AGKamon: Hey readers! I just want to personally thank katz341 for updating...again. And I accept the cookies you have waiting for me, I like chocolate chip... *begins imagining delicious cookies*
Kayla: Um...ew. Bakura! She's drooling, come help me! *attempts to find paper towels*
Bakura: Heck no. I'd rather say the disclaimer...AGKamon doesn't own Marik, me, or anything related to Yu-Gi-Oh! But she does own that spaz over there. *points to Kayla, who's running around frantically still searching for paper towels*
Marik: *nudges Bakura with his elbow* Oh come on Bakura, we all know you like that spaz. This chapter even has you two bonding...kind of. There's more French in this chapter, so the translations are at the end again! Also, whoever finds the very slight Yu-Gi-Oh! Abridged references in this chapter gets...a hug from either me or Bakura!
Bakura: I'm not hugging anyone! *suddenly thinks of Yami Marik's abridged counterpart* The authoress doesn't own Yu-Gi-Oh! the Abridged Series either, Little Kuriboh does.
At The Graveyard:
"Who are you tryin' to fool with disguises like that? …At least you didn't run at us, that would've been ridiculous," Kayla scolded, yanking the pathetic mask off one the three 'men' who were probably trying to scare the Locator Cards out of us.
"Which one of you is the duelist?" I asked as the other two removed the masks. I noticed the shortest one was wearing a Duel Disk.
"I am."
"Hm, I challenge you to a duel. Winner takes all."
"Why would I agree to that?"
"I have one Locator Card, you have five. Whoever wins goes to the finals."
"Good point. I'll agree to your terms. Duel!" the short person whose head reminded me of a skull replied.
"I'll go first; I summon Headless Knight in attack, and then I'll set one card face-down. Your move," I said.
"That's it? I summon The Snake Hair in attack mode. Now Snake Hair, attack his Headless Knight! …I end my turn."
"Very well. First I activate my face-down card, Shallow Grave, allowing both of us to summon one monster from our graveyard to our fields in defense mode; I'll be re-summoning Headless Knight, but since there are no monsters in your graveyard - there are no monsters for you to summon. Now I sacrifice my Headless Knight to summon Earl of Demise in attack mode." I suddenly smirked as the field and everything around us became shrouded in shadows.
"Wh-what's with all the dark, creepy shadows?" my opponent asked.
"I have taken our duel to the Shadow Realm. The loser now loses more than their Locator Cards; they'll be trapped here in the Shadow Realm for the rest of eternity. Now Earl of Demise, destroy his monster! …I think I'll end my turn there."
-Bakura: 3950 Life Points - Bonz/Opponent Guy: 3500 Life Points-
"Fine. I summon my Dragon Zombie in attack mode. Next I'll pay 800 life points to activate the Spell Card Magic Burial so I can re-summon Snake Hair. Now I'll activate Polymerization to fuse Dragon Zombie and Snake Hair together to summon the Great Mammoth of Goldfine! Since I can't attack this turn, I'll just set a card face-down."
"I draw."
"Not so fast, I activate my face-down, Skull Invitation! Now, whenever a card is sent to the graveyard, that card's owner loses 300 life points per card." I shrugged; a petty spell like that wasn't going to stop my strategy.
"I activate Spiritualistic Medium; I can now discard my entire hand so my monster will gain 500 attack points for every card. With four cards sent to the graveyard, my Earl of Demise gains 2000 attack points, raising its attack to 4000."
"You still take 1200 points of damage due to Skull Invitation!"
"That's fine. Earl of Demise is still going to destroy your Great Mammoth of Goldfine. And just as you pointed out for me, because your monster was sent to the graveyard, you take another 300 points of damage."
-Bakura: 2750 Life Points - Bonz/Opponent Guy: 600 Life Points-
"Hm, it's my turn then, and I activate Nightmare's Steelcage! Now every monster on the field can't attack for two of my turns. I'll also set one card face-down to end my turn."
"I activate the Spell Card Ectoplasmer, now if I sacrifice one of my monsters, you take damage equal to half its original attack points. So I sacrifice the Earl of Demise; his original attack was 2000, and half of that is 1000. You take 1000 points of damage, making me the winner. …Have a good time in the Shadow Realm!
