Post by Bakura on Aug 10, 2006 15:59:40 GMT -5
-Chapter Two-
“The Red Rose Card”
The land was desolate and infertile, not a single flower or plant growing among it. It could have even been classified as godforsaken had it not been for an assortment of rocks and stones that stood in odd positions in the center of the barren field. It was raining very hard, and lightning struck in several different places, again and again and again, with no signs of ever stopping. The wind was fierce, sharp and cold, yet, in the midst of this stormy terrain, one man stood alone, standing underneath one of the many rocky formations, that resembled something like a shelter or manger of some kind.
He brought his hands up to his shoulders and shivered slightly, not liking this wretched weather God had decided to unleash on the day that was supposed to be a day to remember.
Then again, it would have been way worse than this, having been under the rule of Manawyddan fab Llyr—who had the world in the palm of his hand several hundred years ago. That lord was a demon if he had ever met him. His tyranny was crueler than normal, and his ambitions were anything close to deadly. (A/N1) He and his malevolent minions reeked havoc on all the kingdoms, bringing malefaction and destruction wherever he went, and it was a true winter that had almost succeeded in blanketing the entire world, but that was ancient history. And that heathen god could do no more to hurt the people of Europe.
Although he and his loyal subjects had been defeated many eons ago, the mark upon the Earth that the diabolical monster left was dreadful. People, who carried scars and emotional wounds from his reign of terror, had become wicked and cruel of heart, spreading their ill-fortune all around the continent to the poor, the good and even to the pure. Today, it was no different. Their children had continued on with their selfish, evil ways, and it seemed like there would never be an end to it. In addition, it was even said that the ones who descended from those who actually served the wicked entity, were still around, and schemed to bring their ancestor’s master back to the world—but that was nothing more than a rumor.
Yet, in most of England (York especially) the land had become a breeding ground for anguish and misery, and it was only growing worse each passing year. The people of that section of their country lived under tyranny of King Richard III, who was going to become king within months. He was a man descended from those who brought ill-fortune to the people after Manawyddan fab Llyr’s reign of terror and was among the last people who should ever become monarchy. At times, it seemed like the pain and suffering would never end.
However, that was all about to change.
For this man, the man who was waiting in the cold, the rain, was waiting for the one—the hero from the distant future who would restore peace and prosperity to all of England. His superior had just received word from an oracle, that salvation was coming, and would arrive shortly at the sacred ground between York and Lancaster. He continued remain in his spot, watching the sky for the divine signal that would bring forth the savior who would bring peace and restore nobility to the crown.
Once the heavenly sign appeared—the moment that would bring their salvation would begin, he would arrive, and with that—hope for bringing back the one person who could help them in their quest to restoring their country to peace would be restored!
When Jounouchi had finally caught up to his friends, (having looked all over for them for about a minute or so) they were all sitting at a table in the picnic interior of the park, listening to some wannabe rock group singing and playing “Rising of Fine Weather, Hallelujah.” (A/N 2)
Once he was sighted, Anzu (who had just previously been reading from a magazine she had picked up just before coming here) narrowed her eyes and demanded, “Where were you?”
Jounouchi (not wanting to answer) plopped down into an empty seat at their table, and murmured, “Ask me later… I’m beat…”
Anzu started, “Jounouchi—“
Jounouchi (flat out ignoring her) turned towards Yuugi and asked, “So, Yuugi—what’s happening? What’d I miss?”
Yuugi only stared at him in a silence for a few seconds, before he took another bite out of his cheesy-chicken burrito causing Jounouchi’s face to fall.
When Jounouchi saw that beautiful morsel wrapped up in four kinds of cheese and what looked like a spicy (and fattening) Mexican sauce, he whimpered for a moment, his mouth suddenly beginning to water as he watched as Yuugi chewed and swallowed his lunch, wishing more than anything that he could just…
However, Honda and Otogi had taken notice of Jounouchi’s desire (after all, it wasn’t hard to miss) looked at each other and then back at Jounouchi, suddenly putting on sneering expressions, watching as the will-power of their friend began to diminish and disperse quicker than they could have comprehended.
But watching the mere torture of Jounouchi apparently wasn’t enough for them, and sinister plans had begun churning within the center of their minds. Oh, this was going to be fun.
After completely planning out his “plan-of-attack,” Honda picked up a donut from a paper place on the far end of the table, and held it in a way so it hovered about a foot away from Jounouchi’s face, Jounouchi jumping back at this action. He then said, in an alluring and tempting voice, “Look Jounouchi: custard swirl with a double “chocolate” glaze—with sprinkles and coconut shavings. Mmm- mmm- Mmmm.”
