Dreams and Illusions
"If I see... One more 'bat'... I'm going to scream..." Anzu Mazaki was not having a good day. For one, she'd woken up to see nothing but complete and utter darkness, when the last thing she remembered clearly was walking through an alley with Jonouchi and that blond boy they'd just met... 'Namu' his name was. And for another... Well, it was probably better to recount everything quickly in her mind than try and make a list she told herself, rubbing her forehead.
Come to think of it, she told herself somewhat bitterly as she sat on the side of the canyon wall, what kind of name was Namu anyways? Honestly... It sounded like some butchered form of 'name' and- "Not the point Anzu," she told herself, kicking off her shoes and massaging her sore feet in the meantime. "The point are these 'blisters'..." Which were becoming a real pain, and constantly bringing up the thoughts of why she would ever put this sort of strain in her subconscious.
The fact was, she was almost certain that this was a dream. That everything in here was a dream really, from the canyon to the 'game'... After getting knocked out in that alleyway, everything had been a blur after all. She could remember some place dark, someplace she couldn't move... She could even remember a few screams, and someone shivering in her arms. But after that her memory was fragmented completely, with a blank span of time between what she was certain had been late after noon and the current 'evening'.
Or at least, it was evening last time she checked (she was dreaming after all, so who knew, she'd probably gone back to sleep...). She could remember a few things of course. A moment of dinner on what seemed to be some kind of ship, where she'd looked around, about to ask how she'd gotten there before blacking out. Another moment at the top of this airship, during Jonouchi's match, hearing nothing but screams. She'd admit that she'd gotten swept up in the confusion, what with Namu's wailing cries and Jonouchi's apparent and temporary death. It was probably the latter that prevented her from turning to Yugi with wide eyes and asking, in fear, 'where are we?'. But after that... After that short glimpse of her friends suffering...
It had all gone black. All of it. Leaving her senseless and timeless until that moment in the darkness... That moment where, after a hurried sensation of falling, she had 'woken up'. 'Welcome,' a boy's voice had stated calmly, sounding almost real to her ears. She'd stood up, looking around curiously to find the source but found nothing, only able to listen as he continued. 'We're going to play a game, Mazaki Anzu. Would you like to try,' he asked. She'd asked how he knew her name... She'd asked where she was... The boy simply said that they were inside the world of the computer. That they were going to play a duel monsters game, filled with monsters and magic and adventure. It all seemed so unreal. So fake, so... Childishly 'dream-like', to the point where it just couldn't be real! She didn't even remember how she'd gotten there, so it had to be that right? So of course...
So of course she had said yes! It was a dream after all, what choice did she have? She was tired... She didn't want to wake up now... And the voice seemed to agree, almost radiating a feeling of positivity as a result. 'That's wonderful,' he had announced cheerfully, sounding almost like Mokuba for a brief moment. 'This is the most positive reaction I've received so far!' That was part of the dream though, right? Who else could there possibly be? Anzu had pushed the unease from mind, simply telling herself it was nothing. This was all a dream, that was all... There was nothing more to question, right? 'The game we are playing is very dangerous,' the voice, introducing himself as 'Noa', had warned. 'If you die, even once,' he continued, 'It's game over understand?' Okay... That much she understood... And as she had told him that much, the wave of positivity had again swum over her. 'Good. Now; though you will need to use duel monsters in order to challenge the final boss,' the boy explained, 'You will also be using the skills of a specific class of player. This class can not be changed, and each one has their own advantages or disadvantages. Please,' Noa continued, a series of shimmering and almost holographic panels appearing around her to illuminate the dark, 'Study your options carefully, and choose wisely.'
Maybe it was then that she'd realized she wasn't wearing anything. When she'd looked down to jump, realizing that she resembled some sort of ghost, smoking in form and glowing ethereally. Despite her nudity there was no detail in her form though, as though she'd been hand drawn on all but her face... Drawn and then coloured in with a soft, glowing highlighter of sorts. That wasn't the point at the time though, right? It was only expected that a 'game' start oddly. So instead, she had looked over her options, reading over the stats with all the intentions of playing the game. Red Mage, Blue Mage, White... The 'jack of all trades' who wielded magic and sword both, the copy-cat who learned their trade from the monsters they attacked, the healer who could do nothing but improve health and stood on the side lines. None of these caught her eye, and so she turned to the next few. After all, there was also the standard warrior, the monk, the ranger... And even stranger classes, such as the 'Dancer', or even one titled the 'Gambler'. And finally, at the 'end' of the panel wheel, next to the red mage, she spotted it, the one she had passed over by turning the opposite direction. "Ah... Black Mage..." A focus in destructive magic, with no ability in healing. This would work... After all, with that sort of power she could probably make it through quickly right? And that was the point of a dream, wasn't it?
Besides... This was more similar to that 'Magician' class she'd picked so long ago, as opposed to say the 'Red Mage'. Upon tapping the screen to make her decision however, it had unfolded into two, each one depicting an almost translucent form of herself in two variant sets of clothing. 'Choose your armor,' Noa had requested, the two models slowly spinning in a 360 before her. 'As Black Mage,' he explained, 'You do not have access to the heavy armor. You may, however, choose between cloth or leather.' Cloth or leather... She could choose between the robes, dress-like in appearance, or the tunic and poncho, which came with leggins. She'd chosen cloth in the end, after a few moments of thought. The leather set looked a little too 'unisex' for her liking, and while she liked a deal of practicality in things, the robes had a certain charm. Upon making her choice and tapping the screen, she'd found herself clothed in those very same black robes... But more importantly...
She'd found herself falling. "Ha... HAAAAAHHH! HAAAAHHH!" She'd screamed. Loudly, louder than she even believed possible as she fell. Yet as she came closer she slowed, the screams doing the same until finally as she 'stepped' onto the ground she found herself staring about in confusion. This place...
The Grand Canyon. Exactly as it had been when she was a small girl, travelling on vacation with her Grandparents while her father sorted out yet another moving plan, another argument with her mother. She could remember asking herself, 'what is this', and receiving an answer, seemingly from nowhere 'This is a scene from your memories,' Noa had said, voice kept curt and professional as he spoke. 'Your task is to travel through your memories,' he explained frankly, 'And conquer whatever challenge may arise along the way. If you do this,' he continued, 'You will be able to complete the game, and escape to the real world.' So she would wake up then? The dream would 'end'?
The boy had paused, as though pondering something before eventually responding. '...Yes... Exactly,' the voice had told her, somehow seeming both honest and dishonest in the same instant. 'That is exactly it. Good luck, Mazaki Anzu.'
That was what he'd told her... 'Good luck', and try not to die, not that the last had been anything but unsaid. And now, looking back, she had a feeling she knew why he'd said 'good luck' really. Over the course of the 'game' after all, she had so far run into many small monsters, each easily taken out with her staff and magic. She'd fought with metal 'Bats', she'd fought with 'Cloudians', small humanoid puffs of the sky, and she'd even come across a few 'Sangan'.
And she swore to god if she didn't wake up really soon, she was going to 'Thunder' the next thing she spotted, or perhaps try out that new 'Fire Ball' spell she'd recently received. Anzu slipped her shoes back on with a sigh, looking up at the air despite these murderous thoughts. "What kind of 'dream' is this anyways," she whispered, gripping her staff at the side before slowly stepping up from the ground. "I don't even have a deck like the 'voice' said... Not even a deck holder..." Just how was that even supposed to work? No deck holder, no deck... Even if she'd had the cards she'd have no way to play the game, no way to fight using the cards.
A rock tumbled past the cliff she sat beside, Anzu raising her eyebrow at the movement. Perhaps she'd ponder the uselessness of cards in the situation for now she told herself, looking around the corner to find the source of the kicked pebble. So far she could see nothing of course; just a small bend in the canyon, surrounded by steep cliffs. After a moment however she could hear grunts, growls of sorts that seemed to form crude words in some foreign language. "Grrnph... Phmmph... Mrrrrrmph..." Eh... Eh..?
Stomps echoed through the air as the woman narrowed her eyes, the source of the sound still unseen. As a scrap of blue made its way around the distant path however she found herself slowly backing away, the familiar 'stats' screen appearing at the corner of her eye. It had a habit of appearing whenever a new monster was encountered, she'd found. It was a handy trick too, she thought to herself as she continued backing away, the screen flashing red. It was what told her the bat's were small fry, and what told her that the few 'Sangan' which appeared were good to farm for experience. That the 'cloudians' dropped some sort of 'healing' fluid, and that they would otherwise get her nothing else to work with.
It also told her that if she valued her one life, she'd get as far away from these 'cyclops' as possible, as with one already out of her league, an entire tribe would just be suicide. Slowly the woman continued to step back, face growing pale. She just needed to keep quiet... She just needed to keep her distance, and keep-
-tpff-
"Gh-!" The woman turned as the same pebble she'd stared at prior was kicked away by her heel, hurriedly looking toward the second path as the monsters she'd wanted to avoid tensed.
"Grnnn!" With a start the cyclopses turned, red eyes flaring as their raised their clubs. Teeth were bared the moment they'd caught the woman in their sights, and with out a thought more they charged. "GRAEEEEEEE! RAEEEEEEE!"
"Oh... Ohhhhh crap! OH CRAP!" Anzu stumbled back as she began to run, looking back behind her and pointing the staff forward. Something with range, something with range... "Gh- STONE," she shouted, a small quake of rocks rumbling against the on-coming monsters in hopes of tripping or stalling the beasts. With no result however she tripped on the hem of her robes, continuing to run randomly about the canyon with a pale face before sending out more spells. "FIRE! THUNDER, she roared, the various elemental strikes flying through the air to be brushed off by her pursuers. "BLIZZARD! ...AERO! ...SOMETHING DAMN IT!" Spell after spell and nothing was working, and all she succeeded in was further enraging the monsters on her tail. The blisters in her feet were going to burst if she kept this up, and as it was the throbbing pain was only barely being pushed back in lieu of escaping. "Damn it damn it damn it..!" Shadows began closing in on her... Tunnels were littering the sides, and as she spotted one-
Anzu charged in through a nearby hollow with a shout, rolling to the ground before slowly pulling herself up with a wince. The hole she'd entered was narrow after all, and barely large enough for herself. Stepping back into the darkness as the cyclops seemed to pass her by she began to calm down somewhat, letting out a sigh of relief as the final one passed. Alright... She'd escaped, she told herself, backing away into the large and closed in cavern with a sigh. Just needed to wait now...
Just wait for the coast to be clear...
And...
Was that a shadow she saw there?
"Greaeeeee..." Hissing came from outside the cavern as she backed up against the wall, eyes widening as the monsters began clambering through the hole. Their bodies were large, thick and muscular; far more bulky and troublesome when it came to entering the cavern, particularly with the size of the entrance in question. However, even with this disadvantage they were coming in, Anzu finding herself filled with fear despite her image of the game as a dream. Oh god... A single arm was flailing through the hole, clawing at the sides...
"Oh hell... My luck can't be that bad," she whispered to herself, eyes wide as she pressed herself further against the cavern wall. "It just can't..." Rocks tumbled from the sides of the entrance... "It can't..." Clawed hands were coming through, with clubs and glowing red eyes barely visible on the other side, the monsters chasing after her trying their damnedest to burrow their way through. "Oh come ON," she whispered to herself, pulling at her hair with a groan.
What the hell was this! "Pssst... Hey lady," a voice whispered, almost 'hissing' in tone. "Need a hand?" Anzu jumped as voice other than the grumbling caught her attention, turning down to the source to stare with wide eyes. It... It looked like...
"A snake," she questioned blankly, eyes wide with shock.
The snake, which seemed to be a brilliant gold in colour flicked its tongue, rolling its eyes. "Nooo, I'm a lizard that got its legs cut off, OF COURSE I'M A SNAKE," he hissed, hood flaring as his target drew back somewhat. "Come on lady, answer the question; do you want help, yes or no?"
Anzu blinked, shaking her head before narrowing her eyes. "You.. You're a talking snake," she protested, "What are you going to do?"
The serpent snorted at this, managing to slither up the roughened edges of the wall somewhat as it spoke. "Come on... You haven't figured it out," he asked, a small bit of light from above revealing odd patterns down the back of the scales. "Every witch has a familiar right?"
Ahhh... "A... A familiar," the woman repeated incredulously. The snake nodded, continuing on its way as Anzu frowned. "You're a- This is a video game," she growled, "'Mages' don't have familiars!"
"Well 'apparently'," he answered, "You do! So answer the question, come on!" Ugh...
This was a dream, right? Hell, talking snakes were weird but that just made it more obvious right? Anzu bit her lip, swallowing nervously as she looked back to the cave entrance. The cyclops were still breaking through... the first had freed its head and arm, and was working on the rest... "What do you want me to do," she finally asked, turning back to the snake with a swallow.
The snake seemed to grin in response to the question, violet eyes flashing. "Watch and learn lady... But first..." With break-neck speed the snake struck, sinking his fangs into the woman's bare wrist as she shouted. Venom pulsed through her veins, and as the snake retracted Anzu hissed in pain.
"Gh- OW! What the..." What... An odd pattern bloomed from the bite, slowly but surely forming in small blots from the fang's entry. Around two puncture wounds came rings, followed by coils and spirals from small blocks. Patterns formed, along with strange swirls that seemed almost familiar to her. It was so strange... They seemed to almost form a 'bird' of sorts if she looked closely, but what did that-
"Alrighty! Now it's official," the snake called out, coiling itself around the woman's wrist as she stared. "We're stuck with each other!" Ah- That was what he was going with? Anzu shook herself off, instead holding her arm somewhat to give the small snake some 'height'. "Now... Lets get this moving! Watch! This is what happens when you have a familiar on your side," he announced, hood still flared as he looked toward the entrance. The cyclops were almost in. She could see the torso of the first, the snarling and drooling one-eyed head, his arm as it scrambled to free his club...
"GREAAAAEEEEE! REEAEEEEE," the monster roared, Anzu drawing back somewhat in fear.
"Gh..."
