On to chapter two! And I've actually come up with a plot for this story XD. Anyways, hot dogs go to hobbitfeet13, HongMing (yes I know it's you), and Hikage Kitsune. I'll probably have Yugi's personality change a little, so he won't be such a pushover later. And I'm not putting the notes in again. You should know them by now. All I have to add is that *** signals a flashback.
Disclaimer: As much as I wish I owned Yu-Gi-Oh!, it'll never happen. Never. Unless Kazuki Takahashi gives it to me, which he won't. All I own is Zake, who'll reappear next chapter, I think.
Egyptian Shadow Destinies: Chapter Two
Who Are YOU?!?
Yugi pulled his deck out of his pocket as he walked back to the Game Shop and flipped through it. The incident with the Leogun was still clear in his mind, and he glanced up to see Malik, who was walking roughly fifty feet ahead of him and completely ignoring the shorter boy. Yugi shrugged and went back to his cards. 'Malik may want us to try and forget about all this, but I know it's real,' he thought to himself. 'Okay, maybe I will find that this is just a dream when I wake up, but for now it seems real enough. And we've got to do something about it.' Yugi frowned at his cards. If they were going to be fighting against any more real monsters, he'd have to modify his deck a bit. After all, he doubted that cards that did damage to Life Points would be much use against monsters. That, and he could use more high-attack non-sacrifice monsters.
Flipping through his deck, Yugi stopped when he came to the Celtic Guardian. He wondered for a brief moment what would happen if he tried to summon it again; after all, it had been destroyed, hadn't it? Or would it be like he had finished the duel with Leogun and simply started another one? Looking around to make sure no one was watching, Yugi slipped into a side street and whispered, "Celtic Guardian!"
The elf appeared before him, sword held at the ready. Finding no opponents, he turned to look quizzically at his master. Yugi smiled apologetically. "Sorry. I just wanted to see if you would appear, since you got sent to the Graveyard when we were fighting the Leogun…" The monster nodded silently, and Yugi recalled him into the card.
"Well, that answers that question, then," he muttered to himself, walking back onto the main road. Malik was waiting for him there, eyebrow raised.
"What do you think you're doing?" the Egyptian demanded. Yugi shrank back a little from his gaze.
"Nothing," he stammered. Malik gave him a long look before he turned and kept walking. Before long, he was far ahead of Yugi again.
But with the revelation that the destruction of the opposing monster constituted the end of the "duel," Yugi found that he had many more questions. Say he used Soul Exchange and sacrificed the opponent's monster to summon Curse of Dragon. Would he be able to summon it again without any sacrifices the next time? Well, there was no way of testing that out now. He'd just have to wait until the next time. Smiling wryly, he shook his head as he realized that he was kind of looking forward to the next attack. As scary as it had been, it had also been kind of fun…
The rest of the walk home was uneventful. Malik never even glanced at Yugi the whole way there; he just mumbled a quick goodbye as Yugi entered the door of the Kame Game Shop.
"Grandpa, I'm back," Yugi announced. His grandfather looked up and smiled.
"Oh, Yugi, you're finally here. We've just gotten a shipment of the new Duel Monsters expansion set. It's supposed to come out tomorrow, you know, so could you unpack them?"
"Sure," Yugi answered, heading for the back room, and then he stopped as an idea came to him. "Um, Grandpa, I know they're not supposed to be coming out until tomorrow, but could I buy some today?"
"Yugi, that wouldn't exactly be fair…"
"Please, Grandpa?" Yugi did his best puppy-dog eyes at the older man. "I'll pay for them, and it'll be good advertising if I show them off at school…"
"Hmm…" Suguroku Muto was obviously considering the idea. "How many?"
"Just three."
"Three? Well, alright then, but if anyone asks, you got them tomorrow morning…"
"All right!" Yugi said happily. "Thanks." He pulled the money out of his pocket, handed it to his grandfather, dashed into the back, and tore open one of the boxes. Grabbing three booster packs, he plopped down on the couch and tore one open. "Let's see… Harpie's Brother, Michizure, De-Spell, Ancient Elf, Backup Soldier, The Cheerful Coffin, Zone Eater, Rock Ogre Grotto #1, and… hmm, that might come in handy." He slipped Harpie's Brother, Michizure, The Cheerful Coffin, and the last card into his deck. Glancing at the other two booster packs, he hesitated before slipping them into his backpack. Ryou and Malik might want them, if they'd actually admit that the Leogun was real…
An hour later, Grandpa called to Yugi to come and man the counter for him, while he organized some of the new shipments. Nothing interesting happened for the first few minutes, except for a few customers buying Duel Monster cards every now and then. It was when the bell above the door rang for the fourth time that something caught Yugi's attention.
