Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction ❯ The Proliferation of the Lotus Flower. ❯ Chapter Two ( Chapter 2 )

#

Jade eyes gazed warily at the approaching Carrack.

"You know that bad feeling Ryo used to get when I was about to screw a spell up?" A voice thick with three human life times of speaking Elvish spoke in the common tongue.

Jade eyes closed in acknowledgement of the question.

"I've got that feeling right now..." The speaker went on.

"I am aware of this…"

A silent pause.

"But King Pegasus is expecting us to deliver the gem safely. This is your first time away from the palace in training… and I had hoped something like this wouldn't happen." Crystal butterfly wings flapped softly as a smooth, soft female voice replied.

"Let's hope I don't sink us."

"Let's hope they don't sink us." Gloved, delicate looking hands moved and drew a long rapier from the brown leather belt around her hips, sheath banging against her dark brown cotton leggings.

Marik looked at Lady Mai; she was captain of the knights because of her ruthless training and vicious battling even though to look at the beautiful exotic butterfly-woman you wouldn't realize it. He had never seen her battle, yet he couldn't help the dread at finally seeing the butterfly-woman in combat. The feeling was like a lead ball in the pit of his stomach as stories of berserker rage floated inside his head. Some of the stories that floated through his head were of his own 'loss of control' times, yet still each tale was as bad as the last.

Sun bleached hair that stood out in all directions (ever since he'd started learning lightening spells) and amethyst eyes with kohl markings that held a slightly dangerous tint to them were the half-Elf's only visible racial markings; his curved ears were hidden under his chaotic evil hair. Under his heavy black robes, Marik loosely gripped his wand, gazing at the huge ship that approached them. He would have blasted it straight away; who cared if it was friend or foe, they were too close and how could he train if something didn't die… but he wasn't in charge, and he had been ordered to well, not commit mass homicide…again.

The light brown wooden ambassadorial ship was quietly and discreetly attempting to lose the huge monster that followed them, but after only having a few moments warning before the massive ship appeared and began closing in; it was obvious to the knights onboard that they wouldn't escape whatever conflict awaited them. Whoever was rowing the ship was determined not to lose the 'prey'.

At the best, their pursuers would be pirates attacking randomly.

At the worst… Ryo coming to scare the shit out of his apprentice.

The chances of the later weren't possible, as Ryo was a vampire and it was only just evening.

"It's about to attack." Mai growled, drawing Marik back to the 'now' of the situation to see figures moving aboard the huge ship.

He could hear a few shouts and the words relieved him. "It's a pirate ship." He told the butterfly-woman seriously. Mentally he was licking his lips in joy; he could spill some blood and unleash his magic. The whole trip he'd been keeping the beautiful magic he commanded under control because Ryo had told him to do without unless the ship was attacked; but finally, some fools had come to their death at his hands!

Mai nodded, a golden bang spilling over one cheek. "Let's show them the might of the best. Glory to King Pegasus!" She shouted.

A few of the other guards cheered and then the first rope flew through the air and at the ambassadorial ship.

Marik gripped his wand tighter and stood to the back of the defenders.

"Marik, only use things that will kill the pirates, if some of my crew die from magic, I will have you answering to His Majesty upon arrival." The Captain of the Knights told the mage apprentice seriously.

Marik shrugged. He'd try because his master would agree with whatever punishment King Pegasus set upon him. And the old geezer was VERY perverted.

Mai stood in the midst of her knights, watching as dozens of ropes were tossed over their railing and figures began scaling down the rope.

The ambassadorial ship jerked to the right violently and sent several pirates to the waters, the rest made jumps.

Marik had never seen something so chaotic when they two forces began to battle, steel met steel and sparks exploded; Mai was hovering in the air and fighting two attackers at once, dodging and slashing in a pattern that was so blurry it made Marik's eyes crisscross. He had no idea what kind of spells to cast, as the defenders were all in front of him and a misplaced fireball would get him strung up by his ears by Ryo. The ships banged against each hull and someone threw a stick of dynamite at the crows nest.

Deciding on something to protect the ship from being destroyed Marik drew his wand and pointed it at the side of the ambassadorial ship.

"Zap!" He spoke clearly.

A giant bubble rose from the sea and seemed to melt into the ship, fortifying the wood heavily. At least now he'd 'tried' to stop the ship from sinking.

A burst of blue light to his right made Marik jump, seeing a skinny blonde pirate teen point his finger at one of the knights and lightening erupting from his finger tips.

Marik sighed, when would Ryo let him try without the dingy wand? But he knew better than to give it a shot right at the moment, Ryo had 'ways' of finding out and the wand allowed him to control the magic he called; as opposed to that one time when Ryo had caught him turning the big rock into a dress rather than rubble.

