NaNo2014: Shadows of Friendship: Part 3

“No problem Twilight!” Spike nodded, keeping a tight grip on the saddle bag as he returned to Dark Moon’s side.

“Since this is just a demonstration duel and apparently your letter is so important, how about we both start with just a thousand life points?” Lightning asked as he stepped into the red circle on the other side of the grid and stepped on his sigil. His side of the grid lit up in a blue that was so light it was almost white, the same colour that White Lightning’s magic had always been before his horn had snapped. “Mares first, of course.” He gestured to her in a mocking version of a bow.

“One thousand points is fine by me.” Twilight agreed, only to become startled when the box in front of her circle lit up with the number ‘1000’ in it.

“No more having to do life points manually.” White Lightning boasted to the crowd, “The DuelRune grid does that for you.”

Twilight was actually impressed as she placed her deck on the square of solid light that had appeared in front of her. It was hard enough to make runes do anything like addition or subtraction without manually putting in the input, yet alone making them remember things. Somehow he was literally getting the runes within the grid itself to change in order to provide the life point counter and while it would mean that you would have to reset the grid for every duel, which meant a little more maintenance, the purple unicorn could quite easily see the benefits and doubted that many people would object.

“Two cards face down.” Twilight informed Lightning, “And I summon the Coltic Guardian, in attack mode!”

The DuelRune grid shone brightly for a moment, then a young Eath pony stallion appeared before her in a swirl of autumn leaves, with a deep, mossy green coat and long, neatly platted, yellow mane and tail, protected by impressive looking silver and green armour and holding a sword between his teeth, over which he glowered at White Lightning.

“Since my Guardian can’t attack this turn, it’s your move.” Twilight continued, gesturing to her former classmate.

“One move is all I need.” White Lightning smirked at her, “Come forth, my might Blue Eyes White Dragon!”

Twilight gulped as her Coltic Guardian was dwarfed by the huge white scaled dragon that appeared in a blaze of light and a crackle of electricity. The mighty dragon seemed to peer down at the opposing creature as if contemplating whether to eat him for lunch. To her Guardian’s credit, he did not do anything more than peer up at it in reply as if considering the best way to strike the beast down.

Though Twilight did not appreciate the difference, the crowd did and while some outside the ring of spectators were terrified of the dragon, those who knew enough about the DuelRune grids to know that before the monsters had always been kind of static and nowhere near this interactive, were impressed.

“Blue Eyes!” Lightning called, over confident grin plastered across his features as his three thousand attack point beast stared down at Twilight’s fourteen hundred attack point Warrior, “Destroy her Guardian and end the game!”

The huge dragon, which was easily the same height as the nearby buildings reared back it’s great head and opened its maw, building up a blast of light and electricity before loosing it to strike the Warrior below who did not stand a chance.

Or would not have done if Twilight had not called out, “I don’t think so!” with a grin as she activated one of her face down cards, “Magic Cylinder! It negates your dragon’s attack and you take the same amount of life point damage as its attack points!”

The beam of light entered one of the two multi-coloured cylinders and exited the other, shooting straight back at the dragon, who let out a furious roar and shattered into a million tiny, shimmering pieces.

White Lightning’s life points hit zero almost instantly.

“I don’t remember that being in your deck.” Lightning commented, his tone neutral though his expression was anything but. Instead an odd mix of curiosity, anger and excitement featured prominently upon his face as Twilight stepped off of the sigil and packed away her deck.

“I might not have played much since you left school, but I’ve kept upgrading my deck.” Twilight replied with a nervous smile before turning to her companion, “Spike, we need to go.”

“But Twilight…”

“Now, Spike.” Twilight’s tone brokered no argument. The dragonet scurried to Twilight’s side as she settled the saddle bag back on her rear. Before he could climb up the unicorn levitated him onto her back and the crowd parted for her again, this time more in awe than anything. Before anyone could say anything about how easily she had won that duel, Twilight galloped away to somewhere a little more private.

“You know,” Spike commented when Twilight finally slowed down, “We could have done the letter there rather than racing away like that.”

“I didn’t want to cause a panic.” Twlight shook her head, using that as the excuse rather than the fact that she had felt awkward being stared at by that many ponies and that White Lightning had creeped her out a bit. It did not help her mood at all that seeing his broken horn reminded her that while her special talent was magic, it could be taken away from her just as easily as Lightning had lost his and she did not know what she would do if she ever lost it. “Now please Spike, take a letter.”

