Disclaimer! All fictional entities featured belong to Kazuki Takahashi and were rented by me. Except Sara Scinner and Silpheed the cockatoo; they’re mine. This story has been beta-read by Pidge-san, AlukaKaiserin, and ChazzyLuverGurl.

It pains me to say that this is the last chapter to this fic, folks. But don't worry, I'm picking it up again in the sequel. With what I've got in mind, I thought it best to separate it into two different stories.

“CHEAP LAUGH”

ACT TWENTY

Finale (for now)

Two hours had trudged by since the team had launched the card through the portal. Everyone on the site watched the white hole in the dark sky in a unanimous apprehensive silence, waiting, wondering if the students of Duel Academy had received the Dragon, hoping they’d know what to do if they did.

Whispered Sara to Silpheed, “Gosh, I sure hope the aliens didn’t intercept the missile.”

“With a giant condom? RAWK!”

“Any way at all…ah, doi, what’re we thinking? We need to be positive. Like Daddy would tell me: with positivity comes possibility.” Beside the marker she and Silpheed perched on, Missy sat curled up on the ground with her face buried in her knees. She’d been under a sulking spell for most of the time, since Zane had discourteously rejected her offer of a water bottle.

Sara hopped down to Missy’s level. She tapped on the top of her head. “Missy, what’s the matter? Our friends are coming home; we should be happy.”

Missy responded with a swat at Sara’s hand, without so much as a brief glare. “Don’t touch me.”

That shut her up, though only for ten seconds to shove her tongue in her cheek and cook up a joke. Jokes always lightened up a situation. “So, what’s the deal with Insect Princess? Is she and Insect Queen related or something? But the Princess is a butterfly, and the Queen’s a spider…is she adopted?” She leaned back with a broad smile on her face.

“Man, I can only imagine what life is like for those two.” Throwing her voice to a higher, squeakier pitch, she piped, “Mooooom, can I go to the Honeydew Ball?”

She then threw her voice to a lower, hoarser snarl: “Absolutely not! You break curfew again, and I’ll bite your head off, just like I bit off your father’s!”

Ta-tap, RAP!

Missy looked up at the two, not looking any happier. In fact, her face looked even redder, puffier and more unattractive, not from tears like before, but from rage.

Failing to notice that, Sara scratched her chin. “Which brings me to wonder: where’s the Insect King? I guess that big ol’ Great Moth is closest to being King, huh? That would explain a lot…”

Silpheed contributed to the joke with a squawk, “Insects are lesbians! RAAAAWK! Hot, hot, hot...”

Well, that was more than Missy could bear. In one brisk movement, she was up on her feet again, never realizing it as her hair--WHAP!--knocked Silpheed off of Sara’s shoulder. Digging her high heels into the dirt, she yanked a startled Sara up by the collar of her jacket, holding her dangerously close to her tear-stained face. She shook a fist in front of her nose, barking, “How dare you insult Her Majesty! It’s terrible enough that my Prince is giving me the cold shoulder, but come on, wh-where do you get off, pouring sand into people’s wounds?”

Sara just blinked, wondering what on Earth had gotten into the poor girl. “I’m not pouring sand.” As she eased out of Missy’s grip, she bent over to scoop up a handful of dirt from the ground.

“Now this,” she chuckled, “this is pouring sand.” Cupping the dirt in both hands, she let it fall out through her fingers in a thin, dusty stream. “Technically, this is dirt, but you get it, right?”

Missy must not have gotten it, because in the next second, she made a grab at her face. Barely managing to escape the tips of her pointy nails, Sara took off like the monster she was dressed as, scooping up Silpheed in a whirlwind of feathers. Though it was inconvenient to run in high heels, Missy still bounded after them, screaming about getting her shoes dirty or something along those lines.

“Help, help, she’s trying to rip my face off!” Sara squealed, cradling dazed Silpheed in her arm like a baby. After two laps of this nonsense, she eventually climbed on top of a truck that Aster and Zane had been loitering about by since after the duel, neither of them saying a word.

