Entering The Lotus Eater's Realm
Sleep, to most, was an important aspect of life. It was a way to calm down, 'recharge', a way to prepare for what was yet to come. It was required to do so in fact, and without sleep it could take as little as a few days for death to set in. For the moment though, as Honda and Otogi ran past to hurriedly knock on Jonouchi's door, sleep did not seem to be something that would happen anytime soon, despite the fact that it was already one in the morning.
Anzu and Shizuka both were thankfully not in his room it seemed, the girls likely standing at Mai's bedside. Both had requested a stay in his own between their self-made 'guard shifts' by the woman's side after all, and though their things now sat in the room there was not a soul to be seen. For the moment, his room would be completely empty...
The perfect place to discuss whatever it was Ishizu wished to talk about. At least, that was what the lighter half of him was doing, having switched out after the door closed over. The boy looked back at Ishizu as he turned to the door, rubbing the back of his head as the woman jumped at the switch. "Ah... If you want to talk to the other me Ishizu-san," he began, Ishizu in question staring somewhat blankly, "I understand... It's just that with all that happened today," Yugi continued worriedly, "He's completely exhausted and..." And not responding, so his offer was either going to turn really awkward or... He shook himself, flushing. "Well, not as though you probably aren't tired yourself of course, but-"
Ishizu smiled somewhat, shaking her head as she watched the flustering boy before her. "It's fine," she said calmly, moving to the side to allow him to pass. "The bond between yourself and the spirit of the pharaoh is strong... If he needs to rest," she continued, bowing her head, "Then so must you; I will make this quick." Ah- Well, when he thought about it, it was late so...
"T-Thank-you," he said calmly, moving into the room. "I'll try not to interrupt."
Another bowed head, and as the woman took a seat she began. "Since the end of the nameless one's reign," the woman explained, "Those of my blood, traced to the priestesses of the court, have guarded the secrets of those times, under the orders of the succeeding Queen. We have sacrificed much in order to do this, protecting the Millennium Items entrusted to us and the secrets of the memories within," she continued, Yugi looking at the woman with a sad frown.
"Then... I was right..." Like Malik, she had been a tomb guardian. And if that was the case, then that would mean... "You're Malik's sister, aren't you," he said quietly, Ishizu turning away with a nod. A small span of silence passed, the boy pressing on with a swallow. "In that case... Could you tell me, for everyone's sake," he asked, "Why he's like this? Why he's so driven to kill, or even excited about it?"
The woman stared, before slowly nodding as a depressed gleam appeared in her eyes. "I can," she said quietly. "I can, if you so wish it... It is a bit of a long story," Ishizu continued, "But I-"
"I don't mind staying awake," Yugi said with a smile, shaking his head somewhat. "With all that's going on," he added half seriously, a nervous laugh escaping him, "I don't even know if I'll be able to sleep, ahaha..." ...Actually, now he probably wouldn't sleep at all...
Again Ishizu stared, folding her hands in her lap as she seemed to study the boy before her. "I see," the woman finally said, nodding as she spoke. "Very well then. As you likely know," she began somewhat quietly, "We of the Ishtar family are the protectors of the Tauk and Rod, guardians of the Pharaoh's memories and records. For thousands of years," she went on, "We have lived separate from the world, hidden beneath the ground in the remains of a series of tombs and catacombs. Within our family, the heir of the main line, the first-born male," Ishizu clarified quickly, "Would receive a rite of passage, the carving of the 'pharaoh's memory' across his back. This 'memory' came from the remains of the following Queen's order after the nameless one's passing," she explained calmly, "With instructions on how to aid the pharaoh's spirit in passing along with laws that dictated when this would happen." Ah... A Queen ordered all of this? But why? The boy held his tongue as Ishizu seemed to pause before him, before continuing on. Malik was... Malik was this heir," she stated, eyes closing over slightly in memory. "As for the tragedy that sent us here, that has made things as they are, it happened five years ago... a full year after this carving had been made across his back.
"Malik you see, had an attraction to the outside world," Ishizu told him, "A desire to see the outside more than anyone we had ever known. My aunt, whom I saw perhaps twice in those times, believed he inherited this trait from our mother... However, she had insisted that it would pass, and that Malik would soon accept his fate and ties to the tombs."
"That... He didn't though, did he," Yugi found himself saying, the woman across from him nodding in response.
"For the past two days following his thirteenth birthday, he pretended to have a fever with a plan to visit the outside in mind, fooling even our father," she explained, staring somewhat at the table between the chairs. "The plan itself was just as simple as the moments leading to it really; Rishid would stay behind, holding the facade of illness in his abscence, while I guided Malik outside for two hours exactly. We would leave at sunrise I had told him, and the expression on his face when he saw the sun for the first time in his life... I..." The woman bowed her head, closing her eyes as tears began to fall, her words cracking somewhat under the pressure of the memory. "I know now, that despite what our family was ordered to do, we should never have remained as closed off as we had," she continued, attempting as best she could to keep the tears and chokes from interfering with the tale. "Perhaps back then, in the ancient times, it was easier... But above us," the woman exclaimed, "The world had changed completely, and the sights that we saw completely overwhelmed us! Vehicles that we had never even dreamed of, skyscrapers in the distant horizon marking Cairo, planes soaring overhead... Two hours had passed before we knew it," she whispered in nostalgic muttering, "But on our way back from all of this, we encountered someone who knew who we were exactly. A tall man, who held the Key around his neck..." The key-
He froze, jumping as he was pulled from the story. "The key- That must have been Shaadi," Yugi cut in with a jolt, his eyes wide as Ishizu stared. "I met him just over a year ago," he explained nervously, "Before I knew about the other me... He tested him after triggering our switch, putting Anzu and the others in danger... After the other me 'passed'," the boy went on as he swallowed, "He promised to go on his way but... To think..."
Ishizu nodded, knowing just what Yugi was talking about. Her eyes had again grown misty in appearance, the woman looking away somewhat with a saddened expression. "Looking back," she began once more, "I wonder if what he said was more a warning than a threat... As we stood there he had said 'soon, the spirit of the Great and Nameless Pharaoh will awaken', and that as guardians to the tomb, our fate from then on would be a tragedy that divided our blood completely... All for the pharaoh's sake," she trailed off, shaking her head. "But before we could ask what he meant he had vanished into the crowd, our time cut short and leaving us to run back to the desert in a panic. So we returned, hoping to make it safely inside before our father caught us... But at the side of the door," Ishizu whispered, gripping her arms tightly. "On the door," she repeated with a choke, shaking her head as still more tears fell, "There was a rig, a trip rope that had been released with the open door... As we had run along the caverns in the dark rather than using candles, we never noticed the string releasing the signal... And as we went to check on Rishid, praying that our father had yet to realize this, we found that he was no longer in his room, nor Malik's own... Instead," she went on, swallowing as she recounted the memory in panicked tones, "We found him in one of the main chambers... Whipped by the heated blade of the machete our father held, bleeding on the ground. He wasn't making a single sound," she cried, holding her head in one hand. "He was simply kneeling on the ground, taking as much as he could to prevent our father from hurting Malik... And it was then... It was then, as Rishid finally collapsed before us, and our father turned to deliver our own punishment, that it happened.
