Call On Me
Chapter 5:
That night, Malik had recovered from his fainting spell. He woke up to see his yami still looking like… Kiram. Still black short hair, still light blue eyes, still no more tan. He questioned this thoroughly.
"Marik, what are you doing? And what am I doing? We're both still in our costumes! We're home now, shouldn't we go back to normal?" He asked, following Marik from room to room.
"I hate to tell you this, Malik… But these disguises are almost permanent. Except the contacts, your hairs permanently blue and mine's permanently black. And no, we can't get out, we're going to have to put them on again in the morning, what's the point?"
"The… point? Wait, you mean we're going to school again tomorrow!"
Marik could not believe his ears. He starred at Malik then sat down, "Well… yeah! I mean, we haven't accomplished what we set out to do, have we? So, duh, we're going until we win the boys' trust and get their puzzles!"
"But that might take a few days!"
"So what? You don't have anything better to do!" And before his hikari could speak, Marik already had him countered, "And, yes, I know about you missing Oprah but you'll just have to cope. We can tape it."
Malik looked weepy-eyed and was blushing slightly, "O-Okay… only if you promise this'll go by fast."
"C'mon, Malik, how long could befriending those idiots take? Two days, tops, I swear it."
It was later the next day, around the ending of forth period; when the school broke it's normal, studious schedule and erupted into chaos. Marik and Malik were heading out of their class, planning to meet Ryou by the waterfounatian in the sixth hall.
As they waited, two boys walked right by them.
"So, man, did you hear about Oracle T?"
The blond one shook his head and put his hands into his front pockets, "Nah, I didn't. I was busy in Economics, so I couldn't get out. Why, what happened?"
"She's gone nuts, Chris, I'm telling ya. All the girls ran out of the bathroom screaming their heads off because Oracle T was ranting and raving at them!"
"… Why?"
"Some sophomore said he didn't want to go out with her when she asked. So, she's decided to wage war against the school. The third floor bathroom is over flowing with toilet water. She's not going to reveal prophecies anymore."
"No way! How am I going to know if I can pass my math test next week!" His eyes bugged out and he sighed, "This just ain't fair…"
"I hear ya…" They walked around the corner and soon were out of sight. Marik cocked his head to the side and turned to his hikari.
"Hey, Malik, you hear that?"
Malik nodded solemnly, "It's a sad day in Domino when a bathroom overflows…"
"No, you weirdo! I'm talking about that woman in the bathroom. Those two just said she could reveal prophecies! Like… like telling the future. We need to get to her."
"Why?"
"B-Because! We need to know if this High School plan's going to work. If it's doomed to fail, we can quit now and go home." Marik turned and heard footsteps. Bakura and Ryou were coming down the hallway and stopped next to them.
"Hallo!" Ryou smiled at them both and nudged his yami, "Bakura…"
"Hey Mario. Luigi." He said blandly and shrugged, "What are you guys doing?"
Marik leaned back on the wall and tried to look uncaring, "We need to ask you something. Something about the girl's bathroom."
Bakura licked his lips and starred at the two, "Been spending some time in the girl's bathroom, right? That's unoriginal. Everyone goes there to make-out."
"No!" Malik gasped and blushed, "W-We're talking about the one on the third floor. The one with… what's her name? Oracle T?"
"Yeah, can you take us to her?"
"Oh!" Bakura and Ryou's voices rang together. Bakura growled and turned away, hurriedly, mumbling something that wasn't quiet audible. Ryou fumbled for something to say and ended up babbling, "Y-You don't wanna go there… O-Oracle T, she's just a myth. C'mon, then. We don't want to be late for Biology."
As he started to walk away, Marik grabbed his arm, "Aw, come on, Ryou! Just a peek… I just want t ask Oracle T a question." When Ryou gave no response, Marik grinned and said what he knew would work, "Ryou, you're our Buddy, right? What kind of Buddy would you be if you didn't show us… everything?"
He stopped in his tracks and turned to the two, "… Well, I suppose one little peek in the bathroom wouldn't be too big a chore, would it Bakura?"
"Hell no!" He shouted, "You think I'm going in there with… with that insane…! Oracle T! No way! I'll go in there when you drag my COLD, DEAD, BEAUTIFULLY MANICURED feet!"
Marik, Ryou and Malik looked at each other, "…"
It was about five minutes later when Bakura was walking with his head down, behind Marik and Malik. Ryou had somehow persuaded his yami to tag along and be a good assistant Buddy-Buddy. Although he put up a large fight, in the end they were climbing the stairs and going down winding hallways on their way to the third floor.
"J-Jeez, Ryou…" Malik was crawling on the floor, panting, "I-I thought we were going to the third fl-floor… this is taking forever!"
