End of the Rainbow (Rei no Kaado)

[mugenginga]

The problem here was, while it was most likely that Abel had cancelled the functions on the COMP, there was a slim chance he hadn't. Enjin probably knew about Abel's issues whether he was working with (or for, but that seemed even less likely) him or not. Atem's grip on Osiris' card tightened and he pulled up the deck, keeping one eye on it as he flipped through it and one eye on Enjin.

Yuugi swallowed hard. It was true that all Enjin had done so far was startle them. It wasn't exactly friendly to run around reading peopes minds. He trusted Atem's assessment of the situation, so he had not doubt Enjin was. Still, he hadn't done anything. Yuugi tried to relax a bit and had moderate success. He glanced at the card on the ground and looked back up at Enjin. He focused for a moment so he could speak without a stutter.

"Could I have that back? I won't use it unless I have to," Yuugi said, and his thoughts would prove he meant it.

Atem put the cards back in his pouch aside from three. Despite the shielded thoughts, Enjin would probably know what the three cards were. Wasn't like he'd need to read minds to make that jump with the information he already had. Atem lowered his arms and took a less offensive stance and began shuffling the cards. If he had to summon one, he'd make sure neither of them knew which one it was. He focused on the action of shuffling and thoughts about Abel. Enjin would have to work rather hard to get any details about the cards. He would probably note that Atem seemed to think it was good he had one Ka summoned already.

"Then talk," Atem stated, his mind seething with no small amount of distrust for Enjin.

[Firebreath Fishslap]

Enjin kept his smirk up as he looked over toward Yuugi, and finally picked up the Black Magician Girl's card, examining it once more before tossing it toward Yuugi. "Here." He trusted the non tanned of the duo's thoughts more than the tanned one's. He was focusing on thoughts about the action of shuffling itself and Abel. Atem seemed to be confident just because he had one creature summoned already.

"I'm interested in what kind of person this Keiichi is. Not just what he does as the King of Bel, but how exactly he got there... and his relationship to you two," Enjin said. "I know from the information in this device that he considered one of you his friend at one point. And I know that he's a king. But other than that, I don't really know much."

He put his hands in his coat pockets. "So, I was hoping the two of you could... enlighten me on that detail."

He was playing nice for now. No need to go on the offensive when he could put them off guard. If they attacked him over this first, well, that was their problem.

[mugenginga]

This device...? So he doesn't know what the COMPs are. Which makes my first guess right. He's not working with or for Abel.

Lying won't do any good of Atem is right... He's being a little over suspicious though. Or maybe I'm just gullible. I always seem to be... But Atsuro thinks K1 is still... crap, he's probably...

Yuugi seemed grateful the card had been given to him. He kept it at his side with no thoughts to summon it. Atem and Yuugi's thoughts had overlapped, but it would be no harder to differentiate them then two people talking at once. Yuugi looked up as his thoughts ran past and spoke as if he were cutting his own thoughts off.

"He's a good person..." Yuugi said, "He's just trying to help people."

Abel isn't, though... He'd kill this person if he got the chance...

"He won a war," Atem stated. He stopped shuffling, "It's a dirty trick to go behind his back for information, regardless of who he is. How did you get that 'device'?"

Atem transferred the three cards to one hand and pointed at the COMP. Despite calling it a "device", his mind said COMP. This was very problematic if he was reading their thoughts. There was a small chance he wasn't. The man could just be observant like Cain was, able to read people. Still, with one experience in the past of mind reading, Atem didn't feel comfortable in assuming that way. Black Magician maintained its aggressive stance, but it didn't look like it would do anything against Atem's will. Its thoughts seemed little more than reflections of Atem's own.

[Firebreath Fishslap]

Enjin still had that confident look about him as the other two spoke. So Keiichi was trying to help people, but Abel wasn't a "nice person." Based on some of Abel's actions at the hotel, he was assuming something like a split personality issue. Or, more likely, a human who had somehow become a demon. Perhaps it was something like a half-demon, except he hadn't fully recovered from his Falling like that kotodama-user and Shinozuka. However, since Falling didn't seem to be all that common wherever Abel came from, he had to wonder how that could have possibly happened to him.