Luckily, Missy was wheezing for breath by the time she had slowed down in front of the truck, her feet blistered something awful between her toes and on her heels. THUD! Like a newborn calf, she tripped over a web of wire, hair flopping over her face.

At that point, she’d given up on trying to kill Sara; she couldn’t bear to have Zane see her with her make-up running. Mustering as much dignity as she could, she staggered back on her feet, wagged a warning finger at Sara and Silpheed with a sneer, and started to limp away, careening side to side, cursing to herself all the way.

As soon as Missy disappeared, Sara peeked over the side of the truck. “Wow, she looks terrible,” she muttered. Noticing the two duelists standing beneath her, she hopped down the ladder. Silpheed was placed on her shoulder, too shaken up to say a word, for the moment, anyway.

When she scooted up next to Zane, she paused for a second before squeezing his shoulder. Sensing her presence, Zane shot her an unfriendly look. “Get your hand off my shoulder.”

“Gosh, Missy’s right. Your shoulder does feel kind of cold…were you being cold to her?” she asked in a curious and pseudo-demanding kind of way.

Zane promptly shook her off. “So what if I was?” he huffed.

“She really likes you, doesn’t she? She’s got a picture of you and everything.”

“…A lot of girls do.”

Sara leaned against the truck with a hand behind her head. “Well, don’t you think you should be nicer to her?”

Zane shook his head; Sara clearly had no insight on the nature of fan girls. “If I honestly wanted a date, I would’ve asked Atticus to set me up.”

“Hey, now, I’m not asking you to date her, Ziti; you shouldn’t do stuff you don’t want to. I’m just saying that you should be nicer about not liking her the same way she likes you. At least be friends.”

“Or friends with benefits, RAWK!”

Sara scratched her cockatoo on the head. “No need for redundancy, Silph. Everyone already knows the benefits of having friends.”

Zane rolled his eyes. Sometimes it seemed that the bird was more intelligent than his master. “Maybe I don’t want to be friends; you just said I shouldn’t do things I don’t want to.”

Judging by how Sara was cramming her tongue in her cheek, her face as scrunched up as a pug’s, Zane assumed that he’d just punched a giant hole in her logic. “Well, y-yeah, but why…how could…who the heck doesn’t want friends?”

Even though Zane generally kept to himself, he had the slight habit of twisting others’ brains by pointing out the flaws in their thinking, not for the sake of malice, but because someone needed to tell them they were wrong. Whether they’d heed him or not was not his problem; still, most people whose bubbles he had burst turned out better than before, like his brother. Why, if his own bubble hadn’t been burst, he probably wouldn’t have become what he was at the present.

“The world isn’t made of sunshine or feathers or whatever you think it’s made of; if it were, we probably wouldn’t have lost Duel Academy. Not every random stranger you meet will be a friend; some of them never will be. It’s that kind of trusting attitude that’ll have you eaten alive.”

Silpheed scratched the side of his head. “RAWK! Eaten, eaten!” he cackled.

Sara’s eyes narrowed as she tipped her bucket-hat over her brow. “Well, that sounds awful selfish.”

“It can’t be any more selfish than wanting everyone around you to laugh like mindless hyenas.”

Aster glanced at the two of them with mild interest, as though he were expecting a violent squabble to erupt. Indeed, the way Sara reacted looked like Zane had struck her in the face. She stumbled backward about four inches, hands over her mouth. She looked as white as Silpheed’s feathers.

“…H-H-How is wanting people to laugh…s-s-s-selfish?” she gasped, practically choking on the word “selfish.” He’d hit her where it hurt the most, which crossed him as a bit of a surprise, since Sara hadn’t before taken much of anything that’d ever been said to her seriously.

