Mystery Dungeon Novel - unfinished

“Where am I?

Am I dreaming this?

I feel a pleasant breeze.

…I hear a voice from somewhere…

I wonder who it is?”

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

Poke.

Poke. Poke.

Poke. Poke. Poke.

“E…Excuse me. Please, wake up.”

She rolled over.

“Come on, wake up!”

Shizuka opened her eyes, stood up and stretched, the forest surrounding her a welcome sight.

Until she realised she wasn’t supposed to be here…

“You’re finally awake! Great!” The Mudkip in front of her was grinning.

“Wh…where is this?” She looked around trying to see if she recognised the area.

“You were passed out here. I’m glad to see you’re awake!” The Mudkip said, watching her and wondering what she was doing. “I’m Jet. Glad to meet you. And you are? I’ve never seen you around before.”

“How am I even understanding you?” Shizuka asked, “I’m human.”

“Huh?” Jet looked incredibly confused, “You’re a human? But you look like a normal Charmander in every way.”

“What?” Shizuka held up her paws… paws? She turned around, trying to get a good look at herself. Catching a glimpse of something behind her she tried to see what it was by turning around, but the thing followed her… she stopped and looked over her shoulder. It was an orange tail with a flame at the end… her tail…

“It…It’s true! I’ve turned into a Charmander!”Shizuka yelped in her mind, completely confused, “But why? I don’t remember anything… I have to be dreaming…”

“Um…” The Mudkip, Jet, was talking again, “You’re kind of weird. Your name? What’s your name?”

“My name?” Shizuka thought, “I remember that at least. My name is…” “Shizuka, my name’s Shizuka.”

“Oh…” The Mudkip pondered this, “Shizuka huh? Well… It’s a funny name.” Jet giggled, causing Shizuka to wonder if there was someone else who could help her.

Before she could ask, however, a scared lady’s voice called, “Somebody! Please! Help me!”

“Huh? I hear shouts from over there!” Jet stated.

“I’ve befriended Mr State-the-obvious then.” Shizuka thought with a small smile as a Butterfree flew over.

“What’s wrong?” Jet asked the Butterfree.

“It’s horrible!” Butterfree replied, panicking, “My Caterpie fell into a cavern! My poor baby!”

“What?” Jet yelped as Shizuka frowned.

“A huge fissure opened in the ground, and my Caterpie fell in!” The mother continued, “He’s too young to crawl out by himself! When I went to get my baby, Pokemon suddenly attacked me!”

“Huh, you were attacked?” Jet asked, confused, “By other Pokemon?”

“Is it that strange around here?” The Charmander wondered as Butterfree continued.

“They must be enraged by the fissure and out of control… at least… that’s what I think.” Butterfree gazed at the ground, “I’m not strong enough to fend off those wild Pokemon. What will become of my baby?” It sounded like Butterfree was going to start crying… if Butterfrees could, “Oh! What am I to do?! Oh dear, oh dear!”

Jet turned to Shizuka, who already had an idea what he was going to ask, “This sounds bad, we have to go help!”

Shizuka nodded and they raced to the fissure, climbing down safely and reaching the bottom.

“What do we do?” Shizuka asked Jet as they looked around, “Caterpie isn’t here any more.”

“We’ll have to go deeper into the caves and try to find him,” Jet said, giving her an appraising glance, “What level are you?”

“Uhhh. I don’t know.”

“Well you’re quite small, so maybe you’re a low level like me.” Jet said, looking her over again, “What do you know?”

“Uhhhh.” Shizuka yelped and lashed out at a Wurmple that tried to attack her, her claws racking it, causing it to faint.

“Scratch, obviously.” Jet grinned, “So you must know Growl too.”

“Can we just go?” The Charmander asked irritably, “The sooner we find Caterpie, the sooner I can wake up from this dream.”

“Dream?” Jet asked, but Shizuka was already racing down a corridor, “Shizuka! Wait up!”

She kept on running, following the passageway around until she found a cross road, “Hey Jet, left or right?”

“Uh, right?” Jet hazarded, not knowing what the strange Charmander girl was up to. She dove down the right passage way, keeping an eye out for Caterpie, only to find herself in the first room they’d come to.

“Jet?” She asked as she noticed something gold and shiney, picking it up awkwardly with her paws, “What’s this?”

“Cool, you found some Poke!” Jet grinned, “It’s money, you can use it in the shops in town!”

Shizuka grinned and passed it to the Mudkip who had a bag of some kind, before passing Jet and heading back towards the passageway.

From no where, a Sunkern burst out of hiding and attempted to attack.

This time Shizuka was ready, using Scratch and knocking out the rampaging Pokemon. “I feel kind of guilty, knocking them out like this.” She said, looking over her shoulder before continuing, narrowly avoiding an attacking Pidgey, who Jet used Growl on before Shizuka used Scratch to defeat, “Why would they suddenly attack other Pokemon?”

“I think it might be…” Jet paused to Growl at another Pidgey, “The Earthquakes and things recently that’s disturbing the Pokemon and causing trouble.”

“What Earthquakes?” Shizuka asked as she took the other path.

