Disclaimer: I own nothing.
After Lisa had calmed down from her irritation at Ray and Anna and her concern at knowing that something was wrong and not knowing what it is, she sat down and, almost unconsciously, started shuffling and reshuffling her deck.
"Would you mind telling me what's going on?" Kaiba asked after he had recovered from the initial shock at what had happened.
"Right. I was still explaining things, wasn't I?" Lisa asked rhetorically, looking up for a moment.
"Kaiba, you may be fine for the moment, but in a few minutes this is all going to come crashing down on you and if you're notsitting down, you are going tofall down," she said, returning to her cards.
"I'm still not convinced this isn't all a hoax," Kaiba said shortly.
"Fine. I'll prove it to you," Lisa said simply, standing up and walking in front of Kaiba. "I wasn't going to do this considering the state of your mind, but you leave me no choice. Mokuba, can I borrow the charm I gave you?" Once he had given the protection charm to her, she handed it to Kaiba. As an afterthought, she walked over to her bag and pulled out two charms. One was a spirit strengthening charm, and the other he had never seen before. Unlike the other charms that were all light in color, this one had the color of obsidian.
"This one is a ward. It will work with the spirit protection amulet to help protect you from any dangers that might come your way. This place is somewhat unpredictable. The spirit strengthening charm will help you cope and might make everything easier for you to handle. We'll have to do this quickly since I don't want your mind to fracture further." She reached into her bag and pulled out another ward. "Put those on or I won't attempt to prove everything to you," she said simply, putting on the second ward.
Kaiba reluctantly put on the pendants.
"Mokuba, we're going to need more food and tea. I hate to ask, but do you think you could bring the pot that I made up?" Mokuba quickly left and returned a moment later.
"Thanks. Now that you're back, I can do this." She grabbed Kaiba's wrist with a quick explanation that physical contact was needed the first time, and instructions to relax and not focus on anything. She closed her eyes and took several slow, deep breaths. Unlike when she entered the psychic planes and had a feeling of floating, this time the room felt as if it was spinning around her. The almost unnoticeable stumble next to her told her that Kaiba felt it as well.
"A few more seconds and it will stop," she said quietly, absently noticing her voice echo around her. As she promised, the feeling of everything spinning around her passed and she released Kaiba.
"Where are we?" Kaiba asked. Instead of his room, he was in a room that was extremely large and empty.
"I told you about the planes that we can access as psychics. This is a plane that all psychics can access. It's a psychic reflection of an actual place. We're not actually here. Physically our bodies are in your room. But our minds aren't there." Remembering that Kaiba was still a skeptic and also didn't know anything about this, she thought of a metaphor that she could use for the moment. "Think of it like a hologram that Mokuba can't see.
"Just keep in mind that just because we're not physically here, doesn't mean that any dangers we come across aren't real. Not all psychic powers are as... pacifist as ours. There are real psychics that can actually shoot fireballs and this is their favorite place to be. Speaking of, duck." As she spoke, she ducked down, pulling Kaiba down with her as one of the fireballs she mentioned flew above their heads.
"Lisa, don't you know better than to bring babies here," a boy asked, walking over as he manifested another fireball.
"Aaron, don't you know better than to act like a two year-old," Lisa replied, standing up. "Or do I have to talk to Brad again?"
"Who are you calling an infant?" Kaiba demanded, glaring at Aaron.
"You, infant," Aaron answered easily.
"It's a rude term sometimes applied to newly-awakened psychics," Lisa explained.
"Well if you felt the need to duck, you've obviously lost your touch with your little charms," Aaron said. "And since this is the fire-masters time, you're on our turf. You card-speakers are always so full of yourself. Two less will do us a favor."
"One time a decade ago with one card-speaker proving himself better, and you hold it against us for the rest of eternity," Lisa muttered.
"Well now you're on our turf," Aaron said.
"In case you haven't noticed, we're the only ones here," Kaiba said.
"I'm the most powerful fire-master," Aaron said.
"Did I mention it was his cousin who was shown up a decade ago?" Lisa asked. "He holds a huge amount of hatred for card-readers. Just don't move and you'll be fine."
"We'll see," Aaron snapped, throwing two fireballs. Lisa's wards erected a shield that stopped the fireballs in place.
"My charms are just fine, thank you." The sound of a bell ringing stopped the feud. With one last glare, Aaron vanished.
"I'm sorry, Kaiba," Lisa sighed. "Time moves differently here. I thought I'd timed this better. On the bright side, we didn't end up in the middle of a duel. Not even the strongest charms can stop those."
