A/N:

Willowwind: Back! And with a much longer chapter plot line, too...

Escurcae: ::nodnodnod::

Willowwind: Oh, Nachzes, we'll be needing Yami soon, so is there any chance that you could get him back, say, by the end of this chapter?

Nachzes: But I don't want him back!

Willowwind: Sorry, but we need him for the fic.

Nachzes: ::pouts::

Escurcae: ::patpat:: Don't worry, we'll let you have more fun with him when the fic is over.

Nachzes: ::immediately stops pouting:: O.K.! But finish this fic faster then! ::runs out with Lieh to figure out some way of bringing Yami back from Pluto::

Willowwind: So, where were we?

Legolas: ::rolls eyes:: You were about to start chapter two of this fic.

Willowwind: Was I?

Escurcae: ::nodnodnod::

Willowwind: Oh...O.K. ::wanders off::

Escurcae: Never mind her, she's just tired. Anyways, on with the fic. Everyone still owns what they did before, but we don't own Yugioh!, and there's some new characters from Thrain. You can't have them, either.

Warnings: Still a mass mary-sue. Nothing has changed. Warnings can get pretty pointless beyond chapter one, you know? Only difference is a huge possibility of OOC characters. (coughsetomokubacough)

--Finding Home

-Chapter Two – Into the World of Anime

Lieh was lying on something cold, rough, and hard. She opened her eyes, then quickly closed them again as the light shot pain through them. Every inch of her body was sore, and it tingled strangely. Placing her hands firmly on the ground, she pushed herself up into a sitting position, trying to ignore the wave of dizziness and nausea that swept over her. Slowly, she opened her eyes, while shielding them with her hand against the sun's glare.

When her eyes adjusted to the light, she pulled her hand away from her eyes, and then stopped, staring at her hand. Something was definitely not right.

Her hand had very few different colours, and somehow did not look like a real hand; it almost looked as though it had been drawn, though there were no flaws of any sort to prove this. She reached up and grabbed a shock of hair, pulling it out so she could see it. Her usual hair was made up of medium, light, reddish, and blondish browns, but now it was reddish-brown with brownish-blonde streaks, and was far too perfectly waved for it to be her own hair. Lieh dropped the lock of hair and glanced around her, and saw a very odd scene. All of her friends who had been with her when whatever had happened had happened were there, lying unconscious in a deserted alley. But they were not the only ones there.

Nachzes, Lieh's dark half, was lying near Lieh, and Escurcae, Willowwind's other half, was there too. It was not surprising to see them there, as (usually) what happens to one happens to the other. However, there were others there, too. One was Aaron Autumnleaf, Jes' teacher. Jes would not have found this surprising, but Lieh had no idea what had happened to get them there, let alone why it had happened. There were also three others whom Lieh could not identify: a tall boy with medium-length brown hair, who was dressed in a crimson robe. From Jes' descriptions, Lieh could tell that this was a fire mage from Thrain. The other two's pointy ears and stature gave away the fact that they were both elves from Thrain. One had long, straight, silver-blonde hair, was very tall, ::A/N: ::coughs:: Sound like anyone we know?:: and was obviously very strong in magic; he seemed to glow with silvery light that had strands of metallic blue twisted through it. The other was obviously much younger, and not nearly as powerful. She was just a little over half as tall as the other, and had fuller (but still straight), reddish-brown hair, with the ends flipped in. So, all in all, a party of no less than ten had come along, wherever they were.

Even the fact that so many had come along was not the first thing Lieh had noticed. The first thought that had come into her aching head was this:

"Everyone looks like anime characters!"

All around her, people were starting to revive. Nachzes was the first to sit up and glance around. The first person she saw was Lieh, who she stared at, shocked.

"Lieh, you – you're...I mean..."

"You mean I look like an anime character?" Lieh guessed after a moment's pause. Nachzes nodded, stunned into silence. ::A/N: ::shiver:: A quiet Nachzes...that would be weird...:: "You look like an anime character, too. So does everyone else," Lieh proceeded.

"Everyone else? What..." Lieh's dark trailed off into silence as she glanced around her. Then she looked at her light questioningly. "Who are all of these people? What are they doing here?"

