I just got glasses recently and now I can read without all the words splitting in two all the time! –does a happy dance-

Still don't own any Yugioh or Zelda characters.

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The feeling of weightlessness vanished with the light and Ryou yelped as gravity took effect once more. He reached his arms upward, hoping to catch hold of one of the alien's dangling claws. Though he waved them about wildly he didn't encounter anything remotely solid and thus wasted his precious airborne seconds. The ground came up hard against his back, driving the air from his lungs. As he lay panting Ryou noticed with some envy that Bakura had managed to twist about cat-like in the air to come down on his feet. The thief was now crouching near his head, a cocky smile on his face.

"You should have concentrated on getting your feet under you rather than flailing about." Bakura remarked.

"Easier said than done!" Ryou propped himself up on his elbows and looked around. There were stars shining in the sky above him, and as he ran his hands along the ground he noticed he was resting on thick grass. Except for several lights drifting slowly in the distance the rest of the world around him was dark. "I can't see a thing," he complained, "It must be the sudden change in light."

"Well, we're in a field, and-" Bakura didn't get to finish his description; the ground began to rumble a moment before a horse shot out of the darkness. Bakura threw himself to the ground as the horse reared, whinnying in surprise, its hooves slicing through the air where his head had been a moment before. Once the horse had settled down a small white light appeared above its head. The light revealed a young boy sitting astride the horse's back, a bow clasped in his right hand. The light fluttered down to where Ryou and Bakura lay, almost as though it was inspecting them.

"Well, this is by far the strangest loot I've ever seen," the light remarked in a high female voice.

Both Ryou and Bakura blinked in surprise and then watched as the light bobbed back and forth in the air on small wings.

"And here I was hoping for an arrow," the boy moaned. "Oh well, back to work," he wheeled the horse about and sent it cantering off back into the darkness.

"Wait!" the light called to the receding shadow of the horse. "Link! What should we do with these? They might be dangerous."

The horse stopped and the boy's voice could just be heard as he yelled back. "We'll deal with that later, right now the cows are our first priority." There was a soft twang in the darkness followed shortly by an otherworldly screech as one of the lights bobbing along the ground went out. Ryou drew back, his heart racing at the sound; Bakura on the other hand didn't seem phased at all. The thief's hand shot out and clasped the small white light before it could flutter away.

"HEY!" the light yelled in its tiny voice. "Let go of me this instant you beast!"

A muscle in Bakura's forehead twitched and he made a point of tightening his grip. "I have some questions that need answering," he said coldly.

"Well they're just going to have to wait," the light answered. "If I don't help Link They will get the cows!"

Ryou scooted towards the light. "By They do you mean the aliens?" he asked.

"Aliens?" the light sounded unsure of the term.

"Ummm, well, you know. They come down from outer space in big shiny ships and abduct people."

The light fluttered its wings pensively for a moment before replying. "Yup, that sounds about right, just that ours are after cows… and speaking of cows let me go you spiky haired beast!" The orb lunged at Bakura's fingers and the thief pulled back in surprise, loosing his grip. As the light zoomed off he sat back and sucked on the knuckle of his index finger.

"Stupid thing bit me," he muttered. "I didn't even think it'd have teeth let alone a mouth…"

"Well I suppose you deserved it, you did grab the tiny thing when it had something important to do," Ryou reminded his dark half, patting him on the shoulder.

"Cows?" Bakura asked incredulously, feeling that he didn't need to elaborate.

Ryou tapped his jaw. "Maybe they're special cows?"

"Well no matter how special they are they won't be able to help us get back home."

"Back home?" Ryou sounded confused.

"Yes, because if you hadn't noticed we're in a completely different world right now!" Bakura gestured at the dark field and starry sky.

Ryou turned pale and began to look around again with more focus. "Aren't we just in an extension of the Shadow Realm or something?..."

"I know the Shadow Realm inside and out, and I can tell you that the magic signature in this world is nothing like anything I've ever sensed before."

Ryou started to rock back and forth in shock. "I thought he was a fusion of Gaia the Fierce Knight and Celtic Guardian…"

Bakura put his rant on hold to gawk at his hikari. "That's probably one of the most ridiculous things I've ever heard… ever."

"Thanks for making me feel better," Ryou growled sarcastically, a real edge of panic to his voice. "You're the king of sneaking about, so sneak us out of here already!"

