House of Cards: Part Much Later Again

Yugi opened his eyes slowly, grogginess overwhelming his mind, which was why he didn’t notice that he was handcuffed to the bed until he tried to reach for the chain of his Millennium Puzzle with his right hand and was surprised by the clang of the handcuffs against the rails and the cuff cutting into his flesh.

His eyes widened as he remembered what had happened, he’d been caught by the police, brought back to the hospital, where Dr Cuddy and a team had been waiting, and then for some reason he’d fallen unconscious.

They had to have drugged him and were obviously afraid that he’d run off again.

Tea was watching him through the glass as he sat up slowly, trying to shake the grogginess, her eyes wide as his head sank onto his chest, his shoulders sinking.

She got up and tapped on the glass between their room, making him jump. “You ok?” She tried to ask.

Yugi frowned, attempting to get up and glaring at the handcuffs, “What did you say?” He asked, or at least that was what it looked like.

“Are you alright?”

Yugi frowned again and Tea rolled her eyes, the idea that the rooms were sound proof hitting both of them at the same time, pointing at Yugi and then signing okay with her hands.

Yugi shrugged.

She pointed at Yugi then indicated drawing from a Duel Disk and tilted her head so he’d understand it was a question.

Yugi shook his head, looking depressed. He brought his hands together as best he could, making the shape of an upside down pyramid.

She drew a house in the air, noting that the security guards were watching them and nodded towards them.

Yugi looked towards the one at his door. He was easily the biggest of the four guards, and if Yugi was right, reading the guard’s posture and actions, was actually treating his position as a joke. The teen guessed that he didn’t expect much trouble out of someone whose right wrist was handcuffed to a bed.

Yugi indicated himself, gestured sleep and then tapped his wrist as if indicating a watch.

Tea indicated two. This wasn’t particularly helpful since it could be two hours, two days or two minutes.

Yugi slumped back onto his bed, irritated. He did not want to be here. He wanted to be out there before the bad guy came looking. Hospitals were no place to instigate a battle. Too many hostages or victims… He needed to speak to House, but how to get their attention?

Tea who had been trying to work out how to sign what she wanted to ask next, tapped on the glass again, making Yugi look over.

He tilted his head at her, making her smile. She pointed at him, moved her hand away from her mouth to indicate talking, then drew a house again.

Yugi paused to think about how to reply.

This was cruel. Tea decided they didn’t need to be separated like this; they weren’t infectious and even if they had been, it was too late to stop the infection from spreading between them.

Yugi looked up and Tea snapped out of her train of thoughts to pay attention as Yugi shook his head, gestured walking and falling over and then pointed to his handcuffs.

Tea responded instantly, hitting her hand on the nurse call button.

The security guards wheeled around instantly as a nurse hurried through the cleaning process and hurried into Tea’s room.

“Are you alright?” She asked, examining the teen quickly.

“My friend needs to talk to Dr House.” Tea replied, looking at Yugi, who was looking surprised by her actions. “And I know we’re not allowed out of our rooms.”

The nurse scowled at her but nodded. Tea led back on her bed as House and Foreman came down. She watched as Yugi got frustrated and tried to explain exactly why being in here was a bad thing, spending around ten minutes trying to reason with them to either let him go or let him have the Puzzle.

His shoulders sank as the pair walked away and Tea tapped on the glass once the pair had gone, tilting her head to get Yugi talking, or rather signing.

Yugi looked really irritated.

Tea frowned and pointed at him before making an upside down pyramid with her hands.

Yugi shook his head, making the sign that was the universal sign for explosion.

Tea’s eyes widened. Signing the Puzzle again and then gesturing an explosion, guessing that Yugi meant that it had broken since she’d last seen it.

What the teen meant was that the Puzzle would have to be broken to go through the cleaning process to be allowed into his room but he didn’t know how to sign that and led back on his bed.

House hadn’t promised anything, but he had said that he would try, and this was House. He’d broken the rules once for them already, Yugi couldn’t help wondering if he’d do it again.

House of Cards: Part 3

House was eating lunch with Dr James Wilson when the brother entered the cafeteria, pushed by the tall brunette male.

“Are those the ones that came in with your latest patient?” Wilson asked, as House watched the brunette stack the kid with the insane hair’s plate with food, while chastising the little one about something.

“Uh huh.” House nodded, watching as the pair settled at a table nearby, still speaking in their home language, “Now shush, I’m trying to listen…”

Wilson rolled his eyes, well aware of his friend’s ability to speak many languages, and fell silent, allowing House to hear what they were saying.

“I don’t have time to eat Tristan.” The kid was saying, “I have to find the guy that attacked Joey and defeat him.”

“If you don’t eat, you won’t have the energy to chase down the bag guys.” Tristan replied, “And you didn’t sleep for more then three hours last night. You’re in no state to fight a Shadow Game right now.”

“I fought Marik under the same conditions.”

“You nearly died.”

“So did Joey.”

