It is as if Yami is reliving this scene once again. Standing face to face with Cairo as she prepares to attack, just as she did 5,000 years ago in Egypt. She has been possessed by an evil force yet again, but she is fighting to regain control. The wind blows fiercely around them and the ground crumbles around her as it trembles. He can practically feel the warmth emitting from Cairo's hand as she prepares to shoot a magical blast at him.
"Cairo…don't do this," Yami says, standing in front of his friends.
"Yeah, you're on our side, remember?!" Joey yells.
"She obeys me now!" Hasani says out of her body. "Now prepare for your demise!" As he attempts to aim for the pharaoh, he can feel Cairo's body jerk at the last moment, causing him to miss. Instead it lands at a further distance, causing a small explosion.
"Aw man, we're totally done for!" Tristan shouts.
"No," Yami says, pointing at Cairo who is now holding her head as the wind around her picks up more. "She's trying to break free!"
"I promised myself I would never let another being possess me again," Cairo says between clenched teeth. "THIS STOPS HERE!" She lets out a loud scream as a dark aura appears around her, shooting up into the sky and she uses all her strength to break free from Hasani's control.
"That's it! Fight it Cairo!" Yami encourages.
Balling her fists, she lets out one last cry and Hasani can feel himself expelled from her body and back out into the world. Tristan, Joey, Duke and Téa all collectively sigh with relief. But Yami notices something is off. He watches as the soul of Hasani scrambles away as Cairo's powers seem to go haywire. Her normal amethyst eyes are pitch black and she has a panicked expression on her face as she tries to keep her powers under control. They all shield their face as the wind picks up even more.
"Now what?" Duke asks.
"She's lost control," Yami observes, taking a step forward.
Cairo looks down at her hands before looking around with fear as more of the ground beneath her begins to crack. In the process of getting Hasani out, she has used too much of her powers. In this world, she has been able to defeat her obstacles with ease, so there would be no reason to use her full strength. But the main reason why she keeps her strength under wraps is because it is too much for her to control.
The clouds above get dark and lightening begins to strike in random areas. Cairo slowly raises her hand, firing off sporadic energy blasts that hit multiple areas of the field. Instead of the purple blasts that would normally shoot from her hand, these are red, and the dark aura around her grows.
"We gotta take cover!" Duke yells and they all run to the entrance of the trailer. Téa stops and whips around when she realizes the pharaoh isn't doing the same. Instead, he is going the opposite direction, running straight at Cairo.
"Pharaoh, no! It's too dangerous!" Téa calls out to him.
He zig-zags and dodges the lightning strikes and energy blasts, determined to get to Cairo as quickly as possible. He jumps as the ground begins to crumble and become uneven. He can see that she is scared and wants nothing more but for this all to end. "I'm coming Cairo!" She lets out a loud scream, raising her hands into the sky as if gathering all of the lightning, before abruptly dropping her hands, causing the enormous burst of lightning to hit the ground. The impact is so strong that it blows Yami back and he hits the dirt.
"Pharaoh!" Joey yells. He grits his teeth, feeling helpless and not knowing how to stop Cairo's outburst.
"You gotta come back man! You're gonna get yourself killed!" Tristan shouts.
It's as if her body is moving on her own, Yami thinks to himself, watching Cairo's body movements. They are slow and robotic and her dark eyes are blank. "I have to get to her, quick! But how?" he asks himself out loud. He gasps when he sees a ball of fur rush toward Cairo from the corner of his eyes. When he gets a better look, it is none other than her cat, Ebo. The furry creature darts straight at Cairo and jumps in the air and onto her shoulder. It meows, nuzzling his furry cheek on her and she gasps. The wind around them gradually begins to slow down as she grows distracted.
"Ebo…" she says slowly, still in a trance-like state. Up until this moment, her world was pitch black. She couldn't see clearly as her powers went out of control.
"Cairo!" Yami yells, running up to her and holding her in an embrace. She blinks a few times, her eyes returning back to normal and the dark clouds in the sky disappear.
"D-dad?" she stutters. There are large craters in different parts of the ground, some of them still emitting smoke. Yami crouches down as she drops to her knees, her body shaking from the realization of what just happened.
"It's alright," Yami assures her. "You're safe now."
"Pharaoh!" Téa yells as they all run over to them. "Is she alright?"
"What have I done…?" Cairo says in a whisper.
"You almost killed us all!" Tristan yells bluntly.
"Take it easy, man," Duke says with a frown, taken off guard by Tristan's sudden outburst at the child.
"I told you we couldn't trust her! Just look at this place!"
Yami narrows his eyes. "Tristan!" he yells in a warning tone.
"It's not her fault!" Téa defends her.
"Yeah, if that crazy guy hadn't possessed her body then none of this would have happened!" Joey chimes in. "I know Cairo is a good person."
