Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction ❯ Ryou Bakura: Game Master! ❯ Mystic Number Three: Falnika the Wicked ( Chapter 2 )

DISCLAIMER: I don't own YGO or Final Fantasy 6. Takahashi and SquareSoft do respectively, and neither approve of Ryou being in it.

 

The trip hadn't been too long. As Sith led them down the southern path, through the sparse forests, plains, and eventually through a huge desert toward their next destination, Ryou saw that it really hadn't taken long to get there. And he thought that was probably a good thing. For, the sooner they did get out, the sooner they could figure out what trapped them there in the first place. During their walk, he hadn't wanted to tell Sith what his fears concerning this was: that something else had come to play a game against her. But the deeper they went, the stronger the fear actually became. And he was assuming Sith could help him, too. As soon as the castle came into view, Ryou heard Sith arguing with someone. And when he looked up, he saw she was. Hana was trying to move Ryou's team elsewhere, defending with the fact that they needed to level up. But Sith, who technically should've been in charge, argued that the sooner they were out of the game, the better it was. Ryou wasn't entirely sure who he should be agreeing with on that one; both women had incredibly valid points. And it did look like Sith was losing, too.

 

“Hana, give me that controller. I've played this game, I know how it works,” the Esper growled. Hana had snatched her controller away from her, despite that the game was on two-player mode, and despite that it was still Sith's house and she was allowed to be first player. Hana simply scoffed, keeping the controller away from Sith's outstretched hand. Which was, in Ryou's opinion, not a smart idea.

 

“No! Ryou and the others need to level up, and you're not doing anything about it!” Hana yelled back, “If he dies, it's your fault!” Ryou raised his hand inside the TV, hoping that anything he said might be able to break up their argument and make them return to the game. Only Sith seemed to notice his tiny movement, and only when he spoke did they both actually acknowledge him.

 

“I'd like to point out that this is actually my game, so it's my fault,” he reminded them, nervously. Both women turned toward the television, both glaring at him. He shrank back, not knowing which one to be more afraid of. Hana's eyes looked cold, her shoulders stiff with rage, but Sith's eyes were red, and her ears had lowered a great deal. Both looked ready to snap and kill the other.

 

“Shut up!” Hana yelled to him as Sith said, “Silence, Ryou!” Then, realizing that both had screamed at him at the same time, scaring him even further, they turned back to each other, both furious with the other. Sith, unfortunately for Hana, was a much faster speaker; she got the next word in.

 

“Don't you dare talk to Ryou like that,” Sith growled furiously, her eyes narrowing even more. Hana reeled back, her eyes widened, unable to believe Sith, of all people, would say that to her. She just did the same damn thing! Even Ryou was a little surprised at Sith for that.

 

“Hey! You yelled at him too!” Hana cried in defense, throwing her arms up. Ryou silently laughed, knowing that such a statement rarely had any effect on how Sith treated him, and he hardly thought Hana could convince her now when even his father failed to do so. Not that she treated him badly; mostly, she just pointed out very bluntly when she didn't like what anyone else did. That was becoming more frequent lately, too. Sith simply raised an eyebrow, wondering just what Hana was aiming for.

 

“He's my fiancé. And he's my friend. If I want to tell him to shut his mouth, I certainly will,” Sith replied, crossing her arms. Hana's frown deepened, as everyone looked at Sith in either amusement or confusion. That was something everyone was used to. Mainly because she did it so often. Finally, though, Malik had to stress that they needed to keep going. He threw a tiny pixel rock at the screen, and Sith turned toward him.

 

“As much as I love to see you two kill each other over all of us, we have to beat this game, don't we?” he reminded her. Sith looked down, knowing he was right, but before she could actually react, Sephira bent down and picked up the first controller, prompting a glare from Sith. Sephira simply ignored her, however.

 

“Leave it to me!” the young girl exclaimed cheerfully, pressing whatever button she felt without actually knowing what she was doing. Ryou spun around, unable to know just where he was going, and soon, he felt as though he would be sick as circles appeared above his head. Sith's eye twitched, and finally, she stopped her friend.

