Prophecy
Disclaimer: All I own is Slappy the Monkey. He's my conscious. He tells me to attack the cheese.
"When legend becomes reality,
Three warriors of ancient monsters will rampage the earth,
Of light, dark, and element.
Look to the Heavens,
They will come from there…"
Chapter 8 - Cards of the Shadows
"So you're telling me that some card with a mind of its own attacked you and…went kaboom?" Jackie asked, disbelieving.
Erica nodded vigorously, her salmon flopping up and down, partially in her mouth. Jennie sighed and looked at the tree branches. Apparently, since today was a good day and too stuffy to stay inside, the students in Domino High were granted to eat lunch outside in the field. It was heaven for Erica (and relief for Jennie and Jackie) that she didn't have to face Seto. Who knew what mood he would be in ever since Erica had beat him in chess.
"Yeah! And I got the card from where he came from right here!" the tomboy shouted, holding up the black card that had a black cloaked figure in the picture. A pentagram shone darkly in the back.
Jackie took it and observed it with concentration. As for Jennie, she pat Erica on the shoulder. She didn't notice; Erica was too focused in her food. Rolling her eyes, Jennie took away her bowl of rice and got a slap on the back in return.
"Just look, will ya!" the braided-hair girl snapped. Erica growled, but looked in where Jennie was looking at.
Across from the trio, Yugi's group were chatting happily yet Ryou glanced at Erica from time to time. When he saw the tomboy looking straight at him, he blushed and looked at the sakura tree above him. Then Jennie pointed at Kaiba. He wasn't doing anything strange. Only typing on his laptop. Erica gave a puzzled look at her friend, but Jennie poked the air to stay looking at him.
Seto turned around since a paper ball barely missed his head. On his back was a very obvious sign in Jen's hand writing, "I have chalk on my butt AND I'M PROUD OF IT!" Then Seto got up to sit somewhere else. Indeed, on his behind, was a large blotch of powdery white stuff.
Erica laughed right out and went on her back, choking and gasping. Seto glared at her as he passed by, but his eyes softened as he saw her looking up at him with glittering irises. Then her pupils shifted to his back. Erica snorted and guffawed out loud again. Puzzled, Kaiba pulled the sign off his back. Seeing what was on the paper, Seto's face turned red and everyone around him doubled up laughing.
"Did you do this? I demand to know, Lee!" he shouted.
Erica was too tired to object so Kaiba rolled the paper into a ball, chucked it at the tomboy's face, and stomped off. Jennie laughed her head off and Erica glared at her.
"You should've been the one to be thrown at!" she yelled. Jennie just choked.
Then Joey shouted, "Yo, Seto! Ya still got chalk on your butt!"
In math class, the trio talked under low voices as Mrs. Nagizawa explained about calculus.
"Did you use this card yet in any battle?" Jackie questioned, scribbling in some notes.
Erica shook her head.
The hacker-boy sighed in relief and explained, "Good, 'cause in small print this card says that whoever uses this will slowly fade into the dark, whatever that means. Either way, it doesn't sound too good."
"You seriously don't believe that, do you?" Jennie frowned with worry.
"Who knows if it's real or a bluff," Jackie sighed, "But I'm not the one to find out!"
"Hmm…" Tien-Xiang murmured as he read a large, leather bound book.
The three teens waited for Jackie's uncle to make his decision as he held the black card of the pentagram. It was right after school and just sitting in the manor's library was getting boring.
Finally, the man concluded, "I think this is- no, wait, never mind."
Erica moaned and Jennie started to punch the table.
"COULD YOU GO A BIT FASTER, UNCLE DEAR?" Jackie asked politely.
"Fine, fine." Tien said. He turned the book around and the pictures showed the symbol and one of the black cards. "I'm not too sure, but I think this black card belongs to the Shadow Relm. It's rumored to have been used to sabotage battles against it, making humans think they can turn the Relm's own creation against it. Once it is used other than its maker, the monster in the card turns on the false user and devours it."
The four of them contemplated this with fearful silence. Then Jennie got up and swiped the black card into the dim fireplace. However, as soon as the card hit the fire, the fireplace smoked out, all the light bulbs busted, shades fell down, and the doors slammed closed. The temperature dropped suddenly in the room. Immediately sensing danger, Tien-Xiang grabbed Jennie's wrist and pulled her under the table with the rest. A dense white fog swirled around the area.
"Close your eyes!" the uncle bellowed. Everyone obeyed.
For a few minutes that seemed like hours, the cold wind literally screamed in their ears and anguished yells of suffering echoed. Eventually the moans and groans faded and everyone opened their eyes again. Everything was normal again as if nothing had happened. The fire burned merrily in the fireplace. The frightening thing was, was that the black card wasn't there anymore. It had disappeared.
The next day was Saturday and school was only a half day. So, the Yu-Gi-Oh cast and Jennie and Erica went to get some lunch and spend time in the park. Jackie, though, just got his stuff and went home to help his uncle find the invisible leak of the Shadow Relm.
As Tristen, Bakura, Jennie, and Yugi played catch, Joey was teaching Erica some tips on dueling and Teá was watching the others catch the ball. Frequently, Joey looked at Jennie whenever it was Erica's turn.
Growing annoyed, Erica blurted out, "Why won't you just go down there and kiss her!"
Joey jumped at the girl's sudden temper and said quickly, almost too quickly, "I can't do that!"
The tomboy looked up, cracking her neck. "Ow…Wait a sec…Are you saying that you like Jennie?"
