Chapter 14

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"You see what I mean?" Mai whispered to Joey as he quietly peeked into the room where he thought Kaiba was sleeping. He watched as Kaiba jutted up from his faked sleeping position and faced Serenity towards him. Joey's fists balled, but Mai kept him where he was.

"Don't you ever say anything like that again." Joey heard him say as he began to chide Serenity but his tone calmed and his grip loosened when Serenity leaned down to kiss him. Joey's heart stopped. Mai kept her grip on him, fearing what he would do to the already injured boy, but he didn't move. He couldn't. He could hear Kaiba warning her not to do that again and saying something about him, but the words were mixed in his head with confusion and rage.

Serenity began to speak but the fog of emotions swirling in his head clouded her words. He didn't know exactly what was said, but somehow the sentiment of what she was trying to portray got through. She was falling for him. He leaned in, this time kissing her and Joey's fingers turned white from the force of his grip. Hadn't he just warned her not to do that? Hadn't Joey warned him what would happen if he did?

"Why are you so different?" He heard Kaiba ask. There was a lot of back and forth between the two for some time.

'He's good...' Joey thought to himself as he watched Kaiba lie to his little sisters face. Hell, if Joey didn't know any better, he would have believed him too. But he did know better.

"You've made my decision obvious. I'm... I'm going to try to talk to my brother one more time. Thank you Kaiba."

"What's the point?" Joey said from the doorway, startling her to the point of leaping off the bed. "I heard everything. Kaiba you think you're so smooth with words? Some big feat, trickin my sister into believing you. She trusts everyone. She's just that kind of person. Taking advantage of that is lower than even I thought you'd go." Kaiba sat back, closing his eyes and trying to make the headache go down.

"You already know everything I have to say, there's no need for me to say it again." Joey glared at him as he spoke, then turned to Serenity.

"I thought you said you'd stop this. You said you would but here you are. You cant keep your damned lips off him. It's disgusting."

"That's enough!" Mai said still from the doorway. "You're going to let your pitiful little spat get between you and everyone who cares about you. Why cant you just drop it? Kaiba looks like he's willing to." Joey gave an exasperated shout and left, sick of putting up with it all. The three left inside looked amongst themselves, wondering what to do next.

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The group woke with a start the next morning as cries echoed out from the street. Kaiba hadn't quite healed up the entire way, but decided to be part of the action. He tossed on his turtleneck that he had recovered from the beach before leaving the islands, along with his sliver coat and started out into the streets.

"What are you doing? Are you insane?" Serenity called from down the hall. "Something's going on and you are in no condition to be up." She said sternly. He raised an eyebrow down at her and smirked.

"Who would I be if I didn't want to be a part of this?" He said as he turned and continued down the hall. Once out in the street, they still couldn't figure out the problem. It looked like the majority of the town had headed up to the safari zone to protect the endangered pokemon within.

"What's happening?" They heard Yugi ask someone who looked in charge.

"The ice bird is attacking again. This is the third time already. I don't know what's causing this..." The man said, removing a pokeball from his pocket and readying it "But I'm going to end it."

"Koga! The pokemon inside the Safari zone are overly aggressive, they're not letting us move them into the safe houses." A girl said, rushing to the man's side. He whipped his head around in shock and thought to himself.

"Get Aya to protect the southern beaches, It always comes from there. I'll deal with the Safari zone." He said, starting towards the pokemon haven.

"But... you're the gym leader, you're more powerfu-"

"Aya shouldn't be underestimated. She can take care of it." He called back, not breaking his stride. A sudden screech ripped the group from the now retreating Gym leader to the skies of the south. "Damn, it's too late!" Thy heard the man, Koga, yell. "Go, Venemoth!" A large moth flew from behind them and moved to meet the screeching noises. Everyone at that point drew out their own pokemon and readied themselves.

Through the clouds and shimmering blue winged pokemon tore across the sky and swooped low, diving at any people if could and releasing a shot of some freezing ray that crystallized anything it touched in ice. Kaiba pulled Mokuba behind him and instructed his Spearow to get it's attention. The little bird jutted out, drawing the ice bird down to them. It was almost there when the little Spearow's wing was struck by the ray. Kaiba sped out to catch the plummeting pokemon.