And, Abel had apparently become a king by winning some kind of war. Atem wasn't elaborating, and had then decided to ask how he'd gotten the COMP. Well, Enjin had said "this device." It would seem that Atem wasn't stupid.

"A little birdie helped me get it," Enjin said. "As a consequence, I can't directly approach Kei-chan or I'll probably end up dead. If he doesn't kill his brother first. He really did seem rather unstable the last time I saw him." He wasn't specifying which brother he was referring to with that last statement. They'd both seemed rather broken. And the "King" had actually debating on whether he should attack his twin or not.

[mugenginga]

Cain or Seth....

Atem's eyes glanced at the COMP again. Seth, the doubt was gone from his mind. He looked over at Yuugi and Enjin would pick up on the worry. A lot of the "shielding" Atem had put up dropped for a moment with that glance. Yuugi was still clinging to Abel's humanity. If the demon Abel was even considering targeting Seth, he was losing it fast. Yuugi caught Atem's expression and averted his gaze. The shorter teen's thoughts ran along similar to Atem's. The main difference was the insistence on fighting for K1.

"If you want more information, ask him yourself," Atem said.

"Atem, he-!"

"Partner, the inner workings of the Court of Bel having nothing to do with us!"

Just leave it alone, Partner. We can talk more about it later, but I don't want to do anything that kicks up thoughts around him, Atem narrowed his eyes, I'm sure he's hearing these too. Damn it.

We can't just abandon him or he will lost it!

[Firebreath Fishslap]

Enjin's expression didn't change as he caught some of Atem and Yuugi's thoughts. They were actually quite similar, the main difference being their thoughts on Keiichi himself. Yuugi seemed to think that they couldn't leave him alone or he'd lose himself. Judging by that, Yuugi was the one who had been Keiichi's friend.

"So you're just going to abandon your friend to his terrible fate, then?" Enjin said. "It's getting to be rather obvious that he's losing his humanity... well, not my problem if he decides to go on a murderous rampage." He shrugged and looked toward the Puzzle Yuugi wore. A lot of Atem's rapid thoughts from earlier had centered on this Puzzle and those dark game things. And this body was getting rather old, even if it was useful. Considering how observant Atem was, he'd likely notice how focused Enjin was on Yuugi.

[mugenginga]

Yuugi winced as Enjin spoke to Atem. Mind reading aside, their different opinions on Abel and Keiichi were rather obvious. Atem didn't want to attack Enjin unless the man made an aggressive move. Right now he was just taunting them. There was no reason to react to something he himself had done many times. The first step in disarming your opponent was words... sometimes the only step. He was relaxing a bit now that he'd figured out the man's strategy when he noticed the way Enjin was looking at Yuugi.

The short teenager looked nervous at the way he was being stared at. He swallowed hard, wondering what the man had found so interesting suddenly. He considered summoning Black Magician Girl. Just to be on the safe side. Maybe the guy was just trying to unsettle him. It was working. He tried to glare at Enjin, but it didn't work well. Why was he only able to bring that side of himself out when his friends were in danger?

"Is that all?" Atem said, his voice bordering on a growl.

He gestured to Black Magician, not caring that Enjin would know what he was thinking. If the man tried anything funny in regards to Yuugi, he'd be attacked by a magic spell. Black Magician floated forward a bit and his stance somehow managed to be more aggressive. Enjin was between them, he'd have to count on Yuugi and Black Magician Girl for that side of things. He was grateful that Enjin had given the card back to his Partner now.

Get the hell away from him... Atem's thoughts were growling. Maybe it was a glaring weakness, but it was one Enjin did not want to attempt to use. Atem was glaring daggers, and it was a good thing Yuugi couldn't see him past Enjin.

