Sorry, for the long update. I've been really busy these many, MANY months. Ehehe... Here's the Next Chapter of LoTP!
Meanwhile, back in Domino City...
I groggily wake up as my yami threatens the former pharaoh to get away from his Lucky Charms. The pharaoh comes back with he'll send Bakura to the Shadow Realm if he doesn't surrender the milk immediately.
Why can't I have normal friends?
By the way, I'm Ryou Bakura, an English transfer student at Domino High School. I guess Yugi told you I was the shy one of the group, and I'm sad to say that I agree with him. I'm not the most courageous person, but I am loyal to my friends.
That has to count for something, right?
It was then I decided to intervene with the yamis and their battle of the milk and Lucky Charms. I grabbed it out of the unsuspecting yamis' greedy fingers and grabbed a bowl for myself.
"Ryou no likie yamis threatening to send the other to the Shadow Realm this early in the morning," I say sleepily, scratching my back in an amusing sort of way I normally wouldn't have.
I'm half-asleep. You'd be surprised at what you do when you're half-asleep too.
I scratch my white-haired head sleepily and ask, "Where's Yugi?"
Bakura shrugs in my general direction, stealing the milk from my hands. I pull a spoon from the drawer and hit my yami upside the head with it. Steal the milk from me again and I'll poke you with a very sharp spork next time. My yami seemed to take the hint. Hikari Power!
"That's odd," Yami (Yugi's, not mine) said, "I can't sense Yugi in our soul room."
"Maybe he's still in bed," My yami said, rubbing a sore head.
"No," Yami retorted, "It's Saturday. He's usually up by now."
"What kind of person gets up this early on a Saturday!?" Bakura screeched, "It's inhumane!"
"You're up early on a Saturday," Yami said, twirling his spoon in the Lucky Charms.
"I'm not human," Bakura said.
"You once were human," Yami retorted, pointing his spoon at Bakura.
"That was then, this is now. Besides, why would your hikari be up at this hour?"
"Saturday morning cartoons. Yugi tells me they've moved his favorite shows to early in the morning. Curses the network frequently because of it."
"Ah," Bakura said simply and continued with his cereal.
Now I'm not one for Saturday cartoons, but I can see why Yugi gets up early in the morning. I finish my cereal and sit in a comfortable chair, pulling out my copy of "The Fellowship of the Ring." My copy isn't the possessed one Yugi found yesterday. Something seems a bit off on that copy.
I skim throughout the beginning of the book, coming towards the end of the Council of Elrond. It was always one of my favorite parts of the story. Frodo has already set the One Ring on the altar in the middle of the council and they contemplate of what to do with the cursed jewelry. It was then that I noticed a very familiar name in the text. And where did the term "MEW" come from? I had no idea that Middle Earth had wresting federations.
"Middle Earth has wrestling federations?" Bakura asked over my shoulder.
"That can't be right," I say quietly, flipping back a few pages, "Middle Earth doesn't have wrestling federations."
"You'd think they did, the way the dwarves and the elves duke it out," Bakura commented, sipping orange juice.
"'The young boy showed the lord of Rivendell his wondrous contraption," I read aloud, "a device with plates where he placed a card of some sort and the image came to life in front of the elf's eyes.'"
"That sounds like Kaiba's duel disk," Yami commented, sitting next to me.
"Can you imagine elves and dwarves wearing leather though?" Bakura expressed his thoughts about Middle Earth wrestling, "Naw, probably wouldn't wear it though..."
"'The image that appeared before the elf lord was that of a tall magician dressed in violet with striking blue eyes,'" I continued to flip through the book.
"That sounds like the Dark Magician," Yami said, coming in closer.
"'The boy, dressed in soiled pajamas, stood before the twin sons of Elrond, bearing the innocent look of a small child. His hair was an unruly mass of black and red with golden bangs. Little did the twins know that the boy before them was a vessel to a pharaoh of Egypt and came from a time unknown to the people of Middle Earth'."
