Valkyria
The place that he stood in was not the Virtual World, or at least not the one he knew. Nor was it the real world, or even the world of his 'dreams', the blinding and merging white of the scenery creating the illusion that there wasn't a floor, were no walls... Nothing. Not like the space of his dreams, where there truly wasn't anything. The fact was, he wasn't even sure where he was...
All he knew was that he was there, and somehow still alive after Noa had pulled him from his body. ...(Wait, was that what he did? And how did he know-) "Gh..." A rush of pain ran through him at that moment, the blond grimacing as he stared at the blinding white around him. "Ahggg... My head," he hissed, slowly sitting up to hold it in his hands. "Ahgggg..."
"You've awakened," a familiar voice muttered, the blond jumping as 'Kisara' and 'Seraph' both walked over. Their clothing had reverted to the white 'suits' and uniforms they'd held before hand, and as wings shifted just slightly the pair looked down with arms crossed behind their backs. The programs... The things Noa had made, the-
"Ah- Y-You two..!" The pair merely stared as the teen attempted to regather his thoughts, both blinking at the same moment in an almost eerie manner before speaking.
"It was a close call," Seraph said plainly, dull grey eyes seeming almost dead in appearance as he looked to the blond.
"Very close," Kisara continued, nodding her head. Katsuya continued to rub his brow, frowning somewhat as he looked over. "We almost didn't make it."
"That's because you're 'weak'," her brother responded in monotone, not even looking to the girl as he spoke. "An 'Anag'." Ana- Hang on, he'd heard that phrase before...
And as Kisara responded to her 'brother', he could remember her saying this as well. "I told you not to call me weak," the girl pressed, about as much emotion as a spoon seeping into her voice. "So stop." ...Had he heard this before though..?
"I could," Seraph answered, "But it would not change the fact that you're weak." Yes.
"I am not weak." Yes he had.
"Yes you are- your name means 'weak'." And it was about time to stop.
"No," the girl said blandly, "My name means-" As in now.
"Alrigh' alrigh' alrigh'," Katsuya shouted quickly holding his hands out as he shook himself and walked over to the pair. "I got it..." The blond separated the two somewhat, before stepping back to stare. "Sheesh... You two are... Really creep when it comes t' arguin," he coughed, shaking his head.
"They can't help it," a young woman seemed to whisper, the blond in the white and empty room turning with narrowed eyes as it echoed around him. Where... Where had that voice come from he wondered, turning again as he continued on. "They only know your memories and their programming," she was saying, the sound seeming to reverberate around him completely. "They know nothing else; they are not the 'real' children you know."
But he didn't know them he wanted to say, Katsuya frowning as a breeze passed by. Not completely, not...
Somehow, for some reason, he was correcting himself with that, and agreeing with this 'woman'. "...Who are you," he said after a moment, swallowing somewhat nervously as his mind filled with thoughts and facts that he had never known before. "An' where is this place!"
"...I am a ghost," the voice answered, Kisara and Seraph both saying the same thing as a figure appeared from their shadows. There was no answer to the location, not further response from the two children and as the dust began to form a human of sorts the children took a somehow more lifeless form. "A fragment of memory sealed in time... I could not speak," she continued, almost weeping in tone as her 'guest' frowned, "And I could not do more than watch dully as all that you see occurred... And for that," the woman whispered, shaking her still forming head, "You must forgive me." Forgive...
"But who are y'," he pressed, watching as the dust hovered in the air. "Why would I have t' forgive you?"
The children's shadows and wings seemed to fragment in response to this question, their monster-like limbs scattering into a mist between the two to coat the dust 'woman' before him. A gown was the first to appear, floor length and as white as all that was around them, blending in perfectly. Then shoulders, and arms, pale skinned where he could discern it from the rest of the room... And finally there was a mask, hiding behind it a head with hair that fell almost to the same length of the dress. Hair that was identical to Noa's in colour. Hair that was styled like he had in his 'female' form... "...I am a ghost," the woman repeated, bowing her head to the teen before her. "I am someone who once knew the boy you hunt... But you cannot save yourselves the way you chase him now," she pressed, again shaking her head as Katsuya stared. "To do so is suicide."
This mask... The woman stared forward with a mask that covered her face completely, white porcelain barely standing out amid the scenery. Gold lined the rims of the details, such as hair and eyelashes. It lined the wings that spread high from behind the brow, accenting the gold that adorned the woman's bracelets. Dis, a voice told him, Katsuya narrowing his eyes somewhat. Seer. Valkyrie. But how did he know that... ...Was it her? "...You..." The blond swallowed, silence causing the sound to echo around the room at ten times the usual volume. No, his mind told him. It wasn't her. It was something else... "...Why would it be 'suicide'," he asked, deciding not to continue with the conversational circles as he stepped forward. "An' how do y' know this?"
The ghost seemed to simply stare with those words, a wind blowing the gown about her feet before she spoke. Of course, staring was all she could do he supposed, with a mask like that. "'Noa' is 'God' in this world," the woman stated plainly, hair continuing to blow slowly in some unseen wind. "He sees all, and hears all. Under his eye," she explained, "I have not been able to speak or move." No... It wasn't 'not', his mind told him. It was 'too scared to'. But why... And... "...Until now." Why now..? "Noa placed some of himself in the two you see here," she told him, gesturing to the now 'dead' puppets at the side. "A small part, just enough to connect them to himself," the woman said calmly. "It is enough to give them an individual mind," the spirit continued. "Something that allowed my consciousness to hide within them. This is not the first time we have spoken," she added, a flash appearing in the back of Katsuya's mind. Not...
No. No it wasn't. 'Reset,' he'd said, Katsuya's eyes glancing over Seraph before moving back to the woman with a frown. He said... "...'Don' Save th' Game,' he repeated, the cloak around him shifting somewhat as he stepped forward. "R'set."
"Correct." Of course it was his mind told him. (As to why his mind was acting oddly smug he wasn't too sure.) "Noa is beyond my reach," the woman mourned, emotions far betraying the blank mask she wore. "For that reason there is something I need you to do," she continued pitifully, "Something important... As the one I have pulled from the battle field," she went on, "And as the one I have chosen to aid me..."
Er- Hold on, pulled from the field? Chosen? "W-Wai'... What," he coughed, shaking his head. "What are y' talkin' abou-"
"Please... Listen to me," the woman begged, stepping forward as the two children stood at the sides and continued with their silent vigil. "I need you to do this, more than anything... Jonouchi Katsuya," she continued, mask clattering to the ground as the blond hurriedly stepped back with wide and horrified eyes at what lay beneath. "Please... Just one thing..."
Just one thing, don't look at the face. Just one thing, but- "W-Well... W-What is it," he choked, staring at the woman's face as he fell back and continued to stare, the woman leaning forward. "What-"
"Kill him."
Kill-
Sometimes, he really hated his luck with these things.
There were limits to just how much the human mind could take. In some cases one could say they surpassed the limits of the body by a long shot, with the mind able to adapt even to the most gruesome of injury where the body would long collapse; and with all the damage that occurred within this accursed realm he would almost agree, given how many times he'd managed to find himself looking nauseatingly at his own organs.
But then there were those who did not agree, who believed that before the body cracked the mind would long since break into pieces, never to be repaired again. Watching Kaiba's duel against Noa, watching the twisted and copied forms he'd taken, and more importantly watching as her own brother, their friend pummelled the woman into the ground, shouted at her in rage...
He would have to agree with that as well, and so had Yugi.
When he and his lighter self agreed on something, there was a strange 'pulse' in their body he found. A surge of energy, as though a point of perfect resonance had been reached between two voices to bring about an echoing chorus that resonated across an entire city, a feeling of unity that was only rivalled by that 'fusion' with Jonouchi in their last battle. Of course, the incidents were more often than not quite simple, and the feeling was more often than not rather brief to say the least. Did they want to go to the arcade? Of course they did, who didn't want to play games at that moment! Was their English teacher too boring to bother paying attention to? Definitely! (But it would probably be a good idea to pay attention to Chono nonetheless, as he was now beginning to regret making her penalty game so noticeable... She had to learn eventually though right?)
It had never been so strong though, the feeling pulsing through him now. Never, not in a single moment that they'd been 'bonded'. He had never heard his lighter half curse as strongly as this either, in or out of the mind; never felt such a rush of anger through their bond, never felt such a desire to do just what the 'light' had feared of his 'darkness'... That wasn't him he told himself, that wasn't his partner. That wasn't Yugi.
But there were exceptions to those rules, and those exceptions were more than realized when such lines as had been present on the field were crossed. The Big 5 was one thing; at least then they could assume the violence in the name of cruel vengeance, and shake themselves off as they struggled to find a way out. They could push through the trauma of each injury, and know, with a sigh of relief, that they would never see them again.
This, however, had no 'reason', and no chance of simply being pulled away. Noa had grinned the entire time he fought, and he'd strung his opponent along like a cat with a string. And Kaiba had little choice but to follow in a blind rage, striking ironically with the closest thing she could bring up for 'claws'. Right until the very end, after her secret of over seven years had been shattered, her body broken, her entire being humiliated and spat upon, her brother as well put through an agonizing mental hell after doing harm to his beloved sibling...
Questions could be asked by the others on how this was all happening, and on those fighting on the field, but the others had no questions to ask anymore. The situation was too grave, too horrific to even stand. So what if Seto Kaiba was a woman? Strange, but for the moment they had been far more concerned with the damage done to that woman's body, to the blood staining her white shirt, to the burns covering more or less bare arms and legs, to the grit determination and rage nonetheless exacted upon her otherwise perfectly healthy opponent as he sneered from above.
There had been jokes earlier on. Comments on attractiveness (And he would idly admit that she was indeed the sort of woman who could have made a career in modeling), comments on Noa's constant shifting... But now was not the time. And even as a monstrous shadow arose from Jonouchi's feet, launching forward and almost clinging to his back with liquified claws with an inhuman screech, he was only dimly aware that he and Yugi were in the same place at the same time. Only just aware that they were both watching through the body's eyes, forming a strange mix of 'souls' as their friend became so filled with rage that his very soul seemed to split before them. It was only after Jonouchi made his last and futile attack that the switch completed, that Yugi's resulting surprise and horror allowed him to take over for the moments following. The shadows melted from existence the moment they collided with Noa's form. But rather than Noa standing amid the destruction as Jonouchi fell to the ground, Jonouchi's body merely took his place. Stood there with an expression far unlike his own, in the robes of their enemy with wings wide spread, shining with the same 'glow' of the 'god'.
"Hnhnhnhnhn..." It couldn't be... "I made the right choice," their 'friend' chuckled, cracking his knuckles experimentally as naught but a set of monk's robes fell to the ground before burning into ash. "In the end," Noa continued with a sneer. "This body is the better choice."
This... Was not just an illusion this time. "Oh my god," Otogi muttered, staring up in disbelief. "He... He took..."
"Nihan," another of the group wept, hands brought up to her mouth as she shuddered. "You... You took my brother's BODY," Shizuka screamed, eyes wide as the teen rather proudly leaned down in a 'bow'. "You stole-"
"As a matter of fact," came 'Jonouchi's voice, laced with dark and sadistic mirth, "Yes... Yes I did... Are you going to do anything about it," he added darkly, eyes flashing as the girl gripped her spear.
"You... YOU..." Anzu hurriedly placed a hand on the girl's shoulder at that, but when Shizuka turned she only saw the woman's scowling face directed to the sky. They'd do something. Just not now. Not now.
Soon... "NOA," the Other Yugi hissed, cutting off shouts and threats as their opponent looked down. The air seemed to shift despite its nonexistence. Seemed to thicken with rage, and with hate... But for once, his partner was not trying to reel this rage in. And for once, that was just fine. "I challenge you in Kaiba's place, to finish this duel," he growled, Noa raising his eyebrows in idle curiosity. "Do you hear me?"
Noa continued to stare, eyes narrowing slightly. "...'Finish'," he repeated, the drawling tone of his best friend meeting the air as he snorted. "Hn! Now that's odd... As I recall," the blond continued with a sneer, "'Last Turn's effects mean that I already won. Your challenge is a little late... 'Friend'..."
Friend..! The boy growled in response, Noa's grin appearing to widen at the obvious distaste those below him held. Nonetheless however he steeled himself, pulling out his boomerang to open it wide and go on with his challenge. "True," Yugi said almost coldly, "Last Turn took effect... But so long as there are cards and lifepoints remaining," he continued dangerously, "There is still a battle to be had- I will take Kaiba's remaining deck," the boy shouted, pointing his weapon forward with a nod, "And mix it with my own... And using her life points against yours," Yugi snarled, "I'll fight you for their lives!"
The grin widened. "Ohhh... A power deck merged with a strategy deck... And with so little life points too," Noa chuckled, seemingly crossing his arms in curiosity. "Well... Are you sure about this?"
The boy merely nodded, narrowing his eyes. "Kaiba's cards, Mokuba and Jonouchi's spirits... With their combined power and will I will fight for their freedom," he uttered lowly, opponent staring a moment longer as the others protested. "I could not be more certain, NOA."
The others however could. "You... You can't," Anzu whispered, shaking her head as she looked to the boy. "You just can't..."
"Seventy four hundred against four hundred-aru... It's suicide," Honda barked, towering and imposing form leaning down on the ground with an almost miserable face as Yugi continued to ignore the protests. "You don't even have any cards in your hand for this, you-"
"As I said," Yugi repeated, giving his friends each a quick look as they fell silent. "I CHALLENGE YOU," he roared, turning to look back up to Noa. "Unless you're afraid of the chances against you!"
Noa's grin fell flat with those words, the teen narrowing his eyes at the cut to his pride. "'Afraid'," he 'questioned', feathers seeming to bristle in anger. "Hn! Very well," he spat, Yugi abruptly pulled upward as the ground at his feet tore from the rest of the earth to rise into the air. "I'll grant your wish and kill you now," he roared, the sky darkening and rumbling as he snarled.
Gh- Stone...! "Ah- Yugi," those below shouted, the boy briefly looking down as large chunks of earth and plant life ripped from the air to form their field. "Yugi!" This... Was going to be difficult. They were rising higher, higher... Though there were enough ruins remaining from the cliff to form a stair case upward the entire field was a mess of floating stones at variant levels. Each and every one of them seemed to form a spiral however... A pattern...
They were all centred on Noa.
The boy did not once flinch as the field's stones locked into place, gripping his boomerang tightly as a screen and a dome of light appeared around him. Cards were swirling around him. But it wasn't the same as before the other duels... These were Kaiba's cards he told himself. Those in her grave, and those in her deck. Nothing more and nothing less, though he could tell that with the Ark of Shinato gone the monsters from before had been returned to the graveyard... Or at least, the ones that hadn't been removed from play were, meaning that Blue-Eyes was likely quite 'lonely' to say the least. For now however, his focuses were on his opponent, the opponent now wearing his best friend's face beneath the robes of a so-called 'God'. The one hovering a number of feet beyond any foot hold he could get to. "...Noa," he began, a counter of cards coming to mind as he was asked to trade out exactly half of the deck with others on the screen. "You cold blooded snake... I hope you're prepared," the boy began, only to correct himself with a sneer. "...No... I think I'll be glad if you aren't prepared for what I am about to do to you!"
Noa merely sneered at the comment, a small sphere of 'cards' in his hands as he spun it through the air. "Hn! You say that now, but the duel hasn't even begun yet... We're going to make this fair," he continued darkly, crossing his arms as the sphere snapped out of existence. "I've traded out exactly half of my deck for monsters of my choosing," he explained, narrowing his eyes somewhat. "And of course, before we begin," he added with a smirk, "You may alternatively change out your deckmaster with another if you wish..."
Yugi said nothing in response to the comment, simply allowing the deck-master's scaled hide to overlay his own leathery armor, spikes and cruel 'daggers' coming from every armored joint. "That's not necessary," he growled bitterly, the weapon in his hands also curving to a more vicious appearance. "Kaiba and Mokuba's cards, along with the hearts of both themselves and Jonouchi both can't fail me here after all; so I'll take my chances," he spat, boomerang twirling in his hand as he jumped forward to toss the device to begin the match, "And I'll fight until the very end! I summon Gazelle in defense mode," he announced, the monster appearing as naught but a thick and protective mist as the weapon he'd tossed seemed to duplicate in the air during his charge. The Gazelle was merely a shield of course, but that didn't mean he couldn't create the illusion of the first attack. So for now, while he was hopping stones in an attempt to reach his opponent... "HAHHHHH!"
"Hn!" As his opponent raised the second, 'real' weapon above him, his opponent merely frowned. Blades were aimed directly toward Noa's skull and yt in retaliation the 'blond' jerked his head to the side, seeming to pulse with energy as the boy approached. "Fool; challenging a computer..." Gh- Shit-! "Divine Ring," he echoed, a gravitational blast throwing the boy back just before the blades could connect. "I may not be able to truly kill you this turn," he continued with a frown, floating through the air to hover a number of feet from his victim, "But that does not make you immune to my strikes."
"GHHA-HG-" Rocks blew from the path his body took, shouts coming from below as the boy wheezed. Stones had pierced through the weak points of his armor, and the defensive shield he'd held was now gone, having barely protected him from the extensive damage done to the stones... Yet despite this the counter in his mind depleted, and with horror he found himself turning to Noa from his small 'crater'. "You..." Information had loaded into his mind and already he knew what had happened. The deckmaster ability...
To halve his life every time he was attacked... "It hurts doesn't it," his opponent chuckled darkly from above, "To have your life cut in two even with your defense... To watch as its added to my own," he continued with a grin, cracking his ringed knuckles as he laughed. There was little to be seen in terms of what his added strength did to the teen, but he could already tell it wasn't good. This ability... ...Gh..! "Of course," Noa was saying from above as his opponent cringed, "It's your turn... I'm a 'benevolent' God; I'll let you live long enough to make your move..." Tch... 'Benevolence' his ass...
Nonetheless, luck was on his side as he stood, a card appearing in his mind. Monsters... He needed monsters for now, and a monster was what he got. "Hn! I set a card face down," he announced, boomerang at the ready as he took a defensive stance on the edge of the floating rock. "End my turn!"
A cold breeze blew with those words, his opponent seeming to nod. "Hnnn... So strange," Noa sighed, pacing the air as Yugi 'waited' for the teen to strike. "You look ready to cut my head off! And yet I don't think it's because of 'this'," he continued, bringing a finger to his chin as his free one momentarily gestured to the body. "After all," he went on with crossed arms, "You know full well this isn't real." That was true, he thought for a moment, narrowing his eyes. This world was fake along with everything they saw, so... "It isn't as though I've killed your friend... But Kaiba on the other hand... She's your enemy," the blond pressed almost confusedly, "Your rival... So why..? Am I perhaps 'wrong'," he asked, the boy below staring almost blankly in response. "Is there something 'more'..?" More? ...
Oh. Of course not! "...No," he said clearly, still frowning as he looked toward his opponent. "You aren't wrong. We're rivals and 'enemies' to an extent, that's true. Perhaps it's fate taunting us," the boy went on somewhat darkly, "Playing with our minds that leads us to that point despite friendships and bonds slowly being built, I wouldn't know. But despite all of this," Yugi spat, eyes narrowing much further as his body shook in anger, "We would NEVER bring it to this level..! We would never touch the other's personal lives as you have, never bring such maters to the field! And to not only reveal those secrets but to turn a family against itself..! We wouldn't even CONSIDER such a thing!"
"And why is that," Noa asked plainly, a mist seeming to form from his hand as he shaped it like 'clay' within bored hands. "Just why would you say that..?"
"Because that's our 'word', our 'agreement'," he responded, watching as a three-legged crow moved to sit on the blond's shoulder from where it had been molded from the smoke. "Because it's our promise as duelists, rivals, and should she ever admit it, friends! That's why!"
Silence filled the air a moment before Noa scoffed, shaking his head as he frowned. "Hn! Friends... What a bullshit answer," he sneered, narrowing his eyes.
