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Post by mugenginga on Jun 12, 2011 1:57:50 GMT -5
Kisa opened her mouth to respond to Minato when Kaiba's Blue Eyes unleashed its Destructive Burst Stream onto Yuugi's Black Magician Girl. Her eyes widened and she turned towards the area where the duel was being held as a bit of a wind blew through where they were standing. The man that had them both on edge looked over as well and gave a low whistle over the effects.
Kisa held her hand to her chest for a moment before looking towards Minato and giving a nod, "That would be wonderful, Arisato-san."
"Well, you two kids have fun then," the strange man said without looking back towards them, "And watch out for little children, they can be real monsters."
Cain frowned to himself from the bushes. So Loki knew he was there. He wasn't surprised.
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Yuugi looked down at his cards and gave a solemn draw of another as Kaiba announced the end of his turn. He frowned at the card he'd drawn. There was a way out of this, but with Black Magician Girl now in the Graveyard he'd have to be more resourceful. Kaiba only had 400 Life Points left, if he could just make it work... He just needed one more card to make the combo work. He sets a magic card and looks at his Black Magician. At least it was in Defense position...
"Turn End!" he announced, grimacing as he said it.
Even Atem was frowning at this point. He knew Yuugi had a plan...
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Post by Firebreath Fishslap on Jun 12, 2011 2:21:26 GMT -5
Minato turned toward the direction of the duel as well when the bit of wind came their way. That was some really dedicated special effects, especially if they could feel that from all the way down here.
He turned toward the man once again as he gave his warning. Minato frowned, but didn't say anything.
"Alright, let's go." He began walking back in the direction of the duel.
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Post by mugenginga on Jun 12, 2011 19:47:18 GMT -5
Kisa gave a grateful nod and headed after Minato, looking back several times towards the strange man with a worried expression. The man noticed her gaze and gave a smile and she turned away again. He was almost out of sight of the two of them when an icy wind kicked up in the opposite direction that the previous one had blown, and Kisa found her breath catching and turned back towards the man. She gasped.
"Wh-where'd he go?!"
Minato would have to move to see where she was indicating. Their positions meant he'd not have been able to see the man even if he hadn't gone away. Kisa, nonetheless, was pointing in his direction as she let out her gasp. No one could move that quickly and silently, right?!
He wasn't something created by that man, was he?!
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Kaiba seems almost bored at this point, a lot of the flare from before gone. He draws a card and looks at it for a moment before setting it into one of his magic slots.
"I play Shinespark!"
A orb of bright light suddenly shot up in front of Kaiba and then fell back down, illuminating his entire side of the field. A few wisps of white orbs of light floated up and began swirling around Blue Eyes, White Dragon, which let out a roar in response. Kaiba looked towards Yuugi.
"Shinespark increased the attack of all LIGHT monsters by 500 points and decreases their Defense by 400! Blue Eyes, White Dragon! Attack Yuugi's Black Magician! Destructive Burst Stream!"
Kaiba threw out his hand, apparently not willing to sacrifice the overacting for everything. Blue Eyes tilted its head back and the wisps of light gathered around the much larger orb of energy at its mouth. It fired off its attack, the beam of white light smashing into Black Magician, shattering the defending Magician. Yuugi through up his arm like before and the wind went everywhere... when it died down Yuugi's side of the field was empty. His Life Points were steady though, due to Black Magician's former position.
"The Duel will end next turn, Yuugi!" Kaiba announced. He shrugged, "I told you it was a waste of time to challenge me..."
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Post by Firebreath Fishslap on Jun 13, 2011 0:23:53 GMT -5
Kisa seemed really nervous around this man, to the point that Minato had to wonder just what had happened before he'd gotten there. Some kind of sexual harassment seemed obvious enough... He turned around to see if she was coming when a cold wind blew in his face...
He moved to the side a bit to see what Kisa meant, and saw that the man had disappeared.
"...No idea," Minato said. Now he was a little freaked out. "Let's go, we're going to miss the end of the duel if we don't hurry."
---------------
Atsuro glared at Kaiba. He still wasn't taking Yuugi seriously, and now he was saying he was going to win next turn? He did have that Blue Eyes out, and it was powered up with that Shinespark card, but Atsuro was confident that Yuugi could pull back from this.
