Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction ❯ Ryou Bakura: Game Master! ❯ Anyone want to play a game? ( Chapter 1 )

DISCLAIMER: I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh. Takahashi does, and right now, he doesn't understand why I chose a PS2 as the base for my story. He also doesn't understand why Ryou's engaged.

 

Seven months had passed since the last time Domino city, or the world, had been threatened. Seven months had passed since Ryou had proposed to Sith Winchester, and since Yaten finally admitted that the Esper was part of the family now. Seven months passed in relative ease, and Ryou found it to be relaxing. Or more, boring. As he sat in his room, he found that the autumn that year had been particularly boring, and winter wasn't much better. He made an effort to go out with his friends, to celebrate as the wedding crept closer and closer, but other than that, he didn't go out much. Considering the cold, he didn't blame himself. Even Sith, who usually loved the outdoors, didn't leave unless she had to walk Rush or leave for work. And, that morning, Sith was working at Flamenco's, with the added courtesy of leaving a note for Ryou; she had left long before he woke up, and everyone else was missing, as well.

 

“With Sith gone, now what am I going to do?” Ryou asked, looking at the note. Sith had left to go into work to help train the new workers there, Hana and Sephira. He also read that Katt had left to head to the mall, as Tea had asked for her help with something. Bakura left to buy yet another new shotgun, his second one backfiring when he shot at a bus for having a bird sitting on it. Only Yaten was in the house, and he was asleep at his desk, having spent an all-nighter writing up the bills for the museum. Ryou glanced over at the living room, where a PS2 stood. Yugi had given it to him as a Christmas present to replace the Playstation that Sith had, which Bakura banished one night when she beat him at Hello Kitty's Cube Frenzy.

 

“I suppose I can just play one of her games,” Ryou suggested to himself, walking over and smiling, “I'm sure she wouldn't mind.” Or at least, one could always hope. With the wedding coming closer day by day, Sith had begun to get increasingly distant. Especially concerning Ryou. As he walked over to the bookshelf that held their games, he frowned. It'd also been seven months since the blonde man had made his threat. And as Ryou looked around, he realized he was alone. Now wouldn't be a bad time for that man to show up and shoot him. Shivering, he came to a quick idea: just call someone up and invite them over. And as he had just considered playing video games, he had a feeling he knew just who to call. Within minutes, he dialed Yugi's number.

 

“Hello?” Yugi's voice came across the phone, “Ryou, what's up?”

 

“Good morning, Yugi,” Ryou said cheerfully, “I was wondering if you wanted to come over and play some video games with me. Sith's out, so it's just me here.” What he didn't say was that, when he was alone, he was scared shitless. Yugi didn't need to know that. Patiently, he waited. Yugi seemed to be talking to someone on the other side, and then he came back a few moments later.

 

“Sure. I'll be there in a bit. Just let me tell Yami,” he said, and hung up. Ryou smiled, and then decided to call Malik next. Not because Yugi wasn't good company, but if all things went to shit because Sith was gone, he wanted someone handy with a bat. And Malik was handy with a bat. He was also distracted when Ryou called him.

 

“Malik, do you want to come?” Ryou asked again, when the older man hesitated a little. Malik's lips thinned, and he swallowed a little bit. Then he remembered he was on the phone. He blushed a little.

 

“Huh? Oh… sure,” he replied, and this time the distance was apparent. Ryou gave a sigh, and decided it best to just know what was wrong, if anything.

 

“Is everything okay? You sound really upset,” he pointed out. Malik tugged on his collar nervously, looking over his shoulder. Ryou heard Ishizu screaming at someone, and then heard Ishtar yell back. Now he understood why Malik was nervous. Anyone who was forced to be mediator in his family probably ended up dead. Malik lowered his voice as he explained the problem to his friend.

