Title: ©Odd Elements
Author: Mitsuko-chan
Disclaimer: I do not own Yu-gi-oh!, any of its characters, or themes. I will not profit from this story except receiving enjoyment of your questions, comments, and input on this story.
Claimer: I do, however, own this story and its plot and any Original Characters that I may use during the duration of the making process of this story.
Chapter 4: Captured!
"Aw MAN! That guy that took Nanashi must have summoned reinforcements, Yami! Look at all of these guards! We'll never be able to fight all of them off unless we use-" Yami cut Jounouchi off during his rant as he struggled with three of the twenty or so guards that were now surrounding them.
"No."
"But we-"
"I said no, Jou. These people are innocent! They are not a real part of the war. Look how they treat us when we haven't even done anything to them yet! If we used our powers on them they'd think we were against them and they wouldn't stop hunting us until we were all gone, Jou. You have to think about the consequences. We are not using our powers on them."
Mai, upon hearing the exchange going on beside her as she fought since she had now been given a sword that came off one of the fallen soldiers, got an idea.
"Maybe I can be of some assistance. My power is telepathy and telekinesis, right? So I can put the thought into their heads to retreat and after they go I can erase it from their memories so they don't remember they were fighting us here, which will give us time to escape. What do you think about that?"
Both Yami and Jounouchi took in the scene raging around them. Yami did NOT want to use magic unless it was absolutely necessary but they were beginning to be pushed back, being outnumbered four to one. Jounouchi seemed to know what Yami was thinking because he decided to give Yami a bit of a boost.
"Yami, if we don't stop this fighting soon, we'll end up in the more populated areas and then a WHOLE LOT of innocent people will be dragged into this one way or another."
This fact convinced Yami that in this case...it was absolutely necessary for them to use magic.
"Alright, Mai."
Mai gave a sharp nod to show she had heard and began to concentrate on her magic as Jounouchi and Yami took on the guards that were plaguing her as well as the ones they had been fighting previously.
The soldiers gave a frightened gasp as Mai's aura sprang up and danced around her like a lavender flame. When they were fighting, using their Elemental magic, their aura was revealed to anyone that was paying attention to it, but when it was hidden...no one could see it, unless they were an Elemental with the special ability to read auras...Like Mai had done with Nanashi...
After a few seconds of mild concentration from Mai all the guards just suddenly stopped fighting. Yami and his crew all drew back as well, still not wanting to hurt the innocent people. Then just as they had stopped fighting, they turned on their horses (the ones that still had theirs) and rode/walked away. It took a few more moments before Mai moved again as she let her aura fall back down into hiding once again.
No one said anything as they all stared at Mai. She stared straight back, gaze never wavering. Finally, Yami asked, "So does this mean you are going to help us fight?"
Mai smiled and nodded, "Yes, actually I've been looking for you. You are really quite famous among the Elementals you know, but I couldn't find you anywhere, so I decided to wait here and pretend to be a fortune teller until I got any news on where you were hiding."
Yami grunted as a reply. Nodding he walked away, Jounouchi, Anzu, Honda, and Mai following.
"Why did you call me here, Jou? What is it that you needed help with so badly?"
"Well, a few things actually. The first you have witnessed first hand. The other two...well, first off, I guess, we found some new Elementals that want to help us, only problem is...they are in the same position as Nanashi now. Honda, Anzu, and I can lead you guys there to the prison. They keep all the Elementals in this one room. They were going to stick us in there, but we managed to get away."
"Tell me, Jou."
"Um...how about later, when we get out of this and things have settled down some. Tonight maybe. The last thing is to tell you that the war has been steadily progressing while you went away to train. It is a ton worse than when you left it. You have no idea. The enemy has new weapons and hundreds more soldiers."
"WHAT?! How can they do that, Jou?! Only a rare few people, a handful maybe, have Elemental potential and you know that. No way can they have hundreds!"
"I do know, Yami, but they're using the weapons and giving them to regular people and making them fight as well. This new power they have, it's almost as effective as our own. This is not something we can go on ignoring. It is time for us to attack them and beat them at their own game. We need as much help as we can get though."
