Author's note: Hey everyone! You said you wanted more of the story, so I will continue to write. I'll try to post a chapter once a week, so you should get a new one every weekend.
You have no idea how much trouble this one gave me. Because I wanted to focus on the Shadow Game this chapter I had to make some decisions. I didn't want Yami or Kaiba to duel since I feel the TV show covers too much of the card game already, besides I wanted to go back to the first issues of the manga. Good times. Also I had to decide how much Kaiba would actually buy into the whole 'magic' thing. Will he act like he does in the American version and not believe at all? Or, will he acknowledge the fact that the spirits exist and just ignore his own past life? In the end I opted for something similar to the last one.
There might be some confusion during one part of the story. I'll try my best to explain myself at the end of the chapter.
Watching this weeks new episodes of 'Waking the Dragons' I relieved two things, one I hate Mai's new voice actress, and Valon's a jerk. (No offense to his fans, I'm just a die-hard Joey/Mai fan.)
One more thing, I'll make some references to the first manga in this chapter, so if any one who doesn't read them that has any questions, just node your heads and pretend to understand. Just kidding, I'll be more then happy to answer them.
Hmm… I think that's it for now. All right, on with the fic!
Reviewers:
gohan11: (Looks in dictionary, stares, blinks) your right. (sweat drops) As you can probably guess I'm not much of a speller. Thanks for letting me know, (I went back and fixed the mistake) if you catch any more spelling errors feel free to tell me, I'd appreciate it.
Evil Furby Queen: Yes, Marik is very cool, in an insane way! But that's what we all love about him. Well I'm continuing the story. Bakura says "Thanks for the tape, but how the bloody hell is that suppose to get me out of the dame elevator, (points to me) she put me in?"
butterflybg: Don't worry about it, I don't find them boring; I'll try reading those stories you mentioned, when I have time. I'm going to try to concentrate on my own story for now. I don't want to get of the ball and have another (thinks) three-week dry spell like last time. Then you guys really will be after my blood!
Warnings: mild language.
Disclaimer: The Great Kazuki Takahashi owns Yu-gi-oh and, (checks mirror) I am not him. The only thing I own is my idea.
All I Want for Christmas Chapter 19: Shadow Game'What the hell? Did he just say 'Banished to the Shadows'? How lame, Does Yami think he's actually intimidating when he talks like that?' "It's you who shall be humiliated! And once you lose by my hands you'll see just how superior I am to you!" Kaiba begun his patented, 'I'm much better then you, so don't try to even beat Me.' speech and struck a confident stance.
Despite the costume he wore, (In fact it's pretty safe to say he didn't even remember he had it on at this point) he completely forgotten he was suppose to play the role of 'jolly old man' and became the intimidating duelist once more in less then a few seconds.
Santa's sudden change in manner took Yami by surprise, but only for moment. 'Great, he talks just like Kaiba.' He thought dryly, as the eye of Horus began to glow on the Pharaoh's forehead.
Kaiba blinked, 'Did I just see what I think I saw?' He asked himself as he took a look around the room. 'Hmm… weird, creepy, imposing fog suddenly rising from the mall's floor, sudden drop in temperature, and a bizarre glint in Yami's eyes. This seems oddly familiar.' Kaiba took a sharp intake of breath as the C.E.O. realized where he was. 'Impossible! This place isn't real! I refuses to believe this!'
However despite his now growing uncertainty he didn't let it show, that is to say until he looked down at his arm and noticed something missing. "Hold on, I don't have a duel disk!"
"Heh, heh, heh…" Yami chuckled, "Now who said we'd be playing Duel Monsters?"
Kaiba was now struggling to come to grips with his present predicament. Somehow he had lost all control of these recent events, admitting to him self that he was the underdog in this situation was tough enough, the fact that it could coast him his life was quit harder. But the hardest thing Seto Kaiba had to tell himself was that there was a very good chance he could lose again, he might add, to Yami.
His hand reached for his pant pocket; while he had to leave his duel disk at home, Kaiba's deck was right by his side. The brunet had a strange feeling he'd need its support to get him through this trail.
