Chapter three! Whee! I'm actually getting somewhere! Anyway… *hands out roasted chestnuts to HongMing, hobbitfeet13, and Hikage Kitsune* And no, the "mystery card" isn't the Dark Magician. There's another hint at the end of the chapter.
Disclaimer: Yu-Gi-Oh! Not. Mine. Unfortunately. All I own is a bunch of cards, including my pretty pretty promo Red-Eyes. *huggles Red-Eyes* And I don't own Cheerios, either. Or BMW. Or any brand-name stuff in this whole story.
Egyptian Shadow Destinies: Chapter Three
The Meeting in the Park
"Yami! Yami, wake up!" The Egyptian pharaoh awoke to someone screaming in his ear. Rubbing his eyes, he sat up to see Yugi kneeling on the foot of his bed.
"What is it, Yugi?" Yami asked, yawning. "Can't it wait? I'm tired…"
Yugi gave him a curious look. "Yami, it's time for us to go to the park. Don't tell me you forgot?"
"No, I just don't like getting only two hours of sleep."
Yugi shrugged. "It's your fault for staying up that late on that dueling site."
Yami couldn't help but smirk in response. "Oh, but it's nice to be able to beat some of the better players around the world. I guess I haven't lost my touch. Besides, that 'computer' thing is actually fun. I found some sites with interesting pictures…"
Yugi slapped his forehead, guessing what the pictures showed. "Yami! If Grandpa checks the computer history…"
"Don't be so worried. He showed them to me."
Yugi sighed. "Whatever. Just hurry up and get ready. We're supposed to meet Ryou and Malik in the park in half an hour, and the bus leaves in fifteen minutes."
Yami gave Yugi a strange look. "What's a bus?"
The teenager facefaulted. "It's… um… a machine. We go inside, and we pay the person driving it, and it takes us where we want to go."
"We go inside?" Yami asked. Yugi nodded. The Pharaoh sighed. "In Egypt, the common people almost never rode inside… things. Imagine, riding inside a camel… Oh, by the way, what's a machine?"
"Well… it's made of metal, and has all of these really complicated parts that make it work, and it runs on electricity and gas…" Seeing the completely confused look on Yami's face, Yugi sweatdropped. "Never mind."
"I'll never get used to your technology stuff…" Yami walked over to the closet and opened it. Seeing what was inside, he sweatdropped. "Yugi, am I supposed to wear these things?"
Yugi wandered over to him. "Yeah. Everyone dresses like that now."
Yami grabbed a black Dark Magician shirt out of the closet, then sweatdropped again. "Um, problem…"
"What is it?"
Yami gave Yugi a sideways look. "All of your clothes are at least two sizes too small for me." He fell to the ground, laughing, as Yugi pounced on him and proceeded to punch him in the stomach playfully.
@_@ @_@ @_@ @_@ @_@ @_@ @_@ @_@ @_@ @_@ @_@ @_@ @_@ @_@ @_@ @_@ @_@
Marik awoke as he was being dragged out of bed by his extra-spiky hair. "Ow! Who the-" He stopped as he caught sight of the culprit. "Malik! What was that for?"
"It's time to go, oh ancient-Egyptian-spirit-who-claims-to-be-my-ancestor." Malik said matter-of-factly. "Don't want to be late, do we?"
"Guess not." Marik grumbled, rubbing his head. "But why my hair?"
"Because you stole my bed." Malik answered. "I had to sleep on the floor."
"Get used to it." Marik shot back. "When are we meeting your friends?"
Malik checked his watch. "Half an hour. Hurry up and eat. We're going there on my motorcycle."
Marik gave him a strange look. "A motorcycle. What're those again?"
An evil grin spread slowly over Malik's face. "You'll soon find out."
"I don't like the sound of that." Marik muttered. "What's for breakfast?"
"Cereal." Malik answered. "Honey Nut Cheerios. Sorry, we don't serve anything that's been around as long as you have."
Marik gave the teenager a sideways glance. "Are you trying to make me feel old?" Malik just laughed.
A few minutes later, Marik was to be found staring at the bowl of Cheerios and milk before him. "They float," he said in complete disbelief. "These… cereals… they float."
Malik glanced at him. "Yeah, so?" he asked between mouthfuls. "What, not used to having foods soaked in liquid?"
Marik shook his head. "No… it was mostly dry, maybe with a bit of wine on the side."
