Good Day Readers and welcome to the sequel to One Last Step! Thanks to all of you for the support and I hope that you all enjoy this latest and final edition of the Hope sisters. Due to certain events that happened at the end of One Last Step, this story will solely be told from Katherine's perspective.
Obviously I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh only Katherine Hope, Yumiko Kazayama, the Hope parents and Kylie Hope along with the unique cards within their decks and whatever other OCs decide to crop up. Also italics symbolise a mind conversation, a flash back or anything spoken in a language that isn't Japanese. I would appreciate any responses that you have, please enjoy
Chapter 6: - Motivation
Despite the frightening and unexpected return of the two Millennium Items, I knew the door needed answering so I rose to my feet and left the room whilst Yugi remained stationary from the weight of the shock he'd just received. Of course, it's not like I was any better given the fact that the object I had cast away so long ago had suddenly returned, the question that worried me most however, was how that Sera girl had got a piece of the puzzle.
I shook my head to erase that train of thought for the moment as I reached out pulling the door open however the person on the other side caused my eyes to widen, it was Honda, but the boy looked to be incredibly disturbed somehow as his eyes held an extremely worried look on his face when he finally glanced at me.
"Honda, what's wrong?" I asked. The brunette boy looked somewhat surprised to see me here but that did nothing to diminish the worried look that was swirling inside of his eyes as he looked around, so I reach out and clamped my left hand onto the boy's hand forcing him to look at me again. "What's wrong?" I repeated firmer than before.
"Play date's cancelled, something happened to Jounouchi," Honda revealed. With the order to wait, I darted back inside and whispered the news to Yugi who quickly grabbed his Deck and I copied him with both of us attaching them as Yugi asked Yumiko to remain behind in the building even though she was alone, it was damned safer than outside of it, I quickly pulled out a jacket which swallowed her arms thus hiding my Gauntlet before the two of us ran out.
Yugi was pulled onto Honda's bike whilst I climbed onto mine and so the brunette boy raced off with me following him, all of us were wondering what could have possibly happened to the knuckleheaded blonde that would have Honda in such a state of disarray, let's just say that any ideas I had weren't pleasant ones.
We eventually came to a stop and found Anzu standing beside a bicycle that I recognised as Jounouchi's especially from the Duel Disk that was situated in the front basket with his name's kanji on it. Anzu claimed it wasn't like the blonde at all to just abandon his Duel Disk in the middle of the street for no reason.
"Jounouchi-kun should have been with Bakura-kun and Aigami-kun," Yugi revealed. My body tensed up at hearing that name, the name of the person who was a threat to us, if Jounouchi was around him did that mean that the crazy sorcerer had done away with our blonde friend just as he had with so many others beforehand. "Let's search the area," Yugi suggested.
"That's no good, Aigami probably erased him," I muttered. However, despite the low tone with which I spoke, the others had still heard me and they looked at me with wide fearful eyes but then Honda grabbed a hold of my arm forcing me to look into his dark eyes that were burning with too many emotions to describe except one, demand.
"What?! Erased? Katherine what are you talking about!?" Honda snapped. I opened my mouth ready to explain what had happened to me this time around since we were being dragged into the fight anyway but before I could even form a single syllable, my eyes rolled into the back of my head as I felt my soul being pulled away once again.
*Yu-Gi-Oh*
"Again Kebi, really?" I asked. The white void surrounded us like last time although I did hear the laughter of my ancestor from behind, so I turned to face her as she quickly became solemn, her eyes focusing hard on me clearly showing that this was going to be another serious discussion concerning Diva's threat to us. "I met Sera, Yugi now knows as well and a piece of the Puzzle along with the Gauntlet have returned to him and me," I revealed.
"I know, Sera is my favourite. You could say she's my envoy in this world as only she can see or hear me and she also opposes Diva's plans openly, no matter how strong you are Katherine, you still need people to fight alongside you and so I asked Sera to deliver those pieces to you and the one who could support and assist you best," Kebi admitted.
"Diva's banished Jounouchi, is there any way to save him?" I asked. Kebi knew the power of the Prana and even though she may have never used it to erase people from existence, she was bound to know if there was any way to rescue one of my friends from meeting such a dark fate, Kebi's expression was a schooled one which didn't tell me anything although it did worry me slightly.
"Perhaps, but you don't have the power to cross dimensions. Besides I brought you here for a different purpose, I believe knowing Diva and his actions aren't enough, in the end you have always learned the why of your enemies as well. So, I shall show you why Diva wishes to erase evil," Kebi explained. As she did the vortex swirled around us, we were in the Mortuary Temple again, but the Millennium Stone was whole and in front of it sat Shadi with many young children sat around him, I recognised two of them.