"Beyond Willowwind and her dark, Jes, and Yousei, I have no idea. Oh, and there's Jes' teacher, over there. He's from Thrain. So are those three. That's about all I know. Now, instead of asking me questions that I can't answer, why don't you go and revive someone why can answer you? Most of them are already waking up, so it shouldn't take too long. Then we can all sit down and figure out what happened."

At this moment, the older elf sat up, rubbing his head. He glanced around, and then caught sight of the other, younger elf. "Brightmoss!" he exclaimed worriedly, before hurrying over to her side.

Soon after this, Aaron, Jes, Yousei-Youko, Escurcae Adurois, the fire mage, and the elf who was apparently called Brightmoss were awake. Only Willowwind had not regained consciousness, but she was stirring.

Lieh walked over to her friend's side, and shook her gently. Willowwind slowly opened her eyes, and then stared up at Lieh's face. Then she said slowly, "You're an anime character..."

Lieh's eye twitched. "So are you."

Willowwind then noticed a feature on Lieh that was the one thing she found funny about anime characters. "You have a poky nose..."

Lieh's eye twitched again, although far more fiercely this time. "So. Do. You!"

Willowwind's eyes lit up, and a look of the utmost joy and excitement came onto her face. "I have a poky nose?" she shouted, and then paused only a moment before jumping up and running around, poking random people on the arm with her nose.

All those who did not know Willowwind beforehand sweatdropped massively. Those who did know her merely rolled their eyes and ignored her, and Escurcae used a nearby brick wall for banging her head against. Everyone's attention was turned away from her, however, when they saw two strangers standing at the entrance to the alley, looking confused. The first stranger was very tall, with straight brown hair and narrow sapphire eyes. The one that followed him was approximately half his height, with long, messy black hair and big bluish-lavender eyes. Both of them looked more shaken than confused, though, when Willowwind, not realizing that these people were new to the scene, ran up to the taller one and immediately began poking him with her nose, yelling "Pokepokepokepokepoke!" as she did so.

The younger boy giggled, but the older one merely stared at her, his face expressionless, until she stopped and looked up. Her face drained of colour as she realized her mistake, then was quickly replaced by a bright red flush. "Oh," she stammered, "you're not one of us, are you?"

---

::A/N: In case this confuses anyone, we are going back in time and seeing what somebody else was doing during this time. This does not happen after the previous bit.:: It was mid-afternoon on a beautiful August day. The sunlight streamed down through windows, which were open to let the warm autumn air in. Mokuba Kaiba stared out the window, wondering when his brother would be finished work so they could go on the walk that he had been promised that morning. He sighed, watching the top of the golden trees stirring in the cool breeze, which caused a shower of golden-brown and red leaves. Mokuba glanced at the clock. Half past two. The black-haired boy got off the chair beside the window. He was not going to let his brother sit inside and work all day while the weather was still perfect.

Seto was sitting at his desk, typing at the speed of light on his computer. The rapid, steady click of the keys being pressed halted when a voice hailed him from the doorway.

"Seto?"

Seto turned his chair to face the speaker. "Yes, Mokuba?"

"Are you done yet?"

"No. I said I'd tell you when I'm done." The 16-year-old brunette turned his chair back to the computer.

"Seto?" Mokuba persisted.

"What?"

"It's a really nice day out."

"Indeed."

"And the warm weather won't last much longer."

"Yes, and...?"

"It will be too late to go on a walk soon."

"So?"

"So we should go while we can."

"We can go when I'm finished."

"When will you be finished?"

"Later."

"It will be too late later."

"You aren't going to leave me alone, are you?"

"Nope. Not until you come."

Seto sighed, and got up. "All right, let's go. But this cannot be a long walk, understand?"

Mokuba nodded, grinned triumphantly, and led the way out of the room.

---

"Mokuba, it's about time we went back."

"Come on, just a little farther!"

"That's what you said ten minutes ago. I still have work to do."

"You can do it later." Mokuba grabbed his brother's hand and dragged him down another road.

Seto attempted half-heartedly to pull his hand from his little brother's grasp. "Mokuba, where are we going?"

"Somewhere."

"Where?"

"Oh, nowhere in particular, but I imagine that we'll get somewhere if we keep moving."

Seto sweatdropped. "I was afraid of that."

Mokuba led them down several random streets, into a very poor, thinly populated area in Domino City. Seto was about to suggest that they return to civilization, when Mokuba turned down another alley, and they were standing in plain view of a few people, one of whom was yelling at the top of her lungs, "I have a poky NOSE?"

