Egyptian Shadow Destinies

by crazydominodragongirl

(AU) Unable to find a spell to lock the Shadow Realm away forever, Yami, Bakura, and Marik used one that would only last for 5,000 years. In the present, they and Yugi, Malik, and Ryou must go on a quest to seal away the Realm for good...

7. Into the Darkness

Ramen goes to Hikage Kitsune, hobbit13, and Shiros.  The card isn't Red-Eyes, Exodia, or Slifer, (though one of them's pretty darn close) and I don't plan on putting the god cards in here.  That would lead to the complication of exactly who holds them and how they're supposed to get the cards… so no.  I just realized something from the last chapter: Yugi's grandpa is NOT the reincarnation of Simon, though their names are somewhat the same.  I'm keeping it that way, though, because I don't know who he was reincarnated from.

Disclaimer: I wish I owned them.  Let's take a look at that sentence there, shall we?  "Wishing" means I want to.  Wanting to means I most probably don't.  In other words, I don't own them.  Well, except for Zake.

Egyptian Shadow Destinies: Chapter Six

Into the Darkness

Bakura glanced around, eyes widening as he realized just who it was who was missing. "Ryou?!?  Ryou, where are you?"  Despite all his cries, his reincarnation was nowhere to be seen.

Yami sighed, shaking his head. "Well, I guess that's what Seth meant when he said that he'd make us come there," he said. "He always did have a way of manipulating people like that."

Bakura grabbed Yami by the collar and lifted him up, slamming him against the wall of the school. "Look, Pharaoh, I don't care why Seth did it and if he thinks he can manipulate us, but there is no way I'm leaving him there for that… priest… to do with as he will.  We're rescuing him, no matter what."

"Don't you think he knows that, Bakura?" Marik put in. "We have to save him, of course.  He's an integral part of this whole thing, and we can't defeat Seth without him.  It's just… listen to yourself.  We need to think this through first, or everything will fall apart.  You know that Seth was right; people will cause chaos using the Duel Monsters if someone isn't here to control them."

"We're coming too," Yugi said immediately, and Malik nodded his agreement.  Yami turned to them, blinking.

"You shouldn't come.  The Shadow Realm puts too much of a stress on mortals, and we're going to be in there for a long time, and you haven't been in there before.  Who knows what could happen.  You should stay and make sure nothing happens here while we're gone."

Malik glared at him. "We.  Are.  Coming.  And nothing you say is going to change our minds.  Look, Ryou's our friend, and we want to help.  It'll be easier to find him if we all work together, and besides, hopefully the strain of the Shadow Realm won't affect us that much anyway, seeing as how we can use magic too."

Marik sighed. "They have a point, you know.  But if they come, then who'll take care of things here?"

"You can leave that to us," Tristan put in, and the three spirits and Yugi and Malik turned to see him and Joey, surprised.  Neither of the two had spoken since it had been figured out that Ryou had disappeared. "If people can figure out how to summon monsters on their own, I'm sure we can do it, too.  We'd help you guys, except we don't know any magic."

"Yeah," Joey added. "I don't get half of what you're talking about, but I'm sure we can at least take care of things here.  My Flame Swordsman and I can take care of that." The warrior next to him nodded solemnly, and Yami blinked, wondering when he had summoned the monster.

Quickly getting over the surprise, Yami said, "No, we have to leave someone else here.  I don't want you two getting involved.  You don't even know half the stuff about what's going on here, and I'd prefer to leave it to someone who knew what they were going up against."

Joey smirked slightly. "And you don't want me getting myself killed again, isn't that right?"

"How'd you-"

"Yugi told me," the blond interrupted. "Don't worry about it.  Things are different now anyway, aren't they?  I mean, if Yugi, Ryou, and Malik are your reincarnations, then there are technically two of you here in this time.  And if that's the case, then destiny can't repeat itself, because there's already something different now than with what happened in your time."

Yami hesitated. "I'm not sure…"

Tristan threw an arm around Joey's shoulders. "Hey, don't worry about it.  If anyone wants to kill my buddy, they'll have to get through me first."

Yami still looked uncertain. "Maybe…"

"We're wasting time," Bakura put in from where he had been standing impatiently. "Every second we stand here debating will probably have Ryou in more and more danger.  We'd better go soon if we want to have a chance of finding Seth."

Finally giving in, Yami sighed in defeat. "Fine.  Bakura, Marik, Malik, Yugi and I will go, and we'll leave it up to you two to take care of things here while we're gone." Joey and Tristan grinned in triumph and exchanged high-fives.

Yugi said, "There's another thing I want to ask you.  Can you tell Grandpa where I've gone?  He'll understand; I've already explained this whole situation to him."

Malik added, "Oh, and tell my sister, too, will ya?  Except… um…"

"She doesn't know anything about what we're doing here," Marik explained. "Isis suspects something, of course, but she doesn't know."