“Fine, fine.” Spike grumbled, pulling out a quill and parchment and putting it to paper. “Ready.”

“Dear Princess Celestia,” Twilight started, smiling slightly as Spike started scribbling it down, rather proud of the young dragonet who had worked so hard to learn how to write. She had been studying under Princess Celestia for as long as the baby dragon had been alive and Spike had been desperate to help her in any way he could. In the end she had caught him copying her written work in a rather sloppy scrawl and had started teaching him in what little spare time she had. “I have been diligently continuing my studies and have found that we may be on the precipice of disaster...”

“Pre-ci…” Spike looked at her in obvious confusion causing her to sigh and remind herself that he was still learning the language. He was a baby dragon after all.

“The edge?” She tried instead, discarding some of the bigger words she had been about to offer in the place of ‘precipice’ and nodding when Spike wrote that down without a problem. “I have found evidence that the Mare in the Moon is in fact the Alicorn Sorceress, Nightmare Moon and that she plans to return during this Summer Sun Celebration to try and bring an eternal night.” Twilight dictated slowly enough for Spike to keep up with her. “Something must be done before this disas… can happen.” She changed what she was going to say midword, reminding herself that Spike wouldn’t be able to spell it, “I await your reply, your faithful student, Twilight Sparkle.”

“Twi...light...Spar...kle.” Spike finished the letter off with a flourish and a grin.

“Alright, Spike, send it.” Twilight ordered, only to frown when her companion hesitated, “What?”

“Now?” The purple dragon asked even as he rolled up the letter and sealed it with a thin red band. “I mean she’s going to be really busy with the celebration, it’s only a couple of days away.”

“I know, Spike, but that’s the point. If Nightmare Moon is returning, then the Princess has to be warned.” The mare replied, frustrated, “I’ve wasted enough in responding to Lightning’s bait as it was and it’s imperative that she gets that letter right away.”

“Imperative?” Spike asked confused.

“Important!” Twilight exploded in frustration, trying not to take it out on Spike but unable to bottle it up much more when she knew she had taught Spike the meaning of ‘imperative’ last week.

“Alright, but you’re allowed to have fun.” Spike objected, before loosing a small green flame that seemed to burn up the letter. The ashes floated in the air for a moment before becoming sparkles that shimmered as they shot upwards, over the rooftops and headed towards the palace. “And I bet she already knows. I mean its Princess Celestia. She knows everything.”

“Even if she does, at least I’ve sent my letter. I couldn’t just find out that without trying to warn her.” The filly replied, feeling a weight lift off of her shoulders as she trotted towards the library that was home. It had not started that way. Originally it had been her and a few books, but over the course of her studies she had steadily built up her own personal library of research texts and copies of books she had found interesting in the stacks of the school and palace libraries.

She always felt more comfortable amongst the lengthy volumes than she did amongst other ponies and after running into the one pony she had both looked forward to seeing again and dreaded meeting once again she wanted nothing more than to return to her beloved books and hide until she was certain he was gone.

Spike seemed to know what she needed and the moment they were through the door, he cleared a space for her on the desk and pulled a golden box down from its hiding place behind a huge text on dragon care that Twilight had memorised years ago when she had first hatched him.

Twilight herself dumped her bag by the door and flopped down on the cushion next to the rather worn wooden desk, staring at the box for a few moments before seeming to make up her mind and opening it.

Spike knew why she had hesitated before opening the golden box. It contained the fragments of an Ancient Equigyptian artefact that her dam-sire, Treasure Trove, had brought home from one of his many trips abroad. Supposedly it was cursed but neither Twilight nor Spike had seen evidence of such a thing. Inside the golden box with its odd eye like symbol were about fifty pieces of an ancient puzzle that Treasure Trove had said was ‘the ultimate test.’ Twilight had been trying to complete it for about eight years.

Missing Clanbrats - Post Cannon by about eighteen years

The children were missing.

It wasn’t just that one or two had wandered off, or that Harry had borrowed whoever he was taking out on a trip today, all the locators were off and not answering to the general reset command, the Basilisk in the basement had no idea as it hadn’t seen the children all day, which was highly unusual, and most of the adults had been accounted for so it wasn’t because of a surprise day trip.

