Author's note: Hey everyone! Man this is a long chapter. Hope you enjoy it; a lot of action is going to take place. It took me awhile just to figure out the order of events, but I think it came out pretty well.
First off, I realized I made a mistake. In chapter 17 I said that Bakura had written something on the side of the train, when in the next chapter I said he was illiterate. So I went back and changed it up a bit. In case you don't want to go back I'll explain here. Instead of writing on the train, he now takes the marker and draws all over Odion's head giving him the illusion of hair. Figured I'd say that since it will be mentioned in this chapter and I don't want to confuse you people.
Next, I want to say that there will be a guest cast member in here, I'm not going to tell you who it is now, but more will be explained after the chapter.
So far I have one vote for Duke winning, and one for Malik, and no one has figured out the mystery monster. I'd give hints, but both will be reveled in this chapter. I tried, but I couldn't find the spelling for the monster so at the end of the chapter I'll just explain what episode it's from incase I misspelled it or people still can't guess from the name.
One more note, I hade worked on this for a long time when I posted this so it might have a few spelling errors, just let me know if you catch any if it isn't to much trouble. (Must look away from screen! Eyes fell as though they are going to fall out!)
Japanese Words:
San- It's said after some ones name; it's the equivalent of Mr. or Mrs.
Reviewers:
butterflybg: I have a lot on the shadow game so I hope you like those scenes. If it were up to me I'd update sooner, but I need the week to write my story.
dolphinsaturngirl: At first I wanted Joey to be stuck in a dog suit, but that's been overdone and note really Christmassy. Glade you're enjoying it so far.
Sami Ryou's Hikari: Yes, behold the might of the Internet. As for Malik winning, we shall see. (Can't make any promises)
Silently Broken: Bakura has a few scenes in this chapter hope you enjoy.
gohan11: No one can guess the monster. (Maybe I should have described it better.) Oh well, here's a nice long chapter.
Warnings: slight language, Spoiler's for those who know nothing of the memories arc. You have been warned.
Disclaimer: I do not own anything mentioned in this fic, however if anyone wants to give me the rights to Yu-gi-oh! Feel free.
All I Want for Christmas Chapter 20: Crash and Burn'Ok, I'm in a seemingly hopeless situation, but I'm not going to let that stop me. So what if I can't use magic, since when did I need it?' Kaiba stood tall on the platform, 'I will not let Yami humiliate me again! Time to get tough, I overcame every curve-ball life threw me, and I am not giving in now.'
Kaiba turned and stepped in the space marked with a four and gripped the die in his hand so hard it threatened to break through his skin.
The C.E.O. turned and glared at his opponent, the spirit of the puzzle stood placidly, arms crossed across his chest as he stood in space number nine. 'I won't lit you beat me Yami. I can't die now.' A boy with unruly black hair and soft blue eyes crossed the brunet's mind, 'Mokuba, for your sake, I'll win!'
The hissing from the serpent far below his feet distracted him, but for only a moment. 'I can't show fear.' "All right, I roll first!"
Tree"Grr…Stupid giant tree…!" Marik huffed climbing up the already mentioned pine tree. The darker half decided that the quickest way to get the star was to climb it. A decision he soon regretted.
The bark was sticky, and the needles gave off a faint, peaceful aroma, and according to Marik anything peaceful was bad…well actually he thought that anything bad was good…so he would think that anything good was actually a bad thing, (Man this is confusing!)…Let's just say he didn't like it.
As he climbed he found one thing he enjoyed to do however; the pretty glass balls that hung on the tree first made the yami want to toss his cookies, but once he found out they broke quite nicely when dropped from high altitudes…
Crash, Crash, Crash!
"Heh, heh, heh!" Marik's mirth ended quickly when he looked at his hands. They were covered in long pieces of gold, shiny, sting. Due to the trees sap the tinsel that adorned the tree now found a new home on Marik's body.
The dark soul yelled in frustration, "When I take over the world, your kind shall be the first to go!"
The tree naturally was un-phased by Marik's threats, which only lead the yami to become even more upset.
"I'll teach you to disrespect the future ruler of the world!"
And with that, the madman began to shake the tree. He only stopped when the evergreen began to wobble slightly. Satisfied he nodded his head in approval and began to climb once more.
However he did not get to far, "Gahh!" Marik let out a gasp to surprise as something brown flew in his face. "What the …" He never finished his sentence, since he was assaulted yet again.
Chirp, Chirp, ChirpApparently there was a nest within the tree, and Marik had disturbed it. Now, the dark soul was being badgered by a pair of sparrows. "Get away from me you pests!"
Chirp, Chirp, Tweet.
One latched on to the yami's head and began to peck away, while the other kept darting in Marik's face.