 

“Yeah. Ishizu… well, it's her time of the month, and she's kind of… absolutely insane,” Malik explained as Ryou heard a crash and then yells of agony, “Holy hell! Ryou, I'll have to get back to you on that! Ishizu just pushed Odion out the window! I have to make sure she didn't kill him… and then I'll need to make sure Ishtar's safe, too.” With that, Malik hung up the phone, leaving Ryou to stare at it blankly. Slowly, he hung up and then snorted, wondering if Malik would even make it out of his house alive. Ishizu sounded completely uncontrollable. Shaking his head, he grabbed a bowl from the cabinet and filled it with cereal, sitting at the kitchen table. The meal passed in silence, and relatively quickly, at that. Not that Ryou wasn't used to eating alone, but the thoughts he had earlier would've killed any mood that had been set. So, it was a relief when the doorbell rang as Ryou washed out his bowl. He walked to the front door and opened it. Yugi had shown up, unsurprisingly.

 

“Hey, Ryou!” he chirped happily, as Ryou let him inside, “What sort of games are we playing?” Leading Yugi into the living room, Ryou took his coat and scarf as Yugi took off his mittens and cap, setting them on a chair. Ryou did the same with the coat, and picked up the cartridge to Final Fantasy VI. Yugi looked at it curiously, having never played the game before, or any others in the series.

 

“I thought we could play some Final Fantasy. Sith says it's a good game,” Ryou replied, as Yugi's eyes lit up, “It's supposed to be multiplayer, I think.” Yugi nodded, and another knock sounded at the door as Malik came in carefully, bringing with him a suitcase and his backpack. Ryou and Yugi both eyed him suspiciously; either he was running away or he was moving in with one of them, and conveniently never told them. Ryou knew it was the latter, just like he knew Sith's reaction when she'd find out.

 

“Malik, are you running away?” Yugi asked, amused. Malik bit his lip and shook his head, putting his stuff down.

 

“No. Ishizu's out of control. She threw Ishtar and I out of the house for the rest of the week,” Malik replied, “Ryou, I hate to ask, but can I crash here for a bit?” Ryou sighed, imagining Sith's complete disapproval again, but he couldn't leave Malik in the cold. After all, Malik was one of his best friends, and whether Sith would admit it, Katt wouldn't leave him out there, either. He nodded.

 

“All right, but it might not go well with Sith,” Ryou reminded him carefully, “She and Katt argue much more when you're around.” Malik laughed, knowing that was absolutely true. Ryou smiled, and Malik clapped his back, laughing at the statement.

 

“I'll try not to annoy Sith so much,” Malik said, grinning at the end, “You might want to keep her out of Katt's room after dark, though.” Ryou's eyes widened, and he blushed furiously as he understood what Malik meant. He could smell the flames burning his house as Sith set it on fire in his mind, having found out that Malik was staying. His eye twitched at the thought, knowing that if Sith was angry enough, nothing would stop her. And, his expression must've been obvious, for Malik gave another hearty laugh. Ryou frowned. He had to make his boundaries clear: Pissing Sith off wasn't a good one to cross.

 

“Malik, if you sleep with Katt, Sith's going to kill you,” Ryou said quickly, looking at the blonde boy, “And then she'll kill me for letting you stay here.” Malik stopped laughing as much and wiped a tear away, still grinning. He didn't expect much less, especially from an older sister, but there was absolutely nothing she could do about it. For that matter, Ryou's efforts were pretty much wasted, too.

 

“She's a little late for that,” Malik said, and Ryou's eyes got even bigger. Malik shivered as he saw Ryou's mortification turn to fury, and decided to change the subject immediately as he asked, “So, what're we doing?” Ryou twitched again. He didn't like that Malik was purposely avoiding that subject after spilling the beans, but for the sake of sanity, and having a good time, he humored his friend.

 

“We're going to play a video game,” Ryou said slowly, his mind still focused on what Malik had told him, which he knew he could never relay to Sith unless he wanted a death wish. Malik nodded, narrowing his eyes in amusement at how cautiously Ryou was speaking. At first, he wondered if Sith might've actually been close by, but there had been no signs of her. He glanced at the stairs, half expecting her to rush down and spear him with her sword, but he was disappointed. He raised a brow.

