Author's Note: This particular chapter reflects how I think that any parent would feel when dragged into such a dangerous situation with their children on the line. I know that in these shows it's always teenagers that save the world, but I think that the main targets in this story would still be Yugi and his friends because they were the ones who saved the world before and Yugi used to posses the Millennium puzzle. Yugi and the others are very protective over the ones they love, so there was no way that they would let Akari get involved unless someone forces their hand.
-ForeverLily
Higher Stakes Chapter 3: Breaking the news
"So you're telling me that Yami Bakura is back?"
Tea nodded. "That's right Joey. Bakura's back, and he's just as nasty as ever. He seems different somehow…but I don't know how to explain it.
"So what do we do now?" Mai asked. It was slightly disturbing to her how calm everyone seemed-they were treating the situation like it was a routine thing for them.
Yugi answered, "Ishizu needs to know. Hopefully she'll be able to hide the other items and mislead Bakura if he comes too close. After that…we just wait and see. I'm sure trouble will find us again somehow…it usually does." There was no way that Bakura would be gone for long not when he knew that he had the advantage.
"That's right bro! We'll do this thing together, just like in the good old days!" exclaimed Tristan. "This time I'm more prepared." He learned duel monsters after they returned from Egypt. They all needed something to take their minds off of the Pharaoh's departure and he said that he was tired of being forced to watch when his friends were backed into a corner.
Yugi glanced around the room to get a feel for what everyone was thinking. Tea was fiddling with edge of her blouse. She was worried, but that was no surprise. They had all just been attacked. He would have been worried if she was perfectly all right, he knew that he wasn't. Joey and Tristan both wore grave expressions that would have seen foreign on their faces in their youth. This time they knew what they were up against. Mai's eyes were narrowed and determined. She had often expressed her guilt about the Dartz affair and regretted leaving after Battle City. She felt like because she was the oldest and the most experienced Duelist she should have been there.
"And this time I'll be here to help! You guys need another person with common sense. How you guys survived all of that without me is beyond me. I may not have been part of the gang then, but I promise I'll do what I can to help. I kind of liked the other Yugi! He had guts. And unlike a certain someone we know," she elbowed Yugi in chest, "He had a rather lovely dark sense of humor. It was obvious to me that besides Tea, he was the grownup. It was kind of disturbing seeing this cute kid turn into a confident adult while wearing the same face."
"Hey, we weren't little kids you know!"
She elbowed her husband with a playful smile on her face. "Oh please, you boys still act like children. I will say you were fairly mature for teenagers, but you were still teenagers."
"You're not that much older than us Mai." Anzu pointed out.
"I was already in my twenties by the time I met you, and you're parents raising teenagers now. Surely you understand what I mean."
Actually, Yugi did understand what she meant. They were still pretty innocent when they met Mai, but they had stepped up to the plate when they needed to, so they were often treated as adults. "Point taken. That's why I'm doing everything I can to make sure that Akari doesn't get involved."
"I'm agreed. Let's make sure that my favorite niece doesn't get her soul taken by freaks who wanna destroy the world!"
The phone rang before Tea or Yugi could reply. "Yugi, do you have the millennium puzzle?"
"No, I don't. All I know is the Thief king is in the millennium ring again and it has found its way back to Bakura. I'll keep a lookout for any others."
There was a short pause over the phone before she spoke again."Thank you Yugi. Be careful, I fear that the worst has yet to come."
"Wait! Ishizu, what power does the millennium puzzle have without the Pharaoh in it? I just spoke to him, so I'm pretty sure he's still in the afterlife. So why does he want it if it won't be of any use to him?"
"You spoke to him?"She gasped.
"Bakura shot me-I'm fine now, though. The pharaoh brought me…somewhere where he could heal me."
"Bakura shot you!"
He nodded out of habit. "Yes. I'm fine now".
"Be careful. I have reason to believe that the spirit of the millennium ring has allied himself with darkness yet again, and without the pharaoh this may be our most difficult fight yet!"
What could they do without a single millennium item on their side? Both of the times Zork was defeated the combined power of shadow magic and they Egyptian gods had barely been enough to contain him. He looked around the room at his friends, his family, the peaceful little house that they called theirs…he had to fight to protect it, even if it meant losing his life in the process. "You're right. You be careful too. He wanted to know the location of the Pharaoh's tomb, so I wouldn't be surprised if he went looking for you next."
