SHADOW GAMES
Epilogue
"Have you told Taylor yet?" Taylor and Ryou leaned lightly against the door, listening to their parents talk. Question's formed in Taylor's mind. What was Ryou's mom talking about? Why was she asking her dad? "Taylor would hate me if she knew we were getting married," She heard her dad say. Her stomach tightened. They were getting married? She opened the door, "Why would I hate you dad? Because you're getting married, or because you weren't going to tell me?" She ran from the hotel they were in. They had been visiting Egypt for a class Taylor, and Ryou were in. * * * Taylor raced though the town as fast as she could. Tears ran down her face. Her dad was getting married, and wasn't even going to tell her? She wasn't mad because he was breaking his promise to never get married again. She was mad because he was going to do it behind her back! She wasn't watching were she was going and ran headlong into a man. She was knocked to the ground on impact; he merely took a step backwards. When she looked up at him she saw that he had the same tanned skin color everyone else around there seemed to have. He wore white robes, and a white turban. "You should not run from your problems," he told her holding out his hand to pull her up. She didn't take it. "How did you know I was running from a problem?" she asked, as he grabbed her and pulled her to her feet, ignoring the fact that she had probably wanted to stay on the ground. "Call it a gift I have," He replied. When he had grabbed her hand, he could feel that she was destined for a millennium item. He wasn't sure which one, but he had a pretty good idea. She was curious, out-going, and didn't exactly care much for rules. He knew just how to get her to the North Pyramid. "Please, head back now. I have some things I need to attend to," He began walking off. He listened as she ignored what he said, and followed him. * * * Taylor followed the man as silently as possible. He walked into a small hut, and proceeded with going down some stairs. The staircase seemed to go on forever. It was at least 40 minutes before the reached the bottom. "So, you did not heed my warning, and followed me?" He asked her. The stairs had come out into the weirdest looking room Taylor had ever seen. It looked like an ancient Egyptian tomb. In the center of it was a limestone block. Five Golden items lay on it: an eye, a dagger, a set of scales, a type of puzzle, and a ring-type item. "Now one of these items will test you to find if you are worthy of its powers," The man picked up the golden dagger, and walked towards Taylor. "This is the millennium rod. It has the power to brainwash people, and can also be used as a dagger," he explained, and odd glint of humor flashed across his eyes, and he watched her eyes widen with horror, as she suddenly relized what he was going to do. "Um. what if I fail its test?" Taylor asked scared of the answer. "You will die," He said calmly. "Tell me, are you going to hold still, and allow the item to test you, or do I have to make you hold still?" He asked, his free hand holding a card. She took a step backwards, "How about I jut leave, and never speak of this to anyone?" she asked and she turned to run. "That is not an option! CHAIN ENERGY!" Golden chains held Taylor in place. He walked forward and held to dagger to her heart. "Please no." Taylor pleaded, as she struggled against the bindings. A split-second later, the dagger was thrust into her chest by the man. She let out a yell of pain. A blinding light shown from the dagger, but Taylor couldn't see it. All she saw was an eternal darkness. The pain was so terrible, so all consuming, and so evil. She couldn't hear, and after a few moments all she could sense was that pain. She wanted it to end, to black out, and to die. Then she noticed another feeling, a sharp stabbing pain in her head. She couldn't make out what it was, because next second she passed out. * * * She woke up a few moments later. The pain had almost diminished. Her breathing was in sharp, painful gasps. The man watching her looked both pleased, and surprised. "You passed the rod's test? Well done," He smiled thinly at her. He pulled Taylor to her feet as he had done about an hour ago. Suddenly they were both quiet, footsteps could be heard from the staircase. Ryou Bakura poked his head into the room, and looked around. "The North Pyramid!" he gasped, and walked into the room. He looked over at Taylor. The Millennium Rod now hung on a brown cord around her neck. The man looked at him; there was something about him. he was suddenly reminded of a tomb robber he had met 5 millennia before. He looked rather stunned for a moment, and then picked up the Millennium Ring. "You boy, Come here!" He stared at Ryou. Ryou walked over and looked at the M. Ring. "One of the Millennium items," His breath was caught in his through. He had learned about their legend in his Egyptology class. "Good, you know what it is," The man smirked. "Then you know it can trap souls in inanimate objects?" He asked. "Um, yes." Ryou had no idea were this was going, but went along with it anyway. BAD MOVE! The next second a blinding light had shot from the center of the Millennium Ring, and had hit him in the chest. He fell to the ground yelling in pain. Taylor wondered if she had yelled like that. She wouldn't have known. A look of pity flashed across her face, as she watched her soon-to-be-step- brother on the ground like that. She saw that a tiny bit of the beam was etching something into his forehead. It looked something like an Egyptian A. "BAKURA!" She tried to go forward, but golden chains wrapped around her again, and she stood there helplessly watching. If was over after a moment though. The M. Ring was now attached to a brown cord around Ryou Bakura's neck. The man seemed pleased with himself. "You two must tell know one were you got those," He said shortly then started walking away. "HOLD IT!" Taylor yelled. "First I want some questions answered!" She stopped and seemed to think for a moment, "Like, who are you?" "My name is Shadi. I am afraid that is all I can tell you. I bid you farewell," Shadi vanished into thin air. This was going to take a lot of explaining.
