Prophecy
Disclaimer: I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh…or Barney.
"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 23 – Danger
Jennie opened her eyes tiredly and was met with purple-tinged darkness. She felt like she was floating in the dark. She felt so weak. Blinking blearily a few times, Jennie saw that she wasn't in some violet dimension. Nope. She was inside the Shadow Realm. Panicking, Jennie breathed faster and started to suffocate in the goo that she was in.
Choking, the girl calmed down and was able to breathe again. Unfortunately, she panicked once more when something grabbed her braid and pulled her back. Punching the person right in the face, or whatever it was, the thing let go of her hair and moaned. Turning around, Jennie saw that it was Erica. Next to her was Jackie, face contorted with silent laughter.
"Why'd you pull my—" Jennie began, but coughed when some of the purple blob went into her mouth. Realizing that she couldn't talk, she made signs asking in what had happened.
Erica somehow mimed out that they had woken up from the illusion and was eaten the Shadow Realm to be used as new human batteries. It had gone to the point where it had sucked the three's monster forms away since they were human again. They were headed outside of the mansion and the thing hadn't realized yet that they were conscious.
After this, Jennie realized that her friend was right since she wasn't in Flower Mage form ('Thank Heavens,' she thought) and could barely see through the skin of the mass that they were indeed moving. Then she noticed that the Realm had gotten bigger—much bigger.
"We have to hurry." Jackie said in hand motions. "Every minute makes us weaker."
The two other girls nodded and went around the edges to find any weakness of the Realm. To make a long story short, there wasn't any. Frustrated, Jennie started to kick the thing's wall until Erica stopped her.
Beckoning to the other boy, the amber-eyed acted out, "Is it just me or did the Shadow Realm stop moving?"
The trio looked around and indeed the blob had stilled. Before any one of them could think of why it had stopped, black electricity shot around the inside, wounding the three. They screamed as the goop muffled their cries and one by one, they started to lose consciousness.
As the trio fought to stay awake, gold, silver, and bronze lights shone from their pockets. Glancing at each other, they struggled to take whatever it was out. It was the blocks that the trio had acquired from the nightmares of the Vines of Seth. All of a sudden, the blocks blasted a stream of light, creating a whole in the Shadow Realm's body. It was big enough for them to get through.
Swimming with all their strength, Jennie, Jackie, and Erica fell through it and into the outside world. The Realm shrieked from pain behind them.
"Oh, Jesus," Erica gasped, "I've got gunk in my throat!"
Jackie got up wearily and frowned at the withering, purple mass. "What happened back there?"
"This is what happened," Jennie panted, holding up her silver piece.
"I almost forgot about these things." Erica commented, clutching her gold part.
Jackie teased, "You always forget everything!"
"Oh, what about you, smart ass? You're the one who forgot about Tien-Xiang and the destruction of our world if we just went home! We ended up in an illusion for Ra's sakes!"
The boy chucked his bronze piece at the girl's head and then dodged when it was angrily thrown back. Suddenly, a purple arrow grazed Jennie's shoulder. Stunned, the girl fell forward. While Erica helped Jennie up before she fell onto the floor, Jackie saw the Realm morph into a huge cylinder. Soon, arrows came out of the new shape, and pelted the whole group with sharp darts.
"What the hell was that!" Erica shouted, the trio running for cover under a fallen wall.
Jackie swore and yelled to the two girls, "The Shadow Realm got stronger by sucking up our monsters! That thing is so freakin' strong right now that we can't possibly beat—"
The Realm changed again into a gigantic spider and rampaged after them. Getting up from their hiding place, the two girls and boy were about to run away until tentacles arose from the evil spider's back and wrapped around the teens. Sending a current of electricity through the tentacles, the three were electrocuted until they were smoking. Then it threw the three around, making them crash into anything that came within contact. Erica screamed in pain and Jennie was trying her best not to faint. Jackie was courageously biting back his own yells of agony. Abruptly, the spider-shaped Realm stopped torturing them and turned around. Eyes clouded by a bloody veil, Erica looked up weakly and saw Yami, Bakura, and Malik past the spider's legs. Isis was still knocked out was held aloft by her little brother. They looked pathetic; all four were bleeding, bruised, and scratched horribly, not to mention exhausted.
"Let them go," Yami wheezed, holding his Dark Magician card. Bakura didn't wait for favors, however, and summoned his strongest monster into the area.
Something rumbled in the Realm's body as it shook. It was…laughter.
