This one is not one of my favorite manga chapter, but it's a good one. Yami got to play air hockey on steroids. It was cool! Review please!
Atem was sitting in his desk on one of the after school activities Yugi insisted on signing up for. It was mostly, because of the games and Tea being the president of the club, Class Council. Atem really hated Yugi having to sign this up just to goggle over Tea, but agreed. Atem figured that Yugi did deserve to participate in something on his own.
Yugi was in most of the meetings when Atem used this time for naps. That was the advantage of having Yugi, more naps without being caught dead sleeping. Though, during important lessons, Yugi insisted on Atem not napping. He didn't like those times, but agreed on them.
Tea was in front of the Class Council members with her brilliant smile.
"I love it when she smiles," Yugi said dreamily.
'Keep your dreams to yourself!' Atem scoffed.
"I can't help it, brother. I love Tea. She's fun, funny, energetic, and the most beautiful girl I've ever met," Yugi defended.
'She's a bitch! Yugi, why can't you fall for someone that's not such a drama queen?' Atem complained.
"Today is the day of the Class Festival. We need to decide on a theme for our festival. Anyone got any ideas?" Tea asked. There were people who raised their hands anxiously. "You." She pointed to a random person.
"How 'bout a cosplay convention?" A member asked.
"Anyone else?" Tea asked before pointing to another person.
"I think we should do a Haunted Manson!" A black-haired boy suggested.
"No, the Sophomores are already doing that," Tea told the boy. "Who else has a suggestion?"
"I do!" Joey called. He signed up for Class Council since Atem signed up, surprisingly. "I say we have a hot girlfriend contest. A guy takes a hot chick, a costume..."
"KILL JOEY!" All the girls screamed while throwing trash and books at the blond boy. Atem and Yugi burst out laughing at the scene.
"And this is why you never get a girlfriend, Joey," Atem chuckled.
"You don't!" Joey argued.
"That's because I've turned down every single female in this school."
All the girls moaned in disappointment. Joey spat, "lucky."
"Are there any other suggestions NOT involving horny men?" Tea asked while Atem spat out a chuckle.
"Uh..." Hanaski said shyly. "How about a Comic Convention?"
Everyone gave blinking stares at Hanaski. His head bowed down in embarrassment. Atem changed to Yugi who gave a childish grin.
"I thought it was great!" Yugi said, trying to cheer his friend up.
"Better than Joey's idea," A browned haired girl in a ponytail shrugged.
"I'll write that down," Tea winked while writing Hanaski's idea on the board. "Anybody else? Atem, I don't think you gave any ideas." She knew it was Yugi, because of his smile. Tea was always interested in what Yugi had to say.
"Well," Yugi blushed cherry red. "I was thinking of a Carnival with lots of games."
Everyone gave glances and they all agreed. Even Joey thought it was a splendid idea. Yugi showed a grin as Tea chuckled to the response to the students.
"Well, looks like it's decided. A Carnival Festival it is," Tea announced as everyone cheered happily.
After deciding on the location, everyone got to work. Each person had his or her own job to do. Surprisingly, Joey was happily involved with setting up the festival. He usually never enjoyed any of the Class Council meetings. This one, however, was very exciting to be a part of, festival decorating. Joey was decorating a Pop-Up Pirate game, which involved a barrel and someone to play Black Beard.
While working on the Pop-Up Pirate barrel costume, Joey was staring at his friend Atem. He was acting weird today. In fact, he acted weird frequently. First, it was around Hanaski, then it started coming during games. Later on, this weird acting started mostly revolving around Tea. Atem was actually TALKING to Tea. They always fought, but when Atem started being weird, he never argued with Tea. In fact, if Joey didn't know his friend so well, he'd easily mistaken Atem crushing on Tea. When Atem was in his weirdness stage, he'd be caught blushing red around Tea. At first, Joey thought this was probably just a faze, but now it was starting to worry him.
