Chapter Two: It's Not My Time

That night, in the town of Kingrah, once again various teenagers had gathered in front of the Hathor Bandshell for a concert. This time, however, while there were still quite a few rock fans dressed in black leather, there were also die-hard C.J. fans who rather chose to be clad in white. Everyone, however, was chanting out in unison, "C.J.! C.J.! C.J.!" while spotlights shone up and down on the stage, revealing the electric guitar, bass guitar, drums, and a microphone on a stand which stood waiting for their players, creating huge anticipation for the moment when the lights would come together and shine down on the star of the night.

Unbeknownst to the crowd, however, eight more 'stars' were planted in various spots throughout the place: the Pharaoh, Spencer, and Grandpa (in Yuri form) were standing near the bandshell, Joey, Tristan, and Téa were interspersed throughout the crowd, and Bakura and Kaiba were hidden near the top of the place in the shadows of the night. To fit in better with the scene, the teens in the front and back were dressed in black or white leather clothing and silver jewelry, while the ones on top of the bandshell dressed all in black.

Spencer looked around the place and murmured, "Okay, thus far I don't see anybody resembling those three…"

"But that, of course, doesn't mean they're not going to show up at all tonight," the Pharaoh added. "They might be planning on pulling off their particular stunt at a certain moment during the night."

"Right, of course," Spencer nodded. He switched over to his telepathy and thought out, How are things looking for you guys in the crowd? Are The Assassins out there, by chance?

Who knows? Joey replied. Almost anybody could be in dis place widdout bein' noticed. OW! Hey, dat was my foot!

I agree with Joey; if they're here, it'll take lots of luck to see them. Tristan added.HEY, WOULDJA QUIT SHOVING?! She's not even up there yet!

I think the guys on the roof of the bandshell would have better luck seeing them than us, Téa said.

Spencer switched his telepathy over to the other two. Any luck?

Sorry, Spencer; there's no sign of them from up here, Bakura replied.

But don't worry-as soon as we catch sight of any rockers with multi-colored hair carrying some weapons and gazing around suspiciously, we'll let you know, Kaiba added.

Gee, thanks, Kaiba, Spencer said sarcastically.

Just then, the spotlights suddenly swiveled onto one spot on the floor of the shell. The roar of the teens increased in intensity as a voice blared out over the speakers: "LADIES AND GENTLEMEN… THE MOMENT YOU'VE ALL BEEN WAITING FOR…HERE SHE IS…THE ANGELIC ROCKER…C.JAAAAY!"

Smoke bellowed out onto the stage as a young woman stepped forward to the mike. Once the smoke had cleared, C.J. was revealed in all her glory, clad in a white tube top, white jeans with chains dangling from the pockets, white leather boots, and a white flat cap perched on her blonde hair. She smiled and, while the still slightly smoke-covered band took their place at their instruments, yelled into her mike, "HELLOOOO, KINGRAH!"

The crowd cheered up to her in response.

"I CAN'T HEEEAR YOU!" C.J. said, cupping one hand to her ear.

The cheers increased in intensity. Grandpa slammed his hands over his ears and cried out, "I don't ever remember going to anything as loud as this as a kid!"

"That's because the times change, old man," Spencer yelled back. "Now loud and wild is what everybody likes these days!"

Chelsea turned back to her band, still shrouded in the smoke, and yelled out to them, "Hit it, guys!"

The drummer started off with a fast beat, the bass and electric chimed in with wild riffs, and soon, C.J. started singing into her mike her new hit single, "What Am I Doin' Here".

I've had enough of your cheatin' ways,

And your endless promises for better days,

I no longer wanna be your trophy girl,

And I'm tired of giving you another whirl.

For the longest time, I've been wantin' more

And considerin' goin' out that door,

Until today I've thought you could make things right

But now I've finally seen the liiiiight!

I'm gonna go and find another man,

Who'll give me the respect you never can

And if you can't do right,

And not even to-night,

Then would you please tell me

What am I doin' here?

As C.J. crooned her hit song out to the crowd, the sound of their cries increased ten-fold, and some of the guys started yelling out, "YOU ROCK, C.J.!" and "MARRY ME, ANGELIC ROCKER!"

While she sang, the Pharaoh's eyes wandered for a moment to her band. It was then that he noticed that the three players were dressed rather strangely, with white hats on their heads that completely hid their hair and white masks that covered their faces. Staring at them set off a familiar feeling inside of him…the sense of impending evil…

The Pharaoh leaned over to Spencer and yelled as loudly as he could to be heard, "Spencer, does C.J.'s band typically dress like that?"

Spencer's ecstatic gaze had been focused on the Angelic Rocker; however, now that the Pharaoh had pointed her band out to him, his eyes narrowed and a frown crossed his face. "No," he said, "no, they don't…"

Suddenly, the person on the electric guitar rose up one hand and sent a spark of red magic out at the cord leading to C.J.'s mike.

Electric sparks started shooting out of the fray the spark made in the cord, and small bolts shot up and out through the microphone. C.J. screamed in horror as thousands of volts of electricity started shocking her. The noise of the crowd died down with very uneasy silence as her cries echoed out through the night.

However, to everyone's shock, the electricity shooting out of the mike suddenly rose up into the air and up to the top of the bandshell, where Kaiba absorbed it into his body and made it disappear.

C.J. collapsed onto the ground, knocked out from the powerful jolts. The three bandies stared at her, frozen in terror.

Spencer quickly focused his telekinesis on the three and yanked their hats and masks right off of their faces, revealing them to in fact be The Assassins. With this occurrence, they snapped out of their shock and transformed into showers of red sparks which soared off the bandshell and out over the crowd.

"NOT THIS TIME, YOU PUNKS!" Spencer screamed out with a magic-enhanced voice. "FOLLOW ME, AMIGOS MíOS!"

The other heroes soared up and out after the three rock stars; however, before Kaiba got too far, Spencer soared up beside him and said, "Hold on one sec-everyone and their mother knows you're vastly opposed to doing anything even remotely involving magic and you'd rather prefer to do something that's even comparable to torture, so…" The two floated back down onto the stage and Spencer zapped up a custom portal box which, with another zap, created a portal leading back to the warehouse. "Instead of going with us, would you mind taking poor C.J. back to our world? I highly doubt those three killers would ever think of looking for her there."

Kaiba stared at him with wide eyes for a few moments. Spencer could almost hear the Hallelujah Chorus going off in his head.

Kaiba looked back down at the unconscious C.J. "What do I even do with her?"

"Just help her feel welcome," Spencer replied. "Take her somewhere rather nice, get anything she asks for to help her feel comfortable…oh, and be sure to put on your very best scowl."

"Is that supposed to be humorous?"

Spencer smiled sweetly at him. "Very much so, yes." He turned and zapped himself into gold sparks which soared off after The Assassins.

Kaiba turned and picked up the unconscious C.J. in his arms. He carried her into the other world, letting the portal shut behind him.