Chapter 8

Bloody Clotpoles

Ryou sat at a large table while several old Hylians were discussing monster attacks and he took in as much information as he could. Some of the attack positions were good, but others he knew of better strategies. He didn't say anything as he took a look over at Yugi who looked like how he felt: tired and worried. Regan and Nile were in another part of the castle resting with doctors attending to them. They used a lot of aura to stop the serpent creature that reminded him of the Fiery Serpent from the Bible and it wasn't long afterwards that it was slain by Kaiba with the distraction of the green hero, both were also seated at the table. The thought of the creature brought back the memory of Kaiba setting himself up in front of the creature as it tried to ram Link and cut the creature length wise in half as it went through the aura sword. He swallowed as blood, organs and some bone fell out of the corpse as it crashed landed on the ground sharing its insides to the world. It was disgusting and he wished Kaiba's aura sword cauterized the serpent's tissues as he cut the poor bastard in half so the sounds of squirting blood and the plops of organs falling to the ground weren't imbedded into his memory. That, and his monster, Dark Necrofear and her doll, breaking creatures' necks in the most terrifying manner she could have possibly displayed. It got the point across and the monsters that had ambushed them were quickly killed or retreated in fear.

He turned to Kaiba in the present, who was expressionless at the whole thing at the table, but he could see the gears turning. Though he wasn't sure what they were turning for, he knew that they were turning for something. He turned away from the burnet to the Queen who was visibly listening to all of her generals' and commanders' ideas, but irritation grew as the voices started to rise at them bickering at which plans to take. He turned to the Link as his annoyance grew. The hero looked a little tired, but had a frown on his face, apparently he had no intention getting into the argument.

"We should place troops up north where that serpent came from!" One shouted.

"Then what about the rest of the gates?! We need troops to start pushing out the monsters!" A second one retorted. "We need our farms and trade routes to the other towns back!"

"We don't have the man power to deal with all sides! Staying inside of the gates is the best option!" A third one went off and Ryou had had enough.

"You three can all have what you want!" he shouted silencing the room. He stood up and wiped the map clean of all the little units. "We can have a small group in Castle Town to protect the walls by creating a signal system like that found on the Great Wall of China. From there, we can have smaller groups go out to deal with expanding the space of this safe haven, that way the only passage ways are flying over the cliffs or through the ravines which is way easier to protect than the walls of Castle Town. Finally, you can have a special unit scout for activity and either report or remove the issue before it can attack. Faron Woods may have had quite a bit of activity while the northern region had a Fiery, a biblical serpent, that is supposed to be a holy creature. So, taking that into account of whatever summoned it can change the heart of mythical creatures, defending the north in order to expand is more of a priority over the Faron Woods which from I heard from all your constant childish blabber has been rather quiet. Once the north is safe, you then can proceed to either just defend, or send units to your sanctuary at Lake Hylia where you can start moving this over-crowded city before disease starts to take hold."

He placed the pieces of the army on the map in accordance to his instructions and looked up from the table to have all eyes on him. He suddenly felt like he was overbearing and sat back down in his chair. "Sorry… I don't usually snap."

"No, please, you were helping me think." Kaiba replied looking actually surprised. "You don't often take command."

He didn't say anything as he just looked at his thumbs as he twiddled them. He lost his cool and now everyone was staring at him. This was why he stayed home, he hated the attention and he wasn't great in intense situations. He liked being able to think and plan four or five moves ahead of everyone, this world, this trip, threw everything he was comfortable with, out the bloody window like a cork on a champagne bottle. He sneered at himself for not taking into account of the possibility of leaving his space in time after the first time.

"You alright, Bakura?" Yugi asked from across the table and Ryou shook his head.

"No, I'm not bloody alright. Regan and Nile are separated, one of them will be unstable as soon as one of them leaves the River's Puzzle to the other. I was a prat to think that the first trip, which was to the bloody future because of some wanking scrubbers; wasn't going to repeat itself in some sort of manner. Which it did because of some slag and now we are in another dimension! We are currently being hunted down by at least one muppet in this world when we already had our git platters full back home with several different clotpoles with several different goals in mind for our pretty little heads!" He took a breather as one of the only people, Jason, who understood everything he said, had his jaw slightly dropped. Kaiba gave him an impressed look. "All this chaos to my orderly plans makes me go …something…"

"Go crazy?" Dark Link suggested and he nodded.

"Yes! That! I'm going to lose my mind!"

"Please don't do that…" Atem told him exhaustedly. "We really like not-crazy-Bakura."

"Fine, if not going crazy helps me get back to my gormless world, then I won't. But seriously, there is enough twits running around to put Hollywood's celebrity media to shame." He sighed turned back to his thumbs. "Maybe if we help your situation quickly, I might be able to have a nice vacation from home. But, I'm not great for fighting. I can do it; I just really don't like it. But if you want me to find this sword to kill Vaati then I can."

"And a really good tactician by the looks of it." Link stated. "How did you learn all that?"

"Table top strategy games…" he replied before looking at the map again. "You guys are going to need an elevator like structure for the sanctuary, right?"

Queen Zelda nodded, but didn't say anything.

"Kaiba will be able to have the designs down before heading to bed."

"Excuse me?" The tall man started giving a glare. "Last I checked, I don't get told to do anything."

"It will give you something to do for a short time, unless of course you want to risk the chance of Regan or you getting sick if a plague breaks out."

The man growled.

"The longer it takes to make that elevator, correctly, the higher chance that that will happen."

"Fine! I'll design the stupid elevator!" Kaiba snapped before turning to Her Majesty. "I suggest having someone ready to get supplies in the morning, because the list will be ready by then."