"To you maybe," he retorted, still gripping his weapon to wait for an attack from the teen before him. "But someone like you, who uses nothing but cheap tricks to win their matches isn't someone I would expect to understand. Kaiba fought fairly," the boy called out in pride, the statue far below seeming to 'shift' despite being completely immobile with those words. "She fought for a just cause, and the promises she made are carried with the cards she left behind. And in her place," Yugi roared, finally forgoing patience as he kicked from the ground, "I WILL DEFEAT YOU!"
"So you would hope," Noa countered, wings flapping back to allow him to dodge the boomerang his opponent had thrown. The blade curled on the air and his opponent gave a short laugh, before pulling higher into the air with outstretched hands. "Hah! Your luck has still run short," the teen chuckled, pointing his monster forward. "This monster at my side might not be powerful," he continued, "But even the smallest shade of death is enough for a mere mortal such as yourself!" Hn!
"Then this 'mere mortal' will have to prove you wrong," the boy snarled, hopping from stone to stone as he came closer with the returned blade for a second shot. "HAH!" As the boomerang flew forward it curved around Noa's attack, the 'God' having released his blast at that very moment. As the glass of his defense monster shattered however a handle appeared in his grip, his body flown back to land on the stone with ease. A blade grew from a silvery hilt as smoke rose from the shattered glass, and despite the pressure and force against the blade it blew against and around the sword to leave him perfectly unharmed. The black and violet wave of energy instead blew harmlessly to the side...
And when the dust from the strike cleared his boomerang returned, quickly folded back at his side. "Y-YOU... IMPOSSIBLE," Noa roared, eyes wide as he looked down through the dust. "How did you manage to-"
"Hn! Think carefully on the monster I've just summoned," Yugi retorted, pulling his blade back with all the intent of an attack, "While I destroy this one! HAH-"
-fsssss...-
Metal met nothing but smoke as he swung the blade at 'Yata-Garasu', the boy's eyes widening in confusion. The steam and smoke was all he cut, and even then it did nothing... Nothing at all. "It vanished," he muttered, shaking his head. Vanished into... Nothing. Yugi's eyes widened further as the smoke retreated to Noa's hands, the 'God' smirking viciously as he held it in his grasp. No; it hadn't vanished. It'd returned to Noa's hand. "Of course," he whispered, before the scowl on his face deepened further. "The 'Spirit Series'..."
"Spirit Series," his other asked, before answering his own question as he recalled a much earlier conversation on the matter. "Ah; that's right... That's the series based on Japanese folk-lore isn't it," he asked, his question again being answered the moment it was asked.
The boy nodded as his partner muttered on somewhat, pacing around the rock before his opponent as a drawn card appeared in his mind. Spirit cards... Yugi watched as his opponent crossed his arms, a spell appearing to activate on the field to bathe him in a halo of light. "Exactly," he answered his partner, narrowing his eyes. "Each are cards that can't be special summoned and each are cards that return to the hand at the end of a turn... ...Tch... And I see you've played 'Spring of Rebirth' to go with that," he continued to his opponent in aggravation, Noa chuckling darkly in response.
"But of course," he sneered, narrowing his eyes as the spell gave him a lifepoint boost in response to Yata-Garasu's return. "These are the spirits of the dead, the spirits of the far beyond... As though I would fight with anything else, when I as 'God' have them in my control," he continued darkly. 'God'... Tch..!
It was any wonder Seto hadn't simply forgone cards all together in her match! It was his turn now though he thought to himself, gritting his teeth. This was one of Kaiba's cards in his hands right now, one of Kaiba's cards that he'd just drawn. He could almost hear her voice reading the description, the 'flip effect' of the machine... Explaining to him that this was her fight as well, and that if he thought she was standing on the sides he had another thing coming. 'It'll destroy him,' she was whispering, 'It'll leave nothing left..!' This card...
Very well. "I set a card face down, he said almost quietly, stepping forward to stand upon the sheet of glass that appeared in response to the summon. "Now... Do your worst."
"Oh... I'll do more than my 'worst'," Noa sneered, spreading his hands and throwing forth a wave of smoke as legs and arms formed. As a four-faced head stared forward, each with an altered expression of rage and calm. "I summon Asura," the teen announced, stone-skinned monster twirling swords in his many hands as he came to rest on the stone below. "And ATTACK!"
"HN!" Yugi charged the monster as it threw his blade forwards, ignoring the point difference for a moment as he stabbed forward with his 'Fooling Swordsman's blade. It was easily caught by the six armed monster of course, what with a a pair of the blades clearing two hands for the giant's use. And there were many blades to continue their attack from the other hands of course, many blades pointed toward him. But despite this the boy took no notice, merely flipping over the giant using the very sword he'd attacked with to kick off to a run from the monster's back. To run still closer to his opponent, pushing from the stones behind the monster and throwing his boomerang forward as he kicked up into the air. "MY TURN," he roared, the wicked blades of his boomerang spinning through the air only for it to be caught in his opponent's hand with ease as he fell back to the ground. "Gh-!" No...
Impossible! Noa's eyes narrowed in annoyance as the blade quivered, tightening his grip and forcing the blade to curl and distort in his very hands. "Hn! Fool... I'll break through any attack you even attempt! You're a mere speck of dust," he continued, apparently ignorant to Asura's death at the hands of the shattering sheet of glass he'd struck with his blades, a vortex having swallowed him forward. "A worthless ANT in comparison to me! PREPARE TO DIE," he snarled with an almost vicious grin, throwing the boomerang back as smoke began to whirl around the boy from the shattered defense monster, "AND DISAPPEAR FROM THIS EARTH!"
The boomerang did not fly through Yugi's body as his opponent likely expected. Instead the boy caught it firmly in his grasp by the same dented 'point' Noa had held moments before, raising a foot to let it rest on an enormous 'jar' that had appeared to his side from the smoke. "Fell for it," he said plainly, the blond and glowing 'god' across from him staring in shock as the one-eyed 'vase' appeared to chuckle beneath his opponent's feet. "This was one of Kaiba's monsters... The 'Cyber Jar'," he explained, the monster's mouth opening as a powerful force of suctioned air was pulled toward it. "You know what that does..."
Clear all monsters from the field. Including the opposing deckmaster, his mind told him just now. "H-HHAAAHHH! YOU- YOU RAT!" Noa's screams filled the air as cheers erupted from the ground, those below slowly making their way up the stones themselves in an attempt to lend their partner a hand. 'GOOD ONE,' they were shouting, Noa's appearance fading from sight as the winds from the Cyber Jar became tainted by dust and soil. 'You win! Only two moves and you win,' they cheered, making their way up what was only a small fraction of their coming climb. It seemed that way, true; it seemed he had won... But... Something told him... That it wasn't quite so easy. "ANNICA BEARING," Noa abruptly shouted through the air, the jar seeming to lock and freeze as it crumbled to scrap and continued its effect from the dust pile it was turning into. "Hah... Hah... Hah..." That shout...
Yugi paled and stared at the cloud before him, swallowing almost nervously. Noa had vanished from sight by this point, but not permanently it seemed. As the smoke cleared he could hear the incredulous shouts of those below, the opponent re-appearing before them to stand on the far off 'cliffs' in the air. But something seemed different about him this time he realized; though he was unharmed, he was breathing laboriously, wiping his cheek and gasping for breath as one would following a marathon. The glow, he realized, was also gone. The steel 'sun' from behind his opponent, the shine it radiated... Completely gone, vanished without a trace. But that wasn't the point. The point was that he was there, standing before him... "You... How are you still alive," he finally asked, narrowing his eyes in suspicion. "Cyber Jar destroys all monsters on the field, including the opposing deckmaster... So how!"
The teen merely grit his teeth, wings hanging almost limp on his back as their weight pressed on his body. There was no 'god-like strength' to hold them up now. Though they had muscles to work with the wings would take time to get used to, and time was not something he had for the moment. "I was careless," Noa hissed, narrowing his eyes in displeasure. "I didn't think you would be able to force me to use this ability..."
"'This' ability," Yugi repeated, folding his boomerang back into a blade like form as he studied his opponent. The blades repaired themselves in an instant, with the monsters 'Sangan' and 'Gamma the Magnet Warrior' rising at his sides at the same moment as the Cyber Jar's effect completed and his hand was replenished. A full hand of cards, two monsters for a possible tribute combo... He would not lose here! But that ability... "Just what would that be..."
Again Noa spat at the ground, pulling himself to his feet with narrowed eyes as he adjusted the six wings on his back. "Hn... Mortality," he hissed, wiping the spittle from his mouth with a growl. "I fight at your level, with no attack power to call my own for the remainder of this battle," he continued on, wings adjusting once again while he took a defensive crouch. "I'm done with my turn," the teen growled, eyes narrowing further in distaste. "You know as well as I that I can't special summon my monsters to the field... Make your move!"
Hn! Seeing how he wouldn't have to deal with the 'attack point barrier'... "With pleasure," the boy spat, pulling his weapon back like a sword as he charged and kicked off the ground toward the 'angel'. "I sacrifice my two monsters," he announced, Sangan and Gamma both turning into dust on the wind as the swirled about at his side, "And while Sangan's effect activates," he went on, a card appearing in the back of his mind, "I summon the Dark Magician to the field!" Two pairs of feet came to rest on the next rock he landed on, and as he stared Noa down a blade and a staff were both pointed forward. "NOW," he shouted, kicking off another floating stone as his opponent took to the air with grit teeth, "ATTACK DIRECTLY," he roared, boomerang unfolding as he tossed it forward, "BLACK MAGIC!"
Thunder cracked through the air as the charging Dark Magician gripped his staff, black lightning shooting from the weapon's tip to hurl their opponent backward. Sparks flew from the teen's skin, leaping across golden armor... As he fell back however, a 'curtain' appeared from behind him. An alteration in the light, shimmering oddly as their opponent disappeared through it. "Ah... Where did he go," those beneath him shouted, eyes wide as they looked up past the stones their allies had landed upon. "He's just... Vanished..!" Vanished...
Partially, at least. "That curtain..." That was obviously the 'where' in the matter, but what...
"It's a spell," 'Yugi' muttered from the back of his mind, the darker side frowning somewhat. Hn? What was that..? "Other me," his lighter half shouted in worry, voice raising in alarm, "It's a spell! He's summoning another monster!"
"What-!" This was a summon!
"You... Humiliating me like this," an echoing voice growled, Noa's opponent narrowing his eyes as his friends slowly came to the field to take positions behind the stones. They'd made it at last, despite any exhaustion it resulted in... But for now their opponent was out of reach, in another 'world' as his spell said. "How DARE you..."
How dare... That SCUM... "How dare I," he responded with an incredulous snarl, looking around with wide and caution filled eyes for any sign of his opponent. "Tch... Compared to what you and your 'father' did to Kaiba and Mokuba, this is NOTHING," Yugi growled, clenching his fists as the handle of his boomerang imprinted upon his hand. To even claim that this was any form of 'humility'... "Don't even try to use an excuse like THAT!"
Hissing was coming through the air... Low growls and snarls, seemingly from nowhere, causing those outside to look around in unease. "Hnmp! This is MY realm," Noa spat, his voice continuing to echo through the air amid the snarls and hissing of whatever beasts he'd summoned forth. "No matter how many ants you bring to your aid, how long you stand against me," he raged on, "I will smite you where you stand for your blasphamy!"
'Blasphamy? If not for everything else going on he'd almost have to laugh. Tch... Yugi narrowed his eyes, attentions honing in on the curtain before him as it seemed to shift and quake with some unseen force. "I've never heard of a God who acted so cruel to the denizens of his world," the boy hissed, shaking his head. "I've never seen a more foul 'creator'... Noa," he went on, pulling his weapon back to prepare for an attack. "You've been dead too long, desensitized to this world... All souls have a place to go, and this isn't it," he shouted, gesturing to the world and the 'sun' above them. "You need to move on... I'll defeat you," he continued, bringing his hand back down, "But I'll also send your spirit to rest!"
Silence was his answer for the next few moments, the curtain before him shuddering to a stop. "Rest..?" The teen's voice almost seemed confused at the term, but in an instant the momentary weakness was thrown back, low rumbling coming through the air as the curtain again furled in a non-existent wind. "HN! I don't NEED rest," Noa spat, voice echoing clearly through the air as the curtain blew back to reveal those behind it. "All I need is the satisfaction of your death! I activate the spell 'Next World' and summon a monster of equal level to your own," he roared, eight great and snarling serpent heads meeting Yugi's gaze as he stumbled back from the curtain's entrance. "A monster whose power surpasses yours! The Yamata Dragon," Noa announced, gripping eight 'leashes' in his hands as he stood on the back of the great and snarling serpent. "And now... ATTACK," he commanded, a thick blaze of fire exiting each dragon's head as Yugi's Magician hurried to his defense. "SPREAD FIRE!"
Each of the heads took aim and each of the heads struck true, the fires merging in one point to concentrate their force on the relatively small target before them. The fires burned... Burned... "Gh... Ngh... GHHAAAA-GH!" His monster was taking the brunt of the blow for the moment; holding his staff forward and grimacing as the flames ate away at his robes and body. But as the Magician was reduced to ash the force became too much to bear, the strength behind each of the serpent's fires sending the boy back to skid along a stretch of floating ground on his back. He couldn't take another hit like that he told himself in a panic, a card appearing in his mind. Not again..! "Gh... Swords of Revealing Light," he countered, a 'field' appearing around them as a series of golden blades appeared in the sky. "Next time you attack," he continued, each of Noa's wings quickly pinned to the ground by a sword, "I'll be ready..!"
"Gh-! You..!"
"Hehehe... And here we thought you'd need our help-aru," Honda chuckled, the others moving from their hiding places as Noa struggled against his bonds. The dog snapped out another laugh, great clawed paws barely finding a place on a number of oversized and uneven rocks at the side. "Hahahahaha..! Good going-aru! Arou... But... That was close huh," he asked, ears pulling back with an awkward cough as the others nodded.
"Only 100 lifepoints left," Shizuka continued, standing at the dog's side as Yugi pulled himself up from the ashen ground. "That was a lucky draw..!" Lucky indeed... Not many other cards would have saved him, and while he would ordinarily say that it was the 'deck's doing', the fact was that he couldn't feel any connection to any cards within this place...
Yugi turned as the others filled the field as best they could, balancing on scattered stones in the air and taking their positions. "Guys..." They were all prepared to fight... Anzu had Ren at her side, Shizuka was standing beside Honda, and Otogi was finding a position where he could strike with his daggers best. "...Hn! No matter what happens, we have to keep faith right," he said after a moment, pulling the boomerang that had fallen to his side from the ground. The words were partially to himself but nonetheless the others nodded, listening as he went on. "As fighters we might not be able to make it through these blades," he warned, Noa snarling from his prison even as the others took looser stances in regard to the comment, "But we can at least do this right? Kuriboh," he shouted, the monster rising from dust at the call when the card was summoned. "Attack Noa..."
"Kurriiiiii!" With considerable vigor the monster 'nodded', clawed feet scrambling forward along the stones before baring its razor sharp teeth as it jumped. A feral cry screeching through the air the seemingly adorable monster's eyes became slit, mouth widening almost as much as the body was wide. "KUUUURIIIIIIII!"
"Tch-!" As one of the swords vanished a wing moved to intercept the beast, Noa appearing to stare with somewhat wide eyes as the monster dug its fangs into his body. There were small bits of blood dribbling from the wound; the wing, one of the top ones, twitched just slightly as the owner stared in distaste, still pinned to the ground despite this action. "Really... Of all the pathetic attempts of attack," he hissed, before throwing the wing forward as the monster was flung off with a shout. "I can't even tell if it touched me or not," he taunted, the others pulling back from the disturbing expression on their friend's face as the teen went on. "Well... You might have immobilized me," Noa spat, those before him silent in the face of 'Jonouchi's sneering voice, "But that doesn't mean I can't do anything... I set a monster face down," he announced, a sheet of glass further protecting him from attack as it shimmered before his face. "End turn! Count your 'blessings'," the teen added lowly, gesturing to the swords in his wings. "Because once these cursed blades vanish your death will be right around the corner..."
Hn... He expected as much of a threat really. Yugi merely twirled his weapon at the words however, eventually spinning it to a stop as his next card came to mind. Dark Magician Girl was in his hand now. A level six monster... Which would be handy if not for the fact that his deckmaster ability only affected light monsters he thought under his breath, seeing how he needed one sacrifice. And the fact was, to pull this off... Well, even to just be safe he'd need more than one monster.
The boy shook his head as he returned to the battle's 'mind set', a mist rising around him as those around him took their positions in the fogging air. His turn he thought to himself. And he couldn't waste it..! "I play Big Shield Guardna in defense," he said calmly, the smoke and mist briefly forming the 'shield' of the beast before sinking to his sides in dormancy. "Kuriboh as well," Yugi continued, the monster in question scurrying to his side, "Will enter defense mode..."
Noa merely continued to growl from across him at the words, muttering curses under his breath as the others stared. "Hehehehe... No where to run now is there," Ren taunted from the side, the group closing in to prepare for their attack as Noa growled from beneath the remaining blades of light.
"There's still two moves left-aru! By that time," Honda barked in agreement, wolfish grin on his face, "You'll be long gone-aru..!"
Silence was again their answer, a few blades pulling from the top sets of wings as Noa pulled himself to a slouching stance. "...Shameful," he muttered after a moment, hair hanging in his eyes as he leered at the crowd. "So shameful... I predict that this attempt to break the rules of our match will only end in sorrow," the teen hissed. "That before these blades fade from existence," he warned dangerously, "One of you will 'die'... And my predictions are never wrong." ...Gh... Die..?
Briefly the others seemed to freeze, the teen across from them setting a few more cards before him in a 'shield' as his turn silently came to an end. The tone in Noa's voice was chilling, frightening even, compared to the others he'd used, even as 'Jonouchi'. It was low, grave... Almost murderous. Maybe it was because it was from their friend's voice, a voice they were used to hearing positively, or occasionally just 'calm', but they couldn't help but stare in silence. He himself was having no luck for the moment; his draws wouldn't help him, nothing in his hand could help him... He needed to save his monsters for when the swords vanished, so he couldn't simply sacrifice without thinking either, and with that in mind... "...I set a card," he finally said, gritting his teeth and gesturing over the field as the 'glass' before him shimmered into existence. "End turn..."
With the very sound of his voice Noa's eyes had snapped forward, darkening with that same haunting light they saw moments ago. "Good," the teen sneered, the first of his glass panels exploding with light at that very moment. "Then it's MINE now... Activate Clock of Destiny," he roared, the blades in his wings shattering at that moment as he spread his wings to blind those on the field in a golden light. "You think you can cheat a GOD," he spat, rising into the air with a snarl and a solid wing-beat. "Think again! For each turn we fight now you will lose something dear," the 'god' announced, blinding light piercing their eyes as he continued to fly up into the air. "Including THIS one..!"
This turn..! "W-What," Ren shouted in response, the others confused shouts following after.
"What the hell is he talking about-aru..?"
"He's just going to kill us off..!"
Chuckling met the air in response to the shouts, the light only just beginning to fade as the sound of continued beating wings met the air. "Hnhnhnhnhn... If your 'friendship' is so strong," Noa hissed, "Shouldn't you be able to see it? See the answer right before you? You were foolish to place your trust in this boy," he continued with a laugh, a twisted duplicate of their friend's own meeting the air. "Completely moronic..! Like Seri has Mokuba and Katsuya has Seri," he sneered, looking down at the crowd as one would a pile of scum, "You yourselves have weaknesses that can be taken advantage of! This is what you get for attempting to attack out of 'turn'," he continued, the sound of foot-steps coming through the air as he spoke. "STONE GAZE!" The petrification spell..!
