Title: Odd Elements
Author: Mitsuko-chan
Date: January 14, 2005
Summary: AU An abused and abandoned Yuugi wishes for friends only to find himself in the land of the Elementals with no memory of his past...
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 story making process.
A/N- Sorry for being so distant, but my life always likes to get in the way. Well, I think you all have waited long enough and most of you probably aren't going to read this anyway so...on to the chapter!
Chapter 5: Adventure's of Elementals
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."
"Oh, yeah, I guess I did promise to tell everybody once we got back here, didn't I? Well, I guess I should start at the beginning, which is the day that Anzu, Honda, Yami, and I all turned sixteen, which was a year ago now. It was a few months after the raid on our village of Birejji, when mine and Shizuka's parents were killed along with Yami's father..."
Yami flinched, but Jounouchi just continued on as if he did not notice.
"...We had all decided, excluding Yami, to get jobs here in Satu. At first everything was fine, the others and I had managed to find jobs all at the same place, our work was going well, and nobody really had any idea about the Elementals then..."
Yuugi shifted in his seat uncomfortably, still having no idea what an Elemental was.
"...until there was an attack on the neighboring city and most of it was destroyed. It was done by Elementals on the other side, ever since then the people that were living in Satu began to panic whenever an Elemental was mentioned. They decided to send out soldiers to find Elementals and patrol around the shops to keep people safe. At this point I decided to send a letter to Yami who was currently away, who knows where, training to become stronger so that he could avenge his father's murderer. I didn't, of course, know where to find him or how to get the letter to him fast enough. I went to the forest where all the animals were and got the fastest bird I could find to take the letter for me."
"So far we had managed to stay hidden from the people, not use our powers or make anyone suspicious of us in any way. That's when we came to find Ryou and Bakura. They had just gotten to the town and were stopping by the tavern that Honda, Anzu, and I were working at. Anzu was dancing for the customers that come for entertainment, Honda was back in the kitchen, cooking, and I was at the counter taking orders. They came in and sat down at a table. I went over and asked them what they wanted to eat and they told me. Then I went back and gave the order to the cooks and when I came back where some guy was standing over them, yelling that they had taken his table that he sat at everyday."
"When it became apparent that neither Bakura nor Ryou were going to move, the guy--and he was a really big guy too--he came over and wrapped his arms around Ryou and picked him up off the ground, about to slam him down, but Ryou turned into water and slipped out of his grip. Everyone just looked at the two of them and someone called the guards. They came barging in and started tackling Ryou and Bakura. We couldn't just leave them to fend for themselves so we jumped in and tried to help."
Yami sighed at the predictable actions of his impetuous friend.
"It was a pretty long fight, but in the end they used some kind of blow dart thing to shoot us; thank goodness only their elites have the blow guns or we would all be sitting back there in that cell. Anyways, it had some kind of drug on it that knocked us out and when I came to they had brought us to that chamber."
Bakura rolled his eyes at the tall blonde for stating the obvious.
"At that time, I was the only one that had woken up. They had us all in a line, throwing us into the room one at a time. First was Bakura, he was still asleep-"
Here Bakura snorted disdainfully at the prospect of being asleep, but Jounouchi merely ignored him and continued with the story.
"and then Ryou went inside and were about to stick me in there when I transformed into a bug and became so infinitesimal that they couldn't see me. They thought I had just disappeared and gotten away so they panicked and started looking around for me. Just then, Ryou woke up and was starting to get free of his bonds and the ropes binding Anzu's arms and legs caught fire as she awoke, so it was obvious that if they didn't close the door we were all going to escape."
"They shut the door that barricaded Bakura and Ryou inside while I transformed back and freed Honda. It was total chaos, as soon as we had gotten away from the guards that were there we ran. We ran until we were out of the fortress and then we got separated in the streets, which was where I met Nan-I mean Yuugi while Anzu and Honda found Yami. Then we went back to rescue Bakura and Ryou. That's it, I guess."
Everyone was silent as Jounouchi's tale came to an end, musing about everything that had happened that day. The silence was finally broken when the small, timid voice of Yuugi spoke up, asking the question he had been trying to get out all along.
"Um...what's an Elemental?"
Everyone turned to look at him and he blushed at all the attention he was receiving. Yami's ruby eyes turned to him and Yuugi stared straight into his piercing gaze, amethyst orbs shining with curiosity.