“How could you have missed them?” Jet looked outraged as Shizuka took point and led them down the stairs, which, considering they were natural, were remarkably well made, “They’ve been shaking the island for days.”

“I’m not a Pokemon, remember?” Shizuka asked as she emerged from the stairs only to be assaulted by another Sunkern, which she Scratched and grinned, this felt natural, like she’d always known how to do this. Most of the rooms on this floor were empty, with no sign of Caterpie, other then some Poke and some Pidgeys that attacked without warning.

Finding the stairs to the next floor in the last place they looked, Jet took point this time, only to be assaulted by a Pidgey and a Wurmple, who the duo knocked out easily.

“What’s this?” Shizuka asked as she nearly stepped on a berry of some kind.

“It’s an Oran Berry.” Jet answered, still wondering how she couldn’t know about the Natural Disasters, “It heals you.”

“Cool.” Shizuka held onto it, “So what about these Natural Disasters? What’s causing them?”

“No one knows. The island was pretty quiet until about a week ago and then…” Jet shrugged, “Shizuka watch…”

A Pidgey used Tackle on her from behind, knocking her over. She Growled as she got up and counter attacked with Scratch, that had hurt… dreams didn’t hurt… “I’m not dreaming, am I?” She asked herself as she headed downstairs again.

“Where is this?” She asked Jet.

“You really don’t remember anything do you?” Jet laughed, “This is Tiny Woods, where a lot of low level Pokemon hang out.”

Shizuka let the words sink in as she heard someone crying, “Come on Jet, I think I hear someone.”

Jet’s fins were shaking. “I think it’s Caterpie.” He laughed, racing a head of her as they reached the bottom of the stairs.

She didn’t understand why it was so light when they kept going downwards until they reached the lowest floor, the trees that made up the walls of ‘Tiny Woods’ were too densely packed to let Pokemon in or out, but their leaves let light in.

They followed the sound of the crying to a Caterpie who was crying, looking for his Mother.

“We came to rescue you.” Jet said, not even waiting for Caterpie to turn around.

“Huh?” It asked, turning around. The Caterpie was tiny, it couldn’t be long out of the egg.

“Your Mum’s waiting,” Jet continued, “Let’s get you out.”

“O…ok.” Caterpie followed them, avoiding Shizuka nervously, avoiding the flame on the end of her tail.

Safely getting back up the floors and carrying Caterpie up the climb they got back to Butterfree without many words shared, even though Shizuka had millions of questions.

“My baby’s safe,” Butterfree smiled at them, “I’m sorry, I don’t know how I could ever thank you properly.”

“Oh, that’s OK!” Jet grinned at her, “It’s been dangerous lately with sudden quakes and fissures like that one. It was great to find your little boy unharmed.”

“Please, may I have your names at least?” She asked.

“I’m Jet.” The Mudkip nodded, “And this is Shizuka.” The Charmander nodded also.

“Cool.” Caterpie looked starry eyed.

“He’s, uh… staring at me adoringly…those sparkly eyes…It’s a little embarrassing… but this doesn’t feel bad either, it’s like I’m a hero. Helping Pokemon in trouble might be a good experience.” Shizuka thought, “Or at least until I find a way to turn myself human again.” She amended hastily.

“Thank you! Jet and Shizuka!” Caterpie said, loudly enough for the whole of Tiny Woods to hear.

“I know it isn’t really enough,” Butterfree said, giving her son a look to quiet him down, “But this is a token of our thanks. Please, accept it.” Butterfree gave Jet an Oran Berry, another blue one that wasn’t quite the same as an Oran berry and a pink berry Shizuka hadn’t seen before. “Thank you so much. Good-bye.” Butterfree and Caterpie left, leaving Shizuka feeling confused.

“Thanks for helping.” Jet said, turning to the Charmander once again, “You’re very tough, I was sure impressed.” Then he looked quizzical, “So, what are you going to do? Do you have any plans?”

“I suppose I should find out why I’ve been turned into a Pokemon, but I don’t know where to start or have anywhere to stay while I’m finding that out…”

“Listen Shizuka,” Jet continued as if she hadn’t paused, “If you don’t have a place to stay, you should come stay with me.” Shizuka thought for a moment, then nodded and followed Jet back to town, where he stopped outside a large house with flames in torches surrounding it. “Well,” Jet turned to her, smiling, “This is the place.”

Shizuka looked at it properly, it was orange and beige brick and kind of reminded her of a furnace. “Wow.” She grinned, “I can’t explain, but I’m happy! I’m a human being, but I like this place. I’m weirdly happy… perhaps it’s an instinct thing for a Pokemon… maybe this is what it feels like to want to wag your tail… It doesn’t matter! I’m happy!” She grinned, “maybe I feel that way because I’m a Charmander.”

“You’re impressed, aren’t you Shizuka?” Jet asked with a hopeful look on his face. She nodded in reply, “I thought so. I thought this would be a good place for you to live, Shizuka. I was sure you’d like it.”

“I have my own mailbox and everything?” Shizuka asked.