 

“Where is Sith and Katt, anyway?” he asked, “I'd like to tell them I'm staying here.”

 

“Katt's at the mall with Tea,” Ryou said blandly, crossing his arms as he handed the game to Yugi, “As for Sith, she's at work. She has to train two new workers that Pierre hired for Flamenco's.” Malik nodded, grinning at the fact that he would be able to live for at least a few more hours until Sith had come home.

 

“So Pierre did give her the job back?” Yugi asked, and when Ryou nodded, he said, “Good! I mean, Yami kind of misses working with her, but we're both glad she's doing well.” Ryou nodded. He knew Yami had always taken care of his friendship with Sith, and though he hated giving her up, Yami had also known Sith preferred to be a waitress rather than selling cards. He gladly let her leave so she could get the job she wanted. Malik didn't appear to listen to that, though. He looked around again, this time searching for something else.

 

“So then where's Bakura?” he inquired, “Did he get jailed again?” Ryou snorted, and then shook his head. The thought would be amusing, but thankfully, Bakura hadn't caused too much trouble… at least, not yet.

 

“No. I won't be surprised if he manages to be jailed soon, but for now, he's not,” Ryou replied, “But he's working toward another shotgun, and we all know how that works out. Whenever he starts ranting and shooting at birds, a cop either arrests him, or Sith finds a way to break his gun. You'd think he'd learn his lesson by now.” Malik laughed and shook his head as well, recalling the many times Bakura had gotten into trouble. The most hysterical by far was when Bakura actually managed to crash one of Kaiba's many parties, albeit an out-of-control one.

 

“No. This IS Bakura, after all,” Malik replied, “He won't learn anything until he gets himself… re-killed by it.” Ryou laughed, and as Malik walked over to the PS2, he said, “So, are we going to play or should we stand around gossiping?” Ryou's lips thinned with annoyance, as Malik really was the one that had distracted them in the first place. Sighing, he turned to Yugi, who was looking at the game cover, admiring the artwork.

 

“Do you want to do the honors?” Ryou asked. Yugi nodded and popped the game into the machine as Ryou hooked up two controllers, taking the first one for himself. Malik grabbed the second one and sat down as the game itself loaded. They were greeted with a very creepy organ solo, along with crashes of thunder as the game title appeared on the television.

 

“How many players is it?” Yugi asked, sitting next to Malik as they watched the opening credits. Ryou looked at the back of the box, reading the features it contained.

 

“Two-player. We'll need to take turns,” he replied, loading up his game file when he was prompted. He had only been playing for thirty minutes game time, and he paled when he saw that Sith's file managed over forty hours. He would never catch up with her. When the game loaded, he went into the configuration menu and made it so that Malik could play with him. He set Malik to play as Locke, and he himself took the girl, Terra.

 

“So, what do we do?” Malik asked, pressing the directional buttons, making Locke move in random directions. Ryou looked up, trying to remember what he last did on the game, but he hadn't played in a while. This was one time he wished he could call Sith; she would probably know. But then again, this wasn't something he couldn't figure out on his own. He blushed in slight embarrassment.

 

“Well, I think I left the first town already, so I think we head toward… I can't remember the name, but the only way to go is south, so let's do that,” he suggested, feeling the words had been obvious. Malik nodded, though he didn't actually know what to do. He made their characters head south until the screen flashed, prompting the battle music. And because only Ryou had played Final Fantasy, only he expected the battle music that ensued.

 

“What the hell!?” Malik exclaimed, having never actually played a video game in his life. Ryou snickered at the sheer exasperation in Malik, and Yugi actually just started laughing. Malik glared at them both, wondering just what the hell he did that was so amusing. To him, this was an entirely new thing to get used to. To him, they were being assholes.

