Author's Note: here it is at last--the fourth section of the Chaos Wars! This section will be more action/adventure/quest type stuff than the last...a lot more characters, and the canon cast will return. I hope everyone will enjoy it, and I will try to update in some semblance of a timely manner! Ehehehe...oh, and a note: Ryou Bakura (the owner of the Millennium Ring) appears in this chapter. The spirit inside the ring is referred to as Ryou. The guy who owns the ring is called Bakura. I realize that those aren't the right names, based on either the original Japanese or the dub. I have used these names ON PURPOSE, so it isn't a mistake. There is a plot-related reason, which won't be revealed in this section, but IS important for the next one. Just wanted to avoid any confusion there...oh, and in case anyone doesn't member who High Queen Tethys and Salriss are...we met them briefly back in section one. Basically, Tethys is Queen of Dark World's oceans, and Salriss owes Joey and Tristan a favor. That's all you really need to know about them at this point.
Anyway, on with the show!
Prologue
It was not silent.
That's what people thought about the ocean--that it was full of silent mystery. But that had never been true. It was filled with the whispers of the past...and the ghosts of the present. The sea had a voice, a voice that could be as loud as thunder and as soft as candle light. But it was a voice that never ceased. The sea was with, always, and they defended her with their lives.
Deep below the waves, down where the light never came, past all knowledge and memory of the land dwellers, High Queen Tethys was holding court. A strange thing had come to pass...and what they chose to do about it might affect all their people. The Sea Folk must gather to discuss it.
"Please present your report, Sir Barruch," the Queen said calmly, gesturing to one of her knights. He had been the one who had discovered it, out on patrol some weeks ago.
"I was patrolling near the Border, my Queen," Barruch said, facing the assembly. His tail fin beat the water gently, keeping him stable in the current. "There has been much activity in the Above of late, in that region, and so I had gone to take a look. No one had defiled our lands, and I was turning for home, when something struck the water above me."
He held up a golden object, suspended from a chain. It was pyramid-shaped, and emblazoned on it was a stylized eye.
"This fell into the waters and sank down to me. I brought it back to you, my Queen, because I did not know what to make of it."
Another of the Sea Folk stepped forward. He looked like an immense serpent, his mouth filled with rows of teeth as deadly as they were elegant. He was one of Her Majesty's chief wizards. "I have examined this strange object. It is magical, powerfully magical, and it does not come from this World. And it is old, so old it makes even I feel young..."
The wizard was quite ancient, and a master of his craft, but even he couldn't force the Millennium Puzzle to reveal its secrets. The Millennium Items obeyed only their masters, and were wayward in other hands.
"Whence did this thing come?" the Queen asked, reclining on her throne. It was truly a stand of coral, blood-red, still growing.
"There is one present who says he has some knowledge of it," said Barruch. "Salriss--come forth."
Another sea serpent undulated forward, stopping before the throne and inclining his great head. "Your majesty, the scent of this magic is familiar to me. There were two others who had it, though not so strongly. They came from a far world, very far...I was lost and helpless, and they sent me home. They called themselves by strange names. I cannot speak them in our tongue, but in their language it sounded like 'Joo-ee' and 'Triz-dan'. I am in their debt."
Queen Tethys was silent as she contemplated the matter. The gathered Sea Folk were also silent, awaiting her decision.
At last she arose from the throne. "I decree that these kind travelers deserve our aid. We shall send this thing back to their World--it is known to me of old."
"Your Majesty...will this draw us into the war?" asked one of her advisors.
Queen Tethys shrugged. "It may well. But it is high time that we stood against the Overlord, rather than ignored the plight of the land dwellers. I neither trust them nor like them, but they are needed for our World to continue. Let it be done as I have said!"
Her people bowed low and filed out. The meeting was adjourned, but Queen Tethys remained on her throne, deep in thought.
"It may be," she said softly, "That this is the end of our days--the end of our people. But if there needs must be an end...I would have that end be in fighting against the Overlord. And so we shall!"
Out in the deeps, meanwhile, Barruch was supervising as one of the wizards preformed his task. "There," he said. "It's done. We may send it now."
Barruch gave the large fish a push, and it swam off. Within it a golden treasure was hidden...waiting to be discovered.
Waiting to come home.
-o-o-o-o-o-
"Hey, Mack--look at this beauty! I've never seen one of such a size!"
Mack put down the nets he was mending and crossed the boat to see his partner's prize. His pipe dropped to the deck as his jaw dropped open. "Cor--what a fish! It's...it's enormous!"
