Dream Prince
Chapter 8
Shadow Prince
A couple of hours later Yugi and Bakura were looking around the camp again. They had left their possessions in their tents that had been placed side by side next to the other newer tents. Yugi still wanted to find out as much as he could about the people living in the encampment and had been relieved to notice that the ones who knew how to fight were actually lesser in numbers than those who did not. Bakura had chuckled at this and wondered out loud if he could manage to beat everyone up before they learned how to defend themselves. Yugi had chosen not to comment.
"Hey!" a voice suddenly shouted out and both Bakura and Yugi whirled around to see who had spoken to them. It was a rather nasty looking man that seemed to be quite the few years older than Yugi and Bakura. He was smirking widely at the two, with two large males flanking his sides.
"Are you two the new guys?" the man questioned. Yugi immediately knew that the trio was going to cause trouble and grew worried. Bakura had definitely come to the same conclusion that Yugi had, since the white-haired teen became excited all of a sudden as he confessed with a wide grin: "We sure are."
"Okay then", the man spoke again. "The name is Panahasi and these are my comrades Muntu and Kufu. We call the shots around here and we will show it to you two as well." Panahasi chuckled in wicked manner as Muntu and Kufu cracked their knuckles. "It's nothing personal. We do this to all the new guys."
"Bring it on, then", Bakura growled low in his throat. "I can take on the entire lot of you."
"A confident one, eh?" Panahasi spoke in an amused manner. "Well, we'll put you in your place soon enough. Get him!" At that the two cronies rushed Bakura but the white-haired thief did not seem fazed and he stepped in front of Yugi and called over his shoulder: "Stay out of the way. I can't worry about you and fight these thugs off at the same time."
Yugi nodded before realizing that Bakura could not see it and then said firmly: "Right", and backed away a great deal, leaving Bakura to take care of the two hulking males. And, judging from the look on the thief's face, the albino was going to enjoy doing it a great deal.
It was with a feeling that was a mix between horror and awe that Yugi watched how Bakura exchanged blows with the two thugs. The white-haired teen was doing more than a decent job of defending himself with his agility, since the two men had not been expecting a skilled opponent. But, after the fight had gone on for a couple of minutes, Panahasi decided to join in and Yugi was not sure if Bakura could handle all three of them at once.
"Watch out!" Yugi called to Bakura. "The third one is coming at you!"
Bakura actually looked surprised when Yugi yelled that but the look was wiped away the instant Panahasi slammed a fist into the thief's cheek. Apparently Bakura had judged Panahasi's character to be the kind that only stands by and watches as his cronies handle the fighting. Now it became clear that Panahasi could actually fight pretty well, better than the other two, if the situation called for it.
A couple of moments later Bakura crashed down onto the ground and before he could get up again Kufu kicked him in the side and sent the white-haired teen rolling across the sand.
"Hey!" Yugi yelled at the big thugs. "You're not fighting fair!"
There was a roaring laugh from Panahasi before the man turned to Yugi and asked viciously: "Would you like to join in on the fun then?"
"Damn it, Panahasi", a voice growled from right behind Yugi. "Can you get any lower? And be honest with me."
Quickly turning his head around Yugi saw a teen standing behind him with a look on his face that was pure murder. He had a hair colour that stuck out from all the other people Yugi had seen in the camp: a dark blond. The newcomer's deep brown eyes were narrowed angrily as he glared at Panahasi and spoke in a tone of voice that calmed Yugi down for some reason: "Would you like to try your luck in a fair fight? I highly doubt it but I will even the odds out anyway." And with that the blond male jumped right at Panahasi and punched the larger man into the chin, sending Panahasi's head tilting backwards from the impact. The taller male actually stumbled backwards and fell to the ground. The blond then turned to Kufu and Muntu and snarled: "You two want some too?"
The two cronies immediately attempted to attack the teen but despite his smaller size the newcomer was clearly stronger and he knocked his opponents further back with each blow, getting groans of pain from the two before they fell into a heap on the ground.
"Seriously", the blond grumbled as he walked to Bakura's prone form. "I think those three would have learned by now…" He stopped next to the albino and spoke: "Hey, you still alive?"
"I'm fine", Bakura grumbled as he rose back to his feet. His cheek had a darkening bruise on it but Yugi guessed that the thief's pride was hurt more than his body. "They caught me off guard; I would have beaten the lot of them otherwise."
"I don't doubt that", the blond said with a slight grin. "But with the circumstances as they were, you could have gotten seriously hurt."
Bakura opened his mouth, probably to launch a retort of some sort, but was cut off when he suddenly shoved the blond to the side, right when Panahasi punched into the spot where the blond's head had been a moment ago.