 

“Relax. It's just a random encounter,” Ryou replied, but when Malik still looked completely perplexed, he said, “We have to kill those monsters to continue.” Malik nodded, narrowing his eyes and grinning wickedly. Ryou didn't comment on the fact that he looked just about as insane as Ishtar was. He didn't even want to know what Malik was grinning about.

 

“Fine. Let's banish them,” Malik said, but when he found that all Locke could do was attack, he yelled, “How the hell do you banish these things!?” Yugi wanted to laugh again, but a quick shake of Ryou's head told him not to. Ryou simply glanced at Malik.

 

“You don't. You have to attack,” he replied calmly, pressing a button so that Terra attacked a small rabbit-like monster, killing it, “There's no way to banish anything on this game.” Malik's mouth slanted.

 

“Good thing Bakura and Ishtar aren't here to play,” he grumbled, as he made Locke attack, “They hate games where you can't kill in one blow.” Ryou nodded, knowing fully that Bakura hated most of the games Sith played, simply because he couldn't set everything on fire without at least something surviving the battle. As the screen switched over to the world map, Yugi stood up.

 

“Ryou, I'm going to get some soda, okay?” Yugi asked, and when Ryou nodded, smiling at him, he walked into the kitchen. Malik put down his controller and stood up as well.

 

“I'm going to get something to drink as well. I'll be back,” he stated. Ryou nodded, and Malik followed Yugi to the kitchen. He waited patiently. Malik was the first one back, with Yugi close behind carrying two cans of soda, but when they reached the living room, no one was in there. Malik raised a slender brow again, looking around to be absolutely sure Ryou wasn't hiding on them. But again, he wasn't there. Which was wrong. No one had heard him move, and though he was always quiet, they'd have heard him going up the stairs or outside. Both boys frowned as they realized this.

 

“Ryou, where are you?” Yugi called, but Ryou didn't respond. Malik clenched his fists and ran through the first floor, shouting Ryou's name. That did about as well as Yugi's idea. Ryou still didn't respond. Malik came back to the living room, and looked at Yugi seriously.

 

“He's not here, and we would've heard if he went up the stairs,” he stated grimly, “Do you think he ran outside?” Yugi glanced out the window for a second; there was snow on the ground, and the wind was blowing a thin mist of the white abomination through the city. In Yugi's mind, if Ryou did go out there, he was an idiot. But Yugi was too nice to say that. He turned back to Malik.

 

“Why would he? It's freezing out there!” he exclaimed, shivering at the mere thought, “But we'd better go look, just in case. I'll turn the game off.” Walking over, Yugi tried to switch off the PS2, but it didn't shut down. It seemed to be frozen in place. Another bad sign. Biting his lip, and afraid to actually say what a bad sign that was, Yugi said, “…Malik, I can't shut it off.” Malik raised a worried eyebrow, and walked over, pressing the button. To him, shutting anything down was a simple task. Even Joey understood how that worked. But, as if to prove him wrong, the game station didn't power down in any way. He wanted to curse.

 

“Damn it, shut down!” Malik said angrily, and then turned to Yugi, “This thing is possessed! Do you think somehow, it dragged Ryou into it?” Yugi gave Malik a very odd stare, wondering just how that could actually happen, but there was no other explanation he could conceive of. Well, no other one that he wanted to state. He took a deep breath.

 

“If it did, we're in trouble,” Yugi said, “Sith's going to slaughter us if she finds out Ryou's missing. What do we do?” Malik looked around frantically for any ideas, but he didn't want to unplug the machine in case it did something to the electrical supply. Finally, he reached an idea, even if it was a rather destructive one. He turned to Yugi again.

 

“Go find a bat,” he said grimly, “I'm going to dismantle this machine my own way.” Yugi nodded and ran to the coat closet. No bats existed, nor did he think Malik could successfully lift a vacuum cleaner, so he closed it and went to another closet in the kitchen. This time, he found a sturdy, solid wooden bat, and handed it to Malik.

 

“Make sure it cracks!” Yugi exclaimed. Malik nodded, and swung the bat over his head.