"Welcome to the Kame Game Shop. How can I…" Yugi's voice died out as he stared at the person who had just entered. He looked almost exactly like Yugi himself, except for a few streaks of golden hair, a few more inches of height, and violet eyes that were a shade darker and narrower than his own.
"How can you help me?" the stranger asked in a deep, confident voice. Yugi nodded, and the man smiled. "My name is Yami, and I'd like to have a private discussion with you as soon as you have the time."
So it was that, a few minutes later, Yugi was sitting on the couch, staring at Yami. The Pharaoh looked at him for a long moment until Yugi felt obliged to talk.
"Um… so what is it that you want from me?"
"Your name would be nice," Yami said calmly. "That, and the date."
"Oh." Yugi felt his cheeks flush. "I'm Yugi, and today's November 27th."
"What year?" Yami asked.
'What a weirdo.' "2003, of course."
"2003…" Yami looked thoughtful. "Tell me, how long ago was the eighteenth dynasty in Egypt?"
"Eighteenth dynasty? What is this, a history quiz?" Seeing how serious Yami was looking, Yugi thought for a minute about the answer. Luckily, they'd just been doing ancient Egypt in history. "The eighteenth dynasty… I don't know. A few thousand years ago, maybe?"
"Five thousand years ago?"
"Might be… yeah. I think so."
"Right." Yami looked at Yugi calmly. "Because I'm a Pharaoh from that time period, and something was supposed to happen five thousand years after the spell… and I have the feeling that the time has come."
"You're a Pharaoh… right." 'Either he's crazy, I'm crazy, or this is a dream.' Yugi pinched himself hard just to make sure and winced. 'Nope, no dream. Oh well. Might as well go along with it.'
"So, uh… what is it you want me to do?"
"I can tell you don't believe me," the so-called Pharaoh stated. "I'll explain as soon as we find my friends."
"Your… friends?"
"Yes. Their names are Bakura and Marik… and they should already be here, somewhere in this country."
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"Go home and forget about everything that just happened… right," Ryou muttered to himself as he walked home. "Oh, like I'd really just forget about a huge lion attacking us in the back yard of school… well, I suppose it's better than a Blue-Eyes. Almost anything's better than being dragon food."
"So now what?" he asked the sky, staring at the clouds as he walked along the sidewalk. "Should I really try and forget what happened? I really wish this was just a dream, but it doesn't feel like one… Maybe I really should tell someone. But who? No one would believe me…" People were already giving him strange looks, and Ryou snorted as he imagined what would happen if he tried to tell someone important. 'Mr. Prime Minister, I'm really sorry to bother you, but I was attacked by a huge Duel Monster and it wasn't one of Kaiba's holograms… it was real… it tried to kill me and my friends… What? Have I ever had any hallucinations? No… and I'm not wearing a straitjacket either!' Ryou rolled his eyes. Oh, that would work well. Very well indeed. And about the only proof they had were three slash marks on the side of a tree, but those could be attributed to almost anything, most probably the knife-fight that Malik had managed to get himself into.
"So then, the only option left is to wake up tomorrow and find out that it was just a dream," Ryou sighed. Fat chance of that happening. He'd talk to Malik and Yugi again at school, see what they thought they should do… If Malik would actually admit that it was real…
Ryou finally turned onto the street that his house was on, and he smiled happily as he spotted his home. Now that he was this close, he knew nothing else could possibly happen. He could just relax, try to forget about the Leogun, do some homework, and then talk to Malik and Yugi tomorrow…
The British boy all but skipped up the stairs to his front door, inserting his key and turning the lock. It was surprisingly dark inside, considering that it was only about 2:30, and Ryou reached for the light switch and flipped it on. Dumping his backpack in the closet next to the door, he headed down the hallway towards the kitchen when a voice stopped him in his tracks.
"And where are you going in such a hurry?" a voice purred. " 'Bout time you got here, too. I was starting to get impatient."