Summoning up the element of water he pointed the wand at the spell caster. "Zing!" A small sprite erupted from his wand tip and he nodded at it. "Do your thing." He told it, much more polite than asking it to kill a fellow magic user, besides; the magical rush had him breathing deeply in exhilaration. The water sprite smiled at him before spinning in the air and going for the oblivious pirate's mage.

"Jounouchi!" A sultry voice yelled, the blonde boy turned and ducked just as the water sprite turned to ice and was just about to shoot right through his skull.

Marik huffed at his wasted spell. And that had been a really good one too! The kid's head would have exploded before popping whatever was left right off!

The blonde was rolling over a few times as if to dislodge any finding spells, before jumping to his feet gracefully and turning, not spotting Marik in his haste to get back into the deck fight.

Where's the bastard that warned the kid? Marik thought, desperate to unleash some pent up massacring magics.

Marik looked around for the voice that had warned the spell caster but saw no one not otherwise engaged. A few more figures jumped from the pirate ship and the boat rocked softly as more dynamite was thrown at the mast and crows nest. The explosions blackened the wood, but otherwise caused little harm. The fighting on the ship was breaking up to man on man combat as numbers thinned out for both sides it seemed. Mai was battling a black haired butterfly-man who seemed to be trying to avoid her sharp blows and talk rather then attack.

It was the first butterfly-person Marik had ever seen aside from the captain of the guards, and considering they were nearly extinct it was a bit sad that Mai wouldn't hesitate to kill the pirate because of her duty to protect the cargo. But then, it was a bit sad he had to avoid killing his own side in the fight so the butterfly-woman could have as much fun as she wanted.

There was a good distance between himself and the battle yet Marik felt uneasy, as if he was being watching from mere meters away but there was so much sound that to try and hear one person breathing would be near impossible, even more so that he was only a half-Elf.

"Zam!" Marik said under his breath, quite literally, a spell that tripped hiding people over, it wasn't lethal, which was a shame, but it hurt, so he'd let Ryo make him memorize it.

Someone cursed to his right and stumbled over a barrel. Marik froze as the soft white head bowed, the hidden person nursing a hurt foot. Marik almost dropped his wand but managed to hold onto it.

"Master! What are you doing out in daylight!?! You're going to burn alive! I swear I can take care of myself, master, please have a-" Marik began to say more when the figure looked up in surprise, a tiger tail swishing behind him as he stared at Marik.

The man looked s o much like Ryo that it was uncanny, but the man wasn't, couldn't be, Ryo, he was a pirate; a were-tiger, Marik's mind told him dutifully.

"No shit…"

Marik frowned, trying to shake himself out of it. Pirates! He thought; you're wasting time being surprised when the ship is being attacked by pirates! And you could be making people bleed and scream!

But the sexy form of his master was bringing heat to his cheeks; he'd had a crush on the gentle, soft mage forever, but Ryo was so nice that he'd never voiced it in fear of losing the mage as a teacher, and seeing someone that wasn't his master, but ultimately just as sexy was very distracting indeed.

The pirate growled, glaring up with danger in his brown eyes at the apprentice. "Malik! I swear! Why are you dressed like that, and what the hell happened to your hair and makeup? Yami is going to kill you, sitting back on the job! Where's your scythe?"

"Wha-?"

Marik half got out before the were-tiger had grabbed his ear and began dragging him like some pathetic child.

"Ow!!! Let go, you stupid mother fucking son of a wench! Bastard son of a repulsive toadstool! That's delicate flesh you know?" Marik yelled out his most foul Elvish insults in the common tongue; half bent as his ear was pulled.

The were-tiger didn't seem to hear him as he marched toward the fray.

Marik growled. He wouldn't let someone push him around, let alone try to kill him and get away with it, no matter how unquestionably sexy they *happened* to be.

"That's it! Let go right now you asshole!" Marik growled, he twisted his wand around and aimed at the pirate.

"Zilch!"

The were-tiger went flying through the air with a surprised look on his face before he hit a cabin door under a spray of water and slumped, perhaps not unconscious, but out of the game for the moment. Marik straightened up; he had left the were-tiger alive, but not intentionally, the robes were new and he'd rather kill from a distance than have Ryo agonizing about the stupid washing.

Marik nursed his now aching ear and looked back at the fighting, the shield protecting the ambassadorial ship was weakening under the strain but the knights seemed to have the upper hand. In the sense of, there were more pirate bodies than there were knights.

Marik looked around for the other mage that had been attacking but didn't see him, the half-Elf also realized he couldn't see Mai or her opponent, what had happened in the moment he'd been distracted? Would this mean that she was dead? And there would be no one to see him kill good and bad alike with a well placed frost blast?

