A/N: Hello all. Many, many thanks to those who reviewed the last chapter, in particular:
Komo Pineconeseed: Very interesting. Unfortunately, I've only seen a handful of Rurouni Kenshin episodes, so I don't recall the character you're talking about. The explanation how my name originated is a little more obvious I guess: My favorite monster from Yu-gi-oh is the Red Eyes Black Dragon. My home state, Louisiana, is known to most for swamps, bayous, and the various diversions of the city of New Orleans. I just decided to kind of cram it all together, and thats how Black Dragon of the Bayou was born. Thanks for reading, by the way.
TawnyKit: Thanks for the compliments. I tried similar ways of introducing teams and such in one of my other fics, and it worked fairly well. You'll probably see that method to introduce ND's rivals for the upcoming season. Hope you enjoy!
Stephanie: I will keep going and I hope you enjoy the result.
Lilangelsweetz: Well, there is the possibility Malik could be bisexual...just kidding. Anyway, enjoy the update.
Shy and LeighC: You know I always enjoy hearing from you two...thanks for reading!
Aliccia: I'm happy you enjoyed it so much...hope this update was quick enough.
ChaosMagicianGirl (aka CMG): Yeah, I know what ya mean. This is going to be pretty fun, at least I think so. I hope you enjoy it.
Snow Mouse: Fear not...I'll write this fic so that even the football-impaired can understand. I'm pretty sure that most of my audience knows very little about football, so I'm not going to confuse them to death. Sorry for the characters being a little OOC...if you read some of my other fics, you'll notice that's one of my "calling cards". It's just something I do to stir the soul and get people to thinking: "WOW, So-and-so did THAT?" So please, don't take it to heart. And thanks for reading.
Hakiruro: I will keep going, and I hope you're pleased with the results.
Well, if I missed anyone, I apologize. Now on with the fic!
Summer Burns, Winter Scars
Chapter 5
Kaiba and his little brother rode in silence, the limosine creeping closer to the appartment they shared with some of Seto's teammates.
Mokuba was reading a football magazine and was trying to muffle fits of laughter. Seto glanced over in his direction, and Mokuba stopped.
"What are you reading?"
"Oh...nothing really. Just an article about your coach and some things he's said."
The magazine was snatched by the elder Kaiba in a blink of an eye. "Hey! Give that back Seto!"
Kaiba grunted as his eyes scanned the page. It was mostly a biography page about his coach, mainly about where he was from (Little Rock, Arkansas by way of Lafayette, Louisiana), where he played his college ball (Louisiana-Monroe) and where he had coached as an assistant before he came to Notre Dame (Texas-El Paso, Grambling St., Arkansas). What caught Seto's cold blue eyes, however, were a series of quotes put in their own seperate box:
Bobby Weatherbie's Greatest Quotes
Here are some of the quotes from the "Ragin' Cajun", one of the most opinionated football coaches ever to walk a sideline, and he's only forty years old...
"Write this down...I DON'T GIVE A DAMN ABOUT THE WHOLE STATE OF MICHIGAN! Happy that you have something to print now?" Oct. 10, 2004..two days before ND beat Michigan 21-20
"You can't win three of four and call it a rivalry." When asked if the Notre Dame/Stanford rivalry was dead.
"I tell you, if either one of our quarterbacks came out here and played the way they fight each other in practice, we'd win every damn game we play." When asked about his quarterbacks, Joey Wheeler and Seto Kaiba.
"We suck. We couldn't run, we couldn't pass, hell we couldn't play defense. We just got our candy asses kicked, plain and simple." When asked about Fresno State's 62-0 win over ND.
"Oh, yeah? Well the only Longhorns in Texas are the ones Oklahoma has been shoving up your collective ass for the last five years!" Respone to a Texas fan's rather rude remarks about his upbringing in Little Rock and his coaching career. Texas has dropped five straight contests to it's Archrival Oklahoma.
"It's a damn shame. I went to ULM, but I grew up raised to cheer for Arkansas and absolutely HATE Texas. It's a little sad to see that rivalry fall by the wayside..." When asked about the Arkansas/Texas rivalry being discontinued.
"We're not afraid of the USC Condoms!" opening line of his first press conference as head coach. (he is 0-3 all-time against the USC Trojans)
"That senile old bastard can go to hell..." When asked about his relationship with his estranged father (and former coach in college), David Weatherbie
Kaiba threw the magazine back to his brother with a snort. "Rubbish..."
Ryou and Yugi had made their way to Malik's appartment, unsure of exactly what awaited them. When they knocked on the door, they opened it to see a rather stressed out Malik in a grey dress shirt and black slacks.
"Malik...you don't look well." Ryou commented.
"Ryou, if you had to go through the hell I had just gone through to make over this girl, you'd be tired too."