“Yugi…”

“I’ll be okay, Tristan.” Yugi tried to be reassuring, “I’ll get Joey back.”

“Your other self nearly lost that game, you nearly faded away completely.”

“I won’t let that happen again.” House suddenly gained a rather interesting look, as Yugi’s voice changed, his posture changed and the kid’s eyes narrowed and gained a reddish tint, “I won’t let them attack my partner again.”

“You can’t always stop them.”

“I’m not going to let them attack Yugi.” The not Yugi said, as House frowned slightly and wrote something on his napkin, “And we will get Joey back.”

“I’m not letting you out of the hospital until you’ve eaten something.” Tristan warned, “Then the pair of you can go hunt bad guys to your hearts content.”

The new Yugi glowered at the teen, ate a spoonful of the curry that Tristan had paid for and stalked off.

“Yugi!”

“I’ll be back soon.” The teen said, and walked out the room. The brunette sighed, finished his meal and binned the virtually uneaten curry.

“You thought of something that might help your patient?” Wilson asked, pointing to the napkin.

“No, but the adopted brother has issues.” House replied, finishing his meal and examining his notes. “Dissociative identity disorder.”

“The kid?”

“The brunette mentioned an ‘other you’ and the kid showed all the signs of having at least two personalities.” House shrugged. “Probably would have been more careful if they’d known someone here speaks Japanese.”

“And you can tell this from a two minute conversation?”

“And he has an eating disorder.” House pointed out.

“There could be any number of reasons that the kid didn’t eat his dinner. His brother’s in a coma!”

“Adopted brother.” House pointed out, “Which suggests something happened with his previous parents that triggered it.”

“House, you can’t be serious.”

“It’s the most common cause of the disorder.”

“You can’t accuse everyone’s parents of abuse!” Wilson sounded exasperated.

“Why not?” House asked, sounding far too amused, “It’s true in the greater majority of cases.”

“Because…” Wilson sighed, trying to calm down, “The brother isn’t your patient, focus on the kid that is.”

“He’s stable. Completely. Nothing’s changing. At all.”

“From no symptoms to a completely stable coma?” Wilson stared at him, “Is that even possible?”

“Apparently.” House answered, “We haven’t needed to administer any drugs since he got in.”

“No wonder you took the case.” Wilson snorted. “They say anything useful to the case?”

“Maybe.”

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

Tea was hovering worriedly in the doorway as Dr Cameron finished up for the night and headed out the door.

“You ok?” She asked the girl who was nervously pacing the lobby and had been doing so for the last three hours.

“Hai.” The girl sighed, “Just waiting for someone.”

“Your boyfriend?”

“No…” Cameron couldn’t really tell what the girl was thinking.

“Joey’s going to be alright, we’ll work out why he’s in a coma and then we’ll be able to bring him out of it.”

“You won’t.” Tea replied, “The Doctors never do. Yugi…” Cameron waited, figuring she’d say more, “It’s never something the Doctors can fix.” The teenager turned to look at Cameron, “Can’t you get all the tests from Kaiba Corp’s doctors?”

“Each case needs new tests.” Cameron replied. “Kaiba Corp didn’t give us anything on this. Apparently their Doctors haven’t had access to the sort of faculties that we have here when people were suddenly falling into comas.”

Tea’s shoulders sank and she just stopped talking.

“Has Joey been in a coma before?” Cameron pressed.

“He…” Tea broke off as Yugi walked in, amethyst eyes half closed, shoulders slumped, exhaustion obvious. “Yugi!” She darted forwards, reaching her friend’s side as he staggered. “Daijoubu?”

Yugi watched the floor miserably, “Suihou.”

“It’s okay, Yugi.” Tea went into motherly mode swapping to English because Cameron was watching them closely, “Have you eaten all day?”

“Iie.” Yugi shook his head.

“Yugi!” The teenage female growled at him, “Canteen, now.”

“I’m not hungry.” Yugi answered slowly, “I just want to sleep.”

Cameron watched as Tea led Yugi towards the canteen.

She turned around and headed back up to the office. 

House of Cards: Part 2

There were three teenagers and a pre-teen in the room, all Asian and all very different.

The patient was a well built blonde, heavily muscled, though, from the chart, possibly a little underweight, tall certainly and completely unresponsive.

The young woman leant against the window sill was slight in comparison, a dancer’s build, with shoulder length brown hair and concerned blue eyes.

Leaning on the back of the chair was another teenage boy, around the same build as the patient but with brown eyes and brown hair that came to what, if Foreman hadn’t seen the child’s hair, would had been the most ridiculous spike he had ever seen on a guy’s head.

The child, who was fast asleep in the chair, didn’t look more then twelve, thirteen at most. He was tiny, his clothes fitting well but revealing just how thin he was and had the most insane hair Foreman had ever seen. It was black, at least the greater majority of it was. It was spiked up into a star like shape, the edges of which were red and he had a blonde fringe which had settled into bangs and was currently covering his left eye.