"Pidgy, can you do what Spearow was trying to do? Serenity asked and the little thing cooed, leaping out of her arms and fearlessly rising to the larger pokemon. Kaiba extracted himself from the fray as the little one grabbed the ice birds attention.

"Jigglypuff, sing!" Tea cried, but Yugi grabbed her.

"No, don't! If it falls asleep it could crash down onto someone or even into the safari zone and hurt the pokemon inside!" He called, pointing at the entrance to the reserves. Mai instructed her Starmie to hold until the right moment to strike, leaving Kaiba's plan up to him.

"We need to get it down here and keep it distracted, and we need it to stop shooting those icebeams!" Kaiba shouted, trying to get some teamwork.

"Kadabra! Disable it's move!" Yugi commanded and his pokemon began to chant and glow. Before anymore damage could be done, the bird's ray disappeared and it squawked angrily. Mokuba reached down to secure one of his pokeballs and readied himself, but Kaiba put out an arm.

"No, it's too dangerous. Stay back." Kaiba said. Serenity's Pidgy was suddenly knocked out of the air with one sweep of it's wing and she ran to get it, gaining the birds attention. "Get out of there!" Kaiba screamed, panicking as the bird swooped down on her. A sudden burst of flame made the bird veer off, missing Serenity as she returned. Kaiba looked back and Saw that Mokuba drew out his fire bird. The thing hadn't listened to him very well in the past but now it looked more than eager to fight.

"Get him Moltres!" Mokuba commanded and the fire bird gave out a screech of it's own and chased down the ice one. Unable to defend itself with the ice beam, the bird fled, drawing the fire one into a chase. The bird retreated southward over the ocean and the group ran to catch up with it.

"Wait!" Koga yelled, causing the group to pause. " That bird isn't evil. It's always lived peacefully in it's island to the south. Something's upsetting the pokemon. I think it's something deep underground. Whatever it is... It needs to be stopped." Kaiba nodded, calling out his Gyarados and Lapras. He hopped aboard the shelled pokemon and helped Mokuba and Serenity on. Mai jumped onto her Starmie and the others boarded the Gyarados. "One more thing! Be careful, the waters are treacherous out there. It's easy to get knocked off." the man warned before waving and bidding them good luck.

They rode out, following the flames of Mokuba's Moltres like a beacon as the clouds around them grew thicker. It looked like a storm was forming out of pure nothing and ominously hanging over them. Suddenly the water picked up, the swells of the waves reaching twenty feet easily as the rain started.

"This doesn't feel right!" Tea cried, gripping the Gyarados as she was thrashed about by the waters below her.

"It's not natural, do you think it's the bird?" Yugi asked, screaming over the sounds of the pouring rain and waves crashing.

"Who cares, we have to go through it anyways. We'll figure it out after we deal with it!" Kaiba shouted pulling ahead. The winds tossed and turned and there were a few times Kaiba thought he was going in, but his Lapras veered off and caught him at the last moment, saving him and protecting him. Slowly, through the thick fog and rain, they could make out a large island, frozen through and through.

"I'm definitely not dressed for this." Serenity muttered to herself, shivering from the icy rain. As the climbed onto the surface of the rocky island, they recalled their pokemon and pulled out the Charmanders, Vulpix and Joey's new Magmar that he had caught on the island where they fought the Moltres. The flames coming off the pokemon warmed them as they entered a large ominous crevasse in the side of the frozen foot of the mountainous isle.

Once inside, it was actually much warmer. It didn't seem right. About twenty feet in the path split off in two different directions. The left path seemed to go deeper in while the right looked like it split numerous more times. Kaiba glanced back at the group, checking for any input before he made a decision.

"Right hand rule?" Serenity offered and he nodded, following the right path no matter how many times it split. Three splits in, the rooms were becoming unnaturally warm and they could see puddles where the ice melted. Kaiba started first, noticing a sort of light towards the back of the room. Mokuba stayed by his side and Serenity was right behind him, followed by Mai and Tristan, then Joey Yugi and Tea.