Yugi was helping Hanaski with decorating a table made for the Memory Game. The boys were laughing and giggling about while Joey walked up behind the boys. Atem never noticed Joey's presents since he was too busy watching the two boys having a ball.
"Atem," Joey called his friend. Yugi turned around with his childish smile.
"Hey Joey, is there something wrong?" Yugi asked.
"We need to talk, you mind?"
Yugi nodded and left Hanaski to finish decorating. Joey and Yugi were behind some closed curtains alone. They had to whisper to keep others from hearing what they had to say.
"Atem, I thought it was just nothing, but you've been having weird moments," Joey explained in worry. "It's scaring me."
"Weird moments? Like what?" Yugi asked meekly.
"LIKE THAT!" Joey cried pointing at Yugi's face. "Acting all smiley and shy. You're never shy. NEVER! I... I just wanna know what's going on with ya, man."
"I'm... I'm sorry I..."
"Look, it's not that there's anything wrong with being cheery and happy. I'm just worried that you might... I don't know, be stressed and having frequent mood swings. I know you're not on drugs."
Yugi bit his bottom lip. How in the world was he supposed to explain to Joey that him and Atem were sharing a body and he has always acted like this. Atem could see that this was overwhelming Yugi.
"Yugi, let me take over. I think Joey wants to talk to me more than you," Atem said before taking control of his body. Joey gasped when he saw his friend back to being himself.
"I'm sorry for worrying you Joey. I promise you I'm okay and if there was something wrong, I'd tell you," Atem promised.
"Atem, there you go again," Joey glared. "You were shy for one second and now you're all bold again. Why are you acting like this? And don't give me this 'I act differently toward Hanaski' or any of that bullshit. You're acting like this toward Tea and toward me one second ago!"
"Look I..." Atem said before placing his hand on his forehead, covering half his face. "You're right, I do act strange from time to time and it's not just around Hanaski. It's hard to explain."
"How is this hard to explain, Atem?" Joey glared demandingly.
"You want me to be honest?" Atem asked with folded arms. Joey nodded. "The millennium puzzle does strange things to me. Like what I was telling you about the dark magic thing. The day when I solved the puzzle, I blacked out and couldn't remember what happened after that night. I just found myself in bed."
Joey furrowed his eyebrows like he didn't believe a word. Though, Atem seemed like he was hiding something, but told nothing but the truth. Still, how could this make any sense? Joey wasn't getting the answers he needed and Atem could tell. He didn't really care. The two were having a blinking contest for a few minutes.
"Joey I tell nothing but the truth. Ever since I solved the stupid puzzle, I've been having weird things happen to me. Now whether you believe this or not is up to you, but nothing is wrong with me," Atem said firmly before touching the curtain. He turned his head to his unbelieving friend. "And if you don't believe me, you can ask Trudge at the hospital."
Joey's eyebrows rose. Joey turned his head to meet Atem to ask what he was talking about. There was no one around. This left the blond boy the question: what did Atem mean by asking Trudge? Last that was heard from him, he was sent to the hospital for schizophrenia. That had nothing to do with Atem... did it? What did happen with Atem and Trudge that day? Hanaski claimed that Atem was going to pay the guy and found him hugging trash and leaves. From what Atem just said, it sounded like he was the cause of Trudge acting crazy.
Joey brushed out his train-of-thoughts and was able to grabbed Atem before he returned to Hanaski.
"What the hell do you mean 'ask Trudge'? What happened that day?" Joey asked.
"I don't know," Atem replied, snatching his arm from Joey. "I told you. What happened after solving the puzzle was a blank." He was telling the truth, because he only knew what happened through Yugi. "What happened to Trudge was not of the normality. There was magic involved Joey, whether you believe it or not. I had to learn it was real by seeing it with my own eyes when I made a biker punk paralyzed. That's what's happening to me." Joey stared at his friend in disbelief. "And that's the only answer you'll get."
Atem left it at that. There was no way he was going to explain to Joey about Yugi. Atem changed to Yugi and ran to Hanaski's side to help his friend. Joey sighed, anxiously wanting to know the whole truth. There was nothing he could do to get Atem to spit it out.