"Underage drinking." Malik muttered under his breath. Marik shot him a questioning look, and Malik shook his head. "Never mind. You wouldn't get it anyway." He finished off his cereal and stood up. "Hurry up. We have to get going."
"Sure." Marik answered, still staring at his Cheerios. Malik sighed and shook his head. As soon as the modern-day Egyptian was gone, Marik raised his spoon and poked at one of the little o's. It went under the milk and bobbed up again. Marik sweatdropped and tentatively put one in his mouth. He chewed for a bit and swallowed. Discovering that it wasn't poisoned, he shrugged. "Not bad." he muttered, and finished off his bowl.
@_@ @_@ @_@ @_@ @_@ @_@ @_@ @_@ @_@ @_@ @_@ @_@ @_@ @_@ @_@ @_@ @_@
A car alarm blared, and a certain white-haired teenager sighed and glanced behind him. "Bakura, how many times do I have to tell you not to touch the cars?"
"I didn't!" Bakura shot back, glaring at Ryou and pointing at the windshield of a BMW. "I threw something at it to see what would happen! That's no reason for it to start screaming at me!"
Ryou sweatdropped at seeing the inch-long crack in the windshield. "Don't throw anything at them, either. That's why the alarm went off."
"Hmph," Bakura muttered. "People these days. There's so paranoid. See, in Egypt, there wasn't anything this fancy, even on the tombs of those high and mighty Pharaohs. Oh, they thought they were well protected, what with those so-called Pharaoh's curses, but a good spell-"
"Let's just go, Bakura!" Ryou yelped, seeing the owner of the car hurrying toward his precious ride. Judging by his fine clothes, they'd have a substantial lawsuit if they were caught. "And no throwing stuff at anything! Seriously, you'll get us sent to jail!"
"That won't be a problem, if security's anywhere near as lousy as it was in the Pharaoh's dungeons." Bakura answered nonchalantly. "I probably set a record for the number of times I escaped from that place. I mean, really, you give those guards a chance to catch you, and then they get so relaxed it's easy to slit their throats and escape-"
"Bakura!"
"Okay, okay, I'll shut up now." They walked on in silence for a few more minutes, Bakura gazing at the road and all the cars in awe. Ryou noticed him staring and sighed.
"What're you looking at now?"
Bakura glanced up. "Hmm? Oh, just those car things. How do they work again?"
"Well, let's see. You have a battery, and when they get turned on, the gasoline is burned and that makes the machinery work somehow…" Ryou caught Bakura's completely confused expression, sweatdropped, and amended his explanation. "Magic." Okay, so he was stretching the truth a bit, but whatever.
A thoughtful look appeared on Bakura's face. "Really? So if I do this…" He stopped and narrowed his eyes, staring at a car that was moving around in a nearby parking lot. Ryou glanced at him, looked away, and then did a double take, glancing back. The tomb robber was glowing a dark blue, his eyes fixed on the car.
"Bakura, what are you doing?" Ryou hissed, glancing around to see if anyone was watching. Luckily, no one seemed to notice.
"Shh." Bakura whispered, focusing even more and causing his aura to become slightly bigger. "This." With an extra burst of energy, his aura flared slightly and the engines of the car exploded. Bakura grinned as the hood of the car started flaming slightly and the driver got out, completely puzzled as to what had messed up his car. Still grinning, Bakura turned and sauntered away.
Ryou stared at the vehicle for a few seconds, watching the driver pour the contents of his water bottle on the fire, before turning away and jogging to catch up to the tomb robber. "What did you do? What was that?"
"Magic," Bakura answered calmly. "And that car didn't run on magic, by the way. I guess that guy's lucky it didn't. Otherwise, that thing would've exploded…"
"Bakura!" Ryou looked like he was about to have a heart attack. Bakura sighed.
"I know, I know, no more blowing up cars or using magic…" he grumbled. "Geez, Ryou, whatever happened to your sense of fun?"
"I have one, it just doesn't include messing with cars or other modern-day technology," the British boy complained. "Really, Bakura, don't draw attention to us!"
"Fine, fine," the tomb robber said in a tone that made Ryou think he wasn't even listening. "Whatever."
They came to a major intersection, and Ryou stopped. Bakura glanced at him and kept walking. "C'mon. I thought we were in a hurry?"
"Bakura! STOP!"
