Relick: HI EVERYONE!!! I'm surprised no one was mad at me for taking so long! Ya see, I had the good juicy part of the chapter planned out already, but I was having trouble starting up! Also, I started working on Yugioh Takes the Stage for a while and wasn't really thinking about this one…But I am now!!! So sit back, relax, and enjoy the elusive chapter 3 of The Final Shadow Game!

A/N: I decided to call Jounochi Jou from now on…I just to lazy to write it out! And be prepared for several flashbacks. Also, regarding the last chapter… I don't own Lord of the Rings. Nor do I own Yugioh. Just the story and any characters you don't recognize. ^______^

Everyone was exhausted from the flight from Japan. And they all had every right to be, being that it took three hours to get to Egypt. As soon as Yugi opened their hotel room door, Jou fell over on the floor, already asleep. Yugi and the others all stepped over him, except for Seto, who stepped directly on top of him. Jou yelped out in pain, but then went back to sleep after giving Seto a dirty look. Yugi tried to climb into one the beds, but missed and fell face first on the floor. Just then, something fell onto his head. Yugi shook his hair out to find three golden pieces fall off his head. Before he could look more closely, Seto suddenly grabbed the pieces out of Yugi's hand.

"Give me those!" Seto shouted, crossly.

"What are they?" Yugi asked.

"It's my mother's necklace," he replied.

Then Anzu got into the conversation. "But, if that necklace is your mom's, why do you have it?"

Seto started to get annoyed. "Because she's dead!!"

Somewhere in Cairo, Mokuba wandered aimlessly, extremely exhausted. "Mokuba? What are you doing here?" a familiar voice asked. Mokuba looked up, tired and sweating, to see warm, brown, concerned eyes staring at him.

"Ryou! I thought you were sick!"

Ryou looked at him strangely, and was unknowingly taken over by the Spirit. "No, Mokuba, I'm feeling just fine. But, that's not important right now. I need you to do something for me…" He took Mokuba by the hand and led him to a nearby ally way, and disappeared.

"What do you mean your mom's dead?" Yugi asked.

Seto put his head in his hands. "It happened when I was six. My father was working for Industrial Illusions when he and his co-workers decided Pegasus was treating them unfairly. They went on strike, but didn't realize that it would put their families in danger. Especially my mom." Seto held up the broken necklace. "She called this the Millennium Necklace and, I don't know why, but Pegasus wanted it. One night, my dad didn't come home from the picket line. Instead, Pegasus came to our door, demanding Mom's necklace. She refused to give it up and kicked him in the leg. Before I realized what was happening, she picked up Mokuba, grabbed me by the hand, and ran out the door. Pegasus was close behind, as if by magic. We hid in an abandoned lot and Mom gave both of us some kind of medicine. I blacked out after she kissed my forehead and told me to take care of Mokuba."

Anzu looked on the verge of tears. "And you never saw her again?"

"No. I only remember waking up and she was nowhere to be found. The only trace of my mom that was left was the pieces of the Millennium Necklace."

Just then, there came a knock on the door. Jou, being the closest, opened the door. His jaw dropped.

Standing there, was a beautiful young girl with bright green eyes and long red hair tied into a loose braid. She smiled, "Hi! Is Yugi Moto in this room?"

Yugi stood up. "I'm Yugi Moto."

"I'm Aryella Kioto, I was assigned to take your group to the Valley of the Kings today," the mystery woman answered. She looked up at Jou, Honda, and Seto, who were all staring at her. Aryella giggled. "Your friends are cute," she told Yugi, as the boys blushed. Anzu looked embarrassed for them.

"I didn't know we were walking to the Valley," Honda complained.

"It's not too far off," Aryella assured him.

As they reached the Valley, Aryella stopped suddenly. "Yugi," she said, almost in a trance. "I've noticed that you have the Millennium Puzzle around your neck,"

"Yeah! It's really important to me."

"There is a powerful presence in that puzzle," Aryella said, as she turned around menacingly. "A presence I must rid this world of!" Aryella grabbed at Yugi's puzzle, but he held it close to his heart. There was no way he'd let Yami be taken away from him. And Aryella realized that.

"Fine then," she said crossly. "At least let me have a word with the Pharaoh. Or at least a duel."

