~Ari~
Bakura stands before us and smirks, and I cannot hide my scowl. "Now then, I'm afraid someone must update me on the situation." Bakura says.
"You can't have regenerated yourself, it's not possible." I say.
Bakura smirks and then glances toward Aknadin, "Apparently, one of my pawns isn't being obedient enough, so I'm stepping in to change things."
"I..I-!" Aknadin stutters.
"Save your breath, you fool. You needed more time, I'd presume? That's why I'm here; to speed things up. I'll focus on the Pharaoh; you just worry about that son of yours. He is the only one worthy of ruling the Dark World. For you, Seto, can control the Blue-Eyes White Dragon; a creature that rivals the Gods!"
"Kisara…" Seto mutters.
"The peasant girl?" Shada says.
"What are you talking about?" Yami asks.
"Recently, Seto and I ran into a young girl with a power like none I've ever seen. Bakura is right saying it rivals that of Gods. Whoever she is, she posses the gift, or curse rather, of such a beast. Either way, it mustn't fall into the wrong hands."
"Or else what?" Bakura says, "Afraid of such a creature? Afraid that it could overpower you? Afraid of the Dark World? The only fact that remains here is that the Great Evil God Zorc will resurrect momentarily, and all you can do is watch. Now the only thing left to do is to find a new King."
"Yes, listen to us Seto." Aknadin says, "If you side with the Pharaoh, your destiny will be ruined and your blood shall be turned into that of trash. But if you join us, your blood will become that of pure royalty! You were born with this task!"
"You're right…" Seto says. His eyes aren't glowing, but by his tone, it's obvious that brainwashing is involved.
"Seto, you mustn't let the darkness stain that of your light heart." Hassan says.
"Silence!" Bakura says holding up his DiaDhank, "Diabound, return to me!"
Diabound appears once again and charges up another attack. Hassan jumps in front of us however and blocks it. "That's not possible!" I shout, "We destroyed Diabound, you shouldn't be able to summon him!"
"Yes, his stone tablet has already been destroyed!" Shada says.
"With all the Millennium Items in my grasp, I no longer need his tablet." Bakura says, "Diabound now knows infinite strength and the darkness of the Items shall continue to fuel it!"
"Yes, my son, and if you join us, then you shall know infinite strength as well!" Aknadin says stepping closer to him, "Please, everything you so desire shall be yours in one moment."
"Seto, you can't, you're one of us!" Isis says.
Seto blankly stares at the ground and remains silent. "You can't join them! They'll only poison the world, and you, in darkness!" I say.
"Seto, wake up!" Yami shouts, "I know your mind isn't foolish enough to be controlled!"
Seto looks up in shock for a moment but still remains quiet. "Enough! I shall take matters into my own hands!" Aknadin appears next to Seto and grabs him by the throat. He lifts his other arm into the air and creates a dark portal next to them. He tosses Seto into the portal and is starting to walk in himself.
In spite of the moment, I start running toward the portal as it begins to close. I notice Diabound is starting to charge an attack to stop me, but I keep running. I lunge into the portal as it begins to close behind me. Aknadin isn't going to rip his claws in Seto that easily.
~.~.~
"That was a foolish move of your pawn, Queen." Bakura says.
"At least Seto will have some help." I say, "You and Akndin have done nothing but cheat this entire game."
"As if. We're only going by the extreme measures of the rulebook."
I stare back at the Game Table to see Bakura's pawn snap his fingers and the Tablet of the Realm of the Dead begins to sink into the ground. "What have you done?" Yami asks.
"The only thing left to do is to wait for the Evil God Zorc to appear." Bakura says, "That will be my only chance at victory. In the meantime, I think it fitting that I enjoy myself with your pawns. And I think you all deserve some time apart."
"What are you planning to do to them?"
"Heh… Kill them. One by one, their bodies will fall."
I look back at the Game Table to see Diabound sending a haze over the chamber. Now the entire Game Table just shows a screen of nothing but black. "What have you done to them?" Yami says.
"I've bought myself a bit of time. Here, I'll clear the area." Bakura says.
The Game Table unfogs to show Kul Elna. Mana is alone, Shada and Shimon are together, Isis and Karim are with each other, and then the Pharaoh and Hassan. "That's cheating!" I say.
"Not quite. Last I checked, your pawn ran off by herself, so would that be considered cheating? Of course that saves me the trouble of having to separate the Pharoh and Queen myself, so I guess I should thank you. Now enjoy the show of watching the countdown to the Evil God's revival and see your friends squirm and die."
"You still won't win Bakura." Yami says.
"I'm afraid I already have."
~Sabrina~
We jump off of Bobasa's back and stand before the entrance to Yami's tomb in the Valley of the Kings. Bobasa floats in midair and then begins to deflate and stands upright again. We turn toward him, "Wow, thank you Bobasa, you've helped us so much." Yugi says.
"Bobasa is the one who should be thanking you guys. You were very kind to give me those grapes to fill up Bobaba's stomach." Bobasa says.
"Hey, I just realized that I'm not as hungry as I was earlier." I say.
"Yeah, us too." Tea says.
"Maybe meeting Bobasa just had something to do with it." Yugi smiles.
"Bobasa isn't hungry anymore and that is alright." Bobasa says, "I only hope we can meet again, my friends. Goodbye!"