"Why?" Anyone who saw him would say he was either very brave or very stupid, walking into the crosswalk when the sign on the other side said a very clear DON'T WALK. Ryou knew better, however, but the police probably wouldn't believe him if he said the guy was an ancient Egyptian spirit and didn't know any better. The fact still remained, however, that Bakura was walking right into the middle of a busy intersection where cars were going 55 miles per hour and it was not his turn to cross.
Ryou groaned as he saw a car speeding towards the tomb robber. "I can't watch," he muttered, covering his eyes. He heard the screech of tires and a collective gasp from the people around him, and decided to risk a peek. The first thing that popped into his mind was that Bakura was luckily not sprawled out flat on the pavement with tire tracks through his body. The second was that he should deny knowing the Egyptian.
Bakura and the driver of the car were staring each other down. The tomb robber had his arms crossed and was glaring at the driver like it was all his fault. The window of the car came down, and the man yelled… something inappropriate… through it.
The tomb robber didn't take too kindly to this. "Well, you are too, you Ra-forsaken piece of-"
"BAKURA!" Ryou wailed. This was most definitely not his day.
By this time, there was a line backed up behind the stopped car. The driver of the car right behind the one that had nearly run Bakura over rolled down his window. "Hey kid! Get out of the road, will ya?"
Bakura turned his glare to the second driver. "Why should I? And for your information, I'm old enough to be your great-great-great-many-times-great-grandfather, so watch who you're calling kid! Unless you want me to send you to the Shadow Realm, that is!"
It was at this point that the stoplight changed and the sign to walk flashed on. The people around Ryou started walking, staring at Bakura. One girl nudged Ryou in the ribs and whispered, "Hey, is that guy your brother? If you ask me, he belongs in a mental asylum."
Ryou shook his head slowly. "No, no relation at all. In fact, I'm not sure I even know him." He walked quickly towards the ancient tomb robber, grabbing his sleeve. "Come on!" he hissed, and Bakura reluctantly followed.
"Good riddance!" the first driver yelled. Bakura rolled his eyes.
"May Am'mit devour your soul!" the spirit yelled back, making an inappropriate hand gesture. Ryou slapped his forehead, wondering where he had learned it. After all, it probably wasn't something that was commonly used in ancient times.
They reached the other side of the street, and the light changed again. Giving Bakura one last glare, the driver hit the gas and started moving away. As soon as he wasn't looking, however, the tomb robber turned back, and the aura flared again. Once again, the car engines exploded and the cars behind it came to a screeching halt. Bakura grinned evilly and turned away.
"Bakura! What did I tell you about making stuff explode?"
"I know, I know, don't do it." the tomb robber muttered, annoyed. "But you gotta admit, he deserved it."
Ryou just sighed. 'Why me?'
@_@ @_@ @_@ @_@ @_@ @_@ @_@ @_@ @_@ @_@ @_@ @_@ @_@ @_@ @_@ @_@ @_@
Malik tossed Marik a helmet, grinning. "Put that on, if you can."
Marik turned it over in his hands, looking completely puzzled. "What do I do with this?"
Malik sighed. "You put it on, over your head. C'mon, you can't ride without one."
"And why not?"
"The police'll come and arrest us if they find you without one." Malik grinned. 'Of course, with that hair, they can't exactly say we had a choice…'
Marik sent Malik a confused look. "Who're the police?"
Malik's grin grew even wider. "They're the big, scary guys dressed in blue who come and drag you off and lock you up if you don't do what you want them to."
"Oh, really?" Marik examined the helmet. "Interesting. Amazing they haven't been overthrown."
"Yeah, amazing, isn't it?" Malik asked, trying not to laugh. "You can try, if you want. I've tried a couple times, but it's never worked." 'Oh yeah right. Isis would kill me if I tried.'
"Hmm… maybe if we work together…"
"Maybe," Malik agreed, unable to suppress a chuckle. "Maybe later. But right now we have to meet my friends."
"So… how exactly do I put this on?" Marik wondered, lifting the helmet and inspecting the underside.
"Well…" Malik grabbed it and tried shoving it over the spirit's head, to no success. "Your hair's in the way. Try to part it and then maybe it'll fit."
"Like this?" Marik moved his hair so it was relatively flat, and Malik tried to make the helmet fit again.
It was at that moment that Isis walked into the garage. "Malik, you forgot your…" Her voice faded as she saw the strange scene. She sweatdropped, shook her head, and then muttered, "Never mind," before wandering back into the house.
Malik blinked and looked up. "Isis?" Seeing that she was gone, he shrugged and went back to his attempts to make the helmet stay on Marik's head.
