Ryou hadn’t agreed to this, hadn’t wanted to be a part of the Shadow Game that Bakura had convinced him to help in designing, but here he was, playing White Mage to a pair of girls who were convinced that the other shouldn’t exist.
He knew what Bakura had been planning for this game, knew why the girls were here, had an idea of how this game would run, but the girls didn’t seem to be aware that they were in a game, so lost in trying to work out where the hell the other had come from, that going from his living room to a stone room with only one exit, an exit he knew led to a maze, hadn’t interrupted their row.
“You can’t be real!” The midnight blue eyed Jamie with white highlights in her hair was snarling, “I’m Jamie Francis! Me! Not you! You’ve got to be some fake created by some villain for one reason or another!”
“You’re wrong,” The sapphire eyed, normal haired Jamie replied, backing up a little, fear obvious, “I’m Jamie, I’ve always been Jamie…”
Sapphire hit the floor when midnight slapped her hard enough to leave an imprint of her hand.
“Will you two quit it?” Ryou asked, getting between then and trying not to look nervous as one Jamie scowled at him and the other gave him a confused, slightly nervous look.
“…You’re Ryou… aren’t you?” Sapphire eyes asked, watching him carefully as she sat up, holding her cheek.
“Yes.” Ryou nodded, “For some strange reason my dark side decided it would be funny to bring me into your game against him.” He addressed the pair of them.
“Sorry…” Sapphire eyes looked down, guilt obvious, understandable even, as she had asked Bakura if they could play a game, but midnight grew irritable.
“If you’re Ryou, then you’d know why ‘Kura created her!” Midnight scowled, gesturing at sapphire. “Why he’d create such a weak copy of me!?”
“He didn’t.” Ryou had wondered if this was why he’d been shoved into the game, to stop midnight doing anything dangerous regarding sapphire.
“He had to have done, there’s only one Jamie Francis and I’m her!”
“No I am!” Sapphire protested, getting to her feet. “I was Jamie Francis long before you came about!”
“You’re both Jamie!” Ryou snapped before they could start rowing again.
“No we’re not!” Both girls snapped back at him simultaneously, then blinked at each other for a moment before midnight was scowling again. Sapphire though, looked thoughtful. “Ryou? How did you and Bakura get split?”
“The Millennium Ring split Bakura’s soul into two back in Egypt,” Ryou explained carefully. “Into light and darkness. The light became reincarnated.”
“That’s you, right?” Sapphire double checked.
Ryou nodded. “And the darkness was sealed in the Ring, only to be released when I had the Ring and came into contact with the Puzzle, five thousand years later.”
“And Yugi gained his bond with the Pharaoh when he gained the Puzzle…” Sapphire said. Ryou noted the way midnight’s eyes flashed when Sapphire mentioned Yami, but didn’t bring it up.
Midnight frowned, seeing where this was going. “But I do not hold a Millennium Item.”
“We did.” Sapphire had already worked the problem through to its logical conclusion and had forced herself to accept what he was saying; even if she wasn’t sure she completely believed it, “Remember Dragonite? We held the Ring for ‘Kura after Marik tried to get rid of him and…”Sapphire looked at Ryou. “We held the Ring for you, temporarily, but Yugi got you back so...”
Dragonite? Ryou wondered, looking from one girl to the other, wondering just how aware they had been of each other before this.
Midnight was thinking, “So Dratini isn’t just a dream…” She mused out loud, turning to watch the sapphire eyed girl who looked afraid that ‘Dragonite’ would hit her again, “I am her and she is me and we together make Jamie Francis…”
“Together we are Jamie, or we used to be Jamie… could we be Jamie again?” Sapphire asked Bakura’s dark.
“You are still Jamie.” Ryou tried to reassure her, “But so is Dragonite,” He seized on ‘Dratini’s’ name for the midnight eyed girl, “Both of you are Jamie but at the same time the Jamie that was, is no longer here. Not unless the pair of you can work together.”
“But couldn’t we just merge back into one soul?” Dratini asked, an innocent question coming from an innocent soul, neither Jamie could have a clue of what being split truly meant.
“Not without intervention greater then that of a Millennium Item.” Ryou shook his head.