 

“Sephira, stop!” she said sternly, “You're making him sick!” Which wouldn't have made much difference if she hadn't done a damn thing. Ryou had already thrown up, and right all over one of the guards. Sith stared in complete disbelief, and when the guard began to chase Ryou, anger getting the better of him, she glared at Sephira again. In her mind, this wouldn't have happened if she played solo. Only the sound of all three boys yelling caught her attention again as she turned sharply to the screen.

 

“SITH!” they all screamed, as the guard finally caught them, initiating a battle. Cursing in a language Ryou could only assume as the Esper language, Sith took the second controller before Hana could stop her. Since Yugi's agility was so high, he moved first, and he was who Sith happened to be controlling. She was about to decide when Ryou shot Yugi with his gun. Sephira gasped at the sight, but Sith simply frowned. She expected that, and it was clear only she alone had expected it. Even Malik looked up at her in terror at what happened.

 

“Why did he do that!? I didn't give him that command!” Sephira cried frantically, pressing buttons as though something had actually happened. Unfortunately, all she managed was to waste Malik's turn. Sith clenched her fists, praying for patience as she turned back toward Sephira.

 

“He's afflicted with `confusion,” she replied simply, “Because of your actions. And unless we cure it, he'll continue attacking whatever target he can until the battle is over.” Sephira blinked, understanding just what that meant. She started feeling bad for not letting Sith lead, as now they had a problem: Ryou might actually kill everyone.

 

“How do we cure it?” she asked. Sith said nothing, rather she had Yugi simply use a Remedy on Ryou, which cured him. Then, when his turn came back, Sephira had Ryou attack the guard, and he managed to score a critical hit, thusly ending their first battle. Sephira and Hana both cheered, but Sith didn't look nearly as thrilled about it. Ryou didn't blame her. He could've really killed everyone if she hadn't taken the controller. He wanted to pat her shoulder, but they were in different worlds now, which only made them both that much more annoyed with the situation.

 

“Sith, should we continue on?” he asked, looking up at her. She nodded, closing her eyes as she allowed herself a minute to calm down. The screen switched back to the world, and the guard's sprite seemed to vanish. Ryou wasn't surprised by that. He probably actually killed the man. Sith opened her eyes and nodded, looking at Ryou.

 

“We should. Let's go,” she said grimly, pushing the UP button. Ryou smiled gently, walking upwards toward a set of two doors. None of the guards stopped him, though they did look very worried for their dead friend; Ryou guessed they were probably worried he'd kill them, too. Gently, he opened the two doors, and while the hallways were still visible, something creeping along the walls blurred, and some of the tiles were missing, as though the castle had fallen apart on the inside and hadn't been fixed. Ryou raised a brow, but when he heard Sith gasp, his initial curiosity became fear. Nothing generally took Sith by surprise, but this had. Which meant something was wrong.

 

“Um… what's going on?” Malik asked, looking around as white swirls appeared when they stepped into the hall, “Sith, what're all these numbers?” As he spoke, numbers and letters, as well as other symbols, scrolled through the screens. Sith, in sheer horror, recognized them all to be binary and codes to the game that made it possible to play. Or for the game to be working at all. Even Ryou could tell what that meant. Something was destroying the game. And Sith's answer confirmed it.

 

“Those are the codes that make the game work,” she whispered, and Hana looked at her seriously, her words sparking their fear, “This game… it appears to be corrupted. We have to get out. Now.” Eyebrows furrowing with determination, Sith pressed the O and DOWN buttons, making Ryou run down the hall. It was excruciating for him; every step he took felt like something was being ripped from his body. Upon his third cry, Sith had to stop. She didn't know what was happening, but she knew when she was hurting him.

 

“Sith, stop! I… it feels like I'm being slashed to pieces!” Ryou cried in agony. Sith's eyes hardened critically, looking into Ryou's watered ones, and she looked in the menu screen. Ryou, Malik, and Yugi each were in critical condition, none having more than 6 HP left. But that wasn't their only problem now, as Sith investigated the jumbled names. Or at least tried to.

 

“What in the seven levels…” Sith started, looking through the Item menu, “What in hell is this?” As she looked, none of the names of anything were the same. They were replaced with symbols no one could begin to guess. The magic menu was the same, even though she knew only Ryou had one spell. But even so, she didn't recognize it at all, and it was one she couldn't use. Fear gripped her, as Hana looked at the screen. Unless she could understand the code for the items themselves, she couldn't heal any of them.