The Queen nodded again.

Ryou didn't give a smirk in victory, but he felt victorious. "We are probably going to need more knights in better training as well if this is all the pegs you have. Yugi and I can strategize for the best possible victory, but as for training wise, Atem, Nile, Kaiba, if you decide you want to, and possibly Regan will be able to help with that, though Regan is also a formable strategist. But, it would be best to keep both girls off any radar."

"Why's that?" Dark Link asked.

"They have a habit of making unwelcomed friends. If one of those friends comes knocking, it would be best not to have them in plain sight."

"You're talking about Dark Matter, right?" Jason asked and Ryou nodded, though he wasn't sure how he knew that. How much did these Templars know?

"I wouldn't be surprised if he can travel through dimensions if we made it here just wonderfully. Not to mention this Vaati character seems like a problem."

"He doesn't care about human girls." Electra stated. "I apparently have the same problem, but Vaati point blankly stated he had no interest in humans."

"He might not be interested in humans, but he likes girls, especially if they look like Her Majesty."

Electra had a confused look on her face before it turned to realization. "Regan is similar now that you point it out… their height isn't much different either if you stick her in heels, she's grown quite a bit since the last time I saw her."

"Maybe she shouldn't look for the Minish then." Queen Zelda suggested. "It was bad enough she volunteered, but I don't want her out there if Vaati does take fancy."

"I also agree with Zelda," Kaiba agreed. "Regan can read Hylian, it would be best for her to stay researching instead of being out there."

"Um, from her adventure earlier, I'm going to say she's going to disagree to this proposal." Delilah imputed. "Like, I barely know her, but she did take off and she'll probably do it again if she gets a lead."

"I will not." a familiar voice echoed the hall and Ryou turned to it to see Regan without her puzzle coming through the door with two guards behind her apologizing for letting anyone in. Ryou wondered if his battle plan was going to even work if they couldn't even keep Regan from entering the room. It didn't look like she tried as her swords weren't on her. "Unless of course it's super dangerous and someone might die, but I won't leave without telling someone."

"So you mean you won't be telling anyone, ever." Link deciphered and she shrugged. "You're going to get yourself killed."

"Hasn't happen yet."

"Famous last words." Dark Link imputed and everyone turned to him at the table with a wide range of reactions. "What, you can't tell me none of you were thinking that."

"Regan, where's your puzzle?" Yugi asked turning his attention back on Regan.

Ryou followed and watched the girl shuffle her weight back and forth. "With Nile, I'll be good for an hour or so before I have to go back to it…"

"How's she doing?" Ryou asked and Regan smiled slightly.

"She's good, her fever has dropped since being stable, according to the doctors, but we really need to find something to stabilize one of us when we start going our separate ways to do things."

"About that," Atem started. "We've decided that you are probably best to stay here and do research…"

"Why because I kinda look like a younger version of Zelda?" Regan asked glaring. Ryou guessed she had seen the painting they had all seen as they walked to the war room of Zelda and her father when Zelda was a bit younger. Though it sometimes astonished him how fast she put things together, sometimes even faster than her older brother. "You can't just think I'll be sitting around while you guys are out and about! It's-"

"You're staying in Castle Town." Kaiba ordered cutting her off. "You still haven't fully recovered from your injuries from the last parade and it's possible that someone here will use you like they want to do back home."

"But-"

"But nothing." Kaiba finalized with a glare. "You're staying put until I say you are able to defend yourself properly and the situation is more clear. Got it?"

She looked ready to argue, which Ryou had another wave of points on why she should stay in just the Castle alone, but she sighed after looking at everyone at the table then back to her brother. "I got it, Seto…"

"Good." She frowned at his words before a smirk appeared on her lips as she walked passed Kaiba and sat next Dark Link, purposely moving her chair closer to him. Kaiba sighed. "Regan…"

"Hmmm?" She answered as she looked over Ryou's arrangements.

"You're going to make Yugi jealous…"

Regan didn't turn to him. "Hardly, Yugi knows that I love him more than he could possibly know. But if I'm not doing that, what could I possibly doing?" the girl's smirk only grew as Kaiba didn't reply. Whatever she was talking about to get Kaiba all riled up was apparently working as the man fidgeted. But Ryou wasn't sure what was going on. "Are these your battle formations, Ryou?"

Ryou turned to her and realized she was looking over the board he had set up. "Um, yea…"

"They're great, though it's not just sanitation you have to be concerned with either. With the units placed like that, it's possible for someone to teleport in the city and keep all the citizens inside the walls while monsters attack from all directions."

"What do you propose we do then?"

"If we had time, create safe road out of the city possibly maybe into the castle court… but that's a lot of people out there from what I've seen. Maybe a special guard on the inside, very trained professionals disguised as citizens or something..."

"Like, each having a shop or something at the beginning and end of each section of the city? Trained enough so they can challenge whatever comes and can cause enough of a stir between the people and the visitor that they can't create a crowd controlled scenario."

"Yes! Exactly, and maybe have it a gender bias or neutral… there aren't many female recruits I've noticed, just Electra, Delilah and Ashei."

"A female special force?"

"I doubt it would even cross their minds of females having set shop while in reality, they're keeping watch." Yugi added. "History has pointed out that females can do secret missions in the open better than men have."

Ryou looked at his map and grabbed several units in a different color from the box in front of one of the Hylian generals and placed them at the corners and gates in each of the sections across the city. He looked at it and was satisfied, but he still needed approval, it wasn't his city after all. He turned to the men and their queen at the table. "What do you think?"

