Author's note: (Peaks out nervously.) Hi everybody, now before you start throwing rotten fruit and sharp, pointy objects at me for the extremely late update I'd just like to say. (Takes deep breath) Sorry, Sorry, Sorry, Sorry, Sorry (goes on for a full ten minuets.) Sorry plus one, (I think you get it by now.)
In all seriousness I really am sorry, things were just very hectic; first my dad decides to paint the computer room so I was unable to go online, then he goes and paints my room so I was unable to reach my note book and floppy disk where this story is saved on. With everything going on in my house and with finals at school I had little time to write.
But enough of my excuses I think you've waited long enough for the next chapter.
Reviewers:
Evil Furby Queen: Yep, the fruitcake has returned, maybe it will turn up again! (Dives under bed from the complete disgustingness that is the fruitcake.)
gohan11: (Laughs nervously) Sorry about the late update, well here's the next chapter, hope you like it.
MartyrsSoul: Sorry if it was confusing, I'm going out on a limb but it was the random lines from We Wish you a Merry Christmas right? Well it is explained better in this chapter but basically the cast was hearing this song being played over and over again on the mall's loud speakers. Hope that helped!
chisainekocat: (Takes a bow at your applause) Thanks, I'm glade you think so.
butterflybg: Nope it an't over till the fat lady sings! (Thinks: Now how can I put that in my story?) Yeah Kaiba as Santa is scary! I must have put to much creamer in my tea that day. I'll check out that story. (Must write that down before I forget!) Don't fell bad for typing a long review, short or long I don't care, keep them coming!
Warnings: Slight language.
Disclaimer: I own nothing mentioned in this fic. I only own myself; at least I think I do.
All I Want For Christmas Chapter 18: The Good The Bad and the IndifferentIsizue had decided to take a break from her inferior attempts at working the mall's music system, and with two cups of hot chocolate in hand the Egyptian woman headed towards the first level courtyard.
She quickly found her brother and Duke crouching inside one of the snow forts.
"Sister! Quick, get down before your hit!" Malik yelled pulling his sister down.
"Malik! You'll make me spill my hot chocolate!" Isizue scolded.
"Sorry. But those little monsters have quite a good shoot."
"It's true." Duke stated.
"Those nice boys? They seemed very polite to me." Isizue stated ignoring the two teens' gapping mouths. "Well here, I thought you two could use something warm after being out here for so long." She said changing the subject, handing over the two cups.
"Thank you."
"Thanks, and might I say that outfit looks very cute on you Isizue." Duke said with a wink.
"Hey!" Malik spoke up, "Isn't hitting on Wheeler's sister enough? Leave mine alone!"
"I didn't mean anything by it." Duke stated taking a sip, "Oww! I burnt my tongue."
"It's all right Malik." Isizue reassured her brother. "So it's really that bad here?" She asked noticing her brother's tension.
"I'm just glad someone finally shut off that damn song. By the way what have you been doing here?" Malik asked.
"Oh dear, sorry about that, I was in charge of the music and the song kept repeating."
"It's the toaster incident all over again." Malik breathed.
"I tried calling for Mokuba, but he didn't answer the intercom, so I finally gave up and pulled the plug."
"Yeah right, what really happened? I of all people know you're not exactly patient when it comes to technology."
"All right, I lost my temper and sent the cursed machine to Osiris." Isizue said with a hint of irritation in her voice.
Duke whistled, 'I guess the whole Ishtar family has a temper. But I wonder, how can she work an intercom but not a CD player? Maybe Isizue couldn't reach Mokuba because she couldn't work the intercom either?' the teen pondered to himself.
"But still I wonder what happened to Mokuba?" Isizue voiced her thoughts out loud.
Wherever Mokuba isIn all honesty Mokuba would have been more then happy to help Isizue, however he was currently running through out the mall as fast as his legs could carry him with Serenity close behind.
The Wheeler sibling had ran up to the control room in a panic about a half an hour ago.
Flashback
Knock, Knock,Knock!
"Hold on, I'm coming." Mokuba said getting up and opening the door. "Serenity? What's up?"
"Please you got to help me!" the girl begged.