Once Kaiba was half the way across a loud crack made him freeze in place and slowly turn around. He could see the center of the room, not ten feet behind him, had dipped a few inches and cracks formed along the entire floor. He shoved Mokuba towards a wall, grabbed for Serenity and dove to the back of the room. Another series of loud cracks sounded and they all looked up in time to watch as Tristan, Tea, Joey and Mai tumbled down into the unknown below.

"Tea!" Yugi cried, dropping to the edge of the new pit and trying desperately to see down there.

"Get back away from the ledge! You'll fall in too!" Kaiba yelled at him, startling the short boy back. "Walk along the edge of the room. Where the floor meets the wall is the sturdiest landing." He instructed and Yugi followed, moving slowly and making sure his footing was steady. When they regrouped, they all moved to the back of the room where Kaiba was surprised to find the ice had melted away revealing a metal flooring underneath. He moved around as the room twisted into a hallway and paused to find a metal door at the end of it. He walked back into the room where Yugi was trying to get something out of the pit.

"I hear them, guys are you ok?" He yelled, unable to look over the edge, but still trying.

"Yeah. I think I hurt my leg, but other than that we're alright. Looks like there's a lot of passages down here. We're gonna try to find our way back up. Meet you at the entrance." Joey's voice called.

"Be careful." Serenity called, but there was no answer.

"You meet them at the entrance, I want to check something." Kaiba said, facing each of the three in front of him before turning back to the door.

"Wait, I don't think that's a good idea." Serenity said, halting him.

"She's right, we shouldn't separate any more than we have already." Yugi added.

"If you want to come with me I don't care, I just want to find out why there's a clearly man made room inside an otherwise uninhabited mountain." Kaiba said, continuing. Mokuba rushed to catch up while Serenity and Yugi glanced at each other before moving to explore the room with him.

Kaiba made it to the door when he saw there was no handle. He glared at the thing and turned to look back at the rest of them, who were still a few feet behind. Before he could turn back to the door, it banged loudly twice and flew backwards, crashing into Kaiba and sending him brutally to the floor. His already injured back hit a patch of uneven ice making him cry out as the wounds began to bleed again.

'Are you the ones they sent to stop me?' A voice called out. The three rushed to him to get the heavy door off, but froze as soon as the voice had started.

"What... what was that?" Serenity asked, beginning to look around.

"It... I heard it too... but not with my ears... it was in my mind." Yugi said, as everyone thought the same thing.

'Fools. I am in your mind. You pathetic humans have underestimated me for the last time.' From the now open doorway, a pokemon slightly larger than a human stepped into view. It had pale purple skin and a darker purple underbelly. It stood like a person, but had a long purple tail and some sort of tube coming out the back of it's head and into it's shoulders. The thing rose into the air, hovering a few inches above the ground and slowly moved towards them.

"Underestimated? We don't even know what you are! We came here to stop whatever's upsetting the pokemon!" Serenity tried and the creature froze.

'Upsetting the pokemon? I'll tell you what's upsetting the pokemon. Humans. Controlling them, abusing them, destroying them. It is all your doing.' the creature thought into them.

"What are you talking about? Our pokemon are our friends!" Yugi said, trying to help Kaiba up.

'You capture and fight your friends? You 'train' them to do your bidding so that you may obtain what you want, using them to your own means. This is not friendship.'

"They protect us. They help us." Mokuba said, holding one of the pokeballs to him.

'Either you expect me to believe your idiotic lies, or you actually believe them yourself. Pathetic. When I am done, there will be no more of you left to enslave the pokemon of this world.' Suddenly it rose, jutting up through the cave and breaking a path all the way to the surface.

"We... We need to get out of here."

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Just wondering if anyone is still paying attention to this story. I found this chapter completely written and I guess I just never posted it... I'm not sure if I'm ever going to really continue it. I might touch it again in a few months. Is it really worth saving? There's barely any feedback, and I'm afraid I've just lost hope for it. Still, I'd like some input as to what I should do with it.

Oh well...

Read, Review, Enjoy~Love Ya!