[Firebreath Fishslap]

Sometimes Enjin didn't just know when it would be a good idea to back off. This was demonstrated as he lifted his hand up below his chin and voiced a thought that he probably should have kept to himself, and probably would have if it weren't for how he was toying with the two of them. "This body is getting old... and those Dark Games sound rather... useful." He gave one of those creepy grins that resembled some of Cain's a tad bit too much.

He allowed his hands to spark with that same kind of energy he used for tuning for a moment. Actually, he was still wondering about that third presence he'd sensed. Well, he could deal with that in a moment.

"Depends on how useful that would be to the integration of the dimensions, but of course, I could always just find poor little Gin again afterwards," Enjin said. Some of Gin's presence was hanging on; the body would still be alive even once his own presence had exited. So if Yuugi didn't work out, he always could just go back to Gin.

[mugenginga]

Atem's eyes almost widened as Enjin spoke. This body. This body. Which meant if the person in control (his words indicated a case like Bakura, where the body belonged to someone named Gin) wasn't a demon, he at least had the power to possess and control people. And probably anyone if he was targeting his Partner. With the panicked thoughts a command was given and Black Magician raised its staff.

Yuugi's eyes had widened and he'd taken a single step backwards as Enjin was talking. As far as his thoughts were concerned, the chance of being possessed wasn't the worst of it, although there was concern over the one Enjin had called Gin as well. They didn't need someone willing to do something like that able to run the Dark Games. Yuugi's panic prevented him from even wondering if he could. In a flash of light, Black Magician Girl appeared in front of Yuugi. She took up a defensive stance, but she was aware of Black Magician behind Enjin. The man would hear the attack before it fired due to the mind reading.

"Black Magic!" shouted Atem.

What appeared to be a black bolt of electricity fired towards Enjin from Black Magician's staff. Yuugi had dove to the side just as the attack fired. Since Enjin could read minds, he might know about the action. If he dodged he didn't want to be in the way of the attack. Black Magician girl flew to the side with Yuugi, so they'd both be out of the way of Black Magician's attack if Enjin managed to dodge it.

I can't tell him to get out of here! He won't be willing to! But I don't know what this guy is going to pull!

Atem grabbed the top card of the three cards in his hand. Unless Enjin did something about that, Atem would be summoning the Ka of one of the three Phantom Gods as his next action.

[Firebreath Fishslap]

Black Magic!

Enjin heard the attack coming before it actually fired, and quickly dodged out of the way, dropping Satelite as he did so. The electricity that had been sparking around his ears disappeared as he turned off Satelite. Now he'd just have his own reflexes to rely on. Not like that would matter in a moment. He suddenly appeared behind Atem, grabbed the hand holding the three cards, and pulled it behind his back. Enjin pulled his free hand from his pocket and placed what was grasped in it up against Atem's throat. It was a box cutter, one that certainly looked like it had been used for things other than cutting boxes and quite often, too.

"Now if you don't want your little boyfriend to get hurt, you'll both drop your cards and--" Enjin suddenly looked down. He was sensing that third presence again. "Well well, what's this?"

He took the hand holding the God Cards off of it and reached into Atem's pocket, pulling out the Ring. He held it up to examine it. "Shiny. Looks a lot like little Yuugi over there's Puzzle. Interesting."

[mugenginga]

(OOC: Reread Enjin's app. I know he's not really teleporting. Yay illusions. XD I'm assuming that means he's not reading their thoughts at the moment, right? I've included it just in case. XD

Oh, as Yuugi thinks of Bakura Enjin would get a rough idea of what he looks like. Its up to you whether he gets a sense of Anpu's spirit appearance or not. It would make more sense if Enjin asked what Anpu looked like, as it would cause that thought to surface and I wank that the spirit presences in YGO is based on what the spirit knows themself to look like... hence how I explain Anpu looking like he did in Ancient Egypt but Atem not having his tan in series. The outfit would have Anpu wearing what he wore when he was last linked with Bakura, so the black and white striped shirt, black trenchcoat, and jeans.)

A lot of things happened in a very short time. Yuugi probably would have managed to hit his head on the side of a dumpster had Black Magician Girl not noticed how he was falling and grabbed his wrist. At the same time Enjin had seemed to teleport out of the way of the attack. Yuugi was just getting back on his balance as Atem's arm was yanked behind his back.