Ryou spun around quickly to see someone leaning against the wall next to the door… a someone who looked almost exactly like him. Brown eyes regarded the modern teenager coolly as their owner smirked. Pushing himself up from against the wall, he said, "Well, I suppose I should welcome you back first, so welcome home. Now… on to the next order of business…" The man reached for his back pocket, and a knife clattered to the floor. The intruder blinked as he bent to pick it up. "Whoops… didn't mean to drop that…" He picked up the blade and turned around, just in time to see Ryou collapse in a dead faint.
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Malik turned the key in the lock of the front door of his home, fully intending to go upstairs and sleep to try and forget what had just happened. And skip everything else he had to do, of course. Screw his homework.
Of course, the first thing he heard when he entered the house was Isis' voice. "How was school?" she asked, coming in from the kitchen. "Do you have any homework?"
"Fine," Malik grumbled. "And no, no homework." Forget the fact that he had something for every class.
"Oh really?" Isis raised an eyebrow. "Give me your backpack." Complaining, Malik complied. His sister riffled through it quickly, then looked up at him. "Malik, you have plenty of homework. Go upstairs and do it."
"I-sis…"
"What happened to your jacket?" his sister interrupted. Malik looked down and sweatdropped, noticing for the first time the rip in his uniform from his fight against the senior.
"Umm…"
Isis sighed and shook her head. "Fine, don't tell me. Just go and do your homework, and I'll fix it later."
Too annoyed to argue, Malik just grabbed his bag and headed upstairs. Isis called after him, "Oh, by the way, a friend of yours is upstairs in your room waiting for you." Malik wondered who it was for a split second, then dismissed it from his mind. By the time he reached the top of the stairs, he had completely forgotten about his visitor. His mind was instead occupied with thoughts of the Leogun. Opening the door to his room, he received quite a surprise when he noticed the person sitting on his bed.
"Who… who are you?" he sputtered, staring at the man, who was only about a year older than him. The other teen raised an eyebrow.
"Malik Ishtar. I've been wanting to meet you. Took you long enough to get here." The ancient Egyptian stood up in a single fluid motion and walked over to Malik. "My name's Marik. Might be a bit hard to believe, but I'm one of your ancestors… but what need to worry most about now is your future."
Malik took a step back, trying to escape from the harsh fuchsia eyes that were the mirror image of his own. "My… future? What's that got anything to do with you?"
"Everything," Marik answered, still staring intently at the younger boy. "Because I need your help."
"My help? Why do you need me?"
Marik smirked. "Well, after all, three ancient spirits can't save the world by themselves. So whaddya say?" Not having much of a choice in the matter, Malik nodded. "Good. We can start by looking for a few 'friends' of mine…"
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"Hey, kid. Hey, wake up. I said, WAKE UP!"
Ryou jerked awake because of the voice yelling in his ear. "Huh? What?"
"So now you're awake," someone sighed. "What got you so scared in the first place?"
The British boy looked up and found that he was lying on the floor, with the strange man kneeling over him. The knife was nowhere to be seen, which only served to worry him more. Ryou yelped and backed away as fast as he could. The man raised an eyebrow.
"Calm down. It's not like I'm going to bite."
"Who-who are you?"
"My name's Bakura," the tomb robber said off-handedly. "And you are…?"
"Ryou. Ryou Bakura." The two stared at each other for a moment.
"That's just weird." Bakura muttered. Ryou nodded agreement. "Anyway," the thief continued briskly, "on to more important things. Has anything strange been happening lately?"
'You mean OTHER than us being attacked by a real-life gigantic Duel Monster?' "No, nothing strange."
"Really?" Bakura regarded Ryou for a second, then shrugged. "Whatever. If anything weird happens, just tell me."
"Like what?"
"Like, say…" the tomb robber seemed to be deep in thought. "Someone you know is acting completely out of character. Mysterious deaths. Monsters popping up out of nowhere." Ryou choked at the last one, and Bakura looked at him curiously. "What's wrong?"
"Nothing," Ryou answered. "Are you a detective or something? Why would you want to know?"
Bakura smiled mysteriously. "Oh, it's just that I always find myself involved in these things. Say, if you meet some friends of mine, can you tell them I said hi?"
"Sure. What do they look like?"
"Well, let's see… one has spiky black hair tipped with red, blond bangs, and violet eyes, and the other has light blond hair and fuchsia eyes…"
"Sounds like people I know," Ryou remarked, thinking of Yugi and Malik.
