November 16th: - 1746 Words
“Duck!”
Atem hit the deck.
Even before they’d reached the ruins it had been obvious that neither of the missing Duellists were still being held there, but they’d gone anyway, hoping to find some sign of where their friends had been taken now, or, if they were lucky a couple of Medan’s goons to question.
What they hadn’t expected was to run into some kind of suppression field that prevented most of the Duel Monsters that had accompanied them from attacking, only to then get swarmed by a group of fiend and Spellcaster monsters.
The Pharaoh rolled to his feet, casting Petrificus Totalus at a monster sneaking up on Joey, glad for all the training they’d done over the last year, when they’d been preparing Harry and Kari for the final task, which thanks to the Millennium Necklace, they’d had several month of advance notice on.
They were trying to pull back, retreat from the suppression field which seemed to resist their anti-spell and trap cards, but this was much easier said then done when they were out numbered and, while they had the upper hand for the moment, Atem was concerned that it wouldn’t be too long before something or someone came along that did serious damage to their forces, their highest defence was, after all, only 2500 and he could see at least two monsters here with that score in the card game.
Joey and Atem covered each other’s backs; glad Hermione had stayed back with Mana and Aylth at the palace where they’d be safe, as they fought their way back to Mahado’s side, attempting to keep on top of what was going on and managing to stun several of the monsters as they did so.
“If I might make a suggestion.” Atem said, looking at Mahado as he did so. “A retreat might be in order.”
Mahado snorted his agreement, having noticed that a lot of the more dangerous enemy monsters, the ones who could quite easily have taken them out if they’d attacked had yet to attack either, which suggested to the Dark Magician that while it was probably a spell bound to the camp, which would be why the Pharaoh’s Dust Tornado had failed, it put the higher powered monsters on their side at a disadvantage also.
It had to have been a recent thing. He couldn’t see Medan wanting something like this up while he’d been here.
Mahado suspected Medan had known they were coming.
“Stupify!” Atem shouted, going to cast the stunning spell, only to suddenly be forced to his knees by a burst of magic, dropping his wand as he did so.
“Atem?” Joey helped the Pharaoh up, grabbing the fallen wand as he did so, “You ok?”
Atem scowled at his wand, “My wand just threw a fit at me.” The Pharaoh snarled.
“What?” Joey looked shocked, having never had trouble with his wand, but Mahado blanched slightly when Atem tried to attack again, only to find the same problem.
“Get out of here.” Joey shoved his friend away from the fighting, “If your wand’s broken…”
“Protego!” The Pharaoh’s defensive spell went off without a hitch, shielding the group from an attack from a low level fiend and confirming Mahado’s fears.
“It’s not his wand.” Mahado growled at the pair as the lot of them backed off slowly, “It’s…”
That was all the explanation he got out before Medan appeared, out of nowhere, right in front of him.
Frustration coursed through the first Dark Magician as he realised that he couldn’t blast Medan for about as long as it took for Medan to attempt to do the same thing, only to be forced into defence mode by the spell, then it became slightly amusing as Medan looked furious and unleashed a string of curses that only stopped because Atem moved into his line of sight.
“Where are Yugi and Harry?” The Pharaoh demanded of Medan, getting right up in front of him as Medan got to his feet, realisation crossing the red Dark Magician’s face only momentarily before a scowl replaced it, only refraining from attacking because, to his knowledge, his wand was on the fritz.
“Your vessel forced me to Resummon.” Medan snapped back at him, just as annoyed he couldn’t blow the pair stood in front of him away. “So if they aren’t here I have no idea where they’ve gone.” Medan considered the Pharaoh, “Well, if they’re still alive that is.”
Joey, whose wand was working perfectly, launched an attack at the red Dark Magician who ducked and darted away, not willing to get into a fight while he was at such a disadvantage.
Atem, who had gained an amused smirk at Medan’s words, grabbed his friend’s arm as Joey attempted to go after him. “They’re not here. Leave him for now.”
If anything the retreat of both Medan and Mahado from the battlefield seemed to signal a halt to the fighting, not that much had been done, though Kisara, once she’d gotten out of range of the suppression field, had fired off one last shot that had fizzed out upon hitting the shielded area.
“So...” Joey smirked once they were far enough away to be sure that they were relatively safe, “Yugi destroyed Medan...”