Yugi became engulfed in light and darkness. "YU-GI-OHHHHH!!!!!!!" he shouted to the heavens.

Yami emerged from the Millennium Puzzle. "Aryella Kioto. I accept your challenge."

"Good," she replied, as she revealed a golden staff and held it high over her head. "Let's begin." As soon as these words left her lips, the earth parted, releasing two tall podiums. "This is how this duel will work. We will stand atop these pillars. We're both given 200 life points and 100 mana points. Use your mana to cast magic and to summon monsters. These will damage your opponent's life points. First one to either fall off their pillar or lose all their life points loses. Got it?"

Yami nodded, showing he understood the rules.

When he arrived at the top of his podium, he called over to Aryella, "Tell me, Aryella, why do you want to duel me? What is it you have against me?"

Aryella glared at Yami. "You should know of all people, Pharaoh!" she shouted to him. "You ruined my life and drove me to insanity!"

Jou cut in, "You're nuts! We didn't even know you until a few hours ago!"

"You're wrong. Aryella didn't meet you until a few hours ago. But I've known Yami for five millennia."

Yami looked confused. "What do you mean?"

It was Aryella's turn to look confused. "You mean you don't remember? The great battle that brought an end to the Shadow Games? How can you not remember?!"

"Battle?" Honda asked. "What are you talking about?"

Aryella sighed. "To start off, my host's name is Aryella. I am called Jaina, Spirit of the Millennium Staff. I was an Egyptian princess of Ancient times. That's all YOU need to know!" With that, she swung her Staff in the air and shot a white beam at Jou, Honda, Seto, and Anzu.

            Yami looked shocked. "How DARE you, you monster!"

            Aryella smiled as the dust from the blast cleared. The others seemed fine. Seto and Anzu dusted themselves off, but Jou and Honda just stood there, staring blankly.

            "Are you guys alright?" Anzu asked in a shaken tone.

            "Well, I'm okay," Seto replied, snapping his fingers in front of Jou's nose. "But I'm not sure about these two."

            Yami started to grow angry. "What did you do to them!?!?"

            Aryella was still smiling. "Jou and Honda are my mind slaves now. They'll do anything I tell them."

            Anzu looked puzzled. "But…the blast hit all of us. How come Kaiba and I are still okay?"

            "The Staff's powers only affect men." Aryella explained. "Why it didn't work on you, Kaiba, is a mystery to me. But that doesn't matter right now." She turned to Yami. "If you want to save them, defeat me in this duel!"

            "Oh, I'll beat you, if that will save my friends!" Yami called back to her. "But tell me one thing. Why is it you want to duel me?"

            Aryella drew a deep breath and began her story.

            "In years long forgotten, the high priest of Osiris had taken two apprentices: Kayla, who was training as a priestess of Isis, and Zakro, who trained in the dark arts as a priest of Set. They loved each other, but their codes of honor, set by the pharaoh himself, forbade it. Kayla listened to the pharaoh, but her lover wouldn't stand for it and left his apprenticeship as well as the one he loved. Zakro marched into the pharaoh's chambers and demanded the code be rewritten. The Pharaoh refused, claiming the code had been in place for centuries. In a rage, he challenged him and his followers to a duel with Kayla's future on the line. This duel soon erupted into an all out war. I was there, Yami. The high priest and his brother were killed in the first round. I was next, along with the pharaoh's two right hand men. Luckily, we were revived by Kayla's healing powers and Zakro was sealed within a golden ring. But, we noticed that the pharaoh was missing. All we found of him were scattered puzzle pieces. I tucked them away into a box and buried it here in the Valley. I loved the pharaoh so much and pined for him so much, that I let myself be bitten. And as the cobra's venom flowed through my veins, I shouted out his name, a name I can no longer remember."

            Yami listened to Aryella's story with much interest. "But, what does that have to do with me?"

            "It's hard to believe you'd forget your own sister, Yami," she cried out, tears streaming down her face."

            "SISTER?!?!" Seto and Anzu exclaimed together.

            "That's right," Aryella said, still crying. "I died thinking of you, brother. All those wasted years." She pointed to Yami. "And now YOUR going to pay!"

Relick: So what ya think? This was a pretty long chapter. So you know, the Millennium Staff's powers were an accident and weren't copied from the show. I'll update soon! Keep this chapter in mind when you read later chapters. Ja ne!!