Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction ❯ Duelists of the Elemental Spirits ❯ Chapter 9: The Shadow Riders ( Chapter 9 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

Suma Muto- Yami/Yugi
Amane, Taro, and Mana Bakura- Ryou/Tama
Yasu and Ammon Khalid- Bakura/Yume
Zahur and Liam, Ophelia, and Salim Ishtar- Malik/Ashling
Ryan and Matsu Ishtar- Mariku/Holly
Chizu and Yukio Kaiba- Seto/Serenity
Jono, Maiko, and Seth and Kevin Wheeler- Joey/Mai

Disclaimer: I still don't own Yu-Gi-Oh. Oh, I also don't own Yu-Gi-Oh!GX. I do own all OC's in this fanfiction. (and boy, are there alot of them!)

Warning: I'll put this up for those of you who don't like the Yami/Yugi pairing. There's a cute little cuddling scene between the two in this chapter. I've marked the beginning and end of it by bolding the little 0-0-0 scene divider things.

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“Shepherd says that he suspects the Shadow Riders will strike any time now.” Chazz tells the other key-keepers after class one day. “Does anyone have any suspicions about who it could be?”

None of the others have any ideas, but Chazz does have his own suspicions.

“I think one of those new kids are Shadow Riders. They’re always whispering to one another and do you remember the whole abandoned dorm thing and the dragon?”

“Chazz, there’s no way that they are the Shadow Riders.” Alexis says. “For one, they attract far too much attention and trouble. Why would the Shadow Riders want to draw so much attention to themselves?”

“They’re the most likely to be Shadow Riders.” Chazz retorts. “We should at least make sure it’s not any of them.”

“Chazz has a point.” Professor Banner points out. “Remember children, caution is our friend.”

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

Liam cautiously crawls out onto the tree branch with a rope in one hand. Waiting patiently on the ground are Zahur and Amane.

“Be careful, Liam.” The albino girl cautions. “That branch doesn’t look too sturdy.”

Liam grins. “I’m fine! I’m fine!” He yells down. Then he mumbles under his breath, “I’m gonna die….”

“Hey Amane! Zahur! There you are!”

Startled by the sudden loud noise, Liam falls right off the tree branch and gets tangled up in the rope in the process. The next thing he knows, he’s hanging upside down by one foot with all his blood rushing to his head.

Amane and Zahur both laugh at the expression on the blonde’s face until Ryan comes bouncing up. Or is he skipping? It’s hard to tell with Ryan.

While the three of them are laughing, Liam grumbles something about evil relatives before reaching up and pulling a dagger out of one of his boots. He keeps one hand on the rope so he doesn’t fall and then cuts himself loose. Once his foot is free, he lets go of the rope and lands deftly on the ground.

“Ha ha ha, it’s so funny.” Liam says sarcastically to the three. “What do you want, Ryan?”

Ryan abruptly stops laughing and his expression turns serious. “We’ve got a bit of a problem. Jaden and his friends suspect us of being something called the ‘Shadow Riders’ because of the whole ‘lets-take-them-with-us-when-we-seal-the-rip’ thing.”

“But we’re not ‘Shadow Riders’.” Amane says in confusion. “We’re not even true Guardians yet. Well, Suma is since she’s sixteen already, but the rest of us aren’t.”

Ryan scowls, his eyes darkening. “Tell that to them.”

Liam is the first to sense Ryan’s rising energy and temper and so it’s he who lays a hand on his cousin’s shoulder. “Relax, Ryan. We’ll get it cleared up. Lets go find Suma and Chizu and see how they want to handle this.”

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

The entire group of Larks find themselves assembled in Chancellor Shepherd’s office less than an hour later with the Key keepers sitting or standing in front of them.

“I told you we shouldn’t have gotten them involved.” Jono hisses to Chizu.

“Don’t blame me!” Chizu exclaims. “My dad’s the one who said it would be a good idea to get them to come with us and help us.”

Yasu sighs. “Please allow Zahur and I to explain,” She says calmly.

“No,” Suma interrupts. “Chizu and I can handle this, Yasu. It’s our fault they’re suspicious of us. We should have explained ourselves before sealing up the rip.”

The oldest and youngest of the Larks step forward, Chizu having more trouble because Ryan won’t let go of her hand. The other Larks fall back slightly to give their leaders room.

“I’m not sure exactly why you believe us to be these ‘Shadow Riders’, as there’s eleven of us and seven of them.” Suma begins. “We’ve only gained one title as a group and it’s not something as stupid as the ‘Shadow Riders’. Back at home when we’re joined by our siblings we’re known as the Larks.”

Alexis looks questioningly at the Muto child. “You’ve used that term before, but what does it mean?”

“Back home we tend to get in a lot of trouble…” Suma says vaguely.