"Oww,Oww,Oww!"
And so began the extremely cheap imitation of Albert Hitchcock's The Birds.
"You know, Oww! You're quite vicious Oww! I could use you Oww! In my plans OWWWW! To take over… Son of a…the world…Oww! Stop that will you!"
Creak "Dame!"The branch supporting the psycho gave way and he plummeted toward the ground. Luckily he had managed to grab onto another branch fifteen feet before hitting the mall's hard floor.
"Can't Re give me a break?"
Creak! Marik sucked in a deep breathe, "Not that kind of break!" Creak!"Oh what did I do to deserve this?" He asked to no one in particular.
Creak!"Oh right, that."
Snap! "Oww…" Toy StoreMokuba needed a lot of things, a new video game was always appreciated, a haircut wouldn't be a bad thing he guessed, but what Mokuba Kaiba really needed right now was a ladder.
Why? You might ask. Well, the younger Kaiba just happened upon one of Serenity's lost kids. The one year old had somehow managed to get him self stuck on one of the top shelves of a display case, and was happily cooing away while playing with a teddy bear he had found on the shelf.
"Oh man, what do I do? Even if I climb up I could never get back down with him. And I can't leave because he might fall." The young boy asked him self, "What would Seto do?" The boy let out a sigh, "Probably pay someone else to get the kid down."
Top TerraceIsizue stood by the guard railing, looking down where the Santa chair used to stand. In its place was a dome of swirling dark magic.
The dark haired woman looked gravely at the dark obelisk when she suddenly tensed. Her eyes glazed over slightly as her Millennium Necklace began to glow.
"GREAT DANGER WILL BEFALL THE HIGH PRIEST, RETURN ONTO HIM HIS BIRTH RIGHT AND HIS LIFE MAYBE SPARED." Isizue said in a voice not quit her own.
The Egyptian blinked and her eyes softened as they came back into focus. She shook her head as if to clear it. 'Kaiba needs help!'
Elevator 'Where is Ryou, it's been…'Bakura trailed off remembering he had no way of telling how much time had past. 'Well it's been a bloody long time that's for sure!'
The tomb robber, fed up with waiting, decided on checking up on his hikari to find out how the rescue operation was coming.
/Hey Ryou, what are you doing/
/…/
/Ryou/ Bakura asked a bit nervous at the silence at the other end. /Are you all right/ He expected the worst.
/Alright/
Bakura flinched at Ryou's unexpected response.
/Am I alright/ the hikari asked again/Well everything is just Marvelous Bakura seeing as how I'm in JAIL!/
It took the spirit of the ring a moment to process this information. /What? How'd that happen/
Ryou chuckled, and it wasn't one of his usual happy chuckles. No, it almost sounded like Bakura himself was on the other end of the link. It sometimes frightened Bakura how much they could sound alike when Ryou was mad, and Ryou was steamed. 'I was right, this is the worst thing that could have happened.'
/I'm in here/ Ryou talked in a strained voice/because you robbed a jewelry store/ He shouted the last part causing Bakura to wince at the magnitude of anger that came along with the statement.
/Don't worry, and relax, I can fix this./ Bakura said trying to calm the boy down.
/Just leave me alone./
/But Ryou…/
/Get out of my head/ and with that the mind-link was blocked off from Bakura.
"Ryou! Hey, I'm not finished talking to you!" The thief shouted out loud knowing full well it would do him little good. "I'm an idiot." He said softly to him self. 'Looks like I'm going to have to get us out of this.'
Shadow Realm"I roll a six!" Kaiba declared, even though he knew the section would never be destroyed, however he might have discovered a loop-hole, 'It doesn't matter so long as I roll the number he's standing on first.'
Yami braced him self, waiting for the earth shattering blast that would rip the platform apart, but nothing happened. "Huh?" 'What's he up to? Is this some kind of trick.' "My move!"
The spirit of the puzzle unleashed his die. "I rolled a three."
Kaiba mentally sighed in relief 'I'm safe, for this round.'
"Go Dark Magician, destroy the third section!" Yami bellowed.
A burst of black magic erupted from the mage's staff and blasted away the piece of platform.
Kaiba's ears rung at the magnitude of the impact, as the third section crumbled to the water far below, the rest of the structure shook so bad it was all Kaiba could do to keep from failing to his knees.
The
brunet straightened and moved to the first section. "I
roll!"
The die made a faint clicking noise until it stopped on two.
"To bad," Yami taunted, "I selected section five. My turn!" 'Again he didn't destroy a space. What is he planning?' "It's a seven."
Again Kaiba was nearly thrown to his feet. 'I need to figure out a way to fight back.'
Somewhere in the MallClank, Clank, Slash, Clank!
