The Shadow realm was as dark and unchanged as it always had been. Amongst the group, there were few changes really- Grim was still a sword, deciding that it was the best way to provide his charge protection for one, while Bakura's hair had poked up into 'ears' again, the thief's nails thickening into claws. At the moment however, most of the others were staring at Atem and Marik in mild amusement- currently, the former was trying so hard not to laugh at the now 12-times-smaller imp that it looked almost like he was going to cry.
And he probably was, but not from anything depressing. As the others held their tongue, Atem took that moment to look everyone over- Malik, Kaiba, and Ryou had of course summoned their cards. Makyura for Malik, Paladin of White Dragon for Kaiba as before, though Ryou had apparently decided to stand by previous decisions and had summoned 'Headless Knight' instead. It was a fairly interesting combo actually, as the armor itself was quite bulky, and not at all 'Ryou'-like in appearance. It was particularly interesting given that it seemed to abruptly cut off at the neck and replace itself with Ryou's head, the albino teen staring at Marik at the moment.
"Sooo," Malik finally said, breaking the silence as a majority of the group looked around in silence. "How do we find him?"
There was a thump sound, and the group turned to look at Kaiba as the CEO barely hid a flinch. "Trust me, I doubt that will be too difficult." He said this with a clearly annoyed tone, which as accompanied by a jingling bell behind him.
"Nyeh," Joey said as he raised an eyebrow, "There's nothing- ACK!" The dog jumped, twisting around to look at what had hit him. "Who did that!"
Kaiba rolled his eyes, though it was an action that remained unseen thanks to the helmet he was wearing. "Who do you think, Mutt?"
He growled. "Don't call me that!"
As Bakura and Malik both laughed rather loudly (Marik joining as well though for reasons unknown considerably quieter), there was a third thump sound, and Ryou scowled. "Ow!" The boy rubbed the back of his head, turning. "He specifically targeted that!"
The laughter grew in volume, before Malik found himself on the ground and rubbing his shin. "Ssssssssffffff... Whatever that thing is, it fucking hurts!"
For a moment, Bakura merely stared down at Malik, before grinning. "AHAHA- GODS DAMNIT!" He stumbled slightly as the 'invisible stick' smacked him on the arm. The thief looked around, snarling as his expression of mirth quickly vanished "Where is the little twit?"
"Interesting," Atem said as he stood off to the side. For some reason, he hadn't been hit once. (A fact that Marik seemed to be taking advantage of.) "Each time one of you has been hit I've only seen a bell for a split second..." As he muttered off to himself about illusions, he frowned. "Stop laughing at them or I'll toss you into the fray." Marik, scowling as he realized just how easy it would be for the bird to do that, fell silent rather quickly.
It was at this moment that Kaiba finally spotted Marik beneath the mass of feathers attached to Atem's wing, smirking. "Hmp," he said as he walked over, ignoring the shouts coming from the others as the 'Magician' was being attacked. "Yor form suits you, 'Marik'." Crossing his arms as the imp continued to scowl at him (baring his teeth more than a few times as well), he then turned to Atem. "Yours however," he began, "Resembles a giant turkey."
Atem huffed, feathers ruffling to add about three feet of size to him. "I am neither a chicken nor a turkey SO. KIND. LY. DROP IT!" As he began muttering off about mixing up food with falcons, Joey came up behind Kaiba.
"Eh..." The dog rubbed his head, before looking up at the teen. "I'd do as he says... It got pretty intense las' time this no one listened..." As Kaiba rolled his eyes, Joey turned to look up at Atem. "So... Any ideas yet?"
There was silence, before Marik flew across the room with (Presumably) the force of the bell that hit him. Spotting the shine of it, Atem struck out with a talon-ed foot, the 'invisible' magician quickly revealed as he shook his staff angrily. "Aha," he said, ignoring Marik's cursing as the imp struggled to regain his balance. Pulling him close to switch the boy to a steady grip in his arms, he smiled. "Now now... I just want to see who decided to use Marik as a baseball..." As the little one stopped struggling to focus his attention on a silent pout.