At the same time there was no sign of a struggle, and these were Clan Brats, there was no way that they would go anywhere without a lot of mess and a lot of noise, yet alone the unlikelihood of anyone being able to take on ALL of the brats at once and win.

So while Seto and Mokuba accessed the security cameras and Hermione checked the wards, Yugi was talking with his Duel Monsters, sending them out to find the partner monsters of the children with Shadow Magic.

It didn’t take them long.

Soraya, his Dark Magician Girl, the one in red that looked so much like Kari, had found them playing with the younger and smaller Duel Monsters who had taken up residence in one of the Secret Village of Spellcasters.

This would have been fine, except that then Yugi was left with questions like, ‘are they safe?’ and ‘how did they get to the duel monster world?’ and ‘will they be able to get back?’

Soraya had giggled, she had always been more informal with Yugi then some of his other monsters, monsters who had joined his deck after his rise to the throne, and informed him that she could, in fact, take him to see what they were up to for himself if he wanted.

At which point Yugi had stared for a moment, unsure if she was serious, and when she’d repeated herself, he’d nodded and she’d taken his hand and vanished with him without a second thought. 

When it was discovered that Yugi was gone now as well, Joey called up his monsters to help look.

He would have called in Tenshi and her Knights, except Lily and Hugo were already looking, Dawn had told them that she was going on vacation and she didn’t care if the world was ending, they weren’t to disturb her on pain of being Shadow Gamed as they were more then capable of handling it, and only Tenshi and Dr Jenifer Evans, an old student of Tenshi’s who now taught alongside her, had the phone numbers of everyone else.

The last one wouldn’t have mattered if Tenshi hadn’t been babysitting the brats when they’d vanished and Jenny’s phone had been switched on.

Ten minutes later, Joey’s locator signal dropped off the face of the Earth too, causing Harry to curse creatively and Seto to summon Kisara, demanding that she locate Yugi and Joey immediately.

Harry Tate: Little Harry Bath Time

((sorry it's late, been playing Guild Wars 2, which I got for Christmas))

Chasing a four year old around the house was not the way that Eva particularly wanted to spend her evening, considering she was still a little bruised from the fight she’d been involved in earlier in the day, but if she wanted to get her adopted son to take a bath tonight it was a necessary evil.

“Need a hand?” Nale chuckled as the messy haired child darted underneath his legs and ran down the corridor, wearing only his boxer shorts.

“That would be nice.” Eva growled, pushing past her friend and following the giggling.

Nale smirked and followed, it was always entertaining to watch the immortal bargain with her son.

According to Jin the boy had actually had a bath willingly yesterday, but only because he’d been helping her in the garden and if Eva had managed to teach him anything it was ‘if you’re covered in mud, you have to wash before dinner’.

The day before yesterday it had taken the promise of an ice cream to get him to take a bath, after which the four year old had required another bath, just to get the ice cream out of all the interesting places it had managed to get. Nale had never seen anyone get ice cream in their ears before…

“Now where did he go?” Eva muttered, looking at all the open doors and starting towards the most obvious one, her son’s bedroom.

“I believe this is yours.” Orion stepped out of the study with a rather put out looking four year old in his arms, looking a little exasperated.

“You’d be right.” Eva snorted, amused by both Orion and her son, “Harry, how many times have I told you not to disturb Orion while he’s working?” She tutted at the boy, taking him from Orion and giving the huge man an apologetic look before heading back towards the bathroom.

“He wun’t working!” Harry protested.

“Wasn’t not wun’t, Harry.” Eva gently chided, “He wasn’t using his computer was he?”

“No.” Harry looked scornful for just a second, realised where she was heading and tried to squirm out of her grip.

“For…” Eva bit off what she was going to say, thoroughly sick of arguing with her son every day about the dreaded b word, but not willing to swear at a child, “Harry, remember what I told you about baths?”

“If I didn’t have a bath every day, a monster would come and eat me.” Harry nodded.

“So why won’t you have a bath?”

“Because you and Auntie Jin beat monsters up.” Harry explained patiently, in the exact tone of voice she’d often heard Jin using on her during one of her denser moments.