"Believe me, you've never seen them before," Bakura laughed, then grew serious. "If you see them, tell them I said that it's happening again. We need to stop it, and quick, before the seal wears off completely."
Ryou was beginning to feel uneasy. "Seal? What seal?"
"The seal that keeps the evil we fought long ago locked away… the seal to the Shadow Realm."
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The next day, Yugi arrived at school without seeing Malik; apparently, the Egyptian liked being almost late. He approached the classroom and snuck a glance inside the door. Seeing neither Joey nor Tristan, he decided it was safe to go in. He slipped inside quietly… only to be lifted up by the collar. Yugi winced. Oh boy. Here it comes.
A harsh slap on the cheek forced Yugi to open his eyes, only to find himself staring at an angry Tristan. "You weren't there yesterday," he hissed, punching the smaller boy in the gut. Yugi cried out slightly and noticed that the whole class was watching, including Ryou, who had a sympathetic look in his eyes. For a brief moment, he thought of the Leogun, but quickly forgot about it once Joey appeared in his line of vision. He looked even angrier than Tristan, if that was at all possible. And Yugi had learned a long time ago that Joey hit very, very hard when he was angry.
"You should know better than to skip out on your lessons," Joey said casually, but his eyes were aflame with fury. "After all, we don't want detention, do we?" He drew back his fist, ready to punch Yugi in the nose, and Yugi squeezed his eyes shut in anticipation.
There was a loud smack as fist hit flesh, but it wasn't Yugi that was in pain. The short boy opened his eyes when Joey cried out, and found the bully on the ground, clutching at his eye. Yugi glanced to his right to see Malik, who looked even angrier than Joey. Yugi winced. He didn't want to be on the receiving end of that punch.
"Didn't you learn your lesson yesterday?" Malik asked Joey and Tristan, his voice deadly calm. "You do not pick on him or anyone else weaker than you, unless you want to be beaten up?"
Joey and Tristan shared a quick glance before scampering to their seats. "Thanks," Yugi whispered to Malik, who just nodded and headed towards his desk, Yugi trailing along behind. A few minutes later, Yugi spoke up.
"Malik?"
"Hmm?"
"Why'd you do it?"
Malik looked down at the smaller boy for a moment, then turned away without answering.
Yugi was silent for a moment before he whispered quietly, "It really happened, didn't it?"
Malik looked slightly sad. "Yes. It did. Now the only question is, what do we do about it?"
Ryou, who had been listening in to the conversation from his place beside Malik, wondered for a second what exactly had caused this change of heart. Something must have happened yesterday… his thoughts were drawn back to Bakura and what the tomb robber had said. Yes, his friends probably did look a lot like Yugi and Malik, but what if it wasn't just coincidence? Should he tell them about his unexpected guest?
None of them had any more time to ponder their many questions, as the teacher entered the room at that moment and ordered the class to settle down. Ryou sighed and made a mental note to talk to the other two at lunch. Maybe there was some way they could sort this out if they shared their thoughts with each other.
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Four periods later, they met in the cafeteria and took seats at the same table in unspoken agreement. They didn't speak for a while; none of them knew exactly what to say. After a short pause, Yugi pulled his lunch out and started eating, and Malik and Ryou followed suit.
As Malik pulled his lunch out of his backpack, Ryou caught a glimpse of something that looked slightly familiar. Realizing what it was, he gulped slightly, then said slowly, "Malik, is that what I think it is?"
"What?" Malik asked, looking down just as the Swiss Army Knife fell out of his bag. He quickly picked it up, looking around to see if anyone noticed, then stuffed it back into his bag. "Oh. Yeah."
"You carry a knife with you to school?" Yugi hissed.
"After what happened yesterday, you think I wouldn't?"
"But Malik, you could get expelled!" Ryou said worriedly.
"Doesn't matter. There're more important things we have to worry about anyway," Malik looked around to see if anyone was listening before leaning in and facing the other two. "What do you think happened yesterday?"
"I don't know," Yugi said. "I don't get it… Duel Monsters aren't supposed to be real, so what happened?"
"Maybe Kaiba was experimenting with his holographic systems yesterday, and something went wrong," Ryou suggested.
"That's about the only explanation that makes any sense," Malik muttered. "It's not like card games come to life every day."
"Maybe Duel Monsters isn't just an ordinary card game," Yugi said thoughtfully. "Maybe, at one point, it was actually real." He didn't tell the other two, but he was thinking about what Yami had told him. If it was the truth, it could explain quite a lot.