"Well, Yuugi. An Elemental is a special person that has the magical energies to control a particular element. Like wind, water, earth, fire, and so on. There is only one of each Elemental, meaning that there can't be two Elementals of the same kind- like fire, there's only one. Each Elemental will project a certain color of aura around their body, but normally you can only see it whenever that Elemental is using their powers. Certain Elementals, like Mai and some others, have the ability to see any Elemental's ambient energy signature at any given time, which allows them to identify that Elemental's power."
"Now, as you saw when we came into the stronghold, Elementals can use their magic and remain in their human form, looking exactly the same as they do when they are not using their power. But sometimes, when we go into battle, we have a special form that we use that helps us focus our power better. We can "transform", I guess you could say, so that we have stronger armor and wings so that we can fly. This is called the Elemental Spirit form."
"Right now we are in a war against other Elementals..."
"Why?"
"Well, just like in regular people, there are people with good intentions and bad ones and I'm afraid to say, Nan-Yuugi, that some of the Elementals have the desire to control the world. They want to rule over the regular people and make them become their slaves. We, on the other hand, would rather there be peace between all people, normal or Elementals, and so we fight to protect the Norms and keep them from destroying society and obtaining what they want. This war is very dangerous and has been going on for quite some bit of time. But now, the fierceness has escalated. The Evils are gaining more power and as Jou tells me they have found a way to use Norms to fight against us, somehow, with their new weapons."
"We have to try and defeat them without hurting the Norms and unfortunately we don't have much time left. We need all the help we can get and so we are going into Birejji tomorrow to pick up Shizuka and find any other Elementals we can that will help us fight against the Evils."
Yuugi nodded carefully in understanding.
"There is something else that I haven't told you yet, Yuugi."
Yuugi looked up at Yami with rapt attention to show he was listening and Yami continued.
"Do you remember how I told you that there were some creatures that attacked you?"
Yuugi nodded slowly.
"Well, those are Duel Monsters. There are different species of them and they are all over the world here. We, the Elementals, use them to fight each other in this war. Some Duel Monster types are stronger than others and Elementals on each side try to gain control of the strongest monsters they can so they can defeat the other side."
Yuugi nodded again to show his understanding as Yami added, "The Evils are working especially hard to try to tame the Uncontrolables."
Yuugi's head jerked up to stare at Yami in confusion.
At his inquiring look, Yami explained, "The Uncontrolables are a class of Duel Monsters that cannot be controlled by a single regular Elemental. Only an Elemental with extreme power or a band of powerful Elementals that join forces can control the four Uncontrolables."
"What happens if the enemy were to gain access to the Uncontrolables' power?" Yuugi asked quietly.
"Then the peaceful, harmonious world as we knew it...would be doomed."
"So what are we going to do about it?"
"We're going to fight them with everything we have and defend our home!" Anzu cried, eyes flashing in the light.
"Mai," Yami said, directing his attention to the beautiful blond. "Didn't you say that Nan-Yuugi had Elemental power?"
A curt nod answered him.
"Can you tell us what sort of power he has?"
"Certainly. By reading his aura, it shows me that he is the Elemental of Light, but there is something odd about his ambient energy."
"What do you mean "odd", Mai?"
"Well, it keeps changing. One minute it's the white of the Light Elemental and then it seems as if another color leaks in, opal it seems, it doesn't completely change so it's hard to tell, but there is no Elemental with an opal aura. I don't know what it could be, but it is not Elemental power."
"Hmm..." Yami looked thoughtful for a moment, but dismissed the information to the back of his mind for later. "Well, I don't know either, but Yuugi is going to have to know how to use his powers before going into battle. Do you-"
"Maybe you should ask him first if he wants to even be in the battle," Bakura told him quietly.
Yami glared at Bakura, but Bakura merely glared right back. Their staring contest was cut short when Yuugi said, "Of course I want to help! We can't let them destroy the world!"
Yami smirked and looked back at Yuugi, "Well, we have some time right now. Would you like me to teach you a little bit about accessing your magic without transforming?"
"Yeah!"
Yami nodded to his small friend and began leading him from the room, into a darkened cellar. Jounouchi called behind him, "Hey, Yami! Wait up!"