"Fluro!" someone yelled behind him.

Marik thought, 'oh fuck' before he hit the railing of the ship, managing not to fall off the edge, but just barely.

He spun around, wiping blood from his mouth with the back of his wand hand and glaring chaotically at the blonde spell caster who chuckled and cracked his knuckles.

"Wow, you look a lot like-" The boy started, getting a good look at the half-Elf.

Marik cut him off with an icicle spell. "Zaz zap!" The half-Elf all but screamed; a giant spike of ice formed and raced for the skinny boy who simply jumped over it with a laugh.

"Flare!" The boy called out, flames erupting from his fingers and shooting for Marik.

Marik held up his wand. "Zarn!" the flames turned the ice to water and Marik found himself standing in ankle deep icy-water.

The half-Elf growled and focused on the magic in his wand. "Zap, Zip, Zep! Come forth sprites of water, ice and rain! Form into one, Tsunami!" as he spoke the commands three sprites fell from his wand, and spread to either side of him, spinning into a circle of water. The water at his feet rose upward and joined the dancing sprites. He finished the command and the water and the sprites all seemed to blink out.

The blonde spell caster frowned, not being fooled by the lack of anything more, the magic beginning to lace the air was warning enough. "Flare, Flash, Fan! Come forth demons of fire, lightening and wind! Form into one, Magma-Lord!" The boy made a few strange movements with his hands before finishing in a pyramid. As he summoned, three images appeared behind him all large, hulking demonic forms that didn't look happy to be there; before the forms were mashed together in a burst of red.

Both spell casters were quiet for a long while, obviously the magic they had called wasn't activated until someone made the offensive. Around them shouts and screams yelled out, but both seemed obvious to everything but the wait to see who's spell activated first.

Someone yelled and Marik glanced to one side, seeing one of the guards, Noa, fall down. He'd seen Noa in the castle before, often when visiting the prince. Noa hung out with the prince's head bodyguard mostly. Marik swallowed, it was a pity that Noa didn't look like he was going to make it through, what with a sword sticking out of his side. He'd thought the kid had potential, namely for eventual world domination…

Sweat beaded down Marik's back as he glanced to his left; Mai had reappeared, but she was unconscious and being carried up a rope ladder by the butterfly-man she had been fighting. The half-Elf wondered how the butterfly-man had knocked the captain of the guards out; it wouldn't have been very honorable, or easy; he'd want pointers if she came back alive. Well, if was the key word there.

Weight entering his spell-area made him turn quickly to see what was approaching. It was the were-tiger from minutes ago and the Ryo-look-alike looked pissed, claws extended to slash at Marik.

"Bakura! NO!" The blonde kid yelled, but it was too late.

Marik felt his magic surge as offensive intent activated the summon spell, now to stay on top of it; smiling in a chaotic-evil way the half-Elf bit into his own arm and drew blood.

"Tsunami, hear me! Come forth and protect me as I call!" he yelled, letting his blood drip to the ground.

The were-tiger's eyes widened as he went, once again, flying backwards under a spurt of water.

Marik curled his fingers and water flowed up into the air all around him in spinning, swirling patterns.

The activation of the Great Water Elemental activated the blonde mage's spell.

Marik's student mind flashed on the words of summoning the boy had used and realized with a jolt, who was the better mage.

"Tsunami! Attack before he summons the Magma-lord!" The water around him manifested into a shape very similar to that of a beautiful woman before launching at the other mage.

Fire spurted out from around the blonde just as the two different elemental magics hit and the whole ship was under a heavy cover of steam that blotted out everything from sight almost instantly. The hiss of the water and fire crackling along Marik's senses was all he could hear, his sight limited to that of thick steam that made his eyes sting and sweat break out along his whole body as the steam made his temperature go up.

Marik felt his knees give out and let himself take a few deep breaths, he couldn't see anything and his black robes were soaking to him, it had been an already hot enough day without being in a sauna.

The steam cloud began to clear and Marik struggled back to his feet, breathing heavily as he tried to look around for signs of, well, anything, but although the steam had cleared a little, it was still too thick for him to see little further than his own body. The sounds of people falling over and still fighting in the steam were cushioned by the rush of blood into his pounding head.

A dangerously low growl alerted him, and Marik realized with a start that were-tigers had abnormally good eyesight before something hit him in the back of the head painfully.

The apprentice mage fell, strong arms around his waist the only thing that stopped him from hitting the deck as the world faded away to blackness.

~ To Be Continued…

Sweet notes: Review nymphs! Review!!!!!!! *whees* The more reviews, the more chapters, the more happier I be… *nodnod*