A Golden Embrace 'n' Beyond
Ch2: The power of a mystery

"Have you sent her?" A rare hunter asked Marik. Odion, Marik's brother, best friend, and his top rare hunter walked into the room.

"Yes." Marik answered, his blond hair falling into his eyes as he moved his head to look at the older man.

"Do you think she will be able to retrieve Slifer?" Odion walked to stand beside the gold throne that his master sat on.

"I wouldn't have sent Ryoko after it if I didn't think that she could get it. No doubt Ishizu saw her coming through her Millennium Necklace." Marik stated. "The only thing that will give Ryoko any trouble is if someone recognizes her, but I'm pretty sure she'll get back before then."

"You mean they'll take her back there?" Odion knew what Ryoko was trying to escape from when Marik found her, he brought her back with him and she became one of them.

"Yes, but they will never get the chance to catch her." Marik sighed.

#############################################

"So are you ready?" Ryoko placed her deck in her duel disk. The card plates glowed and fanned out. The life point counter set itself to four thousand.

"Of course." Ishizu drew her hand. Ryoko copied her; she smiled when she saw her favorite card all ready in her hand. "The first move is yours, Ryoko."

Ryoko chuckled at Ishizu's stupidity, "You're going to regret that."

"Maybe not, don't forget, I saw this duel beforehand." Ishizu said as Ryoko drew a card to begin her turn.

"You shouldn't rely on a mere vision, because the future can change." Ryoko stated. She glanced at her cards, "I summon Vampire Lord in attack mode with attack points of 2000."

"I knew as much Ryoko and now you will attack me with it." Ishizu said confident with her claim.

Ryoko grinned smugly, "Or will I?"

"What?" Ishizu gasped.

"I now sacrifice my Vampire Lord in order to special summon my Vampire Genesis in attack mode with the attack power of 3000, but I'm not done yet, I now activate my Genesis' special ability. By sending a low level zombie- type monster from my hand directly to the graveyard I'm allowed to summon a zombie monster with lower level then the discarded monster directly to the field. So welcome back my Vampire Lord."

"This cannot be. I didn't see this." Ishizu had fear written all over her face.

"Now for the fun part, Vampire Genesis strike her down, Almighty Fang Crush." The great vampire beast used its large fist to take Ishizu's life points from four thousand to a thousand, "Now Vampire Lord finish her off with your Merciless Bite of the immortals." The weaker vampire moved in on Ishizu and brought its fangs down on her neck taking her life points to zero. "I believe that the great Slifer now belongs to me, Ishizu." Ryoko grinned cockily.

"Yes, here it is." Ishizu threw the card to Ryoko, the card flew into the younger girl's hand with a Frisbee like motion.

"Thank you, maybe next time you won't rely on your so called Millennium Necklace to win a duel for you and just take it as it comes." Ryoko placed Slifer on top of her deck, placed the deck back in its holster, deactivated her duel disk, and turned to walk away.

"How long do you believe that you can keep running, Ryoko?" Ishizu wondered suddenly.

Ryoko stopped, she looked at Ishizu surprised then her face became unfazed, "I'm never going back there or back to him. I won't." Ryoko shivered at the thought of her living nightmare, "I should have known that Ishizu saw all this before it happened; saw the day that I ran away, when Marik found me, and when I would challenge her for Slifer." Ryoko thought to herself, "What do you care anyway?" Ryoko hissed aloud.

"Do you honestly believe that Marik is going to keep protecting you? Once he has all that he requires he won't need you anymore, he'll leave you out in the cold like you were when he found you." Ishizu said.

"SHUT UP! You're just trying to get me to turn against him, but it won't work. I trust Marik. And don't you dare speak as if you know me when you don't flippin' clue! Marik rescued me and for that I am grateful. I owe him one." With that Ryoko walked out of the museum without another word, got on her motorcycle, put on her helmet, and went to deliver Slifer the Sky Dragon to Marik.

Ryoko felt the wind blow against her arms and legs as she sped through the streets, "She wrong! Marik wouldn't do anything to hurt me….right?"

To Be Continued…

Please Review!