Chapter 5: - Frozen Lake
Another month ad a half passed, Jamie had competed in and come fourth in the intermediate level Duelling Tournaments, Yugi hadn't come under attack again… yet, everyone was one edge… and Jamie had discovered that she had a surprising friend.
It wasn't hard to make the jump from the Pokemon that Bakura had been giving her, and the slow down in Team Galactic attacks.
But considering that in the process of a month, she'd been given around thirty Pokemon, she was hoping it was because there were fifteen or so Grunts walking around with no Pokemon, not because there were thirty or so Grunts wandering around with one Pokemon missing.
Kaiba had finally given in, moving the Pokemon Day Care from the ground floor of the Kaiba Tower, and into the warehouses that had been specially converted for the job. They had been bought by Kaiba Corp and modified in a surprisingly short space of time, and were exactly halfway between the Kame Game Shop and the Kaiba Corp Tower.
Before Yugi had been out of the hospital, Bakura had often come over late at night, once she'd settled on the roof at night, to deliver his gift of a new Pokemon.
The Houndour had taken a liking to Mokuba, and had stuck with the younger Kaiba brother, and since then Bakura had given her Pokemon of almost every type and size, including a couple of badly neglected Water types that Bakura had seemed glad to hand over.
Since Yugi had been out of hospital, and sleeping on the roof with her on alternate nights, he'd been catching her as she'd been opening up the Day Care.
It was a difficult position she found herself in, while she knew that she shouldn't trust Bakura, and in her own way she didn't, and yet he came to her of his own accord, getting angry on behalf of the maltreated Pokemon, and there had only been one occasion when the Bakura she'd been warned about had come out and that had been when the Day Care had come under attack from a group of pissed of Galactic Grunts.
It had been the day after Bakura had brought in a neglected Milotic.
Jamie had been busy treating the poor, thin, mistreated Tender Pokemon, when the Grunts had attempted a break in. She could understand why, by this point they'd had twenty, twenty-one Pokemon in the Day Care and a Milotic was not only one of the rarest non legendary Pokemon, but it was the most beautiful and worth a lot of money.
She didn't know what Bakura had done to the Grunts, but they hadn't been back since and the Day Care either hadn't been attacked since or something had protected it since then as it had been perfectly safe since.
Bakura seemed to know instinctively when Yugi and the gang were coming too, vanishing without a trace whenever they were five minutes away. After the first couple of times, Jamie had stopped questioning it and started timing Yugi's arrival.
She'd asked the thief about it, and while he was happy to talk to her about the Millennium Magic, more so then Yugi was, there were things, like why he wanted Yugi's Puzzle, he wouldn't talk to her about.
The reason that he left whenever Yugi was close was because he didn't trust he wouldn't pull something in the Day Care and he knew Yugi would be able to sense him if they were too close.
Trust the thief, don't trust the thief, he'd never stolen from her.
Yugi was another one. She knew she could trust him and yet she didn't know how much because he was keeping secrets from her, and yet, like Bakura, he'd helped her out when she'd needed it.
If it hadn't been for Yugi, after all, she wouldn't have had anywhere to sleep during that first month and a half. Now she could stay in the Day Care, she couldn't call it a Pokemon Centre, she didn't have the facilities to treat injuries and she'd run out of potions two months ago.
The summer holidays were only a week away now, and if anything she was glad that she'd managed to get most of the… 'rescued' Pokemon… to start accepting other humans, the Day Care was going to be insanely busy over the next few weeks and Kaiba had given her permission to hire more staff.
So she'd hired Bakura, Yugi, Joey, Tristan and Tea, along with a couple of others, all to start in the next week and all causing headaches with scheduling, since there was no way she could have Bakura and Yugi on duty at the same time, if she had Tristan and Joey on duty at the same time, they'd fight with each other and there were about thirty other reasons why this guy and that guy couldn't work together.
