PART 3

After all the chaos of the past year, part 3 brings the gang's biggest challenge yet. Rose and the Pharaoh finally get the chance to regain their lost memories and find out exactly what happened all those years ago, but in order to do that they have to relive the great battle that almost ended Egypt. But before they even get to that they have another Duel Monsters tournament, and a wild card that threatens to tear them apart, that Rose figures out the hard way.

Amidst the excitement that is Seto Kaiba's grand new tournament, Rose and the Pharaoh are only just coming to grips with their feelings for each other, when an old acquaintance throws it all off balance. The only thing that the gang can gain from this experience is the knowledge that everyone is human, and we all make mistakes.

Chapter 49: Fear Factor

Warm afternoon sun cast its radiant glow onto the footpath as Rose casually walked through the automatic doors, breathing in the pleasant smell of spring. The short walk to where she had parked her motorbike was along a cement walkway, lined with greenery and blooming flowers. Spring had always been her favourite season, even though she had only made that decision a few years ago after waking up in a hospital and not remembering a thing before hand. Rose couldn't help but think to herself how far she had come since that day, with no relatives or friends, and then after an unlikely turn of events, suddenly being surrounded by wonderful people. She had been through some very interesting adventures in the few years of memory she had, it was probably more excitement than anybody at her old work had ever encountered. She smiled to herself as she made her way along the footpath. The walk from the entrance to Kaiba Corp was always a little longer for her than anybody who had driven there, because the motorcycle parking was right at the end, but she didn't mind it. She was used to it now, having been at the building 5 days a week for the last month or so.

Since all of the commotion of the Orichalcos had ceased, the gang had gone back to school and Rose had nothing to do all day. So, after Solomon's suggestion that she gain herself a job, Seto had conveniently mentioned he was looking for a new assistant...

"Fancy seeing you here," the CEO joked as Rose entered the coffee shop. She laughed, looking down at the man with a paper sprawled across the table, a takeaway coffee cup poised in his hand.

"Indeed," she said, "I never thought I'd find you in a place like this." She crossed her arms as she looked down at him with an amused smile. Although the CEO had been quite cold and hostile to her at first, he seemed to have warmed up to her considerably since the Battle City tournament, though he still harboured his hard menacing stare half the time. In rare occasions, though, he seemed to relax his uninviting demeanour when not many people were around.

Seto's lips twitched up in the ghost of a smile, "Sometimes I enjoy small mundane activities like a commoner would."

Rose then noticed the dark circles under his eyes and the tense set of his shoulders, and she tilted her head to the side. "You look stressed."

"I am stressed," he admitted, taking another sip of his coffee. "My personal assistant just quit on me and nobody else in the damn building knows how to organise my appointments right. I can't handle the workload without her."

"You don't say," Rose said, an amused hint to her voice. "I'm looking for a job but no place will take me because my only experience is stacking shelves."

Seto raised his eyebrows in hope, "Would you be interested in working for me?" he asked, placing his coffee cup down.

Rose's eyes widened in surprise, "You want me to work for you?" she asked. He nodded. "I was only joking, I don't know how to be an assistant!"

"Don't need to. I can teach you all you need to know, I just need someone who's organised," he explained. "So, what do you say?"

Rose tilted her head, looking down at the CEO, "You're really desperate for an assistant, aren't you?"

"You're going to believe that even if I say no," he replied. Rose nodded. "Come on, Rose. I need an assistant and you need work. It's good pay, too."

Rose thought for a moment, before making up her mind. "Alright," she said with a shrug.

Seto let a victorious grin dawn his features. "Excellent. Now sit, we have a few things to discuss..."

Being Seto's assistant may have been a bit full on for some people, considering his outrageous mood swings and sometimes silly demands, but Rose already knew how to deal with Seto, so it had just been a matter of learning the tasks. It was pretty cool, too, because for a while Seto had been building his amusement park, 'Kaiba Land.' The whole project seemed to be going quite well, and a new idea had just been brought to attention. With the opening of the theme park, Seto was going to hold a Duel Monsters tournament. Not any tournament however, this one would be much grander than Battle City, and gain a much larger crowd. This tournament was going to be a grand championship, all for the chance to take on the King of Games. Rose had already run the idea past Yugi who seemed beyond excited about the tournament, so in the last week she had been sending out invitations to duellists around the world who Seto believed were worthy to fight for the title. She had the last invitation sitting in her bag as she walked along the footpath, her red motorcycle now clear in her sight.

