"Where are we going to be staying tonight? I mean, we can't be wandering the whole night and I'm not camping in the woods," said Lola from somewhere behind them. They had been traveling all day and they were exhausted, but there was not any place to stop.
"We could book a hotel room," Yugi offered, but Kaiba grimaced.
"No way am I staying in some cheap hotel, Mutou," he said irritably.
"We don't have to," said Alister with a shrug. "Back in Doma we used to have all sorts of safe-houses; there's one not too far from here. It's not that big, but it can house all of us."
A week went by while they were at the safe house; it was a spacious one-story bungalow on the edge of the city. From there they had been busy searching for any sign of the Orichalcos or Caden, but so far they had not found anything.
"Geez! Can't this guy show himself already?" Joey whined, flopping onto the floor.
Alister looked at the teenage blond with visible irritation. "I can't believe I'm saying this, but I think I would have preferred to have Valon here instead of Joey."
"So you do like Valon after all!"
"Do not!"
"You do. You just don't want to admit it," she teased, pestering the red head.
Alister and Lola began to bicker, so Joey got up and went to go see what Yugi was doing. Kaiba was typing away at his computer; Dartz had vanished to check out a lead (he did this more to stay out of the way of his former enemies, since any time he entered the room he ended up creating tension).
Raphael came into the room, looking around for Skye; he had not seen her since breakfast and he was worried about her. When he asked around, Lola stopped bickering with Alister long enough to respond: "Check her room or the roof. Chances are she's in one of those places; she seemed distracted at breakfast, so that means she's hiding somewhere."
As Raphael made his way to his room, he couldn't help but let out a soft chuckle. When they had first come here a week ago Skye had promptly run to her old room and had claimed it for herself; she had done something similar back in Doma, when they had first come to this particular house.
Flashback
"As the eldest I get this room! It is rightfully mine," snapped Gurimo indignantly.
"Put a sock in it, Kuriboh," Skye replied, examining her fingernails. "I got here first."
"The room is mine, little girl. End of discussion."
"Little? Me? Idiot! Let's duel, right now. Winner gets the room!"
"You're on!" retorted Gurimo.
Of course, in the end Skye had won and Gurimo had ended up with a room that was the size of a large closet; Raphael and the other two bikers had wisely gone ahead and staked out their own rooms while Skye and Gurimo dueled each other.
End Flashback
"What's up, Raphael?" she asked when he came into her room, getting up and putting away the notebook she had in her hand.
"Checking up on you. You pulled a vanishing act on us after breakfast; I'm just here to make sure you're okay."
Skye gave him a weary smile in reply. "I'm fine. Just tired," she said, moving next to him and leaning against Raphael with a contented sigh. "I wonder when Caden's going to make his move. It's been a week…Valon and all them must be going mad."
"Personally, I'm hoping they don't blow anything up while we're gone," replied Raphael with a small laugh.
A scream from downstairs interrupted the moment and Raphael and Skye bolted out into the hallway; Lola met them halfway with an alarmed expression on her face. "We have a problem!"
Neither got to ask what was wrong, because at that moment there was a crash from one of the bedrooms and a monster loomed over them, the Seal of Orichalcos prominent on its head.
Raphael immediately took Skye's arm and pulled her behind him; Lola grabbed Skye's arm and the two girls moved into the family room as Alister and Joey brushed past them to help beat back the monster in the house.
"There's more of them!" Yugi said sharply, pointing to the window outside.
"Seto, you and Yugi come with me outside; wake the Pharaoh up while you're at it, Yugi. We need him right now. Lola, we'll cover you while you try to get Dartz," ordered Skye as she moved to a nearby cabinet and began digging through it, pulling out a smaller version of a Chaos Duel Disk before hurrying outside.
"Dark Sage!" Skye snarled the moment she got outside, her monster appearing alongside the Dark Magician and the Blue Eyes White Dragon and beginning to blast the Orichalcos soldiers away.
There was a small explosion from inside the house and Skye turned in alarm, worrying for the people inside. Seconds later, however, several Orichalcos monsters were thrown out the window and Skye caught a glimpse of Guardian Eatos from inside. She smirked—things were under control.
A huge hand clapped over her mouth and she let out a scream that was unfortunately muffled. She began struggling furiously against the Orichalcos soldier that held her, but she could not get away and she was helpless to do anything as her captor dragged her away.
RAPHAEL!
Inside the house Raphael froze, nearly getting attacked by one of the soldiers inside; Eatos instantly swung her Goddess Sword at it and knocked it house was in complete shambles at this point. The walls were crumbling around them and they could catch peeks of the outside woods from inside. Joey had summoned his Panther Warrior to help. Alister did not have a small enough monster for the inside of the house, so he had resorted to arming himself with a table leg and using it as a surprisingly effective weapon.
"Raphael, now is not the time to zone out," Alister growled, watching in surprise when the soldiers began retreating.
The blond biker didn't hear him. "Skyler," he said urgently, and then he was moving out the nearest hole in the wall into the front of the house.
The Pharaoh turned around, noticing Raphael coming out into the yard. "The Orichalcos soldiers have left," he began, but the blond silenced him with a glare.
"Where's Skye?" he demanded.
Kaiba's eyes widened fractionally and he looked around him. "She was right behind us," he said, realization dawning on his face.
"They came here to get her," said Joey from behind them, looking sick. "That Caden guy's probably got her—and if he's anything like what you said, then she's in some serious trouble."
Raphael might as well have been a statue; the emotionless mask on his face could make Alister proud. He said nothing, instead turning around and beginning to walk in the same direction that the monsters had gone.
"Where are you going?"
"To get Skye. They're most likely going back to their master and that will lead us to her. I don't know about you guys, but I want Skye alive and her soul intact," he said without looking back.
Jupiter's Magic: Thanks yous for the reviews! :D
Lola: Jupiter's_Magic does not own Yugioh, the Orichalcos, or the card game. She does own me, Ember, Skye, Declan, and dare I say his name, Caden *shudders*
Ember: Please Review!