A few minutes later, the helmet had been successfully forced on, with Marik's hair sticking out at odd angles from the bottom. Snickering at the way the spirit looked, Malik quickly put on his own helmet and got on his motorcycle. "C'mon. It's time to go."
Marik eyed the vehicle warily. "I don't know if I trust that thing."
"Just get on." Malik said impatiently. Marik grudgingly complied, and two minutes later, they were flying through the streets of Domino City at twenty miles per hour above the speed limit.
Marik was clinging to Malik for dear life. "Do you have to go this fast?" he whimpered.
Grinning, Malik glanced back at him. "What, are you scared?" he asked incredulously. "I go faster than this all the time."
"Whatever happened to those police people you were talking about?" Marik cried.
"They'll never catch us." Malik said breezily. "If we see anyone, I'll just slow down."
"HOW?"
"Easy. Like this." To prove his point, Malik braked as quickly as he could, stopping at the yellow light instead of running straight through it like he usually did. Tires screeched, the motorcycle quickly slowed, and Marik almost fell off the bike.
"YAA!!!"
"What, don't tell me that wasn't fun?" Malik asked innocently, looking at Marik, who was panting slightly and had gone very white under his tan. "Too bad. It's about to get even worse for you."
If possible, Marik went even paler. "Say what?"
Malik pointed at a sign up ahead. "See there? We're going on the highway. I'm allowed to go twice as fast there."
"Do we have to go on this highway place?"
Malik grinned maliciously. "Well…" 'No, not really, but I'm having too much fun freaking you out not to.'
The light turned green, and the crazy Egyptian teenager whooped. "Let's go!" He revved the bike, lifting the front wheel off the ground, and Marik screamed. Malik grinned again and took off, heading for the ramp to the highway.
"Yahoo!" Malik yelled, pushing his motorcycle to the limit as he swerved in between cars at random, tilting the bike to either side and freaking Marik out to no end. Car horns blared, but Malik just smiled blandly and returned the rude gestures the drivers were giving him. A couple exits later, he took the off ramp and stopped at the light. Glancing behind him, he asked, "Hey Marik, you still alive back there, or has your heart stopped yet?"
Upon receiving no answer, he sweatdropped. The spirit was out cold, his arms in a death grip around Malik's waist. Malik mushroom-sighed and shook his head. "Whaddya know, he can ride unconscious. It's a wonder he didn't fall off."
Marik opened his eyes slowly to see Malik's grinning face. "Is it over?" he asked, completely muddled.
Malik smirked. "Nope. Couple more miles to go."
Marik moaned. "No… Ra, no… why me??? WHY ME???"
The light turned green, and Malik smiled deviously. "Here we go!" Once again, he revved the bike, and they sped through the light at twice the speed limit.
The whole time, Marik was behind him, groaning. "No… no… this is a complete nightmare! NO! Someone wake me up! …OW!" He glared at Malik, who was grinning his head off. "What was that for?"
"It seems like you're not dreaming," the teenager said nonchalantly. "Too bad. Means you'll have to put up with the rest of the ride.
Marik fainted again, and Malik shrugged. "Oh well. Hope he doesn't fall off." And with that, he sped off in the direction of the park.
@_@ @_@ @_@ @_@ @_@ @_@ @_@ @_@ @_@ @_@ @_@ @_@ @_@ @_@ @_@ @_@ @_@
"You're late." Yugi stated calmly as Malik walked to the park bench under a large sycamore where he and Ryou had been waiting. "Ten minutes late."
Malik shrugged and ran a hand through his slightly messed-up hair. "Sorry. Traffic was terrible on the freeway."
Ryou glanced at him. "The freeway? You don't live that far from here."
Malik hid a grin. "Let's just say I took a little detour. Oh, by the way… I heard that the engines of a couple cars mysteriously exploded near where you live, Ryou. Know anything about it?"
"Uh, who me? No, no, of course not!" Ryou was perfectly aware that his voice was squeaking, but he was too busy trying to keep his face from turning the color of a tomato to do anything about it. "So, um, did you two find out anything? From Kaiba and the Duel Monsters, I mean."
"Shh, quiet! Don't let anyone hear you. We don't want people thinking we're crazy." Malik glanced around. Seeing no one watching, he continued, "And no, I didn't find out anything from Kaiba, other than that he doesn't take too kindly to challenges to fights." The other two stared at him, and Malik sweatdropped. "Never mind."
"Did he go into any details?" Yugi questioned. Malik shrugged.
