Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction ❯ Children of Destiny ❯ Path to the Past (Part 1) ( Chapter 13 )

The next day Yami got dressed in his usual attire whilst Tenshi was weaving in and out of his legs. Yugi was still asleep in their double bed as Yami grinned at his lover. The pale baby faced boy slept serenely as Yami went to wake him up. Yugi opened his eyes and smiled as they both planted a quick kiss before Yugi rushed to the bathroom to shower and get ready. Yami was busy checking some things in his backpack as Yugi smiled happily in the bathroom.

"So is he a good kisser?" Mr Motou asked amusingly to his son who flushed a little. Mrs Motou chuckled whilst playfully punching her husband. "No I'm serious… is he a good kisser?"

Yugi smiled brightly "The best…" he replied.

"How would you know… you've never dated anyone else before to compare it with?" Mrs Motou questioned incredulously.

"Call it instinct if you like but if that special feeling is still there a second time… I'm gonna be pretty sure that it will be there for many more to come…" Yugi answered then frowned. "Now I need to shower…"

"Best make it a cold one kid…" Mr Motou added. Yugi stuck his tongue at him playfully before the couple decided to leave him to his devices. Soon after his shower the couple was going down to meet with the others. Ishtar and Malik had heavy bags under their eyes and Isis found that her brother had fallen asleep on his plate of scrambled eggs. It was clear that both of them had no sleep from the noisy racket that Bakura and Ryou were making that night. Bakura was already at the table eating when Ryou came down looking majorly bedraggled.

"Hey, Ryou is that a hickey?" Tristan asked looking at it in awe. Ryou sighed and nodded whilst Bakura coughed and cleared his throat whilst the two Egyptians glared at them in their sleepy state.

"Aren't you going to sit down?" Joey asked Ryou.

"Uh… no… no thank you…" he said in his British voice though it seemed higher than usual as he appeared to hobble with a slight hunch on the back whilst Bakura sniggered a little, which turned into a chuckle then a laugh and before he knew it everyone had turned towards his direction as he was practically screaming with laughter, tears starting to come out as the piece of bacon in his mouth slid away and he dropped his knife and fork. Ryou narrowed his eyes, as devil horns seemed to appear, his face red as fire was burning around him. Bakura noticed his obvious death wish had it not been the fact that he was already dead nevertheless he took a deep breath forcing himself to calm down rapidly.

"Excuse me…" Bakura finally said with a look of panic and rushing off his hikari's gaze following him giving Bakura a 10 second head start before he went on the chase. Seto coughed once before he drank his black coffee. Mokuba and Serenity were looking really scared of Ryou whilst Isis raised an eyebrow before examining more of the documents of archaelogical finds. Yugi and Yami glanced with a look of mutual concern for Bakura and the fate he was going to face of Ryou's wrath, they shrugged their shoulders and went to the breakfast buffet table. Serenity and Mokuba looked at the two of them as they watched them gathering food on Yugi's plate. Yami had wrapped his arms around Yugi who was spooning some fruit into a small bowl. Yami rubbing his face in the little one's wild mane.

"Joey look…" Mokuba said prodding the blond. Joey looked up seeing the two of them and smiled. "Am I seeing things are are those two…"

"Nope Mokuba you're not seeing things" Mokuba's eyes widened and a huge broad grin on his face. "`Bout time too I'd say… It gets kinda frustrating watching them look so miserable `bout the other" Joey said waving it off casually.

"They're really sweet together…" Serenity commented before she continued to butter her toast whilst Yami was now whispering something in Yugi's ear make him blush and giggle. After breakfast was the train up North towards Peking passing the green lands of the countryside, of paddyfields and waterfalls. Everyone looked in wonder of the beautiful sight of the rich soiled land. Well everyone except Joey. Serenity was the first to notice as his head was resting upon a window his eyes closed.

"Big brother?"

"Hmm?" Joey turned to face her, his face rather pale. Tristan noticed Joey's deterioation.

"Whoa Joey… are you ok buddy?" Joey went to lean back on the cool glass gazing blankly into the window. Serenity reached out her hand and touched his forehead.