"Come on, Yuugi!" Atsuro called. "You can beat him!"
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Post by mugenginga on Jun 14, 2011 16:02:30 GMT -5
Kisa looked at Minato with a worried expression and nodded, moving faster than was probably strictly necessary and having to fight getting ahead of Minato as a result. As soon as the two were out of range of possibly hearing, Cain frowned and straigthened up, picking bits of leaves off his shirt.
"I know you're behind me, Loki," he growled. His sour expression didn't change when the leaves rustled and the man who had been addressing Kisa and Minato stepped out from behind a tree and gave a shrug and a smile. Cain whirled towards him and pointed his finger at him, "I don't care about who you've decided to play with this time, but stay out of my business."
Loki leaned forward and gave a grin, "You're adorable when you're mad, Kanjou-chan."
One could all but see the vein pop out on the child's forehead. He hadn't even been aware Loki had learned the name his birth parents had given him in this life. The honorific was entirely unnecessary and all Loki. He glared towards the much taller man.
"Regardless, stay out of my business."
Loki shrugged, although he seemed to be enjoying himself far too much, "Last I checked, you didn't have any authority to give me orders, did you? I doubt Abel would be all that supportive of it, either, would he?" He gave a wink, "Although I suppose what he doesn't know never did hurt him?"
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"Thank you, Arisato-san..." It had taken Kisa a while to speak up after they'd gotten away from the area the strange man was in. She'd calmed down a bit, and the crowds had begun to pick up due to them getting closer to the Duel.
She adjusted her pace so she was walking next to him. It bordered comical because she was having to hold her long hair up at some places to avoid getting it snagged on branches. It really did seem rather fine, "Why did you help me? We've only met once and... O-oh... I haven't told you about my father yet, have I?"
Yeah, that was... probably important to mention before Minato had the misfortune of running into him.
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Post by Firebreath Fishslap on Jun 15, 2011 0:21:44 GMT -5
Minato silently walked next to Kisa, letting her regain her composure as they walked. Admittedly he needed the time to do the same. The man (he was sure that he was a demon now that he thought about it) had been rather unsettling.
He turned toward her and watched her try to keep her hair from being snagged. "I didn't think it was a good idea to let him harass you, really."
He shook his head at the mention of her father, though he wasn't quite sure why that was important.
------------------
Since leaving Seth earlier, Naoki had been aimlessly wandering around the shrine. While he should have been teaching a lesson to those two police officers, he could wait until later to do that. He wanted to watch the festival for now... though right now everyone seemed focused on the duel at the back of the shrine.
It was the faintest sense of a familiar demon's presence that led Naoki in this direction. There was a human presence there too that belonged to Cain, so Cain and Loki were obviously near each other.
He walked down the path until he came to where Minato and Kisa had been standing moments before. He walked toward where Loki and Cain were conversing from there. It was almost humorous watching the child talk with the much older man.
"I don't think disobeying any Abel would be a good idea, Loki," Naoki said quietly.
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Post by mugenginga on Jun 15, 2011 0:37:34 GMT -5
Kisa gave a small smile at his words, and her entire face seemed to light up as a result, from just such a small smile. It vanished as Minato mentioned her father, and she averted her gaze sideways, although she continued to walk.
"He is... very overprotective. Especially lately, given..." she shook her head, "I had to sneak out of the house to come here today. And he doesn't approve of me spending time with men he hasn't approved of," Kisa explained, "Oh, don't get me wrong of course, he really does care about me. It's just... well, my father likes things very... normal."
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Cain opened his mouth to object to Loki's statement, but he caught himself as he saw the human-formed demon's face twitch. He closed his mouth and narrowed his eyes. Loki rarely showed emotion, and when he did he was usually flipping out. So that subtle...
"As if you have ever been the master of good ideas, Hitoshura," Loki responded, an unusual edge to his voice. He shook his arms out a little bit and turned towards the "teenager" and flashed a charming smile, "But I was chastising my young friend here about his actions, not discussing my own."
Cain gave a deeper frown at Loki's taunt, but looked back towards Hitoshura, "I'm surprised you're still hanging around here."