"…yeah," Malik mumbled. "Just tell her we're on a school field trip or something, make something up.  Hopefully she'll understand and won't complain… and I won't ask you to look out for her or anything if any monsters attack.  She can take care of herself."

"She was only the most powerful priestess and diviner in all of ancient Egypt," Bakura said, smirking, before he turned serious. "Let's go now." The other four nodded, and turned to face the place where Seth had appeared, where the tomb robber began summoning the energy needed to enter the Shadow Realm.

As the portal opened, showing nothing but a dark swirl of purple and black, Marik, Yami, Bakura, Yugi, and Malik walked up to it, the latter two showing signs of fear but trying to hide it.  Before they entered, Yami turned back to the two spectators and said, "Joey, you'd better be alive when we get back, or I'll never forgive you."

The blond gave him a mock-salute and a huge grin. "On my word, Pharaoh, I promise you I'll be alive when you guys get back.  I give you permission to kill me otherwise." Yami allowed himself a small smile as he stepped into the portal, the image of his friend from this time giving way in his mind to a picture of a nearly identical teenager, also saluting as he smiled at his best friend, the hot sands of Egypt behind him.

As the group disappeared and the entrance into blackness shrank and vanished, Joey's grin faded and he turned to Tristan. "It's like they were never here, isn't it?"

The brunette nodded. "Yeah… except for the crater where the field used to be.  I guess it's up to us, now."

Joey gazed at the Flame Swordsman next to him, looking thoughtful. "I guess so.  Kinda makes me wonder how we get into these things." He pulled out his deck, returning the swordsman to its card before pocketing it.

The shrill sound of sirens cut through the air and the two boys winced, almost having forgotten that there were other people in the world than them and the five that had just left.  As the police scrambled out of their cars and surrounded the school, Joey muttered to Tristan, "I guess this is our first job, huh?  Explaining this to the media."

Tristan sweatdropped and nodded. "Yeah… wish us luck."

"We'll need it."
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Yugi's first impression of the Shadow Realm was that it was cold, colder than it ever got in Japan.  His second was of the deep blackness that surrounded them, and the third was more in his mind than anything else.  The spirits had been right; just being here was draining.  Not that he'd ever complain about it, of course, now that he and Malik had actually convinced the three to bring them along.

A small dark blue light appeared, and Yugi looked to see Bakura, whose face was eerily shrouded in shadow by the small ball of magic in his hand.  Kind of a reflection on how dark the place was, if that kind of light actually made it easier to see.  One by one, three other lights came on, a gold one that showed him Yami, a magenta one that lit up Malik, and a bronze one that brought Marik into view.  Soon after, Yugi called his own ball of lavender light into existence, lighting up maybe a ten-foot radius around the group.  Glancing at the ground, Yugi shuddered slightly as he noticed the gravel-like texture of it, as well as the old bones and small scraps of cloth that littered it.

Bakura grinned nastily, the shadows cast by his magic causing him to look more than slightly evil. "Back here again," he remarked, seeming to be perfectly at ease in the Shadow Realm. "Been a while since I was last here.  Feels just like it always did, doesn't it, Marik?"

The other spirit nodded, grinning. "Just as cold and unwelcoming as ever.  You enjoy it, don't you, Bakura?"

The tomb robber smirked. "Of course.  It feels more like home here than Egypt ever did.  What do you think, Pharaoh?"

Yami rolled his eyes. "I think you two have spent way too much time in the Shadow Realm.  I also think we came here for a reason, and that wasn't to comment on how little this place has changed in the past five thousand years.  Remember Ryou?"

"Yes, I remember," Bakura grumbled. "Hold on.  I'll summon a locator spell."  The magic in his hands shifted shape slightly, becoming more of a cylinder with a little triangle pointing in a certain direction.  He pushed the triangle so the compass spun, and as it did so, he looked to Yugi and Malik.

"I don't suppose either of you have anything of Ryou's?  A borrowed pencil, maybe?" The two shook their heads, and the thief sighed. "Oh well.  I guess it was too much to hope for.  Guess I'll have to focus in on his magic instead, and that's a lot harder.  In case you hadn't noticed, the Shadow Realm has something of a muting effect on magic."

Malik had noticed; the circle of light had grown slightly smaller, along with the ball of magic in his hand.  Straining slightly against the draining effects of the Shadow Realm, he summoned up more of his magic and forced it into his hands, leaving him a bit more tired than before.  Yugi had done the same, and the Egyptian noted in some far corner of his mind that the smaller boy was sweating slightly.  Now that he thought about it, Malik realized that he was breathing a bit harder than usual, too.  Not a good sign.