"All right Yugi, we will. Take care and heed my warning. I fear for the world without the power of the millennium puzzle." So did he.
"What did Ishizu say?"
"She's agrees with us. She thinks that Yami Bakura is with him again and doesn't have any more of an idea of what do than we do.
"So that's it then? We're all dead? Just like that!" Tristan shouted in frustration. "Damn it!" He hit the arm of the couch. "We went through all of this once, and now we have to do it again, only this time we're doing it with both hands behind our back!"
"We're not alone Tristan! We do have allies, we just can't see them." He had always believed this, but his experience being healed had proved that his convictions were founded. His pocket burned where his deck was as if to prove his point. "The Pharaoh still watches over us. He saved me, and he sent Mana and Mahad to protect us. Maybe we can't speak to him right now, but we have to believe that things aren't hopeless. We can't afford to keep talking like we've already lost!"
Tristan sighed."Yeah, I guess you're right man. But still, I really liked the guy and everything, but this time we can't rely on him."
"He's right Yugi, this is our fight now. He's done his duty, now it's our turn."
"It's your turn to do what?"
Yugi turned towards the door and saw his daughter standing in the doorway. "What are you doing up? You should go back to bed Akari, you've had a difficult day."
"How could I sleep after all that? Besides, I can hear Uncle Tristan and Uncle Joey with my door shut and my music player on!"
"Sorry kiddo, we'll try to keep it down. You really should go to bed and let the grown ups handle the grown up business." Tristan said dismissively.
Yugi braced himself for her protests. She wouldn't be happy that he talked to her like a child."
Her face gradually turned red and she stopped her foot in indignation. Despite trying so hard to grow up too fast she had never been able to get rid of that habit. Somehow Yugi found it comforting that she could still be his little girl for while longer. "Hey, I'm not kid anymore! I've dueled these guys before and I won! So Daaad, please, let me help! There has got be something that I can do."
Tristan motioned towards the couch. "If you're not going to bed you might well sit down with us."
A smile lit up Akari's face as she sat down next to her mother. "So what is it your turn to do?" She repeated again.
Yugi opened his mouth, but closed it again. It was their time to save the world? It was their turn to risk their lives? Their turn to sacrifice themselves? What was he supposed to tell her? "It's our turn to stand up for ourselves and do what is right. Before you get any ideas, us is your mom, aunts and uncles and I. Even if you were an adult, this isn't your fight. They're coming after us because of our ties to the Pharaoh, so they won't be satisfied until they confront me."
"But didn't you do that before?"
"We faced it together. But back then, the Pharaoh took the lead. Now it's our turn!" Joey added.
Mai's eyes flitted around the room. When she sensed the tension, she added lightheartedly, "Look at it this way, this time we all know what we're up against and we've had the benefit of experience. I don't know about you all, but I'm twice the duelist that I was back then! This time I won't be so easy to beat!"
"She has a point ya know. No one's been able to call me a dog for a long time."
"Didn't Seto call you that yesterday?"Tea laughed.
"Well, he's the exception. Old habits die hard and all that."
"Dog? Why would anyone call you that?" Akari asked in confusion.
No one knew how to answer that without hurting Joey's feelings. Mai leaned forward almost conspiratorially. "Listen Kiddo, I hate to break it to you, but your Uncle…let's just say that he used to be all bark and no bite when came to dueling."
"Hey!"Joey protested.
"But he had heart, and he eventually got better. He learned really fast, and now look at him, he's near the top of the league!" She patted his arm affectionately. "He's still not as good as me as course, but not everyone can be as talented and as beautiful as me!" She winked.
Everyone laughed and Joey muttered under his own breath, "My own wife!"
Tristan elbowed Joey and laughed, "Hey man, you knew what you were getting when you married her."
"Yeah." His annoyed expression turned into a gentle smile. "I wouldn't have her any other way…"
Yugi glanced at his phone in order to see what time it was. It was already after midnight. "You really should go to bed Akari. It's after midnight and tomorrow's a school night."
"But you haven't even told me your plan." That was because they didn't have a real plan, unless waiting counted.
"We're waiting for them to make the first move while we do some investigating."
"That's it?"
