In The Dark of The Night

Chazz stepped onto the deck outside the Slifer Red dorm as night had fallen on the island, taking a much needed break from the obnoxious Ojama's overtaking his room, besides just needing a break in general. His young life had never been a particularly easy or stress free one, his road through life had been lined with hardships and misfortune that never ceased to strain his damaged heart and soul more than anyone deserved.

"How much more of this can I even take? I mean, really?" he thought, looking down at his hands.

Without cards in them, his hands shook and trembled with nothing to secure them around, no weight to keep him steady. Chazz scoffed under his breath, lowering his hands and closing them tightly around the upper deck's railing. His hands hadn't trembled like that since his last encounter with his brothers. And back then, it wasn't just his hands that trembled. His whole body shook, overcome with, in all honesty... fear.

After all, his brothers had abused him for years, forcing him to comply with their plan for world domination, despite his own protestations. But they never gave his cares a second thought. Or even a first thought. Ever since he could remember, it was their way, or no way. Just thinking about that time sent shivers down his spine and his chest tightened, paired with the sudden feeling of being stabbed in the heart with a shard of burning glass. Chazz shook his head quickly, trying to shake off the feelings and the memories.

He hated those memories. But they just wouldn't go away.

"Come on, Chazz…" He lifted his right hand to his face, placing it over his right eye. "You're better than this, they can't hurt you anymore. You don't need your friends to baby you, now knock it off!"

"Hey, what's wrong, Boss?"

Chazz's eye twitched at the annoying sound of Ojama Yellow's voice breaking his much needed silence. But such was the norm for the poor tormented youth. Never a moment's peace to be had with the Ojama spirits floating around him at all times. Especially Yellow, who had been with him the longest and was not even debatably the most irritating. And conversely, the most protective of him.

"Will you just shut up and leave me alone!?" Chazz commanded, raising his voice at the little pest floating around his head. Sometimes he wondered if he had gone insane, and that was why he saw the little urchins at all. But of course, he knew better since he knew Jaden could see the spirits too, and they couldn't both be insane. Well ,actually they could, but that was neither here nor there. "What are you doing out here anyway? Go away!"

"But Boss, my card is in your pocket. I knew you wanted my company!" The little imp floated happily in circles around Chazz's head, stopping after about three rotations and hugging him tightly on his face, earning a well deserved growl from his temperamental young master.

"Get off of me!" Chazz snarled, swatting away the little spirit like he was a fly or mosquito buzzing all around his head constantly. Which is more or less what he and the other Ojama's were to him. Annoying little bugs that just would not go away, no matter how much he wanted them to.

It seemed that they would just never get the point, would they?

But knowing that only served to make them even more annoying than they already were, knowing that he would probably be stuck with them forever at this point. Raising an eyebrow in confusion as he recalled what Yellow had said to him, placing his hand inside his coat pocket, Chazz widened his eyes for a moment as his hand returned, indeed holding the Ojama Yellow card between his slender, dainty fingers.

"When did this get here?" He thought, examining the small card in his hand. Not that it was too big a deal, he always had his cards with him, but he couldn't remember when the card had found its way there that day. "Must have slipped in there at some point. Whatever, it doesn't matter." he shrugged, shoving the trading card back into his coat pocket. Rolling his eyes at himself for even wondering about it or indulging the little creature by looking in the first place.

Looking back out at the island around him shrouded in the night's darkness, he sighed. There was a different feel in the air on the island at nightfall. The aura was harsher. Lonelier even, with everything so quiet, hardly a sound was heard around him. This feeling of isolation wasn't unknown to Chazz. In fact, he felt it all the time, swept up in a sea of loneliness that he felt like he could never escape from. Sometimes, Chazz almost felt like he was drowning in it. Desperately reaching out for someone to grab his hand and pull him out as he struggled against the downward force, pulling him deeper and deeper down into the abyss. All the times he had cried for help while the nightmare tormented him in the night, and nobody came.