“Yeap, they deliver mail from Pokemon straight to your mailbox.” Jet’s face turned serious, “You know, like the fissure Caterpie fell into, there have been many natural disasters recently, because of those disasters, many Pokemon are suffering. I want to help Pokemon in these tough times. I want to help change things so Pokemon can live in peace.” He got all nervous and kicked his back feet, “So, uh… Well… I liked how you handled yourself when we rescued Caterpie. Would you like to join me on a Rescue Team?”

“What’s a Rescue Team?”

“You don’t… Sorry, I forgot, not a Pokemon from this island. A Rescue Team does the sort of thing we did today day in and day out, saves Pokemon who are trapped in Caves or places like Tiny Woods, escorts weaker Pokemon to their friends in dangerous places and generally are charged with helping maintain the peace.”

“So they’re kind of like the Police?”

“The who?”

Shizuka frowned, the memory there but just beyond reach, “I’m not sure.”

Jet laughed, grinning at his new friend and shaking his head, “You are defiantly weird, but I like you.” Then his eyes widened, “Our Team name! We don’t have one yet!”

“Isn’t it your team?”

“We’re the first two members…” Jet sounded embarrassed, “So Shizuka, what do you think would be a good name for us?”

“Uhhh.” “What do you call a Rescue Team?” “Tasukete?”

“What does that mean?” Jet asked, looking at her askance.

Shizuka thought for a moment and then grinned, “It’s a call for help.” She said proudly, having remembered.

Jet thought hard, “A Rescue Team who’s name is a call for help…”

“Nevermind, I can think of something else…”

“No, I like it.” Jet said hastily, “It’s a good name! In fact it’s perfect.” Jet took on a stance that Shizuka could only assume was a proud one, “Rescue Team Tasukete!” Jet grinned, “Let’s do good, starting tomorrow.” He headed off somewhere.

“Wait, Jet!” Shizuka called, “Where’re you going?”

“Home, to sleep.” The Mudkip yawned at her.

“But I thought you lived here?”

Jet laughed, “Sometimes, but since you’ll be living here now, I thought I’d go visit my old home.”

“I don’t want to kick you out of your house…”

“It’s fine, honest, I have plenty of places to go. Besides that house is very much for Fire Types like yourself, it’s too warm for me.”

“Then why did you buy it?” Shizuka asked, head tilted as she pondered.

“It’s big enough for a Rescue Team base and…” He stopped at Shizuka’s grin, she understood. “Anyway, I’m tired and I bet you are too…”

“Can you tell me more about what’s going on tomorrow?” She paused, “Please?”

“Sure.” Jet nodded, “Night Shizuka.”

“G’night Jet.” “Hopefully in the morning I’ll wake up from this crazy dream.”

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.”

KHS - When the Heart of Fire decides to act in self defence at the wrong time...

“Now die!” Eggman roared slamming his hand down on the button.

Sam cringed, screwing her eyes up tightly as the energy wave attacked.

Terror surged through her now the choice was taken out of her hands…

She was going to die…

Flames surged before she could stop them and Sam realised the choice to prevent a fire breaking out in Oil Ocean was no longer hers. The heart of fire wasn’t going to let her die, even at the cost of an entire zone… Sam blanked out.

Ignite narrowly avoided the attack and blasted the Egg Tyrant with flames.

And the zone burst into flames.

Eggman roared with laughter and Ignite glared at him as the flames grew beyond her attempts to control them and spread out to the rest of the zone.

Eggman knocked her into the oily ocean below, spreading the flames further and faster.

“You’ve given me the planet, Heart.” He laughed at the golden flaming kitsune who was trying not to sink and to control the flames at the same time. “Not even Sonic will stop me now…”

Eggman and his contraption flew off.

Ignite got herself onto a platform, but the flames were so hot, if she wasn’t the ruler of the flames her paws would have been burnt.

A trail of air moved at a pace unseen to the naked eye and caused the flames to rage higher as a blue hedgehog arrived on the scene. “Ignite!” Sonic demanded, angrier then she’d ever seen him, “Control the flames!” He demanded.

Ignite tried, she really did but nothing happened.

Sonic looked furious as Ignite retreated into her chosen.

“Sonic, I couldn’t control her and…” Sam looked around with fear, trying to work out the best route out.

Sonic coughed from the smoke. “Never mind that, we’ve got to get as many people out as we can.” He said, anger still smouldering underneath the surface. Sonic went one way, using his speed, while Sam worked the other way, using her Aero spell to create pockets of non smoke filled air.

Sam coughed as the first group reached the zone’s edge and raced back in without waiting, she’d caused this and she was going to get everyone out or die trying.

Sonic passed her with another lot, refusing to look at her.

Sam was too numb to realise just how angry Sonic was with her as she got another group out, then another, then another…

“Please, my baby is in there…”

“FREEZE!” Sam’s magic froze part of the building but the ice just melted. She made up her mind, entering the building and retrieving the child, though she could tell it would be too late if she didn’t go now… but she couldn’t stop coughing…

Sonic swept past and grabbed up mother and child and Sam went further in to see if there was anyone else.

The zone was burning, anyone past the point where she was stood was already dead and that was about forty to fifty percent of the zone.