Meanwhile outside the bubble of infinite darkness, Marik was making his way to the back of the tree where he happened upon Mai, who was filing her nails, oblivious to the giant dome that had formed behind her.
The blonde, lost in her own world was quite surprised to have someone suddenly call out her name, especially since it was the voice of a person she had hoped never to see again.
"Hello Mai dear." Marik purred.
Mai's head snapped up at once and all color drained from her face. She stood stock still, caught like a deer in the headlights of a speeding car. "M…M…Marik!" She was finally able to stammer.
"Miss me?" he asked taking a step forward.
"St…Stay back!" Mai said regaining some strength in her voice thrusting her nail fail forward like a small dagger. The yami only cackled at this stunt, as Mai took the opportunity to escape.
At first she ran aimlessly, just wanting to get as far away as possible. 'I'm not going back there, I can't!' It was then Mai noticed the bubble of dome engulfing the area where she was working a moment ago and, if possible went even paler. She let out a small gasp and then turned to run once again.
Soon Mai had made it to the mall's main fountain, it was then that it hit her, 'If Marik's here then does that mean…?' Her thoughts trailed off. "I've go to find the others and tell them that we have yamis on the lose!"
ElevatorRyou stood helplessly by the door, not only was Bakura here, but the spirit had to have seen his hikari in his current…state. 'Well this is just great!' he huffed, 'He'll tell Yami, then Marik will over-hear, and then that psycho will go and post that I've been running around the mall in my underwear online!'
Ryou rested his head against the cool metal doors that lead to the elevator shaft. 'At least he wasn't able to get a photo.' The white haired boy let out a sigh of relief.
He was about to ask his darker half if he needed any help when the full extent of what Bakura being here could mean. Ryou jerked his head up violently/Bakura, is anyone else here with you/
Five minuets earlier (in elevator)
'Well, this is just perfect!' Bakura thought bitterly. 'Ryou just had to see me looking like a complete idiot!' He paused in his inward rant 'Of course, what he was wearing wasn't much to brag about either.' The spirit grinned and chuckled to him self for a moment before replacing his expression to a scowl, he then started to pace back and forth through his 'cage'.
'But that's beside the point. Ryou will go and tell the Pharaoh's runt and then that fool Wheeler will over-hear and then he'll go and post it on that infernal contraption. What did Ryou call it, the Innernet?'
Just then the thief heard an almost frantic cry from his hikari through the mind-link. /Bakura, is anyone else here with you/
The spirit of the ring looked dumbstruck for a moment as he glanced around himself for a moment before shouting back a testy remark. /Are you bloody stupid? I'm in a freaking box! Who else would be in here with me/
Ryou sighed mentally and Bakura picked up on the boy's frustration. /No! I mean is there anyone who came with you to the mall/
/Yami and Marik, why/
/Oh dear, this is bad, very bad/ Ryou scolded himself the second he let this last sentence slip through the link.
/What happened now/ Bakura puzzled over why Ryou would be so phased by the presents of the other darker halves.
/Nothing./
/Ryou…/
/Do you want to get out of there or not/ Ryou snapped.
Bakura was taken aback, he wasn't used to Ryou acting like that, 'Although with all the stress he's under, who can blame him?' /Fine./ He answered simply.
/Ok, I'll be back soon, I'll go get help./ 'And get some cloths while I'm at it.'
Ryou turned to leave towards the changing room, 'I need to warn Yugi. This entire plan is going up in smoke before our very eyes.'
"There he is! Grab him quick!"
Ryou turned to see two huge men in black suits run up to him. The boy stood still in complete confusion as one of the men came up and all but tackled him to the ground. "Hey! What's going on?" He yelled out in a panic.
"You know very well what you did Mr. Jewel Thief! Thought you could get away from us didn't you?" Said the guard that held him.
"Pretty cleaver, ditching the elf suit to try and blend in. To bad you don't have a change of clothes!" The other guard chuckled at his own comment.
"Elf suit?" Ryou's brain swam as it tried to fit the pieces together. Suddenly it all clicked, "Wait, you have the wrong man! I didn't do it!"
"Sure and I'm the Pope kid."
Ryou's checks flushed in anger, "Bakura!"
