Atem, Beware

Chapter 1

Maiya (my-ya) knew she had to wake up, but she couldn't open her eyes. The dream carried on in her head. It felt so real. In her dream she was running from someone but she didn't know who. She was exhausted. Then as usual she tripped. The silhouette came forward. It had strange spiky hair and wore some sort of crown. It raised the dagger in its hand then plunged it towards her right eye. That was when she woke up. What did this recurring dream mean?

The window in his bedroom was open while the soft breeze fluttered against his cheek. 7:00 and off went Yugi's morning alarm. 3... 2... 1... and off went the fire alarm as his grandpa had an attempt at making toast. Yami's spirit sat at Yugi's desk chair. It was the first day of school in a new year. Yugi turned on the radio and listened to the news while he got ready. After burnt toast for breakfast he met Tèa outside the game shop and they went to school. Outside the school gates they met Joey, Tristan and Ryou (good Bakura). Nearby, a new girl sat on a bench looking at some of her trading cards. "Oh look, it's Maiya." said Ryou.

"How come you know her?" asked Joey.

"Her mother and mine were friends at school. Maiya and her father have just moved from Canada. Unfortunately her mother died just recently." Bakura explained. They walked over to her to say hello. "Hey, Maiya. It's Bakura."

"Hello, it's great to see you again." Maiya was sweet and cheery. She was about the same height as Yugi and had her fringe completely cover her right eye.

"Maiya these are the friends I told you about. Joey, Tristan, Tèa and Yugi." Maiya turned her head from Bakura to his friends then she saw Yugi. This was strange he resembled the figure in her dream exactly. She didn't know what to think. She couldn't help but back away and she ran around a corner terrified of what it might mean.

"What's up with her?" asked Tristan.

"Beats me. Yugi have you met her or something?"

"No. I've never seen her before in my life. I'll go see if she's okay." Yugi came around the corner to see her sitting on the floor staring onto space. "Excuse me but are you all right?" Maiya told herself to calm down and explain.

"Sorry for running away. It's a bit hard to explain."

"I'm listening." He seemed too kind to stab anyone in the eye so she told him about her dream. Afterwards they came out and she apologised for her behaviour then the bell went and the day started. At break they had a duel to test Maiya's cards. "Okay I summon the Dark Magician." Yugi lay down his first card.

"And I summon Mind Reader." Maiya put down her first card.

"What exactly does mind reader do?"

"Well with Mind Reader on my side of the field I know your every move, how your attacks work and how much damage they can do. It also gives every other card I have ten times the amount of points of all of your cards have put together."

"Wow! That's a pretty powerful card there's no point in attacking. It'll do barely anything."

It's not very hard to figure out who won.

"I'll bet Mind Reader is your favourite card." said Yugi after the duel.

"Not really. Sure it's pretty powerful, but my favourite is this," she held out a plain card with Snow Dragon written on it. There wasn't anything special about it at all via ability. The picture was a dragon that looked like a more feminine version of the Blue Eyes White Dragon, but it was surrounded by snow and ice. "It has sentimental value. It was my first ever card and was a birthday present from my mom."

When school had finished, they went to the game shop. Maiya was in the shop looking for some new cards. So Yugi decided to start a conversation.

"I'm curious. How is it exactly that your mother died?"

"Well, we used to live in the mountains of Canada so we're used to avalanches and shops are quite a drive away. Me and her were driving home after a shopping trip. An avalanche came down on top of us and we were pushed off the cliff. The academics managed to pull me from the car wreck but my mom was crushed under the snow. I even lost my eye," she pulled back her fringe to reveal a gruesome patch of skin sewn onto her face. "Dad wanted us to move, but we couldn't do that and fix my eye properly so we had the skin from my eyelid sewn over."

"I'm sorry for bringing this up." Yugi felt bad.

"No it's okay. It feels good to tell someone." Yugi felt comfortable around her, like he could tell her anything. Maiya felt the same way. With permission from the others he introduced her to Yami. At first she was shocked at the thought of the spirit of an ancient Egyptian pharaoh sharing a body with a teenage boy, but she soon calmed down. After beating everyone else at Duel Monsters (including Yami!) Maiya decided to go home. Yugi met her at the door to say goodbye while Tèa looked on. Joey came to say goodbye to Yugi too, but Tèa stopped him and they both watched Yugi and Maiya talking. "You think they like each other?" asked Joey.

"Isn't it obvious?" Tèa didn't turn her head. She just carried on watching.

"Oh. I get it you're jealous aren't you." Joey teased.