He didn't comment on Hitoshura's words, although he had quite well caught them. He knew about Loki's supposed loyalty to the Abel of the last world he was in, but he hadn't been aware Hitoshura was. After all, unlike him, the demi-fiend didn't come from that world, in any part. And there were definite sparks here... better to let them play out as they would.
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Kaiba-kun is right. This is going to be the last turn. I can't summon anything that'll take another hit from his Blue Eyes without my Life Points vanishing from the remainder of the hit. I've got cards that could stall, but... I feel it too, just as much as he does. This next card is going to be my last.
Yuugi looked towards Atsuro as he shouted out encouragement and gave a weak smile. He glanced over his other friends, all of which he could feel were encouraging them. Anzu looked worried, Honda and Jounouchi were both glaring at Kaiba, his grandfather was there... Ryoji and Teddie seemed to be more like Anzu than anything else. He glanced over to Atem, and their eyes crossed. He tightened his lips and turned back towards Kaiba. He had to draw that last card, in any case.
Yuugi reached down into his deck and pulled out the card with a fluid and somewhat overdramatic motion. He kept his gaze on Kaiba as he placed it among his cards before finally looking down... and his eyes widened. He spread out his cards with his hands and glanced at the cards inside. His heart almost skipped a beat and he looked up at Kaiba.
"Kaiba-kun!" he called the other teenager out. Kaiba raised an eyebrow and returned the words with a scowl. Yuugi shook his head, "A lot of what you say isn't wrong, but..."
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Post by Firebreath Fishslap on Jun 15, 2011 2:11:19 GMT -5
"And this island isn't exactly full of normal people," Minato said, finishing Kisa's explanation for her. That meant he wouldn't be too happy about her hanging around him right now. After all, he wasn't very normal himself, and he found his hand moving to where he had his Evoker holstered in the past as he thought that.
"You came to see Kaiba, didn't you?" Minato asked. Based on their previous encounter, he was sure that was why. She'd asked him about Kaiba, after all.
-----------------
Naoki gave a small flick of his eyes toward Cain so that the child would know that he'd acknowledged him, but his focus remained squarely on Loki.
"Ah, I see," Naoki said. "Carry on, then. Though I do think I've got better ideas than you do. I've never let an easily distracted demon guard my valuable, after all."
He put his hands in his jacket pockets and stepped back a bit to allow Cain and Loki their room.
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Post by mugenginga on Jun 15, 2011 2:42:08 GMT -5
Kisa nodded as Minato finished up her explanation. Not quite entirely right, but close enough to fit the situation. She continued to walk silently when Minato asked his question. She looked up suddenly and then looked away, giving a nod while continuing to avoid eye contact.
"I wanted to see him... ah... Duel? I know he probably doesn't think much of me, and goodness knows my father would lose it if he knew I was looking for a boy he hasn't arranged for me, but..." Kisa bit her lip, "Those annoying vague memories that he brings up. I'd like to talk about them at least."
She held a hand to her chin and looked down as they walked, "Although it might be foolish of me to think he has any of those same memories... I hope he doesn't think I'm stalking him!"
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Cain let out a dry sort of huff at Naoki's words. One would think it was almost supposed to be an audible smirk. Loki flicked his eyes to the side and scowled, and the corner of Cain's lip curled up. Well then, it looks like Loki had his own sensitive spots.
"Well then why don't you enlighten us?" Loki said, that edge to his voice from before back, "Since you clearly know so much about the situation at hand?"
Cain remained silent, one eye clearly on each demon. That expression hadn't really faded though.
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Post by Firebreath Fishslap on Jun 15, 2011 3:10:37 GMT -5
Minato frowned and continued walking. She was definitely attracted to him, though whether it was because of weird previous life business or because she just loved him, Minato wasn't sure. At the very least their memories were definitely involved.
He shrugged. "You never know. He might want to talk about things like those. Though I'd recommend not bringing up anything overly supernatural... he's a bit no-nonsense."
Minato was perfectly aware he was giving relationship tips to some girl he was really only minor acquaintances with. He was also completely okay with this.
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Naoki shrugged again, and while his face was as expressionless as ever, there was an edge to his voice much like the one in Loki's voice.