Tea squeezed her daughter's hand. "Sweetie, there's nothing else we can do right now. For now we need to be careful. We'll drive you to school and back, and we'll set up cameras in the shop. You can do your part by not going off alone. When you're at school don't go anywhere alone. Okay?"
"Fine," she sighed. "I hate waiting." So did he.
"Come on, I think all of us should try to sleep. Losing sleep won't do us any good."
That night Yugi wasn't able to sleep right away. His wife was thoroughly exhausted from the day's events and had fallen asleep only moments after her head had hit the pillow, but he had too much on his mind. This was a frequent occurrence for him because his brain always tried to go into overdrive when all he wanted to do was sleep.
What do we do Atem? Tristan had a point when he said it was like fighting with both hands behind our back. The last time we needed Shadow magic to defeat them. What are we supposed to do without that? My daughter needs to know that everything's gonna to be alright, but can I honestly say that's true? I don't know if you can hear my thoughts anymore, but if you can…please help us come up with something. I know you can't directly interfere, we could really use some ideas.
Slowly exhaustion took over and he fell asleep.
"Yugi, all is not lost." Yugi found himself face to face with the Pharaoh.
"I thought you couldn't interfere directly?"
"Most of the time I may only communicate with you in small ways, but at times of great danger I may contact you." Yugi nodded in understanding.
"I heard your plea Yugi. I have spoken with Ishizu, I am not sure how the shadow games were released again-they should have left your world when I did. She believes that Bakura's escape from the shadow realm may have released shadow magic. The only way to banish it is to defeat him."They had guessed as much.
"I met up with everyone to discuss what happened today."
"And?"
"We think that…that Zorc might be involved. There was no way that we could have stopped him for good. How can you defeat the embodiment of darkness? Bakura said that he escaped because of the shadows, so it seems reasonable that he had help."
"I hope you are wrong Yugi."
"Yeah, so do we." Yugi sighed. "What are we supposed to do without Shadow magic? The last time it took the magic of the Millennium Puzzle and the Egyptian Gods, and now…wait! I almost forgot. I received a call from Ishizu Ishtar today. She wanted to know if I had the puzzle. We've been trying to figure out what could they want with the puzzle? What power could it possibly have now that the items have been laid to rest?" He had never had the puzzle without the Pharaoh, and they mostly used it for purposes of switching who inhabited his body, so he had no idea what the full capabilities of the puzzle were.
The pharaoh considered his question for a moment. He knitted his eyebrows into the grave expression that he was so familiar with. "The millennium puzzle is first and foremost a conduit for shadow magic. It's other abilities stem from this. If it is still able to access shadow magic, which seems fairly likely, he will be able to have greater control over shadow magic, cast illusions, have measure of control of the human mind and soul, and begin shadow games. The part of his soul that was hidden away from the puzzle has been destroyed, so I do not believe that the puzzle will allow him to access the full extent of his abilities because he will not be recognized as worthy of using the puzzle. If were anyone else it would cast his soul back into the shadow realm, but because he already has the millennium ring he will most likely be granted some amount of control over it."
Did Bakura already have the puzzle? The ring was buried in the ruins of the sanctuary along with the rest of the items, so if he had one he must have a chance to get the others. The Pharaoh really did seem to be able to read his mind and answered his unspoken question.
"No, he doesn't have it. When we realized what he intended Mana and Mahad were able to shield the rest from his sight and hid them in a new location. The ring was fated to be his, so they were unable to get it away in time. " That bought them some time to come up with another plan. Maybe they could hide them…
"Yugi, you know what you must do."
"Find the puzzle?"
"Yes. You must find the puzzle and wear it. You will be deemed worthy of the puzzle. I believe that because we are connected you may have access to the full extent of its abilities. You are fated to hold it.
"How can you be so sure? I've changed a lot since then."
"We'll just call it a hunch."
"Well, I guess a hunch is better than nothing. I'll take it! But wait, where exactly did they hide the puzzle?"
"If you think about it enough you'll have all of the answer you need. Take care Yugi, I think someone's trying to wake you up."
" Thanks Pharaoh. It seems that we owe you our lives yet again."
"We're friends, remember? You aren't alone in this." The image of the pharaoh became gradually blurrier until he opened his eyes.
"Yugi, wake up! We promised to take Akari to school today, remember?"