Sure, he had Atticus and the others around to help him now, but it hadn't made much of a difference. It was a lot harder to get through these things than with just having people to take care of him. Chazz leaned forward, his elbows placed firmly on the banister of the deck to support him as his fingers slid through his hair and dug into his skull. His eyes screwed shut and he grit his teeth, trying to force away the nightmare. He just felt so lost and alone... even though he had Jaden and the others looking out for him whether he wanted them to or not, it still felt like there was a wall of separation between him and them.

As much as he also hated to admit it, he hated that feeling.

"They just don't get it. They don't understand. Not really." Chazz thought, keeping his eyes shut tight as his fingers dug deeper and harder into his skull. "How could they...? They haven't been through what I've been through..." his thoughts were all disjointed in his mind, swirling around and around only adding to his confusion. "They're trying to help, and I appreciate it, but that doesn't just make it all go away..."

It was all getting to be too much to handle on his own. It seemed like no matter what he did, the pain and loneliness he felt just wouldn't go away. To him, it even felt like it was getting worse sometimes. Even with their help.

"Please, just make it stop already!"

"Boss…?" Yellow asked quietly, concerned about his young master. Floating down over to the banister he hovered next to Chazz, taking a look at his face with his own worried expression.

Chazz's eyes were screwed shut with tears resting on the sides of them, slowly dripping down his snowlike face. His breath was quick and uneven, and Ojama Yellow worried that his teeth would bite clean through his bottom lip seeing how much force he was exerting. Fully aware of his master's mental health problems by now after a few breakdowns he had witnessed, he thought to grab Chazz's medicine until he remembered what had happened earlier that week. Also, he was just a little duel spirit. It wasn't like he could actually bring him his medicine anyway, he didn't exactly have a physical form to touch it.

"Are you okay, Bo-"

Chazz popped his head up, roused out of his hallucination by Ojama Yellow's loud, annoying cry. Swiftly turning to the monster, his blood began to boil with the animosity he felt towards the little guy.

"WHAT?!" He shouted, glaring deeply at the imp. "What are you screaming about!?"

"T-There's something out there!" Yellow cried, quickly hiding behind the teen, poking out over his shoulder to point the way. "Out there!" he pointed his little arm as Chazz looked in that direction. "In the woods!"

Chazz looked where the spirit pointed, his senses placing him on alert. Squinting slightly, he saw dim lights coming through the trees accompanied by a few quiet sounds. Studying the light for a few seconds, Chazz raised an eyebrow in intrigue, never seeing anything like that in the middle of the night on the island. But if he had to guess, it almost looked like flashlights. Like there was someone out there in the dark woods.

Hurrying back into his dorm, Chazz grabbed his deck and his duel disk off of the desk by his bed, placing the Ojama Yellow card back into his deck as he secured the duel disk on his left arm and slid the deck into the slot before heading back outside. Perplexed by what could be going on out in the woods, he slowly walked down the stairs to the ground level, inspecting the immediate area around him before moving closer to the surrounding woods, keeping a sharp eye out for anything potentially dangerous.

"I-I don't know about this, boss..." Yellow whined, glancing around quickly and fearfully as he followed the teen further into the trees. "Shouldn't we get Jaden or something..? It could be dangerous out here..."

"Just be quiet, will you?" Chazz spat out in an irritated whisper, glaring at the duel spirit following him, turning his gaze back forward and keeping his voice low and quiet. "And we don't need him! Whatever's out here I'm sure it's nothing The Chazz can't handle."

Taking a few cautious steps forward, he came upon a small clearing, keeping in the trees as he looked around to see if the coast was clear. It had been a little while since he had seen the odd lights. It was extremely dark that night with only a little bit of moonlight overhead, so any light at all would be clearly visible. That it had all bus disappeared once he came out there, that was starting to worry him a little bit. Keeping his eyes front and his wits about him, and with his duel disk at the ready, Chazz took a step out into the clearing. Glancing around as Ojama Yellow clung to his shoulder, fearfully whimpering quietly as the overly wary creature was scared of pretty much everything. But the air about the clearing seemed... unsettling, even to Chazz. It was too quiet.

