And here's chapter three. the longest one so far. I really hope you enjoy this.
Disclaimer: I don't own Yugioh or Pokemon. If I did I'd be able to meet people over on the other side of the Atlantic.
Crossing Paths: Second Edition
Chapter Three
Threat of Death's Drop
Neko awoke to soreness around her wrists and ankles. When she opened her eyes, she received a clear bird's eye view of the busiest street in Domino.
"AAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!!" It was obvious what she did. "I don't like heights, I don't like heights, oh God, GET ME DOWN FROM HERE!!!"
Very faintly, through her screaming, Neko heard voices from the roof of the building, about a foot above the flagpole she was tied to. The occupants on the roof heard the screaming of the pissed girl.
"Oh, yes, Pharaoh, that reminds me. There's one other condition to this duel. You lose, and an innocent girl dies along with you."
"Malik, you bastard! Let her go, now!" Someone growled, Neko didn't know whom. However, the name of who put her on the flagpole was enough to send her into fury.
"So that's your name! Malik, WHEN I GET MY HANDS ON YOU-! YOU BETTER FIND A REALLY GOOD PLACE TO HIDE!!!" She started to struggle against her bonds. A moment later, Neko heard the faint calls of "Let's Duel!" from above. She had no idea at all what that meant. Time passed, and the cat girl was able to get one hand to reach around and touch the ropes around her wrists. Her curse activated, and very sharp and long claws grew from her fingertips. The claws made quick work with the ropes. Now at least she had her hands free.
Unable to get to her feet, Neko canceled her curse and her claws disappeared. She looked up, and her jaw hit the ground 15 stories below. 'Is that a dragon?!' She thought, shocked. 'But that's no Pokemon! What the heck is going on up there?' Once again determined to free herself, and to find out what was going on, Neko resummoned her claws. She shimmied to the end of the pole, pushing along a burlap sack to the wall of the building. Scrunching up into as much of a ball as she could, she stretched her arm around, and touched her ankles. The ropes shredded into ribbons. Now Neko was completely free, but too weak to haul herself off the pole.
'Great, I'm free, but can't get to safety. Does the universe hate me?'
At that exact moment, the universe decided to tell her what it thought of her. This huge, blue titan rose from the surface of the roof. It shook the entire building and scared Neko more than Bakura did. A thunderous growl came from the titan, and it struck. What it hit Neko didn't know, but she felt sorry for the target.
Her muscles then decided to remind her how tired they were. A burning pain shot up her arms and legs.
'Oh God, I don't think I can hold on much longer. Please tell me they won. Please tell me someone will help soon.' Her palms became clammy and it seemed every second was an eternity. The pole was slippery and her fingertips were straining to keep their fragile grip.
"Help!" She thought her plea went unheard when the oddest head of hair peeked over the edge of the building. Blonde bangs shaped like lightening framed a sculpted face and a few other lightening streaks shot into onyx black spiked hair tipped with magenta. However, the one thing that got her was the eyes. They were the rarest color of crimson with a touch of amethyst. Another head leaned over after this one. He was a bit more normal, but still extraordinary. Hard sapphire partially hidden by chocolate brown bangs. The one with spiked hair reached down.
"Take my hand."
Neko bit her lip, and grabbed the proffered arm. He grunted, and pulled. His partner helped by grabbing Neko's other arm. Thirty seconds later, all three were panting slightly on the roof of the building.
"Thank you so much. If you hadn't come…" Neko shivered, then thought back to when she had cut her ankles free.
'When I pushed that burlap sack, did it wriggle?' Her eyes got wider than a chibi's, and she shot back over to the edge of the building and examined the bag that had been tied to the flagpole.
"Hey, what are you doing?!" Yami called, following Neko. The other just watched, emotionless.
"There's a sack tied to the pole, my Pikachu's inside it!"
'Pikachu?'
Neko leaned over the edge, and unseen to the others on the roof, activated her curse and cut the rope that tied it to the pole. She brought the sack up and untied the knot. Out jumped the oddest creature anyone on that planet had ever seen.
It looked like a mouse, for starters. However, it was yellow. With black eyes, pink cheeks and tail fluffed out like a fox's.
"Fox!" Neko cried, hugging the 'Pikachu' to her.
"What's that?" Yami asked.
"This is a…" She trailed off as a thought occurred to her. "Oh God, I've forgotten my manners! I'm Neko, Neko Birch, and this is my Pikachu, Fox. I'm a Pokemon trainer."
"I'm Yugi Mutou." Yami said.
"Seto Kaiba." Both of their faces still had a "huh?" look to them. However, Kaiba's was a bit more hidden.