Atem chuckled, “And got them out of there by the sounds of it.”
“I feel sorry for him.” Joey commented, still grinning, “Medan didn’t know who he was messing with when he kidnapped Yuge.”
“My Pharaoh as much as I agree that hearing that Yugi caused Medan’s Resumoning is highly gratifying, I need to speak with you.” Mahado interrupted them, looking grave.
“What is it?” Atem asked, semi-distracted by wondering which direction Yugi and Harry had gone after escaping from the camp since they hadn’t seen them on the way here.
“You need to go home. Urgently.”
Atem scowled, “We covered this already. I’m not going until Yugi and Harry are safe.”
“You wait any longer you may not have a choice. You won’t be able to leave!” Mahado snapped back at him, before calming himself down, knowing full well that he shouldn’t be snapping at the man in front of him and it would only put Atem on the defensive. “My Pharaoh during the fight it wasn’t your wand that wasn’t working properly.”
“What do you mean?” Atem asked slowly, a thought occurring to him that he didn’t particularly like. He tried to push the thought away.
Mahado knew Atem far too well to not see when the thought passed through the Pharaoh’s mind. “You know what I mean, my Pharaoh. That area suppression field was designed to work against high powered Duel Monsters. I believe it was designed to work like a Gravity Bind trap or perhaps Level Limit Area B?”
“Shit.” Joey swore, figuring out where this was going as Atem scowled at the implications. “You. Home. Now.” He glowered at the Pharaoh, emphasising each word with a poke.
Atem’s scowl deepened. “I’m fine. I’m still...”
“You’ve been here for almost two days now.” Joey snapped at him, “You should have gone home long ago.” Joey’s eyes flickered to Mahado, “How much longer do they have?” Joey asked, referring to Yugi and Harry as well.
“It depends.” Mahado said slowly, considering both of them, noting that the whole group had stopped to hear this argument. “At this point the Pharaoh’s at it could be days or it could be hours, it depends on what they get into and how strong a grip they have on their selves. If they draw on their magic too heavily it’ll speed the process.”
Joey swore again, pacing as he did so.
“My Pharaoh, you should return to your world.” Mahado said, watching Atem who was seriously considering not going home. “You’ve fought so hard to earn your passage to the next life and if you stay here that opportunity will be gone forever. I will bring Yugi to you, I swear, but you must leave now, before it’s too late.”
“I...”
“No one will think any less of you, least of all Yugi.”
“I can’t leave him, Mahado.” Atem shook his head, “Yugi’s my friend, my partner, my light... I can’t just abandon him...”
Before Mahado could say anything else Atem was attacked from behind.
The Pharaoh attempted to wheel around to deal with the attacker, surprised no one else had beaten him to it, only for Mahado to lash out, striking the back of Atem’s head with his staff hard enough to cause the Pharaoh to crumple in a heap.
Joey snorted, “Thanks for the backup.” He said as he picked his unconscious friend up, feeling guilty about the attack but believing it necessary.
“You don’t want to see him turn. I don’t want to see him turn.” Mahado replied, not happy with the necessity himself, “Even if Yugi and Harry can leave when we find them, Yugi won’t without the Pharaoh. Tobias can take you back and we’ll start the search. They can’t have gotten far.”
Joey nodded, understanding.
They swiftly moved into a clearing and Tobias landed, lowering himself down so Joey could climb up and then have Atem passed up to him.
“Look after him.” Mahado demanded of Joey.
“I know what to look for.” Joey nodded, figuring that the side effects he’d been through while his body had been changing back to the way it had been before he’d spent over twenty hours in the monster world would probably affect his friend too. “I’ll see you soon... if Atem doesn’t kill me first.”
Mahado snorted and watched Tobias take off and then wink out, heading back to the human world.
If anything it was a relief to see them go. Mahado wasn’t certain that he was going to be able to find the missing pair in time now, not without a lot of help, and he hadn’t wanted the Pharaoh to be there if they’d found them, only to find they were hurt or worse.
The Winged Wolf Pack returned to the group, reporting that they’d circled the entire campsite and found no trace of the cub’s scent, meaning that however Yugi and Harry had gotten out of Medan’s camp, it hadn’t been on foot.
Suddenly finding them was made that much harder...
It was with a heavy heart and a wince when he thought about what Joey would go through when the Pharaoh woke up that Mahado ordered a return to the palace.