"Hey Joey," Tea called. "You did a great job with Pop-Up Pirate."
"Thanks, now to find out who the sucker to play Black Beard is gonna be," Joey grinned evilly.
"I think you should be Black Beard," Tea suggested.
"Yeah, even the costume fits you," Yugi grinned.
"Than it's decided, Joey will play Black Beard," Tea announced.
"WHAT?" Joey glared in annoyance.
"HEY!" A voice called at the front of the festival. It was a group of strong students with an iron plate used for cooking. "This is our spot!"
"No, we bought this place. This is lot ours," Tea glared.
"We always use this spot for our grill cookout. It's a tradition," The president of the Freshman Class Council, Inogashira who had been held back a number of times and always was picked as president.
"Well, looks like that tradition will have to be held somewhere else," Tea glared before Yugi changed to Atem who was very angry at this point.
"Not on my watch!" Inogashira shouted.
"Why don't cha beat it?" Atem shouted.
"How about I punch out that big mouth of yours, punk?" Inogashira shouted. "Or better yet, let's tear this place to shreds with our iron plate!"
"OVER MY OWN DEAD BODY!" Atem yelled before the group of men started running down with the iron plate to destroy the Carnival Festival. Atem ran toward the direction of the iron plate and got his body knocked hard like a giant iron rock toward the gut. Atem fell over before being trampled on by the freshman boys carrying the iron plate.
"ATEM!" Tea cried while the freshman class tore down the festival with the iron plate. Everything was ruined.
The freshman exited from the ruined festival and the iron plate was placed in the middle of the festival that was ruined. Inogashira walked down the lot with an evil grin on his face and looked down at Atem. He was knocked cold with a sharp cut on his chest from the plate and blood dripping from his scalp. His breathing seemed to be a few gasps. Inogashira gave Atem's head a good kick before leaving the area.
"Now this spot is ours!" Inogashira smirked before him and the freshman left.
Tea lifted Atem's upper body to a sitting position and cried, "someone help me send Atem to the hospital!"
"They're already on their way," Joey cried before taking Atem from Tea and leaning his head against the blond's chest. "Hang in there, buddy."
Yugi appeared in Atem's body after that hit. He clutched onto the puzzle and cried in pain. Joey gently laid the lad down onto the ground to help him relax.
"There, easy Atem. You're gonna be okay," Joey said. "Someone's already called the hospital."
"Joey!" Yugi cried with tears leaking out of his eyes. "I... need you to take my hand that's holding my puzzle."
"Why?" Joey asked curiously, but Yugi cried in agony. The blond grabbed the hand that touched the millennium puzzle and a third eye appeared on the young teen's forehead. "What the hell?"
Yugi got up on his feet painless and said, "I think I have a fracture or two, but until the Ambulance comes, I'll use my puzzle to ease the pain."
"What, Atem what..."
"I'm not done with Inogashira yet, Joey!" Yugi declared before walking limply toward Inogashira's direction. "Hey Inogashira!"
The older freshman marched into the ruined festival with a deep glare. He was shocked by Atem's ability to awake from that hit. In fact, it was shocking that the boy was able to walk at all. Yugi glared deeply and madly. He had never been so angry in his lifetime. That hit knocked his brother out cold and he wasn't gonna let this punk get away with this act.
"I don't know how you survived that, but I will make sure your life's a living hell!" Inogashira shouted.
"I'd like to challenge you to a game!" Yugi shouted. "If you win, you can keep your stupid attraction, but if I win, you take your stupid iron plate and make your grilled ribs somewhere else!"
"Very well, what game might this be?" Inogashira asked with a smirk up his lips.
Yugi smirked before staring at Joey's direction and asking, "can I have that Science Project you used today?"
"Uh sure," Joey shrugged before digging in his ice box and got out an empty tube surrounded by a frozen round ice chunk.
