Disclaimer: I do not own either MegaMan franchise nor Yu-Gi-Oh! All of them belong to the respected owners and shareholders. Yo get what I mean, seriously right?
Summary: Chaud Blaze did a little research in his mini history project, and that concerns a certain excavation somewhere in Egypt. Somehow, his little mini project becomes quite unexpected anymore, not when what he found are forgotten relics of time itself—the Millennium Items. Perhaps Chaud gains more than what he bargains? Oh, or rather loses more than what he could have asked? Xover with Yu-Gi-Oh! and several mentioning of characters from Yu-Gi-Oh! 5Ds
Chapter I
[ Expedition ]
It's hot. It's dry. And it's not even funny.
How long had Chaud thought this over time, as his feet stride out the hellish desert alongside some tour guides recommended by Princess Pride... is out of question. Usually, at this time of hour, Chaud was seating inside his office, partially working his ass off in correcting mistakes made by his subordinates. But no, the 21-years-old was actually sent by his... father... to Creamland in some sort of business matters, and somehow entangled in this one mini-expedition led by Princess Pride herself.
Did he mention? The said leader of nation was actually the leader of this mini excavation adventure. And being not-so-socially active but kept people-relation in tact, how could he not accept?
"Oh cheer up, Chaud. It's not everyday you go to Egypt and discovers... what, hidden artifacts beneath the sands! Imagine, countless treasures to be unfold, right beneath our feet!" was what the Princess said, once in a while. Chaud was still a bit amazed at how his head still kept his sanity in the heat, as he really think the words of the nation leader become somewhat vaguer as time goes by. The camel which he rode did not serve as refreshment either; steady as it goes, his camel's pace would actually slowly steal his sanity. Unfortunately.
Maybe he should just die in the desert and blame the Princess; and then haunts her to the end of the earth. Hell, at least his father would not be really upset with the whole predicament of him dying in the desert; he would find a more suitable vice-CEO to accompany, no?
Half-delirious, he could feel his camel stopped at its track. Chaud, dressed like a wanderer in the desert—a suitable attire for the time being though he despised the fabrics—, quickly shrugged of his thoughts. His mind quickly focused, somehow, upon the building—or ruins—lay hidden beneath sands, right in front of his mini-excavation search party. Chaud could easily read the leader, smiling ceremoniously as she gazed upon the ruins, as though it held thousand of treasure. How Chaud knew what drives the Creamland leader into such adventurous notion skipped him by mere seconds of changing glimpse.
"We're here!"
And somehow, back in his intuitive mind which he had repressed for nearly forever, something screamed out at him that this expedition was going to get dangerous.
Did he mention that this expedition was dangerous? Rephrase that; it's life-threatening not-so-world-like-saving dangerous.
"RUN! THIS WAY!" his scream was a complete reflex. When one was actually running away from crumbling roads beneath inside a pharaoh's tomb, screams were practically something ordinary. And Chaud, being already adrenaline-rushed with this little excavation, had already taken the initiative to grab Pride's hand and dragged her as quickly as possible. Soft yelps were muffled by the sound of crashing debris; Chaud did not bother to look out what had made the woman yelps in distressed.
"I-it's a MONSTER!"
Even at the most cheesiest yelp he could hear, Chaud did not look back. Lamest comments were meant for those who are delirious enough to actually hallucinate that there was a monster. Pride might really already lost her mind—
"GRAAAAAAAAAAAA!"
—or maybe, both of them had lost it, as he could also hear the gut-wrenching scream, clearly not belonging to any human he could possibly imagine. By the time they reached the end of their little voyage across bottomless pit of crumbling path, Chaud dared to spare a glance back at the one screaming.
He's sane enough to think that he's been delirious. For one, unlike some old scary movies which refers evil mummies as the guardians of the tomb, what was before them was more like a yellow dragonfly-like dragon suspended in air. Its eyes... glinted dangerously as it probably eyeing the accused tomb tress passers. It did not take another one of its screech to make Chaud dragged Pride more in-depth towards the center of the tomb. Howls of the creatures resonated through the dark corridor—the one which Chaud amazingly had no trouble seeing. Before his eyes, the corridors lighted up, though it may be his mind playing tricks with his eyes.
"This way!" Chaud quickly shouted as he found a trisection and quickly dragged Pride to his right. The next second, he felt a hard tug and stumbled over. Apparently, Pride was not only named based on her bloodline, but also her superior strength, at least compared to his. "Ouch! What are you doing?"