Atem took a seat, most of the others watching in silence as he moved to take off the boy's hat. He squirmed at first, frowning, but nonetheless complied. "Now then, let's see what's under-" For a moment, the bird thought, he wondered if Malik was right. If the teen had simply been clinging to a fruitless hope in a blind attempt to relieve nagging guilt. But as he removed the hat to see his pouting face in full, the bird drew back, freezing. "Dear Ra..."
A similar reaction was held below, though Marik was the first to speak. "What? How come he gets something like that?" He was quickly silenced by Malik, though the teen appeared to be a little shocked as well. As Bakura had said, the boy seemed to be made of shadows, or rather, he only had one ON him. His skin and hair color was flat, no highlights, no additional shade. But as they looked at the tri-coloured, gravity defying hair and wide innocent eyes, there was no doubt that this was a portion of Yugi's soul.
The silence continued, the magician's eyes moving as if to study the one who held him before breaking into a grin. Mouth open as a silent cheer came from it, he spread his arms to wrap them around Atem's body in an oddly strong hug. As the silence persisted, Atem moving to put the boy down, Malik turned to raise an eyebrow at his 'protector'. "You're oddly quiet..." He narrowed his eyes, frowning. "What are you planning..."
Marik scowled, crossing his arms with a huff. "Psh! Like I'm planning anything right now!"
Looking over at the pair, Joey grinned. "Hehehee... It's cause you know yah can't use your illusion cards ain't it!" While the glare he got from Marik (Not to mention the fact that Malik was now holding the imp in his arms to keep him from attacking) was more than enough to tell him he was right, Atem's voice quickly pulled him from those thoughts.
"He might not be able to use them here," the bird said, before crossing his arms. "But as soon as we leave the Shadow Realm, he will... So I would probably watch what I said."
"Nyeehhh..." As he fled to the other side of Kaiba in order to put the CEO between himself and Marik, the CEO merely rolled his eyes.
Ryou in the meantime, had moved to look at the 'magician', blinking as it stared back at him. "He looks... Almost exactly like him," he said hesitantly, the teen watching as the little one mimicked his expressions. "It's strange- his face seems younger, but he's at least a foot taller than he was before..."
At this, Joey poked his head around Kaiba, running over to compare height. "No way! He's taller than me!" He paled, shaking his head. "How the hell did that even happen!"
Walking behind him, Kaiba scoffed. "Get used to it Mutt," he said with a smirk. "Aside from the tomb keeper's 'pet', you're the shortest one here."
"Rgggggh... I oughta- Gah!" Joey was clipped on the back of his head by one of Atem's wings, the dog quickly falling silent as the rest of the group came over to examine 'Yugi'. Truth be told, none of them could really call the 'Ka' by that name- without most of the soul it simply... Wasn't him.
"Strange," Malik said as he watched the boy replace his hat. "So, how do we take him back?" The teen watched as the Magician waved up at Atem, apparently wanting the bird to lift him up again. He ended up sitting on the ground with a pout however, as Atem focused his attentions on the conversation rather than the boy.
The bird shook his head as he crossed his arms, his idea to use spell cards now shattered. "The thing is," he said with a frown, "We can't. This isn't a full soul, in fact, if I could hazard a guess..." He trailed off in thought, before continuing. "I would say that this is his Ka, and his 'Sheut', his Shadow. It would explain his actions... Besides the fact that his appearance is only loosely based off of Yugi's actual self, the entirety of a Shadow's existence is built off what has been discarded by the Ib and Ba." He moved his arms to his sides, turning to the others. "It effectively leaves the Shadow with the memories of early childhood, along with any of the more mischievous actions abandoned by the heart... Hence this little one's current behavior."
Kaiba frowned, staring at the boy for a moment before speaking. "And I don't suppose any of you has a clue on how to find those other pieces?"
As he said this, Atem frowned. "I was originally planning to use the 'Lead Compass', but now that we have a part of his soul right here, it would be completely useless..." He trailed off, before brightening. "However, the shadow always holds a connection of sorts to the main portion of the Ib and Ba- perhaps he could lead us with instinct."
While Bakura not-so-kindly told Kaiba to shut up when the CEO muttered about how hare-brained that sounded, Malik nodded, finally dropping his 'protector' to move closer to 'Yugi'. "Well," he said, "It's worth a shot." Leaning down slightly as the magician turned to him with wide eyes, he gave the boy a smile. "Hey," he began, "Want to show us where the rest of you is? Just to help us out?"