CHAPTER 1: Egyptology
Five years have past since Taylor and Ryou met Shadi, and were given the Millennium items. Taylor is now in the 8th grade, Ryou in the 10th. Both had more-or-less pale skin, and white hair. Taylor has ice blue eyes. Ryou has brown eyes. Neither have figured our how to get their Millennium items to do anything, but for now that's ok. "Hey Ryou! We're entering Domino City!" Taylor was looking out the window amazed at how many building and things there were. She watched as two kids stood waiting, and watching the train pull up. Both were holding a deck of Duel Monster cards. "They have Duel Monsters here too," Ryou and Taylor grinned. Actually, I guess I have to contradict what I said earlier, Taylor could use her Millennium Rod to an extent. Taylor and Ryou leapt from the platform seconds after the train had stopped. The two kids, Taylor now saw, were girls. "Hello," The first one said, she was slightly shorter than the other, "My name is Mysti, and this is my sister Bethany," Taylor and Ryou introduced themselves. "Can you duel?" Bethany asked. It was then that Taylor figured out that they weren't from Japan. At least, not originally. Taylor grinned, "Me, and my Red Eyes can take on anyone!" She held out her Red-Eyes Black-Dragon card. "Why?" "What about him?" Mysti asked, then Bakura nodded. "Why? Because we challenge you two, to a two on two match! Right now!" Taylor grinned silently, "Ok. your on!" Taylor and Bakura followed Mysti and Bethany to a building called Kaiba Land. Inside they registered, and the duel began. Ok Taylor, this is your first move. let's see.She looked at her hand, Red Eyes Black dragon, Change of heart, Dark Magician Zombie, Trap Hole, and Ra. She grinned, "I play a card face down in defense mode, and I end my turn." She called out, as she did the play. She looked over at Bethany, who had just played a Blue Eyes White Dragon in attack mode, and had used white lighting at her defense monster. Ra was unearthed. The God Card used his 5000 defense points to not only destroy the Blue eyes, but to take 2000 of Bethany, and Mysti's life points as well. Bakura then played Osiris, another God card, and inflicted 5000 direct damage to their life points. They had only 1000 life points left. Mysti, and Bethany surrendered, and walked over to them, as they got down from the field with their cards in their hands. "Good cards." Bethany said still rather shocked that the two had two of the god cards.
* * *
The first day of school. what a drag. Taylor walked onto the Middle School Campus in the school uniform: a blue skirt, with a white shirt. To say the least, she hated the outfit. She was used to jeans, and a long- sleeved shirt. Oh well. She walked into Homeroom, the teacher introduced her, "Class, I want you all to welcome Miss. Taylor Flo. She is an exchange student from London," The teacher, Mrs. Minimoto, smiled and directed Taylor to her seat. Next to her sat Mysti, the kid she had met the week before. Mrs. Minimoto handed Taylor, her class schedule. Math, Literature, History, Art, Egyptology, Science, writing. EGYPTOLIGY! YES I GOT THE CLASS! Taylor grinned, and when the bell rang, went off to search for her class. Meanwhile, Bakura was coming into his Homeroom class. When he sat down, he saw a few kids playing duel monsters. His Millennium ring pointed towards another Millennium item, the Puzzle. The millennium puzzle. this will be much easier that I thought.
* * *
The hours trudged by, but after a while, Taylor was finally in her Egyptology class. She was ecstatic. She was paying more attention to the Mono-toned teacher than everyone else, but not much more. Finally she got annoyed at the teacher and said what everyone else was thinking, "Oh come off it! You murdering the story! All you are doing is saying the same thing over and over, in different ways. We've grasped the concept that the Ancient Tombs were dangerous, so would you please go on to something else?" Her eyes blue eyes flashed, it was obvious she was mad. "Taylor. are you related to Ryou Bakura?" The teacher asked. "Um. yes, why?" "Because he said the exact same thing." She smiled at her. "Now, if you don't like the way I teach, then I beg of you to leave!" She finished sternly. "O.K. Fine!" She grabbed her bag, "I'll leave then!" She marched out of the room. That obviously hadn't been what the teacher was expecting but regardless she let her go. * * * The weeks passed, the teacher was fired; Egyptology became interesting, so on, and so forth. They began learning Hieroglyphics, and the Egyptian's ancient language. Later on though, the worst thing that could have happened did. The entire class was going to Egypt for 3 months. "We're going to Egypt?" The memory of what had happened 5 years ago filled Taylor's mind. Why she had run off. When she met Shadi. how she and her brother had gotten the Millennium items. "Oh God no." she muttered. ( Ryou heard the same words. "Egypt?" He asked, not in the least happy. This was going to be a long 3 months..
CHAPTER 2: Tetsaggi
The next week, Taylor, Bakura, Mysti, Bethany, and a few other kids who Taylor had never met, were on the train to Egypt. Taylor had introduced herself to the four she had never net. After that, the train came to a sudden halt, as it came to an Egyptian train station. The group got out. "Um. I have a question, what are you guys' names anyway?" Taylor asked looking at the 4 others. "My name is Yugi Motu. These are my friends Joey, Tristan, and Tèa," One of them said smiling. Taylor noticed he had the completed puzzle she had seen in the North Pyramid five years ago. "It's nice to meet you." She then started walking after the Mrs. Minimoto, the others behind her. As luck would have it, she walked into a sand trap, and fell down a hole, into a sandy tunnel. "TAYLOR!" Ryou ran to the edge of the hole and looked down. "ARE YOU OK?" He called down. No answer. "Taylor if you can hear me give me some sort of sign," still nothing. They group sighed and ran after Mrs. Minimoto to tell her what had happened.