 

“DIE, YOU SOUL-STEALING FIEND FROM HELL!” Malik roared, whacking the PS2 over and over with the bat, which slowly began to splinter from the force Malik was using. Eventually, the bat broke, sending splinters of wood flying everywhere, but the PS2 was completely unharmed. Yugi stared at it, wide-eyed, as Malik glared angrily, wishing the machine would blow up with just a look. Both of them knew very well that anything so delicate really should've been destroyed by then.

 

“Now what!?” Yugi cried. Malik huffed angrily as he threw the broken bat down. Physical force just wasn't working for him. He needed something with firepower, and he knew the one person who'd have it. Albeit, illegally.

 

“Go into Bakura's room and get anything heavy or explosive,” Malik commanded, “One of them has to work. If blunt trauma won't do anything, a nice hack `n slash or a shooting should take care of it.” Yugi nodded, and ran up the stairs as Malik relayed every curse in his language that he could remember. Yugi opened the door into Bakura's room, surprised to find that it was much cleaner than he would've expected. He laughed as he thought about Sith constantly nagging Bakura to clean up. He ran inside, and looked around. Books upon books lined Bakura's shelves, as did various tools and artifacts that Yugi had never seen before. But he saw no weapons.

 

“Oh, come on. I know Bakura has something dangerous in here!” Yugi cried, looking at the desk, “Aha!” He spotted an old, unpolished musket on the desk, which he guessed Bakura either conned or simply stole from a collector. He grabbed it, praying that it was loaded. It definitely felt heavy enough. Leaving the room, he ran down the stairs and into the living room, but Malik was nowhere in sight either.

 

“Malik!?” Yugi called, “Malik, I got the gun! Seriously, where are you!?” He glanced around, but Malik was nowhere in the room, nor did he hear anything from the kitchen or the bathroom. Finally, he eyed the PS2, which was still running as he said, “It… it got them both!” Frantically, he ran into the kitchen, hoping that they were hiding somewhere, but no one was around. Yugi even went so far as to look in the basement, but found nothing except a small room that was used for washing clothes. Yugi ran back through the kitchen and into the living room, glaring at the PS2.

 

“You did this! I know you did!” Yugi yelled, aiming the musket, “I'm going to kill you! Yami won't approve, but I don't need his approval to murder something! Die, you evil pile of data!” Yugi pulled the trigger and proceeded to pelt the PS2 with hails of bullets, but not even that seemed to be affecting it as it flashed. Finally, Yugi dropped the gun, shielding his eyes against the bright light. He could barely see that it was emitting from the PS2 itself, but before he could even ponder on how to stop it, darkness overcame him as he felt himself being sucked into another dimension.

 

It felt like an eternity later when all three boys began to wake up out of their trances, but as they looked around, they realized they were no longer in Ryou's house, or even in Domino City altogether. They sat outside in a large, vast field just outside of a forest. Ryou saw tiny rabbits hopping along, glancing at them and then sprinting away when he looked back. The air smelled fresh, but something still worried Ryou despite the peace. He looked at his friends, and then himself, realizing that they no longer wore their normal clothing. Yugi was in a small suit of iron armor, carrying a small sword across his back. Malik was in a blue tunic with black pants and hiking boots, but all that adorned him for weapons were gloves on his fists. Ryou himself was in leather armor, and he brandished a long, pulsing gun. His eyes widened; he didn't want to know just what the hell had happened.

 

“Where are we?” he asked, “Where is my house, and why're we dressed like this?” He tried to get up, but found that he couldn't move. Yugi and Malik were the same way, proven when Malik grunted as he tried to stand up, unable to move. Glancing up, they all saw a large screen hanging from the sky, but inside that screen simply depicted Ryou's living room. Or, what was in front of the television. And to his dismay, Ryou saw that no one else was around.

