A Cold Day In The Shadow Realm (Sick Bakura)

[Pilgrim]

I don't really know how to introduce this! I wrote it in a trade for The Magic Of Shadows. Not like, as in I will get the magic of shadows for writing this, I mean that's her name. Whatever, enjoy! Also if you don't know what any of the cards do/look like/whatever, just toss their name into this website and you'll get a picture and the full effect text!

After the events of Battle City, our protagonists returned to Domino City for some well-deserved rest…

“Hakhtchh! Hakushhht, Haktschuu!” Bakura stifled three sneezes into the crook of his arm as he walked towards his apartment with Téa.

“Aw, bless you!” She responded sympathetically, handing him another tissue from her purse. “Here you go. This is my last one.”

“Thanks, Téa.” Bakura blew his nose gratefully. “Ugh, I guess this is what happens when you duel on top of a blimp in the middle of the night.”

“Yeah, just another reason to hate that other half of you, huh?” Téa rubbed his back. “It must be awful, having that evil inside you…But it’s gone now that Yugi beat him, right?”

“I think so. Without that cursed Ring he’s powerless anyways…” Bakura nodded, then put a hand on his head. “Oooh, I don’t feel too good…Haakchhtt Hah-Aktchuu! Ahhh-Ah-Ahaktchuuh! *Snfff* Hakutschuu!”

“Easy there, we’re almost to your place.” Téa let him lean on her for the rest of the way, helping him inside. Bakura sniffled thickly and slumped onto his coach.

“Thanks, Téa, I don’t know what I’d do without you.”

“Hey, no worries! It’s what friends do for each other. I’ll come by tomorrow to see how you’re doing; you be sure and take it easy, that duel was a rough one!”

“Yeah…Th-Thaa-Katchuu! Tanks agaid…Oh!” Bakura held a hand over his nose, embarrassed. Téa laughed.

“See ya!”

The next day…

“Yo! Bakura, open up! I brought you some stuff~” Téa knocked on Bakura’s door cheerfully. When the white-haired youth answered, however, she grimaced. “Geez, you look awful!”

It was true, his nose was a harshly abused red and his eyes bleary and tired. Even paler than usual, he looked like a sickly and withering ghost. He responded in a surprisingly hoarse voice, “Yeah, I don’t feel great…”

“Well, don’t you worry! Nurse Téa’s got just what you need!” She thrust forward a grocery bag containing cough syrup, daytime and nighttime cold pills, fresh oranges, and several boxes of tissues. “We’ll get you fixed up in no time!”

Bakura smiled weakly. “That’s gre-grea…HAARSCHOOO! Ahhhh-Arrashuuh! Ugh, excuse me.” He retreated back into his apartment in search of tissues. “Just put those anywhere…Atschuuh Hatschuuh! Damn this cold…”

Téa navigated over piles of used tissues to the kitchen, where she placed the bag on the counter, sweeping aside several dirty dishes.

“Oh, while you’re in there, would you make me a pot of tea? Chamomile, top right shelf above the stove.”

“Oh, sure! No problem.”

“Be sure not to let it steep too long!”

“Right…”

“And you may as well prepare some toast while you’re doing that, I imagine. Ahh-Ahhh-Ah-Atchu! Ahhrschuuh! Ahh-Atshuuuh! Ugh, damnit.” Bakura wiped a long string of snot on the back of his hand and sniffled loudly.

“Uh-huh…” Téa said, eyes narrowing.

As she poured the tea, Bakura lay on the couch staring out a window. “Say, do you suppose you might get Yugi to give me back my Millenium Ring?”

“Hm? Why would you want that?” Téa asked, surprised.

“Oh, well, you know, I’ve just had it so long, it’s weird not having it around.”

“You still want it, even after all that’s happened?”

“Well, Yugi’s beaten thaaahCHOO! Aaatschuuuh! *snfffff* That other side of me, so there’s nothing to worry about…”

“I guess so. I could ask him about it today.”

“Splendid!” Bakura suddenly bolted up and grabbed a cup of tea, toasting Téa. “Bottoms up, eh?”