Jounouchi’s eyes darted back and forth from burrito to the donut, staring at both of them with an expression that looked pretty desperate. He tried to reach out for it, but at that moment, Honda tore the donut away from his range, and stuffed it directly into his mouth. He then chewed it, an evil and complacent look worn proudly on his features.
Just as he swallowed, taking the liberty to moan out as if in pleasure from the taste itself, Jounouchi narrowed his eyes. The blonde then tried to reach out for the plate (which held one last item), but Otogi grabbed it first, and pulled it away from him. He then wagged his finger back on forth, as if telling off a naughty child, and said in a voice that almost resembled that of a parent’s, “Not so fast, Jounouchi-kun: You’re on a diet, remember?”
Jounouchi heard this and glared dangerously at him.
Otogi then licked his upper lip and commented, “So… With that in mind,” (Jounouchi opening his mouth to say something, but) “—I’ll just take this last chocolate filled croissant.” With that, he swiped his hand across the plate, and stole the pastry, beginning to nibble on the end of it.
At this point, Jounouchi looked just about ready to cry (how could his own friends do this to him?), and Anzu narrowed her eyes and murmured, “All right, you two—that’s enough, already!” Otogi merely grinned while Honda laughed with his mouth full, little bits of chewed dough and cream spraying from his mouth, Anzu looking at them as they fell on the table with a disgusted look.
It was around this time, when Shizuka finally found her way back to the picnic table (having gone off before Jounouchi arrived in search of food suitable for her brother) and informed, apologetically as she sat down, “I’m sorry, Onii-chan, but they didn’t have anything that would suit your diet. Maybe later we can get sandwiches from subway or something like that…”
Jounouchi slammed his head down on the table, and moaned in mental anguish, only causing Honda to laugh so hard, he nearly choked on the last bite of his donut. Yuugi (placing his burrito down on the table) looked at Jounouchi and asked, “Jounouchi-kun—what’s wrong?”
However, before Jounouchi could usher any kind of response, the loudspeaker suddenly went off around the fair.
Attention families and friends. In just ten minutes we will have our annual hunting games.
Yuugi (averting his attention from Jounouchi) looked up at the speaker and asked out loud, somewhat excited, “Really? A game?”
Anzu mumbled, “Yuugi…”
However, since there are no deer, rabbits nor other types of wild game in Domino, we will have special “prizes” for you to find!
Jounouchi suddenly looked up and asked, “Huhhh?”
Such goodies include candy, certificates, money and even rare collectibles such as Capsule Monsters, Duel Monster cards and even Dungeon Dice Monsters tokens! Some prizes have already been given out, which may give you a general idea of what is in store for you. Please meet at the front of the festival ground for more details.
Once that information was announced, Jounouchi’s glum outlook on life changed drastically. He stood up off his chair, slammed his hands down on the table, and said (a starry light dancing in his eyes) with a highly enthusiastic voice, “All right! My life is finally looking up!”
However, this game is only for younger participants—so those above the age of sixteen cannot enter. We apologize for any inconvenience.
Jounouchi turned around, but then thingyed his head back towards his friends and commented, “See you, guys, I’m gonna go enter!”
However, before he could even do as much as take a single step foreword, Anzu looked at him and asked, “Wait a minute—exactly how many months has it been since your sixteenth birthday?”
Hearing this, Jounouchi stooped in his tracks. “Uhhh…” He paused for a moment, registering this newly asked question. He then brought out his fingers out before him and began counting “One… Two… Three… Four… Five—”
As he continued counting (raising one finger for every number), Anzu, Yuugi and Shizuka all rolled their eyes, sometimes really pitying the low level of intelligence that their blonde haired friend was in possession of. Even by the time he ran out of fingers, he continued counting on, (which was actually a nice change for him) that was, until—
“Ten… Eleven… Twelve… Thirteen… Four—“
He abruptly stopped, suddenly understanding something that was a little bit wrong with this picture, while Yuugi and the others patiently waited for him to figure out what he had conveniently missed. About a few seconds following him taking in that little ‘fact’, he suddenly turned around, kicked the chair of a nearby table, and yelled, “Awwl—d**nit!”
Anzu and Shizuka let out a huge sigh, while Yuugi attempted a small smile, while saying quietly, “Sorry, Jounouchi…”
Jounouchi merely grumbled and heavily yet quickly folded his arms across his chest, putting on an over-exaggerated, angry/pouting expression. Shizuka (once again trying to cheer up her brother) pointed out, thoughtfully, “Onii-chan, I’m sure that this fair has some event that you can participate in—and they probably have good prizes as well and—“
At that moment, prior events hit Jounouchi like a dart in the center of the target, and when they did, his eyes sparkled, remembering what had happened to him just minutes ago. A smile found its way onto his face, as he began, “Now wait a minute—!”
