Destinies Intertwined
By Silverdust
Chap. 1 Arrival
***
Oblivion. Crushing darkness surrounded her. She couldn't think, couldn't breathe, couldn't see. She tried to scream, but the nothingness flowed into her mouth, choking her. She fought but couldn't win. Finally she let the darkness take her.
***
Sekhmet woke to the faint buzzing in her ear. Groggily, painfully, she hoisted herself up to a sitting position. That was one hell of a ride. She took a deep shuddering breath, and wiped the sweat off her forehead. Okay, Thoth always told her when in a situation like this, think and assess.
First off, where was everyone?
At this thought, she panicked. But then Thoth's voice came again, calm and nonchalant. His advice, don't panic. She had to look around.
She rose to her feet stiffly. It had been a rough rid for her, a demi-goddess, she hated to think what it might have done to the humans. She looked worriedly around. Otogi lay on his side a few feet from her. She ran over to him and shook him lightly. "Otogi! Wake up!"
The raven-haired boy groaned lightly and tried to curl himself up in a more fetal position. She sighed in exasperation. "This is no time to get some sleep!"
No answer. Growling, she aligned her finger with his backbone and gave him a mild, stimulating lightning shock. Otogi yelped and opened his eyes immediately. Sitting up he glared at her. "What was that for?"
"Waking you up. Apparently, we made it. Come on, we have to find the others."
She stood up and lent him a hand. That annoying buzzing sound was still in her ear. Ra, did a fly land in there or what? Then she remembered, Kaiba had given them earpieces to communicate through, maybe she could contact him now. She tried to tune it. "Hello, anyone? Kaiba, Yugi, Yami, Mokuba? Come in please!"
No use. Then suddenly the whole thing crackled like mad and a voice came in on the other line. It was broken, but you could figure it out. "Sekhmet? That you?"
"Yeah Kaiba," she replied, relieved. "I got to the Shadow Realm okay. Otogi's with me."
Another voice came on, a familiar one with a slight Egyptian accent. "What about my brother?"
"I don't know Isis, he's not with us, we're going out to find him and Bakura."
"Okay," Seto's voice again. "Over and out."
"Roger," she said, smiling. She'd always wanted to say that.
The radio died down. Thankfully, it didn't buzz. She turned to Otogi. "Yours still intact?"
"Yeah," he said, fiddling with it. "Do you think we could find the others with it?"
"Yep, if we knew how to tune the damn things so it can pick up their signal."
"I think I just figured it out," he showed her his wrist watch/GPS gizmo Kaiba had given them. It showed a single beeping coordinate. "I didn't know these thing worked in the Shadow Realm…"
"Well, technically," Sekhmet explained. "The Shadow Realm is like earth, just with different land masses and oceans, there are even some spirits or people that roam around her. See," she gestured to the rainforest-type setting around them. "The environment is like it to, it suits different kinds of duel monsters."
Otogi nodded, then glanced at his watch. "Right now the beep is still. We don't know who it is, or when it'll start moving, so we better hurry."
"Okay," Sekhmet agreed, and they both started to tear through the underbrush.
***
Bakura groaned and stirred slightly. He forced his eyes to stay closed, liking to stay in the darkness instead of facing the light. I'm dead, he thought. When I wake up I'll be in the Underworld, which is immensely cold…
He shot straight up with a startled cry. Cold ice water trickled down his back, sending shivers up his spine. Angrily, he turned to see who the hell did it. I swear if it is Malik he will have his head on stake-
Nope. Instead he was greeted with the sight of a young girl, maybe one or two years younger than Sekhmet, sitting on a rock smiling at him, the guilty glass in hand. She had silver hair tied back in a loose ponytail with a black ribbon. Playful blue-gray eyes regarded him curiously. "Well, finally your awake."
"Who the hell are you?" Bakura asked, still grumpy. "And why did you pour that damn water on me?!"
"My name's Karu," she replied, hopping down from the rock. "And I poured water on you to wake you up."
"Where are my friends?" he asked, still generating the information.
"You were all alone when I found you," she replied, drawing water from the stream they were sitting by. She winked at him. "Thirsty?"
"I've had all the water I need for today thank you," he replied icily. Then on second thought he asked another question. "What's a runt like you doing here in the Shadow Realm?"
"Good question," she said, sipping the water. "That's for me to know and you to find out."
"Well, if you aren't going to give me a straight answer to anything I'll be going," he said getting up. "I have to find my friends."
"Great I'll come with you," she said, throwing the glass into the creek.
"Oh no. You'd only get into my way."
"Hey, you wouldn't survive a minute out there by yourself!"
"Wanna' bet?"
Thinking, Karu switched to a different technique. Putting on the cutest, saddest, most adorable puppy face she could muster, she sniffed pitifully. "You wouldn't leave a poor, defenseless, little girl like me alone in the woods would you?"
Bakura glared at her and kept walking. She sighed, then grinned devilishly. "Hey Mister, forgetting something?"
Bakura whirled around. Karu held the Millennium Ring examining it in the light. "Pretty neat piece of jewelry."
"Give me that!" Bakura growled, trying to snatch it away, but Karu was too quick for him. Grinning, she leaped up onto a tree branch.