"You guys keep making excuses for her cuz she's a kid. But newsflash everyone, she's been banished to the Shadow Realm for a reason."
"It would be wise if you didn't speak on things you know nothing about," Yami says, standing up and facing Tristan, having heard enough. "The reasoning behind her being banished to the shadows is not what you think. And I will not allow you to continue to speak of my daughter in that matter."
Téa's eyes go wide. "Wait, Cairo's your daughter?" she says in shock.
"So what that Rafael guy said was right," Joey says, remembering him briefly mentioning it in Yami's duel.
Duke shrugs his shoulders. "Makes sense. There's definitely some similarities," he says, noting their almost identical eyes.
Rebecca hops out of the trailer and gasps when sees the destruction. Her eyes scroll over to Cairo who kneels on the ground, her head hanging low with Ebo by her side and she puts two and two together as to what happened. "Uh, you guys might want to get a move on," Rebecca says, bringing their attention to her. "You don't wanna miss your train."
"Alright, let's go and save Yugi!" Joey exclaims as he, Tristan and Duke run into the trailer.
Téa and Yami stay behind, wanting to make sure Cairo is okay. Ebo jumps in her lap and she strokes his head a few times with her eyes lowered.
"Hey." Têa gets down on one knee beside the child and placing a hand on her shoulder. "You okay?"
Cairo sighs and looks up at her. "I will be." She looks down at her hands. "When I came here, I've only needed to use a quarter of my strength."
Téa's eyes widen with disbelief. "You mean the power you've displayed in the past—all of the strength, was only just a little of what you can do?"
Cairo nods.
"And when you use too much, you lose control," Yami concludes.
She nods again. "It's hard for me to get a handle of all the dark powers that I was cursed with. Like I said before, the power that I possess scares me. The possibilities are endless." She stands up and Ebo hops on her shoulder. "It's best I take my leave."
"Please don't go," Tea pleads. "We need you!"
"Téa's right. We need all the help we can get."
"I'm sorry, but I have to. Besides, the gods really don't want me interfering anymore." She begins to levitate in the air and looks at the pharaoh. "I'm glad I was able to see you one more time."
"Cairo, wait!" Yami calls after her as she zooms up into the sky.
Cairo holds Ebo in her arms as she flies further up into the air, whooshing through the clouds. It pains her to leave. She really wants to stick around and help. But maybe this is for the best. And after that huge display of her power, it probably wouldn't be wise to stick around. She doesn't want to hurt anyone. "At least I got to see him again," she says to herself. She can feel herself tearing up, but she quickly blinks them away. She sniffles and wipes her nose with the back of her sleeve. "Focus Cairo. You need to find all of the souls."
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Yami, Téa, Joey and Tristan make it to the train station just before it pulls off. Luckily for them, they were able to hitch a ride with Duke who put the pedal to the metal to get them there on time. The train is fully packed, ranging from young kids to older adults.
"Nothing like a cold soda and a bag of chips," Joey says, cracking open the can as they all sit in their seats. Tristan does the same and they look out the window, enjoying the sights as the train speeds down the tracks.
Téa groans. They seem to be enjoying themselves. As usual, they get distracted instead of focusing on the bigger picture as to why they're taking the trip in the first place. But she doesn't say anything, allowing them to stretch their legs before its back to business. She looks over at the pharaoh, who sits next to her by the window. His eyes are lowered and he seems very distant.
'He's barely said a word since Cairo left,' she thinks to himself with concern. 'I got to get him to say something.' She lets out a fake sneeze in an attempt to get him to speak, but it doesn't work. She ponders in her head what else she can do or say and then an idea pops into her mind.
She points out the window. "Whoa! The view is awesome! Come on, check it out!" she exclaims with a smile. But he doesn't budge. "Florida has the best beaches! Aw man! I think I forgot to pack my bathing suit!" Once again her attempts end in failure and he becomes more withdrawn.
'The pharaoh must really miss Yugi. And now Cairo's gone too,' she says in her mind.
In one final attempt, she says, "Come on, you gotta cheer up. I promise we'll get Yugi back! But in the meantime, you can't just sit around moping. It might help to talk about it?"
Yami sighs and gets up from his seat. "Sorry Téa," he apologize as he walks out of the cart.
"Poor guy…"
"I think he needs to be alone for awhile," Tristan observes.
"He's already alone," Joey comments before taking a sip of his soda. "Isn't that the whole problem? He's crushed."
"Yeah, you're right," Téa agrees.
"But he'll be good as new soon enough. Because we're gonna rescue Yugi, right guys?"
Téa nods with a smile. "There's no doubt." She then turns her attention to Tristan. "It just sucks that Cairo had to leave us as well."
"Why are you looking at me?" Tristan asks, waving his arms in front of him and Téa grunts.