"That's it", the blond growled as he bared his teeth at the older man. "This time I'm breaking your legs. That I swear!" The blond attacked Panahasi viciously, punching and kicking at the larger body. Panahasi grabbed the blond and lifted the other into the air, planning on throwing the smaller male away, but the blond just continued to kick at Panahasi when his arms were captured.
A sickening crunch echoed among the raged screams of the two fighters, the sound caused by the blond crushing Panahasi's nose with his foot. Panahasi screamed, dropping the blond back on his feet, and was just about to launch another attack when a voice bellowed loudly: "What the hell is going on here?"
1.
Atemu was usually extremely bored whenever Seto gave him reports of the new soldiers that had signed in, which had been rather often during the last few days. But this time he actually got some interesting news when Ryou also reported.
"The other one of those two, the one named Rasui, has a strange aura", Ryou spoke out. "It's not actually dark and I don't feel anything wrong with it, but he feels like he has someone or something guarding over him. And whatever it is, it is very powerful."
"Do you think it's a threat?" Atemu questioned, actually hoping for a chance to chase a lackey of darkness away from the camp and be heroic. His hopes were crushed, however, when Ryou shook his head and replied: "It's not a threatening presence, simply a strong one. He could be a summoner with a dormant ability. He certainly feels like one."
"Hmm", Atemu hummed thoughtfully. "Do you think that ability could be harnessed, trained?"
"I'm not sure", Ryou answered. "As I said, it feels like it's dormant. The feeling I got from it was so passing that I'm not sure Rasui is even aware of it himself. There is very little possibility of him learning to call the creature forth. If it even is a summon creature." That last bit was added as an afterthought.
"Even so", Atemu spoke as he got up from his seat, "I would like to meet this Rasui myself and check him out."
"You just want out of this tent", Seto commented with a smirk and Atemu was about to snap at the brunet when he heard someone moving outside the tent. He looked to the entrance and a moment later Odji walked inside in all of his arrogant glory.
"What do you want, Odji?" Atemu spoke in an unfriendly tone of voice but the raven-haired teen did not seem to notice the hostility as he replied cheerfully: "Oh, I was so bored that I decided that I should come out and try to find myself some entertainment. How does checking the troops sound to you, prince?"
"Fine", Atemu growled out as he started walking towards his rival. "I was planning on going into the camp anyways so might as well do something productive." No way was he going to tell Odji about the summoner. The wily teen would just try to take advantage of the boy.
"Wonderful", Odji said in a pleased manner. "I can make an evaluation on the starting points and what I think will be a suitable amount of experience that your platoon needs before combat."
Even though Atemu knew that Odji was going to make the starting point sound terrible and make the goal something that was pretty much unreachable, Atemu was willing to play Odji's little game. Then it would be all the sweeter to see the look on Odji's face when Atemu finally marched into war to take out the man who had ruined his chance at love and happiness.
The two walked through the rows of tents with Seto dutifully following right behind Atemu. It would be important to make this look as official as possible so that Odji would not suspect Atemu's plan of having a private discussion with this mysterious Rasui.
They did not have time to walk far when the sound of screaming reached their ears. Atemu immediately recognized the tone as that of pure hatred and took off in that direction with both Seto and Odji hot on his heels. Seto stayed silent but Odji cheered in a manner that did not suit the situation at all: "Oh, a fight! What joy!"
Yeah, it probably was a joy for Odji, Atemu realized as he rounded a corner to see two young men struggling, the other's feet dangling in the air and kicking fiercely as the taller one held him up by his arms. The two were giving each other glowers of unadulterated disgust as the smaller one of the two lifted his right foot and brought it down with violent force, breaking his opponent's nose according to the crunch that was heard.
Atemu barely had enough time to think: 'This is bad', when Seto came up next to him and yelled with all the might his strong voice could muster: "What the hell is going on here?"
That caused everything to freeze. Both fighters turned around to blink at the new arrivals while the other two, one with a bruised cheek and the other with wide eyes, simply stared without any reaction, too startled for one apparently.
Deciding that now was his turn Atemu started to speak: "Just what is the meaning of this pointless squabble?"
"This bastard here was trying to attack the two new guys with his cronies", the blond boy, one of those who had been fighting, spoke out firmly. He pointed at the taller male with his thumb as he spoke this and Atemu was surprised to notice that he was not even breathing heavily even though there were some nasty bruises on his arms.
"I should have know it would be you, Jono", Seto snarled from beside Atemu, who looked at his cousin curiously. How was his cousin acquainted with this young boy?