Clothing StoreIt was dark almost pitch black. The only light came in between the nearly closed blinds covering the clothing outlet's windows and door. It was also quiet, too quiet in Tea's opinion. She slowly, carefully made her way to the blinds, until…
"Oww!"
"Shh!"
Both Tea and Maggie silenced Tristan after the brunet let out a yelp of pain.
"Sorry, but you stepped on my hoof…err…foot."
Tea gave a pat on the tall boy's shoulder in apology and continued toward the window. "I don't see anyone, do you think we should run for it?"
"No way, I know those guys better then you do." The red head snapped, "There're waiting out there."
"How bad can it be, so we get hit by a few paint balls? I do not want to spend the rest of my day hiding in here." Tea said.
"Have you ever gotten hit by one of those things? They hurt, and there's seven of those brats out there, each with a fully loaded gun!" Tristan explained.
"Boys." Tea huffed under her breath.
"That's not the worst." Maggie continued, "These guys are ruthless. One time they ran a six year old up the flagpole by his underwear."
Tristan groaned under his breath, "Why do we get the kids from Hell?"
Shadow Realm
"Ready?" Yami asked to Kaiba.
The C.E.O. was definitely on edge, not only did he not know the game they'd be playing, but also the blue-eyed teen remembered a conversation he had with Joey during their gym class.
As usual, Wheeler stared something he couldn't finish and when Kaiba outwitted the blonde in a game of words, Joey had tried taking a swipe at the brunet. The gym teacher didn't find this very funny and decided, as punishment that they both play a round of basketball together.
Flashback
"Alright Moneybags, your going to experience first-hand just how amazing the great Joey Wheeler is." The blonde struck a pose with the basketball under one arm.
"Mutt, the only thing your amazing at is chewing with your mouth open." Kaiba easily snatched the ball away from Joey in his distraction and took a shoot. The ball went through the hoop with a small swish. Kaiba smirked as he heard Joey mutter under his breath.
"Stupid…lousy show-off."
Time passed and the two avoid conversation for the most part. Kaiba didn't really trust himself to say something and not start another argument, and he supposed Joey felt the same way.
The fact that Joey and himself had about five civil conversations in their lives still made it hard to believe that it actually happened, but amazingly it did The two talked with each other without either one wanting to kill each other afterwards…for the most part anyway.
How it started the brunet couldn't remember, it was what they ended up talking about that made Kaiba break out in a sweat.
The first thing the C.E.O. could remember was him self, asking about Yugi. "Why didn't Yugi ever mention about having a brother?"
Joey rolled his eyes, "He's not his brother, Yami's the spirit of a…"
"Three thousand year old Pharaoh. If that's what you're going to say your more delusional then I thought. The two of them were walking down the street like everyone else."
"Look rich-boy, there are plenty of things that can't be explained in this world. It just so happens that Yami recently found out how to make him self solid." The brunet only scoffed. "What about the time you and your brother's souls were sealed within cards?" Joey asked persistently, Kaiba only fixed Joey with a steely glare at being reminded of the incident.
"You remember that guy Ushio?" Joey asked mildly while dribbling the ball.
Kaiba stopped to think about it, "Tall guy with shady eyes? Made you look like a rocket scientist?"
"Yeah that's the guy…Hey! What's that last comment suppose to mean?"
The taller boy only sighed in irritation, "Just get on with it."
"Fine, well the guy was giving Yug a hard time. One day the creep beat Yugi up bad," Joey said solemnly before continuing, "the day that Yugi solved the Millennium Puzzle."
The C.E.O. made a 'humph' at the mention of a Millennium Item.
Joey ignored this and then said, "The next morning that baka was found in a pile of trash sayen it was money."
"So the fool lost it." Kaiba stated matter-of-factly.
"Who do you think drove him insane?" Joey asked in a quiet voice.
"Huh?" Kaiba stared blankly at the blonde. "What do you mean Wheeler?"
"I mean, that it was Yami that did it. And Ushio wasn't the only one."
"Let's say, for arguments sake, that I actually am buying this mutt, who are these other victims?"
