Chapter 15:
It was around four in the morning when the rain cleared up. The sky was still dark, being that it was technically still night, but otherwise the stars were out and they were the traveling nomads' only source of light.
Heh. Actually, they weren't really nomads, but an odd group, nonetheless. A Tomb Keeper, a Tomb Robber, and an ancient Pharaoh who was riding atop a mountain lion.
They'd decided to carry on immediately after the rain stopped. Indeed, they were tired, but after everything that's already happened, they thought it best to keep both eyes open out in the wilderness.
For about five minutes, Yami had been happily humming to himself. But now he saw a faint blush on Marik's face as he and Bakura cautiously walked beside Yami's new friend.
"Marik." Yami mused, "Remember when you were pleading for your life in the cave back there?"
"Ugh… Yeah, what about it…?"
"Did you really mean what you said to Ra about never being mean to me again if you lived through it? If my memory serves me, you're exact words were 'ever, ever, never'."
Marik gasped, "You heard that!"
Bakura burst out in a fit of laughter, "Ha ha ha! Oh, man, Marik you really went low! Ever, ever, never! Ha ha ha ha!"
"Shut up!"
"So, did you mean it?" Yami repeated with a grin, "Because… you know what happens when you brake a promise to Ra. And I'd hate to see you get struck by lightning."
"Yeah, Marik," Bakura clasped his hands together and batted his eyelashes, "Are you going to be kind to Yami, now? Are you two going to be frriieennddss...?"
"Damn it! Will you kindly shut up!" Marik made the mistake of stomping his foot on the lion's front paw. It jumped up and turned on Marik, growling and such.
"Gah!" Marik backed up two steps, afraid of the teeth and claws. "I-I'm so-sorry!"
"There, there…" Yami patted the lion on the head and behind the ears, "He didn't mean any harm, Clara. Let's just keep going. If we get to the Ranger's cabin before day break, we can-"
"Hold, a moment." Bakura raised his hand, "Who is Clara?"
Yami pointed to the lion.
Marik sweatdropped, "You… you named the lion?"
"No. I didn't. She told me that was her name. Clara Maribel Thompson is her full name. Did you know she just had five cubs about a week ago? That was her house that we were in. She was just protecting them, which is why she was so violent. Isn't that right?" He somewhat cooed at the lion beneath him.
Clara purred.
Bakura puffed out his cheeks, "I just don't believe these stories you tell, Yami."
"I can't take much more of this."
Yami smiled, "C'mon, guys, you should be happy. We're close to the cabin!"
"How do you know?"
"Clara knows the way. You think we're taking this route for our health? I have no idea where we're going! But Clara says she knows this area like the tip of her tail, and that we should follow her."
Marik nodded to Bakura, "Our very survival depends on a mountain lion that an ancient and senile old King has made friends with. Seems appropriate."
Somewhere in the mist of the gray and black air surrounding the basin, a small moan pushed the silence away and filled the atmosphere with something much thicker. As the trees swayed in the after breeze of the storm, the moans began again.
"T-This is almost too much…!" The old creature had managed to bring itself to his feet and carry on. Even through all the pain and torment of the past two days, he was still stubborn about reaching his grandson's friends.
"Oh my…" He stopped to take a rest, "If only I could get to… to the ranger's station. Then maybe… m-maybe I wouldn't be so… so tired…"
He collapsed into a heap on the forest floor. It was unavoidable, the way he'd been traveling nonstop for the past 34 hours. He lay sleeping with nothing but twigs around him.
Coincidently, there was an astray log laying near him and as he rolled over onto his back, a part of the bark pulled on his 'Monkey-Man' disguise and revealed some of his face.
A little ways down the path, the traveling team of four were heading in the same direction the Monkey-Man once was. They came to the spot where he collapsed and starred down at him.
Yami tilted his head while Clara sniffed the motionless body, "Rawr…"
Marik shook his head, "I swear, that thing's stalking us. He's everywhere we are."
"Clara says it's human…" Yami said, mostly to himself, though it was audible to the others, "It… Could it really be a person?" He dismounted his friend and leaned in close to the figure.
"Careful, Pharaoh, it could bite your face off." Bakura warned, "And if that happened, what would you do with all that Mascara you have?"