"You're looking at me weird. Why?" Neko inched back, more than a bit nervous.
"What's a Pokemon?" Yami asked.
"You don't know?" Yami shook his head. Neko shrugged. "A Pokemon is" At that exact moment, a helicopter with a raven-haired kid hanging out the door came up to the roof.
"Kaiba, I found Joey, liked you asked me to!" The kid called.
"Yugi, get in the chopper. We're going to where your answer awaits! And kid, you too. It's seems there's more for you to tell." With their faces set for the next adventure, and Fox seated on his master's shoulder, they entered the helicopter.
"Yugi," Kaiba smirked as they waited to arrive. "You know that Malik, the leader of the Ghouls, is just another enemy, like you."
Yami shook his head. "No, not like me. He has a terrible power. His Millennium Rod has magic that lets him brainwash people and make them do acts against their will."
"Magic?" Neko asked. She paid attention to the conversation. Yugi nodded grimly. The out-of-place trainer rubbed the charm on her necklace. "I guess magic is here as well," She said, quietly. Yami heard this, but decided to say nothing.
"We've arrived at the pier, Mr. Kaiba." The pilot said from the cockpit. Kaiba said nothing.
The helicopter landed in a fit of swirling breezes. Yami got off as soon as the door was unlocked. Kaiba was a bit more reserved. Neko stayed near the helicopter, to watch things unfold. She could tell that this wasn't her place.
In front of Neko's eyes, the story unfolded. It seemed that Yugi's best friend was under the control of Malik. He was using Joey to challenge Yugi to a life or death duel. In addition to keep Yugi from saying no or anyone else interfering, Yugi's other friend, Tea, had a pill filled with fast acting poison between her teeth. She was to swallow it and die if anyone tried to stop the duel, whatever a duel was.
Lastly, to make sure that Kaiba didn't interfere, and to generally piss him off, he had two of his "mind slaves" grab the raven-haired boy. In other words, they grabbed Kaiba's brother Mokuba and held him hostage with a knife at his throat. Neither the "mind slaves" nor Malik noticed Neko standing so far back. That was a small blessing in itself.
The "duel" began, and Neko was entranced. It was almost like a Pokemon battle. You and your opponent summoned monsters to do battle. Sure, there were a few variables, but it was the same!
Joey used cards like Hinotama to directly attack Yugi. Even though the battle system looked the same, the human elements in Pokemon battles are usually safe. In this, it seemed that the human player was vulnerable to attack. And Yugi was being pounded on harder and harder.
But when Yugi took off his Millennium Puzzle, something got through to Joey. Neko had no idea what. Nevertheless, something got through.
Time ticked down on what would send the loser to a watery death, when Joey overcame the brainwashing. Yugi was down to his last few hundred "Life Points" and he could barely stand. He had "Mystical Rift Panel" holding back "Meteor of Destruction" for the last few minutes before the bomb went off, and dropped the anchor. Yugi said something about Joey getting his heart back, then he commanded "Meteor of Destruction" to hit him.
Thirty seconds later, the bomb went off, and the anchor dropped, taking both Joey and Yugi with it.
Neko narrowed her eyes. No way was she going to stand around and do nothing while two people had the chance to drown, especially when one had saved her life! She snapped out of her stupor and grabbed a Pokeball off her belt. Running towards the pier, she threw the ball into the air.
"Golduck, c'mon out!" Everyone around Neko was shocked, who was this girl and what did she just release?! "Golduck, go after the blonde, I'll go after the other one. Cut his chains with slash attack if you have to, just get him to the surface!" Both took a leap at the edge of the wooden pier, and dived into the ocean.
Neko was a good swimmer, but Golduck was better. The blue duck Pokemon used his webbed hands and feet to propel himself down to Joey.
Golduck's trainer did not need to go as fast nor as far as he did, thankfully. Yugi had somehow gotten out of his cuff and was already drifting towards the surface. Neko glanced at Golduck, who had all but disappeared in the darkening gloom of the ocean, and swam back up to Yugi. She grabbed him and moved all the faster, determined to get him to air before he drowned.
Golduck got to Joey quickly. Since he had no key, Golduck just cut the chain with his slash attack. Although he was already helping Joey to the surface, Joey was more than past his maximum time limit for holding his breath. A massive stream of air bubbles exited from his mouth, and his body went fearfully limp.
Neko and Yugi reached the surface at about the same time that Joey's air bubbles did, and therefore did not see them. Everyone else did, though they didn't really know what they were.