"I think it will work…" A young soldier stated. "And we can use your positions to formulate evacuation plans. The only problem is: can we get enough females to join for this plan?"

Ryou shrugged. That wasn't his area, they weren't his people and he knew nothing of how they would react to such a proposition. If it was him before shadow magic, he would have turned tail. But maybe these people had more guts than he had before everything flipped on its face and he needed to develop a backbone to survive. "Depends on how much courage they have and if they like living. But we shouldn't advertise that we are looking for militants either." He looked back at the map. "Someone in civilian clothing-"

Regan started putting up her hand and he sighed. "Other than you, and see who, if there is someone, working at these stations who would to like to participate."

"Not tonight though." Link finalized standing from the table. "We've had a rough night after that raid and the people need rest."

"You mean you need rest." Dark Link corrected mockingly. "Right?"

"You are just-" the hero stopped himself as he held his cool and ignored the dark version. He turned to the queen. "Zelda?"

"That's enough for tonight. We can pick this up later on in the day if something else occurs." The brunette said taking a quick look over the map. "This concludes the council."

The other personal in the room left quickly leaving their group, Link, Dark Link, Zelda, and Electra at the table.

"That seemed like a total waste of time." Kaiba stated. "Seriously, we could have cut almost the whole thing if those fools would have stopped arguing."

"I didn't see you try and stop them, Seto." Atem told him.

"That's all they have been doing recently…" The Queen stated before Kaiba could make a remark. "But, perhaps that will change now that the stress of dealing with a set plan is gone."

"Perhaps…" Ryou said to no on in particular as he looked over the map again. He felt like he was leaving something out. There were the missions to finding weapons to kill three horrible creatures, but that could be assimilated in an instant. They had all the people practically in the room, not including the Irish bloke and the white haired Hylian woman who left probably to do the intelligent thing and sleep. He sighed. He was too tired to think of what he was missing. In the morning, he was sure he could figure out the loophole in his strategy besides the one Regan found. His attention to the map was disrupted as a small squeak of a yawn went through the war room. He couldn't help, but smirk as it reminded him too much of Pharaoh who had often ended up in his room with no explanation. "Sounds like someone is tired."

"But I already slept…" The girl complained.

"You napped for only a few hours," Yugi told her as he stood up from his chair. "Maybe you should head back to the puzzle now?"

"Ha-ha, no way in hell I'm going back to that part of the castle."

"Why not?" Link asked obviously very confused.

Ryou thought for a moment before the answer came to him. "You're still scared of hospitals, even after the last few months?"

"Yes…" She muttered looking away. Her face slightly red in embarrassment. "And this one is the same as all the rest…"

He huffed, it made sense why she didn't stick around with Nile after she woke up.

"Wait, time out…" Dark Link asked looking at Ryou. "Are you saying the pipsqueak here, the injury finding person in the room right now other than Peter Pan and yours truly, is afraid of hospitals? The place where you go to get better."

"Don't forget probably the most accident prone." Yugi added off hand but it didn't look like Regan noticed keeping her attention on Dark Link.

"A little slow on the uptake there, D-Link." Regan mocked.

"Did you just-" Kaiba started before he started laughing, the look on Dark Link's face was a mix of confusion and insult. "That's hysterical."

Regan gave a small smile. Ryou looked back at Kaiba. He had never seen Kaiba laugh with even a bit of joy which meant the brunet was extremely tired. He clenched his jaw. Even with sleep, were any of them capable of doing their duties without complications? He looked out the window as Dark Link started to ask what a D-Link was and he tuned out the noise to think. As far as he knew, none of them really knew what the jump through space had done to their bodies other than separate Regan and Nile, which was as much as a blessing as it was a curse in his eyes. If enough energy had been created that it separated a soul from an item and gave it a body exactly like the form of her spirit, like the fluke Atem had when Dark Matter attacked the first time, what did it mean for the rest of them? He shook his head. He wasn't an astrophysicist or whatever the bloody expert was called and he didn't want to figure it out. It was probably best he was left in the dark anyway. If he wasn't, he would probably be freaking out at the number of ways they could die horribly, or worse, live with what horrible, painful experience it was until they died of old age or were killed. If they could be killed. What if the process made them immortal? Forever living with a small group of people and watching everything rise and fall. It didn't seem all that appealing to him. He liked the small existence of living for so long and experience things, sharing and then dying. Much nicer.

"Ryou?" Link interrupted into his horrible thoughts.

"Sorry, did you ask something?"

"Just wondered if you had a preference for sleeping…"

"Anywhere with a bed or a sofa." He replied. He didn't really care on preferences as long as he could get to where he needed to go to quickly. "Actually, if there is a room close to a library that would be great."

"There's a room just above it." Zelda told him and he nodded. "Do you need anything else?"

"No, that's more than enough." He thanked with a small bow. "I'll work with Regan on finding a possible location for the Minish."

00000

Pages flipped as Ryou concentrated on the paragraph in front of him. Every so often he would look at his reference page Regan had happily created for all of them before she went to bed. How she had so much energy to do that while as soon as he was shown his room, it took all of his strength to not pass it out on the floor. He didn't think even the greatest of scientists could answer.

"So, how did you end up in that field with the snake?" Dark Link asked interrupting his thoughts as Ryou continued looking through the book. "I would think you guys would have been killed if you were there all day and some of the night before Shrimp found you."

"We originally weren't in the north field," Ryou explained to him as he devised that the paragraph held no information he was looking for. "We actually landed in a very silent, and for the most part, empty village."

"Empty village?"

"You mean the Hidden Village, right?" Regan suggested from her corner of the room and Ryou nodded though he wasn't sure if that's what the village was actually called. "Lucky you..."