Ok, so while the fact Harry had seen the pair of them taking down a triad of monstrous creatures this morning, all of whom had been unlike anything Eva had seen before, and likely having originated from the home of the ‘Lord of Darkness’ that Eva had taken down on the behest of her Boss around lunch time (hence the bruising), had effectively ruined that strategy of getting Harry to bathe, it had been rather therapeutic, considering that it had been a while since Eva had been able to pound on anything without having to worry about holding back and motherhood was stressful.

“Fine, if you don’t take baths every day, I’ll stop buying chocolate milkshake.” Eva threatened.

“Uh uh.” Harry shook his head, “Auntie Jin makes the shopping list.”

“I’ll tell Auntie Jin not to put it on.” Eva warned the boy, who watched Nale pretend to sulk, and giggled, only to cause Eva to shut the bathroom door, effectively trapping in the bathroom and stopping Nale from continuing to be a bad influence.

For now at least.

“I don’t wanna bath.” Harry glowered. “I don’t, I don’t, I don’t…” The four year old trailed off at the look on his mother’s face, knowing the look all to well.

“Bath or no milkshake before bed.”

“But…” Harry sulked.

“No buts.”

“Fine.” And now Harry sounded like Nale when Jin dragged him off to help her with the shopping, as he finally got into the bath. “But it had better be a big one.”

Eva chuckled, causing her son to give her an indignant look, “You’ll get the same size milkshake as you always do. Now close your eyes, I’m gonna wash your hair.”

Light Amongst Shadows Part 20

“You can’t just give up.” Bakura told the Pharaoh, pissed beyond belief that after everything she had gone through during the last three thousand years, the Pharaoh was going to kill herself before they settled anything, “I’ve waited too damn long for you to return to the world of the living.”

“The city needs to be saved...” The Pharaoh stared at the merged soul fragments in her hand, her gaze never wavering.

“There’s a way to do both.” Bakura, the real Bakura, reassured her friend, pleased that for once the part of her that was merged with Zorc was letting her be there when Oneesan needed her. It was purely for self serving reasons, but she was glad for it, “Her soul can’t leave until yours does. No matter what the Shadows say. Now go save her. Leave breaking the seal to me.”

Oneesan’s gaze finally moved away from the soul in her hand. She stared at Bakura uncomprehending, “Why...Why would you help me? You hate me.”

“Yes. And no.” Bakura admitted. “Once you remember everything, you’ll know why. All you have to know for now is that I owe your little sister a debt and I refuse to wait another three thousand years to pay her back.”

“I...” Oneesan still did not understand but she nodded. It made sense, in a Bakura logic type of way, “Alright. Thank you, Bakura.”

“Don’t thank me just yet.” The former spy master to the former Pharaoh replied with a small grin, “You’ve still got to find the rest of her soul. There’s what, five more pieces?”

“I think... I think I know where to start.” Oneesan returned the smile, hope beginning to blossom, “I know where her heart rests after all.”

“Go. Shoo.” Bakura sniggered, “Before I change my mind. After all, if you die here, I get your Puzzle. I don’t know why I’m not just leaping at the chance.”

“Because,” Oneesan chuckled as she got to her feet, “The only thing you hate more than owing someone a debt, is wasting time and effort. And if I die here, the last two years of you protecting my Imoto-chan is all to waste.”

“See, we can reach an understanding.” Bakura chuckled back, “See you later, your highness.”

Oneesan turned back to Bakura as she reached the door. “Oh, Bakura?”

“What?” The thief snapped without meaning to, frowning slightly as Oneesan tensed up again, some of the camaraderie gone.

“Just don’t die breaking the seal. Okay?” The Pharaoh shrugged, “I don’t want to have to explain to Imoto-chan why one of her friends is dead.”

“Heh.” Bakura grinned, “Don’t worry. I have no intention of dying here. I have far too many things to do.”

That included killing her, Oneesan was willing to bet on it. However she was willing to take this truce, more than happy to take advantage of it to save her little sister. She darted out of the building and was halfway down the street when the Shadows cleared to reveal a dark, clear, starlit sky.

Light Amongst Shadows Part 9

The Dark Necrofear nodded and offered its hand. Jou took it warily, trying not to grimace at the clamminess of the creature’s skin. The moment it had Jou’s hand in its grasp the Shadows swirled around both of them. To Jou’s eyes it seemed like they instantaneously moved from the streets of Domino, to a living room of a house he did not recognise.