 

“Should we go get a guide and see what's wrong?” Hana asked, placing a hand on Sith's shaking shoulder. Sith turned to face her, and nodded. In actuality, she didn't know just what a guide could do about something like this, but anything had to help them. She highly doubted the internet would have answers to problems this bad. Hana withdrew, as Sith looked absolutely terrified, something that everyone in the room rarely ever saw. It made them even more fearful. Still shaking, Sith looked down at the PS2.

 

“…yes. I'd suggest getting another disc, but we can't risk deleting Ryou and the others,” Sith replied after a minute of thought, “But where can we find one? This game is quite old, at least by ten years. I doubt they sell guides for it.” Frustrated, she gripped her skirt. Yugi, however, smiled, and Ryou looked over at him, wondering just what the boy saw that was making him so happy.

 

“I think my grandpa has a guide for this game somewhere! I saw one for Final Fantasy in the back room. Think it'll help?” Yugi asked. Sith was about to explain that the guides were very specific, but Sephira jumped up happily, stopping her instantly.

 

“Then Hana and I can go and get it!” she exclaimed, clapping Hana on the shoulder, who gave her a slight look of annoyance, “Sith, will you be okay by yourself?” Sith snorted, raising a brow. If anything, being alone would make the ordeal go faster, but she knew saying that would offend them both. She sighed, forcing a smile. It looked convincing, but Ryou knew better. He could sense her unhappiness.

 

“Yes. I'm an expert at RPGs, and this series in particular,” Sith replied, standing up, “I'll focus on getting as far as I can, and you both go and find this guide. They should have troubleshooting problems.” What she didn't tell them was that should was the key word. Most guides didn't. But they wanted to help her, and she really couldn't risk them nearly killing Ryou again. Ryou knew what she was planning, and neither Yugi nor Malik were any the wiser about it. Hana and Sephira turned to leave at that point, and Malik wanted to wish them farewell.

 

“G0..d l$ck g!rl…sss…” he said, his words coming out completely garbled. Sith's eyes widened. That was even worse. Her skin paling in absolute horror, she turned back to the door. Unfortunately, Sephira just vanished through it. Sith took a deep breath, hoping her voice could carry enough for either of them to hear her.

 

“Damn it… GIRLS, HURRY AS FAST AS YOU CAN!” Sith replied, and the door closed quickly, which meant they had heard her, which relieved her. She turned back to the game, and said, “Ryou, I'm sorry… this is going to hurt.” With that, she held the O button for dear life as Ryou began to dash towards the throne room door, ignoring the pixels as they rearranged themselves, and trying to ignore the noise that told her Ryou was close to dying. He burst through the doors, and both he and Sith were relieved to find that anything that was happening in the hall ceased to be in the throne room. The only thing wrong was the lack of NPCs. But for right now, that could wait. She had to heal her friends quickly, which she did.

 

“So, what happened back there?” Malik asked, after she healed them with whatever potions she had. Sith just looked down, trying to think of a way to explain. She didn't know, either. She had never encountered this problem in any game she had ever played, but she had her own theories, and she knew they wouldn't like any of them. Besides, her own theory involved some very powerful spells, some she doubted even Bahamut himself owned.

 

“I'm not sure. I wish I could say for certain that it's the game being so old, but something else… is making me think otherwise,” she replied darkly. Ryou should've known that'd be her answer, and silently cursed himself for thinking it could be otherwise. Cautiously, Sith moved Ryou up towards the thrones, but she didn't see either Kefka or the original King of Figuro there. She didn't know if she should be surprised at that, but what did shock her was who she did see. A cloaked figure was sitting on the throne, and though Sith didn't trust whoever it was, she had no choice but to speak to them. She led Ryou up to the throne and pressed the button that allowed him to speak.

 

“I've been waiting for you…” Sith instantly regretted doing that. The figure just smiled, and though she couldn't see the figure's body under the cloak, she had a feeling it was female. And possibly no older than herself, while looking no younger than Ryou. Her ears stiffened in warning, and Ryou wasn't hesitant to share that warning.