Apparently, Marik had noticed the way the two humans were reacting, and he sighed. "Hey, we tried to warn you about the Shadow Realm, but you two didn't listen…"

Yugi tried to glare at him, but failed miserably. "Isn't there anything we can to do stop this?"

Yami shrugged. "We could construct a sort of shield, except that takes time and energy, neither of which we have a lot of at the moment." He gestured at Bakura, who was staring intently at the compass in his hands and muttering a few words in Egyptian every now and then.  Yugi and Malik watched in fascination as he summoned more magic, this one more of a bluish-white color.  He forced it down his arm and into the palm of his hand, where he picked it up in his fingertips and held it over the compass.  It formed a small dip in the center, in exactly the shape of a hemisphere, and Bakura pressed the lighter magic into the recess.  It fit snugly into the hole, and in a few seconds, the compass had stopped turning and pointed off in a direction left and slightly forward of where they were standing.  The tomb robber saw the two teenagers staring at him and shrugged.

"Ryou and I exchanged a bit of magic yesterday," he explained. "It's kind of useful, because it gives you a link to the other person's well of magic if you ever need any, and you can use it for these kinds of things.  It's a lot easier than wandering around the whole realm calling for him, which might be a bit of a bother.  There's a lot more than just humans and human spirits in the Shadow Realm." Yugi shifted nervously, glancing down at the ground beneath his feet.  Bakura saw this and grinned. "Noticed the bones, have you?  Not too many Duel Monsters eat human flesh, but if you meet one of them…" He drew his hand across his neck in a quick slashing motion, and the shorter boy shuddered, trying not to imagine what exactly would happen.

"Bakura," Yami said sharply, "as much as I know you enjoy scaring people out of their wits, now is not exactly the best time.  We're supposed to be looking for Ryou, remember?" The tomb robber nodded and set off in the direction in which the compass pointed out.  The others trailed behind in silence, each thinking their own thoughts and pondering what lay ahead.
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It was some time later when Bakura finally spoke. "I suggest you stay on guard," he said to the others. "The wild monsters tend to be pretty weak, but Seth probably knows we're here and he'll be expecting us.  Stay on guard; I'm sure we'll be meeting the priest's welcoming committee soon enough."

Yugi glanced around uneasily. "You said there were wild monsters in the Shadow Realm," he stated.

Yami nodded. "Yes, this is where all the monsters come from, whether they're summoned or just appear for no apparent reason."

Yugi looked even more uncomfortable. "So are all of the wild monsters evil?"

"What do you think?" Bakura asked dryly. "We haven't been attacked yet."

Yami shot him a glare. "Not all of them, just mostly the dark types and fiends.  The others either stay away from each other or don't care, except for the light types and fairies.  Sometimes they'll help other monsters, or any people that they see."

"So then the monsters that appeared probably weren't wild?" Malik asked. "I mean, since they started attacking everything…"

Marik thought about that for a moment. "No, probably not," he said. "They were probably working with Seth.  At least two of them were Seth's own monsters, though.  The Vorse Raider I know he has, and the Blue-Eyes could only belong to him or Yugi, and since Yugi summoned his own during that fight…"

"Then Seth's been gathering his own private army," Malik muttered. "Figures.  While all we have are the monsters in our decks."

"There are more of us, though," Yami pointed out. "Whether there are enough, we'll soon find out."

Bakura was about to reply when he suddenly stopped, staring into the darkness ahead.  The other four sensed it too; there were monsters dead ahead, blocking their path.

"Do you think they're with Seth?" Yugi questioned quietly, so that the monsters couldn't hear.

"They're in our way and they're not moving.  What do you think?" Malik retorted.

"There's only one way to find out," Yami muttered, "and we're not getting anywhere just by standing here."

The others nodded, and they advanced slowly, dimming the light of their magic so they wouldn't be as easy to spot, though it was probably too late for that now.  Bakura, Yami, and Marik reached for their decks with their free hands, while Yugi and Malik added more energy into the balls of magic that they already held.  There was no sense in being caught unprepared.

The monsters soon appeared in their field of vision: maybe five smaller monsters with attack under 1000, being watched by a Gyakutenno Megami.  The five boys relaxed, and the weaker monsters fled as soon as they saw the group.  The larger fairy regarded them solemnly for a moment before turning and following the others, gliding calmly behind them.

Yugi breathed a sigh of relief. "So they weren't with Seth after all.  What do you have to say to that, Malik?"

Malik mumbled something in Arabic under his breath before replying, "They could've been.  And I don't think we'll be so lucky this time around."

"What?" Yugi started to ask, but then stopped as he too felt the presence of more monsters that had been hiding behind the small group.  He gulped as they stepped into the light: three monsters were standing there, and they did not look happy.

"Doma the Angel of Silence, Amphibian Beast, and King of Yamimakai," Bakura muttered. "Levels five and six.  Who wants to take care of them?"