"No, not really. He pretty much only said that there wasn't any chance the monsters were from the holograms. Did you find out anything, Yugi?"
"Just a little. I summoned a Mystical Elf and pretty much figured out that the monsters were real. Other than that, nothing. Apparently, they can't talk." Yugi said.
Ryou sighed slightly. "Well, there goes those two leads. But I think I might have found something else…"
Yugi glanced at him. "Really? Me too."
"Yeah… except mine's more a someone than a something." Malik put in. The other two glanced at him questioningly, and Malik was about to explain, when a loud explosion was heard in the general direction of where Malik had come from. The three teenagers looked at each other. Reaching unspoken agreement, they ran toward the source of the noise.
Ryou sighed heavily as he ran. 'Why do I have a feeling I know who caused that?'
The first thing Malik heard as he approached was a very, very familiar voice cursing in Egyptian. The second thing was another, less familiar voice, screaming back at the first in the same language. Ryou smacked his palm against his forehead at hearing the second voice, muttering something about "baka spirits." The other two didn't have time to wonder about it, however, as they reached the scene, where a large crowd had already gathered.
Pushing through the other people, Yugi, Ryou, and Malik reached the source of the noise. Both Ryou and Malik groaned, recognizing the two arguers, and Malik freaked out when he saw what had exploded. "My motorcycle! Marik, what did you do to it?"
The spiky-haired spirit turned to Malik. "I didn't do anything to that demonic piece of technology! Blame it on the tomb robber!"
Ryou glared at Bakura. "What did I tell you about making things explode?"
"You specified cars only!"
The various arguments were interrupted by hysterical laughter by someone who had just emerged out of the crowd. "Two minutes together and you two are already at each other's throats! I can't believe you!"
Bakura and Marik both turned to stare down at Yami. "Pharaoh!"
"What, not even a 'hello' after all these years? No 'we missed you' or anything?"
"How about, 'oh, it's you?' " Bakura asked sarcastically. "That's what I've been wanting to tell you. Besides, spending five millennia in the Shadow Realm with no shiny golden objects can really mess up a tomb robber's attitude."
Yami opened his mouth to make a smart retort, but Yugi interrupted. "So, Yami, I guess these are your friends?"
Yami closed his mouth and turned to the shorter boy. "Yes, though I'm not feeling very friendly toward them right now."
Ryou stared from Bakura to Yami to Yugi. "You know each other?"
"Yes, unfortunately." Bakura grumbled. "Have for five thousand years."
Marik glanced at Malik, expecting him to say something, but the spirit was disappointed. "My motorcycle…" In a flash, he was in front of Bakura and had somehow managed to lift the thief up by the collar. "Why'd you do that to my motorcycle?"
Marik rolled his eyes. "Calm down. Your motorcycle's across the street. The tomb robber exploded the one that tried to run him over."
Ryou turned to Bakura. "Did you walk into the middle of the street again?"
"No!" Bakura quickly changed his mind under Ryou's withering glare. "Well… yes."
Yami sighed. "ANYWAY… getting off the topic of exploding vehicles. I guess it's time we explained what it was we came here to do."
The Pharaoh sweatdropped as he noticed Malik examining his motorcycle. Finding a millimeter-long indent, he turned to Marik and pointed to it, yelling, "Look what I found! A dent! A dent! You dented my ride!"
"Would you rather have had it explode?" Marik yelled back. " 'Cuz that's what would've happened if the tomb robber had gotten to it."
Meanwhile, Bakura's eyes had been following a car which had slowed down considerably, its driver staring at the scene. "What're you looking at?" he yelled, making the same rude gesture as before. The man quickly turned away and sped up.
Bakura started glowing again, but Ryou noticed just and time and yelped, "BAKURA!" before shoving the tomb robber. The spirit's aim went slightly awry and he missed the car, causing a nearby trash can to explode for seemingly no reason at all.
Bakura grinned sheepishly at the angry Ryou. "Whoops, sorry…"
A tick mark appeared on Yami's forehead. "Are any of you LISTENING to me?!?"
@_@ @_@ @_@ @_@ @_@ @_@ @_@ @_@ @_@ @_@ @_@ @_@ @_@ @_@ @_@ @_@ @_@
It was a good half-hour later before the six of them had stopped arguing enough to settle down and talk about the current problem. After the three spirits had explained where they'd come from and everything they knew about the Duel Monsters, all of them sat in silence for a while before Yugi asked, "So, if you're here, then is this Seth person here too? I mean, since you were all used to seal the Shadow Realm…"
Yami glanced at him. "Most probably." he mused. "He'd probably be with his reincarnation, too, since you three were the first people we actually talked to when we arrived here."