"You head feels a little warm"

"It'll pass" Joey mumbled, Serenity sat next to him looking really worried. "Don't worry… I'll be fine… I'm not gonna let a cold ruin your holiday" he said smiling holding his little sister's hand. They had stopped finally at a station where they would get off to Peking and getting a taxi to Yugi's summer home. The Noble Xia House was in fact a mansion, the size could even compare with Kaiba's own mansion with some obvious differences that it looked as if it had been there since the beginning of time. The walls had indeed been rebuilt many times as was the green roof tiles upon the oriental desgned roof and pillars standing proud though they were in fact withering away. The gardens were a particular beautiful place with many ponds of lillies and koi karp and a small ark bridge leading towards the main house.

"The place is similar design to the buildings of the Forbidden City" Yugi explained.

"Where all the Chinese Emperors live. Most places merely have a one building estate but China's royal province is actually an entire city region all on it's own" Mokuba asked. "I've heard of it on a History channel…" he explained to everyone who looked at him weirdly. The place inside was exceptionally beautiful, the walls decorated with beautiful oriental paintings whilst the mahogony chairs were aligned on either side of them. The staff that tended to the buildings bowed and led them into their rooms. They quickly realised that the rooms that they were introduced to put the Hong Kong Hotel rooms to shame. King sized beds in every guest bedroom and all sorts of urns decorating each room. A sparkling bathroom as if it was unused glittered whilst outiside was a swimming pool with a sauna house nearby. It was indeed a place fit for any emperor. Seto in the meantime had appeared to set up base of his laptop in his room of which Mokuba was extremely annoyed about and constantly tried to persuade him to get off it and enjoy the fresh air. Seto finally managed to pry himself away from the computer about his company and were now making plans for a trip.

"Do you have a map towards Xia Lung monastery…?" he asked Yugi.

"You don't have to have a map… It's up that mountain up there…" Yugi explained pointing at a particular mountain on the right. "The only way to get there is trek though plus a bit of climibing so it'll take a good day or two. You'll need someone to come with you…"

"I'LL GO!!!" Mokuba yelled skipping around them.

"Mokuba… you can't… it's dangerous" Seto replied.

"But big brother…" Mokuba whined with pleading eyes.

"You're not going and that's that!!!" Seto shouted. Mokuba was about to try again and argue when he was interrupted.

"You're going to Xia Lung Monastery… I have business there too…" Isis said. "I shall accompany you…" Malik popped his head behind her.

"I don't have to go do I?" he asked hopefully. Isis glared at him.

"Yes you do…" Malik slumped away sadly.

"Actually… I was wondering if Malik could accompany me and my Yami down the main town I heard there are all sorts of competitions the local fighting schools were having. Plus I wanna check out the local temple ruin at the town square" Yugi asked and Malik looked upon the tri-coloured boy as if he was an angel descended from heaven. Isis bit her lip slightly.

"If you want an assistant Isis I could come with you" Serenity chirped.

"Serenity… it's a dangerous trek…" Joey warned rubbing his head which was still aching with a coming migraine.

"I've got mountaineering experience… I'll be ok" Serenity turned to Isis who sighed and nodded.

"I don't know… I'm coming with you… just in case" Joey said

"Oh no your not… you're sick…"

"I'll take care of her Joe… you gets some rest" Tristan added. Joey narrowed his eyes evilly at Tristan. "HEY!!!! I swear I won't let anything happen to her…" Joey's headache was really pounding now and he really felt too sick to go anywhere.

"Fine…" Joey said defeatedly before slumping onto the couch still rubbing his head. Seto knelt beside Mokuba who refused to talk to him.

"I'll be back soon…" he whispered as he went to hug him but Mokuba slipped away slamming his bedroom door. Joey winced from the noise. For it wasn't much help with the ever agonizing migraine. `Weird… it's been a good 24 hours now, the doc said I was gonna be alright yet I'm still feelin' sick' he thought. Sighing a little he decided upon taking a nap. Tenshi watched Seto's group packing their backpacks including sandwiches for lunch and dinner. Pretty soon the two groups were due to set out as Serenity made last minute checks of the mountaineering equipment. Bakura who was a little bored decided to go and prod a sleeping Joey. "Yo… sleeping ugly wake up!!!!" Bakura shouted. Serenity smacked him hard on the hand. He glared at the red headed girl.

