The three friends explored around the museum until they came across some stairs. Yami stopped and wandered down while Anzu and Aoi followed. Identity revealing time! Aoi thought. They came up to a room filled with gigantic Egyptian tablets. Yami paused at a particularly one he found interesting. There was a look of pure seriousness in his eyes when he examined the tablet. Anzu looked and gasped.
"That guy looks just like you!" she exclaimed. Aoi's gaze ran across the room. You can show up any second now Ms. Ishtar. She thought. Then out of nowhere, a shadow appeared. And it was as expected, Isis Ishtar.
"I've been expecting you, my pharaoh," was the first thing she said. Some greeting. The group turned around to face her. Isis told Yami all she could tell. His identity and destiny, what he should do and about the tournament Kaiba was starting. Aoi listened intently until Isis turned to face her.
"…Yes…?"
"There was something in the vision that was very unclear."
"And?"
"It was you."
"Me what?"
"It is all somewhat…strange." Aoi got impatient.
"Just get to the point already!"
"My apologies."
~ flashback (vision), Isis's POV ~
As usual, I found myself floating above the scenery in my vision, the epic battle of the past occurring just beneath me. I saw the pharaoh and the evil priest's monsters create destruction. Blue Eyes White Dragon and the Dark Magician were engaged in battle. Their powers rumbled throughout the city, destroying more innocent lives. The pharaoh and the evil priest / sorcerer also fought against each other with spells and magic.
And how does that relate to me?
The pharaoh almost lost his life.
How?
When the evil sorcerer almost stabbed him with the Millennium Scepter (Rod). He was able to approach the pharaoh when he was distracted by his Dark Magician getting blasted out of the sky.
And then what happened?
Something…or someone came to his rescue. Whoever it was jumped in front of him and got stabbed instead, then fell and disappeared.
Who was it?
I don't know. But whoever it was looked a lot like you. That was all I saw. It was the end of my vision.
~ § ~
"W-What do you mean end of your vision?!" Aoi shook Isis roughly on the shoulders, "There must have been something else!"
"I have already told you all I can," Isis replied, prying of Aoi's hands, "now if you'll excuse me."
"Wait…"
"Go to the plaza," she said, and vanished into the shadows.
"And remember, the events of the past will happen, once again."
Huh? Aoi froze. I don't' remember any of the versions where Isis said that when she disappeared? And didn't she tell Yami and Anzu to go back to Yugi's house first? Hey wait…that's supposed to be the English version…and this story is in Japanese version? But some parts are in English version? Or in the comic version? Don't tell me this story is a mix. …I hope it's only me daydreaming, or some things are going to go very wrong if this story keeps changing between different versions…
After finding out he was a pharaoh, Yami went back to looking at the tablet before him.
"Wow, so you were this pharaoh who saved the world 5000 years ago? That's pretty major,"
"Yes."
"Hey, Yu- I mean Yami, Anzu, let's go check out the plaza like Isis told us to," Aoi suggested, but the two stood still. "What?"
"Aren't you surprised or scared at all? Finding out what I really am?" Yami asked.
"Scared?" that thought had never occurred to her about Yami before. All that was on her mind since she got into this anime world was excitement and playing along with the storyline. But scared? Why? When she knew perfectly well (almost) what was going to happen, if she stayed out of the way.
"I'm not scared," she admitted, "I'm excited."
Yami and Anzu were speechless.
~ § ~
They met Mai as they arrived. Many duelists were gathered as expected. About a minute later, Kaiba's face appeared on every screen in Domino. Aoi sighed. She had seen this part a million times on TV. Kaiba talking about his new rules and everything, when is this going to be over? The one minute seemed like two hours. After the talk, the party parted for the night. Next day they would go get their duel disks and the Rare Hunters would be making their first appearance for Jounouchi's Red Eyes Black Dragon.
~ § ~
"Hey there's the registration desk!" The group of friends piled into the small shop, a man (Rare hunter) was waiting at the counter. He looked up and greeted them kindly.
"Yes. How may I help you?"
"We're here to get our duel disks for the Battle City tournament!" Jounouchi exclaimed.
"Well, you have come to the correct place," he replied, "but I need your names to see if you qualify."
"Alright," said Yugi, "I'm Yugi Mutoh." The man typed in his name.
"Five stars. That's the highest rank I've seen. Congratulations," he handed Yugi a duel disk, "you qualify." Next up was Jounouchi. He didn't qualify at first, but when the rare hunter saw his Red Eyes on the screen, his greed got the better of him. Changing from one star to four stars on the monitor, he handed Jounouchi another duel disk. The gang was ready to leave when Yugi paused at the exit.
"Aoi, why don't you tell him your name and see how many stars you have? Your dueling skills are really good."