Sam’s lungs were smoke filled, and while fire was her element, she wasn’t immune to it and it’s side effects…

She sank to her knees in the most flame free part she could find and tried to cough out the cough and get some fresh air in… she’d used the last of her magic using Aero to get back out of the house…

“Sam, come on.” Someone had a hold of her.

“No, I have to…”

“You can’t do anymore… come on.” Someone picked her up and carried her to the zone edge where the medics gave her an oxygen mask.

“K…knux?” She asked weakly as she watched people desperately trying to put out the fires that were beginning to spread to the not so oil encrusted houses at the end of the zone.

She tried to remove the mask and stagger to her feet to help, but the medics weren’t having any of it, all she could do was watching horror as one house, then another, then another was caught up in the blaze.

Sonic brought a group back, turned to go and collapsed on the ground. The medics swarmed over him.

Dry, racking sobs shook Sam as the buildings collapsed, sometimes screams could be heard from inside.

Sam got to her feet, took two steps and passed out as the Tornado flew overhead.

Clanverse: unused part

“Harry.”

Harry frowned and leant over the sofa, where he was watching an old fantasy movie, to look at his link partners as they entered the room, concerned by the Pharaoh’s tone of voice. “What’s wrong Atem?”

“We need to talk.” Yugi sat down next to him with a sigh, “And you’re probably not going to like what we have to say.”

“What’s happened?” Harry got to his feet quickly, “Who’s hurt?”

“No one.” Yugi reassured him quickly. “Harry, no one’s hurt... not yet.”

“What’s going on?” Harry sat down, looking from Yugi to Atem, who was settling into one of the chairs.

“Harry, we can’t go back to Hogwarts.” Yugi dove right in. “Atem and I that is.”

“What? Why?” Harry asked, confused, as he’d assumed that they’d be returning to the school after the Summer break was over.

“We spoke with Seto today.” Atem answered, “And it turns out that you and Mai weren’t the only ones who gained the ability to summon Duel Monsters.”

“Oh.” Harry kind of worked out where the conversation was heading, “And you and Yugi need to be around to help new summoners or stop anyone using their powers for the wrong reasons.”

“Stop anyone else using their powers for the wrong reasons.” Atem corrected.

“Damn.” Harry growled. “How did they stop them?”

“Seto dealt with the first one, but we were the ones who got the Shadows released, so it’s our responsibility to deal with these kind of issues.” Yugi sighed. “We can’t do that in Hogwarts.”

“Then we’re not going back?” Harry asked.

“We didn’t say you had to give it up.” Yugi protested.

“I’m not living in England if you guys are going to be in Japan.” Harry scowled at him, having been through being in different countries thing before and having hated every minute of it.

“Sirius won’t want you to pull out of Hogwarts, just because we left.”

“Seto’s still offering tutors, isn’t he?”

“He did mention that he’d provide tutors for us and anyone else who chose to stay behind and help us.” Yugi nodded.

“I should stay. I can help out with any problems, or keep on top of the paperwork. We were having enough trouble with Industrial Illusions, even without this, you need me!”

“Sirius has the final say. It’s not our decision to make.” Atem replied.

“What about Hermione and the others?”

“Joey’s coming over, we’re going to explain the situation, but he’ll probably want to be here, helping us and close to his sister, rather than in England.” Yugi replied, “I don’t know what Hermione, Ron and the others will want to do. We were going to phone around, let everyone know what’s happening. Seto did mention something about dentists, but I don’t know what he’s up to.” Yugi answered; more uncertain then Harry had seen him since first year.

The doorbell went.

“That can’t be Joey already.” Harry frowned.

“Atem said it was important.” Yugi disagreed with him, “Joey would have assumed there was trouble and come back as quickly as possible.”

“It is important.” The Pharaoh didn’t look abashed when Yugi half glowered at him as he darted downstairs.

“Harry.” Joey nodded as he entered the room. “Atem.”

“Joey.” Atem nodded back.

“So, what’s the big problem?” Joey asked, settling into the chair as Yugi slumped back onto the sofa, “Who do we have to beat this time?”

“Yugi and I are dropping out of Hogwarts.” Atem said, with a shrug.

“You’re what?” Joey demanded.

“Dropping out. We’re taking Seto up on his offer of private tutors.”

“Why?”

“There’s more Shadow Duellists around then just us.” Atem indicated himself, Yugi, Harry and finally Joey. “And we need to be around to stop trouble.”

“That’s it? No death threats? No Shadow Games?” Joey demanded.

“No, nothing like that?”

“You pulled me away from my shopping trip with Serenity to tell me you two were dropping out of Hogwarts?”

“Uhhh, yes...”

Missing Clanbrats - Post Cannon by about eighteen years

The children were missing.

It wasn’t just that one or two had wandered off, or that Harry had borrowed whoever he was taking out on a trip today, all the locators were off and not answering to the general reset command, the Basilisk in the basement had no idea as it hadn’t seen the children all day, which was highly unusual, and most of the adults had been accounted for so it wasn’t because of a surprise day trip.

At the same time there was no sign of a struggle, and these were Clan Brats, there was no way that they would go anywhere without a lot of mess and a lot of noise, yet alone the unlikelihood of anyone being able to take on ALL of the brats at once and win.