With a quick slash, the blob chopped the monster in half and sent the albino careening into a wall. Swiftly, Yami ducked the second swinging tentacle and sent his Dark Magician towards the Shadow Realm. It was simply sucked into the Realm's body and shot sable lightning at the yami in response. He fell backwards into Malik and both were buried under a shower of boulders from the ceiling. Stubbornly, Bakura got up once again and took out another card. The blob seemed to get a bit annoyed at these nuisances since it simply threw Erica into him. Then the Realm lumbered back toward its destination, bigger than before.
"You better keep her safe, ya perv!" Jennie bellowed before going into the next room with the gob.
Jackie didn't say anything, but managed to throw his bronze and Jennie's silver blocks at the amber-eyed girl. For what reason, Erica didn't know. Soon, the air was silent.
Erica tried to figure out in what to do, but it was difficult. It was either saving Malik and Yami or her friends first. Then Bakura stood next to her and began to drag her away from the scene.
"What the hell are you doing!" the girl shouted. "I…We have to save them!"
"No, we don't," the albino growled.
Angrily, Erica pulled away from the man and backed away. "What do you mean 'No, we don't?'"
"I meant what I said! We are not going back in there to get killed!"
The girl slapped the boy across the cheek and yelled, "If we don't stop that thing, there will be no home to go to! You know what? You're more of a bother to this mission than any help! You keep running away like a chicken and act like this'll all blow over. You are sadly mistaken! My friends, my REAL friends, are here, fighting with everything they have to stop the Shadow Realm and trying to defend me at the same time! But noooooo! You had to run away. You had to say that this was all a waste of time. Not for me, okay? Now, I'm going back in there and get hurt and dirty and do everything I can to save my friends. If you think that this is all a waste of time, GO HOME YOURSELF!"
Erica turned around and ran toward the big hole in which the Realm had gone through. Then Bakura stopped her by grabbing her arm.
"WHAT?" the female screamed. "YOU'RE GOING TO START YOUR CRAP AGAIN?"
"No…I will help you." the albino muttered, looking away. "I do not care for any of these people, but if you wish it, I will help you as much as I can. I will not leave you here alone to defend yourself."
Erica broke out into a big smile and wiped away the blood that was clouding her eyes. "Okay! B.K., help Yami and Malik out of those rock and get out of here. I'm going on ahead and destroy that thing. Don't you dare object, 'cause I will slap you again, you understand?"
It was obvious that the man didn't like the arrangement, but his cheek was still stinging, so he obeyed. Before Erica could run off again, though, he quickly kissed her on the lips and something stung on the girl's hand as he held it.
The female stared at the albino in shock as he explained, "On your palm is my symbol so when you are in trouble, rub it. Please be safe and don't…don't get killed."
Erica smiled warmly and sprinted off. Just to be polite, she didn't spit her guts out until she was far away from the man's view.
"Damn it! Where the freakin' crap are they?" Erica complained, running through the halls. She was wondering in how hard it was to miss a humongous, purplish thing walking around, creating destruction everywhere it stepped, with two teenagers in its grasp shouting bloody murder on top of their lungs.
Stopping to rest, she felt a hard object clank in her jean pocket. Taking it out, she found the gold, silver, and bronze pieces. Wondering why Jackie had thrown these things at her, she analyzed the small objects individually. Then a movement in the sides attracted her attention. Erica saw that the pulleys and screws inside it were moving and glowing. Looking at the other pieces, they had them, too. Curious, she saw that the silver had two sides with mechanics in them and the gold and bronze only had one side of it.
"It's almost like a puzzle," Erica muttered to herself.
Shaking her head, she put the pieces back into her pockets and followed the debris. She ended up outside the mansion.
Erica gave out a cry of despair when she saw the Shadow Realm very close to the gate. "What the freakin' Jesus! It's almost out!"
The girl summoned her bird monster and rode it toward the big spider blob. When she was right above it, she saw Jackie and Jennie struggling in their purple bonds.
"Hi, guys!" Erica yelled, waving.
She was answered with profanity as the two friends ranted about how late she was, why she was so slow, and why the hell she was saying hello when it was clearly the time for saving.
Erica stuck her middle finger out for a response and told her bird monster to attack. It flew down and sent out a maelstrom of sharp feathers, chipping off some of the Shadow Realm's body. It didn't even notice. It was so determined to get outside of the gate so it could cause havoc to the whole city. The girl cursed and tried a different tactic. She cut the tentacles that held her friends instead. Gracefully, the air beast went down and received the two ticked off passengers.
"WHAT TOOK YOU SO DAMN LONG?" Jennie shrieked into Erica's ear. Jackie just barely grabbed her before she fell off from deafness.
The boy held the half-conscious girl and said seriously, "We have to find out a way to stop the Shadow Realm. If that thing goes beyond that gate, it can do anything and spread even more destruction."
