Snow Wars – Part II – Chapter 7

Hehehehe, I hope you all enjoyed Chapter 6, as it was the set up for all of the action that is going to come in this chapter. Like I said before, if I'd kept them together, it would have been one, huge chapter. It was just a lot easier to split it up.

Wow, this was even longer than anticipated as well. Now, there is a third snowball fight chapter on the way. Have fun, kids, and remember to review!

This story just never wants to end…

PS: ANY kind of music, just send along the name of the band and the song, will do for my CD as long as it has a good, fast beat. Whatever is your favourite song in the car is eligible. At least I'm starting early. Her 'official' car possession takes place in June.

RAIN5101 – remember, the to-kill-ya is yours since I have the rum/daiquiri queen mixing up another batch of yummylicious drinks. Who's ready to party?

Disclaimer: I still don't own it. And since I probably never will, I'll just have to learn to live with it.

The silence that had descended across the neighbourhood was shattered as screams, yells and the sound of running footsteps echoed through the vast numbers of trees and bushes that lived there. The neighbours weren't worried at all at the amount of noise those kids generated. It was just the renewal of the Christmas Snow Wars. It had been a while since they'd happened. It was about time, too.

The War had begun once more.

Poor Mokuba didn't know what had hit him when Megan came flying around the bush he was crouched behind. She barrelled into him hard enough to knock him over into his little pile of snowballs. The ends of her long, blonde curls tickled his cheeks, cheeks that were quite red and not from the cold, as she leaned over. She did smell nice.

"Hi, Mokuba, was it?" Megan peered down at her captive. His black hair was all over the place and for some reason, her fingers itched to put it back in place. His grey-violet eyes reflected surprise and inside she was pleased. He hadn't heard her coming for the last ten feet. Her tracking skills were getting better it seemed. The dark and snow may have had something to do with her success as well.

"Yeah, my name… is Mokuba. And you're Megan…" The tumble they'd both taken in the snow had covered them in the fluffy, white stuff and the little light from the street lamp had formed a corona of glitter over her head. She looked like an angel. Why didn't he like girls again? It was hard to think when someone so pretty was sitting on his chest.

"Yup. You wanna know something?" Her eyes sparkled and his heart missed that beat once more.

"What?"

She bent closer to him, her fragrant curls covering his face even more as her lips came close to his ear. "I think you're cute."

Why was he so hot all of a sudden? It couldn't have anything to do with what she'd just said, could it?

"Really? You think I'm cute?" He couldn't quite keep the note of happiness out of his voice as she smiled down at him.

"Uh huh. And you're even cuter when you blush!" Her smile widened as his eyes did the same.

"I'm NOT blushing! I'm just… cold," he retorted heatedly. No way, he wasn't blushing but his heart knew the truth. It was beating erratically and the only thing he could see was the curve of her lips, how shiny and soft looking they were.

"Yes, you are." He couldn't fool her. She was used to making boys feel all goofy around her. It was fun to watch them get all clumsy and stuff in her presence. Her dad said she had a gift for it and that she'd gotten it from her mom.

The blush on his cheeks passed the red spectrum and entered into the violet stage when she leaned down closer to him once more, those shiny, glossy lips coming within millimetres of his. The pit of his stomach was somehow full of butterflies and the kiss he'd seen Seto and Téa sharing yesterday flashed across his mind. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad, after all, he thought, his eyes closing in anticipation of what he assumed was to come.

Wet flakes of snow clung to his eyelashes and slid down his cheeks as he lay there in disbelief. A giggle to his left let him know she was still nearby as he sat up slowly, wiping the snow from his face with a mittened hand.

"Gotcha!" she shouted and laughed delightedly.

Disbelief shone in his eyes before he grinned wickedly and threw a quick snowball at her. He missed.

"Missed me, missed me, now ya gotta KISS me…" Megan taunted winningly from a few feet further away. Mokuba got slowly to his feet and thought about how to get her back. This was going to be a lot of fun. Let the chase begin.

