When I planned for Bakura to deal with Hirutani in Ennead: Season Zero

The screams from the thief before her as the Shadows consumed him, mind, body and soul, did not faze her in the slightest. He was nowhere near her calibre. More concerned with finding the fastest way to his prize and causing as much damage as possible rather than doing the job with speed, dignity and style.

 Not that dealing with a lousy thief had been in her plans for the evening when she had left the house. She had only been seeking to work out what the local area was like around her ‘landlord’s’ new home. When she had run into a local who had been touched by the Shadows, she had thought she might find something interesting. Possibly even useful.

It had not been hard to talk the ticked off teenager out of his bad mood and when she had mentioned she had an interest in games, he had been more than enthusiastic in his wanting to introduce her to a ‘Gamer friend’ of his. Of course he had not expected to come home to a break in.

She had not recognised the victim to start with, not properly. Her anger had been more for the sheer incompetence shown by the thief and the fact that while she did not recognise the victim fully, something in her was screaming at her that she needed to save her.

When she had pulled the girl away from her captor, she realised she recognised her and there was a reason she had needed to save her. The girl she was untying was the one she had been waiting for. The one who had trapped her in the Ring all those years ago.

Part of her wanted to end the threat before it could get off of the ground, especially when the girl, whose name was Yugi if she had heard the boy correctly, had begged her to go and get her Puzzle. However sanity had won out. She had waited three thousand years for ‘Yugi’ to reincarnate. She needed her alive in order to finally be able to get her hands on all of the Millennium Items after they all gravitated to the Pharaoh.

She had not dared hope that the Puzzle itself had been completed though. Not when the Pharaoh seemed so weak and helpless. She had expected to go into the girl’s bedroom and pick up the golden box it lived in. When she had seen that it was finally finished though, her temper had snapped.

She had waited three thousand years for the Pharaoh to reincarnate and complete the Puzzle, three thousand years of watching, waiting and hunting and some idiot had nearly ruined everything! Her own roommate, the demon she had made a deal with back in Egypt had been just a furious.

He had waited three thousand years to destroy the one member of Akhenamkhanen’s family who had escaped his wrath all those years ago. The Pharaoh was his to ruin, torture and feed to the Shadows piece by agonizing piece. No one was allowed to kill her. No one except him and he would take great pleasure out of teaching the moron who had dared to attempt to steal his kill, a lesson.

The brat had not lasted more than a turn and a half before cheating and she was more than happy to allow the Shadows to consume the brute she had been dealing with. He deserved everything he got in her opinion and she had much bigger fish to fry.

Not how this is going to go in Clanverse

Yugi watched the Nile flow past and realised something.

This was it.

The war with Voldemort was over, Atem had gotten his name and memories back, and tomorrow they were going to Duel for possibly the final time.

Tears flowed down the Hikari’s face.

It wasn’t fair.

It was and it wasn’t.

It was fair because if Yugi won, Atem would finally get to rest, after five thousand years.

But it wasn’t fair because they’d been a team for over ten years and Atem wouldn’t be having to make this journey if the Death Eaters hadn’t killed the body that he’d been using for the last seven years in the final battle against Voldemort, causing the Pharaoh to end up back in the Puzzle, and inside Yugi.

Atem had once sworn that they would always be a team, and yet now he was going to leave Yugi forever.

He’d explained his reasons, saying that he couldn’t let the shadows fall into the wrong hands, that he couldn’t share Yugi’s body for the rest of Yugi’s life and that it was time for him to find out where and when he’d come from.

Yugi had fought to get Atem’s name for him, to help him defeat Zorc, but now, with his deck set and the cruise boat heading down the River Nile, it had sunk in that this was it, their last night as yami and hikari.

Yugi wiped his face with the back of his hands. He had to let Atem take over to construct his deck. He and the Pharaoh had had a conversation earlier, in which Yugi had demanded that Atem didn’t go easy on him. It was supposed to be a test of Yugi’s true skill and whether it was time for Atem to leave. It wouldn’t be a proper test if Atem went easy on him, and had told the Pharaoh he would be furious if Atem dared to go easy on his hikari.

For this reason, Yugi had left the Gods out of his deck.

They were Atem’s cards, he’d been the one that had won them in Battle City, and he was the one that they answered to without question, even Yugi had trouble with them on occasion.

Yugi closed his eyes and entered the corridor between the Soul Rooms, knocking on Atem’s door and waiting.

Atem pulled it open, took one look at his hikari and opened his mouth, “Yugi…”

“I’m ready, I think.” Yugi said before Atem could say too much more, “I know you have to do this, and I still want you to go at me full pelt. It won’t be fair if you don’t.”