So while Seto and Mokuba accessed the security cameras and Hermione checked the wards, Yugi was talking with his Duel Monsters, sending them out to find the partner monsters of the children with Shadow Magic.

It didn’t take them long.

Soraya, his Dark Magician Girl, the one in red that looked so much like Kari, had found them playing with the younger and smaller Duel Monsters who had taken up residence in one of the Secret Village of Spellcasters.

This would have been fine, except that then Yugi was left with questions like, ‘are they safe?’ and ‘how did they get to the duel monster world?’ and ‘will they be able to get back?’

Soraya had giggled, she had always been more informal with Yugi then some of his other monsters, monsters who had joined his deck after his rise to the throne, and informed him that she could, in fact, take him to see what they were up to for himself if he wanted.

At which point Yugi had stared for a moment, unsure if she was serious, and when she’d repeated herself, he’d nodded and she’d taken his hand and vanished with him without a second thought. 

When it was discovered that Yugi was gone now as well, Joey called up his monsters to help look.

He would have called in Tenshi and her Knights, except Lily and Hugo were already looking, Dawn had told them that she was going on vacation and she didn’t care if the world was ending, they weren’t to disturb her on pain of being Shadow Gamed as they were more then capable of handling it, and only Tenshi and Dr Jenifer Evans, an old student of Tenshi’s who now taught alongside her, had the phone numbers of everyone else.

The last one wouldn’t have mattered if Tenshi hadn’t been babysitting the brats when they’d vanished and Jenny’s phone had been switched on.

Ten minutes later, Joey’s locator signal dropped off the face of the Earth too, causing Harry to curse creatively and Seto to summon Kisara, demanding that she locate Yugi and Joey immediately.

Clanverse: Shadow Treaty: Chapter 14 Preview

“Potter-san?” Harry jumped at the sound of someone calling his name. He wheeled around to find the Speaker for Magical Japan had returned from his tour of the castle and was stood in the doorway, “Are you ready?”

“As I’ll ever be.” Harry nodded, wondering how Mai had successfully managed to get Saitou lost just long enough for them to settle the refugees but reminding himself to thank her for it. “If I might ask a question?”

“Go ahead.” Saitou nodded.

“Wasn’t the Minister of Magic supposed to be meeting us?” Harry asked, “Is he waiting for us at the Japanese Ministry?”

“No, there’s been a change of plans.” Saitou looked ill amused by that, “He’ll meet you when you get to the English Ministry.”

Both looked towards the door as they heard voices approaching. Hermione and her cousin walked through the door, Dani lugging one of Hermione’s bags.

“How long are we going for?” Harry couldn’t help the amused chuckle that came with the question.

“I have to return some books.” Hermione replied with an arched look, “And,” She slid a satchel off of her shoulder, which dropped to the floor with a heavy thump, “I have our travel documents.”

For a moment Harry wondered about the possibility of using her bag as a bludgeoning weapon if they got into trouble. It certainly sounded heavy enough. He dismissed the idea swiftly. If the books inside got damaged, Hermione would murder the culprit.

“Well I’m ready.” Hermione continued, moving to perch on the empty dining table, still wearing a shoulder bag. Her hand patted the bag she hadn’t dropped, “Everything I need is in here.”

Harry glanced at the other bags in confusion.

“Decoys.” Hermione explained.

“Are you both coming?” Saitou wondered at the two girls, looking the pair over and wondering if there was a single Court member over the age of thirty.

The girls shared a meaningful look, then Dani looked away, pouting. “No.” The reporter answered, “But if anything goes wrong…!”

Suddenly the door slammed against the wall, an impressive feat considering it had already beenopen and Joey rushed in, looking flustered, “I’m here! I’m not late! Don’t go without me!”

Hermione looked to the ceiling, rolling her eyes, “Joey, please, take a head count.”

Joey paused, looking up and around before frowning in confusion, “Hey, where’s Yuge? Weren’t we meant to be leaving like, ten minutes ago.”

At this Harry glanced at his watch, then gave a confused look at Hermione. “I thought you said…”

Hermione blushed, “I’m sure Yugi just got held up with some last minute stuff,” She interrupted him, “This is his island after all. Dani, will you go and look for him?”

The Shadows of Friendship

“Long ago, before Equestria was founded, Equigyptian Kings played a game of great and terrible power. These ‘Shadow Games’ erupted into a war that threatened to destroy the world, until a brave and powerful Princess locked the dark magic away, imprisoning it for all eternity in the mystical Millennium Items... should you be playing with that Twilight?” A small, bipedal purple dragon with green spines asked the purple unicorn, whose mane and tail had three different shades of purple in and who was attempting to assemble one of the items in question.

“Princess Celestia knows I have it, Spike,” The unicorn replied, carefully and slowly putting another piece in using her magic, “She wouldn’t let me keep it if she thought it was dangerous.”

“But what about the dark magic?” Spike wondered, edging over to the table carefully, watching his friend and kind of mother working on a puzzle she had owned since long before he had been born and still hadn’t managed to complete.