And so the younger brother followed the older brother's example.

He'd gotten his first snow wash from a pretty, blue-eyed girl.

Julie peered out from behind the bush where she was hidden to see where he was. He should have already found her by now. Her tracks were clear enough to follow even with the fresh snow that was falling heavily down around her, covering her hair. A flash of blonde on the far side of Harvey's yard alerted her to someone's presence. So, he had seen her cross Téa's yard, too. Good. Everything was going according to plan. Her preys were near by and her arms were full of ready-to-deliver snowballs.

A flash of brown hair coming from by the road caught her attention as well. Finally, he was here and right on time. They'd be so much easier to pick off together instead of her hunting them down one by one. She watched as they drew closer to each other and smiled. They still hadn't noticed the other's presence. Well, that would be remedied shortly, she thought, as they moved closer to her hiding spot. Maybe they had finally noticed her tracks in the snow.

And they were getting closer to her, that was true but they hadn't yet realized that another was there until…

SNAP

Tristan froze as he heard a twig break from close to his left, just around the tree next to his. Maybe it was her, Julie, about to jump out in front of him with her arms outstretched, reaching for him…

Joey cursed silently as the snap of the twig under his foot reverberated around him. An indrawn hiss of breath came from close to his right, just around the tree he was hiding behind. Maybe it was Julie…

Silent mirth shook her shoulders as she watched the two boys peer around opposite sides of the trees they were hiding behind. The tree trunks themselves were enormous, as was only proper since they were about 40 years old. The long, sweeping branches, the snow and the darkness were the perfect shelter, too. Not seeing anything on that side, Joey leaned around the opposite side…

… and Tristan still saw nothing as he peered around the other side. What was going on? Where had that noise come from? Was Julie not waiting for him? Was that noise just a weird echo from the other screams and shouts that were spreading through the neighbourhood? Or was it something more sinister? He'd better keep his wits about him just to be on the safe side. It wouldn't do to have anyone find out that he wasn't performing his task of watching Kaiba for "Operation Keep Away".

Joey shook his head at his own paranoia. That hiss of breath had to have been Julie. She was just leading him on a merry chase. After all, who could resist the Wheeler charm? Memories of Tracy threatened to break across his mind but he stuffed them down mercilessly. Now was definitely not the time to think about that. Well, Julie was about to get a rare treat. He, Joey Wheeler, was going to surprise her by jumping out and saying…

"Hey der, gorgeous," Joey said suavely, his eyes closed so he missed the total look of shock that passed across Tristan's features at seeing his best friend instead of a beautiful girl standing there.

"Joey? What the hell are you doing here?" Tristan exclaimed as he scooped up some snow between his hands and readied it for firing action. "Who's watching Téa? At least Yugi's got Kaiba covered."

"Tristan! When did you get here? Téa? I was following Julie…" His voice wavered off. Caught, nailed, busted. Damn.

"Julie? I was following Julie, too." Tristan took advantage of Joey's moment of confusion and struck with the snowball in his hands. Dead centre on the chest. Good one.

"Hey! What was that for?" Joey hurriedly made a snowball of his own and fired it off. Tristan had the presence of mind to duck. Years of snowball fighting with Joey had earned him a sixth sense when it came to where his snowballs were headed. Joey, unfortunately, hadn't picked up anything like that.

""Operation Keep Away" was your own stupid idea and here you are not even following through with it! Now you're after another girl I like, just like the one at the tree stand!" Tristan got another one off and ducked behind the tree. He needed to stockpile. Joey was muscling in on his territory again. Just like the time with the girl at the tree stand. He owed him for that one and the scratch across his nose too, even though Joey had battled the vegetables that night.

"Well, uh, ya see Tris…" Joey started to say until a muffled laugh came from the corner of Harvey's house. "Hey, what was dat?"