She never got sick of the sound of the engine roaring to life beneath her as she turned on the ignition. A content smile then spread across her face as she took off out of the car park, finished her working week and ready for a night of horror movies and lollies. That's right, it was October 31st: Halloween. Unfortunately, the rest of the gang were all busy doing various things tonight, so Rose and Yugi had decided to just stay in and do their own thing. Besides, they were a little old for trick or treating.

Rose finally pulled up outside the Mutou residence and jumped off of her bike, whistling to herself as she approached the side door. There was fake spider webs and grinning pumpkins lining the outside of the game shop, so instead of taking the side door to the house, she decided to have a look at Solomon's decorations for the evening. She swung open the door to the game shop and suddenly became face to face with a terrifying monster.

"Gyah!" Rose shrieked, jumping back from the figure in front of her and waving her arms around madly. The next thing she was aware of was the sound of Solomon laughing, and she realised it was just Yugi's Grandpa in a mask. She let out a relieved breath as he clutched his stomach.

"This old man's still got it!" he cheered, swinging the mask around as he laughed.

"That is not funny," Rose grumbled, walking past him to go into the house. Solomon had voiced his idea to keep the game shop open for the evening, so that trick or treaters could get their lollies and hopefully buy some games in the process. Rose walked into the kitchen and dumped her bag on the bench, as she spied Yugi and Joey sitting on the couch, enveloped in whatever video game they were currently playing. All she knew was that it involved a lot of shooting and characters screaming. She pulled the envelope out of her bag and walked over to the couch.

"Hey Rose," Yugi greeted, not tearing his eyes away from the screen. Rose shook her head in disapproval.

"They've been at it since they got home from school," Yami explained, his spirit hovering next to Yugi.

Rose clicked her tongue at them, "They're gonna get square eyes if they keep this up," she replied. She walked up behind Joey and waved the envelope in front of his face.

"Ah!" Joey tried to move his head to see the screen again. "Don't distract me!"

Rose rolled her eyes, "Not even interested in an invitation for the biggest Duel Monsters tournament in all of history?" she asked.

Joey instantly paused the game, "Duel Monsters tournament?!" He grabbed the envelope from her hand and tore it open, while Rose and Yami laughed.

"Has Kaiba sent out the invites already?" Yugi asked, turning to look over the couch at Rose.

She nodded, "I've been hunting down the participants all week."

Joey read the invite out loud, "Dear Mr Wheeler, the Kaiba Corporation has heard of your great success in the game of Duel Monsters and would be honoured if you would join us for the opening ceremony for Kaiba Land. For the opening of our theme park, The Kaiba Corporation is holding the biggest and most prestigious Duel Monsters tournament the world has ever seen. Duellists from around the world have been invited to compete, and the grand prize is a duel against the King of Games Yugi Mutou for a shot at his grand title. If you accept this invitation, please come to the Kaiba Corporation building on the 16th of November at 10am. If you do not wish to participate, please contact us immediately. Regards, Seto Kaiba." Joey lowered the invitation, a toothy grin on his face.

"Kaiba didn't actually write that letter, did he?" Yugi asked.

Rose laughed, "Of course not, I did. He has much more important things to do than write invitations."

"Good point," Yugi laughed. They turned back to Joey who hadn't said a word since he finished reading the invitation. "...Joey?"

The blond snapped his head back up, a cheesy grin on his face, "Did you hear that?" he said, pointing at the invitation, "Kaiba said I'm a good duellist!" he waved the invitation around, "King Of Games, here I come!" he joked.

Yugi laughed, ducking out of the way so that Joey's arm didn't hit him amidst his excitement. "Remember Joey, you have to defeat everyone else before you can duel me."

Joey waved a care-free hand at the boy, "No problemo." Upon waving his hand around, he had spotted the time on his watch. "Woops, I gotta go," he said, jumping up from the couch and grabbing his school bag. "I'll see you guys tomorrow!" he called over his shoulder as he ran out the door. Rose blinked at the door as it swung shut.