"I've got a bad feeling about this…" Chazz whispered quietly, taking another step further into the clearing, his guard only increasing with every passing moment. Something just wasn't right. The atmosphere around the teen and the spirit was heavier and darker in origin, raising the tension and uneasiness that the two felt. "Yeah, we should probably go back..."

Taking another glance around the clearing, Chazz began to turn slowly and cautiously back in the direction he came.

"Boss, look out!" Yellow cried out, pointing in the direction Chazz was turning. "Behind you!"

Quickly whirling around fully at the behest of the frightened spirit, Chazz's eyes widened, taking a quick step back once he saw a dark figure looming over him. The figure was nearly completely shrouded by the night, but Chazz could tell it was an adult man standing over him. Glaring at the figure, Chazz quickly and instinctively reached for his deck and activated his duel disk in self defense before he heard a rustling in the bushes on either side of him, distracting him as he quickly turned his head to both sides. Two figures on either side of Chazz ran at him, while the man before him grabbed him by the shoulders. Whirling him around and holding him tight, the quite large figure promptly clamped his hand over Chazz's mouth before the boy could even think to yell for aid.

"Boss!" Yellow cried, helplessly watching as there was nothing he could do to help his beloved master.

As the two other figures reached them, the smaller female shaped one yanked the duel disk from Chazz's arm, extracting the deck before throwing the disk on the ground at her feet, having no need for it. All the while, Chazz struggled and fought against the man holding him against his chest, trying to bite at the meaty hand clamped tightly over his mouth that was keeping him from calling for help. The smaller male figure took something out of what looked like a satchel of some kind that he was wearing. Releasing Chazz from his grasp, the bigger man placed his hands on Chazz's shoulders, violently shoving him down onto the forest ground below him.

"Hey!" Chazz shouted now that his mouth was uncovered, scrambling to get himself up off of the ground before the bigger man placed his foot on Chazz's back, applying just enough pressure to keep him down. "What's the big ide-" Before he could finish his sentence, the smaller male kneeled down next to him and shoved a thick cloth into his mouth, promptly taking out another length of cloth and tying it tightly over his mouth so he couldn't spit the first one out.

The woman also kneeled down on the opposite side of the smaller man, placing Chazz's deck down next to her. Chazz took that moment to make a move while he still had use of his arms, throwing out his arm and striking the deck, scattering the cards over the small area around them. He knew that if she had his deck, that they planned to take it along with him. In the moment, he had hoped that if he could spread the cards enough that they would miss one. Hopefully Ojama Yellow, his most trusted creature. And that the little spirit would find a way to tell Jaden and the others what misfortune befell him here, knowing that Jaden would be the only one who could see and hear the spirit. It was a long shot, but it would be his only chance if he couldn't manage to escape.

And right now, that was looking to be extremely unlikely.

"Oh, you little brat!" The woman shouted upon the scattering of the cards. Her voice was deep in pitch with a softer element to it despite her very harsh tone.

Slapping Chazz across the face before gathering the cards back into one pile, she quickly moved them out of his reach before grabbing his arms and forcing them behind his back, holding them tightly and with a strength not expected from a woman of her not exactly large stature and thin size. Though she wasn't short by any means. The larger man kneeled down, moving to hold Chazz's legs down so he couldn't kick at them while he struggled to get free from the attackers holding him down.

The smaller man pulled another object from the satchel around his shoulders, revealing it to be a few strands of rope, he quickly yet expertly tied the rope tightly around Chazz's wrists. Securing them together before the woman picked Chazz slightly up off the ground, while the smaller man fed the rope through under him, reaching over Chazz and picking up the other end of the rope he wrapped it around Chazz's chest a good few times before tying it tight and strong, ensuring that their captive wouldn't be getting himself free any time soon.