-Bakura: 2750 Life Points - Bonz/Opponent Guy: 0 Life Points - Bakura wins-
Kayla suddenly moved, took the five Locator Cards, and walked out of the graveyard as the shadows continued to make a feast of my former opponent and his friends. My eyes narrowed at her.
What is her problem? I walked up behind her and grabbed her arm to stop her from going anything further.
"Hm? Oh, you must want the cards, right? Here, tell Marik I'm not gonna follow you around anymore. I've obviously overstayed my welcome…" she said, handing me the five Locator Cards. I took them with the hand that didn't have a grip on her and pocketed the cards.
"What makes you think that?" I growled.
"It's obvious, isn't it? I care about your well-being once, and you get all super-defensive-with-an-attitude on me; you must be getting a little tired of me following you around." I was silent while I thought of a response; my voice seemed quieter than usual when I spoke, I noticed.
"I haven't had anyone care about me in a very long time; perhaps I simply need to get used to it again. Despite what you may think, I seem to care about you for a reason I don't understand yet."
"How do I know that's not a lie?"
"When you pulled me out of the hospital by the arm; I would've sent a normal mortal to the Shadow Realm for that, but for some reason, I can't do that to you. If I really didn't care, I would've left you behind somewhere already, or sent you to the Shadow Realm. Come on, come with me to the finals. Besides, it'd be a little suspicious to Marik if I didn't arrive with you." She laughed lightly.
"Yea…I guess he'd probably think you sent me where you sent those 'zombies'. Sure, I'll come with you. On one condition."
She forgives quickly.
"What would that be?"
"Next time I care about you, don't go all Prima-Donna on me. I'm off in the head, but I care about people that I consider my friends. Even though you and Marik probably think I'm an accomplice, at best, you two are the closest things I've had to friends since I ran away. …But don't let that go to your head or anything."
She thinks I'm her friend? Well that's new…
"Fine. Now we better get to the finals before it starts without us."
"Je reconnais, mon ami. Let's get going."
"Why do you even know French?"
"It was a mandatory class in school when I was younger. I have a good memory, but I never thought French would come in handy one day. Oh wait a sec! I need to braid my hair and put my contacts in. I need to look like Monique when we get to the finals." She dug through the bag attached to her belt and pulled out a few elastic bands; quickly braiding the longer strands of her hair before pulling out a small mirror and what was probably her contacts' case.
"Bakura, hold this for me, will ya?" she asked, holding the mirror out to me. I held the mirror for her while she placed the green contacts in her eyes, turning her midnight-blue eyes to emerald-green again.
"Now can we get going?" I questioned. She nodded, taking the mirror back and putting it away.
"Where's the finals being held at?" she inquired. Suddenly realizing the predicament, I set the Locator Cards up on my Duel Disk so they'd display the map.
"It looks like…there," I answered, pointing to the marked area on the map. I remarked, "I've never been to that part of town before."
"Oh! I have, that's near where my old apartment used to be; let's go!" she exclaimed, grabbing my good arm and pulling me behind her.
She's lucky I care at all about her…
At The Finals Stadium:
I'd taken to 'limping' alongside Kayla, or, 'Monique' as she'll be known for a while. The Pharaoh and his pathetic group of friends still needed to believe I was my weaker half, and that I was still injured.
"Bakura! You should get back to the hospital!" Joey cried.
"I already told him that Monsieur, but he insisted that he'd recovered enough to leave," 'Monique' replied.
"They let you out?" the Pharaoh's weaker half, Yugi I believe his name was, questioned.
"I'm fine, really," I protested, the British accent infiltrating my voice.
"You need to get back to that hospital," Tristan, another one of the Pharaoh's friends, insisted.
"Why are you wearing a Duel Disk?" Yugi asked.
"How else would he have won six Locator Cards?" 'Monique' retorted. I held up the six cards as proof.
"When did you even join the tournament?" Joey inquired.
"Join? How about, how did you make it to the finals?" Tristan added.
"This is gettin weird…" Joey noted. I decided to direct their attention somewhere; these questions were getting annoying.
"Hey look, it's the seventh duelist." They all turned their attention toward the tall, tanned man in a purple cloak who was walking into the stadium.
He must be the decoy Marik, as the real Marik is still playing his part as Namu.