"Malik suddenly began to scream," she whispered, "Holding his head in pain before our father even touched him. His hair stood on end, and with a new voice, a fearsome and adult tone, the screams stopped... And he addressed our father with a maddening grin that froze even him in place. Before anyone could even think he had acted... He claimed the Millennium Rod from the side," Ishizu explained, "And within seconds took its power as his, accepted completely. He restrained our father on the wall with its power, and froze me in place at the door way, forcing me to watch what he did next... The fear in my father's eyes," the woman whispered in horror, Yugi as well listening with evident fear, "And the laughter that that person, that thing that replaced my sweet brother... He skinned him ALIVE," she cried, voice taking a panicked tone as the woman forced herself to dredge up memories long locked away. "And he tore the entirety of the ritual carving from his corpse's back, dropping it on Rishid's unconscious form with such a grating, cackling sound..! And even after this he turned on him, holding he blade in the rod high. But before he could kill him, Rishid's eyes opened," she explained, swallowing back her unease. "And the shadow controlling my brother was forced back, leaving him to wake and find his father dead at the side with his blood on his hands... He couldn't remember what he'd done," she cried, shaking her head. "Not a thing, not at all... And when that 'person', 'Shaadi' appeared at the side, telling him that it was the Pharaoh's arrival that drove our father into death, what else could he think? The source of the scars on his back, the exile and his father's death... They were so easy for him to group into one thing, so easy for a boy of his age to blame..." So then...
The reason Malik hated him, the reason for all of this happening... "I... Ishizu-san," he began, the woman before him choking as she leaned forward somewhat.
"I'm sorry," she said quietly, shaking her head. "To see me like this... I'm normally quite composed, it's required that I be... You'll have to forgive me," Ishizu continued, shaking her head. "I still have to finish after all... Following what happened in the tombs you see, we had nothing to do but leave for the outside world; we could do nothing but be placed in the hands of Egypt's government," she explained, "And by that same government it looked as though we were going to be divided into the care of unknown families. Rishid after all had all of the remaining scars from our father's attack, and had been deemed as someone who would do well to be as separate from it all as possible... Malik had clear signs of mental trauma from the events, more so than anything I myself could hide. They couldn't keep us together, for our 'health'," she continued almost dully, closing her eyes. "So after realizing this, Malik and Rishid both fled the city on their own, hiding and learning in the shadows before eventually creating the ghouls. I myself was left in possession of the tauk, which when found in our underground home had been considered a family heirloom... And while I slowly came to know my 'new' family, I eventually came to realize just what duty I had to that item... That duty however," she told Yugi pulling the tauk from around her neck to hold it forward, "Ends here."
"End-" What! "But Ishizu-san," Yugi protested, watching as the woman placed the necklace on the table before him. "This... This is yours," he shouted, eyes wide. "Why would... Why would you give this to..."
"The tauk no longer listens to my requests," Ishizu stated, gesturing to the necklace before her. "After Seto changed the future, altering my predictions," she explained, "I could see only light; a sight that remains unchanged." Light... Light seemed like a good thing, but when it blinded everything around them... "Yugi... I cannot save my brother," the woman told him, eyes filled with grief and misery as Yugi slowly took the necklace before him. "As consumed by this persona as he is," she continued sadly, "The most I can do is watch... But I have faith that somehow, some way, you will succeed," she told the boy, standing from her chair as Yugi did the same with the tauk in his grip. "And so I give you this message; of the remaining items," Ishizu explained, "You now need five in order to awaken the Pharaoh's past memory." Five others... There were seven then, tauk, rod, eye, key, scales, ring, and his puzzle... "It is ironic," the woman muttered calmly, staring to the side. "But as our duty to the pharaoh is to return these items to him, we would never have fulfilled our vows staying beneath the ground... So the messages I had been sure were filled with Malice were never... ..."
Then, what Shaadi had meant by 'the will of the pharaoh'... Had simply referred to the fact that the Pharaoh had returned. So then all of this, it was his...
-kotskots-
Yugi turned as knocking came through the air, looking up from the tauk before placing it carefully on the table and turning to Ishizu. "Ishizu-san... Thank you very much for telling me all of this," he told her, bowing his head as he walked toward the door with the woman. "Really! I'll look after this until the right time comes..." Until the time that his other self would regain his memories...
"I know you will," the woman responded, a slight smile coming in place before she moved to leave. "And until then," she continued calmly, "I wish you luck in all that you do... Now..." Ishizu opened the door, Anzu jumping from the door's entrance as the woman stepped out to leave. "Good night Pharaoh... Mazaki-san," she added, the girl in question watching as the Egyptian entered the room across the hall.
"Ah..." The woman slowly looked back, gesturing behind her. "What was Ishizu doing in..."
"Ahhhh... It... It's a long story," Yugi said with a swallow, glancing at the clock to the side before shaking his head. "You're tired though right? So then, we should sleep..."
Anzu appeared to flush at that, turning away somewhat awkwardly at the mention of sleeping. "Right," she muttered with a cough, "Sleep! So... Ah... ...Exactly how are we doing this again?"
"Erm..."
In the end, Anzu had set up two chairs at the side, leaving the room to grab something she'd forgotten as Yugi buried his reddening face as deep into his pillow as possible.
This scar... Was definitely going to take some getting used to he told himself, tapping it with his free hand almost blankly before pulling it back with a wince. Katsuya swallowed as he stared in the mirror at the scar over his chest, shower momentarily forgotten as he dropped his shirt to the side. The scar that sat where Ra struck him was definitely something that would be difficult to explain in a change room. While it was only on the front rather than both sides thankfully though, the three-clawed 'grasp' that seemed to more or less disfigure any bit of skin with in it was very... Very... Jarring. It looked almost like a burn, combined with some sort of blade induced scar, a mark that no matter what ever happened would never fade in any way.
And it was for that reason that, as knocking abruptly sounded against his bedroom door, his shirt was hurriedly thrown on before he went to answer it. And as to who it was... He paused momentarily, shaking off another flash before opening the door. Honda and Otogi... But what were they- "Oh yea," he found himself muttering, looking at the two outside almost blankly. "You were gonna stay in my room..."
"Gh- You forgot," Honda hissed as the two came in, the door quickly closing behind them while Katsuya smirked.
"Hey," he said with a grin, "I c'n always hope y' share w' Yugi can' I?"
"That's true," his second 'guest' muttered with a stretch, "But as we said before, we don't want to bug him before tournament day... Especially with a maniac like Malik on board," he added, turning to the blond at the side.
Oh, that made sense he suppose- Waaaaiiit... "Bug Yug'- Oi..." Katsuya's smirk plummetted, a scowl coming on his face as he turned on the others. "O-Oiiii! I have jus' as much chance 'f facing tha' guy as he does," he snarled, Honda rubbing his head. "Where's th' difference!"
Honda continued to shrug, awkwardly looking away as he thought of an excuse. "Welllllll..."
"Malik isn't likely to try and actively steal an ancient artifact from you and kill you in his spare time," Otogi said rather plainly, kicking his shoes off and hopping onto the bed on the other end of the room. "At least, I'm pretty sure of that," he added, leaning back against the pillow and nodding. Well... That was true, he did show a fair bit of zeal in the idea of targeting Yugi but-
"Wai'... So you think Malik's gonna kill 'm... An' y' leave 'm alone in th' room," Katsuya asked with an incredulous frown, the other two trading glances as Honda joined his friend on the bed.
"Ah- N-No," Honda shouted in protest, jacket hanging half on his arm as he panicked. "We just... Ah... We..."
"Ah..." It seemed Otogi was coming up with just as much in his defense really, as the teen was growing about as pale as his friend. Really...
Not to say that Yugi and the Other Yugi couldn't look after each other but... The blond shook his head, heading into the bathroom again as he sighed. "Whatever," he shouted over the still running water, closing the door behind him to get ready for the shower again. "Jus' don' come in 'till I'm done, I don' wan' any temp'rture changes while 'm showerin'," he called out as an excuse, not looking forward to attempting to explain the new scar.
And fffffff-! Speaking of the scar, damn did it sting under the water! ...Not to mention steam...
