Disclaimer: No I do not own Yugioh. I do own Temarocia though.

"And would you like to see our wine list?" Saika smiled cheerfully.

A deep laughter echoed across the small room, the shadows flickering in tune with the sound of muffled screams of pain. "And until you tell me where that treasure is, you'll remain here. Every day you will experience this pain, and if you ever try to run away then I'll kill you in the most horrid fashion possible. There won't even be remains, just decorations for my personal treasure collection." The sneering face of Don Karot was revealed as some of the shadows moved. "Now then, my beautiful little rainbow flower…tell me all about the object I seek. Where did you hide it?"

Her hands grasped the single ten Tem piece the couple that had been at the cafe had given her as a tip. "Thank you very much." And all the time she was smiling happily.

Another muffled scream pierced the shadowed depths of the room. "A week of this and you haven't given up?" A low chuckle came from Don Karot, his hand glowing a molten gold color. "What do you owe that little piece of crystal fur? It was already close to death when Gansaku was done with it, and by the time we found you it was gone. I know it died, now tell me what happened to the Prize Card!"

"I hope you had a pleasant meal." Grinning like a fool, she bowed to the half-drunken patron as he stumbled out.

"My patience grows thin." Don Karot snarled out. "All you have to do is tell me where that little beast's Prize Card is and you'll be free to go!" The screams, even though muffled, were too powerful to be silenced that easily. "I will not be denied a treasure of that level just because you want to be stubborn!"

Song of Temarocia; Rainbow Flower Arc

Chapter 21: Saika; The Smiling Captive

A dead silence held over the booth, the kind of thing normally reserved for when two fighters were preparing to battle.

"So I see." Flair emotionlessly stood up. "That is the story."

Ari blinked in surprise as King and Alita stood up at the same time as well. "Wait a moment, what are you going to do?"

"It's obvious, isn't it?" King lit up a cigarette and popped his neck. "I'm going to go have dinner with Don Karot. He invited me, after all. It would be rude to turn him down."

"He did?" Alita sourly pursed her lips. "Do you want us to set up an ambush? We can catch him off guard and…"

"No." King blew a plume of smoke into the air and walked towards the exit of the café, not even looking in Saika's direction. "Madame Ari, thank you for taking care of Saika for all this time. She is a very precious member of the Freaks Gang and by no means do I intend to leave her here."

"Well then, what are you going to do?" The sultry woman asked worriedly. "You can't seriously be planning on trying to beat Don Karot in his own casino, can you?"

"I don't, actually." King's declaration came to a surprise to Alita's ears. "Saika hasn't requested our help, which means she wants to deal with this problem on her own."

He continued walking out. "However, Madame Ari, if a loud guy with black hair shows up screaming something about needing food then please direct him to Saika. That's all I ask."

"I understand." She watched the other two stand up and walk out as well. ("I have a feeling like as soon as this person they're waiting for arrives then things will reach a truly fevered pitch.")

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An hour later…

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Amidst the sound of clinking wine glasses and elegant conversations sat Don Karot, waiting patiently in his seat at the head of a long table located in a corner of the finest restaurant his Kingdom had to offer. In the row off to his side sat Revlis, Bronzo, and Gansaku. "Ahhh, here is the guest of honor now."

"A pleasure to see you again, Don Karot." King, dressed in his silk coat and undershirt combination, bowed slightly to the dark-skinned man and sat down directly across from Revlis, meeting eyes with the Rastafarian for a moment before fully sitting down. "You must excuse me, but I brought two friends with me."

"Excellent!" The Warlord of Pleasures clapped his heavily adorned hands together with a clink of metal on metal. "The more the merrier, Mr. King."

Flair bowed slightly and stepped in behind the fake Frenchman, pulling up a chair so he was sitting across from Bronzo. And behind him came Alita, who sat down across from Gansaku. "My name is Flair Tsukimaru, and the young lady behind me is Alita."

"I see." Don Karot smiled pleasantly. "Well it is a great honor to have a samurai and a fine young lady joining our little meeting. Allow me to introduce my associates."

Gansaku stood up and bowed slightly. "My name is Gansaku, head of the hunting services that track down surrounding supplies of food to store here at the Kingdom." His golden hair bounced a little. "I am also a big game hunter, but that is just what I do in my spare time."