“Yugi?” Foreman asked the brown haired male, assuming he was the adopted brother, considering that he was the only other teen in the room.

The teen surprised him with a small, tense smile and a shake of the head, reaching over the chair and shaking the child in it gently. “Yugi-kun, okiro.” The teen said, as the child blinked at him. “Ishi touchaku.”

“Sumimasen.” The child apologised, amethyst eyes blinking sleepily, speaking the first words of their language that Foreman recognised, noting that they were speaking Japanese, as they had a brief conversation and then the child turned to him. “I’m Mu…” The child paused, “Yugi Muto.”

“You? But you’re…”

“Sixteen.” Yugi sighed, having been through this already, “Are you Joey’s doctor?”

“One of them, yes.” Foreman nodded, “I’m Dr Foreman. I work with Dr Cameron and Dr Chase under Dr House. He’s one of the world’s top diagnosticians. We’ll work out what’s wrong with your brother.”

The girl said something, not that Foreman could understand a word of it, which caused Yugi to turn around and reply in the same language.

“If you know something that could help.” Foreman said, causing Yugi to jump and wheel back around to face him.

“I wasn’t there when Joey lost, but trust me when I say there’s no medical reason for him to be like this.” Yugi sighed.

“What do you mean?” Foreman frowned as the brown haired teen left the room for some reason, “There has to be a reason.”

Yugi muttered something in Japanese and sighed, “I can’t explain but…”

“If you can’t explain, then we have to run tests.” Foreman warned.

The teen, who was obviously fighting with himself over something, looked towards the bed where his brother lay, “Nothing invasive.”

“Yugi-kun!” The girl protested.

Yugi replied quickly, the girl snapping back a reply just as quickly

“Guys?” Foreman asked, “Joey could be dying.”

Yugi glanced at the girl and then turned backed to Foreman, who was feeling out of the loop, even though he didn’t know what the loop was.

“Nothing invasive.” Yugi repeated, “Joey’s not sick. He’ll get better soon.”

“We want to do tests, just in case.” Foreman wondered how Yugi could be so calm, “Dr Cameron needs to do an MRI and Dr Chase needs to do a Toxscreen.”

“Toxscreen?” Yugi stumbled over the new word.

“It checks the blood for drugs or toxins.” Foreman explained, “If your brother’s been taking something he shouldn’t have, or someone slipped something into his drink, we should be able to find it.”

“Joey doesn’t take drugs.”

“Something might have been slipped into his drink that caused the coma. We have to check it.”

“MRI?” The girl asked.

“Magnetic Resonance Imaging which allows us to see how the body is working and if there’s anything inside the body that shouldn’t be.” Foreman explained, trying to use words they would understand from class and failing.

“Do what you need to but…”

“We’ll be as careful as we can, but we might have more luck if you could tell us what you know about his condition.”

“I can’t… I’m sorry.”

“If you feel that you can trust us, here’s the extension number.” Foreman wrote it down and passed it to Yugi, “In the mean time, we’ll be running the tests.”

“Okay.” Yugi nodded.

Foreman left as Yugi moved from the chair to the end of his brother’s bed, “Joey, Gomen nasai.”

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

Yugi waited until Foreman had left before turning to Tea. “I’m going.” He said in Japanese.

“Yugi, he wants to kill you.”

“He’s got Joey’s soul. If I don’t defeat him, Joey’ll never get it back!”

“But Yugi…”

“I’m going Tea.” Yugi sounded firm on the matter, “I don’t care how dangerous it is.”

“You have to stay; these aren’t Kaiba Corp Doctors who know better then to poke and prod and you’re the only one they recognise as a relative.”

“Until they find out I lied about the papers being in the post and I’m not really Joey’s adopted brother. You heard the Doctor when we came in, she’s trying to call Joey’s mum or dad. Neither of them are going to want to come out here and if I’m found out, everything about Joey’s care will have to go through Kaiba Corp and Kaiba won’t care what they do to Joey. They will do whatever tests they think they need to if I’m here or not; I’m not old enough to stop them!” Yami took over and gave her a piercing look, “You let us walk away last time, Tea.”

“That was different Pharaoh!” Tea growled, noticing the change in tone and posture.

“How?” Yami asked, looking at her, “Last time it was Marik who wanted us dead.”

“Last time you knew who the attacker was! You knew who to watch out for!”

“We have to do this, Tea!” Yami’s hands balled into fists. “We can’t…”

Tea didn’t push it, aware that if Yami was snapping like this, then Yugi had probably already worked himself up into a fine state.

Yami stood up and stalked out of the room, leaving Tea all alone with Joey’s empty shell and a machine that did nothing but go beep, beep, beep, beep…

House of Cards: - Yugioh/House xover

Sometimes I worry about what I write when bored...

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“I’ve got a case that might interest you.” Dr Lisa Cuddy, the Dean of Medicine and the hospital administrator of Princeton-Plainsboro Teaching Hospital, told her most awkward and irritating practitioner of medicine, passing him a case file as he headed out of his office door. “Asian teenager, sixteen years old, came in by ambulance an hour ago.”