"Well, I couldn't just stand by and watch when that jackass uses dirty tactics to beat up other people who have done nothing wrong", Jono argued as he glared at Seto. "And what do you mean that you should have known? I only fought with the guy once before and that was when he assaulted me."
"You're violent in nature, Jono", Seto snapped with his voice full of malice. "You enjoy getting to spill some blood."
"You know nothing about be, you ass!" Jono snapped and Seto's face reddened in pure rage as the priest yelled: "I should have you whipped you worthless filth!"
"Yea, you would like that, wouldn't you?" Jono growled. "You freaking sadist. You would probably even prefer to be the one waving the whip!"
"That's it!" Seto snarled, finally losing what had remained of his composure. "I'll have your head!"
"That'll be enough", Atemu spoke, but using a strong enough voice to get through to the two arguing, however. "How about we ask the witnesses what happened?" Atemu then turned to the two that were standing separately from the two fighters. "Would you care to tell me what took place here a few moments ago?"
"Of course", the shorter one of the two hurried to say as he bowed down deeply to Atemu. "Me and…Akefia were walking around getting to know the place. We're new." The boy blushed, clearly feeling rather shy in Atemu's presence. "Uh, then Panahasi appeared with his two friends and said that he would show us our place and that it was the way he greeted everyone who was new." The boy glanced to the white-haired youth standing next to him. "First Akefia fought against the other two but then Panahasi joined in and he was overpowered. That was when…" The boy frowned. "…Jono joined into the fray. He managed to beat them all and was just asking us if we were all right when Panahasi tried to attack him again. The two started fighting again and that's when you arrived." The boy bowed again. "And that's what happened, my prince."
"I see", Atemu said with a kind smile to the shy boy. He then turned to face Jono and Panahasi. "Jono, the way it seems to me, you showed righteousness here today and should not be punished for that." The prince shot a pointed look at Seto, who was again red in anger, before turned to Panahasi specifically. "You, however, Panahasi, shall receive the judgement of shadows. If there is a sliver of honour in you, you will be able to join the others again after you have gone through your punishment. Your comrades will receive the same judgement." With that Atemu allowed the shadows dwelling inside him grasp a hold of Panahasi and his friends, who were just coming back to consciousness. Atemu had inherited his shadow magic from his father but was nowhere as powerful as the pharaoh. This was mostly because Atemu did not possess a Sennen Item that would make calling the shadows easier for him.
The three thugs were now in the hold of the shadow tendrils and were staring forward with vacant expressions. That way he made the weak minded follow him to where he would leave them to feel the wrath of the shadows without any resistance, since none of them was aware enough to resist.
When Atemu started leading the three troublemakers into a more secluded place he finally realized with some regret that he was not going to get a chance to talk to Rasui that day. But there was no reason to worry really; there was always tomorrow.
After the three ruffians had been left in the isolated tent that had been put up for just such an occasion the prince was faced with Odji. For once the pompous teen was not grinning widely and actually looked a bit unsure.
"What is it?" Atemu questioned in a taunting manner. "Do you fear for your mortal soul?"
"If I get on your nerves will you do to me what you did to them?" Odji questioned in a suspicious manner. Atemu released a laugh before saying: "You been getting on my nerves for years, Odji, and I haven't done anything to you yet, have I?"
An embarrassed flush came to Odji's cheeks when he realized the truth in those words. His expression was very close to pouting as he spoke: "That was a pretty effective way to deal with that situation. You would make a good leader."
"My, Odji, what a nice thing for you to say", Atemu spoke in an exaggerated amazed tone. "Are you growing soft on me?" When the raven-haired teen blushed even darker Atemu decided to give the other a break and spoke as sincerely as he could to the teen in question: "Thanks."
"Well, whether you make a good general or not still remains to be seen", Odji then sneered in an effort to save face. The raven-haired teen smirked as he spoke: "Tomorrow we're going to start going through drills, right? Wait for my evaluation of your troops before you go calling me soft." With that Odji turned to leave. "See you", the noble spoke before walking off.
Releasing a soft sigh Atemu wondered if it was possible for Odji to ever change and came to the conclusion that it was highly unlikely.
To be continued…
Ending Notes: This chapter is dedicated to dragonlady222, who spotted trouble a mile away, as well as ZombieBlinky, who noticed the absence of a vital character.
I have also decided to grant SilverDragon-Purity with a one shot request, since she was the only one to guess right now only one, but both of my riddles. So, if you're reading this note, Silver, and you can think of a one shot for me to write for you, then contact me. A private message should do fine. Thank you.