Atem hit the deck.
Even before they’d reached the ruins it had been obvious that neither of the missing Duellists were still being held there, but they’d gone anyway, hoping to find some sign of where their friends had been taken now, or, if they were lucky a couple of Medan’s goons to question.
What they hadn’t expected was to run into some kind of suppression field that prevented most of the Duel Monsters that had accompanied them from attacking, only to then get swarmed by a group of fiend and Spellcaster monsters.
The Pharaoh rolled to his feet, casting Petrificus Totalus at a monster sneaking up on Joey, glad for all the training they’d done over the last year, when they’d been preparing Harry and Kari for the final task, which thanks to the Millennium Necklace, they’d had several month of advance notice on.
They were trying to pull back, retreat from the suppression field which seemed to resist their anti-spell and trap cards, but this was much easier said then done when they were out numbered and, while they had the upper hand for the moment, Atem was concerned that it wouldn’t be too long before something or someone came along that did serious damage to their forces, their highest defence was, after all, only 2500 and he could see at least two monsters here with that score in the card game.
Joey and Atem covered each other’s backs; glad Hermione had stayed back with Mana and Aylth at the palace where they’d be safe, as they fought their way back to Mahado’s side, attempting to keep on top of what was going on and managing to stun several of the monsters as they did so.
“If I might make a suggestion.” Atem said, looking at Mahado as he did so. “A retreat might be in order.”
Mahado snorted his agreement, having noticed that a lot of the more dangerous enemy monsters, the ones who could quite easily have taken them out if they’d attacked had yet to attack either, which suggested to the Dark Magician that while it was probably a spell bound to the camp, which would be why the Pharaoh’s Dust Tornado had failed, it put the higher powered monsters on their side at a disadvantage also.
It had to have been a recent thing. He couldn’t see Medan wanting something like this up while he’d been here.
Mahado suspected Medan had known they were coming.
“Stupify!” Atem shouted, going to cast the stunning spell, only to suddenly be forced to his knees by a burst of magic, dropping his wand as he did so.
“Atem?” Joey helped the Pharaoh up, grabbing the fallen wand as he did so, “You ok?”
Atem scowled at his wand, “My wand just threw a fit at me.” The Pharaoh snarled.
“What?” Joey looked shocked, having never had trouble with his wand, but Mahado blanched slightly when Atem tried to attack again, only to find the same problem.
“Get out of here.” Joey shoved his friend away from the fighting, “If your wand’s broken…”
“Protego!” The Pharaoh’s defensive spell went off without a hitch, shielding the group from an attack from a low level fiend and confirming Mahado’s fears.
“It’s not his wand.” Mahado growled at the pair as the lot of them backed off slowly, “It’s…”
That was all the explanation he got out before Medan appeared, out of nowhere, right in front of him.
Frustration coursed through the first Dark Magician as he realised that he couldn’t blast Medan for about as long as it took for Medan to attempt to do the same thing, only to be forced into defence mode by the spell, then it became slightly amusing as Medan looked furious and unleashed a string of curses that only stopped because Atem moved into his line of sight.
“Where are Yugi and Harry?” The Pharaoh demanded of Medan, getting right up in front of him as Medan got to his feet, realisation crossing the red Dark Magician’s face only momentarily before a scowl replaced it, only refraining from attacking because, to his knowledge, his wand was on the fritz.
“Your vessel forced me to Resummon.” Medan snapped back at him, just as annoyed he couldn’t blow the pair stood in front of him away. “So if they aren’t here I have no idea where they’ve gone.” Medan considered the Pharaoh, “Well, if they’re still alive that is.”
Joey, whose wand was working perfectly, launched an attack at the red Dark Magician who ducked and darted away, not willing to get into a fight while he was at such a disadvantage.
Atem, who had gained an amused smirk at Medan’s words, grabbed his friend’s arm as Joey attempted to go after him. “They’re not here. Leave him for now.”
If anything the retreat of both Medan and Mahado from the battlefield seemed to signal a halt to the fighting, not that much had been done, though Kisara, once she’d gotten out of range of the suppression field, had fired off one last shot that had fizzed out upon hitting the shielded area.
“So...” Joey smirked once they were far enough away to be sure that they were relatively safe, “Yugi destroyed Medan...”
Atem chuckled, “And got them out of there by the sounds of it.”