Tristan stopped in his tracks, his ears picking up the same sounds as Joey. Squinting his eyes shut a little bit, he could see clouds of steamy breath and a glint of golden hair. His mouth tightened into a sharp smile. So, that was her little game, eh, he thought to himself, luring them both out here so she could nail them both. Well, if Tristan Taylor had anything to say about it, that wasn't going to happen. "Psst… Joey!"

"What?" Joey caught on to Tristan's whisper and whispered back. He looked in the same direction but all he could see was some clouds of…

"See? She's trying to get us in closer so she can nail us. She wasn't really after either one of us. We were baited here. You know what this means, right Joey?" Tristan had always been a little quicker on the uptake during moments like these. It took Joey a second or two longer to comprehend and he waited impatiently for a response.

"Oooh, I get it. She'd jus' waitin' to hit us wit' her snowballs, is dat it? Now we turn da tables on her," Joey whispered back, crouching down on his haunches to make a few more snowballs.

"Master of the obvious," Tristan muttered to himself before yelling, "Hey, Joey! What didya do that for?" in a loud, clear voice. The clouds of breath were slowly moving closer.

At least when he caught on, he caught on quick to the rest of the plan, "I saw her first, so back off Tristan." A half-hearted attempt at a throw made them both chuckle softly as Julie's footsteps could now be heard crunching across the yard, closer and closer to them.

"No way, Joey. This is just like the other night with the tree stand girl. I'm gonna teach you a lesson right here, right now!" Tristan hardly had to act that part out. He was still miffed about that night, now that he thought about it. And the fact that Joey didn't trust him enough to let him date his sister.

By this point, Julie was close enough to the boys to see what was going on through the snow that continued to fall. She couldn't believe they were really fighting over her. It was cute when Drake and Harvey did it but Tristan and Joey were older than those two dorks were. And older men were way more exciting. This was turning out better than she'd planned, much better.

"Tristan, no man. C'mon, can't we talk dis ova' like…" Joey pleaded, having a hard time hiding the glee in his voice. He sounded breathless but that was okay. It could be mistaken for fear.

"The time for talk is over. You're gonna get what's coming to you now," Tristan threatened and had to hold his sides to stop the laughter that was ready to bubble up.

Moving closer still to the two 'fighting' boys, Julie didn't see the look pass between them. A look that was about to be her undoing. Poor Julie, she'd never messed with guys like this before.

"Joey, count of three, we fire," Tristan whispered between enraged, meaningless yells. He could just make out Julie's form as she came around the tree Joey had hidden behind. Her cheeks were rosy and the tip of her nose was a cute, bright red. Her hair was full of snow and the pink jacket no longer distracted him. She'd been out to get him with a snowball so he figured that turn about was fair play. "Remember, no head shots."

"Okay, one… two… three!"

Sure enough, Julie was caught in the crossfire as she was ambushed from two sides, snowballs pelting her legs from thigh to ankle. Tristan and Joey were not to be underestimated. It had just taken them longer to realize that Téa's words were true. Tonight, everyone was their enemy. Julie had found out firsthand the consequences of trying to lead them on a merry little chase.

Shock held her still for a moment, her arms tightening around her armload of snowballs before realization struck. Her preys had become the predators. Well, this was a switch. And then she grinned. Quite a nice surprise, really. Boys usually didn't want to hit her with snowballs – usually they wanted to kiss her in the snow. These two were different and she liked that.

"Gotcha!" Tristan cried as he scored another shot to her calf. This was too easy. How could she just stand there and let them fire on her at will unless… Looking down at the ground, he realized the mess he and Joey were in now. All of the useable snow in the area had gone into the last six hits they'd scored on her and unless they moved, NOW, they were sitting ducks. After all, it wasn't who hit who first that declared the winner; it was how much snow they were wearing at the end of it. He moved to grab Joey's coat to remove themselves to safety and saw Julie's eyes glint knowingly. He had a feeling that he and Joey were going to be white from neck to toes in just a minute or two.

"Joey, RUN!"