Realizing his mistake instantly, he whispered, face red, "Don't tell her, okay? I don't want her to know!"
Seeing his puppy dog eyes, Erica sighed and kept his secret.
"Then…YOU'RE THE ONE THAT GAVE HER THAT DISGUSTING LOVER LETTER!" the tomboy shrieked. Joey covered her mouth, but nodded. "So then…Jackie's letter came from…TEÁ LIKES JACKIE?"
"Yeah! So shut up about it and don't tell ANYONE!" the puppy hissed.
Erica nodded seriously, but when Joey removed his hand, she rolled over and laughed hysterically.
Meanwhile, as the others played ball, Jennie saw Bakura glance at the choking girl on the hill. Then his eyes became alarmed when he saw Erica roll off the hill, but peaceful again when he saw her appear again unharmed, still smiling. Jennie moved next to Tristen and Yugi who were sitting next to Teá .
"Does Bakura like my insane friend or something?" the braided-hair girl inquired.
Yugi chuckled and Tristen and Teá looked wondrously at the female.
"You mean you don't know?" Teá said.
"Know what?"
Tristen looked at Bakura and whispered, "All of us knows that Ryou, over there, like Erica!"
"Yeah! It's kinda obvious, don't you think?" Yugi grinned.
Then Jennie started to giggle. "Oh maaaaaan! This is just too much! The British albino likes Erica? Of all the people…ERICA?"
The other three nodded with spirit. At that time, they started to laugh when Jennie went on her back, kicking her legs. Finally Bakura came over and saw everyone dying of laughter. Puzzled, he sat down and asked in what was wrong. The four just laughed even harder.
As the girls had fun, Jackie was biking home until a biker that didn't seem too nice stopped him from his tracks.
"Where're you going, nerd?" the man jeered.
Jackie rode past him, saying a simple word. "Home."
Then the biker put his foot in front of the boy's bike. "If you don't listen to what I say, you'll regret it…big time."
The hacker-boy got off his bike and backed away. The whole place was frozen in time and only the man and him were moving. Even the flying birds were still in mid-air. Jackie saw that the biker dude was clad in black and had glowing, yellow eyes.
"You again. That damn Shadow Relm card." the teen said, voice dripping with hatred.
The man smirked. "No, that one is long gone. I'm the next messenger. Why? You miss him?"
"Hardly."
The biker leaned on his motorcycle and looked around the still scenery. He touched the trashcan and it shattered.
"Isn't it beautiful to see the world in complete mercy of your powers?" the dude smiled dangerously. "Once I touch a object in my territory, it will shatter like glass."
Jackie was confused. The biker had a completely different accent and speech pattern. What changed it?
'No…wait…' the teenager pondered. 'The black clothes…they're moving?"
The man grinned once again at Jackie's shocked face. Introducing himself, he said, "I am Sable Nightmare, a ghost that possesses anything that might become use to me. Since this man is a complete innocent, you can't touch me, nevertheless hurt me."
"What do you want?" the hacker-boy snapped. He was getting really sick of this guy.
"What do I want?" Nightmare said teasingly. "That's a stupid question for such a smart boy like you. I want the pretty golden deck that you have in your pocket, of course."
"No."
"Don't be like that. If you don't cooperate, I'll just tap every single one of these humans. Too bad it'll be too messy to clean up afterwards."
Jackie gritted his teeth. "Sick bastard."
"So. What will it be?"
The boy thought for a few seconds. Slowly, he handed over the Exodia deck. He had no choice. The monster took it and flipped through it, making sure that everything was inside. Then it frowned.
"You forgot one, boy." Nightmare remarked. It looked up.
Jackie held a card with a blank picture for its description. "I know I did. Goes to show that my fast typing fingers are good for something else."
Immediately the being stepped forward and set its hand very close to a small toddler. "You don't want to use that, human. Or maybe you would like to see blood come out like broken glass?"
The teen boy raised the card up and saw the emptiness in the biker's eyes replaced by sheer greed. Yup, he was definitely possessed.
"Sorry, but I don't think you're fast enough. PURIFY!"
The card glowed like the sun, around him an aura like the night sky. The card shot out random gold beams. One of them shot at the monster. Screaming, the biker fell and stared at Jackie with pure hatred. It reached to touch the toddler, but a web of light held it up and away. Then more threads of light tied around the man. However, as the twine raised up, the body of the male fell through it, leaving behind a shadow of yellow eyes. Jackie walked toward the crumpled biker and reached down to take back his Exodia deck.
Calmly, he said as the shadow struggled in its bonds, "The Purify card allows me to delay a dark monster for more than three turns. After that, I can take out any trap card I want. I bet you know what that is."
Sable Nightmare was dropped from his golden ropes. Immediately the thing flew at Jackie, intent on killing him. However, it stopped as the boy took out a customized card that he made.
"Say hi to the graveyard reaper for me." Jackie smiled. A sucking vortex appeared out of the card and sucked in the monster.
Before the apparition completely disappeared and time returned to normal, it screeched out, "You will never leave this world! The way back is the Shadow Relm and you know you cannot beat it! You will DIE trying!"
Then…it was gone.
(A/N: That's it for today so you can review now. Please. Anyway, thanks to all who've read this far without getting bored and wait for the next chapter of Prophecy to come up. You wouldn't want to miss this episode. It's about Field Day and some more Seto Kaiba bashing. I don't hate him-sometimes-but he's just fun to bother. Mwahahahahahaha…You gotta love him. Also, how do you spell Shadow Relm? Did I spell it right? Or is it Realm? Dur…)