"He's ill, leave him alone and let him sleep else you'll be in trouble" Serenity scowled. Bakura rolled his eyes.

"Oh and what trouble will that be little girl?" Bakura mocked. Serenity stopped what she was doing and turned to him.

"It'll involve with me dismantling your `joy' department with a cup coffee and a `hot' branding iron" Serenity hissed dangerously through gritted teeth. Bakura swallowed with wide eyes he backed away from the red head boring her eyes down at him. For a girl with such an angelic appearance it was a huge shock to see that she could pull such a menacing death glare and Bakura made a wise decision by hightailing it out of the room with his hands over his crotch. Serenity kept glaring until the silver headed Yami was out of sight before she reverted back to her angelic self and smiled lovingly at Joey. She planted a quick kiss on her sleeping brother's cheek and pulled a blanket over him before continuing to check the equipment. Joey shifted in his sleep a little and sighed. Seto looked back to see if he could get a glimpse of Mokuba but his little brother had obviously chosen to avoid him. Something that Joey had said to him had struck a chord in his mind at that very moment. `what ever you find there… no matter what it is just make sure you don't forget what the more important things are'. Seto bit his lip before staring at the sleeping blond on the couch and his little sister stroking his blond hair a bit pecked him on the cheek again before she hurried after her group carrying their necessary equipment. Lingering a little longer he walked out of the mansion where Tristan and Isis was waiting. Yugi and the other group waved goodbye and they went their separate ways leaving Joey and Mokuba in the house.

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Yugi skipped along side his Yami's long strides whilst Ryou hung on his lover's arm. Malik and Ishtar were chatting evilly about the fighting and the possibly the bloody violence to ensue. Yugi pursed his lips.

"Maybe it wasn't such a good idea to invite them over to town" he whispered to Yami. Yami shrugged his shoulder as he plucked Yugi from the ground and gave him a piggyback ride. They had soon reached the bustling streets of a market place where street performers performed great feats of balancing tables and sword fighting. Malik and Ishtar headed straight for a particular competition watching two people wrestle each other to the ground looking more than a bit bruised and whooped and cheered. Ryou managed to drag his partner away from the violence and look at a painting competition where Chinese artists were gently painting some beautiful landscapes. Bakura looked really bored of it all whilst Yugi followed by Yami went to a apothecary shop that looked much like Shen's. Yugi had ordered some certain herbs and spices there making Yami wonder why he needed them. There was a sudden commotion as everyone turned towards brown hooded figures galloping on horses down the streets. For some reason the group was feeling unnerved of their sudden appearance and had decided to hide.

"Is it Gabriel?" Ryou whispered. Bakura shook his head.

"No… It feels different" Bakura replied. The hooded figures around the table next to them sitting in silence. The waiter arrived to take their orders which was a simple meal. Nearing the end of their silent meal a man joined them dressed in a grey fur cloak. He was a very handsome man with dashing grey eyes to go with his cloak and long straggly black hair with the acception of a single silver lock stroked against a strong jaw line. He sat down among the group as one of them passed a piece of paper to him.

"Is this the one?" he asked. The leader of the hooded group nodded he paused to analyse the picture before he burnt the piece of paper.

"He is currently heading towards the monastery so you better get going very soon if you stand a chance to catch up with him"

"Very well…"

"Good luck…" the hooded man beside him said as they paid for their meal and got up to leave on their horses. The man was now left alone to finish his drink before he paid and left too. He glanced at the group and nodded politely before he strode away. Yugi called the waiter over.

"Do you know who those men were. The ones that just left" the waiter frowned.

"Not the people in hoods but I advise you don't go messing with the man in the grey cloak, his a mercernay. Dodgy guy. Bit of a maurader if you know what I mean"

"Who is he?" Yami questioned.