It’s Bastian who recalls what the word ‘lark’ means, having read it in the dictionary and thesaurus once. “Lark is another word for ‘prank’. It means ‘a carefree or spirited adventure’ or ‘a harmless prank’.” He recites.

“Back to our topic,” Now it’s Chizu’s turn. “The reason we can summon monsters without the use of duel discs is because we inherited our parents duties to keep the barrier between this plane and the Shadow Realm intact. The Shadow Realm is the place where the duel monster live and normal humans are destroyed by the shadows. Usually our parents would take care of something like this, but they thought it’d be a good experience for us.” She grins and glances back at the other Larks. “Personally, I think all of our neighbors had to bribe or blackmail them to get us out of our neighborhoods for a while.”

The other Larks make sounds of agreement and then fall silent once again.

“So… you’re not the Shadow Riders?” Syrus asks.

Suma laughs. “Not at all! In fact, we’re almost like the opposite of them if they’re as bad as you’re making them out to be. What are they anyway?”

Chancellor Shepherd frowns. “Unfortunately, they’re a group who are after the three Beast cards hidden here at this school. There are seven keys to unlock it, and the strongest duelists at this school each have one.”

Chizu rapidly pales and curses under her breath. “Excuse me for a moment.” Everyone watches as the blue-eyed girl walks out of the room. Then they hear her screaming, “DAMN YOU PEGASUS!” There’s the sound of something shattering and then silence. Chizu creeps back into the room seconds later, her expression carefully masked.

“Feel better?” Seth asks.

Chizu glares at the brunette in reply.

“I guess not.”

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

Yugi yawns as he snuggles into Yami’s side. The past few months have been a little stressful for the two of them; first Yami had to battle morning sickness for a while and recently he had to deal with Yugi being gone for a month. Now that the younger man is back, Yami’s not letting go of him. Literally.

Yugi groans when the phone rings. “Yami,” He whispers softly. “I’ve got to answer the phone. It could be important.”
Yami grumbles something under his breath and firmly wraps his arms around Yugi. “Stay.”

“Yami, please let me get up. I’ll be right back.” Yugi pleads, unwilling to try and wiggle free from his husbands grip. The last time he did that they both fell off the couch and Yami almost got hurt.

The phone stops ringing. Yami smirks and opens one violet eye. “Now you’ll stay.”

The phone begins ringing right after Yami says this. Yugi gives his other half a look. “Yami.”

Yami just mumbles something and kisses the top of Yugi’s head before closing his eyes as if to go back to sleep.

“Atemu!” Yugi complains, using his darker half’s true name for the first time.

Yami reluctantly unwraps his arms from around Yugi, allowing the smaller to get up and finally answer the phone.

“Hello? Hi, Seto! No, Yami just wouldn’t let me get up.”

Yami sighs and resigns himself to lay there and listen to Yugi’s side of the conversation in an attempt to figure out what Seto wants.

“I got back yesterday night and Yami attacked and wouldn’t let go once I got through the door.” He blushes because of something Seto says. “Seto! Not like that!” There’s a long pause. “I haven’t had time to check. Why didn’t you ask Tama, Malik, or Ryou?” There’s another pause. “Oh. That reminds me; where’s Duke at? He was suppose to stay here with Yami, I mean, it is his house. America?! What for? Pegasus? He’s not trying to cause more trouble, is he? Oh, I forgot about that contest.” There’s another long pause. “I’ll check as soon as I can. Who has the cell phone there? Chizu, Maiko, and Zahur? Alright. Yeah, I’ll let you know. Thanks, Seto. Bye.” Yugi hangs up before Seto can ask to talk to Yami, not in the mood to watch his other half’s patience be tested or to watch the phone be banished to the Shadow Realm again.

“What’d he want?” Yami asks as Yugi lays back down on the couch with him.

Yugi sighs. “He wants me to do a scan over the island Duel Academy is on to make sure there are no more rips. He’s worried that some ‘Shadow Riders’ are going to make more holes and endanger the students. I’m suppose to inform Chizu, Maiko, or Zahur if there are any and then call Seto.” He yawns after saying this and Yami wraps his arms back around Yugi and pulls him close.

“Sleep, aibou. I’ll wake you up for lunch and then you can check the island.” Yami says.

Yugi closes his eyes. “What if you fall asleep?”

Yami kisses Yugi on the cheek. “I promise that I’ll wake you up.”

Yugi smiles softly. “Okay…”

Within minutes the two of them are asleep.

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

“Have you noticed how the teachers are now determined to keep our group split up?” Liam asks over lunch. “It’s amusing!”

Maiko rolls her eyes. “Liam, you find a lot of things amusing. It’s no surprise that you find this amusing.”

Ryan sighs dejectedly. “I want to eat lunch with Chizu…” He murmurs.

The others ignore the love struck half-psycho.

“I find it more annoying than anything.” Yasu says. “Now I’m stuck with only you guys for company and, no offense Maiko, but it’s really hard to hold a smart conversation with you guys.”