Zane didn’t stop there. “Exactly: you want people to laugh. I’m sure that you haven’t once stopped and wondered if they wanted to laugh. Why else was Bug Girl over there trying to kill you? And frankly, even if they did need a cheap laugh, you’re much more talented at bringing grief. I mean, it’s one thing to honestly duel like a wimp, but someone who does it on purpose just so they can amuse people needs to get committed.”

Sara and Silpheed fell silent, more silent than any other time Zane had encountered them. Sara held up a finger and opened her mouth to shoot something back, but all that came out was a weak squeak. Slipping her hands behind her back, her neck shrunk into her shoulders, her face burning as red as her wrinkled scarf. Whether from anger or shame or whatnot, Zane didn’t know, and couldn’t care less.

The last words she stammered were: “Oh, yeah? W-Well…y-you can’t wear shoes if you ain’t got no sole!” The lack of relevance to the conversation only proved that she had nothing to say. With a flustered smile creeping over her lips that seemed almost uncharacteristic of her, she whirled around and zoomed off in the opposite direction so quickly that Silpheed almost lost his footing, and so hastily that they nearly tangled themselves up in the vast mess of cords.

Aster looked at his fellow Pro with a raised eyebrow. “Wow. Looks like someone’s going through a nasty half-duel withdrawal.”

That may or may not have been true--come on, that duel with Jesse was an utter thrill-ride, to say the least!--but Zane meant every word he said. He always did. And once he’d gotten that off his chest, he looked away from Aster and said nothing more for the rest of the time they spent waiting for a change in the portal…which turned out to be but ten seconds more.

…SSSSSHHOOOOOOM.

He and Aster looked up to find the great white hole in the sky showering them all with ribbons of rainbow light. From the center of the hole, an arrow of piercing white light shot down to earth, right into the crater where Duel Academy had stood. At once, the ground rumbled underneath their feet; they shielded their faces from the incoming impact that followed the light. All was bathed in a sheer white glow.

From somewhere up in the heavens, Zane thought he could hear the thundering screech of a beast soaring by, heralding the safe return of the lost students. He assumed it to be none other than the fabled Rainbow Dragon. Oh, if only he was able to look up to see such a magnificent creature! Provided that that was what it was.

But the moment ended as soon as it began. As the light died down, everyone on the site dropped their guard. With it, the light had washed away the black clouds, leaving behind crystalline skies…and sure enough, the entire school building in place of the crater, like a miracle.

“It’s returned!” exclaimed Aster.

Thank you for pointing out the obvious.

The lost students circled around the building, unconscious between dislodged benches and small dunes of grey sand. Among them, Zane spotted his little brother and his group, leaning against the pillars. He did not step forward to wake them; there was no need to. One by one, the kids came around, each of them in one piece.

It didn’t take them long to recognize that they were home, and when they did, their faces lit up like a string of Christmas lights. They scattered all around, some of them embracing each other, others charging onward to greet the team. Despite the mood, Zane and Aster stayed well out of the way, for neither of them were fans of joyous reunions.

Soon after the students had returned home, they immediately held a celebration in the Blue Dorms, all cleaned up for the occasion; everyone was there, Obelisk, Ra and Slifer student alike. Its tables were decked with all sorts of gourmet soups and sandwiches, and having been lost in an alternate dimension for almost a week, they feasted like ants over an abandoned sandwich crust.

Everyone, that is, except Sara and Silpheed, who hid behind a pillar while everyone else buzzed with chatter. Make no mistake, she was faint with delight about having everyone at home, sweet home, and she adored parties. Yet her happiness was watered down with the memory of what Zane had said to her. It stayed on her mind like a dreadful itch that was too far to scratch, the kind between one’s shoulder blades.

“Silpheed, I’m not selfish, am I?”

Silpheed ruffled his feathers. “No. RAWK!”

For some reason, that did little to console her. Silpheed was her best friend; people closest to someone were obligated to reassure them. Actually, “I’m not selfish, am I?” sounded a bit selfish all by itself, when she ran it through her head again. Her stomach squeezed up like an accordion.