"Your going down Ishtar!" Duke yelled slamming the back end of his mock rifle in the Egyptians stomach.
"Uff…" Malik staggered back as the wind was knocked out off him. "Grr… Devlin I shall make you regretted the day you were born!"
"Well, I'll hit you so hard you'll land in the middle of next week!"
"By the time I'm through with you, you'll have more then woman's eye liner running down your face!"
"You wear eye liner too!"
"It's not Eyeliner!" And with that Malik caught Duke around the waist and tackled him to the floor.
They both fought for control before Duke managed to get up after kicking Malik off him. The raven-haired boy reached for his 'weapon', while Malik got to his feet.
"What are you going to do now?" Duke mocked pointing the rifle at Malik.
"This!" The Egyptian brought the heel of his foot down on Duke's.
The emerald-eyed boy howled in pain as the platinum blonde brought a punch to Duke's gut.
The teen crumpled to the ground and clutched his stomach. Suddenly, he swung his rifle and knocked Malik off his feet when the wood connected with his shin.
Malik reached and grabbed his rapier, and slammed the hilt into Duke's face. In a daze the dark haired teen spun in confusion, Malik took the opportunity to kick Devlin's backside.
Duke stumbled, but did not fall, the boy reached into his pocket and flung a handful of dice at the tan boy.
Malik hissed in pain as a few of the plastic pieces made contact with his body, this only caused his anger to intensify, leading him to charge toward the other teen. The Egyptian slide and tripped over the many dice still on the ground.
Close behind the children from the courtyard were still following the two.
"Wow, did you see that!"
"Man, those guys can take a hit!"
"I wonder how that one guy throws those dice."
"I want to know where that other guy got his tan!"
Detainment Center"Oh no! I must have taken a wrong turn!" Isizue exclaimed, stopping at a door that clearly wasn't the changing room. 'I need to find the rod!'
The woman was about to turn when she saw a familiar face in one of the cells through the glass doors. "Ryou?" The tan woman pushed open the door and stepped inside, "What are you doing in here?" She asked gently.
The brown-eyed boy who was sitting in cross-legged on the cell's floor with his head down, suddenly shoot up at the Egyptian's voice. "Isizue!" He immediately reddened when he realized he still was lacking his clothes.
"Hey lady, you can't be in here." A guard told her from behind his desk.
"Please Sir, I know him." Isizue told the man.
"Alright but only for a bit."
The blue-eyed woman turned and Ryou quickly explained in a hushed whisper, "Bakura's here, robbed a jewelry store, I got caught."
"I'll try to get you out, but first it's of great importance that I find the Millennium Rod. Malik did leave it in the changing room?"
"Yes, but why?" Ryou asked in confusion.
"Someone has started a Shadow game. I'm assuming its Bakura behind this?"
The white haired teen shook his head. "No, Bakura has been stuck in an elevator for the past fifteen minuets. But Marik and Yami are here as well."
Isizue's eyes widened, 'How did Marik get free?' "I need to go." And with that she turned to leave.
Just as the woman turned the corner did Ryou realize his mistake, "Hey wait!" he called out, "If your going to the changing rooms, can you pick up my cloths?"
Unfortunately Isizue was out of hearing range because she made no reply.
'Just great.' Ryou thought in despair as he sank back down to the jail's floor. 'At this rate I'll be stuck in here longer then my yami was stuck in the ring.'
He was pulled from his morbid thoughts as he heard someone running towards the detainment center. 'Maybe Isizue came back?'
It turned out to be Grace, who ran inside the small room, and something told the British teen she wasn't here to see him. "I need you two to come with me." She motioned to the two guards. "There's something wrong in the mall's center and I can't find Mr. Kaiba."
The two men got to their feet at once and the three took off, leaving Ryou completely alone.
'Alright Ryou,' He asked him self, 'Are you going to sit here sulking or are you going to get yourself out of this mess?'
The boy stood up, and took a look around the room. He saw the keys on the desk on the other side of the room. "They're to far away!"
'Come on! Are you or are you not the reincarnation of the Thief King?' He urged, 'You can get out on your own.'
Flashback "Hey Bakura…" Ryou asked cautiously not knowing how the spirit would react."What?" The thief answered gruffly.
"Well I was just reading this book on Ancient Egypt and I was wondering…"
"Just spit it out hikari."
"It's just that, you must have been in some tight spots. How did you ever get out of them?"
"Simple," The spirit said sitting up from where he lay on the couch of Ryou's apartment, "I used what I had to work with at the time."
End Flashback'Now, what do I have to work with?' His blown eyes came to rest on a flat rock that lay within the cell in a corner. 'Could I use that to pick the lock, it's kind of got a pointed part.' He quickly realized that plan wasn't going to work, and sighed in frustration.
