Wow, I got this done quicker that I thought I would have. An English teacher read it and thought that it was really well written. I'm going to have to thank him for that, haha.
Oh, before I forget, there's a story up for adoption that I think people should take a look at. It's called Love Lost and Found. It's in the comic X-men section. Yeah, I know, Wolverine looks really funny in yellow and sky blue spandex. Someone really ought to consider adopting it though. The writer is really talented and the story deserves a good replacement. It's the same genera as this story, only it's an X-men thing. So yeah, take a look at it if you have the time.
Enjoy!
Arise Ye Heroes and Tormentors
Chapter 1
Cold the wind on the moors blow
Warm the enemy's fire glows
Black the harvest of Culloden
Pain and fear and death grow
Jonouchi stood on a hilltop overlooking a yet unblemished battlefield. Two armies had been brought against each other. Honestly, it was like a scene out of a Godzilla movie. The National Guard of Japan stood facing an armada that even Jonouchi and the gang had never seen. Thousands of Orikalkos soldiers marched toward the soldiers, duel disks at the ready as they began to summon monsters. Dartz stood atop the Leviathan, watching from a safe distance as the first soldiers were defeated.
'Twas love of our Prince drove us on to Drumossie
But in scarcely the time that it takes me to tell
The flower of our country lay scorched by an army
As ruthless and red as the embers of hell
The fighting ended with ridiculous speed. Bodies lay everywhere, turned black by fire. Banners of the national color guard stuck out at odd angles from the ground, lying limp as if in testament to the soldiers who had lost their lives. Automatic rifles and ammunition packs littered the field, whose grass had been seared by the destruction brought against the peaceful people of Domino. The National Guard had been decimated, and only five combatants remained: Yami, Kaiba, Tea, Rafael, and Otogi. They summoned monster after monster to defend them, each of which was defeated as soon as it was called upon. Vultures circled in the sky, casting their silent, ominous shadow upon the five.
Cold the wind on the moors blow
Warm the enemy's fire glows
Black the harvest of Culloden
Pain and fear and death grow
Jonouchi made to run to them; they would need help, he knew. When he tried, though, he found that his feet were stuck in place. He might as well have been a statue. He tried to call out to them but found that he was too scared to speak. Fear levels skyrocketed within him at the discovery of his muted state. He continued to try, hoping that by some miracle his voice with return.
Red Campbell and fox did the work of the English
MacDonald in anger did no work at all
With musket and cannon 'gainst honor and courage
The invader's men stood while our clansmen did fall
He watched as one by one his friends were cut down, their souls being stolen by the Orikalkos to power the Leviathan. Soon only Yami remained, the power of the millennium puzzle protecting what was left of his strength and courage. Even that power failed, though, as Yami's eyes glazed over in a face all too familiar to Jonouchi. He toppled silently and took with him the last hopes for the world's salvation.
Cold the wind on the moors blow
Warm the enemy's fire glows
Black the harvest of Culloden
Pain and fear and death grow
Now mothers and children are left to their weeping
With only the memory of father and son
Turned out of their homes to make shelter for strangers
The blackest of hours on this land has begun
Jonouchi fell to his knees, a drop that seemed to take forever. He watched the empty shells that were once his friends and the time he had spent with them began to flash before his eyes. Fighting along side Yuugi as the Flame Swordsman; losing to Yuugi but still receiving the prize money for his sister's operation; rescuing Kaiba and Mokuba from Noa's grasp; so much had been done with them. They had been through so much together, and now future experiences with them had been robbed from him. Tears rolled down his cheeks at this thought; never again would he create a fond memory with them. Those days were over. He yelled skyward in frustration and anger, the lone member of a gang whose other members would never again touch anyone's heart.
Cold the wind on the moors blow
Warm the enemy's fire glows
Black the harvest of Culloden
Pain and fear and death grow
Jonouchi awoke with a start, the movement made by his gasping chest sending beads of sweat trickling down his frame. He glanced across the room toward the climate control consol. The blazing red numbers that cut through the dark of the room read 85 degrees.
"No wonder I'm sweating so much," Jonouchi said to the darkness. Lifting the covers from his body, he rose and moved steadily toward the open doorway. He walked down the hall way, passing three doors before turning right and finding himself in the bathroom. Jonouchi closed the door and flicked a switch, closing his eyes reflexively in response to the blazing light that issued from the ceiling. Reaching for the faucet, he turned on the cold water and cupped his hands, bringing some of the water toward him before splashing it on his face. He did this once more before shutting the water off and staring into the mirror. Jonouchi's eyes shot open at the sight of his reflection.
"The dream…" His thoughts returned to the real reason why he had woken up so suddenly. Gradually bits and pieces of it began to fit themselves into place, reforming the dream in its entirety. The dream, now a mere visualization, began to play again in his mind. Yami fell and tears streamed from Jonouchi's eyes again. Dread gripped his heart and he felt the need to reassure himself that everyone was indeed still alive. Bolting from the room, he wrenched the phone off of the receiver and fumbled with the numbers, struggling against the fear that was clouding his mind as he desperately tried to remember Yuugi's number. His finger pounded the receiver earnestly and he prayed that he got the number right as the telephone began to dial. A few miles away, ringing went off just inches from a small boy's head.
