Disclaimer: If I really owned Yu-Gi-Oh or Sailor Moon, do you think I would be in college living off Ramen?
The sleek black Hino limousine sped through Domino towards the outer skirts of the city. While friendship seemed abundant, neither occupants of the entourage spoke for fear of whatever revelations were coming would disrupt the gentle peace each side had fought to attain, a peace so rare. Tea was busily dialing numbers on her cell phone and arranging a meeting between her high school friends, who, Rei gathered, had seemed to have an uncanny aptitude for world saving adventures. Had she not done the same while she was in high school, she would have thought saving the world while managing homework, cliques, and puberty, was unusual.
" It's settled then. We're meeting at the Kame Game shop. " Tea said as she shut her phone with a finalizing click.
"Nani!?" Rei accidentally yelled. It was this very same place that she fought the fateful battle that started this mess, and saved Mokuba.
"Is something wrong with that place?" Tea asked, eyes wide with concern and confusion.
"Iie. I have never been inside there before." Rei bowed her head and tried to look apologetic. "I am more worried what is outside the shop that may be a problem."
"I'm afraid I don't understand."
"Neither do I. But if anything is out of the usual, inform me immediately." Rei finally enabled herself to meet Tea's eyes and silently apologized to the powers of fate for dragging Tea into this mess, and vowed to disavow her with this battle as soon as possible.
"If you say so. " Tea said forcefully. Her voice feigned calm but her eyes and mind showed differently. Blue eyes were alight with suspicion borne from lack of information and as it seemed, trust.
"You said your friends' names are Joey, Tristan, Duke, and…?" Rei openly inquired with intent on a diversion.
"Yugi…and…um…Yami. They're related…sort of. It is rather complicated." Tea sweat dropped and silently prayed she wouldn't have to explain the millennium items and a possessing 5000 year old Egyptian pharaoh whose spirit came about to play a modern card game. Let's not even get into how complicated and damning the game is.
"Sou." Rei replied taking it for a misshapen family situation. " His name is darkness?" she inquired more for polite conversation rather than concern. Rei reasoned that if she were asking the questions, the less questions Tea could ask her about what they were getting into.
Truthfully, she herself didn't know either.
It seems Rei's dark dreams were manifesting in the black sleekness of the limo. She couldn't help but feel disturbingly fated that she was about to meet a person named darkness, a name which reflected what her senshi powers and her human likeness felt at the approach of the darkest hours.
The group of senshi and Tuxedo Kamen huffed as they finally packed the ice block of the android into the limo, with much energy and refreezing from Mercury along the way. Venus barked orders to the driver to take them to Hino Corp's headquarters. The driver protested in favor of her press conference, not liking that a hunk of ice had been stuffed into the back of his limo. However, each concern he raised was met by a pleasant smile and a forceful "Just do it!" from the goddess of love, a girl so lovely, yet powerful in mysterious ways.
"Hooooooooooooeeeeeeeeeeeee. I'm exhausted!" Usagi wailed as she climbed into the limo.
"Why are you always the first to wimp out?" Chibi-Moon cried indignantly.
"I am not wimping out! I just carried a hunk of ice!" Usagi wailed, her famous laughable and ridiculous social defenses rising.
"So did everyone else!" Chibi moon teased with sly eyes.
"Ohhhhh you little pip-squeak! You didn't carry anything because you're just a child. No wonder you can be so smug!" Cried the soldier of love, or in this case, un-love.
"Stop it. Let's just go. This thing makes me nervous." Jupiter reminded them ominously.
"Amen to that!" The driver added.
As the limo sped toward its destination, all of the occupants failed to notice a red flash in the robot's eyes.
"Douzo yoroshiku gozaimasu." Rei said as she humbly bowed to grandpa and Yugi upon arrival. Honestly, she had been shocked by the boy's shortness and found herself interested in the possible biology of why this boy wasn't in junior high. In spite of height, his most alluring feature that made his height inconsequential was his light violet eyes, that, if Rei hadn't known better, could have been a sign that they could be related to her own.
The most puzzling attribute, however, was a mysterious golden pyramid puzzle hanging from his neck, no pun intended. Such a piece of jewelry was so ostentations and impractical that the fiery warrior deduced that it was probably worn for sentimental reasons, or more arousing – magical reasons. Rei mentally fantasized about what an object such as that could do.
Her reverie was interrupted when the young boy Yugi suggested they go upstairs where the others were waiting. Truthfully, despite her forwardness, Rei felt intruding and self conscious about being invited to a place less public with people she didn't know, even if she was about their age. However she followed without complaint as the quest for knowledge outweighed contrived formalities.
She they entered Yugi's bedroom, Rei blushed at the intimacy of the meeting, but pushed it aside when she saw two men, one blonde and one painfully brunette. She honestly wondered how many bottles of hair gel the two of them went through, then thinking of Yugi's hair resolved that it could be worse.