Yami stands in between cars and looks out the window. 'How could I have been so selfish?' he asks himself, the events leading up to Yugi's soul being taken continuously replaying in his mind. 'I gave in to the darkness within my heart and Yugi paid the price.' He punches the wall and slides down to the floor, holding onto his Millennium Puzzle.
About a half hour goes by and Téa and the others are growing more concerned. "He's been gone for awhile," Téa says as Tristan looks at his surroundings before gasping.
"Hey, hold on. He's not the only one," Tristan says. Joey looks around as well and realizes that the whole car is empty. "Call me crazy. But wasn't this train filled with passengers just a minute ago? What's the deal? How can a train that was once full of people be suddenly empty?"
Téa gets out of her seat to observe too and a chill goes through her body. "Alright. I'm officially freaked out."
In a dark lair, Dartz laughs as more souls fill his sanctuary. "A vacant train is the least of your problems my friends. I'm just getting warmed up."
Joey comes out of another car and sure enough it is empty as well. "I don't see a soul."
"Do you have to say soul?" Tristan asks, side eyeing him.
They open the door to yet another car and it produces the same results. "It's a complete ghost town in here."
Téa dims her eyes. "Don't say ghost either."
After getting his mind together, Yami finally joins the others. "There you are!" Téa says.
"If you haven't noticed, something weird is going on," Joey says and that's when Yami takes notice that there is no one else on the train with them.
"If you ask me, I think this is another trap!" Tristan assumes.
"Yeah," Joey agrees with narrowed eyes. "I'm sure those same slime balls are behind this."
Yami leads the way to the front of the train to try and get it to stop. As he crosses over into the other car, he is unaware that the hinges have come loose and the cars are starting to separate. He gets on the other side with ease, but the distance between the cars are growing.
"Oh no!" Téa exclaims and the pharaoh looks back, seeing what is happening.
He outstretches his hand. "Grab my hand!" She takes a huge leap and he catches her, leaving Joey and Tristan on the other side.
"Hey pharaoh! What do we do now?!" Tristan yells over the strong wind.
"Get help!" Yami shouts back.
"Come on! We gotta figure out a way to stop this train!" Téa says and Yami nods in agreement. As their half of the train continues, Tristan and Joey's half slows down until it comes to a complete stop in the middle of nowhere.
Téa knocks on the conductor door. "Hello! Is anyone in there?!" When she gets no response she turns back to Yami and shakes her head. The train crosses over a bridge and onto a portion where there is nothing on either side of them but a hundred foot drop. The train seems to go faster and faster and panic begins to set in.
"There's gotta be another way to stop this train!" Yami yells.
"Yeah, but how?!"
The wheels on the train suddenly bounce on the tracks and Yami holds onto Téa as the train leaves the tracks. Both of them scream as it skids across the dirt and they both topple over, crashing into the hard metal seats, knocking them both unconscious. Finally, the train goes into a free fall off the side of a cliff, heading toward the trees below.
"No!" Dartz yells, slamming down his fists. He didn't anticipate the train doing this. "I need the pharaoh alive!"
Flying in the sky above, Cairo witnesses all of this going on and quickly zooms down, racing to beat the train before it makes impact on the ground. She manages to fly underneath it and with one hand, she catches the train and holds Ebo in the other hand. Ebo meows as she descends, placing the train down.
"I guess I really can't help myself," Cairo says to her companion. She floats in the air and looks through one of the cracked windows, seeing her father and Téa lying motionless on the floor. "Not good." Hearing rustling from some nearby bushes, she quickly looks towards the source and sees a little girl with brown pig tails and an older man with a beard carrying a staff. Without a word, Cairo lands on the ground, holding Ebo close to her chest as she observes the two individuals.
"Did you see that, grandpa?" the girl asks.
"Yes, Chris," the older man says. "Who are you and how are you capable of such things?"
Cairo doesn't respond. She looks to the train and then back to them. She senses a strange presence coming from. The feeling is similar to when she senses spirits. But she doesn't get any evil vibes from them.
"Something tells me you're not from this world," the old man says.
"And neither are you," Cairo says calmly. She looks to the train again and the old man smiles.
"Don't worry," he says and her eyes scrolls back to look at him. "They're in good hands."
After studying them for a bit more, Cairo concludes that they are not a threat. She bows her head slightly, closing her eyes before disappearing through the ground.
"Amazing," Chris says with astonishment.
"Come on Chris. They need our help," the old man says as they walk toward the train.
YGOYGOYGOYGOYGOYGO
Another chapter done! I don't want to delve too much in the Orichalcos story so some things will be skipped over and moreso focusing on Cairo in the coming chapters. I want to eventually get to the Tournament that takes place later on and Dawn of the Duel in this story.
Pleaseeeee review!