About the roars the snake was speaking, calm words filling the air as she held her staff close. "Just trust me Anzu, trust me alright? Take aim at the top of the cavern," the snake told her, Anzu not even bothering to ask how it knew her name as it continued. "Use the most powerful, physical spell you've got," he shouted, "And hit that outcropping of rocks on the ceiling!" The most powerful spell..? But all of her spells were 'level 1' other than 'fire ball' she thought to herself with a wince, so which one would...
Wait, 'physical' attacks... Of course! The woman nodded, holding the snake-wielding hand forward with determined eyes. "Alright... BLIZZARD," she roared, magic erupting from the mouth of the snake and the staff both to strike the rocks of the ceiling down. In a resounding crash and muffled scream the entrance was blocked, a large grin appearing over their faces as the cyclops were crushed. "Ah... We... We did it," the woman cheered, watching as the fallen cyclops' arm gave a final dead twitch. "We did it!"
And the experience points she'd gotten! Who cared if this was all a dream, this was incredible, that had made her jump at least two levels and- ...Waiiit... "Hang on," she muttered, looking around the room with narrowed eyes. If that was the only entrance then... "...We're STUCK!"
The snake blinked, looking around the mostly darkened cavern with somewhat wide eyes. "Oh... So we are," he said somewhat plainly, hood folded down once more. "Sorry about that."
"Nice... Real nice," she grumbled, crossing her arms as the snake scooted up to her shoulder. "And just how are we getting out now?"
"Hey don't ask me," he answered plainly. "The snake's supposed to get Eve in trouble, not get her out!" 'Eve'? She was 'Eve' now? Ugggghh... Of all the things to get stuck with, she muttered to herself with a groan.
Why did it have to be a snake?
In the darkness that they stood in, there were four doors. 'They' would of course, be an inaccuracy; the other Yugi was unable to materialize in the virtual world after all, and given the result of the last attempt they were not too eager to try again. Particularly since there was no deckmaster for him to draw from this time. Nonetheless, what he could see was what his other could see, and with that in mind they stared at the doors before them and frowned.
"What do you think we need to do here," Yugi found himself asking, brushing a hand along one of the doorways as he stared at the empty frame. Above each one there was a mouth of sorts, each one depicting a different animal of sorts. On the first, it appeared to be a swan, or some other form of bird. The next was that of a dragon, followed by a snake-like mouth, and finally on the last was a tiger, a cat of sorts with snarling teeth. The first thing to come to mind really was the four 'beasts', the four great 'gods' in Chinese myth once he'd seen those. Suzaku, the phoenix, Byakko, the white tiger... Genbu, the tortise, and finally 'Seiryuu', the dragon. North, South, East, West...
But just what did that mean? "Four doors," his other muttered, crossing his arms as he looked over their options. "Perhaps we need to choose from them?" Maybe...
"But how," he wondered aloud, frowning in thought. "We don't even know what the meaning of the heads above the door are," the boy continued, shaking his head. Slowly walked about the door he stood by, running a hand along the sides and looking over the small engravings across it. "Hnnn... There's something else here," Yugi muttered, "But what is it..."
"Do you request entry," a calm voice asked, echoing about the doorway.
Yugi jumped, looking up as a fading figure slowly appeared above the first door. The first to appear were the bare tanned feet of a woman, followed by legs and a waist that were barely covered by an odd blackened substance. A large, barbed tail of sorts curled upward as she appeared, and with golden eyes the woman who appeared stared downward. "A-Ahh..!"
"That tail," his other muttered, narrowing his eyes in the back of the boy's mind. "A scorpion..?"
That's what it looked like at least... The boy stepped back from the door, looking up at the woman with somewhat narrowed eyes at her form. Strange... He could not quite identify her, at least not completely. Though her face was most certainly unfamiliar after all, it still felt as though he had met the monster before, despite no reason to believe such. Pondering this however took time; and as the scorpion-woman sat above the door he found himself swallowing, somewhat red faced before he worked up the courage to speak. "I... How do I enter through this door," he asked, biting his lip somewhat.
The response came swiftly and frankly, the woman gesturing below her. "To pass through the gate, you must pass a trial," she answered, crossing her legs as black scales shimmered in the light.
"A... A trial," he repeated, receiving a nod in response.
"Correct... There are few options for you... One," the woman began, "You may face the beast that lies within this door, that whose expression is trapped in stone... Or," she continued, Yugi mentally muttering a 'pass' with his other half at the mention of another fight, "You can answer the riddle I ask of you."
Oh... A riddle? Well that worked out he supposed. "...Riddles... So I can pass if I answer correctly then," he asked, the 'scorpion' nodding in response. "And if I lose..?"
At that a sneering grin came over the woman's face, Yugi abruptly paling as golden eyes flashed. "Oh... I think you know," she stated with a darkening grin, the boy shuddering as her gaze intensified. "The decision is yours to make though," she continued almost darkly. "So will you fight... Or will you risk my trial..?"
Hnn... Yugi stared in silence, frowning somewhat as his 'other' half considered the options with him. "If we lose, in either the fight or the riddle, we'll die no matter what," he muttered, lighter side nodding in agreement. "However," the spirit continued darkly, "We're also still weak from that last battle..."
"We might 'know' how to fight thanks to this game," he continued on with a sigh, quite vividly recalling the ease he'd cut through Oshita with, "But the riddles will test our knowledge completely..."
"...Hnp! Then let them," his other half decided with a smirk, the image of the spirit standing with crossed arms coming to mind. "After all... A riddle is just another form of a puzzle, right?"
Yugi blinked at that, looking up in slight alarm before nodding. Well... That was true he supposed, this was just a form of puzzle, wasn't it. "Right... Okay then," he decided, looking to the woman with a nod. "I'll take the challenge!"
The woman grinned even more with that, taking a more professional position as she spoke. "Very well; listen carefully. 'Ever present I flow, through rivers, through trees. Though unseen, I am there, though small, I am limitless. To the ends of the earth and back I travel, yet through this I never move. To many I am life. To others I am power. To the knowledgeable, I am both. What am I?'"
E... Ehhh... Yugi swallowed, staring forward with somewhat wide eyes as the words registered. Oh man... What had he gotten himself into... "Constantly flowing," his other half muttered in question, likely huffing in confusion. "Hnn... This is not quite what I expected," he muttered, shaking his head. Ahhhh...
Maybe so... But if they didn't answer, they wouldn't be getting out of here either..! "Hnnng... I suppose we have to decipher the riddle itself first," he muttered, grinding his teeth as he stared at the ground. Ends of the earth... Ends of the earth... Time? End of time? No, that wasn't it he told himself, it was going back and forth, not forward... Ah...
"Death, perhaps," his other offered, Yugi blinking in response as he pondered the statement. Ah...
"Yea," he muttered, "That would work..." Alright... So it died and came back then. It was present in everything, which probably explained why it could 'die and be reborn' without actually going anywhere... But if this was life... The boy frowned, narrowing his eyes and shaking himself at that. No... "It's not 'life'," he told himself, "Only 'some' see it as that..."
"But what word is there that's synonymous for life and power," questioned the other Yugi, both boys just as confused in regards to the solution. "I certainly don't know of one in our language," he continued, "Nor one in-" Ah... Wait, there was..!
"KI," Yugi shouted abruptly, eyes wide as he grinned. The woman above the door stared, tail twitching somewhat as the boy continued. "It's 'Ki'!"
"Ki," his other choked, "But 'Ki' doesn't mean power!"
No... But it meant 'motivation'! Spirit, mind, heart... It meant many things, and they all tied to life and energy... And if he was right, then in this case, that counted!
The woman smiled, a calm and soft expression gracing her face as the door became more than a stone arch, glowing brightly to obscure some path up ahead. "Very good," she stated, bowing her head. "You may pass... But remember," she whispered, fading as the smile darkened into a twisted smirk, "There are more trials yet to come before you may truly move on..." More..?
Yugi swallowed, nonetheless moving forward with a nod. Alright... So there were more...
They'd just have to keep going until they found the others then!
How long had she been stuck in here she wondered, a yawn escaping her mouth despite her greatest interests. An hour? Two perhaps?
The woman sighed, leaning a head on her shoulder as she dozed in and out of consciousness. Well... Some dream this was she grumbled mentally, a scowl appearing on her face. Maybe if she went to sleep she'd wake up, and someone would explain what happened to her. And speaking of 'someone'...
"What's your name," she found herself asking, the snake she spoke to currently resting atop her head. "You have to have some kind of name right," she continued, the serpent merely looking down with oddly childish eyes from his makeshift nest.
"Hnnn... I suppose that's true," it responded, blinking a few times.
"...You suppose," Anzu asked, raising an eyebrow.
The snake nodded, before turning to leave her head. "Yea! I mean, it's natural to figure everything has a name right? Of course... That doesn't mean I know it," he continued with a grin, hanging his head down before the woman's face as she scowled.
...He was kidding right? "You don't know your own name," she asked incredulously, staring at the snake as it returned to his 'nest'.
The snake merely gave off an odd, 'raspberry' sound, apparently unimpressed with the question. "Hey! Your pal 'Yugi's got a 'nameless' pharaoh on his neck doesn't he," he asked, again not seeming too oddly knowledgeable on her memories for some reason. "How come I'm exempt from the name game?"
"You're not an ancient ghost," Anzu protested blankly, the snake's presence vanishing from her head as it slithered off somewhere. "And besides that," she continued with a scowl, "How do you even know about that sort of thing?"
"Familiar, remember," he responded, the woman continuing to frown.
"And what does that even mean?"
"It means that we're 'tied', alright? Now..." There was a rustling noise, something thick falling on Anzu's face as the woman moved to stand and turn around. "Here we go! How's this for an exit?"
The woman blinked, following the edge of what seemed to be a vine up to a large hole at the top with her eyes. Sitting beside the other end and draped in his own shadow the snake could just barely be made out, eyes flashing with superiority. "Ah- How on earth did you even get up there," she shouted, the snake in question blinking in the same manner it always did with a grin.
"Ehhh... Who knows," it shouted down, Anzu rolling her eyes in response. "But come on, you wanted out right?" That was definitely true... And she supposed it was as good an option as any really...
Anzu grabbed at the vine, awkwardly stowing the staff on the side of her robe sash before attempting to climb up the rock wall. "Gnhg... Well... I guess I should thank you anyways," she called up, voice echoing about the chamber as she awkwardly continued the conversation. "Since you found this vine and all..."
"Eh, don't mention it," the snake responded, tongue flicking with amusement. "Familiar, remember?" Of course... 'Familiar'. That was clearly the reason she told herself as she scaled the wall. Clearly...
Just what the heck was a familiar damn it! Clambering hands gripped at the exit of the room, grabbing onto stone and dirt as she pulled herself out with a grunt. Crawling forward on hands and knees the woman gasped somewhat for breath, her 'familiar' curling up on her arm once more as she looked down at her wrist. Now that they were in the light, she could more clearly see the markings that appeared with the bite. What she'd thought were 'blocks' were individual symbols, each one varied and almost picturesque in appearance, appearing clearer as she brought the wrist close. These... "Hieroglyphs," she muttered in question, looking to the snake on her arm with a frown. "They're covering you too," she continued, her partner appearing to tense. Starting from an enormous vulture carrying a disk, a series of hieroglyphs tracing down the snake's back. Three times, surrounding an 'ankh', she could see pictures of sorts, some kind of... "Hey," she muttered as the snake closed his eyes over, growing more and more lethargic in the blinding sun from above, "Some of them look almost like-"
"GREAEEEEEEE!" The two both jumped, the snake pulling itself from a sun-induced stupor and Anzu from her own confusion.
"Gh- They're still there," she shouted incredulously, hurriedly grabbing the staff out from her sash and pointing it forward as the roars picked up once again. "How many of these are there!"
"Who knows," the snake responded, already falling to the ground and slithering off rather than hanging around the woman. "But I don't see any cliffs nearby!" Gh- Wha-
The woman turned, balking as her 'familiar' began to flee down a rope-bridge joining the canyons together. "You- Hey! What happened to being 'tied' to each other," she shouted, glancing back at the approaching horde of cyclops before racing after the serpent as she growled.
"Hah! You might be tied to me," he answered, "But I'm sure not tied to you!"
"I'm pretty sure it's the other way around," she argued bitterly, only to pause as she took a step on the bridge. Splinters of wood cracked with every step, and as she gripped the ropes at the side she could feel the fibres coming off in her hands. The bridge she stood on was fragile and collapsing... And she was only two steps in. "Ack... Not good..." The woman looked forward, wincing as she witnessed the snake curling up safely on the other side. Damn it... Something that small, of course it would make it..!
"GREEEEEHH!" Gh-! "REAEEEEEEE!" She glanced back, swallowing in unease at the continued sounds of the cyclops behind her. Tch... Either she'd be killed by giants, or she'd fall to her death...
...She would rather pick falling though she decided, hurriedly running across the bridge with wide eyes. Besides... This was just a dream right? Just a dream... Nothing more nothing less, she could do this easily! Wood splintered to the ground from the planks behind her, but as she ran the bridge held firm. One quarter of the distance... One half the distance... Three quarters, she thought with a grin, before the thoughts were cut short.
-SNAP-
Anzu froze, a sudden quake coming through the bridge as she gripped the sides. "Oh no..." Behind her the cyclops had followed after... Though barely a quarter of the way in the bridge was creaking under their weight, clawed hands gnawing at the ropes on the sides as she stared at the sinking bridge. The bridge was sagging... Collapsing under the weight... "Oh no no no no no..."
"Greeee... REAAAEEEEEEHHH!"
"H-HAAAHH!" With an echoing crumble the bridge collapsed, Anzu shrieking as she fell. Her free hand scrambled for something to take hold of as the bridge's splinters and fibers blew into her eyes, hands blindly flying forward before finally latching onto one of the last few planks on the bridge. Rumbling cries and roars from the giants were filling the air... Anzu closed her eyes as she turned away from the vertigo inducing height she was at however, instead fumbling with her staff to store it away and grab the bridge planks for support. Great... Her bridge was now a ladder. A ladder that stood above multiple meters of height. "Oooooohhhhh... Damn it..." This wasn't a dream, it was a nightmare..! Weak hands slowly moved up the planks, short grunts coming from her as she climbed. Hngg... This bridge... It was so long too, how was she supposed to make this length... Of course, given her only option...