 

“What the hell is going on?” Malik whispered. Ryou looked down grimly, finally understanding what was happening. They had been sucked into his video game, or, what was more likely, another world. And he hated it. That meant one inevitable thing: something was behind this, and that something would be trying to kill him. He frowned; his very first thought went to the blonde man. And then to a Mystic. Not wanting to freak his friends out, he stuck to just the bare facts.

 

“We're stuck in the game,” he said emotionlessly, wishing that he had just stayed in bed that morning, “And we can't move because no one is using the controller.” Yugi's eyes watered, but Malik didn't appear to understand the problem as he laughed.

 

“Cool! This is just like Kaiba's virtual games, aren't they?” Malik asked, and Ryou shook his head, which made Malik's enthusiasm drop like a brick.

 

“No. This is bad, Malik,” Ryou replied grimly, “In Kaiba's game, our minds are transferred as data. We wouldn't die if we were in his game. But this one? Our bodies were sucked into this game. If we die here, I'm going to bet we actually die.” Malik's eyes widened in horror at the thought. He had a lot to live for, and he didn't want to wind up dead before he could even move out of his house. He wanted to find whoever was responsible and destroy them, if anyone had caused this. But, there was nothing he could do. All three of them were frozen solid.

 

“How do we get out?” Yugi asked, after they each thought about how to right their situation.

 

“My father's asleep, but if we yell, he might be able to hear us,” Ryou suggested. Yugi seemed to agree, but Malik simply stared at Ryou as though he had suggested they perform Seppuku on themselves.

 

“Are you crazy!? That'll never work!” Malik exclaimed, but when Ryou glared, he added, “It's all we have, though. Let's hope our voices can carry it.” Nodding, the three of them filled their lungs with as much air as they could, bellowing as loudly as they could, but to no avail. Yaten didn't appear to hear them, and after an hour, they were forced to stop when their throats began to get sore. However, to their luck, Sith entered the house, along with two other girls Ryou didn't recognize. He guessed they were her new co-workers, though, for they also had the same waitress suits Sith was wearing.

 

“Ryou, I'm home,” Sith said kindly, taking off her coat, “Ryou?” She noticed the television, and her game, was on, but she ignored it for the moment as she walked through the first floor, calling for Ryou's name. When she came back with still no signs, she said, “Ryou, if you don't come out this instant, I'm going to burn your dinner.” Inside the game, Ryou's lips thinned with absolute dislike for the threat. Nothing was worse than Sith's cooking when burnt; it tended to make whoever ate it ill. But he knew he couldn't ignore her. He took a deep breath, and spoke to her.

 

“Sith, I'm in here,” he said weakly. Sith blinked, looking for where the voice had come, but she saw nothing of him in the room. He coughed, and finally, she turned to the television, where the voice had originated from. There, Ryou sat on the ground in pixilated sprites. Sith's eyes widened, and she walked as close as she could, leaning in as close as she could toward the screen.

 

“Ryou!?” she asked, “How did you… get in there?” Carefully, the three explained what had happened. Ryou's plans, the game, their sudden disappearance, their frantic attacks on the machine, and then when they woke up. Sith listened intently, but when they were done, the only thing she could say was, “You were brought to another world. And that playstation was used to do it.” Ryou frowned. He knew it. He had known the instant he woke up, and he wanted to rip his hair out from it, too. He looked away, not wanting Sith to even sense that.

 

“You don't think it's another attack, do you?” he asked. Sith sighed. She didn't want to tell him what she truly thought, but she knew hiding it was far worse. She closed her eyes for only a minute, opening them when she gave a grim nod.

 

“…yes, Ryou. Unfortunately, I do,” she replied, frowning, “But don't worry. I'm going to get you out. We'll sort this out before anything terrible happens,” she turned to one of the girls and said, “Hana, come here and help me. You have a bit of knowledge on this game, don't you?” Hana, who was the slightly shorter of the two girls, nodded and walked over.