“Yeah…”

And then so later…

“Téa? What are you doing back here?”

“Oh, well, I just wanted to see how you were doing!” Téa stepped into the apartment past Bakura.

“Ah, right, well, I’m really not feeling very well still, and I’d sort of like to be left alone…”

“Oh, that’s too bad, because I was hoping we could have a duel!” Téa whirled around, glaring. “And if I win, you get out of my friend’s body!”

Bakura’s face twisted in shock, then his eyes narrowed in suspicious curiosity. “So, you’re more clever than you look. What gave it away?”

“Well, the shabbiness of this place was a good hint. Bakura’s way too polite to ever leave his place a mess, even if he is sick. Or ask someone for favor after favor. Also, your sneezes got a little different. But you wanting the Ring back was the biggest tip off. Speaking of which,” she brought it out of her purse, “Is this a good enough wager for you?”

“Ha! You want to duel me for my own property? I take it back, you’re a total idiot. It’s a deal, let’s start the game.” Yami Bakura stretched out his hand, and shadows began pouring out of the Millennium Ring in Téa’s hand. “Of course, this will be a Shadow game!”

“Wouldn’t have it any other way!” Téa responded. The two sat at Bakura’s table, and produced their Duel Monsters decks. “Don’t think I’m gonna be a pushover just because I’m a girl!”

“Believe me, that’s far from the only reason I think you’re going to be a pushover. You move first.” Bakura laughed sinisterly, but was then overcome by a fit of coughing.

“Hmph. I’ll set one monster in defense mode, and one card face-down. That’s all.”

“Ah, going on the defensive already?” Bakura smirked. “I summon Malice Doll in attack mode. Let’s put those defenses to the test!”

The Malice Doll attacked and destroyed Téa’s Sheep Cloud monster, but as it dissipated into vapor it replaced itself with two Cloudian token monsters.

“Are…are you literally dueling me with puffballs?”

“Hey, there’s no rule that cards can’t be cute and effective too!”

Bakura shook his head, then immediately regretted having put that pressure on his sinuses. “Ugh, just take your next turn. Girls…”

“Okay, first I set one card face-down. Then I summon Cloudian Atlus in attack mode! It gains Fog tokens for every Cloudian monster I have on the field! And since it has 3, I can spend them to discard one random card from your hand! Say goodbye to…”

The cloud monster enshrouded Bakura with fog so thick it dampened his clothes. When it cleared, his Ha-Des card had been discarded.

“Hm, a minor setback.” He said through thick sniffling, the sudden chill making his nose run.

“Next I’ll play Cloudian Squall, which will place more Fog counters on the field every turn! This’ll let me use my monster’s effect again in the future.”

“Ahhh…Ahh-Hah-HAAATSCHUUH! Haah-Aaraschuuuh! Hatchuuh!” Bakura sniffled and sneezed as the fog gathered around them, sending chills up and down his skin.

“Now for the fight round! I’ll power it up with the Cestus of Dalga. This gives it enough attack power to destroy your Malice Doll, and that’ll let me activate my Trap card, Natural Disaster!”

As the cloud monster sliced the Doll to ribbons a gust of sleet blasted over Bakura, sticking in his hair and soaking him through his already dampened clothes.

“Haarschuuh!! Aaah-Tchuuh! W-w-w-what was thaaah-Aaahschuuh Atschuuh!” He stammered as sneezed completely uncovered, rubbing his arms with his hands for warmth.

It deals 500 points of damage to you every time one of my Cloudians destroys one of your monsters! Between that and the Cestus’ power to absorb damage I deal and turn it into life, I’d say I’m starting out pretty strong!”

Bakura LP: 3300

Téa LP: 4200

“We’ll see how long that lasts!” Bakura fired back while sniffling through a growing torrent of mucous. He continued nasally, “I play Tribute To The Doomed, which lets me discard a card to destroy one of your monsters. And it looks to me like you only have one that isn’t a harmless ball of fluff!”