"How in the gods above do you keep answering all these questions correctly?!" Dark Link asked her and Ryou caught her give off a small smirk. "Nerd..."

"She has always been a walking encyclopedia about useless stuff." Electra stated and Regan frowned.

"That was my feelings you just squished."

"Would have thought for sure that your brother would have drained those all away."

"Well," Ryou started. "He gets some points for trying. But atlas, he failed."

"Pfft, I can sit here all day listening to this." Regan scoffed. "Not the first time."

Ryou raised an eyebrow. "When have you sat through several people making fun of you?"

"Grade seven was the first time, worse school year ever. Then Lilith's stupid insult game... After that, a few times when people have walked into Seto's office ridiculing me about the company. I usually wait until they finish before I say something which makes them leave without having my brother to intervene."

"I didn't realize business was that cruel." Electra huffed. "Must meet a few assholes."

"Just... Most of them." Regan sighed. "But as far as their intelligence goes, it's one category and then they are the dumbest things on Earth. Seriously, if there weren't labels on things, they would have probably died."

Ryou laughed slightly as he turned back to his book. He's met a few people over the years like that and he had to agree with the tiny Kaiba. Most of them weren't very bright beyond business and even then. "So... How many books are there that we have to go through before we have to run around?"

"More than I care to stick around for." Dark Link growled as he slammed his book making them all jump except for Electra. "I'm going."

"No, you aren't." Electra replied calmly as she turned another page. "You are stuck down here with me in case Regan decides to take off."

"I'm quite content in this fancy, little couch surrounded by books." Regan replied finishing her book and set it on top of a growing pile of finished books. "I'm so content I could sleep."

"Liar..."

"How is it that I haven't seen you in almost a year and yet you still know the little things about me?"

"Because they are actually important to keeping you from killing yourself," The blonde answered and Ryou smirked. It was a good thing that at least someone knew the ins and outs of how Regan worked. He had some experience, but he was the last person that was suited for the job. He knew Nile, but as similar as she was to Regan, they were also very different. Electra turning to the leaving member in the room. "Dark, if you don't sit back down I will attach you to a wall."

"And how are you going to do that exactly?"

"I could give her ideas..." Regan started. "But I don't need to, besides, if I leave, I'll let you in on it."

Dark Link thought on it before sighing heavily. "Fine, but I'm not reading another one of these stupid trees."

"You'll be bored." Electra huffed.

"No, I won't, Roo is going to tell me about his time in the Hidden Village."

Ryou stopped reading the page and looked up at the armed fellow. "I am?"

"You are."

"I think going through these books would be more productive. Gets us out of this stuffy room faster, no?"

"Leave the kid alone..." The blonde ordered and her partner crossed his arms.

"I'm not listening to another order from you, Goddess Girl." Electra glared and Dark Link smirked, leaving him confused. What did he mean by Goddess Girl? Maybe he would find out as time went on, but as far as he could tell, Electra didn't take the name as a compliment. "We've been at this for hours while everyone else gets to enjoy the outdoors and playing with sharp objects. I think we deserve a break by hearing a story from our little white haired friend."

Ryou just shook his head. He didn't want to start an argument that might involve their reading material getting damaged. With his luck, it would be the bloody book that they needed. "Alright, I'll tell the story about my adventure from being tossed in the dirt to that Biblical serpent that Kaiba killed."

"It's already amazing because Link wasn't the one who killed it."

"You're such a child." Electra rolled her eyes setting her book down. "What is up with you anyway? I thought for sure you would have said something on why you've been acting weird since yesterday."

"This isn't normal for him?" Ryou asked and she shook her heard.

"Usually he is a bit... Distant and moody not irrationally attacking, caring and surprisingly less moody. Hmm, maybe you're growing up."

"I'm not caring, just..." Dark Link started to spill his secret when a pissed off look came to his face. "Roo has a story so shut up and listen or read."

Regan looked up from her book with a strange expression on her face.

"Are you okay Regan?" Ryou asked her.

She smiled leaving all traces of whatever she was thinking behind in memory. "Of course, who doesn't love a story when kittens are involved."

"Well, it's really short I'm afraid..."

"A short break then," Dark Link insisted and Ryou sighed.

No matter where he went, he was always being pushed, lightly this time, around and of course, he was going to comply. He should write a book that lists the problems of a pacifist like those gamer problems lists he saw on his news feeds. "Alright, well after a blinding light…"

*Yesterday at Noon*

Ryou's head pounded and his stomach turned. He rolled off his back and emptied out whatever he had snacked on before going to find Melissa. He looked down at the ground and realized that it wasn't the same ground that Melissa had thrown him to about seven times in the confrontation. The ground that his face hit was grassy and soft, as soft as the ground could be, and the ground he looked down at was dusty and reminded him of a desert plain. He looked up and came face to face with an old wild west setup with some unrecognizable writing on the sign. Where the hell did he end up? It unfortunately wasn't new to him, waking up in strange places, usually with a blasting headache. At least that part didn't change, only difference was he didn't remember him getting possessed this time around.

*Currently*

"Wait!" Electra interrupted his setting. "You were possessed before? Like by a demon or something like in Paranormal Activity?"

"More like an evil, deranged, ancient, demonic fused spirit." Ryou explained not wanting to get into it. "Now, back to the story…"

*Yesterday… same time*

He looked around and saw Yugi lying not far from him unconscious. Ryou stoop up and got a head rush immediately, but ignored it as he went to his fallen comrade. He shook him and Yugi stirred for a moment only to slipped back again.

"Yugi…" He urged and this time, his friend awoke.