"This will not be easy."
"No, and it will take a lot of strategy work, but as long as we have you, I'm not too worried. You have got to be the best Elemental anywhere. I bet that Death can't even beat Darkness."
Yami snorted, "Uh huh, well if that were to ever happen it would take far more training and experience than what I possess now. How did you know this, Jou?"
"I heard those two Elementals I told you about earlier talking about it. They said there was some kind of base of operations or something."
"Maybe we can get them to take us there, but first we have to free them. Honda, come here."
"Sup?"
"You know where they are holding Nanashi don't you?"
"Yeah."
"Lead the way."
Honda gave a nod and began leading, quickly followed by the others. Yami then asked him, "So how did you guys get away?"
Honda, Anzu, and Jounouchi only smiled at Yami and Mai, not saying a word.
"Get in there you gaki!" shouted a guard as he shoved the small, confused Nanashi into a holding room. All the walls were white and the only way in or out of the room was the door he had just come through, also white, that had a square window in the upper middle of it.
Looking around, Nanashi saw that two boys already occupied the room. Yuugi stood up and noticed one of the boys had been awakened by the guard's shout. He opened his bleary eyes and sat up, looking at Nanashi. Seeing that there was someone else in the room, the boy gently shook the other boy that was sleeping beside him.
That boy woke up almost immediately as if he had not been asleep at all and sat up, ready to fight or defend. Nanashi gasped as this boy looked at him also. They looked exactly alike! Both had white hair and chocolate brown eyes; the only difference in the two was that the one that woke up tensely had spikier hair and a tanner complexion.
All three boys just sat there staring at each other for a few minutes, Nanashi staring between the two and they looking at him before glancing back to each other.
Finally the silence was broken by Nanashi saying, "Are you two related?"
The one with the less spiky hair answered him, "Yeah, we're twins. My name is Ryou and this is Bakura. What is your name?"
Nanashi blushed at this and mumbled, "I don't really know my name. The guy that found me calls me Nanashi."
Bakura smirked, "It fits. So, oh nameless one! What power do you have?"
"What are you talking about?"
"Well, they only throw Elementals in here and all Elementals have a specific power. What's yours?"
"I don't know anything about that. I don't remember anything that ever happened in my life until yesterday. Yesterday and today is all I know."
Both boys frowned at him, "Hm...that explains that. How did you get here?"
Honda finally came to as stop as they came up upon a heavily guarded building with a high fence all around the premises. Soldiers patrolled all around the inside and outside of the fence and Yami was sure there were only even more inside. They walked around the fence at a distance trying to find some secret form of entry that could be used to gain unnoticed access to the fortress.
"Well, this is the place. The room is on the basement level. The stairs are guarded on each floor and there are at least three guards that patrol each hallway. We need to find some way to get down there; thank goodness it's only one floor down. I don't know how we're going to get in there, man. It was murder just trying to get out," Jounouchi announced.
"Well, for one thing they won't expect someone to try to break into prison. If we could just find a way to use that to our advantage we should be able to make it," Anzu thought.
Mai turned to look at Yami; "You know I could just mess with their minds so it's like they don't even see us. We could just-"
"No."
"Why?"
"What do you think their bosses would do to them if they found out they just let us waltz right in here and didn't even try to stop us in the least. You see, the whole reason we are even fighting on this particular side of the war is to protect people like them so that they can have a future."
Mai simply glared, miffed, but Yami was unfazed. He gazed at the wall intently, trying to find some kind of way in. Jounouchi, Honda, and Anzu were getting tired of waiting and were upset about having no say in how things should go so while Yami inspected, they conversed in hushed tones and were soon joined by Mai.
Finally, they seemed to come to a conclusion. "Yami, we need a strategy and you aren't giving us much to work with here." Yami turned to look at them all, namely Anzu who seemed to be speaking for all of them. "This is what we propose. We use our powers, but only as long as nobody gets hurt? We have to survive this too you know. If we don't keep going these people won't have a future anyway."