“I know.” Atem said, his voice tinged with sadness. “Should I knock on your door when I’m ready?”

“I think I’m gonna go to sleep.” Yugi said, looking at the ground, “I want to be at my best tomorrow, so you can have the body… if you want…” Yugi trailed off.

Yami put a hand under his Hikari’s chin as he realised how badly he was shaking and tilted the young man’s face up.

Tears flowed down Yugi’s face.

“We don’t have to do this.” Atem said softly, though Yugi could tell his heart wasn’t in it, “Ask and I’ll stay.”

“I can’t.” Yugi whispered back, “It’s unfair to you and it’s selfish of me.”

“Yugi, you’re the least selfish person I’ve ever known!” The Pharaoh protested, “I don’t have to leave, I don’t really want to…”

“You do though, or you wouldn’t have asked me to ask you to stay!” Yugi blurted out, “It’s time for us to move on and move apart and…” Yugi’s voice cracked and he fled into his soul room, locking the door and locking Atem out.

Atem just stood there for a few minutes, not really knowing what to do or say. Everything Yugi had said was true, Atem did want to finally rest, and he did want to leave Yugi in peace… asking Yugi to ask him to stay had been Atem’s final get out clause, and if the Pharaoh was honest with himself, he was scared.

He took control of their body and smiled sadly at the view that he opened his eyes too.

The River Nile, the river a deep blue to match the skies reflected in it, where the river mud didn’t tint it, in front of them as far as the eye could see. The night sky, beautiful and peaceful, the stars that twinkled reflecting in the waters…

Atem wondered if Yugi had chosen this especially for him.

The Pharaoh sighed and turned away as someone came up on deck, heading for his… no Yugi’s room and the last time he’d ever construct a deck for a Duel.

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

“Yu…” Harry trailed off before getting too far, the young man in question looking over at him out of old habit. Crimson eyes and a more regal pose told him that this wasn’t Yugi, but Yami… sorry Atem… who’d been given control of their body. “Atem.”

“Harry?” Atem asked as he looked over, confused, “Yugi and I thought everyone was asleep.”

“Can’t sleep. I guess you’re ready for tomorrow though.” Harry half asked and was surprised when Ya…Atem shook his head. “But…?”

“Yugi’s deck is prepared, I have to make mine.” The Pharaoh looked wistful and unhappy, “Yugi knows most of my tactics but he’s demanded I give him a proper duel. To be fair to Yugi I can’t go easy on him any more, I stopped years ago. He’s nearly had me in so many tournaments now that I really think tomorrow he might actually beat me officially.”

Harry smiled sadly and then tried to cheer up as a shadow crossed Yami’s face, “How’s he taking it?”

“Hard.” Yami admitted, “I think no matter what happens tomorrow, it’s going to be hard on him. He’ll need his friends more then ever.” The Pharaoh’s hand went to the chain around his neck without him thinking, the silver cartouche that Tea had brought him, on a much shorter chain then the Puzzle, caught the moonlight and the hieroglyphs that spelled the Pharaoh’s name sparkled in the light.

“I’ll be there for him.” Harry said, with a determined look that didn’t look out of place or unusual on the seventeen year old teenager who’d survived a war, killed a Dark Lord and saved most of the school. “We’ll always be your friends too, you know that right?” He asked the Pharaoh who looked surprised and then nodded.

“I know.” Yami said, sounding grateful, “Thank you Harry.” Yami nodded and walked down the stairs to the lower levels, heading for Yugi’s room.

Harry watched him go; unsurprised that he’d seen tears in the Pharaoh’s eyes.

Yugi and Yami may have thought that everyone but them was asleep but actually no one was.

Some of the group had been dreading this point for years; others hadn’t long been initiated into their group but knew that Yami would move on tomorrow.

The Pharaoh thought they were all friends of Yugi’s and were coming to support the hikari in his final duel with his ‘brother’ but the truth was they were all coming to watch and say their farewells.

Joey, Harry, Ron, Hermione, Tea, Tristan, the Muto twins’ Grandpa and Yugi’s parents, Malik, Isuzu, Obeon, even Seto and Mokuba were all coming to watch the Ceremonial Duel and say goodbye if Yugi won.

It wasn’t fair for Yugi and Yami to have gone through so much, only to be ripped apart once everything was settled.

But then nothing in their lives ever had been fair, and maybe it was time for Yami to rest.

Harry just wasn’t looking forward to watching the Mutos be forced into a duel in which a real victory meant losing a friend.