Joey put a hand under his chin and gazed at the gym's ceiling trying to recall, "Well lets see, there was this one time…"
End FlashbackKaiba wasn't about to admit to anyone that he actually believed in magic. But despite the C.E.O.'s stubborn nature he was finding that the non-existence of magic was becoming an increasingly harder thing to claim.
He remembered this place; it was after his duel with Pegasus at Duelist Kingdom. For many months he paced it off as some trick or hallucination on his part, because he woke up in one of the castle's dungeons about a day later, tired but none the worse for the wear. Then during his own tournament he was taken to this place again as he witnessed several of the finalist duels. Again, he merely claimed it was nothing but a trick; that someone must have tampered with the duel disks. But now, it felt so real.
Kaiba's thoughts trailed back to the stories Joey had told. Exploding hockey-pucks, mazes of fire, 'And he's suppose to be the good one.' The brunet thought to himself. One thing Seto Kaiba learned that day was that Yami could be very quick to dispense his own justice if he felt someone he cared about was in harms way.
It lead Kaiba to wonder if maybe he had insulted the spirit's friends one to many times.
"Here is the stage for our little game." Yami said through the inky blackness.
Suddenly the ground shifted and two platforms of solid earth rose under the both their feet.
"Whoa!" Kaiba called out in surprise as they were lifted up fifty feet into the murky clouds.
Seto Kaiba heard the sound of rushing water soon after the platforms stopped moving. He walked over to the ledge and peered down over into the darkness below. They were suspended over an ocean that seemed to stretch on for miles. The brunet then noticed the platform he was on, it was a perfect circle that was divided into ten different sections. Each one had a different number inscribed in it, one through ten.
"What's the point of this?" Kaiba shouted across the twenty-foot gap between himself and Yami.
"Look down at your feet." Came the Pharaoh's reply in a bemused voice.
'Dame him, he seems to be enjoying himself.' Kaiba thought, but complied and looked to see a ten-sided dice at his feet. 'Now what?'
Main Floor
Odion woke with a start as he felt something heavy land on his stomach. He opened an eye and stared at the child now sitting on him, eyeing him with a curious look. The boy couldn't be over a year old. 'What is he doing by himself here?' the man thought.
It was then Odion realized he was unable to move. "What!" He cried in a gruff voice seeing the string of lights that held him fast. "Who did this?"
The toddler meanwhile found the control panel and was occupying himself with the device's many knobs and buttons.
"Hey! Don't do that!" Odion urged, trying to get himself free.
The boy ignored the dark Egyptian and turned the knob that controlled the train's speed, to the setting that read as follows, This is a ride for little children, therefore this train has no business going this fast you baka!
'Why do they even have that setting?' Odion thought depressingly as the young boy let out a squeal of delight and plopped down on Odion once again, as the train took off.
Courtyard (level 1)
Duke brought up his mock rifle just in time to block the blow that was meant for his head. "Hey man, can't we talk about this?" Duke asked. The only answer the emerald eyed boy received was a low growl as the Egyptian boy's weight pushed Duke further into the wall of the fort.
"Look Dude, I don't know what I did but I'm sorry! Ahh!"
Malik pulled back and made a horizontal swipe at Duke's head. The darker haired teen ducked and avoided the hit, but his hat was knocked off in the process.
'That's it! I'm fighting back!' "Sorry man!" Duke brought the thicker part of his rifle down on Malik's foot.
"Oww!" The Egyptian yelled in pain, staggering backward.
Duke took the opportunity to get up and push Malik over the fort's walls.
The boys that were mercilessly throwing snowballs moments ago now watched in awe as the two teens struck at each other with their 'weapons'.
"Who do you want to win?" One boy asked his friends as Duke and Malik stated to circle on another.
Somewhere in the MallIsizue didn't really see the point in heading back to her post now that there was no way for her to actually do her job.
Besides, her Millennium Item was telling her she needed to go…somewhere. It was very vague, but she knew she needed to be somewhere in the mall. She was becoming increasingly worried because the blue-eyed woman was beginning to pick up on the faint presents of Shadow magic. Isizue new Malik had brought the rod but had not had it with him at the moment.