Another strange screech echoed over the field, this one farther away than the first. "I don't know how to get out of here, that's why I was trying to ask that light creature, but I guess our plight wasn't important enough for her!"

Ryou scrutinized his dark half in the hopes of catching a glimpse of a mocking grin or mischievous twinkle in his eye; anything that might mean that the thief was just pulling his leg with his claims. Bakura's face remained grave and soon Ryou was forced to admit that his dark half seemed to be telling the truth. Once that fact had been confirmed Ryou rose to his feet and brushed himself off. "Well there's no point in sitting around waiting for something to happen."

"Where are you going?" Bakura barked as he watched Ryou begin to walk towards where the screeches had come from.

Ryou glanced back over his shoulder. "To make myself useful of course," he replied. "I'm sure the boy and the light will be more cooperative if we help them protect the cows. Most people would be."

Bakura scrambled to his feet and raced after his hikari, grabbing Ryou by the arm and giving him a shake. "You actually think we should be trusting them to help us in return? We do appear to have fallen out of one of those alien-things, what if they decide that that means we're also a danger to their precious cows and stick us full of arrows?"

Ryou looked sternly at his dark half. "They'll help," he pulled his arm out of the thief's grip. "And we really need to work on your people skills. The first rule will be: no grabbing."

"Fine," Bakura huffed. "It's not like it should be too hard to take out a few of those balloon aliens." As Ryou continued on into the darkness Bakura reached into his pocket. His hand came out empty. The thief's brows furrowed in concern as he began patting his jean pockets, first the front two, and then the back. Still not finding what he was looking for he moved on to his jacket pockets. It was not long after that Ryou heard someone running towards him. Before he could turn around he felt something ram into him… and stick one of its hands into his pocket.

"B-Bakura!" Ryou wailed. "What did I just say about grabbing people?" The thief ignored him and continued to check all of the struggling hikari's pockets. "Bakura!"

"Hey, Ryou…" Bakura was sounding so worried that Ryou stopped struggling and twisted about so he could see his dark half's face. "I don't suppose you brought your dueling deck along with you?"

"Ummm, no actually." Ryou could now see where this was going. "I thought we were just going out to watch you imitate the Prince of Persia. I guess you asking me this means that you didn't bring yours either."

"How can you sound so calm?" Bakura exclaimed. "Fighting monsters without monsters or weapons isn't an easy thing! The alien didn't seem to care too much when I'd just punched it last time."

Ryou squirmed out of his dark half's grip and flicked him on the forehead. "The boy had a bow, maybe he'll have some other kind of weapon that he could lend us."

"How are you always so optimistic?" Bakura wondered aloud. Ryou merely smiled and led on into the darkness.

It didn't take them too long to find the boy. He was riding in circles around a large building that Ryou and Bakura assumed was the barn in which the precious cows were being held. They watched as the boy paused, drawing his bow, and then fired an arrow straight into the forehead of an alien who was drifting stealthily behind the farmhouse nearby the barn. The alien shrieked and then vanished in a blink of light. As the boy moved to wheel his horse about Ryou ran up to him, followed a second later by Bakura who hadn't been expecting his hikari to do something quite that bold. The boy saw them coming and waited, the little ball of light popped out of his shirt and began bouncing up and down in the air.

When he saw that the boy wasn't going to rush off like he had before Ryou jumped right to the point. "Umm, excuse us, but we'd like to help you protect the cows."

The boy seemed genuinely surprised; he turned to the ball of light. "Can loot do that?" he asked.

"I suppose it can," the light replied.

The boy turned back to Ryou and Bakura. "Do you have bows? Because that's the only thing that seems to work on Them."

"No," Ryou was still looking hopeful. "We don't have any weapons, so we were kind of hoping you might have some to lend us."

"I don't have any extra…" Seeing Ryou's face fall the boy thought for a moment. "You could still help me though. Could you go looking in the bushes over there," he pointed away from the farmhouse and barn, "and see if you can find me some arrows? I'm a bit tied up at the moment." As if on cue a little brown dog began barking at something around the corner of the barn. "Sorry, got to go!" The horse and boy dashed around the corner and there were several frustrated shrieks from the aliens who had snuck up while he'd been talking.

Ryou peered around the corner and watched as the boy put arrow after arrow through the heads of the aliens.