"Here." The man said, tossing another rope over to his muscular partner, who in turn, tied Chazz's ankles together before hoisting him up from the ground and back onto his feet.

Glaring at his attackers, Chazz continued to struggle while the larger man held him in place, looking on at the woman walking up to him, her own features becoming slightly more visible at the closer proximity. Her eyes were cold and icy from what he could see, and her hair was decently short which he saw before but now he could see the blonde color reflecting in the moonlight now that he wasn't squirming around quite as much. She shot her own glare at him for a moment, still irritated from him knocking his cards all over the place. If they hadn't been given the instructions to bring the kid's deck along after the initial meeting, she would have had no qualms just leaving them there. But no, that was a whole extra piece of the puzzle she and her team had to deal with. Taking her glove covered hand up, she placed it on his pale face, her expression changing slightly as her eyebrow raised and she let out a slight chuckle.

"I feel like you're more trouble than you're worth." She said, her deep mature voice sounding with an air of malevolence. "But too bad for you, because we're being paid a fortune for you, kiddo."

Chazz shook his head, getting her hand away from his face, glaring deeper at her than he had before. Her expression hardening again, she brought her hand swiftly across his face once more, extending him a strong backhand smack before grabbing her hand tightly around his face, bringing her own closer to his.

"You're lucky those brothers of yours don't want you harmed, kid." she growled, Chazz's eyes widening in fear and surprise at the mention of his older brothers. "Now behave. Before you really start to test our patience."

Chazz couldn't believe what he had heard. He inferred that he was being kidnapped, that much was obvious enough, but he couldn't imagine why. And even now he couldn't understand. Why would his brothers be kidnapping him when they didn't want anything to do with him anymore?

What did they want him for and why?

Just what the hell was going on?

Suddenly the ground beneath Chazz's feet disappeared from under him, the gravitational forces all around him shifted as he was hoisted over the larger man's shoulder like a sack of flour, smacking his chin on the man's thick and meaty back. Stunned for a quick moment, Chazz blinked rapidly, regaining what little composure he could muster up after learning his brothers were the ones responsible for the whole mess. Feeling the man's arm wrap around his legs and the other over his back, keeping him situated in place he tried to struggle again, only succeeding in achieving a slight wiggle, muttering muffled insults and curses as his frustration levels began to rise, overtaking the panic he was already feeling even before the revelation he had been given before.

"Knock it off, kid!" The smaller man commanded as the bigger man tightened his hold on Chazz, securing him in place as he continued to try and fight against his kidnappers.

"HOLD ON, BOSS! WE'LL SAVE YOU!" Ojama Yellow's voice cut through the air, piercing through the sound barrier as the screeching sound of the imp's shout reached Chazz's ears.

Looking up from the lovely view of the ground he was given as best he could, Chazz's eyes beheld the three Ojama spirits rushing towards him, clear expressions of anger and determination slapped onto their faces as they headed toward their beloved boss. Appreciative of their intentions, but with the knowledge of how useless their attempt at an early rescue was, Chazz shook his head, shooting them a dirty look for being so stupid. Though he certainly wouldn't turn down the rescue if he had a choice. But unfortunately the little spirits were just that.

Spirits.

There wasn't anything they could do for him that would be of any help. Unless of course his plan worked out and the decidedly very rude woman who had slapped him twice missed an Ojama after he had scattered his deck around the clearing.

"Get your grubby hands off our boss!" Black demanded as they barreled towards them, completely prepared to ram right into the large man constricting and restraining their dear boss, already feeling the desperation to save him.

"We won't let you take him, you meanies!" Green added with a clearly audible emotional tone. In all honesty, Green was the most emotional Ojama aside from Yellow himself. There really wasn't much contest about that.