Shizuka stopped in her words and asked, “—What?”
Jounouchi (not answering) reached into the inside of his jacket, appearing as though he were looking for something. As he did, Honda and Otogi stopped laughing instantly (they had been laughing quite hard after watching the events fall into place of Jounouchi’s total misfortune), and watched as Jounouchi pulled out a single golden card pack from his breast pocket. Honda’s eyes widened, while Otogi pointed at him and asked, “Now where did you get that?”
Jounouchi looked at them and sneered, “Who cares about that? What matters is that it’s mine! All mine!” He then laughed triumphantly and reached for the other end of it, preparing to rip it apart.
Anzu, watching as Jounouchi began to tear the item open asked, “What is it?”
Jounouchi looked at her out of the corner of his eye and explained, “Some lady gave it to me! I bet it’s one of those super rare prizes!” He then looked back at it and prayed out-loud, “Come on, Rare Metal Dragon! I’ve been wanting that card for months!” (A/N 3)
Anzu shook her head while Yuugi began, “Jounouchi, if this contest is designed for minors, I really don’t think that you should—“
However, Jounouchi (ignoring the word of all of his friends, his eyes sparkling with delight and wonder) finally peeled off the golden plastic, revealing the identity of the card. He paused for a moment, registering what exactly it was he had won.
Then, somewhere between the point of when he opened the card and when he had moaned in ‘complete’ disarray, Yuugi took the card out of his hand, and commented, “This isn’t a duel monster card.” He then flipped it over and continued, “In fact, I don’t even think this is a real game card.”
And he couldn’t have been more right.
Although it was a card in form, it was truly nothing any of them had ever seen before. It had a red and white cover design, the two colors actually crossing over diagonally besides each other. There was also a silver border surrounding it, which was slightly metallic, looking as though it were holographic. On the other side of the card, there was an image of a bright, beautiful, red rose which grew brilliantly from a background of gold and bronze.
After looking at it for a moment, Shizuka took the card out of Yuugi’s hand, looked at it, and a smile then found its way onto her face as she commented, “It sure is pretty, though!”
As the young auburn haired girl continued observing the unique and unusual playing card, it was around this time when Jounouchi decided that he had had enough of his ill-fated luck, and with that in mind, he would comfort himself in the only way that he could. He then murmured bitterly as he walked away, “All right—I’m going to join that pie-eating contest I saw a while back…”
Once he said that, everyone turned around to look at him. Anzu raised an eyebrow and asked while smirking, “And what about your diet?”
Jounouchi scoffed for a moment, before he looked back at them and hissed, “Well screw that!” And with that, he began sprinting over towards the other end of the park, where the tournament was about to begin.
Anzu let out another sigh, and Shizuka (having just watched as her brother ran off to gorge himself without consulting her—he had asked for her help, after all) slowly looked down at the card again, and bit her lip as she regarded it. Onii-chan, she thought to herself.
Once Jounouchi had disappeared into the crowd, silence engulfed the group of the friends, and Shizuka did nothing more but sigh and pocket the strange card. However, it was short lived, as Honda slowly turned towards Yuugi and smirked, looking as though he were expecting something to happen right about now. Yuugi then looked directly at his other friend with a beat and tired expression. Honda then said in a sing-song/faraway voice, “Pay up Yuugi.”
Yuugi heard this and rolled his eyes, then reached into his pant pocket and extracted two green slips of paper, which he had prepared for this exact moment. He then stuffed the two one thousand yen bills into Honda’s hand and murmured, “Whatever—I was only trying to be nice to Jounouchi by betting on this in front of him…”
Once Honda took the money in his hand, he held it out in front of his face, and commented, in a gay sounding voice, “Pleasure doing business with you!”
Yuugi merely looked away, grabbed his can of sprite, and began drinking it down, dismissing the topic entirely.
Around that time, Shizuka suddenly stood up off of her chair, and reached over for her sweat-shirt, giving off the impression that she was leaving.
Otogi, looked over at Shizuka and asked, “Hey Shizuka—where are you going?”
Shizuka, glanced over at Otogi, and explained, while fumbling with her stray form of apparel, “I am supposed to be at the Library at this time.”
Honda (who had just finished pocketing his financial gain) looked up asked, “Why? It’s spring break.”
Shizuka suddenly looked at him and said, with a exasperated expression, while slipping on her fabricated jacket, “I know, but Onii-chan put a book on hold for me about two days ago, and today is the last day I can pick it up. It’s going to close in an hour, and I really need this book in order to get into a certain class!”