"Chaud, it's practically a dead end!"
"What do you mean a dead end?" said man was half-screaming, pointing out at the path which he had chosen. "There's a safe path here—" his words stopped the moment his finger brushed on a texture, right in front of the path which he pointed at; texture of alabaster attacked his sense. Chaud never gasped at the shocking revelation, because Pride had already screamed out in terror and dragged Chaud to the opposite way.
There was an invisible wall, he was sure, and Princess Pride never knew that a clear and safe path lies there, beyond the invisible force. If anyone wonders how a possibly-imagined path is safe, it would be safe to say that his repressed intuitive reaction gave away. As a matter of fact, his small intuition in the back of his mind told him that the path they were taking may bode them ill.
At the end of the corridor, Chaud and Pride arrived at a hall. Not much to be seen, as the both of them were practically breathing hard and what concerns them the most were not taking vacation in a ruined tomb of a pharaoh. Howls of the chasing dragon slowly creeping into the halls, giving Chaud chills down his spine. Same effect also applied to the Princess who just realized that perhaps it would be the end of the both of them.
Or, they could just draw their respective synchro chip here and battled the dragon two by one. At least, if they were to fight back, the hall would give them greater advantage rather than battling in the corridor risked themselves to be pulverized. One major problem; they're in the middle of this dessert, with no one to generate Dimensional Area. Practically, they were waiting for their doom.
Chaud had a feeling that there's more to this ruins than what he had seen, though.
His hand quickly reaching inside his small bag dangling on his waist, pulling a certain chip in possession of net saviors, eyeing it with small hope and determination. Pride's eyes widened, knowing that what the man was going to do would fail eventually.
"You know it's pretty useless," Pride commented rather quickly between her breaths, but noticed that Chaud ignored her comment.
"Better than doing nothing," he quickly retorted, pushing the chip into the slot, and shouted, "Synchro Chip, Slot-in, Cross Fusion!"
Image of Chaud was quickly replaced by that of a man with red tone, long gray hair, a helmet with black visor and mouth cover, and a laser saber; Chaud felt power coursed throughout his body, and ' consciousness in the back of his mind—if one could refer the core program of as its 'consciousness'. The transformation itself amazed him more than Pride would; how the heck did he even do cross-fusion in non-dimensional area—one little detail which he would have to think later on, after they could outrun the chasing monster. His companion of the day quickly followed on—and succeeded—, signing that Princess Pride did learn some things or two in the quickest way possible.
Glances were exchanged towards where the Princess had stood, now wearing the armor which actually ' shell itself. Even behind the black visor, Chaud could see how the grip of her hand at her weapon trembled—the chasing dragon may overpower her at any moment.
But no, they still have the advantage of numbers and spaces. This is why Chaud was optimistic that they would not fall so easily.
Speaking of the said dragon which was after them, the loudness of its howl practically increases by tenfold. Chaud's sense told him that it's only few meters away. Judging how the dragon actually had wings changed the whole predicament and his calculation.
"Three, two, one—" the same time he breathed out the last number, said dragon had entered the room, screeching agonizingly at both Chaud and Pride. Even inside their armor, the two of them could feel vibrations on the air, threatening to shred them to pieces only by using a single shriek. It did not make the red warrior faltered though; he'd been into much worse, and the golden dragon does could not even rival the horrors which he had felt before.
"HAAAAAAA!" A screech, followed by a leap forward and a horizontal slash towards the dragon. The creature easily backed down to prevent the saber from slashing it into marshmallow dragon, before lashing its tail on Chaud. The warrior quickly pulled back and felt a big ball flew past him, hitting the dragon right in the tusk. The dragon groaned—if it could do other than screeching, that is—and shook its head as though its head was spinning.
"SLOW!" Chaud screeched again as he quickly recoiled and jumped on the creature, ready to stab it right in its supposed spine. Unfortunately for the warrior, the dragon recovered fast enough to actually send Chaud high into the air, crashing up the ceiling. And just in a mere seconds, the dragon quickly jet up towards Chaud, ready to skewer him with its horn… or crushed said warrior with its jaws. Whichever it was, the outcome will never get pretty.
"CHAUD!" Pride's scream was one of the things which quickly made the male warrior realized what was going on. Don't also forget the swift movement of the spiked metal ball, binding around the dragon with one swift turn, which actually holding the dragon down at least for several seconds to go. Chaud was falling from the ceiling by the time he realized this, and straight towards the jaw of the creature. Translation: wiggles a bit a he'll be straight into the bottomless pit of the creature's stomach.