"Yugi," Yami whispered, his crimson eyes looking down, "the book wasn't lying. Yugi must've been transported into the book during the night. So, how was I not transported with Yugi into the book?"
"Maybe the book doesn't like you, Pharaoh," Bakura teased.
"Shut it, Tomb Robber," Yami growled at the smirking Bakura.
"Shut it, both of you," I said, shutting the book, "let's think of the matter at hand. Yugi, to our knowledge, is in Middle Earth and on the quest with the Fellowship of the Ring."
Bakura came up behind me and stole my copy of the Fellowship.
"Does this mean that Yugi might be mentioned in the Two Towers and the Return of the King?"
"Undoubtedly," Yami said, snatching the book from Bakura, "the story might be altered with Yugi's appearance."
"Don't look now guys," Bakura said, looking at my book over the Pharaoh's shoulder, "but Yugi isn't alone in the fellowship. The puppy is with him."
"What!?" Yami and I shouted, grabbing the book.
Sure enough, there was Jounouchi Katsuya's name and physical description. Oh, that is so not fair!
"How come Jounouchi gets to go to Middle Earth and I don't?" the former pharaoh whined, squeezing one of Yugi's couch pillows.
"Why do I suddenly feel like that one girl whose best friend got transported into a magical book and follow the story along to summon a beast god and save an entire country?" Bakura whined with the pharaoh.
"You've watched too much anime, Bakura," I say, holding onto my book, "but I think the Pharaoh's right. The entire story of the Fellowship, and the entire Lord of the Rings series, might be changed with Yugi's appearance."
"Yay," Bakura said sarcastically, "the Pharaoh's hikari gets to rewrite an entire history of events in a book more famous than fried noodles. What do his friends do? Sit back and watch the events play out. Anyone have popcorn and something that'll link us to Yugi? I feel a need for a Fushigi Yuugi parody. And there is no such thing as 'too much anime' Hikari. You just haven't discovered the beauty of it yet."
"This isn't a Fushigi Yuugi parody, Tomb Robber," Yami growled, "And lets pray that it doesn't turn into one. The last thing we need is strange things happening to us while reading the Fellowship."
"Damn," Bakura swore, "I was hoping for some parody fun. And I was so looking forward to the Pharaoh being turned into an Egyptian shish kabob."
I skimmed the book to see if Yugi had anything that might help us link to him. Sure, I was stealing Bakura's idea that this was a Fushigi Yuugi parody, but a link might be able to help us in tracking down everyone. I stood up between the two dark halves to make them stop trying to kill each other... again...
"The book says Yugi still has his duel disk with him, along with his duel monster's deck. I think the book also mentioned that Yugi had the puzzle with him. Those things might help us."
"Do you and Yugi sleep with that Puzzle, Pharaoh?" Bakura asked, a look of disgust painting his face.
"Do you and Ryou sleep with that Ring, Tomb Robber?" Yami threw at Bakura.
Bakura held our treasured item closer while the former pharaoh grinned ear to ear. It was then that the puzzle decided to start glowing.
"If only... if only my other friend's were here, Jou," Yugi's voice said, "they'd know what to do in this sort of situation."
"Yugi?" Yami said, holding the puzzle closer to himself, "Yugi, can you hear me?"
"Yami?" Yugi's voice squeaked, "Is that you Yami? Where are you!?"
"I'm still in Domino City, Yugi," Yami said calmly, "Ryou and Bakura are with me."
"Is Shizuka with ya?" Jounouchi's voice said, "She's not with us."
Bakura looked around the game shop but saw no trace of Jou's younger sister.
"Sorry, pup," Bakura said into the puzzle, "but she's not here. It's seems as though moneybags is gone, too."
Moneybags is a name Bakura calls Seto Kaiba because of his position in the corporate world.
"My guess," Bakura continued, "is that she's in Middle Earth somewhere with Moneybags."
"So, that means that we are really in Middle Earth," Yugi sighed, "and we're part of the actual fellowship. Do you think they know what an autograph is?"