The hot sun was beating down from above just now, making it difficult to concentrate. Sweaty palms were slowly losing their grip on already fragile and cracked wood, her mind mentally craving an ice-cream. Half-way there she told herself with a swallow, letting out a short scream as her foot broke through one of the planks. H-H... Half way there..!
Who knew how these ropes were holding her she told herself as she climbed, breathing somewhat labored as she went. How these wooden planks weren't cracking and crumbling into dust, leaving her to fall to her 'death'. As she clambered onto the cliff however, collapsing on her back, she found herself uncaring. Her mind was hazy... She'd gone so long without water, without even a slight 'chill' besides her one 'Blizzard' attack... And the heat, the heat was just so pressuring... So pressuring... If she slept...
If she slept, she asked herself, unaware of the shadows coming around her at that moment... Would she 'wake up'?
To say that this was a disappointment would be, well... An understatement and a 'disappointment', at least when it came to accurate terms, he decided. After passing through the first door they had come to an extensive and nigh endless hall, lined in stone and filled with carvings of unknown events or places. For a while, he thought one of them had resembled Anzu... But in the end he'd shaken it off, passing by images of aircraft and dancing in order to move on. The carvings hadn't been his reason for being there after all; he needed to leave as soon as possible, and find his friends.
To come to the end of that hallway only to exit from the same door they'd entered in however, with the hall vanishing to render it an arch once more, was just horrible really, and not at all a comforting fact when it came to achieving that goal. "Gh... We're back where we started," Yugi shouted with wide eyes, looking around. "What is this..!"
"The woman did say there were more challenges," his other muttered.
Hnn... "That's true," he answered quietly, wandering to the next door before frowning. "...Maybe... Do you think we have to go through all of them," he asked, unconsciously looking back to where his partner would normally stand. "Before we can really 'move on' I mean?"
"I don't think I'd be surprised if that were the case," the spirit admitted with a 'shrug', shaking his head in the back of his mind. "After all... There's no indication of which door is the 'right one'," he continued, "So it would make sense..."
True... True... In that case... Yugi hesitantly tapped the next door, that of the 'Suzaku', before stepping back as the next woman appeared. This time, though the face matched, she appeared different. Rather than black scales she wore a simple ebony gown, the fabric almost translucent much to Yugi's embarrassed shock. Upon the woman's head in the meantime was a basket of sorts, woven from green reeds and shining dully in a nonexistent light. "You have returned," she said calmly, no trace of surprise audible in her tone.
The boy nodded, staring to the woman as he tried not to stare too hard at the sheer dress. "That's right/ But you knew that I'd do that, didn't you," he responded, looking up seriously. "There are four riddles aren't there..? And I have to answer all of them to move on, don't I?"
The woman smirked, before nodding slowly. "True... There is one for each door that you must answer to move on. If you are asking me this," she continued, "I would take it to assume that you are seeking the next riddle then..."
Again Yugi nodded, watching as the monster sat upright atop the door and spoke.
"Very well... Here is your next challenge," she told him, holding a hand out in gesture. "'I am the companion to death, the shadow in life. Through me you will often see twin rivers of salt across a plain of white, coated in mantles of black. Pray you do not succumb to my power, for those who do leave me to all the rest in companionship!"
Ah... This one was worse than the last one! Yugi frowned, nonetheless crossing his arms in thought as he conversed with his other on the matter. Hnnn... Damn it. "Obviously this one has to do with the effects of death," his other was muttering, likely holding a similar pose to his friend. "But even so, that leaves us little to go on... Do you have any idea as to what 'salt rivers' might refer to," he continued, the lighter half shaking his head.
"Not really... Hnn..." Yugi continued to frown, staring at the ground. "It can't be a real river... Rivers are only fresh water, there's no such thing as a salt-water river," he muttered, closing his eyes. "Black has a lot to do with death but... How do you succumb to something other than death if death is constantly present with it," he asked, again finding himself turned to empty space.
"Hnn... It would have to be a depressing topic, that is for certain," his other muttered, before a rush of excitement came from his side of the 'link. "Ah- Hang on now... Yugi, tears are salty right," he 'asked', his partner nodding despite the action remaining unseen. "Well then... If you were to have heard that someone died, what would you do?"
What would he- "Well... I'd be upset of course," Yugi responded rather quickly, eyes wide with slight incredulity. "Especially if it was someone close..!"
"Yes, and so would I," the spirit continued almost dismissively, "But I meant physically; when people are upset, they grow pale, or cry, right?"
Umm... "Right... But-" The boy blinked, before nodding in understanding as the answer became clear. "Ahhhh... Of course..! 'Twin rivers of salt on a plain of white'- Tears on a pale face! Then, if that's covered in black," he continued, his partner smirking in response.
"It's the black clothing of a funeral goer- and if one were to succumb to the emotions of that time," he continued, plainly, "Then wouldn't the emotion spread?"
"That's right... Of course it would! And that means... That means the answer is 'Mourning'," Yugi announced, looking to the woman as she raised her eyebrows somewhat. "...Right?"
The woman smirked, slowly nodding as chuckling came through the air. "You are correct... 'Mourning' is indeed the answer! Move on," she continued, fading from existence, "And with luck, we will meet again soon..."
With that in mind the boy before her nodded, charging through the door with not a moment to waste.
She was dreaming... She was dreaming a crazy, dehydration-induced dream of the desert, filled with confusing thoughts and memories that she could only hazily remember at this moment. School... She was at school she told herself, watching as she stood across from Yugi at the boy's desk. It was from a long time ago... When Jonouchi was on 'house arrest' for his eyes by order of the 'all powerful Mokuba' as he'd jokingly been called, and when Honda was too busy with his nephew to deal with anything else... Much to his displeasure. It was before Bakura had come... Before things had gotten quite as complicated as they were, and when it seemed things had finally calmed down from the terror that was the 'Death T Tower'. When it seemed things could finally be 'normal' again.
They were talking about cards... Yugi had been sorting through his old duel monsters deck with recent news of the national tournament, seemingly out of habit. "So which one do you think suits you," she had asked, smiling brightly as the boy looked through his deck.
"'Suits me'," he responded in surprise. "How so?"
"I don't know... Just something that you feel 'matches'," she'd said with a smirk, her friend staring in slight confusion.
Yugi had blinked curiously in response to the request, staring at the cards in his hand before eventually shrugging. "Well," he admitted, "I'd like to say the 'Dark Magician'... But that one's more the other me," he continued with a laugh, grabbing another one. "...Here; this one," he told her, smiling widely. "Maha Vailo."
"Maha Vailo..?" She'd looked at the card after that, before frowning at the robed and horn-helmed monster. "Isn't... Isn't this one a girl," she'd asked suspiciously, pointing to the card with a frown.
At this Yugi had laughed nervously, rubbing his head with a cough. "Ahaha... Y-Yea... It's a little embarrassing but you see, while she's not the most popular or powerful monster," he'd told her seriously, "She has a hidden ability... It makes her a lot stronger than she looks!" Ah...
That made sense she'd supposed. She still didn't understand the connection, but she supposed it made sense. "Right... Then... What about me," she'd asked, pointing to herself with a smile.
"You," he repeated almost blankly.
"Yea... Which one do you think suits me," the woman pressed, leaning somewhat over the desk.
The boy had looked up momentarily, and soon enough pulled a card from the deck to hold it forward with a smile. "Ah... This one," he decided, smiling broadly. "The Dark Magician Girl."
"Ah? That one," she repeated almost blankly, looking over the card in surprise.
"Yea; it gains power when its partners, the Dark Magician or Dark Magician of Chaos, are in the graveyard," Yugi explained, still smiling as his friend took the card in his hands. "By drawing strength from both enemies and friends, she can become a powerful person... Like you; you're really strong... But sometimes I find that when it comes to fighting together, you're at your strongest when protecting us," he continued, Anzu looking back up from the card with a jolt.
"Ah- Protecting-" She'd quickly flushed, choking as she went red. "I... I'm the girl! I don't do the protecting! ...Though I'm certainly not some 'damsel in distress'," she added darkly, her friend shaking his head at his friend's self contradictions. "Well... The Dark Magician Girl... I think I've seen this card before," the woman admitted, holding it in her hands. Somewhere else... She had seen it, though not on a card. It was a few years ago in fact she realized, a memory coming to mind. "Ah, right... While I was in the USA visiting my father... He took me to see a small time 'musical'," she laughed, shaking her head as the memory returned. "Dark Magician Girl, 'Jewel of the Stage'... It was a silly show, meant for kids to get them interested in the cards, but... I couldn't help but want to take part in it," she admitted, Yugi blinking in response. "It seemed fun..."
"Oh... I see..." Then...
Why not, her mind questioned, Anzu blinking slightly as a breeze passed. In a flash the scene changed, and suddenly as both of the two Yugis she knew and cared for were sitting across from her in audience seats she could feel that breeze growing colder. The woman looked down, jumping in shock as she looked over herself. D-Dark Magician Girl... She was wearing..! 'Presenting, for the seventh annual showing,' a voice announced, Anzu looking up with surprise. 'Dark Magician Girl – The Jewel of the Stage!' Eh-Ehh! Would they seriously play it until she graduated and moved out?
There was no time to question her dream as she was pulled through the air, cables hoisting her over the crowd as the audience stared. Yugi... Yugi was watching her now, both of them were, with smiles on their faces... "Ah... Aha..." This... She couldn't help but laugh, tears dotting her eyes as she flew through the air. "Ahahaha! HAHAHAHAHA!" This... This was fun!
If she could do this for real, this would be- 'Wake up,' someone whispered, the pull and the breeze abruptly fading as time appeared to slow. What...
Who was saying that? 'Wake up,' the voice repeated, Anzu frowning in response. Who was that? Who-
"Hey! Rise and shine sleepy!" Water splashed across her face, the woman sitting up with a jolt as she coughed.
"Gh- Kack! Kahc, Hah! Hah... Ha... Auggghhh..." Anzu shook herself, water dripping into her face as she looked to the snake at her side. Ignoring the fact that she'd somehow been doused in water by something with no limbs... "What... What was that about," she questioned, the snake appearing to 'smirk' with amusement.
"Eh... Penguins were getting tired of carrying you around," he responded, the woman blinking a number of times as she sat up on what she quickly identified as wood logs.
Ahhh... Hold on now, he just said... "Pe... Penguins," she repeated, the snake in the meantime curling around her throat with a nod as it returned to her body.
"Yep; went looking to find you some water and somehow found a penguin instead; don't ask how it works, but hey, it seemed willing enough to help. Of course, since we couldn't wake you up," the snake continued with a yawn, "I guess it figured carrying you would be better, since a giant horde of them showed up a couple seconds later." O... Kay... She supposed that could have been what woke her up then, but...
Well... Penguins. "...We were at the grand canyon," she said incredulously, turning to the snake as the raft they sat on drifted. "What would penguins be doing-"
"Errr... Yea... About that," the snake muttered with a cough, Anzu currently looking around with narrowed eyes. "We're still there." Still-
"No way," she whispered, eyes wide as she looked around the seas they currently floated on. "This... This looks nothing like the canyon," she shouted, shaking her head. "There's snow everywhere, and ice... We're on a raft," she protested, looking down at the snake as they continued to drift toward shore. "I mean... We're-"
A series of odd chirping noises caught their attention, the woman turning as the raft came to dock at a now frozen peak. Penguins... An entire field of penguins stood before her, each one with a different pattern of black and white over them while they cleared a path. Despite the bizarreness of the situation the snake around her neck seemed fairly calm about all of this too it seemed. Of course, said snake was also about to talk, given that he moved to her arm for a better view, ducking under her sleeves with another yawn. "Lots of penguins huh," he said somewhat conversationally, Anzu giving a look that clearly told him what she thought of the statement. "Yeaaaaa... Like I said Anzu, this is the canyon; after you passed out," the serpent explained, "And I went to find help, a great big snow storm hit... Man... You should have seen it," he shouted with a grin, fangs extending in the gesture. "A great big tidal wave tore right through here from nowhere! It was awesome!"
Awesome huh..? Anzu raised an eyebrow, smirking somewhat. "You act like you've never seen snow before," she joked, the snake coughing awkwardly as they were led onward by the penguins.
"Yea well... What can I say, I'm a familiar, I'm a snake, we don't mix with snow." Of course... That had to be the reason right?
The woman continued to shake her head, staring forward to keep an eye on the path as they moved. "You still haven't told me what this 'familiar' business means," she muttered, the snake on her wrist snorting in response.
"Hah! Keep waiting for an answer," he answered, 'grinning' cheekily before returning to the woman's neck. "Hahhhhhh warmth... Precious warmth," he muttered, the wrist having apparently not been enough. "I hate being cold-blooded..." Yes... That would probably cause problems in this weather Anzu decided, shaking her head.
Speaking of the weather... Snow was falling just lightly at the moment, and she had a feeling it had something to do with this castle. "Wow," she muttered, looking up at the enormous ice sculptures lining the palace they were entering now. "Someone in here really likes Penguins," Anzu whispered, shaking her head.
"Got that right," the snake muttered sleepily, giving off a small yawn as he shivered. "Man... Someone light a fire," he moaned, "I'm going into hibernation here..."
"Do cobras even hibernate," the woman hissed in response, the snake giving another yawn in response.
"I dunno," he groaned sleepily, "Wake me up in spri- OW! SSSSSSSFFF what was that," he roared, abruptly finding himself dangling in the woman's hand.
Anzu merely frowned as the snake flailed in her grip, having flicked his forehead rather roughly in her anger. "For being an insufferable little snake," she told him, narrowing her eyes. "In fact, if I didn't know any better, I'd say you were only six," she continued, ignoring the fairly prominent 'eye' that sat on the snake's brow for the moment.