The magician blinked, before nodding enthusiastically and pointing his staff in a direction off to the side. "Well then," Ryou said as the others watched, a few with narrowed stares and others with mild curiosity, "Do you think you could lead us there?"
There was another nod, before he shook the bell on his staff and took off into a mostly silent 'parade march'. Joey grinned as the boy began moving, taking off behind him. "Alrigh'! Let's go," he shouted, Kaiba rolling his eyes as he followed behind.
For a brief moment, Ryou and the others hung back, Atem taking off to the skies to follow carefully above 'Yugi' while Marik simply did whatever. In the end however, they took off behind them, starting conversations with each other as they walked through the wasteland in a long line of sorts.
The walk lasted for a fairly long period of time. Regardless of the lack of time in the realm itself, it was plain to see, once Malik and Marik both began their 'whines' of 'Are we THERE yet', that this could take a long time. As they continued into the distance however, Atem quickly froze, the line freezing up behind him.
Kaiba barely prevented himself from bumping into the bird, rolling his eyes as he looked up at the bird in front of him with a glare. "What is so important 'Turkey'," he said as the others also voiced their annoyance about the sudden stop. "That you need to attempt to cause an complete collision in the middle of nowhere?"
The bird seemed to deem it more important to ignore the comment of being a 'turkey', instead moving to the side slightly to reveal a slowly approaching shadow. It resembled a dragon, long and almost skeletal in form, with a mane of multicolored spines sprouting from his head. Those who recognized the card instantly tensed, before Atem answered. "That," he said with a swallow, "Is why." He took a defensive stance as the dragon approached, before a ringing noise caught his attention. "What..?"
Walking up to the front to see what was going on, Ryou blinked as 'Yugi' waved his staff at the dragon excitedly. "Er... Atem?" Bakura and Malik walked up behind him, the former raising an eyebrow as he looked over at the dragon in the distance.
"Don't tell me this kid has a part of his soul in THAT thing," he muttered, before frowning. "...Hang on," he said. "That's the Beserk Dragon, I'd have expected something that temperamental to have made a sound by now.."
As he said this, a low and oddly familiar chuckle rang through the area, Ryou tensing. "Gh! Not this again!"
As the others turned to question the albino on this, Kaiba scowled. "The Berserk Dragon... For something with the name 'berserk' in it, I'd expect it to be growling more than laughing."
As the dragon came to land in front of them, Malik looked up at the beast and swallowed. "Oh great," he muttered, before the magician began waving his staff again. "How do I already know what this has..."
Atem stared, also looking up at the immense dragon and watching as it shrank slightly. "Interesting," he said as the dragon's effect of loosing power 'each move' came into play. "Yugi's Akh has latched onto a zombie type monster to live off of it..."
The dragon nodded, chuckling. "Perhaps," it said with a rumbling voice. "But isn't this interesting," he said with a laugh, "The one I sought has come to me... Hnhnhnhn!" The chuckling and voice, though considerably deeper than the 'jackal', made Ryou frown just slightly. This was all to familiar to his last experience here really...
"Hang on," Joey said as the bird beside him began to lift 'Yugi' up to the dragon. "That thing has a piece of Yug's soul? Since when did he talk like that!"
Bakura scoffed. "That's because it's his Akh, Mutt. Essentially what drives him to think." The thief smirked, watching as the small magician moved to place a hand on the dragon's head. "By the way, I don't know about you, but I plan on being as far from this thing as possible when the transfer is made, because in my experience the 'Berserk Dragon' tends to be just a little... Agitated when in the company of others."
From Kaiba's side, Joey merely tilted his head. "Nyehhh what..? Whadya mean, 'drives him tah think'..."
The CEO beside him sighed. "Do us all a favor Katsuya, and don't strain yourself trying to figure it out."