(
Taylor woke up miles underground. She was starting to hate Egypt more and more every moment. When she stood up, she took a few steps. She was fine. She looked up to see that she had no way of getting back that way, so she started walking along the tunnel. "Where am I?" She asked looking around the tunnel. It was lined with Hieroglyphics, and pictures. All of the same thing, a long string, or a mass of water, Taylor couldn't tell. She walked on, she saw that the tunnel was getting brighter, I.E. she was nearing the exit, or so she though. She walked into a giant chamber, and saw the oddest thing. A limestone block sat in the center of the room, only instead of there being golden items, it seemed to have some sort of whip laying on it. This whip had sharp, glass shards sticking out of it. There was an inscription on its handle: ????????. "Tetsaggi?" She muttered, translating the description. This was the very first version of Hieroglyphics. She was amazed by how old Tetsaggi must have been. She carefully picked up the leather whip. She thought of all the possibilities. She continued reading the Hieroglyphics. ?????-???????????????????????????????????????????- ??????????????????????-?????-???- ??????????????????????????????????????????????-???????-????????????- ?????????????? "Careful all who wield Tetsaggi: the Whip of Death. If you can harness it's powers then you are truly lucky. For even the slightest mistake in the movement of your hand could be fatal. You have been warned," She read quietly. She looked down at the Tetsaggi, and understood how difficult it would be to wield. She placed the whip in her backpack, and walked on. It was about an hour before she found her way out. It was dark, and cold outside. She shrugged off the temperature and went to find her class. She came across the hotel she had stayed in 5 years ago, and went it. Just incase they where there. As luck would have it they were. Taylor walked over to Mrs. Minimoto and explained everything, everything but the chamber with the whip. After a few more hours of goofing off, studying, and things like that, they all went to bed.
* * *
The next day was quite eventful. Taylor, Tristan, Yugi, Ryou, Tèa, Bethany, Mysti, Joey, and Mrs. Minimoto all set off for the South Pyramid. If wasn't long after that till Taylor showed her brother the whip. "Are you insane? How dense are you, that thing is dangerous and-" he was cut off by Taylor using her Millennium Rod to summon a trap hole for him to fall in. About half way down he was able to grab the side of the hole. A few miles below him stood 2 Man-Eater Bugs. He looked for a way to climb back out, only problem was that he couldn't find one. "Well Ryou. it looks like this dense kid is about to save you!" she called to him, dropping the end of the whip down to him. "I'm not grabbing that!" He yelled. Taylor smirked, and pulled it back up. Then she flicked it downwards, at just the right angle so that it wrapped around his wrist, when she pulled up, the glass dug painfully into his flesh. He let out a small cry of pain. "It was your choice," Taylor smirked, as she pulled him up. When he was all the way up, she walked over to him, and removed the glass. His skin healed as she pulled it out. How else with the Tetsaggi help me? Taylor thought, as the 9 walked on, towards the South Pyramid.
Chapter 3. Puzzle, Ring, and, Rod
As the group walked on they saw a small hill of sand. Joey tripped over it, and fell. When he stood up he spit the sand out of his mouth, turned around, and kicked the pile of sand. It wasn't a pile of sand. something hard was underneath it. Joey began jumping up and down on one foot while moaning in pain. His foot hit a softer bit of sand, and everything surrounding the 'hill' was unearthed. Thousands, upon thousands of pounds of sand came tumbling off of something. When it all cleared, they saw what that something was. a pyramid. The South Pyramid to be exact. Well, they saw it for a few moments at least. They had gone far past the teacher, and when the sand went down so did they. To make a long story short, when all of it had cleared, it looked like nothing had happened. The 8 kids were trapped deep within the earth in the South Pyramid, and Mrs. Minimoto was none the wiser. "God! Do they refrigerate the sand down here or something?" Joey asked. He had a point; it was icy cold in the earthen chamber. Hieroglyphics lined the walls.
?????????+??????????+?????????+????????????????????????????????????????????? +????????????????????????????????????? None of them could understand this writing. it was either to old, that or not old enough. they didn't know. "So. what now?" Ryou asked looked around the dark chamber. He couldn't see much, but from what he could see they were some sort of ancient church. Or something. along all the walls stood statues of the Ancient Gods, from Ra, to Knum. Giant poles, all engraved with images of gods held everything else up. He supposed he had underestimated the Egyptians. They truly worshiped these Human/animal hybrids. "Hey Ryou. what's up with your millennium ring?" Yugi asked looking at the Millennium item. "I don't know." Ryou whispered, and held it up, so that it was flat. With his other hand he stroked the eye symbol on it. It glowed faintly. Then the light flared with an astonishing brightness. The Millennium Puzzle's eye also flared up, and Taylor's Millennium Rod wasn't one to be left out. The three lights connected to become a triangle, then fused more so to create a Pyramid-like shape. After a second, one of the sides became fire. The second, wind, and the third became a purple, and black fog. Taylor stared at the pyramid for a moment, before relizing that it felt as though her forehead had been stabbed with a dagger. She would have fallen to her knees but she couldn't move. Regardless she let out a yell of pain. She wasn't the only one though. She heard Yugi, and her brother do the same. All at once the light faded and they three stopped screaming. "Freedom is sweet," Taylor said. but was it Taylor? Joey obviously had his doubts, because he let out a cry of fear and ran behind Tèa. Taylor didn't look quite like Taylor anyway. She now had the same eye-type symbol that the Millennium Items had on her forehead. It was glowing faintly; Ryou and Yugi had the same symbol on their heads. "That as it may be, it will be shortly enjoyed. We were forced from the items. they know of us now," Yami Bakura nodded towards the other 3. "Hold on. where did those other two mortals head off to?" He looked around for Bethany and Mysti. Neither of which had been talking through this entire thing. (
Were where Mysti and Bethany? Why, they were running like hell the other direction. At least those two had enough since to high tail it out of there. "What they hell was that?" Bethany asked her sister, as the exit became visible. "I don't know? What was it?" Mysti asked, as they broke through into the light. "If I knew, why would I be asking you?" Bethany asked. How far away where they? That didn't matter because as far as she knew. it had all been a dream. ( Back in the Pyramid. "No! It would be dangerous for them to remember this at all!" Yami Yugi told the other two. "It is dangerous for me to allow the two of you to survive, but for now I must," He obviously though leaving the two unharmed was against his better judgment. "ERASE MEMORY!" * * * Taylor woke up on the train back to Japan. That was an odd dream.she though. But was it a dream? It had all seemed so real. I guess some things are just meant to be unknown.you know what they say. 'Yesterday is History, Tomorrow is a Mystery... Today is well. today.' She smiled and looked over at her friends. She was the only one awake. It would be another couple of hours before they reached Japan. She went back to sleep.
