Chapter 16

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Kaiba's hands curled in as the sound of torn paper filled the room and he closed his eyes. Had he made the right decision? He looked over at Serenity. She was so shocked and upset staring at her brother. He reached out, grabbing her hand and pulling her attention down to him.

"Why?" She asked him, moving closer. "Why would you give him them?" He smiled and she looked at him confusedly. His hand reached up and grazed her cheek and she could do little but look on.

"I got something much better." He said and she almost jumped back.

"M-me? For... why do you think I would want this to happen to you?"

"You wouldn't, but it's alright." Joey's loud sigh grabbed their eyes and tore them back to him.

"Fine Kaiba. I don't know anything anymore. What happened to you, or what you're doing, but... you've convinced me... for now." Joey looked down at his deck, counting off the two first cards and threw them down onto his bed. "I'm keeping this one though. At least a little longer." He held up, to everyone's astonishment, one of the blue eyes white dragons. Kaiba looked down at the two cards thrown at him and gasped. They were the other two mighty cards that he loved so much. He looked up in time to watch the third disappear into Joey's deck box as the boy closed it.

"But you..." Serenity couldn't even find her voice past the first two words and settled on opening and closing her mouth soundlessly.

"I tore up two Garoozis and a Glass Man." Joey said, picking up the remains of a few of his own cards. "I'm not him. Doesn't matter who it is, I couldn't do that to someone." He said staring at Serenity. "But... I guess... if he'd give this stuff up... I don't know. Just don't be gross." He turned and folded his arms across his chest, but was dragged to the side as Serenity grabbed him and hugged him.

"I love you big brother."

"Yeah yeah yeah." She had gotten her way. He didn't have to be happy about it.

Two more days passed and Kaiba was feeling great. He just wanted to get up and move around now. He stretched in front of the window, looking out as people went along their ways then turned back to Serenity coming in to check on him for the morning.

"How are you?"

"Good enough to beat that freak pokemon that thought it would be a good idea to whip a door at me." He said levelly. She liked his energy and that he had been back to his usual mind frame. She moved up to him and put a hand on his arm warmly.

"Don't overdo it ok?" She smiled up at him and he turned to her, running his hands down her arms smoothly. She leaned up to him, curling her hand into his jacket and he lowered his lips to hers.

"Ew." Joey's voice stated plainly from the door. The two stopped, Kaiba pulling back a bit and Serenity glancing over to her brother.

"Sorry..." She muttered. She enjoyed being able to be with Kaiba, even if her brother was constantly watching over her shoulder and making sure they didn't do anything too offensive.

"Where are you going?" Joey asked as Kaiba started out of the room.

"I'm going to check on my pokemon." He said simply. They had been on his mind and though Serenity brought them in to see him from time to time, only the little ones were allowed in. He made his way to the shore and Serenity and Joey followed him, Serenity to make sure nothing went wrong, and Joey out of boredom and the 'need' to watch his sister.

Once they made it to the wide open ocean Kaiba took a deep breath and brought out his two pokeballs. Not a moment later his Gyarados and Lapras were rushing to greet him. He moved towards the waterline but Serenity stopped him, knowing the pokemon were able to creep up the shore and see him without the need for him to get wet.

He sighed and waited for them to greet him. He never liked being told what to do, but she only ever had the best intentions for him and did make sense. There was no use risking infection or reopening wounds when there were safer alternatives. The Gyarados happily nudged him, but to his surprise, the Lapras was far more enthusiastic about his presence.

A sudden shudder rocked the land and Kaiba glanced to the skies. There was no sign of the ice bird, and the people in town only briefly paused before returning to their usual day. About fifteen minutes passed before another shook them. Lapras wasn't happy about it, but Gyarados didn't seem to notice. Still Kaiba didn't like it.

"Hey, what is that?" He asked a random passerby.

"What? Oh, that's just the biker gangs causing problems on route eighteen. It's a bike only path and they think because they work together they can bully the other people trying to travel. We've told them to cut it out but they just don't seem to listen. They do what they want." He said, shaking his head. Serenity and Joey exchanged glances, wondering what they could do to help, but Kaiba already had an idea. He had been hoping to test out his pokemon's merits for some time now.

"Gyarados, Lapras, let's take a walk." He said, smirking as he recalled them.

"Do you really think this is a good idea?" Serenity asked, moving to his side as he walked towards the west exit of town.

"I'm going to go crazy just doing nothing. You're lucky you got two full days out of me." She knew it to be true. He hadn't complained or even tried something like this and it was probably torturing him. She smiled, determined to stick with him and fight on next to him.

"Uh, Sir, you need a bicycle to get-" One of the men at the route stations tried, attempting to stop him.

"Can it, I'm cleaning up the trash." Kaiba said, not bothering to look in their direction. Serenity bowed politely, hoping they wouldn't mind while Joey moved to talk to them.

"Hey, sorry, we're just trying to help... stop the biker gangs from messin with people." He said. The two men inside glanced at each other and then back to Joey.

"Well, we don't usually let people in without a bike. It tends to get dangerous if you don't have one. Everyone else has them and may not be able to adjust to the speed difference." He warned.

"Gotcha, we'll be careful." Joey promised, waving as he jogged to catch up to Kaiba and Serenity. As he neared them he noticed they were already getting into it with some chain covered biker guy.