"Ssssssssfff... Not my fault I'm honest," he growled, bringing his head up to face his 'partner'.
"Uh-huh..." Because that was always an acceptable excuse right? Loud squawking cut her thoughts short, the woman turning as the penguins all gestured to a large door standing before her in the ice. "...Wow," she muttered, looking up at the structure with wide eyes. "Impressive..."
"...I've seen better," the snake muttered with a shrug, Anzu turning on it with a frown.
"Alright. Unless you plan on giving me a name, shut up, before I feed you to one of these birds," she muttered, the snake momentarily turning to glance at the penguins in question with a gulp.
"Ahhhh... 'Ren'," he offered, giving his cheeky grin as the woman stared.
Ren... Hn... "...I guess that works," she decided, shaking her head and pushing through the door with a grunt. "Now... ...Where are we," Anzu muttered, stepping into the room as the enormous door slowly closed behind her.
Ren did the best impression of a shrug that a snake could, shaking his head. "Beats me... If we didn't know this guy liked penguins before though, we sure as hell do now..."
That was for sure... All around them were sculptures of penguins, diving, 'posing', jumping... And at the very back, a pair of penguins actually wearing clothing, each one in a waistcoat of sorts, could be seen in fact... And with each one gripping a chain of sorts in their beaks as they pulled a second door before the pair open, somehow managing to tie off the holds before turning toward the two. "...Merk!" Uhhh...
Anzu blinked, staring as the penguins squawked and gestured to the door. "Eh... You want me to come in," she asked with a slight shrug.
"Well, that or they really want to dance," Ren muttered blankly, his partner frowning as she returned the snake to her wrist.
"What did I say," she warned, the snake grinning in response.
"Come on... I gave you a name didn't I," he laughed, the woman only growling further.
"A name," she asked, gritting her teeth in agitation.
Ren appeared to very quickly realize the hole he'd dug himself, coughing nervously in response. "Uhhhh..."
"Mazaki Anzu, sixteen years old," a voice called out, the two hurriedly cutting their argument short. "I wasn't aware you had a companion..." Compa- (Right, Ren...) Ummm... All that aside now...
"Yea... Neither was I," she muttered, walking forward with a swallow. The source of the voice in question appeared to be a large, crested penguin, dressed in a suit jacket and top hat. The penguin held before him a series of papers, a small pile sitting at his side to include what looked to be a resume. In fact she realized, stepping into the room to frown as she looked to the photo clipped onto the resume, that was... "Hey... How did you get my resume," she shouted, eyes wide as the penguin stared toward her.
"Now now, there's no need to panic... How I received your application is entirely unimportant right now," he continued rather plainly, "What matters is that your interview starts now!"
"I.. Interview," she repeated, her partner as well blinking in surprise.
"Ooooh... And just what did you apply for inside a video game then," Ren asked, uncoiling somewhat as Anzu stood before the table.
"I didn't apply for-"
"'Mazaki Anzu'," the penguin began, "In regards to the audition for lead role in the musical 'Dark Magician Girl – The Jewel of the Stage'..." ...Alright, this was definitely a dream then... "You know," the creature continued idly, "That play, despite its beginnings, has gotten quite popular... It's even on broadway now..." ...Definitely a dream. Definitely, definitely... "I have to say," he went on with a smirk, "Kaiba Corporation used to sponsor broadway shows... Gozaburo-sama's late wife was quite fond of the theatre you see, and up until her death she would constantly travel to see them. If I were back under hire in the company in fact, I don't think it would be too difficult to find you that lead role you so want," he chuckled, somehow smirking despite being in possession of a beak.
Ah... L... Lead role- Hang on... "Kaiba Corp..." Why was KaibaCorp in her dreams? That made no sense... "What the hell is..." The woman shook herself, pushing the thoughts back before looking forward with a scowl. "...No... Better question," she decided with a steady frown. "Why would you even do this for me?"
The penguin laughed at that, shaking his head and wiping a 'tear' from his eyes. "Hahahahaha! It's what you want isn't it? A pleasure to meet you in person," he continued with a grin, holding out his flipper to awkwardly shake Anzu's hand after a confusing moment of silence. "Former head of Personnel at Kaiba Corp, deceased at 55 years of age, I am Otaki Shuzo! But enough about me," Otaki added, chuckling at the pale pallor Anzu had taken, "We have an interview to complete!"
Perhaps it was good Ren was there. His bluntness and childishness was allowing her to keep focus. "Whaaaaat," he muttered, before being cut off by the penguin.
"Mazaki Anzu, sixteen years old," Otaki began, "Currently attending second year of highschool. Due to your father's work as pilot, you moved about multiple times when you were younger, until finally your parents divorced and went their separate ways. During summers however you still spend time with your father, during which you often attend musicals and dances, one of which was the aforementioned 'Jewel of the Stage'... Hnnn... It would seem that just recently your father was admitted into the Dal Al Fouad Hospital of Cairo after an accident involving apparent gang crossfire, news you received just on the nineteenth in fact," he added, narrowing his eyes as both Anzu and Ren tensed. "Ironically concerning the 'Rare Hunters'... You held back this information however due to lack of information and inability to check in on his condition, instead choosing not to distract your friends with the matter... When in fact, you're simply afraid he's already gone." W- How...
What... Anzu grew deathly pale, shaking her head and slowly stepping back from the penguin before her. "This... How do you know all of this," she said with a swallow, eyes widening with fear. "How..."
"How..? You mean to tell me you doubt my vast information network," the penguin asked with a grin. "Hnhnhnhnhn... Really... It's easy to gather information! You just need to work at it... For example... I also know that despite exemplary skills in sports and classes," Otaki continued, "You have refused membership in any and all clubs or activities at your school, taking time to instead secretly obtain a job as a waitress to earn money for education overseas. Due to an incident involving an escaped criminal however you changed jobs, ironically coming to work at Kaiba's 'KaibaLand Amusement Park' before quitting for unstated reasons and taking up a part time position at a local engraving store. A truly admirable effort in work I might add," Otaki chuckled, his addressee gritting her teeth. "But you know... To pursue such a dream... Well, even if you didn't bother, the result would be the same," he laughed. "A person like yourself, who only thinks of herself and of one small boy in the corner of the class, one boy whose future is so far out of your reach... He'll never be yours," the penguin continued, both Anzu and Ren staring with confused expressions, "And even if he was," he taunted, "Do you think you would reach your dreams? No! Because in the end, you would simply follow him around as you always do..." What...
What was this..! "You... What kind of dream is this," she burst out, eyes wide with incredulity. These thoughts, these things... She'd never thought like this! So why were they in her thoughts... "Labeling me like this... You can't do that," she roared, only to be ignored as the penguin went on with a sneer.
"Since birth you have littered twelve times," the penguin announced, "Forgotten to turn off the tap 35 times, forgotten to turn off the lights 62 times..." What... What...
"Stop... Stop this," she shouted, grabbing at her head. "How do you know all of this, even I don't know all of this!" Dreams were supposed to take from memory weren't they? So how could this be... How... "You're lying," she finally screamed, the snake on her arm staring and wrapping itself around her arm for support as she shook. "Lying!"
"Hn! Mazaki Anzu... If all the people of the world knew these things about you," Otaki asked, "What do you think would happen. Wasting resources as you do... You're causing all kinds of problems," he roared, eyes narrowing in apparent rage. "Global warming, pollution! You're making the penguins suffer you know!"
"Again with the penguins," Ren muttered as he shook his head, "Just what is it with you and the penguins..."
"Those who don't understand this world... You can't even hope to make it turn the way you want if you act like that," Otaki continued, the snake on his target's arm still frowning.
"Seriously, what are you talking about..."
The penguin before them stood, table seemingly vanishing in an instant as the walls themselves began to blow out of existence. Ice fragmented into mere shards, pieces of stone broke holes into an arising sea... "Hnhnhahahahahaha... Welcome to the frozen tundra, the realm of 'my' kind," Otaki sneered, the ice float he stood on slowly drifting away from his opponent. "Mazaki Anzu... You've 'failed' you application, but you needn't worry about a thing..! When I take your body... I'll enter the real world and make you 'reborn'! The kind of woman who thinks everything of the earth," he cackled, "The kind who cares for the world..!" This... This...
"Who the hell says I'll even take that kind of sick challenge," she roared, turning on her heels to run before the ice collapsed into the seas before her. "I'm waking up right now... I'm leaving, and- Gh-!"
"Believe me," Otaki chuckled, "You don't have a choice... And as for your 'dream theory'," he continued, howling with laughter as the woman turned, "Believe me when I say... This is far from a dream!"
The second hall seemed longer than the last, but nonetheless he tried his best to run the full distance of carved stone. Conversation had only slightly dotted the air as he'd charged, and more or less the points they covered varied completely from the surrounding scenery. From the start there was worry; Noa had said 'she' was at the other end of this first part after all, and that meant that it could be anyone from Kaiba to Shizuka to Anzu, all signs pointing to the latter as they passed the carved images around them. But as to how they were doing he couldn't say, and he wished horribly that he could change that answer so that he would be able to calm down.
Another thing on their mind was Noa in general of course. His mannerisms, his words... They'd only spoken to him, at least directly, once after all but even then it seemed obvious that he was obsessed with something involving them, driven to replace at least one of the people he knew. Driven to replace someone without giving any signs as to who or why.
And then the 'women of the doors', the women with identical faces and expressions. From what he could tell they'd seemed Egyptian, and as he and his other self pondered their identities they had successfully identified both. At the first door after all she had born the image of a scorpion, with a tail and even claws adorning her form. With so few Gods in the former Pharaoh's old religion that were represented by such, particularly the Goddesses, it became clear that it was 'Selket'. And then there was the second woman, completely human in appearance. Rather than any form of animal being she held a basket on her head, and pondering the clue of 'mourning' they'd decided that the woman they had seen that time was 'Nephthys'. As for who the other two were, they were about to find out it seemed, the boy exiting back through the second arch and slowing to a stop.
Back at the beginning... Yugi turned to look at the arch briefly as his path disappeared into darkness yet again, before turning back to the remaining two he had to open. Here they were, he told himself with a swallow, staring for a moment before turning toward the next door. It was time to face the next riddle... "...The Byakko door..."
"Indeed..." The woman who appeared this time seemed identical to the others when she first began to appear. From the toes to her chest she was identically formed, albeit dressed in a sheer white gown that had Yugi coughing rather awkwardly as he turned away. From the shoulders up however, the boy found himself staring in confusion, the head of a lioness meeting his gaze. Fierce eyes, a closed mouth... "I assume you are ready," she asked, the boy before her nodding in fear filled silence as his other did the same. "Alright then... Take your time. 'I have many faces but I go by one name, Many voices, but in the end one word. Many pictures hold me, but I need only two lines; from the body, to a stick, to a pair of legs. What am I?'"
Hn... This one seemed simple enough... "Many faces..."
"Something diverse," his partner muttered, the lion-headed woman before them sitting at attention as she waited. "We'll need to be careful with this one," he continued, his slight unease transferring to his lighter half.
Yugi nodded, staring at the ground in thought. "Right... That last line though, I think that one is the key," he continued, his other half seeming to frown in the back of his mind.
"From a body, to a stick, to a pair of legs... ...A stickman?" Ah- ...Well, he supposed with 'stick' in the middle...
That was only half way though, there was no way that was the actual answer he told himself with a frown. Although... "Hn... The legs of a stick man..."
"Just two lines; it looks almost like 'hito', don't you think," the spirit asked idly, his lighter side shrugging. Yea... It did, he su-
"Ah! Other me," he shouted with a jolt, "That's it!"
"Humans? ...Ah! Of course," the spirit echoed with a laugh, "It's obvious now that you've said it..!"
Then, the answer was..."'Riddler'-san," Yugi called up, the monster looking down with calm eyes as the boy swallowed. "The answer is the 'Hito'... The kanji!"
At this the monster smirked, the door glowing to reveal the next path with a low and rumbling growl. "Correct; one door remains," she stated clearly as she vanished, eyes seemingly narrowed. "Good luck... The final riddle is always the hardest..." So the next one would be hardest then...
"We'll just have to hope for the best," his other muttered, Yugi nodding in response. "In the meantime... Let's go!"
It wasn't a dream, it wasn't a dream... It wasn't a dream, she repeated in her mind as her escape was cut off, the woman nervously pulling out her staff with a swallow. This wasn't a dream, yet it seemed so much like one, but how would her mental decision affect this 'boss fight'? Cards... She found herself thinking of cards in her unease, thinking back to the 'rules' she'd been given. Noa had said she would have to use a deck but...
"Hnhnhahahaaaa... Coming to terms with what I've said," her opponent laughed, standing far across from them above the seas and floating on a single piece of ice. "This fight is life or death, 'Mazaki Anzu'! I lose and you escape... You lose," he continued, "And you'll take my place in this world right here!" Gh... As if she was doing that! The woman continued to stare in unease as her opponent laughed, safely kept away from her range of power by the seas below. "Hehehehehe... This battle... It'll be different from the others," Otaki chuckled, eyes narrowing in mirth as his opponent grit her teeth. "You can fight all you like, but if you don't use your deck your as good as dead! And speaking of your deck," he added, Anzu jumping as a dome of light appeared around her, "Choose your cards! And following that, your deckmaster..!"
"Deckmaster..?" The normal rules didn't even apply! More over, what did she do, tap the ca- Ah, she realized as she did just that, it was exactly like that... Back to business then... "What the hell is a deckmaster..."
Ren grimaced in response to this, looking far more serious as he turned to his partner. "Exactly what he said," he said plainly, looking back to the field. "Deckmaster; for the duels in this game," the snake explained, "Each player picks a monster to assimilate with. This guy doesn't have a body, so he just becomes the monster," he added. "But if you pick something, it should just affect your clothes..." Ah...