The blond was pulled from his thoughts as Otogi shouted back in response, managing to focus on the shower rather than the scar again. "Got it," the teen had called out, leaning back on the bed while Honda went to get the lights. "...Hey," he muttered, looking at the sides and end with a frown. "Is this bed... Bigger... Than the other ones," he asked, his friend looking back with raised eyebrows as the bed was illuminated in moonlight.
"Uhhhhh... ...Yes," the teen offered, Otogi frowning in response.
"Why the hell did he get a bigger bed," he muttered, somehow still within Katsuya's audible range. There was a small part of the blond was really tempted to say 'because Seto-chan probably figured you guys would invade my room!', but another part told him that she would have to actually care for that to happen. Later however, when he settled atop the covers after having showered up and re-dressed for bed he found himself pondering the same thing his friends had.
Because as his mind was telling him right now, the bed really was larger, by at least a foot in comparison to the double beds that the other competitors had... A fact that he couldn't find any reason for Seto to have done, leaving him to fall asleep in confusion as his dog-tags gleamed in the light on his side.
As the timer on the translator slowly ticked away, the woman keeping an eye on it found herself running out of things to do. At half an hour she had long since made sure her deck was as ready as it could be for the up-coming 4-Person free for all that would decide the final matches. At forty-five minutes, she was pondering an odd e-mail she'd received from Gekkou Tenma concerning the current deal between their companies. Which had somehow managed to center on his brother instead. (Like she gave a damn about him still not recovering from Pegasus' death, there were better ways to deal than fret about inferiority complexes...) Either way, fifteen minutes later had her blowing a bit of hair from her face with a sigh.
One hour down... And two to-
...Go? "Oh for fucks sake," she found herself growling, watching as the translator's timer jumped up another hour. A part of her wondered if there was even any point in doing this; no matter what happened, looking at the card resulted in her understanding exactly what it said, despite all logic pointing to the fact that this was impossible. From the chant right down to the vague references to its ability, each point referencing 'sunrise', 'noon', and from what she could tell an 'eclipse'. Well... Besides that issue with the vagueness of it all she decided, opening up a separate window, she at least knew to some extent what Ra's abilities were. So with that in mind, if she could calculate her chances of Ra losing to her Virus-Dragon deck, estimating what the abilities were...
The computer screen flashed, fingers flying across the keyboard with ease as the necessary date was entered before the program itself was sent on its run. It took approximately two seconds to calculate her answer... An answer that had her briefly wonder if she'd entered the numbers incorrectly. "Th... Thirteen percent," she muttered, staring at the screen in shock. ... ...Ugh... The woman frowned, hands briefly hanging above the keyboard as she grumbled and cursed under her breath. Great... Even using Obelisk she had a hair-thin chance. Hell, after entering in the data for Osiris, with hopes that she would fight against Yugi first, she still only had fifteen percent!
And if she was right about what the card said, there was a damn good reason for that...
Particularly with the 'second' ability, the 'eclipse'. "A one turn kill," she found herself muttering, eyes growing dull as she stared at the screens before her. Only one held any running programs within it by this point, leaving the others to occasionally flash as the card's image stared back. It was what the Sun Dragon was created to do after all, that was, 'wiping the field' of anything in sight. The three Gods had a number of things in common really; they each needed three sacrifices to be summoned, they were completely immune to traps, and be it malevolent or benevolent in intent, all spells lasted only one turn against them before being destroyed. But of the Gods 'abilities', Ra was the only one shrouded in mystery, the only one whose card bothered 'choosing' the worthy to read its cover. The first one she had already seen, the one that came about from the very thing that set Ra apart from the others. Only those who knew the proper 'prayer' on the card's image could summon it into existence after all, and only those who could read the ancient language dictating it would be able to do so. But these other two abilities...
Seto stared at the card on the side of the screen, jaw clenching as the screen continued to flicker intermittently. For Battle City, monsters could not attack in the same turn they were special summoned or fused; it was an 'extra' rule she'd created, a rule to help 'balance' the advantage of there being no limit to special summons. The Gods however were immune to this, partly due to any spells that did so lasting only one turn; and if she was right about the 'second ability' that Ra's card depicted, it centered on Ra being special summoned from the grave with that in mind... Ordinarily of course, this would mean it held no attack power, no defense power... It would mean bringing up nothing but a figure head, a poor excuse for 'God'.
But this line here, 'offerings of life'... The woman continued to stare for a moment, before a sharp pain ran through her head and she found herself back on the chair. "Nggh..." Migraine... She hated migraines... Damn it...
This was just pointless she mentally roared, rubbing her head and gritting her teeth. She could read the card as though it were written completely in Japanese, but she still didn't know what it did! "Tch..." A screen to the side flashed, pulling Seto's attention from these thoughts as the woman moved to tap one of the keys at the side. Whatever was happening now, it had better be very, very-
She cut the thoughts short, staring at the screen for a moment before frowning. ...What in the hell...
Seto stood from the chair and moved to look at the second screen as a record of recent power-usage came up, a small warning appearing on the side as an over-ride was almost ironically 'overridden'. "The elevator was just used," she muttered, narrowing her eyes as she looked over the records. And with that much power... "Someone just took the lift the arena..." ...But if they were going to the arena...
The woman abruptly stiffened with realization, tapping a number of keys as she pulled up the records of the competitors duel disks. Yugi's was off, Jonouchi's was off, Mai's, Rishid's, Ishizu's- Shit... Shit! Malik still had his initial threat to act upon a small voice in the back of her mind reminded, and if he was doing that now, against some other opponent... A growl grew in her throat as two disks 'glowed' on the screen, their status clearly revealing that they had recently been activated. Malik was indeed one of the competitors... But the other...
"Bakura." Seto pushed another key down, not taking her eyes off the screen as she pulled up a duel-log. As to how and why the albino had left his bed in the middle of a recovery to do something as idiotic as this, she hardly had the time to ponder that. For now, deal with the madman on the other end! "...Kyouko," she said quickly as the 'PA' was activated, the on-duty guard waiting on the other end of the line as she continued. "Get two other members of security to the arena and use extreme caution when exiting the lift," she warned, her employee almost audibly 'freezing' as the woman went on. "Keep your weapons ready to fire," Seto ordered, "And if needed fire only at the tanned duelist, understand? Malik's started another fight." And with the mention of 'Malik', there was never any arguing.
And despite what obvious confusion the former maid held with the mentions of the lift, Kyouko very quickly stated an affirmative for that very reason before the phone clicked off. In a few moments, she would likely see the 'power-logs' pop up yet again. But until that time, with what was going on up at the field...
It was already two turns in according to the somewhat simplistic 'duel-log' on the screen, with nothing particular remarkable going on as of yet. Bakura, who had taken the first turn and begun with one card face down had also summoned a 'Zombie Goblin'. Just a single turn later he defended the summoned beast from Malik's own monster 'Drillago' by means of the 'counter attack' trap he'd activated. The trap 'Fearful Earthbound' was meant to take five hundred attack points each time the opponent attacked... But despite this play Bakura's first monster had been lost, Malik's own face down card destroying the trap in question before it could take effect. As of now, Bakura had two new face down cards, the monster 'Gernia' standing in defense at his side while it moved to Malik's turn. The albino duelist now had 3500 points...