Before anyone could really respond to that (Though Marik made sure he was as far behind the group as possible, and Joey was fairly ticked with Kaiba as usual), they heard another rumbling chuckle from the dragon. "Ahahaha..." His tone abruptly became quite dark, menacing even, as a small glow appeared between it and the magician. "See you on the other side..." The flash ended, and Atem quickly regretted going about the most direct way to get the Akh back in 'Yugi's body. Particularly since he soon found himself flying back over the others, landing in a heap as the dragon shrunk again.
Joey shouted as the bird when flying, before drawing his sword with a growl. "NYAAAAH! You bastard!" As he leaped at the dragon, he briefly heard Kaiba cursing behind him as the others (Well, Bakura seemed to just give him a look of 'are you really that stupid') shouted after him.
"YOU MORON," Kaiba shouted over the snarls of the dragon, "He has more power over you! You'll destroy yourself before you land a scratch on him!" As Joey began to flail in mid air (Given that he was already on a collision course), the billionaire resisted the urge to face-palm. Instead, he pulled out one of the cards he'd brought in, Bakura raising an eyebrow when he spotted it. "Tch," he muttered as he held the card out, feeling fairly ridiculous as he did so. "I need to do everything myself it seems... LEVEL CHANGE!"
As the card vanished, Joey felt a strange rush of energy come over him. His body seemed to stretch slightly, body growing more to resemble a young, gawky teen at 12 than some tiny child. Even his eyes changed, the details of his body and clothes altering themselves to fit his size as the sword as well increased in power and length. There was a clash of claws and steel as the dog collided against the beast, being thrown back rather roughly as the dragon again shrank down in size. Even as he fell backwards however, the sword formed into Grim's usual 'dust cloud shape' with a grin. "No worries Kid," he shouted as he charged forwards, forming a strange and smoking boomerang. "I GOT THIS!" The shadow flew off around the dragon, slicing off one of the beast's wings before returning to Joey's side as a blade.
"GREAAAAAAAOOOOHHH!"
While the dragon writhed in pain and made to attack, Joey looked over himself with wide eyes. "Holy shit," he muttered, shaking his head in disbelief. "I think I just shot up about a foot!" He turned to Kaiba, mouth hanging open with shock. "What the hell was that?"
He rolled his eyes, scoffing. "I used 'Level Change' moron; it means you gained three levels. Each of which you can thank me for tonight," he added with a smirk.
Joey blinked, swallowing as he laughed nervously. "Er... Thanks then?" The CEO rolled his eyes once more in response, before turning to look at the dragon with narrowed eyes. "Sheesh, how powerful is that thing," the dog beside him muttered, also following his gaze. "I thought it was supposed tah drop 500 attack each turn!
"Trust me, it's still less powerful than it was before Mutt."
Ryou blinked, turning to the boys as the group dodged another strike from the beast. "So how powerful does that make it now," he said as the beast shrunk again. "Given that we still don't have anything to counter it?"
As Joey shrugged, gaining a few inches due to his own 'effect', the teen was answered from above by Atem. "He's shrunk four times," he shouted as he dove in with 'Yugi' on his back. "That places him at 1500 now!" As he landed, the magician jumped off his back towards the dragon, grinning. "More than enough of a power gap for this little one!"
There was a loud, childish giggle, the boy throwing his staff forwards as the bell attached to it began to glow. "DARK MAGIC SHTRIKE!" As the attack was shouted out, a move done by any duel monster with a specific, spell related attack, the bell struck the dragon directly between the eyes. A small, spider-webbed crack began to appear where the bell it, the magician landing just as the lines and cracks made their way completely around the body. Abruptly, the beast dispersed into shadows, before the boy giggled and waved his staff in the air. "TA-DAAAH!"
The others fell silent, staring at the now apparently speaking boy before Joey finally grinned. "Aw-right!" He watched as the boy ran over to Atem, clambering up on the bird's back as he ignored the bird's protests. "He speaks!"
As the boy continued acting on the instincts of the 'Sheut' he held, he snuggled into Atem's feathers, the bird sighing. "Sank-you," the child was saying, a comical lisp making slightly difficult to tell what he was talking about. "Saaaaank-youuuuuu~"
"Aha... Not a problem," he said with a laugh, watching as Marik merely shook his head and turned his back on the scene. "Although I'm fairly certain that we're still missing at least half of you..."