Sonic Comics: Beginnings of a Plot Idea

Sonic and Sally had been playing tag when Sonic had tripped over something, not watching where he was going. “Hey, you’re not supposed to be here!” He growled, as he picked himself up, turning to glower at whoever it was.

“I think she’s hurt.” Sally knelt next to her, “Go and get Rosie.”

“You’re not the boss of me Sal.”

“Sonic!” Sally glared.

“Already going.” Sonic replied, and was gone and back in an instant. The poor nanny looking windswept and confused. 

“Sonic, what have you been told about… oh my…” Rosie knelt next to the unconscious Mobian. “She’s pretty badly beat up.”

“Can you help her?” Sally asked, worried, as Rosie put her hand on the Mobian’s forehead and Sonic hovered around the fringe, he wasn’t good at worrying and he wasn’t good at staying still so doing both at once was proving impossible.

“Sally,” Rosie decided, handing her a cloth, “Damp that in the Lake of Rings, Sonic, go and get Col. Stripes.”

“Yes Rosie.” Sonic shot off and Sally was back in a couple of seconds.

“Is she a robot?”

“She’s sick, and injured.” Rosie shook her head, “Robots don’t get sick.”

It took Sonic a little while longer to come back with Col. Stripes. The young hedgehog was in awe of the leader of the Freedom Fighters and he hadn’t wanted to just drag him away… “Who’s this?” He asked, noting that Rosie was looking after the female.

“She hasn’t woken up yet.” Rosie said, “But how many blue hedgehogs are in the area?”

“Sonic, did you have an older sister?”

“Nope.” Sonic shook his head, “I had a cousin, but he died during the war.”

The Mobian groaned and opened her eyes, attempting to sit up.

“Easy.” Rosie and Col. Stripes said at the same time, helping her without cutting their hands on her ridiculously sharp spines. “Who are you?”

“Sapphire.” The hedgehog said simply, “I’m a Knight of the Acorn Kingdom.”

“I’ve never seen you before.”

“You wouldn’t have.” Sapphire said, reaching behind her and pulling the Green Chaos Emerald from between her spines and wincing as her arm pulled. “I can promise that I’m not a…” The hedgehog tried to get to her feet, groaned and fell over backwards, unconscious again, the gem falling from her hand, glittering in the sunlight.

Thoughts of Medan from Reaper of the Cards at some unknown point.

Medan hadn’t liked his former Deck Owner, if fact he hadn’t been sorry when, after losing to Yugi, who at the time had been little more to a lot of Duel Monsters then the ‘Pharaoh’s vessel’, Arkana had been driven insane by Marik, in fact he’d given Mana some of his own power in order to help her defeat his former master, but having had a taste of the powers of the graveyard, he had found that he wanted more and Mahado’s two year vanishing act had given him the perfect opportunity to find out more.

When Mahado, the so called ‘Lord of the Dark Kingdom’, had returned, it had been with much fanfare and celebration, which had only increased among the masses when he and Kisara had announced that the war between them was over.

Oh there were malcontents. Those who had enjoyed the constant battles and the way they could get away with a lot more under the pretence of war, were furious that after thousands of years of battle, Mahado and Kisara had just called a halt to it, just because some humans had gotten into another Shadow War, but generally most were sick of the battles and welcomed the peace.

Of course without the war to distract him, and with the upcoming Shadow War threatening the man who he had sworn to serve beyond death, Mahado had started focusing on his Kingdom, training his guards, strengthening defensive spells and increasing the shields around his own palace, knowing that the Pharaoh was likely to draw from his people and that the Light Prince wasn’t exactly going to ignore them either.

Once Mahado had stopped focusing on the battles and more on those people within his palace, those who could help the Dark Pharaoh or the Light Prince, like Soraya, Medan’s Apprentice, whose card had been in Yugi’s deck for months by that point, it had only been a matter of time before the Lord of the Dark Kingdom found out what Medan was up to.

Within weeks, even with Medan being extremely careful, Mahado had found out about Medan’s research into the powers of the Reaper of the Cards, and the pair of them had fought, Dark Magician verses Dark Magician, in the courtyard of the Dark Palace in the fiercest battle that had been seen since Kisara and Mahado had battled just after what was known to those who had been there as ‘the Castle Duel’.

Medan hadn’t known before then how much stronger Mahado was. The ‘first Dark Magician’ had powers that Medan could never imagine. His own abilities were mere shadows of those that the Purple Dark Magician used against him, and as impressive as the battle looked to those on the outside, both he and Mahado knew that in the end, it would be Mahado who won.