Suddenly an idea came to him, 'It doesn't matter how strong the lock is, if the hinges come off!'
Ryou stooped down and wedged the rock under the top of the hinge and started to push down, praying that it would work.
Slowly, slowly, the hinges began to lift. 'Yes!'
3 minuets later
Clang!As the heavy iron door crashed to the floor with a loudly, Ryou found it hard to retain his joy. "I'm free!"
FountainJoey Wheeler ran down the hall, (as fast as his costume would allow him) like a man on a mission, in fact he was. "Where are you?"
So far the blonde in his search for the missing kids was coming up empty handed. 'Man, I haven't even found one so far!'
It had been about twenty minuets since Joey and the others had split up and the teen felt as though he had trekked through the entire mall. "This is getting ridicules, where are those munchkins?"
Thoroughly exhausted, Joey stopped by a fountain display. It was more like a six inch deep pound that was barred off by ropes. On the sides several jets of water shoot out into the fountain in arcs.
"How hard could it be to find a bunch of…"
The blonde trailed off when he saw what appeared to be a one year old playing in the fountain.
"Baby!" Joey, unable to jump over the decorative rope because of his costume, instead settled for kicking it down, and rushed over to where the toddler was busy trying to chew on a quarter that someone had tossed in the water.
"Hey kid! That's not food!" Joey exclaimed, picking up the small child and tossing the coin away. "Don't you know that's some bodies wish?" He explained to the child, who obviously was too young to understand, but looked at Joey with big brown eyes and cooed.
"Aww…" 'Man, what is it about cute girls that gets me every time? It's like I turn to mush! Good thing none of the guys are here to see this.'
"Joey!" Came a distressed voice.
"Huh? Mai! Watch out!"
In her hurry to get to the fellow duelist, Mai tripped over the knocked over rope. "Whoa!"
Just when it looked like Mai would be getting a face full of wet, runny make-up, an arm reached out and caught her around the waist.
"I got you." Joey said in a somewhat strained voice; still having the small girl tucked in his other arm.
After setting Mai upright, the woman mumbled a quick 'thank you' to the blonde. Joey immediately plastered a grin on his face.
It was then Mai noticed the girl in Joey's arms, who was giving her an eerily similar smile to that of Joey's. "Umm…something you want to tell me Hun?"
"Huh?" Joey asked, looking to where Mai was pointing. Joey stared for a moment at the girl who grinned up at him. "What!" the blonde yelled back at Mai, "She's not mine! Honest!"
Elevator
'This place is impossible!' Bakura was upset, worse then upset he was so angry you could see steam coming from his ears.
Nothing worked, he tried hitting it, banging, kicking, threatening, even blasting it with shadow magic from his ring wasn't helping since the metallic walls only reflected it back at him.
He couldn't get out.
"Fine I give up!" the thief declared having met his match. There was only one option left, he knew what he had to do.
Slowly the spirit got down on his knees and spoke, "Hi there Re, remember me? You know the one that desecrated all your Pharaohs tombs, and cheated death. Any way if you get me out of here, I'll try not to steal anything, for the rest of my un-natural life."
He closed his eyes, waiting for judgment, nothing happened.
"And I'll stop breaking into Kaiba's house and throwing all his trench coats on the front yard."
Nothing happened.
"And, I'll stop putting inching powder in Joey's bed."
Nothing happened.
" 'And' once I get Ryou out of trouble, I'll…I'll apo…apologize."
"Oww!"
Something fell and landed on the thief's head. Bakura looked down and noticed that it was a bolt that had hit him; he looked up and saw a small door with a hatch.
"I do hope your not going to hold me to any of that." The spirit mumbled before heading off through the hatch.
Tree
After Marik was able to stand, the yami shot off toward one of the stores near the tree. There was no chance that he'd let this humiliating event go unpunished.
He walked over to a store that sold camping supplies and finding the doors unlocked headed inside.
A short while later with an axe in hand, he made his way for the exit. He stopped short when he reached the theft detectors at the front of the store. He knew that the machine would make an unpleasant beeping noise if he stepped through.
Marik looked questioningly at the device, then at the axe in his hand. He grinned sadistically, "Smashing is good."
2 minuets later
"If I can't get to that star, I'll make it come to me."
Chop, Chop, Chop…
Shadow Realm
Again Kaiba was unable to end the game, and his rolls still didn't cause any damage. While Yami was in section four, the brunet rolled a seven. 'At this rate I'll become that overgrown reptiles dinner before I roll the number he stands on. And each turn that goes by, my chances of winning gets slimmer.'