"Now can you tell me what this place is?" Kaiba asked shortly.
"Wasn't the bell obvious? We're at school. This is a place for psychics to safely learn to control their gifts. Well, the physical one is. This is a... playground of sorts. Psychics can goof off here and relax. It's also a meeting ground for when some psychics can't physically be present at the school. It's an exact replication of the physical school in the one psychic plane every psychic can access." She started walking and at one door stopped and opened it.
"If you need more proof of this being a school, look inside here. Class is in session. To a lesser extent, things that happen in the physical school are reflected in this one. If I had known that I timed it incorrectly I wouldn't have chosen the main hall as our entrance. It was supposed to be empty. Walk with me and I'll give you a tour."
"Weren't you the one saying we had to be quick?"
"Time moves differently here, Kaiba. And if I thought your mind could handle it I'd give you the accelerated tour, but instead we get a walking one." For the next several minutes she showed Kaiba the main things of the school.
"Now for the room I wanted to show you. If this does not prove what I've been saying is true, then nothing will." She walked inside and stopped in front of a mirror.
"Psychics with my brother's skills made this one mirror one that any psychic can look through as a portal." She focused on the mirror and it started to warp under her command, refocusing on Kaiba's room. In it was a concerned Mokuba and Lisa and Kaiba standing as if in a trance.
"Since this is only areflection of the school, we can only look. Were we at the real school we could talk as well, but this isn't what I wanted to show you." She walked towards another door that looked like a closet.
"Stay close, Kaiba. I only want to be here for a few moments, this is dangerous enough as is." A quick glance at Kaiba told her that she needed to make this as brief as possible. The CEO was looking ill and she was worried that he would faint if she kept him here much longer. Since no one had ever fainted in the psychic school before, at least not in the manifestation of it, she wasn't certain what would happen and didn't want to find out.
She opened the door and took only a couple steps inside, making sure to leave it open behind her. The door had an annoying tendency to change locations when she closed it and since she didn't want to spend very long here she couldn't afford for that to happen.
"Welcome to the safest glimpse of the sixth plane you'll ever get, Kaiba." In front of them was every duel monster to exist, and even manifestations of the spell and trap cards.
"This is-" Kaiba broke off mid-sentence and reflexively grabbed the door-frame as the floor he was standing on seemed to be pulled from underneath him.
"Time to leave," Lisa said, grabbing his wrist again.
"Focus on your physical body and the trip back will be easier," she said, closing her eyes and again taking slow, deep breaths. After a few moments she opened her eyes and saw Kaiba's room. She looked at the CEO and saw him collapse onto his bed, trembling despite himself.
"And this is why I asked Mokuba to grab the food," she said, again putting a plate in front of him and sitting down, the strain of entering and exiting the psychic realm this many times in a day starting to show. "Eat slowly and sip the tea and you'll feel better."
"Are you okay?" Mokuba asked.
"He's fine, Mokuba. The first trip is always rough." She quickly entered the sixth plane and merged again with Psychic Kappa, breathing a sigh of relief when she saw that the gamble she took didn't leave Kaiba any worse off than he already was.
"Now that I'm convinced that Kaiba's all right, and he'll stay that way as long as he keeps the amulet on, I'll be going," she said, standing up before promptly collapsing again.
"Are you all right, Lisa?" Mokuba asked.
"I'm fine," Lisa said. "I stood up too quickly is all." She stood up again, more slowly the second time, and grabbed her bag, slinging it over her shoulder.
"I'll be going now and if Kaiba decides he believes me and wants my help in learning to control everything, he's more than welcome to find me at my store. It's opening in a few days and I want to use as much of the holiday that's starting tomorrow to prepare as I can."
"You can't leave now. It's dark outside," Mokuba protested. "Besides, you helped my brother, so now we owe you. The least we can do is let you stay the night."
"I appreciate the offer, Mokuba, but I'm a quick study of towns. I can find my house and I have enough money for a cab if I need one. Kaiba, if you decide you believe me, drop by my store and I'll finish the interrupted explanation and answer whatever questions you may have. And whatever you do keep your amulet on. My getting here in time was pure luck." After a moment's thought, she added "Mokuba, I need you to make sure your brother keeps the amulet on. I have a feeling he'll listen to you sooner than he'll listen to me." That said, she left.
AN: I'm not sure how I feel about this chapter, but it will do for now. If something doesn't make sense, let me know and I'll explain what I can in a review reply or edit it in the story itself to make it clearer.