Chapter 4: Going Home
Taylor then heard two terrible noises, the train screeching to a stop, and her friends tumbling out of their seats, "Ow! What the hell was that?" Exclaimed Joe in surprise. "Shut up, the conductor is saying something." Tèa muttered, "-Seem to have him something on the track. Please bare with us, as we will be moving again in a few hours." They heard him say. "I have an idea. let's go help him!" Tristin suggested. "If we do we'll get out of here faster." He finished. Everyone else started walking away, but Bakura stayed in place. "You ok?" Taylor asked at the doorway of the train. "Yeah. it's just. never mind," Ryou muttered. "I know. I had a weird dream too," Taylor assured him. "But standing here isn't going to change that, so come on!" Ryou nodded. Sometimes Taylor knew just what to say. "OH MY GOD! We hit a tree. how the hell did we hit a tree?" and sometimes she didn't make the least bit a since. Ryou leapt from the train and came around to the front. "He hit a tree," she said flatly. "I'm with Taylor. how the hell did we hit a tree?" He asked. The breeze was cool, but even so, Yugi, Ryou, and Taylor felt hotter than ever. "Man. it sure is hot out here. how long do you think this will take?" Yugi asked. "Yugi' you've come down with weirditis lately," Joey said looking at his friend. "Actually, he's quite right," Ryou remarked. "Maybe you are the weird one Joey." Tèa told him. "I'm not weird!" Joey muttered. Taylor sighed, and then stepped away from the train to see how far they were from Domino City. She grinned, as she could just see the lights. "Well, looks like we're hiking it!" Announced Tristin. "Great." Mysti muttered. "It's not that far. We'll be there in a few hours," Bethany said. Mysti groaned and started walking. * * * "Me legs hurt!" complained Mysti. "Suck it up!" Bethany snapped. "Well sorry, but no one told me to were my hiking boots!" Mysti retorted. Not a moment away from the town, Yugi collapsed. "YUGI!" Mysti yelled, running to his aid. "Yugi, Yugi, can you hear me?" she asked, while resting his head in her arms. "He's out cold." Tèa told her. "And probably deaf now, the way you were yellin'!" Tristin added. "Here give him to me. I'll carry the little guy back," Joey went over and picked up Yugi, and carried him the rest of the way. When they entered town, they were greeted my two young men. One of them, way Bethany's, and Mysti's older brother Matt; the other one was Matt's friend, Mitsurogie. "Is Yugi alright?" Matt asked. "Well what do you think?" Mysti asked him coolly. "I don't know. I think he has a fever. he collapsed just outside of town. I think Bakura, and Taylor a sick too," Tèa told him. "Well then. let's get him to my mother." Mitsurogie said. "She's a nurse," he finished for those who didn't know. Joey groaned inwardly, and carried Yugi the rest of the way, back to Mitsurogie's house. * * * "I don't see anything wrong with him. Let's just let him rest for a bit, shall we?" She said.
Well, time went by, while Yugi was asleep, the others called the school to let them know they were all ok. A bit later Yugi finally woke back up. Mysti was right by his side, she had been there then entire time he was asleep. She greeted him with a smile, "Oh, you're awake! I though you would be asleep forever," she started giggling. "Umm. yeah I guess so. where are the others?" Yugi asked sitting up. "Oh, they are in the other room. Let's go join them," they two left the room, and walked into the living room. "Good your up, want some cocoa?" Mitsurogie's mom asked. Yugi was about to answer, when he reliesed it. "Where is my Puzzle?" He asked horrified that he had lost it. "You mean this?" Bethany asked handing it to him. "Er. yeah, thanks." Yugi felt rather stupid now.
Chapter 5: Time to Catch Up! Yugi stumbed to his chair, feeling more, and more like an idiot every moment. He looked around, and saw Matt. He was a lanky, young boy with rose red hair, and navy blue eyes. His eyes then turned and fell on Mitsurogie. He was much like Matt, only older and a little ill-tempered. "You guy's are lucky. Hey Mit', how long has it been since we went to Egypt?" Matt asked looking at his friend. Bethany cut him off. "Lucky? We were almost killed!" she said exasperated. "I knew 'my' luck wouldn't hold out." Matt muttered. "What's that supposed to mea-" Mysti started, but Mitsurogie cut her off this time. "About three years. Oh yeah, Yugi, I finished my Dueling Stadium. What to try it out?" He finished quick to stop the siblings' fight. "I don't think I can. I'm so woozy." Yugi said apoligeticly. "I'LL DUEL! C'mon Taylor let's have a rematch! Yeah! Let's go!" "Something tells me that Mysti has had some sugar." Taylor said, but agreed anyway. Taylor and Mysti took their decks, and approached the duel stadium. The life points reset, the field activated, Hands drawn. "DUEL!" The two yelled together.
Chapter 6: Pick a card, any card.
