Ranko: Oh my, goodness! I can't believe how late it has been since I have updated! I am so sorry, guys! You have no idea how busy I have been lately.
Yuugi: Oh, it's okay, Ranko!
Yami: It hasn't even been that long, Ranko. You update every week, you're about on time.
Ranko: I guess so…let's answer some reviews!
raindropdew: I know, I can't help but feel bad for poor little Yuugi even though I'm the one doing it to him. And yes, I think that I would run away too if letters starting appearing on my window, but then again, I think that I would run away screaming if a Shadow Man was stalking me too. Good guess on where the base is, but now quite ;) Please continue to review!
SokiKuro: I really liked your guess! I thought that it was funny that the base might be at school and they don't even attend school very often, irony! Anyway, Ishizu might be a Shadow Hunter, I didn't really think of it but I don't think she will be. Please continue to review!
lilpopsplash: Oh, you better watch out, Yami. This girl is going to come after you and beat your ass! Please continue to review!
1: Since you said please…Yami will not beat up Jou, but he will take him away. Please continue to review!
Storm15: Your review made me so happy! It really made me feel loved and I'm glad you liked the Forbidden Game series so much, I fell it love with the series by reading a crossover with another series too. My friend and I were so upset at the ending, mine won't be as bad ;) Please continue to review!
AmerillaRose: You made me feel so loved! I'm glad that you loved the chapter so much; it was one of my favorites too. Unfortunately Ryou will not be coming back this time. Another person was confused by that too but I just worded it strangely. Please continue to review!
sea girl: Your review made me so happy! And because you asked for the update with ice cream and sprinkles, here is the sugarcoated update! Please continue to review!
SincereJoyy: I wish as I was talented as to make up that poem by myself. It is actually an old nursery rhyme that I borrowed called 'Jack Horner.' You named all the people that are still in the Game, but someone will probably disappear in this chapter. And no one will fill in for Ryou, but Ryou could never be replaced ;) You don't bother me with the questions, I love questions! Please continue to review!
Yuugi: Ranko twin does not own anything involving Yu-Gi-Oh or the Forbidden Game series, this story is not for profit!
Ranko: That is the proper way to do a disclaimer! Take that, Yami!
Yami: Enjoy! I said it before you, Ranko!
-/-
Seto shook his head as Jounouchi impatiently jumped around the pizza parlor, waiting for their order. The blond was cursing under his breath and asking, "When the hell is out food going to get here?"
They had walked all the way to Jounouchi's neighborhood just to get a pizza that Jounouchi said were "the best in the world." He couldn't believe the blond sometimes. Despite himself, Seto found everything Jounouchi did…cute. And it frustrated him because he didn't understand how he found Jounouchi's traits appealing that Seto usually found annoying.
"Finally!" Jounouchi shouted as a man stepped up to the counter and handed the blond a pizza box. "Thanks," Jounouchi said half-heartedly.
The heavy set man working behind the counter grunted in response and then turned around and disappeared in the back room.
Seto sighed and held the door open for Jounouchi. It had gotten surprisingly dark and Seto knew that they hadn't been waiting in the pizza place for that long. "I hope that this pizza is as good as you said it was, or I'm going to be pissed you made me wait for a half-assed pizza."
Jounouchi snorted. "Calm down; you're such a diva."
Seto ignored Jounouchi's comment; he was too busy looking around. He looked in through all the windows to stores and saw no one in any of the buildings. They were walking the streets alone, not even a stoner lay passed out in an alley.
Seto checked his watch; it was mid afternoon and it was already twilight…a very unnatural twilight. And then Seto heard it, a low, guttural growl. He looked at Jounouchi who was drooling over the pizza, not seeming to notice the sound of the rather loud growling.
"If you're so hungry Jounouchi, just eat the pizza now?" Seto said impatiently, but all of his nerves were on edge.
Jounouchi blinked up at the taller man. "What are you talking about?"
"You're stomach was growling, wasn't it?" Seto asked, he prayed that Jounouchi would agree with him and say that the growling did come from his stomach.
Sadly, Jounouchi shook his head. Seto's eyes widened and he looked over his shoulder, Jounouchi did the same and the boy gasped. Behind them, a few feet back, was a swirling vortex floating in midair. And stepping out of it was a phantom wolf. Half of its body was out and it was trying to pull its other half out of the vortex; its yellow eyes bore into both of the boy's particularly Jou's.