And no, he could not fathom the outcome of that.
In mid-air battle like this, his move would be less than useless—one thing that makes him hated fighting in the air. "Pride, harder! PULL IT DOWN HARDER!"
At the very least, the said creature was actually shifts a lot from its original position. To his personal relief, he was not going to land right towards the creature's mouth. Too bad for Princess Pride though, as she had her share of rough time being thrown to the side of the wall. Though the Princess of Creamland did not lose her consciousness easily due to the attack, stun time was the only thing the dragon need before switching target and rushed towards Pride.
"Oh no you don't!" feet connected to the ground, Chaud kicked away and dashed towards the creature, now only several meters before Princess Pride. Gust of wind was forming everywhere, seeing as the particles were enclosed in small area; somehow, it distracted his footing but Chaud paid no attention. With a hurried move, Chaud do the ultimate striking technique which is always identified as his personal signature moves.
"Delta Ray Edge!" Chaud split into three, each bringing its own sword flashing dangerously, and attacks from three directions altogether. Slashes forms in the lower abdomen, head, and wings, effectively sending the dreading monster to the ground, writhing painfully. Said creature wiggled for sometime, before actually went still—dead. Chaud was still holding on his breath after his intensely quick attack even after the creature's death was established. Black dots were starting to form in the left-overs, eliciting a gasp of wonders and awareness—perhaps the battle was never far from over.. until said blotches quickly dispersed into thin air, leaving both of them alone in the hall.
"…That… was not half bad, actually." Pride commented, feeling that the silence set up uncomfortable atmosphere.
Chaud scowled, wondering whether the Princess realized that he just saved her life from being chopped into pieces. "More importantly, what was that again? Some sort tomb guardian?"
'Sue me then; are there any more than that golden dragon? If so, it's better if we—'
"Most likely to be one, yes." Chaud quickly glanced away at the Princess, who was then walking towards where they had come. "But of course, I have anticipated this all along. That's why I ask my tour guide to stay behind."
Chaud rolled his eyes, as if telling something resembling to 'whatever' to the said princess. "I think we should return. This little…" Chaud cleared his throat a bit and talk some more, "…misadventure might get dangerous at any moment—are you hearing what I am trying to say, Pride?"
Pride spared a glance towards her companion for the day. Ten feet apart did not really make ignorance grew lesser than it always be, not when her focus was clearly not on Chaud. Apparently, the reliefs in the wall told her otherwise. "You should see this…" said woman muttered as her hand reached out to the stone slab of the hall, which practically makes up all the wall in the area.
Visor came up and revealed annoyed pair of blue eyes; Chaud was not really fond of having himself ignored (unless he wished to be ignored—another time in another story), yield to what the Princess had to say—or taken interest into. For some odd reason, the halls were completely shiny—he could see every stone, every carving in the stone as light a day… which made him questioned Pride's action right about then. If his eyes were not playing tricks on him, Princess Pride was actually using a flashlight to see further.
Perhaps it was part ' custom programming; he did remember adding adaptable program into ' main program. That… must be it.
"So? I think we need to get out of here before more creatures appear—"
"Chaud, I think that monster before… appear from this very slab of stone."
"Impossible," said man scoffed at Pride's realization or more like her delirium. "Monsters do not appear from simple slabs of stone. It would be logical to have them inside this tomb, wandering around, and cleaned up tress passers. Now let's just—"
He was not very sure at first, whether he was the one who stopped his words first, or the Princess dragging him out of the hall. He was sure, however, about the walls of the hall lighting up several seconds, before feeling his feet dashed to prevent himself falling due to Pride's drag. Several seconds after being dragged, his senses quickly kicked in, starting from the loud scream which easily entered his system in no time; similar gut-wrenching scream, like the one that the golden dragon had thrown to them, this time hundredfold.
The hairs on his back stood straight.
"I told you so!" Pride's screeched as she dragged Chaud to run forward. "The stone slabs contained monsters!"
Realizing what Pride had to say, Chaud quickly spared a glance at his back, seeing blotches of greens, reds, and blues faraway, but advancing at hellish pace. He did not dare to look back again, knowing full well what was—no, were—chasing them now. Focusing his eyes on the path forward, said man in his net-navi armor, Chaud noticed the road which was supposed to be perceived as the dead end. He had ideas to run away from them, and that contained some hack-and-slash.
