Okay guys I'm back! Sorry for the long wait, I had to give my laptop back to the school, and that was the thing I wrote my stories on… So, I've had to improvise! Anyways, recap: Yugi found Sukai in what is the equivalent of our heaven... or underworld, whichever you prefer... and so, he manages to grab hold of Sukai, but another spirit dragon pulled Iris out of the world, taking Yugi and Kibou with her... I want to actually thank Gaara'sLittleAngel94Xx for beating me senseless because I wasn't updating!
Dragon riders are CLOSED! (unless you're desperate) Enjoy the chap!
EgyptianShadowWolf xXx
Yugi opened his eyes and saw a dark grey ceiling. Was he conscious? The pounding headache he had told him he was.
Yugi put his hand to his head and sat up slowly, the blood suddenly rushing to his head and limbs made him cry out.
"Yugi! No! Lay down!" called a voice. He looked to his right to see Tatsuya running over, her dragon Aoi gracefully keeping up. Yugi winced. Tatsuya was... earth head? No, that wasn't right...
He looked at Aoi. Water. She was head of water.
By now, she had reached him.
"Yugi, are you O.K? We had to bring you out of there! Doesn't Kibou know that taking a non-spirit dragon rider to the 'other world' is dangerous? Man, I'll never understand her..." Tatsuya muttered, shaking her head.
Yugi sat up more.
"But I was fine. And we brought Sukai back, Look!" Yugi said, pointing next to him. But there was no Sukai next to him.
Yugi looked around. All of the heads were here, including the mage. But no Sukai.
Yugi tried to get up more, wincing in pain some more. Tatsuya sat him back down.
"Sit DOWN Yugi, you're not going to get better when you keep rushing to get up!" She said sternly.
Yugi replayed the last images through his head. He remembered trying to hold on to Sukai, and he remembered floating. He remembered letting go of Sukai...
"I left Sukai... I didn't bring her back..." Yugi looked up at Tatsuya, hoping she would correct him. She didn't. She looked grimly back at him, before she heard her name being called by the Mage.
"Aoi, make sure he doesn't do anything...silly..." Tatsuya instructed her dragon, before walking off.
Yugi glanced at the door. Aoi growled. Yugi sat up fully, and held his head in his hands.
"Well, look who woke up! It's sleeping beauty!" A voice called. Yugi looked up. It was Ookami, with Ayame behind her.
Yugi smiled weakly and let them sit down next to him. Ookami looked at Yugi, with a look of concern.
"Aoi, you're dismissed." Ookami said, without looking away from Yugi's face.
Aoi protested with a growl. Ayame looked at Aoi.
"Now!" Ayame said sternly.
Aoi still refused to move. Sora and Bast suddenly made themselves present. With a stern growl from them, Aoi snorted and walked off to find Tatsuya.
Ayame smiled off after the dragon.
"Aoi's a good dragon really, just a little protective"
Yugi nodded.
"Hey, what's up? You look like you just seen a ghost dragon!" Ookami joked, before getting a dig in the ribs from Ayame.
"O.K, O.K, I deserved that one.." Ookami muttered, rubbing her side.
Yugi sighed.
"I failed. I went to the other world to get my dragon back, but... I didn't..." Yugi tried hard not to cry.
Ookami and Ayame smiled sympathetically, before getting up.
"Well, I suppose you'd better take a closer look!" Ookami said, before she and Ayame walked out the open door.
Yugi frowned and looked over to the gathering of Head dragon riders and dragons, all in a circle.
Sakura finally looked over. She smiled before turning back to the group and whispering.
Yugi could finally now stand up, and so, staggering to his feet, he went ot confront the group.
Before he reached them, the group parted, and revealed a snow white dragon...
SUKAI!
Yugi ran forward and his dragon greeted him. It had seemed like a life time since he had felt her scales, and seen her crystal blue eyes.
Everyone smiled at their reunion. The mage cast an eye over the heads and came to rest on Kibou.
Kibou caught his eye and thought about looking away, but decided not to. She was glad with what she did, and no one was going to change that. She stood up straight and confronted the Mage. Unexpectedly, he smiled.
"I want to thank you Kibou. You've got one of our best dragon riders back" and with a nod, he slipped out the room. Kibou caught a very brief glimpse of his mighty dragon, before they flew off, out of sight.
The night passed quickly, with people mostly celebrating. The funny point was when Roka decided he wanted to sing karaoke. Without the microphone. He was then joined by Shion, Hikaru, Riku, Regaldon, Siberia, who were then joined by everyone else.
But, unbeknownst to them, a dark green dragon looked on with amusement. In the darkness, he looked black, and therefore, unseen by anyone. With a single shake of its head, it rose to its feet and flew away to its rider.
The mage caught a small movement out the corner of his eye. He turned to face what had moved, but saw nothing, it wasn't easy to see in the dark, especially at his age.
His dragon, Orchid, moved slightly and turned to the right, senses working overtime to find out what it was. Orchid was an ancient dragon, with plenty of wisdom, much like the Mage himself.