 

“A little bit,” she said, and then looked at Ryou, “I'm Hana, by the way. I work with Sith in Flamenco's. That's Sephira over there. Nice to meet you.” Ryou nodded, smiling weakly. This wasn't exactly the time to be introducing himself to her friends, but Ryou didn't want to be rude. And, neither did Sith.

 

“A pleasure,” Ryou replied. He looked up at Sith, but her expression told him now wasn't the time to make friends. And he knew she was right. He also knew she didn't need to say `we have to get moving' for him to understand that. He also knew he didn't need to say `then move us' for her to do it. A whole argument between them passed in just a moment, inside their minds, before Sith began to move Ryou, and the others, to where they had to go.

 

“So, where do we go?” Malik asked, as they walked through the small forest. Though Sith couldn't see it, many of the small birds and rabbits looked at the group, and scurried off before they could initiate a fight. Ryou didn't blame them. He knew if he were them, he'd rather be a coward than be dead. Sith considered Malik's question as she continued to move them, not particularly worried at the lack of monsters roaming around.

 

“South of where you are is the kingdom of Figaro,” she replied calmly, “I'm not sure what could be there now that you're in the game, but originally, there is a lot of plot exposition there. What my guess is, to get you all out, we need to beat this game.”

 

“Who do we have to kill?” Yugi asked, as they entered a barren desert. Sand whipped up around them, obscuring their view, but to Sith, she simply led them perfectly through the desert; she couldn't see the sandstorm, and though Ryou was glad for that, he was just a little jealous of that, too. He'd rather have been in the dead of winter, in his comfy house. Sith herself just took a deep breath.

 

“The main villain is named Kefka,” she explained sternly, “Clichéd as it is, he's trying to take over the world, and the main point is to stop him. I just wish I could transfer the data over, because my file is very close to the end of the game.” Ryou nodded, remembering how long her game time recorded onto her file. He suddenly felt very glad that she was playing, because she obviously had known what to do, unless those forty hours were spent overleveling her characters while she blundered with the plot. Malik, however, snickered. Not for the same thoughts Ryou had, though, something Ryou was happy for. Sith would've been horribly offended if Malik laughed at her.

 

“Kefka? The man's name is Kefka?” Malik asked, laughing, “That has got to be the worst name I have ever heard. I almost feel sorry for him!” Sith narrowed her eyes as she straightened her glasses, frowning. Ryou suddenly felt that Sith would've been insulted anyway; even if Malik wasn't laughing at her, he wasn't taking this seriously, and she definitely was.

 

“If you don't want to, I'll shut the game off,” she threatened, though she only meant it to be a joke. Ryou screamed. He didn't find it funny in the least.

 

“Sith! No! Please!” Ryou pleaded, his eyes wide with terror. Normally, Sith wouldn't even threaten to put him in such danger, but if her anger was high enough… he knew she'd back the threat in a moment of irritation. But her flat look told him she wasn't actually serious about it.

 

“Ryou, it was a joke,” she said, “I would never put you all in such danger like that. Now, let's get this over with. I've played this game enough to know the plot by heart.” Turning to Hana, who nodded, Sith resumed playing. Ryou was forced to go south at Sith's command, but if anything, their newest adventure was the last thing on Ryou's mind at the moment, and the last thing he wanted to even think about. Silently, he ranted on about his adventure, and out loud, he simply said one thing.

 

“Can't we go for a year without being dragged into danger?” He looked up, and noticed Sith looking at him gravely. Obviously, that just hurt her feelings a little. Even if he didn't say it, he knew magic was the reason for this. Sith was magic. Suddenly, Ryou no longer wanted to know the answer to his question. He just wanted to go home.

 

-----------------------------(End Chapter)

 

And so, what Ryou hoped to be a normal day with his friends ended up being turned into a new, whacky adventure that nearly cost him his life! But, with Sith, who has proven herself to be a great gamer against Bakura on Ryou's side, does he still stand a chance? What of her two co-workers? Can they be of assistance? And what exposition will they find in Figaro? Find out next chapter, so click that Review button!