Seto grabbed Jounouchi's bicep, the blond dropped the pizza box. "Run!" Seto shouted and started to sprint away from that thing. Seto had longer legs than Jounouchi's but the blond managed to keep up with him. Seto didn't dare let go of Jou's arm though.
Seto could hear the snarling in his ear, as if that phantom wolf was right behind him. He hoped it wasn't but he didn't dare look back. He heard Jounouchi panting beside him, more from fear than actual exertion.
And like a scene from a horrible movie, the toe of Jounouchi's old sneakers got caught on a crack in the ground, tripping the boy. Seto immediately halted and turned back around to grab Jou. He grabbed Jou's arms to pull him back up, the same time the teeth of the phantom wolf latched onto the boy's pant leg and pulled him back down.
Jounouchi let out a shout of surprise and he proceeded to be tugged in opposite directions.
"No, you won't take him from me!" Seto cried unintentionally as the wolf began to overpower him. Seto held onto Jounouchi's arms with all his might and pulled. "If you are going to take him, you're going to have to take me too!"
And then Seto heard a savage hissing in his ear.
Elsewhere ~
"How the hell are we going to find them?" Malik yelled in frustration. "We don't even know where they went!" The boy almost broke down in tears at that moment.
Yuugi wasn't in any better state, he was just as distressed as Malik and his hands were shaking. "I think I know where they are!" He then took off into a sprint down the street. If he knew Jounouchi as well as he thought he did, he knew the one place he always went to get food when he was starving.
And that's where he saw it, a few blocks away from Jounouchi's favorite pizza parlor. There were two paper dolls sitting side by side, holding each other, sitting next to a dropped pizza box. Around them was a scorched circle.
Yuugi dropped to his knees and picked up the two dolls. Just as he thought, they were the dolls Seto and Jou used in the first Game.
Later ~
The three that remained sat around the table, staring at the paper dolls of their friends, the only thing they had left of them. "He's going to get us all," Malik said depressingly.
Bakura banged his fist on the table, making the paper dolls fall on their backs from their sitting positions. "The clues aren't fair. We didn't have enough time to find them and we started looking for when right when we got the clue." Bakura rested his head in his hands. "We didn't have enough time, this isn't fair. We're never going to find the base," he whispered to himself.
Yuugi shook his head and stared into the waxy eyes of the dolls of his friends. He looked at his cousin's doll again. He figured that if Mai couldn't defeat the Shadow Men, none of them could. But that didn't matter anymore, none of it mattered.
Bakura growled and stood up so fast that his chair toppled over, making Malik flinch. "Is anyone going to say something or am I just going to talk to myself?"
Yuugi turned his tired eyes up to too Bakura straight in the eye. He looked so angry, but Yuugi knew that he was just as tired as he was. Yuugi finally shrugged helplessly. "What is there to say?"
Bakura opened his mouth to say something, most likely rude but Malik shook his head, stopping Bakura. He snapped his mouth shut and stomped to the living room, the sound of a T.V. turning on was the only noise that filled the entire house.
Yuugi just stared at a blank wall, sitting next to Malik on the couch. It was all falling down; all of it was just falling apart. And Bakura was right. They weren't going to find the base, not with the information they had now. They needed more clues.
Yuugi never thought he'd say this, but he was glad when Yami showed himself to Yuugi in his dream that night. He was past being afraid of Yami every time he saw him, like he said, it all didn't matter anymore.
It had taken him a while to fall asleep. He couldn't get over the empty room. It used to be full of his friends and they didn't have enough space to fit them all. Now it was barren, with no use for all the sleeping bags and air mattresses anymore. He thought he would never go to sleep that night, then he closed his eyes and he must have drifted off.
When he opened his eyes again, he opened them to his dream world.
He was standing in a white room. Across from him, stood Yami, dressed in all white, standing behind a long table. On the table was a model of a town, no…a neighborhood. It was Yuugi's neighborhood connected to Jounouchi's; Yuugi saw his house in the model. He saw all the places they had been in the model.
Yami took a small figure of a wolf and put it somewhere in the model. He looked up at Yuugi and smiled. Yuugi didn't smile back.
He looked down the model and saw that Yami had put the wolf down in Jounouchi's neighborhood, in front of the pizza parlor Jounouchi and Seto went to. He furrowed his eyebrows in confusion. "I thought only Marik and Akefia could control the wolf and snake."