Anzu began, “Shizuka—“
But Shizuka didn’t bother to listen to Anzu at all. For once the jacket was completely on, she began running over towards the exit of the park, calling back to her friends as she left, “Tell Onii-chan I’ll be waiting for him at home!” With that, she ran out ahead, turned the corner, and exited the park, leaving her friends alone, unbeknownst to the strange glint of light that came from her jean pocket.
As Shizuka made her way towards the bus-station, (where she hoped to catch the twenty-one which could take her to the library) huffing and wheezing as she jogged, she suddenly felt a gust of wind blow by that was cooler than usual. She shivered in response, and as she looked out ahead, and realized she could see her own breath directly out in front of her emerging from her lips in ghostly puffs of steam. That’s odd, she thought. Why is it so cold? It wasn’t just cold though. The land around her was also growing darker. She nonchalantly looked up at the sky and noticed that a few dark clouds had covered almost every part of the sky, probably sometime within the past thirty minutes.
That’s strange. It was bright and sunny just a while ago, but now it looks like it could—
She then felt a droplet of water drop onto her nose. It wasn’t alone. It was soon followed by more, which began to fall one at a time onto the ground, all around Shizuka and on top of her.
Being more than prepared for a little rain (for it was early spring) Shizuka reached up for her sweatshirt hood and placed it over her head, and continued to job on, wondering if she would reach the library in time.
Then, quite abruptly, she suddenly felt the air around her grow rather warm. Her eyes widened at this, registering this new feeling. It was warm, but she could still see her breath coming out of her mouth. How odd, she thought. Then, things grew a little more out of the ordinary when she felt something move around her feet. She slowly looked down, and noticed something that was more than just odd.
There, dancing around her feet, were little bronze/golden sparks of light moving around her ankles. However, they weren’t like stray electricity circuit shocks, or anything she was used to seeing in real life. No, they didn’t. In fact, they looked almost like candle flames, ones that rose from the ground, hovered for a moment, and then disappeared as if they had never been there at all. Shizuka (not liking where this was going) blinked for a moment, wondering if what she was seeing was actually real. However, when one of the sparks coiled around her lower leg (and then disappeared like the others) she suddenly began to feel a little uneasy. After all, what sane person see’s little sparks of light dancing around her, and then finds it to be nothing to worry about at all. Shizuka (taking in that fact) slowly began to back away, but wherever she went, the light seemed to follow her.
Shizuka then thought to herself, Why… Why is this happening?
However, things were only about to grow worse. For now the little sparks of light were taking a little longer to die out, and their mass was also increasing for every one created. Shizuka staring out before her in horror at what was happening to her, suddenly had a feeling that something was behind her—and not just behind her, but above. She gulped, and slowly turned around, (almost afraid of what she might find) tilting her head up towards the sky in order to see—
Her jaw dropped and her face fell at what she saw.
Just up above her, up in the sky, was something that had resemblance to a black hole, or some kind of vortex. It was gold in color, and had rays of light shining all over the place. It was the most amazing yet confusing thing she had ever seen and Shizuka stared up at it, regarding it with both amazement and fear . However, what ever admiration she had for it was short lived, when she noticed something else (on top of all that she had seen) which was quite array.
It was slowly getting bigger, in a way that looked as though it were moving closer to her. However—
It was around that time when Shizuka began to panic, realizing something almost instantly:
It wasn’t coming closer to her… No, the sky was moving in the other direction! Which meant, she was coming closer to it! She looked down at the ground, and realized that she was being lifted off of the Earth, and she was rising higher and higher above the ground, almost as if she was being sucked in.
Then, before Shizuka could cry for help, the golden light seemed to explode, and the light completely sucked her inside. She was then thrown backward and foreword, falling through the strange portal, unable to stop herself from falling into what would become the key to her future fate.
The rain continued to fall and the winds picked up, the storm growing worse with each passing second. Thunder and lightning boomed and cracked in the near distance, and the air grew colder and sharper. But the figure in the middle of field did nothing more but gaze up at the sky, watching and waiting. It was coming… He could feel it.
Then, the winds suddenly died down, and the clouds began to disperse, but only slightly, leaving nothing more than a single star visible through the crack of the gray pillows of the sky. He stared at it for a moment, not knowing what to expect. Then, it began to glow brightly and radiantly, and within a single second, a streak of light shot out from the star, and landed directly into the center of the sacred ground, blazing in all of its golden and divine glory.
While witnessing this strange event, the eye’s of the man seemed to sparkle with joy, and unable to hide the excitement in his voice, he cried out loud, “At last! He has come!”