Epilogue
"Have you told Taylor yet?" Taylor and Ryou leaned lightly against the door, listening to their parents talk. Question's formed in Taylor's mind. What was Ryou's mom talking about? Why was she asking her dad? "Taylor would hate me if she knew we were getting married," She heard her dad say. Her stomach tightened. They were getting married? She opened the door, "Why would I hate you dad? Because you're getting married, or because you weren't going to tell me?" She ran from the hotel they were in. They had been visiting Egypt for a class Taylor, and Ryou were in. * * * Taylor raced though the town as fast as she could. Tears ran down her face. Her dad was getting married, and wasn't even going to tell her? She wasn't mad because he was breaking his promise to never get married again. She was mad because he was going to do it behind her back! She wasn't watching were she was going and ran headlong into a man. She was knocked to the ground on impact; he merely took a step backwards. When she looked up at him she saw that he had the same tanned skin color everyone else around there seemed to have. He wore white robes, and a white turban. "You should not run from your problems," he told her holding out his hand to pull her up. She didn't take it. "How did you know I was running from a problem?" she asked, as he grabbed her and pulled her to her feet, ignoring the fact that she had probably wanted to stay on the ground. "Call it a gift I have," He replied. When he had grabbed her hand, he could feel that she was destined for a millennium item. He wasn't sure which one, but he had a pretty good idea. She was curious, out-going, and didn't exactly care much for rules. He knew just how to get her to the North Pyramid. "Please, head back now. I have some things I need to attend to," He began walking off. He listened as she ignored what he said, and followed him. * * * Taylor followed the man as silently as possible. He walked into a small hut, and proceeded with going down some stairs. The staircase seemed to go on forever. It was at least 40 minutes before the reached the bottom. "So, you did not heed my warning, and followed me?" He asked her. The stairs had come out into the weirdest looking room Taylor had ever seen. It looked like an ancient Egyptian tomb. In the center of it was a limestone block. Five Golden items lay on it: an eye, a dagger, a set of scales, a type of puzzle, and a ring-type item. "Now one of these items will test you to find if you are worthy of its powers," The man picked up the golden dagger, and walked towards Taylor. "This is the millennium rod. It has the power to brainwash people, and can also be used as a dagger," he explained, and odd glint of humor flashed across his eyes, and he watched her eyes widen with horror, as she suddenly relized what he was going to do. "Um. what if I fail its test?" Taylor asked scared of the answer. "You will die," He said calmly. "Tell me, are you going to hold still, and allow the item to test you, or do I have to make you hold still?" He asked, his free hand holding a card. She took a step backwards, "How about I jut leave, and never speak of this to anyone?" she asked and she turned to run. "That is not an option! CHAIN ENERGY!" Golden chains held Taylor in place. He walked forward and held to dagger to her heart. "Please no." Taylor pleaded, as she struggled against the bindings. A split-second later, the dagger was thrust into her chest by the man. She let out a yell of pain. A blinding light shown from the dagger, but Taylor couldn't see it. All she saw was an eternal darkness. The pain was so terrible, so all consuming, and so evil. She couldn't hear, and after a few moments all she could sense was that pain. She wanted it to end, to black out, and to die. Then she noticed another feeling, a sharp stabbing pain in her head. She couldn't make out what it was, because next second she passed out. * * * She woke up a few moments later. The pain had almost diminished. Her breathing was in sharp, painful gasps. The man watching her looked both pleased, and surprised. "You passed the rod's test? Well done," He smiled thinly at her. He pulled Taylor to her feet as he had done about an hour ago. Suddenly they were both quiet, footsteps could be heard from the staircase. Ryou Bakura poked his head into the room, and looked around. "The North Pyramid!" he gasped, and walked into the room. He looked over at Taylor. The Millennium Rod now hung on a brown cord around her neck. The man looked at him; there was something about him. he was suddenly reminded of a tomb robber he had met 5 millennia before. He looked rather stunned for a moment, and then picked up the Millennium Ring. "You boy, Come here!" He stared at Ryou. Ryou walked over and looked at the M. Ring. "One of the Millennium items," His breath was caught in his through. He had learned about their legend in his Egyptology class. "Good, you know what it is," The man smirked. "Then you know it can trap souls in inanimate objects?" He asked. "Um, yes." Ryou had no idea were this was going, but went along with it anyway. BAD MOVE! The next second a blinding light had shot from the center of the Millennium Ring, and had hit him in the chest. He fell to the ground yelling in pain. Taylor wondered if she had yelled like that. She wouldn't have known. A look of pity flashed across her face, as she watched her soon-to-be-step- brother on the ground like that. She saw that a tiny bit of the beam was etching something into his forehead. It looked something like an Egyptian A. "BAKURA!" She tried to go forward, but golden chains wrapped around her again, and she stood there helplessly watching. If was over after a moment though. The M. Ring was now attached to a brown cord around Ryou Bakura's neck. The man seemed pleased with himself. "You two must tell know one were you got those," He said shortly then started walking away. "HOLD IT!" Taylor yelled. "First I want some questions answered!" She stopped and seemed to think for a moment, "Like, who are you?" "My name is Shadi. I am afraid that is all I can tell you. I bid you farewell," Shadi vanished into thin air. This was going to take a lot of explaining.