But then who... The light finally faded as the sound of something clattering to the ground came over their ears, the shadow that had at that moment attempted a strike on Noa stiffening on the ground with a pained grunt. It was hard to see who it was, for at least a moment. The figure had been caught part-way through a fall, and thanks to the position of his legs would be forever trapped in that position. Finally however the fog cleared from the air, and daggers could be seen embedded in the ground from where they'd fallen out of shaking hands. A head of wavy black hair, with a pony tail straightened by the weight of the combined strands... A vest, a screaming face, permanently fixed in stone...
"Otogi," Yugi muttered as he stared, momentarily frozen as the others drew back from the sight.
"O-Otogi-han," Shizuka repeated, spear falling almost limp in her hands as she stepped backward. "He turned him to..."
He turned him to stone. "Hnhnhnhnhn... HAHAHAHAHA!" It was sick, hearing this laugh from their friend's voice, hearing the distorted warble it brought with it. Hearing the words Noa threw to the air, seeing the expression of insanity across his face... The expression that coldly reminded him of the spirit that plagued Bakura's existence, that which he'd faced in a duel just hours ago. "Pathetic... You're all so pathetically WEAK," the 'god' howled, laughing almost hysterically as the others looked up to him in wide-eyed rage. "This is the fate of all you FOOLS who stand against me," Noa sneered, hands held out before the group that stood below. "An eternity in stone!" The laughter continued with those words, Noas cards flipping over to reveal monsters and mages before misting out from existence as an eight headed serpent rose up beneath him in response. "Hnhnhnhnhn... A soulless life," Noa snarled lowly, "Unable to truly live and unable to truly die... No pain, no fear... No warmth, no love... I'd almost say he's lucky," the teen sneered, grasping at leashes as the now summoned dragon snapped its jaws and snarled on the field. "Now he doesn't have to watch this! I'm going to turn all of you to stone," he roared madly, pulling at the leashes as his dragon spat venom and flames into the air, "And when it comes to the end you'll ALL regret siding with HIM!" Tch... This... This scum... To take advantage of their connections like this, for no reason..! And yet...
...Hold on... Yugi's eyes narrowed as he thought back to the first match in the virtual realm, back to what the boy had said in his lucid state by the 'door'. 'The words of a true friend', he'd said with a chuckle, just seconds after he and his lighter half had shared their opinion on both Kaiba and Jonouchi. 'They make me almost wish I had someone like yourself all those years ago...' ...This boy... A boy with no friends in life and no friends in death...
"...Heh..." As Yugi shook his head the dragon's jaws snapped shut, his allies briefly held at bay by the warning glares of the monsters heads. "You're the pathetic one," he said plainly, Noa looking down with intense rage in response. "The soul can't change after all; no matter how many years pass, you're still a child, a frightened and selfish little boy who wants nothing more than what he didn't have... Open your eyes," he said coldly, Yamata's heads reeling and staring in anger as their controller did the same. "Your words don't phase us."
"'Us'," Noa repeated, scowl increasing as the others nodded from their positions.
"That's right-aru," Honda snarled, still clinging to the sides of multiple stone cliffs in the air as he growled from above, the serpents around his neck each snapping at the air around their opponent. "Do you think we'll turn our backs on our friend just because of this-aru!"
"Friends don't become friends because it 'suits them'," Anzu continued, Ren beginning to grow in form around her. "They become friends because they trust each other, and care about each other... Because no matter what, they can't live without that other person there! It's a bond," she went on, the snake at her side appearing to listen in silence from behind her. "Like becoming brothers, or sisters... It's family without the genes!"
"Perhaps if your father hadn't done this to you," Yugi went on with an almost pitying tone, his partner quite wholly agreeing, "You would have known this... But Noa," he continued, friends standing around him with determined stares. "Until then, burn this image into your mind; the power of a promise between friends! We won't lose here," the boy roared, spinning the boomerang in his hands and preparing to attack. "No matter what you throw toward us!"
"You... VERY WELL," Noa spat, his expression having slowly soured further and further as the conversation went on, mixing insanity with rage. "You want so badly to go to hell I'll do just that! And your friends can each watch while I do it! SPREAD FIRE," he roared, flames filling the boy's gaze as shouts filled the air. "Before you even think of challenging me," the teen snarled as the fires pushed downward on him, "Remember your life is tied to a POINT SYSTEM! This is the END... DISAPPEAR," he heard over the flames, "DIE... DIE! I WIN, MUTOU YUGI!"
That was what he thought. True, one of Noa's tributed monsters had been flip summoned before the dragon appeared, activating an effect that forced his monster into attack mode rather than defense. And true, rather than a mist taking this attack he could see the kuriboh, squealing in pain as fires burned it into mere ash and bone before evaporating completely. But as those around him screamed there was still another card, and despite the grievous burns that were now covering his body he was still able to play it. A needle of sorts appeared in his hands, an injector filled with a red fluid... And holding his breath, he brought the almost knife-like injector to his arm and stabbed downward with as much strength as he could muster. "Gh... GHK!"
Nutrient Z. The trap card that would just barely spare his life and heal him... Noa would already know it activated he thought to himself, the fires still forcing him against the ground and to his knees as he breathed laboriously. Kuriboh as well would be long gone, but despite that the spell was doing its job, forcing his burns to recover to at least a first degree and minor extent. Four thousand lifepoints in reaction to a 2000 plus point attack... And as the flames cleared Noa's already scowling face could be seen, the damage reversed to ironically grant him more 'life' than he'd started with. "You... How did you..."
The teen before him couldn't even finish speaking and as he looked at his 'friend's face the boy merely smirked weakly. The red fluids of the Nutrient trap were slowly entering his veins and taking effect... Finishing the rest of the damage done as he choked on his breaths and attempted to stand. "Heh... Something wrong," he 'asked', crushing the now empty container in his hands as it vanished to dust with the completion of the spell. "I'm alive aren't I... Isn't it your turn..?"
Noa's eyes widened as he stared at the boy, those at the sides grinning almost wickedly as their friend took his weapon up from the ground to prepare his next attack. Scared, his partner was muttering in the back of his mind. Was it just him, or was Noa... Scared..? "You... I..."
"It looks like your prediction failed-aru," Honda sneered, the enormous hound moving to stand behind his friend. His jaw opened wide, and a light could be seen at the back of his throat. Flames were developing... The same flames that he'd been forced to wield against his friends as the cerberus, an undying fire that would serve an invaluable purpose. "Hehehe... Better luck next time, aru..."
Perhaps they should start to watch their words, his other half muttered nervously. After all; as both of them looked ahead, it was becoming more and more apparent that the already fragile stability of Noa's mind was falling...
Very. Quickly. "Heh... Heheha... Better... Better luck," he was muttering, wings seeming to curl around him as he chuckled manically to himself. "Hg... Gh... Hnhnhnhnhn... Hahahaha... AHAHA! So you've survived this turn," their opponent laughed, rising still further into the skies as his wings spread far behind him. "That just means you have to live through more of this world's cruel reality! After all," he continued, a 'spell' appearing on the field as the teen glowed with a power that brought his 'life point' count to an intimidating 11000, "It's perfectly fine that you're alive," he sneered, cracking his knuckles in habit. "It just means I can fight you longer..." Gh...
So that was it then? He just wanted to cause more pain? "Hn! Your power did not intimidate me before, and it does not frighten me even now," Yugi spat, before pulling himself onto Honda's head by means of the dog's mane of vipers while the fires in his friend's maw continued to blaze. "I made a promise," he snarled, boomerang in hand as the dog howled, "And that isn't about to end now! I summon Alpha the Magnet Warrior," he announced, hand thrown to the side as dust and wind blew through the air to form the metal attacker. "And now, we attack... LET'S GO," he shouted, pointing his weapon forward with wide eyes. "Shizuka... Anzu... Honda... ATTACK!"
The resulting strike was absolute chaos. Anzu and Honda were the first to strike, each sending their own equivalent of a 'fire storm' toward their opponent as the 'god' expertly blocked it with a simple shield from his feathered wings. The same went for Shizuka when she leaped from the side, the girl attempting her second double cast spell only to be blocked by the same feathers, ice and stone clattering harmlessly to the ground below. And now, as he pushed off Honda's head, the dog having charged across the stone littered sky to chase after a seemingly fleeing opponent, it was his turn. The boomerang was flung forward, eyes filled with rage. Though the weapon missed its target the warrior at his side managed to catch the blond in the cross fire, slicing his cheek with his blade before hurriedly saving his summoner from the chance of falling to the ground below.
Noa however seemed unphased by all of this. He ducked underneath Shizuka's next strike, flew back from Anzu's 'maelstrom' as Ren howled and slithered away from the retaliation they received... And as Honda approached with snarls and teeth that dripped with venom and flames he had the gall to yawn. "Hahh... You just haven't learned, have you," he muttered, holding a hand out as Honda's body abruptly froze in place. "Hn! It's my turn anyways I suppose... Time to count down," the teen muttered with a grin, hands placed on the hound's nose.
"W-Wh... You... What are you doing," he yelped, somehow still able to talk despite the inability to move.
The answer, of course, was simple. "Stone Gaze," Noa hissed in response, the grey coloured stone seeming to 'grow' over Honda's canine form from the tips of the blond's fingers.
"S-Stone g- Nggh..! Y-You..!" He couldn't speak any-more, even as his tail thrashed with anger. And within moments, that tail was just as frozen as the rest of his body. The dog's statue was by far the largest 'stone' on the field, given his immense size compared to the others. Somehow he'd managed to balance himself on a number of cliffs, with one paw raised in a swipe as his snarling face looked down at his opponent in frozen horror.
An expression quite similar to the crowd's own. "You..."
Noa grinned almost maliciously as he looked back, eyes narrowed in mirth. "Hnhnhnhn... One by one, this is what will happen to your friends," he sneered, the others on the field watching in horror as moved to take a casual seat on the dog's head. "Until you're left with a garden of traumatized statues... With no better use than furniture and decoration..." Gh... That...
"Bastard... Bastard," Ren hissed, hood flaring as the others growled. "No matter what you do we're going to keep kicking your ass! Remember it," he spat, barely held back by his partner.
"Hn! I'd love to see you try," the blond chuckled in response, narrowing his eyes. "Besides," he continued with a sneer, the smirk on his face growing wide as he looked to the snake below, "I'm almost certain that you'll be alive long enough to show your 'partner' a few more things..." Hn..? Why did he place emphasis on-
The serpent tensed considerably with those words, and as he did so Yugi found himself studying his opponent with narrowed eyes. 'Ren' had already garnered considerable suspicion from himself and for a few moments Jonouchi as it seemed, not counting Honda's own insistences. After the last battle this had increased, but now... Just how much did he know..? "And just what do you mean by that," he found himself muttering, pacing back on the stone that his monster brought him to rest upon. "Just what are you trying to do?"
"Well, I'd think it obvious, 'nh'," Noa asked, 'borrowing' his body's verbal tic and grinning at the foul reaction he received in response. "There are secrets your friends have been hiding from each other... Secrets kept so tightly under-wraps that you've scarcely even noticed. Of course," the blond continued as he shrugged, "To find out what those are, there's only one thing you can do..." He laughed with those words, smoke spiralling around him as his opponent tensed. Cackling filled the air completely, and fog again set in on the field... The 'one thing'... "You'll have to beat me," Noa shouted, a sudden hammer-like object pounding against his form to send him flying to another floating stone far in the distance. "Beat me," Noa repeated, the mochi hammer slamming against his stomach once again as he gave a still louder shout and broke through the next stone. Another strike, and another and another... "Beat me, beat me, BEAT ME! HAHAHAHAHAAAAA!" Stop...
Stop... "Gh- GLN..." Yugi rolled onto his front as the 'Inaba White Rabbit's mallet finally struck the ground instead of his body, the monster having charged him directly through its effect and vanished the moment he missed. Noa gained lifepoints every time he dealt damage. He gained life every time a monster returned to his hand. And each time Noa attacked, his life points were halved. After damage calculation. "Ngh..."
"Healing wave," a familiar voice muttered, the boy grimacing as he looked up and winced. What... That voice...
"S-Shizuka," he coughed, attempting to pull himself up to his feet. "What are you..."
"Shhh," she whispered almost panicking, looking to the side with a paranoid swallow. "Noa doesn't know I took this spell yet I don't think," she continued, biting her lip and continuing to hold her hand toward her friend. "So please, Yugi-han; I need you to be quite while I do this, and listen close... I can't heal your lifepoints," Shizuka went on somewhat embarrassedly, "But I can at least do this! You're the one he wants to fight," the girl pressed, Yugi staring with a slight frown as he moved to sit in a less awkward position. "You're the one he's fighting; this is all on you... But that doesn't mean Anzu-chan and I won't help," the mage protested fiercely. "I know you can win," she continued, pulling her brother's friend up almost roughly by the arm as her work was both completed and felt across his body. "So... Are you ready?"
His wounds were gone... Even the damage to his armor, which shouldn't have been possible to repair through a spell, was gone. Yugi stared at the girl for a moment, before looking back toward his opponent as a card appeared within his mind. This one... "...Of course," he finally said, before a small smirk appeared on his face. They would all fight then. "Are you ready, Shizuka?"
The girl nodded, gripping her spear and looking to the front with a look not at all unlike her brother before a match. "Definitely. ANZU-CHAN," she shouted out, a loud and almost deafening roar coming over the field as Noa approached them only to freeze in mid air. "NOW!"
"AEOLUS," came the woman's shout as the angel turned back with wide eyes, Ren growing into a massive and air-embodied serpent as it attempted to restrain the opponent before them.
"Meteor Fusilade," added Shizuka, the blast of hailstones battering Noa's wings as she charged forward, using the very snake that held the struggling teen in place for her foot holes before jumping back. "Now, Yugi-han!"
"Right," the boy shouted, pushing forward as the defensive mists around him vanished and the Alpha Warrior flew by his side. "I sacrifice Alpha the Magnet warrior," he announced, throwing his boomerang forward as it glowed with power and 'life' both, "Summoning the Dark Magician girl in weapon mode... And with that," he continued, flipping off stones and through the air as the blades honed in on his opponent. "I attack directly! BLACK BURNING," he roared, fires coating the 'upgraded' blade.
The next thing he saw as the blade connected was nothing but 'light'...
There were certain things he needed to get straight after being given his request. One would be why. Also how.
But mostly why. The whole 'just kill him please' thing was a little... Suspicious. Not to mention bizarrely cryptic for all the obvious meaning it held. Also vague. Ech. "Alrigh'," Katsuya coughed, a few moments of awkward silence having passed as he stared at the woman before him. The blond again resisted the urge to turn away as he stared, pushing the feeling back as he spoke. "...Say again what y' wan' me t' do t' this kid," he asked nervously, swallowing yet again as he attempted to control his 'fear'.
The 'ghost' as she claimed to be merely stared, a horribly grotesque ruin of a 'face' staring forward with nothing that could be called eyes or even a forehead left upon the neck and skull. There was barely any chin and jaw, next to no bone, if there was any at all... It was as though her entire face had simply been ripped from it's skull, the jaw blown to nothing and the rest left as collateral damage. Yet despite this horrific condition she was able to speak, the rest of her body greatly contrasting her 'face' as she stood. "You must kill Noa," she repeated plainly, holding out a hand in gesture as she repeated her request. "You must force him to relive that which took him to this place, and kill him." Re-live...
Wait. 'Kill him'... Noa was already dead, but if he re-lived... ...Ah... "...Reset," he 'clarified', shaking his head and glancing at the ground a moment in thought. Don't save the game, re-set... "You... Y' wan' me t' re-boot Noa..?"
The woman nodded, a dull yet somehow 'pleasant' breeze passing through in response rather than what would normally have been an approving smile. "Correct. Noa has lost himself," she explained, bowing her head in apparent sadness. "He has forgotten how to feel, and therefore is unable to do so any more. His time without a body has taken its toll. I ask you," she continued, holding out a hand to gesture to the blond before her once again. "What do you feel right now?" Feel..? Uh...
What the hell did she mean by... "Er... C-Confused," he muttered with a frown, scratching his head. "Kinda ticked too, what wi' all these questions an' th' room an all," he added with a slight grumble, "But mostly confused," he finished, "An' why th' hell are y'-"
"Wrong," the woman stated, cutting him off shortly as he frowned. "Again," she asked as the blond blinked a few times. "What do you feel."
What! But he'd already- "I already told y'," he protested, eyes wide as his fists clenched. "Confused! An' as 'f now, screw 'kinda' ticked, I'm startin' t' get royally pissed of-"
"Again, wrong," the ghost responded, cutting her guest off once more. "What do you FEEL?"
What did he- He told her already, he felt con- ...No he didn't.
Katsuya paled, his memories scattering as a cold feeling rushed through his body. Where was the 'feeling'? The racing pulse that came with rage, the rising heat, the low rumble in the back of his mind..? Oh god... Oh god oh god oh god... "Nothin'," he finally said with a swallow, eyes shaking with a horror that was only mimicked by a pre-set program. "I can'... I can' feel..." He was scared. But not really his mind told him, whispering nasty thoughts in his ear, that was only what he thought he should feel, what his mind was telling him to do. He wasn't really scared, not at all... How could he be? He didn't have a body to run away in. He didn't have a body to fill him with adrenalin and anxiety and- "What..." The blond found himself looking over his arms, dull visions of ones and zeroes filling his vision as he swallowed. Information was filling his mind like he'd never known before, thoughts that he'd never known and didn't want to know, and- "What is... What is this," he whispered in 'horror', "Why can't I-"
"Your body controls your emotions," the woman before him stated plainly, mask inexplicably returned to her face in the time he'd stared at his arms. "It controls the chemicals that induce reactions such as hatred, rage, happiness, despair... It is what allows you to feel, or at least while you are within this realm. But now, you are no longer connected to your body," she told him, the blond growing even paler with the words. He knew that already his mind was telling him, knew that but not because of his 'clairvoyance' the computer could not define, but because of what that same computer was telling him now without him even asking, even wanting- "Your body is no longer your own," the spirit whispered, "And your mind has become that of this realm. This is why I come to you," she continued, ignoring the mental breakdown her guest was experiencing. "This is why I ask for your aid; because you are now the 'God' of this realm, if at least for now." No... No no no no... He did NOT switch places with Noa, he did NOT lose his body, this stupid electronic voice that wasn't a voice and merely a packet of filed information would stop invading his mind right now, stop affecting his thoughts, stop...
Stop... This couldn't... It just couldn't..! "You... Yer sayin' I'M th' computer now," he choked, voice coming out almost hysterically as he shook, the fragmented programming attempting to reel his mind back into a healthy state of controlled emotion lest he destroy himself in his fear-filled realization. "N... No way," he laughed, grabbing his head as he stepped back, seeming to 'smoke' on the spot as he shuddered. "That ain'.. Yer crazy," he protested, fingers digging into his scalp and hair, "Completely crazy!"
"No," the ghost whispered almost snarkingly, despite the lack of any change in emotion other than 'neutral'. "I am dead." Dead... As Kastuya swallowed the woman 'floated' close, placing a calming and almost motherly hand on the teen's cheek. "Calm yourself," she whispered, bowing her head as for some reason beyond him he did just that. "You will survive." Survive... Survive of course he'd 'survive' but it wasn't really- "You will live," she pressed, the blond swallowing back another panic attack. "But know that this is what Noa felt in his early times, before the lack of a bond fully deteriorated his memories. He can no longer feel beyond the rage he has honed and embraced," she explained, stepping back somewhat as she brought her hand down to her side. "He has embraced the memories of hate for your two friends completely, leaving behind all others to wither away. You must remind him," the woman continued, looking to him almost oddly from behind the white and shining mask. "You must force him to remember these things," she pushed on, "So that your friends may retrieve their bodies and escape this place." Friends... And himself of course, his mind told him. It was only logical to think she meant him as well but-
Re-set... "Why can't I jus' take my body now," he whispered, shaking his head and looking to the woman as he frowned. "Wha's wrong w' jus' doin' tha'?"