“Yeah, Zahur’s much better at that.” Liam admits.

“You’d think they’d want to keep us together though.” Jono says, bringing the conversation back.

“Well, the danger is over. We’ve completed what we came to do and now the only thing left that we can do is cause a little trouble.” Maiko says.

The door to the Ra Yellow cafeteria slams open and a black and blue blur zooms over to the table that Ryan, Jono, Maiko, Liam, Ammon, and Yasu are sitting at. It’s Chizu.

“Chizu!” Ryan happily exclaims, jumping up and hugging her giddily.

Chizu giggles and hugs him back before giving him a quick kiss on the cheek. “Hi, Ryan.” She then waves at the others as Ryan sits down and pulls her into his lap. “Hey guys.”

Yasu raises an eyebrow. “As nice as it is to see you, why are you here and how did you get past the teachers?”

“I ran.” The younger girl replies. “As to why I’m here, I’ve got some not-so-good news. Uncle Yugi called to say that several small rips have appeared because of activity from the Shadow Riders. It shouldn’t be too hard to fix them though. It should just take one of two of us just to seal up one.”

“Great, more work.” Ammon grumbles. “I wanted to just goof off and play pranks on each other for the rest of the time here!”

Yasu hits him in the head. “Get over it, you big baby.”

“I need to go inform A’ne, Seth, and Suma. Anyone want to come?” Chizu asks.

Ryan waves one hand in the air energetically. “Ooo! Me!”

Chizu laughs and then gets up. Together the two lovebirds skip out of the cafeteria singing, “We’re off to see the wizard!”

There's silence for a moment.

Jono’s eyes light up and he grins. “Hey, Liam. Remember that little project of ours?”

Liam blinks. “Which one?”

“You know; that one.”

Liam grins. “Oh! That one! Yeah, it’ll be the perfect time to get it out!”

“Get what out?” Maiko cautiously asks. “Or do I not want to know?”

Jono laughs. “Don’t worry, you’ll like this particular project. If it works correctly it should make our job a bit easier.”

“What is it?” Ammon asks, his interest peaked.

Jono and Liam exchange grins. “It’s…”

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

“Th e Shadow Sensor!” Liam and Jono exclaim, holding up what looks t be a watch.

“A watch?” Yasu says blankly.

Liam and Jono do a double take at the object they’re holding and sweat drop. “Oops, wrong project.” Jono mumbles apologetically.

Liam shuffles through his small book bag quickly and pulls out the correct project. “Here it is!” He holds up a Duel Monster card proudly.

“A Duel Monster card?” Amane asks skeptically. “Liam, have you completely lost your marbles?”

“Yes, actually.” The strawberry blonde replies. “Although I know you have some of them and I’d like them back when we get home.”

Jono rolls his eyes and plucks the card from Liam’s hand. “This isn’t just a card. Actually, it isn’t a card at all. It’s plastic.” He gently taps the card. “It has a password to activate it. The password is ‘Elemental Spirits’.” The gadget makes a whirring noise and then a hologramic map of the island appears. Dark, shadowy patches show where the holes are.

“Wow, clever.” Zahur says, impressed with the project. “Does it do anything else?”

“Yeah, you can set it to ‘buzz’ to tell when a new hole has formed.” Liam says cheerfully.

“You can also zoom in to get the exact place the rip is at.” Jono says proudly.

“Cool… can I have one?” Chizu asks hopefully.

Jono and Liam both laugh.

“Sure. There’s only four though; so one each for Slifer and Obelisk and two for Ra since we have a bigger group.” Liam says.

“My, what’s this I hear? Are you finally using your head?” Zahur teases. He immediately has to duck as Liam tries to hit him and then he takes off running.

Liam grins, happy that his twin is acting goofy for once, and runs after him shouting, “I’m gonna get you, momma’s boy!”

“You’re even more of a momma’s boy, Li!” Zahur yells back.

The others laugh at the two and watch them run around. Spring is defiantly on its way. (1)

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(1) Zahur has a degree of control over plants and is really in tune with them. In spring all the plants start growing once again, so Zahur gets overloaded by the plant life and loosens up a bit.

0-0-0-0

Shiro: I have been re-inspired! Yugioh has started coming back on on Saturday mornings at 11:30 so I get to watch it again! (does a happy dance) I've missed it so much. GX just isn't the same.

Kitsune: (blinks) You don't like Yugioh GX? Is that why you haven't been watching it?

Shiro: No, I like it just fine! They've just been playing reruns lately, that's all. And I like the first Yugioh series a lot better.

Bast: (grins) You're just saying that because Ryou and Malik are in it.

Shiro: (blushes) You forgot Yugi...

Bast: Yugi too?

Shiro: He's cute too! But he's Yami's so it doesn't really matter.

Bast: (sweatdrops)