Well, as much as she'd like to ask how he knew all that, she supposed there was a time and place... "I see..." Well... She supposed her only option was to try and build as strong a deck as possible with that in mind then really, though given that the last time she'd picked up a deck was in late November she was finding that a fair number of these cards were unknown to her. Hnnn... The woman slowly and hesitantly looked about the dome, tapping the occasional card as she spotted them and deemed their effects useful. One... Two... Three...
"Hey what about this one," her 'familiar' asked, jabbing his tail to the side in an attempt to help build the deck. "You grabbed the Dark Magician Girl right?"
That one..? Anzu blinked, looking over the card. 'Sage's Stone'... "Special summon Dark Magician when Dark Magician Girl is on the field... That could be helpful," she muttered, tapping the card. "Now I just need to find the Dark Magician and- Ah!" The woman balked as the screen vanished completely, turning toward Otaki with wide eyes. "You- I still had one card left to pick," she shouted, gesturing to the empty air. "What was that!"
The penguin merely shrugged, grinning. "Well, it's not my fault you reached your maximum number of cards! Why... Something important in there," he asked darkly, Anzu gripping her staff with a growl.
That... That... Filthy old man..! "Hey, cool down," Ren hissed, tongue flicking in and out as he whispered. "You've got me right; worst comes to worst, we'll just try what we did last time!"
Last time? With the 'double spell'? Hn! "I highly doubt that will be enough," she muttered, the snake rolling his eyes in response.
"Hn! This is what I get for being 'nice'... Better choose your deckmaster now," he added, the woman swallowing somewhat as the screen of cards appeared before her to give her her choices in monsters. Strange way to play a card game but... Well, she supposed it was as good as any. Anzu looked around the screens, arms crossed momentarily before swiping one of the closer ones.
This one! "Dark Magician Girl," she called out, the woman briefly appearing at her side before smoking out of existence. A choking feeling gripped her momentarily, the woman clutching her chest as the change took place. A head band appeared around the back of her hair... Black robes were dyed blue, with a sash and shawl in matching pink to wrap around her shoulders and hips. The staff itself also changed, becoming golden in colour, and as the woman opened her eyes they flashed a steady ice blue with not a single hint of the usual brown 'core' they held. The duel was going to begin... "I'm not going to lose easily," she announced, a wave of confidence passing over her as she stared. "Let's do this! I'll go first!"
"Hoh, that's bold of you," Ren muttered, only to shrink back as his partner glowered.
"NOT. Now," she snarled, gripping her staff as she charged along the icy ground in search of a path toward her opponent. Thank god this outfit came with boots she told herself, five cards appearing in her mind as the 'duel' began. "We can attack through cards or magic right," she asked, the snake nodding in response.
"That's right; you never know when a card might help though," he continued as his partner already formulated a strategy, "And-"
"I set a card face down," she called out as she waved her free hand, 'Mirror Force' shimmering like a glass sheet at her back. "And now... Ancient Elf in attack mode," she announced, briefly pausing from her place on the glacier as the black armored woman seemed to arise from out of the ice itself. The elf, though strong, was not nearly close enough to make her strike, and though she chased behind her summoner best as she could it was evident that the 'first move' rule was in play. "Now then... While the Elf can't attack," she continued, taking her run across the glacier once more as she charged up a nearby structure of ice, "I can! FIRE," she roared, pushing off the ice and pointing her staff forward with narrowed eyes. Steam filled the air in the resulting strike, fogging up the entire field as he ice where Otaki had stood disappeared. The ice, though quickly replaced, was completely gone, and as she twirled her staff the woman had to smirk. "Hah... Easy!"
"Errrr... You might want to re-think that statement," Ren muttered uneasily, coiling around his partner's neck as the woman paled.
"What..."
There... There was nothing on the melted ice, not even a charred body, but that meant... "MY turn," Otaki cackled, Anzu turning with a jolt as her penguin opponent shook himself off and steadied himself on the ice. The penguin momentarily pulled off his hat as he grinned, shaking it of the water it had absorbed during his dive before replacing it upon his head. "Too bad for you," he chuckled, clapping his flippers dry with a sneer. "I might be an old man, but I'm still extremely cautious! Take that card for example," he shouted with a grin. "I know full well that its a trap... So with the monster I plan to summon to the seas" he continued, flippers spread wide, "I would probably just hurt myself... Unless," the penguin announced, "I do this first! I cast the spell cold wave," he roared, voice almost drowned out by the sound of wind and snow as he pointed toward the woman. "And following that, I summon the Giant Red Sea Snake in attack mode, with your face down card unable to be summoned this turn!"
Oh was that all it was she asked herself, glancing back at the frosted glass as she hid behind her arms. Well... That didn't seem... Too... Bad... Um. "Gh... I can't see anything," she shouted with a start, looking around with wide eyes as the snow continued to fill the air. "Where..."
A shadow began to loom overhead, a tall and glowing shadow that resembled a twisted mix between a fish and a worm. "Grnnnnnnn..." Ah... Ahhh...
That was a lot bigger than it should have been..! "S-Sea..!"
"Gh- This guy must have a power-raising ability! Run for it, run for it!"
He didn't have to tell her twice..! But all the same, she couldn't tell which way was wall and which way was- "GRAAAAAAOOOOOOO!" Oh no...
"HAH!" As the sea-snake launched itself forward Anzu felt herself being pushed violently to the side, grunting in pain before looking to the one who had done so. Violet armor... Or that was what had been there a split second ago. With a sickening crunch her Ancient Elf was being killed... Blood was dripping from fatal and shock inducing wounds, and as the snake swallowed the elf's body she felt nauseous. Not a dream... This...
The woman slowly picked herself up as the screen at the corner flashed her life-point count, only to bite her lip in pain as a sudden and sickening sensation came over her. "G-Unhg... What..!"
Ren as well turned, staring with wide eyes at the woman he claimed 'familiar' status to. His partner had collapsed to her knees... Gripping her arm close, biting her lip in pain. As the serpent stared however he found himself choking, slowly looking up to his partner's face with a swallow. "H-Hey... You might not want to look now Anzu... But I don't think you want to stretch this match out for too long," he said nervously, Anzu in the meantime biting her way through the pain she had. W... What..? What was he talking abo-
The woman looked back over her hands, eyes wide with horror as the fingers of her left one began to fuse together. The nails had already shrunk back in fact, covering themselves with flesh, and as she was left with a thumb and 'two fingers' a thick and dense coating of black feathers sprouted over them in seconds. "This..." All of this... It couldn't be real... It couldn't... And yet, as she stared, she felt as though a curtain had been lifted, as though everything up until that point had regained astonishing amounts of clarity. "This isn't a dream, is it," she whispered fearfully, slowly turning to the snake on her arm as it looked away.
"No... No it's not," Ren admitted. "Kind of hoped that if you kept thinking it was a dream that you'd feel less afraid, and get out of this easier," he went on, "But no... You're not the only one stuck here," he continued quietly, looking back to where their opponent stood. "Yugi, Jonouchi, and five others... There're trapped here too," he explained, his partner paling as she followed the serpent's gaze. The red coloured sea snake was sitting quite comfortably in the seas at the moment as the snow cleared, top half raised above the water in an almost cobra like fashion. And as Anzu stared, not noticing that her left eye had also changed somewhat in appearance, she found herself gritting her teeth in a rekindled rage.
"You... What is 'THIS'," she shouted, holding out her left 'hand' in the now cleared air. "What are you doing to me?"
Otaki merely chuckled at the rage the woman was in, the laughter quickly growing into an all out maniacal cackle. "What am I doing? It's obvious isn't it," the penguin roared, 'shrugging' from behind his own serpent. "If you lose you have to stay here... So why not match the scenery? In fact, it's almost better this way... Aren't you 'cold'," he asked, the woman continuing to grit her somewhat chattering teeth as Ren huddled in her cloak. "You can't tell me you aren't... At least this way, you'll be able to adapt," he continued, chuckling darkly. Gh...
Monster... This MONSTER... Anzu clenched her fists, bowing her head somewhat before a card appeared in the back of her mind. Her move. Her draw. Alright... If he was going to play it like that, then she was just going to have to ramp things up herself. Starting now! "I set a card face down," she roared, charging along the strip of ice toward where Otaki stood as a panel of glass shimmered behind her. "And I end my 'TURN'," the woman spat, hopping onto the icy cliffs above as she swung her staff toward the penguin in rage. "HRAAAAAAHH!"
"Hehehehhe! Then I'll set these two cards here," the Penguin responded, hopping back from the woman's frenzied and non-cast strikes with a laugh. The shimmering panels sunk beneath the seas as he grinned, easily dodging the predicable movements. "You know, I was almost afraid," he laughed, eyes narrowed in mirth. "After you picked the Dark Magician Girl... I had to wonder what strategy you were trying to pull!" Otaki gave a final, gravity defiant hop from the woman, landing on a nearby iceberg as his opponent glared. "But in the end, on her own, the Dark Magician Girl is nothing... And you yourself must not have much power for attack left at all," he cackled, grin widening as Anzu tensed with rage. No... She'd used it all on those cyclops when she was running... And besides that, if she jumped now she'd just slip from the edge of that ice... Gh... "Of course... If you have the Dark Magician," Otaki muttered, only to grin once more as his opponent paled.
"Tch... That was the card we were about to grab when the dome vanished," Ren hissed, flaring his hood in agitation as the hieroglyphs on its back stretched. "That prick... No wonder we didn't get the chance to switch a card out, he knew what we were planning!"
"Ghnnnng..." This... This monster...!
More laughter filled the air, Anzu gripping her staff tight with rage as a new card appeared in her mind. "Hahaha... HAHAHAHAHA! You don't have it," the penguin howled, holding his head with one flipper as he 'cried'. "I don't believe this..! Not only can you not attack with your staff," he laughed tearfully, "But you've made the most ignorant of mistakes I've ever seen... To put the Dark Magician Girl in a deck with the Dark Magician is only common sense, a deck with only the girl in it is like curry without pickles!"
"Curry without- what," the snake on her arm hissed confusedly.
"Not now," she growled to the serpent, Ren hurriedly ducking down as the woman paced toward her opponent on the ice surrounding their small patch of ocean. "You... You're a really, really annoying old man," she snarled, the fingers of her right hand digging into her staff as it splintered in her hands. "I'm going to make you eat those words right now..! Go..! CYCLONE," she announced, holding her staff forward as the card took effect. "Destroying the first of your face down cards!"
Vicious winds blew from her staff in a familiar conical formation, the woman's normal eye seeming to glow with power as she made her attack. Rather than continuing forward as expected however, catching water and ice in its grip, the woman found herself growing pale. "Counter-trap," Otaki had announced, Anzu finding herself blown back to land roughly against an ice wall as the cyclone was blown viciously back by a blizzard. "DRIVING SNOW!"
"Ghn!" The woman's body left a small 'crater' of sorts in the ice, sliding to a cliff on its side as she weakly pulled herself forward. "Ahck... Gh... I... I cast another spell," she spat, clambering back to all fours before standing to take aim at the penguin that now stood below her. "Offerings of the Doomed!" Bandages sprung from an orb at the top of her staff with those words, barrelling forward to wrap tightly around the serpent before them. In an instant it was completely mummified, writhing against the bonds as it was pulled back with dull screams. Closer... Closer... And now...
-snap-
The bandages dropped as a sick crack came through the air, both Ren and Anzu watching as the serpent's mummified corpse fell into the seas. The spell had completed, snapping the monster's neck and allowing it to die... And now... "My turn isn't over yet," she announced, glancing back as she spotted a nearby cave. If she hid in there... If things began to get too rough, and she hid in there she told herself, maybe she could find a way to restore her magic power... Until then though, this cold... The woman shivered violently, blowing on her trembling right hand with a wince. "Gh... I summon... ...I... S-s-s-summon..." C-Cold...
"Hey... Take it easy alright," Ren warned, curling around the woman's hand as she stared. "Here... You're freezing. Let me be your hand for a moment, alright..?" Let- Her hand..? The two shared a glance, the woman eventually nodding before she felt her mind go 'numb'. Before she found herself dully watching from the sides of her own body, mind cleared... She was speaking but... How? With the hand Ren sat upon she was gesturing to the field, to her hidden card, and as he did this, somehow moving the body through his own will...
"I reveal my set card," 'she' announced, somehow unable to care that she wasn't truly speaking. "The Fire Sorcerer!" In a blaze of flames the woman leaped up, 'Anzu' bringing her hand to the side before pointing the monster forward with her 'flipper-hand'. "Before she attacks, I activate her effect; since the Fire Sorcerer was flip summoned," she stated, an uncharacteristically sadistic grin on her face in regards to the roaring flames, "I can inflict 800 points of damage directly, by discarding two cards from my hand! So... Let's do this," she continued with a laugh, the penguin below looking up with wide eyes. "ATTACK!"
With a curt nod the sorceress struck, charging forward with her staff at the ready. "FIRE," she roared, the first hand striking and blowing Otaki back against the ice in an instant as steam filled the air. "FIRE-BURST," she continued viciously, sending in her next attack as a flaming hand drove deep into the penguin's gut.
"G-LAAACHK!"
"Hah... Yes," Anzu hissed, the heat allowing her to clear her head as 'Ren' returned to his coiled position. The woman ducked down by the ice as her opponent was sufficiently distracted, heading into the cave to take refuge should the penguin make his move while she planned her own. Mist had cloaked the air completely now after all, leaving both subject to the element of surprise... Climbing down into the cave to take position near the sea-level entrance, she was able to look outside in secret to see what had happened now. Or so she'd hoped. The fire sorcerer was still out there of course; waiting patiently as she stood at the 'shore' of the seas. Otaki however, was nowhere to be seen, cloaked completely in the every thick mist. So where...
"Hehehehehe... Not a bad move," an echoing voice muttered, Anzu tensing somewhat as the penguin's rough call came from far across the field. "I don't think I can feel my feet anymore," he muttered idly, his opponent gripping the ice wall in her left hand as she frowned. He couldn't feel..?
But he was a penguin, and besides that, if the 'loser' started turning into a penguin, then what could possibly be happening to him..? "...Tch... What's with you and penguins anyways," she shouted, voice echoing about the cavern enough to hide her location.
