Shandy: Ugh, this sucks!
Candy: Whenever we underline something, save it on here, and then re-open the doc to add on our responces to your reviews, everything is un-underlined.
Shandy: Basically, this chapter was a pain in the a**.
Candy: Anyway, reviews!
foxchick1: I'm glad you did.
whitlaw123: Well, you're just about to.
KawaiiFanficLover: Well... I wouldn't say that they're all together yet. More like... i don't know... discovered is the proper term. You'll see why this chapter and next chapter. And yes, we really would be deaf. XD
Amanda27A.g: It'll only get even more interesting.
GGMJ: Well, prepare for everything to go upside down.
Shandy: Enjoy the chapter!
8036487310857083758027837580278370237508275087380275082357082375807237073
"I can't believe you dragged me into this." Jounochi muttered as he waited for the school bell to ring. He knew Kaiba was behind him, hiding behind the wall on the steps. That idiot, asking for him to help with such a trivial thing. Why he even agreed was beyond him, Kaiba was his eternal enemy.
"Just shut up and do your job, Katsuya." Seto replied through the earpiece in Jou's right ear. "I don't want to do this either, but I need this information. We stick with our deal." Jounochi scoffed and checked his watch. Any second now, that cursed bell will ring.
"Don't call me Katsuya. I hate that name." Silence answered him until Kaiba replied.
"Well, what else am I supposed to call you without insulting you?"
"Joey Wheeler. That is the name I'll change my real name to in the future. Don't ask."
"I wasn't planning to… Wheeler." Just then, the bell rang. Jounochi looked around for his friends and was very happy when he saw three familiar heads pop up in the crowd.
"Alright, I'm here for answers." Jounochi said to the three of them, including Adrien and Marinette.
"We have to go somewhere to explain it properly." Yugi explained. He turned to Marinette and Adrien. "Jou's talking about answers for the questions he has. Shall we go to Master Fu's?"
"Of course!" Marinette said. "I'll lead the way."
91386481705873275827305827037502875083270587203875082370873208760237857
When they made it to the building, Jounochi was having the hardest time not responding to Kaiba (that idiot) as he made several unhelpful comments in response to what Jounochi's friends were saying. Seriously? Couldn't moneybags shut up?!
"Ah, Yugi, Marinette, Adrien, Ryou, Malik, come on in." Master Fu said as he opened the door. "Who is your friend?"
"Jounochi Katsuya." Yugi introduced. "Jou, this is Master Fu. He is the one helping us with our problem." Jounochi nodded in understanding as Bakura and Yami took forms as spirits. They all sat around the table.
"Now, if I could just- aha!" Master Fu pulled out something and brought it to the table. "I assume you brought your friend to me because something important came up, correct?"
"Jounochi was able to see straight through the superhero disguises and see Bakura and I in our spirit form, which led us to believe that-"
"That he is Seto's light." Yugi finished for Yami. "But he hates Seto with a passion and Seto hates him in return, not to mention that Jounochi had an extreme fear of the supernatural and Seto doesn't believe in magic."
"I see." Master Fu played with his beard for a bit. "Plagg, Tikki, why don't you come on out. Malik, could you please tell Jounochi about the Miraculous and their powers? I'm sure Tikki and Plagg would help you with that. Yami, Bakura, if I could talk to you privately please." The two spirits followed Fu out of the room, and Jounochi stared at the kwamis in shock. He was glad Seto could see what was going on through a hidden camera, otherwise he would've claimed that Jounochi was telling him lies.
"Jounochi, this is Tikki and Plagg. They're kwamis, magical creatures that inhabit jewels called the Miraculous Stones." Malik pointed to them in turn.
"My Japanese is very rusty." Tikki said with a smile on her face, holding out her hand(?) for the other to shake. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Jounochi!"
"Likewise." Jounochi said after a moment, shaking the other's hand.
"Don't bother me unless you have Camembert and we'll get along just fine." Was all Plagg said.
"Camembert? What's Camembert?" Jounochi asked. Plagg gaped and Tikki giggled while Yugi and Ryou explained to the confused Adrien and Marinette what was going on.
"YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT CAMEMBERT IS?!" The little black cat-like creature said.
"It's a really stinky cheese. It's all he ever eats." Tikki explained as Plagg floated over to Adrien and began to say some things to the other, who merely laughed and told the kwami something back.
"Ah. So… you're basically like the Pharaoh and Bakura, right?" Joey asked. "You know, uh, possessing objects and such."
"Not really." Tikki said with a smile. "Because the Miraculous aren't living things and don't come with an instruction manual, us kwamis were created so that we could speak to our users."
"Ok, I guess." Joey said, starting to warm up to the idea. "So, why does Hawk Moth want you?"
"If the powers of creation, me, and chaos, Plagg, come together under one person's control, they gain immense power. Like the Millennium Items." Joey nodded in understanding.
"If you gather them all, you have untold power." He seemed to echo. "But if that's the case, why didn't he go after both?"
"I think that he only knew of the Miraculous at the time. Now that Ishizu is in Paris now, he might decide to change his tactic and go after those worthy of the Millennium Items- which is impossible, since our powers neutralize."
"Wow. You sound really wise for someone who's only had one superhero." Tikki giggled. "What's so funny?"
"Marinette isn't my first Ladybug, and Adrien isn't Plagg's first Cat Noir. We've been making heroes for long before Yami was ever born."
"What? Really?" Joey asked, a little spooked, but awed at the same time.
"Ask her what this Hawkmoth guy does." Kaiba spoke for the first time in a while, which surprised Joey, but he tried not to show it.
"What's Hawkmoth's power?"
"Hawkmoth can send Akumas to possess people and turn them into super beings. If Hawkmoth was good, he would be creating a bunch of Superheroes."
"So… like Malik and his used-to-be rare hunters?"
"Yes, like tha- hey!" Malik exclaimed, and Jounochi laughed.
"Rare Hunters?" Adrien asked, a little amused as Jounochi and Malik began to rough house.
"You see," Ryou began as Yugi moved to try and stop the fight. "We use Duel Monster Cards as a way to summon monsters into the actual world. More so in the Shadow Realm, anyway. Malik wanted to be the host for the Pharaoh, but the only way to do that is to beat the Pharaoh and Yugi at something. So, he formed the Rare Hunters, an organization that did whatever necessary to collect rare and powerful cards to make the strongest deck in the world." She shrugged. "Of course, Yugi and Yami beat him and his, at the time, insanely crazy dark half."
"Wow." Marinette said, a little awed. "Could you summon one right now?"
"I can't, my bond isn't that strong with Bakura. Yugi!"
"Hai?" Yugi looked up from where she was trying to pull Malik and Joey apart.
"Summon Kuriboh, Mari and Adrien want to see."
"Sure thing, come on over here and try to stop these to?"
"Of course!" With that, Yugi and Ryou switched places. Yugi pulled out a random card from her deck and smiled as it just so happened to be Kuriboh.
"I summon Kuriboh!" She said, holding the card out in front of her, the front of the card facing Marinette and Adrien. With a poof, the adorable, but dangerous, fuzzball appeared.
"Kurii!" He exclaimed, hopping forward, and then around Adrien and Marinette's heads, eventually landing on Adrien's head, messing his hair up and making it look like the hairstyle he wore when he was Cat Noir.
'Yugi, is everything okay?' Yami asked through their bond. 'You summoned Kuriboh.'
'I'm fine, Marinette and Adrien just wanted to see how one summons.'
'As long as you're safe.'
"He's adorable~" Marinette cooed as Adrien pouted at him from atop his head. He tried to get Kuriboh off by shaking his head,. But the stubborn Duel Monster stayed on.
"Yugi, you think you can help?" Yugi turned to look at Ryou, who was pulling on the back of Joey's shirt.
"Don't worry." Marinette stood up, walked over, and removed Malik from Joey with ease. As everyone stared at her dumbfounded (besides Adrien, who was very proud of his lady), she clapped her hands together. "Sometimes it really helps to be a superhero of Paris." It was then that Master Fu, Bakura, and Yami came back. Neither looked happy with whatever had been decided.