"Who is that?" whispered Mokuba, as the same girl began running around, poking people on the arm or shoulder with her nose, and yelling "Poke!" every time she did so.

"I don't know, and we are not staying to find out. Come on."

However, at that moment, the girl seemed to see them, and she ran straight for them, grinning like an absolute maniac. As she came closer, they could see that she was an elf. Seto instinctively stepped in front of Mokuba. The elf ran up to them, and immediately began poking Seto on the arm with her nose, yelling "Pokepokepokepokepoke!" as she did so.

The CEO watched her, his face expressionless. From behind him, he could hear Mokuba starting to giggle. He looked up, and saw the rest of the group staring at the elf with horrified expressions on their faces.

Very soon after this, the elf seemed to become confused at her victim's blatant lack of reaction. She stopped poking him and looked up. Her face went chalk white, followed closely by bright red. "Oh," she stammered, "you're not one of us, are you?"

Seto merely shook his head, keeping his face expressionless. Mokuba's giggling had reached a crescendo, and he had noticed another elf in the other group, one who was about Mokuba's age, giggling as well.

Through her bright flush, the elf managed to look bemused. "You look familiar," she told Seto. "Who..."

She glanced back at her friends. One girl was drooling and swaying, and looked very much like she was about to fall over. Another, who looked remarkably like the first, stood, glaring at Seto, and tapping her foot on the pavement with her arms crossed. "Oh," the elf whispered in an awed voice, "you're him."

Seto didn't have much time to be confused, as three things happened in rapid succession which distracted him entirely.

First, the girl who had been drooling and swaying fell forwards, landed on her front with her face to the side, and (as he could tell from the small puddle forming near her face) she was still drooling.

Second, he had apparently gotten to close to the elf who was Mokuba's age, for Mokuba stepped out from behind Seto, and they began to have such a rapid conversation that no one could tell what they were saying, save them. An older male elf was standing by the younger one's side, looking as though he wanted to pull the two away from each other.

And third, the girl who had fallen over bounced back up, squealing "KAWAII!!!". Sprinting about two steps, she glomped Mokuba and the elf.

The male elf had his bow out, an arrow on the string, and was aiming at the girl faster than the eye could follow. Seto, however, took a slightly more direct approach, and, through a fast, complicated martial arts move, he pinned the girl (who had let go of Mokuba and the elf) down on the ground, his hand at her throat.

The girl resumed drooling, and she was mumbling dazedly, "He's touching me...he's actually touching me..."

The male elf was looking rather annoyed, and completely disgusted. "Can I please shoot her now?" he asked Seto.

"Be my guest." Seto got up, and walked over to Mokuba, who had resumed his conversation with the young elf. However, now their faces were far more serious.

"Come, Mokuba," Seto ordered curtly.

"But Seto..."

"I said come."

"Seto, these people are lost!"

"Oh, really? That's interesting. Now come."

"They need help!"

"I see. Well, the waterfall over there seems to know where they are." This set the girl off squealing about him noticing her and giving her a nickname.

The male elf looked thoughtfully at the girl. "Good point. Where are we?"

"Yugioh realm, Yugioh realm, Yugioh realm," she chanted, while bouncing up and down.

The elf rolled his eyes. "Well, I don't know about the rest of you, but that doesn't tell me a thing."

Mokuba looked pleadingly at Seto. "Can't we..."

"No, Mokuba."

"But..."

"We are not a charity organization."

"So? They're nice, and they're funny, and they need help! We can help them, so why shouldn't we?"

"Because I am not about to start letting every nice, funny, homeless person who needs help into my home."

"I'm not asking you to let them all in!"

"Not yet."

"I won't! We aren't likely to get to know many homeless people, are we?"

"No, we're not, because we're never coming here again."

"That's all right! But now that we've met these people..."

"Mokuba..."

"Just this once, Seto?"

"No. I will not permit people we don't know to sleep in our home."

Mokuba beamed. "Great! Then we can camp out in the backyard!"

"..."

"Thank you! You're the nicest big brother ever!" Mokuba grabbed the young elf's hand, and yelled, "Everybody follow me!"

The group of twelve marched down the narrow alleyways, towards the rich part of the city. They were led by a glowing Mokuba, and followed by Seto, who was glowering fit to freeze lava.

