Peggi-Grr. . .still don't own Yugioh.*sobs* Oh well. Here goes chappie 2! R&R!

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PREVIOUSLY ON 'THE COLLECTORS'

Two young girls are in a store. Someone walks in, and Miranda knows who he is. And more importantly. . .he has a millennium item.

"I can sense something." "Whatever it is, it's above average." "Marik Ishtar." Miranda whispered to her sister as she quickly slipped the Millennium Puzzle underneath her shirt.

THE COLLECTORS, CH. 2

"Who?" Zoë asked her sister in a whisper.

"Marik Ishtar, the one with the Millennium Rod." She replied.

"Is that bad?"

"Could be. I don't know much about him. Shadi only gave me brief information on the possessors. I'm going in."

"Oh. . .Miranda, please be careful."

Zoë nervously grabbed her sister's arm as she began walking up to the teenager who appeared to be purchasing new cards for dueling.

'Why did Miranda have to be involved? Why couldn't Shadi have taken back the items himself?' Zoë wondered to herself.

You see, it had come to Shadi's attention that the seven millennium items: Puzzle, eye, necklace, ring, rod, scale, and key, were causing too much trouble. First Pegasus throws the Duelist Kingdom tournament in order to take the items, then during Battle City Marik tried desperately to steal the Puzzle while Bakura attempted to take the other items. In between, several other attempts by various people had been made, and Shadi believed that the items were safer in his hands. So he had called on an American girl named Miranda Summers who seemed to have special abilities that may come in handy when taking the items that didn't belong already to Shadi. She could sense forms of power, which would make locating the items easier. Plus, she rarely let up to pain, and though he never told her the danger she'd be putting herself into, Shadi knew that the time would come when that ability could save her life.

As Miranda walked up to the counter, she pretended to be interested in purchasing cards. She stood next to the teenage boy who she noticed was watching her wearily through the corner of his eye. Miranda considered grabbing his millennium item and making a break for it, but then two things popped into her mind. One: the consequences of abandoning her sister in a store in the middle of a place they had moved to three days before, and two: this boy, though not much older, nor taller, than Miranda herself, looked fairly strong for someone his age, and appeared to be the type that you wouldn't want to get into a fight with. So instead she just studied him. She had an idea. They were both, at this point, flipping through decks of single cards. She 'accidentally' dropped about ten.

"Oh, silly me. I'm so clumsy," she said in a ditzy kind of voice.

She bent down to pick them up, and Marik, not putting down the millennium Rod, bent down to help her. As he handed her the cards he eyed her.

"New to Domino?" he asked her with indifference towards weather she answered or not.

"Yes. We just moved here from America. So, what's that gold thing for?" she asked, referring to the millennium Rod.

"Family heirloom" he replied unenthusiastically.

"So, since I'm new here and all, I don't know much about this Duel Monsters. Do you know much about it?"

"Yes." He replied, not even bothering to even try to hide his boredom.

"Well, do you think you could help me? I really want a dueling deck."

He just sighed as he realized he was in this conversation for the long hall.

:"Fine. Do you know what kind of deck you'll be collecting?"

"Uh. . .no."

"Okay." He turned, then, to the man behind the counter. "Keys?"

The man handed him keys to the cabinet only a couple feet behind Miranda. He looked at her and then laid his millennium item on the counter he was at previously. He turned his back to the item, and the girl, and unlocked the cabinet. As he reached in to grab some cards, Miranda took hold of the Millennium Rod and made a break for it. As if he had been waiting for her to grab the item, Marik spun around and put his arm in the doorway which was conveniently about two feet behind him.

"I knew you had to be after my item." He said with an evil smirk on his face.

Seeing Miranda panic, Zoë stepped in.

"RUN, MIRANDA! RUN!"

As if out of instinct, Miranda released the item that Marik now had a good grip on, and ran for the back exit door, which her sister was holding open for her.