"My turn." Yami picked up his die; he still didn't know what this demon was trying to pull. 'I don't trust him. So I'll just avoid the sections he already rolled.' He let the cube leave his hand. "It's a nine." Kaiba let out a repressed sigh of relief. He was in section eight.
As he watched another part of the platform disappear he thought on how at first he actually wanted to choose that section. But at the last moment he changed his mind to eight. 'The section that has the same number of stars as my Blue Eyes.' He thought, 'My dragons have never let me down. And in a way they saved me again.' He smiled under his fake, white, beard.
"Hmm, hmm, hmm…"
Kaiba was snapped out of his thoughts at the spirit of the puzzles laughter. "What's so funny?" He demanded.
"Take a look around you."
Kaiba turned and gasped, it appeared his luck had just run out.
He now stood in section eight; sections seven and nine where destroyed on either side of him and across, section three were gone too. Any other section was to far away for him to jump to.
"I'm… I'm trapped."
Clothing Store
"Ok guys we're going to move slowly." Tristan said as the three edged to the door. "Any questions?"
"Yeah I do." Maggie said, "Why I'm I going first?"
"Because you're shorter, now go!" Tristan said in a rush.
The girl looked like she was going to argue, but went out anyway. "Ok, it's clear."
"Finally." Tea said happily stepping outside.
"I was a little worried there for a minuet." Tristan said walking out.
Bring! Bring! Bring!
All three let out a gasp. "What tripped off the alarm?" Tristan asked.
"Tristan!" Tea cried, "Your antlers, you have a shirt on one of them!"
Tristan reached up and yanked the clothing off his antler. "I couldn't see it in the dark." He muttered.
"There they are!" yelled a boy armed with a paint-ball gun.
"Time to run again." Maggie complained.
"Not yet." Tea ordered, standing next to Tristan.
"What!"
"Just look straight ahead and close your eyes guys."
Right before the group of boys was about to launch their assault, Tea flicked the end of Tristan's nose, which lit up immediately.
With the trigger-happy boys temporally blind, Tea grabbed Tristan by the arm and pulled him away from the danger.
"My eyes!" Tristan exclaimed rubbing them fiercely.
Tea sighed in frustration, "I told you to shut them, come on!"
Not long after, the three were still running, and Tristan had regained the use of his eyes. "Hey you two," Maggie said glancing over her shoulder, "they're back!"
"I don't suppose you have any other ideas?" Tristan asked Tea.
"Afraid I'm all out." The girl answered, just as they rounded a corner.
"Whoa!" The tall brunet exclaimed, stopping short. Just beyond the turn was a pile of scattered dice all over the floor. Tristan quickly stopped the girls and led them to a gap between two stores.
Seconds later the group of boys rounded the corner, they however didn't stop.
"Ahh!"
Crash!
They slipped, and skidded before banging into one another and crumpled into one huge pile on the floor.
The two teens were quick to confiscate the paint-ball guns, in other words Tristan decided to get some revenge.
"When I was your age I could shot a dime with a B-B gun at fifty paces," He then aimed the paint gun at the nearest boy's head, "want to see if I can still do it?"
"Run away!" And with that the seven ran as fast as their legs would carry them.
"Tch, Losers." Maggie said under her breath. "Still, lucky thing these dice were here. Wonder who left them?"
"Oh, I've got a feeling I know." Tea said.
"Yeah, remind me to thank Duke." Tristan commented.
Dunking Booth
Serenity sighed loudly when she reached the spot where she had meet up with he brother and Yugi a short while ago. 'I still haven't found one! I hope they're all right.' The girl thought, still feeling extremely guilty that it was technically her fault the toddlers had gotten loose. 'What am I going to do? I came here to help but all I did was make a big mess.'
She closed her eyes and leaned against the tank, she thought she could faintly hear the sound of a baby laughing. 'Great.' She thought, 'Now I'm hearing things too.' However, when she continued to hear the nose, Serenity decided to investigate further.
A mixture of feelings overcame the brown-eyed girl as she rounded the dunking booth. Relief to find that she wasn't hearing things, because in fact there was a small one-year old on the other side of the booth. Pride in knowing that she was fixing the problem she had caused. And fear, in seeing that the child was playing with the pin that would release all the tank's water.
"Stop!" She yelled running and scooped the little girl up. Unfortunately the quick motion caused the baby to pull out the pin as well.
"Ahh!" Serenity clutched the child to her, as she nimbly sidestepped and avoid the sudden rush of water.
Within seconds, the entire tank was empty; Serenity spared a glance at her surroundings. Everything, (including her ankles on down) within twenty-feet of the booth was soaked.
Completely exhausted, and not wanting to deal with explaining the event, she looked to see if anyone was there. Not finding anyone she took the pin from the toddler, set it down on the floor, and briskly walked away.
