(Author's Note: Guys, I fixed some stupid name error that for some dumb reason I didn't notice. Yes, Shadi is the correct person, and I apologize for the mixup. Let this be a lesson. Don't write when you are tired. My earlier draft had the correct name, so I don't know why I messed up.)

Kaylie let out a sigh of relief as the bedroom and her younger self faded from view. She was glad to be rid of that burden once more, but part of her was anxious that this part of her life might never go away. What if she was graduating college and suddenly got stolen away by an ancient Egyptian? Or the room filled with duel monsters? No, this had to be the last time. She had made her choice. She'd make sure of it.

The electric feeling that accompanied the world hopping started to slow, and she looked forward to slipping back into her nice, warm bed once more. She'd left her electric blanket on, despite her uncle thinking it was a fire hazard. Luckily, if what Shadi said was correct, she'd only have been gone for a few minutes, and her relatives would still be sleeping.

Oh how she ached to be done with school so she could go back to living with her immediate family, or find a place of her own.

As she felt her feet land on solid ground again, she turned to Shadi to assure him it would be okay, but stopped short.

"This isn't my room!" she glanced around the stone room filled with ancient hieroglyphs. "I don't even think this is my world..."

"My apologies, Miss..." Shadi moved away, towards the darkened doorway to her left. The only exit from the room. "I can't take you back until I know for certain things have changed..."

"What!?" Her jaw dropped. "No, you have to take me home! What if I get stuck here!?"

"Then it would be your foolishness in not convincing yourself at fault. I am going to see if you have changed things. If so, I will take you back. If not, you will be stuck here until the bridge collapses, or you convince yourself to avoid ending the world as we know it," he began to fade out, and Kaylie felt panic rise.

"Wait!" She tried to move, but found herself frozen.

"I advise against leaving," Shadi held his hand up. "You could wander in the desert for days and be dead for months before anyone found you."

"Please, stop!" She felt tears bubble up, but could do nothing but watch as the Egyptian faded out. As soon as he was gone, she collapsed on the floor, able to move again, and started sobbing.

Fortunately, the shock wore off fast. She quickly composed herself, wiping the tears away, and ran through the doorway, and down a narrow hallway until she came to some stairs. Ascending them quickly, she burst into the scorching desert, leaving the odd Egyptian bunker at her back. All around there was nothing but sand. Her heart dropped.

"How am I to find my way out of this mess?" her shoulders slumped. Shadi was right. She would die out here before finding civilization.

She clenched her fists in anger, annoyed with the mysterious, and apparently dishonest Egyptian. Her aunt and uncle would flip when they couldn't find her in the morning, and if this forced her to miss school and have to redo her last semester, Shadi would have more to worry about than her alternate self destroying the world.

"I can't let him win," she hissed to herself through her gritted teeth. "I am tired of being used and kidnapped. I will find civilization, or I will die trying."

She began walking through the sand, breathing heavily as it scorched her bare feet. She probably looked ridiculous, tromping around in her pajamas, but she didn't care. No one was there to see, and when she eventually ran into someone, she was sure she'd be too happy to be bothered by her appearance.

After just ten minutes of walking, she silently cursed herself. She should have waited till nightfall to do this. She would be moving a lot faster without the sun beating on her back, and she suddenly remembered seeing a water flask and bread sitting on a table in the strange stone room.

"So I'm an idiot. What else is new? I'm going to die here, and then I'm going to end the world. That's fine. Everything is fine."

But everything wasn't fine, especially when the heat began to tease her with visions of water on the horizon. At first she ignored the mirages, but eventually she lost the clear thoughts that had kept her from straying towards them, and began zigzagging across the sand, trying to make it to those seemingly not too distant oases.

After that, it didn't take long for her to sink to her knees and lie in the sand, sure she could hear the screech of vultures above.

"Yep," she mumbled. "That was truly stupid."

The thought of vultures tugged at her, begging for her attention, but she pushed it away. If they wanted to eat her, so be it. It was probably the first meal they'd had in-

She sat up quickly. Vultures meant there had to be water nearby. She was on her feet and running as fast as she could towards what she knew must be civilization.

Alas, it was all in vain. Finally she collapsed once more, letting her head fall to her right side. In the distance, she thought she could see the tops of buildings, and she groaned. It seemed the desert would torment her until she died. She even thought she saw a figure approaching from the distance, but quickly wrote it off. After all, what person wore biker gear in the desert?

She chuckled to herself as she thought of how being kidnapped by bikers had led her to this in the first place before closing her eyes, and allowing the darkness to embrace her.

Marik approached the fallen form, wondering for at least the tenth time why anyone would run themselves this ragged just outside of town. The people had pointed her out, running parallel with the city, earlier that day, and he'd followed her trying to figure out what was going on. Now, as he drew closer and saw her strange dress, he realized she may not know where town was, and came to her rescue.

He hefted her over his shoulder, and she mumbled something about crazy bikers and Egyptians kidnapping her, obviously delirious from heat stroke. He shook his head in wonder and headed back for town. As he walked, and the girl continued to mumble on and on, he heard a name that sounded very familiar. He quickened his pace. Somehow he just knew that this was someone his sister would want to talk to.