Malik snorted. "Yeah right. I don't see any dragon footprints anywhere, do you? And the last time I checked, there haven't been any Tomozaur fossils in existence. What're the chances that they actually existed at one point?"
"Maybe they did, and someone somehow managed to get rid of them and destroy all the evidence," Ryou said. "We could ask one of them…?"
"That's assuming they can talk," Malik pointed out. "One of you can ask the monsters themselves, and I can go talk to Kaiba."
Yugi sweatdropped. "You obviously haven't heard about what he's like. He has more of a reputation than even you do."
Malik shrugged. "Yeah, well, he's been here longer. Anyone know where he might be after school?"
"He always drives off in a limo," Ryou said. "I've heard he goes to Kaiba Land to work on new attractions, but that place has been closed for about a week. No one's allowed to go in, and no one knows why it closed so suddenly. It just… did."
"You could go to Kaiba Corp," Yugi suggested. "He'll probably be there, since he's obsessed with his work."
"All right then," Malik said. "Just one question: where is Kaiba Corp?"
Ryou sweatdropped. "Only the biggest skyscraper in the city with the KC logo on the side."
"Ah. Got it."
"Tomorrow's a Saturday. How about we meet at the park at 10:00 and tell each other what we found out?" Ryou asked.
The other two nodded, and as the bell rang, they grabbed their bags and headed off to class, putting off all thoughts of Duel Monsters and holograms till after school.
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Dashing through the door of the Game Shop, Yugi said a quick hello to his grandfather before running up the stairs. He deposited his bag on the couch and took out his deck, just as Yami entered the living room.
"Yugi, what are you doing?" he asked, looking over the shorter boy's shoulder. The Pharaoh froze just as he realized what the teenager was holding. "Are those… Duel Monsters cards?"
"Yeah," Yugi replied, not looking up. "My friends and I want to test something out." Finding a suitable level four monster, he grabbed the card and held it up. "Mystical Elf!"
Yami gasped as the monster appeared, his eyes narrowing slightly. 'So it's started already, and this boy has something to do with it…'
"Umm, well… I have some questions to ask you," Yugi began, rubbing the back of his head in an embarrassed fashion. "I guess we could start with: are you and the other Duel Monsters we summon really… well, real?"
The elf nodded. Yugi sighed. "Well, that proves it, then. How about, where do you come from?" The Mystical Elf just stared at him. Yugi sweatdropped. "Okay then, next question. I kinda want to know how exactly you appear in this world…" No answer. Yugi's sweatdrop grew bigger. "Do you even talk?"
The monster shook her head. Yugi smacked his forehead. "Well, that was a complete waste of time," he muttered, recalling the Mystical Elf back into her card. "I just hope Malik has better luck."
Yami stood staring at Yugi. "Yugi… since when have you been able to summon real monsters like that?"
"I dunno… the first time I really tried was yesterday, and that's 'cause we were attacked by a Leogun. Why? Do you have something to do with it?" Yugi asked, cocking his head.
Yami sighed. "I'm afraid so. Who else was there with you yesterday?"
"Malik and Ryou from class. Can you tell me what's going on?"
"Well, Yugi, it's a really long story, and if your friends want to hear it too, it would be better if I tell them at the same time." Yami said slowly.
"We're meeting at the park tomorrow to talk about this." Yugi said. "You can come too, if you want. I'm sure they'll want to hear what you have to say. And there's a chance they can help you find your friends."
Yami was silent for a moment before he smiled. "All right, then. I have a feeling we're all tied up in this anyway."
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Malik stood, looking up at the giant monolith that was Kaiba Corporation. "Geez… this thing could probably be seen fifty miles from here, if you looked hard enough," he muttered. "And what do you want to bet the CEO's office is on the top floor?" Shrugging, he walked through the double doors.
Going up to the receptionist, he cleared his throat to get her attention. "Excuse me… I need to speak to Seto Kaiba. It's important."
The woman didn't even look up from her computer. "I'm sorry, but you can't see Mr. Kaiba without a valid reason or an appointment. You'll have to come back later."
Malik sighed. Time to do this the hard (but fun) way. "Listen up, lady," he growled in a tone that caught the receptionist's attention, forcing her to look up. Even though he was leaning casually on the desk, her eyes widened at the feral look in the teenager's eyes, as well as his steely voice. "You tell your 'Mr. Kaiba' that someone wants to see him about his holographic technology, and that it can't wait. Make sure you mention that, if he chooses not to meet with me, Malik Ishtar will wipe the floor with him at school on Monday."