“So?” The Doctor she was talking to didn’t seem amused as he leant on his cane and flicked through the file. “Coma? Why would that interest me?”

“No trauma, no drugs, he just collapsed after playing a card game and didn’t get back up.”

“Family history?”

“Father’s a drunkard with a shot liver, but the rest of his family’s clear, the mother’s side have a clean bill of health too. The little sister nearly went blind around two years ago, the kid’s adopted brother won the prize money that paid for the operation to save her sight.”

“And the brother?”

“World famous.” Cuddy warned. “The King of Games.”

“Medical history.” The Doctor rolled his eyes, “Not life story.”

“Brother looks malnourished and is certainly smaller then is normal for his age.” Cuddy replied without missing a beat, well versed in the Doctor’s ways, “Other then that, he has a completely clean medical history. No recent illnesses other then a cold.”

“And the patient slipped into a coma for no apparent reason?”

“None at all.”

“Insurance?”

“The medical bills are being footed by Kaiba Corp.”

“Who?”

“The second largest games company in the world,” Cuddy glared at him, “Don’t screw this one up, House, the CEO of the company used to hire hit men. I do not want to have to replace the carpet because you irritated the wrong person.”

Gregory House snorted, “Then you picked the wrong Doctor.” He said, going to hand back the file. “I enjoy irritating my patients. Haven’t you heard? It’s a hobby.”

“Just take the case.”

“Why?”

“Because I told Kaiba Corp that I’d get my best Doctor on it.”

House waited.

“And I’ll let you off four hours of clinic duty this week.”

“Let’s go see Sleeping Beauty.” House replied, shutting the file and staggering off down the corridor, carefully.

Cuddy rolled her eyes and sighed. There’d be complaints by the end of the day, she could guarantee it.

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

“You can’t be serious.” Dr Robert Chase, a specialist in Intensive Care and Cardiology, was protesting, “You’re telling me a child can win more then we make in a year, just by playing a card game?”

“It’s not just a card game to those who play it.” Dr Allison Cameron, the team’s specialist in Immunology and Internal Medicine, protested, “And it’s not only kids who play.”

“I’m not surprised with that sort of money on the table.” Dr Eric Foreman, the Neurology specialist, snorted, as he waited for the coffee maker to finish.

“I played for a while.” Cameron said indignantly, “For fun, not for money.”

“Doesn’t mean that there aren’t some adults out there who wouldn’t like an easy way to get two million dollars.” Foreman pointed out, as Dr House, the team’s leader, the Head of the Department of Diagnostic Medicine and a specialist in Infectious Diseases and Nephrology, walked in, leaning heavily on his cane, came over to the coffee maker, took Foreman’s coffee, wrote Sleeping Beauty along the top of the white board that took up quite a sizeable part of the room, and settled at the table with the cup.

“I just can’t believe that the World Champion is sixteen years old.” Chase grumbled.

“I bet he has more then the one million dollar prize on his mind at the moment.” House said, tossing the marker to Foreman, “His adopted brother’s in a coma.” There was silence for a moment, “Differential diagnosis people, sixteen year old Asian male, 62 kg, roughly five foot ten, fell into a coma for no good reason about an hour and a half ago.”

“Drugs?” Chase offered quickly.

“Kid doesn’t touch them apparently.” House answered just as fast.

“And you believe him?” Chase sounded surprised.

“Patient’s not saying much.”

“You believe whoever you spoke to?” Foreman looked sceptical.

“No, but I’m giving you what I know.”

“We should run a toxscreen.” Chase decided.

“Because it’s impossible for there to be a sixteen year old male who doesn’t take drugs?” Cameron demanded, “There could be any number of reasons he’s in a coma.”

“Drugs are the most likely cause…”

House watched the two banter as Foreman wrote down the one symptom they had and then wrote down possible causes underneath.

“Trauma.” Foreman spoke over Cameron and Chase’s discussion, interrupting them and causing them to look at him, “Head injuries might explain…”

“The only kind of fighting he’s been doing recently is with a Duel Disk.” House disagreed.

“It doesn’t necessarily have to be obvious, or even that recent.” Foreman pointed out, “If there was an older injury that was left untreated, the effects from that could be causing the coma now.”

“Virus or bacteria?” Cameron offered, thinking.

“Patient wasn’t sick, right up until the time he collapsed.”

“So it’s not drugs, he wasn’t in a fight and it could be some obscure virus that has no symptoms at all except a coma?” Chase sounded justifiably irritated.

“Chase, run a toxscreen, I bet you twenty that it comes up negative for drugs. Cameron, MRI, if it’s something in his brain, I want to see it. Foreman, talk to the children he came in with. See if they can think of any symptoms he was showing.”

“Why can’t I talk to the kids?” Cameron demanded.

“Because one of them is small enough for you to take home and you get attached far too easily.”

They waited for a moment.