"Akefia and Marik are my brothers, Yuugi," Yami explained, "the three of us are one in the same."
Yuugi decided to ponder that thought later. "Is this how you, or they, control where the wolf and snake go?"
Yami shrugged. "Possibly." He grinned wider. "What's black inside, white outside, and hot?"
Yuugi sighed; he really did not want to deal with another one of Yami's riddled right now. "What?" he asked tiredly.
Yami either did not notice Yuugi's tone or chose to ignore it. "A wolf in sheep's clothing."
Yuugi quirked an eyebrow. "Like you?"
Yami clicked his tongue and shook his head. "No, no, dear Yuugi. I am a wolf in wolf's clothing." He looked up at Yuugi and there was a spark in his ruby eyes.
Yuugi felt an unbelievable wave of anger pass through him. He couldn't believe there was once a time he thought Yami to be human, that he actually pitied him once. Yuugi couldn't believe that he once…Yuugi decided not to finish that thought.
"What do you think of the Game?" Yami asked, spreading out his arms.
Yuugi crossed his arms and gave Yami a look. "It isn't fair. And I don't know your definition of sporting but it is far different than mine. You told us that we had a chance to find your base, or else the game wouldn't be fun. Well, there is no chance that we find the base."
It was Yami's turn to quirk an eyebrow. "You think you don't have chance?"
Yuugi shook his head. "Not with the information we have."
Yami threw his head back and laughed. It was a joyful, happy sound that would make Yuugi smile if he wasn't so upset. "You want a hint?"
Yuugi nodded. "Yes, and you'd give it to me if you wanted to be fair but you won't." Yuugi unintentionally let the last half of his sentence turn into words rather than them staying inside his head.
Yami looked genuinely hurt. "You really think that I'm an ogre, don't you? I'm really no so bad. If I was, I could manipulate the Game so I couldn't lose. For instance…" Yami snapped his finger and the model on the table changed from Domino to an Egyptian setting.
Yami lifted the wolf and held it over a large tent. Standing next to it was a short, stocky figure. Yuugi recognized the black bandana. "Grandpa!" he cried. Yuugi looked up at Yami. "You wouldn't! You said—!"
"I said I'd keep the Game to the original players," Yami said, his eyelids drooped to shade his eyes. He snapped his fingers and the model changed back to Domino. "I'm just showing you what I could do. See? I'm not so bad after all."
"Soren wasn't a player," Yuugi said, a large lump formed in his throat at the thought of the boy.
Yami waved his hand in a dismissing manner. "Collateral."
"And Haga and Ryuzaki?"
Yami grinned; it was the kind of grin that sent chills running up Yuugi's spine. "They were player; they played their own game, and lost."
Yuugi looked down at the model and spotted the park by his house. "Were you the one who made those kids play lambs and monsters?" Yuugi thought of little Ryou describing the gruesome game. "All that violence—were you influencing them?"
Yami put a hand to his chest and made a mock hurt expression. "Me? They don't need me for that, Yuugi. Children are like that naturally, their games are that way. Haven't you noticed?"
Unfortunately, Yuugi had, but he didn't say anything; he turned away.
"War and hunting and chasing—that's life, no one can escape that," Yami said. He was standing right behind Yuugi now; their bodies weren't even a breath away.
Yami leaned in until Yuugi could feel his breath on his ear. "And why would we? There is excitement in the chase, Yuugi. It sends chills through the body…"
Yuugi had to step away. His blood was tingling. He didn't know what it was about Yami, but every time he spoke, it send a chill up Yuugi's spine.
Yami followed him; Yuugi did not dare turn around. "Love and death are everything. Danger is the best part of the game. I thought you would know that by now, Yuugi."
Yuugi didn't say anything. He did know that, it was the wild part inside of him that Yami put there. The part of his being that he knew belonged to Yami.
"And I thought you were going to give me a hint," Yuugi said, there was a force behind his words that didn't fit in how he was feeling inside.
"Everything comes at a price, Yuugi."
The smaller boy gulped. "Give me the hint first."
"You can find your friends in a familiar room," Yami said.
Yuugi furrowed his eyebrows in confusion; that was completely vague. "What kind of room? Have I seen it?"
"Yes."
"Have I been through it?"
"Yes…and no."
Yuugi had enough; he finally turned around so Yami could see the anger in his eyes. "What kind of answer is that?"