Just then a small part of an idea came to Yami, now he just needed to add some substance to it and they would have formed a well thought out plan. He smirked at them and continued formulating his plan, turning to pace and think to himself.
The others simply looked at each other, puzzled expressions on their faces as they wondered what Yami's actions had meant. Did he even consider what they had said or had he just completely ignored them? Finally, Yami stopped pacing and turned to them smirking once more.
"Ok, guys. We'll do this your way. Here's the plan..."
"Hey, look!"
"What?"
"Smoke! Over there! OH NO! Look at those flames heading our way!"
"Come on! Get some men to go put that fire out! Hurry!"
Yami, Jounouchi, and Honda were sulking in the shadows of the wall, out of sight for now. "It appears to be working, Yami. Let's just hope Anzu and Mai can handle them by themselves."
"Don't worry. Just because they're girls doesn't mean they can't take care of themselves. Besides, that's why Mai was supposed to stay. This way Anzu won't have to do anything that might hurt them, just provide the much needed distraction. That's all we need them to do, then they head over to Mai's house. Glad she gave us the directions. Now we just wait for some of them to leave..."
Right on cue, fifteen or so heavily armed warriors ran out of the grounds into the surrounding forest. Yami turned to Honda and nodded. Now it was his turn for a bit of magic. He concentrated for a moment and his aura flared up brown before the air was suddenly filled with dust from the ground. It spread throughout the fortress and all through the grounds, hovering in the air, masking their entrance.
Jounouchi and Honda looked to Yami to see that he had an intense look of concentration on his face before a black aura surrounded him then it seemingly spread out and stretched so that it covered the entire premises so that it was hard to see. The darkness was like that of a night of the new moon and it was complete.
Jounouchi's turn now. He focused on what he had to do, bright orange jumping to life around him as he transformed himself into a wolf, sniffing a shirt Yami had brought with him and began to lead the way with his mighty sense of smell.
Thanks to the darkness, and if there were any lights that had been turned on, the dust, no one was able to see as three teenage boys slipped into the base and ran through the hallways, clearly on some sort of mission. Along one hallway they ran, down a flight of stairs, and across another hallway, Jounouchi stopping in front of a door and transformed back into his normal form, aura disappearing.
"This is it!" he told them all and stepped forward towards the door. Taking something from one of his pockets he began to pick the lock. Honda and Yami remained quiet so they would not disturb him. After working diligently for a few seconds, they all heard a click, informing them that the lock was opened.
Yami leapt forward and thrust the door open, running inside as he did so. There, in one small room, sat three boys. Two look alike albinos and also his very own twin. The latter of these got up from where he was sitting and ran to his other, eyes bright and shining with happiness.
"Yami! You made it!"
Yami smiled down at the small boy and said, "Yes, I'm here." Then turning to look at Honda and Jounouchi he asked, "Are these the two Elementals you guys found?"
"Yeah," they said together.
"Yami, what's-" Nanashi began, but Yami quickly interrupted him.
"Not right now little one. I'll tell you once we get somewhere safe. Now are you two just going to sit there all day or are you coming with us?"
The two sitting in the corner jumped up and ran after their new Elemental friends.
"Wow, you did quite some job with this place," admired Bakura.
Yami smirked into the darkness. "Thanks."
The group of boys, led by Jounouchi, made it to Mai's house with no problems. They had made it out of the fortress, and after checking to make sure the girls were not still in the forest, had all left for Mai's house as planned.
As soon as the door was opened and everybody was inside, Anzu flung herself on the small Yami and gave him a great big hug. Everyone looked on in amusement until the small boy screamed in pain.
Anzu jumped back quickly, afraid and wondering what she had done to him. He was clutching his chest and hunched over. Yami immediately rushed over and took Nanashi's shirt off, revealing bandages around his chest and back. Everyone gasped as Yami then removed them and the six long cuts were revealed.
"I'm sorry! I'm so sorry!" Anzu cried.
"Don't worry about it...You didn't know," Nanashi replied.