“What are you waiting for? Marching orders?” House demanded, “Fine, hup two three four…”

Cameron, Chase and Foreman left.

Horrendous X-Men Crossover

What the hell was I thinking when I wrote this crap?

------------------------------------

“What do you mean?” Yugi asked Professor Xavier, looking more confused then when they’d first met the teacher of mutants.

“Remember the blood sample we took?” Yugi nodded, “Well, you do indeed carry the x-gene which is what gives a mutant their powers. But your sample was different, you say you’ve been involved in this ‘Shadow Magic’ for almost five years?” Yugi nodded.

‘I know you can hear me, since you seem to pry into Yugi’s mind far more often then I would like.’ Yami said to the Professor, ‘However, I promised Yugi I would never go against his wishes and since he trusts you, he’s told me not to do anything about it unless you pry into matters we cannot reveal yet. However are you telling us, that this x-gene is what caused our monsters to come to life without us summoning them?’

“Yes, however I also believe that the magic you’ve been using has affected the x-gene and that’s why Yugi’s mutation has appeared as monster summoning. When we tested his blood sample there was an extra factor in the x-gene that has effected his mutation, when my researcher tried to test what it is, he fell into a coma from which there seems no hope of recovery.”

Yugi grimaced, “Professor, my I speak with the spirit of my Millennium Puzzle privately please?”

“Would you like me to leave the room?”

‘No, just stay out of our minds.’

“Of course, just tell me when you’re ready to continue this three way discussion.” Yugi nodded and Xavier withdrew from Yugi’s mind.

“Yami, is what he’s saying possible?”

‘I guess so, after all the Puzzle did infuse you with Shadow Magic, but I don’t like his habit of prying into your mind.’

“If he can teach me to control this new power, maybe we can use it the next time someone comes after the Puzzle, and we should tell him to stay out of your mind…”

‘My mind’s too heavily guarded, even for me sometimes. And I don’t think he’s yet recovered from the first time he tried to enter your mind.’

“You did use rather a lot of magic. Is it possible for Shadow Magic to react in the way he described?” Yugi felt Yami’s affirmative and sighed, “I think we’re going to have to tell him everything we know, but swear him to secrecy, he’s already proved he can keep them.”

‘I’ll accept any decision you make, but please be careful, I don’t trust him.’

Yugi nodded and turned his attention back to Xavier. “We have a lot to tell you, however anything that’s said in this room, must stay in this room.”

“Understood, I can’t hear what the spirit of your Puzzle has to say if I don’t…”

“Yami…?”

‘I told you, I don’t like him prying into your mind but if you’re willing to let him in…’

“He doesn’t like it, but you may enter my mind.” Yugi instantly felt the presence of Xavier in his mind, Xavier had been just waiting for him permission, but it wasn’t a welcome presence, like Yami, the Pharaoh was right, it felt more along the lines of Shadi’s intrusion. “Now, where do we start?”

“Maybe it would be easier if you just opened your memories to me. At the moment the spirit is blocking me from entering too far into your mind.” Yugi could feel Yami’s disgruntlement at that and shook his head, “Spirit, I know you are protective of your partner, but unless I know the full details I can’t help Yugi control his powers and until it’s under control it’s unsafe for you to use your magic as well.”

‘Our magic is not the issue…’

“Your magic is part of the problem; I doubt Yugi’s mutation would not have taken the form it has if his x-gene hadn’t been affected by his contact with Shadow Magic. I need to know everything so I can assess exactly what training is needed.”

‘My name is Yami, or at least that’s the name I’ve been using for the past four years, I’ve also been known as ‘the other Yugi’ and ‘Dark Yugi’ as well as many other names over the ages. I was once a Pharaoh in ancient Egypt, about five thousand years ago, and I had another name, but it, along with my memories, were lost to me when I was sealed inside the Millennium Puzzle.’ Yami paused, ‘I will allow you access to our memories, but if you harm my hikari’s mind in any way, I will not be merciful.’

“Yami, be nice.” Yugi scolded, he sensed Yami’s disgruntlement and wondered what it was about the man that bothered Yami so much.

Xavier looked through Yugi’s memories; and the few that Yami possessed, showing him everything from pre-Pegasus right through the Orikelcos and Kaiba Corp Grand Prix, and then the reason for Yugi’s second trip to America and the fight…

“I see…” Xavier pushed his wheelchair across to the window, “I understand why you were travelling alone, however you will both be safe here, Yugi, I believe it won’t take much training to control your powers, the training that the Pharaoh has given you in Shadow Magic will be of much use.” Yami was deep in thought.

Author Note: Lunar Dance Team Update

Species: Piplup Nickname: Issui Gender: Male Nature: Calm Characteristic: Good Perseverance Ability: Torrent Level: 5 --> 12

Species: Pidove Nickname: Kaze Gender: Female Nature: Modest Characteristic: Mischievous Ability: Keen Eye Level: 4 --> 10

Lunar Dance: Part 3

A brief stop at the PokeCentre and the local mart later, Yugi left town fifteen pokéballs, one premier ball, one potion and two antidotes heavier and Y3500 poorer.  He wasn’t actually sure he needed all of that, but Yami had reminded him that they had started the game with that much money for a reason. It was better to be prepared than not when they didn’t know what they were getting into.