"Bakura?" The teenager groaned as he sat up. "I feel like I'm going to be sick."

"I already was." Ryou told him reassuringly.

A small smile formed before he sighed. "Where are we?"

"I don't know."

"Where's Regan?"

Ryou blinked remembering that she had been shot. He looked around finding no one but them in the open. "We must have been separated."

"Regan!" Yugi called out standing up.

*Currently*

"Awe, you're boyfriend cares for your wellbeing." Dark Link mocked turning to Regan. "Or does he? Roo could just be adding it to his story."

Regan turned a page in her book. "Ryou is actually really good at portraying exactly what was said."

"Doesn't mean he could be lying."

"Still sounds like Yugi nonetheless."

"Not even a doubt?"

"Nope."

"You're a fool." Dark Link sighed and Ryou didn't even need to look in her direction to see the smirk forming on her lips.

"You should try being a fool, its fun."

"He doesn't have to try; he's already an idiot. Any more encouragement and he might forget how to breath." Electra replied and Dark Link growled.

"Like you even know me, Lightning Bug."

The room went silent as Electra glared. Ryou didn't need Regan's ability to know that a sensitive string was touched. He cleared his throat, breaking the tension. "Should I continue?"

No one said anything as the two people in front of him looked away from each other and he sighed, continuing on before someone could object or get murdered...

*Yesterday…*

They looked around in the visible area and quickly realized that they were alone besides the empty village. Ryou started walking towards the village when Yugi placed a hand on his shoulder. He turned to him.

"What is it?"

"We shouldn't just walk in there, who knows where we are."

"Well, we won't find anyone standing here." Ryou replied sharply, a little more than he wanted to portray, but he was a little scared. "Besides, if someone wanted us dead, they would have seen us and done it by now."

"You… you have a point."

Ryou turned back to the village. "And with that said, I think this village is abandoned."

"Or they know better than to be outside now, its kinda warm."

"Or we scared them by appearing here."

"Maybe." Yugi thought about it before sighing. "Fine, maybe Regan, or any of the others, are in there."

"And give them a piece of our minds for leaving us out here?"

"That, that I think I will do."

They walked into the village and no noise went through the village besides the wind and their quiet footsteps in the dirt. The porches were covered in dust and the some of the windows were broken making Ryou feel on edge. Maybe it was a ghost town. He had an occult deck, maybe they would be kind to them. Suddenly, something loud crashed in the ally just in front of them and they both screamed moving away from the alley. A barrel rolled out from the alley and stopped in the middle of the road in front of them. Growling echoed from where the barrel had come from.

"Yugi…"

"Bakura…?"

"Should we summon a monster?"

"I don't know…" He replied. "But I don't think it would be a good idea considering."

Ryou swallowed, he had a bad feeling Yugi would say what he was thinking. The fears of a large, scary creature disappeared as a cat rolled out of the alleyway and came to an ungraceful thump. They relaxed, sighing loudly. A bloody cat almost made them need a new pair of drawers.

*Currently… so many interruptions…*

"Drawers? What the hell are you doing with a set of drawers?" Dark Link asked sounding a bit agitated. "That has nothing to do with the story. You didn't even say you had drawers to begin with."

"Drawers is another word for pants." Ryou explained. "Its more accustomed to my upbringing."

"Which they use drawers for pants?"

"It's a British term." Regan explained. "They have strange words, but beautiful insults. Just go with it."

Dark Link opened his mouth, but nothing came out and he sighed. "Fine."

Electra rose an eyebrow at the man, but also didn't say anything. Ryou took the silence as a queue to continue.

*Yesterday, with a cat*

Meowing followed and suddenly, they were surround by cats. Ryou almost panicked thinking that they were man eating cats. It made sense on why the village was empty if the cats had attacked and eaten all the people. The awful thoughts disappeared as the cats either sat in front of them or rubbed against their legs. One stood up on its hind legs and leaned against his leg. He picked it up and it immediately started purring. He relaxed even more as the stress disappeared, ignoring the fact that this could be a ploy and they were getting ready to attack. Its fur was so soft, and it comforted him a little. These weren't man-eating cats. The other cats started meowing more and he looked over at Yugi.

"I think I made them jealous."

"You might have." He replied sheepily. "These cats seemed to be extremely friendly. Phoenix isn't like this most of the time…"

"Cats are like people, Phoenix is a cuddly asshole and these cats seem more like lovable attention hoggers."

Yugi seemed like he was about to say something when the far building door opened with a loud creak.

An old lady came out looking around before narrowing in on them. "Oh, we have guests."

Ryou looked over at Yugi and they silently agreed to go over to the woman. If she did try anything suspicious or attacked, they might not have been in the position to summon monsters safely, but they could if they needed to.

*Are you… Bloody hell… Currently!*

His story was interrupted as the library door opened loudly. He turned to it to see Nile and Queen Zelda come in through the door.

"Hello." Regan greeted looking up from her book with a smile and Ryou relaxed. They weren't here for bad news; aura abilities would be so useful if he had them. "Whaddup?"

"Her majesty wanted to accompany me to make sure you stayed stable." Nile answered glancing over at his direction. "Did we interrupt something?"

"Just Roo's story on what happened with your flock yesterday." Dark Link sighed.

"You guys interrupted me like a million times, what's another one?" Ryou asked and the male shook his head.

"That's different, they weren't even here to hear about what happened after meeting the old hag."

"Oh, you were getting to the part where she was tending to me by putting a limiter on my ability until I met up with Regan." Nile stated. "Then we left towards the castle on the woman's instructions and came across that serpent creature."