End Flashback
The two had ended up by the dunking booth where Yugi and Joey still had a large crowd of children in line for a chance to dunk the sheep.
"Joey, Yugi!" Mokuba cried running up to the duelists.
"What's up?" A very waterlogged Joey asked.
Thwack, Ding, Splash!
"Man, I think I got a gallon of water in my ears." The blonde said after surfacing.
"We've got big trouble." Mokuba stated, continuing as if nothing had disrupted the conversation.
"What happened?" Yugi asked.
"It's all my fault!" Serenity cried, tears running down her checks.
"Sis, tell my what's wrong." Joey asked gently.
Serenity took a moment to calm down and catch her breath, "It all happened after that short black out we had. I thought the door to the room I was in was shut, but after the lights came on the kids I was supposed to be watching were all gone!"
"How many were there?" Yugi asked as his face turned slightly pale.
"Five, all around one. I looked all over and I can't find them anywhere."
"Don't worry Serenity we'll help you look." Joey said climbing out of the tank. "I mean those little munchkins can't be so hard to find with the four of us."
"Hey!" The kid next in line began to protest.
"Sorry kids the tank is officially closed." Joey declared.
"Boo!" Came the crowd's angry reply.
"Shudup!" The blonde yelled before running to catch up with his friends, trailing water behind him.
Center of the Mall
"Go on sweaty, go tell Santa what you want." Mai tried to coax the girl to go to Kaiba. The girl, only shock her head and let out a soft whimper. 'Smart kid.' Mai thought to herself.
"It's ok little girl." Kaiba said in an attempt to speed things along. He stretched out his hand, but all that did was cause the girl to latch onto Mai's leg. The woman let out a quick gasp of surprise, and looked at Kaiba helplessly.
Kaiba leaned back in his chair and sighed. 'What is wrong with these kids?' Just then the girl let out a sharp eep, and ran back to the line.
"Hey at least you didn't make this one cry." Mai pointed out.
"Very funny." Kaiba said irritably.
"Your pathetic, even Joey would make a better Santa then you."
"Interesting that you'd bring up the mutt."
"He's not a mutt he's a Duelist!"
"A Third-rate duelist." Kaiba stated calmly.
"He came in second at Duelist Kingdom and fourth in Battle City, that's no meager feet and you know it!"
Kaiba began to chuckle softly to himself after the blonde finished her last statement, which only further irritated Mai.
"What's so funny?" Mai demanded.
"What's funny is how quick you were to defend Wheeler." Suddenly the CEO's manner changed as if he was in his office questioning an employee for stealing office supplies, "Now answer my question, just who is he to you Mai?"
Mai was completely speechless having been caught totally off guard, and felt the heat of a blush creep to her checks.
"Go get the next kid Mai." Kaiba said, dismissing the woman, having gotten his answer.
Somewhere in the Mall
Yami and Marik continued their search for the elusive 'Santa Clause'.
Tagging along after them were the three children, Jenny, Tom and Steve.
"I think we've been here before, I remember passing this store already." Yami said, warily looking at a Hallmark store.
"You worry to much, I say we go this way." Marik declared pointing to the left.
"You choose last time and that was a dead end, I think we should go right."
"No one cares what you think Pharaoh, give me one good reason why I should follow your advice."
Yami raised a hand to the collar of his shirt and flicked one of the golden bells attached to it.
Jingle, Jingle, Jingle.
"Gahh! Stop doing that!" Marik demanded, covering his ears with his hat, prompting Tom and Steve into a fit of giggles at the yami's behavior. "Shut it you little dung beetles!" The psychopath ordered, giving the two a look that could turn hair white.
The two boys simultaneously gulped. The older of the two, Steve, ventured to ask, "You really don't like kids do you?"
Marik's face immediately became somewhat softer, "Of course not, I love kids. I especially loved the one I ate for breakfast this morning." The dark soul started cackling as Tom looked like he was about to faint on his feet while Steve dragged his friend over toward Yami.
"Is he serious?" Steve asked nervously.
'With Marik you never can tell.' Yami thought, although he wasn't about to tell the group that. "No." He answered before flicking the bell again.