 

“W-waiting for us? That's not good…” Malik said, lowering his head. The woman laughed, and floated off of her throne. Her movement reminded Sith of something familiar, and equally as dangerous, but she couldn't yet place her tongue on it. Simply, she let the conversation continue. Hopefully, whoever this was would slip up and tell her who she was.

 

“How do you like what I've done to your game?” the woman simply asked, her voice as sweet as honey. Hopefully now, Sith would find a way to kill her. It wasn't an actual identification, but it was damn well good enough for her. As an FMV played, depicting everyone beautifully, Sith stood up furiously, thrusting her arm out, one finger pointing shakily at the screen. Her eyes flashed red.

 

“You… you have done this? Why!?” Sith demanded forcefully, her eyes narrowing angrily, “Answer me this instant! Did you trap Ryou in here!?” The woman simply looked at Sith, and then sneered, nodding. Her hood hid most of her face, but Ryou guessed she was on the verge of laughing at Sith. If he didn't know that Sith would rip this woman to shreds for what happened, he'd have found the woman brave. Or just really, really stupid.

 

“Yes. You see, everyone now knows of Ryou's magic,” the woman stated simply, “And as the general of our race, dear Winchester, I intend to take it and harness it.” Sith's eyes widened, but Ryou didn't understand what was actually being said. He knew he could sense things, but that wasn't magic that anyone knew about, save for Sith. He looked at the woman.

 

“My magic…?” It hit Ryou onto what this creature meant, “Er… what do you mean, magic?” Malik glanced at him, and Ryou quickly willed that he was going to lie his way out of trouble for now. The woman looked at him with amusement, and then grinned coldly. Ryou's blood felt frozen, and even Sith was on edge from such a wicked look. The woman stepped forward, and Ryou realized that she wouldn't let him lie his way out of this. She knew of his power. But, Sith didn't, and all hell would break loose once she did.

 

“Oh, please don't tell me you haven't yet noticed your power,” the woman said, laughing, “You don't understand the power you share with that creature over there? Ryou… when her magic disappeared, some of it seated itself in you.” Ryou's eyes widened, and he felt like he may have been dying. He looked up, and saw Sith was mortified with what she had heard. She looked down at Ryou, eyes wide with shock. He didn't expect her to look afraid, and it was a much more painful result than her flying off the handle for hiding it.

 

“Ryou… is this true?” Sith whispered, her voice so broken that Ryou barely recognized it to be her. Malik and Yugi looked at him, and he hung his head. Gently, he exuded a blue aura to Sith, who gasped. She recognized it to be a weak trace of the spell `Weislager.' She closed her mouth, her breath sounding so ragged when she breathed in. Ryou couldn't look at her. He knew she was upset.

 

“Yes,” he replied calmly, “Sith, I'm… I'm sorry. I didn't want it… I thought that if I ignored it, it would go away, but…” Ryou started to shake as tears threatened to leave his eyes. He recalled his first use of her fireball spell, by pure accident three weeks before. He had singed his curtains, and vowed never to use his magic; he didn't want to replace everything he owned, and he was sure it'd go away with neglect… except that it never did. Sith's shoulders lowered for a moment, and then she smiled gently. It was such a sad smile, and so weak. Ryou felt like crying. She looked like she was in pain when she smiled like that, which she never did. Almost never.

 

“Ryou… it'll be all right,” Sith replied softly, and Ryou nodded, sniffling. She turned back to the woman, her ears regaining their stiffness as she said, “I do not care for you, your origin, or your status among the Mystics. I will never let you take Ryou away. All before you have failed, and I'll make sure you die as painful a death as well.” Ryou sighed with relief, Sith's usual threats bringing comfort to his mind. However, the woman seemed undaunted by Sith's efforts. In fact, she seemed almost happy to hear that.

 

“…Winchester,” the woman said, a hint of warmness to her voice, “Ah, yes, we all remember you. So, it seems that Esper law isn't conducive to… you now, is it? Well, no matter. We will take Ryou away from your possessive grip, just like we took the last human you cared about away.” Sith's eyes turned to angry slits, flashing red again as she slammed the television screen with her fists. Ryou was terrified the glass would break under her fury, but it held. Both the glass and Sith's rage held.