"Yea," Ren added, "What, were you raised by them?"
She was pretty sure that wasn't possible, though neither was all of this really. Even so she was apparently getting her answer, Otaki taking his turn from behind the fog curtain as shadows arose before them. "Nothing so ridiculous," the man answered rather bluntly, "Though I imagine it would have been far better for me if I had... When I was young my parents were always fighting," he explained, his opponents raising their eyebrows at the openness displayed in regards to their comments. "Constantly bickering and throwing things, even when I was in the same room," he roared, echoed footsteps coming through the air. "So rather than go home after school, or remain there on weekends, I would sit by the zoo in my town... Doing my homework by the animal pens and spending as much time as I could there. It was there that I learned about penguins... Did you know," Otaki 'asked' as the others stared, "That the father and mother will take turns watching the egg, feeding the chick? Penguins... They don't fight like humans do. They care for each other, and they'll even wait until the plentiful months before letting the children go out on their own! They protect their own, no matter what! And to me, the idea of such a family was a dream," he shouted, opponent's confused scowl softening somewhat with pity.
"A broken home," she muttered, the snake on her arm shifting somewhat uncomfortably.
"...I've heard worse," Ren muttered, Anzu not even bothering to send him a glare with the tone in the serpent's voice. Shadows could be seen amid the fog... Moving closer, and closer... One with wings spread on its top, carrying a blade... The other wearing a hat, likely that of her opponent.
"I doubt you could ever understand my dream," the penguin was muttering, seemingly stumbling through the fog in some sort of daze. "The dream I had... The dream to work and live with penguins no matter what... Simply gaining a job at a zoo would not be enough," he spat, voice sounding hoarse and ragged as he coughed. "With the way they're treated there... Forget it! No... I had plans to create a sanctuary," he went on proudly, "A place where people could truly appreciate the beauty of the bird! But time passed... And instead," the man went on morosely, "I found myself under the employ of Gozaburo Kaiba, working in arms distribution..." Arms..?
"Eh... Doesn't KaibaCorp deal with game hardware," Ren asked with a frown, narrowing his eyes.
"It does now," Anzu responded, swallowing as Mokuba's story at Death T came to mind. "But before that... ... ...If you wanted to make a park so bad, why did you keep working there," she questioned, standing up somewhat to peer out of the cavern at her opponent's shadow. "Why not just change jobs?"
"Because I needed funding," the man growled. "Because to achieve my dream I would need help, funds, money that KaibaCorp could give! And when I heard that Seto Kaiba, who had planned a coup-detat in order to take the company under his own name, was planning on building a theme park," the penguin announced loudly, "I thought I had gotten my chance! So while the others I worked with became embittered, I took it! I worked hard, I did all that was needed, even after we were effectively demoted to a figure head status," he mourned, shadow continuing to stumble almost blindly. "But in the end... When I finally gained the courage to make the proposal, emphasizing how much children and their families would enjoy the park, I was turned away! 'If it's about black and white, and being 'cute'', I was told, 'Then why not pick a panda? They're far cuter than penguins!' So after all my work... After all that, I'd been refused... By that BITCH," he snarled, sounding almost garbled in his rage. "By that filthy, lying-"
"Ahhh... Did he just say 'Bitch'," Ren asked somewhat blankly, Anzu merely shrugging somewhat.
Probably not the time really... "I have to side with Kaiba on this actually," she admitted, shouting out toward her opponent with a shrug. "Pandas are cuter, and-" Wait wait wait, back up there... "...H... Hang on, KAIBA said this," she asked, eyes wide as she looked out toward the fogged field. "Since when did Kaiba-" The woman cut herself off as the fog began to clear, backing back up into the cavern with horrified eyes as the shadows in the fog were identified. The first figure was perfectly fine; a penguin with feathers similarly styled to its summoner, it wielded a sparking blade. With the feathers on its head however it seemed the penguin flew, the monster charging forward with a loud cry and cutting through the fire sorcerer cleanly... Her master doubling over in pain as it disappeared, muffling her shouts with her hand as she collapsed to her knees in the entrance of the cave. Even through this however she could see it... See the stumbling form of the penguin she'd struck down, the frayed moth-eaten clothes revealing a slowly rotting beast. One of Otaki's eyes were missing, hanging limply from the nerves in the socket... And his feet, though still able to hold him somehow, were naught but clattering bones and bits of muscle. For Otaki after all, this was his last chance she realized, the pain slowly escalating through her body. If he died, he would die, and permanently. Herself on the other hand...
"H-Hey... Anzu," Ren asked nervously, turning as the woman finally surrendered to the pain.
"Gnh... Nggh... GHAAAAHH!" The woman's staff clattered to the ground, arms around her middle as they began to grow stiff. "GHAAAAAAAAHHH! MNGGGgg... GaaaaAAAHH! AAAAAHHHHH!" Pain... Pain..! It hurt so much, but why did it have to hurt she cried, her screams making no sound in her mind. "AAAgghh... Gggh... MNNGG!" Anzu's hands, 'flippers' by this point, flew toward her mouth as a burst of pain shot through, no sound coming out other than grunts as she attempted to hold back a scream. Her teeth... Her teeth were fusing together, pushing forward... And the pain... The pain...
"Anzu," Ren warned, "ANZU! He's coming this way..!"
"Ghhh... Ghh...!" Hurt... It hurt...
"Anz... Damn it," her snarled, abandoning the woman's wrist with a hiss. The snake hurriedly coiled around its 'master's staff, aiming toward the entrance of the cavern as the 'Flying Penguin moved toward the path leading to it. "The things I'm doing for you... 'I set a monster face down,'" he announced, a shimmering bit of 'glass' appearing as 'Skelengel' vanished from the hand of cards in her mind. He couldn't cast any magic without power after all. But if he could at least do this... Ren turned back toward the woman, brushing against her now feathered face in apparent worry as weeping grunts of pain came in response. "Hey... Come on," he muttered, tears running from the woman's now brown eyes. "Get a hold of yourself... It might not be a dream, but it's not real," he shouted, his 'partner' staring back with weakened eyes. "It's only virtual, you just need to win this and get out of here alright..? Alright..?"
"Ghnn... Hnn... Gh..." Fingers... Her 'fingers' were still there she told herself as she moved, swallowing while she pulled herself to her feet. Fused into groups of three... And her feet were still normal too it seemed, even though feathers coated her body... So that was good. A crashing sound came from outside the cavern to pull her from her thoughts, the woman attempting to bite her lip only to find nothing there as her 'Skelengel' was summarily cut in two by her opponent's flying penguin. Beak... She had a beak... And as 'Skelengel's effect allowed her to draw another card she found herself wincing, watching as Otaki's 'flying penguin' came closer with his sword in hand. "My... It's my turn, isn't it," she rasped, the snake on the side nodding as the distance was slowly closed between the trio. Anzu slowly bent down, grabbing the staff from the ground with narrowed eyes as she swallowed. "In that case... I summon..." What could she do... "Summon..."
The card she'd drawn was 'Dark Pendant', an equip spell of 500 points. The monster she'd drawn after was 'Maha Vailo', a monster with 1550 attack points. And with those two cards an idea had formed, staff held forward with rasping breaths.
She was only half there really... 'I summon Maha Vailo in attack mode,' she'd announced, the monster coming to stand before them as a 'shield'. 'And equip her with the Dark Pendant... And,' she continued, not wanting to listen to any complaints her opponent might have, 'Using her effect, she gains another five hundred points due to the equipped item...' She remembered this monster she told herself, Maha Vailo rising from the ice before her to hold a hand of energy above the oncoming penguin. She remembered talking about it... In a dream...
An echoing blast filled the cavern, ice collapsing around them to lock them in as Maha Vailo did just as ordered. 'The Flying penguin is destroyed,' Ren was shouting eagerly, slithering up to his partner's side with a grin. 'We're almost there, we're-'
"...Tired," she rasped, standing on her toes. "I'm..."
"A-Anzu..!"
She couldn't move, she told herself, falling to her 'hands' and knees. She couldn't... She needed... "...Help..."
With each hall they passed, Yugi wondered what would happen next. By this point after all, they had long since passed the fourth door; they had come to the final riddle, the final Goddess, and with its completion, moved on. 'Embrace', as the answer was, from the Goddess 'Isis'. Something that 'could not be made alone,' and 'could not exist with anger.' Present in times of happiness and despair both, expected between friends, desired from the forgiven, absent to the detested...
It was in that hall that this riddle continued to come to mind, a woman's screams echoing around them as they ran. "That bastard 'Noa'," his other had hissed, the two forced to listen to their friend's agonized screams before they finally melted into pitiful pleas for aid. "Forcing us to listen to this..."
"We're almost there," he assured his partner, swallowing in unease. "We'll be able to help her soon enough, we just need to-" Yugi's word fell short as they left the fourth hall, the doorway becoming dormant behind him as he stared. "T... This..."
"We're back where we started," the other Yugi hissed, his partner looking around with wide eyes as the four doorways stared them down. "But how..!"
"Not good... Not good! We've tried all of the doors," Yugi continued with a swallow, panicking somewhat as screams continued to echo in the air. "How are we supposed to move on..." There had to be something else here... There had to be...
"We're forgetting what kind of game this is," his friend muttered darkly. "Noa's sent us into a maze of riddles, it's natural to find we wouldn't escape so easily..." Then...
"Then there's one more riddle," he concluded, frowning in confusion. "If we've tried all of these, there's one more that we can't find right? But if that's the case, there should be a fifth door shouldn't there?"
His other self seemed to nod, before speaking. "Right... Lets go over what we know," he decided. "Perhaps it will help... We passed through four doors, correct?"
"Right," he responded with a nod. "Each one had a different riddle. In addition, each one was represented by one of the four- Ah..." Yugi blinked, bringing a hand up somewhat. Of course... "That's right... In Chinese Mythology, there's a fifth beast..!"
"A fifth? ...Ah, I see," the spirit responded, momentarily gleaning his partner's memories for the answer himself, "The 'Yellow Dragon', the 'center'!"
"The perfect balance between the four others," Yugi continued, looking toward each of the doors with wide eyes. "Which means that to move on, we can't just fight one door at a time..."
"We need to fight all of them..!"
"Right..! Goddess-san," he shouted, seemingly receiving no answer from either of the four. "I'm challenging the four doors all at once; I'm challenging you against the riddle of the 'Fifth Door'!"
For a moment, there was again no answer. Just complete silence, with Yugi feeling somewhat embarrassed about the lack of results. With a sudden rumble however the four doors collapsed, an enormous arch rising from the ground. Carvings covered the arch completely, and carved in position about the sides were the four Goddesses he had seen. Beneath their feet were four more statues as well, a scorpion, a lion, an eagle, and a woman... At the top however, with wings wide and spread stood a great and imposing chimera, long hair trailing down her back and over her shoulders to form a bare minimum of covering over exposed breasts. "I am surprised," the sphinx stated with a regal smile, sitting on the haunches of her lion's body. "I did not expect you to come to this conclusion so quick... I suppose that as one who solved the riddle of the 'puzzle' it is only expected," she admitted, before gesturing to the door. "You wish to move on," she asked, Yugi nodding seriously. "Then you must answer this riddle," she continued, "Using the knowledge gained from my four children. Hear me well," the sphinx shouted. "'Separate we mean nothing, together we mean everything, alone there's too many, doubled, too varied, name us as one, or be lost.' Answer wisely," the sphinx warned, crossing her arms. "I await your response..."
Separate and together... Yugi nodded yet again, bowing his head in thought. "Alright... She says to use what we learned from the others," he muttered, closing his eyes.
"Right; the answers to the other riddles. 'Hito', 'Mo', 'Da-ku', and 'Ki'," the other half repeated, also closing his eyes in thought. "Though Hito has many variant readings, as does 'da-ku'..."
"And 'Ki' is known around the world as 'Chi', the Chinese term," Yugi added, narrowing his eyes. "Hnn... The first to lines make me want to think 'friend' is the answer, but-"
"Ah- I think it is friends," the other Yugi abruptly shouted, his partner blinking in response. "Think; 'Hito' can read 'To'... Following this we have 'Mo', from mourning..."
"Tomo... Then, taking the 'ku' off of 'daku', we would have 'Tomoda'... And if we used 'chi' instead of 'ki'..." A grin slowly came over his face, the boy turning upward with a grin. So then it was the answer..! "Sphinx-san... We have the answer," he announced, the beast looking down with a slight smirk. "'TOMODACHI'... Friends!"
A wide grin abruptly appeared on the woman's face, and from the stone arch came a pair of doors. The gates swung inward with a resounding clatter, and before them came wind and snow that blew past with all the ferocity of a northern wind. "You have answered correctly," the Sphinx announced, arms spread outward as she began to fade from existence. "Now... Move on, but be warned! The mind of Anzu Mazaki is home to more than one being at this time," the monster announced. More than one being..?
But that would mean... "...Oh no... Malik might still be controlling her," his partner realized with a jolt, the pair growing pale. Malik... They didn't have time then he told himself, bolting through the door with a swallow.
No time at all..! "Oh no... ANZU," he shouted, running into the frozen wasteland with wide eyes. Where... Where was she in here? "ANZU, WHERE ARE YOU!"
"This place... It's huge," his other whispered, Yugi looking around as the door vanished, leaving still more of the icy and watery plain. "How are we supposed to-"
"There," Yugi shouted, cutting the spirit off as he came to a wall of ice, a figure visible in the distance. "Past this wall... That's her isn't it?" It certainly looked like her at least; they couldn't tell beyond the robes and hair though, and it seemed that at the moment she was barely recovering from some form of attack, clutching her middle in pain. "ANZU," he shouted, slamming a fist on the wall. "ANZU!"
No answer... The wall was too thick. Yugi pulled out his boomerang, raising it in front of him to hack at the ice with grit teeth. Come on... Come on..!
"ANZU," he shouted again, tiny scratches appearing with each strike. "ANZU, I'M HERE!" And then, as a small crack finally appeared and spiderwebbed through the wall, he saw the woman turn slightly...