She eventually wondered to the mall's main floor. The auburn-haired girl let out a gasp of surprise as she witnessed the train round a corner a little too fast for her liking.
She swallowed hard when she saw who was in the train, 'That's one of the kids, and Odion-san! Why is he going so fast?'
Serenity was just about to ask her question out loud when the Egyptian yelled out to anyone that could hear him, "Help! I can't reach the controls!"
"Oh no!" the young girl watched on in horror as the last few compartments of the train broke off and came to a halt. "The front will crash into the back when it comes around again!" 'Let's see, it runs on electricity so there must be a plug.'
Inside the Train
Odion tried desperately to think of what he could do. He couldn't reach the switch, and he couldn't move for fear of knocking over the child that still sat on top of him. It wouldn't have been so bad if the train hadn't decoupled, now he was running out of time. 'The best I can do,' He thought, 'is try to shield the child.'
He cringed as the train came around the last corner. Suddenly the roar of the engines died and the train slowed down. 'What?'
Bump
The front gently knocked into the caboose of the train with a thud.
Serenity came running up to the compartment. "Are you two all right?" Her voice slightly shaken as she asked the man.
"Yes Miss. Wheeler. Thank you."
"Let me untie you."
Soon after the golden-eyed man was free, he wiped his brow clean of perspiration and blanched as he noticed black ink coming off with sweat. "What in the name of Isis?" He mumbled.
"Umm… I didn't know how to tell you, but someone's been playing with marker." Serenity said softly.
Odion's face darkened slightly in anger toward his unknown assailant. Finally he let out a sigh, "I need to tell Mr. Kaiba about the train."
"I'll come with you, maybe I'll find Joey." Serenity said leading both children on either side of her, after the tall Egyptian.
Fountain
"So Serenity lost the kids." Mai repeated what Joey had just told her.
"Yeah, so far I only found one." Joey said seriously.
"But, the others might have found the rest by now. Right?"
Joey brightened at Mai's words. "I bet you're right!"
The two smiled at each other for a while, when suddenly the tranquility of the area was broken.
Clank, Clank, Clank,
"I'm going to rip that stupid earring out of your ear and make you eat it Devlin!"
"I'd like to see you try Ishtar!"
Clank, Clank, Clank, Clank, Swipe!
"Pervert!"
"Oh, just go back to your cave!"
The two blondes looked on as Duke and Malik seemed to be fencing with one another while a group of children followed them shouting at the quarreling pair.
"Kick his butt tan guy!"
"You can beat him dice boy!"
"What do you think got into those two?" Joey asked Mai.
"I don't know." The young woman said calmly, "I'll go ask them."
Mai walked over as if she were doing any ordinary task. "Hey guys." She said as she approached the two teens.
"Eat this Ishtar!"
"You hit like a girl Devlin!"
"At least I don't look like one!"
"Take that back!"
Mai, becoming frustrated at being ignored, reached out and grabbed the dice suspended from Duke's ear, then the golden earring from Malik's and tugged slightly.
"Hey!" The Egyptian hissed as he dropped his rapier to the floor.
"Oww, oww, oww." Duke kept repeating as Mai slowly dragged the two toward Joey, who just gapped.
"How'd you know that would work?" the blonde asked.
"Simple, boys can't handle pain." Mai answered releasing the two.
"Aww…" One child whined. "The show's over."
"Beaten by a girl." A boy said sadly, shacking his head in disappointment as he left.
"Anyway," Mai continued after the children had gone, "why were you guys fighting?"
"He," Malik pointed a finger a Duke, "was hitting on my sister!"
"I was not!" Duke yelled, "You started it, when you attacked me!"
"Excuse me!" Malik looked outraged, "Then what was this?" He then cocked his head to one side, stared as if he was in a daze and repeated the word that started it all. "Hot…"
Duke blinked as he realized what happened, "Dude I was talking about the hot-chocolate, which you made my spill!"
"See, there you go!" Joey said cutting in, "Everything's cool now."
"No!" Both Malik and Duke said looking away from each other.
"Forget about them," Joey said turning to Mai, "Which reminds me, what had you in such a panic?"
Mai's eyes widened at being reminded of why she had been running through the mall. "I need to find Yugi!" She said before dashing off.
"Hey wait!" Joey yelled, following after her.
"Yeah, don't leave me alone with him!" Duke said.
Malik snorted, "Come back here Devlin! I'm not letting you out of my sight until I know for sure that chocolate was all you were thinking about!"
Toy Store
"Oh no!"
Mokuba watched in horror as the toddler started to rock back and forth, sending the shelf to teeter forward.
The black-haired boy, desperate to keep the shelf upright pushed it back, unfortunately this caused the boy to lose his balance and tumble over the edge.
