Enter the Duelist Kingdom, Part 1: Confrontation


Yes, I finally got off of my lazy butt and decided to do the beginning of the Duelist Kingdom, the prelude to the Shadow Realm Duel. *applause* Now. IMPORTANT NOTE (kinda)!!!!

I have the original manga for the Monster World saga (that takes place in the Season 1 of Yu-Gi-Oh!). Provided I'm not too lazy, I'm going to be doing Yami Bakura's thoughts for that, too. However, the entire manga is in, of course, japanese, and I'm still in the process of figuring the entire thing out. But I understand the gist of it already, which is good. SO my point for all of that is this: Ryou Bakura betrays Yami Bakura in the end, and destroys his dice (which had just rolled 0,0, the best score you can get), and Yami Bakura loses (and goes through loads of pain, thank you very much; he put part of his own spirit in his dice, so he could will them to roll well). So a bit of Yami Bakura's thoughts on that are going to bleed into the beginning of this chapter, though this is in the Duelist Kingdom Saga. Just so you won't be confused.

One more thing... this is kind of... dark. Yeah. Dark. But with good reason! It'll make more sense, once I do the Monster World dialogue. (Just like me to work backwards, haha...) Very little humor at all. But it's a serious confrontation, so that's why. It doesn't fit with the rest of the story yet, but... well, whatever. It's hard to explain, if you don't know about what happened in Monster World...

Disclaimer: Guess what? I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh!. There's a big surprise! That's incredible. I think I'm gonna have a heart attack and die from that surprise. All this time, I could have sworn...

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So. My host just thinks he can get rid of me, eh? He thinks that he can put me through hell more times than I can count, and that I'll finally be gone due to his valiant deeds? Bah. What. A. Clueless. Idiot. What a grade-A moron. He will soon learn, no matter how many times he betrays me, that I will never leave. He cannot truly destroy my spirit... I will endure. No matter what, I will not die. I am the Darkness; I am his Darkness... I cannot die until the gates between the worlds of life and death open once again to me. And with the way things stand now... they will not be open for a long, long time.

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The word echoed through his mind, and I knew he was surprised - and more importantly, scared. You thought that I was gone, didn't you. It was more of a statement than a question; I had read the boy's thoughts.

... ... ...Why, why won't you just... leave me alone... came his response, a mere whisper.

I sneered. Alone? You will never be alone, Ryou. Not from me. I sought to keep you from these friends', those that might harm you. That might harm me. Yet, for them, you betray me. And for others, they will betray you.

Ryou cried, terrified at the very idea. No, they wouldn't... they would never leave me!

They will, I assured. Everyone leaves everyone. Those closest to you always betray you. You would do well to remember that. But also remember, Ryou... I will not leave. I am a part of you, a part that you cannot destroy.

No... no! he cried. Too late, he realized that he had spoken out loud, and that his entire math class was now staring at him, puzzled.

Bakura... are you okay? Yugi asked, worried.

My host sensed my mental glare. I am fine, Yugi. I just... was having trouble understanding how to work this equation. I think I've got it now, though. Thank you for your concern, but it's really all right. Ryou managed a gentle grin at the shorter boy, who shrugged and turned back to his own worksheet.

After apologizing to his teacher, he turned back to face me, unable to delay our confrontation further. My friends... will not betray me. They won't! I believe in them... I'm tired of the loneliness that you've put me through, all of my life... His voice was soft; I could tell that he was trying not to enrage me. Well, it was a little too late for that.

You worthless, stupid host... I hissed at him. I'm trying to protect you and I from those losers! I've lived for millennia; I know the world far better than you. I have seen brother turn on brother, mother turn on child. In the end, there is no love, no friendship. When you need your friends the most, they will leave you.

You're wrong... you just have to be wrong... my host whispered.

Face the world. This is the way it is. And don't you ever accuse me of being incorrect ever again. You will pay for your insolence... What makes you think you can disobey me, torture me, betray me so, and then think that I'd be willing to let it all go?

Ryou's eyes widened in fear as he realized what I was planning. N-no, no, please... I-I... I...

I narrowed my eyes even more. You what? You thought that you could get away with destroying me, as long as it worked. As long as you weren't caught. Well, you're caught, and now you must suffer your sentence.

Please... oh, please... Ryou sounded so pitiful... the stupid, weakling of a mortal. I was nothing short of disgusted. In that moment, I don't think I've ever loathed anybody more - not even the Pharaoh himself.

My heart had hardened to they boy's pleas. You showed me no mercy when you tried to thwart me, to cross me, to kill me. Why should I give to you what you would not give to me?

He had no answer for that. You're too worthless to even spit on, I continued, my anger growing with each and every word. You serve no purpose to me dead, but there are other ways for me to get my point across.

I felt him cringe and tremble, as ideas about what I was about to do filled his thoughts. In its own way, this was another kind torture... Ryou had to face the consequences of his actions. And for spineless mortals, sometimes that was the hardest thing to do. Above all things, humans fear the truth...

My voice had dropped to a deadly whisper, as cold and sharp as an icy blade of steel prepared to slit a victim's throat. Let me tell you something... anything that I do to you - that I can do to you - will not be even one hundredth of the pain that I felt.

His eyes widened even more. By this time, I think he knew that begging was futile; he said nothing, but the tears forming in his eyes were more powerful than any words he might have spoken. I blinked away the weakness within myself; this had to be done. With deadly calm resolve, I whispered, ...Prepare yourself.

With that, I closed my eyes, concentrating on the Millennium Ring. Channeling my energy through it, I reached out with the pointers - and slid them neatly under Ryou's skin, drawing blood. His soft torso pierced, he winced and shuddered slightly, but did not yell out in pain, for fear that he would be noticed.