CHAPTER 1: Egyptology
Five years have past since Taylor and Ryou met Shadi, and were given the Millennium items. Taylor is now in the 8th grade, Ryou in the 10th. Both had more-or-less pale skin, and white hair. Taylor has ice blue eyes. Ryou has brown eyes. Neither have figured our how to get their Millennium items to do anything, but for now that's ok. "Hey Ryou! We're entering Domino City!" Taylor was looking out the window amazed at how many building and things there were. She watched as two kids stood waiting, and watching the train pull up. Both were holding a deck of Duel Monster cards. "They have Duel Monsters here too," Ryou and Taylor grinned. Actually, I guess I have to contradict what I said earlier, Taylor could use her Millennium Rod to an extent. Taylor and Ryou leapt from the platform seconds after the train had stopped. The two kids, Taylor now saw, were girls. "Hello," The first one said, she was slightly shorter than the other, "My name is Mysti, and this is my sister Bethany," Taylor and Ryou introduced themselves. "Can you duel?" Bethany asked. It was then that Taylor figured out that they weren't from Japan. At least, not originally. Taylor grinned, "Me, and my Red Eyes can take on anyone!" She held out her Red-Eyes Black-Dragon card. "Why?" "What about him?" Mysti asked, then Bakura nodded. "Why? Because we challenge you two, to a two on two match! Right now!" Taylor grinned silently, "Ok. your on!" Taylor and Bakura followed Mysti and Bethany to a building called Kaiba Land. Inside they registered, and the duel began. Ok Taylor, this is your first move. let's see.She looked at her hand, Red Eyes Black dragon, Change of heart, Dark Magician Zombie, Trap Hole, and Ra. She grinned, "I play a card face down in defense mode, and I end my turn." She called out, as she did the play. She looked over at Bethany, who had just played a Blue Eyes White Dragon in attack mode, and had used white lighting at her defense monster. Ra was unearthed. The God Card used his 5000 defense points to not only destroy the Blue eyes, but to take 2000 of Bethany, and Mysti's life points as well. Bakura then played Osiris, another God card, and inflicted 5000 direct damage to their life points. They had only 1000 life points left. Mysti, and Bethany surrendered, and walked over to them, as they got down from the field with their cards in their hands. "Good cards." Bethany said still rather shocked that the two had two of the god cards.
* * *
The first day of school. what a drag. Taylor walked onto the Middle School Campus in the school uniform: a blue skirt, with a white shirt. To say the least, she hated the outfit. She was used to jeans, and a long- sleeved shirt. Oh well. She walked into Homeroom, the teacher introduced her, "Class, I want you all to welcome Miss. Taylor Flo. She is an exchange student from London," The teacher, Mrs. Minimoto, smiled and directed Taylor to her seat. Next to her sat Mysti, the kid she had met the week before. Mrs. Minimoto handed Taylor, her class schedule. Math, Literature, History, Art, Egyptology, Science, writing. EGYPTOLIGY! YES I GOT THE CLASS! Taylor grinned, and when the bell rang, went off to search for her class. Meanwhile, Bakura was coming into his Homeroom class. When he sat down, he saw a few kids playing duel monsters. His Millennium ring pointed towards another Millennium item, the Puzzle. The millennium puzzle. this will be much easier that I thought.
* * *
The hours trudged by, but after a while, Taylor was finally in her Egyptology class. She was ecstatic. She was paying more attention to the Mono-toned teacher than everyone else, but not much more. Finally she got annoyed at the teacher and said what everyone else was thinking, "Oh come off it! You murdering the story! All you are doing is saying the same thing over and over, in different ways. We've grasped the concept that the Ancient Tombs were dangerous, so would you please go on to something else?" Her eyes blue eyes flashed, it was obvious she was mad. "Taylor. are you related to Ryou Bakura?" The teacher asked. "Um. yes, why?" "Because he said the exact same thing." She smiled at her. "Now, if you don't like the way I teach, then I beg of you to leave!" She finished sternly. "O.K. Fine!" She grabbed her bag, "I'll leave then!" She marched out of the room. That obviously hadn't been what the teacher was expecting but regardless she let her go. * * * The weeks passed, the teacher was fired; Egyptology became interesting, so on, and so forth. They began learning Hieroglyphics, and the Egyptian's ancient language. Later on though, the worst thing that could have happened did. The entire class was going to Egypt for 3 months. "We're going to Egypt?" The memory of what had happened 5 years ago filled Taylor's mind. Why she had run off. When she met Shadi. how she and her brother had gotten the Millennium items. "Oh God no." she muttered. ( Ryou heard the same words. "Egypt?" He asked, not in the least happy. This was going to be a long 3 months..
CHAPTER 2: Tetsaggi
The next week, Taylor, Bakura, Mysti, Bethany, and a few other kids who Taylor had never met, were on the train to Egypt. Taylor had introduced herself to the four she had never net. After that, the train came to a sudden halt, as it came to an Egyptian train station. The group got out. "Um. I have a question, what are you guys' names anyway?" Taylor asked looking at the 4 others. "My name is Yugi Motu. These are my friends Joey, Tristan, and Tèa," One of them said smiling. Taylor noticed he had the completed puzzle she had seen in the North Pyramid five years ago. "It's nice to meet you." She then started walking after the Mrs. Minimoto, the others behind her. As luck would have it, she walked into a sand trap, and fell down a hole, into a sandy tunnel. "TAYLOR!" Ryou ran to the edge of the hole and looked down. "ARE YOU OK?" He called down. No answer. "Taylor if you can hear me give me some sort of sign," still nothing. They group sighed and ran after Mrs. Minimoto to tell her what had happened.