"I will," Yugi volunteered.

"Okay, fine," Marik said, then grinned. "Oh… one way in which the Shadow Realm differs from the real world…"

Yugi glanced at him. "Yes?"

"This being where all the monsters come from, you can summon them directly just by holding out the card.  They all exist here, you see, so no sacrifices necessary," Marik explained.

A slow grin started spreading over Yugi's face. "Is that so?" he asked. "I'll keep that in mind.  In that case…" He pulled out a card from his deck, and trusting that it was the card he wanted, he yelled, "I summon the Blue-Eyes White Dragon!"

The dragon appeared in all its glory, the darkness turning its scales more of a purple shade than bluish-white.  It roared its challenge to the three opposing monsters, glaring at them.

"You ready?" Yugi asked the Blue-Eyes, and it roared again, powering up its attack in anticipation.

Realizing something, Yami yelled, "Yugi!  Wait!" But it was too late.

"Blue-Eyes White Dragon!  White Lightning Attack!" Yugi pointed at the three monsters, and with one great blast, the dragon incinerated them all.  Yugi did a quick victory pose, but it was short-lived as black chains flew out of nowhere and bound the Blue-Eyes, trapping it.  Yami groaned.

"That's what I was going to warn you about!" he yelled. "Here, traps and quick-play magic cards can be set and you can't see they're there until they're triggered!  That's a Shadow Spell!"

Yugi's eyes widened in shock. "WHAT?!?" He pulled out the card again and tried to return the Blue-Eyes to the card, but to no avail.  No matter how much the dragon struggled against the chains that bound it, it was stuck like that for a while.

Laughter started to fill the area, and the group looked up to see a large monster approaching.  Within seconds, it had become a Blue-Eyes, and a certain priest was standing on its head and laughing at them.

"Poor little Yugi, can't seem to free his little pet dragon," Seth cooed, chuckling at the look on Yami's face. "Too bad.  I guess I'll have to show you what happens when you're caught off guard in the Shadow Realm." He pointed at Yugi's Blue-Eyes and yelled, "Destroy him!"

With a loud screech, Seth's dragon did just that.  The resulting blast caused smoke to cloud the whole area, causing the group to cough, but it was quickly cleared away by a strong wind that came from Seth's Blue-Eyes flapping its wings.  Yugi looked up to see his Blue-Eyes gone.  All that was left were some dark chains on the ground, and they quickly faded and disappeared.

Seth grinned. "Well, that's it for that monster.  That'll teach you not to show off your secret weapon beforehand.  Oh, and by the way… I think your spirit friends forgot to mention that if a monster's destroyed in the Shadow Realm, it can never be used again."

Yugi realized that he was right, as the card he was still holding now felt somewhat cold and empty.  He stared down at his grandpa's prized dragon, the realization suddenly dawning on him that he had allowed it to be destroyed and, in a way, let his grandfather down. "No…" he whispered, before he glared up at Seth. "How could you?"

The priest smiled coldly at him. "I could because I already have three and have no use for a fourth," he replied. "Besides, little Yugi, by the time this war is over you will have lost much more than a simple Duel Monster." He then turned to Bakura, smirking slightly. "Tomb robber.  I seem to remember one of you claiming that nothing I did could bring you to the Shadow Realm, and yet here you are.  So tell me, what made you change your mind all of a sudden?"

Bakura growled at him. "Where's Ryou?"

"Ryou, Ryou… who exactly is Ryou again?" Seth pondered. "Oh yes, him.  He must be that one boy you're so fond of, probably because he's your reincarnation.  Oh, don't worry, he's still alive, if not doing so well.  My dungeons are a little harsh for such an innocent soul like his."

"Let him go, Seth!" Yami yelled. "He's done nothing to you."

"Oh, has he?  Well, he's on your side, Pharaoh, and that's enough for me," Seth said lazily. "Enough chatter.  You see those bones down there, beneath your feet?  Yours will soon be there, too.  Blue-Eyes!  White Lightning!"

Yami's reaction was almost immediate.  As soon as the attack was released and speeding towards them, he had whipped a card out of his deck and held it up. "Swords of Revealing Light!"

That halted the Blue-Eyes right in its tracks, and Seth along with it. "What in the name of Ra-" the former high priest started.

Malik stared up in fascination at the huge dragon, frozen in place along with its attack. "Just out of curiosity, exactly how long is three turns in the Shadow Realm?"

"Not nearly long enough," Bakura replied. "Let's go!"

"WHAT?  We're just going to run away?"

"Do you have any better ideas?" the tomb robber shot back, just as the Swords started flickering. "Let's at least get out of the way of the attack!"

The group ran to the side as fast as they could, just in time to avoid the White Lightning that impacted where they had been standing moments before.  Seth turned to them, grinning. "You managed to dodge that one, but this time you won't be so lucky.  I doubt any of you have any more cards to stop my attacks!"