"I heard some people call him… Andrin I think… he doesn't come down to town except for business propositions from the clients. Heard he has a lodging near the Xia Lung Monastery" the waiter went back to his business.

"That's where Seto, Tristan, Isis and Serenity are heading isn't it?" Malik whispered. Yami pondered over the meeting of the man called Andrin and the hooded figures.

"You don't think… You don't think that he's after any of them do you?" Ryou asked. "I mean maybe one of those people are one of those… you know…" the others looked at each other.

"Let's follow him…" Yugi said as they paid for their drinks and went to catch up with Andrin when a sudden blood curdling scream echoed down the road behind them.

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Joey slowly roused from his sleep and rubbed his eyes. He noticed that the door was still closed to Mokuba's room. The nap had done some good as the migraine had disappeared altogether. Sighing a little he went to check on the raven headed boy. He knocked politely on the door."Mokuba?" he asked when there was no answer. He took a deep breath as he opened the door but found that there was no one there and the window was wide open, the curtains flapping slightly from the breeze outside. "Uh oh…" he whispered. Mokuba was just a speck in the distance and he rushed out of the empty house grabbing his coat to go after him. Mokuba carrying his backpack ran as fast as he could and clambered up the steep rocky slides in the hopes of catching up with his brother who was a good hour ahead now. Climbing up he pushed himself up when he lost his footing and fell.

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Yugi, Yami and their friends turned behind them as a horrific massacre of skeletal soldiers plagued the streets like locusts. Another scream on the other end where more Ghouls invaded blocking their way from following Andrin. The people of town fled into their homes closed their stalls which the Gabriels Ghouls were starting to dismantle as a mixture of twitching limbs, blood and internal organs had littered the floors. The group began to run to the only place they could run to as various skeletal soldiers had launched and went to pin them against the doors of the closed houses. The residents screaming at the pounding however a searing of sound of burning had left the Ghouls in utter agony as the Yami quickly realised were powerful charms upon the people's homes. Ryou ducked under one of the Ghouls and flipping himself in a sumasault over a group behind him. He grabbed and slingshoted himself around a flag pole knocking a few more Ghouls to the floor but lack of experience made him fall among a batch of umbrellas nearby. Bakura who was struggling in fighting a dozen at a time darted around for his hikari who was being swamped up onto a table where he did some sort of tapdance avoiding the jabs of swords and finally flipping himself over them whilst kicking a kettle of boiling water scalding the nearest Ghoul. A Ghoul picked up another kettle of boiling water and Ryou slid down opening his umbrella evidently bouncing off to burn another poor Ghoul. Bakura managed to plough his way from the army towards his aibou who had inadvertendly did a split upon the floor, right leg in front whilst the left was behind him in a perfect 180 degree line. Bakura stared in shock.

"Um… are you ok?" he asked stupidly. Ryou who was out of his state of shock and whimpered slightly.

"I've just done the splits AND POSSIBLY RIPPED ME F***ING B**** IN HALF AND YOU'RE ASKING ME IF I'M OKAY!?!?!?!?" he screamed down Bakura's ear who winced before helping Ryou up who definitely looked really stiff. A sudden flash of bony flesh shot at them as Ryou panicked holding his hands to protect himself finding that the Ghoul had been knocked into a stall of fruit. A watery trail leading towards him. Bakura looked a little soaked as well looking dully at his hikari. Another Ghoul came as Ryou shot his hand out and huge tornado wind had appeared from his hands spiralling away and picking up the debris of nearby Ghouls throwing them into the air. Malik who was fighting hard with his Millennium Rod raised his hands to block an bludgeoning attack from a club finding that the Ghoul was screaming in agony running in glory of flames whilst Malik who also surrounded by a fire seemed unscathed, in fact he appeared to shine in a healthy glow. He shot his hand out as flames engulfed a nearby skeleton soldier burning it to cinders as Malik cackled evilly whilst his Yami stood looking quite impressed by the fireworks. The ground started to tremble and crumble in a earthquake coming from where Malik was standing, rocky spikes suddenly burst through the concrete floors some impaling at a Ghoul or two as Malik seemed to concentrate hard. Shooting a hand in one direction, a spike appeared then another. Though the group was glad that the strange new powers had returned, they still retreated towards the temple ruins. Hiding under it's roof, Yugi gasped as a Ghoul leapt at his Yami immediately seemed to vaporised in a cloud of dust whilst Yami ducked from the attack, the Ghoul's mace clattered with heavy thud on the floor. The group had fallen back under the temple's shelter finding that the Ghouls dared not pass now. They were safe under the temples magical protection but they were also trapped and Yugi could only hope that Seto and the others had reached the protection of the Xia monks before that man in the grey cloak caught up with them.