Julie grinned as she readied her first attack. The blonde one, Joey, was going down. Snowballs AWAY.

Another merry chase began as she pelted both Joey and Tristan from behind as they ran for cover across Harvey's yard.

Yami was almost breathless in anticipation of Téa hollering that last, final number. A snowball fight. Wonder of wonders! White, frozen water that fell from the heavens seemed a miracle to him and yet Yugi took it as a commonplace, everyday, ordinary occurrence.

Yugi chuckled softly to himself at Yami's thoughts as he crouched down lower behind his makeshift shelter behind the bush. He'd grow bored of it in the next month or two.

'Never! This is something I will never tire of. Like effervescent beverages called 'pop' and cream puffs from the bakery, it will always be wondrous and amazing to me.'

The deep, delighted laughter that followed made Yugi's heart a lot lighter. They'd all been through some dark times over the last couple of years and Yugi was determined to let his other half experience some fun for a change. As long as it didn't involve making any more cookies in the oven. That was one time he didn't want a repeat of. Cleaning the oven after that mess had taken weeks.

"TEN!"

'Now, let the fun begin,' Yugi thought and Yami agreed.

'We shall prevail against our foes. Those twins are going up!'

'Uh, Yami, the phrase is 'going down'' Yugi grinned at his other self and saw him smirk in self-deprecation. By now, Yugi was used to the Pharaoh just appearing next to him, like a ghost out of thin air.

'Yes, going down. I shall endeavour to remember that,' Yami said softly, his jewelled gaze facing out towards the yard, checking for any possible enemies.

Ryan crept closer yet, knowing his brother, Bryan, was across from him. Yugi would be trapped between the two of them and would never realize what had hit him. Escape was unlikely. Resistance was futile. He smiled a little more widely at the Star Trek reference to the Borg. That was a great show. So many weird things happened to the crew on board. He and Bryan had spent many a night discussing the probability of such things happening to them. Unfortunately, the results were always the same. Zero, zip, zilch, nada, negatory. Cool things like that never came up on Earth. It was only in space that that could happen. Boring old Earth. He kicked a lump of snow out of his path and quickly steadied himself before he fell over. He had to stay on track and wait for his older brother's signal.

Bryan stared ahead, seeing the tiniest hint of movement behind the bushes in front of his living room window. So that was where he'd stashed himself this year. Thought that was a good hiding spot did he? Well, he'd soon be found out and a winner between them would finally be declared when Yugi showed up covered neck to knickers in snow.

There was something different about Yugi this year. During the last snowball fight, he hadn't seemed as confident, had been more timid than he and his brother had been. He was, however, now the great and mighty King of Games. That had to be a great confidence booster. But it wouldn't stop Bryan from making him look like a mini-snowman, especially that crazy hair of his. Looking across the yard, he saw Ryan staring at him, waiting for the signal to begin. A slow nod of the head and a wink later and the two of them raced towards the bush where Yugi was hidden screaming like banshees.

"GOTCHA YUGI!" Ryan hollered at the top of his young lungs and threw in a snowball.

Not a whisper of sound greeted them as they peered around it, expecting to see a wide-eyed Yugi shivering in terror and covered in snow. No such luck. The only thing there was an impression of two feet and no footsteps leading out. Where had he gone? Neither of them had seen anyone or anything leaving the area, even through the heavy snowfall. They had eyes like hawks, nothing could have escaped them! Impossible!

"Looking for someone, boys?" a deep voice asked from behind them. It couldn't be Yugi, could it? He was supposed to be right there in front of them.

Ryan turned to regard his brother and he caught a single, whispered word.

'Magic.'

Shaking his head slowly, so as not to alarm whoever was behind them, he whispered back, "Star Trek."

A mirthful chuckle came from behind them and they turned around slowly, not knowing what to expect…

…and gasped in surprise. It was Yugi, but he was different. The lines of his face were more mature, and his eyes were different. They were the same colour… just different. Ryan couldn't figure out a better way to describe it. Bryan thought his brother had nailed it on the head with his Star Trek comment. Things like this only happened in outer space, not here on Earth. Wow.