Yugi's head was still spinning from his dream. "Huh?"
"We're taking Akari to school today."
"Right. I'll be ready in a minute. Can you go ahead and make sure she's up too? I'll only need a minute to get dressed. After we drop her off there's something I need to tell you."
"I'm on it."
Yugi could hear his wife's shouts of "It's time for school" even with door shut. His daughter had never been much of a morning person, which was puzzling considering that both he and Anzu had been morning people even when they were teenagers. He used to jokingly ask Tea if Akari was really Joey's kid, to which she'd respond with, "Well, I've always meant to tell you about our secret love affair."
He got breakfast on the stove while his wife tried to drag their daughter out of bed and get her ready.
Without any conscious effort his hands moved by themselves. He cracked eggs, put the bacon on the pan, and put toast in the toaster. This was their favorite breakfast, although they did not eat it often because Akari always ran too late to make breakfast. She usually made do with a piece of toast. They needed normality and a chance to be a family. Also, as Joey used to say, you can't fight the forces of darkness on an empty stomach!
He had just finished cooking when Tea came downstairs with Akari.
"Next time it's your turn." Tea said as she kissed him on the cheek before sitting down.
"Dad, I've been wondering…" She trailed off. She had that desperate gleam in her eyes that she only used when she tried to beg him to let her do something she knew he'd say no to.
"What is it Akari? You know you can ask me anything."
"Now that I'm going to be prepared for a duel at any time I was wondering…"
"You want to go to duel Academy."
"Yeah! I need to become a stronger duelist, especially with everything that's going on.
"Because do don't need to go to dueling school to be duelist. We want you to have a more varied education." Tea gently explained. This had been a sore spot for Akari since she turned fifteen and could take the Dueling Academy Entrance Exam. Both Tea and Yugi had agreed that it would be a better idea for her to attend a regular high school and then receive tutoring later.
"But you're the King of Games! You run a game shop. I don't get why you won't let me go!" She whined.
"Akari, you're a great duelist even without attending a dueling Academy. I became King of Games while attending a regular school, and I still hold the title. We don't want you to attend because you'd be safer that way. Although I'm not sure why, some people insist treating me like a celebrity. Wet thought that it would make things more difficult for you. We want everyone to know that you earned your victories, and that you have achieved success on your own merit."
"Dad, things were different then. All of the top duelists under the age of 30 for the past decade have gone there!"
"Our answer is no. Even if you were going now I'd pull you out anyway. Right now Bakura knows very little about our lives, which means that the moment he hears about Duel Academy he's going to assume that you go there because you're my daughter."
She moved her eggs around her plate with her chopsticks before she ate them. "Do you really think he'd attack a school." Yugi and Tea looked at each other and nodded.
"Yes," she said. "You've seen some of what he's capable of, but we've seen him do much worse."
"We're not telling you this to scare you, but-"
"I need to be careful, have my deck on me at all times, and never let myself be caught anywhere alone. Yeah, I know. This is probably like, what, the third time in 24 hours that you've told me that Dad."
"Actually I was going to say that you need to be prepared, but yes."
The alarm went off on his phone. "Come on, you don't wanna be late do you? Didn't you tell me that you've got some sort of test today?"
"Huh? I never said that. I don't have a…my History test! I completely forgot to study about it!" She studied all of the way there and than all but ran into the school, hoping to gain a few extra minutes of study time.
"So what was it you wanted to tell me?" Tea asked once they were back at the house. "I've canceled lessons at studio today and the shop rarely gets customers at this time of day, so we've got plenty of time."
"We should sit down." He let her over to table. "Coffee?"
"Sure, thanks." There was silence as poured the coffee.
"One tablespoon of sugar?"
"Yes, but-"
"Cream?"
"No Yugi I'm-"
"How about snacks?" For some reason he couldn't stop running his mouth.
"I'm fine Yugi. We just had breakfast. You're worrying me. You keep stalling, and it's only making me more nervous. Can you please just tell me already?" She saw right through him. It was obvious that he was stalling for time.
"You know how you had a hard time waking me up this morning."
"Yes…"
"That was because I was having a conversation with the Pharaoh."
She just stared at him. "Oh. Are you that it wasn't a dream?"