Malik in the meantime, who had used 'Card of Sanctity' with little luck in drawing God as he had hoped, had 4000... And as he continued with his turn he found himself subject to a bizarre yet completely understandable turn of action from his opponent. Bakura's first trap card had activated relatively quickly, with the card 'Dark Tutor' forcing Ra from Malik's deck and into his hands. Immediately thereafter the second card on the field was activated to reveal Bakura's intentions, 'Dragged into the Grave' pulling the blond's entire hand into his graveyard. After all... It wasn't as though Bakura could see the card that Malik had set face down, not like the woman watching the screen now. Monster reborn would only last one turn true, and even then Ra would be powerless. And for that reason it should have worked... For despite Bakura sacrificing as many hundreds of points as the cards cast to the graveyard he technically had the upper hand on the field, quickly becoming the first to bring a powerful monster on his side as he set another card for his turn. And as Bakura made yet another sacrifice of points with the monster's summoning, he activated the creature's effect. In mere seconds the field was swarmed, three more monsters coming to the field. Headless Knight, another Gernia, even Necrofear, who would ordinarily need three monsters removed from play...
And yet Seto couldn't help but narrow her eyes, staring at the screen with a frown. There was no way that it could be over that quick after all, and when Malik drew his next card she was proven correct. The card Monster Reborn activated that moment and pulled Ra from the grave for one turn, one turn only before earlier ponderings of the second ability also revealed themselves. "Offering's of life," she muttered almost incredulously, watching as the God's attack rose to exactly 3,999 points before Bakura was attacked. Malik's lifepoints had become a single lifepoint, the Egyptian having added all he had to spare in order to attack. It was over-kill... But it worked. And that was it... "The second ability..."
By sacrificing their own lifepoints, the wielder of Ra could increase the God's attack for each one, turning the tides in an instant. Bakura had lost...
And moments later, the woman found her blood running deathly cold as Kyouko called back from her task. "Kaiba-sama," the woman said clearly, voice tight and clearly hesitant. "As requested, we moved to the arena to apprehend Ishtar and Bakura, however..."
"However," she repeated, eyes narrowing as the power log briefly came over the screen.
"Kaiba-sama... Bakura Ryou was not there. More importantly," she continued, "He is no where to be found aboard this ship, and upon encountering Malik, one of the others noticed that he was in possession of an item nearly identical to the 'ring' that other passengers described as being missing from Bakura's possession. ...Kaiba-sama," the woman went on with a fearful tone, her employer growing just as pale, "We no longer have any reason to take Malik out of the tournament let alone some form of custody... We never made a rule against coming to the arena, the elevators were locked! And if we stay here any longer..." One word came to mind as the guards were carefully told to leave Malik as he was and flee the deck, the Egyptian left to do whatever it was he planned to from the top of the airship.
...Shit.
It was said that among close family and friends, one could always tell when something was wrong. A feeling would perhaps occur, or an inexplicable change in emotions in stark contrast to the current situation. And as Ishizu woke up, the woman's eyes tearing open in a violent jolt, that inexplicable emotion was by far that of fear. Ishizu sat up with rapid breaths, momentarily struggling to calm herself as she looked about the room. At the side her guest, 'Ryuzaki', was still largely asleep, having formed a makeshift pillow using his bag and jacket on the chairs. Besides the sound of light breathing in fact, there was no other sound... No other reason for the fear she held at the moment, nor the sensation of suspicion that hovered in the room.
Despite this however, she could not throw off the feeling that something was terribly wrong, and with that in mind she found herself getting out of the bed and walking toward the door in silence. Someone... Someone was there she told herself, staring at the door and swallowing as she reached for the button to open it. She knew, somehow that someone was there... It was just a feeling and not a fact of course; the tauk's power had long since passed on after all, and until seconds prior she had probably had the best sleep since many years ago. At least until those last few moments, when the mood had abruptly switched to despair and fear. As she opened the door to see Anzu, she couldn't help but tell herself that she'd been expecting someone else, a large feeling of suspicion and unease coming over her. "...Mazaki-san," she asked politely, the woman's expression clearly fearful despite the 'blankness'. "What are you doing here?"
The feeling of unease increased considerably as Anzu opened her mouth however, her head bowed as the woman shook. "O-Okht," she uttered in clear arabic, no accent visible on her tone. "Sister... I need help," she told Ishizu with a swallow, "I need to save Rishid... But I'm... I'm stuck..." St-Stu...
Impossible..! This was... "Malik," she hissed in shock, staring as the girl before her trembled. She didn't know how, or why but... "How... How is this possible," she asked, holding the language they had started in should her 'roommate' awaken to hear them both. "How can you be possessing this girl- No... Why are you possessing her," she pressed, 'Malik' merely continuing to shake.
"I... I wanted to know more about her friend, the blond," 'he' said with a swallow, shifting uncomfortably. "I wanted to know how he'd beaten the control of the rod, about what he was seeing..! But then Rishid passed out," Malik continued with a shudder, "And for some reason, I found myself here, with a darker 'me' taking my place... Okht... Ishizu," he pressed, tears running down the sides of Anzu's cheeks, "I can't let him kill him! I tried to stop him on my own... But it wasn't enough, and I failed my only chance at getting my body back! Ishizu... I need... I need..."
This... Ishizu stared for a few moments, watching as mannerisms reminiscent of her brother from before the current times came from Anzu's body. This was... "Malik," the woman whispered, looking over the woman he possessed before nodding. "I'll help you; Just lead the way," she continued lowly, "We'll hide him in my room for now."
"Ah..." 'Malik' appeared to pause for a moment, before loosening somewhat in relief. "Thank you... Thank you, Ishizu..." The body hurriedly rushed toward the room beside 'his' sister's, placing a hand on the side and glancing down the hall nervously. "The door is unlocked," Malik was muttering, sliding it open with slight ease. "That 'other' me shouldn't be here for a few moments with the staff questioning him, so we have time," he continued, stepping inside.
Ishizu nodded, hurrying into the room behind the possessor and his 'body'. "So long as he doesn't catch us," she said quietly, turning on the light as they walked in. "That's the last thing we nee- Gnh!" The woman froze, choking on her words as she looked at the shadow that was now illuminated by the room. Before, in the darkness, it had been just out of the light of the window, indiscernible and even undetectable. But with the lights on it occurred to her that just earlier there had been an order for staff to watch over the victims of the tournament. An order that had made it easy for Malik to take his 'pay'. "Good God..."
"The doctor... The doctor," Malik uttered with swallows, staring at the corpse on the ground. In the darkness with Bakura he hadn't seen the body; only a lump of shadows that the albino had looked at oddly before waiting for the darker persona. Looking now however there were bruises lining the man's neck almost like a necklace, his back torn completely to shreds for what ever reason other than 'just because'. Death had been slow and painful, with his throat too damaged to scream and his back left to bleed out over the time of the final two duels. "How long do you think he's been dead," Malik muttered quietly, Ishizu holding silent. Dead... Someone on this ship was already dead...
As the two looked back toward Rishid, the man still thankfully breathing, they quickly cut their thoughts short. They had to act fast after all, and they had no time to think about what had already happened...
Otherwise they'd be next.
He kind of figured that he'd be dreaming again, after all that happened through the evening. Between explaining half of his ability and witnessing the shadow game between Malik and Mai, there'd been a lot going on... And despite how late it was and how strung up he'd gotten as a result, sleep had come easily after all. Sure, the bed was crowded as heck (Did they all seriously have to share?), but nonetheless, as he walked about the darkness of the dreams he had admittedly and uncomfortably gotten used to, he had to shrug everything off of his mind and simply continue on.
Besides... "Compared t' everything else," he muttered aloud, footsteps sounding through the darkness, "Th's 's a vacation..." Not to mention a nice break from all the terror and- "Ah..." Katsuya paused, blinking as some sort of light caught his eye in the distance. "You..." That light, could it be... The light seemed to increase, taking humanoid shape as he came close. Hah! It was! "Hey! 'Ghost guy'," he called out as he ran toward it with a grin. "Nice seein' y' again!"