(
Taylor woke up miles underground. She was starting to hate Egypt more and more every moment. When she stood up, she took a few steps. She was fine. She looked up to see that she had no way of getting back that way, so she started walking along the tunnel. "Where am I?" She asked looking around the tunnel. It was lined with Hieroglyphics, and pictures. All of the same thing, a long string, or a mass of water, Taylor couldn't tell. She walked on, she saw that the tunnel was getting brighter, I.E. she was nearing the exit, or so she though. She walked into a giant chamber, and saw the oddest thing. A limestone block sat in the center of the room, only instead of there being golden items, it seemed to have some sort of whip laying on it. This whip had sharp, glass shards sticking out of it. There was an inscription on its handle: ????????. "Tetsaggi?" She muttered, translating the description. This was the very first version of Hieroglyphics. She was amazed by how old Tetsaggi must have been. She carefully picked up the leather whip. She thought of all the possibilities. She continued reading the Hieroglyphics. ?????-???????????????????????????????????????????- ??????????????????????-?????-???- ??????????????????????????????????????????????-???????-????????????- ?????????????? "Careful all who wield Tetsaggi: the Whip of Death. If you can harness it's powers then you are truly lucky. For even the slightest mistake in the movement of your hand could be fatal. You have been warned," She read quietly. She looked down at the Tetsaggi, and understood how difficult it would be to wield. She placed the whip in her backpack, and walked on. It was about an hour before she found her way out. It was dark, and cold outside. She shrugged off the temperature and went to find her class. She came across the hotel she had stayed in 5 years ago, and went it. Just incase they where there. As luck would have it they were. Taylor walked over to Mrs. Minimoto and explained everything, everything but the chamber with the whip. After a few more hours of goofing off, studying, and things like that, they all went to bed.
* * *
The next day was quite eventful. Taylor, Tristan, Yugi, Ryou, Tèa, Bethany, Mysti, Joey, and Mrs. Minimoto all set off for the South Pyramid. If wasn't long after that till Taylor showed her brother the whip. "Are you insane? How dense are you, that thing is dangerous and-" he was cut off by Taylor using her Millennium Rod to summon a trap hole for him to fall in. About half way down he was able to grab the side of the hole. A few miles below him stood 2 Man-Eater Bugs. He looked for a way to climb back out, only problem was that he couldn't find one. "Well Ryou. it looks like this dense kid is about to save you!" she called to him, dropping the end of the whip down to him. "I'm not grabbing that!" He yelled. Taylor smirked, and pulled it back up. Then she flicked it downwards, at just the right angle so that it wrapped around his wrist, when she pulled up, the glass dug painfully into his flesh. He let out a small cry of pain. "It was your choice," Taylor smirked, as she pulled him up. When he was all the way up, she walked over to him, and removed the glass. His skin healed as she pulled it out. How else with the Tetsaggi help me? Taylor thought, as the 9 walked on, towards the South Pyramid.
Chapter 3. Puzzle, Ring, and, Rod
As the group walked on they saw a small hill of sand. Joey tripped over it, and fell. When he stood up he spit the sand out of his mouth, turned around, and kicked the pile of sand. It wasn't a pile of sand. something hard was underneath it. Joey began jumping up and down on one foot while moaning in pain. His foot hit a softer bit of sand, and everything surrounding the 'hill' was unearthed. Thousands, upon thousands of pounds of sand came tumbling off of something. When it all cleared, they saw what that something was. a pyramid. The South Pyramid to be exact. Well, they saw it for a few moments at least. They had gone far past the teacher, and when the sand went down so did they. To make a long story short, when all of it had cleared, it looked like nothing had happened. The 8 kids were trapped deep within the earth in the South Pyramid, and Mrs. Minimoto was none the wiser. "God! Do they refrigerate the sand down here or something?" Joey asked. He had a point; it was icy cold in the earthen chamber. Hieroglyphics lined the walls.
?????????+??????????+?????????+????????????????????????????????????????????? +????????????????????????????????????? None of them could understand this writing. it was either to old, that or not old enough. they didn't know. "So. what now?" Ryou asked looked around the dark chamber. He couldn't see much, but from what he could see they were some sort of ancient church. Or something. along all the walls stood statues of the Ancient Gods, from Ra, to Knum. Giant poles, all engraved with images of gods held everything else up. He supposed he had underestimated the Egyptians. They truly worshiped these Human/animal hybrids. "Hey Ryou. what's up with your millennium ring?" Yugi asked looking at the Millennium item. "I don't know." Ryou whispered, and held it up, so that it was flat. With his other hand he stroked the eye symbol on it. It glowed faintly. Then the light flared with an astonishing brightness. The Millennium Puzzle's eye also flared up, and Taylor's Millennium Rod wasn't one to be left out. The three lights connected to become a triangle, then fused more so to create a Pyramid-like shape. After a second, one of the sides became fire. The second, wind, and the third became a purple, and black fog. Taylor stared at the pyramid for a moment, before relizing that it felt as though her forehead had been stabbed with a dagger. She would have fallen to her knees but she couldn't move. Regardless she let out a yell of pain. She wasn't the only one though. She heard Yugi, and her brother do the same. All at once the light faded and they three stopped screaming. "Freedom is sweet," Taylor said. but was it Taylor? Joey obviously had his doubts, because he let out a cry of fear and ran behind Tèa. Taylor didn't look quite like Taylor anyway. She now had the same eye-type symbol that the Millennium Items had on her forehead. It was glowing faintly; Ryou and Yugi had the same symbol on their heads. "That as it may be, it will be shortly enjoyed. We were forced from the items. they know of us now," Yami Bakura nodded towards the other 3. "Hold on. where did those other two mortals head off to?" He looked around for Bethany and Mysti. Neither of which had been talking through this entire thing. (
Were where Mysti and Bethany? Why, they were running like hell the other direction. At least those two had enough since to high tail it out of there. "What they hell was that?" Bethany asked her sister, as the exit became visible. "I don't know? What was it?" Mysti asked, as they broke through into the light. "If I knew, why would I be asking you?" Bethany asked. How far away where they? That didn't matter because as far as she knew. it had all been a dream. ( Back in the Pyramid. "No! It would be dangerous for them to remember this at all!" Yami Yugi told the other two. "It is dangerous for me to allow the two of you to survive, but for now I must," He obviously though leaving the two unharmed was against his better judgment. "ERASE MEMORY!" * * * Taylor woke up on the train back to Japan. That was an odd dream.she though. But was it a dream? It had all seemed so real. I guess some things are just meant to be unknown.you know what they say. 'Yesterday is History, Tomorrow is a Mystery... Today is well. today.' She smiled and looked over at her friends. She was the only one awake. It would be another couple of hours before they reached Japan. She went back to sleep.