“Where...?” Jou asked, looking around and trying to get his barings.

“Oh good. One of you morons is awake.” Jou started as he heard Bakura’s voice. The thief was leant in the doorway, beyond which was, if he was guessing right from what he could see, the kitchen. “I was beginning to doubt any of you would be coherent.”

“Where’re the others?” Jou asked, leaning against the nearby table for a moment as the Dark Necrofear vanished from the room.

“Honda and Mazaki are in the guest room, sleeping like babies. Won’t wake up.” Bakura shrugged, “Found them that way, so I’m assuming the Shadows got to them.”

“And Yugi?” Jou demanded, mentally grimacing as he realised that meant he was probably going to be next to succumb to the effects of the spell.

“Upstairs, first room on your ri...” Jou did not stop to listen to the rest, shooting upstairs and entering the first room on the right, freezing up as he entered the room.

Yugi was on the bed, her torso wrapped in bandages, her breathing shallow, pain obvious on her features, the Puzzle resting on her chest.

“Oh Yuge...” Jou murmured, moving into the room carefully and quietly, his eyes not moving from his injured friend.

“She’s alive. No thanks to you.” Bakura snapped as she entered the room, “I got to the fountain just in time to save her rear. I thought you were her protector. Where were you?”

“I...” Jou hesitated.

“You weren’t there and they nearly finished her.” Bakura snarled, “I’ve waited too long to let some random mooks kill her. I need her alive. I trusted you to ensure that.”

“Le...leave him alone.” Oneesan’s voice, a trembling, pained version of its normal, confident tone caused the pair to turn towards the bed.

“Don’t get up.” Bakura snarled at her, checking her over rapidly and with expert ease. “The healing spell cards have helped. You should be up again in an hour or so. It’ll hurt, but at least it’ll be safe for you to be mobile.”

“We don’t have an hour.” Oneesan shot back, “They could restart their plan at any time.”

“No.” Jou shook his head, “No, Yuge’s still alive, right? And Bakura? She’s still okay?”

“Of course my landlord is okay.” Bakura snarked, “I wouldn’t let her take part in this fiasco.”

“And Yugi’s alive.” Oneesan nodded, noting the relief on Jou’s face, “The Shadows drained her badly, but she’ll be okay.”

“Then we’re still good.” Jou grinned, “As long as we have the lights, they can’t cast whatever it is they’re trying to cast.”

“Well once you’re up on your feet, I’m going to deal with these guys.” Bakura informed Oneesan, “And you’d better not leave this blasted house. It’s my safehouse. It’s warded so heavily nothing should be able to get in without my say so.”

“Bakura...” Oneesan hesitated, “We need to talk.” She glanced at Jou, “Privately.”

“Yuge...” Jou trailed off.

“It’s alright, Jou.” Oneesan reassured him, “I just need to have a quick word.”

“I’ll be on the stairs.” Jou promised, looking between them warily before exiting the room.

“What?” Bakura demanded, letting out a frustrated hiss as Oneesan got out of bed, wobbling on her feet for a moment before getting her footing, “You’re not supposed to be up.”

“I...” Oneesan nearly snapped at the Thief, before letting out a heavy sigh, “Bakura...this is why you hate me, isn’t it?”

Bakura frowned, confusion gracing her features. “What do you mean?”

“I skimmed Imoto-chan’s memories.” Oneesan explained, “They told her what it takes to create a Shadow set. It’s why you hate me, isn’t it?”

Bakura let out a sharp breath. She could not have expected this, not without knowing exactly what the villains were up to. Now she was not sure how to respond. She did not really hate Oneesan, the sons inherited the sins of the father, not the daughters. She had, in fact, been an ally of the Pharaoh’s back in Egypt, working to undermine and destroy Akhenaden instead, before she had been betrayed by men supposedly working under the Pharaoh’s orders.

“It’s a factor.” Bakura allowed.

Oneesan paled as she sat down on the bed, “Did I...? Was it me? Did I order the destruction?”

The vindictive part of Bakura, the part that had merged irreversibly with the Shadows and the demon within when she had believed Oneesan had betrayed her, wanted to drive the knife in further. That was the part of her that screamed at her to lie, to tell her that she had taken an active part in the massacre, that she had even enjoyed her part in it.