"I hope my plan works," Yuugi Motou said with a yawn, prying the covers of his bed back before lying down. He had decided to watch Totoro before going to bed in an effort to influence his dreams. After his string of nightmarish daisy dreams, he needed a dream about fuzzy forest spirits. Since Totoro was the one movie that offered such things, Totoro it was.
Stargazing had always been a fun pastime of his and with the sky lights above his head stargazing was made easier. It was so relaxing though that he often found himself drifting off to sleep before he found anything that really, really interested him. He giggled to himself as he recalled that the one thing he had managed to make out before his eyelids closed was the big dipper.
"Hmm, maybe I should have watched a horror film. It would have kept me awake…" Yuugi pondered. He dealt with more then enough horror outside of his house to want to bring it in, but it really wasn't that bad of an idea.
"I'll just go and pop…one…" Yuugi fell asleep before he could even reach for the covers. Sure enough, images of Rebecca chasing dust bunnies all over her grand father's trailer with a broom ignited his playful side and he began to chase them as well opting for a rather large blow-up mallet. A trickle of saliva made its way from the corner of Yuugi's mouth down the side of his face
Suddenly the blare of the telephone cut through Yuugi's fun causing him to jump several feet in the air in alarm. Figuring it must have been something really important, Yuugi answered the phone.
"H…hello?" Yuugi said into the receiver, stifling a yawn with the back of his hand.
"YUUG! YUUG, ARE YOU THERE! SAY SOMETHING!"
Yuugi had to hold the phone away from his head as Jonouchi's voice came barging through the phone cord and disrupting whatever peace was still left in the game shop. Frantic calls could still be heard through the phone as Yuugi's expression changed from that of a tired boy to one of someone whose perfect dream had been ruined. Resisting the urge to jump on the receiver until it broke; Yuugi went instead for a verbal lashing at someone who was quickly losing friendship points.
"DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA HOW LATE IT IS! I WAS DREAMING ABOUT FUZZY SPIRITS AND YOU RUINED IT, YOU…YOU MUTT!" Yuugi clapped his hand over his mouth. He expected a verbal lashing of his own but what he heard was far from it.
"Yuug? You're okay? Oh thank God. I've got to go, though. Need to make sure that the others are okay. Bye!" The unique sound of a phone being hung up could be heard from Yuugi's end. Yuugi stared at the phone in disbelief, wondering whether he was dreaming right now.
"Oh shoot, if I am that means I was never really dreaming about totoros." Yuugi's face turned red as anger coursed through him, his temples throbbing in response.
"I want my dream about totoros!" complained Yuugi as he picked up a lamp, which was the closest thing to him, and hurled it across the room. It sailed out the doorway and disappeared over the balcony that overlooked the entrance to the shop. The sound of breaking glass was heard, followed by the alarm that Yuugi's grand father had installed a couple days before. With sirens screeching through the building, Grandpa Motou came skidding on one foot out of his room to see what was causing the commotion.
"Yuugi! Yuugi! What's going on?" came Mr. Motou's calls as he threw his head frantically about, still trying to find where he had installed the security consol. Yuugi, cranky and annoyed with the way the night had turned out, began to throw a tantrum, his baby face and height combined with the visual difficulties night time brought making him look more like a toddler than ever despite his spiked head. Gradually Grandpa Motou could hear something rise above the siren calls. It was getting louder and louder and more distinguishable by the second. He ran to Yuugi's room to see him jumping furiously on his bed. He closed his eyes and shook his head before walking back to his room and shut the door leaving the siren blaring.
Meanwhile, Jonouchi's hand was flying over the receiver, dialing number after number and getting a number of responses. Tea invited him to spend the rest of the night there to which he quickly declined. He wasn't exactly sure where she was planning on taking that. The rest of their already awkward conversation was made even more awkward as Jonouchi frantically tried to explain why he couldn't. He could tell that Tea wasn't buying it.
His conversation with Honda went as smoothly as their more serious conversations ever did, though Honda did bite his head off when Jonouchi told him he was worried because of a dream. Honda assured him that Ryuuji was alright as well. Ryuuji Otogi had moved in with Honda in an effort to get away from fans that had currently been swarming around his house. He even made a long distance call to Pegasus' home. As much as he disliked Pegasus, if it wasn't for the tournament that he hosted Jonouchi would never have been able to get enough money to pay for his sister's eye operation.
With just about everyone accounted for, Jonouchi dialed the last number he felt obliged to. His need for a phone book for only this number was a testament to how much he didn't like the person soon to be on the other end. Luckily all of the conversations he had with people had managed to pass the time quite nicely. The sun was rising, bathing the apartment in light and displaying the glory of the sunrise through the window adjacent him. Finding the number, he pounded in the numbers, loathing himself for even bothering. As the phone rang he asked himself why he was at all. The man had been cruel to him ever since he met him. He was just about to hang up when a sharp toned voice cut through his thoughts.
"Hello?" Kaiba's voice sounded unpleasant. Kaiba's voice was always unpleasant.
"Hey, Kaiba, I was just calling to see-" His dialogue was cut short as the CEO hung up. Same old Kaiba, Jonouchi thought to himself allowing a small chuckle to make itself heard.
I hope you liked it! I'm off to talk with the aforementioned English teacher. Hopefully the next chapter will be uploaded by the end of next week.