She reworded the question: “Silpheed, do you think I’m selfish?”

“RAWK! Don’t be redundant!”

Sara shoved her tongue into her cheek. She hadn’t before considered the concept of people not always being in the mood for a laugh. Why wouldn’t they? How could they be content being miserable? Laughter prevented cancer, after all. It brought the world closer together.

Then again, maybe having a pie land in one’s face wasn’t all that pleasant, even if it was cherry-flavored. And perhaps running off while someone else got the beating was…

Selfish? Me? Huh, I’ve been called a lot of things, but I’ve never been called that. I’m not selfish! Am I?

While he preened his feathers, Silpheed pointed out, “RAWK! Ziti’s a sad sack!”

“You’ve got a point: Ziti’s such a big sad sack, he probably doesn’t know what he’s talking about, the poor fruit loop,” nodded Sara. Taking a deep, thoughtful breath, she decided to join in the festivities. She hadn’t even gotten around to welcoming anyone back yet.

So she jumped out from behind the pillar with her arms outstretched and a toothy grin. “Friends, teachers, countrymen, lend us your hands! ‘Cause we’ve missed you, dang it!”

No one acknowledged the duo’s presence. But then, everyone did look quite content with their drinks in hand. Sara scratched the tile floor with the tip of her toe. “Ah, that’s okay! We understand that you need to take the load off. Please take your time, we insist!” she declared a little louder than she intended to.

No one said a word to them. Still, Sara felt that she needed to add something else: “And if you guys need a dose of something sweet, there’s the dessert table, to the left. My left--I mean, our left! And everyone can eat first, because we’re not selfish shellfishes, are we, Silpheed?”

Someone finally poked their head out of the crowd. “Aw, shut up, already! What’re you trying to do: draw all of the attention to yourself?”

Yourself…self…selfish…shellfish.

Silpheed was on his way to jump off of her shoulder and re-acquaint himself to all of the ladies in the crowd, when Sara shrunk back behind the pillar.

“Um, sorry,” she called out, “k-keep smiling!” She leaned her forehead against the cold marble pillar. She probably would’ve stayed there for the rest of the day, had she not heard the voice of her beloved principal conversing with someone at the front of the room.

“Study? Pegasus, there are still people missing: Professor Viper, Jesse, Adrian…”

“Of course, how insensitive of me.”

A spark of recognition ignited in her mind when she heard that name, and for a moment, she forgot about her predicament.

“…No way! The Pegasus is here at our school?!” She and Silpheed peeked out towards the portrait of Obelisk the Tormentor. Sure enough, there the man stood with Sheppard and Dr. Crowler, looking as fabulous as ever; camp, but fabulous.

“RAWK! Dude looks like a lady!”

Seeing one of her heroes in the flesh, Sara just had to dash across the foyer to bask in his essence. Imagine the look the founder of Duel Monsters adopted when he found a girl dressed as Sonic Duck hugging him around the torso! Silpheed was looking around for bodyguards.

“Sara? What in the world--“

“Peggy, Peggy, Peggy! Remember us from Pegasus World?”

“Er, can I help you?” he asked with a sheepish smile. His inexhaustible charisma was only one of the traits that Sara admired.

“M-Maybe I didn’t tell you this last time, but YOU…ARE...GOD! I mean, here you are at our school and here we are next to you and you’re freaking awesome-nity in frills and-and-and--“

Dr. Crowler rushed over and quickly pried her off of Pegasus before she could finish her run-on sentence. “Young lady, that’s no way to approach Mr. Pegasus! Yes, we all love him, but that gives you no right to be selfish, or crazy.”

One minute, Sara was flailing her limbs all over like an upturned beetle; in the next, she fell almost completely limp at the word “selfish.” That burst of euphoria was gone, blown out like a candle.