The receptionist gulped, nodded quickly, and turned on the intercom. She repeated Malik's message exactly, though she hesitated slightly before the threat. The slightly maniacal grin on the Egyptian's face forced her to do it anyway, at the risk of losing her job.
"Tell him to come on up right away," Kaiba's voice said calmly. Malik smiled.
"Whaddya know, he wants to talk to me after all." he said casually. "Thank you so much for getting ahold of him for me." With that, he walked off toward the elevator, leaving the receptionist to wonder why she ever applied for this job.
The CEO was waiting for him at the top. "So you think you can threaten me?" he asked his classmate.
Malik smirked. "Well, yes, I can threaten you, but I'm not sure I can beat you." he said flippantly, sitting down and propping his legs up on the desk. "Your receptionist is rather… demanding, did you know that?"
Kaiba gave him his usual cold smile. "Well, yes. That's why I hired her. Now," he said, suddenly businesslike, "you said this had something to do with my holographic technology, correct?"
"Yes. I was just wondering whether there were any… ah… unusual side effects of the stuff you're just testing out now?" Malik said, choosing his words carefully.
Kaiba regarded him emotionlessly. "What kind of side effects?"
"Oh, you know, nothing serious. Just… monsters escaping from the arena and running loose, that sort of thing."
"Now why would that be happening?" Kaiba asked. "Are you saying you had a run-in with a wild Duel Monster?"
"…something like that."
"Well, Mr. Ishtar," Kaiba began, "I can assure you that nothing of that sort has been happening lately. The bugs in the system have nothing to do with losing control of the monsters; and even if they did, these monsters are just holograms. When they move out of the range of the projectors, they will simply disappear and cease to exist."
"I see." Malik mused. "So there's no chance of there being any wild monsters running around?"
Kaiba chuckled dryly. "Not until we manage to design holograms that don't need projectors, or until we can make satellites with the ability to project that far. And I can assure you, it may take a few more years until we manage to do that."
Malik sighed. "All right," he said, standing up. "Thank you for your time." The doors of the elevator closed behind him, Kaiba staring thoughtfully at his back.
"He is one of the six we will have to face." a voice said from the shadows of the office. "He is your enemy. You could have tricked him with lies and deceit."
"Shut up." Kaiba said, turning towards the voice. "I don't care about who your enemies are. I told you, I don't want any part in your crazy plans."
A deep chuckle issued from the shadows, and an exact look-alike of Seto Kaiba stepped out. "Oh, but you'll be dragged into them anyway," he crooned. "I'll see you later." And with a swish of his High Priest robes, he was gone, leaving Kaiba deep in thought.
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"Bakura!" Ryou yelled as soon as he entered his house. "Bakura, where are you?"
He found the tomb robber in the kitchen, rummaging through the refrigerator. Bakura looked up as soon as Ryou entered. "You don't have any meat," he said plaintively.
"Yes we do," Ryou said, pointing. "Leftover chicken."
Bakura pouted. "I meant, you don't have any raw meat."
Ryou sweatdropped. "I don't think I want to know…" Bakura just grinned. Ryou rolled his eyes and continued, "Anyway, I wanted to tell you something. You know when you asked me if something strange happened?"
"Oh, so something did happen!" the thief cried. "So what was it?"
"Well, yesterday a Duel Monster attacked me and two friends of mine while we were at school."
All of Bakura's attention immediately snapped to Ryou. "What?!? Why didn't you tell me this before?!?"
"Malik told us to forget all about it," Ryou said matter-of-factly. "Besides, the whole thing felt like a hallucination. Anyway, remember when you said you were looking for your friends and I told you that I knew two people who looked like that? They were the ones who were with me yesterday. I'm meeting them tomorrow, so if you want to come…"
Bakura considered this for a moment, then shrugged. "Sure, why not? It's not like I have anything else to do."
There was a slight pause, and then Ryou asked, "That Shadow Realm place you mentioned yesterday… does it have something to do with that Duel Monster?"
"You could say that…"
"Well, could you tell us? I mean, that's what we're meeting for. We want to find out what's going on."
Bakura smirked. "If you want to find out, you'll have to wait 'till tomorrow. Oh… and get me some meat, too, please. Raw."