The spirit in question appeared to tense as he looked back to the blond, a scowl appearing on its otherwise blank face. "Gh- 'Ghost guy'," it repeated incredulously, watching as the blond came to a stop in front of him. "Really," it muttered lowly, "If you don't know who I am, then don't bother making nicknames!"
Katsuya jumped somewhat, before slowly nodding his head. Sheesh, what was his problem... He was a hell of a lot nicer in their last encounter... "Alrigh'," he muttered, scratching his head, "Whatever y' say..."
Silence settled between the pair, and as the blond continued to stare the ghost sighed. Despite having little to reveal any emotions it appeared the spirit was uneasy for the moment, the ghost looking around the darkness with a frown. "Just how on earth did I end up here any ways," it muttered, narrowing his eyes. "I should be sitting amongst a horde of rage-filled monsters and spirits right now," it continued almost suspiciously, "Not chatting it up in the back of your mind..."
Errr... Katsuya raised his eyebrows, mentally choking on his words as he ran over what the ghost had just said. Rage filled monsters and ghosts? That sounded... Cheery. Erm... "Hey... Not t' say tha' I'm really pushin' f'r y' t' do tha' or anythin'," he muttered, "But how th' hell would I know what yer doin' in my head?" If this even was his head he added mentally, the ghost turning back to stare rather blankly in response.
"There was once a time where you knew many things," it stated almost blandly, blinking as it hovered in place and continued on. "When you told stories of the great monsters 'Ziz', and of the realms far beyond... I suppose you can't remember that though," it continued, the blond before him frowning somewhat. "Let alone anything else from those times."
No... No not really... "I guess not," he muttered, looking away as a small voice in his mind wondered what 'those times' even were. "Not sure 'f tha's bad 'r not really..." He supposed he'd have to find out on his own...
"Yes... Well..." The ghost looked back around the darkness, still frowning as it crossed his arms. "This changes nothing about my current predicament. It seems as though rather than being locked away in the other realms as penalty," he continued confusedly, "I'm back within your mind... How curious... I wonder what this means for-"
"Er... What 'xactly are y' talkin' abou'," Katsuya asked, tilting his head somewhat as the spirit turned.
"Hn?" The spirit stared, before shaking its head and shrugging somewhat. "Oh... It's nothing," it said plainly, turning back to the darkness just briefly. "Nothing at all..." 'Nothing' eh?
Riiiiiiight... "'Kay... ...You gonna tell me exactly who y' are," he asked, the spirit not moving save to snort at the request.
"I already told you," the ghost muttered, "'Someone you once knew'... If you can't figure it out from there," it went on, "Then I have no right in telling you." Gee, thanks, he thought mentally narrowing his eyes as the ghost went on. "Quite frankly," the spirit growled almost bitterly, "I'm not even sure why I did. It's very unlike me," it stated, "Revealing things like that. ...If you'll excuse me for now though," the spirit continued, turning away from his 'friend' and bringing his arms to his sides, "I have someone I need to kill."
Someone he needed to- "Tch... Great! I go t' sleep, an' th' first thing I get is a ghost with a clamped mouth an' a vendetta..." And here he'd though things would be 'normal' for once... Damn it. "Man... I don' ev'n like ghosts," he growled, the ghost before him chuckling in response.
"That's expected; you were always a superstitious person... Disliking whatever you don't understand is typical of you," it explained with a smirk, "Though you were admittedly more accepting in my time..." His ti- Again with the 'times'! Seriously!
"Jus' what time is tha' exactly," he snarled, shouting at the ghost as it stared. "Seriously! What's th' point in goin' on abou' this if y' won' explain," he continued angrily.
The spirit blinked, eventually shaking its head as it moved toward the blond and sighed. "Believe me when I say it's only to keep you from losing your head... Though I have to say, had we been anywhere else I likely would have done that. It's strange," it continued, shaking its head and looking to the side oddly. "But sitting here in the back of your mind, I can think with more clarity than I have in a number of millennia... Perhaps I'll stay here for a while," it decided quietly, "And perhaps sort out a few memories of mine. But first," it told him, before lightly tapping Katsuya's brow. "...How about you get some sleep, 'chabar'?"
"Sleep," he repeated somewhat dully, tilting his head. "But I thought I was already-" With out another word he found his thoughts cut short, vision blacking out as he collapsed to the ground. Oh...
That was what he meant. Sleep...
. . .
To say he was confused when he woke up to find Ishizu's bed completely empty was one thing really. It wasn't too bad though, as for the moment he could pass it off as the woman maybe using the washroom. Reaaaaally quietly. Like... With no sound coming from the sink. At all.
Yeaaaaa... That had to be it.
Even so, as Keiichi pulled out his phone to check the time (2 AM? REALLY?), he found himself more or less suspicious of where the woman had gone. After all, there was a maniac on the ship; and that maniac had probably been looking forward to having 'guests' he told himself with a shudder, before quickly being pulled from those thoughts as the door opened. The light came on in an instant as the boy hissed, shielding his eyes from the drastic change before watching both Ishizu and Anzu hurry in with a body in their arms. "W-What the he-" Rishid? What were they doing with Rishi-
"A little help would be nice," Anzu growled from the side, the body almost dropped upon the bed as the boy hurried to help lay the man out properly.
"A-Ah... S-Sure," the boy muttered, watching as Ishizu left to shut the door. Rishid's unconscious body was effectively dead weight between the two, and moving so much as an arm proved awkward as they straightened him out. Rishid was being taken to this room but... "...Mazaki, what's going on," he asked, narrowing his eyes.
"Malik," the woman answered plainly, voice seeming to slip into a slight accent of sorts as she spoke. "As it turns out," she continued with a flat tone, "He's already taken his first victim."
His... His first vict- Keiichi paled, shaking himself as he stared. No way... There was no way, they'd have to have known about something like that, so how..? "The first victim... Who died," he asked almost hesitantly, swallowing a wave of unease. "Was it someone I-"
"Seto's first doctor," Ishizu answered as she flicked off the light, returning to the bedside to look down at Rishid's body worriedly. "He was dead when we found him," she continued, "And likely for a while..." H...Hah...
"Oh hell..." As if the room issue hadn't been pressing enough... "What did I get myself into now," the boy muttered to himself, the others holding slight frowns as Ishizu lightly and carefully checked over Rishid's vitals.
"There's nothing you could have done," she said plainly, turning back to the boy with a frown. "After all," she went on, "I doubt even Malik predicted that he would succumb to mental illness..." Hahaha... That was one way to put 'going bat-shit insane' to words!
Keiichi shook himself again, attempting to calm down as he held his head. "Great," the boy muttered. "That's just great... ...This guy isn't going to try and kill us all right," he asked, before a sudden jolt tore at the ship. "GOH!"
The boy toppled forward as the others collapsed themselves, hitting the floor and groaning while the two others slowly steadied themselves. Ow ow ow... "Ghn... Mal- Mazaki-san," Ishizu muttered, pulling herself up with a wince. "Do you think that was..."
"No," the woman hurriedly answered, shaking her head as dulled eyes looked around the room. "That was... ...Wait here," she said seriously, heading for the door with a nod. "I'll go see what's wrong, just don't open the door," the woman shouted, running into the hall and tapping the button on the side. "No matter what!" No matter wh-
The door closed over, leaving the two in darkness as they stood at Rishid's side. "Um... What," he asked, blinking as he was answered with a shrug and awkward silence. It was official...
Jonouchi's friends were all completely crazy, and if he valued his life he would have to make sure he never went to Tokyo again.
Sometimes, he really cursed his luck. Mostly when it came to duel monsters it seemed, given his habit of making crappy draws, but there were plenty of more serious points where he wanted to strangle whoever was sitting in the heavens. Somehow he'd managed to get a fair amount of sleep after the ghost 'zapped' him as he called it, which was really great to put it lightly. But opening his eyes to see a sea of lava before him after what felt like mere seconds, with nothing but the five meter wide rock he currently stood on for protection from the elements was really not in any way a good thing.