"Bye...?" she said, wondering why Joey had been in such a rush. "What was that about?" she asked Yugi as she sat down on the couch.

Yugi turned the TV off, "He's doing something with Serenity tonight I think," he explained. He then turned to face Yami also. "So tonight its just us three and a whole collection of horror movies!" He beamed from ear to ear in excitement, Yugi was quite the fan of scary movies.

"Wonderful," Yami said, an ever so slight sarcastic tone to his voice.

"Don't worry Pharaoh," Rose said lightly, "No ghosts can haunt you, because you are a ghost!" she joked. Yugi laughed with her as Yami crossed his arms, grumbling.

"Doesn't make it any less unsettling," he said.

...

A few hours later and Yugi and Rose were curled up on the couch under various blankets, with lollies, popcorn and all sorts surrounding them. They were sure that all the trick or treaters were finished for the night, as Solomon and his monster mask had closed up the Game shop a little while ago. It had been Yugi's idea to watch 'The Conjuring' and Rose wasn't doing too bad at holding her own. Yami however, was a different story, and an amusing one at that.

"Why is everyone in horror movies so stupid?" Rose complained, digging her hand into the popcorn bowl, "Do not go towards the creepy noise, use common sense people!"

Yugi laughed, "It's a movie, Rose. If they had common sense there would be no story." Rose hummed a response, before something jumped out on the screen. If Yami hadn't have been a spirit, he probably would have fallen off the edge of the couch. Rose burst out laughing as she saw the horrified look on the mighty Pharaoh's face, and Yugi tried to hold in his own laugh.

"You know," Rose said, calming down again, "You don't have to watch this, you can just hide in the puzzle if you don't like it."

Yami regained his composure once more as he crossed his arms, still sitting on the edge of the couch, "Yes, but if I do, I'm sure I'll never hear the end of it."

Yugi chuckled, "You've got that right," he grinned at the spirit, who simply grumbled.

They continued watching the movie, with Yugi laughing at the characters and feeling completely at ease, while Rose was starting to react more like the Pharaoh next to her as the film went on.

"Eek!" She sudden squealed, pulling the blanket up so that she couldn't see.

Yami chuckled, "See, who's scared now?" he teased, though Rose could tell by his voice that he was still feeling a little uneasy.

Rose moved to punch his shoulder, but of course she simply passed right through him. It felt quite odd, she thought, the tingly sensation that came over her closed fist as it went through the spirit. It did remind her of her disappointment that he didn't have his own body. Sometimes in situations such as this, it was almost like he was actually sitting there with them, but not quite as she was just reminded. It made her wonder once again what on earth could have happened back in Egypt to warrant for her having a body and him simply being an ancient spirit, sharing a body with the King of Games. It made sense to her, she thought, his spirit being locked in the puzzle for thousands of years, to be found by Yugi and therefore tying them together. Her situation however, still left her dumbfounded. Perhaps if she hadn't have been hit by that stupid car she would have more of a clue as to what happened. Could she have simply been reborn somehow? She didn't know. Every possibility seemed about as unlikely as the next. She hadn't realised that she was still staring at him until the spirit turned to look at her, a questioning look in his eyes.

"Something on your mind?" he asked.

Rose snapped out of her thoughts, and her face turned the slightest tinge of pink as she realised she was just caught staring at him. "Oh, nothing," she assured him, turning back to the movie. Although the movie itself was still unsettling for her, it didn't seem to bother her as much as before as they continued to watch, because now she had something much more important on her mind, and she hoped they would get answers soon.

Hey guys! And part 3 is underway! Wooh xD I was so excited I got half this chapter done once posting the end of part 2, and just wrote the other half immediately after waking up. You better love me xD But as the summary suggests, this is the part where Rose and the Pharaoh go back to egypt! Before they even get there however, they have to survive Kaiba's tournament, which is full of surprises! So sit back and enjoy the story, because this part is filled with cute awkwardness, jealousy, kick ass duels, and one hell of an adventure at the end. And of course, a bit of romance ;)

Please let me know what you think!

PharaohsThrone :)