“Then we are stuck with each other?” Dragonite asked, examining Dratini as if now considering her as a tag-team partner, “I have to deal with her weakness and emotional outbursts?” She sounded disgusted.
“And I have to deal with her temper and violence?” Dratini could give as good as she got. Ryou was amused. For someone who had had their battle hardened and temperamental side ripped away from them and formed into someone else, Dratini wasn’t one to roll over and play dead, probably because she’d had both Bakura and Dragonite in her head at the same time at one point. This was good. She’d need this bite, should Dragonite become like Yami Marik…
The pair glowered at each other.
“If you wish to be Jamie, yes.” Ryou nodded.
“But she’s so…”
“Unless the pair of you want to end up like Marik.” Ryou cut off their chorused protest and watched Dratini shake her head empathically and Dragonite scowl at him like he should be ashamed of even considering that they could become like Marik.
“Never. We,” Dragonite indicated herself and Dratini, “Are Jamelia Francis, Aspiring Pokémon Champion from the Town of Littleroot, not some cheating scumbag who could only attack from the shadows until his own darkness overwhelmed him.”
There was the ‘we’. This Shadow Game had been planned by his dark long before Dratini had asked if Bakura would teach her how to play Monster World, and it’s primary focus had been to create this ‘we’ that Dragonite was talking about.
He knew what Bakura was doing, but it hurt that Bakura was doing this to create a proper, symbiotic, relationship between Dragonite and Dratini, the two aspects that made up the girl Bakura loved, when he had never done anything like it to try to bond with his own hikari.
But then would Ryou have welcomed it, after everything Bakura had done?
Like sealing his friends from back home in those game pieces?
Like sealing Ryou inside his favourite card and trying to force him to destroy his new friends here?
Like all the things that Bakura had gotten him to do in order to further his own, insane plan, which, if it succeeded, would result in the end of the world…?
Would Ryou want a relationship like the one this game was designed to try and foster between Dratini and Dragonite knowing what Bakura had done and what he was trying to do?
He didn’t know, but if it meant getting out of the game he had been shoved into in order to stop the girls from killing each other, then he would help Bakura’s insane game plan along.
“Well then, shall we find our way out?” Ryou asked, noting Dratini was wary of taking the hand offered to her by Dragonite, looking half afraid it would bite, and watching as Dragonite grew exasperated and pulled the light to her feet anyway.
“I’m sorry you got pulled into our game.” Dratini told Ryou earnestly.
“Do you know what class I’m playing?” Ryou asked, actually kind of looking forward to it, knowing what the penalties were and not too worried about them unless Dratini and Dragonite were unable to work together. Then it might get dangerous.
Bakura had arranged this game to be difficult, difficult enough to incite Jamie’s passion for challenge and triumph, but certainly not impossible, like the game he’d set up when he’d played Yugi the first time had been meant to be.
Dragonite headed towards the room’s one exit, hand automatically going to her belt, where six small balls resembling Pokeballs, but in different colours, rested. He remembered hand modelling and painting those to go on her character model; Dratini had a set just like it.
“No…”
“I’m a white mage, a healer.” He explained properly when she looked confused, “It means I can use healing magic if you get injured.”
“Then I’m glad you’re here.” Dragonite hissed from the doorway. “It doesn’t look like Bakura’s going to make this easy on us…”
“What do you…?” Dratini’s question was cut off by an answering roar of whatever was wandering up the passageway. “Oh.”
“This should be fun.” Dragonite sounded far too happy about being faced down by a chimera like monster. “Now how did Bakura say this Monster Caller thing worked?” She muttered to herself.
“Like this…” Dratini tapped the blue and white Pokeball like thing. “I summon my water spirit!” She announced and was delighted when Tidal Fox appeared in front of her.
“Oh that’s simple enough.” Dragonite nodded, “Dark spirit come forth!” She tapped the purple and white ball and Fox Shadow sprang to her aid.
Ryou watched for a moment, then raised his staff, wondering what would happen should Dratini and Dragonite call the same ‘spirit’ at the same time considering that they were working off of the same character sheet…
“Fox Shadow!” Dragonite demanded, “Attack!”
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