He appeared to ignore him, instead snuggling closer. "You're soft, an' fwuffy, an' pwetty..."
"Err..." As a chorus of laughter erupted, Atem sighed. "Thank you?" At least, he told himself, Kaiba was still keeping silent, along with Ryou. He blinked however, narrowing his eyes as he watched the albino turn away to hide a smile. Kaiba, in the meantime, wasn't even bothering to hide the smirk on his face. He gave another sigh, before watching as the boy slid down his back to land on the ground again.
It might not 'really' be Yugi at the moment, he decided with a sad smile. But even with only half of the boy's soul, he still felt a bit successful in the rescue mission so far. "So," Bakura said, breaking the seemingly endless run of laughter. "Where too next, 'Magician'?"
To Bakura's slight surprise, the boy crossed his arms and stuck his tongue out at him. "Nyehhhhh... 'M not a magician yet!" He blew a raspberry at the thief, easily flipping out of the way as a palm came his way in an attempt to grab him. "'M an apprenshish!"
The thief frowned, crossing his arms as the boy floated out of reach before Malik took over. "An apprentice," he said with a raised eyebrow, the childish actions of Yugi's partial soul beginning to confuse him considerably. "Like... An apprentice 'Dark Magician then," he asked.
He nodded, grinning. "Yea yea! Dark Apprenshish!" Ignoring the lisp, Malik turned to Bakura with a raised eyebrow, his partner merely shrugging.
"Probably the name of his Ka," he said as he watched the boy float around. "The Mutt's was called 'Canis Warrior, level 0' last I checked..." Bakura smirked, the 'level' apparently getting a sore reaction from the dog as he turned to glare at the thief.
Joey snarled, apparently rather defensive about the name. "It's lev'l 4 now!" As the bickering continued, Ryou turned to face the 'Dark Apprentice'.
"I don't suppose you could point us towards the next part of your soul before they kill each other, could you?" He laughed nervously as the banter went on, increasing in volume on Joey's part with each retort.
The magician grinned, moving past the others in a completely different direction than the one they'd been heading in so far with a grin. "Of coursh," he said, lisp making Ryou wince slightly. "Follow me!" He charged past Kaiba to get to the 'front', thumping him on the back of the legs with his staff. "Whooooops," he said with a grin, not appearing to mean it in anyway.
While Marik snickered at the sight of Kaiba nearly tripping, the CEO merely scowled. "Watch it, brat."
Walking beside him, Joey frowned. "Oi oi, watch who you're callin' a brat Kaiba!" He crossed his arms, turning to look up at the teen as the glare intensified. "That's half my best bud's soul over there!"
Kaiba merely scoffed, continuing to trudge forwards. "Does it look like I care, Mutt?"
As Atem shook his head at the bickering 'couple' in front of him, he watched the Dark Apprentice skip ahead, giggling as he began singing something.
"Seto and the doggy, sittin' in a tree~ K-I-S-S-I-N-G!" He laughed as Joey, who was now about equal to the mage in height now, chased after him with a growl.
"Will you jus' drop that already!" While the others watched with mild amusement as the boy moved to trip the dog whenever he got close to him, Kaiba merely huffed and continued on his way.
Though it was, he admitted as the kid continued, fairly difficult to not attempt to smother him on the spot. "Firsht comes luv, then comsh marriage," he shouted with cheer, continuing on his way as the others began to jog to keep up, "Then comsh a baby in a baby carriagsh!"
At this moment, Marik grinned, scooting up to join the Dark Apprentice with an all to eager look on his face. "That's not all, that's not all," he sang as the boy quickly joined in, "The baby's drinkin' alcohol! AHAHAHA!" He swerved to dodge the angry swipe Joey made with his sword, cackling insanely as the chase continued.
"GET BACK HERE YAH NUT!" Kaiba rolled his eyes, mentally wondering what kind of brat Yugi had been growing up if what was currently talking represented his child hood. Idiots, he mentally told himself, he was surrounded by idiots, and he wouldn't be able to leave until those idiots finished what they'd come for.
Why the hell did he bother coming along? As they continued their trek, the CEO narrowed his eyes, a large shadow appearing in the distance. Lightening seemed to crackle around it, regardless of the lack of weather in the area, and from what could be seen it was a small village of sorts, all built on a floating stone.