 

“Last… human… possessive grip…” Sith mumbled, and Ryou wondered just what this crazy woman was getting to, before Sith lost it and screamed, “HOW DARE YOU SAY THAT TO ME!” Malik and Yugi both shook from the force of her voice, but neither Ryou nor the woman were moved to terror in any way. Ryou, simply because he was worried about Sith and what happened to spark such anger, and the woman, because she was aiming to hurt Sith, for reasons Ryou couldn't understand. He'd have to remember to either ask Sith herself about it, or to beat it out of what he knew would be his next enemy. The woman merely snorted at Sith's outrage.

 

“Spout all that you wish,” she said cruelly, “My point is that, by doing this, I've made you virtually useless to Ryou's survival. He does not need you, and you cannot help him!” Sith's fists clenched, as she forced herself to calm down. She wanted to slaughter the woman, to slaughter the machine, but in doing so, she would only be furthering the woman's point. And she'd kill Ryou. Neither would benefit her in any way.

 

“What do you mean?” Yugi asked, drawing his blade. His eyebrows furrowed angrily, and Ryou knew he was just as insulted as Sith was; he had grown to look up to Sith as a sister, and never took well to seeing her in pain. The woman looked at him, and then laughed, waving her arm around the entire chamber. There was nothing that seemed overly out of place for them to look at, but Ryou had a feeling that wasn't her point.

 

“Look around, you fools!” she exclaimed psychotically, “You're in a new world, a video game, unable to even move without outside help! And without that creature by your side, you're powerless against me! All she can do is lead you farther into the path of death! For once you face me… it'll be over, and Ryou… will finally be ours for the taking.” Sith gritted her teeth, and Ryou felt her fury go past its previous limits. He felt fire inside of his stomach, and urged her to calm herself. But her mind was snapped shut from his instantly.

 

“Harm Ryou in any way, and I swear on the grace of Bahamut himself that I will come and kill you. Even in death, don't you dare assume I won't try. Your opinion of me is minimal; insignificant; ignored entirely. But one thing you will know is this,” Sith growled, her voice deeper and older than Ryou ever remembered, “He is mine.” Silence reigned, even from Ryou as he heard what she had said. Her mind opened again, and he tried to feel what she felt. He expected fury, hatred, embitterment… but no, not one of those was for him. He felt compassion, love, and strength coming from her. The anger was aimed entirely at the woman before them all.

 

“…he is… yours?” the woman asked, and then laughed, “Then you are no better than I! He is nothing to you! Just a pawn in your little chess game, and you would sacrifice him for your own agenda.” Fire burned around Sith, and Ryou felt his skin itch from her drastic rise in power. Her eyes burned with hatred.

 

“Do not EVER make such assumptions of me!” Sith yelled, and this time, the ground shook with her anger, “These people are my friends, and I love them more than you'd EVER understand! And he is MINE!” The woman seemed startled from Sith's anger, and then looked to Ryou. Then, she looked back at Sith, and frowned for once.

 

“And what if he doesn't want to be… yours?” she asked calmly. Ryou blinked, and looked up at Sith as well. She looked on the verge of snapping.

 

“I don't mind being hers,” Ryou said firmly, but Sith didn't smile. She seemed not to hear him, and then he realized she wasn't talking about him, “Sith?”

 

“He is mine, and I won't let you take him away again. I won't let any of you. Not you, not Rath, and not Bahamut,” Sith promised grimly, and Ryou frowned. Now he knew she didn't mean him. He had never been taken away from Sith. But he knew someone who had. His breathing became hard. Sith was his fiancée. The blonde man should've meant nothing to her. The woman just snorted, shaking her head.

 

“You are a fool, Sith Winchester,” she stated, “Not only in life, but in promises too. Ryou,” the woman looked down at him, and for a moment, he felt compassion, “You're not the target, but continue to help Sith, and you will be.” Now Ryou was thoroughly confused. She seemed so cold a moment ago, but now she seemed to have aimed that coldness for only Sith. But before he could ask, the woman was ascending upward. And like the stupid idiot Sith thought he was, Malik stopped her. She looked down at him quickly.

 

“I don't think so. You're not running from us,” Malik growled, “If you insult one of us, you insult us all. And guess what? You insulted one of us.” The woman scoffed, and threw Malik across the chamber as she straightened her cloak. Then she glared at him. She must've thought he was just as stupid as Sith.