She was tempted to ask Mokuba if he wanted to run the Day Care and if she could just work there, she wasn't a big fan off all the paperwork and she didn't know if she was doing everything right.
Yugi had a date with Tea today, Joey was working in the shop and Tristan was off somewhere, so today it was her, a couple of Kaiba Corp employees and Bakura looking after the thirty or so Pokemon that were currently resting, in various states of sated and sleeping.
Jamie was actually getting ready to test the new wetsuit. Kaiba Corp colours of course, white, blue and silver, but it was suitable for the deep pool at the back of the Day Care.
"So what do you think?" Jamie grinned as she twirled around, silver coloured goggles resting on her head.
The teen nodded approvingly, "I like it."
"Bakura… do you…?" Jamie sighed, "Look after my deck for me will you?"
He nodded and Jamie tossed him her deck bag and Pokeball belt, before pulling on her goggles and diving into the water.
Tsunami was asleep on the pond floor, the Milotic was swimming around, plus a Crawdaunt and a Corsola were resting on the sides, along with some fish from this world and the Staryu that Bakura had brought along this morning that were swimming around.
The pool was fuller then she would have liked, but they'd need more space to expand it any further, besides, Kaiba had gotten them to dig as deep as they could.
A shockwave hit her from all sides, waking Tsunami and causing all the Water Pokemon to head for the surface. Attempting to shake off her shock, she swam for the surface.
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It was late when Yugi finally got back to the Game Shop and Solomon sent him straight back out again with Joey to find their friend.
Why did Joey have Jamie's Pokeball Belt?
Joey filled Yugi in on their way to the Pokemon Day Care Centre, Jamie hadn't come home yet, this wasn't like her, not since the Day Care Centre had opened, and they'd been even more worried when they'd found her belt on her bed, along with her deck box. She never went anywhere without either, not since the fire, so something was very wrong. Plus one of her Pokeballs were missing. They'd checked, it was Iblis's.
Turning the corner they didn't like what they saw at all, putting on a burst of speed at the last.
Police had cordoned off the Day Care, which had holes in the sides and looked worse for wear and worst of all there was no sign of the Pokemon, or Jamie.
"Where's my cousin?" Yugi asked the officers, "Jamelia, the Head of the Day Care?"
"There was an attack." The officers looked awkward, "From those weirdos that have those creatures, I'm sorry kid but Jamelia Francis isn't here."
"Shit." Joey breathed, looking through the crowd. The two backed off as Yugi changed slightly, violet eyes turning crimson, and gaining a couple of inches. Joey paused, Yugi hadn't changed completely since before Jamie had arrived, and it was a sign of how worried the teen was, if the spirit of his Puzzle was taking the lead.
"Do you think she was taken?" Joey asked.
"It's a possibility." Yami growled, pausing as someone ducked under the tape and through a hole in the wall while the police weren't looking.
"Wasn't that?"
Yami nodded, diving under the tape himself and following, Joey a split second later.
Inside the Day Care looked just as bad as outside, the planted trees were ripped up or blasted, the carefully laid paths and grass scorched and ruined and the pool that ran along the back of the warehouses that had been joined together to form a big enough area was frozen.
It was here that the Someone had stopped, sending out a huge, flaming Pokemon. "Iblis! Flamethrower!"
The fire struck the ice in the darken building, lighting up the face of the other person.
"Bakura?" Yami growled, racing towards the ice.
"Not now Yugi" Bakura snarled, "Unless you want your friend trapped under the ice permanently."
"What?"
"She was down there when they froze it." Bakura snapped.
The flames died as steam rose, and a hole in the ice was obvious. Joey dove in, leaving the two yamis above the water.
"Why are you here?" Yami asked. "I know you're the spirit of the Ring, not Bakura."
"Is it so surprising?" Bakura asked with a raised eyebrow, "That your friend would seek friendship with those who help her?"
"You? Help Jamie?" Yami asked, "Why?"