“There’s no such thing as evil magic,” Twilight replied, focused on the next piece, “It’s all to do with intent, remember? I taught you that years ago.” She nudged the piece she was putting in a little too far and the whole thing fell apart, causing her to let out a frustrated snort and stamp her back feet, “Not again!”

“I found that book you wanted.” Spike offered in compensation as Twilight collected up the golden pieces and put them back in the box they had come in. He passed her the book he had been reading from and she skipped far past the part about the Equigyptian treasures and onto more recent history. “Why are you looking up the Mare in the Moon anyway? It’s just an old mare’s tale.”

Twilight carefully put her Damsire’s gift back on the shelf before taking the book from her assistant, “Because the Summer Sun celebration is the day after tomorrow and I’m sure it’s important.”

“But school’s closed for the holiday.” Spike complained, “We’re supposed to be on break. And,” He added, glancing at the carefully wrapped present on the table nearest the door, “We’re missing Moondancer’s party.”

“I know, I know.” Twilight apologised, glancing at him sheepishly before scanning the page quickly with her eyes, “I just want to... aha!” The book floated in front of her as she paced the room. “Here it is, Mare in the Moon, see ‘Nightmare Moon.’”

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!”

Subspace Battle - Part 2

Pit, who was still watching from above, watched events unfold with horror. Pokemon Stadium was engulfed in a black orb, which didn’t vanish, hovering there where Pokemon Stadium had once floated.

A light behind him made him wheel around startled, his wings flapping.

It was the Goddess Palutina. Long golden hair flowing, her gold and white dress shimmering. Pit knew she already knew what had happened.

Pit instantly rushed forward and bowed on one knee. “My Goddess, I…”

“I already know Pit. I know you are concerned for your friends.” She smiled gently at him, “You may go, but take this with you, it will help.”

Pit looked up to see a glowing orb above the Goddess’s hand, taking the shape of a great golden bow with sapphire markings. As he grabbed it two golden, glowing rings surrounded his left wrist. “Thank you.”

“Go and protect your friends. They will need your help before the end.”

Pit nodded, hastily bowing and racing for the double doors that were slowly opening. Spreading his arms and his wings he smiled slightly. He loved this part.

Falling backwards, Pit waited till he had passed through the first layer of clouds, into Smash Planet’s sky, before wheeling around and gliding on the air currents.

He loved to fly.

Using the fast moving air currents above Smash Planet’s own clouds, he flew towards where the Stadium had once stood, landing on top of a floating platform to try to get his bearings.

A loud roaring and rumbling made him look to his side, where Metaknight’s ship was rising out of the clouds. Pit was tempted to fly towards it and see if the Masked Swordsman knew what was going on, but froze as it released the same purple spheres that Pit had seen in the Scrying Mirror.

It shouldn’t have been possible, but the creatures forming were actually walking on the clouds.

Pit found himself surrounded and examined his bow. There was a split down the middle and as he twisted it split into two. Two sharp edged gold and sapphire daggers. He wished he’d had something like them when he’d fought against Link during his last match, where the Hyrulian had knocked him out in under two minutes.

(insert fight here)

Taking out as many as he could, Pit spotted something glinting in the clouds.

It was Mario’s Trophy.

Pit flew over, grabbed the statue, brought it back over to his platform and tapped the statue on the head, activating it and revealing a very confused Plumber, who took a moment to remember what had happened then turned to Pit.

“Thanksa Pit.” Mario nodded, “What’sa happened?”

Pit explained as quickly as he could, causing Mario’s confused look to turn into an outraged one and then a rather angry one. Pit, who’d seen Mario angry only once before, waited for the Plumber to decide what he was going to do.

“Wea have to stop them then.” Mario said, a slight growl in his Italian accent.

“I know.” Pit agreed, turning his daggers back into a bow.

The two of them leapt off the mountain top. Pit gliding and Mario using the strange floating platforms that seemed to be scattered around the area as they went after Metaknight’s ship. (insert level here)

It got away from them and Mario kicked at the ground, frustrated, until Pit held up a hand. “Mario, something’s…”

Mario had heard it too and wheeled around in time to see an Arwing fly overheard at a ridiculous velocity, the slip stream knocking them over.

“Wasa that Fox? Or Falco?” Mario asked.

Pit didn’t know. 

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

In the Jungle hundreds of miles below them, a skimmer loaded with bananas and driven by a Koopa, was making a hasty escape from two rather enraged gorrilas in clome pursuit, knocking out any Goomba and Koopa that got in their way.

Reaching the cliff edge that the skimmer had narrowly avoided just a couple of seconds ago, Donkey Kong, number seven in Brawl and his monkey sidekick, newcomer to Smash Bros and eighteenth overall, Diddy Kong, arrived in time to see the skimmer escaping down the road at high speed. Dropping bananas everywhere.

Donkey Kong roared at the operators of the vehicle causing the Goomba on top to look back and jump down onto the back, flipping the cannons over and shooting Bullet Bills at the huge ape.

Diddy Kong leapt into the air, using DK as a spring board and drew his peanut guns in midair, shooting two of the Bullet Bills down before they could get close and knocking the other one out of the sky, landing at DK’s side as the last one exploded safely behind them.