"It's clear as black and white," Yami said with a smile at his own personal joke. "If you know where to look that is. Now," Yami began, taking a step closer to Yuugi and wrapping his arms around the boy's waist, their bodies pressed against each other. "The price." Yami bent his head down.
It took all of Yuugi's self control to remain rigid and unresponsive in Yami's arms. His lips were a breath away from Yuugi's. Yami sighed and stepped away from Yuugi when he realized that Yuugi wasn't going to react to him.
"Yuugi, let's stop playing, we don't need to play this Game anymore. You have your friends back—you want Mai back, don't you?"
"I'll get her back," Yuugi said, his voice shaking. "I'll get them back my way, without your help. I thought I made that clear in the last Game we played."
Yami chuckled. "I admire your confidence, Yuugi, but you can't win against me. I'm the master of players."
Yuugi decided to ignore that comment. "A room I've been in but haven't been in? A room that needs to be looked at in the right way?"
Yami smiled and nodded. "A room in the shadows. But you won't find it until I put you in it."
'We'll see about that,' Yuugi thought before things started to get blurry. The dream was fading.
Before Yuugi woke up completely, Yami put a pure red rose in Yuugi's hands. "Here, to remember me by." Yuugi recognized it as the rose he gave Yuugi when they were in Anzu's nightmare.
There was a slip of paper tied around the thorn free stem.
Yuugi knew in his mind it was another clue and this time he would wake up right away. And he did, when he woke up the rose was lying on his pillow. He almost crushed it when he quickly sat up.
Bakura and Malik were both there, thankfully, and Yuugi reached over to shake their shoulders to wake them up.
"Wake up, guys, I have the next clue."
Yuugi untied the paper from the stem as Malik rubbed the sleep out of his eyes and looked over the boy's shoulder to read the clue.
L'amour vient après la tempete
Yuugi exchanged a confused look with Malik. "Please tell me you speak French."
Malik shook his head sadly. "This isn't fair, none of us speak French."
"Life isn't fair," Yuugi said, more to himself than Malik. "I'm sure if we had Seto or Mai they would be able to translate it. I think Mai once told me "après" means "after," or was it "apple?" It was come kind of cognate."
"Maybe Ishizu might know something," Malik said, pulling his phone out of his pocket.
Bakura didn't even bother to join the conversation, he just stayed asleep. Yuugi was about to go wake him up when Malik suddenly started talking.
"Hey, sis," he began. Ishizu said something and Malik nodded. "Yeah, yeah, listen, we need your help trying to translate something, can you help us?" Another pause as Ishizu answered. "It's in French…you can help us? That's great! Um, I think this is how you say it: "L'amour…vient…après…la…tempete."
There was a longer pause; Yuugi heard the beating of rain on the roof and them there was a flash of lightning.
"What is that supposed to mean? It doesn't make any sense!" Malik cried. Yuugi gave him a look and Malik turned to Yuugi and said, "It means, "love comes after the storm?"
Yuugi's eyes widened and he smiled. He shot up and grabbed the phone out of Malik's hand. "Thank you, Ishizu!" He then hung up and handed the phone back to Malik.
"Do you know what that means?" Malik questioned, seeing Yuugi's excited expression.
"No, but it has to do with a storm and there is a storm outside, so none of us can go outside. We've done it, Malik! We've finally done it!" Yuugi embraced Malik excitedly. "We have everyone here, safe and sound! We can actually win this one!"
Yuugi's good mood suddenly deflated. They had been yelling for quit some time and Bakura still hadn't woken up. Yuugi exchanged a look with Malik as the blond realized that too. They rushed over to where Bakura was supposed to be sleeping and pulled the blankets away. There was a bundle of blankets and pillows underneath.
"Where is Bakura?" Yuugi asked to no one in particular.
Malik shook his head and put his head in his hands, he began to shake with retrained sobs.
Yuugi's eyes widened. "The clue is about Bakura. The saying is usually the calm after the storm. But love…come on, we have to find him," Yuugi said, rising to his feet and pulled Malik up with him.
"Do you know where Bakura is?" Malik asked, unshed tears in his eyes.
"I think I might," Yuugi said. Bakura was still in love with Ryou, so he had to be some place that meant something to Ryou.
'But we may already me too late,' Yuugi thought to himself.
-/-
Ranko: I have to admit, I rather like this chapter.
Yami: Ranko has no imagination so she needs your help coming up with someplace that might be special to Ryou.
Yuugi: Leave you suggestions in your review and make Ranko twin happy!