Jingle, Jingle, Jingle
"Ahh! All right! Have it your way, right it is. Just no more bells!"
"Fine." The Pharaoh answered as the group started down the path.
"Maybe we should stay behind this guy." Tom stated, as he pointed toward Yami.
"Good thinking. That other elf is nuts!" Steve whispered back.
"Maybe he got run over by a reindeer?" Tom mused.
Steve only shrugged in reply. "Well any way, what are you going to ask Santa for?"
"I want a baseball, what about you?"
"Umm… maybe a duel disk."
"Your not a duelist!" Tom scuffed.
"Yeah but I'm gonna be!" Steve shouted back to his friend defensively.
Yami merely shook his head; he was already very exasperated with the frivolous nature of this holiday. He was even more upset with the fact that little children were being as materialistic as the adults, especially since they would be trading their innocents for these items. "And I suppose you'll be wanting a doll?" Yami questioned the girl Jenny.
"Of course not silly!" The girl answered, giggling as she did. "I'm going to ask for a mommy and daddy."
Yami only gapped at her, unsure of what to say, he finally asked, "Why would you ask for that?"
Jenny looked downcast for a moment, "I always wanted a family, and that's the most important thing to have for Christmas."
Yami turned his attention to the path up a head of them, deep in thought, this did not sound like the same holiday he was thinking of moments before. 'Could I be wrong?'
Suddenly a cry of joy escaped Jenny's lips, "I see him!"
Santa's Chair
"HO, HO, HO!" 'I think I'm going to be sick if I have to utter that idiotic phrase one more time.' "And what do you want for Christmas little girl?"
"I want a pony!"
'Get real kid.' "Have you been a good girl?"
"Yes, very much."
'I doubt it.' "Well I'll see if I can get the elves on it." Kaiba said, putting the girl down.
"Wait I'm not done yet!"
'For the love of God!' "All right what else do you want?"
The girl giggled as she clambered back on Kaiba's lap. "Ok, I want a dollhouse, a bike, and a…"
Elevator
Bakura stepped inside the mechanical device, 'Now how does this thing work again?'
Not it the mood to sit patiently and wait for his memory to come back to him on one of Ryou's many lectures; he merely pressed the big red button. 'That ought to work.'
Bring! Bring!
"What the Hell! It's another alarm!"
"Excuse me sir, do you need any help?" A guard asked, who just happened to be walking by.
"Oh no, I just pressed the wrong button."
"All right then…"
"Hey wait!" Came another of Kaiba's men, "I just heard from Grace, according to the surveillance tape the jewelry store was broken into by someone wearing an elf suit." He whispered to his comrade.
Bakura's keen ears picked up the conversation however, and he was not happy with this turn of events at all, so he did what any ancient spirit would do in his situation, panic.
In his rush to escape the two guards now charging towards the elevator door, Bakura pushed all the buttons on the panel.
Ding.
The doors shut in the faces of the guards. "Ha! Just try to catch me!" Bakura taunted, right before the elevator gave an awkward jolt upward. "Whoa!"
Ding.
The doors opened, but closed before the thief could exit, "Hey! Open! I want to leave!" This time the elevator rocketed downward.
Ding.
The guards, who had stated for the escalator turned to see the re-appearance of the thief.
"There he is!"
"Close, close, close!" Bakura yelled to the machine, starting to bang on the panel.
Ding.
"I think I'm going to be sick." Bakura uttered as he was hurtled once again to the second floor.
Ding.
Bakura was about to dive out of the elevator, when something ran past his line of vision. /Hikari/
"Gahh, yami? What are you doing…"
Ding.
/Talk later./ their conversation was cut short when the elevator doors closed and plummeted once again. However this time it didn't reach the ground floor.
Creak!
"For the love of Basetet! What happened now?" the thief sat down on the cold tile before it finally sunk in on what he had witnessed. /Ryou/ he asked/why are you running around in your undergarments/
The thief could feel a wave of embarrassment reach him through the other end of the link.
Courtyard (Level 1)
"Alright then I'll leave you two to work." Isizue said getting to her feet and leaving, somehow immune to the snowballs that would otherwise pummel Duke or Malik.