It seemed to be built, he thought to himself with an unseen raised eyebrow, entirely in the style of old time Japan. In fact, he realized with wide eyes, as he looked at the center of the village itself from their distance. The shadow almost exactly matched a field spell card...
As though sensing the shock, Bakura smirked. "What's the matter, 'Seto'," the thief said with a laugh. "Never see a field spell in effect?" As the others turned to look at the village, Atem squinted, his own vision slightly better than the norm.
"Shadow... Village?" He raised an eyebrow, while the Dark Apprentice ahead of them began jumping around with shouts. "We're hereeee!~"
Ryou came up behind Atem, Malik following with Bakura as well. "What is that," the albino said quietly, eyes wide with disbelief.
Beside him, Bakura smirked. "That," he said, chuckling as Atem and the others merely shrugged in response and continued staring, "Is what happens when enough power is gathered to summon a field spell into the Shadow Realm."
They walked closer, Kaiba sneering as he noted how much of the village was clearly hanging dangerously off the edge of the rock. "Great," he muttered to himself, "Yet another chip in the laws of reality..."
"Ohhh lighten up," Bakura said, walking beside the billionaire with a smirk. "Consider it a well needed break from your workaholic schedule..." He paused, before adding, "And your brother."
The only answer was a 'tch', as they approached the outskirts, stepping onto the edge of the town and looking around curiously. Oddly enough, as a majority of them noticed, the duel monsters here were all completely different. In fact, Atem realized with a jolt, the only monsters he'd seen that had anything to do with the field spell that had likely been used to summon up the village was a basket wearing, puppet like swordsman chatting away with what appeared to be a fairy-type monster at the side of one of the buildings. 'Muzanichiha', he mentally told himself, 'From the Karakuri group'. There was also a mechanical spider somewhere down the road, but he didn't think that one counted.
The very same group that created this field spell, he told himself as rain poured down around the village. And given the nature of that same spell, he thought to himself with a wince, it would not be easy to find the next piece of Yugi's soul.
As Atem pondered these things, the group was intercepted by a beaver-like monster dressed in a simple happi coat with a headband. Now what was- He blinked, quickly recognizing the look in the monster's eyes. Right- This was Beaver Warrior then. Without the armor, he added mentally as the beaver stumbled forwards.
Bottle in hand, he took a swig from whatever was inside before grinning up at the group. "Ahahaaaaa," he said with a drunken laugh, Ryou jerking away from it as he reached forwards. "Visitors!" The beaver stumbled slightly, still grinning. "Welcome, welcome! Don't worry about fights here," he cheerily said with a drunken slur. "We don't have aaaanny fights here, not in this village!"
At that exact moment, there was a shout from a bar ahead of them; a lizard of sorts (likely lizard soldier, given the crest of spines he had) was tossed out, before stumbling up to adjust his haori and rub his bleeding jaw. "Damn goblins," he muttered, "Thinkin' they own th' place..."
Kaiba and the others gave the beaver a fairly unimpressed and skeptical look, before the duel monster in question chuckled drunkenly. "Well... Not much. Is only if you deserve it, honest...!"
As the beaver said this, Joey finally stumbled back into view, gasping for air. The 'Dark Apprentice' also stopped, looking back at the dog with a curious stare. "Al-Alright," he said as he stuck his sword in the ground, leaning against it. "You win... hah... Oh god... Cramp..." Kaiba rolled his eyes as the dog continued too take in deep breaths, not noticing as the Shadow Realms equivalent to a 'draw phase' came into play again.
The mage grinned, before looking up at the bar sign ahead of them. "Hn... Whash that say," he asked as he pointed to it. The group looked up at the sign, Atem blinking.
"That's..." He moved forwards, reading the sign that was carved, oddly enough, in both hieroglyphs and kanji. "It's the Ren!"
The others walked over, Kaiba looking up for a moment before turning to face the bar. "Hn... Something tells me we'll have to make a bargain for it 'turkey'," he said as yet another duel monster (This time a rather miffed looking kuriboh) was tossed out the window. Ignoring Atem's immediate huff at the term, he continued. "Unless you're prepared to take on an entire bar of 'things'," he added with a scoff. "Because something tells me that stealing their bar sign won't impress the locals."