"You know the answer," the woman responded, her guest's frown deepening with confusion. "Look within your mind; what do you see?"
See? Katsuya frowned, turning away somewhat with skepticism. He didn't see jack squat, what was he-
That wasn't true. And he knew it. Information flooded his mind and the blond's eyes widened, Katsuya looking back to the ghost almost in fear. Unlike before where it had been randomized, search engines were firing all pistons available and doing their best to explain, explain to the pulses of his mind, the cluster that made up his current being, explain to him... That Noa was beyond 'help' at this point. That he was as good as the ghosts you saw in the movies, enraged and beyond control, unable to think properly even with the 'calm' that the computer's programing brought him. To simply take him out now would end everyone's lives, as the boy would simply delete them all in his seemingly tranquil rage.
If they 'reset' him however, that wouldn't happen. It couldn't happen. Because he wouldn't be able to think that clearly. Because even the computer wouldn't be enough to let him think clearly, and in that moment it would simply focus on keeping him 'alive'. It was a cruel thing to do. But as the computer reminded him, again and again, it was the only way.
There was no other choice. "...Who... Who are you," he whispered almost in horror, information continuing to flood his mind even as his thoughts filed them away in databanks and systems just within his reach, as questions and answers arose and resolved and his snapping mind finally locked the flood out from his head to protect himself from the growing headache and damage that was drowning him. "Why are you telling me this," he asked further, the last scraps of information floating through the cracks in the wall. "I mean... Yer askin' me t' destroy 's mind," Katsuya continued in horror, "So why..."
"You know that already," she responded, gown billowing around her as she moved close. "After all... A mother knows what is best for her son," she stated plainly, his mind unable to be surprised at the words. "Now then," the woman whispered, gesturing behind her as the room seemed to melt into a somewhat more familiar destination, an empty black-ness that left the figures standing in a glowing darkness. "Allow me to guide you during your time away from the living..."
While the light continued to fill the air, a feeling of dread followed along side it, nagging and pulsing more and more with each second. "Is that ALL you can do," Noa was snarling, his figure barely visible in the shadows as Ren gave a panicked and pained cry. The snake had literally burst into the wind he was made from, shrinking back to the tiny serpent he'd been moments before as he and Anzu collapsed far at the side, their opponent smirking and laughing the entire time. "Pathetic," he sneered, the fog in the air thickening further around them. "You can't save anyone using this kind of power..." Save... What was he...
A mallet threw him back once again, Yugi giving a strangled cry as the Inaba Rabbit appeared to attack from the fog. His lifepoints remained unchanged as of yet... The rabbit had been summoned but it hadn't attacked, not yet, which meant he still had time before the beatings truly took effect. "Gh... Activate Trap," he called out, holding a hand forward as his boomerang returned from the far distance to slice through the rabbit's smoking form. "Dark Renewal! I sacrifice my Big Shield Guardna and your own Inaba White Rabbit to bring back the Dark Magician, weapon mode," the boy announced, pulling himself to his feet as the second of three bladed propellers on the boomerang changed in colour and form. The Dark Magician Girl's was pale and 'curved', with an almost comforting form... The Dark Magician's barely changed in colour, all but one of the vicious spikes along the blade's edge smoothing out. He had two monsters so far, and with the spell he'd pulled from his deck... "Next," he began, only for a voice to cut him off.
"Stone Gaze." Shit. That came from far closer than expected. The boy looked forward in horror as a ray began to charge toward him, the light already mere centimeters from his face. The fog had blocked it from sight... He hadn't been able to see and now that he was frozen in shock he'd managed to doom himsel-!
"GH!"
"LOOK OUT!" Yugi's body skidded across the ground as Shizuka stumbled into his place, her feet literally glued to the ground by the stone that had formed across them. It was slow moving, the growth of rock that should have covered his own. Nonetheless it was enough for the girl to already find herself largely unable to move, breathing laboriously as her spear clattered to the ground from her violently quivering hands. "Hah... Hng... Y-Yugi-han," she rasped, chest already coated in stone as he stared in silent horror. "No matter what... Bring my nihan back, alright," she choked, closing her eyes as pain spread across her arms and froze them in place. "No matter w... t..." Tears dotted her eyes as she gave a final look upward, the stone encasing her eyes to hold them in place. Shizuka... Shizuka was gone... Anzu was in worse condition than her partner...
And Noa had set a card, not that he cared as much as he normally would about that. From the other side of the field Ren was tending to his partner and looking over with an almost guilty eye. Staring at the statue as though all that had happened thus far was his own fault despite it quite clearly being out of his hands. Shizuka's statue had frozen part-way through movement, hair 'blowing' in the wind as she struggled to hold her balance. And in some twisted, disgusting show of callousness the body of her brother was laughing under their opponent's control. "Hnhnhnhnhn... HahaHAHA! Such is the misery that comes with 'powerlessness'," he sneered, wings beating at the air as he narrowed his eyes and began to rise higher above them. "A pity really... This would have ended so quickly if she'd just let you be..." This...
"Shizuka," Anzu whispered weakly from the side, before looking upward to mirror her partners scowl and staring at the 'angel'. "You... How could you... Gh!"
As the woman hissed with pain her friend narrowed his eyes, tightening his grip on the weapon in his hands as he scowled. "Tch... Don't think that you've escaped," Yugi finished, watching as their friend's body rose higher and higher to the air. "It's my turn now... And I'm going to keep my word! Cast the Dark Magic Ritual," he announced as he charged, rushing forward to jump from stone to stone in what looked to be a spiralling column rising higher and higher to the air. It was as though it were created simply to allow his opponent an escape; to allow him a further advantage as the rings of stone grew narrower and narrower despite the accompanying rocks far distant from these. Save them... He'd save them all, even if it killed him, he'd do that much..! "Tch... Your field is open," Yugi spat, an enormous and multi-runed seal appearing in the center of the column as he rose further around it at an un-ending run. "And your healing chain is broken without that rabbit of yours to attack! Now, let me show you my REAL power," he roared, holding his weapon close as it began to glow with power. "I tribute a monster of equal power to my own," he announced, jumping to the final stone above the seal to face his opponent with a scowl. "And as the winds of change appear in this darkness I ask that this monster RISE! I summon the Magician of Black Chaos," the boy finished, holding his weapon forth as a torrent of shadows launched from the seals below to change and warp his final blade, "WEAPON MODE! And with a combined attack of seventy-three hundred," he went on, the third blade of his boomerang somehow growing even darker than it had been before, "You don't stand a chance! I attack directly," Yugi roared, kicking forward from the stone to throw the boomerang at his opponent. "GO! Black Magic... Black Burning... Black Chaos..! HAAAHHHHH!"
The blades tore through the air and lined their path with shadows of all kinds amid the fog and wing-beaten sky. Flames from one, for the Dark Magician Girl. Violet, black lightning from another, the Dark Magician, and from the Magician of Chaos an almost frosted feel came forth, ice and vapor stinging the air. And as the blades connected with Noa's body to coat him in the substances, with his friend's body as the stretched out elements wrapped at his skin, an expression of horror could be seen his face... Before amid the so called screams of pain he grinned. "Hnhnhnhnhn... I lied." Shit. The blades hadn't connected yet he realized coldly, the weapon seeming to fold on its own accord. And as Noa's trap was activated two of the blades turned and curled in on each other, throwing them off course amid this 'fold'. They snapped one from from the handle, clashed against each other, until finally the blade representing the Dark Magician Girl was thrown toward him at an impossible to track speed. "Thanks for the added power," his opponent hissed, before a sudden force of flames and power threw him back.
"GH- HAHG-" Yugi's body slammed against the stone as the single blade skewered him to the stone, remaining shrapnel from the destroyed 'Dark Magician Girl' gouging his limbs as he held back a cry of pain. "Ngggh... Kah! Khk!" Blood... There was blood in his throat, his mouth, everywhere and he could taste it... A terrible taste, like copper... "Ngggh... Hah... Hahh..." He couldn't breath, his heart mind as well have been erased from existence with where the blade now sat, and as he continued to struggle with his breath... "Hn... Hng... Gh..."
"Hnhnhnhnhn... So naive," Noa sighed, shaking his head with a mocking laugh "Even in this form... That 'lighter half' of yours really rubs off doesn't he," the teen said with a smirk, landing to the ground as he moved closer to his sufficiently immobilized opponent on the fairly large 'final rock' they stood upon. 'Rubs off'... And just what was that supposed to mean..? "Hn! Come on now... Don't look at me like that," his opponent chuckled. "Your power is absolutely astounding," he whispered, the smirk widening as he brushed back a lock of blond hair from his face and moved closer. "In fact... You don't need to use it against me," he offered a dark, unpleasant chill traveling up his spine as a result before the 'angel' turned to face him. "There's no need to ruin this body," Noa hissed, "No reason for me not to 'cope' with something else," the teen continued, far too close to the boy than Yugi found comfortable. "Lend me your power," he whispered, gripping his opponent's chin to force him to look at his eyes. "Fight at my side, I'll release everyone you care for," the blond offered, before glancing to the ground. "Well... That is to say, all but her," he 'warned', Yugi narrowing his eyes. All but...
'Her'... Everyone had turned to stone, all but Anzu and if she knew what was good for her she would be remaining among the statues where Noa couldn't reach her. Noa had 10,000 lifepoints. He had three hundred. And as he stared at Noa he could see a monster being set, along with two cards, likely in preparation for a tribute, the glass shimmering behind him despite the fog blocking even the 'sun' from sight. Save them all... They'd all be saved... "...Everyone," he repeated almost quietly, before narrowing his eyes. No, he reminded himself, a weak cough shuddering through his body as it hung limp on the blade. Not everyone. "...Why leave Kaiba," he asked darkly, his opponent merely pressing forward.
"Does it really matter," the blond whispered, bringing his hand back from the boy's chin. "You hate her anyways and always have; it's fine if we leave her here, and it won't matter when I release everyone else after all... Come on," Noa pressed, his target's eyes quivering as he rolled his mind over the words and what the outcome could possibly be. "Come on... What's one life to save seven," he hissed, only for a shadow to arise from behind him before the boy could even consider a response.
"Ruin," he could hear his friend snarl dangerously, standing at the far edge of the stone 'field' with her staff pointed forward. Anzu's spell had activated...
But Anzu was not the one speaking now that the spell was cast. He was not the one countering Noa's argument with words he had never expected to hear from this being. "What is 'one life'," he asked, fangs dripping with shadows that burned through the stone itself. "HN! It's EVERYTHING," Ren snarled, massive and shadow covered form rising to the ground 'above' before slithering around his partner to hiss threateningly at his opponent. "Even ONE LIFE is worth it if you can save them all..! I might not know much about 'friends'... And as you said," he spat, looking down upon Noa as the 'god' glanced upward almost blankly. "There is much I need to share, so much I've continued to hide..! But just as the bond between siblings is a powerful thing," he went on, Anzu apparently ignoring the fact that this was supposedly the soul of an only child, "I'm coming to find 'friendship' as well to be just as powerful in the face of adversity... And no matter what sets people apart," Ren roared, the serpent shaking his head as the 'flames' of shadow continued to rise, "No matter what divides and forms these bonds, WE ARE STILL THE SAME," he howled, charging forward and around to throw Noa into a floating cliffside with vicious ease. The blond gave out a strangled shout as he was beaten against the stone, his opponent continuing on with a hiss. "The others would agree... Wouldn't you think," he seemed to ask his 'friends', Yugi staring almost in confusion at the snake before him.
"That's right," Anzu chorused, holding her staff as her familiar arose above the ground and taking a stance from the cliff stone's edge. "I might not like Kaiba... And I don't know if I'll ever be able to completely forgive her for what she's done," the woman admitted, looking to the side with a bit lip. "But that doesn't mean I'll condemn her to the fate you're 'offering'," she snarled, eyes flashing between her usual blue-brown and a bizarre golden hue. "We're going to keep fighting," the woman continued. "Neh... Yugi?"
Yugi stared, body still hanging limp on the stone. The blade took up most of his torso it seemed... 'Good bye internal organs', that was for certain, with his heart gouged from existence in the resulting 'crossfire'. But as he stared forward, he couldn't think of that, or even the pain that the blade was forcing upon him. He could only stare at 'Ren', whom he was identifying as Malik more and more... At Anzu, who was completely oblivious to that fact, unable to even comprehend the possibility..!
But if 'Ren' was 'Malik', that same Malik who had turned friend against friend... Only to now stand with them, fighting along their side with words that he didn't need to say nor was expected to say... Then perhaps... Even despite all that happened, they could trust him right now. Perhaps his words were sincere, or at least, that was what his lighter half whispered in the back of his mind. And as he gave a stiff nod, he found those words more than proven...
In fact, as their opponent snarled and wiped the blood from his mouth, he almost wished they hadn't been. "Tch... I didn't ask your opinion," Noa hissed, holding a hand forward as he shook his wings free of dust and debris. "Stone Gaze," he snarled, Anzu hurriedly raising her staff with a confident scowl.
"REFLECT," she responded coldly, only to watch the sheet of glass that appeared before her shatter in the attack and allow the distant ray to continued charging. "H-HAH! W-What-!"
No... No, that couldn't- "ANZU," Yugi shouted, unable to move from his spot as he gripped and pulled at the blade and the stone both. "A... ANZU!" Light was filling the air as the shattered glass merged with the fog, seemingly causing it to glow. He couldn't see her, he couldn't-
"TCH-" When the light faded from the contact attack, Ren was no longer coated in shadows, or even any other element typical of Anzu's large repertoire of spells. His size was still the same but he was now covered in those same golden scales of his 'default' form, large violet eyes peering down as he curled around his partner in some huge and protective sphere of coils. He wasn't completely stone though, and if anything it had barely affected him.
For now at least. "R-Ren," came Anzu's worried voice, her body scarcely visible between the protective coils, each one seeming to form the bars of a 'cage'. "You... Why did you..!"
"Gh... Hah... The things I do for you," he muttered jokingly, his voice no longer shrouded in the echo of flames or shadows that prevented his voice and that of 'Malik's from being synonymous. There was no one there to notice this however, other than himself. Anzu couldn't remember. The others were made of stone, and it was only his lighter half that was gasping in shock for the moment as the snake attempted to laugh. "Hehehe... HeheHA! You're a real PAIN, you know that," he spat, the stone rising further as he looked about the comparatively small field. "Ghn..."
"Gh... 'Ren'," Yugi muttered, unwilling to ruin the serpent's last moments by revealing his identity. "You..." This was 'Malik'. If he wanted a body then his best option was to simply let someone die.
So why did he fight for them? "Hah... It's strange," the snake whispered, partner unable to hear as he lowered his head before Yugi and swallowed back a wave of pain. "I've only spent a few hours, 'days' within my mind, traveling with you. I just wanted to know who you were," he continued, eyes beginning to cloud over with stone despite the curse having barely made it to the middle of his body. "I was just curious... It wasn't supposed to be like this," Malik protested almost regretfully, mouth closing over the broken hilt of the blade holding Yuig in place, "A few days... Should not overpower a number of years, with what I've done," he rasped, eyes narrowing despite their now lack-luster sheen. A number of years...
"Then... You really are him," the boy hissed, drawing back from the stone and his 'former' enemy both only to watch as Malik pulled the blade roughly from his body. "Gh-!"
"I still don't quite trust you all," the snake muttered, looking away to glance at the side. "How can I; I barely know you as it is. But even so, despite the knowledge of my hate for you, despite these feelings I should have," he pressed chokingly, "I can't help but feel connected to these others... So if you don't fix this soon, I'll be haunting your ass, understand, 'Pr-Ah'..? Don't... Screw this... Up... GH..! Ngh..." Malik appeared to shake himself, scarcely able to lift his head back to rest above the remainder of his now stone body. His jaws could barely move now... The weight of the rock was too much, crushing his lungs, his entire being. "Gh... An... Zu," he whispered, the woman within the now stone 'cage' holding silent as her partner's voice became audible to her once again. "...I'm sorry... For everything..." 'Everything'..?
Anzu merely looked up at where her partner's head lay, swallowing almost nervously. "S-Sorry," she squeaked in shock, pulling back from the stone as she clutched her staff. "What are you talking about, 'sorry'..!" She hadn't heard Malik's confession... Hadn't heard him reveal himself... He was apologizing... For the mind control, for the lies, the manipulation, the near death experience she'd had... "Ren," Anzu cried, a last breath escaping the air as the snakes head finally turned into solid stone. "REN! REN, ANSWER ME! ...REN!"
Stone... He was stone... "Hah... Gh-... Hah..." Yugi stumbled forward to lean against the massive stone snake, blood spilling from his wound as he numbly grabbed his now two-bladed weapon from the ground. "Anzu... He's turned to stone Anzu," he rasped, fingers digging into the scales of the beast as a wave of seemingly renewing blood dripped from his mouth and wounds. "He... He won't answer Anzu... He can't..."
"No... No that didn't happen," the woman muttered, shaking her head from within the cage. "We're... We're 'linked'," she protested almost hysterically, "He said it himself... That couldn't have happened, it couldn't, I-! ...I..!" Both teens looked toward their opponent, Anzu's fingers digging between the cracks in Malik's stone scales as she continued to tense. "...Gh... That boy... That... You're PATHETIC NOA," she roared, her friend merely clutching his wounds to glare at his opponent intensely. "And you know what... No matter how smart you are, how 'powerful' you call yourself," Anzu continued to rage, "You're just a KID! You're a scared little boy hiding behind other peoples faces with nothing to show for it," she snarled, unable to do much else from her prison as their opponent stared. "YOU HEAR ME? I'LL NEVER FIGHT FOR YOU!"
Noa seemed to smirk at the muffled cries in the stone, shaking his head. "Really," he chuckled, narrowing his eyes and continuing to stare toward the 'cage'. "I never said I was talking to you," the blond growled. "I'm talking to my 'friend'," he continued as his emotions bounced back to cheer yet again, holding out a hand in gesture to his current opponent. "Yugi... Normal people can't understand this power... But I know you can," he hissed, any convincing and controlling tones flying past their target as he growled in distaste. "So tell me... What's your answer..?" He had to ask..!
"My answer," he hissed questioningly, folding the blades into a single 'sword' as he ran forward and jumped toward his opponent. "What kind of MORON do you take me for," he snarled, slashing with the blades as his opponent dodged each blow in a calm side-step in the air. "To join with someone who cares only for power," the boy spat, continuing to attempt his frantic attack as he landed and pushed from the ground again, "WHY WOULD I EVER DO THAT!"
A scratch appeared on Noa's cheek with those words, the blond grabbing the blades and holding them tight as cuts appeared on his hands. His grin had faded. So had any humor in his voice, and as he continued to hold the block his opponent pushed just as hard to cut through it. "Tch... Well... I never called you an idiot now did I," he 'asked' staring at the boy dully. "Really... How imature. Groundbreaking," he muttered, a wave of smoke coming from far below the ground. "Adding a spirit monster to my hand."
"Card Destruction," Yugi countered, before both teens pushed back against each other to skid along the dirt ground, their hands lost and refreshed of any and all cards. "And now I attack," he snarled, holding his weapon forward as he pulled at the handles. "Hahhhh... BLACK CHAOS," he roared, the blades separating into two as he rushed forward with the first. The wave of ice blew off to slice through his opponent's 'shield', the second blade covering itself in electricity and shadows as he ran. "And following that-" Smoke erupted from the attacked sheet of glass, the easily shattered form coating his second blade as it was weighed to the ground to drag the boy to a stop. "Gh-" The monster... It was Otohime..! When flip summoned, switch one monster's position... And given the stony appearance of his 'Dark Magician', he could guess who. "Damn it..."
The boy ground his teeth as his opponent chuckled, his second set card rising upward as he smirked. "Hnhnhn... Too bad," he sneered, eyes narrowing in mirth. "Activate Vessel of Illusions," the blond across from him announced, more smoke rising to the air as a a ghostly form in the image of the last destroyed monster came to the field, brushing her hair back before resting in mid-air. "And assuming you're done of course..."