Bakura was saved from answering by Joey surfacing with an unconscious Jamie in tow. "Not breathing!"
Yami and Bakura pulled the two out. "I thought she said she could breathe underwater?" Yami growled.
"Hypothermia." Bakura glared at him, "Even if she can breathe underwater, she's been down there for hours." He looked at the Charizard, who curled up on the ice, before putting his ear to her chest. "Shit. Wheeler, do you have Denkou?"
"What? Why?"
"Her heart's stopped you idiot!"
Joey fumbled with the Pokeballs, sending out Aisu and Gaia before hastily returning the huge grass turtle and finally sending out Raichu.
Denkou took one look around, then focused completely on it's Trainer, unleashing a Thunderbolt that went straight through his Trainer and if the conducted jolts were anything to go by, if that didn't help…
Jamie gasped, opened her eyes for a moment, coughed out the water to replace it with oxygen and passed straight back out again.
Joey and Bakura were at her side in a heartbeat, checking her over. "Breathing." Joey sighed in relief.
"She's not clear yet." Bakura shook his head, "Iblis!"
It was clear her Pokemon had done this before, as the huge Fire Type moved over, lying next to his trainer and keeping his flame close.
"Get the police." Yami and Bakura said to Joey at the same time. The teen looked at them as if they were aliens, then vanished through the hole.
"I need to thank you." Yami swallowed his pride, "We wouldn't have thought to look under the ice if you hadn't tried it."
Bakura didn't look as smug as Yami thought he would, "I shouldn't have left when she told me."
Yami paused to consider this, "Are you helping her because you want to, or because your host asked you to?"
Bakura examined him, "And what if I said that I was helping her because I want to?"
"I'd ask why, when you seem to like causing trouble."
"Unlike you, she has nothing I need."
"Then why are you…"
"Hey!"
The police arrived, Joey in tow and both Yami and the dark Bakura retreated in favour of their hikaris.
"This is Officer Shi. We urgently need an ambulance at the Day Care, yes, a victim of the attack earlier that we've only just found." He looked at the three boys, "Ten minutes? Fine."
It wasn't hard to make the jump from the Pokemon that Bakura had been giving her, and the slow down in Team Galactic attacks.
But considering that in the process of a month, she'd been given around thirty Pokemon, she was hoping it was because there were fifteen or so Grunts walking around with no Pokemon, not because there were thirty or so Grunts wandering around with one Pokemon missing.
Kaiba had finally given in, moving the Pokemon Day Care from the ground floor of the Kaiba Tower, and into the warehouses that had been specially converted for the job. They had been bought by Kaiba Corp and modified in a surprisingly short space of time, and were exactly halfway between the Kame Game Shop and the Kaiba Corp Tower.
Before Yugi had been out of the hospital, Bakura had often come over late at night, once she'd settled on the roof at night, to deliver his gift of a new Pokemon.
The Houndour had taken a liking to Mokuba, and had stuck with the younger Kaiba brother, and since then Bakura had given her Pokemon of almost every type and size, including a couple of badly neglected Water types that Bakura had seemed glad to hand over.
Since Yugi had been out of hospital, and sleeping on the roof with her on alternate nights, he'd been catching her as she'd been opening up the Day Care.
It was a difficult position she found herself in, while she knew that she shouldn't trust Bakura, and in her own way she didn't, and yet he came to her of his own accord, getting angry on behalf of the maltreated Pokemon, and there had only been one occasion when the Bakura she'd been warned about had come out and that had been when the Day Care had come under attack from a group of pissed of Galactic Grunts.
It had been the day after Bakura had brought in a neglected Milotic.
Jamie had been busy treating the poor, thin, mistreated Tender Pokemon, when the Grunts had attempted a break in. She could understand why, by this point they'd had twenty, twenty-one Pokemon in the Day Care and a Milotic was not only one of the rarest non legendary Pokemon, but it was the most beautiful and worth a lot of money.