“…Sorry, Peggy,” she mumbled, barely loud enough to let the company hear her. She extended a hand towards him. “Peace?”

Pegasus nodded with a warm smile what would’ve made her day any time, but for this time, did no such thing. “Why not?”

Before he could shake her hand, however, Crowler pointed her towards the refreshment table. “Why don’t you go back and mingle with your friends? And try not to pounce on anyone, this time.”

This crossed her as a surprise; before, Crowler would grant detention for every single time she acted out. She really couldn’t help but pipe up, “You mean, you’re not gonna give us detention?”

Sheppard shook his head. “Well, it only seems fair to let you off with a warning, since you’ve already been given four weeks’ worth of detention.”

She drooped like a thirsty flower. How could she have forgotten about that? And unless she was mistaken, she would start doing her time as soon as everything got back to normal. Suddenly, Sara didn’t feel like partying anymore. So instead of mingling, she shuffled for the exit, paying no heed to the way Silpheed turned back to exchange any girl they passed “the eye,” since he could no nothing else at the time being.

Sara tipped her bucket out of her face, only to have it slide back down; perhaps because her whole upper body was slouched. “Silpheed, I can’t seem to keep my party hat on. I can’t stop thinking about what Ziti said before everyone came back.”

“Sad sack!”

“Yeah, yeah, I know he is. And yet, I’m starting to think that maybe he’s right; maybe I am a selfish shellfish. Even the teachers think so. I dunno, Silpheed, my head is so confused…” She rubbed her temple in an attempt to ease the whirling sensation in her head.

“I don’t care if people think I’m weird or dumb, because that’s how comedians are supposed to act, anyway. But selfish is the last thing I wanna be. What should I do?”

She stopped to pace around in a circle, her tongue crammed into her cheek. If she couldn’t stop herself from being selfish, maybe she needed help to learn how, help from the most selfless guy she knew. But who could that be?

...Why, who else but ol’ Jaden?

Jaden had a knack of helping people out. He was like the Underdog, only with less body hair. Surely, if a trifle of his pure selflessness could rub off on her, then…well, things would be plain hunky-dory, wouldn’t they?

Thus, Sara and Silpheed made the trek through the woods to the outskirts of the island where the Red Dorm stood. The trip didn’t feel as long because as long as the two maintained at least an ounce of positivity, possibility awaited them. Unfortunately, when they braked in front of the stairway of the small, two-story building, they did not find Jaden, but two of his chums, Syrus and Hassleberry. They didn’t look too happy.

Jogging in place, she called out to them: “Hey, you guys! Where’s Jaden? I gotta talk to him!”

They looked up and shared a frown. “Sorry, but Jaden won’t talk to anyone, right now,” said Syrus.

At once, Sara froze, one foot hiked up in the air. Odd, Jaden was one of the most gregarious kids she knew. Why would he want to be alone? “But I really need to see him! It’s urgent!”

Hassleberry narrowed his eyes at her, like she was a crook. “And what in Sam-hill would you want from ‘im?”

As she tried to squeeze her way in between the boys, Sara grunted, “I just wanna talk to him about something. Come on!” But the combined strength of the two was like battering a brick wall, and ultimately, the two wound up shoving her away, instead. Silpheed almost fell off of her shoulder; he clung onto her cape for dear life by his claw.

“Look, soldier, the Sarge is already in a funk! He don’t need you to add to his burden,” snapped Hassleberry.

“Yeah, just because he solves other people’s problems, doesn’t mean he doesn’t have his own to deal with,” scolded Syrus. “And he got us back home; what more do you want?” As the two headed inside, he added something that made Sara’s stomach squeeze up even tighter than an accordion:

“Sheesh, people can be so selfish, sometimes.”

That made her knees as wobbly as gelatin, the kind with fruit in it. She had to lean against the nearest support beam to keep on her feet. “For the love of gaiety! Is it in my blood, or what?” Silpheed stayed quiet; at this particular time, a sex-joke probably wouldn’t make anything funnier.