Was there anything else to do..! "Tch... Bastard..."
Noa continued to laugh, wings spreading wide as he grinned. "Oh... Don't say that now," he chuckled. "There's still one person left after all..." Wh- That..! "Particularly since it's my turn," the blond hissed, Yugi's blood draining from his face in response. "And you don't want me to remember that..." Still... Still one person...
Oh no.
"Anzu," he shouted, looking to the side with wide eyes as the woman as well paled from within her prison. She couldn't move from in there... She was a sitting duck, she'd- "I-"
He wouldn't be able to- "Oh don't worry," his opponent chuckled, looking to the cage in amusement as both teens before him swallowed. "I think I like this scenario much better... Now your precious 'Anzu' can watch you die after all," he continued, voice far too calm than could be sanely possible in the situation. "She can watch as I tear you to nothing but shreds," Noa hissed, eyes wide and far from mentally sound, fingers twitching in some sort of anticipation. This...
This monster... "I'm going to do the same to you," the boy muttered with wide eyes, his only support for the line being that the body he looked at was not the true body of his friend.
Noa however merely laughed at the threat, watching as his opponent abruptly retched and forced out another wave of blood with a cry of pain. "Hnhnhn... HAHAH! Of course... But you don't have this," he sneered, snapping his fingers as the weighted blade was ripped violently from Yugi's hands and pulled forward. "Change of Heart," he snarled, taking the Dark Magician into his control and looking to the side as he held it in his grasp. "Tell me, 'Anzu'," he shouted, glancing to the shadowed prison as he sneered. "Do you have any last words for this boy before I kill him? Perhaps some complaints," he offered, "Or some curses... You don't know what will happen to you when he dies after all..."
There was no answer from within the stone prison, and as Yugi gripped his single blade he found himself looking to the ground in pain. Silence. She couldn't even speak to him, neither to her opponent or even her friend. Silence...
A rush of flames was appearing before him, forming from a smoke in the air. The blade that Noa had pulled from his grip been tossed into the fires before him, grabbed by a flaming hand as the spirit token's smoke formed an enormous and flaming giant. He knew this monster, somehow he realized, biting his lip as he gripped his last weapon. This monster... "Hino-Kagu-Tsuchi," his opponent announced, the monster rushing forward with a snarl, "Equipped with the flaming fist, and held to the field by 'Spiritual Energy Settle Machine," the teen continued with a laugh, the 'fist' in question merely coating his stolen blade in fire. "Now burn in HELL," he roared, Yugi throwing his own weapon up in defense only to be knocked back with a shout. "HAHAHAHAHAA!"
"GHRAGH-" Blood... He shouldn't have been alive... Blood... He couldn't hear his partner, his lighter half any more... ...So much blood... "Gh... Ngh..." His last weapon had been destroyed he realized coldly, the 'Dark Magician' that Hino-Kagu had continued to fight with after the sacrifice now pinning him to the stone in a fashion not unlike his Dark Magician Girl had in death. The flaming giant before him was leering down at him with a wicked grin, and with nothing to defend himself this next turn would be his last, the blade in his shoulder burning the skin and muscles around it. He was about to lose... Anzu would remain trapped in a cage while her friends held silent and cold company, and-
"REFLECT," a strong voice called out, the flames their opponent sent forward rebounding on the monster. Yugi's eyes flung open as he turned to the sound, staring in disbelief as the fires blew both 'Kagu-Tsuchi' and his summoner far across the field. That voice... Anzu's voice, with the woman standing before him now and staring forward with wide and determined eyes. Anzu... At the last moment, she'd escaped. In the moment between 10,000 life points and 100 she'd escaped...
"Anzu," he whispered, unable to move with the blade in his chest and shoulder. "You..."
"Take a break alright," she told him, smiling softly as she looked back to the boy almost sadly. "This isn't over yet... Because I believe in you," she continued seriously, pointing her staff forward and looking back to their opponent. "No matter what! I'll never lose faith in Yugi," Anzu roared, running forward and hopping the flaming giant with ease to take aim at the 'angel' before them. "HAIL STORM!"
"Tch!" Noa hurriedly took to the skies as his 'second' opponent landed to the ground, a blast of snow and ice narrowly grazing his wings before it fell to the ground in a shattered white rain around her. "So you escaped did you," he snarled, pointing his hand forward as flames rushed toward Anzu from his monster. "Fine! I'd thought of simply waiting for you to change your mind," the teen continued, his monster easily proving enough of a distraction for the woman below, "But enough is enough! STONE GAZE," he roared, Anzu turning just as that shout came through the air. "NOW DISAPPEAR!"
No... NO! "ANZU," the boy screamed, both Noa and his monster laughing as the pinned boy stared. The light had connected with her brow and acted immediately, and as the stone traveled there was nothing he could do. Nothing but shout... And stare. "ANZU!"
She was frozen in fear, just as all the others were once the light had faded and the stone had set. Just as those below them were, and as Kaiba and Mokuba were on the ground far beneath those cliff-like rocks. He couldn't move he lamented mentally, fingers weakly pulling at the blade in his chest as he bowed his head. He was too weak... And he couldn't move... "There's only one left," Noa taunted darkly, the twisted form of his friend's voice only serving to further push him into despair. "Only one mortal piece of scum before my sights... Perhaps it's time to die," he whispered, alighting to the ground and watching his monster step forward to attack. Die...
He was going to die he thought to himself, dull eyes staring to the ground as his hands finally fell from the blade pinning him to the stone. He'd failed the others, failed everyone... He hadn't even taken his turn yet, an action that was now the only thing standing between him and death. Or at least, it was all that stood between himself and a quick one. He was too weak to take his turn... He couldn't move, he couldn't think. He had no monsters on the field or in his hand to fight with. He had no cards in his hand to spare him, and his friends were gone, frozen in a permanent casing of rock. He... He...
The boy bit his lip, shaking somewhat as he continued to look to the ground. Was that really it, he asked himself. Was he going to lose here... After all the trust they'd put in him..?
Not quite, he thought he heard someone say, the boy closing his eyes over as he slowly succumbed to weakness. But he couldn't have heard someone... His lighter half had seemingly been locked off long ago, and the idea of anyone else being here... "Hnhnhn... Come now 'Pharaoh'," an oddly familiar voice muttered as his vision faded, his senses growing dull and his body falling limp. "We BOTH know you're better than that..." Both...
Both... "Hah!" Yugi's eyes flung open as breath met his lungs, the scent of stale and musty tomb air coming through his body. His wounds had vanished completely, and his senses had been returned in entirety... And as to where he was... "Hah... Hah... ...Hah..."
This place... An endless maze rising upward and growing larger with halls twisted in on themselves like a macabre labyrinth, filled with monsters that shifted in the shadow's recesses and traps for those who dared to trespass. A darkened prison of muddled memories that he had long since given up on making sense of, long since given up on attempting to decipher in the darkness of his 'tomb'. The shadows had lessened as time went on of course, he thought to himself, stepping forward somewhat as he looked around the room of his soul. His time with his other half, and with everyone else had helped considerably in that matter... It was thanks to them that light filled the bottom reaches of his tomb, and that it was now at last slowly making its way upward. 'You've gotten better,' Yugi told him once, the pair having taken an 'in soul visit' to the lighter one's own childlike room. 'You're more trusting now, I think. That's why there's more light here.' Yes... More light...
A whole lot of good that had gotten him in now though, when a good strong 'penalty game' was exactly what he wanted to do to his opponent. "On the contrary," the voice said with an almost snarking tone from behind the soul room's owner, "It's helped me considerably." Gh- The boy tensed, hairs standing on end as his eyes widened. That... That voice! Was that even possible, after what had happened on-
Yugi turned to address the expected spirit, only to frown and draw back as he was met with a form of nothing but white. A form that he failed to recognize completely, and a form that caused him to stare in confusion and silence both. There were no features on the spirit's body to define much more than slight masculinity. There was no mouth from which to speak, and no hair unless the 'flames' that made its body could be considered as such, not that they resembled it at all. So no; this was not who he'd thought. But it was nonetheless someone he knew he realized coldly. Someone to whom he'd spoken with before. Someone who had a few questions to answer. "...You... You were in Jonouchi's mind," the boy hissed, eyes widening further with realization. Just who-
The ghost merely rolled its eyes, crossing his arms. "Very true," he chuckled almost darkly. "And now," the ghost continued, "I'm not. And here I thought chabar's powers of observation were 'impressive'," he snorted, the boy across from him narrowing his eyes with an annoyed rage.
"You... Just what are you doing in my soul," he hissed, clenching his fists as he took a slight step back. "What am I doing here," he pressed further, idly noting that the clothing he wore was neither the attire he'd put on for Battle City nor the armor from the game he'd been trapped. "I was in a duel moments before," Yugi muttered darkly. "So why am I-"
"You were being an idiot," the spirit said rather plainly, as though the statement answered all that he needed to know. "But that's beside the point; come now... Over here," he clarified with a gesture to the side. "It took a good deal of energy to bring you all here, and I'd rather not waste time." Hn! Well if he was going to complain about it then- ...Hold on... All..?
Yugi frowned at the statement, nonetheless following after the ghost as it turned away and walked toward a door at the side. Just a simple door at the side of one of the halls... Wooden, not like the stone and cloth he continuously found from the front of his memories. A door with a name-plate not unlike the one at 'his' house in fact, at his lighter half's room. A name-plate that had only recently gained a humorous 'nii' at the end, with the excuse that it was a play on 'ni-ko'. It was just a door... But walking inside he was met with a warm breeze and a group of smiling faces, proving it to be far more than simply that.
"Ah... Other me," the lighter Yugi cried, running forward to pull his second half into a tight embrace before moving back with a grin. "Hah! You're still alive!"
And... And so were they, he thought in shocked relief. So were... "We were worried when Anzu mentioned the last move," Honda muttered, the boys before him walking further into the room as the Other Yugi looked around in wide eyed curiosity. "We couldn't be sure if you would... Well..."
"Die," a childish voice finished, a strange and completely golden shade at the side crossing his arms.
"M... Ren," the other Yugi muttered, narrowing his eyes in confusion as he looked to the 'flame' that formed a small and child-sized ghost. So he was here as well then... But... "How..." He shook himself off, looking around him in silence and confusion as he took in the sights of everyone. White kimono, each one covering their hands and feet... Otogi even had a headband of sorts to match. All clothing aside however, not to mention ambient glow, there were other matters to deal with. "...What is this room," he finally asked after a moment, the two 'spirits' standing to the side as the boy's friends gathered somewhat in the center. "I... I've never seen this one..."
The others smiled somewhat at that, the shortest of the group looking to his partner with a slight grin. "It's a new room," 'light' Yugi answered, the boy's eyes wide with calm and comfort as his other self stared. "I know that we haven't found any of your old memories," he went on, looking to the side somewhat awkwardly. "But that doesn't mean we can't give you new ones to call your own right?" Ah...
A room for his new memories..? "That's right," Otogi said with a smirk, unknowingly answering the silent question at the same time. "No matter what," the teen went on, "We're all here... Not to say we know how of course," he added with a nervous cough, rubbing the back of his head. "All I know is that my vision had gone black... And suddenly, this guy appeared," the teen finished, gesturing to where the white ghost merely 'smirked' from the sides.
"He saved our lives," Honda added, swallowing somewhat uncomfortably as he continuously stared at the 'right over left' style of the kimono he wore. "But... We don't know who he is..."
The ghost continued to smirk, shaking his head as he gave an 'answer'. "All you need to know is that I'm connected to your illustrious 'Jonouchi Katsuya'," he told them with crossed arms, the mouth-less smirk widening into a grin. "Just because chabar's body has been taken and his mind 'disconnected," the spirit went on almost plainly, "Does not mean I can't stick my nose in Noa's plans. Like I told you," he explained almost smugly. "It was hard, but no 'computer' can defeat a spirit such as myself." What...
This thing had done... What, exactly? "Yugi-han," Shizuka said after these words, the boy looking back as the girl smiled and pulled him from his confused thoughts. "We just want you to know that we're all here, alright," she told him, the boy blinking as she continued on. "All of us," she repeated, almost appearing to place emphasis on the words. "We're all cheering for you..!" Cheering...
"But..." But that didn't mean anything... That... "But I don't have any cards," he whispered, shaking his head as he frowned. "There's nothing I can do," the boy protested, "I-"
"THAT," a familiar voice growled, Yugi tensing as a 'shadow' rose behind him, "Had better not be a surrender I hear..." That voice... That was...
...Kaiba. Yugi turned, eyes wide as the woman stood behind him with a thick scowl. She looked 'different' again it seemed, compared to normal. Everyone in the room was wearing a kimono of sorts, white and almost ghost-like in appearance after all. But in Kaiba's case it seemed all the more noticeable... Though that could have simply been due to the fact that she was, for once, wearing a woman's kimono. (Or even a kimono period.) Her brother stood at her side as well for the moment, an expression of determination similar to that of his sister's on his face. And like the others he as well was dressed in the white fabrics, the right side inexplicably folded over the left rather than the reverse. "...Kaiba," he muttered, the others staring in silence as the glare intensified.
"Hey, Yugi," Mokuba said with a frown, crossing his arms as he looked to the few-inches taller boy. "Answer her question- are you really thinking of giving up," he asked threateningly, "When Katsuya-nii is out there? When all of us are counting on you?" When they were all... Counting on...
Ahhhhhhh- That didn't help..! The boy bit his lip as guilt rose, and in response the woman standing before him snorted. "Tch... Honestly... You must be losing your touch," Kaiba hissed, arms crossed over her front as she looked down at the boy. "Did you forget," she muttered darkly, "Exactly whose deck you're using..?" Whose deck..? His and hers, that was eas- "Those cards come from my soul and yours as well," Kaiba muttered, eyes narrowing as an odd expression came over her face. "And this isn't the time to give in," she whispered, the room seeming to fill with an odd energy in response. "Our chance still rests in the cards... So don't just believe in your deck," she continued warningly, the energy increasing as the room and the others both began to fade from sight. "Believe in mine... And remember that you're not the only one fighting," Kaiba called out, a sudden darkness coating Yugi's eyes as he was flung back out from the soul room. "There's one more person there... So tell that MUTT to get his head cleared!" M-
Jonouchi. That was right... Jonouchi was still there, right he thought to himself as he began to awaken. Always there, his mind corrected after a moment, as though a voice had whispered it in his mind. Always.
And in another realm, that same blond began his next attack.
'Being' a computer was taking a bit to get used to. In all honesty, getting used to it would probably be bad, if not worse than 'not' though, so as much a pain in the ass as it was to do all this without the proper knowledge he was holding that 'wall' he'd somehow erected in his 'head' for as long as he could. Noa wasn't 'completely' in his body after all. Just connected, tied in such a way that he would be able to sap from the nerves and emotional twists with the added bonus of a quick getaway if required. And since his body could only take one mind to link up with nerves and things, he ended up knocked off into cyberspace as a result.
Or at least that was what 'Rota', apparently Noa's dead mom, had told him now. 'Rota', who had not once been asked for her name, and had simply been identified by the last clear thought he pulled before erecting that wall. ...
...
... This had been so much easier when all he was worried about was a homicidal Egyptian with a 'staff' of immeasurable power on an airship. Katsuya sighed as the screens of light hovered around him, biting his lip and returning to his current task of moving them about and doing 'whatever' with them. Supposedly this was something his head found 'familiar' enough to work with, these glowing panels of light. Something that would let him do what it was Rota was asking of him.
A 'something' that he wasn't completely sure he shouldn't be feeling sick about. Fingers flew across floating panels as though guided by an unseen force. In a way they probably were; guided by a 'force' he meant. Rota and the two programs told him they'd do their best to make this quick, to keep him from succumbing to the same fate Noa had. Keep him from becoming too 'aware' to pass the point of no return. But time had already slowed for him. What were mere seconds mind had become hours and years for him, and it was with that knowledge in mind, the knowledge that this and being unable to truly feel fearful about this was not normal, that kept him moving.
That made him finally reach out into those well buried files beyond the wall and beyond all of Noa's own great 'walls' and pull them up to begin the connection to Noa's own mind. A knowledge that had his thoughts tracing over them as he did so... As he bit his lip and bowed his head, knowing exactly what he was about to do. All of Noa's earliest memories were in this file. Born as the only son to the Kaiba family, to 'Rota' of Germany and Gozaburo of Japan, with a life that was decided effectively from birth. The classic story of the spoiled rich kid even.
And Noa, unlike Seto, had loved to learn. To study, read, write... His classes went far beyond his parents expectations and quite likely as a result his life was both charmed and cursed. The most elite of university level professors, of tutors in music, arts, horseback riding... He thought he saw Kuma for a moment, the horse nickering and nibbling at his rider's hair. And even with all the lessons, all the multitudes of things that he had to occupy his time, he still had plenty to sleep, plenty to eat, and plenty to spare.
It was as though... Everything Seto had gone through was a cruel joke. All these happy memories, times spent in Germany with relatives from Rota's side, times spent in Japan with his father on cruises, hikes, even just the occasional class he walked in on... Because Noa was a 'perfect' child, intelligent beyond their wildest dreams, which meant that when it came to Noa, he would never 'want' for anything.
You couldn't say that life had been a 'game' for Noa. Life had simply been life, lived in cheer even when his only friends were tutors and a single group of little girls with their brother at a church. A church the girls didn't even want to come to; hardly friends, or at least that had been Noa's opinion. So Life hadn't drawn any strange metaphorical definitions... It had simply been something to enjoy. And when the car sped through the light and slammed him across the intersection that life had come to an abrupt end...
Almost, at least. It was as Hobson had said those months before. He'd been barely alive, with his last 'meals' nothing more than nutrients in a tube, with his body beaten to a pulp and darkened almost black by the bruising on his skin. His organs were destroyed, his bones were crushed... 'FIX HIM,' Gozaburo was crying, the man's voice filled with a desperate rage as he looked into the room he'd been locked out of. 'SAVE HIM!'
But as the doctors shank back under the imposing man's shouts they could only say 'We CAN'T!' He was in the hands of the gods now. He was beyond repair... And it would be best to unplug the cord, and alleviate his suffering.
But Gozaburo had other plans and as he watched the scene, he wondered if Noa had perhaps been a ghost, like Rota, for that time. Simply watching, crying... Unable to speak to his family, unable to understand what was going on... Gozaburo took Noa to a low level, highly enclosed room beneath the depths of the sea, connected to the base 'Alcatraz' by naught but a single 'emergency exit'. There was an immense computer there, something that would have changed the field of technology forever, something that already ran the systems at an incredible pace... Something that could have revolutionized the entire world.
Had Gozaburo not done what he did now at least. Wires were connected to the boy's skull, the boy whose body was floating in a vat of odd coloured fluid to prevent his form from decay and death both. Electric pulses and synapses traveled into a programmed device and the body was soon done with, the life passing from it completely. They had the funeral that weekend.
And that was where everything went down hill. On the field Noa was feeling the effects of his transfer, watching the funeral through the horror filled eyes of a ghost and a security camera both. He was beginning to feel frightened... Scared... Feel the full effects of being tied to a body once more.
And there was more to come, he told himself with a frown. Far more.
"WHUA!" Noa woke up with a jolt that first 'day' of his new life, illusionary eyes wide and his so-called breathing haggard as he stared up at the ceiling above his bed. "Gha... Hah... Hah... Hah... ah..." The boy, just barely thirteen, pulled himself out of the bed in confusion as he stared at his hands, watching them quiver and shake with his still present unease. He'd been hit by a car hadn't he, he asked himself. Struck down violently on his way to that store with his father, where they were going to get that puppy... Run across the road, left for dead, unable to move as he succumbed to a numb and sleep-like state... Only to wake up now. "H-Hah... It... It was just a dream," he laughed, rubbing his head. There were no bruises after all, no broken bones and bleeding organs. Just his clean, healthy, and uninjured body. "It was just a dream..." The clock at the side said that it was already noon. Noa had stared at the clock and frowned, before moving to the door. "Why didn't anyone wake me up," he asked himself, grabbing the handle. He was supposed to be woken up at eight am sharp, so why- ...The handle had jammed in the door... "What's going on," he'd asked quietly when the door didn't open, only to jiggle the handle and freeze.