She turned around to the sound of running feet. The raven-haired woman tensed, and then relaxed as she realized whom it was.
A group of children that were talking excitedly to one another just turned a corner and headed past the tan woman.
"I'm telling you! A giant black cloud has taken Santa!" One girl cried.
"Yeah right." Came the chorus of disbeliefs from the girl's friends.
"It's true! Come and see."
"Black cloud?" Isizue asked herself after the children left. "Engulfing Santa Clause?" The Egyptian woman gasped as she came to her conclusion. "Seto Kaiba is in a Shadow Game! I must hurry!"
Shadow Realm "The rules are simple." Yami explained in a confident air. "We first choose a section to stand in, then we take turns rolling the die, the section of the circle that is the same as the number rolled is then destroyed. After both of us roll we then choose a new section to stand in." Yami smirked at his last few statements. Kaiba visibly paled under his fake beard, 'Dame it! This is all a game of chance and intuition.' "No need to feel worried yet. If your luck holds you have nothing to worry about." Yami said, his voice dripping with arrogance. "Destiny will determine our fate." Kaiba scowled, 'Pfft! Destiny.' Oh how he hated that word. "Just so we're clear if you roll the number I'm standing on, I lose, and vise versa?" His voice sounding strong compared to how he felt."Correct."
"And if a number is repeated?"
"Nothing happens, we have the option to choose a new section or remain in the same one."
"And what happens to the loser?" Kaiba was particularly interested in this part of the game. Yami merely pointed down, and Kaiba looked down to the water's murky depths. The water began to churn and bubble, before a huge six headed serpent shoot up out of the water, all six heads let out a loud hiss up at the two duelists. "The loser has the privilege of becoming this creatures dinner." Yami said shrugging his shoulders, not really concerned at all. Kaiba tensed and swallowed as he asked his final question, "And how will the sections be destroyed?" "Heh," Yami reached into his pocket and pulled out his deck. "Dark Magician!" He bellowed. The card flashed briefly and then the dark robed mage appeared, staff in hand, pointed threateningly at Kaiba. "This is the Realm of Shadows, summon a monster to do it if you are not able to yourself Demon!" Kaiba's mind raced, 'I need to know magic? I'm screwed.'That's all I have folks. I know, I know, not very funny. This chapter's definitely more dramatic then I first intended. I actually wanted to go back to the others more often for some comic relief, but the chapter was getting too long. How am I ever going to get Kaiba out of this? Oh well at least one of those kids Serenity is looking for was found, to bad Odion's not going anywhere soon.
Time for some explanations; Kaiba is not acting like his usual overconfident self for much of the chapter. (At least I think so) During the beginning he does act normally, but as soon as the shadow game starts he begins to feel a huge disadvantage. He also realizes the price for failure in this game, which is part of the reason why I had that flashback in the story. Another reason for the flashback was I needed an explanation for why Kaiba is pretty accepting of the concept of magic. He had time to mull it over in his head and had the chance to come to terms with it. So all in all Kaiba accepts that Shadow magic is real (but does not enjoy experiencing it). He also will be dead set against believing he was a high priest in Egypt. I'm going to try and give him a little bit more of his normal mannerism back next chapter. Yami on the other hand has confidence to spare. I tried to make him act as he did in the first couple of issues in the manga. My reasoning for this is that, just like those first issues, Yugi wasn't aware of what was going on to make sure his darker half doesn't go over board with the penalty games. Plus he still thinks that Kaiba is a demon so he's not trying to be nice. So that's why Yami seems kind of evil in this chapter. (Bakura and Marik would be proud.)
Some Questions:
Can any one guess what the monster in the ocean is? (It is a Duel Monster and has already appeared in the American dud.)And between Duke and Malik who do you think is going to win? (Remember Malik doesn't have the Millennium Rod with him.)
Next Chapter: The game between Kaiba and Yami is under way, Serenity is still looking for the missing kids, and Malik and Duke are still brawling. How will Kaiba ever survive a game that's impossible for him to win? What happens when Yugi finds out Shadow magic has been activated in the mall? How will Ryou get out of the mall's detainment center, and what about Bakura? Maybe these questions will be answered next chapter.