Yami sat him down on the floor and went with Mai to get some more bandages while the others, excluding the new boys, clustered around him.
"How did that happen, Nanashi?"
"Um...well, I don't remember. That was before I lost my memory so I don't remember it. Yami might be able to tell you, maybe..." The small boy blushed from all the attention he was getting and tried to seem as uninteresting as possible.
Luckily for him, Yami and Mai came back soon, Mai holding the bandages and Yami stony faced. Yami leaned up against the wall and began to talk/introduce himself to the new boys, carefully watching Mai and Nanashi from out of the corner of his eyes.
Mai approached Nanashi with the bandages and sat down in front of him. Nanashi blushed again as he realized just how pretty Mai was. She simply smiled at him and began to clean out his wounds. He hissed in pain then bit his bottom lip to keep from making any noise. After this, Yami looked like he was about to rush over and help, but he managed to restrain himself.
It did not take long for Mai to wrap the cuts in new bandages so that she left and, with the help of Anzu, began to prepare food for them.
It was dinner time for the young heroes as they all sat around Mai's living room, getting to know each other a little better while they ate and just plain relaxing and having fun like normal teenagers do.
"So, what do you say, Nanashi? Who do you think can eat more in a shorter amount of time? Me or Honda?" Jou asked in a casual manner.
"I have a question," Mai informed them all rather suddenly.
"'eah? S'at?" Jou asked, mouth now full of food.
"Why do you keep calling him Nanashi when his name is Yuugi? Is it like some kind of nickname or something?"
"What?! His name is Yuugi? How did you know that?"
Mai simply tapped her forehead with two fingers and the others either rolled their eyes or nodded in understanding.
"Well, to tell you the truth, Mai, we didn't know. He lost his memory and I've just been calling him Nanashi ever since we found out." Yami shrugged. "But now we can call him by his proper name, right Yuugi?"
Everyone looked over at said boy, but he seemed to have gone into a daze, almost as if when he heard his name something clicked in his head. He was staring a hole through the floor, but he did not seem to even see it at all. It was almost as if he was watching a video recording playing over and over in his head. Mai flinched and closed her eyes, head bowed for a moment. None of the others took any notice of this, however, they were all intently watching Yuugi as he shuddered and raised his head up; he saw everyone looking at him and said, "Ano...sorry. What did you say?"
Yuugi's P.O.V.
"So, what do you say, Nanashi? Who do you think can eat more in a shorter amount of time? Me or Honda?" Jou asked in a casual manner.
"I have a question," Mai informed them all rather suddenly.
"Yeah? S'at?" Jou asked again, mouth now full of food.
"Why do you keep calling him Nanashi when his name is Yuugi? Is it like some kind of nickname or something?"
Yuugi...My name is Yuugi? Wait a minute that kind of sounds familiar. Where have I heard it before? Then it clicked...
Flashback
He was running.
He always had to run. They would never stop chasing him until they caught him and they always caught him. He zipped across the street right before the light turned green so that his tormenters had to wait on the oncoming traffic to stop. He kept running, his backpack, full of his school things, was bouncing heavily on his back causing him to overbalance when he turned.
Suddenly, he heard their voices behind him again. They were gaining.
Panting and out of breath, he darted into an alleyway before they could see where he went. He quickly hid behind a garbage disposal unit (a/n- ) and ducked as far out of sight as he could get.
Waiting, and trying to slow his breathing so he would not be heard, he listened for their voices, footsteps, and ragged breathing to go by so he would know when it was safe to emerge from his hiding spot.
Then he heard them.
"Where'd the little runt go?"
"Man, he pulled a fast one on us the shrimp."
"Ah, come on, let's go. He's not worth our time."
"Yeah."
He had to make a conscious effort not to let out an audible sigh of relief. He waited just a few more seconds and cautiously made his way out from behind the trash bin. Making certain that they were gone, he looked around the corner of the alley when he was suddenly grabbed from behind. His backpack fell off as he was slung around to face whoever had grabbed him.
The leader of the small gang, Ushio, smiled fiercely down at him, saying, "Hi there, little Yuugi."