Ryou smiled softly, "The builders made a mistake when the school was made. So, the third floor is actually the fifteenth floor. Don't worry, we're almost there."
"Why is she all the way up there?" Marik asked.
"…Oracle T likes her seclusion."
In another ten minutes, they made it to the third (or fifteenth) floor. The bathroom they sought was no more than ten feet away. But, blocking the hallway was the tubby girl with brown hair they'd seen the day before.
"Halt." She held out her hand, "This floor is restricted. Please turn back or show me your teacher's pass."
"Sable…" Bakura groaned and walked to her, "Get out of the way, girl. We've come all this way and we're not turning back now. We just need to go to the bathroom and all the others are broken."
Sable eyed him and the other boys, "But the only bathroom on this floor is for girls only and you are all boys. I think… And anyway, She is having a tantrum and I was instructed not to let anyone pass. It isn't safe."
Ryou sighed, ran his hands threw his hair and tossed it back. Malik asked what he was doing and he replied simply, "What I have to." He walked up to Sable, swinging his hips slightly and brightened his eyes, "Um, Sable, hun, could you please let us in? I really have to go to the bathroom. I just had the boys with me for protection's sake."
"Hmm. Well," She noticed Ryou's curves and long hair and mistook him for a girl, "Okay, okay. But, you really need to hurry it up."
"Sure thing!" Ryou turned around and, in the girliest voice he could muster, "Like, c'mon, guys! Let's go to the bathroom!"
They roamed past Sable and Bakura opened the door cautiously t the blue door with a female sign on the front. They stepped inside and notice they were immediately wet up to their knees. Oracle T certainly did a number on the school's septic tank.
Malik followed his yami to the sinks and mirrors, in a line were five stalls… but no girl. Marik looked at Ryou, "Where is she?"
Ryou cleared his throat and pointed, shakily towards the stalls, "I-In there." Bakura was turned around and refused to go any further.
"Alright, then! Come on, Ma- Kilam!" Marik puffed out his cheeks and strutted up to a stall's door. He kicked it open and nothing was there. Malik kicked the next on and nothing was there. They each kicked a door again and when they found nothing, they figured it had to be the middle one. When they opened it, it seemed still enough.
They ventured forth and were a little smooshed together and cramped because of the stall's lack of space. Ryou and Bakura peeked in after them, with mild curiosity.
Marik looked back o them in question and whispered, "What now?"
"Call her name."
"…" Marik cleared his throat, figuring this was just like summoning Ra, "Oracle T, I summon thee! Rise by my mighty fist and bestow upon me the future!"
Ryou and Bakura clapped, "Not bad."
"Thanks."
The toilet's water stirred. The stillness going counterclockwise; the water spinning faster and faster in the inside of the porcelain bowl. A boom! sound was heard and the water rushed upwards in a vertical motion, hovering above the toilet seat. The floating water took shape and formed the outline of a girl, sitting Indian style. Her features filled in to where Marik and Malik could see who she really was…
"TEA!" They both shouted in surprise, backing up and almost out of the stall. Oracle T sat there, in midair, her short brown hair in a messy ponytail and her skin blotchy from toilet water.
"And what? You were expecting some kind of genie?" She folded her arms and huffed, "What are you doing in here anyway, this is the girl's bathroom- BAKURA!"
Her attention turned immediately to the sliver haired boy, hiding behind the door. His knees were knocking but when he figure she knew he was there, he came into the light and scowled, "What?"
"I-I can't believe you're here!" Her high-pitched scream caused Malik to swoon into a near-faint, but Marik woke him up with a good slap, "B-Bakura, does this mean you'll change your mind? You'll go out with me?"
"Hell no!" He shouted and turned to his hikari, "I told you I didn't want to come up here! Now look, you've got this damn girl drooling over me."
Ryou looked utterly confused, "What…? Bakura, what's going on?"
He sighed, "It all started yesterday, when…
Flashback:
The bell rang, signaling to all the students that it was time for seventh period and the last class of the day. Bakura was out of his classroom and heading to meet Ryou, Kiram and Kilam in front of the gym. Before he turned the corner, however, a young lady came up to him, holding out a piece of paper.
"What do you want?" Bakura asked, mild interest at best in his voice.
She lowered her head and held out the piece of paper with both hands. She seemed to be shivering and shaking, "B-Bakura… Oracle T wishes to see you. Tis a matter of great importance. Please come at once. At once!"
After practically shoving the slip into Bakura's hands, she ran off into the crowd of moving students. Bakura shrugged, 'Well, I do have P.E. next, but… That Coach Lugs gets on my nerves! I'm goin' to see Oracle T.'