"Master Shin, why must people persist in conflict?" Sera asked. From what I could sense about the current memory, Shadi was very much alive when this occurred which meant it had to have taken place several years ago; Shadi claimed that conflicted existed within all people's hearts. "Within our hearts," Sera repeated. Aigami was sat right next to her and only stated that none of those gathered had ever fought before thus how could they have conflict living within their hearts, I noticed that Shadi was lacking his turban allowing me to see the three upside down pyramids that were connected in a line along with two other gold markings underneath his eyes.
"Yes Diva, so long as fear exists in the hearts of any and all," Shadi revealed. Another boy probably the same age as Aigami questioned about fear and I couldn't help allowing my own thoughts on fear to creep into my mind. On a great level, yes it was bad because it froze us stiff unable to move but a low level of fear made one to reckless and could kill them, so fear was necessary at a suitable level. "All conflict spawns fear. The fear of loss, be it one's life, one's loved one, one's land or one's country. The gear of loss extends to many things," Shadi explained. I did have to agree with that explanation, after all Marik's treachery only came because of his fear of losing his freedom and hatred of his own birth right.
"Then what about rulers. Rulers who have nothing to fear exist in this world and take so much away," Aigamu explained. Shadi explained they only took because of fearing something being taken and by seeing this memory it allowed me to understand Aigami had once been kind and open person but that did not justify his actions towards other people, Marik had made up for his actions by destroying his other side and Noa had saved our lives, Aigami would have to make up for his actions to be redeemed in my eyes. "I am not afraid. Not ever since you saved us that one time, Master Shadi. And not as long as I can be with you and everyone, else Master Shadi!" Aigami exclaimed. He had leapt to his feet as he spoke this; but this was the naiveté of a child as he truly didn't understand fear and Shadi agreed from the look in his eyes.
"That is fear Diva," Shadi informed. Aigami was confused by this calm reprimand. "Everyone, listen well. Once all eight Millennium Items are assembled in the Tablet of the Underworld housed here, the doors to the afterlife shall be opened and the spirit of the ancient Pharaoh will pass on," Shadi explained. Or so the rest us had believed and somewhat hoped for given what could potentially happen and given what Seto had already done. "The door to a wonderful new world devoid of borders, race, conflict and even the barriers of language shall be opened and the chosen ones shall be led to that world. That is all of you. However, you must be cautious, for should the Pharaoh that has passed to the afterlife be resurrected in this world yet again you all will be bound to this dimension and the door to the future shall never be opened again. Remember this well. Fear renders all to nothing," Shadi warned.
However, at that exact moment someone appeared in the Mortuary Temple, drawing all of our attention to the individual; the person who had entered was an older man with long white hair tied in a ponytail with a white moustache and beard, he wore a brown suit slightly darker than his tanned skin and a bag was under is right arm… I had only seen him in pictures but I knew this man, it was Bakura's father.
"At last, at long last, I have found it," Mister Bakura spoke. He completely ignored Shadi and the children instead focusing solely on the Tablet of the Underworld, going as far as to rush over to it which held the Ring and Scales since Shadi was wearing the Key as always. "I knew it, I knew they were here! At long last, I have come across the golden ring," Mister Bakura claimed.
There was a wild almost mad look about the man as he stared at the Ring which unsettled me greatly as the man dumped the bag on the floor proceeding to open it offering any price to Shadi so long as he could have the ring. Obviously Shadi refused, claiming that the Millennium Ring already had an owner in line and that an evil spirit lived inside of it admitting it was safer for Mister Bakura to not be involved with it.
However, Mister Bakura didn't care about that still desiring the evil object and when he asked what to do, Shadi – after some great hesitation but submitting to destiny – told the man to put the object on. Mister Bakura's crazed mind was frightening the children quite a bit as Aigami held Sera to him in a protective embrace I recognised quite easily.
I knew what was about to happen, the price for failing to be chosen was death after all, but that didn't stop the jolt of surprise that leapt through me when black energy erupted from the cursed ring swarming through the Mortuary Temple before taking on the shape of skulls. These apparitions proceeded to slam into Mister Bakura sending him flying backwards and crashing onto the floor with the Millennium Ring skidding away.
However, that wasn't the most shocking thing, instead that came when a young Bakura ran out from some hiding spot and knelt beside his weakened father who insisted on having the Ring. I was tempted to punch this stupid man, Bakura being the kind person he was ran over to the damned thing and picked it up causing my body to tense up in preparation for what was to come.
