C.N. April 2014: Digital Distraction Part 10

Yami had been on edge for the latter half of the movie and he couldn’t understand why. It had thoroughly ruined the film for him. It was a shame because until then he had been enjoying the thriller.

He hurried home, his friends only just behind him, still discussing the movie and the plot twist at the end. He didn’t know why but he had a horrible feeling something had happened to Yugi. He knew he was being unreasonable. Yugi was at home. Their home. It was much safer than their school. There were no Philosopher’s Stones hidden there for a start.

His ominous feeling was proved right when he got to the shop to find the front window had been smashed and the store was in disarray.

He barged his way through the door, panic rising as he took in the devastation and realised that there was a trail of mess and mayhem that lead upstairs.

“Yugi?!” Joey beat him to the stairs but not by much and Yami’s call echoed up the stairs as the pair darted up them. Upstairs wasn’t in much better a condition. Tables and chairs were overturned, ornaments were broken, cards and game pieces scattered everywhere. Worst of all the safe was open and the money within had been scatted everywhere. Not that Yami paid attention to it for more than a brief glance, “YUGI!”

There was no answer, furthering Yami’s panic as he darted down the corridor and into the attic conversion that was Yugi’s room.

There was no one there. The bed looked like it had been vacated hastily and it was quite obvious that there had been a fight. Yami didn’t magic to see that Yugi had not gone down quietly. The bookcase was damaged. Three of the shelves were broken where something or someone had hit them at speed. The desk was a mess, all the books and cards stacked on it had been swept onto the floor and the desk chair was on its side, halfway across the room.

“Yami!” Joey called from the kitchen, “Yami!”

The Pharaoh darted down the corridor and into the kitchen to find Joey was clenching a letter in his right hand, his fist closed so tight the paper was crumpled as he turned to look at his friend. “You need to read this.” He said, shoving the message in Yami’s face.

The Pharaoh took it, scanned the contents, let out a furious sounding growl and shoved the paper at Tristan as his magic started slipping his control, causing a dark purple aura to surround him and start blazing up like flames. Joey backed away quickly from the chill that they radiated as Tristan read out the note.

“Yugi. We have your brother. If you want to see Yami alive again, you will come to the DimSoft demo. We will give further instructions once you are there. Bring the Puzzle. If you call the cops or try anything funny we’ll kill him.” Tristan’s tone grew angrier the longer it went on, but Tea frowned and asked one simple question.

“If we want to see Yami alive again?”

“They think they have me. They must have mistaken him for me and taken Yugi instead.” Yami snarled, his magic still flaring like mad, its radius expanding, causing his friends to have to back up further still, “If they’ve harmed him, I will make their lives a living hell. And their afterlives too.”

“Yami, if you can’t use that magic to locate Yugi you need to put it away. We can’t help if you send us to the Shadow Realm.” Joey pointed out, still backing away from the swirling darkness surrounding his friend.

The Pharaoh considered the darkness around him. There was a lot he could do with it. The bond to Yugi was broken when his other self wasn’t wearing the Puzzle, but the golden trinket had been used to find his friends before. This should be no harder, especially if he was using more than just the Puzzle itself.

“Show me where Yugi is.” He demanded of the item and the darkness swirling around him.

There was a moment where nothing happened and then the Shadows formed an illusion, showing Yugi was led on a rather uncomfortable looking floor, unconscious, blindfolded and with this knees and ankles tied together. It wasn’t hard to guess, considering the angles of his arms, that his wrists had been either bound or shackled behind his back too. Yami let out a low growl when he took note of the bruise rising on Yugi’s left cheek.

The group couldn’t get any details from the room as to the location of their friend, but they could see that Yugi was alive at least and they got a brief glimpse of the ocean out of the porthole in the wall of the tiny room.

The illusion faded away, causing Yami to let out a frustrated sound but let the magic fade away and started pacing the room.

“Well,” Tristan sighed explosively “That didn’t help.”

“Yes it did.” Tea pointed out, “We don’t know where he is, but at least we know he’s okay.”

C.N. April 2014: Digital Distraction Part 8

The fallout from the mess the virus created within the system caused so much work over the next few days that when a group trip to the cinema was suggested, Kari and Ombre had to decline.

It was a shame, since it had been partly suggested to show Yami and Ombre what films could be like for themselves and so they could all enjoy some normal entertainment for a change, but the others understood. The Duel Disk system was ‘down for maintenance,’ Duellists everywhere were going mental and Kaiba Corp’s investors were bailing like mad.

Fixing what had been broken by the invaders was more important than a cinema trip and Ombre refused to leave her hikari’s side until she could be certain the men who had broken into Kaiba Corp wouldn’t be back.

The day of the cinema visit Yugi had risked trying to work the shop while Yami had a day off. When the store had seemed to be quiet all morning, Yami had been dragged off to the nearest arcade by Joey to have a bit of fun for a change.

Unfortunately with it being a Saturday the shop went mental after lunch time when the Japanese schools, who weren’t on summer break yet, let out for the day. Yami came home to pick up Yugi for the cinema trip to find his grandfather had shut down the shop a little early and left a note saying he was heading out to meet a friend, while Yugi was crashed out on the sofa, out like a light.

“Yugi?” He asked, shaking his light. Yugi started awake, blinking at him blearily.

“Hey.” Yugi yawned, already beginning to fall asleep again, “’M ready to go...”

“I don’t think we should go today.” Yami smiled at him gently. “You’re shattered. Maybe working today wasn’t such a good idea.”

“Was ‘kay.” Yugi mumbled, forcing himself to sit up and stare at his darker self, “Just busy...” He paused and thought for a moment before slipping the Puzzle off and shoving it at Yami, “You go.”

“What?” Yami half yelped in surprise, having not suspected that from Yugi.

“You go.” Yugi repeated himself, shoving the Puzzle at Yami, “Take it with you. Have fun. Shouldn’t miss out because I’m tired.”

“But...” Yami started as he took the Puzzle from Yugi and slipped the chain over his head.

“Go!” Yugi chuckled, sinking back down and pulling a cushion over his head. “I’m asleep.”

“Are you sure?” Yami asked, pulling the cushion off, causing Yugi to groan, “I don’t want...”

“They’re your friends too.” Yugi mumbled, opening one eye, which gazed at him, “I go, I’ll pay to sleep through the movie. And we’re home. Home is safe. Go. Shoo.”

“Only if you go to bed.” Yami finally gave in, helping Yugi to his feet and following him to his room, watching with concern as Yugi tripped over his own feet and stumbled into the bedroom, collapsing on the bed without getting changed. “You can’t go to sleep like that.” Yami chuckled, poking Yugi in the side.

“Watch me.” Yugi grumbled. “Go ‘way, you’ll be late.”

“Yugi, come on.” Yami grinned as he pulled Yugi sitting, “Bedclothes.” He passed Yugi a pair of shorts and a t-shirt. “Get changed before you pass out again.”

“Fine.” Yugi grouched, taking them, “Now shoo.”

“I’m going, I’m going.” Yami laughed, “Sleep well, I’ll see you in the morning.”

Yugi waited until Yami had left the room and then flopped back again, dropping the bed clothes in a pile as he did so. He was asleep again before Yami had locked the door on his way out.