A mummified hand emerged from the darkness and snatched Atlus out of existence.

“With that monster out of the way, I can play Sangan in attack mode and destroy one of those little puffballs. Your move…” he shot Tea a glare, trying to look tough even as he was shivering violently enough to shake droplets of sleet from his long hair. Indeed, as he stood sniffling and shivering in his soaked clothes, he looked almost pitiful enough for Téa to feel sorry for him. Almost.

“I summon Cloudian – Turbulence, which also gains Fog counters for every Cloudian monster in play. And I can spend both of those to summon, um…”

Bakura sniffled impatiently. “Well?”

“…Smokeballs.”

“Seriously?”

“Anyways, I equip one of those monsters with Amulet of Ambition, which powers up my monster when it fights monster of a higher level! Against Sangan, it’ll gain 1000 attack points, just enough to destroy it!

“That may be so, but Sangan’s destruction lets me summon another Dark monster from my deck! Say hello to the Headless Knight!”

“Wait, destroying it summons another monster?” Téa gasped.

“Thought you’d be able to attack with your other Cloudians, hm? Well, it’s too late for that, I’m afraid; my Knight is much more powerful than either of them. Ha-ha ha ha ha ha haaah-Aaaa-ARRATSCHUUUH! Erg, I need a tissue…” But since none had been transported into the Shadow Realm with them, Bakura settled for his sleeve.

Bakura LP: 2600

Téa LP: 4200

This is taking far too long…Bakura thought to himself. His nose was running, his head ached, he was freezing cold, and he was dueling a completely inferior opponent. This needed to end soon. Ordinarily he’d allow more of his monsters to die and summon his Dark Necrofear monster, but that would drag the game out longer and even using Necrofear was a slow defeat for his opponent. No, he would take the offensive this game and take on the miniscule puffballs with a horde of demonic monsters as fast as he could bring them out.

“First I’ll set one card face-down for later. Then I’ll play Card Destruction to try and get some more powerful monsters…ah, here we are. Doomcaliber Knight, let’s take down those Smokeballs!” This was what Bakura said, although he was so congested Téa didn’t even register half of it as proper speech.

Téa LP: 2750

“Okay, I guess that means it’s my turn. Hmm, let’s see…” Téa slowly looked over her cards, a puzzled expression on her face. As she examined her hand, Bakura sat shivering across from her with a look of consternation of his own, due to a rising tickle in his nose. He continued rubbing and wiping at it, but in the end it a futile effort.

“Ahhh…Ahhh-Haaa-Ha Haht-Tschuuuh Ahhtschuuh Ahh-Aaatchuuh! Tschhuch! Hatchoo!”

“Bless you.” Téa said instinctively, then immediately grimaced at having offered the villain any sympathy. She leered at him. He looked far less menacing because of his illness (in fact, his sniffling pink nose and pale skin reminded her of a bunny rabbit) but she knew he was capable of extraordinary evil given the opportunity. She had to stay focused.

“Will you—Hatchuuh! Go on and aahh-Atchuuh! Take your bloody turn! Haaa-Arrschuuh!” Bakura struggled to snarl through his constant sneezing.

“Alright, you asked for it. I’ll retrieve one of my cards you discarded with Monster Reincarnation, Cloudian – Nimbusman! Then I’ll summon another Smoke Ball with Turbulence’s effect, and sacrifice every monster I have except him to Nimbusman to power up him up! Get a load of this puff ball!”

“I’d rather not. Doomcaliber Knight can be sacrificed to negate any special summon, so I think I’ll just dismiss him and that inane creature.” Bakura stated this clearly, his nose having been cleared out a little from the sneezing attack earlier. “Oh, I’m sorry, was that the strongest monster you had? It sure looked like it. My, that must be troubling.”

“Hrrrm. I end my turn.”

Chuckling in between his sniffles, Bakura summoned Opticlops and attacked the Turbulence monster with both it and his Headless Knight. Due to its special ability it survived the attack, but Téa still felt the pain of the demon servant’s assault.