Not even bothering to disillusion himself with the idea of being rescued, Chazz kept his head up to look at the annoying spirits as they were only mere feet away now. Screwing his eyes shut, Chazz shook his head and did his best to shout at the little monsters, his cries coming through as a muffled mess of assorted sounds through the thick gag in his mouth impairing his speech.

The three kidnappers stopped and looked at him, shooting Chazz and themselves odd glances before the woman rolled her eyes and frowned, stepping in front of Chazz, unknowingly intercepting the Ojama's path. Effectively causing them to smack into her back, over dramatically scattering the imps every which way. Keeping a strong stance and cold expression, she took her right hand and quickly and powerfully brought the back of it around and across his cheek, the force of the impact causing a soft wave of sound to reverberate through the small clearing, stopping him from thrashing about.

"Enough!" She commanded as Chazz's head fell back down, his chin colliding again with the back of the large man holding onto him. Her eyes cold and narrow as she quietly shouted at the boy, doing her best to control her temper and keep their presence as hidden as possible. "No one is around to help you, and nobody can hear you! You're ours now, so knock it off and behave!"

"We don't want to hurt you, kid." The smaller man added, joining the woman in front of Chazz, placing his pointer finger under his chin and hoisting Chazz's head back up so he could look the boy in the eyes. "But we will if you don't stop fighting us. So," he continued.

Reaching into the satchel around his shoulder with his free hand, the man pulled out what in the moonlight looked like a small little syringe or something like that, clearly filled with what Chazz assumed was some kind of tranquilizer to subdue him.

"I've got a solution that will make this much easier." Chazz's eyes widened in a slight burst of fear as the smaller man chuckled darkly to himself before jamming a needle into his left shoulder. "Have a nice nap, kiddo."

Letting out a muffled shout, Chazz cringed at the stab of pain accompanying the point to the syringe as it stuck into the skin of his shoulder through his coat and shirt. Despite his small size and average stature, there was no doubt that just like the woman, this man was stronger than he appeared to be. Looking back to his kidnappers, Chazz felt his eyelids droop and grow heavy while the edges of his vision blackened and blurred. Powerless to maintain consciousness, his world disappeared. His body going limp, Chazz's head drooped down again without him being awake to hold it up, even with the smaller man's finger under it.

"Kid's out cold." The bigger man surmised by the limpness of the boy's body in his arms, letting the arm around Chazz's legs fall, no longer needing to restrict his movement now that he was unconscious.

"Good." The woman scoffed under her breath, taking steps forwards in the direction of the pier where they had landed the stealth copter, motioning for the others to follow her. "Now let's go. His brothers want him by tomorrow morning. And I don't know about the two of you, but I'd like to be paid for this brat."

"Sure thing." The smaller nodded, lightly punching the larger's shoulder before light footedly hurrying to follow their cold hearted leader before the bigger man followed suit as well, carrying Chazz's limp, unconscious form over his shoulder, disappearing from sight in the night's darkness.

"Oh no! Boss!" Yellow cried, regaining his senses in time to watch the awful criminals whisk Chazz away into the woods.

Breaking down into a small fit of over dramatic tears, Ojama Yellow sank down to the grassy ground, wailing pathetically at the loss of his master, fully aware that even if he did follow them there was nothing he could do to help Chazz any. All he could do in that moment was mourn his loss for the time being. Looking up from his tears for a moment, Yellow saw the glinting of Chazz's rudely discarded duel disk which the mean woman had tossed aside after stealing his deck from the slot. Pathetically crawling over to the disk, Yellow caught another glimpse of a familiar object around the general area of the disk. Gasping in surprise, Yellow beheld his own card lying among the grass a short distance off from Chazz's duel disk shrouded in the shadow of one of the surrounding trees. Upon the realization he had been left behind, Yellow's little heart skipped a beat. There was still hope of rescuing Chazz, but it all rested upon his little yellow shoulders. But until the opportunity arose for him to get the word to Jaden, the only one who would be able to hear him, the fate of Chazz's entire future still hung in the balance.