"His reincarnation?" Malik asked. Yami nodded, and Malik continued, "Well, how would we know if he's been reincarnated or if he's even here?"
"Well, let's see. Seth has brown hair, blue eyes, wears Egyptian high priest robes, has a personality problem, and is about a foot taller than the Pharaoh here…" Bakura listed off. Yami glared at him.
"Antisocial, tall, and creepy?" Ryou asked. "Sounds like Kaiba to me."
"Yeah, Kaiba does fit the description pretty well." Yugi said. "Especially the 'personality problem' part."
"The thing is, though, I went to see Kaiba about the Duel Monsters, remember?" Malik pointed out. "He denied knowing anything about them, and if he was our enemy, he didn't try to kill me. And I don't remember seeing anyone dressed in priest robes in the whole of Kaiba Corp., that I would have noticed."
"Well, maybe you've just got the wrong person." Marik shrugged. "Either that or Seth's being even more confusing than usual. Or this Kaiba guy doesn't agree with Seth."
Yugi cocked his head, confused. "How could you not agree with another incarnation of yourself? I mean, technically you're the same person, so…"
"It all depends on what the people go through." Yami said. "If, say, one's been pampered all his life and the other's been a beggar, there'll be a pretty big personality difference. If you need proof that they turn out differently…" He jerked his thumb toward a certain white-haired pair. Bakura waved, Ryou mushroom-sighed, and Yugi sweatdropped. "Case in point."
"I see…"
"What bothers me most about this, though, is why all the monsters are appearing like this: one at a time, and as far as we can tell, only about once per day." Yami said. "You'd think that they'd all pop out of the Shadow Realm at the same time, since all four of the people who sealed them were released… or at least, three of them were."
Bakura sighed, shaking his head in mock sadness. "Pharaoh, Pharaoh, Pharaoh." he said, standing up and starting to pace around. "You were the ruler of all Egypt, the King of Games, supposedly a master of magic, and yet you don't know this? I'm ashamed. How could you be so ignorant?"
Yami glared at him. "Well, tomb robber, please be so kind as to share your endless knowledge with us poor fools who don't know enough to satisfy you. And please excuse me if I spend more time casting spells than actually breaking them." He paused to sweatdrop. "It was everyone else's job to try and break them, if they could."
Bakura stopped pacing and turned to face Yami. "All right then, Pharaoh, time for you to learn something from the master thief. Tomb robbing 101. First thing: most Pharaohs' tombs are protected by magic spells that supposedly last forever. However, in my trade, you soon learn that such descriptions are deceiving. One:" he held up one finger, "on the newer tombs, the spells are harder to break, and require great force of magic; a bit of sheer power. If you do that, they crack almost instantly."
"Yeah, whatever." Yami grumbled, trying to ignore the fact that Bakura was rubbing it in his face that he had desecrated the tombs of the Pharaoh's ancestors, and was enjoying it a little too much. "Get on with it."
"Patience, Yami." Bakura said mockingly. "Two:" the second finger went up, "on the older tombs, the 'everlasting' spells tend to wear off a little: the older, the easier it is to break. Think of a spell as a wall, and the older it gets, the more it crumbles. The more it crumbles, the more holes it gets, and the more holes, the easier it is to break."
Marik stared at Bakura blankly. "So you're saying-"
"Well, let's say the spell is a building-"
"Whatever happened to the wall?" Ryou asked. Bakura glared at him.
"Let's just say this is a more complicated spell, so it's a building. Anyway. It's a building, and since the five thousand years have passed, the four souls used to seal the Shadow Realm-to hold the building upright-have been released. Say the souls are like cornerstones; take them away, and the building starts to crumble, and it will eventually collapse. That's what's happening here."
"Question?" Malik asked, raising his hand. Bakura looked at him. "If all four cornerstones are taken away, won't the building collapse right away?"
Bakura laughed falsely. "Well, let's just say it's collapsing in slow motion!"
The others all sweatdropped. Yami murmured, "Bakura, I think your extended metaphor has many, many mistakes…" The tomb robber glared at him.
