the only identifiable one Ryou's: Fight it!
The black stone slowly disappeared, sinking into the gold metal of the Scales. The black slowly washed away and everything became visible again. Marik was standing still, shell-shocked. All the Duel Monsters had vanished, likely back in the Shadow Realm. The Key clattered to the ground; the Scales seemed never to have moved. Yami, Seto, and Joey drew back hesitantly, then spun around as footsteps resounded behind them.
"Guys!" Yugi said in great relief. He was pulling Serenity along; Ezra and Mai dashed up behind them. "What's-"
"Sssh," Joey said nervously, his face splitting into a grin nonetheless. "Something big's going on."
"Joey Wheeler," Mai said, on the verge of tears. "Don't you tell me to shush." She walked over to him and grasped his hand, pulling him backwards. "You need to see someone-"
"Serenity!"
"Oh, Joey…"
The siblings embraced; Yugi moved forward to greet Yami. The Rare Hunters seemed unsure of what to do, however. Most of them were drawing back, moving away.
As for Bakura, he was on his knees. Gently, he brushed a wisp of white hair from his eyes. When he glanced up, the features on his face were soft and his eyes were brown again.
"You're back," Yami said, in huge relief. Across the lawn, a trio of boys ran out of the palace, banging open the door.
"BAKURA!"
"Ryou?" Bakura questioned curiously. Ryou charged straight up to his yami and launched himself at Bakura, starting to cry.
"Are you okay too?" Malik asked eagerly at his yami. His companion, a short brown-haired boy, hung back.
Slowly, with a terrible glare, Marik swung around. Malik involuntarily stepped back. Joey broke away from Serenity to move protectively in front of her; Mai stood next to him. Yami strode forward quickly; Yugi hopped back to hold Serenity's hand reassuringly.
Marik wasn't saying anything, but it felt as if he were screaming anyway. Shadows gathered around his figure. Yami began to say something, and that might have been a trigger. In what looked like an explosion but was soundless, the shadows surged outwards, enveloping everyone in the vicinity in blackness.