I could feel the warm flow of blood running down his skin and being absorbed into his tee-shirt under the school uniform. The uniform was dark and thick; it would not bleed through. I smiled, reading my host's tormented thoughts, ...stop... make it stop... please... maybe... should I... go and get... towels from the... ...restroom... to block the... blood...? But... if I go... he might torture... ...me even more... when I'm...alone...'

I bowed my head inwardly. Somehow, something... felt wrong. This is what Ryou deserves... I reasoned with myself. After what he did to me, this is nothing! Nothing, compared to what I've suffered...

After a moment more, I pulled the pointers from his flesh, letting them rest atop the wounds. My host's body was still shuddering. I spoke, That was nothing, Ryou. Speak one word of this to anyone, anyone at all... and you will know the true meaning of pain...

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I took control of Ryou's body; strangely, he did not protest. Leaving a note on the table explaining to my host's father that his son would be out for awhile, I walked a few miles down to the city docks. I spotted the ship easily; it had a large crowd of people around it. I smiled to myself. What a setup... This wouldn't be a problem at all.

When I first heard about the little tournament that as to be hosted by the creator of Duel Monsters, I became immediately interested. It had been a few weeks since Monster World; everything had fallen back into the routine. The wounds from my host's punishment had fully healed, of course; and Ryou said nothing of the entire business, as per my orders. The days had gone by slowly; I busied myself plotting world domination and all of that. But this tournament had caught my attention.

For starters, just by looking at Ryou's memory, the card game of Duel Monsters was so similar to the ancient Shadow Games that I figured that there was a definite connection; in all likelihood, the creator - a man called Pegasus - had either been able to interpret the hieroglyphics on the walls correctly and had learned about the Shadow Games, or that he had played the Shadow Games themselves - in a previous life, most likely. And if he remembered this previous life of his, then he may have knowledge of the Millennium Items - amoung other things. And that could be interesting.

Secondly, Yugi was entering in the tournament. Enough said. I was going to get the Millennium Puzzle; I wasn't about to let it out of my sight. Not when I was this close. Yugi didn't even seem truly aware of what powers the Puzzle contained. Which was all the better for me...

Problem: Ryou hadn't gotten an invitation to go to the tournament.

Solution to the problem: me. Sneaking into places where I shouldn't be is my profession. Of course, I can't pass through walls anymore, but I doubted that that would be a problem. That wasn't the only way to get from point A to point B, after all.

I waited in the shadows, watching the processions take place, trying not to fall asleep from boredom. After about half an hour, most of the ship's participants had boarded the ship. At this rate, I'll have to go to plan B... I noted that Téa and Tristan were sneaking on board by hiding in the storage crates... Thoth, the guards around here are so easy to trick!

Suddenly, there it was - an opening. In the form of Joey Wheeler. There he was, wrestling and screaming and carrying on at the guards to let him go. That, of course attracted most of the guards' attention - namely, the guard who checked for entry cards. The perfect chance had come. And I was more than ready.

Quickly, I cut in front of the first person in line - who was too busy watching the spectacle Joey was making of himself to pay any attention to me - and ran up the gangplank to the ship. I tapped the first person I saw - who what halfway up the ramp - on the shoulder, and said, Hopefully, that would start a pleasant conversation - the purpose of which would make me look relaxed and involved with other people, which causing others to assume that I had a right to be there. (Morons.)

In fact, it did. Hi! My name's Ralph. This tournament's going to be soooo exciting, don'tcha think?

I blinked, trying to figure out a good response. Yes, it should be most interesting... I replied, forcing my voice to sound like Ryou's. That was way harder than it looked.

By that time, we had reached the ship's deck, so I was spared from any further communication. There's so many people on this boat, that those stupid excuses for guards won't notice that my entry was not accounted for. What dolts...

I found my way to a large cabin room filled with Duelists - most of which who were busy trading cards with each other. I sighed. Social gatherings were not my element. Closing my eyes, I forced a confused Ryou back into his body.

Where... are we...? he asked, somewhat timidly.

We're on the way, I answered, To Duelist Kingdom.

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Wow, that first half really was pretty dark, at least for this story! *is surprised* Well, Yami Bakura IS a kind of dark character... *shrugs* Anyway, I think the second half is written more like the rest of the story... though it's kind of strange, I wrote them both at the same time. Go figure. Hm, this was a long chapter...

Sorry if you didn't quite understand what Yami Bakura was yelling at Ryou about in the beginning... but in the Monster World saga, Ryou kinda screwed his yami over a few times during that game, so I think Yami Bakura has reason to be mad. It'll become clearer if/when I do the Monster World section, which I really do plan on doing... if I have time. ^_^ I dunno, do you guys even WANT me to do it? Tell me in your reviews.

Oh! About the Bakura-torture thing. Right. I think that Yami Bakura truly cares about his host, even though he does kind of torment Ryou. (In the manga that I have, he actually does pierce Ryou's skin with the pointers, like I wrote. However, Ryou didn't seem to be in too much pain from this, and when Yami Bakura took over the body later (with the points still wedged in) he was running around like nobody's business, sealing souls (of this bully that had picked on Ryou earlier that day) into dolls and all that. So I don't think that it's that bad. For all I know, it was necessary for Yami Bakura to take over his host at that point. I can't read the whole thing yet...) However, Yami Bakura saves Ryou from death in Battle City by taking an attack for him later, so I think he cares, at least a little. Okay... I'll stop ranting now. But I'd like to see you guys' opinion about all of this, too!

Review, people! Please?