The former Pharaoh had been honestly surprised as Enjin vanished. It created a hesitation in what he was doing, one he was berating himself for even before the cat eared man managed to grab his wrist and yank it behind his back. He hissed in a combination of surprise and pain, but it didn't stop him from trying to struggle. At the rate he was going he would dislocate his right arm, and the presence of the minor burn wasn't helping the pain factor.

Yuugi's eyes widened and a sense of fear rose in his thoughts as Enjin responded to Atem's struggling by putting a knife to his throat. A knife that looked like there could be blood stains on it. Yuugi didn't freeze, but he came close. He'd almost dispelled Black Magician Girl at Enjin's order when he cut himself off. Atem had stopped struggling when he felt the blade against his throat. He looked rather worried, but it was somewhat concealed by the scowl as Enjin said boyfriend. Not being an idiot, he'd loosened his grip on the God Cards, but then Enjin cut himself off. He retightened his grip on them at that point.

When Enjin made his amused jest, both Yuugi and Atem's emotions kicked up a notch. Yuugi was gritting his teeth and trying to avoid not panicking. But damn, Enjin had noticed the Ring. He had no idea if it would accept the man. He didn't even know what would happen if it didn't, but he doubted it was pleasant. He didn't need Atem's words from before to confirm that. He'd seen what Ra had done to Rishid, and it was a logical leap to assume the Items were just as unkind. The short teenager was staying in place, and Black Magician Girl was floating there in a defensive position.

Atem didn't tell Enjin to put it down. For one, the position meant talking would move his throat and the man had the blade a little close to that location. Out of the corner of his eye Atem could make out that the weapon didn't have a standard hilt. It looked like it could be a tool rather than something meant as a weapon. Didn't change the fact it could slit his throat if Enjin felt like it. If Enjin was still reading their minds, he'd have several good ideas about the Ring. Not just from himself, but he could tell his Partner was trying not to panic.

Damn it! Damn it! If he's a demon then... shit! If that gets back to Bakura again... what are the odds we can get it back again!? I don't care what Malik said, I don't want to have to destroy Anpu to get him out of the Ring! I can't do that! Damn it, but I can't let Atem get hurt, either! What the hell are we supposed to do!

Shit, he's not an idiot. I knew that, but to so quickly put these Items as the same series... and he mentioned the Dark Games, which means he knows about that aspect as well, Atem narrowed his eyes and took a stressed swallow. He could feel his throat push against the blade from the action, There's not a large chance it will accept him, though... then again... no! Focus....

Atem had managed to cut off his worry. If Enjin was still focusing on their thoughts, he'd realize Atem had thought that his previous thoughts about it not accepting him could be in error. However, he'd switched the focus to concern about Yuugi, so Enjin wouldn't know why those thoughts had occurred. The presence in the Ring seemed in some kind of stasis, but there was a definite human quality to it. Enjin would have to specifically prod it to get anything in the way of thoughts, a focus on said thoughts that would interfere with any other reading he was trying to do.

[Firebreath Fishslap]

Enjin had opened his mouth and mumbled something, something that Atem likely heard. The exact word was Satelite, which was a bit of an odd choice in conjunction with his powers, but it certainly seemed to activate them again, as the electricity had once again started sparking around his ears. The timing of when he'd decided to activate it allowed him to catch the last snippets of what Atem and Yuugi were thinking. They'd certainly gotten panicked when he grabbed the Ring. But right now he was more focused on something else.

Enjin held the Ring up to eye level and zapped it with just enough of the energy he used to tune to possibly prod the spirit within awake. If that didn't work, what he said next probably would.

Well well, aren't you interesting, Anpu? Enjin said. He actually wasn't speaking through any sort of the normal telekinesis, but through the energy he used to tune with. It was a multi-use power, so sue him. A nice little object you inhabit. I might just keep it for myself.