The whole concept of Jaden being miserable sounded pretty foreign. Even so, she felt that she should go up there and cheer him up. But if she did, would he want her help? Would it make her selfish?

Sara peeked up at the balcony. Whatever had dampened Jaden’s sunny disposition must’ve been awful heavy; she could sense the rain clouds hovering around in his room from down here. She then turned her gaze to the entrance of the dorm. His friends had gone inside. Maybe they wouldn’t notice…

With one hand, she reached out to grab the railing of the stairway. Feet dragging through the dirt, she pulled herself over to the first step.

Creak.

Hassleberry must’ve had the ears of a bloodhound, because at that measly groan, he popped his head out of the door. “Hey! Stay away from the Sarge, or consider yerself dishonorably discharged!” he roared.

From the reptilian-like snarl that traced his tone, Sara assumed that he meant that. She and Silpheed hopped right off and cowered underneath the steps.

What a shame that Jesse Andersen hadn’t returned home; Zane was hoping on catching up to him for a chance to finish that duel. Since he was no party animal, he had wandered out to the outskirts of Duel Academy, where all of his old friends had gathered. When he arrived, the first thing he noticed was old Sara and Silpheed shivering underneath the stairway.

He shook his head, strolling past her without even a second glance, or a second thought. The second thing he noticed was Aster standing by the door with his arms folded over his chest. There seemed to be something going on inside, and Aster was eavesdropping on it. Rather than going right up and asking what was happening, he stopped around the corner and listened for himself. From beyond the rugged walls, he could hear the somber voice of his former master and principal.

“…The doctors ran all sorts of tests, but they could find no explanation for his condition, medically speaking.”

“Do you mean to say…that it was Yubel?” gasped his old friend, Atticus. They hadn’t even spoken since last year, when Atticus had tried to “snap him out of it.”

“Nobody can know, for sure. But I do know that each time Jaden put Yubel in his deck, bad things would happen to his opponents. Eventually, everyone in the neighborhood got spooked and refused to duel Jaden, so long as he had that card.”

“So then, what’d the Sarge go and do?”

“Well, as luck would have it, Kaiba Corp was accepting card submissions at that same time. The winning designs would be shot into space and be infused with special cosmic matter. Jaden submitted a design for Neos, which was accepted. But he also convinced Kaiba Corp to send up Yubel. He loved that card so much, he could never get rid of it. Instead, he hoped that the cosmic infusion would make her safe to use.

“And so, two satellites were sent into space: one with Yubel, the other with Neos. The cosmos did their thing, and made Neos a great success. But Yubel, on the other hand…well, we’re just now learning the effects: effects that are quite troubling, and that perhaps only Jaden has any true insight into.”

In spite of his reputation as a duelist, Jaden was sort of like an onion: so many layers to his story; the more one peeled away at them, the deeper his character got…and the more it reeked with nonsense. Still, hearing about this “Yubel” monster struck Zane as intriguing. It was one of those high-level creatures.

“So it wasn’t just Jaden’s Neo Spacians and my Destiny Heroes that were touched by the cosmos, but Yubel was, too. Very, very interesting.” He recognized this new voice to be Aster’s. At that point, he decided to pop out of the corner.

“Hmm, that you, Zane?”

“Tell me, you wouldn’t happen to have any interest in that Yubel card, would you now, Aster?”

Aster gave a nonchalant shrug. “Of course not. Why would I care about some A.W.O.L. Duel Spirit?”

“Hn, you tell me.” Right when he said that, something terrible happened: a spell of sharp pain in the center of his chest, like someone was stabbing needles through his heart. Having not felt it for a while, he thought that he had it under control. In the midst of all this excitement, he realized that he must have neglected to take his medicine with him. Zane took a sharp intake of breath as his hand darted right over his chest.

Aster raised both eyebrows. “You okay? What’s wrong?” How embarrassing, to display weakness in front of a rival.