No one really saw Orchid really, she always slept through the day, and awoke at the night. She thought it was better for everyone else that way.
Orchid right now though, was wide awake, and made her eyes pierce through the darkness, to pinpoint what had moved. The Mage climbed on Orchids back, and they slowly moved toward the place. When nothing seemed to be there, The Mage relaxed, but he relaxed too much.
Suddenly, Orchid whipped round, a growl on her lips, baring her teeth, and taking her attack position.
The Mage was slightly startled.
'Orchid, what is it?'
'Another dragon' she bent lower slightly. 'Not from the Syoku Ryu'
Mage looked up, but still couldn't see anything.
'Lend me your vision, I can't see through the darkness.'
Suddenly, The Mage's vision became more accurate, and he could see almost everything. Including a large black male dragon standing a few metres away.
He didn't look too friendly either.
This dragon was just a bit bigger than Orchid, and Orchid was the largest dragon in the Syoku Ryu, by a long shot.
He stood poised for a moment, before lowering himself to the ground and laying down. That's when Mage noticed that this dragon had a rider.
The rider got down off his dragon and moved toward the mage and Orchid, before stopping a few metres away. Mage too, dismounted and walked so he was near the rider.
The mysterious rider laughed.
"Great Mage, of the Syoku Ryu, I hope you don't mind me saying, but... you look a little... frail, on this fine night."
Orchid growled.
The rider shook his head and grinned.
"Fiesty dragon though, shame if anything where to... happen... to her, am I right?" His eyes suddenly shot up to meet the Mage's, a shocking green colour.
The Mage, unnerved, scowled.
"You don't belong to the Syoku Ryu. So what are you doing here?"
The rider smirked.
"So, I'm a guest and you're treating me this way? You're not a very good host, I must admit Mage!" He sneered, glancing at his dragon, who seemed to sneer aswell.
'MAGE!' Orchid called out.
'I know who he is. I thought he looked familiar. It's Akuma. He's the mage of his own dragon army. The one that's against us...' Mage needed to hear no more.
"Akuma, I suggest you leave the Syoku Ryu grounds, now! It would be in your best interest..."
"HA!" The rider spat.
"As if I would..."
His own dragon suddenly stood up, spreading his wings. Upon his wings and back, and along the side of his body, bright red Japanese symbol suddenly showed up. The dragon was a Mage's dragon, capable or many things. But then, so was Orchid.
Orchid too, stood up and showed her green symbols.
The dragons were going to battle it out. This was the first step to the attack.
The Mage drew his sword, the one with the Japanese symbols.
Akuma too, took out his sword, ready for combat.
The Mage swung his sword and tried to cut into Akuma's side, but Akuma was younger, and much faster and easily leapt to the side.
The Mage may not have been as fast or as agile, but he had knowledge on his side, and intended on using it.
Once the Mage finished his swing, he quickly brought the sword up and caught Akuma's arm, drawing blood.
Akuma suddenly realised that he was going to be outmatched when it came to fair and square sword fighting, so when the mage wasn't expecting it, he pucshed into his, using his shoulder as a shield, knocking the mage back, making him lose his breath.
Blow after blow was struck with the swords, and each time one found an opening, they were met with the clang of swords.
The dragons were now in the air, twisting and twirling, raking with their claws, trying to get a good hold on their opponent for the death grip.
For what seemed like the hundredth time, the mage swung his sword, only to be met with Akuma's. Akuma's wound was making him slowly weaker, but the mage, being older, was beginning to tire.
Orchid suddenly grabbed hold of the other dragons neck, and sunk her teeth in, hearing the other dragons cry. Her jaw ached as she tried to bite harder. A sudden pain shot through her stomach, and she let go in agony. She knew the mage had been hurt.
She looked down to see the mage doubled over in pain. He had let his guard down for one moment, and Akuma had managed to slash him across the stomach. Now, she too, had let her guard down, she realised, as the dragon seized her neck.
The dragon made sure to grab her neck near her head, so that he couldn' twist round and fight him off.
He bit down hard, pain coursing through her body. She was weak with teh effort of trying to defeat him. As was the Mage.
As he was doubled over, Akuma pushed him to the floor.
The mage looked up to see Akuma towering above him.
"Your dragon's cry is loud, but yours will louder still"
And with that, he plunged the sword deep into the Mage's heart.
The Mage did not cry out, like expected, the pain was too much to let him do anything. He waited until his last breath came, looking into the sky, tears in his eyes.
Akuma pulled the sword out, and called his dragon, who let go of Orchid. He flew down to pick Akuma up, and flew off into the rising sun. Orchid weakly landed next to the Mage, panting with the effort.
As their blood fell, they looked at each other, just waiting for the end. Orchid weakly closed her eyes and mage lay watching her, as her last breaths formed clouds in the sky.
His vision blurred slightly and he thought he saw dragon shapes in the sky, but never got to find out, as he was met with darkness.
Orchid and the Mage were dead before the dragon riders got to them.