The rest of her could not do that. Not just because she needed Oneesan and did not have time to watch her sink into guilt and self-loathing, but because they had once been friends and she could not bring herself to break the Pharaoh like that.

“No.” Bakura reassured her, “But your father did.”

“My Otosan?” Oneesan looked ill, “Why?”

“To create the cursed artefacts that rest around our necks, that’s why!” Bakura settled for snapping at the spirit of the Puzzle, trying to burn off some of the rage she could feel boiling under the surface.

“But...” Oneesan shook her head, “That’s not what I meant. Why would my father create the Millennium Items if they needed...this?” She gestured to the world in general but Bakura knew what she meant.

“How am I supposed to know?” The Thief King snarled back, “I don’t know why the ‘great and all-powerful Pharaoh’ did what he did. I’m not a mind reader.” She managed to make the title sound like an insult, “I was just a child. I couldn’t understand why the Pharaoh’s men were torturing my family and burning my village. All I knew was that the Pharaoh had attacked my home, for no reason except to create seven golden treasures that he showed off to the public!”

“I’m sorry...”

“Sorry? You think sorry is enough to atone for your family’s crimes against my village?!” Bakura lost control of her rage, the Shadows flickering around her as she snapped at the other item spirit, “There is nothing, nothing you or yours can do to even begin to atone for what happened!”

Suddenly she was not faced with Oneesan anymore. Despite her injuries and the currently fragile status of her soul, Imoto-chan had taken over and though she looked just as ill at the thought of what Oneesan’s father had done, she stood and squared off against Bakura. “None of that was Anesan’s fault!” She defended her friend, staring Bakura in the eyes even as she had to use the bed post to hold herself upright, “It’s not fair to hold a grudge against her for something her dad did!”

“You,” Bakura poked Yugi hard enough for her to sit back down, her tone dangerous, “can’t know what I went through, what her father put me through. So stay out of it or you won’t like the consequences.”

“You need Anesan.” Yugi shook her head, still refusing to back down though she could sense Oneesan bristling at the Bakura’s threat, “And we need you. You saved our lives, remember? So for now you have to put your hatred of her aside. I don’t want to lose my home and neither do you.”

The Shadows flared up around Bakura like black flames in response to her anger spiking again at Yugi’s audacity. The heat radiating from them would normally be enough to make Yugi back off and let Oneesan deal with it. However she did not move, not even to escape the Shadows, who, as ever, were drawn to her light.

The black flames swirled around Yugi, burning her soul though she tried to avoid showing any discomfort even as she felt Oneesan rush forward to protect her. Yugi stayed in control, but felt the protective layers of the Puzzle’s magic wash over her, dulling the burning sensation.

Then just as quickly as they had appeared, the flames vanished, leaving a still cross but slightly confused Bakura watching her, not quite understanding why Yugi had not just stepped aside.

“Forgive her?” Yugi asked, “Please?” Bakura turned and stalked out of the room, not wanting to continue the conversation.

“Ow.” Yugi whimpered, slumping back onto the bed, shivering slightly at the pain that ghosted through her.

‘Imoto-chan!’ Oneesan took spirit form, sitting on the bed, concern on her features as she put a spectral hand on Yugi’s shoulder, ‘Are you alright?’

“I’ll be fine.” Yugi tried to reassure her, “I’ve had worse.”

‘I should...’

“You should do nothing, Anesan.” Yugi’s tone brought Oneesan up short, “She’s not the only one who needs to put their rage aside for now. You two can go back to hating each other later. Right now we have to save Domino. Nothing else is important.”

‘But she...’

“I know.” Yugi soothed, “I know. But I’m okay. Or I will be. Let it go, please? She’s entitled to one free shot.”

‘At me, not you. You’ve done nothing wrong.’ Oneesan sighed as Yugi forced herself upright, determined to get herself upright and moving.

“No, but neither did you.” Yugi replied, smiling at Jou as he hovered nervously in the doorway, “But for future reference, your Otosan is a prat.”

“Yes he is, but you weren’t talking to me, were you?” Jou asked, supporting his friend as she unsteadily made her way across the room.

“Nope.” Yugi shook her head, “I was talking to Anesan.”