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.

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.

The Shadows of Friendship: - Spirit of the Puzzle first description

Nightmare Moon couldn’t help but watch in fascination as the light from the Puzzle died down to reveal her opponent not only still standing but transformed.

The young mare, once a unicorn, now stood as a tall, proud and furious alicorn. Sharp, ruby red eyes glowered at her as she took in the change. The ex-unicorn was taller now, her mane and tail both wilder and longer. The other alicorn’s wings were battle damaged, to the point Nightmare Moon somehow doubted the other would be able to lift off of the ground. Despite their ragged appearance however, they still looked regal, sweeping back over the other alicorn’s back and hanging down. The feathered wings somehow reminded Nightmare Moon of the capes that some of the nobles had worn before her imprisonment.

“So,” Nightmare Moon started, with an amused and slightly vindictive smile, “My sister had another alicorn hiding in the wings? How long did she make you wear that disguise? Weeks? Years? Centuries?”

“She didn’t.” Shadows swirled around Twilight as she replied, eyes narrowing slightly. Nightmare Moon’s own Shadow magic flared up in response, the two powers clashing in a blaze of dark purple light that lit up the entire room, casting their shadows in about six different directions. “Now return the sun, Nightmare Moon, before I have to make you.”

Shadow Game - Ryou, Dragon and Dratini 'vs' Bakura

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!”