As he says that, his body begins to disappear into flashes of golden glitter that evaporate into the air. "Ya know, I think I might actually miss dat balloon." Joey says.
"Yeah, but now that we're at the tomb, it's time to go inside." I say.
~Ari~
"Looks like your pawns are running out of time." Bakura says.
He's right; they'll all be killed at this rate. Everyone is dealing with their own separate monster to face, while the Pharaoh and Hassan have to deal with a swarm of thousands of this bug called scarabs. "Maybe these deaths wouldn't happen if you hadn't erased your memories." Bakura mocks, "Then maybe Zorc wouldn't be in the process of being revived."
I sigh because he's probably right. I watch the Game Table to see everyone not doing so well. However, they all summon their own monsters to defend themselves and seem to be doing a lot better. But they're still weaker because of their isolation from everyone else. "This is quite exciting. Would you two like to guess who dies first?" Bakura mocks, "Oh, come on, it's a game! You've got to learn to have some fun!"
We watch as Shada overpowers the monster he faces with Two-Headed Jackal Warrior. Everyone else seems to be winning as well. "Hmm… seems your pawns aren't all that worthless after all." Bakura says.
"They're our friends." Yami corrects.
"Oh yes, I forgot how much you care for them. And of all the fond memories you've shared with them. Face it, they're nothing but strangers to you, but yet you still feel compelled to call them friends. Pitiful."
"You wouldn't understand Bakura; no one has ever cared about you. These people are important to us, we share bonds that have lasted 5000 years. Never have they turned their backs on us, so we'll do the same."
I look down at the Table to see Isis' Spiria losing to her creature, but Two-Headed Jackal Warrior steps in. Karim faces Shada and pleas for him to take his energy. I watch as Karim transfers his very life energy to Shada. Karim then collapses and falls over unmoving. The Pharaoh and Hassan now arrive and watch Karim's last moments. The Pharaoh gets up again and grabs his horse. He tells Hassan to protect the others while he looks for my pawn and Seto.
~Sabrina~
We enter the chamber to the first room of the tomb. If I remember correctly, this is where the needle-shooting snake heads were. Well, their actually above our heads, so that gives us another clue. Tea touches one of the walls, "Hey, we can't pass through walls here." She says.
"I'm not surprised." Yugi says, "From what Grandpa said, this tomb is pretty well protected."
"He was here?" Tea asks.
"Well, if we're looking for his name, den let's get goin'!" Joey says running forward.
"Joey, it's not that easy!" I shout. The needles spit out of the snakes mouths and just barely miss Joey's feet. "Joey, we just came from the Queen's tomb, you should know these places have traps."
"Yugi, did your Grandfather say how to get through this thing?" Tristan asks in an annoyed tone.
"Yup, I just hope I can remember it all." He says.
"Luckily, we have me here to help also." I say.
We head through the doorway and reach the next room. It's the room with the weird maze and the statues that try to kill you, and ended up stabbing that one guy. "Alright, what did he say about dis maze?" Joey asks.
"Well, the statues are kind of like…. Robots. He also said that whoever enters needs to show their respect, like the Egyptians did." Yugi says.
"Yeah, so do you see how their feet are positioned?" I say, "They stand with their left foot forward…"
"…Which was a sign of respect to the Pharaoh in Ancient Egypt because the heart was on that side of the body." Yugi finishes.
"So, we walk with our left foot forward?" Tea says.
Yugi and I nod. Yugi steps up to the maze first, closely followed by me and then the rest of the gang. We all start walking with our left foot in front of our right one, which is a bit difficult at first. We manage to get around the statues, which sense our respect and let us pass.
All of us head to the next room which is what Gramps referred to as the 'Monster Bridge'. "So what's da deal with dis place?" Joey says.
"Each tablet engraved on the ground has a monster living inside." Yugi says, "If they sense fear, then they'll attack."
"They wouldn't happen to be a shortcut, would there?" Tea says nervously.
Yugi stares forward and begins to walk across the bridge. The rest of the gang looks nervous, but I start walking behind Yugi. Once we're almost at the end, the gang decides to follow us. We reach the end of the bridge to find the elevated platform that the Puzzle and Pendant were probably put. I run my hand across the stone, just imagining both boxes sitting there and waiting for its owner, "It's hard to believe that Gramps found them forty years ago." I say.
"But nothing else is here." Joey says.
"Maybe like the Queen's tomb, there's a name written on the wall." Tea says.
On the back wall are some hieroglyphics, but not a spot for a name like Ari's tomb had. But once again, we can't read hieroglyphics. "What now?" I ask.
"I don't know." Yugi says, "Maybe there's a room that even Gramps couldn't find."
"Good luck findin' it." Joey says leaning his hand against a small pillar. Conveniently, his hand moves into the pillar and seems to activate a switch of sorts. The back wall begins to lift up, "What?! Holy crap!"
"I guess we found it." Yugi says.
Was this chapter short? I don't know, but it seems better than the last one. I couldn't find any Japanese dialogue for this chapter (sad face) but I tried to write it like I pictured they would say it. Idk if I want to post again today, but I guess that depends on how bored I get. And next time someone says I'm cheating I'll just copy Bakura and say 'I'm playing the extreme measures of the rulebook'.