@_@ @_@ @_@ @_@ @_@ @_@ @_@ @_@ @_@ @_@ @_@ @_@ @_@ @_@ @_@ @_@ @_@
Ryou sweatdropped as he watched Bakura empty his pockets of any and all weaponry he had managed to get ahold of. The group of six had retreated to a small meadow in the middle of a grove of trees where they probably wouldn't be disturbed. Yugi was staring at Bakura in disbelief, while Malik was also watching and laughing at the looks on the Yugi and Ryou's faces. Yami and Marik, however, were barely paying any attention, looking for all the world like what they were seeing was perfectly normal. And it probably was, too, considering that this is Bakura we're talking about.
"Let's see…" Bakura muttered, grabbing the kitchen knives out of the inside of his jacket, the switchblade from the back pocket of his jeans, an envelope opener from his shoe, a whole bottle of cooking oil and matches from… somewhere, and a water gun from his hair, where it had somehow managed to stay hidden. "I think that's all!"
"Finally." Marik muttered, glancing significantly at the pile of "dangerous" objects at Bakura's feet. "I'm surprised you managed to find that much weaponry in one ordinary, modern-day household."
"A water gun?" Malik finally managed to choke out, still laughing. "You brought a water gun as a potential weapon?"
"Oh, is that what it's called?" Bakura asked, grabbing at it. "Hmm. Not too dangerous when filled with water, but do this…" He grabbed the oil, poured it in, and lit a match. He put the fire in the path of the oil and shot it at Marik, who yelped and dodged the flaming oil. The tomb robber grinned. "See? Very dangerous, if you know how to do it." Everyone else except Marik facefaulted, while the spirit was busy trying to put out a small fire that had started in his hair.
"So, did you guys find out anything interesting?" the King of Thieves asked. "I mean, since you know what's happening next…"
Marik nodded and pulled out Malik's set of kitchen knives, but Yami shook his head. "I'm sorry, but terrorizing innocent people wasn't high on my list of 'to do' things today." the Pharaoh grumbled.
Bakura raised an eyebrow. "ANYWAY! Lesson one on how to be a tomb robber-" he ducked the shoe Yami threw at him and continued, "Fine! Lesson one on how to survive in a world where dangerous magical monsters are randomly appearing and will soon attempt to conquer this pathetic thing you call modern-day civilization-how to use weaponry! And magic, too, but that's a lot less fun."
Malik grinned, picking up two of the longest knives and twirling them expertly. "How to use weaponry, hmm? Good thing they teach us fencing at school, then." He tossed one of the knives at a tree, but completely missed it and ended up hitting a bush some ten feet behind it. The Egyptian teenager sweatdropped. "Guess I need a little work."
"Umm… can I not use the knives?" Yugi asked. Yami looked at him, and Yugi grinned sheepishly. "I don't exactly have the highest grades in P.E…"
Ryou nodded quickly. "Me neither." Bakura sighed, disappointed. He'd at least been hoping his reincarnation was good with blades.
"I claim the knives!" Malik cried quickly, grabbing four of them before anyone else could.
Marik grinned. "Good boy. Might as well start on weapons before we get to magic."
Ryou glanced at Bakura. "Could we start on magic first?"
"Sure, sure." the tomb robber grumbled. "Wanna try spelled knives?"
Ryou sweatdropped. "Maybe later. Magic first." Bakura shrugged.
Yami turned to Yugi. "Guess that leaves us. What do you want to try, weapons, magic, or magicked weapons?"
Yugi shrugged. "Magic, I guess… but maybe you could teach me some more about the Duel Monsters cards?" Yami stared at him, and Yugi squirmed slightly. "I tried to use some magic and traps yesterday night, when you were sleeping, except it didn't work…"
"I see." Yami muttered. "Well, it needs a slightly different type of magic to use each type of card, so I guess you can use monster cards naturally, but not the magic and traps. Have your friends tried to summon other cards yet?"
Yugi shook his head. "I don't think so; just me."
"All right, then…" Yami turned to the other two groups and called, "Hey Malik! Ryou! Can you come over here for a minute?" The two glanced up and nodded, walking towards Yami.
"What's up, Pharaoh?" Malik asked.
"I want you to try something." Yami answered. "Try to use a magic, trap, and monster card from your decks. See if it works."
"Sure, why not?" Malik tried it out, and to his surprise, only one of his trap cards worked. The Egyptian blinked. "Weird…"
The only card that worked for Ryou was his Change of Heart, and Yami nodded knowingly. "So Yugi controls the monsters, Ryou has the magic, and Malik can use traps…"
"What are you talking about?" Malik demanded.