As the Blue-Eyes' attack sped towards them, Yugi squeezed his eyes shut, expecting it to hit them at any second.  When it didn't come, he opened his eyes and gasped as three attacks hit the White Lightning, canceling each other out and causing a huge explosion.  Seth, his Blue-Eyes, Yugi, Malik, Yami, Bakura, and Marik were all thrown backwards by the blast.  Miraculously, they all survived.  Well, actually, that depended on your opinion: miraculously, Yami, Bakura, Marik, Yugi, and Malik were still in one piece.  Unfortunately, Seth and his Blue-Eyes were too.

Bakura glanced around, slightly surprised that he was still alive.  That in itself spoke loads, since Bakura had been through many life-or-death situations and had never lost his cool during any one of them.  Seriously, the King of Thieves had thought he was really done for this time, but it didn't take him long to regain his composure.  After assuring himself that fate wasn't in the mood to let him die that day, he became a little cockier.  Glancing around, he spotted Seth and his dragon, both of whom were looking slightly annoyed, more than a little dusty, and relatively unhurt.  After that, he let his eyes roam around a bit more, finally landing on their saviors.  And he couldn't have been more surprised.

From beside him, Yami gasped slightly, eyes widening as he spotted the source of the three attacks. "Duel Monsters?"

"And wild ones, too, by the look of it," Marik noted. "Not to mention only one of them is a light-type.  So why are they here?"

A Dark Magician Girl, a Gemini Elf, and a Seiyaryu stood at the origin of the three attacks, looking for all the world like they had been in the area and had just decided to help some unlucky passerby in fight they most probably wouldn't win.  Of course, the three monsters would have to be crazy to pick a fight against a Blue-Eyes.

"So… what now?" Yugi asked, eyes still trained on the Blue-Eyes before him.

Malik glanced around worriedly, searching for an escape route. "I suggest we run."

"Run?  Where to, you idiot?" Bakura yelled, trying to ignore the fact that both the priest and dragon were recovering from the shock of having someone challenge them.

"I don't know!  Just run!"

Seth smirked. "Yes, run, run little mortals.  Run off in a panic.  It'll just make you a little harder to catch if you run off in different directions, but then again, I'm sure my dragon would enjoy a little target practice." The Blue-Eyes roared agreement, already focusing its energy in its mouth for another attack.

Yugi yelped, seeing the White Lightning being aimed directly at him. "That's it, we're doomed!"

"Not quite!" a feminine voice answered him, and the three monsters shot their attacks at the Blue-Eyes' back, right where Seth was.  The priest cried out as he was thrown off, and the dragon stopped its attack, turning back to check on its master.  At this point, Bakura was howling with laughter, which was abruptly cut short as the Seiyaryu grabbed him and pulled him off the ground.  The Gemini Elf (Elves?  Whatever) headed for Malik and Marik, each elf taking one of them, and the Dark Magician Girl, the one who had spoken, grabbed Yugi and Yami and floated away quickly, the other monsters following.

Bakura managed to somehow climb onto Seiyaryu's back and glanced at the compass he held, eyes widening as he realized that they were actually heading away from Ryou. "You idiots!  Turn around!"

One of the elf twins turned to him and raised an eyebrow. "Are you suicidal or something?  Do you want to get killed?"

Bakura considered that for a moment. "…good point.  But my reincarnation-"

"Save it for when we aren't being attacked by a Blue-Eyes!" Seiyaryu interrupted in a stressed voice.  Bakura blinked and almost fell off, not having realized that the purple dragon could talk.

Yami had turned to watch what was happening behind them.  Seth stood up, brushing himself off, and immediately started yelling at his Blue-Eyes. "You call yourself a Duel Monster?!?  You're letting them get away!  Attack them, you fool!"

The Blue-Eyes let out as much of an "eep!" as a Blue-Eyes could make; then, having determined that his master was indeed all right (he had to be, if he could yell like that), he turned to the fleeing monsters and humans, powering up its attack.  The DMG turned and cursed.

"Why now?" she complained. "We're still too close for comfort!  Unless…"

"I get the High Priest!" Seiyaryu yelled quickly.  The magician nodded and aimed her attack at the Blue-Eyes, while the dragon let loose a Razor Flare Blast at Seth, who barely managed to get out of the way in time.  The Gemini Elf grumbled for a moment, and Malik was barely able to pick up the words "close-range attack" and "too far."

The Dark Magic Attack did little to stop the Blue-Eyes, only causing it to lose a little of the power stored in its White Lightning.  The monster shook its head and snorted a bit, only to be distracted by Seth, who was cursing at the fact that Seiyaryu had blasted away the end of his robes.  The dragon turned tauntingly. "Nyah nyah!"  If she had a tongue, it would be sticking out at the priest.