"Let's get this home to market, we'll get a fine price, this thing could make twice as many fillets as any of our others..."
They sent the little boat home with a roar of the engine, eager to sell their wares. The docks were busy when Mack and Jake tied up their boat and set out their catch, and soon they had plenty of customers. They hadn't cut open the monstrous fish yet--it was excellent advertising. They wouldn't sell it until towards the end.
Business was good that day. Surely, the fish was a sign of some divine blessing...something from beyond the world.
It was from beyond the World, but not in any way they could ever have imagined.
-o-o-o-o-o-
Ryou stalked the streets, a low growl of annoyance coming from his tightly closed mouth. He was angry. Very angry. Of course, this was fairly normal for him. Ryou, the spirit of the Millennium Ring, had a very narrow range of moods. He could be angry, furious, angry, enraged, angry, smug, angry, plotting, angry, power-hungry, angry, insane, and angry.
In case it isn't clear yet, Ryou was a fairly angry person.
But most people who knew him would have been shocked to hear it. They thought their friend Bakura was kind and shy and smart, and probably couldn't even summon enough anger to shoo a cat. Of course, they didn't know about Ryou. As far as Yuugi and his friends knew, the Millennium Ring had been thrown deep into the forests of Maximillian Pegasus' castle, and Bakura was free of its influence.
Ryou smirked to himself as he remembered this. The fools. It was no easy task to separate a Millennium Item from its true owner...and it was no easy task to stop Ryou from doing whatever he damn well pleased.
A grimace crossed Ryou's face. Right now, the people who were chiefly in his way were...Yuugi and his cadre of friends. The damned pharoa who should rightfully have been dead several millennia ago. They hadn't managed to stop him from gaining the Millennium Eye, but he wanted all of the Items, and the Puzzle was certainly on stop of the list.
The smell of sea air shook Ryou from his reverie. Brushing back the long white hair that was continually getting in his eyes--he really needed a hair cut, or a scrunchy, or something--he glanced around in boredom. He hadn't really been meaning to come here; Ryou had decided to take a walk to clear his head. And now all he could do was walk all the way back...
Ryou's head snapped up as he looked around in shock. The Millennium Ring was glowing, although it was visible only to him. It was pointing...it had found an Item, nearby...!
Was it one of Yuugi's little posse? Or someone else, some yet unknown Item bearer? Ryou's mind raced with the possibilities as he ran along the docks, searching for the source of the power.
He stopped. And stared. He had found it--the Ring was pointing straight to it. It was...it was...
It was a fish.
Ryou's memories of his ancient past were, admittedly, a little fuzzy. But he was absolutely certain there was no Millennium Fish.
"Ah, now what can I get for you, young man?"
Ryou glanced up from the fish and saw a weathered-looking man in a bloodstained apron looking at him. Of course--he was selling his catch. Ryou looked down at the fish again. As ridiculous as it seemed, the Millennium Ring never lied...
"I'd like that one, please," Ryou said in a perfect imitation of sweet, gentle Bakura's voice. He's such a pansy, Ryou thought, carefully keeping Bakura from hearing it too. He's lucky he has me in the first place, or the world would just walk all over him.
"Right you are, sir!" the man said happily. Ryou paid a great deal more than he thought reasonable for the fish, and he hurried home, lugging the fish along with him in a plastic bag. It couldn't be...but it must be. He would know for sure soon enough. He had to know for sure.
Bakura's father was away on one of his trips again, so Ryou had the house to himself. Well, technically to himself and Bakura, but it might as well be just Ryou. Ryou hurried inside and plopped the heavy fish down on the counter by the sink. He pulled a fillet knife out of the drawer and set to work cutting the fish open. His hands were soon covered in smelly fish guts, but Ryou didn't care in the least. It wasn't like it was his body he was making a mess of.
With a soft chink something fell to the floor. Even being covered in fish guts couldn't diminish its brilliant golden luster. On its side was a stylized eye.
The Millennium Puzzle.
Ryou didn't know how it had gotten inside a fish, nor did he care. All that mattered to him was that at last, at last, it was his! The Puzzle was his, as he had rightfully deserved all along! Millennia of waiting, endless frustrations and setbacks, so many fruitless plans, and now at last...!
Ryou threw back his head and laughed until the empty house rang with it. Somewhere within the Millennium Ring, Bakura--the true owner of the body he and Ryou now shared--heard him, and shivered.