 

“…such idiocy for one creature,” she said, “I pity you. Not one of you comprehend my power, and until you do, you will never win.” Then, she vanished from sight as Malik slowly got up off of the floor. The FMV ended, the game returning to its normal sprite mode. Sith picked up the controller, switching it back to one-player mode. Ryou noticed she looked particularly shaken, but it passed in a moment.

 

“Hmph. We'll see what your limitless power is,” she said bitterly, “Don't underestimate me.” After that, she said nothing as she made Ryou walk out of the room. The hallway, as well as the outside, seemed almost normal. But two things alerted them that danger was still near. The music did not play, and there were no guards any longer. It made the silence seem all the more nightmarish. Sith just led them out quickly; there was no sense in staying. And only when they reached the warm, sandy dunes of the desert outside, did anyone speak.

 

“What now, Sith?” Yugi asked as the world map loaded up. Sith's eyes narrowed, and Ryou saw that tears threatened to fall down her cheeks. For once, she was at a standstill, and Ryou began to understand what the woman was saying. Not only did Sith seem helpless, she felt it, too.

 

“…I have no answers,” Sith replied regretfully, looking down, “Who knows what that woman has done to this game. Nothing will be as I remember it, Ryou… I'm… I'm sorry. I have been selfish, I didn't even think that I wouldn't be able to help.” Ryou shook his head quickly, and tried to reach for the screen, for Sith. Of everything he could think of her, selfish hadn't been one of them. As long as he remembered her, he remembered that whatever she did was for everyone else first, herself later. Besides, a little bit of selfishness wasn't a bad thing.

 

“No, it's not your fault,” Ryou said, trying to give her comfort from his mind, “Sith, you're not… like her in any way. I don't care about what drove you to help me. You helped me, and that's all there is to it.” Sith blinked, but said nothing. What had been said still tugged at her. Silence continued on for quite a time, until Yugi finally broke it.

 

“So… should we train a bit so we can actually put up a chance?” he asked. Sith looked at him, and nodded slowly, taking the controller once more.

 

“Perhaps we should find anyone else willing to help us,” Ryou added, smiling as he looked up at Sith, “It's your call, Sith.” Sith nodded again, but he felt her reluctance to continue on. What that woman had said shook her to the core, and she seemed to agree. Ryou sighed, knowing there was nothing he could say to help her, at least for now.

 

After about half an hour, Ryou's father, Yaten, had woken up. He looked drowsily at the piles of paper on his desk, and then lazily swept them away, not caring for the mess he made on his already messy floor. He stood up, yawned, and then lumbered out into the hall and down the stairs, not caring that he was still in pajamas. To him, it was his day off, and if no one wanted to see him in his starry pajamas, then they'd just have to deal. Slowly, he stumbled into the living room, rubbing his tired eyes. He saw Sith sitting on the floor, controller in hand. She ignored him entirely. But, he didn't give the same courtesy to her.

 

“Good morning, Sith. What're you up to?” Yaten asked, walking into the living room. His slippers left lint on the floor, but he didn't appear to notice. Sith's eye twitched when she heard his voice. He was, with all intent and purpose, the very last person she ever wanted to see.

 

“Nothing, Mr. Bakura,” she replied with a hint of annoyance. Ryou frowned disapprovingly at her, and Malik snickered. Ryou nudged him to keep quiet, and then watched as his father stalked into the living room slowly, sluggish from sleeping in so late. He sat on the couch and watched the game for a minute.

 

“Mind if I play?” he asked. Sith's eye twitched again, and she wished he would simply get up and leave the room. No… she wished he would leave the room and never bother her again. But, life didn't work that way, whether she was human or not.

 

“No. I want to play alone,” she replied, not even turning around. However, Yaten didn't appear to care for her request, as he simply didn't just give up. Ryou bit his lip, not knowing just what this would turn into. Whenever his father and Sith got into an argument, it sometimes lasted hours. That was time they didn't have.

 

“Please?” he asked again. Sith huffed angrily, feeling her rage rise even higher. In her mind, the world was beginning to screw with her with how many interruptions she was getting. Sighing, she tried to be reasonable.

 

“I said no, Mr. Bakura.”