Seth looked up and glared at them, helpless to do much but watch while his enemies flew away.  The Dark Magician Girl, Gemini Elf, and Seiyaryu glared right back.  Seiyaryu loosed a quick attack at the Blue-Eyes and Seth before the three monsters sped up, leaving Seth's screams of rage behind them.
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Ryou was sitting in one of the dungeon cells in Seth's Shadow Realm castle, the building of which had apparently been his occupation for the past five thousand years.  He was manacled to the wall, and was deep in thought, trying to come up with ways to escape.  None of the things he had tried had worked so far; he'd spent a whole hour trying to pick the lock with some of Bakura's tools, with no success.  It was either he was too inexperienced or Bakura's skills were overrated, or both.  Ryou suspected that it was a combination of the two.

Now he stood up and walked over to the wall, inspecting the place where the chains attached to it.  He noticed that the wall was looking a bit crumbly; not very well built, for a place that had taken a few thousand years to build.  Ryou kicked at it near where the chains were attached, gaining nothing but a sore foot in the process.  He reached for the iron and was rewarded with a bit of a shock.  Apparently, it was protected by magic, so he couldn't really pry it from the wall.  And you know what really sucked?  As soon as they arrived at the place, Seth had not only taken his deck away, but also sealed away all the magic he had in a little glass bottle, which was sitting just out of reach beyond the bars of his cell, just to torture him.  Now all the magic Ryou had left was the kind he used to summon monsters, which Seth had left to spite him.

In a bit of a fit, Ryou picked up a piece of the crumbling wall and threw it at the bottle.  It rocked slightly and almost fell over.  Growling, the white-haired boy picked up another rock and threw it as hard as he could.  This one hit the bottle square on.  Ryou held his breath as slowly, slowly the bottle wobbled, and then toppled over… only to hit the ground and roll around a bit, not breaking.  He let out a frustrated sigh, kicking at another random piece of the wall in his anger.  This one broke a bit, letting a large chunk of rock fall to the ground.  Ryou picked it up and hefted it experimentally.  He glanced at the bottle, then gave up on it, deciding that it would be a waste of time to try that any longer, and besides, Seth would most definitely notice when he returned.  Instead, he turned his attention back to the iron that held the chains to the wall.  He held the rock tightly, and praying it wouldn't break, he slammed it against the wall, right above where the chains connected to it.  He was rewarded with a bit of crumbling from the wall, some dust falling to the ground, while his battering-rock remained somewhat unscathed.  Grinning slightly, he continued at his work, pausing every once in a while to make sure Seth wasn't coming.
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Seto and Zake were waiting for Seth in the Great Hall.  As soon as the irate priest stormed in, his somewhat sheepish and most definitely ashamed Blue-Eyes following, Kaiba stood from his seat at one of the tables and Zake straightened up from his place against the wall.  Kaiba raised an eyebrow at the look on Seth's face. "I take it your welcoming party didn't go too well?"

Seth didn't dignify that with an answer.  Instead, he swept over into the courtyard.  Seto and Zake shared a glance and shrugged, following him.  Luckily, neither of the others noticed the slight smile that had appeared on Kaiba's face, which disappeared quickly as they entered the open grounds, where the other two dragons were waiting.  They lifted their heads as soon as their master approached, their gaze sweeping the three humans and the other Blue-Eyes.  Seth immediately turned to the dragon following him, his gaze a frozen tundra.  The Blue-Eyes winced slightly in anticipation of the scolding that was to come, glancing over at his brothers for help.  The other two dragons glared at him silently, their looks saying, "Hey, this is your problem."

"You failed me," Seth stated calmly.  As his three monsters knew well, Seth's "calm" voice was his most dangerous.  And he didn't take kindly to failure. "You didn't go after the Pharaoh and his little friends or those monster rebels.  By Set, you didn't even notice them coming until those monsters attacked you!"

"I'm sorry, Master Seth," the dragon said in a very, very small voice, not something you'd expect from a creature of his size.  Blue-Eyes's didn't really talk much, preferring to roar or simply screech if they could get away with it, and the fact that he was speaking spoke loads more about his guilt than anything else.

"You'd better be," the priest snapped, still sounding angry. "I won't punish you this time, but I promise you, the next time it happens, you'll be wishing you'd never met me."

"Yes, Master Seth.  Thank you, Master Seth," his Blue-Eyes replied softly, not daring to look up. "I promise you, it won't happen again."

"It better not," Seth mumbled, turning away.  Seto decided that this was as good a time as ever to approach him, so he walked up behind the priest, clearing his throat to get his attention.

"What is it?" Seth asked without even bothering to turn around.  Sighing, Kaiba moved into his line of sight.