"Yugi!" A blue eyed brunette called, running over and helping a barely conscience Yugi out of the ocean. Neko hauled herself out right after, and laid on the sun-warmed wood of the dock and just breathed. She enjoyed air and breathing, she really did, even if it didn't seem so when she pulled this sort of dramatic stunt. Then she realized something, Golduck hadn't come up yet! At that moment, Golduck and Joey hit the surface themselves. Joey was gasping for air like a starving man would vacuum up food. The blue duck Pokemon helped him to get to the dock, and then joined his soaked trainer. Neko gave a tried grin to her Pokemon. "Golduck, you did a great job. Thank you so much. You deserve a rest." She pulled out Golduck's Pokeball. "Golduck, return!" The water Pokemon disappeared in a flash of red light. The trainer relaxed, and turned to everyone else. Their eyes were bulging, and almost every jaw was on the ground. Except Kaiba, of course, he always kept his emotions in check. "What?!" Neko squeaked. "You're all acting like you've never seen a Pokemon before."
"That's what that was?" The female brown-haired person asked.
"Yeeeaaaaaahhhhh…"The out-of-place trainer held her vowels, not sure how to react. She looked around, hoping to find a kind face. She noticed some extra people by a violet convertible; just staring at the whole thing slack jawed. There was a young redhead there, and it looked as if she didn't care that some unknown person had summoned a real monster, even if it had saved someone from drowning.
"Big Brother!" She cried, and rushed to Joey.
"Serenity?" Joey breathed, still a bit dazed from the whole experience. He 'oofed' as Serenity practically glomped him in her concern.
"Big Brother, you're ok! I saw you go down and I was so scared!" She released him from her death grip and turned to Neko. "Thank you for saving Big Brother. She gave Neko a polite bow as the trainer waved it off. "It was nothing, anyone would have done it."
Serenity just smiled and went back to worrying over her brother like a mother hen.
When Neko looked away from the two siblings, her eyes met with unforgiving blue.
"What. Was. That?" Kaiba spat, holding Neko still with just one look.
"What was what?" She said nonchalantly, her attitude betraying how she really felt.
"What was that /thing/ you had go in after the mutt? It looked like a kappa (A/N: Kappa mythical Japanese sea monster)"
"It was a Golduck." He arched one delicate eyebrow. " A Golduck is a Pokemon." Kaiba's expression didn't change. "You really don't know?" Neko asked, incredulously, as most shook their heads, including the few people by the convertible. She took a deep breath and sighed. "The official definition of Pokemon is a mystical being with amazing powers, they are the animals of the planet. Does any of this ring a bell?" More no's from everyone. Fox here is a Pikachu, a species of Pokemon. Golduck is another example." Everyone's eyes were wide, including Kaiba's. He couldn't help it. It was like being shown that humans could fly. He quickly squashed his amazement, though.
"You're insane, just like the rest of these freaks. Believing in magic, spirits, and real mythical creatures. I'll leave you with the loony bin." Kaiba turned and began to walk away. "Yugi, I have the answer. I'll see you at the finals!"
Mokuba yelled, "Wait up, Seto!" He ran to catch up to his big brother and a moment later, they were gone.
The silence in Kaiba's wake was so thick you could cut it. Neko's hesitant question broke it, "So…what now?"
Yugi piped up, "The Battle City finals! You're welcome to come with us if you want, Neko."
"Really?" She asked, her voice high pitched. He nodded.
"Where is it, though?" Tea asked, voicing the question on a few people's minds.
In answer, a buxom blonde-haired woman spoke up, "I know. It's on the other side of town."
"The other side of town, we'll never make it by the deadline!"
"Not if we take my car. People might have to sit on laps, though, my baby ain't a van." Everyone piled into the convertible. Five minutes later, they discovered there was no room for Neko, even if people sat on laps.
"Sorry Neko, I guess you can't come." Yugi apologized, eyes downcast. Neko scoffed.
"Ok, so there's no room for me in the car. That doesn't mean I still can't come along!" She reached for a Pokeball and enlarged it from golf ball sized to baseball sized. "Rapidash, let's get ready to run!" A bright flash of light, and gasps were heard from those in the car.
A large horse, rivaling in height with a Clydesdale appeared. It had a flaming mane and tail, blue hooves and eyes, and a horn, like a unicorn.
"What is that?" The blonde-haired woman asked, astonished.
"This is my way to the finals. Drive, and I'll follow." Mai opened her mouth to ask a question which Neko anticipated. "Don't worry, Rapidash here can easily keep up." Neko got on her horse as the car started up. Soon, they all left the nightmare of what happened at the docks behind them as the sun finally set.
Ok, this is the last update for today. I REALLY liked writing this one. So much fun torturing a character.
Anyways, review! Not all the credit is mine, some goes to Khalia!