Yugi and Ryou glanced at each other, both curious to see the results. "Well..where is she?"
"HEY SERENITY, COME ON OUT!"
As the door opened, Malik decided to praise himself for his work. "Behold, gentlemen. Only I could transform the average girl into a grade-A, five-star, thirty-two-flavors of HOTT uber-babe!"
When Serenity's slim figure appeared through the bathroom door, Yugi and Ryou just stood there with their mouths agape. For once, Malik backed his up his talk with action.
Joey had a video of game film going in his bedroom of the apartment he and his sister shared. He knew she would probably be out most of the night, but knew her friends Yugi and Ryou fairly well and trusted them with her safety. As the game film entered the final moments, a sick feeling began to creep into the blonde's stomack...
Flashback:
2004 Cotton Bowl Classic, Dallas, Texas
Notre Dame (7-4) vs. Jump City University (8-3)
(note, this flashback is from the perspective of Jump City's play-by-play announcer)
"Three seconds to go in the ball game, Jump City has the ball on the Notre Dame five yard line...the Titans need a touchdown to win. Grayson line ups in shotgun (A-1), two wide recievers to his far right, two to his far left, and a running back beside him...the snap...Grayson rolls to his right...looks to throw but can't...rolls back to his left...throws...looking for Logan in the corner of the endzone...CAUGHT! THE REFEREES GATHER IN THE BACK OF THE END ZONE...YES! THEY RULE IT A TOUCHDOWN! TITANS WIN! Richard Grayson to Garfield Logan in the back of the endzone, and the Titans beat Notre Dame 44-42!"
Half of the stadium erupted in absolute euphoria, while the other side sat quietly, stunned into silence. As Joey and his teammates left the stadium that day, they could hear the Jump City band playing the school's fight song, with the football team leading the students and fans...
Fight on, you Mighty, MightyTitans!
You represent the Black and Gold!
There are so many other colors
but these we proudlyfight to hold
So Titans young and old shall wear them
As you men promise not to fold...
There are no colors like the black and gold!
You take your burnt-up Texas orange
Your Bama Red and Navy Blue
We'll take our dear ole black and gold sir!
For us they're royal tried and true!
So Titans young and old shall wear them
as you men promise not to fold
Fight onward Mighty Titans, win the day! JCU!
Joey turned off the tape in disgust. How could he let them down that way? How did his man get open and cost everybody the victory they had bleed and beaten themselves senseless for? His mind was taken from these bitter thoughts by the ring of a telephone.
"Hey, dude. It's Tristan...a party's going on over on the other side. You commin' or what man?"
Joey nodded, even though he was on the phone. "Yeah...gimme a few minutes."
Mai, Ishizu and Tea were fixing their clothes and makeup before heading out to the big party down the street from their shared apartment.
"Hmmmm...girls, I propose a friendly wager." Mai asked as she finished applying her mascara.
Tea rolled her eyes. "Uh-oh...what is it this time?"
"Let see how many guys ask for our number. Last place buys lunch all week!" Mai giggled, as did Ishizu. Tea, however, had her hands on her hips clearly not amused.
"WE DID THAT LAST YEAR!"
Mai shot her a sly smile. "You're still mad because you lost, sugar?"
Tea grumbled something under her breath and turned away. "Whatever."
Ishizu reverted to her usual role as group peacekeeper. "Easy you two, it's another year, and I'm sure many,many guys are interested in you Tea. You just have to be a little less intimidating."
Tea balked. "ME? Intimidating? How?"
"Well for starters, sweetie, you could stop trying to get a guy to commit on a first date. You've run off about 10 boys in two years with that nonsense." Mai said as she adjusted her low rise jeans.
"So..commitment makes me confortable. If they can't stand it, too bad." Tea shrugged off the criticism as if it were a cobweb or something.
"Let's not have any of that fighting tonight." Ishizu said, considering the issue closed.
Tonight would be a fun night for them all. At least that's what they hoped anyway.
A/N 1: Shotgun is when the quarterback lines up about five yards behind his center, and the center snaps the ball to the quarterback. Sounds strange, but it can help the quarterback get rid of the ball faster without having to drop back to look at what's going on with a defense.
Well, all of the main players are about to be assembled on stage, and very soon our little comedic drama will begin. Next chapter, the party I'm sure you all have been waiting for (sorry for not starting it this chapter) and a Wyoming player has some very choice words for the Fighting Irish. See ya!
Oh, before I go, any Texas/Michigan fansor anyone else who took offense to the jokes in the coach's collection of quotes, please remember that this is a fanfic after all, and one that's actually supposed to have a little comedy. So lighten up and leave those flames in the barbeque pit, please?
Why did I choose LSU? Because it's everything 'Bama isn't, a Northerner's dream and Tulane's worst nightmare...BDB