"I want to see my brother," the teenager said.  Seth regarded him for a long moment.

"Do you, now," he replied finally. "That's nice."

Kaiba growled softly, striding up to the priest and lifting him up slightly by the collar. "Show him to me, Seth.  I want to know that he's still alive before I go on working for you.  Show him to me now, before I decide to hurt you." To his left, Zake tensed slightly, hand going to his sword hilt.  The Blue-Eyes all glanced up, the beginnings of fury showing in their eyes.  A quick glance from Seth was all it took to make them relax, but the dragons' eyes still shone with a glint that spelled out murder.

Seth pretended to think it over for a moment, all the while aware that his reincarnation's fingers were itching to wrap around his throat. "I suppose it's not an unreasonable demand," he said finally. "I wouldn't want you to turn on me because you think I've killed your brother.  It's the only thing I have on you, after all.  A bit pathetic, really, you working with me only because I kidnapped a little brat like him." Seto's eyes narrowed at the insult to his brother and his grip tightened, but he said nothing.  Seeing this, Seth continued, "I suppose I could let you see him… except you have to let go of me first."

Kaiba growled and muttered something incoherently, then loosened his grasp and took a step back. "Alright, now lead me to Mokuba."

Seth smirked slightly. "Impatient, aren't we?  All in good time." He chose that moment to straighten his robes, watching Kaiba turn red with anger out of the corner of his eye.

"Seeettthhhh…"

"Okay, okay," the priest grumbled, wisely choosing to lead the way to the dungeons before a certain annoyed CEO decided to try and strangle him. "Let's go."

As they entered the dungeons, Kaiba could've sworn he heard a faint scratching noise coming from below them, but it quickly stopped as soon as they mounted the stairs – of course, that might just have been because the echoes of their footsteps covered up all other noises.

They finally reached the bottom of the long, spiral staircase, and Kaiba glanced to his right, where one of his former classmates was sitting, chained to the wall and glaring at them.  The white-haired teenager raised an eyebrow at the sight of him and Seth.

"I seem to remember you saying that the next time you came down here, you'd be lugging the dead bodies of my friends behind you," Ryou remarked. "Seems you didn't succeed."

Seth glared at him and didn't answer, and Ryou stifled a chuckle.  He'd never admit it, but it seemed like Bakura was rubbing off on him.

"Shut up, kid," the priest mumbled. "If you don't, I'll have you begging for your life soon enough."

Ryou plastered a false grin onto his face. "You can't kill me, you know.  Bakura would sense it and all your efforts to bring them into the Shadow Realm would've gone to waste.  They'd go back to the real world.  And besides, I'm too valuable a hostage for you to severely hurt, right?"

Seth growled at him and kicked the bottle containing Ryou's magic in a fit of bad temper.  It rolled away between two bars in another cell, empty except for a skeleton that was still manacled there, and rolled to a stop.  Ryou mentally sighed; there went his last chance of getting his magic back.

"Just remember, brat, keep acting like that and you won't be seeing your friends anytime soon," Seth snarled. "After I kill them, I'll keep you alive just to practice my torturing." A zillion smart comments started flashing through Ryou's head, but he wisely decided to ignore all of them and keep his mouth shut.  With a little luck, he'd be out of here soon enough, and it wouldn't do to provoke the priest any further.  Wouldn't it be nice if his friends did manage to defeat Seth and came to save him, only to find out that he had been killed?

After waiting a few seconds for Ryou's answer and receiving only silence, Seth shrugged and walked on.  Kaiba followed him, casting a quick glance at his former schoolmate as he passed.  Ryou twitched, thinking he'd just seen the Seto Kaiba, Mr. Emotionless, High-and-Mighty, Master-Duelist, CEO-of-the-Biggest-Technological-Company-This-End-of-the-Universe give him a sympathetic look.  Then he stopped, thought over all the ways he'd just referred to Kaiba, shrugged, and decided that it was just his imagination.  After all, no one that was that cunning, cold, ruthless, and powerful could have the heart to feel sorry for him.

As for Kaiba, he was only concerned with the welfare of his brother.  They reached another staircase and went down, at which point Seth demanded that he be blindfolded for "security purposes" – translated as, he didn't want Kaiba to remember the way.  Not like he would've, anyway.  There were so many twists and turns in the route, and probably many other passages, that there was no way Kaiba could retrace his path.  More likely, he'd be lost forever.

Finally, after nearly falling down a staircase, Seth decided that Kaiba's blindfold could be removed.  The teenager did so, grumbling the whole time about "stupid paranoid priests."  He followed Seth down the passage, finally stopping what appeared to be a dead end.