Bronzo launched to his feet quickly. "I'm Bronzo, head of Staff. I always keep a good track of time." Then he collapsed into his seat and looked around a little crazily. "Though you people are wasting my time, hurry up and speak faster!"

"I be Revlis, head of security mon." The silver-coated man didn't even bother too get up. "Ya guys had best behave while you're on Don Karot's turf, if ya get mah meanin'."

Don Karot turned to look at King. "Have you enjoyed your time in my establishment so far, Mr. King?"

"Of course." King smiled slightly. "I learned many different interesting things today about your business practices."

"Did you now?" The Warlord laughed. "I see, so you've been doing a bit of detective work on my fine business and myself? To what ends, I ask you?"

"Just different things, here and there." King sat back in his seat. "We're Adventurers, you see. And at the moment we're working hard to get a certain treasure back that we are missing at the moment."

"A treasure, you say?" Don Karot took a sip of his wine. "Might this be something that I possess? I hope you don't intend to try and steal from me, Mr. King." His laughter after this declaration indicated he was joking.

"Of course not, Don Karot." King started laughing as well. ("It was never yours to begin with.")

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"This is boring," A man in a black suit muttered sadly as he watched the glass doors that led outside. "Why can't we leave this spot? What are we supposed to be looking for here?"

"We're looking for this guy." The other black-suited man adjusted his tie and held up a picture of Jason. "Once we catch him then we'll get a huge promotion, so just shut your mouth and wait. If he shows up then he shouldn't be that hard to take down." Suddenly the ground started shaking. "Hey, do you feel something?"

"Yeah, is it an earthquake?" The guard looked out the glass doors again, and his jaw dropped. "LOOK OUT!"

"FOOD!" Jason, in Stonequill form, exploded right through the doors as if they weren't there. He slammed into the two guards and hurling them backwards into a row of slot machines. After changing back to normal he sniffed the air and broke into a run that lead him deeper into the casino. "I smell food! Where is it?" He broke into a run and started jogging past groups of startled patrons, though he was paying them no mind. "Where's the food? Where where where WHERE?"

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"That has to be him." Ari smiled slyly and held up a plate of steaming meat she had pilfered from the kitchen. Holding it just outside the entrance to the café, she felt the earthquake getting closer. ("And here he comes.")

Walking inside with the plate resting atop her palm, she placed it down on a booth just as Jason came rushing in and crashed down in front of the plate, tearing into a steak without even bothering to use the utensils that were in front of him.

"You're Jason, correct?" When he nodded absent-mindedly with a huge piece of pork hanging out of his mouth she smiled. "Saika is here. Would you like me to bring her out? You must be worried sick about her."

"Hungry…" He somehow managed to say through a mouth that couldn't hold as much food as he was trying to cram down it. "Finish first!"

"I see." She sat down across from him. "You know that when Don Karot finds out you've entered this place he'll do everything he can to make sure you wind up captured?"

"Who?"

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Don Karot and King both laughed at the same time and clinked their glasses together. "Cheers!"

"What's the matter?" Bronzo lifted an eyebrow at Flair. "You're just sitting there. Come on and let's celebrate a little. This is a party, right?" He continued to hold his wine glass out in the samurai's face. "Hurry up!"

"I am not in a very festive mood." Flair poured himself a glass regardless, tapping it against the other man's glass before pretending to take a sip of it. ("What are we waiting for? While I do not like the idea of going up against a Warlord, it cannot be helped. After hearing that story I would not dare back down, on my honor as a man. Why is that fishbowl waiting?")

-----------------------

"Thank you very much!" Saika smiled happily to the man as he deposited another ten Tem piece in her hand. "Have a pleasant evening."

"More meat!"

She froze and her heart stopped in her chest. ("That voice…")

Ari smiled slightly as she saw Saika swiftly approaching. ("Ah, here we are. This should be an interesting heartfelt moment of…") All of her expectations flew out the window though as the rainbow-haired girl nearly ran up and slapped Jason as hard across the face as she could. "Saika, that's no way to…"

"What are you doing here?" She shouted at the top of her lungs, bringing all other activity in the café to a halt. "Leave this place right now!" Face contorted in anger, she slapped him hard across the other cheek. "GET OUT!"

Jason ignored her, going right back to his meal.