"Help!" Mokuba called unable to let go of the self, should it fall on top of them both.
"I got him!" Ryou yelled, who was passing by when he heard Mokuba's cries of distress. The teenager ran up and caught the boy just before he hit the ground.
Ryou straitened, and said in amazement, "Wow! I actually caught him!" He then walked over and helped push the shelf upright.
"Thanks Ryou." Mokuba said breathlessly. The boy had had enough excitement for one day.
"Don't mention it." Ryou replied, as he started to get a nagging feeling in the back of his mind.
"Umm…Ryou, why are you in your underwear?"
Now Ryou was feeling exhausted, "Oh it's an old British custom. Once a week we all run around in nothing but our boxers."
"Really?"
Ryou sighed; clearly the younger boy had missed the teen's sarcasm. The nagging feeling grew as the British teen remembered the conversation between Grace and the two guards. "Oh! Mokuba, I heard Kaiba has gone missing!" He suddenly blurted out.
"What!" The young boy was off like a shot as soon as the words left Ryou's mouth.
Ryou looked down at the baby in his arms, "Wait! What do I do with him?" He asked as he followed Mokuba to the mall's center.
Sears
Yugi had found one of the lost kids; the only problem was that for the last ten minuets the teen was chasing after said child through Sears.
So far Yugi had been through the home appliances, shoes, and men's clothing sections. The small boy next headed towards women's nightwear, with no sighs of stopping.
"This isn't funny!" Yugi called completely out of breath. The boy just giggled and ran under a clothing rack.
Yugi grumbled and dashed over to the other side, were the boy emerged, now sporting a lovely silk nightgown over his head.
"Come back here!" Yugi cried in despair, 'If he sets off an alarm Serenity's going to be in so much trouble.'
As if the toddler knew exactly what he was not suppose to do, he started to make his way to the exit.
"No!" Yugi gave chase again, this time able to stop the boy because of the clothing on his head.
Yugi let out a sigh of relief; he had managed to stop the child from triggering an alarm. Taking the boy's hand and lifting up the nightgown with the other, he asked the kid, "What do they feed you at that orphanage, jet fuel?"
He then turned his attention toward the nightgown, 'Hmm…now where did this go?'
"You know what the problem with hikaris are?" Came a voice from behind the short teen.
Yugi turned and gapped at the sight before him. Bakura stood there in what appeared to be an elf suit, however it was smudged with grease and oil. The thief's expression seemed to be a cross of annoyance and amusement, how such a thing was possible, Yugi wasn't sure.
"Bakura, what are you doing here?"
"I'll tell you what's wrong with hikaris." Bakura continued, ignoring Yugi's question. "They are just as bad as yamis, they just won't admit it."
Yugi raised an eyebrow in confusion, then remembered what he held, His checks flamed as he tried to hide the nightgown behind his back.
"Relax," Bakura said roughly, "I saw the whole thing, runt."
"Oh. Why are you here?"
"Why not? Where's the prison?"
"The detainment center? Not sure, what businesses do you have here?" Yugi tried a different tactic.
"Why are you dressed like a slave?" the thief retorted.
"Why are you dressed like an elf?"
Bakura's face suddenly wore a scowl, at first Yugi was afraid he pushed the thief's patients too far, and gulped.
"Someone's using Shadow Magic."
"What?" Yugi looked around franticly trying to find the source.
"Yugi!" Joey called, running over, "We have problems! The yamis…" the blonde stopped as he noticed Bakura, "Oh. I guess you already know."
"Yugi!" Mai said, "There's this huge black dome at the mall's center!"
"No way! Let's go guys!" Yugi said rushing off with the two blondes close to behind.
"Bakura you look ridiculous!" Malik announced, finally catching up.
"Shut up! I just had to climb up a shaft to escape from an elevator!"
"Who could be using Shadow magic?" Duke asked having heard Mai's last statement."
"I've got the ring, Isizue has the necklace, and Pharaoh's got the puzzle." Bakura mused, "and I doubt they're doing this. Marik maybe."
"Marik's here?" Malik paled, then reached behind his back, but felt only air. He grimaced; he left the rod in the changing room. "Oh no."
"What are we waiting for let's go!" Duke said taking off with Malik close behind.
Bakura merely shrugged and followed the group. 'Maybe this is the way to the prison.'
Shadow Realm
"No!" Kaiba moaned as he saw his roll's outcome. While Yami still stood in space four, he rolled a ten.
The hissing of the Yamata Dragon started to sound like laughter to the C.E.O. "Your move."
Again a feeling of uneasiness overcame Yami, 'Something is not right, but I can't tell what. If he really is evil wouldn't he put up more of a fight?' The spirit clenched his fist, "I can't get distracted now!' "I roll," Yami waited for the die to come to a stop, a smirk reached his lips, "an eight."