This time around an even more malicious energy surged out from the ring causing Shadi to panic as Bakura screamed in pain but I couldn't see what was happening to him as the purple smoke and golden light that radiated from the Ring caused Bakura to practically disappear from our sight, eventually it faded and Shadi ran forward.
"Are you alright boy?" Shadi asked. Bakura was knelt down on the floor and I recalled another fact that Shadi had told us, the fact that the evil spirit had been the one to kill him many years ago and I could already tell where this was going, as a dark high pitched laugh escaped from young Bakura and his head rose up to reveal that Dark Bakura was in control now.
"Shadi, I have finally found myself quite the comfortable owner to inhabit!" Dark Bakura declared. The tops that Bakura had worn were blown open revealing his torso to everyone and from that area the Millennium Ring appeared seeming to have merged with the boy's body making it almost like the thing was a part of his skin which nearly made me sick. "Rest easy and begone!" Dark Bakura commanded. A pulse of dark energy surged out and hit Shadi sending him flying back, the white void reappeared knowing I didn't need to see anymore.
"I th… I thought Bakura's father was still alive?" I wondered. Bakura had always talked about his father in the present tense unlike his mother and sister who were dead, could it be possible that the boy had been blocking this memory out completely, also it didn't fit with what Bakura had told us about his acquisition of the Millennium Ring either.
"He very nearly died, I managed to save him and rewrote both of their memories so that they believed he had bought it from a shop. After this the children went into hiding in the Prana Realm where they stayed until the Pharaoh left your world but by that point Aigami had been consumed by fear which as Shadi explained turned to anger and hatred. He believes Bakura is the one responsible not knowing of the evil spirit and he will not accept the loss of his power either, the pharaoh cannot return without a vessel," Kebi admitted.
"So, the crazy fool has erased one friend and is threatening another alongside the person I love, this fool doesn't seem to realise that those acts are going to paint a target on his back the size of the Oreichalcos God," I hissed. Erasing Jounouchi I could get over after a lot of time, same with the threat to Bakura but if that damned nut-job made any move against Yugi, I wasn't just going to stop him, I make him pay dearly for trying to hurt someone so dear to me.
"By the way, Sera claimed that me, and Yugi were like her, chosen for this new world along with Yumiko. Why?" I asked. Sera's words had been rattling inside of my mind for a while now and I need to know why the young girl assumed we were like her despite not possessing the powers of the Prana which she and her brother did.
"Because, Yugi is the vessel of our Pharaoh, as for you, well you are my descendant with potent magical powers of your own, the two of you will be able to open up the path to that new world. But Yumiko… I do not know. Yumiko is your blood cousin through your mother whilst I am linked to you by your father," Kebi explained. That was a lot to take in in such a short time that I couldn't exactly respond to those words causing my head to be lowered in contemplation about what they meant for us. "Time to go," Kebi claimed. I snapped my head up to face my ancestor but the feeling of being pulled away was too much for me to resist and I returned to my body.
*Yu-Gi-Oh*
My eyes flew open as I drew in a deep breath that left my chest heaving, Yugi was right beside me supporting my tumbled body whilst Anzu and Honda were still standing up as they stared at me, I pulled myself forward so that my knees were underneath me as I dragged in deep breaths to strengthen myself once again.
"That time it was only a minute, what happened this time?" Yugi asked. I knew I had to answer their questions but after what I had just learned, now really wasn't the time for a Q and A session so I pushed myself up shakily onto my feet causing Yugi to furrow his eyebrows at my seemingly reckless actions, but I needed to get to Bakura as fast as possible.
"No time, Bakura's in danger! Spread out and find him, or something weird. And someone stay with Yugi!" I commanded. Without wasting a second, I spun around and took off down the street, I wasn't just running randomly instead I was sending out pulses of magical energy looking for any kind of anomaly that could pinpoint where the crazy sorcerer or Bakura were located.
It was highly likely that Aigami had moved them to another dimension thus my power alone was insignificant to get there, I would need to locate the specific location where the two worlds had pressed together for that brief moment. If I could pinpoint that spot, then I might be able to siphon off the remains of the Prana that was used at that location in order to try and force the doorway open once more and move into the dimension that had been linked to it.
However, as I ran searching for a single sign, something powerful and evil seemed to sweep through the road and nearly sent me hurtling from my feet but something pushed against me keeping me upright and I looked back seeing that it was Anzu who had a worried look on her face and behind her were the rest of them minus our missing friends.
"Something very powerful and very evil came from that direction," I admitted and pointed in the direction it came from. In response to my words, all of the other three proceeded to look ahead and began to move however before they got too far, I reached out and stopped Yugi causing him to turn and the others did as well. "I'll answer everything later but a word of warning, that's probably the Millennium Ring we sensed," I revealed.