He shook his head no. "It definitely wasn't a dream. He told me that Mana and Mahad managed to hide all of the items but the ring from Bakura. He thinks that I need to find the puzzle. Even without the Pharaoh it's powerful. He thinks that I may be meant to use it. But even if I wasn't, we should at least keep it away from Bakura."
"Where did they hide it?" He had been dreading that question.
"Well actually, he wouldn't tell me." Yugi rubbed the back of his neck in embarrassment.
"What do you mean he didn't tell you?"
"I meant it, he wouldn't tell me. He just said that I'd know if I thought about it enough. I'm not even sure if they hid all of the items in different places."
"Okay, let's just focus on the box. If you were trying to hide the puzzle, where would you hide it? You shared a body with him for several years, so must know how he thinks!
"It's been too long Tea. I had wondered if it was his tomb, but that couldn't be it. Ishizu and Marik would have said something by now. They know that he's looking for the tomb, so they must have checked on it by now."
"Then where?"
Remember where it all started.
"Pharoah? Where are you?"
"Yugi, are you okay? I didn't hear anything."
"Oh, I'm fine. Don't worry about me. I just thought I heard him. He told me to remember where it all started…"
"So do you think it's…?" They looked at each other and raced to his old bedroom. It was currently the guest room, but it looked almost exactly the same as it had when he was a child. There it was, sitting on the desk in plain sight In exactly the same spot that he had put it every night when he went to sleep. He gently ran a hand on over the top of box. This small box had brought him more joy than he could have ever imagined, but it had also brought him pain. This box had unleased the shadows back into the world, and now he would have to open it once more. Nostalgia overwhelmed him for a moment and his hand hovered over top.
"Go on." She said softly. "Let's see what's inside.
He reverently lifted the lid and saw the puzzle. It was in shimmering pieces. "Before I try to put this back together we really should call Kaiba."
"Why? It's not like he'll believer you."
"I'm not so sure about that. Either way, we have to try. The Dueling Academy is a part of Kaiba Corporation, so he needs to know."
"Just let me look up the number." She did a quick search online. "Found it. Do you want me to do it?"
"Sorry Tea, but my name holds more weight. It'll be easier to get the call through to him."
"You could just call his cell. You are friends now."
"He won't answer it at work. Sorry Tea, but it's got to be me." She nodded and scribbled down the down the number. She pushed it towards him. "Good luck."
He voice dialed the number and waited.
"Kaiba Corporation, how can I help you."
"Uh, hi, this is Yugi Motou, I need to talk to Mr. Kaiba regarding Duel Academy. Tell him it's urgent."
"Mr. Mutou, every call is urgent. I'm afraid you're going to have to give me a better reason than that Mr. Mutou-" Suddenly he heard muffled sounds on the other side.
"Sorry about that Yugi." Mokuba answered. "I just came back from a business lunch. "You said it's urgent?"
"Yes, I think Duel Academy's in danger because of, well, it's probably not something that we should talk about over the phone-who knows who could overhear us. Can Tea and I meet you in person?"
"Can you be here in fifteen minutes? I have about two hours until my meeting with my next client. I might even be able to drag Seto away from his office long enough for this too. Is this something that he really needs to hear?"
"Yes," Yugi said emphatically, "He definitely needs to hear this, but he might now believe it."
"Why wouldn't he? He takes the safety of his students very seriously."
"Remember the puzzle?"
"…do you mean it has to do with that stuff?"
"Yes."
"Okay. I'll make no promises about whether or not he'll believe it, but if it's about the school we have a duty to at least hear you out."
"Thanks. We'll leave right away."
Tea was ready with a bag for the puzzle. He grabbed his bag and put the puzzle in it to hide it from view.
"Let's go."
They drove as fast as they could and walked in as quickly as they could without actually sprinting. "Your bags." He pointed to security.
"For heaven's sake, both of the Seto and Mokuba Kaiba are expecting us and we're going to be late!" Right on cue the security guard received a call.
"But Mr. Kaiba, these two walked in with a suspicious bag…Are you sure? I would really have to advise you not too…no sir, of course I'm not questioning your judgment. Yes sir, right away."
He led the way to office. By now neither of them needed to be escorted, but he had to let the man do his job. He had been to this office many times and it had not changed location since he first took over the company.
To his surprise both Kaibas were setting in Seto's office.