She didn't know what Bakura had done to the Grunts, but they hadn't been back since and the Day Care either hadn't been attacked since or something had protected it since then as it had been perfectly safe since.
Bakura seemed to know instinctively when Yugi and the gang were coming too, vanishing without a trace whenever they were five minutes away. After the first couple of times, Jamie had stopped questioning it and started timing Yugi's arrival.
She'd asked the thief about it, and while he was happy to talk to her about the Millennium Magic, more so then Yugi was, there were things, like why he wanted Yugi's Puzzle, he wouldn't talk to her about.
The reason that he left whenever Yugi was close was because he didn't trust he wouldn't pull something in the Day Care and he knew Yugi would be able to sense him if they were too close.
Trust the thief, don't trust the thief, he'd never stolen from her.
Yugi was another one. She knew she could trust him and yet she didn't know how much because he was keeping secrets from her, and yet, like Bakura, he'd helped her out when she'd needed it.
If it hadn't been for Yugi, after all, she wouldn't have had anywhere to sleep during that first month and a half. Now she could stay in the Day Care, she couldn't call it a Pokemon Centre, she didn't have the facilities to treat injuries and she'd run out of potions two months ago.
The summer holidays were only a week away now, and if anything she was glad that she'd managed to get most of the… 'rescued' Pokemon… to start accepting other humans, the Day Care was going to be insanely busy over the next few weeks and Kaiba had given her permission to hire more staff.
So she'd hired Bakura, Yugi, Joey, Tristan and Tea, along with a couple of others, all to start in the next week and all causing headaches with scheduling, since there was no way she could have Bakura and Yugi on duty at the same time, if she had Tristan and Joey on duty at the same time, they'd fight with each other and there were about thirty other reasons why this guy and that guy couldn't work together.
She was tempted to ask Mokuba if he wanted to run the Day Care and if she could just work there, she wasn't a big fan off all the paperwork and she didn't know if she was doing everything right.
Yugi had a date with Tea today, Joey was working in the shop and Tristan was off somewhere, so today it was her, a couple of Kaiba Corp employees and Bakura looking after the thirty or so Pokemon that were currently resting, in various states of sated and sleeping.
Jamie was actually getting ready to test the new wetsuit. Kaiba Corp colours of course, white, blue and silver, but it was suitable for the deep pool at the back of the Day Care.
"So what do you think?" Jamie grinned as she twirled around, silver coloured goggles resting on her head.
The teen nodded approvingly, "I like it."
"Bakura… do you…?" Jamie sighed, "Look after my deck for me will you?"
He nodded and Jamie tossed him her deck bag and Pokeball belt, before pulling on her goggles and diving into the water.
Tsunami was asleep on the pond floor, the Milotic was swimming around, plus a Crawdaunt and a Corsola were resting on the sides, along with some fish from this world and the Staryu that Bakura had brought along this morning that were swimming around.
The pool was fuller then she would have liked, but they'd need more space to expand it any further, besides, Kaiba had gotten them to dig as deep as they could.
A shockwave hit her from all sides, waking Tsunami and causing all the Water Pokemon to head for the surface. Attempting to shake off her shock, she swam for the surface.
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It was late when Yugi finally got back to the Game Shop and Solomon sent him straight back out again with Joey to find their friend.
Why did Joey have Jamie's Pokeball Belt?
Joey filled Yugi in on their way to the Pokemon Day Care Centre, Jamie hadn't come home yet, this wasn't like her, not since the Day Care Centre had opened, and they'd been even more worried when they'd found her belt on her bed, along with her deck box. She never went anywhere without either, not since the fire, so something was very wrong. Plus one of her Pokeballs were missing. They'd checked, it was Iblis's.
Turning the corner they didn't like what they saw at all, putting on a burst of speed at the last.
Police had cordoned off the Day Care, which had holes in the sides and looked worse for wear and worst of all there was no sign of the Pokemon, or Jamie.