The four other seniors behind him guffawed loudly as Yuugi's eyes contracted in fear at the sight of them.
"Told ya it would work, Ushio! Didn't I tell 'im?"
"Yeah, an' the little runt fell for it!"
Ushio dragged Yuugi into the alley he had just hidden himself in not but five seconds ago and, together, the five of the big boys began Yuugi's daily beating. Punches, kicks, and insults were flying in that alley, why was no one coming to help? Well, why should they? It was not their problem, let him deal with it on his own.
It was the same, day after day...no one cared about little Yuugi...and never would...
End Flashback
"Ano...sorry. What did you say?" Yuugi asked when he saw everyone was staring at him expectantly.
"Well, I was just saying we could call you Yuugi now that we knew your name. Are you ok? You zoned out for a minute there and you wouldn't answer when we called your name."
"Oh...um...yeah. Sorry, I didn't mean to worry you, but I just remembered something that happened before I got here."
"Really? What did you remember?" Tea asked eagerly.
Yuugi shifted nervously, "Um...I just remembered someone calling me by my name. So, um, yeah, you can call me Yuugi."
Everyone looked at him uncertainly, but then Ryou quickly ended the uncomfortable silence by asking, "So how did you get away from the guards, Jou? We were right there, but we didn't see what happened."
To be continued...
A/N- Well, I hope you all liked the story. From now on I'll be posting my review responses down here—just so you know where to look for further notification.
Wow! I couldn't believe the amount of reviews I received for this chapter (11)!! You guys helped me break through my writer's block and write this chapter!!
tiger witch: I'm glad you liked Yugi's element. I hope you liked this chapter as well!
korieana: Yeah, I know...I just love Yugi-torture! Don't you? Yup, they'll be here soon.
Subieko: Yup, you were right! Yugi has powers (of course! How could he not, I ask you!) (blushes)...yeah, that's how I came up with the name. Sorry for not reviewing you lately...I'll have to catch up on that, but I really don't have that much time. I know exactly what you're talking about. If I read a really well written story (like yours) it just draws you in! Like that book you just can't put down!
Nightlight5: (blushes) You really like it? I'm basically a new writer and I'm not very good yet, but I try to do my best. Sorry for not updating as soon as you may have wanted...(runs and hides).
Nicky: Hey! I'm updating this one too! I know you're surprised! Ack! Too many questions at once! You'll just have to wait and see! (smiles) Cookies!
I Forget: Aww...you didn't want me to end it there...? I don't blame you. I'd be pretty ticked at me if I were you, but I'm not so (runs and hides). Sorry for taking so long to update!
Geminidragon: (blushes) Um...pure spite I guess? Sorry, but I love cliff hangers...and the reactions they envoke...(smiles knowingly) You'll just have to wait and find out at the end what happens about Yugi returning to his world.
dogsrule6161: Cool name...It reminds my of one of my best friends! (she loves dogs) Um...well, you see. I don't really have a lot of time on my hands to write, but I plan on picking up the pace now that school's almost out for the semester. I'm planning on doing a LOT of writing over the Christmas break and hopefully I'll be able to. Really? I love myths too! They're so cool and mysterious!
lilpip: An elemental is someone that has the power of an element – they can do anything that has to do with it. Like fire...someone with the fire element could make fire, blow flamethrowers, throw a flameshield...anything like that. You'll learn more about it soon.
Masami, Mistress of Fire: (smiles) don't you just love Yugi-torture? He's such a sympathetic character! (laughs) I've updated! You can live again! Come forth!
Hazel-Beka: That's ok, I guess I can forgive you just this once, Hazel-chan. I'm just glad that you did remember it. As a matter of fact, I think that you are the only one that has reviewed every single one of my fics. Oh, I'm still working on R/R your Tai's House or whatever...forgot for the moment. Don't worry, I'll finish reviewing it sooner or later, but I will do it.
NOTE: If anyone knows of two people that wouldn't mind being a beta for me, I would greatly appreciate your help!
Ja ne, Mitsuko