And they were right, even with a last minute attempt at using Thousand Knives, Medan had lost the battle.

Only after judgement had been passed and exile decreed, had he found out who had betrayed him to the Lord of the Dark Kingdom.

Not one of the ever so nosy spellcasters who had no hope of ever matching the power he wielded.

Not one of the Blue Dark Magicians who followed the rules and laws of their ‘Lord’ to the letter.

Not even Mana, Mahado’s apprentice, the ‘first Dark Magician Girl’.

No, it had been Soraya, his own Apprentice. The Red Dark Magician Girl had betrayed her Master’s secret to the Lord of the Dark Kingdom and once he’d fallen in battle, she hadn’t followed her Master, nor had she followed Mahado, which, even as he would have been annoyed, he would have understood, after all, after such a demonstration of power, he would understand her seeking a stronger Master, no, she had pledged her loyalty to ‘Prince Yugi’ and only to ‘Prince Yugi’ and in doing so, thrown away everything.

The end of the war was just an excuse after that.

Exiled from the Kingdom of the Dark Element, Medan had gathered those who believed that Mahado and Mana had grown weak, those who believed that the limitations on what could and couldn’t be learnt were ridiculous, those who had been exiled, those who were sick of the same people being in charge after so long an absence...

Those who followed his banner no longer numbered a few and more than half of them were willing to go to any lengths to avoid another Shadow War, refusing to bow to humans ever again.

And it was from this half of his group that he was pulling together a team.

While they waged guerrilla warfare against those of the palace, there was a way to weaken those who had chosen to put their chips in with the humans in a way that would be irreversible.

And the best part was, it had been Mana who had, unknowingly, given Medan the idea.

Things I can build in 3DS Max

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 Much later

“House.” Cuddy caught him as he was coming out of the clinic, “The brunette that came in with your patient’s in a coma.”

“Which one? The boy or the girl?” House demanded.

“The guy collapsed a block away from the hospital.”

“Symptoms?”

“None, fell into a coma, just like the patient.”

“The children aren’t contagious.”

“I want them in quarantine.”

“We don’t have enough rooms.”

“Four clean rooms just came up. Get them down there and they’re staying there until you figure out what’s causing the comas.”

“They’re not contagious.”

“House.” Cuddy snapped, “Just do it.”

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

“In ten minutes, I’m expected to bring you three down to the clean rooms for quarantine where you’ll be guarded at all times until I can find the cause of the comas.”

“We told you the cause of the…” Tea froze, her hand on Joey’s arm. “Comas?”

Yugi, who had already grabbed his backpack and Duel Disk and was heading for the door, had stopped, turning to look at House. “Tristan?”

“The brunette you came in with is already there, he was brought in about twenty minutes ago.”

“Ten minutes?” The Yugis had swapped and it was the more forceful one that was asking the question and he looked pissed off.

House checked his watch. “I’ll be back in eight and a half minutes.” He left the room.

That was all Yami needed. “Tea, stay in quarantine, they can’t get to you there. We’ll be back once we’ve rescued Joey and Tristan.”

“Be careful.”

Yugi left.

Eight and half minutes later House entered the room, looked around, pretended to look surprised and asked, “Where’d the kid go?”

“Kid? What kid?” Tea asked innocently.

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

“Where’s the brother?” Cuddy demanded as Tea settled into her room, next to Tristan’s empty shell and Joey’s was wheeled into the room the other side of him.

“The brother?” House asked innocently. “I was unaware the patient had a brother. He certainly didn’t come in with a brother.”

“House!” Cuddy got it immediately. “You let him leave!? Do you have any idea how dangerous that could be?”

“He was nowhere to be found when I went to collect them.” House answered quickly and smoothly, “I asked Security to keep an eye out for him but…” House shrugged, irritating Cuddy further.

“You let a patient with a potentially contagious, unknown disease leave the hospital.”

“I didn’t see him leave; I haven’t seen him for the majority of the afternoon.” That was certainly true, two minutes didn’t add up to much since he hadn’t actually been in the patient’s room since yesterday, unless you counted the two minutes to warn Muto and the five minutes it had taken to get Wheeler out of the room.

Cuddy just scowled at him.

“If it’s any help, Foreman said he’s been coming back to the hospital every night.” House offered, “He’ll be back.”

“If anyone else catches this disease because your team let him walk out of this hospital…”

“No one else is going to slip into a coma. It’s not contagious.”

“You can’t know that.” Cuddy growled, “I want to be informed about every test you perform and every drug you issue. Am I clear?”

“As glass.”

Cuddy stalked off.