Ryou shook his head. "Fine," he mumbled, wondering about the strange tastes of his "visitor" as he walked out the door.
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Marik was sitting on the couch and watching TV as Malik walked through the front door. "Well? Why're you late?" he asked without preamble.
"Had to talk to someone about something that happened yesterday," Malik muttered vaguely. He glared at Marik. "Remind me why you're still here?"
Marik shrugged. "Because we haven't found my friends yet," he answered.
"Why am I looking for your friends anyway? Couldn't you just find them yourself?"
"I've got better things to do," Marik said, grabbing the remote and showing off his recently-gained channel-surfing skills. "Besides, it's so much more fun to make you do it."
Malik rolled his eyes. "Whatever. But how am I supposed to know who your friends are?"
"Well, for one thing, they know nothing about this tech-no-whatever stuff you have-"
"Technology," Malik corrected. Marik nodded.
"Yeah, that. Anyway, if you see anyone walking onto one of your roads in front of one of those-technologies-you can be pretty sure it's them."
"They're called cars," Malik grumbled. Marik didn't answer, and Malik looked up to notice that the spirit was busy staring at a woman on the screen. Tick marks began to appear on his face. "Hey! Marik! Are you listening to me?!?"
"No," Marik answered. Malik stole the remote and hit him over the head with it.
"Fine," he grumbled. "If you don't want to find your friends, that's okay with me."
"What?" Marik snapped, grabbing Malik by the collar. "What did you find out about them?"
"Nothing really," the younger Egyptian answered calmly. "It's just that, if you're really as old as you say you are, you could help us with a little problem we're having…"
"And why should I help you?"
Malik grinned. "Easy. You help us, we help you. Who knows, you might even manage to find your friends without meeting them in the hospital after being hit by one of our 'technologies.' "
Marik let go of Malik's collar and turned back to the TV. "Fine," he grumbled. After a short pause, he added, "And they're called cars."
@_@ @_@ @_@ @_@ @_@ @_@ @_@ @_@ @_@ @_@ @_@ @_@ @_@ @_@ @_@ @_@ @_@
"Seto?" a high-pitched voice asked, startling Kaiba out of his reverie. He looked down to see his little brother staring up at him.
"Mokuba? What're you doing here? You should be at school."
"It's over," Mokuba pointed out. "It has been for half an hour now."
Kaiba blinked as he looked at the clock and realized that Mokuba was right. He'd spent thirty minutes just thinking about what that Malik kid had said?
"Seto, when are you going to open Kaiba Land again?" the younger boy asked. "You haven't even started the repairs yet, and a lot of the kids are getting really bored without it being open…"
"It'll reopen soon," Kaiba said absently. "As soon as I figure this whole thing out…"
"What whole thing?" Mokuba asked. "Seto, you haven't even told me what did the damage…"
Kaiba gave his younger brother one of his rare true smiles. "Don't worry about it, Mokuba. It doesn't concern you."
"Are you sure? You seem pretty worried about it…"
"Don't worry," Kaiba repeated, his mind drifting back to that day one week ago…
***Begin Flashback***
Kaiba Land, Domino City
November 20, 2003, 9:00 PM
One hour after closing time, no one was left in the amusement park known as Kaiba Land, except for the people who were left behind to clean up the trash left by the day's crowd. One janitor in particular, a man about fifty years old, was sweeping near the control booth by the Blue-Eyes White Dragon roller coaster, one of the more popular rides. He heard a noise behind him and whirled around, only to see a Turtle Bird standing behind him. He smiled in relief, remembering that people were hired to dress up as Duel Monsters, and that the Turtle Bird was probably the kid who had been hired just this morning.
"Hi," he greeted the "monster." "I heard a noise behind me and I thought I really had something to worry about…" His voice died out as it lunged at him, jumping backward just in time to avoid being cut by the teeth-teeth that screeched loudly against the pavement as they hit.
Acting quickly, the janitor hit the intercom on the control booth, speaking frantically for all of Kaiba Land and the control center at Kaiba Corp to hear. "I know this might sound weird, but there's a REAL LIVE Turtle Bird attacking me near the Blue-Eyes coaster and-" the rest of his sentence was cut off as the monster's teeth bit into the machinery, turning the rest of the message to static before the control booth exploded. The man dropped the broom and ran out of their as fast as he could, leaving the Turtle Bird tearing into the roller coaster tracks.