“The Red Rose Card”
The land was desolate and infertile, not a single flower or plant growing among it. It could have even been classified as godforsaken had it not been for an assortment of rocks and stones that stood in odd positions in the center of the barren field. It was raining very hard, and lightning struck in several different places, again and again and again, with no signs of ever stopping. The wind was fierce, sharp and cold, yet, in the midst of this stormy terrain, one man stood alone, standing underneath one of the many rocky formations, that resembled something like a shelter or manger of some kind.
He brought his hands up to his shoulders and shivered slightly, not liking this wretched weather God had decided to unleash on the day that was supposed to be a day to remember.
Then again, it would have been way worse than this, having been under the rule of Manawyddan fab Llyr—who had the world in the palm of his hand several hundred years ago. That lord was a demon if he had ever met him. His tyranny was crueler than normal, and his ambitions were anything close to deadly. (A/N1) He and his malevolent minions reeked havoc on all the kingdoms, bringing malefaction and destruction wherever he went, and it was a true winter that had almost succeeded in blanketing the entire world, but that was ancient history. And that heathen god could do no more to hurt the people of Europe.
Although he and his loyal subjects had been defeated many eons ago, the mark upon the Earth that the diabolical monster left was dreadful. People, who carried scars and emotional wounds from his reign of terror, had become wicked and cruel of heart, spreading their ill-fortune all around the continent to the poor, the good and even to the pure. Today, it was no different. Their children had continued on with their selfish, evil ways, and it seemed like there would never be an end to it. In addition, it was even said that the ones who descended from those who actually served the wicked entity, were still around, and schemed to bring their ancestor’s master back to the world—but that was nothing more than a rumor.
Yet, in most of England (York especially) the land had become a breeding ground for anguish and misery, and it was only growing worse each passing year. The people of that section of their country lived under tyranny of King Richard III, who was going to become king within months. He was a man descended from those who brought ill-fortune to the people after Manawyddan fab Llyr’s reign of terror and was among the last people who should ever become monarchy. At times, it seemed like the pain and suffering would never end.
However, that was all about to change.
For this man, the man who was waiting in the cold, the rain, was waiting for the one—the hero from the distant future who would restore peace and prosperity to all of England. His superior had just received word from an oracle, that salvation was coming, and would arrive shortly at the sacred ground between York and Lancaster. He continued remain in his spot, watching the sky for the divine signal that would bring forth the savior who would bring peace and restore nobility to the crown.
Once the heavenly sign appeared—the moment that would bring their salvation would begin, he would arrive, and with that—hope for bringing back the one person who could help them in their quest to restoring their country to peace would be restored!
When Jounouchi had finally caught up to his friends, (having looked all over for them for about a minute or so) they were all sitting at a table in the picnic interior of the park, listening to some wannabe rock group singing and playing “Rising of Fine Weather, Hallelujah.” (A/N 2)
Once he was sighted, Anzu (who had just previously been reading from a magazine she had picked up just before coming here) narrowed her eyes and demanded, “Where were you?”
Jounouchi (not wanting to answer) plopped down into an empty seat at their table, and murmured, “Ask me later… I’m beat…”
Anzu started, “Jounouchi—“
Jounouchi (flat out ignoring her) turned towards Yuugi and asked, “So, Yuugi—what’s happening? What’d I miss?”
Yuugi only stared at him in a silence for a few seconds, before he took another bite out of his cheesy-chicken burrito causing Jounouchi’s face to fall.
When Jounouchi saw that beautiful morsel wrapped up in four kinds of cheese and what looked like a spicy (and fattening) Mexican sauce, he whimpered for a moment, his mouth suddenly beginning to water as he watched as Yuugi chewed and swallowed his lunch, wishing more than anything that he could just…
However, Honda and Otogi had taken notice of Jounouchi’s desire (after all, it wasn’t hard to miss) looked at each other and then back at Jounouchi, suddenly putting on sneering expressions, watching as the will-power of their friend began to diminish and disperse quicker than they could have comprehended.
But watching the mere torture of Jounouchi apparently wasn’t enough for them, and sinister plans had begun churning within the center of their minds. Oh, this was going to be fun.
After completely planning out his “plan-of-attack,” Honda picked up a donut from a paper place on the far end of the table, and held it in a way so it hovered about a foot away from Jounouchi’s face, Jounouchi jumping back at this action. He then said, in an alluring and tempting voice, “Look Jounouchi: custard swirl with a double “chocolate” glaze—with sprinkles and coconut shavings. Mmm- mmm- Mmmm.”