[mugenginga]

Atem did hear it. He had no idea what to make of it, but he heard it. Black Magician had backed off at a thought from Atem, and was now in position near Black Magician Girl. Yuugi still looked antsy. He'd seen Enjin's lips move but the position meant he hadn't been able to read them. Atem's hair had gotten in the way.

Atem wasn't struggling anymore, what with the knife against his throat. He was watching the Ring that Enjin had lifted up with his spare hand, or at least the glint the sunlight coming into the alley was bouncing off it. Right now all they could do was wait for an opening, and with his mind reading powers it would be damn hard to find one...

Anpu had felt something with the energy. His first realization was that he wasn't around Ryou's neck, which meant any kind of limited awareness was odd. Ryou wasn't nearby either. And then he heard someone talking to him, and it kicked in enough energy he could get a hazy awareness to see who was talking to him. Or what. What the hell!?

"Who the hell are you!?" Enjin would feel the presence strenghten, and if he tried he'd be able to get a feel for what it looked like. Anpu didn't seem too aware of his surroundings, and it was somewhat clear the limited awareness he had was a reflection of Enjin's own powers. He smirked and shrugged at Enjin's next comments, "I don't know how you know my name, but if you want to burn yourself alive be my guest."

[Firebreath Fishslap]

Enjin smirked as the presence spoke to him again. Burn himself alive? Didn't sound very pleasant. Enjin placed the Ring into his pocket, but kept one hand on it as he did so. He wasn't relaxing his grip on the box cutter. At least Atem wasn't struggling anymore.

"I'll be borrowing this," Enjin said with a smirk. At the same time, he was talking to Anpu.

Burned alive? Sounds unpleasant, Enjin said. He was starting to get a good feel for what the spirit presence exactly looked like. Long white hair, tanned skin, a scar under his eye, wearing a striped shirt and a trenchcoat. But for now, I'd rather you stay quiet. Unless you'd like to stay with that Pharaoh, which I highly doubt.

Enjin stepped back from Atem, finally pulling the knife away from Atem's throat as he did so. Of course, it was only replaced by an illusionary COMP.

"Well, I think I've gotten what I've needed. I do hope you enjoy yourselves," Enjin said. He "pressed" a button on that illusionary COMP, and an illusionary Culebre appeared. Well, it had been the only demon he'd seen Seth actually summon.

[mugenginga]

Yuugi wanted to tell Enjin to not. But considering what they'd seen of his character, any objection would just encourage the man. He still looked nervous, but he looked like he'd be willing to fight if things went on much longer. Atem's frown deepened as Enjin informed them he'd be "borrowing" the Ring. There was no guarantee it wouldn't accep thim, and they were in it deep if it did. Shit.

Anpu raised an eyebrow at Enjin's jab. So the Ring was still with the Pharaoh? It figured as much. He couldn't think of any suitable argument, and there wasn't much he could do now. If he suspected right, he could probably burn the hands of the not quite human with the Ring, but it would put him back in the hands of Atem. So he made a very audible "tch" thought and actualy broke of the channel. Enjin would have no problem re-establishing it if he tried, making the action more comparable to turning around then breaking off communication.

Atem was shoved forward as Enjin released him. Yuugi was momentarily distracted as the former Pharaoh regained his footing. Both Black Magician and Black Magician Girl focused on him as well, and they'd both moved forward to support him. It gave Enjin ample time to manifest the COMP over his knife and summon the illusionary demon.

"Atem, look out!"

Atem whirled around, using the position of Black Magician Girl and Black Magician to help support him. He gave a quick gesture to Black Magician. The Ka lifted its staff into the air while Black Magician Girl flew in front of both of them and gathered energy on her staff. If the creature managed to get past Black Magician, she'd provide a second line of defense.

If he can summon demons... isn't Abel aware that the COMP is missing!?

"Black Magic!" Atem's order went over the top of his thoughts.

A bolt of black magical lightning shot towards Culebre. He'd fought demons with the Ka before... although that had still been as much Mahaad as not. Enjin would get more pain similar to what Atem's thoughts had given off before as the attack fired.