"Well…" she wanted to try, but wouldn't it be embarrassing if there were zero stars on the screen? After all, she never actually existed in this world.
"Come on Aoi!" Anzu nudged her.
"Oh alright…" she agreed. "Aoi Takano." (A/N: "taka" means Falcon / hawk {says both in my dictionary} in Japanese. Stupid dictionary! I want one definition not two! *starts ripping it* sorry I'm in a bad mood)
The rare hunter almost tripped over himself when he saw the number of stars beneath Aoi's picture.
"Seven stars! That's higher than Yugi Mutoh!" Everyone in the shop was shocked, including Aoi.
"uh…when did I…?"
"But wait…the picture where it shows your rarest card played before is…blank…" Pure silence covered the room.
"Ho-how can that be?" Aoi asked shakily, "I've never dueled anyone here but Yugi!"
"You…well…still qualify…there…was actually…three disks left…." he handed her a third duel disk, almost dropping it in shock. Aoi was stunned. She wasn't moving. Seven stars? What's going on? And then she remembered something.
"Aoi…? Your um, duel disk is uh, waiting." Yugi stammered. Aoi took it in her hand and walked straight out of the shop without a single word. Note to self: NEVER CREATE A MARY-SUE! She created a perfect character in her fics, now she was going to be forced to live up to that character's almost-impossible-to-sustain reputation. Why me? She sobbed inside her head. Back inside the shop the rare hunter had almost forgotten to call his partners about the Red Eyes Jou was currently holding. Now that was one way she hacked the storyline pretty much off course.
~ next morning ~
"Where's Jounouchi-kun?!"
"No idea."
"Then what are we waiting for?! Let's spread up and look for him!" the gang was gone in a flash. Aoi had just arrived. Where'd they all go? She wondered, and then it hit her. Joey! Um…actually Jounouchi? Oh what the heck, better get to the beach before Honda finds him.
Aoi hid behind a nearby bush. She spied on Honda and Jou talking until he agreed to leave. The two was about to reach the motorcycle when Aoi decided to interrupt. She walked up and greeted them with a nice "Hello," and told them to hurry up and get to the hospital before Shizuka / Serenity went crazy. She sighed after they left. Was it really the right thing to keep interrupting small parts of the storyline like that? Even if they were not that important? After all, things start to grow big if you keep adding to them.
~ § ~
The week past by very fast, and not too long later, the day of the announcement for the Battle City tournament arrived. Aoi and Yugi went to the plaza and explored around for something to do before the big announcement. He spotted Jounouchi hurrying towards a rare hunter, shouting. Of course, he didn't realize what was happening so he dragged Aoi down with him despite the protests from her.
"Y-Yugi! Let go! I can't-no! I can't go! I'm telling you I'm not supposed to interrupt the story-!"
"Jounouchi-kun is in trouble! I have to help him!"
Well I'm not!
"Jounouchi-kun! What's going on?" Yugi asked as he arrived.
"Dat guy took my Red Eyes!" Jou pointed. They both glared at the rare hunter. He stepped up and grinned evilly at Yugi.
"I challenge you to a duel Yugi Mutoh! To take you Dark Magician!"
"Yug don't!" he put up a hand to stop Jounouchi.
"I'll have to eventually risk my Dark Magician." Yami replied confidently. Aoi could only watch at the side. She didn't dare to go up beside them with all the people around, even if they were anime.
The duel began without another complaint, people crowded around the area to watch as the duel raged on. But Aoi, she wasn't watching, her gaze just wandered around lazily as she herself began to leave the scene. With the Yugioh song singing inside her head, well, I'm not sure even she knew where she was going.
"Oof!"
"Watch it punk!"
Aoi looked up. Uh oh…she thought. It was then she realized she was in a dark alley facing the meanest, most ugly man. Yuck!
"Um…s-sorry…" she muttered, attempting to run away at the same time.
"You're not going anywhere kid," the man said, grabbing the back of her coat, "not until I get that precious rare card in your little deck," he pointed. This guy's a duelist? But duelists like him never play fair!
"But I…" and she felt a fist in her face. Next thing she knew, she was flung back into the wall. Why that…there was a sudden change of personality in her when her face was hit. A strange, dark, more confident feeling. And then, she saw herself facing the man with an evil glare. She thought she was still in control of herself, yet she was not. What was going on?! The man took a few steps back and gave her a teasing look.
"So, trying to stand up to the mean ol' bully eh?" he mocked.
"Actually, I was thinking of maybe, I'm not sure…taking out his soul for a souvenir maybe? What do you think?"
Yikes! What the hell am I talking about??
"Heh," the man chuckled, "my soul? How many fairy tales have you read?"