Téa LP: 1800

“Next I’ll set a card face-down and end my turn.”

Téa drew a card and smiled. “Well, you may have taken out my heavy hitter, but I’ve got more tricks up my sleeve. I play the Field Spell, Sanctuary In The Sky! This card will protect me from taking damage as long as it remains in play. That will prevent my Turbulence from being a liability. Next, I’ll summon Gemini Elf, another strong monster, and equip Turbulence with Horn of the Unicorn! That gives it just enough power to take out your knight! Bur first, my Elf will annihilate Opticlops!”

“That’s…Haaartschuuh!…not going to happen, thanks to my trap card!” Bakura responded, spraying his card as he flipped it over. “Dark Spirit Of The Silent cancels that attack and drags Turbulence into the fray instead! It’s not strong enough to beat my monster, so no damage is taken either way. Of course, that’s not going to remain true for long.

Bakura then revealed the card he’d set earlier, Mystical Space Typhoon. A mighty hurricane annihilated the angelic sanctuary Téa had played to the field, removing her only protection. Of course, this also sent freezing wind blowing over Bakura, who doubled over in a convulsive fit of sneezing and shivering, preventing him from continuing his turn for some time.

“Haartschuuh-Hatschhuh-Tschuuh-Atschuuh-Haaaratschuuh! Hatschhuh! Haatschhuh!”

When he could finally (albeit shakily) lift his hand to play another card, he sacrificed his Headless Knight for a stronger monster, and attacked Turbulence with all of them.

Téa LP: 1100

“Your time is aahh-almost ATSCHUUH up! I can keep protecting my monsters with T-Tchuuuh trap cards, while your fog creature continues to let my m…my mon-Arratschuuh! Monsters destroy you!” Despite his weakened condition, Bakura did manage to instill a fair degree of malice in his hoarse and stuffy voice. This was maligned considerably by the long trail running from his nose and his inability to stop shaking in the cold fog, and Téa did not appear to be intimidated.

“I summon Ghost Fog in Attack mode, and I’ll send it up against the Earl of Demise!”

Bakura smirked, nonchalantly wiping his glistening nose. “Ha! All that’ll do is destroy Ghost Fog. Are you giving up?”

“Actually, that’s not quite all it will do. It will also increase the number of Fog counters on the field. You know, those things that have been building up every turn since I played Cloudian Squall? And it just so happens the trap card I set all those turns ago removes all Fog counters from the field, dealing 300 damage to you for each one.”

Bakura sniffled. “Wh…what?”

“In case you haven’t done the math yourself, that’s 3000 damage Updraft deals to you. More than enough to take you down.”

A mighty torrent of wind surged through the fog and lifted the evil Bakura straight into the sky off into the darkness, leaving his better half collapsed on the table behind him. As the evil shadows faded away, Téa rushed to her friends’ side.

“Bakura? Bakura, are you okay?”

“Ehhh…Téa? What happened?”

“You evil side came out again, but don’t worry! I beat him in a Shadow Game, so now he’s been banished again!”

“You, you beat him?”

“Hey, don’t sound so surprised, you jerk!” Téa pouted. Of course, I did use a deck and strategy Yugi came up with when I told him about Bakura. He knew that if I dueled him he’d underestimate me from the beginning, and that if played dumb he’d never suspect met to set a trap for him right from the start, the arrogant jerk! Not that Bakura needs to know that…

“But I’m really glad you’re back, you’re looking pretty good suddenly! Is your cold cured?”

“Huh…I guess so! That’s strange…They do say that the best way to get rid of a cold is to give to someone else. I wonder…”

So Then Elsewhere

“AARRRATSCHUUH! Haaah-AARRSCHUUH! Haa-Atschuuh Harraashuuh Atschuuh! *ssnnnnfff* Ugh, why couldn’t I get transported with any tissues?”

[curliecatlover]

Oh yes. Sick Bakura, yum!

Thanks for this! I really enjoyed it!

[Its_Glimpse]

This is great! Thank you so much, Pilgrim! I'll get started on yours as soon as I can. Thank you!