"I don't need you here!" The girl grabbed the young man's collar and hefted him up a little so she could look him closer in the face. "If you don't leave then Don Karot will come looking for you, and he'll kill you! GET OUT!"

Jason popped another piece of meat into his mouth and washed it down with his third pitcher of water. "Ahhh that hit the spot!" Patting his stomach he stood up to his full height just in time to stumble forward slightly as a gunshot rang out across the little café.

Saika and Ari both gasped in confusion, until they realized that there were at least a dozen black-suited security guards right behind them, the one at the front holding a smoking pistol that he had just fired into Jason's back. "My apologies about the mess, Ari. This guy is on Don Karot's hit list, and the orders are to kill on sight."

"…" Saika stared numbly at Jason's forward-hunched body, her hands still bloodlessly grasping his tunic. ("I tried to tell you…this isn't New York…you can't just do what you normally do and expect to get away with it.")

Even though she was thinking this, for some odd reason she was smiling cheerfully on the outside. ("I can't cry…I can't show that affected me…or else Karot might hurt him more…")

Time sped up suddenly, and Jason sneered coldly. "That won't work…no little flesh wound like that's gonna stop me." He turned and grinned at the dozen pistols aimed at his face, the owners of those guns looking very pale all of a sudden.

"Wha…" The rainbow-haired girl's smile wavered a little. "What are you talking about?"

"Get out of the way, Saika." Jason casually pushed her out of the way at the same time that the dozen guards all opened fire at once, his body flipping over the table and crashing down in the section of the booth where Ari had been sitting up until a moment ago when she moved.

The Head of Staff pulled the unmoving Saika back just a little, a worried look on her face at the fact that Saika was smiling as if there was nothing wrong at all. ("The trauma of seeing that…of seeing her friend gunned down…") She was about to hug Saika tight to try and bring her out of it.

"AH!" Jason exploded free from the fallen over table in his Stonequill Graft and pointed at the slack-jawed guards angrily. "Don't startle me like that; you bastards nearly gave me the hiccups!"

"Wha…what in the…" The guards, all as one, started to stumble backwards. Their nerve was gone after seeing the target take all of those bullets and declare the worst he could get from it was a case of the hiccups.

"I think…" Disappearing in a momentary gust of silver wind, Burst Fox Jason emerged moments later with a wicked smile on his face. "You guys need a little lesson in manners! Impact Turret!" His fists became a pair of blurs as he delivered a flurry of air pressure-powered punches into the dozen men, sending them flying through the windows and walls of the café like scattered leaves.

Ari had a look of disbelief on her face, though even through this Saika kept that strange smile.

"Jerks, interrupt my meal time will they?" He marched up to the couple of guards that were actually getting up and punched them in the face, making sure they weren't going to walk away from this for a good while.

"Sheesh," He turned to look at Ari and Saika with a grin on his face. "Can you believe the nerve of those guys? What kind of casino does this Don Karot guy run anyway?"

"I guess the 200,000,000 Tem bounty isn't just for show." Ari sat down in a chair she had pulled up, looking a little pale in the face. "You're a Graftborn?"

"A Grafter, actually." Jason turned to look at Saika, who was still a bit out of it and had that bizarre smile on her face. "What's the matter?" He leaned in towards her and aimed his skull at her, the silver fox ears on his head perking up and wiggling back and forth. "Come on, I know you like fluffy crap like this."

"Jason…" Saika's eyes started watering and tears started streaming down her face even though she was still smiling. "Please run away. I don't want you to die."

"Me, die?" The Grafter grinned as he heard the sound of numerous shoes on tile right outside the café. "Hey Lady, get Sai to cover please."

"You're going to run?" Ari sweatdropped as Jason disappeared outside and things started exploding. "I guess not…"

"He's going to die…" Saika's shoulders slumped as the explosions grew louder.

"I don't see what you're talking about." Ari motioned to the guards littered about the café like pieces of trash. "He just blew through all of these men like they were nothing."

"He's going to die…Don Karot isn't like them at all…not at all…" Saika get smiling, though it was obvious she was on the verge of a nervous breakdown.

------------------------------------------

Don Karot glanced at the black-suited guard that suddenly ran up to their table. "What?" The man whispered something into his ear and his expression grew somber. "You must excuse me, Mr. King and company, but there is something of an emergency I have to tend to on the bottom floor. Please enjoy the rest of your dinner and your stay here. I was hoping to play a game of Blackjack against you too, but that will have to wait Mr. King."