Dark Link's face hit the table and Ryou winced as it wasn't a light motion. "Way to ruin the ending."

She laughed slightly before turning to Ryou. "Sorry for ruining your break."

"It's alright," He replied. He was kinda done with the story anyway. He didn't want to tell it in the first place, especially if he had to get to the part where the horde of monsters showed up after Regan's and hers aura shield disappeared. He shuddered mentally, it was a blood bath, but he was glad that it was dark enough for him not to give him details and the monsters disappeared quick enough. He left the thoughts behind turning his attention back to the princess. "Everything going well with the training?"

"The training isn't the problem, the soldiers can fight, it's their cowardly nature that is difficult to break."

"Good luck on that impossible task." Dark Link commented.

"We should have a decent army ready to go by night fall."

Dark Link snapped his attention at her and Ryou could see a red mark had formed on his forehead. "Say what?"

"Yes..." Zelda started. "It's not the most easing way, but at least it's safe."

"What are you guys doing to get them to man up so quickly?" Electra asked and Ryou heard Regan gasp and she turned to her. "What?"

Regan didn't look at Electra as she narrowed her eyes at Nile. "You didn't."

"I might have taken the idea you proposed last night." Nile told her.

"But that's-"

"A bit reckless, but no one gets seriously injured or killed to reach their full potential."

"You're not supposed to follow the ideas of a tired teenager!"

"What the hell are you guys talking about?" The blonde interrupted. "We should be toning down the recklessness of any situation when possible."

"It's not that reckless." Nile disagreed and Regan scoffed.

"You might as well shoot some fireworks telling everyone in the country of our secret weapons."

"You summoned some monsters to train the soldiers." Ryou analyzed and Nile nodded. "Are you sure that was a wise decision?"

"We didn't summon any heavy ones, just some light, and possibly scary looking ones." Nile answered turning back to Regan. "I took into consideration that someone might be spying so I didn't think about summoning any powerful monsters."

"What about the possibility of the damage done when we got here?" Regan hissed. "Spirits don't get bodies from nothing. It might have been the same power that was used for Atem, but that wasn't caused by us, who knows what our-"

"I'm feeling fine, Regan. And so is everyone else from what I can tell. There might be consequences, but for now, there are none."

"Still..."

No argument was made afterwards and Ryou frowned. He didn't remember the two of them arguing as much as they had over the last couple of hours. They usually were on the same page. Perhaps Regan was over thinking things and being paranoid, but it could have been Nile under estimating their predicament. He didn't defend either case, staying his neutral self.

"So, progress going well?" Regan finally asked and her partner nodded. "Alright, then I guess that's all we can ask for."

Nile smiled. "I appreciate you trusting my judgment."

"Ya, but I will tell you, 'I told you so' when it backfires."

"I hope it doesn't come to that."

"Same..." Regan got up from the couch and walked over to her. "Now, I guess I touch this little guy and then you can go back to your training."

There wasn't any indication from the item that it did stabilize her other than a small light that came from the puzzle's eye before it faded just as quickly as it came as she placed a hand on it. Regan sighed and Ryou realized his friend looked a lot more refreshed then she had a moment ago.

"Maybe I should take a backseat and you take the puzzle." Nile expressed the concern at the same time he was thinking it. "It's taking a toll on you when you don't have it."

Regan smiled as she shook her head. "I'm fine. I'm just tired because I'm not back home and worried about Mokuba, the company, and the school. Who knows what mischief could be happening without two of us there."

"I'm sure he's fine, both him and Alex can take care of things while incidents like this happen. It's not the first time and I doubt it will be the last."

"I know..."

"Are you sure you don't want the puzzle?"

"Yes." She reassured. "Go do your thing, I'll do mine."

"I will, but even a slight change in anything, you come take this item... Agreed?"

Regan rolled her eyes. "Agreed."

Ryou watched Nile, he gave a tiny wave and she waved back as she left reluctantly with the Queen. Regan flopped onto the couch knocking over a pile of books as she did muttering what he only guessed as a curse at her clumsiness.

"Are you alright over there?" Electra asked and she nodded.

"It's like I have a mother hen, only this time she's no longer in my head and could physically restrain me like a smart person if I decided to jump headfirst into a pool of molten danger." Regan replied staring at the ceiling.

"She's just trying to keep you safe."

"She's paranoid."

"And you're not?" Ryou piped up. "Because it looks to me she's not jumping headfirst into a pool of molten danger keeping everyone safe the fastest way possible without thinking first."

"Are you calling me paranoid?"

"I'm certainly not saying you're being rational about everything."

"I suppose I'm not." She agreed and Ryou was surprised by the maturity of her answer. "But to be fair, she is being waaaay too rational about the decisions she's making."

There it was.

"Hey, I got a question." Dark Link asked and she nodded without giving a remark. "Did you two always argue? Like I'm no expert, but I'm sure you two would be on the same page if you two were constantly in the same body."

"Well you can't be on the same page if you aren't on the same frequency."

"You two need to relearn how to communicate then," Electra told her. "Someone might get killed if you don't."

"I think I heard the kettle calling me."

"What's that supposed to mean?!"

"Girls..." Ryou interrupted sheepishly. The last thing he wanted was to be in a room with two women starting up an argument with emotions running so high. "You both have friends that require you to communicate more and likewise back, it happens during times like this. But for now, let's focus on the topic at hand, there are little creatures out there that might be able to help save our worlds if we can find them."

"Roo has a point," Dark Link agreed, helping his case. "Book time now, female communication skills later when food is present."

"He wasn't just talking about Regan and I." Electra growled. "Your communication skills are about as good as a rock."