"Let me go with you and I'll give it back!"
Sighing, Bakura looked up at the girl. "Fine! Just get your ass down here and keep out of my way."
"Fine," she said, jumping down. "So what's you're name?"
"Bakura."
"That's a weird name."
"What kind of a name is Karu?"
"My name of course."
"Will you just shut up."
"You started it."
Bakura sighed. It was going to be a very long journey.
***
Malik opened his eyes, too be greeted with more darkness. Great, he thought, just great. I'm blind. But he wasn't, as his eyes slowly began to adjust to the low light.
He rose, his back stiff from lying on a hard surface. By the looks of it, he was in a cave. Funny, the last thing he remembered was being shot out of the portal and crashing down through many, many, many layers of tree branches. As if on cue, his body began to feel the pain of the scratches, cuts and bruises. He bit his teeth against the pain and lay back down. He glanced at his arms to see how bad the wounds were, and saw to his amazement, they had been bandaged and treated. But by who?
The question lingered on his mind, but he decided to think of something else. For one? Where were his friends?
He sat up, trying to see if he could locate anyone else. No one, except him. He hoped they were alright. As soon as he was better he would go look for them. Maybe he could contact someone on his earpiece. He reached for it, and found that it was gone! Anxiously, he grasped for his Millennium Rod, and found that it was missing as well!
Angrily he tried to stand but couldn't. Whoever put him here had him completely at his mercy, but who? He didn't know, he just knew he had to get out now.
He rose painfully and started to stumble toward the entrance. Each step was more painful that the last, and he wondered how he could ever make it out of here. Finally, his body could take no more and he fell, only to be caught by someone who seemingly appeared from the shadows. He looked up to see someone he knew all too well, and had haunted his nightmares ever since Battle City. His Yami stood there, gazing down at him, the only emotion shown in the cold glint of his eyes.
"Don't push yourself boy."
***
Sekhmet and Otogi had trekked through the rainforest for what seemed like hours. Otogi, studying hid watch, looked back up at her. "The dot's moving in our direction."
"Well, at least he's not dead," Sekhmet muttered, burning away some more plants to make a path. "Damn the Shadow Realm!"
"Already been done," Otogi said, always the joker. She smiled at him wryly.
"Okay royal jester, see if you can communicate to him, whoever it is."
"Whatever you say boss," he replied and set to tuning the earpiece. She rolled her eyes and went back to burning with a vengeance.
"Hello? Anyone? This is Otogi, do you copy? HELLO?!?!?!?"
"Otogi that you?"
"Yes! Bakura, great!"
He smiled at Sekhmet who ginned back. "Houston we have contact!"
***
Bakura was being driven insane by Karu's babbling when his earpiece crackled online. Karu looked on with interest as he fumbled with the thing, then sighed and tuned it with a small turn and a push of the button. Instantly, Otogi's voice crackled on. "HELLO?!?!?!?!"
Bakura bit his lip as the shout practically ripped through his eardrums. "Otogi, that you?"
"Yes, Bakura, Great!"
"He heard him say something to whoever was with him, then he came back online. "Hey, glad to hear from you. Me and Sekhmet are making our way to your position, I managed to get the GPS to work."
"Hail the genius."
"Don't be so sour. Is Malik with you?"
"Nope, but I did manage to get stuck with this annoying little brat named Karu."
Karu stuck out her tongue at him. "I'm not the one with a bad attitude."
"I swear Otogi she is driving me up the wall!"
"Then why did you join her?"
"The little bitch stole my ring!"
Karu pretended mock hurt. "And I thought we were connecting," she sniffed.
He could here the sounds of Sekhmet laughing in the background, then Otogi came on again. "Okay, you never were great with kids. Just keep on moving the same direction we're going and-"
Suddenly, they heard a scream in the background. Then Otogi shouting 'oh shit' and then roaring, then static. Bakura frantically tried to communicate. "Otogi?! Damn it!"
He turned to Karu, who looked a little shocked. "Come on they're in trouble!"
The two raced off in the direction they had been following.
***
"What did you do?!" Otogi yelled in panic as they ran.
"Nothing!" Sekhmet screamed back. "Black Dragon Jungle Kings are very territorial! I had no idea one was around here!"
"Great! We're done for!"
"It's not over till the fat lady sings!"
"I hear her tuning up!" he answered as the roars became louder.
"There's no way we can out run that thing! We'll have to stand and fight!"
Otogi nodded and they both stopped and turned. Muttering, Sekhmet created a sword and threw it at Otogi. The she powered up, gathering her magic. The dragon crashed through the underbrush and stood before them in its terrible glory. Muttering a prayer to Ra, Sekhmet flew in to attack, followed by Otogi. Her life was in the hands of fate now, a cruel and pitiless mistress.
***
SilverD: First Chapter of Sekhmet's new saga. I tried to make it long to make up for the very short last chapter of Ancient Magics. Congrats to Koku for being the first OC to get in. I hope did Karu all right. I'll need some help from the reviewers to tell me about Y. Malik, since once again, the third season is just coming out where I am (They dubbed Malik's name as Marik, ugh). Hope you guys like it! Ja ne!