Author's Note: *is giggly happy* Well, I have a reason to keep writing this ^^; Even though I'm no longer in school to keep updating this, my county library *which I frequent often* has a computer set up where I can actually use a floppy disk. In other words, I can update this whenever I get a chapter up and running. If it wasn't for my readers, I probably would have sacked this story a long time ago just because I couldn't update it, but now I keep on writing it for those of you who want to see it done. *grins* May put up what I have of Chapter Four if you're lucky ;)

*brief Chapter 3 note*: If this chapter seems a bit confusing, I'm glad to know it's not just me 0.0; Like I've said, this story's a rough draft. Hopefully I will get it sorted out before I upload XP Either that or I will let it explain itself at the end of the story like I planned ^^; edit: *scratch that -- it's explained in this chappy ^^; kinda anyway XP*

~Zelda Martial

Chapter Three: Theft of the Millennium Items and Master Appears --complete--

We flew on for several hours before we reached the Pacific Ocean, continuing our journey towards the Duelist's Kingdom To keep ourselves occupied, we playfully dove in and out of waves and even saw a spectacular display of Orcas as they followed us on our journey. My first thought of something terrible about to happen was when the whales started to drop off in numbers and an oddly shaped dorsal fin broke the waves just ten miles outside Duelist's Kingdom. As soon as the body of the beast broke the surface, I knew exactly what it was.

"Seiyaryu, fly higher!" I commanded the dragon. However, the great burst of speed that Seiyaryu had put on had caused me to loose my balance and too fall off of his back. I didn't know if I ever hit the ocean's surface because I had lost consciousness as soon as I fell off Seiyaryu. The Great White charged towards me with all his ferocity, but was stopped short by another Duel Monster.

"Stop right there Great White!"

Great White recoiled from the sound and touch of his enemy, The Enchanted Mermaid.

"I have no fight with you witchy Mer," Great White hissed in response. "Give up the girl and I shall spare your life."

"We cannot nor will we give up the girl to you to bring back to your Master Great White." Another monster had been summoned and never had Great White ever lain his eyes upon Gyakutenno Megami. "Tell your Master that if he wants Renee that badly, he'll have to come get her himself."

Great White began to charge towards Megami, but she was too quick for him.

"Water Element, mist attack now!" Out of the ocean's watery depths, Megami had summoned Water Element to blind her opponent so that she could make a quick getaway with me in her arms high above the ocean. Once she had made her escape, the Enchanted Mermaid and Water Element disappeared back into their cards leaving behind Great White, blind as fish without water. Reluctantly turning away from the direction his enemy had just escaped to, Great White swam off and returned to his Master to bring the word of Gyakutenno Megami to him.

*****

I had no idea how I had ended up lying upon a sandy beach, when I came to, but as I soaked up the Sun's remaining daylight, I didn't care. I was alive and at the moment, that was all that mattered to me. My thoughts drifted to Seiyaryu, for I had no idea where he had gone when we were separated back above the ocean, and something in my heart just wasn't going away – the pain that something had happened to him. I didn't think much of it because the first thing that was on my mind was to find out just where exactly it is I was. I got up off the beach and dusted the wet sand off my clothes as best as I could before grabbing my backpack, which had faired pretty well during it's stint in the ocean, and began heading off to where I heard voices.

*****

"Come on Yugi, that was not funny."

"It's true Joey." Yugi replied to his friend's comment. "I don't know how it's true, but it is." Yugi had played his last monster in attack mode and beat Joey at Duel Monsters again.

"Man, I think I'm dueled out of this entire tournament." Joey said as he picked up his cards and fell backwards upon the ground beneath him and stretched.

"No kidding," Yugi replied. "And it's only just begun." He too stretched out upon the ground beneath him. Téa and Tristan had already fallen asleep a short while before, but Bakura had been walking around the perimeter of their encampment, almost expecting something bad to happen. I silently waited amongst the shadows just outside Bakura's view until he too had gone to rest. When that happened, I slowly crept up to their dying fire and placed some more wood upon it. It was going to be cold tonight, and even though these people were complete strangers to me, I wanted to make sure that they remained well. I could sense that they still had a great journey ahead of them.

I walked next to each of the group laying upon the ground and when I neared Yugi, the golden aura appeared again and it was then that I noticed Bakura's Millennium Ring and Yugi's Millennium Puzzle; both items of which I was eternally bound to by the fated cards within my dueling deck – the fabled Millennium Item Cards which only existed in the Shadow World of which I came from. Many a time had I collected all six of the cards, and many duels have I surrendered to protect the future of this realm, for the powerful magic sealed within the Millennium Item Cards would summon the sacred Trinity for which I was a part of.

I was born as one of three guardians to the Sacred Barrier, and the other two guardians, and my true powers, could only be summoned when the thirteen Millennium Items came together; which is where the power of the cards came in. That power could only be unleashed when the Sacred Barrier dividing the Shadow Realm and the Shadow World fell, thus allowing Evil to permeate the Shadow World where all of the Duel Monsters existed. That is why I had to surrender those duels. I had to protect the Earth.