"Why would a rock need to communicate if it has no one to communicate to?"

"Asshole."

"Glad we got that covered."

"Guys..." Ryou sighed. How did he get stuck with this group again? "The books aren't going to shout out our answers."

"Fine..." Electra said dropping her death glare off of Dark Link to the couch. Her jaw dropped. "Are you fucking kidding me?"

"What is it Lightning Bug?" Dark Link asked apparently bored and she turned his head. "Ow, you could have broken my... Oh... Well I'll be... Never mind... I'm already am damned."

Ryou turned to what the issue was and noticed very quickly someone was missing from the room. He stood up knocking over his chair. "Regan!"

"There's no way she left. We would have heard the door." Electra stated firmly as she also stood up, less aggressively. "She's probably just in the library somewhere."

"She can get distracted easily if something interesting draws in her attention." He agreed. "Let's split up and look around. This library is big enough as it is, last thing we need is her toppling books and getting buried."

"Is that even possible?" Dark Link asked.

Ryou made eye contact with Electra and the answer came from both of their mouths. "Yes."

There was silence for a moment before Dark Link shrugged. "Alright, I'll start on this end and head east, you two head west and north respectively. Gods this library is huge when I have to give instructions that way."

Ryou didn't say anything as he went to the west wing of the library.

00000

Regan stretched once she got home free of everyone in that library. She didn't mind reading, but, it was probably best if she just looked around castle town for the little critters. If they still lived, it would be no doubt that there were some in the town. She could have stayed in the castle but... She needed air. She started walking across the court to leave the castle grounds when someone jumped from down from the wall in front of her, scaring her half to death. Her panic left when she realized that it was just Dark Link.

"Boo." Dark Link said so emotionlessly that she thought her brother was controlling the young adult from afar.

"What the hell are you doing out here?!" She shouted at him. She didn't mean to shout… but if she was a at, she was sure she would have lost at least two out of nine lives from his sudden appearance. She took a quick look above him and noticed how far of a drop he just made. How did he survive that fall?

"Don't freak out at me, we had a deal, remember?"

"I... Right..." She forgot about the 'deal' that they had made. Guess it really was on her, hopefully the next time that they had made a deal, she would remember it. "I guess you could have called it that."

"That's exactly what you call it. Now, where are you going?"

"I don't know..."

A frown formed on his face. "You're pretty bad at lying."

"Hardly," she replied crossing her arms. "Considering I was telling the truth. I was literally just going to wander about and see what attracts my attention."

"You mean like diamonds and stuff?"

"Anomalies actually..." she replied hesitantly. She wasn't used to talking to someone else that wasn't part of her group of friends. It probably sounded ridiculous to him. Even though she was hesitant to say anything was caused by him. Maybe that's why it made her feel awkward to talk to him about it, she never experienced anything like it with her friends except for the first time she had met Yugi. But it had a simple answer to why she read him as a anomaly. This time around… it was like looking in a mirror.

"What's with the dramatic pause?"

"You..."

"What? Scared of me cause I'm the big scary shadow? Ya, not even surprised, most people are for good reason."

She shook her head. "Nope."

"Nope?"

"You don't scare me... Well you did when you first attacked me, but now, not at all."

"If you're insulting my ability-"

"That's not it. If I wasn't on high on adrenaline, you could have taken me easily. I've never fought someone so skilled before." She told him truthfully. "Now I'm able to focus better and think clearly because I'm not bleeding to death or was recently shot before transporting to a different dimension-"

"That would probably fuck with anyone's ability to think."

"Exactly..." She started as she tried to figure out her words. A Hylian accent swearing in her language was a bit strange, but she let it go. "But one of the anomalies I've found was you. And no, it's not because you look a lot like Link. Yes, I saw the sarcastic comment you were about to say. No, it's your aura."

There was a pause as he caught up with her answers to his unsaid questions. "What about my aura?"

"I'm not really supposed to be using my aura abilities while Nile has the puzzle, but... Back in the library, I caught what you have been concerned with."

"Like I'm concerned with anything besides getting my daily dosage of killing things. Even if I was, I don't need your pity, weirdo."

"We are all strange from one another, it's what creates communities. Because if we were all the same, then that community would die from lacking the abilities that they didn't have."

"I regret calling you a weirdo."

She smirked. "Good, and I wasn't pitying you. Not entirely. I actually understand exactly what you're going through."

"Yea, because living a life of luxury and reading books makes you feel like you know everything." He growled defensively. "Well you don't, Shrimp. You don't know anything."

"I could have told you that. But, I do know this scenario. I didn't always live at the Kaiba manor. You think Electra would have known me if I did?"

Dark Link opened his mouth but went silent as she looked up at him.

"My life, to be honest, was quite comfortable. Unrealistically so. Then, my mother and I, moved to Domino, Japan. It wasn't long afterwards before everything hit the fan and went sideways. I found out I was a stolen away from my real family when I was barely a year old and have been a puppet before I was even born. Every movement I made and probably still making, has been predicted. I didn't know who I was when I found out the truth. My whole world was gone in a few moments and my understanding of who I trusted and who I was, was taken. Even now I still question: is there a point? Everything I do just seems to backfire and the farther I go down the road, making turns, I always end back exactly where someone wants me. I still don't even really understand who I really am after all this time. Even though I'm now surrounded by people that truly care about me, I still don't know if I'm really the person they care about, or I'm something else still struggling to be free from puppet strings. Sound familiar?"