"Where's Duke?" Tea inquired as she searched the room.
The two boys, who had been playing a card game before, finally realized they were not alone. "He called ta' say he'll be a lil' late. Ah, probably got abou' 6 dates er somethen'." The blonde one replied, his voice laced with accent
"Well, we don't need him that much." Tea said nonchalantly, whose tone made Rei smirk and chuckle with respect and familiarity of her own distaste for loose men.
It was then that all eyes turned to her.
"Hey Tea! You didn't mention your friend was a pretty girl!" The boy with the awful brown hair said with starry eyes. The blonde looked up for a moment to google, then blushed and returned to the game.
"I knew you would say that. That's why I didn't say. Don't make her feel uncomfortable or I'll kick your arse." Tea threatened as she sat on Yugi's bed, familiarity emanating from her actions.
"So what's this all about, Tea? You said it was urgent." Yugi asked kindly as he sat next to her.
"Well, it's not me, it's the company I bring. This is Hino Rei, CEO of HinoCorp. She has a concern pertaining to Gozaburo's virtual world." Tea explained.
"Good riddance." Joey spat randomly.
"Shouldn't you ask Kaiba? I bet he could tell you everything there is to know." Yugi offered.
Tea nearly fell off the bed, and Rei sweatdropped. "Last time we met, I was looking up at him from the flat of my back. That baka has no heart, and absolutely no consideration or feelings. Everything offends him and it is rather troublesome. And if you do by some means manage to best him, it becomes a hateful revenge game. I don't want anything to do with him until he realizes his place." It registered mildly to Rei that she was rambling, but once she started she couldn't force herself to stop.
"Hey Tea, I like this girl." Joey said and smiled. "She can kick moneybags' ass."
"Witness the depth of the second place duelist in Duelist Kingdom..won over by a speech and a pretty face." The brunette mused.
"Not just any speech. I mean, you think I would have liked Tea after all her speeches but.."
"JOEY!" Yugi chasted while Tea tried not to explode.
Rei giggled, both at the boys and Kaiba being refered to as 'moneybags'. "You can stop there…Joey..is it? I don't want to get you in trouble." Joey grinned, however Rei decided it was time to sober up. Being burdened with fighting for peace had long taught her that laughs only last for the moment. Still, it has been so long since she did laugh like this…
"Since I can't ask Kaiba…" Rei began again. "I would like if you would tell me everything you know about Gozaburo Kaiba and what he did, anything at all that might help me. An invention of his has been misplaced and gone haywire; it has recently attacked Mokuba and could be a real problem. I don't think Kaiba believes it to be real or a problem, but I'm still afraid of it."
"That sounds like Kaiba to me." The brunette said.
"Gozaburo used to make war machines, for allies, enemies, and separatists. He didn't play sides. Basically, I believe he was out to screw everyone over as long as he made a profit. Naturally, no known wife was taken, so he adopted Seto and Mokuba, I believe because Seto won a grueling chess game against him. Eventually, Seto tricked Gozaburo out of control of the company, so the old man, so ashamed, barricaded himself in a machine in a secret laboratory." Yugi explained.
"Secret laboratory? This sounds like Frankenstein gone wrong." Rei commented.
"I suppose you could put it this way. But that was Kaiba's role model growing up – a man with no heart. Explains a lot, though I can't see why he would want to be like that man. Granted, he stopped the heavy arms manufacturing immediately and devoted the company to state of the art gaming."Joey added.
"At least something is positive." Rei chided.
"What about that Noah kid?" Tea reminded them.
"Noah?"
"Kaiba's step brother and Gozaburo's biological son. He went down with the virtual kingdom. He realized what a cheat his father was. I doubt he'd be behind this."Joey said.
"I'm assuming Duke doesn't know anymore?" Rei pressed.
"Duke is the CEO of his own gaming company. He might know something since he is in competition with Kaiba. You would most likely be able to get ahold of him during the day, because his night acts are quite frivolous." The brunette said.
"And Yami?" She turned to the brown-haired boy. "Are you Yami?"
Tristan blushed as Yugi coughed forcefully. "No, I'm Tristan."
"Yami…is…" Yugi struggled for words. "You wouldn't believe me."
"Try me. I have encountered many unbelievable things. I'm no Kaiba." Rei tried.
"Yami is the spirit of a legendary five thousand year old Pharaoh, trapped inside this puzzle." He held the puzzle out to her. "We switch control of my body in different situations."
"Yami is ta' King of Games. He wins impossible duels!" Joey added.
"Duels?" asked Rei after she praised herself for originally picking up on the magic of the millennium puzzle.
"Duel Monsters. Invented by Maximillion Pegasus, but really based off a five thousand year old Egyptian games. Duke and Kaiba's companies create holographic technology for the two games." Yugi explained.