This was never more apparent to me than at the World Tournament last year when I had made it all the way to the final duel against Seto Kaiba. The whole game had been extremely close, but every time Kaiba summoned one of his rare Blue Eyes White Dragons, I already laid out the perfect trap. I had the duel in the bag and then I drew the one card that would force me to surrender. I always cursed this dreaded magic card, but had I used it to activate the other five Millennium Item Cards, the history of the Earth would have been altered and the future changed. For every turn that I drew the sixth Millennium Item card, I would either have to summon its true powers, or surrender the duel. As long as the Shadow Realm, and the Shadow World existed, and the sacred barrier between them kept in place, it would forever be my duty to guard it.

Renee is simply my alias: a face and a body to protect me from the ensuing evil about to descend upon the Earth again. But over the seventeen years that I have existed on this world, through the natural human birth, I've become ever more human, about ready to lose my ties to the true world in which I came from. Only now do I realize why it was my mother had tried to keep me from playing Duel Monsters. I think, deep inside of her, somehow she knew of who I truly was and even though I had come from another world, I was still her daughter and her responsibility. I also think that deep down, my father realized my fate as well, for he was the one who taught me how to duel and gave me the cards I possessed in my deck – save for the Millennium Item Cards and the two cards I received from Maximillion Pegasus. But wait… he hadn't sent them to me… I remember sending those special cards to him myself years ago. Could it be that he is returning them to me because he feels that I will need them, or is there some other powerful force at work here? I just didn't know anything anymore.

I can feel myself become more and more human everyday. Is that why Renee – is that why I didn't realize how I was able to summon real live Duel Monsters?

As I stand here now, over Yugi and gazing into his Millennium Puzzle, I sense Master's wrath and his evil permeating over the Duelist's Kingdom. He will come for them soon for once he has possession of all seven of the true Millennium Items, he will be able to breech the sacred barrier between the Shadow Realm and the Shadow World and to destroy the once fragile peace the Pharaoh of old had sacrificed his life to protect, thus sealing his soul in the Millennium Puzzle. Could this boy be the chosen one?

Digging into my backpack, I found my pocket knife and returning to Bakura's side, I began to cut the rope that was holding the Millennium Ring around the boy's neck. Once I had cut through the rope, I carefully placed the Millennium Ring in my backpack and walked over to Yugi.

"Ancient Pharaoh," I whispered softly. "If you truly exist within this puzzle, I must take you to safety for the sake of both you and little Yugi." In response to my words, the Millennium Puzzle briefly shimmered and then returned to its normal state. After that, I bent down and began to cut the rope binding the puzzle to Yugi. Just as my knife touched the rope I could tell that darkness was quickly falling all around me.

"I must hurry or it'll be too late to save you." I whispered to the puzzle again. After about five minutes, I heard the rope finally break, but no sooner did I stand up then He appeared; alone and very much his evil self.

"I must thank you for doing my dirty work, though I must admit it's been very difficult to find you."

As He spoke, I didn't turn around. Even though I knew he knew that I had the Millennium Puzzle in my possession, I did not, however, want him to be able to take it from me.

"Well," I began in reply. "I'm still not going to make it easy for you to capture me or the Millennium Items in my possession. If you really want them that badly, come fight me for them."

With the Millennium Puzzle tightly within my grasp, I grabbed my deck with one hand and grabbed the first card on top.

"I summon the magic power of 'Gift of Flight'!" Having activated the power vested within the magic card, I took off for the sky, trying to get as far away as I could from Yugi and his friends.

"Two can play this game." Master replied after I had flown far off into the distance. "Come to me, Seiyaryu!"

Despite the distance that I had put between me and Master, I still could hear the words that he uttered. It caused me to stop in mid air and watch in horror as he rode my once proud dragon who served the side of the Shadow World, be reduced to utter despair.

I didn't have time to contemplate what had happened further, because Master had come quickly upon me and summoned Swords of Revealing Light. I couldn't move, but I clutched the Millennium Puzzle extremely close to me.

"Give up the two Millennium Items in your possession you pathetic weakling." Master commanded me. "Your puny summoning powers are no match against mine."

"That may be," I struggled to speak through my clenched teeth. "But it is my sworn and sacred duty to protect all thirteen of the Millennium Items, including the sacred seven. You shall not have them so long as I draw breath upon this world." I took my deck in my frozen hand and dropped the card that was placed on top and summoned its power. "Dispel magic!" I called as my Dispel card floated weightlessly to the ground. Swords of Revealing Light disappeared and much to my surprise, Seiyaryu came out from under the effects of the Change of Heart card that was placed upon him and he then allowed me to drop upon his back. Seiyaryu didn't even need to be commanded to take flight; he knew me well enough to know when to flee from battle. Even though I had escaped the clutches of Master of Evil, he had summoned one final card that was placed upon me and my dragon before he left. I knew not when I'd see him again, but I knew that it would not be pleasant when I did.