Yami stopped in the doorway as his friend came up to him.
"Don't ya think this can wait 'til later? I mean, the kid just got back after all, he's probably tired and do you even think he should be involved in this? After all, war is no place for a kid."
Yuugi had been looking upon the exchange quietly, but at these comments indignation grew as Jounouchi talked as if he was a little child that had no idea what was going on (right in front of him!), quickly injected, "Hey, I'm not a kid! I'm sixteen, probably only a couple years younger than you, I can do this if I want to!"
Yami looked at his friend grimly. "He's right, besides, we have no choice; we are seriously outnumbered and we'll be leaving tomorrow morning so there will be no other time for it. After all, it shouldn't take that long. Tapping into the Elemental power is easy as you well know."
"Yeah, I guess you're right. Good luck, Yuugi," Jounouchi said pleasantly before walking back into the room with the others.
Yami turned around with Yuugi right behind him, and descended the steps into the darkened cellar.
Yuugi followed him, albeit a little more cautiously and somewhat nervous. When both teenagers reached the bottom, Yami's voice filled the darkness.
"Now, as you are a Light Elemental, I want you to light up this room so that we can see, ok? All you have to do is concentrate on what you want to do, just focus and it will happen. After a bit of practice, you will barely have to think of it at all, but starting out you want to pay attention to specifics, detail your commands for your magic."
Yuugi closed his eyes, concentrating with everything he had on making the room light up, he did not open his eyes until he heard Yami's yelp from the opposite side of the room.
His eyes sprang open and he quickly regretted it as the room was so bright it nearly blinded him; he quickly squeezed his eyes shut once more.
"Like I said," came Yami's shaky voice a moment later, "you need to pay attention to detail. Now, can you dim the lights a little?"
Yuugi did as he was instructed and the light diminished from behind his eyelids, enabling him to open his eyes once more. Yuugi quickly looked over at Yami to see if he was mad and was surprised to see a small smile on Yami's face.
"You're extremely powerful to be able to control so much on your first try, I'm impressed. Now that you know how to control it, you're going to practice against an opponent. You can do anything you want with your powers now, if you focus enough, as long as it has to do with controlling light. I want you to fight me, I'll just give you this one hint, be as creative as you can."
Yami smiled and the spar began.
In a darkened room, devoid of anything except a single chair, or more like a throne, were two men. Nothing could be seen of either of them except their silhouettes. One was seated in the throne like chair in the center of the room with the other hunched over talking to the seated one in hushed tones.
"Death, I do believe it is time to try out our new weapons don't you?"
"Of course, Chaos, and I would be most delighted if you did the honors."
"Certainly. Just let me know when and where."
"I have the perfect place. Do you remember our dear friend Darkness? I think he needs another demonstration. He will join us soon, but first we need to persuade him by taking away everything he cares about. So we will attack Birejji tonight and don't forget to leave him a surprise from us. You know what to do."
"Yes."
"Don't forget to let me know how it goes."
Chaos grinned evilly at Death, relying, "Of course."
(To Be Continued…)
Review Responses:
tiger witch: Thanks! Well, that is true, but you know how plotlines work. Characters have to get certain information at certain times and the author has to find creative ways to hand it to them!
Nightlight5: -blushes- Thank you so much for your confidence! Here you go and for being so nice to me –gives you candy-!
GeminiCutie01: Thanks! Here ya go!
Nicky: You're the greatest as ever Nicky! I wish you the best of luck w/your John problem.
Amber Eyes23: Your Fav's?! –squeals- I'm glad you like it so much! You're the best! You just totally boosted my self confidence!
Hazel-Beka: Did I really? O.O Oops! Heh, heh. Sorry about that; that's why I need a beta. (No not a Beka, a BETA) Not just Mai's powers! I'd love to have all of those powers...saving the world some would be kinda cool too. Were you writing your stories online instead of writing them saving them and then posting?
Subieko: Actually, it's both. It's elementals against elementals, but also non-elementals against elementals, but the bad guy elementals have got some non-elementals to help them and given them a...boost...of sorts...you'll see more of that later. Kaiba's going to be in this...but he's not exactly an elemental. He has his own special powers though so don't worry about him too much. I already have someone else filling the position of ice demon...I think you'll find Kaiba's powers suit him though.