Hikari was waiting for them on the outskirts of town and shoved them back towards the houses, the game’s plot forcing them to detour back to their arrival point to talk to their ‘mom.’

Once there they got a journal to write in and a parcel from Jun’s mother to deliver to him when they saw him. Then it was back to town again. By the time they got back, Issui had learned Bubble and they had left a trail of knocked out Starly behind them.

When they got back to where Hikari was still waiting, she was a lot more helpful. In fact she gave them a demonstration of how to catch a Pokémon, her Chimchar allowing her to catch the wild Bidoof they encountered easily. She also gave them another five pokéballs, making Yugi wish he hadn’t spent so much money on them.

Once she was gone, Yugi managed to catch the first Pokémon they ran into. His Pokedex informed him that it was a female Starly and that it was currently level 4. He wasn’t sure what the levels meant in game terms, but since Issui had been gaining levels through battle experience he assumed that his Starly, who he decided to call Kaze, would need training in order to get stronger.

Something weird happened when he tried to catch the next Pokémon to come along though. The pokéballs refused to work. He wasted three, which he picked up after the Bidoof had been defeated, before he finally had to give up. Hikari was watching from the ledge above him and started giggling at him as he searched through the grass for the missing balls.

“You can’t catch any more Pokémon here.” She called down to him, causing him to turn to her, confusion obvious, “It’s a rule the Boss put down. You can only catch the first Pokémon you catch on each route.”

‘That means we can’t go back to the route between here and ‘home’ either.’ Yami huffed.

“No but the forest is still open, we never ran into any Pokémon there.” Yugi reminded him, before looking at Hikari, “Thanks for telling me.”

“No problem.” Hikari replied with a smile, “It’s not a fair game if you don’t know the rules after all. Oh, by the way, don’t forget you have to keep your Pokedex ahead of mine.”

“What?” Yugi asked, confused again.

“You agreed to it, remember?” She asked, “We’re racing to fill the Pokedex. Don’t worry, you don’t have to catch every Pokémon, just seeing them counts, but if I get ahead of you, the Shadows might not like it.” Yugi gulped, having not realised he had been adding to the rules when he had agreed to race her. “Good luck.” She waved and carried on down the route merrily.

‘So we can’t catch more than one Pokémon per route and we have to somehow keep our Pokedex ahead of Hikari’s?’ Yami asked with a growl, taking spirit form to pace through the long grass.

“And we can’t lose a single battle.” Yugi replied, nerves settling in a little as he realised the scope of their task. “We have to get to the Champion and beat him without losing a match.”

‘We’ll do it.’ Yami reassured Yugi, who headed back to the forest they had met the man from Galactic in. ‘It’s just another game. And we never lose, remember?’

“True.” Yugi allowed, the thought cheering him up as he caught their third team member. Another Starly, another female one, this one nicknamed Hane. “And Bakura will sulk for ages when we get out of here.”

Yami grumbled something Yugi didn’t quite catch, but he suspected was along the lines of ‘murder the bloody tomb robber.’ For once the hikari didn’t call his darker half on it. Yami was allowed to be ticked off about this and as long as he was just grumbling, he probably wouldn’t do anything that would get him in trouble.

They got into a little trouble with a Kricketot, the bug Pokémon had absorbed their attacks for a couple of turns before landing a blow that had nearly knocked Issui out. Yugi had had to rush back to the PokeCentre, where Yami skimmed through the Pokedex while they were waiting for Issui to be treated. ‘Bide,’ the move he finally figured out the Kricketot had used against them, absorbed the power of the attacks that they had launched at it and countered with that power.

It was something they were going to have to watch out for in the future if they wanted to get through the game safely.

Lunar Dance - Part 2

Part 1 

The walk from the lake to Sandgem Town wasn’t particularly difficult. The only problem that emerged was when a small, brown feathered bird attacked them, only to get slapped in the face repeatedly by Piplup. The tiny blue penguin seemed quite level headed, though it had lost its cool for a little bit when the other bird had gone for Yugi’s new backpack.

Talking to the non-player characters on the way proved had fruitful. One of them apparently worked for the local shop and gave him a free Potion. Jamie had explained what a Potion was ages ago, but he was not sure what the in game mechanics were for it. He guessed he would find out when he used it since he still did not have a Pokedex.

Nor did he own a map, so he had honestly expected to get lost when he reached town. However Hikari had been waiting for him at the town’s entrance and she had been about to lead him into the Professor’s lab when Jun had emerged at high speed, once again knocking Yugi on his rear.

“What the... hi Yugi!” Jun grinned at him, offering Yugi a hand up. “That old guy, he’s not scary. He’s just totally out there.” He continued as Yugi took it and pulled himself up right, “Aww it doesn’t matter, I’m out of here.” With that Jun was gone.