Zane quickly took his hand off of his chest. “Nothing, I’m fine,” he covered up with a smirk.

Fortunately, Phoenix didn’t pursue the matter any further. He looked away and dismissed, “Whatever. It’s not like I care, anyway.”

Yubel…a high-level Duel Spirit. She’d make a fitting opponent for a duelist of my caliber. If Jesse couldn’t be recovered, he could go for the next best thing.

Just then, he felt someone tug on one of the straps to his jacket. Aster was ten feet in front of him, Jaden was sulking in his room, and everyone else was inside. That only left one person.

He peeked over his shoulder; sure enough, Sara was yanking on his jacket, her face crumbled with anxiety, the kind that came with chronic indecisiveness. “Pssst! Ziti! You got a minute? Can you, like, go up there and ask Jay if he needs some cheering up, please?”

Zane glared at her like she’s just spat in his face. He ripped her hand off his jacket. “Do it yourself.”

“I can’t. General-saurus in there said he’s gonna come out and dishonorably discharge us, whatever that means. But it sounds pretty bad.” Funny; Sara hadn’t before come across as the type to worry about consequences.

“The bird can fly, can’t he? Make him do it.”

“He’s being chicken, right now,” Sara mumbled, pointing at her cockatoo some feet away, who was scratching at the ground and poorly imitating chicken squawks.

“Rawk-rawk-ra-KAWK! I’m a cock…erel!”

“I have got to remember to restock on Silpheed Snacks,” she sighed. “All this excitement’s been having me blow it off.”

“…Why would you want to know how Jaden feels, anyhow?”

With her beak stuck up in the air and chest puffed out, Sara tipped her bucket out of her face. If she was trying to look noble, she was doing a poor job at it. “’Cause I’m not selfish, that’s why. I’m not trying to be…”

Oh, that was why she was acting dumber than usual? Zane certainly wasn’t going to do any favors, but he also didn’t feel like arguing, especially since his heart began to bother him again.

So…

“Kid, if you’re looking for self-improvement, I’m the wrong guy to turn to. And I doubt that Jaden’s in any mood to be anyone’s guru, right now. But if you want answers, there is someone you should look for.”

Aster leaned in just a little further to hear what Zane was going to say.

Sara’s face lit up like a stained glass lamp. “You do?”

“Her name’s Sara. Sara Scinner. You can find her back at Duel Academy.” He pointed back at the building. With the sun setting behind it, it glowed an ethereal orange, almost like a beacon of hope.

Predictably, Sara jumped up and down, clapping her hands and grinning like a seven-year-old. “No kidding? Awesome-nity! Maybe this Sara character can help me out! Come on, Silpheed, let’s fly! We’ll be right back!” Snatching up Silpheed as a falcon snatched up a fish, she sped on down the dusty road until she became nothing more than a dot on the horizon.

Aster cocked his head to one side, his lips in a half-smirk. “Wow, Truesdale; you just told her to get lost. I didn’t think you were capable of sounding so nice about it.”

Zane simply folded his arms and propped himself against the wall. His eyes focused on the blanket of darkness that continued to spread across the sky. If I’d known that that was all it took, I would’ve done that a long time ago. But, at least she’s gone…

“Hey, Zane, check it out. Where’s Jaden off to in such a hurry?” Aster motioned to the staircase, where Jaden was indeed running down its steps. On his back, he bore a backpack; on his face, he bore an anxious frown. As he vanished around the corner, he didn’t stop to greet either of the Pro duelists. Something must’ve been up.

…and by the looks of things, I can consider myself gone, too.

Zane’s thoughts were confirmed when Aster picked up his briefcase, his amused expression replaced with a sense of curiosity, urgency, even. “I don’t know about you, but I think we should follow him, see what he’s up to.”