"Alright, Attention duelists, since seven out of eight of you are here, we have an announcement. Although your Locator Cards led you here, this isn't where you'll be dueling; the actual arena should be arriving any second now," one of Seto Kaiba's suits explained. Just as some duelists began to question what the man meant by the arena 'arriving', a large blimp came into our sights.
"Seto Kaiba certainly enjoys flaunting his money, doesn't he?" 'Monique' remarked quietly.
"He's rich and has a huge ego, of course he does," I replied.
"We'll depart when the eighth finalist arrives," the suit said as we boarded. Luckily, no one questioned me when I pulled 'Monique' onboard with me, and yet, four of the Pharaoh's friends were held back shortly because they didn't possess I.D. cards like I and the other finalists did. As it turns out, the room I would be staying for the duration of the tournament was only a few doors down from 'Monique's' and 'Namu's'. I suspected she'd broken into the room, but that wasn't my problem.
"Attention duelists, the finals are about to begin. Mr. Kaiba requests that all duelists report to the main hall," a suit's announcement suddenly rang through my room. I sighed, then walked out of the automatic door, feeling someone run into me in process. I had a feeling that I knew who it was, but I looked toward them anyway.
"Sorry Bakura! But…shall we, mon amour?" There was the unmistakable voice of 'Monique'. Quickly changing my demeanor, I slung my good arm around her shoulders and smiled, walking with her toward the main hall. I could've sworn I saw a hint of pink dust over her cheeks at the sudden contact.
"We shall."
In The Main Hall:
Suddenly, I felt another person run into my back.
"Oh, sorry!" Joey apologized, holding a plate of food.
"That's fine; it seems like everyone's on edge," I replied.
"Must be pre-final jitters. I see you brought…Mon-Q…?" he said. We both laughed slightly at the horrible resemblance between the names.
"It's actually Monique, but if that's a bit hard to remember, Mona's fine too." She smiled at him.
"Oh really? Sorry 'bout that, Mona. Well, I guess I'll see the both of you later." He then went off, somewhere.
"Monique! Come over here, I want to introduce you to someone!" I happened to recognize that voice as Téa.
"Go on, I know the story that I tell," I insisted. She nodded, stood there for a moment before bringing her lips to my cheek and rushing off. For the first time in my life, I truly blushed.
Kayla's P.O.V.
"Hm? Oh yes, Mademoiselle, what is it?" I asked Téa, not mentioning her name because she actually hadn't told me her name yet.
"I just thought since you're dating Bakura, we should all get to know you a little better. My name's Téa Gardner by the way," she replied, "this is Joey's sister, Serenity." She gestured to the shorter, red-haired girl behind her.
"I'm Monique LeBlanc, as you already know and-" I started, but the lights suddenly dimmed. Everyone turned their attention to the front of the room, and I shrugged while strolling back toward Bakura.
I know we're acting as a couple, but why did I feel the need to kiss him on the cheek? It's not like me. A machine shaped like a Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon rose out of the floor; I suspected that was going to choose who was going to duel.
"Duelists, may I have your attention please? The first two duelists will be chosen at random by lottery. All the finalists have been given a number between one and eight, the selector will now choose the first two numbers. Does everyone remember their number? …The first duelist is…number 6!"
AGKamon: *eating a random piece of cake to satisfy craving* French actually is a mandatory class at my school, I'm glad I could use it for something. Anyway, the translations are as follows:
Je reconnais, mon ami - I agree, my friend
Monsieur - sir or Mr.
mon amour - My love
Mademoiselle - Miss
Kayla: If only the Bakura in the fanfiction knew I was constantly calling him 'my love' in French, I'd love to see his reaction.
AGKamon: Also, did you see the small Yu-Gi-Oh Abridged references? And...there's another I wish to thank: sorecess of the nile, I thank you for putting this story on your favorites list.
Bakura: I can't believe you made me blush...I don't blush...
AGKamon: Ah well, it's not like you can do anything about it. It's already written and published...and...think fast! *throws cake at Bakura*
Bakura: *thinks fast and ducks* Seriously?
Marik: *hit by flying cake* Wh-what the heck?
Kayla: Uh...read and review, hopefully we'll have this sorted out by the chapter! *goes off to prevent an upcoming argument*