"Well, you need a different type of magic for each type of card, so it makes sense that each of you can only use one type naturally." Yami answered. "We may need to work on that… just go back to what you were doing." Malik and Ryou obeyed.
Yami turned back to Yugi and summoned a Swords of Revealing Light, telling him to try and do the same. Ryou watched them as he walked back to where Bakura was waiting.
"Did the Pharaoh say anything interesting?" the tomb robber asked.
"Kind of. Something about needing different types of magic for different types of cards."
"Okay. You still want to work with regular magic or do you want to try and summon other cards?"
"Regular magic, I guess…" Ryou was starting to feel uneasy because of the evil grin on Bakura's face.
"Sure. For your first lesson…" Bakura conjured up a ball of dark blue Shadow magic, maybe three inches in diameter, and grinned. "Watch closely." Making sure Ryou was paying attention, he focused on his target and lobbed it straight at Yami's head.
The Pharaoh turned just in time to notice it. Acting quickly, he grabbed one of the Swords and jumped back a step. He swung the Sword back and used it to slam the ball-straight towards Malik.
Malik hadn't been paying any attention at all to Marik, instead playing with his new knives. He saw the ball's reflection in one of the blades, just in time to duck. The magic whizzed right over his head, almost touching the tips of his hair, before it hit a tree.
Everyone breathed a sigh of relief, except for Bakura, who groaned and cursed at having missed Yami. They were a little too early, however, as the tree started falling-with Yugi right in its path. The boy yelped and ran as fast as he could away from the tree, straight into Yami, making them both fall over.
Yami got up as quickly as he could and helped his reincarnation up; then, having regained his dignity, he stalked over to Bakura. "What were you doing? You could have killed Yugi!"
"I was aiming for you, baka Pharaoh! If you hadn't hit it with your sword, it wouldn't have hit the tree and made it fall!"
"What did you expect me to do, stand here and let it slam me in the head?"
"What about me?" Malik interjected. "That thing could've taken my head off if I hadn't ducked!" The two arguing spirits paid him no attention, and Malik grew angry. "Are you listening to me?!?"
"Shh, calm down." Marik muttered. "Believe me, you don't want to get caught up in one of their arguments."
Ryou and Yugi were trying to calm Bakura and Yami down, but with no success. "You think it's MY fault? Who made that thing in the first place?"
"It didn't hurt him at all, so what're you complaining about?"
"It could have KILLED him!" Yami yelled.
"Oh yeah, if he was stupid enough to just stand there and do nothing!" Bakura yelled back.
"I'm TIRED of this! What's the point of arguing with an idiot tomb robber like you?"
"Yeah, what's the point?" Bakura whipped his deck out of his jacket pocket, glaring at Yami. "Well, are you going to get your deck or are you going to stand there stalling all day?"
"Never!" Yami grabbed his deck too. "Bakura! I challenge you to a Shadow Game!"
"You're on, Pharaoh! Get ready for the most embarrassing defeat of your life!"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
YES!!!!! FINALLY DONE!!!! Sorry for the long wait, but I was busier than usual. The next update might be also during the break, if I can manage it, but probably not, since there's a one-shot I'm hoping to finish, maybe a Christmas special, and maybe a Gundam Wing fic I hope to start. That plus presents'll keep me busy for a while. ^_~ Next chapter'll be fun, though, Yami vs. Bakura. Who will win? Yami? Bakura? Both? Neither? How are the last two even possible? …anyway.
You know the drill. REVIEWREVIEWREVIEWREVIEWREVIEW if you want the next chapter! If you don't, review anyway! Just no flames! Flames will be given to Bakura to use for his weaponry! Reviewers get candy canes, whatever flavor they want!
Oh yeah… one more thing. No one has guessed Yugi's mystery card yet! (though HK and HongMing put the same thing… might want to check everyone else's guesses before you guess too XD) So… here's your chapterly (is that even a word? Microsoft Word doesn't seem to think so) hint!
HINT: (ooh, ooh, a hint! Lucky peoples are you!) Um… It's in the Enter the Shadow Realm TV opening, if you look. I want the NAME, so no saying it's the Duel Monster that's big and… yeah. But what Duel Monster isn't big?
Oh yeah, one more thing! (last thing, I promise!) I need opinions here: should Yugi have a Blue-Eyes in his deck? You know, since Kaiba tore up Grandpa's? I just want to know, it probably won't play too big a part. That's it, then! Review!