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It was a rough climb as the group of four dragged each other up the rocky mountain towards the summit and stopped for a break. Serenity sighed as a cloud of her breath floated away. She rummaged for a flask of hot tea she had packed. "Want some?" she chirped.

"Thanks…" Seto replied shivering from the cold as she passed him a cup of the hot liquid whilst Tristan and Isis set out for any wood for a fire. There was silience between the two. Seto sighed a little before he slipped beneath his coat to the locket with the picture of his brother then realised that Serenity herself had took out a picture of a younger version of her older brother as well. She glanced over to him and smiled ready to strike up a conversation with the CEO.

"You're brother really cares about you… Whenever I talk to him, he tells me how great you are and all" Seto blinked refusing to meet her eyes whilst taking a sip of tea, it was actually the first time that the red head had ever talked to him before. "… but then I heard other people talk about you and they call you an `arrogant slimeball'"

"Is this conversation supposed to lead somewhere?" he drawled. Serenity pursed her lips.

"Just wanted to get to know you… that's all"

"Seto Kaiba: sophmore in Domino High school, CEO of KaibaCorp, straight A's in everything and class captain so now you know…" Seto replied as he ran down the list before taking another sip of tea.

"I was talking about personality" Serenity replied patiently but decided to end it there seeing that she was agitating the CEO. Seto glanced at her as she took another sip.

"I guess one of those people who said I was an `arrogant slimeball' was your brother" Seto stated.

"Actually he doesn't talk that much about you…" Serenity replied. Seto blinked hiding his surprise behind his emotionless mask and making eye contact with the red head for once."And if I ever asked his opinion about it, he would say that you were just being three times harder than most teenagers to shoulder such a big company and take care of a little brother at the same time. `People in the business world are like sharks' he would say, `they prey upon weakness and that having a little brother was more weakness than one could afford'" Serenity recited. Seto stared at her and the words of Joey's opinion.

"So… what do you think I'm like?" he asked. Serenity pondered.

"I'd say you're like my brother…"

"What?" Seto rasped as if he had been deeply insulted. `How dare this girl ever compare me with that mutt?' Serenity seemed undeterred.

"Well… I've seen the way you look at Mokuba, it's a lot like the way Joey would look at me especially whenever daddy used to beat us up…" Seto's eyes widened in horror. `Their own father beat them up?' he thought. He himself had been abused by his foster father who had picked him up from the orphange because of his superior intellect. Mokuba had been adopted as well because Seto had battled hard by striking a bargain of winning a game of chess with Mr Kaiba. He could understand the requirements of being hard under the strictness of the rich CEO but he had found it unbelievable that a person's own biological father could treat his own children in such a way. Before he could further question Serenity though Isis and Tristan had arrived with a fair bit of wood and he was forced to keep his questions to himself until he could find a time to talk to her alone again. After sitting a while getting warm from the camp fire whilst having their lunch. Afterwards they had decided to resume their journey. Isis had started to feel quite unsettled and had lagged behind to watch behind her.

"What's up?" Tristan finally asked. Isis looked at her companions with intense gaze.

"I sense something back there… what ever it is it's following us…" the others looked at each other taking note that Isis had once been a Millennium Item, despite passing her Millennium Necklace to Yugi she still had retained access to the Shadow Realm's powers and so should be taken seriously. There was a rustle in the bushes nearby as they all seemed to hold their breath waiting for an attack when they saw the blond hair emerge from the bushes.