"I don't use Mascara! My eyelashes are naturally full and thick!" He blushed a little and continued to inspect the supposedly human creature. Yami noticed a part of his face was in a flesh tone much like his own. He decided to investigate this further…
"Yami, don't!" Marik sounded a bit annoyed, "What, are you trying to pull his fur off? That's disgusting!"
"Ah!" Yami pulled back the layer of fur that was wrapped around his neck and revealed a perfectly human face, aside from dirt and wrinkles, he was… normal. And furthermore, he was also… "Grandpa!"
"What! No way!" Bakura and Marik's voices rang together as they gathered around the old man's snoring form. They were astonished to find that it was indeed Yugi's grandfather, back from the grave.
"I can't believe it!"
"This is odd."
"Oh, YES!" Yami embraced his hikari's granddad in a warm hug, "I'm so unbelievably happy! Oh, Grandpa, you have no idea how much I've missed you! It was unbearable, the pain I felt, the guilt! It probably hurt me more than you…"
"Eh, I doubt that."
Marik nodded, "Yeah. Judging from all the wounds he's got... Just look at him. Bakura has kicked him in the face, that crazy man stomped on him, we ran from him the entire weekend. Talk about hard luck."
"Ah… eh…?" The man began to wake in Yami's arms, "Y-Yami…? Is that you?"
"Yes, it's me. We're all hear and very sorry we mistook you for something else! Can you ever forgive us?"
Grandpa's face arranged itself into a small smile, "O-Of course, I can…!" He whispered hoarsely, "We're buddies!"
Marik took a closer look at the fur that Yami took off of Grandpa. Upon further inspection, it was discovered to be… "What the hell! My world domination blankie! How'd that get here?"
"Mua ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!" A distant voice began to get closer and closer, the maniacal laugh becoming stronger. "PERFECT! Ah ha ha ha ha!"
Clara quickly switched around, lowering her head and growling towards the sound. Marik and Bakura backed up behind her and gulped, "Oh no, it's him."
"Who?" Yami asked.
"Mua ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha! Come here, my little Yummies!" Over the hill and a lot closer now, a form of a man running at them was now clearly visible. The same man, who'd tried to shoot them before, was now chasing them again with his gun aiming straight at their group.
"We've gotta go, now, Yami!" Bakura looked at his prince who was still holding on to Grandpa, securely.
"But, we can't just leave Grandpa here!"
"Ugh…" Marik held his head, "Think, think, think… I got it! Me and Bakura will run like hell and you stay here with Gramps and the animal."
"Grr…" Clara growled at being called a animal.
"Ah ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!"
"Marik!"
"Yami!"
"Bakura!"
"W-Wait." Came Grandpa's frail voice, "You guys can go, really, I'll be okay."
Yami was about to object, but the man was in shooting range now. Instead he looked at Clara and made a sort of mewing sound with the back of his throat at her. She did it again in a lower tone.
"Okay, this is what we'll do," Yami converted back to speaking English, "Clara said she'll stay here to make sure Grandpa's alright. She said go straight and turn to the left, then we'll see the Ranger's Station."
He slowly got up and Marik and Bakura dragged him off, "Grandpa, we will see you soon! Bye, Clara, thank you for everything!"
Just as the three yamis left, Ranger Sweet came stampeding down the path and came across Clara and Grandpa, "Hmm? Hey, where'd those Yiggies go?"
Clara growled and walked slowly up to him, baring her fangs.
Ranger Sweet flinched, but didn't worry. He'd come against wild animals before and was always prepared. He sighed and filled his gun with tranquilizers. Being a Ranger, he wasn't allowed to use anything but tranquilizers on wildlife. Sweet lifted the gun and shot. Clara fell into a snoring heap, right before his eyes.
"Hmm." Sweet grinned at Grandpa, who was now unarmed, "This is that animal I was chasing earlier, isn't it?"
"W-Wait a minute! I'm a human!" He waved his arms about, "See?"
"Ha ha! Your tricks don't fool me, fur-man! How dumb do you think I am?" Sweet grabbed Grandpa by the back of his shirt, "Just wait. I'll get Mr. Motou's Yuris back and be world-renowned for finding the missing link! S.W.A.T, here I come." He whistled happily as he dragged the old man kicking and screaming down the dirt path.
