Bridging the Void

Note: Alright, time for the wonderful adventures in chapter 7. At last I reveal where Steph and Marik are and what they're doing! MWAHAHAHAH- (starts coughing) Aargh, stupid cold, interrupting my evil laugh…. Oh well! Enjoy and review! Oh yeah, thanks so much to all of you reviewers!

Chapter Seven: Magic Face-off

I blinked and looked around me in amazement. Inside the headquarters there were all kinds of awesome looking fighters. When Kiyoko had said that they had everything except a magician, she hadn't been exaggerating.

There were your typical fiends, a few strange, shadowy looking things and your other average duel monsters, but that was just the tip of the iceberg. I got introduced to loads of magical creatures and people.

The first person I met was some type of elf, and he slightly resembled the Celtic Guardian. His name was Drake, isn't that ironic? He was pretty cute, but not nearly as much as my Seto.

"Wow, Kiyoko, you managed to find someone useful for once," he said, earning himself a punch to the shoulder.

"You should talk. I still haven't seen your little 'warriors' do anything but flirt with all the guys! Egh, here they come now."

Several different, snooty looking woman started firing questions at Seto, who blushed slightly and got himself a mark to match Drake's, courtesy of yours truly.

"Sorry, Lily… I am somewhat human, you know."

I smiled and turned around to find myself facing a very beautiful fairy with six wings drawn in close to her so as to not hit anyone with them. Her black hair was shimmering even in the dim light and I felt very, very plain.

"So… you're the magician," she said in a musical voice. "Now I know Gozaboro doesn't stand a chance, not with all of us against him."

I nodded and looked nervously at my staff. I was so doomed that it wasn't even slightly amusing anymore that I was in a dress.

"I'm Andrea, and if you haven't already guessed it, I'm a fairy."

"Nice to meet you. I'm Lily and this is Seto."

"It's a pleas-"

Suddenly, a loud wail pierced the silence, sending everyone scrambling for their weapons.

"Everyone to the battlefield, Gozaboro's army is here!" Kiyoko shouted, picking up a very heaving looking sword. "Not you, Lily. Not dressed like that. Head down that hallway until you reach the armory. Grab a weapon of your choice and some armor. We don't want them seeing our secret weapon just yet!"

She rushed down the hallway and I took off in the opposite direction, led by Seto, who appeared just as eager as the others to fight.

"You know, everyone here seems to be… magical. I wonder why nothing weird happened to you when we came here. I mean… I'm like… the Dark Magician Girl, or something like that."

He shrugged and pulled me into the armory, throwing a longbow and a full quiver at me. As he looked over the other weapons I found some cool armor, like the leather kind you get in those RPG games, and found a closet to change in.

"Are you coming, Lily?"

"Coming!" I said, stuffing the old clothes into a corner, pushing my staff into a scabbard and rushing after Seto onto a virtual battlefield that was all too real.

Already, many fighters were at work, and I saw that several had fallen. Most of them were wearing a weird uniform that I took to be a symbol of Gozaboro.

Andrea and Kiyoko were fighting back to back against two very large zombies. They were winning with ease and I had to grin a little. This world wasn't really all that bad.

"Lily, watch out!" Seto called as a sword-wielding dark knight charged me.

I shook my head for a second at the silliness of having only a bow and then stole one of Seto's two swords.

"Allow me to borrow this," I said politely, swinging full force at the knight.

He smiled and met the blow easily with his sword. "Cute, woman, but not useful in the least!" I wasn't even a little bit of a challenge to him.

I grimaced and kicked at his leg desperately. He fell and was soon taken care of by an angry Seto. I returned his sword with an impish grin and watching anxiously as he charged the battlefield.

In the next few minutes, I stood discreetly behind a rock and shot a good number of enemy fighters before they all suddenly began a retreat. A sense of foreboding rose in my heart as I headed swiftly towards Kiyoko and Andrea, who looked none the worse for all the fighting.

"This is when they bring out the magician. This is when we lose many. Until now, that is. They aren't expecting you."

I swallowed and looked pleadingly at Seto, who just raised a sword as if to say that he would protect me. Yippee. I placed a hand on the staff but left it in the scabbard. The element of surprise was pretty much all that I had.

I had been expecting something like the Dark Magician, but that was not what I saw marching out to meet us. He was tall, decently built, and just plain attractive. But even as a pretty normal girl, I could feel evil pulsing from him; evil and power. I doubted that I stood a chance against him.

"Do you fools never learn when to give up? I can destroy all of you with a single word, yet you persist with this nonsense."

I took a mostly involuntary step forward and then tried to look brave. "I don't take kindly to being called a fool!"

"Brave words from such a small girl."

The word small set off a fuse. I was a lot of things, but small was never one of them. I drew my staff from its place, while Seto and Kiyoko raised their swords. Andrea spread her arms and I sensed power building in her palms. It came down to this, clearly. The four of us against one nasty magician.

"How cute… the little girl has a fancy stick."

I growled low in my throat and pointed it at him, amazed to see a beam of icy blue light strike him in the chest. His smile vanished.

"A magician. How wonderful… I've waited long for a real challenge."

Seto pointed a sword at him. "Too bad you won't live long enough to enjoy it!"

In an instant, he was on his knees and groaning in pain. A cage of dark, purple, light encased him and the two girls, who looked extremely mad. Kiyoko threw her sword through one of the bars only to see it disintegrate right in front of the magician. Andrea shot two energy beams at him, which made a slight dent in his armor but did nothing more. "You're going to be sorry for messing with me when this is over, magician," she spat, resting both palms on the cage and closing her eyes in concentration.

"Take him down, Lily! We'll be out in no time."

For Seto, no time didn't look to be soon enough. He stood, grunting in pain, and pulled something out of his pocket. It looked like a duel monsters card. He, too, closed his eyes and then Kiyoko shrugged, sat down and starting digging.

"I'd hate to kill you without a fight, so you'd best pay attention. First, there should be a proper introduction, so that I know who I'm killing."

I turned to face him, rage burning deep inside my heart. "My name is Lily, you fowl creature. We shall see who wins this battle, though I don't think you stand much of a chance."

He smirked and stuck out his hand. "Chris," he said, kissing the hand I had grudgingly put there.

"Impossible," I snarled. "I don't play mind games. I play to win!"

"You didn't honestly think I was just another human, did you? No… I have the ability to transfer to any dimension I want to, and I chose this one. Nice, isn't it?"

I shook my head and glanced at Seto, who seemed to be glowing. The bars of the cage looked faint and Andrea looked tired. "I'm trying," she mouthed desperately before placing her hands back on the bars and shutting her eyes again.

Chris grinned and turned his palm towards the cage. It rose from the ground; halting Kiyoko's digging and solidified again. "This time," he said. "You will have no help."

I kicked him in the shin and knocked him on the head with my staff, hoping for a good effect, but instead, he just laughed at me. "You're even more pathetic with powers, Lily."

Suddenly afraid, I felt a strange presence beside me.

Just trust in your own magic, Lily. Trust in me.

I saw the Dark Magician Girl out of the corner of my eyes and smiled. "Hold this for me, would ya, Chris," I said, shooting a powerful blast of magic at him, enough to make him fall.

"A good try, but not good enou-"

He was interrupted by the roar of a dragon and I smiled even more. So that was why Seto didn't look any different; he was a dragon rider.

End note: Well, what do you think? Is it getting good? Review please!