"I was never one for archery." Bakura remarked, having also made his way over to look at the obviously one-sided battle.

When the aliens had been driven off Ryou and Bakura jogged in the direction the boy had pointed, and after several minutes managed to locate the patch of grass the boy had been talking about. The grass stood taller than the rest and its blades were thick and dark.

"We're supposed to find arrows in here?" Bakura asked skeptically.

"No harm in looking I suppose," Ryou replied as he crouched down near one of the outermost tufts of grass. He began to part the blades carefully until he got to the center. "Well, what do you know?" Bakura watched as his hikari pulled a bundle of five arrows out of the center of the grass.

"Were they growing out of the ground?" Bakura heard himself ask, logic fighting fiercely in his brain with the visual data just sent from his eyes.

Ryou poked at the ground at the center of the clump of grass. "No, it was more like they had been placed there by someone… but who would hide arrows in a clump of grass?"

"Never mind, we can always ask the kid later," Bakura crouched down beside Ryou. "I wonder what other kind of stuff is hidden in here?"

Five minutes later they'd managed to go through the remaining clumps and had come up with thirty more arrows, a bomb and some shiny green jewels (which Bakura had quickly pocketed). They made their way back over to the barn, and finding a crate sitting conveniently outside, placed the bomb and arrows upon it.

"Oie! Boy!" Bakura called into the darkness. "We got you some arrows."

Hooves were heard pounding across the field and the horse and boy appeared. He rode up to the crate and grabbed a handful of arrows, shoving them into his quiver. "Thanks," he said. "These aliens are so persistent."

"They must have really large forces judging by how many you've already killed," Ryou remarked.

The boy laughed. "Actually there are only about ten of them."

"Whaaat?"

"The aliens don't actually die when I shoot them, they just teleport back to the place they first touched land and then try to get to the barn over and over again, all along the same path too."

"Will they ever give up?" Ryou asked, feeling a sinking feeling in his stomach.

"Of course!" the boy replied. "When the sun rises they'll all give up and go back to wherever they came from."

Bakura glanced over at his hikari, realizing that Ryou was still really tired. "And how long until sunrise?"

"A couple hours," the boy replied. He then glanced back towards the field where the lights were slowly getting closer. "My name's Link by the way. What's yours?"

"Bakura."

"Ryou."

The little ball of light popped out of Link's tunic again. "Oh, and this is my fairy Tatl."

"Let me guess, she has a brother named Tale?" Bakura asked without thinking.

"How?-" The fairy seemed shocked. "How do you know about Tael?"

"N-never mind… Shouldn't you be popping those aliens over there?" Bakura pointed to the now discernable shapes coming thought the darkness.

"Ah, right!" Link held up his bow and then charged the aliens, who even though they must have been able to see the boy coming didn't try to move aside.

Bakura watched Link go and then picked up one of the arrows that had been left on the crate. "Hmmm, I wonder what would happen if I…" The thief looked around and then spotting the alien who had been sneaking up from behind the farmhouse grasped the arrow in both hands. Ryou watched curiously as Bakura began running towards the alien; right before impact Ryou covered his eyes. There was a screech and then Bakura started laughing evilly. Ryou peeked through his fingers and saw to his amazement that the alien was gone.

Bakura came back to the crate, rubbing his hands together gleefully. "Death to the ugly lawn ornaments!" he cackled as he picked up another arrow.

- - -

Something was crowing, a rooster maybe…

Ryou sat propped against the barn watching the sun rise over the cliffs that surrounded the ranch. Bakura came jogging towards him over the dew-laden grass; his hands now empty of arrows. It had been a long night; near the end they'd began to run out of arrows and Bakura and Link had been forced to pry open the crate in front of the barn. In the time it had taken them to get at the hidden stash the aliens had almost completely surrounded the barn and even Ryou had been required to take arrow in hand to defend the cows. They'd made it through somehow, but all the running about had drained the remainder of Ryou's energy, reminding him that he hadn't yet had a good nights sleep.

The barn door next to Ryou opened and a young girl came out and began talking to Link. Ryou knew that she was looking at he and Bakura, but his mind was too tired to grasp any of their conversation. As his eyes slid shut he was vaguely aware of someone picking him up and soon after placing him on something soft. He curled up and then fell into a deep sleep, a weary grin on his face.