"You let the little boy go about his business," Naoki said. "Whatever happens, the fallout will certainly make the King think a bit smarter. And if he doesn't, he's better off as those thousands of lesser demons and under my lord's control."
He put a hand up to his face like he was deep in thought. "Hmm... and if that happened, your allegiance to Abel would be lost and you would be forced to obey my lord as well, wouldn't you?"
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Post by mugenginga on Jun 15, 2011 3:35:58 GMT -5
Kisa grimaced, "Y-yeah... my father's... kind of the same way. I mean he has to know it's there but he'll never talk about it. I think it bothers him. He came from a very normal Japan, and he wants me to grow up the same way."
She hung her head, her hair falling in front of her face "So I try to keep... well, you know. Things like those memories and such from him. He doesn't want a daughter that isn't normal."
She looked up with a worried expression, "Arisato-san, will that bother Se-erm, Kaiba-san? You know those visions and stuff?"
By this time they'd made it most of the way back to the Duel under Minato's guidance. In fact, they'd get there just before Yuugi began his speech.
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"...but I can fight. Just because I don't go seeking battles out doesn't mean I can't fight my own!" Yuugi looked down at his cards and pulled up three cards prominent from the rest, "Kaiba-kun, I Duel for fun. I don't Duel to prove my strength, or that I'm better than anyone else."
"Sometimes it happens that I have to Duel to protect the ones I care about... That's what Jounouchi-kun says makes a True Duelist. And you're right, I haven't fought all of my battles in the past... definitely not by myself. My other self... Atem was there to help me sometimes, but... but I can do it myself too!"
"But Kaiba-kun, I didn't want to fight this Duel!" Yuugi furrows his brows and pats the three cards he'd just brought up back among his other cards. Kaiba narrowed his eyes at the sudden action.
"Enough with your annoying speeches!" Kaiba shouted, "If you have a move to play, play it!"
Atem had narrowed his eyes in concern as well. While the rest of Yuugi's friends were breathless, wondering what the hell he was doing or being completely confused due to lack of understanding of the rules, Atem looked bothered. It was clear he couldn't grasp what Yuugi was getting at. Sugoroku had a serious expression as well, but it was more confident... at least one among them had an idea at what the short teenager was aiming to do. Atem caught his and looked at Sugoroku, who gave a small smile.
"Yuugi's won," Sugoroku said to Atem's gaze.
"He's not setting up to play cards, though..." Atem said. The former Pharaoh shook his head, "But that doubt I saw earlier, it's gone. This is his true strength, but..."
"Just watch," Sugoroku said. He seemed rather proud, and left Atem to return his gaze to the Duel in worried confusion.
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Cain frowned at Hitoshura's words. While this facade of a shell was used to his advantage among humans, demons only used it to taunt him. It wasn't as if there weren't demons who looked his own age that in years were younger than he truly was. Hitoshura didn't have the advantage of having gotten under his skin throughout history, so he wasn't graced with a response to his words. At least not from Cain...
Loki smirked, a wide smile not often seen on him (at least in this form) and his canines showing. Prominent, but not unhuman, and not even angry. The man was clearly amused more than anything else, "You assume the King of Bel's fate has any impact on mine. You know as well as I do that your Lord has never given a damn about anything not relating to his pet interest at the moment. I'd think his favorite pet would know that best of all."
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Post by Firebreath Fishslap on Jun 16, 2011 18:05:18 GMT -5
Minato allowed Kisa to continue talking. It had to be hard for her, to be "abnormal" and still have to pretend she was. Her father didn't sound like an altogether pleasant person.
"If we're being honest, I think he might be a bit bothered. It's probably best not to bring them up immediately," Minato said. As they came up upon the duel and he could hear Yuugi's speech, he smiled. "Especially after this duel."
Atsuro clenched his fists in anticipation. What was Yuugi doing? He didn't seem to be preparing a play, but Sugoroku said he'd won...
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Naoki's expression did not shift at Loki's words, though he would rather not be called a "pet". The term was demeaning, and it reminded him a bit too much of some things he couldn't really remember.
"Would you prefer to be my servant instead? It would certainly be quite simple to do so. Just have to bait you with some human money..." Naoki taunted.