By the time Sara and Silpheed had arrived in the vacant schoolyard, the sun had sunk completely into the sea. She slouched on top of an upturned bench, panting like a mackerel left on the pier. Silpheed took advantage of the stop by reclaiming his spot on Sara’s shoulder.

Sara wearily looked up into the evening sky. “Aw, nuts! It’s gotten dark. Everyone’s probably gone to bed, by now.”

“RAWK! Sara?”

She straightened up and placed her hands on her knees, her tongue shoved into her cheek. “She must live at our dorm, what with being a girl, and all. So I guess we’ll just go back and find her room.”

“Sara!”

“Yep, Sara. Sara Scinner.”

Silence.

That’s when it dawned on her. Her head shot up with the velocity of a spork when it was used to chuck foodstuff across the table.

“Heeeeey, hold the phone! I’m Sara Scinner! And I’m just as confused as…well, me! Wh-What just happened?”

Silpheed rolled his beady eyes. “You got hosed, Sara, you got hosed, RAWK!”

Rather than get upset, Sara took a moment to tap on her chin and appreciate the ingenuity behind this hosery. “You know, for a sad-sack, Ziti’s quite the prankster. He got us good. But still!”

She sprang back up on her feet with a pout. Instead of heading back to her quarters, she swerved a hundred-eighty degrees, back on the path to the Slifer dorm. The cool breeze teasing her hair and Silpheed’s feathers made the trip more bearable for them both; all that sweat had made her neck itch and clam up in her scarf. She pulled off her beak to indulge in the fresh air, stretching out her arms like wings to catch the wind underneath them. That was the way she usually ran; it made her feel like she could fly, or at least go really fast, just like Sonic Duck. And all Silpheed could do was hold on for dear life, dangling by the tips of his talons like a fake raccoon tail hanging off the back of a hot rod.

But like her monster, she couldn’t slam on the brakes as soon as the Slifer dorm rolled up ahead of them. Funny thing, though; all the windows had gone dark. She wound up sliding into the dirt like a baseball player diving for home plate, skidding to a halt in front of the staircase--CLUNK!--making contact with the first step. A cloud of dust and fake green feathers remained in her wake.

Silpheed had leapt off to safety seconds before she had tripped. He hopped all around her, shrieking about whether or not she was dead, which, fortunately, she wasn’t. Lucky she wore a bucket, yes?

Sara winced from the combined ache in her cranium and the pain throbbing from her skinned extremities, but it didn’t stop her from wobbling back on her feet. Shaking like a wet dog, it took the background in front of her seven seconds to get back into focus.

But to her surprise, no one was there. No Ziti, no Aster, no Hassleberry, no one. Had they turned in?

“Awright, Ziti, I--huh? Aw, man! I said we’d be right back!” she sputtered, her sore tongue hanging out of her mouth since she’d bitten down on it. “Phoenix! Jaden! Ziti! Anyone home?”

A Slifer boy tore open his door. “Yo, whoever’s out there, pipe down, why don’t ya?” Sara could not see his face with the lack of lighting, but he was no Jaden, that was for sure.

“Where’s Ziti? Where’s anyone? Are they here?”

“How should I know? Why don’t you go look for them, and get lost, while you’re at it?” Before long, several other boys poked out of their windows and doors, cursing out the noise-makers.

“RAWK! Bite us, bite us hard!”

“Um, thanks, anyway, friends! Sleep tight! Don’t let the cockroaches bite!”

Sara picked up her feathered companion and dashed back down the path before a full-fledged riot could ensue. That Ziti: one of the weirdest sad sacks she’d ever met, and as slippery as the coat he wore. But no matter where he went, she would find him. After all, even though that joke of his was clever, she still didn’t quite get it (and she usually got a joke when she heard one). Why would he tell her to turn to herself? Wouldn't that only make her more selfish?

Had she gone in the opposite direction, however, she probably wouldn’t have missed the mysterious flash of light crowning the tree-line, from some hundred feet away. Which was exactly where Ziti had gone.

END…?