Jounouchi’s eyes darted back and forth from burrito to the donut, staring at both of them with an expression that looked pretty desperate. He tried to reach out for it, but at that moment, Honda tore the donut away from his range, and stuffed it directly into his mouth. He then chewed it, an evil and complacent look worn proudly on his features.
Just as he swallowed, taking the liberty to moan out as if in pleasure from the taste itself, Jounouchi narrowed his eyes. The blonde then tried to reach out for the plate (which held one last item), but Otogi grabbed it first, and pulled it away from him. He then wagged his finger back on forth, as if telling off a naughty child, and said in a voice that almost resembled that of a parent’s, “Not so fast, Jounouchi-kun: You’re on a diet, remember?”
Jounouchi heard this and glared dangerously at him.
Otogi then licked his upper lip and commented, “So… With that in mind,” (Jounouchi opening his mouth to say something, but) “—I’ll just take this last chocolate filled croissant.” With that, he swiped his hand across the plate, and stole the pastry, beginning to nibble on the end of it.
At this point, Jounouchi looked just about ready to cry (how could his own friends do this to him?), and Anzu narrowed her eyes and murmured, “All right, you two—that’s enough, already!” Otogi merely grinned while Honda laughed with his mouth full, little bits of chewed dough and cream spraying from his mouth, Anzu looking at them as they fell on the table with a disgusted look.
It was around this time, when Shizuka finally found her way back to the picnic table (having gone off before Jounouchi arrived in search of food suitable for her brother) and informed, apologetically as she sat down, “I’m sorry, Onii-chan, but they didn’t have anything that would suit your diet. Maybe later we can get sandwiches from subway or something like that…”
Jounouchi slammed his head down on the table, and moaned in mental anguish, only causing Honda to laugh so hard, he nearly choked on the last bite of his donut. Yuugi (placing his burrito down on the table) looked at Jounouchi and asked, “Jounouchi-kun—what’s wrong?”
However, before Jounouchi could usher any kind of response, the loudspeaker suddenly went off around the fair.
Attention families and friends. In just ten minutes we will have our annual hunting games.
Yuugi (averting his attention from Jounouchi) looked up at the speaker and asked out loud, somewhat excited, “Really? A game?”
Anzu mumbled, “Yuugi…”
However, since there are no deer, rabbits nor other types of wild game in Domino, we will have special “prizes” for you to find!
Jounouchi suddenly looked up and asked, “Huhhh?”
Such goodies include candy, certificates, money and even rare collectibles such as Capsule Monsters, Duel Monster cards and even Dungeon Dice Monsters tokens! Some prizes have already been given out, which may give you a general idea of what is in store for you. Please meet at the front of the festival ground for more details.
Once that information was announced, Jounouchi’s glum outlook on life changed drastically. He stood up off his chair, slammed his hands down on the table, and said (a starry light dancing in his eyes) with a highly enthusiastic voice, “All right! My life is finally looking up!”
However, this game is only for younger participants—so those above the age of sixteen cannot enter. We apologize for any inconvenience.
Jounouchi turned around, but then thingyed his head back towards his friends and commented, “See you, guys, I’m gonna go enter!”
However, before he could even do as much as take a single step foreword, Anzu looked at him and asked, “Wait a minute—exactly how many months has it been since your sixteenth birthday?”
Hearing this, Jounouchi stooped in his tracks. “Uhhh…” He paused for a moment, registering this newly asked question. He then brought out his fingers out before him and began counting “One… Two… Three… Four… Five—”
As he continued counting (raising one finger for every number), Anzu, Yuugi and Shizuka all rolled their eyes, sometimes really pitying the low level of intelligence that their blonde haired friend was in possession of. Even by the time he ran out of fingers, he continued counting on, (which was actually a nice change for him) that was, until—
“Ten… Eleven… Twelve… Thirteen… Four—“
He abruptly stopped, suddenly understanding something that was a little bit wrong with this picture, while Yuugi and the others patiently waited for him to figure out what he had conveniently missed. About a few seconds following him taking in that little ‘fact’, he suddenly turned around, kicked the chair of a nearby table, and yelled, “Awwl—d**nit!”
Anzu and Shizuka let out a huge sigh, while Yuugi attempted a small smile, while saying quietly, “Sorry, Jounouchi…”
Jounouchi merely grumbled and heavily yet quickly folded his arms across his chest, putting on an over-exaggerated, angry/pouting expression. Shizuka (once again trying to cheer up her brother) pointed out, thoughtfully, “Onii-chan, I’m sure that this fair has some event that you can participate in—and they probably have good prizes as well and—“
At that moment, prior events hit Jounouchi like a dart in the center of the target, and when they did, his eyes sparkled, remembering what had happened to him just minutes ago. A smile found its way onto his face, as he began, “Now wait a minute—!”