Kaiba saw his life flash before his eyes, "It can't end like this!" He yelled.
"To late, I've won. Go my mage!"
'I've failed you Mokuba. Forgive me.'
Top Terrace
Isizue stood at the guard railing that over looked the dome of magic, rod in hand. "Go!" She commanded the item, "Return to your master!"
With that, the item glowed and the Egyptian woman flung it into the darkness below.
Just after the item penetrated the dome, several people, whom Isizue recognized came into view.
Shadow Realm
Kaiba saw the dark blast headed toward him; he imagined what it would be like to be ripped apart by the six-headed serpent. He waited to be engulfed by the darkness.
"Master…"
"Huh?" Kaiba opened his eyes and was startled by his new surroundings, it was stark of anything, in fact he felt as though he was thrown in a blank canvas. "What…" 'Am I dead?'
"Master…"
"Again with the voice?" Kaiba muttered, "Who are you?"
"Don't you know?" The voice sounded almost hurt.
"No." Kaiba answered flatly.
"I'm here to help you." And with that a woman came into view.
Kaiba stared at this strange, beautiful, girl; she wore a brown, plain, cotton dress. She had milky white skin and sleek hair of the same shade that reached down to her knees, although she was by no means old. And her eyes were the deepest shade of blue the C.E.O. had ever seen. "Those eyes…" he trailed off, "I've seen them before." He gasped when it dawned on him where he had seen her. "You're…"
The woman nodded and smiled, "That's right, I'm the soul of your dragons."
"You came a little late." Kaiba said tartly, "I lost."
"I can still help!" the woman said determinedly, "The Pharaoh knows not what he does! Open his eyes to the truth Set!"
"Not you too with that Egyptian nonsense! Even my own card turned against me!"
The woman laughed softly, and the brunet sighed in defeat. "What ever. If you can help me, please do."
"Just take my hand." She said extending her arm.
Kaiba hesitated at first; 'I know I've seen Her before, and not just in the card.' Then he finally took her hand.
'One day you'll remember me Set. Once you accept your past.'
Instead of feeling the warmth of the woman's hand, Kaiba felt cold metal. He looked to find him self on the platform again, the Dark Magician's attack closing in on him. Instinctively, he held out his hand in front of him, which now held the Millennium Rod. "What?"
Suddenly the deck in his pocket glowed brightly. He removed it and in a flash of light the Blue-Eyes White Dragon erupted from it's card and launched her counter attack, blasting away the Dark Magician.
"What? How is it that you can summon that monster?' Yami asked outraged.
"Who do you think has been playing you?" Kaiba asked finally removing his beard and hat.
"Kaiba!" In an instant the shadows disappeared, and the two reappeared back in the mall.
"Yami! What have you done?"
The spirit turned to see Yugi, Joey, Mai, Duke, Malik, and Bakura. The Pharaoh's hikari looked up at him with determined eyes. "Well?" he said a little more forcefully to his darker half.
"Yugi…I…" The spirit was at a loss for words.
Kaiba stared at the item in his hand, 'Shadow magic, monsters. Strange girl in my card, nearly getting eaten.' The brunet's brain was on overload; he couldn't come to grips with what had just happened.
"Hey rich-boy, you ok?" Joey asked, noticing that Kaiba was just staring at the rod in his hand.
Kaiba knew there was only one chance at escape from this madness, so he took it; he fainted.
"Whoa," Joey yelled catching the C.E.O. before he fell on his face. "Jesus Christ Yami! Kaiba might not be my favorite person in the world, but I'd never try to kill him!"
Ok, there you have it, a nice long chapter. (34 pages!) This is probably going to be the longest for the story.
Next Chapter: The babies were found, Ryou escaped from jail, and Yami has realized the big mistake he's made. To bad it looks like things aren't settling down any time soon. And they haven't even gotten to the dinner party yet! The escapades at the mall come to a close next time, and the yamis get kicked to the curb.
Well, Mai won, I wanted to throw you guys a curve ball, and since there was a tie in the votes, I didn't want to seem like I was playing favorites.
About the insults between Duke and Malik, they're meant to be comical, not to bash.
The monster is the Yamata Dragon, (spelling?) It appeared in the virtual world in Noah's deck, he uses in his duel with Yami.
Kisara, the woman that Kaiba talks to is the guest character, she will appear in the Memory Arc, I don't want to say much unless some one tell me too, because I don't want to spoil anything. I don't know anything about her personality except she and Seto were either good friends or more romantically inclined. (It can be interpreted either way.)
So I basically winged it on her dialog.
Now if you don't mind this author is going to bed.