"Where is he?" Kaiba growled. "I'm warning you, Seth, if he's not here…"

Seth shrugged. "You'll do what?  Sorry, my reincarnation, but there's no way you'll be able to beat me.  Unlike you, I have magic, and unlike you, I can use it." Kaiba scowled and muttered something incoherently.  Seth continued, "Just wait here for a moment, Seto." He walked up to the wall and said something that Kaiba couldn't catch, and the wall moved aside to reveal a row of bars, and beyond that, one last cell.

"Mokuba!" Kaiba yelled, rushing straight to the front of the cell.  Like Ryou, Mokuba's arms were chained to the wall, but his legs were also chained, allowing no chance of escape.  He was sitting against the wall, head down.

Mokuba looked up at the sound of Kaiba's voice, and his eyes widened.  Standing up quickly, he yelled, "Big brother!  You came!  Please, get me out of here!"

Kaiba said nothing, glancing uncomfortably at Seth, who was smirking.  Mokuba noticed the priest too, and he scowled. "What's he doing here?" When his brother said nothing, realization began to dawn on the boy's face. "Seto, don't tell me…"

"I'm sorry, Mokuba," Kaiba whispered.

Seth grinned. "A family reunion.  Oh, how touching.  And I'm here to witness it.  Well, Kaiba, now you know your brother's alive, so make it quick.  We have to get going."

"You're working with him?" Mokuba asked, his eyes started to fill with tears. "Seto, don't… it's not worth it!  Don't worry about me, just please don't help him!"

"You know, if you weren't locked up in a cage, I'd slap you for your insolence," Seth noted.

Kaiba's eyes were soft as he looked at his brother. "I'm sorry, Mokuba, I can't.  I'll get you out of here soon, I promise.  But for now…" he glared hatefully at the priest.

Seth stood, tapping his foot and watching the scene indifferently. "If you two are done, can we get going?  I have a world to conquer, you know."

Kaiba shot him a look before turning back to his brother. "I'll be back soon," he said softly. "Don't worry.  You'll be fine." Without stopping to say goodbye, he turned and walked off, followed by Seth, who was pulling out the blindfold again.

"Big brother…" Mokuba whispered, a single tear making its way down his cheek. "Don't do it… please…" He knew for a fact that Kaiba could no longer hear him, but he wished that his older brother would forget about his welfare just for once.
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"Where are we going?" Yugi asked curiously of the Dark Magician Girl who was holding both him and Yugi by the hand.  She shrugged, not answering, and Yugi was left to wonder what exactly was going on.

The Gemini Elf glanced up at him and grinned. "Don't worry, we're almost there.  We'll explain when we get there."

"And where exactly is there?" Bakura asked, just as a tingly feeling went up his spine, signaling that they had just passed through a magical barrier.  A light shone up ahead, and the three Duel Monsters headed straight for it. "…never mind."

Soon, they were in the middle of a small clearing, lit up by some unknown light source far above them.  The ground was covered in grass, with a few flowers and bushes scattered around the meadow.  Surprisingly enough, there weren't any bones in sight, but then again, this isn't exactly a place where you'd expect to find a skeleton of any kind.  Gemini Elf stopped running in the middle, and Dark Magician Girl and Seiyaryu floated down to join them.  Bakura hopped off Seiyaryu's back and glanced around. "So the barrier was to keep anyone from finding this place?"

"And to disguise the light, yes," Dark Magician Girl answered. "We don't exactly want anyone to wonder, and then to just suddenly come against the barrier…"

"So it's to keep monsters and people from both seeing and finding this place," Marik said.  The monsters nodded.

"Let's just say there aren't too many lights like this in a supposed realm of darkness… and we don't want Seth to find us, do we?" Gemini Elf asked.

"Us?" Malik questioned. "You mean there are more of you?"

In answer, monsters appeared into the clearing from out of the darkness beyond.  Yugi gasped as he recognized the Gyakutenno Megami from before, along with the weaker monsters. "You!  You're the one…"

She smiled and nodded. "Yeah.  We were the ones who told those three what you were walking into."

"Yeah… well, thanks," Bakura muttered. "Now will someone please explain what exactly is going on?"

Seiyaryu sighed. "Well, aren't you impatient?" Five glares were shot in her direction, and she sighed. "Fine, fine.  Well, it all started maybe fifteen years ago…"
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So next is the explanation of what exactly happened… Well, the hint for the "mystery card" in this chapter is at the top, so there ya go.  If you want your favorite card (monster, magic, or trap) to be part of one of the armies, either Seth's or the rebel monsters', then tell me what it is and whose side it's on.  Just try to make sure it's something living, or at least something that I can write as being part of the whole thing without it being too strange.  It would be weird to have Spellbinding Circles walking around.

As usual, REVIEW!  At the request of hobbit13, reviewers get cookies this time around, and just to make it more sugary, they're chocolate chip.  Flames will be used to burn all of Seth's remaining robes, so he can't replace the ones that had the end blasted off.