"Joey!?!?!?" Tristan gasped as Joey appeared from the bushes. "Geez man what the hell are you doing here!?!?" Serenity went to hug Joey then scowled.

"You should be in bed!!!"

"No time about that now… I saw Mokuba come after you in the mountains. I went to go after him but he's fallen down and broken a leg!!!"

"WHAT!?!?!?" Seto yelled.

"Follow me!!!" Joey cried as he hurried down to another side of the mountain Isis was a little reluctant but followed anyway.

"Where is he?" Seto said in a panic. Joey led them deeper away from the main path.

"Right here…" was the reply and there Mokuba was hanging as a scaly arm clung around his neck. The serpent soldier smiled menacingly a forked tongue flickering a bit.

"LET GO OF ME!!!!" Mokuba cried flailing his legs, (which weren't broken). There was a hiss as more serpent men had appeared behind the group surrounding them completely.

"YOU LET GO OF MOKUBA RIGHT NOW!!!" Serenity yelled.

"He will when I give him the order" `Joey' said turning towards the group a tint of green showing in his brown eyes. He appeared to ponder. "Hmm… kinda windy… I do hope we can still hear the squirt's neck snap like a twig don't you?" he asked casually.

"Joey?" Tristan whispered in horror. He couldn't believe what his best buddy had said. However Seto recognised him immediately.

"Katsuya…" he growled. The others stared at him in confusion whilst Katsuya clapped his hands mockingly.

"Bravo rich boy, now tell me what's one plus one?" he said sarcastically. The others glared at him.

"I knew there was something different about you…" Isis said.

"Wow… then you must feel very `very' stupid at the moment" the Joey lookalike said highly amused.

"I… don't understand…" Serenity whispered looking fearfully at what she thought was her brother.

Katsuya smiled in a demented way. "Well put it this way… You're big brother has an evil twin that no one knew about until just recently…"

"What do you want Katsuya? The Dragon Scepter?" Seto said scathingly. Katsuya chuckled amused.

"Actually I was hoping to see how you'd react when my boy starts twisting little Mokuba's head 360 degrees…" he replied with a malicious grin. "Kill him…"

"NO!!!" Seto screamed as the serpent man began to twist when a hard thud upon his shoulder making him drop Mokuba. Mokuba ran to Seto's arms as Joey stood upon the snake man right behind Katsuya. Katsuya pouted when Seto went to strike him, he ducked and with inhuman speed he had snatched the Dragon Scepter from Isis. He leapt above them higher up and raised the Dragon Scepter above his head, the flourescent green flashed enveloping around Seto who dropped to his knees despite himself.

"Big brother…" Mokuba gasped. Joey's headache had come at full force that he felt as if he's head had split open.

"You look like crap you know?" Katsuya said looking concerned for his blond twin. "But I guess you would after having spent so much of your energy in saving that so-called boat from sinking and getting it to Hong Kong Harbour"

"That force field…" Isis whispered in realisation. Katsuya smiled.