Shizuka stopped in her words and asked, “—What?”
Jounouchi (not answering) reached into the inside of his jacket, appearing as though he were looking for something. As he did, Honda and Otogi stopped laughing instantly (they had been laughing quite hard after watching the events fall into place of Jounouchi’s total misfortune), and watched as Jounouchi pulled out a single golden card pack from his breast pocket. Honda’s eyes widened, while Otogi pointed at him and asked, “Now where did you get that?”
Jounouchi looked at them and sneered, “Who cares about that? What matters is that it’s mine! All mine!” He then laughed triumphantly and reached for the other end of it, preparing to rip it apart.
Anzu, watching as Jounouchi began to tear the item open asked, “What is it?”
Jounouchi looked at her out of the corner of his eye and explained, “Some lady gave it to me! I bet it’s one of those super rare prizes!” He then looked back at it and prayed out-loud, “Come on, Rare Metal Dragon! I’ve been wanting that card for months!” (A/N 3)
Anzu shook her head while Yuugi began, “Jounouchi, if this contest is designed for minors, I really don’t think that you should—“
However, Jounouchi (ignoring the word of all of his friends, his eyes sparkling with delight and wonder) finally peeled off the golden plastic, revealing the identity of the card. He paused for a moment, registering what exactly it was he had won.
Then, somewhere between the point of when he opened the card and when he had moaned in ‘complete’ disarray, Yuugi took the card out of his hand, and commented, “This isn’t a duel monster card.” He then flipped it over and continued, “In fact, I don’t even think this is a real game card.”
And he couldn’t have been more right.
Although it was a card in form, it was truly nothing any of them had ever seen before. It had a red and white cover design, the two colors actually crossing over diagonally besides each other. There was also a silver border surrounding it, which was slightly metallic, looking as though it were holographic. On the other side of the card, there was an image of a bright, beautiful, red rose which grew brilliantly from a background of gold and bronze.
After looking at it for a moment, Shizuka took the card out of Yuugi’s hand, looked at it, and a smile then found its way onto her face as she commented, “It sure is pretty, though!”
As the young auburn haired girl continued observing the unique and unusual playing card, it was around this time when Jounouchi decided that he had had enough of his ill-fated luck, and with that in mind, he would comfort himself in the only way that he could. He then murmured bitterly as he walked away, “All right—I’m going to join that pie-eating contest I saw a while back…”
Once he said that, everyone turned around to look at him. Anzu raised an eyebrow and asked while smirking, “And what about your diet?”
Jounouchi scoffed for a moment, before he looked back at them and hissed, “Well screw that!” And with that, he began sprinting over towards the other end of the park, where the tournament was about to begin.
Anzu let out another sigh, and Shizuka (having just watched as her brother ran off to gorge himself without consulting her—he had asked for her help, after all) slowly looked down at the card again, and bit her lip as she regarded it. Onii-chan, she thought to herself.
Once Jounouchi had disappeared into the crowd, silence engulfed the group of the friends, and Shizuka did nothing more but sigh and pocket the strange card. However, it was short lived, as Honda slowly turned towards Yuugi and smirked, looking as though he were expecting something to happen right about now. Yuugi then looked directly at his other friend with a beat and tired expression. Honda then said in a sing-song/faraway voice, “Pay up Yuugi.”
Yuugi heard this and rolled his eyes, then reached into his pant pocket and extracted two green slips of paper, which he had prepared for this exact moment. He then stuffed the two one thousand yen bills into Honda’s hand and murmured, “Whatever—I was only trying to be nice to Jounouchi by betting on this in front of him…”
Once Honda took the money in his hand, he held it out in front of his face, and commented, in a gay sounding voice, “Pleasure doing business with you!”
Yuugi merely looked away, grabbed his can of sprite, and began drinking it down, dismissing the topic entirely.
Around that time, Shizuka suddenly stood up off of her chair, and reached over for her sweat-shirt, giving off the impression that she was leaving.
Otogi, looked over at Shizuka and asked, “Hey Shizuka—where are you going?”
Shizuka, glanced over at Otogi, and explained, while fumbling with her stray form of apparel, “I am supposed to be at the Library at this time.”
Honda (who had just finished pocketing his financial gain) looked up asked, “Why? It’s spring break.”
Shizuka suddenly looked at him and said, with a exasperated expression, while slipping on her fabricated jacket, “I know, but Onii-chan put a book on hold for me about two days ago, and today is the last day I can pick it up. It’s going to close in an hour, and I really need this book in order to get into a certain class!”