At all. "Damn it... Where th' hell 'm I this time," he muttered, childish laughter coming from behind to jar the blond from his thoughts.
"Not in Kansas, that's for sure," a familiar voice stated, Katsuya biting his lip in response as he took in a deep breath. Ohhhh no... Oh no no no... After all that time, please tell him that it was not-
...That dog. Katsuya blinked as he turned to spot the source of the voice, which in question was not a dog but in fact a small boy holding one. In fact, the boy (definitely a boy his mind told him) looked eerily familiar to Seto to say the least; the jacket appeared tailored in almost the same fashion of the woman's own 'death-T' version, with a pair of matching white pants to cement the image in place. Even his eyes, a startling blue seemed to mirror Seto's own, had Katsuya narrowing his gaze as the boy stared at him. "You..." The blond's eyes briefly drifted to the puppy in the boy's arm, the dog's head covered in the same bizarre 'bondage' helm he'd seen in the VR game. "...Who are you..?"
The boy merely smirked in response to the question, placing the dog on the ground as his form appeared to shift. As his body grew and stretched with age, becoming taller and more mature until he finally stood a full foot above the blond. "Me? I think you know exactly who I am," the young man chuckled, his jacket loosely held over his shoulder rather than being worn properly. At this point the resemblance between himself and Seto was more than uncanny, the only 'real' difference being the masculine features of his face and the far lighter shade of hair. Though the expression that he held was far from similar after all, it would still be far from a long shot to mistake the two for siblings. It was only then that he recalled an old conversation however, his eyes widening with realization...
A conversation about someone who had this kind of resemblance, someone who died young rather than living to the age of the man he saw before him. Someone who was supposed to look like this now. "Noa," he muttered, the chuckling growing louder as it picked up once again from before him. "Yer... Noa, aren't y'," he found himself asking, only to pale as the image shifted. The body shrank slimmed, and hair stood on end before the blond found mirror image of his own best friend staring forward. 'Yugi's body, still bearing the same colours and tones of 'Noa' seemed to continue smirking, stepping toward the blond while he fiddled with a lock of hair.
"I could be... But I can be anyone," he responded, pacing around the blond as Katsuya swallowed. "I could be your friend," he began, before shifting again as hair succumbed to gravity, "I could be a 'brother'," he continued, now resembling an off-coloured Mokuba. And yet again the body shifted from behind the blond, gaining height and losing hair as the pitch in the chuckling altered completely. "I could even be her," the 'man' whispered, the low and oddly husky tones coming from what his mind told him were Seto's lips. The blond slowly turned as the 'woman' smirked, her outfit having shifted to a more feminine version of the 'suit' 'she'd worn as the past forms. "I could be any one you want," 'Noa' muttered fingers trailing over Katsuya's shoulder as the blond shuddered, "And you could have anything you want, you could have 'this'... Really have it," 'she' continued, the outfit slimming down completely as Katsuya gave a nervous swallow. "And all you have to do," Noa went on, coming dangerously close to the blond, "Is let me take her place..."
"T-Take..." Katsuya froze, struggling to back away from the 'woman' as he swallowed. "What th' hell are you-"
-BRAM!-
A sudden jolt ripped him violently from the dream, the blond toppling to the ground from the bed with a wince. "Nggh... Agggh... What th' hell..?" What was that, an earthqua- ...Wait, they were in the skies. He pulled himself up, shaking his head and looking around the room with a frown. "What was tha'," he muttered, before quiet sleep talking pulled his attention's back to the bed.
"Hnnnn... Shizuka~"
"Shizuka-chan~"
Oi oi oiiii... Katsuya's expression quickly shifted to rage, the teen standing over the bed where his friends were muttering in their sleep. "Oii! Just what d' you two think yer dreamin' abou'," he roared, the two not waking up as smiles remained on their faces. "Get U- GLK!"
-BRAM!-
Another jolt shuddered through the airship, the blond toppling forward to land atop the pair as they both jerked awake. "Gh-!"
"Wh- Jonouchi," Otogi muttered, rubbing his eyes.
"Ow," Hona hissed, "What the hell-"
"Tch- Not now," Katsuya found himself muttering with a growl, pulling himself up from the bed with a wince. Owwww... And here his middle had started to feel better he told himself, rubbing his stomach somewhat as he cursed under his breath. Yet another shudder passed through the ship as rumbling hit the air, Katsuya barely catching himself against the wall as he headed for the door. "Somethin's goin' wrong with th' ship," he growled, turning back to the others.
"Gee, yah think," Honda muttered with a grunt, Otogi and himself both attempting to follow behind their friend.
"Gh- Shut up!" Katsuya opened the door, gripping the frame for support from the continuing shudders before looking into the hall. Lights were still out completely, a line of 'emergency' ones lining the hall dully. At the moment a few of the other doors had opened, Yugi's in particular doing so as the boy looked around confusedly. "Damn it... What th' hell's goin' on," he shouted, Mokuba running past the doors from the stairs to briefly pause and answer.
"The ship's gone off course; it's hitting the ocean," he shouted in panic, looking back at the boys as others came out from their rooms to pale. "Come on," the boy continued as he ran, "We can talk on the bridge- Nii-sama's already gone to figure out why the ship's malfunctioning!"
"Th' bridge," Katsuya repeated, narrowing his eyes as he stared. "What th' hell is-"
"It's the 'command room' of the ship," Otogi shouted, running past the others as he threw his vest on. "Just go! If this thing gets too far under we're dead!"
"R-Righ'!" The bridge in question was directly down the hall from the lift, separated from the ship by large-ish doors without a label. Running down into the hall they were quickly joined by a few others, Anzu leaving Ishizu's room for whatever reason, followed by Shizuka from Mai's own and the two Yugis from outside their own. Staff were running back and forth through the halls through all of this, and as the large door to the bridge opened they were greeted with only slightly less chaos in the place of a small bit of extra stability, their own worried conversations held short in the face of what was going on. The bridge in question wasn't that big; after all, it didn't really take too much to steer an airship in comparison to a plane, and if anything, it didn't take as many controls and screens to drive one in the first place. Still, as the pilot frantically checked with as many systems as possible, it was fairly evident even from behind that Seto was not pleased.
"I'm going to say again," she growled, water visibly splashing against the ship as it attempted to dive in a suicidal turn, the view from the window barely illuminated by the first light of dawn. "Get this thing under control NOW," the woman roared, standing behind her pilot's chair with narrowed eyes
"We've tried all we can," the pilot shouted in response, clearly panicked enough without his boss breathing down his neck. "There's just... Nothing we can do! No matter what," he continued with wide eyes, "All the controls have been locked, navigation systems completely destroyed... We're dead in the water," he went on, "Even the manual over-ride won't go through!" The pilot tensed as he was roughly pushed from the seat in response to excuses, his employer growling under her breath as she pushed the chair back as well. "Gh- Kaiba-sama!"
"Keep the peanut gallery from interfering," she muttered, the group tensing at the comment. "And try to re-establish connection with 'Alcatraz' in the meantime," the woman added, the pilot hurriedly nodding and rushing to the computers near the frong.
"P-Peanut gallery," Honda shouted incredulously.
"Since when were we a 'peanut gallery'," his friend muttered Shizuka merely narrowing her eyes and tilting her head in confusion.
"...Alcatraz," she asked, turning to the side. "Wasn't that a high security prison in the USA?"