"Maybe..." he replied without continuing, though Regan felt like he wanted to share, but she guessed that, like her, he hated sharing his worries with others and setup a strong, independent appearance, without the need for someone to lean on once and a while. It was a hard reputation to uphold, but from what she had sensed from Electra… it was a necessary one. Not that he'd ever tell her that, but she didn't need to. It was nice being an aura user.

"Want to know my answer to my questions?"

"You're going to say it anyway, so why ask?"

"Because it's polite." She replied before smiling. "The way I get by, day by day no matter what happens, is to try. I don't know what my real nature is, but I'm striving to be someone that others can depend on like the people around me have for me."

"That was a bit cheesy, seriously, are you always like this?"

"No, this was a speech about life so of course it was going to be cheesy." She hissed. "Ignore everyone and look at yourself as a person and try to be whatever it is you want to be. That's it, that's what my brother told me and so far, it works."

"So if I want to kill everyone..."

"Then you'll have to get passed me first." She smirked. "But that's not what you want. It was programmed into your head to do, but it's not you. Heh..."

"What is it?"

"I just realized that we are more similar than I thought. We are two people that shouldn't even exist."

"Speak for yourself." He retorted angrily, but she continued, it wasn't an insult like he took it, not that she blamed him for it.

"Oh well, fuck the universe. We've never fit in with its rules anyway, why start?"

Dark Link looked down at her, a little confused. "Are you not... Whole?"

"Nope, but where's the fun in being like the rest of them, eh? Come on, let's go find something to do while you think. That way, you can stop worrying Electra over your health."

"Why would she be worried about me?"

"Because you two are partners and even if one of them seems to be strong as an ox and dumb as a bull, they both have something the other one needs for support."

"Did you just call me an idiot?"

"To be truthful, both of you are idiots when you keep trying to go on suicide missions with no execution button." She answered as she resumed her walking off the castle grounds.

"Didn't Roo say the same thing about you back in the library?"

She winced, but didn't stop walking. "Shut up and come or I'm leaving you behind."

00000

"EEEEE kittens!" She screeched as they walked passed an alley and she saw the cats. She had forgotten that that was the meeting place for the cats in Hyrule for some unexplained reason. She turned down the alley and to her heart's desires, instead of running away from her childish ways, they came over to her. She bent down and picked up the closest one, snuggling it.

"Did you really have to try blowing my ear drums out?" Dark Link growled in annoyance. "They're just cats."

"I love them..." She replied with a bit of a whine as she put the cat down before sitting on the ground. The other cats came walking over and placed themselves on or around her. She frowned as she started petting them. "Actually... I love one very much in particular."

"I didn't realize you were into that sort of thing."

"That's not what I meant!" She snapped before quickly apologizing. "Sorry, I have a cat named Phoenix back home. A guard cat if you will, but he's the best cat ever. I miss him, and home... Coming down this alley was a stupid idea."

The cats got off of her and she stood up.

"Uh... Are you alright?"

"I'm fine." She wiped her eye as she felt tears start to form. She was starting to feel the stress of everything piling up, but she wasn't going to tell him that… or anyone else for that matter. She had to be strong so they wouldn't worry about her. Everyone had a duty to attend to, and her being a baby wasn't one of them. Two worlds were at stake, and since she knew of the consequences, she was responsible for making sure it didn't happen. "Just had a ghost feeling of where I was shot. Have you ever been shot?"

"Unfortunately, Electra shot me in the leg one of the times we met."

"I haven't been shot there..."

"You say that like you've been shot more than once."

"I've been shot at least four times and once, a shot missed my face scratching my cheek." She replied cheekily remembering each of the incidences she had managed to get herself into. She really needed to stop getting herself hurt. It was a miracle that she hadn't ended up in her least favorite spot more times than she already had.

"I can see why you're feeling the wound." He muttered. "Come on, you have Minish to find."

"Yes, and I hope we find them soon..." Regan sighed as she left the alley way. "I doubt I have much time left before a guard finds us or I have to go back to the puzzle."

"How much time do you have anyway? You didn't exactly leave as soon as your double left and we've been out here for a while."

"I'm pretty sure I'm overdue, but as long as I don't use my aura, I should be okay."

Dark Link sighed. "I have an idea, but I'm not sure if it's a good one."

"What is it?"

"We should head back to the castle and get your item, it would be faster to find the Minish if you could use your ability."

"True, but Nile needs it more."

"Why? She's just training with some wimps."

"That's exactly why." She told him, she guessed he hadn't been informed on the monster summoning and as far as she knew, hers and therefore Nile's, summons required a mixed of shadow magic and their aura. If their magic wasn't so interlocked with their aura, it would be a different story, but her brother's research had proven otherwise. "I'm not sure of how much you know, but she hasn't had a body of her own in like… five thousand years."

"Right... Gods you people are a complicated bunch."

"I know! But it's no fun if it's simple."

"No, but it makes things a hell of a lot easier." He replied. "Since that idea was sliced, how much time do you have at max?"

"An hour? Maybe?"

"Then we'll stick to Castle Town, and from there once you're all... Um."

"Ya, I haven't found a verb for it either, but continue."

"We'll head out of town for a look around this part of the field. Wouldn't hurt to check."

"Is that a wise choice, I can't exactly fight with my weapons without the puzzle."

"Leaves more for me then." He replied cheekily and she just crossed her arms. "I'm sure the armory wont mind us raiding it for a weapon or two. Maybe we can get Roo and Lightning Bug to come with us."

"You want more people around?"

"Draws in more monsters to kill."

"Oh... Well if that's what you want..."

"The more the merrier as you say, right?" He confirmed with a sadistic grin.

A small, nervous laugh was all she responded with. The last thing she wanted to do is draw in a hoard of monsters. She had that treat last night.