Chapter 4: Going Home
Taylor then heard two terrible noises, the train screeching to a stop, and her friends tumbling out of their seats, "Ow! What the hell was that?" Exclaimed Joe in surprise. "Shut up, the conductor is saying something." Tèa muttered, "-Seem to have him something on the track. Please bare with us, as we will be moving again in a few hours." They heard him say. "I have an idea. let's go help him!" Tristin suggested. "If we do we'll get out of here faster." He finished. Everyone else started walking away, but Bakura stayed in place. "You ok?" Taylor asked at the doorway of the train. "Yeah. it's just. never mind," Ryou muttered. "I know. I had a weird dream too," Taylor assured him. "But standing here isn't going to change that, so come on!" Ryou nodded. Sometimes Taylor knew just what to say. "OH MY GOD! We hit a tree. how the hell did we hit a tree?" and sometimes she didn't make the least bit a since. Ryou leapt from the train and came around to the front. "He hit a tree," she said flatly. "I'm with Taylor. how the hell did we hit a tree?" He asked. The breeze was cool, but even so, Yugi, Ryou, and Taylor felt hotter than ever. "Man. it sure is hot out here. how long do you think this will take?" Yugi asked. "Yugi' you've come down with weirditis lately," Joey said looking at his friend. "Actually, he's quite right," Ryou remarked. "Maybe you are the weird one Joey." Tèa told him. "I'm not weird!" Joey muttered. Taylor sighed, and then stepped away from the train to see how far they were from Domino City. She grinned, as she could just see the lights. "Well, looks like we're hiking it!" Announced Tristin. "Great." Mysti muttered. "It's not that far. We'll be there in a few hours," Bethany said. Mysti groaned and started walking. * * * "Me legs hurt!" complained Mysti. "Suck it up!" Bethany snapped. "Well sorry, but no one told me to were my hiking boots!" Mysti retorted. Not a moment away from the town, Yugi collapsed. "YUGI!" Mysti yelled, running to his aid. "Yugi, Yugi, can you hear me?" she asked, while resting his head in her arms. "He's out cold." Tèa told her. "And probably deaf now, the way you were yellin'!" Tristin added. "Here give him to me. I'll carry the little guy back," Joey went over and picked up Yugi, and carried him the rest of the way. When they entered town, they were greeted my two young men. One of them, way Bethany's, and Mysti's older brother Matt; the other one was Matt's friend, Mitsurogie. "Is Yugi alright?" Matt asked. "Well what do you think?" Mysti asked him coolly. "I don't know. I think he has a fever. he collapsed just outside of town. I think Bakura, and Taylor a sick too," Tèa told him. "Well then. let's get him to my mother." Mitsurogie said. "She's a nurse," he finished for those who didn't know. Joey groaned inwardly, and carried Yugi the rest of the way, back to Mitsurogie's house. * * * "I don't see anything wrong with him. Let's just let him rest for a bit, shall we?" She said.
Well, time went by, while Yugi was asleep, the others called the school to let them know they were all ok. A bit later Yugi finally woke back up. Mysti was right by his side, she had been there then entire time he was asleep. She greeted him with a smile, "Oh, you're awake! I though you would be asleep forever," she started giggling. "Umm. yeah I guess so. where are the others?" Yugi asked sitting up. "Oh, they are in the other room. Let's go join them," they two left the room, and walked into the living room. "Good your up, want some cocoa?" Mitsurogie's mom asked. Yugi was about to answer, when he reliesed it. "Where is my Puzzle?" He asked horrified that he had lost it. "You mean this?" Bethany asked handing it to him. "Er. yeah, thanks." Yugi felt rather stupid now.
Chapter 5: Time to Catch Up! Yugi stumbed to his chair, feeling more, and more like an idiot every moment. He looked around, and saw Matt. He was a lanky, young boy with rose red hair, and navy blue eyes. His eyes then turned and fell on Mitsurogie. He was much like Matt, only older and a little ill-tempered. "You guy's are lucky. Hey Mit', how long has it been since we went to Egypt?" Matt asked looking at his friend. Bethany cut him off. "Lucky? We were almost killed!" she said exasperated. "I knew 'my' luck wouldn't hold out." Matt muttered. "What's that supposed to mea-" Mysti started, but Mitsurogie cut her off this time. "About three years. Oh yeah, Yugi, I finished my Dueling Stadium. What to try it out?" He finished quick to stop the siblings' fight. "I don't think I can. I'm so woozy." Yugi said apoligeticly. "I'LL DUEL! C'mon Taylor let's have a rematch! Yeah! Let's go!" "Something tells me that Mysti has had some sugar." Taylor said, but agreed anyway. Taylor and Mysti took their decks, and approached the duel stadium. The life points reset, the field activated, Hands drawn. "DUEL!" The two yelled together.
Chapter 6: Pick a card, any card.