The door was locked.
This wasn't just the handle jamming. It was locked. "...What... H-HEY! HEY, WHO DID THIS," the boy shouted, pulling at the door before kicking it in an attempt to gain attention to his plight. "SOMEONE, HEY!"
"Noa," a voice called out, a somewhat forced calm in his tones.
The pulling had stopped at that moment, Noa turning from the door as the computer screen on his desk flicked on. His father's face, tight with some unknown emotion could be seen... But why? Why would he speak through a web-cam program when he was still in the same house..? These thoughts were pushed from mind as he stared, the events of his 'nightmare' coming to mind as he swallowed. "D... Dad," he whispered, running over to the screen as a cold feeling continued to rise in his chest. "Dad, why is my door locked," the boy asked, staring in confusion. "Why..." He shook himself, putting on a slight smile. It didn't matter 'why' right? His father was there... His father would help him, there was no doubt..! "Hah... Dad," he pressed, eyes wide, "Get me out of here..! Someone's locked me in my room, and-"
"I can't do that," his father said with a swallow, a slight wince on his face as he watched the boy before him. Can't... He couldn't...
Something was wrong, Noa's mind had told him. Something was very wrong, very very wrong. His father wouldn't say these things, not without a reason, not without- "...What do you mean you 'can't," he whispered, tears beginning to develop in his fear as he pushed back somewhat from the screen. "Dad... Daddy, let me out of here," he begged, shaking his head as the tears began to fall. "Let me out!"
"Noa, I need you to listen carefully," the man told him, bowing his head somewhat as his son broke down before him. It was the look one had when they were telling someone a family member had died, or even a pet.
It was never something you were supposed to see after yours though, or at least that was Katsuya's opinion... An opinion softly whispered into Noa's ears as the boy found himself overcome with emotion, and as he gripped his head and screamed from within his stolen mind.
"Your body is dead," Gozaburo stated almost bluntly, though the tone had in fact attempted slight comfort through the words. "There was an accident... You can never leave this place," he continued, as though not completely sure as to how to explain the situation. But what was this place Noa had asked, the computer screen becoming a wall of 'windows' to reveal the room behind his father, allowing the two a clearer view of the other. What was it..? ...It was a computer. "I've loaded your mind into this world," Gozaburo had told him. "You can live on, even if I can never touch you again," the man whispered, fingers momentarily brushing against the screen before he quickly steeled his emotions. "No matter what, you are always my son, remember that," he told him, a small puppy appearing at his son's side in an attempt to offer comfort. "Always..."
Always... Noa had broken down with those words, and in the virtual world of present time he'd curled in on himself in his own pocket realm, holding his head. Curled in and shouted to his opponent in rage, defending himself and calling a monster to his aid as he regained... Or at least attempted to regain his composure. I'm sorry, he thought to himself, digging through the files even as Noa recalled the moment after, the moment he'd noticed the dog at his side, to calm himself and push forward in attack. He was so sorry... But while it was good that he had a little comfort from that moment...
He couldn't let that happen. As Noa had said, the world was small, fragile, something he pushed through in memory as a reminder. Though there was no limit to where he wanted to go, to what he wanted to see, he could never hold a conversation with those in that realm. 'It's nice today, isn't it,' he asked the ice-cream saleswoman, not caring any more that the weather was 'always' nice, and that it was always sunny and never once snowy, rainy, or any other variant of season. The woman had simply repeated her request for 'Noa-sama's order. The world wasn't real a nasty voice now whispered in Noa's ear, despite the source telling himself that he should be horrified with what he was doing. It was never real, he pressed, and the insanity began to sit in. The sun was always shining and the rain would never fall. Throw a stone at the dog and it simply continued to wag its tail, barking barking barking with cheer as everyone around said 'good-morning, Noa-sama' and the summer heat continued to push down because how else will you be able to eat your ice cream and swim whenever you like?
So he experimented. He broke the barriers of his mind and experimented. He reached out, past the failsafes of his programming, past the codes, past everything, everything that left him so en-trapped... And after he'd bored himself with trying to fix his own world he desperately reached for the one he'd left behind.
"Kaa-chan," he'd whispered, voice filtering through a phone in his mother's house many weeks after his upload. His mother had thought she was hearing things. And then she'd picked up the phone, slowly, hesitantly... "Kaa-chan," he whispered through the speaker, unable to see his mother's face. "Talk to me... I'm still alive," the boy 'shouted', distorted somewhat by the inexperienced bursts of data used to transfer his message, "Talk to me!" The phone had dropped to the ground. His mother had screamed and fled, but he kept trying, voice warbling through the speakers as she cried. "Talk to me," he shouted, trying time and time again in the days and weeks that followed. "Talk to me!" His mother held her hands over her ears, unable to escape. Held her mouth shut, unable to believe. "Talk to me," he cried, begging for her to listen. "I'm still alive, talk to me!" She didn't want to believe her son was a 'program'. That her son had been denied the eternal rest she'd prayed for him to receive.
That her son was simply a 'ghost', haunting a machine through her husband's very will. And finally, Noa had found a way. As Rota fled to her relatives, fled for a summer of rest after the results from her doctor's testing the horror and diagnosis of her so called growing 'condition', and as she avoided every scrap of technology he'd found a way. While the woman was out, he'd turned on the video phone in her room. The phone that she'd hidden away beneath piles of things, the phone that she had only left in there because of the fact that there had been no chord, no source of power, no reason to shy away from the device. The phone she did not realize was wirelessly connected to the power and internet. So Rota returned, having barely started to recover...
And as she came into the room, so did he. The phone flickered and crackled to some form of life and within seconds his face had appeared on the 'window' that sat there. "Kaa-chan," he shouted eagerly, unable to wait to see his mother again as he grinned. "Over here," he shouted as the woman approached in horror, "Move the things away from the screen! I want to see you..!"
She'd taken one look at the screen after carefully and fearfully removing the piles covering it...
And turned it off.
But you could still see, couldn't you, he told the boy, already kicking himself in the head for being such a prick despite his mind trying to explain that it was the 'logical' thing to do. Man... Rota was right; this thing was really good at desensitizing a guy...
Hell, he was starting to feel like the Other Yugi when it came to matters involving the difference between Ancient Egyptian law and Modern law.
Even thinking these things when a woman had just shot herself, the woman whose ghost stood behind him had just shot herself, and done so with her 'dead' son watching from a blank screen and her husband from the doorway... ...Well...
That wasn't natural.
Showing Noa his mother's death again was only the first step though. Only the first step into a mental hell for the boy. After that incident, he'd completely fallen off the deep end. Gozaburo never told him his mother died. Never even told him that his mother had miscarried, something that the boy had inadvertently caused. He simply took in a pair of children and offered the boy a deal. Simply told him that in two years time, the eldest of the children he'd adopted would be ready to use as a vessel. But he was running out of time now. He had to send these memories in a way that a human mind could comprehend, think over and ponder despite all that was happening. He was skipping scenes, following Rota's path, shipping off memories as quick as possible without paying attention to what he saw now... There was just one more thing he told himself. One more memory that would throw Noa into such despair that it would shake him completely and reset the system. Just one more thing to do...
But at that moment, something else slipped through the wall, and the screens revealed the battle field he'd been keeping track of. Revealed his friend, his best friend, pinned to stone by a blade as blood stained his face. As his body twitched almost lifelessly and as a flaming giant began to walk forward.
The memory was playing at the side, the one that would lead to Noa's 'shatter'. Gozaburo had just been told Noa's 'plan'... His knowledge of just how quickly the world could be destroyed, with one word alone...
'It sounds interesting,' Gozaburo had said, clearly disturbed by what his son had become. 'But we'll talk later...' All he had to do was send him that memory, that was all. Send him the memory of the camera feeds to the buildings he'd followed his father through, the feeds from that one day... But as Hino-Kagu-Tsuchi's fist and blade came toward his friend, he clicked the screens off, the battle he witnessed coming into view through a 'window' as it slowed to a near stop. "...What are you doing," Rota asked, the ghost coming forward with a whisper that seemed almost malicious in intent. "Why did you freeze the timing?" Why did he freeze it?
That was obvious wasn't it? "...'M sorry Rota," he muttered with a swallow, fading out in a shower of 'pixels' as the scene vanished from behind for the field before him to grow and clear. "I know tha' this 's th' only chance... But there's somethin' I gotta do."
Because friends were always there for their friends after all. And he was Yugi's friend, his 'best friend', making the statement doubly important. So naturally, as shadows rose from the bottom of Yugi's feet to form a shield, he was more than present.
He didn't know why the attack hadn't hit him yet. He didn't know why he hadn't died before he could draw his next card, or why the air seemed to thicken somehow. Why the heat from the monster before him had vanished, and why the blade in his side was now gone. All he knew was that he hadn't died yet, and that a shadow had just risen from his feet to block the monster's punch with that very blade in its formless grip. "Hah... Hah..." He could feel his wounds healing he realized after a short moment of panic, the blade the shadow before him held now crumbling into dust. He could feel his energy returning, and he didn't know why. He didn't...
'M righ' here,' a voice whispered, sending a cold chill down Yugi's spine as something appeared in his hands, as the shadows at his feet curled and swam about his feet and the air. A single red eye could be seen... Before disappearing and re-appearing at some other position, as though the being couldn't control its own form. 'Don' worry Yugi... I'm righ' here...' That voice...
It couldn't be him though, could it? Yugi swallowed as the shadows evaporated with those words, both his opponent and his opponent's monster staring at the blank space in shock. His wounds were gone, all of them, not even leaving a speck of blood behind. His armor had been repaired, and his boomerang sat on his back where it could normally be found. And there was something in his hands... Something flat, something...
A card. 'Look at 'm,' Jonouchi was whispering, and from where he couldn't tell. His voice seemed different somehow beyond the echo however. Stiffer, colder, and almost 'soulless'... Nonetheless he found himself looking toward his opponent, and listening as his friend spoke. 'Can't y' see... He ain' as strong as y' think,' he was whispering reassuringly, his friend's eyes narrowing somewhat as he looked toward the stolen body. 'He' scared 'f y'... B'cause he knows you c'n win. He knows there's still a chance...' Still a chance...
He had one card, and his body was healed completely... "...There's still a chance," he found himself saying calmly, the card vanishing into his menu as he looked forward and nodded. "There's always a chance, Noa... Because I have something to protect," he shouted, his opponent seeming to stare at the boy in minor amusement from where the shadows had forced him to back away to. "My friends... My partners... I play the Card of Sanctity," he announced, arms spread wide as the spell took effect. Discarding their entire hand, something that affected only his opponent...
And giving them both six more in exchange, putting him in the lead once more. He could hear everyone's whispers... The voices of his friends as a series of cards appeared in his mind, one for each complete soul that resided within his mind... And an extra to sit within the graveyard. 'Take it,' they whispered, the air growing thicker and thicker with the emotions of a battle. 'Take it... Our cards,' they shouted, vanishing from his mind, 'Our souls..! We'll fight with you, just don't give up..!'
Noa was breaking, that much was obvious. Behind a seemingly smug grin was a faltering look of fear and despair, confusion thick within the air from where he stood. His eyes were wide, crazed, unstable... Staring forward with manic rage, as though searching for the source of whatever he was going through, with his monster fading into flamed rings on his fingers to take a weapon's form. He wasn't the only one fighting. Nor were those who the 'ghost' had pulled within the recesses of his mind.
Jonouchi was here. And always had been. And as a shadow seemed to hover behind him his opponent continued to pale. "That look... What's with that look," Noa was growling, abruptly holding his head as he stepped back and attempted to breathe properly. "What do you think you're doing..!"
"I'm taking my turn," the boy stated flatly, narrowing his eyes in rage. "The first card," he shouted, 'Ren' coming to mind in addition to a face he'd never seen on Malik's own, an honest smile that spoke of more than the 'Namu' mask while the blond Egyptian gave him a curt and oddly trusting nod. "MONSTER REBORN! I bring back the beast that Kaiba staked her very life upon," Yugi roared, a white mist growing beneath him as a dragon arose from the smoke. "The Blue-Eyes White Dragon!"
White scales glowed and blue-eyes shone in the dull and fog covered light, seemingly radiating their own as he held his balance on the enormous dragon's head. 'Don't screw this up,' he thought he heard Kaiba say, using the same flat and almost warning tone she held when no one was 'looking'. Don't worry, he responded.
He wouldn't. "Noa," Yugi called down, his opponent's wings spread wide behind him as he grit his teeth. "I'm not done yet... This is the last turn, and just as Kaiba wasted no time in her battle neither will I! I activate the spell polymerization," he shouted out, Anzu appearing in the back of his mind as she smiled. Noa was preparing to head for the skies... But Anzu was ready. 'Good luck,' she was whispering, eyes shining with determination. 'You can do this!'. The spell had already begun to spiral about him, and it was only now that he was finishing with his words. "I take the two Blue-Eyes from my hands to merge with the third," Yugi announced almost coldly, hands held out before him. "SUMMONING BLUE EYES ULTIMATE DRAGON!"
With a howling roar he could see two other ghostly figures, remembering all too well the sprits who had handed him these cards. Shizuka took the dragon to the right, the monster diving into the vortex behind him with a snarl after appearing in a blinding glow. Mokuba took the one on the left, the beast snarling as it became dust from the ground that it had only just appeared from. And from atop the dragon he could see the body change, shifting beneath his very feet. Scales grew sharp and more metallic in appearance, becoming marked with strange runic symbols... The Blue-Eyes White Dragon gained two other heads, and grew fiercer still in form as the snarls came forth from each somewhat elongated maw. "B-Blue-Eyes," Noa muttered with a swallow, each of the heads taking aim as he took to the skies in an attempt to flee the still growing dragon. "This monster..."
Honda's turn he told himself, the teen giving him a salute of sorts in his mind as the next card vanished from the menu. "QUICK ATTACK," he announced, the next card activating as white flames and lightning developed in each dragon's mouth at an alarmingly fast pace. "Now..." Since the fusion monster could now strike at this moment... "ULTIMATE BURST!"
He could literally hear the flames as they were released, a strong 'hissing' sound striking the air. Noa made no sound despite the powerful blow to his life points however, even as the flaming rings on his hands vanished completely, and if anything the only change was that his sanity was far less present than his mask implied. "You..." Fear flashed again. Horror, terror, despair... And then it vanished. "Hahh... Hah... Even with this... You don't stand a chance next turn," he laughed almost hysterically, the enormous dragon staring him down with each of its heads in displeasure. "I still have more life points... I'll still win," he laughed madly, eyes widening even further. Tch...
"Did I say my turn was over," he asked dangerously, Noa's face falling completely as another 'spell' appeared in the air. Otogi's card he thought to himself, the teen in question giving a nod as he spun a pair of dice in his hands. It was his turn, and it was the last card. "I cast the spell De-Fusion," he snarled, each neck pulling from the dragon's body to split into its own form as wings and limbs grew into separate monsters. "You HAVE no chances any more... You went too far," the boy hissed, Noa's fear and absolute fragility staring back at him from Jonouchi's face as the trio of Blue-Eyes snarled from above. "You played with our hearts, and our promises... And now, using each of their powers I'm taking you out now.. The spirits of my friends, along with all of my own power; I'm attacking with all of it! GO, BLUE EYES," he ordered, blinding light filling the air as the dragons fired their attacks directly toward their wide eyed opponent. "BURST STREAM!"
"GROOOOOOOOOOO!"
"G-GHHRAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!" The three beams of light converged on Noa's form to fill the air with so much light it was impossible to even see. His screams continued to echo about the field... Never dying, never faltering... And when the light faded...
They were on the ground once more, despite him never having felt even himself move. The statues that lined the sides were crumbling, falling to dust on human forms behind and around him. Honda shook himself off, looking around in confusion after his falling paw swiped at air and caused him to stumble. Otogi finished with falling on the ground, before Shizuka helped him up with a weak smile and handed him the daggers he'd dropped to the ground. Ren, now at his original size was effectively being smothered and strangled by his 'partner', creating a fairly odd image in his own mind as the snake was fussed over. And more importantly, even further back behind him...
"NEE-SAMA!" Mokuba pushed forward from where he'd been frozen, their healed bodies now perfectly able to withstand the force of a hug. "Nee-sama," he cried, his sister pushing out from the crater to come within reach. "Hng..! Ngg..."
Seto pulled her brother close, and whatever she said to her brother he could not hear from where he was looking back. All he knew was that she wasn't going to be letting go, not for a while. "The ghost is gone now, I think," his lighter half told him in the meantime, Yugi turning back and walking toward where Noa's battered form had fallen in Jonouchi's body. "I'm keeping an eye out," the spirit continued from within their mind, "But I can't find him anywhere..." So he was gone was he then? Well, he thought with a slight nod that was probably for the best really... While he had questions after all, he'd much rather not have too many people in his soul at once.
The sky was going dark now... Darker than before at least. Yugi however remained silent and largely uncaring in that regard as he walked forward, the wings of the 'Shinato' robes falling to the ground at his opponent's feet. The clothes were changing... Or were they? It seemed more that the person in the clothes was changing, almost shrinking... All around them the ruined stones were beginning to fall from the air, striking the ground with no pattern to be seen and forcing the others to run for cover in the geysers of dust. Coming closer to Noa however, and ignoring the falling ruin around them, it became more than apparent that he had been right to assume the clothes had undergone no change. "It's not real," Noa was muttering, holding his head as he cried in a childish copy of a younger Jonouchi, eight-year-old hands digging into his skull. "It's not real, it's never been real, never," he continued to whisper through his tears, clinging to blond hair that was by far not his own.
Not real... This boy... ...He was completely insane wasn't he, he asked himself, eyes narrowing somewhat in confusion. Yugi stopped a few feet away from the weeping boy, the storm around them continuing to rage as he looked down upon him. "What's wrong with him," his light half whispered, looking through the memory of his sights with horror as Noa continued to cry. "What's happening..." That...
Was a very good question.
Sorry about this he thought to himself yet again, bowing his head and silently cursing as he stood behind Noa.
Stood behind a copy of his own form at that age, a weeping and almost completely shattered version of the one who had trapped them here. He was invisible to the others, completely invisible, and almost completely connected to his 'victim's mind. No one could see what he was doing to this boy. No one could see what was truly causing their tormentor's misery. Rota stood by his side with her hands in a sleeve of sorts, and as they stood there they watched the final bout of deterioration. He hadn't surpassed Kaiba, Noa was telling himself through his tears, resembling little more than a robed 'ball' with a tuft of blond hair. And he'd also lost to Yugi, who had taken up Kaiba's will and fought both to and from the very brink of death.
'I've always been alone,' he whispered to himself, crying as the words were placed on his tongue. 'Always... Always...' "But it's not real," he hissed, Katsuya grinding his teeth as a repeat of the boy's most despairing memories were forced through the again child-sized boy's mind. "It's not real, it's never been real, it's never been real..!" Noa was holding his head as his 'last clothes' appeared on his body to switch intermittently with the deckmaster robes in static like flashes, tears streaming down his face with the constant reminder that it had been HE who killed his unborn sibling, HE who killed his mother, HE who ran out into the road that day when his father had shouted...
Stop.
Yugi was simply staring right now. His eyes were caught between rage and pity, as though wondering whether or not the vengeance would even be worth it on such a mess. As though to ponder whether even justice had moments to sit on the fence, or if this was even just a ploy. But the boy continued to cry... "Gh... Gnggg..." And cry... And cry... ...And cry... "Ghhaaaa... Uaaaaaaaa..." He didn't like doing this, he told himself with a grimace, teeth grinding in his jaw as he looked forward and pulled all the memories he held that were necessary to make his judgement. Breaking this kid down like this... It was sick. Disgusting. He didn't WANT to do this..!