"Where's my cousin?" Yugi asked the officers, "Jamelia, the Head of the Day Care?"
"There was an attack." The officers looked awkward, "From those weirdos that have those creatures, I'm sorry kid but Jamelia Francis isn't here."
"Shit." Joey breathed, looking through the crowd. The two backed off as Yugi changed slightly, violet eyes turning crimson, and gaining a couple of inches. Joey paused, Yugi hadn't changed completely since before Jamie had arrived, and it was a sign of how worried the teen was, if the spirit of his Puzzle was taking the lead.
"Do you think she was taken?" Joey asked.
"It's a possibility." Yami growled, pausing as someone ducked under the tape and through a hole in the wall while the police weren't looking.
"Wasn't that?"
Yami nodded, diving under the tape himself and following, Joey a split second later.
Inside the Day Care looked just as bad as outside, the planted trees were ripped up or blasted, the carefully laid paths and grass scorched and ruined and the pool that ran along the back of the warehouses that had been joined together to form a big enough area was frozen.
It was here that the Someone had stopped, sending out a huge, flaming Pokemon. "Iblis! Flamethrower!"
The fire struck the ice in the darken building, lighting up the face of the other person.
"Bakura?" Yami growled, racing towards the ice.
"Not now Yugi" Bakura snarled, "Unless you want your friend trapped under the ice permanently."
"What?"
"She was down there when they froze it." Bakura snapped.
The flames died as steam rose, and a hole in the ice was obvious. Joey dove in, leaving the two yamis above the water.
"Why are you here?" Yami asked. "I know you're the spirit of the Ring, not Bakura."
"Is it so surprising?" Bakura asked with a raised eyebrow, "That your friend would seek friendship with those who help her?"
"You? Help Jamie?" Yami asked, "Why?"
Bakura was saved from answering by Joey surfacing with an unconscious Jamie in tow. "Not breathing!"
Yami and Bakura pulled the two out. "I thought she said she could breathe underwater?" Yami growled.
"Hypothermia." Bakura glared at him, "Even if she can breathe underwater, she's been down there for hours." He looked at the Charizard, who curled up on the ice, before putting his ear to her chest. "Shit. Wheeler, do you have Denkou?"
"What? Why?"
"Her heart's stopped you idiot!"
Joey fumbled with the Pokeballs, sending out Aisu and Gaia before hastily returning the huge grass turtle and finally sending out Raichu.
Denkou took one look around, then focused completely on it's Trainer, unleashing a Thunderbolt that went straight through his Trainer and if the conducted jolts were anything to go by, if that didn't help…
Jamie gasped, opened her eyes for a moment, coughed out the water to replace it with oxygen and passed straight back out again.
Joey and Bakura were at her side in a heartbeat, checking her over. "Breathing." Joey sighed in relief.
"She's not clear yet." Bakura shook his head, "Iblis!"
It was clear her Pokemon had done this before, as the huge Fire Type moved over, lying next to his trainer and keeping his flame close.
"Get the police." Yami and Bakura said to Joey at the same time. The teen looked at them as if they were aliens, then vanished through the hole.
"I need to thank you." Yami swallowed his pride, "We wouldn't have thought to look under the ice if you hadn't tried it."
Bakura didn't look as smug as Yami thought he would, "I shouldn't have left when she told me."
Yami paused to consider this, "Are you helping her because you want to, or because your host asked you to?"
Bakura examined him, "And what if I said that I was helping her because I want to?"
"I'd ask why, when you seem to like causing trouble."
"Unlike you, she has nothing I need."
"Then why are you…"
"Hey!"
The police arrived, Joey in tow and both Yami and the dark Bakura retreated in favour of their hikaris.
"This is Officer Shi. We urgently need an ambulance at the Day Care, yes, a victim of the attack earlier that we've only just found." He looked at the three boys, "Ten minutes? Fine."