"I'm not jealous. It's the pharaoh I like, not Yugi."

"You sure?"

"I'm certain. I'm leaving." Tèa started to head away from Yugi and Maiya.

"The door's over there."

"The back door is over here." And she left. When Maiya had finally left, Joey, Tristan and Ryou teased Yugi about liking Maiya before leaving.

For a few weeks they were all hanging out together and enjoying themselves. Months went by and they were all in a group at school. Maiya and Yugi would usually be seen chatting in the corner of the playground during break. But recently Ryou hadn't been coming to school. They hoped he was just a bit sick. One weekend they decided to go into town with Serenity, Duke and Mai Valentine. Then they saw Ryou. They ran over to meet him. Then Joey stopped. "Wait guys. I think it's happened again."

"Oh great. Is he after the puzzle?" Tristan moaned.

"What do you mean what's wrong with Ryou?" Maiya wondered.

"You know how there is a spirit in my puzzle? Well there's one in his Millennium Ring. Only problem is that his spirit is evil" Yugi explained worriedly.

"Well when Maiya was told about the pharaoh, I just had to tell her about myself. And I have another plan on getting your millennium item; I've found a new weakness." Then darkness surrounded them all, they were in the shadow realm. Bakura held up his newest card; the Spider Queen. The spider shot a net of her web straight at them holding everyone down, except Maiya and Yugi. The creature lunged forward grabbing Maiya then jumping back to Bakura. "If you beat me at Duel Monsters your friends won't be harmed." Yugi could never let anything happen to any of his friends so he accepted. Yugi closed his eyes as he let Yami take over his body. Bakura had new cards he was so much stronger than before, so strong that all of Yami's cards had been wiped out before he could attack once! The Dark Magician had nearly been taken out and it was Yami's turn. There wasn't any point in attacking. Bakura's monsters still had all of their life points. He didn't know what to do. Maiya watched everything quietly so the spider wouldn't grip to her skin as hard. Then she found the perfect opportunity to reach into her pocket, while the Spider Queen was distracted. "Yami, take this!" shouted Maiya as she threw him Mind Reader. He caught it and immediately summoned it. Bakura tried to attack one more time but with so many of his monsters on the field and a lot of points, Dark Magician was ridiculously over powered and victory went to Yami. The net over all of Yugi's friends snapped and everyone managed to get out, but still Bakura held a sneaky smile on his face. "Spider Queen, kill the girl!"

"But you said my friends wouldn't be harmed." Yugi protested.

"This one is your girlfriend. Not just a plain friend," said Bakura still smiling. "Give me your millennium puzzle and she won't be harmed." Yugi didn't know what to do he couldn't give Bakura his millennium puzzle; there would be no chance of getting it back. The spider opened its mouth freakishly wide then leaned towards its prey. "Put her down she and Yugi were a perfect match." Screamed Tèa. Looks like she's had a change of heart thought Joey. Maiya was screaming and kicking trying to keep the venomous fangs away. Then her voice snapped. It was a growling deep voice like nothing any of them had ever heard. Even Bakura was surprised to hear this coming out of such an innocent girl. Then her entire body glowed, but not brightly. She glowed in a blackish-red colour. No one knew what was happening. The spider panicked and dropped her then went straight back to the card.

"Finally," Maiya's voice was still as menacing as before. "I'm rid of that retched soul. Now, let's see if my power is still here after so long." She turned to face Bakura that was when the darkness around her faded. She looked exactly the same as usual, but she was slightly thinner and paler and the others couldn't see her face. She held out her hand to Bakura and a small orb appeared next to her palm. Then she fired the orb towards the millennium ring. Cracks appeared on the eye of the ring, they spread out towards his body. This wasn't part of Bakura's plan. The others didn't know what to do except watch as the shell of evil Bakura exploded including the ring. That left Ryou, but instead of thanking Maiya and leaving the shadow realm he carried on screaming as cracks appeared across his heart, then he too exploded and there was nothing left of him at all! The others were amazed at this tragic scene. "Maiya what are you...?" but Yugi was interrupted as she swung herself around to face the others and instead of her sweet smile they saw a terrifying mask that looked as if it was part of her face, though her hair still covered half of her it. The eyes were the creepiest part; they didn't look like human eyes at all. They looked like a cats eyes when it's feeling angry.

"I am not Maiya," it growled "There is no such thing as Maiya. My name is Yamikoneko. I'd tell you who I really am, but I'm a bit busy. But I promise I'll see you soon 'Serenity'. Ciao" then it disappeared and they were back in the middle of town.