Mokuba nodded at the last comment, a few of the others staring as Seto attempted to take the controls into her own hands. From what he could tell, the woman was about to hot-wire her own ship... However that worked. The boy beside them pointed out through the window, the others following his gesture as a tower became visible in the distance. "That's right... Alcatraz was the name of a prison, but it's also what Nii-sama calls an artificial island that Gozaburo built... When Seto-niisama took over," he explained somewhat quietly as the others stared, "He had the factories and buildings on-site destroyed, leaving nothing but rubble where Gozaburo's 'empire' once stood... In its place," he continued, "He built that tower you see in the distance now..." A tower that, looking closely, had a bizarre resemblance to Sauron's tower... Weird. As the others stared Mokuba seemed to shift uncomfortably, rubbing his arm. "That was back before 'Death-T'," he told the others, shaking his head. "Back when nii-sama wasn't himself. So even as a 'duel tower', any memories tied to that place aren't something we like to... Gnh!"
Another shudder passed through the ship, before the sounds of sparks came into the air from the front. The nose of the airship veered violently upward as the screens to the front flickered to life, the pilot turning from the suddenly revealed statistics and scans of the ship with wide eyes. "K-Kaiba-sama, we have a-"
"Got it," the woman muttered, pulling up from the bottom of the control's stand to grab at the stick in the center. "Now, to get out of here..!" As Seto pulled roughly at the stick the ship began to raise from the water, turning as the seas struck against the sides. In a sudden flash he could see some sort of building beneath the ocean... Mammoth in size, with an entrance hidden far beneath the waves. Almost 'ship like' in appearance, with a top that only barely sat beneath the waters. Not that he was saying anything about that as Seto took the controls back into her hands, taking a seat as she steered back toward Alcatraz. "Pallas," she called out to the pilot, the man in question typing frantically at the front. "Are we connected to the building yet?"
From ahead at the computers 'Pallas' seemed to pale, slowly turning back with a swallow. "Ahhhh... We were," he said nervously, before an angry and hissing spark had Seto pulling back from her own cross-wired controls.
"Gh-" Smoke rose from the center of the control stand, the woman hurriedly pulling away with wide eyes. "...Tch... Then get the failsafes up to block whoever is cutting us off, before they pull us down again!"
"Hey wait," Mokuba shouted with a swallow, those up front briefly turning back. "How is this guy even hacking into these systems? I thought we had an automated defense system!"
"Another thing that we did have," Pallas responded from the computer, "But as you can see," he continued, "We've been completely run over, and-"
-BROUM!- A loud thundering boom came through the air as the ship again collided with the water, Katsuya gritting his teeth as he looked forward. "An' what," he shouted, "You tellin' us we're gonna jus' drown!"
"Wait, we're going to die," Honda added incredulously, the airship tilting to the side as they grabbed at the railings. "That's it?"
"Not if I can help it," Seto snarled, watching as the screens ahead began to flash violently. Again she stormed toward the controls, peering at wires and taking a glance at the screens. "Just who are these people..!"
Ahhh... 'People'? "Hnhnhnhnhn... I believe you mean 'Person'," a chuckling voice answered, the screens flashing out into nothing but static as the ship rose up from the seas again. Though the screens remained blank Katsuya easily identified the voice in his mind, his face growing pale as the airship veered completely off course and to the side of the distant island.
No way... No way in hell could it be- "We're being hacked by a kid," Honda shouted in protest, Mokuba looking up with a jolt as the teen stared. "I mean, I would understand someone like you," he added to the boy, "But... Well no offense..."
"None taken," the boy muttered as he looked back to the screens, "I'm just as confused..."
While most of the crowd were wondering what was going on, Seto took no time to ponder the 'age' of the speaker. Now that the 'attacker' had revealed himself after all she had far more important things to deal with, things that held a permanent scowl across her face as the woman moved from around the 'wheel' of the ship to glare at the screens. "Just who the hell are you," she snarled, fists clenched as she looked toward the large screen above them. "And where do you get the right to hack into this ship and pull us off course?"
More chuckling filled the air, Katsuya staring as the screens flashed violently. White, black, white, black... In an instant the flash settled to reveal an image, the blond paling as the person from his most recent dream came into view. Across the screen was a young boy to match the voice, light hair brushed in a style nearly identical to Seto's own as similarly coloured eyes stared toward them. A clear smirk was on the boy's face, and as it darkened into a sneer a majority of the crowd briefly fell silent with shock.
"He... He looks just like nii-sama at that age," Mokuba whispered with horror, the others staring as their apparent captor grinned. "How... How is that even..."
"Hnhnhnhnhnhn... Welcome," the boy said with a grin, holding his hand out in a gesture to match his words. "To answer your question dear 'Seto', my name is Noa... The one who preceded your very existence, and therefore, surpasses your own."
There was something to be said about being hacked by a ghost Katsuya told himself as the crowd stared either in shock or incredulity. It never meant anything good.
Particularly when something ahead of them was opening beneath the seas to pull them in at the same moment.
AN: Virtual World! Virtual World!
This is going to be much more than computerized card games though, believe me! We have a lot to cover in this interrupting arc (including interruptions), and it'll be one wild, crazy ride as we go! I managed to get lucky enough to find a semi-steady source of episodes for this season as well; lets just hope I get this lucky for the Doma arc, or I'll be stuck using...
The dub. Hihhhhhhhhh...
Back on track now, I have art, but I decided I should color it first... So it's not here now, but it will be with the next update! In any case, we're back to regular length chapters... Though there's probably going to be a super-chapter or two dotted around, depending on the fights.
Particularly with all I have planned, hehehehe... Very sorry about all the switching above of course, but it was quite necessary; and I won't be doing this with the rest of the Virtual World for the most part either.
Anonymous Review Responses
Back to our usual number today, and to start us off...
I suppose if e-mail's not working, it's not working then Taffy... Try my MSN. In the meantime, I hope you can catch up, and I'm glad you like the fanfic!
...Wait, if you're behind, why are you reviewing at the latest chapters... *shakes self*
On to the others, and ooooh... Don't even get me started on pain Iona… I'd say he gets a break in the Noa arc since his ability and the 'realm of monsters' can't pierce the technology veil, but thanks to the whole 'computer makes it real' deal, I really can't… Hahhh…
Hahaha, yep! I actually mentioned the brothers quite a while ago too, though I can't recall when; I was really vague about it. Kaiba's interactions with others like that are going to be much more in-depth in this fanfic you see… Just wait until I hit Siegfried. Then it gets INSANE.
And ooooooh… Yes and no. Ryuzaki does get his night of sleep you see, but he's stuck on the air-ship with Ishizu, the staff, and Malik in the next chapter… As to what THAT means, hoooooohhhh… We'll get there.
As for abilities, why thank you! Though Obelisk was always involved by means of 'trial/flashback', the hieratic idea actually came just as I was typing… And personally, I'm glad it didn't take any longer!
And- …I suppose you're right CynicalGamer, with something like that, Jou wouldn't have much choice in drawing attention to himself…
I'll take those yeses as a compliment! *pride-face* In any case, you make a good point; Yugi and Kaiba's reactions are going to affect things far more than the others, as they actually duel Jonouchi a few times. Though Kaiba's got extra reasons… And noo! Don't go in there, you'll never come out!
*cough* Any ways, back to the review… Really, with all Mai went through, (the penalty was the same in the anime after all) it's no surprise she was vulnerable enough for Dartz to coerce her in…
And hehehe. You think that's cute, just wait until the next update. I drew colored chibis of almost everyone; you can just taste the diabetes...
Pbbt! I'm too shameless to avoid GI Joe references. And other things. Hehehe.
Yeaaaaa… Jou's pretty bad at mentioning these things. Hold that 'quote' though, it'll prove fairly accurate after the Noa arc ends.
And… YEAAAAAAA that challenge… Not going there.