And suddenly, the gravity of whatever was beyond the ice became all the more frightening. "Oh no..."
"Anzu..."
What happened..?
She thought... She thought she'd heard someone for a moment she told herself, 'hands' gripping at the ice and staff at her side. She couldn't well say she had hands any more of course... Quite honestly she was surprised she could hold the staff, and in all honesty she wasn't sure how she was even moving, when all she felt like doing was collapsing on the spot. Maha Vailo stood in the cavern with her at the moment, pendant hanging around her neck. She felt exhausted though... So how was she...
Wait... Where was... "Eaaaasy there Anzu," she heard Ren mutter, her feet moving on their own accord toward the same steep tunnel she'd initially taken into the cave. "I got you... Come on," he continued to whisper, "We're just going to get out of this cave before he gets back now... Hey Vailo," the snake added, pointing to the side by means of Anzu's own hand. "Blast a hole over there will you?"
As the magician gave a nod to do just that the woman groaned, beak clacking as she attempted to grit what wasn't there. "What... What's going on," she muttered weakly, stumbling forward. "I can't move my..."
"Ghn... Don't bother... I'm reversing the connection," Ren told her, the body moving somewhat jerkily toward the hole in the ice above. "You're still you," he continued, "But I'm moving your limbs for you until you can focus again. That last attack really did a number on you..." Focu-
"W- You're controlling my body," she yelled, looking down only to pale. The robes fit oddly over her form now... In addition to that the feathers added considerable bulk, leaving her to swallow in unease as she looked back up toward the exit. That... That was right, she was getting pretty far gone wasn't she...
The snake looked up from where he was moving her arm, frowning. "Hn! It's either that or wait for an ambush," he muttered in excuse. "I know I don't plan on dying!"
"And what happened to 'you're not tied to me'," she 'asked' raising her thankfully present eyebrows as the snake stared.
Ren fell silent, looking forward before again doing his odd 'shrug' impression. "Eh... Decided it worked differently. Now... You feeling a little more like yourself," he asked, looking back at the woman as she nodded.
"Besides 'this'," she muttered, gripping her staff oddly as she grabbed the edge of the tunnel exit. "Yea... I'm ready..." She didn't know how much more she could take... But she was ready.
"Good- you're in your control again then," the snake announced, eyes dimming somewhat as he appeared to collapse over her arm. "And for now... Lets see what our fat penguin friend looks like," he said with a grin, his 'partner' nodding as she climbed over the edge. While she wasn't as particularly eager as Ren was, she could probably do with seeing the results of her last attack.
Alright... The woman looked over the cliff, leaning on her staff with narrowed eyes. Snow... Snow... "Hffff!" There he was. Down below them on the cliff stood what remained of Otaki's body, bits of muscle flaking off the rotted half of his face as he stood. Anzu tensed and drew back as the view of the penguin became more evident, audibly gulping as Ren merely stared in amusement.
"You..." His voice seemed even more haggard now as he looked up to the woman, single eye narrowing in rage. "It looks like I underestimated you," he spat, Anzu swallowing nervously as Maha Vailo joined her at the cliff's edge. "But you'll regret that," the penguin continued, odd gargling growls coming from his throat as a shadow appeared under the water. "You'll regret it... I summon the Bolt Penguin in defense mode," he announced with a haggard cough, a shimmering plate of glass appearing to the side as the arm-less, whip-wielding bird arose from the seas, "And before I end my turn, I set a card face down!" Hnnn...
Well... "It doesn't seem like too much of a problem," she muttered, nonetheless taking a defensive stance with her staff. That didn't seem like a problem at all actually... "Hnn... Maha Vailo," Anzu ordered, the mage nodding curtly as her summoner pointed. "Attack the Bolt Penguin!"
With incredible speed the sorceress moved, skidding down the side of the cliff before hopping off the edge toward her opponent. Thunder developed at her finger tips... The magician was flanked by whirling winds and snow both, and with a single strike she ended the penguin's life by means of a solid knife-hand strike. However, as the bird began to disappear a series of red chords wrapped around Maha Vailo's body, the woman struggling as her master stared.
"A-Ah..! W-What," she exclaimed, before abruptly covering her 'mouth' as a squawk escaped instead of the expected shouting sound. "What..!"
"Hehehehehe... I don't believe it," Otaki cackled, bits of skin dangling from his flippers as he 'danced', "To think my chance came so soon! The spell you triggered was 'Revenge Sacrifice," he explained eagerly, Maha Vailo screaming before she was pulled beneath the seas. "Not only do I destroy the monster who attacked me, I can replace my lost monster... Think you can take this guy on," he roared, the ice rising from below him as low rumbling came through the air. "Say hello to my friend... THE DEFENDER ICEBERG!"
Defender... "Ohhhh shit," Ren hissed, drawing back as Anzu did the same. The enormous golem stood before them with no visible emotion, merely blotting out the sun with its immense being. It was huge... And it had no attack as her 'menu' told her, but in its place was a sturdy shield that would remain in place for as long as the ice could hold. "Defense mode... We can't take that thing out like this..!"
With a rumbling roar the iceberg's fist came forward, crashing into and destroying the cliff as Anzu and Ren both leaped to the side. "Gh! This... How are we supposed to beat this," she shouted with a swallow, turning as Otaki continued to cackle. "How..." It hadn't even officially attacked, and so long as she was the 'only thing there', it didn't have to!
"Hehehehehe... Isn't it obvious," the penguin laughed from across her, both now at approximately sea level once again. "You aren't! And now, for my turn," he roared, a shadow appearing beneath the waters at his side, "I summon the Penguin Torpedo- and while not the most powerful monster," Otaki explained, "This monster can attack you directly..! SO! Get used to that 'body', Mazaki Anzu," he cackled with a sneer, "Because soon enough, I'll be in possession of yours!"
"Hah... Hahh..! I-!" Before she could even speak in protest the attack was launched, the penguin faced torpedo launching from the seas to face her from above. Three... Two... In an instant the attack connected, explosive force blowing her back and far down into the icy ground. "GH! AGHhh..! Hgn..." Ow... Ow... Burns covered her skin, and slowly the woman attempted to climb out of the crater created, silently pondering how she was still alive. "Ow... Ahhh..." Pain... A steady pulsing pain was coming over her as she reached the edge, but as she did so... "AHHHH... HRAAAAAAAAAAHH!" Oh god... That attack... That attack had..!
Cracks were coming through the air as she screamed... She could feel her insides twisting on themselves, her bones shifting and morphing... What little she had to call hands extended into the flipper a penguin had, and her legs were shortening... "Anzu," Ren called out, tears falling from the woman's eyes until the change prevented even that. "Come on Anzu, hang in there! We're missing our turn," he shouted, the woman before him not caring. Pain... PAIN!
"Correction," Otaki shouted over the cries, mad cackling filling the air. "You HAVE missed your turn! And now that it's mine again," he announced with a grin, "I'm going to play the card Ocean of Regeneration to bring back that same torpedo! Say good bye to the life you once knew," he shouted, Anzu slowly turning to look up with still tear filled eyes as the torpedo approached from the air. "Like a fading candlelight, it's about to disappear! NOW... ATTACK," he roared, Anzu closing her eyes with a wince. This... This was it... Even if she had life points left, she wouldn't be able to withstand...
-BROUUUMMM-
Wha...
The woman slowly opened her eyes, breathing raggedly as she looked up. Above her... Her staff was pointed toward the air, as though standing on its own... Wrapped around it she could see the snake, hood flared to reveal quite clearly the 'vulture' portion of the hieroglyphs on his back. "R... Re... N... Ren... n..." What happened... He'd... He'd saved...
"Gh... Look," he said almost angrily, wrapped around the woman's staff. "I might have kept that last one from hitting," he snarled as he turned on the woman, "But that doesn't mean we're in the clear... I know you're in pain... And I know you're suffering..! But you need pull yourself together," the serpent continued in rage. "There's only one card that can get us out of this mess... We need to be able to attack twice, got it? That sage's stone... It might not be able to call up the real-deal Magician," he pressed, "But it'll have enough juice to get us going again... But we need to draw that card," Ren hissed, dropping the staff and slithering toward the woman. "We HAVE to!"
Anzu coughed weakly, resembling more of a giant, slimmed penguin than a human by this point as she rolled over. "But how," she croaked, wheezing as she began to stand on what were now webbed feet. "How can that card..." She cut herself off, shaking her head and looking toward the snake sadly. "What if it's not even the next card, then what will we..."
Ren appeared to stare, eyes unblinking as he slithered up to Anzu's arm. "There's always a 'way' with you people," he said somewhat plainly, closing his eyes with a nod. "And in this case... There's an ability that you have, one that we haven't used yet. The Deckmaster ability," he pressed, his 'partner' frowning somewhat as she thought about that. "And beyond that, your own!"
The deckmaster ability... She had one..? 'That's right,' a voice seemed to call in her mind. 'You do... It's...'
"Ah..." Anzu blinked, slowly nodding as she turned toward her opponent with narrowed eyes. That was right... The second reason she'd picked this monster, the ability it had... "Otaki... I'm going to end it all this turn," she shouted, her opponent in question raising his 'eyebrows' as she stepped forward from the crater. "I'm using my ability... BOTH of my abilities" she roared, holding her 'flippers' in the air with the staff she could somehow still hold. "FIRST! By removing from play each monster in the graveyard... By borrowing their power," the woman shouted, "I'll draw four more cards!" Yet as that happened, each one flying to the screen in her mind, something else also occurred. The energy that appeared to fill the air for each card glowed, wrapping around her in a smoking embrace... And with it, the pain in her body was relieved, lifted like a curtain as the damage was undone. Feathers were vanishing... Her lips were lips again, her teeth normal teeth... Fingers... Toes...
"H-Hey," Ren muttered in surprise, Anzu momentarily ignoring the change back as she stared her opponent down. "I didn't know they could do that..."
For now there was something more important. The cards in her hand... And among them... Anzu shifted through the new cards in her mind, before grinning. It was there... YES! It was there! A somewhat dark smirk came on her face, the woman looking forward as Otaki shuddered under the image of the restored opponent. "You... You can't... That's not possible," he cried, only to be over powered by the sound of his opponent's voice
"Cast the spell 'SAGE'S STONE'," she roared, thunder striking the ground as clouds filled the sky. And as to the result... A seal appeared beneath her feet, wind seeming to blow from beneath her. The storm clouds above darkened with rage, and winds howled despite no rain falling. Rather than summon a monster to her side however a stone appeared before her, a stone that fell into her now outstretched hand before melting into the skin. Power... An intense power beyond anything she'd ever felt rushed through her body as she took a sudden inhalation, eyes widening before she turned on Otaki. The spell had worked... Though not truly the 'Dark Magician' it had worked, and now it was time for the final move.
"Dark Magician attacks," she said almost monotonously, holding the hand forward with narrowed eyes as shadowed flames sprouted around the hand. "BLACK MAGIC!"
Thunder continued to echo about the air, Otaki shaking his head rapidly as the black flames burned forward to encompass his shield. "NO," he screamed, backing away with a wide eye as the monster groaned in defeat. "NO, that's not possible! You never even put that card in your deck," he wailed, ice collapsing into the seas with an immense splash. "How..!"
How... "...Hn... Because as childish as it sounds," she said calmly, the power in her hand dissipating as she took the second part of her 'turn', "The 'power of friendship' always has a way of coming through... And now," the woman continued, eyes widening further with rage, "My second ability... With the sacrifice of a few lifepoints, I can restore my magic power... And by doing that," she went on with a roar, "I can get more than enough power to attack!"
"In fact," Ren's voice added, increasing in strength and volume as the snake grew and coiled about her, his form growing intensely in size, "How about we demonstrate the power of the attack your final strike allowed us to learn?" Fire... Fire was all around her... The enormous cobra coiled and rose above the air, mouth wide and spitting venomous sparks as still violet eyes turned downward. An eye blazed on both of their brows as the flames continued to roar, and it was under that same eye that Otaki shrank away from in fear. "ANZU," Ren roared, sounding all too eager to strike the old corpse down, "ARE YOU READY?"
"Always! INFERNEO," they roared simultaneously, the snake striking forward with a roar of flames as Otaki screamed. Smoke and steam both filled the air beneath the cobra's attack... Otaki's screams, though pained and agonizing in tone lasted only a moment however, and as his shadow vanished so did parts of the scenery. The waters of the sea receded, falling back until they were left with the vast and deep canyons from before. The ice and snow melted and washed away with it, and the clouds above parted in response. Snowstorms and hail cleared in lieu of a beating sun, and as she took her last breath, the colours fading from her outfit to return to the former black and gold she thought she heard a voice... 'Anzu,' he was calling. 'ANZU!' That voice...
She'd recognize it anywhere, she thought in relief.
Ahhh...
He'd come for her...
AN: Holy super-chapters Usagi! Or rather, double posts. See, normally when I start editing, there's about half this number of words. But sometimes, I start editing when there's '12,000' words... And when I started on this one, it was only a few pages over that number. So in the end, I decided 'why not make it a super chapter?'
After all; it's only a page longer than the last super chapter we had! As to why it ended up so long in the first place, well...
As I realized moments before, Yugi was literally right at his duel site, so while everyone else had to do stuff, he didn't. D'OH.
And as for the conclusion, don't worry, you'll get it. It'll tie in rather nicely to the next chapter too, especially since it's Jonouchi!
Also coming up next chapter are a number of memory scenes with Seto... Why is this? Because Jonouchi's duel doesn't happen next chapter.
It happens in the one following that.
In any case, there's a fair bit of art below relating to this chapter (including Penguin!Anzu), along with points that should clear up any confusion... However, as I'm about to leave for a trip (in like... ten minutes), they aren't coloured yet. You'll get those next chapter.
Also, if enough reviewers figure out who that snake is quick enough, I'll refer to it by its real name down here. Because if you haven't guessed, it's not Ren. Far from it in fact.