Rei's eyes widened in shock. "There wouldn't by any chance be something called Harpy Lady in that game?"
"Yeah, it's a monster." Tristan added.
Rei's mind was spinning. Not only did she have youmas to worry about, but apparently there were monsters from a 5000 year old game monsters popping out of nowhere with magical parameters. They could be used negatively against someone else and this was so much more troublesome because humans were using them on humans, and not morphological beings. On top of that, Kaiba's company somehow had a role in controlling these monsters in virtual games. She had only ever heard of youma before, but could these duel monsters and youma be the same thing?
She still didn't have any answers in regards to the robot. Damn. Maybe she would have to ask Kaiba.
"It is quite complicated." Tea added, taking Rei's silence as a sign of confusion, unawares of the thicket of magic in which Rei herself was entangled.
"I understand better than you think Tea." Rei said pensively, almost with the distance of someone who had recently lost someone.
Suddenly the golden pyramid necklace began glowing. Yugi's body began to lengthen, and his eyes began to turn a magenta-purple color. His face contour changed slightly, but not enough to rouse public suspicion.
When he spoke, his voice was considerably deeper, his charisma more charming, and his being more, dare Rei say, attractive. "I'm sorry we could not be of more help. Even we do not understand what fully went on."
Rei's eyes locked with Yami's for a moment. He was indeed darkness, but not an evil darkness. He was the sort of darkness that penetrated the nights in which fantasies were made and found. Rei unconsciously gulped as she mentally played with the borders of her own fantasy.
"It's no trouble – "
Outside, a huge crash, the sound of twisting metal and shattering glass, penetrated the still calm. The group, instilled with fear, raced out of the room, downstairs, and out the door. A black limo was overturned and propped sickeningly against a tree. The group rushed over, Tea muttering "Oh my Kami" like a mantra along the way.
Glass littered the scene. The group prowled around with terror coursing through their veins that they might stumble upon a dislodged body. Amongst the glass there were oddly shaped crystals that would not be associated with their clear, close relative glass. Rei picked up a crystal and watched it melt in her hand due to her abnormal body temperature.
"Ice?" She questioned aloud. The group gave her inquisitive looks and gathered around her to see what she was fussing about.
They moved to peer into the car where a former door had been before it was mangled by physics. Inside lay five girls, oddly dressed to all but Rei, and a man in a tuxedo. All were unconscious but not appearing to be clinging to life.
The others gasped at the strange women, while Rei padded to the front of the car and peered in the driver's seat. The driver, a middle-aged, kind looking man, had been impaled by the engine that had came through the dash board during the accident. Rei felt her nose hairs curl and her stomach lurch at the smell of his corpse.
"Don't come up this way, Minna." Rei said with tone lightened by unnerving response to mutilated humanity.
"Hey look. They're dressed funny." Joey mused.
"Pretty girls. Scanty-dressed girls." Tristan chimed in.
"Tristan! You are oogling unconscious girls! Possibly hurt girls!" Tea screamed.
Rei tutted then climbed into the car. She quickly found her queen and cradled her head in her lap while examining for head trauma. Then she reminded herself that this was Usagi, and any trauma to the head wouldn't damage a thing. Mainly because, there was nothing to damage. Nevertheless, she inspected her queen thoroughly for injuries our of devotion and love. She then proceeded to inspect the other senshi and Mamoru to put her spirit to rest that they weren't harm. When she was satisfied with her findings, she climbed out of the limo to a set of shocked faces.
"Calm down. They're alright. They would not be killed by a mere car accident. What we should be worrying about is what caused it." Rei chided.
"What? They're unconscious ! They need medical attention!" Tea spat at Rei, furious by the girl's apparent disconcern with their physical health.
"Tea, you have seen magic, yes?" She waited until Tea nodded affirmative. "Then trust me, those are no ordinary uniforms." Rei began peering into the forest nearby, looking for signs of life.
"Who are you?" Yami suddenly said darkly, his eyes locked on Rei's body, watching her every move in many ways.
"I am in a similar position to you, Pharaoh. And if you stand for love and justice, then I am on your side." Rei said with equal ferocity and watched as a flicker of, was it admiration, crossed his eyes.
Rei's eyes scanned the contours of nearby buildings and the forest. Whatever caused the accident couldn't have gotten far away, as she and Tea's friends were only moments behind. Her extra senshi senses and ESP were whirling with anxiety.
"What are you lookin' for Rei? 'Dis is just an accident. We should call the proper people to clean i' up." Joey said.
"I don't think so. There isn't just glass on the ground; there's ice too. What would they be travelling with that would need to be frozen? I can't see anything, unless it isn't there anymore." Rei reasoned aloud.
"I don' get it." Joey whined.
"Of course you wouldn't, mutt." A low voice growled.
"Kaiba!" Yami declared.