King nodded slightly as the Warlord of Pleasures stood up. "Don't worry about it, we've all got our priorities right?"

"I thank you for understanding." Don Karot walked off with his three top men in tow. ("It seems that the Grafter does want to be a gentleman in this regard. I will have to teach him that it is rude to smash up someone else's property.")

As soon as the four were out of sight Alita grimaced. "It's Jason, isn't it?"

"More than likely." Flair stood up and adjusted his katana on his belt. "It seems like we're going to have to fight now."

"Nope." King yawned. "We wait until the time is right." He stabbed his fork into a steamed vegetable on his plate and popped it into his mouth, chewing leisurely. "Until that time comes let's sit back and try to relax."

"What are you talking about?" Alita shouted a bit louder than she should have. "We can't sit here and do nothing! That's just ridiculous!"

"Indeed." Flair started pacing. "What do we accomplish by standing around doing nothing while the dog fights for the sake of your friend?"

"Hey," King commented sharply. "Don't spread lies. At the moment, if it is Jason, then he's fighting for the sake of Jason. Saika is the farthest thing from his mind for the time being, so until we get a bit more information about what is going on don't go flying into a half-cocked rage and get us all killed. Eat your vegetables instead and let's finish our meal."

"…" The two sat down quietly and started eating as quickly as they could.

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"It'll take a whole lot more than what you've guys got to beat me!" Carrier attached to his arm Burst Fox Jason blew past a trio of guards and they were hurled twenty feet in the air by the pressure of his movement. (1000/1000)

"Get out the shotguns!" A new group of guards emerged from around some of the slot machines armed with the powerful spread-fire weapons.

"Shotguns?" Jason's right eye started twitching. "Why does Temarocia have freaking guns?" Then he disappeared as the ground he was standing on exploded in a spray of tile and dust.

Up on the overlooking balcony Don Karot frowned deeply as he watched his Riot Gun Troops get blown up to eye level with him before they fell in a heap atop their already-defeated comrades. "This is truly frustrating. Why are such weaklings a part of my security force?"

"It cannot be helped, Don Karot." Gansaku polished the barrel of his sniper rifle and lifted it up. "He is a Legendary Class after all. Shall I dispose of him?"

"Not yet." The Warlord rubbed his chin slowly, thinking about this situation. "No, it would be best if I dealt with this problem on my own. According to Kyris the Hell this one defeated Ruerto Masquil the Immortal. That is an opponent that you may have trouble killing in one shot, my fine hunter."

Revlis tightened up his braids. "You don't want me ta go straighten 'im out, Don?"

"No. I wish to try and convince him to calm down." Don Karot's hand clamped onto the railing and he leapt over the edge, dropping the thirty feet to the ground and leaving a small crater in the ground where he landed. "That will be quite enough, Jason-kun!"

"…" Jason glanced at the guard he was currently holding by the collar, and then at the weird gold-dressed guy that had suddenly shown up. "No dice." He punched the guard in the face and turned to face the Warlord. "Who are you anyway, weirdo? You're dressed like a loser pimp."

A silence held over the remaining guards, all of them looking like they were about to start running. Then the silence was broken by the metallic clapping of Don Karot's adorned hands. "Excellent courage, Jason-kun! I must commend on you for being brave enough to insult me."

"You're really freaking weird." The Grafter picked a piece of tiling out of one of his fox ears and yawned, showing off his fangs. "I guess you're this Don Karot guy that everybody is saying is a Warlord. I don't even know what that means though, so please don't brag too much."

"It means that everything you can see in this place is mine." Karot chuckled. "You really do not care about that, do you? My money means nothing to you."

"Yup, exactly right." Jason started pacing in agitation and so that his body didn't start doing random things. "This place stinks something awful too…"

"I'm sorry to hear that. Is there anything I can do to make that better for you?" Don Karot started pacing as well. "You're doing quite a bit of damage to my property, and that is not something I can let you walk away from. Do you intend to stay and work off the debt you owe me for destroying all of these things?"

"Nope." Jason thumbed to the café. "Plus I'll be taking Saika with me when I leave. Care to stop me?"