Both boys took a sip of their hot chocolate, as several more snowballs reached over the fort's wall and landed a few inches away from both teens.
'If I was still the leader of an evil-crime organization those brats would be toast by now!' Malik thought bitterly, 'Where's an evil henchman when you need him?'
"Mmm… Hot." Duke murmured, eyed glazed over.
Malik looked at Duke and then turned to see what the raven-haired boy was looking at, his sister's retreating form. The Egyptian's eyebrow twitched uncontrollably.
Splat, Splat, Splat!
'I'm stuck in the cold, getting pummeled by snow, with a pervert who's staring at my sister!' "I warned you not to hit on Isizue!" Malik yelled.
"What?" Now Duke had just taken a sip of hot chocolate and was merely commenting on the small comfort it had provided, the fact that he dazed out staring in Isizue's general direction was a matter of coincidence, (And bad luck.) but Malik was beyond all reason at that point.
Before Duke could question Malik's strange behavior, the Egyptian yelled, "You shall pay!" And in one swift movement Malik pulled out his plastic rapier from its sheath and charged Duke.
Center of Mall
"That's what you consider a demon?" Yami asked doubtfully at Marik.
"Isn't it obvious, he's in disguise. How many times did Bakura pull the same stunt on you by pretending to be Ryou?"
"The old wolf in sheep's clothing routine." Yami mused, taking in a good look at the surrounding area. His eyes gazed over the long line of children, what appeared to be a man sitting in a big chair, a tree that looked similar to the one in the Mutou's living room, only ten times larger, in fact…
'The star! The star on top of the tree is exactly like the one I broke! Now, how can I get it?'
"Hey Pharaoh!" Marik yelled waving a hand in front of Yami's face, "Is there anyone home inside that head, or is it just as I always suspected, empty?"
"Marik, I'll banish this demon if you do something for me."
"I don't need you to do my dirty work for me. I'm quite capable of doing it myself."
"Who has a better chance of beating this Santa Clause in a Shadow Game?"
"Good point," Marik said after mulling it over in his head, "just make the game as dangerous as possible. I have a reputation to protect."
"Fine."
"Now, what is it that you want me to do?"
"See that star on the top of the tree?"
"Yes."
"I want you to get it for me."
Marik gave the Pharaoh a look that clearly said, 'And you call me crazy.'
"Look I don't care how you get it, just don't break it."
A grin spread to Marik's face as he began to think of God knows what. Yami quickly caught on to his own mistake and added. "And for Re's sake don't harm anyone!"
The smile faded from Marik as quickly as it had come, "Just spoil all my fun, why don't you?" But he made no more complaints and began making his way to the tree, pushing several children out of the way. "Move it brats!"
Yami overlooked the stunt, seeing as how the kids weren't really hurt bad, and began to make his way to the chair.
Kaiba was surprised to say the least when the spirit of the puzzle reached him. He didn't know weather to laugh at Yami's ridicules attire or glare at the spiky haired man to match the challenging look the Pharaoh was fixing Kaiba with.
"Prepare yourself demon, to be banished to the shadows!"
And that is the end of chapter 18. Boy you people must really hate my now. (Gulps and walks back nervously away from reviewers.) At least I made it a long chapter, about 14 pages.
Ok, don't know when the next chapter will be up since I haven't written it yet. But I will have more time to write now that I'm switching classes for the second half of the year.
Another thing, I want your opinion on weather I should continue this story now that it's near February, or if I should hold off till it's the holidays again. If people tell me to keep writing I'll try to finish the story as soon as I'm able.
One last note, about Bakura not being able to understand how to work the elevator by reading what was on the buttons, I'm assuming that he's illiterate. Since he was a thief in Egypt, he probably never had a formal educated, and since he never needed that skill back then he feels he doesn't need to know now. So he never bothered to learn from Ryou. Ok that's my reasoning. (Man, my author's notes are long this chapter.)
Next chapter: What happens when Kaiba has to face of against Yami in a Shadow Game? Will Duke escape Malik's wrath, will Serenity find the missing children, and how will the thief king escape the clutches of the elevator? And the most important question of all, will Ryou ever find his pants? Want to know, well your just going to have to wait till I next update. Wow I rhymed.