Yugi limped to some powder that was dropped on the ground by a freshman while knocking down the festival. It was used for fireworks. Yugi put a small fraction of it into the tube and plugged it with a cork. The students cocked their eyebrows while Yugi smirked at the iron plate in the middle of the ruined festival. I drop of water was dropped on the iron plate and it steamed and disappeared in merely a second. Everyone gasped at this, including Joey. How did the plate get this hot in only fifteen minutes?
"This will be our game board. Have you ever played air hockey? Well, let's call it Ice Hockey of Death," Yugi smirked. "We use a spatula as our sticks." He showed the tube surrounded by a chunk of ice. "This will be our puck. We'll keep passing this to each other and the ice will melt. Although, it only gets good when the iron plate touches the tube that ends up on our side. Let's just say it gets very... deadly."
"Sounds good enough for me," Inogashira smirked before Yugi threw the ice puck on the plate and hit it toward his opponent's side.
Inogashira whack the puck hardly across to Yugi's side. Yugi hit the puck back. The more he hit toward Inogashira's side, the harder his hits were made. He was anxious for the puck to make it to Yugi's side and explode. It was becoming harder for Yugi to catch the puck and hit it back.
The students were watching the dangerous game from their side. Joey was scared to death. What was Atem thinking? He had some fractures and yet was still willing to play this bizarre game? Joey couldn't understand Atem's goal to all this. It was just a stupid festival. What was so special about it?
Tea was scared for Yugi. The girl had never seen Yugi play a Shadow Game since the incident with the criminal on Death Row and she didn't even get a close look. Tea was seeing a Shadow Game up close. Sweat droplets were pouring on her head. Her heartbeat was racing faster than a race care.
"The closer it gets, the harder I hit!" Inogashira shouted victoriously. Yugi narrowed his eyebrows. The only way to win was to hit as hard as Inogashira was and that's what he did.
The puck hit Inogashira's side and he hit as hard as he could. When he did, the ice broke in two. The students gasped just before the tube landed and exploded right in front of Inogashira's face. At that point, the ambulance came and Yugi's body fell onto the ground. The pain had returned.
The men from the ambulance truck took Atem and Inogashira to the hospital. Joey, Tea, and Hanaski were by their friend's side who was in extreme pain. The doctors said, after doing an X-Ray scan, that two of Atem's rib bones were fractured and so was his hip bone. Joey could not believe what he was hearing. Atem was fractured at his hip bone! He shouldn't have been able to walk, but he did when playing that game. At least this explainsd the limping.
Atem was asleep for six hours before awaking. The first few faces he saw were Tea's and Joey's. Hanaski was in the restroom. He came out and met Atem who was now wide awake.
"Atem, what were you thinking playing a game like that?" Joey asked with furrowed eyebrows. Atem cocked his eyebrows in confusion.
During Shadow Games, Yugi would show Atem what was going on by having him watch the whole shadow game. Though, in this particular one, Atem was knocked out cold. Yugi also didn't have time to fill Atem in on what happened, so he was completely clueless.
"What game? I was knocked by that damn plate! I doubt if I can walk for a while," Atem glared.
"What do you mean you don't remember? DON'T GIVE ME THAT SHIT?" Joey shouted.
"I'm not giving you any shit!" Atem shouted. 'Yugi, what did you do?'
"Joey, that's enough!" Tea glared.
"Atem's telling you the truth, Joey," Hanaski defended. "He really has no clue."
"You saw him..." Joey argued before getting cut off.
"Joey, this is what I was trying to tell you!" Atem yelled. "My puzzle is magic. I'm still not entirely in control of it and the things that happen."
Joey couldn't argue at this point. Maybe Atem was right. Maybe, just maybe, that puzzle contained magic. There was a third eye that glowed, so there was no arguing of the supernatural things that occurred in that puzzle. Then how would it explain the blackout that Atem just had unless. It then dawned on Joey what Atem was trying to clue the blond on: the puzzle was so powerful, it was possible for the puzzle to control Atem. Joey never again questioned Atem's weirdness from that day forward.