Anzu began, “Shizuka—“
But Shizuka didn’t bother to listen to Anzu at all. For once the jacket was completely on, she began running over towards the exit of the park, calling back to her friends as she left, “Tell Onii-chan I’ll be waiting for him at home!” With that, she ran out ahead, turned the corner, and exited the park, leaving her friends alone, unbeknownst to the strange glint of light that came from her jean pocket.
As Shizuka made her way towards the bus-station, (where she hoped to catch the twenty-one which could take her to the library) huffing and wheezing as she jogged, she suddenly felt a gust of wind blow by that was cooler than usual. She shivered in response, and as she looked out ahead, and realized she could see her own breath directly out in front of her emerging from her lips in ghostly puffs of steam. That’s odd, she thought. Why is it so cold? It wasn’t just cold though. The land around her was also growing darker. She nonchalantly looked up at the sky and noticed that a few dark clouds had covered almost every part of the sky, probably sometime within the past thirty minutes.
That’s strange. It was bright and sunny just a while ago, but now it looks like it could—
She then felt a droplet of water drop onto her nose. It wasn’t alone. It was soon followed by more, which began to fall one at a time onto the ground, all around Shizuka and on top of her.
Being more than prepared for a little rain (for it was early spring) Shizuka reached up for her sweatshirt hood and placed it over her head, and continued to job on, wondering if she would reach the library in time.
Then, quite abruptly, she suddenly felt the air around her grow rather warm. Her eyes widened at this, registering this new feeling. It was warm, but she could still see her breath coming out of her mouth. How odd, she thought. Then, things grew a little more out of the ordinary when she felt something move around her feet. She slowly looked down, and noticed something that was more than just odd.
There, dancing around her feet, were little bronze/golden sparks of light moving around her ankles. However, they weren’t like stray electricity circuit shocks, or anything she was used to seeing in real life. No, they didn’t. In fact, they looked almost like candle flames, ones that rose from the ground, hovered for a moment, and then disappeared as if they had never been there at all. Shizuka (not liking where this was going) blinked for a moment, wondering if what she was seeing was actually real. However, when one of the sparks coiled around her lower leg (and then disappeared like the others) she suddenly began to feel a little uneasy. After all, what sane person see’s little sparks of light dancing around her, and then finds it to be nothing to worry about at all. Shizuka (taking in that fact) slowly began to back away, but wherever she went, the light seemed to follow her.
Shizuka then thought to herself, Why… Why is this happening?
However, things were only about to grow worse. For now the little sparks of light were taking a little longer to die out, and their mass was also increasing for every one created. Shizuka staring out before her in horror at what was happening to her, suddenly had a feeling that something was behind her—and not just behind her, but above. She gulped, and slowly turned around, (almost afraid of what she might find) tilting her head up towards the sky in order to see—
Her jaw dropped and her face fell at what she saw.
Just up above her, up in the sky, was something that had resemblance to a black hole, or some kind of vortex. It was gold in color, and had rays of light shining all over the place. It was the most amazing yet confusing thing she had ever seen and Shizuka stared up at it, regarding it with both amazement and fear . However, what ever admiration she had for it was short lived, when she noticed something else (on top of all that she had seen) which was quite array.
It was slowly getting bigger, in a way that looked as though it were moving closer to her. However—
It was around that time when Shizuka began to panic, realizing something almost instantly:
It wasn’t coming closer to her… No, the sky was moving in the other direction! Which meant, she was coming closer to it! She looked down at the ground, and realized that she was being lifted off of the Earth, and she was rising higher and higher above the ground, almost as if she was being sucked in.
Then, before Shizuka could cry for help, the golden light seemed to explode, and the light completely sucked her inside. She was then thrown backward and foreword, falling through the strange portal, unable to stop herself from falling into what would become the key to her future fate.
The rain continued to fall and the winds picked up, the storm growing worse with each passing second. Thunder and lightning boomed and cracked in the near distance, and the air grew colder and sharper. But the figure in the middle of field did nothing more but gaze up at the sky, watching and waiting. It was coming… He could feel it.
Then, the winds suddenly died down, and the clouds began to disperse, but only slightly, leaving nothing more than a single star visible through the crack of the gray pillows of the sky. He stared at it for a moment, not knowing what to expect. Then, it began to glow brightly and radiantly, and within a single second, a streak of light shot out from the star, and landed directly into the center of the sacred ground, blazing in all of its golden and divine glory.
While witnessing this strange event, the eye’s of the man seemed to sparkle with joy, and unable to hide the excitement in his voice, he cried out loud, “At last! He has come!”