Bakura pushed his way to the front, grinning. "Well then," he said as he gave Malik a suggestive look. "Who wants a drink?" He was quickly smacked on the shoulder for his efforts, while the dark apprentice continued tugging at Atem's feathers.
"Wha doesh it saaaaaaaay," he whined, Atem finally sighing as he caved to the little one's demands.
As he waved the others in, he turned to the boy with a sad smile. "It's your Ren, your name. However, telling you exactly what it says will likely cause it to disperse," he said with another sigh, "And I doubt that would end well." In fact, as though to support this thought, a majority of the duel monsters in the streets were currently eying them with a paranoid, and possibly threatening gaze.
While the mage opted to pout, Marik hoved up by the sign with a look of irritation. "Well then how DO we get it," he said impatiently, clearly wanting nothing more than to leave so he could use his illusion card again.
Kaiba scoffed, before following Bakura and Malik inside. "Isn't it obvious 'imp'," the teen said with a smirk. "We buy it from the owner." The smirk continued to remain in place as he moved in, glad to finally work on something that made some sort of sense. While Marik opted to stay outside, Ryou followed the others in as well. For a brief moment, he turned to look at Joey.
"Eh," the dog said with a shrug, watching as the Dark Apprentice ran past Ryou to join the others. "I'm gonna stay out here. Sides," he added with a smile. "I ain't good with the haggling thing."
From inside the bar, they heard Kaiba again. "You're not good with ANY sort of thing Katsuya..."
Before Joey could give a response, Atem hurriedly surrounded the dog in feathers to keep him quite. At Ryou's look, the bird shook his head. "Unfortunately, I'm a little too tall," he said with a laugh. Technically of course, he could simply pull his legs back to 'bird status', but the fact was he'd prefer not to... "I'll wait out here, and make sure that Joey doesn't get into much trouble."
The albino nodded, before walking back in to join the others. Currently, the Dark Apprentice was tugging on a goblin's shirt, said goblin turning with a raised eyebrow. "Whatdya want brat," he said rather loudly, before downing some of his drink. "Ye look a little short teh come in here kid!"
The boy pouted, before Ryou came up from behind him. "Excuse me sir," he said politely, "We were wondering if you could point us in the direction of the one who owns this place."
"Feh!" The goblin turned, waving his hand. "Like I know, now scra- AAACCCKK!" The bar turned, conversations freezing as a blade was held to the goblin's throat. Bakura raised an eyebrow as Kaiba stood on the other end of said blade, Malik also staring in confusion. He supposed it fiugred however, given that they hadn't seen him during gun-related negotiations.
He remembered all to well the welcome he'd gotten from Pegasus when Mokuba was kidnapped. "Now then," he said as the blade was pushed just against the goblin's skin, "I know that you're lying, goblin, so why don't we dry that again?"
As Ryou looked at the CEO incredulously, the dark apprentice took the moment to tug at Kaiba's leg. "Donnnn't! Don't do thaaaat!" He shook it off, focusiing on the goblin.
"Well," he said with a scowl. "I'm waiting."
A shaking finger pointed towards the side of the room, where the sound of footsteps could be heard. Kaiba lowered his sword slightly, before biting his tongue to keep from choking at the one who came down.
There was a deep, throaty chuckle as a cloud of smoke from a cigarette of sorts floated through the room, before the tall whiteskinned being walked forwards. Geta clacked along the ground as the others moved to the side, the elaborately dressed duel monster grinning. "Well well well," he said with a smile, the others trying and failing not to stare at the crossdressing creature. "Now what's all this about?" The duel monster, who was, despite the garb of fairly layered womens kimono clearly recognisable as the 'Ojama King', walked over to Kaiba with a hearty chuckle before taking another drag off the cigarette pipe he held. "If you wanted to see me that bad hun, all yah had to do was ask..."
Needless to say, Kaiba was sincerely glad that the only portion of his body visible under the armor at that moment was his mouth. Because quite honestly, his eyes were probably wider than the first time he'd dueled against Yugi. Nonetheless, he steeled himself to respond. "I have a question about the sign out front. I'm interested in buying it." The okama's grin quickly faded, and he took another drag from the cigarette.