 

“But…”

 

“NO!” Reason went right out the window with that.

 

“Listen, little missy! If I'm going to be your father-in-law, you need to learn to share! Now let me play or you're going out!” Yaten exclaimed, trying to be stern, but ultimately sounding completely hysterical. Sith wanted to curse, and instead just threw the controller as hard as she could at the man. She didn't have the energy to let the argument continue. He picked it up and said, “Thank you. Now, what're we doing?”

 

“I'm leveling my characters up,” Sith replied shortly, “I give no care to what you do.” Yaten frowned at her, and Ryou sighed, wishing she would get along with his father. He looked up at her, hoping he could actually reason with her on that.

 

“Sith, please! That's my father!” Ryou said pleadingly, “Please get along with him for now.” Sith turned away. She wanted nothing to do with Yaten, but Ryou's gentle voice always got the better of her. She agreed silently. Yaten looked at Ryou, his eyes lighting with wonder.

 

“I didn't realize the depth they put into these games!” he exclaimed, smiling, “Why, that looks exactly like Ryou!” Sith glanced at him, but remained silent as she continued to move Ryou along. Yaten didn't need to know that that was Ryou. She moved a few paces, and then a battle initiated. And she wished it didn't. She had no idea how Yaten would fare, or if he even knew how to use the controller.

 

“Are you sure you know what to do?” she asked worriedly, and got a firm nod from Yaten, who looked at the screen with pure determination. Ryou's agility had overcome Yugi's, and so he went first. Yaten looked down at the controller, the labels for them looking more like Swahili than anything Yaten could read. He blinked, at first considering just hitting whatever he wanted. But then he decided he'd rather not cause Sith to have a complete aneurism.

 

“What do these do?” he asked, tilting his head and pressing all of the buttons, thusly making his inquiry useless. All he truly did was make Ryou attack himself. Malik snorted with amusement, but Yugi glanced at Ryou with worry as he fell down. Sith's eye twitched as she stared in disbelief. Ryou had just killed himself, and it was all because of the idiot who called himself Ryou's father.

 

“Ryou, are you all right!?” Yugi asked frantically, but received no reply, “Ryou?” Carefully, he poked Ryou with his sword, but the boy didn't stir. Sith's teeth clenched, and she stiffly turned to Yaten. Malik was sure she would strangle the man, but she somehow controlled herself as Yaten simply looked at Ryou's fallen form. He couldn't put two and two together, though Malik wasn't surprised at that.

 

“Oops,” Yaten said casually, but Sith emitted a low growl, unable to actually control herself any longer.

 

“Oops!? That's it!?” she yelled, standing up, “You just killed your own son, and all you can say is `oops' like it's… like it's NOTHING!?” Her tail shook angrily, but Yaten simply stared at her, unable to completely understand what was wrong. After all, it was simply a video game to him. And he didn't play video games.

 

“Sith, this is a game,” he said flatly, “Trust me. If my son actually died, I'd know. It's all part of that father-son bond I keep reading about.” Then, without even asking, he grabbed Sith's controller as he said, “Let me try again.” Her growl became more and more apparent, and she watched with seething fury as Malik was attacked next. He fell almost as quickly as Ryou, and once again, Sith lost her temper.

 

“What in the seven levels of Hell are you doing!?” she screeched, “Do you not understand the basics of this game!? You're killing my party!” She forced herself to stop before she actually murdered Yaten, but he continued giving her that blank stare. Her eye twitched, knowing that if he had left her alone, she'd be much calmer.

 

“Can't you heal them after battle?” he asked, clearly not understanding just the danger he was putting Ryou into. Sith forced herself to sit as she crossed her arms.

 

“Keep battling like that and we'll never get out of the battle.” And unfortunately, at a time like this, all Sith could do was wait to see how badly Yaten would screw up before he gave her the controllers back. Damned stubborn idiot.

 

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

 

Hana and Sephira have left to try and find a guide for Sith, as another enemy appears to taunt Sith and her crew. With nothing to help them, and with only a few fragments of the game still there, Sith's going to have one hell of a time helping Ryou out again. But can Yaten help her, or will he hinder her movements? How can she fight a foe she can no longer see? And will Ryou live to help her? Find out next chapter, so click that Review button!