Present Time
Yami bit his lip thinking of a way to get the Hikaris away from the men holding tasers and what looked like dart guns. 'This is bad.'
"Sir, we can't seem to find the fourth one." Two men stated as they came down a path near the camp, one Yami knew led back to the tents he had just left but took a long way. 'I have to get their attention away from the boys and fast before they find me.' Yami thought as ideas rushed through his head a mile a minute.
He hated the thought of something happening to the three boys he treated like brothers. He also didn't want to let Atemu down since the man entrusted the well-being of his only remaining family into his care. Looking at the ground, he found a sizable stone he could throw to the other side of the clearing and get the attention off the boys he just hoped these men were dumb enough to be on edge that they wouldn't use common sense.
Taking the rock in hand, Yami threw it at a tree making noise as he watched the reaction of these men. "What was that?" Goon one asked holding a dart gun.
Malik flinched at the sudden sound, but Yugi and Ryou didn't move. It is evident that Yugi had hit his head on a hard surface due to the blood that had trickled from his hairline. Ryou was soaking wet and paler than usual, likely from falling into the creek's cold waters. Malik had a split lip and a black eye, evidence that he put up a fight.
"Fan out in the direction of the sound must be their keeper looking for them." the leader of the group called as everyone left, safely assuming their prisoners couldn't get away.
Yami then got up once the goons and the leader were far away and ran to the trio, taking out a hot pink and black patterned hunting knife from his belt sheath. "Bakura, don't ask why," Yami said softly, taking the gag off Malik and began to cut the rope holding the trio to the tree.
He liked to remind Yami of the dreadful dare and how Yami, unfortunately, managed to pull off looking like a girl as often as he could. The pocket knife was the more recent jab at his pride.
"Yami you have to run," Malik said in panic even if Yami was a black belt. Yami would still have trouble being outgunned and outmanned on a six to one ratio.
"No, I am not. I am not leaving you three to those men; not on my life." Yami said halfway through the four coils of rope.
The sound of a loading gun was heard behind Yami as the barrel was pressed to the back of his head. "Look what I found boys… a little girl lost in the woods trying to save our prisoners." The man sneered to the men that started to come back.
Yami growled in irritation at the remark. He tried to keep his temper in check in hopes of saving his charges safe. Especially since one of the men was near Yugi, a knife in his hand.
"Why don't you sit down against that tree," he stated. "If you don't, I will hurt the little one."
Yami glared at the man but dropped his knife as the man behind him grabbed Yami's hair and pulled him up by it before shoving the barrel of the dart gun into Yami's back. "Move nice and slow, girly."
Malik growled at the remark, "He's a guy, loser! He's got a flat chest and…"
"Someone shut that brat up," the boss ordered.
"Don't you dare touch him!" Yami shouted before getting hit with the butt of the dart gun to the temple, hard.
"Don't go spilling too much blood," the boss stated. "I need them alive and preferably awake. I love the sound of screams…lets me know that my sacrifices aren't dead."
'Sacrifices?' That was the last bit Yami heard before everything went black.
Waking up wasn't nice, especially when Yami felt like his head was going to split open from the pain as the first rays of sunlight shined into his eyes.
'Ugh...what happened… last night?...' Yami thought; his body felt stiff, and the surface he was against wasn't the ground.
He heard Yugi begging him to wake up. The thirteen-year-old sounded frightened and hurt. Yami opened his heavy eyes trying to focus on Yugi's cries of fear.
When he managed to get his eyes open, Yami was shocked to learn that they were each chained to a large stone table with a fire in the middle of the arrangement. Ryou and Malik were closest to him with Yugi on the opposite side of the light all four of them no longer were in their previous clothes but what looked like black ceremonial robes. The man responsible for abducting them entered the circle of tables clad in a simple shirt and pants of a dark grey color.
"Ah you're finally awake little Pharaoh, the spitting image of your ancestor who destroyed my physical body." the man said, walking over to Yami and holding his face in his hand with force as Yami tried to struggle away.
'This man… must think I'm Atemu… oh god… at least he is safe.' Yami thought as the man finally let him go as he tried to speak but found it very hard to do so. 'Why… why can't I talk?'
Malik managed to voice what was on his mind, "What do you want with us?!"
"I want to start my legacy, but first I need 'children' to do so, and in this form, the only way for me to make children is to change a human into one of my many shadow children or at least halfway there. Then my legacy will spread like a plague and change humanity into the very creatures you have long swept under the rug as myth and legends." the man explained with a smirk. "What better way to give my children a strong start than to use the Pharaoh's bloodline and the most innocent in this world! Imagine my fortune to have all four of you together."
The four stared at him in horror at this information. "Too bad you won't remember the fun about to happen to you. Can't have you spilling my surprise now can we?" He snapped his fingers as four black gems set in black iron circlets appeared on the four's heads and started to glow.
Yugi whimpered as his heart started hurting and he suddenly felt cold despite the heat. Ryou felt what Yugi was experiencing. They cried out before suddenly falling silent as their hearts suddenly stopped beating together.
The man smirked, "Looks like I got twins. I wonder what they will be."
Malik started fidgeting as he began to itching. He felt like he was covered in ants. He felt like his entire body was burning up just before a wave of pain swept through him. The man ordered his followers to release the chains holding him down as his bones started snapping and rearranging themselves.
Yami watched in horror as Malik's body took on a canine form. He watched Malik's ears move to the top of his head as his mouth and nose elongated into a muzzle. The boy's arms became forelegs as a tail burst free, and his legs became the hind legs of a wolf. Minutes after the transformation began, the former boy was a sandy-colored wolf with one black patch over its left eye.
Yami growled, struggling to get free before he felt something stir inside him. Groaning in pain as his body began to change. At that point, the others were waking up a bit from their transformations before Yami let out a heart-wrenching scream; thrashing about as his voice turned from a male to a female pitch. His body is bulging and shifting under the robes he wore, tearing at the seams. His hair growing out to reach his feet with red -scales- prickling out of his skin as Yami screamed even louder thrashing wilder his eyes screwed shut to the world as the boys watched gasping silently as a long red and black tail curled around Yami's legs his hands becoming clawed as his body shrunk a few inches and seemed to get rounder and soft. With one final scream from Yami large red and scaled black wings ripped the cloth covering Yami's body clean off before he- she passed out cold.
Yugi and Ryou felt a pair of sharp teeth in their mouths as they became aware of what was happening to their friends.
The man who had done this chuckled, "So I now have twin vampires, a werewolf, and a dragon...a female one at that. How Anubis has cursed this dreadful family! Such a fitting form for the lineage of the Pharaoh responsible for my imprisonment!"
He went over to a whimpering Malik, "You four will still retain your human appearances… for now. Take them to separate rooms and begin removing their memories. Take everything if you have to." The man told his disciples.
He didn't want them to remember anything about the ritual as he wanted to see them suffer again as soon as the next full moon arose and set his curse into place.