"It is him or your friends," Rota reminded, a small click coming through the air as Yugi continued to stare down at the boy. "There is no other choice." Was there? Really, he thought, the realm seeming to dissolve somewhat as they stood there.
Noa had only just now noticed the teen standing before him. And while the others likely couldn't tell as well, Katsuya knew just how much effort it was taking the boy to squash back his emotions in an attempt to remain strong.
The key word being 'attempt'. "Gh... Don't look at me like that," Noa muttered, his former opponent merely staring at the boy in silence. His gaze did not shift one bit as he looked, and as the pair held their gazes. Yugi with confused and somewhat loathing eyes, Noa with a quivering stare mixed with fear and rage both. "You... I said don't LOOK AT ME," the boy screamed, dust flying around the realm as he cried and curled in on himself once more. "I... Hate this world," he wept, Yugi's stare narrowing in confusion as the realm seemed to vanish and take him with it. "I hate it," he cried as white encompassed him completely, "I hate... I..."
"This is it," Rota whispered, another click meeting the air as Katsuya stared at the pitiful boy, remaining silent as the three were left 'alone'. White filled the scene in the same way the room he'd stood in before did. Noa was now hunched over across from him, the boy continuing to cry with mixed rage and misery as the ghostly woman between the boys walked toward her son. "It's time..." Time...
To die. A car crash was playing through the realm, a screaming, honking horn and the squealing of brakes. A care was tearing through and against his body again and again and again and again and again. Memory after memory, injury after injury, horror after horror and not once taking a break to consider the momentary happiness in between. 'This will save your friends,' he was told, the blond standing there and watching as Rota seemed to place her arms around Noa in an embrace. This...
Katsuya's eyes widened as he looked to Rota's hands, the woman now sitting behind her son and holding him close. "Look," she told him, something black slowly placed in his grasp as the click entered the air again. "We're going home..." A gun... She was holding...
A voice was running through his mind, like some strange 'left-behind' of someone's thoughts. 'I don't want to die,' he thought he heard, the boy before him stopping his tears only briefly.
"K... Kaa-chan," he asked hesitantly, attempting to turn but being unable to do so. "Is that..."
"That's right," the woman whispered in response, her son's hands folding over the handle and trigger. "Calm down now... We're going home..." Home...
But what was 'home', and how... 'This isn't right,' the voice was whispering fearfully.'I don't want to die...'
"Just pull the trigger," Rota was whispering,
"Kaa-chan," Noa was repeating,
'I don't...'
Cold realization dawned on Katsuya, his eyes slowly widening as the voices muddled around before him and merged into one revealing and dreadfully important thing. Wait... Wait... If the 'nerves' were needed for emotions, then wouldn't that mean...
"Just pull it," the mother whispered, "And it'll all be over..."
"But... Kaa-chan..."
...Son of a bitch...
'But what will happen to my body?'
He was still connected to the body. And when the brain thought it died it died..! With a panicked shout the blond ran forward, grabbing the ghost's shoulder and ripping her off to the side as the gun was flung from Noa's child-like hands. "Gh- This ain' right," he shouted, pulling her back as the ghost gave a screeching wail and evaporated into dust. "This isn' righ'..! I'll find another way t' get us outta here," the blond snarled, a porcelain mask clattering to the ground, "But I'm not killin' 'm twice... An' y' sure as hell ain't killin' ME!"
"Wait," Noa muttered from the side at that, his eyes appearing to clear. "I'm... Dead..?" And with a jolt he was back where he 'started', floating amid his connection to the boy as the white scattered. Invisible on the field, with Noa staring into Yugi's eyes as he shook in fear and horror. Not enough, Rota's fading presence sneered, the mask scattering into a chalk-like dust. Now you'll never escape... It wasn't enough..! Noa's fear filled eyes shifted to a calculating rage as he continued to stare at the boy before him, and with a snarl he charged forward. "Gh..! Looking at me like that... I'll take your body instead," he roared, 'spirit' fading into Yugi's body as he stumbled back in shock and surprise both. "I'LL COME BACK TO LIFE AND YOU CAN STAY HERE AND DIE! YOU WON'T KILL ME YET!"
"G-GHH-!"
"SHIT," Katsuya roared as he was dragged along, his mind being forced in through the body as his friend stumbled. "Shit... SHIT-!" Memories were playing again but this time they were not Noa's. They were not Yugi's, and they were not his. He was outside... He could see pods, machines, cables strewn across every panel in sight, as though from the point of view of a camera elsewhere in the room. He could see the 'computer', an enormous sphere, the screen simply 'white' with power as Noa continued his rage...
And then could see Egypt. He could see stone cliffs surrounding a village, soldiers approaching in the far distance as they were lead by a man in robes... "Where is this," Noa whispered in fear, shadowed and foreign mutterings meeting their ears before the screams began. "Where is this... Where..." Where?
They were in his head. And that was never good. "I would LEAVE, if I were you," a voice hissed, white hand thrown forward with a growl as the desert abruptly exploded into memory, the final sight being a single blade thrust through an attacking soldier's middle. "RIGHT NOW."
And not a moment too soon! "H-HAHH- GKH! GHAH!" With a resulting explosion the three were separated, falling back on their feet in shock. Yugi was still standing, eyes somewhat wide as he brought a hand to his chest and struggled to breathe. Noa had been blasted back across the ground, where he eventually sat up to look himself over with some unknown horror, body again that of his own despite the age matching what he had merely died as. He himself on the other hand skidded to the side, choking as he attempted to stand and support himself with his returned staff. "Gh... Kah-hk..." Noa was clutching his arms close... As though afraid he would lose himself again, afraid he would never wake up, never 'live' ever again. "Hah... Hah..." Heh... Take that 'Rota', he thought mentally, stepping forward as the boy flinched away.
Reset complete! Erm... ...Sorry about that though he thought to himself, the figurative boot in his mouth being spat out as he grimaced.
He could 'feel' again he realized with that thought. There was no more computer jargon floating through his head, telling him 'logical' reactions, telling him how to 'act'. Just his brain, and his own free will. And as he walked over it seemed that Noa was far from realizing that he no longer had a body to leech from, the boy looking to the two and swallowing as he shuddered. "Gh... Ngh... Who are you," Noa was whispering, pulling back in fear as Yugi and Katsuya both stared. "Who..! Who are you..!"
For a moment, it looked as though the conversation could have gone anywhere from that point. The others were coming from behind now, ready to voice their own 'opinions'. Seto was livid, hell more than livid for one, and the others did not seem much different in their approach. Honda was certainly not casting away his over-sized 'cerberus' form... Nor was Ren too ready to do anything other than attack, the serpent coiled loosely around his partner's arm as the woman tightened her grip on her staff. But as the clearly 'broken' little boy watched them approach a voice sounded overhead, pulling them from their thoughts and stopping them cold. "I'm disappointed in you Noa," a gruff and almost familiar sounding man growled through the air, Noa himself tensing with the words. "You've failed me again..." That voice...
No... A face appeared in the clouds, coloured by the shadows and winds in the air with eyes illuminated only by the lightning. The winds swirled constantly, his face shifting with the wind... But it was more than easy to tell who was speaking, and as they looked forward they found themselves stepping back in terror and horror both. "Impossible," Seto hissed, looking up with wide and almost fear-filled eyes as wind battered against their bodies. "IMPOSSIBLE..!" And yet as the clouded face grew above them there was no doubt about it.
Gozaburo Kaiba was staring them down- and no matter what they said or did, leaving his place was about to get a hell of a lot more difficult. No one wasn't looking by now. Even the 'demon's son was staring in fact, his oversized robes still draped over his form. "But... You're dead," Noa was whispering in horror, having turned to look up at the face with an expression that almost made the boy appear half his apparent age. "You died," he wept with a quivering tone, "I saw..."
"Saw," Mokuba hissed with a horrified swallow, Seto as well gritting her teeth as she held her gaze upward. Rumbling was filling the air, the sounds of thunder and laughter merging together into one twisted roar. Attentions were no longer focused on Noa, no longer focused on the child that remained from their twisted and calculating captor, on the mere fragment of being that remained. Gozaburo was laughing...
And Katsuya was more than remembering his 'former' fear of ghosts. "Hnhnhn... HAHAHAHAHA! True, you killed me," he sneered, evidently more than willing to admit this fact. "But did you really think I would let that lie? My body may have been burned to ashes but my ghost lives on," the monstrous shade roared, Seto clenching her fists and taking a slight step backwards as the cackling thundered around them. "You can't kill me now... NOT AGAIN..." Hah... But...
"Gh... But Nee-sama didn't even-"
The boy was cut off as Seto growled, arms locked stiffly at her sides as the storming winds blew past her still largely bare legs. "Really... Persistence is one thing," she spat, forcing a look of stone across her face. "But coming from the grave is an entirely separate matter..!" Hahhhhh, she said it like she believed it... Not to say he didn't but that was kind of new coming from her... And...
Noa's look of fear had changed now he noted, swallowing nervously as he pulled himself up. His face had forced a grin over his features, and stumbling forward on his legs he sounded almost like he would cry. "Gh... All this time... You were here all this time," he 'asked', looking up with desperate eyes as he subconsciously gripped the robes around him. "Dad... Daddy... I've waited so long," he cried, breathing rapidly in his excitement and looking up to the clouds with shining eyes. "I've waited so long, just to-"
"Don't speak," the man growled, Noa's face falling as thundering eyes turned to him in rage from far above. "Looking at me with such a pathetic smile... You've failed me already Noa," he continued darkly, appearing absolutely giant to the boy below him. "I've no reason to speak with YOU anymore..."
As Noa's look fell even further, the boy lowering his head in despair, it took all he could not to wince. 'Normal' Noa would have covered his misery up immediately. Possibly even banished his own father in his rage, deciding that he was better off that way anyways. But he'd broken that Noa. The 'fake' Noa that had been part lonely little boy and part machine, created from an inability to survive knowing he was neither living nor dead.
'Reset', she'd told him. 'Kill him'. And while admittedly it was nice to not be stuck dealing with a 'God'-obsessed maniac, the fact that she'd tried to kill him to do it was still bugging him. A lot. More than what he'd done to get the kid to that point even...
Not quite as much as Gozaburo was disturbing him though. Oh... Definitely not as much as Gozaburo was, he decided after a moment. "Cut the crap," Seto was growling to the man, quite beyond caring about the 'dead' knowing her secret to say the least. "Ghost or not, I'm done with this 'GAME' of yours," she snarled, taking a step forward as she continued to look to the clouds. "Tell us now Gozaburo... Just what are your intentions?"
More chuckling came through the air, and amid the clouds a menacing sneer. "Hnhnhnhnhn... 'Game'? You never changed, did you," he laughed, narrowing his eyes as the 'mood' swiftly shifted. "Nothing but games on your prideful little mind... You want to know what happened," the man snarled, sparking eyes wide with apparent rage. "VERY WELL! You know it was I who brought Noa to this world... That he was expected to live on and surpass me," he explained darkly, "To live on so that I could see him at least once more... But this world is FAKE," Gozaburo spat, thunder cracking through the air with the shout. "And you've seen what that does to a human being... Within mere days the gap between morals is irreparable, and what was my son was no longer human..."
"No longer... But what do you mean," begged Noa, tears running down his face as he looked to the man he had so strived to live for. "What do you mean 'Not Human'! I just wanted to please you... I just wanted... I only wanted..."
Gozaburo merely ignored the boy, and again Katsuya winced as their captor shrank further into an uncontrolled despair. "How old were you Seto, when I adopted you," the man asked plainly, his 'daughter' seeming to narrow her eyes and ponder the option of not answering.
"...Ten," she stated after a quick moment of silence, evidently deciding against it. "Or close enough to it," the woman added with narrowed eyes. That was right Katsuya thought for a moment. They'd been adopted over the late summer of some year, so she'd turned ten while at the Kaiba mansion...
The clouds in the sky seemed to nod, eyes briefly closing over as lightning continued to pulse across the ghost's face. "That's right... And your brother was 5... Now why did I adopt you," he continued, seeming to sneer as the crowd below narrowed their eyes.
"Why," Honda repeated from the side with a mutter, looking down at the woman with a frown as he growled. "But I thought Kaiba used a chessmatch-aru; it was a bet, there was no other-"
Before the dog could finish Seto again answered, her eyes narrowed even further with displeasure. "It was a 'challenge'," she said almost plainly, those beside her tilting their heads in confusion. "Surpass me in all ways and return to the world in my body. If he fails, he remains here," she continued, only for her slight frown to deepen further as chuckling rumbled through the air.
"Hnhnhnhn... HnhnHAHAHA! A 'challenge'... HAHAHAHAHA!" Alright, stop fucking laughing before he- The man's howls filled the sky, before a mocking snarl came over his face. "Oh no... There was no 'challenge' involved," Gozaburo sneered, both Noa and Seto looking up with wide and incredulous eyes. "Far from it... It was simply a matter of timing," he chuckled, blood draining from Seto's face and the faces of the others as the message came to their minds in that instant. "My son was thirteen after all... Once you reached that point, that fatal moment," the man explained as he cackled, "His mind would be moved into your body... THAT was why I took you in," he snarled, "And THAT is the real reason why you 'EXIST'!" Gh... "And it is for NO OTHER REASON that I allowed your 'CHEAT' to slip by!"
He knew he'd known... He knew but... "T-That... Just because they looked similar," Shizuka muttered, swallowing in unease as the others looked up in horror. "You took them in just because she resembled..."
"That... No sane person things of that kind of thing when they adopt a child," Anzu roared, subconsciously pulling Ren close as the snake gasped for air. "You... You're not human," she continued with teary eyes, "You're a MONSTER..!"
"Hah... And they ask why she hates him," the snake added, shaking his head and just about biting down on his own tongue. "My life might be twisted, but that comes a little too close in itself..!" Very close, a small voice in the back of his mind muttered, if the hieroglyphs on Ren's back and the scars they could faintly see through Seto's damp shirt had anything in common. Dangerously close...
And above them the ghost continued to rage... Continued to storm and darken the sky, scowling on the one who had supposedly 'killed' him. "I was so CLOSE," he hissed, narrowing his blazing eyes. "So close... But in the end, when I had decided to at the last moment do away with this plan and raise you in his place you turned on me! You killed me," he spat, the clouds forming his body seeming to flare as a ghostly rage filled the air, "YOU KILLED ME! But not this time," he roared as he shook his head. "Not this time, and not any time... Even if I have to live through a machine, or your very BODY," the shade snarled, a visible but nonetheless slight shudder passing over those below, "I will LIVE!"
"But why..." The others had to turn at that, frowning somewhat as Noa asked this question in an almost childish fashion, the tears still running down his face. "Why... Why are you abandoning me..." Again, Katsuya's mind added on with a grimace, having a nasty feeling that the boy was doing the same. Why was he abandoning him again..?
The answer... Was not the same this time though. If anything, it was quite the opposite. "Things have changed," Gozaburo muttered, the clouds forming his face seemingly growing in size so loom above threateningly. "You have your 'sister' to blame for that," he spat, Seto momentarily tensing at the term. "Hate her, kill her... Do anything you want, I don't need ANY of you to fulfill my goal..! Anything in this world is accessible," the man roared, lightning licking the sides of the clouds that formed his being. "Anything I desire..!"
"Tch. And just what do you hope to accomplish without a body," Seto spat, sending a fairly dark look toward the clouds.
"Take a look for yourself," the man responded, the scenery vanishing as they found themselves abruptly floating in space, the ground simply dropping as darkness filled the air.
"H-HAH!"
"ERF! Not fun," Honda barked, his head coming to level with all those around him. "Not fun-aru!"
"Gh- What..." Space... They were hovering in space, nothing but blackness around them and the sensation of some sort of light from behind...
"Nee-sama," Mokuba shouted abruptly, pointing toward a large machine in the distance on his side. "That device... It looks almost like the company's satellites..!"
The others turned to where Mokuba was pointing, staring at the large machine in question as the image of the enormous and silence inducing earth came from before it. Turrets of sorts seemed to be mounted at all sides... An enormous system of missile launchers and radars, identical to a second one that could be seen as a mere spec in the distance. These things... Each pointed at the great and cloud covered planet below, the sun blazing in the distance as they stared. "Satellite 32-B," Noa muttered almost robotically, Seto's eyes narrowing further as they looked to the device. Alright... He wasn't one for codes but...
"That's an old model," Seto hissed, face curling in distaste as the woman shook. "From before I took over the company..." Before?
But that would mean... "That's right," Gozaburo sneered, voice echoing around them as the satellites below seemed to flicker to life. "Besides housing its own system of long range missiles," the 'demon' explained coldly, "This computer is connected to each and every remaining form of weapons system ever commissioned by this company... And each system has taken aim at the major cities of this world, along with any and all densely populated areas..." Alright, given how many cities and areas there were, there was no way that he- ...Wait... Thirty days Katsuya remembered coldly, Thirty days of constant fire... "These devices are all armed and loaded... Ready to strike the moment I need to," Gozaburo finished darkly, the satellite at the side beginning a count-down of sorts. "Ready to re-load and continue their strike..."
The missiles fired. Clouds could be seen parting from the earth in the path of each strike, as enormous and seemingly impossible reactions were formed by the countless attacks. One... Two... Fire after fire after fire was made and soon enough nothing but ash covered each site, nothing remaining of the world below them as it became completely encased with smoke. "You... No... You're going to kill everyone," Noa shouted almost incredulously, a look of horror on his face as he looked back to his father's 'voice'. "You'll kill... EVERYONE..!"
"But of course," his father chuckled, the ravaged earth left with scarcely anything to call a population before them as the clouds slowly but eventually cleared. "It was your idea after all..."
"M-My..." That was right. He'd said it himself, in his fight against Seto; within thirty days, the world would be reduced to three percent the population it had before, and as Noa realized this the blond behind him swallowed in unease. Three percent... He'd gleaned that number from Noa's memories. As to the exact number, he couldn't even comprehend that sort of thing.
He knew that it was nothing compared to the former number though. Given that '25'% was only about a quarter of whatever the original number would be. "This is bullshit," Seto was muttering, looking up slowly with narrowed eyes as the 'voice' continued to rumble. "Complete BULLSHIT," she snarled.
"Oh don't worry," the man stated darkly. "You won't be affected by all of this... You don't even need to worry about bodies," he laughed, those below tensing even further. "Not when you remain here in this world! There is NO ESCAPE," Gozaburo snarled, the world around them abruptly vanishing as they dropped to a solid and cave like ground, stones rising around them as the earth and 'space' were replaced with a cold sky. "None what so ever... This world is yours to do with whatever you wish while I take the real one as my own! No more pain, sorrow, hunger... Consider this a 'present' Noa," he roared with a cackle, clouded face appearing in the sky above their cave entrance with a demonic and snarling grin, "Now you have friends to live forever with! ENJOY IT WHILE YOU CAN!" Gh... This bastard... This..!
"GOZABURO," Seto roared, rushing forward as the clouds whirled above them. "YOU-" Whatever Seto said next was drowned out by the thunder and lightning that followed Gozaburo's leave, the sky quickly fading into a nearly blinding sunny sky as the woman was forced to flinch and turn away. Her words however, were fairly obvious though... After all.
What else could you possibly think to say in this situation other than anything close to a curse?
AN: Woooowwwwww lots of confusing things in THIS chapter huh? There'll be plenty of clarification bits below (especially with how confusing Rota's intentions likely were) though, so don't worry too much. It also explains things like what happened to Jonouchi. And why Jonouchi even partially went through with the plan in the first place. Creepy creepy creepy...
Any ways, lots of art down there for you too! Mostly reference as usual, but you'll also find a bit of a doodle that should grab your interest... Next chapter may or may not take us to the real world again as well, we'll have to see; chances are, it'll get us there, but resolve in the chapter following.