Kaiba heard the message from the outskirts of the park, where he was climbing into the limousine. "Nonsense," he muttered to himself. "Why would there be a real Duel Monster here anyway?" An explosion caused him to turn around, just in time to see one of the roller coaster cars, fashioned after a Blue-Eyes, fall fifty feet to crash into the ground. A shape that looked liked a flying turtle soared away from the wreckage, heading toward the indoor dueling arenas.
Kaiba growled. "This is ridiculous!" Jumping out of the limo, he raced back into the park, nimbly climbing over the closed gates and heading for the building. He got there just as the Turtle Bird was destroying the fifth arena.
"Hold it!" he cried. The monster turned around and deemed him of little interest before it went back to tearing up the holographic projectors.
"I said, hold it!" Without even knowing he did it, Kaiba withdrew the Lord of Dragons from his deck and held it up. To his everlasting surprise, the monster appeared. Its battle cry caught the Turtle Bird's attention, and the wild monster turned around. Now that it had an opponent to face, things were about to get a lot more interesting.
The turtle/bird combination zoomed towards Kaiba's monster, who dodged it quickly. It came back for another attack, and this time, the spellcaster was bitten in the arm by the opposing monster.
Kaiba gritted his teeth. He knew about this monster; with 1900 attack, it could easily destroy his Lord of D. He'd have to try something else. Drawing out his deck, the top card caught his attention: as usual, it was none other than the Blue-Eyes White Dragon. And the card below it was…
Kaiba gave the Turtle Bird his trademark smug grin. "I'll play The Flute of Summoning Dragon to Special Summon my Blue-Eyes!" The flute appeared in the Lord of Dragons' hands; the spellcaster started playing it rapidly and the Blue-Eyes appeared, screeching to announce its presence. And not a moment too soon; as soon as the Blue-Eyes materialized, the Turtle Bird's teeth finally connected and sent the Lord of Dragons to the Graveyard. But Kaiba didn't care about that now.
"Blue-Eyes White Dragon! White Lightning Attack!" The gigantic dragon roared, unleashing its fury on the Turtle Bird. The other monster screamed for an instant and disappeared. The power of the attack blasted a hole through two floors of dueling arenas, and the ceiling started collapsing, raining down in a shower of dust and plaster. Getting out of there wasn't one of Kaiba's priorities, however, as he stared at the spot where the Turtle Bird had been, his eyes dark.
The Blue-Eyes disappeared slowly, going back to its card, and finally a hint of smile appeared on Kaiba's face. "Remember this," he said. "To anyone else who dares challenge the might of my company, remember that no one gets the better of Seto Kaiba."
"Seto Kaiba, hmm?" a voice asked from near what remained of the dueling platform. "Not bad. Of course, what else could I expect from a relative of mine?"
"Relative?" Kaiba repeated. "The only living person I'm related to is Mokuba."
The person stepped into Kaiba's view, and the CEO gasped as he realized who this person resembled. "You-you're-"
The man smirked. "No, I'm not you. My name is Seth. Seto, I believe that you will be integral to helping me get what I want…"
"Not interested," Seto replied flatly. "I only work for myself."
Seth chuckled. "Oh, but you'll be helping me whether you like it or not." He turned away and was gone.
***End Flashback***
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*measures chapter with a tape ruler* …that'll do for now. I was hoping to get this up earlier, but blame it on an evilevil cold for two days of Thanksgiving break. But I still managed to get it up in November! The real fun starts next chapter, but what else could you expect with Yami and Bakura in the same… um… city? Chapters will hopefully become longer than this at that point. I don't have much to say in the beginning.
REVIEWREVIEWREVIEW!!!! Reviews are good, make me write faster! (Believe me, it took me like five months to do the prologue XD) Flames will be used to burn evilevil homework! Oh, and also to roast chestnuts over an open fire, that stuff. Reviewers get the chestnuts!
Oh, and the first person that can figure out what Yugi's "mystery card" is (y'know, the last one in the booster pack), they get… umm… I'll think about that. A plushie of their favorite character chibified. Or a statue of the character, made of sugar cubes. Or both. And since there are like thousands of Duel Monsters cards out there, you get a hint! (ooh, a hint) Hint: Yugi's deck is exactly the same as when his grandfather gave it to him (C'mon, it's easy if you think about it). Okay, remember to review!