A bad thing about getting used to it… Well, it means he's more likely to slip, but it also means he's less likely to have a heart-attack at a young age… Which is always good.
In any case, enjoy the above chapter, and that's right! YAY NIGHTMARES!
Usagi's Manga & Japan Guide/Corner
The section that needs to flex its hands and actually draw the pictures it promised!
Today's title references a piece of the Illiad, specifically the Lotus Eater's. The Lotus Eater's were imprisoned by their own minds effectively, living their lives in a dream induced by a lotus that they... Well... Ate. These people never escaped, well, most of them anyways. (Obviously the characters of the Illiad got out.)
Now, for all our main characters, this is most certainly not a 'Dream trap' so much as a trap. However, it's fairly implied that Noa was subject to a nice bit of lotus eating when he was uploaded into the computer. Gozaburo placed all that Noa loved in that computer after all, because quite frankly, he really did love his son.
Just that Noa kinda lost it, stopped playing along, and cheerfully told the man 'Hey, did you know I could destroy the ENTIRE WORLD in a few SECONDS?'
That sort of thing tends to cement the fact that '...Yea, this isn't working.'. And not a moment too soon either, as Seto turned thirteen after that. In other words, the age he planned to 'transfer' Noa's mind into her body.
Obviously in the manga this scene happened in Mai's room, with everyone present. Conversations went much differently too, particularly since it was here that Ishizu asked to see Mai. As it is, Anzu and Shizuka were making last minute preparations for their self-made shift work, Honda and Otogi were ramming on Jonouchi's door (as you can see, he didn't get his shower until after this), and Ryuzaki was setting up a makeshift bed using the chairs in Ishizu's room, rather than everyone joining in.
For some reason, Ishizu knows what a motorcycle is during the flashback, among many other modern day dealings. This leads me to believe one of two things; one, Ishizu's done this before, and her caution is because 'dad' caught her shortly after that excursion, or two, the people of the Ishtar family need to leave the underground to find a wife or husband, and all of this knowledge came from her mother.
It would make sense after all if it was the second option, given the disadvantages of in-breeding… Particularly since Ishizu seems to be able to read arabic fluently, despite the language of the Ishtar's being Ancient Egyptian, which would imply someone teaching her before hand.
Duels aren't so fun when they're on a computer screen huh? Besides that, does anyone find it interesting how immediately after 'Malik' tells Bakura of a way to get rid of Ra, he gets the cards he needs? Or better yet, that Malik, who could read the card, didn't know of all three abilities? Yeaaaaa…
But seriously, watching a duel in the way Kaiba did is just… So… Boring… It really takes the fun out of it hn? Like watching chess online… Moreover, you can see just how much I expand these things when it's summed up like that; what took a few paragraphs would ordinarily take a full chapter!
In other news, Malik and Bakura were playing a different sort of shadow game than in Malik VS Mai; as they lost lifepoints, their bodies disappeared, likely to the realm of duel monsters...
I say this because all of Malik's 'missing' body parts during Ra's summoning merge with the monster, though that might just be because his lifepoints became Ra's attack. Anyways, since Bakura actually disappears, with the ring clattering to the ground…
It's a little disturbing. (Particularly since the only one who cared in the anime was Yugi.)
Anyways, originally we got another bit from Mokuba here, the boy coming in to tell Kaiba to get some sleep. (With Kaiba almost hilariously saying 'you first' in the most deadpan tone possible.) But since Kaiba sent him to bed a while ago, that would be counter productive, and we instead have late night grumblings. Very angry grumblings too. A tired Kaiba is a very cranky one after all.
In the original series, Anzu is pretty much just a voice-box for Malik; his expressions are drawn at the side as a 'ghost' of sorts, which is typical of anime possession really. However, since Malik is very much as 'stuck' as he says he is in the fanfic, he's got a little more control over things.
As to the specifics of his predicament, he managed to cut his own soul in half; basically, his use of the Rod puts a part of him in whoever he's controlling at the time. Since he's been keeping eyes and ears open through Anzu for the entire evening, pretty much everything that makes Malik 'Malik' got sapped into her body after his DID kicked in.
Frightening. Of course, he managed to pull off something similar using the ring... Only to be forced back to Anzu's body when Bakura lost...
Why is Ishizu so quick to accept that it's Malik in there? Well, why else would Anzu be speaking Arabic? More importantly, there are certain mannerisms and speech patterns that she just can't ignore.
And for another matter, 'ohkt' is Arabic for 'sister'. In case you were wondering.
Ziz is an enormous griffin-like monster in Jewish myth, often seen alongside the Behemoth and Leviathan. It's said to rule the skies and defend all birds, acting against those who killed them in his territory with considerable rage. It's also been compared to Simurgh. By Rabbis. In any case, it makes quite the trio when combined with the Leviathan of the seas and the Behemoth of the land.
Also, Malik's acting is awesome in terms of fooling people Anzu doesn't know too well, and a little creepy, but very much necessary. Breaking Ryuzaki's brain all at once would cause problems after all.
Normally, I don't make changes to characters like Noa when it comes to wardrobe. Clothes are clothes after all, and I shouldn't complain. But shorts with a long-sleeved jacket irk me. . . . A LOT.
By the way, that mindscrew Noa just gave (Green-haired Yugi comes to mind…) is NOTHING compared to what you're about to get. BAHAHAHAHA!
…Anyone else ever wonder why the 'bridge' is called 'the bridge'? I know I still do. In other news, Noa originally appeared around sunrise as he pulled the ship in. It's close to it here, but it's actually dawn, making it just twenty minutes before 5:00 AM at that moment.
Which means the most sleep anyone got was about four hours. OWWWWWWCH... (And Kaiba got none!)
Alcatraz, the island's name sake rather, has been through quite a lot. It originally began as a light house, military fortification and prison, and even a federal prison until 1963. In fact, it became a recreational area in 1972, open for tours, visits…
It's well known as a prison of course, but here's an interesting fact. It's name came from the spanish word for Pelican, which in turn came from the Arabic word 'Al-qatras', meaning 'sea eagle' (Bald eagles are sea eagles...). Not sure why, other than the fact that there's a largish sea-bird colony on the island now… So there was probably one before it was a prison too.
This has nothing to do with the tower though, and its likely that Alcatraz is only a code name; after all, that island was likely there for a while… But the fact remains that it represents the last of Kaiba's un-dying hate, the final tie to Gozaburo. So sharing the name with such a fortified prison isn't too surprising. It should be noted however, that the tower never has a set build date other than 'after Gozaburo's death', and was supposedly a monument to the future of the company. My confusion here however was how that would hold ties to Gozaburo, and why Kaiba would feel the need to blow it up.
And on a completely different note, look at the top of the tower. Seem familiar?
In the anime, Noa's fortress is moving, and it's a mammoth of a ship that resembles some mess between an aircraft freighter and an airship 'bottom'. However, being the moron I was at the time, I didn't realize this was the case, and kept wondering why the airship was scraping the ocean floor (it obviously wasn't). Of course in the end, I like this option better; because seriously, one, that plane-thing shouldn't have existed in Noa's time, and two, it makes more sense for there to just be a hidden hangar.
And so the Virtual World arc begins..! As with most others, the duels will hopefully be confined to their own chapters. Unlike the others however, these will be far more action packed, as you likely guessed from what little concept art I manage to spout out. As to what that means, you will soon see!
Though the next chapter doesn't really have a fight though, just more build up. Oh well.
In other news, as this season was pretty well loaded with 'side-character centric' episodes in the first half, I won't be stingy with my POV's during this season; there will be Shizuka POV's, Anzu, Otogi, Mokuba… And of course, Yugi, Jou, and Seto, which is to be expected.
Lets go!