"What do you mean back off? You're not even supposed to be here without a bike." The man said, looking them over. He glanced down at Serenity and smirked. "Though I guess I don't mind if you're gonna be walking around here." He said, reaching out to play with a strand of her hair. Before he could actually touch her, Kaiba's hand was on his wrist and his body between them.

"I wouldn't if you value your hand." There was venom in his voice and death in his eyes. It calmed him that Serenity moved closer to him, holding his jacket as she nuzzled into him.

"Ah, your little girlfriend is she?" The biker said, whipping himself out of Kaiba's grasp. "Well see after she see's me and my pokemon destroy you!" He pulled a ball from his pocket and sent out a familiar type of pokemon. It was one of the ones Team Rocket used often, the large floating mine, Coffing. Kaiba smirked. Pathetic. He had fought many of them. He glanced to the side and noted the waters edge just barely below the bridge.

"Lets see, I'm thinking... the first one I've ever gotten. Charmander." He said, letting out the little one to test it's strength. The biker nearly laughed his head off.

"What do you think this little lizard is going to be able to do?" He said through his peels of laughter.

"I don't know, why don't you show him?" The little fire lizard puffed up, obviously ready for a fight and started off twirling a fire stream around the smoking ball. Some of the puffs of smoke ignited briefly, but overall the move did minimal damage. It looked scary enough, but the pokemon didn't seem to be injured. Kaiba deflated a little, but the lizard looked proud.

"Hah, that's nothing. Slam that pip squeak Coffing." The man ordered, but the second the pokemon moved, it was burnt again by the vortex that still held itself around it. Still it was able to sweep down at the little lizard, angered by the fire now following it around. Kaiba's Charmander deftly dodged left then circled the ball.

"Aim for the smoke coming out of it." Kaiba commanded calmly. The lizard shot another blast of fire, this one more concentrated and powerful than the last. It hit it's mark, causing a series of small explosions and finally the pokemon seemed to expand, then deflate, completely worn from the heat and damage it had taken.

"N-No... How...It... It doesn't matter, Get them, Sandshrew!" He tossed out the little hedgehog pokemon and Joey stepped up.

"Huh, you got one too do you?" He said stepping up and pulling out a ball of his own. "My turn Kaiba." He tossed over his shoulder. Kaiba could only nod and step back. It didn't take long for Joey's own Sandshrew to take it's place in front of him and ready itself for battle. The man twitched a little, noticing the difference in the size of the two pokemon. Joey's was obviously bigger, therefore more powerful, but the biker didn't want this to be over quite yet.

"Size doesn't matter. It's how you use them." He said unsteadily.

"Hah, one, that's what she said, and two, I don't use my pokemon. We work together. Tackle that brat." Joey's Sandshrew moved first, jumping forward and ramming itself towards the smaller one.

"Agility, make sure he cant hit you!" The smaller one dodged, then again and again. A few minutes passed and Joey was beginning to get aggravated.

"Come on, get him. Scratch at him. Headbutt him... do something..." Joey tried, but the little one was just too fast.

"Good job Sandshrew, now, scratch him!" The biker commanded and Joey's little pokemon took the hit. It didn't seem to hurt, but it, as well as Joey were pissed that the opponent could strike him, but he wasn't able to strike the opponent back.

"Need some help?" Kaiba offered, but Joey growled and ignored him.

"Sandshrew, get under him. You know what to do." He said, a smirk spreading across his face. Suddenly his hedgehog started to burrow under the earth and the opponent and it's human began to look around worriedly, wondering where the pokemon would pop up.

"S-Sandshrew, go... go lef-" It was too late. Joey's Sandshrew came up from under it, it's powerful claws striking from below and knocking the smaller one back hard. The thing was out cold and the biker was out of pokemon. "You... You..." He started, but Kaiba moved forward again.

"Just get yourself to a pokemon center and think twice before you start to bother people on this road again." He said, stepping back and allowing the man to pass through the guard post and into town where the nearest pokecenter was.

"This isn't the end..." He said as he passed him. He gave Serenity another look over before moving to the guard post.

"I could be worse... I could be that douche." Kaiba said as he turned back, aiming his comment towards Joey.

"Hey, what the hell do you think you're doing?" A gruff man asked, hopping off his bike and turning to Kaiba and Joey. "That was my kid brother you guys were messing with." He said as he towered over both boys. He had a small group of men behind him and they all looked eager for conflict. Kaiba glanced back at Joey, and Joey looked ready to rumble.

"Your brother was torturing a child trying to cross the bridge." Kaiba pointed out, glancing over at a small boy off to the side of the road, who was still trying desperately to collect his dropped things and get back to his bike.

"It's our bridge the kid is on. Not my brother's fault the boy didn't know any better. Ignorance of the rules is no excuse." the big man said, cracking his knuckles.

"And let me guess, the ones with the most powerful pokemon make the rules right?" Kaiba said, holding each of the small pokeballs between his fingers as he readied himself.

"Please. You couldn't possibly believe your four little pokemon could take on all of ours." The man laughed.

"But it's not just his pokemon. It's mine too." Joey said, pulling out his four balls as well.

"And mine." Serenity said, moving between them and preparing herself.

"huh, we've never had a battle royale on the bridge before. Now you'll get to watch all of us destroy you at the same time. Saves time really." He said as his boys began to unhinge their pokemon.

"Shut up and lets do this." Joey said with a cocky grin. There was a bright flash of red and the area was swarmed with pokemon ready to brawl.

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Woot! Battle on the bridge! Cant wait to write the next chappie!

Read, Review, Enjoy~Love Ya!