"Yu…Yugi?" Ryan whispered, his voice full of awe.

"Who were you expecting?" Yami replied, nonchalantly tossing a snowball from one hand to another. He thanked Yugi once more through their mind link for letting him take over, even though wearing a hat on his head was going to take some getting used to. In Egypt, he'd never had to…

'Stay focussed. They won't stay shocked for long. Be ready for them. And remember, Ryan always throws a curve to the left. And most important of all, have fun,' Yugi replied. It was about time for the Pharaoh to have some fun on his own instead of living vicariously through Yugi. A chance to blow off some steam and let loose for a little while.

"What… how… when…" Bryan couldn't form a complete sentence right now to save his life.

Ryan rubbed his eyes in disbelief. Weird. A look over at his brother and he saw that he was just as wide-eyed and slack-jacked as he had been. They couldn't let their wonder take over here. They had a battle to win. A quick jab to the ribs got his brother back to Earth and reminded him of the mission at hand.

"There are more things on this Earth than you can realize in a single lifetime," Yami said, his voice both cryptic and wistful. "But I believe that now is the time to do battle. Come, in the time-honoured tradition, let us face each other in combat and find who is the stronger." Ducking behind the tree, Yami just missed being hit by a snowball let loose from Bryan's hand. Chuckling to himself, he couldn't help but feel incredible joy at this moment. Finally, a battle where the fate of the world did not depend upon the outcome, upon the turn of a single card. A quick lob around the opposite side of the tree and a squeak of surprise let him know that he'd hit his target. So far, he was one for one in a two on one situation. Bending over, he quickly made a small pile of snowballs and gathered them into his arm, sighing at his forgetfulness to grab the ones that Yugi had made before he'd made his silent dash to the tree before the twins came too close. The light from the living room windows and the darkness of his coat as he crept along the wall, where there was no snow, had kept him hidden from their sight, no matter what they would recount later to wide-eyed youths in their classroom.

"You're so gonna get it, Yugi!" Ryan yelled, letting another snowball fly. It harmlessly hit the tree trunk near the Pharaoh's head and a piece of snow nicked his neck. That was too close. Time to lead them on a chase around the neighbourhood. With Yugi's knowledge of the area like the back of his hand and Yami's prowess in battle, there was no way they could lose this game to those young boys. For starters, Yami did something they didn't expect.

Ryan had just made another snowball ready to hurl at Yugi to draw him out when, out of nowhere, a shot beneath his line of sight met his chest. He stumbled backward a step and as he looked around for the culprit, a squeal from beside him let him know that Bryan had been hit by another sneak attack.

Getting up from his kneeling position, Yami took off at a run across the twins' property, towards Drake's house Yugi informed him mentally. He needed to stay one step ahead of those two rascals. Those two couldn't be allowed an opportunity to gang up on him and take him down.

"Don't just stand there, Ryan!" Bryan said exasperatedly, watching the retreating figure of their target disappear in the snow and dark. "We have to go get him!"

"Right! We're gonna cream him. He can't pull a trick like that on us and not pay for it. Let's go, bro!" Ryan took off at a run, following what he thought was the path Yugi had taken. Little did he know that he had been led astray and was about to be attacked once more…

For a 5,000-year-old Spirit, Yami picked up pretty quickly on how to make a decent snowball and stay ahead of the competition.

OOOOOOOOOOOOO, now that we know what's happened with everyone else, I wonder what's going to happen between our last foursome of Seto, Téa, Drake and Harvey. I can tell you this much – Seto is a right scary bastard when he's jealous…

That's the end of the second chapter of Snow Wars. Like I said before there is a third one on its way. Just need to have my friend read it over before I post it. Should be up by the end of this week.

Hope this was a quick enough update for all of you.

Aphrael21 ;)