"Yugi," I say, "as much as I'd like an autograph from the fellowship, I'm afraid that that's not possible. I've a feeling that you were sent there for a reason and until we find out what it is, you'll have to follow the original story line."
"But I don't know the storyline as well as you do!" Yugi exclaimed, "and what if I'm talking to you and I reveal something to the fellowship that's going to happen in the future? That would ruin the story for sure!"
"We'll figure something out, Yugi," Yami said comfortingly, "You'll be okay."
"What I'd like to see," Bakura commented snidely, "is how either of you handle a weapon."
"Whaddya mean by that, Bakura!?" Jou yelled at the spirit.
"It's a given fact that there are many battles within Middle Earth, so how do you two plan to stand up against a million or so Orcs and Uruk-hai?"
Jou and Yugi were silent after that.
"How do you know so much?" I asked Bakura.
"I'm your darker half, hikari," Bakura said, using the nickname most yamis use for their lighter halves, "what you know, I know."
"That's a scary thought," I say sarcastically as Bakura grinned like a Cheshire cat, "too bad the feeling isn't mutual."
"This is no time for sarcasm, Ryou," the pharaoh told me whilst I stuck my tongue out at him, "We have to figure out a way for them to get out of there with the others without ruining the story."
"The Pharaoh's right," Yugi said, his voice a bit higher than it should be, "As fun as an adventure like this could be, I don't want to die in a book and not be able to return home again."
"Me neither," Jou agreed, "But we are living the ultimate fantasy adventure ever! Right, Yugi?"
Even though we couldn't see him, we could all tell that Yugi was blushing.
"Yes," Bakura said, leaning over my shoulder, "you're definitely living Ryou's dream at least. He's practically heart-broken right now."
"I'm not broken-hearted!" I exclaim at him, "jealous, yes, but not broken-hearted. I'm living out my dream of living the story of the Lord of The Rings in a way. I guess that's the best I can do."
"If only we could change places, Ryou," Yugi said softly, hearing the emotion, "I'd know you'd love this more than me. Meeting Elrond and those elf twins, seeing the Council and the dwarves and the elves and Aragorn and Boromir and Gandalf and Frodo and Gimli and Legolas and the other hobbits and living all of those lines as if they're actually happening in real time and...!"
"You can stop now, Yugi," I say, my voice full of emotion, "You're making it worse for me than it actually is."
"Sorry, Ryou," Yugi says softly, "I know you're more of a Lord of the Rings Fan. I'll stop describing the events that'll make you feel sad."
"It's all right," I say, touching my millennium item in sadness, "by the way, the twins you met? They are Elrond's sons. Their names are Elrohir and Elladan and they are Arwen's older brothers."
"I KNEW there was a resemblance somewhere!" Yugi exclaimed while I snickered good-naturedly, "I'm curious Ryou, will we see much of Arwen? I know she marries Aragorn in the end, but the movie made such a big deal of their romance."
"I'm not sure," I say, picking up my copy of the Fellowship, "She only has one paragraph of mention in here."
"Only one paragraph for a chick that pretty!?" Jou exclaimed, "That has to be an insult!"
"Why are you getting worked about that pup?" Bakura said snidely, "It's not like she's going to fall for you."
"But she was so nice to us, even if we peeped in on her while she was bathing..." Jou trailed off.
"You saw Arwen naked!?" Yami, Bakura, and I all exclaim quite too loudly.
"We got lost!" Yugi defended, "we didn't know she was in there! Honest!"
"Ya, but you got to admit," Jou said an obvious smile in his voice, "for a fictional character, she was pretty hot."
"Bubbles bad, covered up good parts," Yugi said, going into his pervert mode.
Believe it or not, Yugi was about the biggest little pervert anyone could know. As much as he denies it, Yami tattles on him all the time. I bet he gets it from his grandpa... Guy thought I was a girl the first time we met. Never been so embarrassed in my life...
Shutting up now... The fellowship is getting ready on their more-famous-than-ramen adventure. Better hope Yugi packed a toothbrush and deodorant. This is going to one long journey...