"Quite a few I guess. And I must admit, I kind of like them."
"Do you now little girl? How's a duel right here, right now? I'll go easy on you," the man lied.
"Great idea!" 'Aoi' squeaked happily, trying to act like a sweet, little child, "let's begin right away!"
(A/N: I'm going to skip this duel because it's not that important)
Only around three minutes later, the man found himself cowering in front of the teenage girl. An evil grin was plastered on her face, her evil glare, piercing into his soul.
"You put up a very beautiful duel," she said in a quiet, maniacal tone, "but according to the rules I play by, you forfeit your soul, to me," she held up a hand in front of him.
"No, please!"
"Hmm…scared are we?" she turned around, "then why did you challenge me? Duelists are usually prepared to give up their souls when they challenge me," she faced him again. "Ah, like the old days, they called me the Queen of Games," she mused, "but did you know I had another name too?" she just smiled.
The cowering man shook his head hesitantly.
"I was also known as…A Queen of Shadows."
With that said, the man fell lifelessly to the ground. She kicked the limp body into a few garbage bags and walked out of the alley. The Millennium Falcon flickered under her shirt, then returned back to being a normal piece of golden artifact.
Aoi couldn't believe it; she actually scared the lights out of the man like that! And she never even had any bullied experiences! But unknown to her, the dark feeling was slipping away, returning to the back of her mind, along with the memory of what happened.
She then wandered off in search of weaker opponents to duel with. It didn't take her long to gather the puzzle cards. By the time the sun began to fall, she already had four placed safely in her pocket.
~ § ~
"Welcome back!" Sugoroku greeted as Aoi stepped through the door of the Turtle game shop. Yugi was already in his room practicing for the tournament next day.
"Hey Yugi," she interrupted when she saw him, "Can I have a word?" Yugi nodded so she plopped down beside him. The first five minutes of their conversation was pure silence. And then, Yugi decided to ask.
"If you're going to ask me something, you can ask now before I go to sleep." Aoi gave a small chuckle.
"I'm sorry!" she apologized, "It's just that…"
"That what?"
"I want to…talk to Yami."
"Why Yami?"
"This is personal…kind of…" she looked at him. Yami's face was right up to her's; only a few centimeters of air took the space between their faces. Her face instantly turned bright red and she almost screamed. Aoi fell back blocking her now red-as-a-rose face from Yami's view, embarrassed. Yeesh! First Yugi now Yami! Why did I have to have a crush on an anime character?! Argh! Why did he have to be so…handsome! Grr!! What the heck am I thinking?!
"Aoi?" Yami waved a hand in front of her. She flinched, backed away and sat back up.
"Don't do that again!" Yami looked confused.
"Just, just…ugh! Never mind!"
"Okay…"
"Anyway, I wanted to ask if you err…the…can I see your Millennium Puzzle!?" she blurted out. "I know I'm asking a lot!" she continued, not giving him a chance to protest, "but I just really, really wanna have a close look!" Now why did I say that?
||Yugi…do you think…||
|Go ahead Yami. I trust her. But there is one thing…|
||What is it?||
|She said it was personal…|
||Yugi, I'm not in love with her|
|Uh…right…sorry|
He handed the puzzle to Aoi hesitantly and fell silent. Right at the moment she touched it, something happened. The Millennium Falcon glowed bright under her shirt and declared its presence by floating into the air.
Not now…!
"Aoi-why?!"
"OK!" she jumped up, not caring anymore if Yami was even listening or not, "I SO TOTALLY BLEW THE STORYLINE OFF THIS TIME!!!" without a second to spare, she sprinted out of Yugi's bedroom and ran away from his house. The Millennium Falcon continued to glow. Aoi scowled at it.
"You stupid thing!" she shouted out loud, "You just ruined probably my only chance of getting home!" Like it understood what Aoi said, the item's glow slowly died away and returned to its normal state.
"That's better," she sighed in relief, "but where should I go now?" she attempted to scratch her head in thought, but instead of her hand, something hard clashed into her head. She looked sideways and saw the Millennium Puzzle. She gasped.
"Yikes…"
Oh no! she worried herself, what should I do? I can't go back to Yami and Yugi! They'll think I'm a thief!
"Grrr!!! Just when things start to get better something like this happens!!! Can this get any worse?!?!" she yelled out to no one in particular.
"And a lot worse than you might think it would be."
Aoi's eyes widened as she backed away. Yami Bakura only came closer.
"That Millennium Puzzle, is mine," his hand reached out towards her.
________________________________________________________________________________________________
Silent Mist: Poor Aoi, maybe I oughta be a little easier on her…
Aoi: You better! Before I strangle you!
Silent Mist: Ahehe…Please review!!