In thirty minutes, he arrived at the third floor and it was deserted. He opened the blue door and two girls pointed the way, one of which was the lady who had given him the paper. They asked for a pass to see Her and he provided the little piece of paper.
He ventured into the middle stall and called her name, "Tea. Tea, I don't have all day, girl, let's go."
The water rose from the porcelain bowl and Oracle T manifested herself into color and flesh and bone. She smiled brightly at the albino boy, her teeth a dingy brown from disinfectants in the toilet water. "Oh, Bakkkkuuuurrrraaa! You came, you came!"
He grunted, "…"
"Well. I just wanted to ask you a itty-bitty, teeny-weeny question-westion!" Oracle T cleared her throat; "I would like to invite YOU to go out with me this Friday night! Doesn't that sound exciting?"
Bakura's eyes bugged out and he starred at her, "What the hell! Y-You're not serious?"
She beamed and nodded, obliviously unaware of Bakura's disgusted manner.
"First of all. I'm not going out with… you. And second of all, even if I had mild interest, what would you expect me to do? You're attached to a damn toilet! What, you want be to uproot this thing and drag you around town!"
"… So, what's your point?"
"You idiot! This is ridiculous! You dragged me from my class appointments, up fifteen floors only to hear this pitiful excuse for an invite!"
Oracle T smiled again, "That's a yes, right?"
"NO!"
"Ah…!" She recoiled and sat on her toilet, becoming more teary-eyed by the second, "B-Bakura, y-you… you don't… Oh, Bakura!" A flood of tears came from her eyes as she floundered back into the toilet.
Four bangs were heard. Bakura took a step out of the stall and saw fountains of water shooting up from the other toilets and onto the floor. Oracle T's cries were heard in the septic tank. He shrugged and walked out of the bathroom, past the two girls who ran in, trying to calm Tea down.
End Flashback.
Oracle T nodded, "Yes, yes… I remember it like it was yesterday…"
Ryou mumbled to his yami, "It was yesterday…"
Tea continued her speech, "And since that fateful hour, I have sworn off men! All who come to this forbidden toilet must suffer! Suffer! Suffer! Suffer!" The toilet's erupted into a fury of waterworks and two toilets exploded.
"Wait, wait!" Malik called to her, his hands covering his face, "Tea, stop! Suffer or no, Ma- Kiram and me came to ask you something! Is it true you can tell the future?"
The fountains came to a slow halt ad Tea looked down on Malik, "… Well. Yes… since my untimely end, I have come across certain special bathroom powers. I can see certain things!"
"Nice." Marik nodded, "Then tell me something-"
"Uh-uh! So way, buster, not this magic toilet-mistress. You get you answers from someone else!"
"But why?"
"Didn't I just get done saying? I've sworn off men!" She glared at Marik and Malik, "And you are no different from… from…! Bakura, you've broken my watery heart! H-How could you…?" She broke into sobs and fell into a crying pile on the toilet seat.
Marik turned around and whispered to Ryou and Bakura, "Listen, could you guys leave us alone for a minute? I think this would go better if Bakura wasn't here."
Ryou nodded and led his yami out through the door, "Yes, yes, of course!"
When they were gone, Malik turned to Tea and said in his most soothing voice, "Um… Oracle T, we're not like all men. And it's not like we want to… date you or anything. We just want to know something."
She sniffed, "B-But no one's ever liked me! N-No one! They called me… ugly… and friendship girl… It's all so depressing…"
"I know, I know." He nodded, "But. If it helps, we actually want to ask a question about friendship."
Oracle T quickly turned round and starred at them with surprise and delight in her eyes, "Y-You do? Friendship?"
They nodded.
"Oh!" She hopped up and into the air, gleaming and sparkling, "Well! I suppose you aren't like other men! Okay, okay. I'll answer your question."
"Hooray!" They high-fived each other and grinned, "Awesome!"
"But." She interrupted their happy dance, "I cannot give the answers away so easily. Tis not the way of the toilet-mistress. In order to receive the answer to your future question, you must complete the three tasks of the toilet!"
They looked at each other with confusion, "Three trails of the toilet?"
She waved her arms around, mystically, "Look into my toilet and there you will find the trials." Oracle T dispersed into the water. Marik and Malik carefully tiptoed to the bowl's edge and looked inside, half afraid that she would pop out at them.
Inside the porcelain bowl, three sentences appeared:
1.) Kiss a fool
Help a holy man
3.) Save a true enemy
Marik looked up, "What the hell? What kind of trials are those?"
His hikari folded his arms and searched the toilet for Tea, "Um… Oracle T? Are these the real trials? Oracle T?… Tea?"
But she was gone.