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Since the standoff earlier, Abel had remained outside the limits of the shrine, not wanting to deal with the patron goddess of the shrine much longer. Now that he had time to think, he realized he'd been hasty. Such actions would attract attention to him that he didn't need. He needed to find Cain, even with how concerning this alternate version of himself was. And that human...
He shook his head. He couldn't allow such thoughts to bother him. His mission was important. Even with this demon lord running amok. But why would a version of himself choose to not give up his title as King of Bel? How was this helping humanity?
My Lord. I wish to speak with you-- wait.
Something was off. Something was clouding his thoughts, trying to make him not look in a certain direction. In a flash, he unsheathed his blade and held out into what appeared to be thin air.
"Don't try to manipulate my mind, satori. I can see past your illusions."
Where there had been nothing but air suddenly filled with a bespectacled human shape. The man chuckled, despite the blade to his neck.
"Well well, Keiichi-kun... It seems you have changed quite a bit from our last encounter," Enjin said. Abel watched the man with careful eyes. The name this man knew was one he hadn't been called for many years.
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Post by mugenginga on Jun 16, 2011 19:53:42 GMT -5
Yuugi frowned at Kaiba's yell. Right back to his usual. Completely ignorant, or at least ignoring, what he was trying to say. Yuugi shook his head and slid his cards together. He looked up at Kaiba with a defiant look in his eyes. Atem's eyes widened at realization of what was going on. Yuugi's friends didn't seem to understand it, but Jounouchi caught Atem's expression.
"What the hell is he-" Jounouchi began.
Atem cut him off by quickly lifting up one hand in a stop gesture. Jounouchi froze mid word and closed his mouth with a frown. Atem lowered his hand and shook his head, "He's showing his strength... I would have never thought of doing it this way, but he's making a point."
"What do you mean?" Anzu asked, "Does he have the cards to win or not? Is Kaiba-kun right about this being the last turn?"
Atem had a serious expression, "Yes, he does. But just watch..."
Sugoroku gave a serious nod at what Atem had figured out.
"Kaiba-kun, I told you. I don't Duel to prove a point," Yuugi said. Kaiba glared at him, but there was traces of confusion as well. He didn't get what the short teenager was planning any more than most of the group. Yuugi looked at the cards in his hand again.
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Kisa looked over to where Minato had indicated, frowning a bit at Kaiba's expression. She glanced towards Yuugi, who she could only see from the back. His friends were concealed by the crowd still, though. She seemed puzzled.
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"Stop stalling for time," Kaiba said, his voice a bit flatter than usual.
"I'm not stalling, Kaiba-kun," He lifted the hand holding his cards and placed it over the top of his deck inside the Duel Disk. Kaiba's eyes widened in suprise, which quickly flashed to anger as Yuugi spoke, "I forfeit. You win, Kaiba-kun."
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Cain had a neutral expression as the exchange between Loki and Naoki continued. He wouldn't have claimed to understand Hitoshura's taunt even if asked, but he wouldn't have denied how amusing it was that Loki had a thorn he hadn't known about. His extensive research and favor pulling in regards to the events leading up to his death in his last life hadn't been about Hitoshura's personal life, after all.
"I don't need to hear that from some wretch with no sense of personal belongings!" Loki suddenly snapped. It got an impressed set of raised eyebrows even from Cain. Now there was no sense of amusement, only a snarl, "Don't you have places to be, pet?"
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Post by Firebreath Fishslap on Jun 16, 2011 21:28:30 GMT -5
Atsuro realized what Yuugi was doing when he slid his cards together, but somehow he couldn't believe it. He turned toward Atem when Yuugi looked down at his cards again. "He's not seriously..."
He watched, disbelievingly, as Yuugi forfeited the duel. He looked toward Atem and Sugoroku dumbfoundedly, confused and surprised at the same time.
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Naoki allowed a smirk to creep through his mask. He'd finally made the demon lose his cool. He'd been hoping Loki was still sore over that point; he needed a bit of amusement after his business lately.
"My master doesn't mind if I take my time," Naoki said. He pulled out his wallet and pulled out a 1000 yen bill. "But, no hard feelings. Would you like a gift?"
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Abel trained his eyes on Enjin, staring at him with his lifeless eyes. He could feel something odd about this satori's presence. There was both a human and a demon presence there, with the human presence suppressing the demon. Had a human stolen the body of a demon?