The skimmer was still escaping and, copying his hero, Diddy Kong pointed at it and leapt from the cliff into the forest below. (Insert level here)

The skimmer overturned, the bananas safe again and the thieves defeated, Donkey and Diddy Kong were celebrating as Bowser came up behind them, his huge pounding feet giving him away instantly.

The ape and the monkey wheeled around to face the King of the Goombas, who roared at them.

Thinking he was being brave Diddy Kong jumped in front of DK, wanting to impress the big ape.

Bowser had just pulled out a dragonic looking gun, which he pointed at Diddy, charging the shot up.

Realising how much of a bad idea getting hit by it’s firepower was, DK charged up his Giant Punch and lashed out at Diddy, wincing as it impacted and Diddy was sent flying.

Just a millisecond later DK was hit by the black energy arrow, turned into a Trophy and picked up by Bowser.

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

Subspace Battle - Part 1

Smash Bros Brawl was in full swing as Princess Peach and Princess Zelda waited the two combatants eagerly.

The match today was Mario against Kirby, both highly ranked in the league table so far, second and fourth, the match was being held at Pokemon Stadium, Red, Pikachu, Jigglypuff and Lucario’s home turf as it were.

The first to arrive in Trophy form was Mario, self activating to reveal the Hero of Mushroom Kingdom, ready and raring to go.

All three Smashers looked skyward as Kirby’s Trophy activated in mid air and the pink puffball of Dream Land flipped in mid air and landed with a wave for the crowd.

Turning serious, Kirby turned to Mario, just waiting for the call to start the battle.

“Ready! Go!”

The two launched at each other, in a mess of fireballs, inhaling, punches, kicks and a variety of other attacks. Mario needed to win this one to stay second, Kirby needed this one to advance and neither were backing down.

Kirby pressed on, pushing Mario towards the edge of the arena, hoping to push him off.

Mario grinned however and leapt up, breaking a Smash Ball.

Kirby knew what was coming and attempted to get away, was unable to in time and was hit by Mario’s Final Smash, the Mario Finale, a concentrated blast of flames that practically took over the entire stadium and which Kirby barely recovered in time from.

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

Way up in the Heavens, Pit was watching the match in the scrying mirror.

Called back to Heaven by his Goddess for a short time, she had been gracious enough to provide this mirror so her General could see how his friends were doing in the Tournament.

Pit himself was around fifteenth, but that wasn’t a bad place to be so early in the Tournament, when there were thirty five fighters competing for this year’s title.

Once again Pit was quite glad no one was around as he cheered on his friends enthusiastically.

Pit leant forward as Kirby dealt the final blow, knocking Mario out and returning him to Trophy form.

“Kirby goes up, Mario goes down.” Pit murmured, now unable to wait patiently for his next match.

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

“GAME!”

Mario’s trophy hit the ground and Kirby hit it, activating it and startling Mario, who hadn’t expected to be reactivated outside of Smash Mansion. The plumber leapt back into a defensive stance, before realising where he was and what had happened and grinned, shaking hands with the puffball.

“Wella done.” Mario nodded to Kirby before they turned and waved to the crowd who went wild, screaming and whistling and cheering.

The screaming took on another tone as the Stadium shook. It wasn’t possible for it to be an Earthquake, there were no Pokemon around and the stadium floated off of the ground.

Mario, Kirby, Zelda and Peach all wheeled around to the south, where threatening red clouds were gathering. The only thing they could think of was ‘Challenger Approaching’ but no one had ever arrived in a cloud like that before and there had been nothing said before they’d left the Mansion…

Kirby looked startled as Metaknight’s ship came out of the rolling red clouds, opening it’s hatches and releasing strange purple glows onto the battle field, which turned into strange green and purple monsters. Lots of them.

Zelda and Peach ran to help their friends, Zelda teleporting onto the field and Peach floating in gracefully on her parasol.

The crowd, of course, thought this was either ‘Challenger Approaching’ or some sort of show and were going wild again.

“Thanksa guys.” Mario murmured as they wondered how best to come at the creatures.

“You think we’d let you have all the fun?” Zelda asked with a laugh, then leapt back as the first of the creatures attacked and was dispatched by a vegetable to the face.

Mario gave his Princess an appraising look and then leapt into action himself, helping his friends destroy the last of the things, which didn’t respawn after you knocked them off the edge and seemed to have no trophy.

What were they?

Mario was the first to look skyward and as such was the first to spot the strange green creature floating in the sky with the huge ball with the red x on. Mario and Zelda shifted back into offensive mode, while Peach looked started and Kirby looked confused.

Mario got it easily. They were under attack.

Two robots came around the side of the ball, confusing the Plumber, as they hadn’t been there seconds before, and jacked into the ball, opening it to reveal.

“It’s a bomb!” Peach yelped as everyone froze with a startled gasp.

That much was obvious from the bleeping and the countdown, but, as the green floating creature got away, no one called her on it as Mario rushed forward. If it had been activated, then surely it could be deactivated again.

The Brawl Trophy System sorted most injuries, but wouldn’t help them if this place was disintegrated and none of the crowd were under its protection, only the Smashers themselves were.

