Thanks for all the reviews, they are really encouraging! Finally Atem became the Pharaoh so I can start writing some real details now, hope you guys enjoy it!

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The Pharaoh's Memories (Chapter 9: New roles, new duties)

"speech"

'thoughts'

*sound effects*

{locations}

;;;;;;;; time shift ;;;;;;;;;


Previously:

"We pledge to lay down our lives for the great Pharaoh." The Priests said, pledging their loyalty to the Pharaoh.


{In the throne room}

"Yugi, Jono and Hon step up!" Atem called, his voice oozing with authority. He lost that edge in his voice while he was grieving over the death of his father. The people Pharaoh Atem called stepped out and knelt down in front of him. "In light of recent events, you have proven to have great loyalty to me and my father. Jono and Hon, you showed great courage and skills in fighting. On the other hand, Yugi, you have shown great intellect and great organisation skills, traits I value in a servant." Atem started, looking straight at them, he continued "Therefore, Jono and Hon, you will be transferred to be trained as royal guards and Yugi, you will become my personal servant." The three of them knelt there stunned, these new appointments were like promotions for them. "Thank you Pharaoh!" the three of them said smiling at each other, trying their best to hide all the excitement.

"Wow! We got promotions! Hahaha!" Jounouchi exclaimed as they walked back to the servants' quarters to gather their belongings to report to their new posts. As guards, Jounouchi and Honda will be staying at the barracks and Yugi will be staying in a room closer to the Pharaoh's bedroom. "Mmmhmm and now I can work with my other self. He will remember us! I'm sure he will!" Yugi exclaimed excitedly.

;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;

{The next day}

{On the training ground, sunrise}

Jono and Hon stood at attention with 18 other young men on the training ground while they waited for the trainer to arrive. They were in their guards' uniform which was a kilt like clothing held together by a belt which was beige in colour.

The training grounds is huge. It is in the middle of what looked like stands, which made the place look like an oversized stadium. Right in the centre was a big pitch of grass. Around the pitch was a 400m track, but instead of it being rubber like modern time tracks, it was laid with stone. The whole place was exposed to the merciless heat of the Egyptian sun except for the stands which had shelters and the places where the stands casted shadows on the floor.

After standing for 45 minutes, the trainer appeared holding a board with a name list. One by one, he called out the names on his list. "I am Nakhti and I am in charge of you for the next 6 months whether you like it or not. Let's start with a simple exercise, you will first go fill up one sandbag. You will carry it and run 30 laps around the field. Go!" Groaning, the men went to get the bags to fill it up with sand. When it was full, it weighed around 25kg, throwing it over their shoulders, they started their run.

;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;

{At the servants' quarters, 1 hour after sunrise}

Yugi took off the cloth wrapped around his waist and changed into a white tunic and tied the new black belt. It had been 6 months since they arrived in Ancient Egypt and looking at himself in the mirror, Yugi realised that he had become darker and his body and arms had become more muscular. Picking up his belongings, he went out of the room, looking back into the room that he shared with his friends for one last time, he closed the door and walked to his new room located in the main palace. Jono and Hon had left in before sunrise to report to the training officer to begin their guards training.

Knocking on the door, Yugi waited for a response from Pharaoh before entering. "Good morning Pharaoh." Yugi greeted. "Good morning, Yugi. You know what the duties of your new position are?" Atem asked, not looking up from the paper he was reading. "No sire. I have not been told." Yugi replied apologetically.

"Oh…" Atem smirked, putting down his paper, "well your job is to do everything I ask you to do, understand?"

"Yes Pharaoh." Yugi replied, giving a smile back at him. "First thing you do every morning is to wake me up at the time I tell you the night before. I will have breakfast in my room so you have to bring that up too. After that I will give you more instructions, okay?" Atem further instructed. "Yes Pharaoh." Yugi obediently replied. "Ummm, may I boldly ask you something?" Yugi asked softly.

"Hmm? Yeah sure" Atem said carelessly. "Do you find me familiar Pharaoh?" Yugi started, silently hoping that Pharaoh would not get offended by his question.

Atem quietly thought about the question, his silence making Yugi worried. Suddenly, his gaze softened and he spoke "Yeah, I admit when I first saw you on the street, I felt a sense of familiarity, it was like I had met my best friend who went away, but I can't quite place it. Maybe someday I will be able to remember why. Does that answer your question?"

"Yes!" Yugi answered as tears welled up in his eyes, the way the Pharaoh spoke to him was how his other self talked to him in the past. Atem wondered what brought about the mood change in his servant but decided not to say anything about it, little did he know that those were tears of joy. "Let's go." Atem told Yugi as he got up from the desk. Yugi dutifully opened the door for his king before running to catch up with him down the hallway.

;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;

{Back at the training ground}

"I think I shall call him Satan Nakhti from now on! I swear he's going to kill us!" One men whisper-yelled as they continued their run under the hot Egyptian sun. Some of the men nodded in agreement too tired to give a reply. 'He will really kill us if he hears that though." Honda thought to himself, sweat dropping as he completed his 25th lap. He and Jounouchi would have already completed the run if the heat wasn't so bad since they were part of the school's marathon club and martial arts club, running long distances wasn't a problem for them. Looking back at the others, both of them can see some guys were totally not cut out for running, they were literally running on fumes on their 20th lap.

"Come on ladies! We are only just getting started! Tired already?" Nakhti loud voice boomed across the fields, trying to get the men to run faster.

20 minutes later, Jounouchi and Honda finished their 30 laps and Nakhti called them over, "Nice work Jono and Hon, go get a drink and rest under the shade." He instructed them. Jounouchi and Honda were bent over holding onto their knees, trying to catch their breath. When they got some back, they moved under the shade, sat down on the floor and gulped down cup after cup of fruit punch as they watch their classmates drag their feet along the sand trying to complete their laps.

Another 20 minutes later, some of the men started strolling in and joined them under the shade. The last man that came in was the one who called Nakhti a Satan, his name was Nehal. He was only given 10 minutes to catch his breath before Nakhti came over and all the men immediately stood at attention with the exception of Nehal who was sprawled out on the floor. "GET UP OR GET LOST!" Nakhti shouted in his face, clearly not amused.

Immediately, Nehal shot up and stood at attention beside his classmates. "Now! Everyone will do push ups until I tell you to stop, get moving!" Nakhti commanded fiercely. Fortunately, they were under the shade away from the sun as they started their next exercise. Sets of push ups, crunches, sit ups and jumping jacks continued all the way to lunch time.

As they went inside the dining room to get seated for lunch, some of the friendlier guys introduced themselves. The men were all exhausted and there was still half a day left for Nakhti to 'torture' them!


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