Blood Only Glows in the Dark Chapter 23: 23, a yu-gi-oh fanfic

(NOTE 3/8/06: Chapters have been restored to their original order! Assuming nothing ELSE goes wrong, here ya go!)

What can I say? Last chapter was a filler chapter.

THIS one is fun. Yami B-style fun.

Disclaimer: Yugioh not owned here

Claimer: original stuff and plot owned here

With the gate out of the picture, now Yami could hear what was being said - yelled, whichever - in the fighting.

"Honestly, I have never met anyone so interested in their demise as you, little worm…" said the shifter - still speaking in Yami's own voice, making the mage-demon cringe and growl simultaneously.

"Hah! Haven't you figured out yet that your little words mean nothing to me?" sneered Bakurah.

"Yeah, you tell 'em!"

This was from the blond, possibly even well-meant, and despite the desire to encourage that Jou had, Bakurah would most definitely prefer to lose on purpose than accept even this vaguest sort of mortal help.

"How can you say that?" the shifter addressed the mortal, taking a sickeningly offended tone, "Aren't I your friend?"

"No!"

The sound of Yugi's voice made the listening mage-demon start.

"You're not our friend," Yugi continued in a more subdued voice, "You're not who you look like…in fact, I guess you're not really a person at all, are you?"

Yami groaned and started moving faster.

Technically, it was a good thing to say, since it would make the shifter extremely angry. The nature of being a shifter meant that whatever they looked like was always fake, and this information was considered to be the leading cause of shape-shifter mental instability.

On the other hand, making a shifter extremely angry - especially on this particular point - was really just another way of saying, 'I'm an astonishingly foolhardy and mouthy pipsqueak: PLEASE pop off my skull and pound it into mush with a cinderblock.' No matter what the shifter had been ordered about keeping that person alive.

The inarticulate roar Yugi got in response kind of underlined Yami's point.

Finally! The mage-demon had finally reached the ruined gateway, and peeked inside to see what - if anything - he could do.

The situation looked bad. Jou and Ryou had - wisely - stayed over on the far side of the lot. Bakurah and the shifter were in the middle, and it almost looked like Bakurah was trying to keep the shifter away from Yugi, who was a lot closer to the fight than Yami preferred.

Still disguised as Yami - and a little bruised and scraped up, but otherwise it/he was still in top form - the shifter had his back to the gateway. Bakurah was a little too busy trying to keep his entrails from being clawed out to look at anything else, and the mortals were too distracted to notice the real Yami was watching them.

With Bakurah busy fending off the claws, the shifter managed to land a kick on the necromancer-demon, sending the white-haired fiend skittering backwards to sprawl at Yugi's feet.

Baring fang in a grimace, the shifter raised its hand, claws bared, and fully intending to ignore Bakurah - who it considered beaten - until after it had finished destroying Yugi.

Yami made a point of striking first.

Calling up his available magic - there was still plenty of it, even after fixing his neck - Yami threw a snake at the shifter.

In magical terms, a 'snake' happened to be a type of magical blast that served to avoid counter-blasting, could curve around any and all physical obstacles, and would then plunge like a sword through whichever body part the castor wanted to see impaled.

Naturally, this spell was considered a hallmark of the Black Arts, and it was one of Yami's favorites. And as always, it worked perfectly.

The shifter screamed in surprise and pain as the snake swiveled around from behind to impale its hand from the front, before plunging in and out of the monster's arm several more times.

A better entrance than that, Yami couldn't have dreamt of in his wildest imaginings.

Ripping the rapidly-dissolving snake out of his arm, the shifter turned to see who had dared attacked it - and snarled in angry surprise.

"YOU!" it roared.

Yami knew he should be angry at the despicable creature, but he found himself chuckling instead. The shifter did look amusing in a pathetic sort of way, after all…although Yami knew that he himself looked like a total mess.

And laughing made his broken ribs grate against each other. Casually holding them in place with one hand, Yami flexed the claws on his other hand and did an impressive full-fanged grin - and tried to ignore how much blood he could taste in his mouth.

"I believe," Yami said next, his tone impressively happy-sounding despite how raspy his voice was at the moment, "That we were in the middle of something…before you ran away."

"I left you dead, you pathetic little twig," the shifter growled back, leaving both the downed Bakurah and a rather shock-struck Yugi to stalk towards its newly rediscovered opponent.

"Just a hint," Yami replied, "When you attempt to crush someone's neck…do try to do it correctly the next time."

"How about I just remove your head instead, you little runt -!" the shifter snarled, leaping forward with claws at the ready.

Yami waited, and waited, and then - now!

Ignoring his screaming ribs, Yami ducked under the shifter's leap, letting it collide with the wall instead. It managed to correct its attack very slightly, leaving a bleeding slash on Yami' forehead. Only a flesh wound, he noted, nothing serious.

Before it could do any more damage, Yami retaliated by cupping his hands together for the most powerful blast of dark magic he could manage - knowing better than to underestimate that shifter constitution again.

The mortals were getting the weirdest-looking fight imaginable from this - one Yami was now smoldering, having just been blasted twenty feet, and the other Yami looked like he'd been through ten fights already, even though he was the one who had just blasted the other one!

Bakurah was enjoying the show as well - even though he was still mad that he'd been losing before.

"Hah!" barked Bakurah, "And how were you going to beat me if you can't even beat this weakling?"

The shifter scrambled to its feet, burned and bleeding all over, and made a point of spitting in Bakurah's direction - thus indicating what it thought of Bakurah's supposed superiority.

"Huh huh huh," it chuckled, "But I don't need to bother with you foolish solids…just for finding your little vermin-infested hidey-hole, the Master will greatly reward me!"

And the shifter changed shape, dropping Yami's now-ruined form for that of a gargoyle.

It took to the air before anyone could stop it, but it didn't get far.

Several more snakes slashed the 'gargoyle's' wings to useless pieces, and it landed with a yowl of pain. Stupidly, the shifter chose to charge at Yami instead of attempting to flee the area on foot, apparently aiming to make the mage-demon pay for all this trouble.

It was a perfectly straight charge, and it left Yami with a perfectly straight shot. Drawing on the majority of his reserves, Yami let the shifter almost reach him before unleashing one of his most famous and dangerous techniques.

In a split-second, and with a slight flash of negative light, Yami broke the shape-shifter - broke it mind and soul.

Functionally dead, the shifter fell in a heap at Yami's feet. Without anything controlling the shape, it's form became something more neutral, all gooey and slate-gray.

Yami stepped backwards, getting out of the way before it could ooze over his boots.