‘He’s nuts. Completely. You realise that?’ Yami asked Yugi, who just grinned after the NPC who was supposed to be his best friend.

“He reminds me a bit of Joey.” Yugi replied, before following Hikari inside, mentally grinning as Yami chuckled, easily able to see an overly excited Joey acting the same way.

‘Okay, you might have a point there.’ Yami allowed as they stood before the Professor once again.

“Ah there you are,” The old man nodded sagely as he looked him over, “Yugi? Was it?” Yami nodded, “Let’s have a look at your Pokémon.” Piplup wandered over happily and let the Professor look it over, “This Pokémon seems happy. I’m glad I entrusted you with it. So, are you going to give it a nickname?”

“A nick...” Yugi paused, then nodded, looking down at the penguin, “Issui?” He asked it. The penguin nodded happily and latched onto his leg.

“It’s a good name.” The professor nodded. “When I first saw you two about to step into the tall grass without any Pokémon I was shocked. Even the most foolhardy children know better. Now, however, you’ve proved that I was right to give you a Pokémon.”

“I’m so glad you’re kind towards Pokémon.” Hikari smiled at him, “If you weren’t, I’d have to... oh, I just can’t say it.” She didn’t have to, Yugi could feel the Shadows swirling, waiting to take a bite from them.

“Er-hem.” The professor interrupted, “Let’s move on to the main topic. There’s something I want you to do for me. I am Professor Rowan, I study Pokémon. First off I want to know every kind of Pokémon that lives in the Sinnoh region. To do so I need to collect data using the Pokedex. This is what I wish to ask of you. Please take it and record every type Pokémon in the region.”

“Sure.” Yugi nodded, knowing he would need a Pokedex if he was going to survive this Shadow Game and not wanting to tick off the man willing to give him one.

Rowan didn’t need any other impetus. He handed the small red machine over without question. “The Pokedex automatically records data on every kind of Pokémon you encounter. Any you catch adds extra data to the system.”

“I have one too.” Hikari informed Yugi, “We should race to see who can fill it first.”

“Sure.” Yugi agreed, thinking he was adding to the in-game chatter when he felt the Shadows shift and settle on something. Suddenly the Pokedex in his hand felt a lot heavier.

“What did you feel when you walked up route 201 with your Pokémon?” Rowan asked, “I’ve lived for 60 years with Pokémon and I still get a thrill when I’m with a Pokémon.” The professor smiled properly for the first time, “Now go! Yugi, your grand adventure begins right now!” He handed over a small computer disc. “Use this at a Pokémon Centre. It can teach your Pokémon a new move.”

“Me and Chimchar will help you out where we can.” Hikari promised before leaving the premises.  

“Good luck.” Rowan nodded to Yugi before ushering him out the door. “You’re going to need it.”

Shaman King mix?

‘Yugi!’

Yami’s warning gave Yugi just enough time to jump back and narrowly avoid the incoming attack. “Who’s there?” The hikari demanded.

A dark chuckle made Yugi take a step back. Yami nudged at his mind, wanting control, but held back from seizing it when Yugi sent the mental equivalent of a head shake. “Where’s your guardian ghost, Shaman?” The teenager who stepped out of the darkness asked.

“I’m not a…” Yugi yelped and ducked under a second attack, “Shaman.”

“You have to be.” His attacker disagreed, taking another swipe at Yugi. “I saw you integrate with your guardian ghost earlier.”

“Integrate?” Yugi wondered as he willingly relinquished control to the Pharaoh who was just itching to make the man attacking his hikari pay.

‘We can work it out later.’ The Pharaoh promised as he darted out of reach of the attacker’s weapon. The spirit considered their attacker carefully. “What do you want?” He demanded, further irritated when the man smirked.

“Instantaneous integration.” He looked impressed, “You’d make a valuable addition to my team. And with the Shaman Tournament coming up, I need every strong spirit I can get. Now, abandon your host, or I will kill him to take control of you.”

‘Stay in your Soul Room, Yugi.’ Yami growled. “I won’t let you harm my partner. Nor will I ever bend to another’s will.”

“You’ll have no choice once your host is dead.”

“If Yugi dies, the Puzzle will shatter and I will return to the darkness.” Yami snorted, carefully scanning the area for something he could use to defend them, “Yugi is the only one who will ever be able to work with me.”

“If your wimpy host could complete the Puzzle and it’s the Puzzle that holds your spirit,” Their attacker raised his blade again, causing Yami to tense up, waiting for the coming attack, “Then I’ll complete it once I kill him!” The sword lashed out but Yami was faster, ducking under the attack, rolling and grabbing a pipe from the side of the road, bringing it up and round in time to stop a swing that had been meant for Yugi’s neck.

“I. Won’t. Let. You. Kill. Yugi.” Yami bit out as he strained against the blade. For such a small guy, their attacker had a lot of upper body strength and Yugi, for all his magical strength, did not.