Somehow, or something, pushed him not to leave the place; as though this was one of his calling.
"There, the dead end!" activating his sword, Chaud took a step forward and slashed whatever hindering them and the path. He had the slightest feeling that the path was pretty much invisible to other than him. There was a crack in the air, the sound of his blade hitting solid object. Flickers of light met his vision as the path before him was forced open. Pride was slightly gawking at how the path before them opened and could only shriek, "you know?"
"Run first, questions later!"
Pride did what Chaud had told and dashed alongside the warrior. Over running their pursuers seem to be the impossible when their grunts were like mere meters to be heard. But somehow, as they advanced deeper into the heart of the ruins, Chaud could smell the difference in the air; a bit more dense, but somehow recognizable. It was as though he knew the ruins, one way or another. That, along the diminishing voices of their pursuers. Instinctively, Chaud looked back, and saw nothing but the dark alley, as though the path behind them was invisible to their pursuers.
Or maybe, what he thought might be was really true.
"We outran them... and found a door." Pride was the one who mentioned the obvious, but she's also the one to realize the big door before them, perhaps waiting to be opened. After all, who else would put a shadow path is there's obviously some sort of treasures before them?
"Why thank you, princess obvious," said man scowled and went forward, tracing the big door as though trying to remember... something. Like he had been there, right before this door, and ready to step on into—
"It's not like we have anywhere to go, right?" Chaud turned at Pride, still clad in her cross-fusion armor, was doing something pretty much similar to Chaud; tracing the stone huge door. But unlike the uneasiness and cautiousness which spouted from Chaud's facial expression, Pride's demeanor was more like a child who was about to break in to grab her prizes. It irked said male warrior a bit, but decided that he too was pretty much puzzled by what lied behind the door. So please hell helps him, opening the door would be the next thing he should do.
["...are you even ready, *****?"]
The voice was mere whisper, but somehow able to stop him right on track. Even so, after Pride had given part of her push, Chaud already advanced and opened the stone door which, to his surprise, was not really heavy. The stone door opened, light—something which he thought not possible inside an abandoned ruins—torch light streamed out, revealing crumbling ceiling, seemingly untouched for who-knows-how-many decades.
"Too bad," Chaud let out one of his smug smirk; his glance caught how Princess Pride gawked before the piling debris of stones, seeing nothing of worth lying anywhere in the room. Perhaps she was too shocked to notice that the room, being lightened itself, was practically an anomaly? Her sigh closed down every conclusions available in play.
"Nothing. Nothing! Not even engravings on the wall!" the princess lamented—or more like sighing in disappointment. Chaud, on the other hand, felt a tug in the back of his mind, as if something was trying to inform him something important... which relates to something beneath those debris.
["...so be it. It shall be bestowed upon you—"]
He knew what he was going to do; it was there all along, the very thing which he had sought for millennia—the very things which should belong to him, of all people, not some wretched sullied bloodline of that damned pharaoh—
"Chaud, what are you doing?"
Chaud blinked several times, feeling overwhelming headache coursing through his head. Despite that, his feet moved forwards the debris, his sword activated, and his visor covering the blank look which has then possessed the white-top net-operator.
"Chaud, what are you—"
Chaud did not listen to the other person, as he quickly slashed the pile of debris—three quick slashes forming a delta—causing the pile to crumble. Pride gasped in awe as the revelation struck; before them, she could see—even just bits of its due bits of debris which still lying around—something golden, as though asking to be taken and be brought free once again. Chaud Blaze seemed pretty much enthusiastic to bring them home, at least before the Princess' eyes herself. In fact, said man had actually advanced forward into the small duct and... cut the debris into pieces, again.
By now, Pride was partially convinced that Chaud was not being himself.
"Chaud, I have a bad feeling..." the woman murmured and closed in towards the man, wondering whether said man had actually heard her said so. Chaud seemed to ignore her, as he continued to slash several pieces of debris, mauling away into the blocked path.
And then they saw it, fully. Seven items made from gold, alluringly and eerily laying there.
["—the power to control shadow!"]
Chaud Blaze never really had a good look at the items, but he was certain that it was glowing vividly. He could hear Pride's incoherent screaming, because it's the last thing his brain registered before blacking out.
A/N: Do you wonder what monster is that, the one who chased down Pride and Chaud? It's pretty much obvious, isn't it? Oh, in case if you're wondering what are the bracketed sentences, you'll see soon enough in several chapters ahead. :3
Reviews are really appreciated. ...and a beta, actually... orz