Selket caught up with them on the way to the game shop after school. She was smiling. "It's started," she told Yuugi.
"What's started?" asked Jounouchi.
"What I'm here for, remember?"
"No," said Yuugi.
"Oh, that's right. I haven't told you guys yet. I'm going to dominate the world." She laughed freely with the others.
"But seriously," gasped Honda between chuckles, "you?" He patted her on the head, glad that he didn't have to worry about bloodying his hand like he would have if it had been Yuugi.
"Seriously." She grinned. "With my control over duel monsters, I'll have a virtually infinite army. And if they're destroyed, I can always call up more."
Yuugi felt a chill run down his back. Despite her laughing face, Selket was dead serious about this. His friends, however, thought it was a game and were playing right along. "But if you've got such a huge army, won't it be hard to control them all?"
She smiled. "Not really, but I will have seven elite generals just beneath me. They'll have a deck's worth of battlers under their command-their decks. All powers of magic and traps will be given directly to them."
"Ooh." Honda pretended to be awed. "And who will these privileged generals be?"
"The bearers of the millennium items."
This sent them into fresh gales of hilarity. Anzu put a hand on Yuugi's shoulder. "Go Yuugi! You're gonna be a general!"
"What's up wid dat?" mused Jounouchi. "The shrimps gonna rule the world?"
"Hey!" objected Yuugi. They all laughed some more.
"But how you gonna control the generals?" asked Anzu. "I mean, with so much power, they might rebel."
"No. They can't."
"What do you mean?"
"I met your friend Bakura at lunch today."
"So?"
"He already has begun the transformation into one of my generals."
"What do you mean?" asked Yuugi. He had a bad feeling about this.
"The price is but small: they have only to present me with their favorite card. While I hold it, they will not rebel. His, or rather his darker side's desire for power made him very vulnerable to my promises. I shall have to find someone else to bear the millennium eye, though; he can't have two. Hmm…Shaddhi, either."
Yuugi felt cold all over. "You have Bakura's card?"
She nodded absently, rummaging through her bag. "Here." He grasped the card in trembling hands. The change of heart had a new face; he had seen it like that once in the Shadow Realm. The face was Bakura's.
He couldn't say anything.
"It's painless, really," she said, taking the card back. "It's just terribly convenient. Without their souls, their Yamis are subjected entirely to my will, yet they retain their strategic brilliance. The world has never seen anything like it."
"But…what about…" stammered Yuugi, choking on his words.
She looked grave. "No, Yuugi. You gave me your friendship yesterday. That is enough; I will not demand your black magician."
He nodded, relief flooding him but not quite drowning the uneasiness inside.