---

"Now, would you kindly explain what happened, and how you came to be 'lost' in Domino City?" Seto was still glowering, but no one seemed to notice. They were all sitting in a circle in the Kaiba mansion's backyard, and they had just finished introducing themselves. Jes began the story.

"Well, you see, we're not exactly from this realm. Me and those three were having a bit of a party, and we got sugar-high. I wasn't from the world that we were having the party in, and I had just transported myself there. Then my teacher, him, he told me through our mental link to come back to my world. I don't know why, but anyways, I tried to transport myself, but she made me laugh while I was doing it, so I lost my concentration, and the transport went awry. It sort of felt like we were being sucked up into some sort of void, and then this terrible pain came, and I guess we all blacked out. I suppose my teacher was sucked in as well, but I still don't know what those five are doing here." She indicated Nachzes, Escurcae, Silverwater (the male elf), Brightmoss, and Flamechild (the fire mage).

Aaron Autumnleaf now took up the story. "The reason I called Jes back was that Silverwater and Brightmoss showed up, and they wanted to speak to her. They said it was urgent. So I called her back and waited for her to come, but within a minute, something had obviously gone wrong, and we were all sucked up, like Jes said. Oh, and Flamechild had come previously to visit Jes, but she was gone, so I invited him to stay until she got back. I still don't know why Silverwater needed to see Jes so urgently though."

"I suppose it's sort of my fault that we're here." Silverwater smiled ruefully. "I just saw something bad happening to Jes in my mirror. I thought it might be the Uli (1), so I went to warn her. Brightmoss has always wanted to come with me, and I didn't think this would be a very dangerous mission, so I let her come. I didn't see anything happening to us, but the picture was very blurry."

Seto eyed them all coldly. "You still haven't said why those two are here." He nodded at Nachzes and Escurcae.

Willowwind explained this. "Oh, that's easy. Nachzes is Lieh's dark half, and Escurcae is mine. They got transported because we did."

Seto raised an eyebrow. "Dark half? You mean they're your yamis?"

"I think that's what you would call them, yes."

"I see."

The meeting dispersed soon after this, After a lot of arguing and protesting, Seto got his way and Mokuba had to come inside to sleep instead of staying with the others. Seto lead the way inside, looking relieved that he had finally won an argument against Mokuba. His younger brother followed him in as the other ten found spots to lay their borrowed blankets. Luckily, it was a warm night, so sleeping under the stars would not be a problem. As they slowly dropped off to sleep, one general thought ran through all of their minds.

This was proving to be no less than...odd.

-----

(1) – The Uli (which is plural for Ulidaine), are a thing from Thrain which attacks ice mages, and tries to get them to become a Ulidaine themselves. This is yet another copyright idea.

-------

A/N:

Willowwind: ::grin:: See? Longer!

Escurcae: ::takes one look at chapter and faints::

Legolas: Yes...longer....

::Nachzes walks in::

Willowwind: Oh, Nachzes, did you get Yami back?

Nachzes: ::evil grin:: Yup! Bring him in, Lieh!

::Lieh walks in, pulling huge, Yami-shaped ice block::

Willowwind: Oh dear....

Nachzes: You know, I think I like him better this way...he's not nearly as annoying. Actually, I think he's rather amusing.

Willowwind: ::stares, horror-stricken, at Yami ice block:: But he can't be in the fic this way!

Nachzes: Why not? You just attach strings and we have him as a marionette.

Willowwind: ::glare::

Lieh: You know, Nachzes, she has a point....

Nachzes: ::pouts::

Willowwind: Defrost him.

Nachzes: ::perks up:: Oh, you mean stick him in the microwave?

Willowwind: No. I mean get him the way he was before you sent him to Pluto.

Nachzes: ::evil grin:: O.K.! ::takes out flamethrower and aims at Yami::

Willowwind and Lieh: ::simultaneously:: Oh dear....

Nachzes: ::turns on flamethrower::

::several seconds later::

Yami: ::burnt to charcoal with wisp of smoke coming up from head:: ::blinks::

Willowwind: Fix. Him. Up. By. The. Start. Of. The. Next. Chapter. And. I. MEAN IT!!!

Escurcae: ::wakes up:: Review, peoples! I mean, now that there's actually something to review....