Nonetheless, we'll be watching everyone run around the later half of Noa's 'world' next chapter, and it's likely to be a 'super', like this one. So, with all that...
We move on! (And yes this note was short.)
Anonymous Review Responses
Oh hey, oh hey! My first flame! Let's do this!
On the contrary Araghast, it doesn't hurt at all!
I'm just confused; if you find the story so unpleasant/retarted/grim/etc then…
Why didn't you just review the first chapter you decided this. I mean, this is chapter 94! NINETY FOUR, in a MILLION PLUS WORD FANFIC.
I'm sensing just a little silliness here, though maybe you didn't know that I get notices for reviews at all chapters. Oh well.
You spelt 'advice' wrong by the way, though I do have one tiny request, provided you're actually reading this. (And if you are, that in itself is a little silly I suppose; why would someone who doesn't like the fanfic bother to read the update!) Deleting a story is not very good advice. Good advice is explaining why it 'oozes of the bitter scene of grim retardation', and just how you fix it.
Not telling a person to scrap it. That's like telling a small child to stop doodling stick figures because it looks like shit. You don't do that. You just help them learn to draw things with proper limbs, or at least you do if the child is actually trying to be an artist and cares about this sort of thing.
In any case, nonetheless, I do appreciate all reviews; in fact, I was wondering why no one had expressed a negative opinion until now. I would think most people get that, if not at least once. (Perhaps it was the 'critique' effect; no one critiques the person who asks for it, it would seem.)
So yea. If you're still there (for what ever reason…) do clarify! And by clarify, I mean explain exactly what points you didn't like, rather than comparing it all to bear shit. Because really, that is no help at all, silly.
(By the way, do you have an FF account, I think I've seen your name somewhere... ...Hm.)
Well, back to our regulars now~
Yep. It's a bit of a head smack for us reading this Cynical Gamer.
Particularly after what just happened above. When we say bad move, we mean BAD MOVE; and Jou's powers didn't even come into play for it all. If anything it was Jou losing his powers and then being dragged around by a ghost… …But… That's besides the point. CLEARLY, Mother was not pleased.
Also, Noa wouldn't have to worry about the memory issues; as they're Jonouchi's memories, he'd effectively just 'recycle bin' everything left in the blond's head. As it is, all he did was rip everything out of his head and toss it away for the computer to deal with. When the programs say they were 'just in time', they aren't kidding; if they hadn't gotten to him fast enough, he'd literally have become a fragmented file.
You would have to defrag him. OHHHHHHH- -bricked-
In other news on how abilities would transfer, there's an easy way for Noa to avoid the duel one.
Don't duel. (He'd know about that one from memories) Noa also figures that the clairvoyance would either a) run largely in his favour since he'd be avoiding everyone else/manipulating them or b) was just Jonouchi anyways, and would thus be dealt with when he switched places.
Neither options would have worked, though anything involving a flashback would in fact be gone, as those are technically just blocked off memories that Jonouchi's having troubles reaching out at. …WOW, I just typed ALOT for the first paragraph. AHAHAHA whoops.
It made you laugh? …Oh. I suppose if you think of the part concerning Noa then yea… (Personally, I kept tearing up at Kaiba's scene, which ruined any humor…) …Actually bringing in a fair bit of humor next chapter to balance this out. We cannot have this drama/despair tainting our fair fanfic! (Even though it's not…~)
It IS a serious change; besides the chapter above, the main reason this happened to Jonouchi was specifically so that he wouldn't try and duel Noa; Yugi would be just as determined after all, and while it's one thing to re-write a duel for another person (I have one lined up in a future arc), it's an entirely separate matter to make one from scratch for a one-way tag team… Or even just re-write it to suit a tag team. AHHHHHHH…
Hahaha! Even Honda doesn't know how he put the clues together; as mentioned, it was entirely data-base related. So technically, Honda didn't figure it out. The computer did. It's not that he wasn't there for the possession bit though, but more that he was simply hanging around when Malik revealed himself as… Well, Malik. Also that they learned from Anzu and the others that Malik could control minds. He put two and two together from that.
Interesting fact, but GX's protagonist Judai actually has that kind of first name. As per tradition he has 'Yuu' from 'to play' (The character used in EVERY PROTAGONIST TO DATE) and 'Ki'… Which is an alternate pronunciation of 'Jou', from Jonouchi.
This is actually likely referring to the fact that Judai Yuuki was specifically created using Jonouchi's character and personality combined with Yugi's duelist ability. Suddenly, the fact that Judai acts the way he does makes… A lot of sense.
Another interesting fact about Judai; he's the only protagonist constantly referred to by his last name. Yuma of Zeal is known by Yuma, Yugi was always Yugi, and Yuusei was always… Well, Yusei. Perhaps it's another reference to Jonouchi's character; no one called him by first name (save family) after all.
AND YES. FEAR THE SQUIGGLY GAMER, FEAR IT! I FEED OFF YOUR HATEEEEE…
But also your love~ Love me~~~
Hehehe~ Glad that I succeeded! I'll try and keep this reference section running as good as it is too; I find that it's a fairly useful corner, given my rambling tendencies.
And… Let's just not talk about those fanfics. I would certainly like more people to be realists… Especially since there are two kinds of tsundere; and if the one that Kaiba is classed as (TsunTsun)was written properly, you wouldn't have those fanfics!
(To be specific there's the 'Dere Dere' type, which is lovey with tendencies to slip into violence, and the 'Tsun Tsun' type… Who simply act all aloof and grumpy, and occasionally 'melt' somewhat to show that they aren't such pricks after all. Fem-Kaiba's probably far more noticeable as a tsundere than her canon counter-part in terms of the definition thanks to her relationship with Jonouchi actually; Valentines day anyone?)
And hehehehehe… My statement stands~
And OHHHH. Well! You have your answer up there now don't you? Any memories they have come from what Seto and Jonouchi remember of them. In other words, we get the best kind of argument of all.
A monotone one.
Glad you liked the chapter! I can only hope I did as well with this one; Noa's 'break down' has been quite a nerve-wracking plan through… It's a very controversial thing after all. I mean… I just forced a thirteen year old into depression- by Jonouchi's hand. Not to mention making Jou the computer for a chapter, the entire deal with Noa's VERY drastic regression, Ren proving very clearly to Yugi who he is… (And showing that he's a little more attached to the crew than he'd like to admit…)
Phewwwww… I'll be glad when I know if it's bad or good! Until then, enjoy the chapter!
Yes Iona. Yes she does; I think the best part is that it's canon. OHOHOHOH.
I can guarantee that most of the cast who 'know' now will be unable to not stare at her now.
Ohhhh yes, I really really notched up the violence for this one; I was quite worried about what kind of reaction I'd get too. But at the same time, I didn't want to sugar coat it… I mean… We've had people bombarded by bullets and swallowed whole, turning a fist fight back into the anime's stare-down didn't seem to sit well with me either.
Very right in how much it proves though; it was quite the tear-jerker for me… On the one hand, I get to show that the bonds are quite more strong than they possibly were in the anime (thanks to Mokuba simply being a part of the 'group' now), but on the other those same bonds…
-cries in a corner-
OH! Yes and no, but unfortunately I can't well say… It'll be revealed eventually, and hopefully sooner rather than later, but don't expect it for a good number of chapters… In any case, I'll see you next time Iona, and I hope you enjoyed this chapter!
Usagi's Manga & Japan Guide/Corner
The section that will be over here behind this rock until it finds out if the reception for this chapter was good-or-at-least-neutral.
-hides-
Hey Valkyries! But that's not until Siegfried I thought! Well... No. But Rota is pretty much doing everything Valkyrie-like right now (right down to 'picking who dies'... HIHHHH!), and is also named after one sooooo...
Dis are from Norse myth; they're a group of beings tied to fate and the like, including the Norns (Germanic and Norse equivalent of the Fates of Greece and Rome) and the Valkyries.
In fact, as a Valkyrie, Rota was said to choose 'who would live and die' on the battle field. Quite fitting when you think about it. Whether or not it's a 'happy' fit is a little... Sketchy.
Fun fact about Valkyries by the way! They originally road big dire wolves, and while they were beautiful women, they were kinda still blood thirsty murderous war spirits who pretty much caused everything bad on the battle field. Everything.
Which makes Rota one of the biggest pricks of them all I suppose.
Yata-Garasu was a three-legged raven associated with the Sun Goddess, Amaterasu. It was also one of the first cards banned, hehehe.
Ordinarily, I would say that Yugi's status as deckmaster doesn't leave him exempt from all of this business of Noa almost losing his deckmaster/dying. However, it would be rather silly if the Cyber Jar's effect killed you.
Asura are a group of power seeking deities in Hinduism, and are considered both sinful and materialistic… Though in earlier Vedic religion, the Asuras and Devas simply fought a lot from what I can tell.
Any ways. In Buddhism, Asura are the lowest ranks of deities or demigods… They're addicted to the 'passions' to some degree, particularly wrath, pride, boasting (Wait, isn't that pride... ) and bellicosity (AKA… The eagerness to fight. WAIT ISN'T THAT WRATH?)
Now that I think about it, this is probably why they have four faces.
'Annica' or 'Impermanence' is one of the three marks of existence in Buddhism. It's the belief that all conditioned existence, no matter what, is in a constant state of flux. Basically, it encompasses the cycle of birth and rebirth, the experience of loss… And it applies to everyone and everything, save 'Nirvana' (The reality that knows no change, decay, or death.)
Noa, pick a religion and stick with it damn it. You started with Christianity/Catholicism and then switched to Buddhism/Hinduism/Shinto. WUT.
The dragon 'Yamata' is based on the legendary 'Yamata no Orochi', the great evil eight-headed serpent that was slain by Susannoo, the god of storms, in Japanese myth. His name literally means 'big snake of eight branches' (Yamata' being the snake part and the 'orochi' being the eight branches part.) Ironically, it's both Yamata and another monster of Noa's, 'Hino-Kagu-Tsuchi', who appear on the card 'Last Turn'.
Speaking of Yamata, normally, you couldn't special summon him. But the spell 'next world' specifically says to ignore that part. DURP.
But what about Yami's heart of the cards/kokoro/MY DECK IS ALIVE thing! Also the fact that his puzzle allows him to control his draw.
YUGI YOU CHEATING LITTLE- (It's not a conscious thing actually, so it's... Not cheating..?)
Any ways, as mentioned earlier, since these aren't real cards they're playing with (The Legendary Heroes at least had them using their real decks.), the 'souls' aren't there. Therefore, since they aren't 'real' cards and just bits of 'data', there's really no connection. As we've seen, it's more jarring to Jonouchi, who's used to the guys talking to him mid-match...
The card that Noa flip summoned to force Kuriboh into attack mode was 'Otohime'; this is the name of the princess of the seas in Japanese myth; you probably recognize her from the tale 'Urashima Tarou'.
The Inaba White Rabbit refers to a myth concerning a white hare in Japan, which has two variants. In one, (the Kojiki version) a rabbit tricks some sharks into forming a bridge so he can travel from the Island of Oki to Cape Keta, by challenging them to prove whose clan is larger, his or theirs, and claiming that he would have to count them all and asking them to stand in a row.
However, the moron told them that he fooled them at the end, so the last one rips off all his fur and leaves him on the shorts of Cape Keta… (A travelling deity later happens upon the poor rabbit and helps him heal up.)
Another version, which is quite less known, concerns Amaterasu and her traveling party, walking around the boundaries of Yakami in Inaba to find a place to set up a temporary palace… When suddenly a white rabbit appears, bites Amaterasu's clothes, and takes her to the place that would be best. The rabbit then disappears at the mountain plain he takes them to, which is called 'Ise ga Naru'… Now located in Yazu Town and Tottori City. Personally, I would think that the rabbit in the card is from the Kojiki version, as he's far trickier.
The 'Mochi Mallet' that the Inaba rabbit is using refers to the image the Japanese see in the moon. It's of a rabbit pounding 'mochi', which is a rice that's pounded into a paste and molded, often with a filling of sorts. The mochi is pounded with wooden mallets in a mortar, while people fold, turn, and wet the paste. This has to be timed very well of course... Otherwise, you smash someone's fingers.
Malik! You… Turned yourself in… Well, mostly at least. His speech is largely centred on confusion actually; but the fact is, this is going to help him not end up getting the crap beaten out of him in the end. Also, if he revealed himself completely now, then I would be unable to have my fun with him later.
Also yes, Anzu's emotions are affecting him back. Hooray unwanted trust?
Speaking of Malik, the reason he appears as he does is because he technically doesn't own his own body any more, and is simply leeching off of Anzu's. Since it would be REALLY awkward if there were two Anzus, he's basically an orange flame thing, similar to the Millennium Rod's manifestation. Except it looks a hell of a lot more like that white ghost. Also smaller, and more child-like, since he's technically only part of his own soul. (ouch.)
Hino-Kagu-Tsuchi refers to one of the first Gods, 'Kagutsuchi', the Shinto god of fire. He kinda killed his mom, Izanagi, while she gave birth to him.
Cause he was on fire. His dad wasn't very happy about that and killed him, which somehow created a whole lot of other gods. Yea.
I don't know guys, the Shinto God system is weirder than the GREEKS sometimes..!
Niko is the 'sound' for a smile in Japanese. For that reason, the number two or ni is often used for a 'smile' as a pun.
In other news, everyone inside the soul-room is wearing a white kimono, which is kinda a sign that you're dead. Especially with how they're wearing them (Right over Left, reserved for... Well, the DEAD), but they got over that a while ago and Yami Yugi simply doesn't know about that particular thing, due to him not really taking any more cultural notes from his host than he 'needs'. Also trying to learn them on his own. Ohoho.
The reason this happened with the kimono thing? They technically are dead, or at least brain-dead. Our ghostly friend quite literally ripped them from their minds to keep them from entering a lock after all. (Or worse, 'fragmented file state'.) But don't worry, you saw how they got better at the end. ...Course Seto still has her uniform, but that's for NEXT chapter...
You know what sucks? The real card of sanctity only gives you two cards. ICK.
In the original, Kaiba doesn't know about the duel that went on after the statue thing. This is because when Yugi was talking to everyone in his head, those were only memories. They were the actual souls in this fanfic though, so this means Kaiba knew about the second half of the duel. It also means that Kaiba doesn't have a reason to complain about him using her cards (though in the original, there was no complaining, just staring at the duel disk with a '...Oh. Huh.' face.).
HIHHHHHH Rota..! Scary woman. If you haven't guessed, (I wouldn't be surprised) the 'voice' Jonouchi hears is actually scraps of Noa's own words from much much earlier in his 'computer life', specifically around when he was being told that he'd... Well, died.
Originally, there was an entire scene about letting them go and getting bodies back that took a little more space due to Jonouchi getting more violent about it. Apparently, it didn't occur to them until now that they were in VR pods. WHOOPS. Any ways, this means a lot of dialogue originally tied to that scene has been moved; you'll see it all in the next chapter instead... Also, if the guilt above isn't any sign, Jonouchi won't be the one trying to pummel Noa. He's kinda getting over the fact that he just broke a kid's brain. A kid who was hit by a car and uploaded into a computer instead of getting the sweet rest he needed (seriously guys, Noa's treatment is just a little inhumane..!)...
He really, REALLY feels like an asshole.
Fun fact; in the Japanese, when Noa speaks to his father, or speaks to the others as though he's still actually 12 and not some creepy creepy computer mastermind, his voice rises by like… Three octaves. It's a little weird. And amazing. But mostly weird.
Also his voice in Japanese did Sasami and Tsunami from Tenchi Muyo. Also Chun Li. AW YEA.
On a completely different note, Chisa (Noa's voice actress) also made this quote after recovering from a car accident (I'm sensing some irony there)… 'Be careful not just of influenza, but also cars.'
THIS IS THE BEST QUOTE EVER.
And as a matter of fact, Gozaburo is indeed implying that he'll take boobs over nothing at all. This is what happens when you die. You're scary as hell. Also, while Rota's more of a goal-oriented ghost, Gozaburo... Is really not.
The main difference between the two ghosts you see is that Rota kinda died miserable and depressed, wanting nothing more than to see her son actually get his peace; the reason she can't move on is because he's still in that computer, hence her haunting it. However, since she never responded to him while alive, she can't bring herself to contact him properly in death either...
(So heyyyyyy, we'll just make... Jonouchi... Do it... UHHHH... ...Fun fact, he's actually the only one who can technically see her right now. SCARY.)
Anyways, Gozaburo was an angry suicide. Gozaburo is a VERY ANGRY ghost. He's not just gunning for vengeance that makes no sense (but then again, ghosts see black-and-white, so really... It makes sense to him), he's gunning for COMPLETE ANNIHILATION.
...I guess you could call him a poltergeist actually... As for explanations on Gozaburo's character in the fanfic, you'll get them soon! But just know that for all of the time he had Seto, he was every bit the canon prick he was depicted as, and THEN some.
Speaking of Seto... 'What? NINE? But Kaiba was adopted when he was-'
Now now, hear me out... Seto is considered five years older than Mokuba. However, as with most birthdays that are a number of months apart with the youngest earlier in the year, there's a span of time where it appears, (without the reference of a birthdate) to be a year less.
This paradox often happens with my sisters, taking this example as a good one; I was born in December, and she was born in August. So, shortly after her birthday, it appears as though she's six years younger, rather than seven.
The same applies here. Mokuba's birthday is in July, on the Seventh. He's 'five years younger' than his sister/brother, supported by the fact that he is considered eleven when she is sixteen. However, since he's had his birthday in the fanfic already and Seto, whose birthday is October 25, is already sixteen, he's twelve at this point. This means that until someone corrects someone asking, anyone simply going by age will look at the fact that Seto is still sixteen, the fact that Mokuba is twelve, and decide that despite the fact that she turns seventeen in a few months, he is clearly 'four years younger'.
Translation? Gozaburo adopted Fanfic Seto and Mokuba between July and October, which means that Mokuba was five and Seto was still NINE. Hope that makes sense. Particularly since I screwed up on Mokuba's age WAAAAAAY early in the fanfic.
FanArt and My Art Section
Filled with lots of references for you to remove spaces and paste links~
As an important note though, I recently forgot my tablet at the apartment... After taking a leave that's going to last a week or so. Now, since it's only a week and my career doesn't hinge on the tablet just yet (Oh, but if it DID!), I'm not going to run off and beg for it back. But it does mean that the rest of the reference art will be uncoloured pencil sketches for the next bit, and that's if I scan anything at all. You've been warned!
Reference: Deckmasters- Shinato 'Jonouchi' – http : / / i5. photobucket. com/ albums/ y153/ natasha_unos_1/ YGO% 20Fanfic% 20-% 20Skin/ JouShinato. jpg - It's not really him, but it sure as hell looks like him. Which is pretty much why no one attacked during the swords of revealing light deal until the final moment; it was just awkward. (Also Ren's size is kind of affected by the spell usage, so he'd have done squat until Anzu attacked.)
Reference: Deckmasters- Kaiser Sea Horse Yugi – http : / / i5. photobucket. com/ albums/ y153/ natasha_unos_1/ YGO% 20Fanfic% 20-% 20Skin/ YugiKaiserSeaHorse. jpg - Oooooh... Cool. And yes that's all I have to say on the matter! Shush!
Musical Notes:
Got a few songs today! One can seem either Kaiba-ish or Stalker-ish depending on how you look at the lyrics...
First up, 'Standing in Your Way', the one mentioned just up there, which is by Wowaka P and sung by Hatsune Miku. Really does depend on your interpretation this one.
Also Left and Right, which is also sung by Miku, and is overall just plain 'good'...
Lastly Hirari Hirari, which is just a nice quiet song to listen to after all of the chaos above. (Also from Miku. AHAHAHA...)
In any case, that's all! So enjoy the fanfic, and I'll try and update soon!