"That is unfortunate." The Warlord of Pleasures lifted one hand to reveal the Carrier that appeared there. "I wanted to avoid having to cash in the bounty on your head by having to kill you, but if your current compliance is any indication there is no other choice."

Jason- 8000/5000

Karot- 8000/10000

"Let's see you do it then!" Jason tapped the top of his deck and launched forwards at Don Karot. ("Seven attacks…") Then he twisted on one heel and did a spinning kick that created a tornado around his body. "Impact Sidewinder!"

(300/700) Don Karot brought one arm up to block the kick that emerged from that tornado, his muscles on that arm bulging slightly as he was forced into a momentary slide. "You have a good strength behind that kick, Jason-kun!"

"Thanks, but complimenting me won't save you!" The Grafter touched down on the ground and launched forward, his fists becoming a blur of air pressure-powered missiles. "Impact Turret!"

Don Karot gasped out as he was hit by the wall of missiles, his face and chest impacting slightly as they were assailed by a storm of hits.

Using the built-up pressure that his body was riding on at the moment, Jason shot forwards and slammed his fists into the Warlord's stomach. "Double Impact Shot!"

"Another excellent hit!" Don Karot rolled head over heels backwards into a fountain, shattering it and sending water everywhere.

Jason followed him in, creating another wall of punches that blew right through the flowing water and into the still-moving Warlord. "Impact Turret!"

Stopping at the other edge of the fountain, Don Karot stood up slowly and chuckled. "Once more, I am being pushed back by your attacks."

"Impact Charge!" Jason snapped his arms up in front of him, a miniature vortex of wind building around his body while he tapped his deck three times. "And for the finish!"

Don Karot smiled pleasantly. ("Ahhh, a finishing move…")

"Impact Cannon!" (6000/1000) Jason exploded forwards and crashed his fists into the Warlord's stomach, the explosion of air pressure backlashing both Jason and Don Karot in different directions, one crashing through a wall and into a store and the other quickly following suite.

As the dust cleared the one standing was revealed to be Jason, a crazy grin on his face. "Heh, you're pretty freakin' slow…and not too tough…"

"Not too tough?" Don Karot emerged from the wall he had gone through, brushing some dust off himself. "Perhaps you haven't noticed yet, but take a look at your hands."

"My hands?" The Grafter glanced at his hands and his eyes widened as he realized that they were swollen, all of his fingers dislocated. "Crap that stings a little bit."

"Indeed it should." Don Karot motioned to his score. (300/1700)

Jason- 3800/5000

Karot- 8000/8500

"Then my last attack should have broken your defense, despite however much you must have boosted it by." Jason cracked his last knuckle back into place and he started flexing his hands to get the blood flowing properly again.

"That would be correct, except for that last attack I used my Mercantile Decoy Technique." Don Karot laughed. "This technique lets me pay 500 magic points to reduce one amount of damage to zero, though it also costs me about 1000 Tem. A small pittance to pay to escape such a powerful attack though."

"A merchant class?" Jason scratched the back of his head. "Okay then, that's pretty stupid."

"I thought you might say that, though my Mercantile Defense let me pay any number of Tem and magic points to raise my defense by that amount until the end of the turn, though I didn't expect you to go quite so crazy and continuously attack me despite the fact that your attacks would have no effect or else I would have raised it more." The Warlord sighed and shrugged his shoulders. "Oh well, it cannot be helped. Tell me, Jason-kun, whether or not you can still believe you can win."

"Obviously I can win if all you've got are sad little defense tricks." The Grafter cracked his knuckles and punched a hole in the still-standing parts of the fountain. "I've got plenty of energy after getting that food in my stomach."

"I would suppose so." Karot tapped the top of his deck. "Then let me ask you, why do you want Saika-chan so badly?"

"Because she's a part of our group." Jason started hopping from leg to leg as he got ready to defend himself. ("I'm holding Graft Metamorphosis so I can easily change to Stonequill and guard myself against his attacks.")

"That's where you are incorrect." Don Karot smiled. "She is mine…in both body and mind. She cannot run from me, or she will die. Do you still wish to take her away?" If the look in the Grafter's eye told him anything then he knew what to expect for his answer. "Very well, then let me show you why I'm far stronger than anything you've experienced up to this point!"

To be continued…