Light Amongst Shadows Part 6

The gang shot after it. Whoever had summoned it had not wanted the young man to talk to them, and he had been willing to remove the goon from the situation. If they wanted to understand what hell was going on they needed to find a new lead. Chasing the creature to its’ summoner was their only chance.

It was not easy, the half summoned creature flitted in and out of the shadows cast by the odd overbearing gloom, which was becoming more and more obvious even to Jou and the others, who still could not see the Shadows that had swarmed the city. They finally lost the creature as they reached the clock tower fountain in the city centre, causing Jou to start cussing.

Yugi emerged cautiously from the safety of her soul room, glancing around the area as she took her place at Oneesan’s side. “Anesan?”  She asked, confusion obvious on her features, “How could I have stopped their spell? I didn’t do anything.”

Oneesan turned to look at her little sister. She was not sure what the young man had meant either. All she knew was that Imoto-chan’s light was somehow a threat to whatever they had planned. “I don’t know.” She spoke aloud without thinking, causing the others to turn to look, “But considering they want to wipe out Domino, we have to work it out so you can do it again.”

“Yuge?” Jou asked, squinting at the point Oneesan was looking at, “You’re talking to Yuge, right?” He asked the spirit of the Millennium Puzzle. When Oneesan nodded in reply, he waved to the spot just to the left of where Yugi was stood, making the worried girl giggle.

“So you two don’t know how Yuge stopped whatever they were trying to do either?” Honda asked, looking a little irritated.

Oneesan opened her mouth, paused and switched with Yugi in a flash of light from the Puzzle.

“I don’t know what he meant.” Yugi replied, mentally grimacing slightly as she felt the Shadows tug on her, even with the wards up on her mind and the fact the light of her soul burned away the weakest wisps before they could reach her. “I didn’t do anything when the spell struck so I don’t think it could have been me who stopped their spell.”

“But you’re the only soul of pure light in Domino.” Jou scowled, “So who...”

“No I’m not.” Yugi shook her head, realisation striking, “Where was Bakura?”

“Bakura? The Thief?” Honda didn’t understand.

“No, not the thief. Bakura no Imoto.” Yugi tried, “The other half of the Thief. Our friend.”

The others paused to think. “She wasn’t in class.” Anzu said finally, “She’d gone to the nurse’s office sick, remember?”

Yugi noded. Bakura often tried to go off sick before P.E. so she was not surprised to be reminded of that.

“So what, you think Bakura’s the one who stopped the last wave?” Honda frowned, still wondering how she had managed that if she had.

“I’m not sure.” Yugi admitted, “It could be but just because he said it was a source of light that interrupted their spell, doesn’t mean it was us. We were both in school, we didn’t know that wave was coming. Something else must have interfered and I’m getting the blame for it.”

“Hey, there’s one good thing about this whole mess.” Jou tried to brighten up the mood, “While they’re trying focused on wiping us out, they’re not nuking Domino.”

The Dark Magician, who was still nearby, moved closer to Yugi as the Shadows swirled around the feet of the group members. The girl glanced at him in confusion but did not have a chance to say a word before the Shadows at their feet suddenly turned into whirling pools of darkness beneath them. The Dark Magician, who was hovering rather than standing, managed to snatch Yugi up and away, but the other three fell into the maelstrom below.

“Jou! Anzu! Honda!” Yugi squirmed in the Dark Magician’s arms, trying to reach her friends as they let out a collective yelp and vanished beneath the surface of their individual pools. She could not escape the protective grasp of her summoned creature though and he refused to let her down until the puddles had vanished from the floor, taking her friends with them and leaving Yugi alone in the Shadows.

“Jou!” Yugi fell to her hands and knees in shock, “Anzu! Honda!”

Rage coursed through the spirit of the Millennium Puzzle. She seized control of the body, shooting to her feet and bellowing up into the Shadowlaiden skies. “Bring! Them! Back!”

There was no answer from the powers that encircled the city, no clue of where the darkness had sent their friends. No way to tell if they were still within the city’s limits or whether they had been dragged deeper into the Shadows.