As one would expect of us upon hearing those accursed words again, the others turned into statues for several seconds before shaking it off and we proceeded to continue searching calling out for our friends or a sign of the doorway, we eventually arrived in the centre of the city's centre underneath the clock causing a memory of Battle City to appear in my mind before the ripple of magic yanked my attention firmly back to the present.
"Looking for something Muto Yugi?" Aigami's voice sounded. All of us turned around to face the boy as he seemingly appeared out of thin air whilst more of the purple people with orange eyes also showed up effectively surrounding us causing me to sneer and I proceeded to step forward so that I was slightly in front of everyone else.
"Aigami, you sick twisted son of black hearted demon! Where are Jounouchi and Bakura?!" I yelled. The boy's eyes widened probably surprised to hear me spitting out such terrible words at him and I did take a little joy in seeing the surprised expression that replaced the smug expression he had on earlier. "I was treated to a sight since I was allowed to witness your duel with Seto in the temple, spiritually speaking," I explained. This caused Aigami to narrow his eyes and understanding appeared in them.
"I see. The Mother is making her opinion known is she," Aigami stated. This caused the others to begin firing questions at the boy still calling him by his alias until Yugi asked who the boy was. "We are the Prana, an entity with a collective consciousness far more evolved from that of your own," Aigami informed. Naturally Honda demanded to know what the heck the boy was talking about since they didn't understand what he meant. "The entity known as Aigami, too, is but an illusion planted into your memories. My true name is Diva. You're looking for Bakura and Jounouchi, correct?" Aigami questioned. Yugi was surprised by those words from the sound that escaped him. "As for them… I've made them vanish off to the far side of the dimension," Aigami added on. This immediately put us all on the defensive as magic crackled in my hands.
"How could you Aigami?! We trusted you! We considered you a friend! Was everything earlier a lie? Just to get closer to Bakura? Answer me Aigami!" I cried. Tears had begun to slither down my cheeks as I angrily stared at the boy before me, thanks to this I noticed that Aigami hesitated for the briefest of moments before his eyes hardened once more, Yugi reached up to pull me into a hug as he wiped away my tears.
"I told you Katherine, I am Diva and it is the fate of all who oppose me," Diva firmly declared. Yugi reached out to me and pulled her into a tight embrace whilst I kept a hard glare focused on the boy across from us. "Muto Yugi, vessel of the Pharaoh. You will be joining them. By the cards of arcane magic, I will send you off to the far side of the dimension," Aigami claimed. As he spoke those words, his cube appeared before him; that got the reaction of me pulling free of Yugi's embrace as once more my magical energy irradiated off of my entire form.
"Not. Happening!" I snarled. Suddenly a surge of magical energy breezed passed me almost like the ghosting of caressing fingers and the gentle touch of warm arms, then a circle of light appeared between us and Aigami its' magic similar to those of the Millennium Items and something even more familiar, then shockingly enough from within that light Jounouchi reappeared crouched down; when the light vanished, Yugi called out to the blonde and he turned to look at us.
"You guys… but why? Did I manage to make it back?" Jounouchi wondered. I was confused as to how the boy could have possibly escaped from the dimension he had been trapped in given that he had no magical powers and no one was with him that did, even Aigami appearing to be surprised claiming that the blonde should have been nothing more than a pile of particles by now. "You sure don't get it, Aigami. Our bonds, you see, are always connected, transcending dimensions!" Jounouchi declared. I smiled at his words as everyone did the same thing.
Apparently, the fact that there was a force greater than the Prana caused the rest of Aigami's group to become scared and they promptly vanished but the main man himself remained behind a little longer. Jounouchi demanded that Bakura be returned to us, but Aigami did no such thing instead focusing on what Jounouchi had somehow accomplished – claiming he had confused this Prana's Mind – and claimed that we interested him then the crazy sorcerer vanished.
"Jounouchi-kun, we have to save Bakura-kun," Yugi insisted. At that moment, rain began to pour down around us, however we weren't going to stop our search for the missing white haired friend so we once more decided to split up to search. I just hoped that we'd be able to find the boy before it was too late for him to be saved from whatever fate met those in another dimension.
"Say, Yugi! Katherine!" Jounouchi called. Both me and the boy had been about to leave but turned to face the blonde confused as to why he had stopped us. "You see, I… I… nah, it's nothing," Jounouchi stated. The blonde then took off passed us but me and Yugi were left utterly confused by this, it seemed like Jounouchi wanted to say something to us… but what? And why did he stop himself from saying it?