"Of course you weren't aware you were doing it but the big mistake is your too weak to fight me now Joey…" And he was right. Joey's knees buckled as the pounding migraine had blinded him. Seto looked over to Joey who was deathly pale. Joey growled shaking his head, despite the pounding against his head he's senses had sharpened as he ducked a club from thrown at him from one of Katsuya's men. More soldiers were summoned by the power of the Dragon Scepter. A sudden burst of gold flame surrounded Joey as the scepter's light started to fluctuate again from gold to green then gold again. Katsuya glared whilst fighting hard for control as there was a battle cry filled the air as little bald men dressed in yellow tunics slapped their staffs at Katsuya causing him to dodge and dropping the scepter down below. A spear was thrusted toward him and he caught it by the blade shattering the metal as if it was fragile glass under his hand. With inhuman strength and agilty Katsuya weaved under the barrage of attacks from a dozen monks and splintering them into little pieces with the mere flick of a wrist. Seto had noticed these super human abilities as he shielded his brother away from the attacking serpent below. More monks had appeared and joined in the fight, some shielded the small group of travellers whilst a full frontal assault had been put up in waves. Tristan was holding Joey up whilst Isis had got a hold of the scepter again emitting blasts of energy here and there. The monks fighting Katsuya though were failing and he had leapt to aid his men sending many of the monks flying many yards against the rock face. Catching a sword in mid-air and snapping it in two and splintering another staff. Mokuba stared in shock as his weapon had been shattered to pieces and staring at Joey's lookalike whose eerie flourescent green made him freeze on the spot. Katsuya, who had a piece of shard of metal in his hand went to drive it into the eleven year old when Joey dove to push out of the way separating themselves from the main group and the defending monks as the battle had come to a stand off. A sweep of grey had entered the battle followed with a sound of slashing flesh. Katsuya twisted as a single gash across his face opened like a red mouth. He touched his face and narrowed his eyes grimly at his attacker. A handsome man with dashing grey eyes had landed neatly confronting Katsuya. Katsuya narrowed his eyes though Seto could see that he was now cautious upon this man. He was able to hurt him.

"Right on time Andrin…" one of the surviving monks called whilst Andrin never broke eye contact with Katsuya.

"Dead or alive…" he said simply as his hand was on the hilt of his sword.

"Alive…" the leader of the Xia Lung monks answered as Andrin drew his sword, upon the blade a strip of green jade had been melded with the metal. The hilt itself graceful with a hooked gold claws at the centre a ruby jewl flared in defiance. Katsuya hissed menacingly the swift movements of the jade blade twisted it's way as a blue flame seemed to emit from it. Andrin slashed whilst Katsuya leaped out of the way when a sudden explosion of sliced rock behind him had crumbled to dust. Andrin flew towards him, the flame burning brightly as he grabbed one of his own serpent men and throwing him at Andrin. Andrin defended with a slash as a huge slit formed across the lizard faced man's chested armour, spilling out black blood before the blue fire engulfed the serpent man's body in flames and he lay before Andrin in a pile of ash. Katsuya began to sweat as his breath became shallow but he never let his gaze leave the man's sight. Andrin drew his sword back staring at Katsuya. Katsuya ducked out of the way as more rock were sliced apart. "Come on Mokuba…" Joey whispered sneaking him away towards the protective circle of the monks and for a brief moment Andrin's eyes had shifted from his evil counterpart towards the boy obviously Katsuya took this moment of weakness and acted to it immediately. Realising his mistake he snapped his attention back to Katsuya lifting his sword and let it fly towards him swift and true. Finding a way to escape, Katsuya had suddenly grabbed Joey and thrown him towards Andrin's blade before making his escape. Andrin was going on the defensive ready to slash again.

"NO JOEY!!!" Mokuba screamed as the flaming blue blade was flying towards Joey. Andrin's eyes widened and he drew the energy back before causing damage towards the blond. Andrin couldn't stop his blade as it slashed Joey across the shoulder whilst Katsuya fled. Andrin caught Joey by the waist as he fell whilst Serenity screamed and pushed past the monks to her brother's side.

"JOEY!!!! JOEY!!!!" Joey eyes looked at her as a scorching fire seemed to burn his veins. Without warning his lungs seemed to enflame and heaved, the red liquid splatterd over his front from his lips. Serenity screamed again as Joey felt faint, he's eyes half closed and his vision rapidly turning into blurred images. Joey was losing unconsciousness, a trickle of blood running from the corner of his lips down to his chin. The gash wasn't servere physically but the huge amount of energy from the blazing sword was draining as if it had slashed leaving a huge ugly wound upon Joey's very soul. Andrin was kneeling, one hand holding Joey whilst the other was on the hilt of his sword which was standing upon the floor. He stared upon half closed eyes as Joey fought to stay conscious in fear he wouldn't be able to wake up. Unemotional it would seem when looking at Andrin but his grey eyes refused to look at anything else as his attention was all on Joey who was so weak and vulnerable. His friends were frantic Joey's sister was hysterical as she shook him to stay awake. Joey's head lulled to the side as he lost consciousness.

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