Dimensional Warrior Girl: The Winter Tournament
Author: Chaos Valkyrie
First Conceptualized: October, 2003
Posted Chapter 14: April 22, 2004
Updated: December 22, 2005
Disclaimer: If I owned Yu-Gi-Oh… sigh, I'm giddy just thinking of the possibilities… Too bad I don't.
Author Notes: Well, we now have a talking dragon/god in the picture… let's see what else I can mangle.
Chapter Fourteen: A New Outlook
Jenni spent the next couple of days jumping back and forth between the new world and the temple. The first thing Slifer had taught her was how to make the jump on her own. It all had to do with the sword's connection to its original resting place. Gradually he taught her other abilities, some which were unique to the wielder of his sword. And he taught her some basic swordsmanship, making her glad for those few weeks she spent in high school on the fencing team before it was disbanded.
Jenni hadn't run into any of the others, not even Mai. She wasn't sure yet if they were avoiding her on purpose; she knew she was avoiding them. As Monday dawned bright and clear, she yawned and stretched in bed, feeling much less nervous than she had Friday. With the knowledge of her new-found powers, she felt much more prepared to face whatever her mysterious enemies had in store for her. She was, however, aching for her home world, much more than before. She had the one photograph framed, setting it in her living room. Her heart seemed to stop every time she looked at it. Before, she had hoped of returning one day. But now that she had the sword and a purpose to save this world, she couldn't abandon that either. She sighed to herself at her inner struggles.
Jenni made her morning coffee and fed Fenris. She had finished her painting of the Blue-Eyes, which was now shoved into a corner behind the desk. The LAST thing she needed was a reminder of that twit Kaiba with the Duel Disk shoved up his ass. She snorted. She had also painted a portrait of a Red-Eyes, which she had hung in her living area. An unfinished portrait of Slifer now stood on the easel. She had asked Slifer if was okay, and he had chuckled to himself before telling her that he wouldn't come out of the portrait and attack her like he had some other poor man. Jenni just shrugged, obviously not getting the reference. But she did laugh at the over-sized dragon's glee.
Fenris barked from the doorway, stirring her from her thoughts. She laughed at him and downed her coffee before throwing on some jeans and her leather jacket. Now that she was qualified for the finals, she didn't bother carrying her disk out with her. She did hide her deck and cubes, however. Although Slifer had told her that his card had to be won from her, not stolen, she had taken the opportunity to hide her deck and cubes in the temple with him. She didn't want to take any chances before Wednesday.
Jenni pulled on her shades as she headed out into the frosty streets with Fenris. Snow covered the ground in droves, and the sun shining above caused a blinding glare. She walked to the park with her canine companion, occasionally pausing as she passed duels in progress. The tournament was drawing to a close, and the duelists seemed much more evenly matched than the random duels she had seen the week before.
Jenni entered the park, pausing as Fenris did his business. Then the two companions walked down the paths through the park until she found a colony of snowmen. Jenni laughed, and she decided to add her own snow member to the family. She and Fenris spent the morning building the snowman – well, she built the snowman, then periodically had to prevent Fenris from marking the others as his own and consequently destroying them.
Rosy-cheeked, she and Fenris headed to Perks to grab some coffee and a sandwich before walking back to the apartment. She left Fenris tied up outside and placed her order. Kaiba was sitting in the back of the café, eyes bent on his laptop. He glanced up when she came in, then frowned and looked back to his work. She glared at him momentarily, then stuck her head up and swung her braids over her shoulder. If he wanted to act like a little shit, well, so could she. She kindly thanked the boy who brought her food and lead Fenris home.
She was angry with herself as entered her apartment. She had thought about stupid-Seto all the way home on her walk. As she munched her sandwich, she tried to discourage herself. He was a twit, a bad-dresser, stuck-up, conceited, entirely too full of himself and probably dating someone already. But damn it, he was hot, she conceded. And a good big brother, if Mokuba was to be believed. 'Grrrrr…' she growled at herself.
There was a knock at her door. Making sure the Slifer painting was covered, she looked out the peephole to see Mokuba standing there. She opened the door and he walked in, hands in his pockets, looking sheepish.
"Would you like some cider?" she asked, and fixed him a mug as he nodded. She sighed to herself as she prepared it for him. She had known that they would send someone, him or Mai, to try to talk to her. She handed him the mug, then got down to business.
"Let me guess, they sent you to talk to me," she told him, folding her arms and staring at him. He nearly choked on his cider, then looked at her sheepishly.
"Well, sorta," he whispered, looking down. She felt sorry for him, even through her annoyance.
"Look, Mokuba, I didn't mean to be a bitch, well, towards you anyway, on Friday night," she told him gently, and he looked up, smiling.
"That's okay. You should have seen Big Brother's expression when you slammed the door in his face," he giggled. Jenni smiled in spite of herself.
"I can imagine," she said wryly. "But seriously, Mokuba, I really don't know what's going on," which was the truth. She didn't know who these people were or how they knew that she had the card already. It was one thing to summon her here and hope for her to find it – it was another to know that she had it and didn't know how to use it.
Mokuba stared at her. He could tell that she really didn't know why the man had come after her, but he also could tell that she was holding back something. He sipped his cider, thinking what to ask next.
"So, how's Mai?" she asked him, changing the subject. He looked up at her.
"She's fine. She's up and about again," he said cautiously. Jenni eyed his discomfort.
"What's wrong?" she asked him.
"We-ll," he stalled, but finally gave in under her pressure. "They tried to get her to come talk to you, but she refused."
"Why?" Jenni asked, dreading the answer.
"Well," she could tell he didn't want to tell her why. He finally shrunk under her stare. "Umm, she just doesn't feel very positively about you anymore," he mumbled.
"And that means what?" Jenni sighed. "Or let me guess. She was almost killed because of me, and even though I certainly didn't want her to be used as bait, she's indirectly blaming me for what happened, justifying her rejection with the fact that I haven't told anyone why the man wanted to duel me in the first place."
Mokuba stared at her with wide eyes. "Are you a psychologist?"
Jenni laughed, somewhat bitterly. "I took Intro in school. I guess my assumption was correct?"
Mokuba sighed. "Yes," he moaned. "Actually, I kind of sent myself to check up on you. I figured if you would tell me what had happened, then I could fix things with the others."
Jenni smiled gently at his concern. "Thank you, Mokuba, that's very considerate of you. But I think the others will have to settle that score on their own. I am happy to know, however, that I still have you as a friend," she told him. He smiled at her.
"Thanks, Jenni! Well, I guess I'd better go before Big Brother wonders where I've disappeared to," he told her, standing up. She opened the door for him as he prepared to leave. "I'll see you on Wednesday," he told her, smiling. "Big Brother has qualified for the tournament. We'll see you there!" he added, bounding out the door.
"Well, at least one of you will be happy to see me," she whispered to the closed door.
End Notes: The bit about Fenris and the snowman, well, that was actually inspired by my dog. I built this great snowman in the front yard of our farm, and then later that afternoon I looked out an noticed it had toppled! So I went to see why… the little twit had marked it at the base, melting the snow and causing it to fall over! Punk. Anywho, next chapter will bring the three Guardians together… but you won't quite know who they are yet! You'll just have to wait till the chapter after that!