Magic.

Yami lashed out with his magic, blasting the guy into a wall, mentally cursing himself for not thinking of it sooner.

“I’m impressed.” The guy smirked as he picked himself up. “I didn’t see that coming.”

“I challenge you.” Yami said, changing tactics, calling the Shadows, which danced around him and his opposition, waiting to play, though only the most sensitive could sense them at the level Yami had summoned them. “To a game of my choice. If I win, you’ll leave and never come back. If I lose, I will go with you willingly.”

“Yami, no!”

‘Have faith, Yugi, I won’t lose.’

“A game?” The man looked around, eyes sharp, as if he could sense the magic swirling around them as clearly as Yami could. “That’s all it would take?”

“One simple game.”

“I doubt anything involving the darkness around us could be classed as simple, but go on.”

‘He can sense the Shadows…’ The attitude Yami presented to his opponent wasn’t the same as the tone of his mental voice, as he pulled a pair of dice out of his back pocket. “A game of luck.” He tossed a die to his opponent. “All you have to do is roll higher than me three times out of five and you win. The only other rule is that neither player can attack the other while the game is in play.”

“That’s it? You’re risking everything on the roll of the dice?” The guy looked shocked.

“Scared?” Yami taunted.

“You. Wish.” The guy snapped.

“Then I’ll roll.” Yami rolled his die, which landed on a three. “Your go.”

There was a soft growl before the guy rolled his die, which was swiftly followed by a smirk as it landed on a four. “One down.”

“There are many more rounds yet.” Yami snorted, ill- amused by the guy’s arrogance. He could feel Yugi’s support at the back of his mind as he rolled again. “Let’s see you beat a four.”

“Easily.” The guy’s words didn’t match the roll of his die, which landed on a three. “Oh well, there are three more rounds…”

He was less confident after the next round, when he failed to beat Yami’s roll a second time.

“Last chance.” Yami smirked, already sensing the shift in the magic as his opponent made up his mind about something. The Pharaoh rolled his die.

A five.

The attacker dropped his die and darted across the field, sword in hand, striking out in an assault intended to run Yugi through. Yami shifted just in time, turning the killing strike into a stab that, while not fatal, was still serious.

The guy came in for a second attack as the Pharaoh hissed in pain and his hand went to the wound, applying pressure, shutting the link between him and his hikari off to prevent both the pain seeping through and Yugi from seeing what was about to happen.

The Shadows rose, knocking the guy off of his feet.

“Not only did you break the rules,” The Pharaoh’s tone was dark, angry, terrifying, “But your roll wasn’t enough to beat mine. You lose and for your cheating I call on a Penalty Game.”

“A what?” The guy scrambled backwards, away from the pissed off King.

Yami raised the hand that wasn’t stemming the blood flow, “Mind Crush.”

The guy collapsed and the Shadows vanished.

“Yugi!”

Yami sank to his knees, gasping in pain as, at Tea’s call, the focus that had held him through the Shadow Game broke.

“Yuge!” Joey and Tea darted down the alley.

“Shit Yuge, what happened?” Joey asked, wincing in appreciation when he saw the blood seeping through Yami’s fingers and quickly working out what he could use to help as Tea pulled out her mobile.

“He attacked me.” Yami replied unsteadily, feeling woozy. “Won’t be doing that again.”

There was a vicious satisfaction to the Pharaoh’s tone that made Joey cringe inwardly. On the one hand, anyone who hurt Yugi deserved whatever they got, on the other Yami had a real mean streak (and that was putting it nicely) whenever Yugi got hurt.

“Was it the Puzzle again?” Joey asked quietly as Tea gave the ambulance directions.

“I… no…” Yugi, who had slipped back into control the moment Yami had reopened the link, cringed when he made the mistake of moving. “No. It wasn’t the Puzzle. At least, not at first.”

“What do you mean?” Joey asked.

‘Yugi!’ Yami’s voice rang in his head, ‘There’s another one!’

Yugi struggled to his feet, looking around. “Where? Yami, where?”

“Yuge?” Joey asked.

‘Let me…’ Yami didn’t have to finish his sentence as Yugi stepped aside, giving the Pharaoh control. “Who’s out there?” Yami challenged, looking around, dizzy but not willing to let someone else get the drop on them.

“Easy, spirit.” Someone in Native American clothes stepped out of the darkness at the other end, “I mean no harm to your host.”

Joey stepped between Yami and the guy, “You with that guy?” Joey indicated the male on the floor.

“I was supposed to test him for the tournament. But it appears that will no longer be necessary.” The new guy didn’t sound too unhappy about that.

“Test?” Joey asked.

Whatever the Indian was about to say was lost in the sound of sirens, the arrival of which made the teens look over their shoulder and by the time they looked back, the Indian was gone and so was the body of the attacker.

“Where’d he go?” Joey yelped.

They didn’t have time to answer as the ambulance crew took charge.

Then there was no time for questions at all.