“I feel sorry for him.” Joey commented, still grinning, “Medan didn’t know who he was messing with when he kidnapped Yuge.”
“My Pharaoh as much as I agree that hearing that Yugi caused Medan’s Resumoning is highly gratifying, I need to speak with you.” Mahado interrupted them, looking grave.
“What is it?” Atem asked, semi-distracted by wondering which direction Yugi and Harry had gone after escaping from the camp since they hadn’t seen them on the way here.
“You need to go home. Urgently.”
Atem scowled, “We covered this already. I’m not going until Yugi and Harry are safe.”
“You wait any longer you may not have a choice. You won’t be able to leave!” Mahado snapped back at him, before calming himself down, knowing full well that he shouldn’t be snapping at the man in front of him and it would only put Atem on the defensive. “My Pharaoh during the fight it wasn’t your wand that wasn’t working properly.”
“What do you mean?” Atem asked slowly, a thought occurring to him that he didn’t particularly like. He tried to push the thought away.
Mahado knew Atem far too well to not see when the thought passed through the Pharaoh’s mind. “You know what I mean, my Pharaoh. That area suppression field was designed to work against high powered Duel Monsters. I believe it was designed to work like a Gravity Bind trap or perhaps Level Limit Area B?”
“Shit.” Joey swore, figuring out where this was going as Atem scowled at the implications. “You. Home. Now.” He glowered at the Pharaoh, emphasising each word with a poke.
Atem’s scowl deepened. “I’m fine. I’m still...”
“You’ve been here for almost two days now.” Joey snapped at him, “You should have gone home long ago.” Joey’s eyes flickered to Mahado, “How much longer do they have?” Joey asked, referring to Yugi and Harry as well.
“It depends.” Mahado said slowly, considering both of them, noting that the whole group had stopped to hear this argument. “At this point the Pharaoh’s at it could be days or it could be hours, it depends on what they get into and how strong a grip they have on their selves. If they draw on their magic too heavily it’ll speed the process.”
Joey swore again, pacing as he did so.
“My Pharaoh, you should return to your world.” Mahado said, watching Atem who was seriously considering not going home. “You’ve fought so hard to earn your passage to the next life and if you stay here that opportunity will be gone forever. I will bring Yugi to you, I swear, but you must leave now, before it’s too late.”
“I...”
“No one will think any less of you, least of all Yugi.”
“I can’t leave him, Mahado.” Atem shook his head, “Yugi’s my friend, my partner, my light... I can’t just abandon him...”
Before Mahado could say anything else Atem was attacked from behind.
The Pharaoh attempted to wheel around to deal with the attacker, surprised no one else had beaten him to it, only for Mahado to lash out, striking the back of Atem’s head with his staff hard enough to cause the Pharaoh to crumple in a heap.
Joey snorted, “Thanks for the backup.” He said as he picked his unconscious friend up, feeling guilty about the attack but believing it necessary.
“You don’t want to see him turn. I don’t want to see him turn.” Mahado replied, not happy with the necessity himself, “Even if Yugi and Harry can leave when we find them, Yugi won’t without the Pharaoh. Tobias can take you back and we’ll start the search. They can’t have gotten far.”
Joey nodded, understanding.
They swiftly moved into a clearing and Tobias landed, lowering himself down so Joey could climb up and then have Atem passed up to him.
“Look after him.” Mahado demanded of Joey.
“I know what to look for.” Joey nodded, figuring that the side effects he’d been through while his body had been changing back to the way it had been before he’d spent over twenty hours in the monster world would probably affect his friend too. “I’ll see you soon... if Atem doesn’t kill me first.”
Mahado snorted and watched Tobias take off and then wink out, heading back to the human world.
If anything it was a relief to see them go. Mahado wasn’t certain that he was going to be able to find the missing pair in time now, not without a lot of help, and he hadn’t wanted the Pharaoh to be there if they’d found them, only to find they were hurt or worse.
The Winged Wolf Pack returned to the group, reporting that they’d circled the entire campsite and found no trace of the cub’s scent, meaning that however Yugi and Harry had gotten out of Medan’s camp, it hadn’t been on foot.
Suddenly finding them was made that much harder...
It was with a heavy heart and a wince when he thought about what Joey would go through when the Pharaoh woke up that Mahado ordered a return to the palace.