Erica and Jennie nodded gravely and looked ahead of them. The blob was struggling to open the gate. Thank everything holy for Seto's security system.
"Anyone have any ides?" Erica asked.
Jennie immediately answered, "We have to bring that blob back to the mansion. It'll have a lesser chance of getting out."
"And we'll do that…how?" Jackie inquired skeptically.
The braided-hair teen smirked. "Just leave that to me."
With that, Jennie called upon Gate Guardian and rode on him towards the Realm. Jackie and Erica waited for her to come back near the mansion. Riding towards the Shadow Realm, Jennie started to throw taunts at it and sent minor trap cards to annoy it even more.
"Hey, ya big, spoiled marshmallow!" the girl yelled. "Bet' cha can't open that pathetic gate! You can't, you can't, you caaaaaaaan't!"
The Realm growled loudly and sent a sharp tentacle toward the girl. She dodged it.
"You suuuuuuuck! You're disgusting! Even bunnies are scarier than you are!"
The blob sent spikes toward her; it didn't work.
"Do you know who's the scariest being in the whole world? Barney! It's this stupid, purple dinosaur that sings gay songs and do gay activities and hang around kids who are retarded! The only thing you and that dino both have is that you're both purple! You must be so ashamed of your color!"
The Shadow Realm shot out a lighting bolt, but it completely missed its target.
"Oh my gosh! Even your aim sucks? What kind of Realm are you, ya fat—"
The gob stopped moving.
"—stupid—"
"Do you think Jen's going a bit too far?" Erica whispered. Jackie shrugged.
"—idiotic—"
The Realm faced Jennie.
"—disgusting—"
The Shadow Realm shuddered in anger.
"—worthless—"
The mass hissed and transformed in a gigantic cobra.
"—disgrace to the definition of goo!"
With a roar, the gooey thing shot forward with incredible speed. Luckily, it tackled into the Gate Guardian, but Jennie fell from it and was starting to plummet to the ground. Erica's air bird flew down like the wind, picked Jennie up, and rapidly flapped its wings toward the house. The snake-formed Realm demolished Jennie's monster and slithered behind them, growing faster by the minute since it was fueled with the desire to rip the trio apart.
"Oh, great, Jennie!" Erica said sarcastically. "You've made the thing so angry that it'll be stronger than before!"
"At least the plan's working!" the girl contradicted.
Jackie moaned as the mass was gaining speed. "What're we going to do when we get into the house, huh?"
Jennie bit her lip. "We'll figure that out when we get into the house. Right now, we have to survive this chase!"
With that, the company and chaser crashed through the roof of the mansion and ended up inside the house. Suddenly, the Shadow Realm jumped up and chomped on their air monster. Now the trio was beginning to fall to the rocky floor. Unfortunately, none of them had time to take out any card to protect themselves so they fell hard and tumbled painfully across the ground.
Since Erica had rolled the minute she collided with the floor and Jennie landed in a mound of dust, they were safe. However, Jackie had the bad luck to descend onto the shattered concrete floor. He lay still, but was still conscious. Hastily, the two girls went to their friend and noticed that there was something wrong with his upper body.
"Jackie, are you all right?" Erica asked, watching Jennie study the shape of the ribs.
Jackie closed his eyes tightly as he gasped, "I can't move. It…it hurts so much."
Erica looked at Jennie for an explanation for his pain. She answered, "Good news: your glasses survived the fall. Bad news is that you broke your ribs. Don't know how many."
The boy flinched in his pain and horror and Erica slapped her forehead.
"Just our luck!" the amber-eyed teenager yelled.
Then the cobra Shadow Realm appeared, hissing and ready to strike. Its fangs dripped an acid that made the floor melt. Coiling, it watched the girls get the boy up. When they were all standing, it started to laugh.
"Foolish mortals!" the snake jeered. "You cannot defeat me as long as my summoner is on my side! I have been so generously been brought back to this world by him and, as long as I am here, I will bathe in all your blood after I have killed you. After that, I will destroy this world and move on to yours where no one can stop me! I will grow stronger…and you will all die!"
Then it shot out like a pistol, mouth wide, fangs out, and ready to eat our heroes...
A/N: Hmm…Who is this "him" that the Shadow Realm speaks about? Do any of you remember the fellow at the end of chapter 19? Might it be him? If it is…could he be the real villain?
Anyway, I don't really have anything to say so…ON TO MY LOVELY REVIEWERS!
Isis the Spinx, Akari Ishtaru, Hibiki-chan (NEW REVIEWER!), and candy-animelover600.
And oh…TWO MORE CHAPTERS UNTIL THE STORY ENDS!
Just thought you wanted to know. (smiles widely)