"What are you lot doing around an accident like this? Call the police or something. Or else I'll start to believe that you are all some creepy-" Kaiba was cut off.
"You're here too Kaiba and therefore you are just as bad as us. On top of that, you aren't making any effort to call the police." Rei snapped without turning around.
"I wanted to drive by and not be bothered, but Mokuba insisted we stop." Kaiba sneered as he defended himself.
"Then why didn't you keep driving? Now you're just annoying us." Tea said.
Kaiba only growled and declared that he was wasting his time, until Mokuba came barreling into the scene. "I just called the police!" he declared. "They're coming, and it's good I called because they had no record of the accident – Oh, hi guys!" Finally he realized all the spectators.
The others began declaring their relief that help was on the way, while Rei began to notice a faint mist entwining with the forest. Wisps of white mist twirled and danced with the branches and Rei could smell the sweet scent of peony and…sulfur. Her eyes widened and her nose twitched in adrenaline.
"Leave now. All of you. I'll take care of the car, but you can't stay here any longer!" Rei tugged on Joey's and Yami's arm and began pushing them away from the scene, despite their protests.
"What is going on? I just called the police. They will want witnesses." Mokuba argued.
"I will stay. You can't stay." She shoved Tea and Tristan away, then began tugging Mokuba away until Kaiba seized her wrist.
"Are you bipolar? Or just crazy?" He asked, somewhat seriously.
She glanced towards the limo, noting that Kaiba or Mokuba must not have seen the senshi, or Mokuba would recognize the uniforms. On top of that, she had to remove their bodies before the police arrived or there could be some trouble.
"I thought we made it quite clear not to speak of things we don't know with each other, Kaiba. If I'm correct, you didn't want to even be here, so just leave." Panic began to rise in Rei's voice as the mist was now licking her feet.
"What's wrong with you? Are you guilty?" Kaiba's voice was irritated and suspecting.
"No, I…I… can't explain. Oh, fine then. If you won't leave, then help me!" Rei wrenched her wrist from his grasp, and began pulling her senshi's bodies from the limo, with disturbing ease.
"Those uniforms! That's the same uniform that the girl had that saved me. Her's was red!" Mokuba pointed at the bodies and declared.
Seto Kaiba's eyes narrowed dangerously at the two black haired people. "Is this some elaborate scheme to make me believe that some magical fairy girl saved you, Mokuba?" Kaiba asked maliciously.
"You mean you've seen stuff like this before, Mokuba?" Yami and the others had sauntered back over.
"Hai! Last-"
"SilenceMokuba. Don't encourage them." Kaiba hissed. "We're leaving." He grabbed Mokuba's wrist and began dragging him away.
"There will be no need, Seto Kaiba. Your allegiance is required. Please submit." A mechanical voice echoed.
Somewhere along the debate, the robot had emerged from the forest, and was standing just meters from the group. A thick mist had completely covered the ground, obstructing the senshi's bodies. If Rei didn't know better, she would have guessed that she were standing before the gates of time. The entire group turned to face the intruder with poise of battle and Armageddon.
"Kaiba, RUN." Rei ordered.
"Don't be a fool. I'm not afraid him." His stubbornness was impossible to get rid of, Rei mentally declared. "What do you want with me?' Kaiba asked the impatient machine.
"Nothing. He doesn't want anything." Rei quickly interrupted and began pushing Kaiba away.
"Why are you so meddlesome?" Kaiba snapped at Rei as he resisted her push. A short distance away, Tea and her friends remained thoroughly confused. "Tea, is this…..normal?" Yami asked. Tea nodded an exasperated 'yes'.
"Why are you so annoying? And I am meddlesome? Who was 'just driving by' when he stopped and then wouldn't leave?" Rei accused and jabbed her index finger at Kaiba's chest.
"Only because I suspect you're plotting against me again."
"Kaiba, I don't waste my energy plotting against you. I would rather just destroy you."
"You couldn't get rid of me if you wanted to."
"Try me!"
"You have fifteen seconds to comply." Interrupted their banter.
All eyes returned to the demanding piece of technology. There was an air of tangible anxiety as each person decided to call the machine's bluff when they did nothing. Breaths came in short puffs of steam in sharp contrast to the cold mist.
"Time's up." The machine declared, and ran an electric charge through his now sparking fist. It leapt to attack the nearest person, Joey, with the dangerous limb.
However it never reached Joey for a stream of fire intervened.
"Over my dead body!" Sailor Mars declared.
Without missing a beat, E.S. Asher responded "so be it."
Meanwhile, 6 pair of eyes were wondering where Rei Hino had gone, and why a scantily dressed girl was standing in her place……
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Too long it took me to update! My sincerest apologies! Honestly, I my only defense is that I was suddenly struck with inspiration for this story, and after Little Lady I wanted to do something different other than Harry Potter.
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