Something hit the battle field, causing Mario to pause and turn around just in time to see the huge black ball that knocked him flying for a Star KO.

Kirby watched Mario go with a worried look, then wheeled around as footsteps were heard and Peach screamed.

It was huge, a plant like thing with the two Princesses in cages. Petey Pirana… jumbo sized.

And Kirby had to fight it alone.

The puffball stood a step back as it slammed the two cages together, knocking both Princesses of their feet and roared at him.

(insert fight here)

The Pirana Plant blew up, knocking Kirby and Zelda clear of the explosion. The two wheeled around, both concerned for Peach and wondering  how a plant could explode, forgetting an important rule of Brawl, everything explodes.

Wario, an enemy of Mario’s, sporting a huge dragonesque gun, causing the two to shift into defensive stances. Zelda’s eyes shifted to Peach who was just picking herself out of the dirt.

“Peach!” Zelda yelled, trying to warn her friend, as Wario wheeled around, laughing like a loonatic. The arrow like energy blast that shot from the gun passed straight through Peach, a one hit KO move that resulted in her reverting to the Trophylike state that had become the salvation of a dying Smasher and introduced just two weeks ago, but left them completely helpless until they were reactivated.

Wario leapt over, grabbed the Princess’s Trophy and leapt away, leaving Zelda and Kirby to try to follow him. As Kirby passed the bomb he noticed just how low the timer was getting and used the Warp Star he’d stashed away. Unable to save anyone else, Kirby grabbed Zelda and the two rode the Warp Star out of the explosion.

When I thought rewriting Reshef of Destruction so it makes more sense was a good idea...

They had agreed to meet at Clock Tower Fountain an hour before they had to be at the train station to be on the Kaiba Corp sponsored train that was picking up Duellists for his Tournament at Kaiba Corp Japan, three hours from here, the Duel Express, since Domino was the last stop it was going to make before it reached the theme park and they didn’t want to miss it, but no one was surprised when Yugi was running a little late.

They didn’t start worrying until the clock ticked on past the quarter of an hour mark and still there was no sign of the King of Games.

“Where is he?” Joey growled, concerned and irritated at the same time, as he glowered in the direction Yugi would have to come from the shop, “I know he had to open up the shop but…”

Tea flipped open her mobile phone. She’d already tried the shop twice, and no one had answered, but she rang again, hoping that either Mr Muto would have a lull in the customers long enough to answer, or Yugi would grab it on his way out of the door.

Tristan, who was sat at the edge of the fountain, watched as Tea paced up and down, listing to the phone ring continuously. She glowered at it as the mobile cut off again, with a ‘no reply’ message, shrugging at the two teenage boys who were watching her intently.

“That’s it.” Joey growled, heading for the side road that led to the shop, “I’m gunna  go get him.”

“He might already be on his way.” Tea offered hopefully, following quickly, wishing she’d put saner shoes on. The heels she was wearing weren’t suitable for running in. She’d kind of hoped she wouldn’t need to.

“Maybe.” Tristan caught up with them easily, “But it’s better to be safe then sorry.” They turned the corner that led to the alley behind the shop, only for Joey to swear, start sprinting down the alley and dart in the back entrance to the flat above the shop. “Damn…” Tristan growled, noting the broken window. “There must have been a break in.”

Tea dashed in, running up the stairs, heading straight for Yugi’s room, which looked like it had been ripped apart, where Joey was reassuring a rather distressed looking King of Games.

“Yugi?” Tea asked, stepping over the wreaked Duel Disk and around the school books that had been knocked off the desk. “What happened?”

“Someone broke in last night, took the Puzzle.” Yugi whispered, rubbing his neck and wincing. When Yugi moved his hand, they could see the bruising where the robber had tried to choke him. “Couldn’t stop them.”

“Shit…” Tristan swore, having reached the room as Tea had asked. “They take anything else?”

Yugi shook his head but the pursing of his lips told them something else was wrong.

“What?” Joey asked, warily.

“The God Cards…” Yugi croaked and started coughing. He pointed towards the desk.

Joey moved over to look, confusion taking over from anger as he picked up Slipher. “Is this real…”

“Stone.” Yugi croaked, nodding.

“How?” Tea gasped, moving over to have a look.

“Dunno.” The King of Games wasn’t particularly fond of the idea of more then one word answers, understandably. “Probably linked.”

“But they couldn’t use the Puzzle unless…” Tea turned to look at Yugi, “You didn’t lose to him, did you?”

“Didn’t challenge, just attacked.” Yugi shook his head. The gang didn’t need to be reminded that the Puzzle went up for grabs if Yugi died. “Grandpa scared him off.”

“Where is Mr Muto?” Tristan asked.

“Down in the shop, we were late opening and the queue built up.” Yugi coughed again, trying to get his deck together. Joey gave him a hand as Tea headed downstairs to talk to Solomon and Tristan hovered in the doorway.

“So what do we do?” Joey asked finally, once Yugi had a forty card deck built and in a deck box, slipping the stone gods into a second, both of which he attached to his belt, only then examining the extent of the damage to the Duel Disk.