"Would you mind moving your sword? I have business here that doesn't involve you," Enjin said. The demon was actually quite worried for his safety. He'd heard Abel order his court to kill him on sight the last time they'd encountered each other. So why was Abel not killing him now?
Well, killing him yet, anyways. That blade was still a little too close to his neck.
"State your business here." A bit of electricity sparked, and Abel moved the blade closer. "Don't try to interfere with my mind. It does not work on me."
Enjin sighed. "I am only here to visit Kaiba-san and his admirer. They have some information I need."
There was a lot Abel could glean from a face. Nervousness. Exhaustion. The nervousness appeared to have an obvious source; a blade to the throat didn't exactly help one relax, but the exhaustion? This man didn't seem like one who worked himself to exhaustion needlessly. He felt like Cain did, in fact. If he was exhausted, it had to be for some other reason.
That demon's power he'd felt under the human's had been weak. Was his demon host dying?
"You are not telling the full truth," Abel snarled. "I am the Messiah; do not make me use my dominion over your kind to force you to tell the truth."
Enjin chuckled. "You're the King of Bel, aren't you? I may be using a demon's form, but I'm a human, Keiichi-kun."
"I am the Messiah. I do not hold dominion over demons."
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Post by mugenginga on Jun 16, 2011 21:43:27 GMT -5
To say the crowd was not pleased was... a pretty big understatement really. At first all was quiet, a complete hush over things. Because despite Yuugi having said outright he'd given up, most of the people didn't believe it. There was a fair bit of confusion at the small portion of the crowd (mostly Island natives) who didn't know about the franchise Yuugi and Kaiba hailed from. Holographic card battles were a pretty big draw all their own. At first it was quiet... but then people began to throw an ever loving fit... and it wasn't just the audience.
Kaiba was mad enough that he was deathly silent. Not a sound escaped, and one had to wonder if he was breathing. Kisa gasped and held her hands to her mouth. Seto was really really upset. She looked worried. Kaiba lifted his head, seemingly under some kind of better control than moments earlier... when a man with long white hair stepped out from the crowd, quickly followed by Mokuba almost tripping over his own feet to try and get out there first. He succeeded somewhat, in that he stumbled in front of Pegasus and managed to cut off his advance.
"Niisama, we've got a-"
"Now now, Mokuba-boy~," Pegasus stated, patting Mokuba on the head. The pre-teen's eyes widened and he shot a look capable of killing in the white haired man's direction as he spoke, "Well, Kaiba-boy, it seems you can't win a Duel against the King of Duelists without him forfeiting now can you?"
"Stay the hell out of this!" Kaiba barked at Pegasus, with enough force and venom that both the white haired man and Mokuba both stopped and blinked. Mokuba winced immediately after, and Pegasus shrugged.
"Yuugi-boy, would you mind showing Kaiba-boy kimi hand? I don't think it has dawned on him your actions."
The crowd diverted most of their attention to Yuugi, although a few of them seemed a little worried about Kaiba's... somewhat frightening attitude of the moment. As for Yuugi's friends, they were somewhat speechless. Jounouchi's mouth was practically on the ground, Anzu was extremely tense, Honda's eyes were wide... Teddie and Ryoji weren't sure what was going on, but they could tell it was problematic by the reactions of Yuugi's friends. Sugoroku blinked several times in surprise and Atem looked ready to jump at whoever moved wrong first.
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Loki narrowed his eyes, his snarl still remaining, and the temperature of the surrounding area dropped about ten degrees in a flash. Cain frowned down at his arms as the sudden change caused goosebumps to jump all over his entire body and Loki took a step forward. The grass he stepped on flash froze before his foot hit the ground and it sounded almost as if he'd stepped on broken glass as he put his foot down, leaning in closely towards Hitoshura.
"Get out of here, Hitoshura," Loki spat, his voice almost as cold as the air around him. He was pretty much pushing the extent of power he could pull in this form. Frost was beginning to gather around his extremities, and there were bits of white in his goatee and hair.
Cain smirked and took a few cautious steps back. If Loki lost it, it would be best to give him a bit of room... let the other demon take the full force of his anger. He made a mental note to remember this... relationship, however.
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