COMPLETELY DIFFERENT NOTE: Anime North, happens in late May... I'm going. I WILL NOT be in Yugioh Cosplay though. As it is, only sunday's has been decided on. Namely Virgo from Fairy Tale, hehehehe.
Anonymous Review Responses
Yeeep. I was this close to cutting that Iona! This close. In the end, I decided that as bizarre and random as it was, it was still worth it.
OHHHH you haven't seen anything yet! Noa's quite a lot crueler; partially due to something we'll cover in the next chapter (De-sensitization YAAAAAAY), and partially due to overall rage; because lets face it, a girl replaced him. Also other reasons that are spoilers. So yes, patience is golden~
There will indeed be a lot of psychological screwing around though, which Noa considers, at least until he gets directly into things, 'fair'; he doesn't talk to anyone other than Kaiba until after their matches after all… Because he's not trying to screw up their games; he's trying to do something completely different.
Oh! Not a problem with the explanations there; as for the personalities and movements of monsters you're quite right; the Big 5 gave characterization to those monsters, so that they could actually sell the game after getting rid of Kaiba. In Noa's world however, as there's minimal interaction, he hasn't bothered.
Though Kisara and Seraph's bland-ness is just due to being programs. So no spoilers with that question.
In any case, enjoy the penguin-ness above, and I'll see you soon!
Oh god RandomProjects, don't even get me started on how much he's enjoying the mind games… As for breaking the defences, yes and no. As you can see above, it wasn't so much breaking as 'easing their way through'. Specifically, it represents Anzu's semi-open-ness around her friends.
While Noa will definitely be using lots of these tactics later on, he won't technically be relying on them. That would imply using the skills for the sake of winning a fight. He's using them for something much bigger, and much creepier, trust me on that.
But yes… This is one of the darker scenes they'll have to watch, but there are actually worse ones to come; one that they'll both share, and one that Kaiba herself will witness alone.
And oooohhh Siegfried… They barely knew each other in the anime, but I extended (heavily) on it in the fanfic. As to the specifics of their relationship, I can't say… But you're right in guessing that something very, VERY bad happened, and there's a damn good reason Seto's having trouble remembering what that 'something' was.
As for Malik… … … I'll let you take a wild guess at what happened. As for Shizuka/Honda/Otogi, their match is after Jonouchi's, so you'll have to wait two chapters before we hear from them. Patience is a good plan for that I would find.
Oh! Their mom just had prematurely white hair. I know my friend's mother went grey and white when she was 15 actually; it's somewhat common. She's not a reincarnation though; it's just a fluke. (In fact, she looks nothing like Kisara other than the hair…) And… Ohh! I didn't know the kanji for 'blue' was 'pale' as well! That's cool..!
Oh! And not a problem. It's technically still mandatory with the cards, but here's how; basically, they have to set up a deck and deckmaster. After that however, it's all up to the player. And you're quite correct in how suicidal the challenge is when it comes to those three; but the match-ups were actually quite random for all but Jonouchi and Anzu- Otaki specifically searched Anzu out (-shuddershuddershudder-), and for some reason, I get the feeling that Oka sought Jou out as well…
As for Yugi, his match was random, and Kaiba just managed to have the 'luck' of passing through Daimon's area.
…Yea. Yea the big five are pretty arrogant… Tends to happen I find.
Anyways, that's all for now… Hope you enjoyed the chapter, and I'll see you later!
Usagi's Manga & Japan Guide/Corner
The section that hopes Ren can wipe minds; it would probably help Anzu out.
Today's chapter is just focusing on the fact that poor Anzu was strung along on the belief this was all a dream... Well, Ren strung her along at least. Mostly because he figured it'd get them out faster. WHOOPS.
By the way if you haven't guessed, the chloroform kinda put Anzu through a bit of a loop; she's got retrograde amnesia. The real
kind.
The kind that pretty much cleans your head out from around and just before the time of the accident and keeps you from making new memories for a short while after that fact. These sorts of issues are the result of either head trauma (K-BONK!) or drugs.
Like Chloroform.
Don't worry though, she's perfectly fine now, and able to remember things again; just that Malik's constant control has been locking her out. A lot.
So she's a little confused, and just a little upset.
In the Japanese, 'Hitotsume Giant' is the Cyclops. Because 'Hitotsume' means one eye. Get it? Get it? YEAAAAAAAA.
You'll notice that this snake doesn't speak with a snake-y lisp. This is partially because he's speaking Japanese... And really, I don't know what words would deserve emphasis as a result. Besides, if anything, a snake would constantly go 'tttthhhhh', since their tongue is going in and-
I'll shut up now.
The four sacred beasts, as the fanfic stated, represent the four directions, seasons, and elements. However, as you see later on, there was a fifth; the 'Yellow Dragon', the 'Center', and the 'Balance' of all these four.
Of course, the animals showing up above these doors have nothing to do with the sacred beasts, and are instead related to something else... Specifically, they're representations of the goddesses who protect the four sons of Horus in Egyptian myth. The four sons are the guardians of the organs held within canopic jars; the goddesses protecting these sons are Neith, Nephthys, Isis, and Selket.
Above, Selket was of course represented by a scorpion, and the 'odd one out' when it came to making the fifth door's chimera. Neith on the other hand, though ordinarily human, was occasionally represented with the head of a lion, and therefore took the lion part.
Next we have Isis, who, as someone who is depicted with wings a fair amount of the time, who got the 'bird' part, and finally Nephthys, who represents the human portion.
And then there's that Sphinx, which merged all four of them. Yaaaaay.
Just a dream? Just a dream? Poor Anzu is about to get her bubble burst OH so painfully… In any case, with that in mind, what were originally lines of 'they're in trouble too, I can't complain!' became 'Just a dream… I'll just push forward!'
Ooooh boy… Of course, it takes quite a while for Anzu to realize it isn't a dream due to all of the outlandish parts of what's going on. Seriously. Talking snakes, perverted penguins, and magic staves? It's hard to believe it's 'real', or at least not some figment of the imagination.
As you can see, I really changed the 'four door' issue. Originally, they kept picking the 'one star' door out of the 'one' 'two' 'three' 'four' star ones… So of course, they didn't get anywhere.
Eventually, they realized 'OH! Go 'one-two-three-four'. WHOOPS.'
And yes, I just replaced a penguin with a talking snake. Go me! Speaking of penguins, they're all the same species (Besides Otaki), the ones we see there I mean. Specifically, they're all banded penguins; there are four subspecies of this penguin, and it seems we have all of those there.
Yugi! You're WRONG again!
Though a common misconception, not all rivers are freshwater; it's rare, but there are in fact a few that form brackish water, as a result of entering the ocean. Brackish water of course, is water with less salinity (saltiness) than sea water, but more than freshwater.
As you can see, I merged the dream/flashback sequences involving Dark Magician Girl and Maha Vailo. Mostly because the fight leaves little time for that sort of thing.
The scenes involving how Anzu got to Otaki's… Castle… Are obviously highly altered. In addition, the 'interview' scene is changed somewhat, making it a little more straight forward. Not to mention shorter; Anzu's chapter is a super chapter after all, and I didn't want to go and make it 'two chapters' instead!
Though 'Ren' is right to believe some snakes hibernate, the Egyptian Cobra is not one of them. In fact, the only hibernating snakes are rattlesnakes last I checked, and only a few at that.
However, they do participate in something called brumation, which shouldn't be confused with hibernation. See, the difference is that while in hibernation the animal sleeps, brumation, triggered by cold weather, lack of heat, and a decrease in daylight, is simply the slowed metabolic rate and activity of a reptile to lessen the need for food(they still need water). Some reptiles can go months like this in fact!
Anzu just got ripped off! 'Ren' is Egyptian for 'Name'. Hey, she asked for a name after all…
By the way, this really was all about job interviews for that play in the anime. Or at least the Japanese. Can't speak for the dub.
Oh, um… Anzu's got a dying dad now? Who's a pilot... I guess? (This is probably worse than me giving Haga three sisters!)
Truth be told, we never really see Anzu's family (though I think we hear her mom at one point...) All we find out, from the anime at that, is that they move a lot, which means she's had troubles with getting friends in school. However, given that she's still in the same highschool she started out at, I'd say they figured that one out… And it makes sense. First off, if Anzu's grades are so incredible, it wouldn't make sense for her to be in the 'lower rung' school of Domino. Second, while she could transfer now, I'm pretty sure that moving around a lot doesn't really make it easier on the entrance exams… Though I could be wrong.
Either way, it could very well just be a parental intervention saying 'Damn it, she has friends, leave her be!'.
And as a matter of fact yes, this will have some bearing on the story, particularly in regards to Anzu's little mental stowaway… Who is currently stuck finding these sorts of things in her head when he least expects it.
You'll notice there's no mention of Otaki's deckmaster ability in the entire chapter, save a question of what it is. This is because more attention was brought to the deckmasters in terms of battle, rather than the lifepoints aspect. So really, a 'power up' isn't going to need as much a description; Anzu just needs to know that it's 'going to hurt' really.
PENGUINS! Turning into ice, while bad for a fight, is also bad for the entertainment level of said fight.
So I decided to be a prick instead. Yayyyyy~ As to how she's normal at the end, that's easy; all the energy from the other monsters cancelled it out. (The power of... Friendship?)
For some reason, the card Cyclone was re-named 'Mystical Space Typhoon' in English. WUT.
Lots of minute move changes; mostly for legality's sake in terms of gameplay. For example, Otaki's 'Drving Snow' can't be played at any time other than the beginning of a turn. Magic Formula, the card Anzu equipped to Maha Vailo in the anime, can only be equipped to Dark Magician Girl or the Dark Magician. Hence the use of a different card. (Namely Dark Pendant, which inflicts 500 points of damage to the opponent on its destruction, but really, that doesn't change the final move.)
I just realized it, but snakes with glowing eyes controlling bodies as they shoot things from their hands sounds an awful lot like Stargate. Or at least like Goa'uld
.
You're going to picture Anzu with a super deep voice now. And it's all my fault. AHAHAHA!
ROTTING PENGUINS! Actually gives me a bit of an excuse for Otaki's useless (but admittedly depressing in the original) exposition... Because do you think his brain is immune to rot? Nooooo. No it isn't.
Also; no one. Can resist the power of a panda.
Not even Kaiba. Of course, the chances of seeing the reaction to the panda are slim to none, and she's not exactly the 'squee' type… (She'd probably just smile slightly.)
RIDDLES. I'm very sorry… I'm bad at making them.
For those who missed it; Ki, which was defined above, is more commonly known as Chi or Qi in China and pretty much the rest of the non-asian world when referring to the term. 'Da-ku' on the other hand, which means 'Embrace', is the verb form, which means the 'ku' can come off.
Following this is 'Mo', which means 'Mourning,' and of course, 'Hito', which can occasionally be read as 'To'.
And on another 'riddler' related note, each of the answers ties into the 'goddess' watching the door. Nephthys for one is the Goddess of Night and Lamentation, hence 'Mourning. Isis, considered the Goddess of Motherhood, magic, and fertility, guarded the answer 'embrace'.
Neith on the other hand, being a creation Goddess, received 'human'... And finally Selket, who governs poisons and healing, received 'chi', due to its life supporting beliefs.
As usual of course, a lot of dialogue has been cut and replaced. Again, its because of the action involved, but I actually kind of regret it; there was a lot of perverted leering from Otaki and a lot of shuddering and disgust from Anzu in the original, emotions that I didn't get to really touch on here. Oh well...
Oh, and since it's not listed above, Iceberg has no attack points and 2450 defense points. Barely in the Dark Magician's range in other words. (Of course, the Dark Magician came from Yugi's deck, but we're touching that next chapter!
And for those curious, Anzu was turning into a King Penguin. You can see how far she got below.
FanArt and My Art Section
Have fun pasting links and removing spaces!
As per the 'standard' for this arc, we not only have references for this chapter, but also what Honda's body gets to look like when Otaki possesses it.
In contrast to Otaki himself, I have to say, Honda actually looks quite dapper. I'm very glad I'm taking advantage of this rare moment to draw Honda looking cool... You'll see all this in colour next chapter by the way.
Spoiler!Reference: PossessedHonda-Nightmare Penguin & SPOILERConcept: Gym Uniforms and Killer Puppies - http : / / i5. photobucket. com/ albums/ y153/ natasha_unos_1/ YGO% 20Fanfic% 20-% 20Skin/ PenguinHondanConcept. jpg - Clearly I've been watching too much Inception, but seriously! WAISTCOAT. And on the other hand, not only do we have a chibi Seto being adorable (And OOC-ish), we also have a... Thing... Which should make its appearance sooner or later.
Reference: Penguin!Anzu & Deckmaster (Dark Magician Girl) Anzu - http : / / i5. photobucket. com/ albums/ y153/ natasha_unos_1/ YGO% 20Fanfic% 20-% 20Skin/ AnzuDeckmasternPenguin. jpg - If you thought I'd been doing silly things last chapter, with Kuriboh!Yami, you have much to learn. I have a nasty habit of pulling things like that, and while I normally held back (To the point where I was actually re-writing Anzu's penguin scenes into complete numb and useless limbs to mimic the ice coating), I couldn't do it with this one. For some reason, I just... Liked the penguin idea more. Also, a standard deckmaster reference is there for you.
INFERNEO - http : / / i5. photobucket. com/ albums/ y153/ natasha_unos_1/ YGO% 20Fanfic% 20-% 20Skin/ AnzuFireStorm. jpg - GIANT FLAMING SNAKES! Also Anzu being fairly awesome. Quite the change from the anime eh..?
DoodleSheet: Yug's Heads, & Concept - http : / / i5. photobucket. com/ albums/ y153/ natasha_unos_1/ YGO% 20Fanfic% 20-% 20Skin/ DoodleHeads. jpg - On the right hand, me comparing all the weapons everyone got (Shizuka gets spears later on)... (Blade, blade, blade STICK)... And on the left, me FINALLY getting a decent habit with drawing Yugi's hair. The note you see there is just me rambling about how I realized it didn't start off looking like a 'star'. It just went up.