"Oooooh, is that all now..." He looked around the room, "Well," he said, leaning down just a little too close to the CEO for his comfort. "If all yah want is th' sign, hows about you do a lil' somethin' for Oka..." He leaned in more, "Got that sugah?"
Bakura quickly stepped in between them, putting some space between the pair with a smirk. "Please Oka, I doubt he'll whore himself out to you, if that's what you're implying..." He chuckled darkly, before finding himself in a crushing man-hug from the duel monster.
"Ohh Bakura! You little thief, takin' him all to yourself!" While Kaiba watched with still unseen and wide eyes, Malik and Ryou both found themselves equally shocked into silence. "What's a boy like you doin' in a place like this~"
As the thief attempted to breath for a moment, he managed out a wheezing response. "Glad... You remember me... Oka... AHH..." He was released from the hold, silently choking as he regained his breath and composure. "As 'Seto' said, we're looking to buy the sign you have out front." He crossed his arms, continuing. "It belongs to a friend of ours you see, and we'd like it back..."
The ojama deflated slightly, frowning. "That old thing? Hunny, there are plenty of better signs..." He sighed, shaking his head. "Pu-haps it's best we take this upstairs," he said as he turned to the group. "But th' thing is hun, that sign out there is the only thing keepin' this place from fallin' off the deep end of the Shadow Realm!"
Kaiba scoffed, apparently regaining his voice with that statement. "It's a sign," he said with a scowl. "I'm sure it's not THAT important."
Oka shook his head, holding his ground. "Oh but honey, it IS that important. Just look at the energy radiatin' off the thing!"
At this point, Malik came over to join the conversation. "And that's why we need it," he said with a slight frown. "It means a lot to..." He paused, before continuing. "To our friend."
He frowned, taking a few drags from the cigarette before nodding. "Well..."
"How about we go to your office and get caught up," Bakura said with his usual dark smirk. "We have time after all... We can talk there."
There was a nod, albeit a somewhat tense one. "Alrigh' then. Follow me dears, and keep close..." They then headed upstairs, the bar soon returning to it's usual chatter as they disappeared into the office.
Monsters Used (Real and False), and corresponding stats.
-Joey (Canis Warrior Lvl 0, Fan-Made) - Started at 1000, jumped to 2500(Level 3) during the battle against the Berserk Dragon, which at the time made them evenly matched. Has since hit level 5 at chapter's end. (3500 Attack and Defense) Gains a level each 'draw phase', which is essentially a few minutes after either a 'move' in battle or the end of one during this series.
Berserk Dragon (Official) - Began with 3500 Attack, which became 3000 at battle start. After throwing Atem away, this became 2500, making him evenly matched with Joey when the dog struck. This lowered to 2000, during which Joey's sword, 'Grim', cut a wing off, and finally left him with 1500 Attack points when finished off by 'The Dark Apprentice'.
'Dark Apprentice' AKA 'Half of Yugi's Soul (Will not be referred to as Yugi until the name is officially obtained.) (Fan-Made) - Spellcaster/Effect card, and has 2000Attack points and 1500 Defense. For each Dark type monster on the field or in the graveyard, this monster gains 300 Attack. As Berserk Dragon counts as one, Dark Apprentice had 2300 attack during the battle. (Note; as soon as a battle is over in the 'Shadow Realm', the attack returns to the original level)
Other Featured Duel Monsters: Beaver Warrior (Mentioned directly), Lizard Soldier (Thrown out of the bar), Kuriboh (Also thrown out of the bar), Goblin of Greed (The goblin that Kaiba threatens in the bar), and...
Oka (Ojama King, Official card) - Will be appearing more often.
As a note, 'battle' occurs in any form of physically active fight; the reason why Joey gains a level near the end for example, is because he's been chasing after the Dark Apprentice, which counts as a battle of sorts. Simply walking around a village however, does not, and anyone in the area that is not directly involved in the fight is not considered 'On the Field'. (So none of the dark type inhabitants of the village in the area did anything to Dark Apprentice's attack points.)