"Sit back down." He said. "We have much to discuss."
"So, what's so important 'bout this whole thing?"
"You see, Jounochi, we are each one half of a whole." Yami began. "Yugi is my light, as Ryou is Bakura's and Malik is Marik's"
"As halves of a whole, if one of us were to die or be permanently separated, we would slowly fall into either insanity of suicide. This is not an ending that either of us want." Bakura admitted.
"Ishizu almost had Marik killed with Malik's neglection of him." Yugi continued. "And she wished for Yami and I to go through a ritual that would give him his memories, but at the cost of permanently separating us, as well as Bakura and Ryou, and Marik and Malik."
"Dang." Jou whistled. "But what's that got to do with me?" He could hear Kaiba move through his ear.
"You see, Jou… there are supposed to be four pairs of hikaris and yamis. The last pair had begged to be brought back to life so that they could live together." Yami said with a hint of awkwardness in his voice.
"What we knew until you came in from Japan was that Seto Kaiba was the dark half, no matter how much he hates our existence or denies the past."
"You think that I can find this hikari?"
"No…" Yugi placed a hand on Jou's shoulder. "Jounochi, only the yamis and hikaris can see who the superheroes of Paris are under the mask."
"Wait." Seto hissed in his ear. "So, they're suggesting that-"
"How?" Jounochi asked in a mere whisper, interrupting Kaiba.
"Well, our magic contradicts theirs, and thus the magic that prevents most from seeing-"
"That's not possible." Jou interrupted Malik. Then the blonde started laughing. "This is all some sick joke, right? Me? With that jerk? Ya' pullin' my leg." After laughing for a few moments, Jounochi looked up and caught everyone sharing looks. He froze. "You're serious."
"We wouldn't have brought it to your attention if it wasn't, Jou." Yugi twiddled with the fabric of her shirt nervously.
"Wheeler?" Hearing Seto's voice made Joey snap. He stood up, arms shaking.
"I-I gotta take a walk." Was all he said before he walked out. And he walked back the way he came, ignoring Kaiba's voice in real life and through the earpiece.
"Wheeler! Wheeler! Ugh, Joey Wheeler, look at me when I'm-" Seto bumped into Jounochi, who had abruptly stopped. Seto scowled, but that look quickly turned neutral when he saw something akin to tears appear on the blond's face. Normally, he would've made some sort of teasing comment, but he had promised not to call the other anything downgrading in exchange for the earpiece and camera, and if he did, he had to admit to everyone that Joey was an amazing duelist (using those exact words). He watched as Jounochi pulled out the earpiece, letting it fall to the ground.
"I-I need some time alone, Kaiba." Jounochi muttered, only loud enough for him to hear. "I need to re-evaluate one of the things I thought would stay constant in my life." And then he hit the ground running. Thoughts ran through Kaiba's head.
Constant? Which constant? The fact that he wasn't directly related to the spiritual problem, or maybe the fact that he would amount to nothing in the end?
Even as he thought it, both sounded wrong. Especially the last one, Joey didn't seem like the type to put himself down like that. Then again, he didn't really know the mutt.
Then it seemed to finally sink in what had been said during the meeting.
Two halves of a whole.
So did Joey mean how their hateful relationship was? Kaiba already thought that it counted as some sort of friendship (he did push them all away because he wasn't good at that sort of thing and just didn't want to admit it).
He knew that Joey trusted their friends, but just how deep was that trust? Surely Joey didn't believe it, right?
But the more he thought of it, the more it made sense to him.
He often believed that Joey's Red Eye's called to him, as Seto's Blue eye's did for him. And it always peaked his curiosity why the two dragons looked the complete opposite.
Seto knelt down to pick up the earpiece and began to walk in the same direction that Joey had. He wasn't going to check up on the stupid mutt, home just happened to be in that direction… only to the right a bit more.
806350817208572083758203582730587208753802785702387508237580273057823785723