"Close the door." He told the man who had escorted them.
The man nodded. "Yes Mr. Kaiba."
"Sorry about the hassle." Mokuba said. "There's some real nuts out there, so we've stepped up our security. If your bag had been a brief case he wouldn't have given you such a hard time."
"Thank you for making the time to meet with us ." Yugi had to nudge Tea to not hug him in greeting. Sometimes he let her get away with it in private, but there was no way they'd allow it in a professional setting
"Hey now, there's no need for that. We're all friends here." Mokuba insisted.
"Let's cut to the chase here." Seto said. "We don't have all day." Some things never changed.
Yugi shook his head, unsure of where to begin."You're not going to like it, but you need to hear it."
Tea was the one who was able to find the words to explain it coherently. "Yesterday we were attacked by Bakura. His body was possessed by the Spirit of the millennium ring."
"That's impossible."
"Considering that I doubt Bakura Ryou would shoot me, I'm sure it was him. He tried to summon diabound." Yugi added.
"Why aren't you in the hospital!" Mokuba exclaimed. Yugi ignored him and continued on.
"You're not going to believe this part."
"The Pharaoh healed him!" Tea added.
"So he's back."It wasn't a question the way he said it. He never would have guessed that Seto Kaiba would even be willing to listen to this conversation.
"No, he's not. He took me to some place and healed me, but he's not back."
"Can we just cut to the chase here? We don't have all day."
"How can you be so insensitive? All three of us were nearly killed yesterday, and don't even care!" Tea protested.
"It's fine Tea. This story is kind of long."
"Fine, I'm sorry that you're in danger. Now, can you please get to point of this little fairytale? I have a company to run."
"Fine. He's searching for the items, and we think that he's going to confront us soon."Tea said.
"We're afraid that he'll try to target Duel Academy to get to us because he's searching for these." He carefully unwrapped the box. "The puzzle has found its way back to me because Mana and Mahad hid the items to protect them from him. He might think that you have the millennium rod, so be on your guard."
"Let me get this straight. This is the same guy who took over Bakura during Battle city and did all of those things in Egypt?" Mokuba asked.
They nodded. "Why do you think that we'd have the rod?"he asked.
Seto scoffed. "It's because so guy who looked kind of like me in Ancient Egypt owned the rod. He's trying to drag us back into this hocus pocus nonsense again, is that right Yugi?" He said as if Yugi had just threatened him personally
"No, we're not. We don't expect you to come join us or anything, we just wanted to let you know to increase your security and carry your deck with you because the shadow games are back."
"Shadow games?" He had been kid when everything happened the first time, Yugi had thought that he would have a difficult time remembering everything, but then how easily could one forget having their soul stolen?
"Games where your soul is at stake. Like with Pegasus and Battle City." Mokuba went pale and comprehension dawned on his face.
"Fine, we will. Is that all?"
"That's everything."
"Then get out of my office. I don't have time for this nonsense."
"We should too." She agreed. "It was nice seeing you. Can we expect you for dinner on Wednesday at seven?" Tea asked. They had taken to inviting Seto and Mokuba for dinner because they all grieved the mutual loss of the pharaoh all of those years ago. Something about experiencing so much together drew them all together, and that included the incredibly hard headed CEO of Kaiba Corp. He initially refused, but Yugi had never stopped asking until he came, in his words, "Just to get him to shut up about it." The truth was that they had been through so much together that becoming friends was inevitable. Mokuba started coming before Seto did, and he quickly became one of them. They liked the kid, and though the title of big brother was reserved for Seto he found that he had begun to think of Mokuba as his little brother, so Seto tried to make his peace with them for Mokuba's sake. He would never be too affectionate towards his friends, but he tried.
"We'll see." He always said that, and he always came, even if he did complain about wasting time that could be spent working on whatever the latest project was.
Tea waved goodbye."See ya then!"
Author's Note: I've put some thought into Yugi's new relationship with the Pharaoh. Yugi is still struggling to not look at the pharaoh like a lost teenager looking for guidance because it's easy to revert back to old roles with people you care about. Right now it's Yugi's turn to step up the plate without the puzzle. Yugi's not completely alone, but this time it's his time to show the world what he's made of. Also, although he does try to help he is somewhat limited in what he can do.
Please read, review, and enjoy!
-ForeverLily
