GOMEN NASAI!!!!  I am SO SORRY this chapter is so late!!!  Between me getting new GW DVDs and going on anime marathons, plus an overload of homework, plus academic competitions that I'll have every Thursday night through the end of March, PLUS my parents pressuring me to study because of said competitions, I really don't have much time to work on my stuff… and since ESD is my current project with the longest chapters, this'll be the story that'll suffer the most. *winces* Don't worry, guys, I'll still be working on it every chance I get and updates will come sooner after the end of March.  Sorry about that.

Tie-dyed cotton candy goes to Hikage Kitsune, silvermuse89, Kage Onna, and hobbit13, and ~purple~ cotton candy goes to PhoenixTales369.  In answer to the questions, there are a couple things I forgot to explain last chapter or that didn't really fit in anywhere: One, Seth's castle and the little meeting-place of the rebels are both protected by barriers that kinda separate them from the rest of the realm.  They're there because those are some places that humans go more often than the rest of the Shadow Realm.  Two, the whole reincarnation thing kinda confuses me too… since Yami and Bakura's spirits are technically in the Millennium Items, than how the heck are Yugi and Ryou their reincarnations?  Well, my guess is that it's something like Inu-Yasha: Yugi, Ryou, and Malik have part of the soul of their previous incarnations, but not enough to really make a huge difference in the way the spirits act.  How the heck that happened, I'm not sure.  My guess is that it has something to do with staying in the Shadow Realm or in the Items for long periods of time: it might leech away their spirit, and that part eventually goes back to the real world. *shrugs* I have no idea, but it kinda makes sense to me, so that's what I'm using.  *sweatdrops and glances upward* Well, that's a long author's note… Oh well, whatever.  On with the fic!

Disclaimer: Almost forgot to do this… well, whatever.  Take a look at the word "disclaimer." Break it down – dis-claim-er.  "Dis" means don't, "claim" means… well, I hope you know what it means, and "er" is in there to make it sound better and to make it a noun.  In other words, it's a statement saying that I do not claim to own… something.  That something would be anything mentioned here, except for Zake.  Don't own YGO, don't own Mercedes-Benz (as I forgot to mention last chapter), don't own A Tale of Two Cities.  And I'm glad, too, or my English class would be killing me for writing such a hard-to-understand book that we're currently reading.

Egyptian Shadow Destinies: Chapter Eight

Storming the Bastille – I Mean, Seth's Castle

So here's the plan: Seiyaryu and Wingweaver create a distraction to lure the monsters out and get them to open the gate.  Yugi, Yami, Bakura, Malik, Marik, Dark Magician Girl, Gemini Elf, and Chaos Mage sneak in and head for the dungeons, then split up into pairs to search each of the levels.  If they haven't found Ryou within three hours, they'll meet up again and search the last level together.  Meanwhile, Seiyaryu and Wingweaver lead Seth's army off to another part of the Shadow Realm, where the other monsters will be waiting.  We'll stage a battle there, and depending on how things go, we'll either retreat or fight back after Ryou's been rescued.  Everyone got it?  Okay, let's go!

As soon as they left the barrier, Malik and Yugi started feeling the effects of the Shadow Realm almost immediately.  They did their best to ignore it, however, and started off to Seth's castle.  Some of the smaller monsters had scouted ahead and found a small rock formation, where the others would hide while the two flying monsters started their distraction.  About half a mile off from the castle, Wingweaver and Seiyaryu took off and headed for the castle.  The humans and other three monsters followed at a slower pace, heading for the rocks, where they would stay until they got the signal to enter.

Seiyaryu laughed evilly as she flew towards the castle. "Hehehe… get ready, Seth, 'cause here I come!  Mwahahaha!"

Wingweaver sweatdropped. "Will you shut up already?"

The dragon snickered. "Hey, we're getting close to the castle, and the point was to cause a distraction.  Hey Seth!" She raised her voice until she was yelling.  Wingweaver winced and covered her ears. "Oh crazy-maniacal-psychotic-evil-sadistic-freaky-extremely-strange former High Priest!  Watch out, because I'm in the mood to blow something up!"

Wingweaver muttered something under her breath and flew to the other side. "Aren't you always in the mood to blow something up?"

By the rock formation, Gemini Elf, Dark Magician Girl, and Chaos Mage sweatdropped. "That's Seiyaryu, all right…"

"At least the distraction seems to be working," Yami muttered, watching as Seth's army rushed out and split up, going to the two places where Wingweaver and Seiyaryu were attacking the castle.  The two dodged the attacks easily and continued battering away at the castle.

Finding a barred window, Seiyaryu grinned, seeing what were obviously Seth's quarters on the other side. "Score!" She powered up her Razor Flare Blast to full power and unleashed it at the window, completely obliterating the window and half the wall.  Chuckling evilly, she flew in. "Time to cause some chaos!"

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Isis rounded the corner, ignoring the fleeing people and screams and shouts that filled the air.  Glancing around desperately for any sign of blond hair, she yelled, "Malik!"

No answer.  The woman sighed, annoyed that she had yet to find any trace of her little brother.  The first place she checked had been the school.  Any students that had returned there since the monster attacks began had nothing to tell her: they'd seen him shortly before the Blue-Eyes appeared, but there'd been no sign of him since.  And knowing her brother, Isis was at least reasonably sure that he'd be somewhere around the area where the monsters had been appearing.

So, she was heading in the general area of the Insect Queen.  When she arrived, Isis was surprised to find that there was nothing there – well, nothing except a bunch of craters, upturned cars, destroyed buildings, etc.  There was no sign at all of the monster, or any human life whatsoever that could tell her what had happened here – or more importantly, if Malik had been seen here lately.  Sighing, she decided to head to the Game Shop to check if Solomon had seen anything or if one of the missing boys had contacted him.  Turning away, she didn't notice the tire tracks that started on the side of the road, moved up onto the sidewalk, careened through the remains of a building, and ran over a fire hydrant before heading back to the street, in the (general) direction of the Gadget Soldier.

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"Turn left, you idiot, LEFT!!!  Not right!  That takes us away from the monster!!!" Tristan was screaming.

"Yeah?  Well, the last time I checked, the thing was to our right!  And don't scream in my ear!" Joey yelled back.  Being the one in control of the car, he was supposed to concentrate on the road – key words there being "supposed to."  Joey, being Joey, was driving like a madman – screw the stoplights.  In Joey's world, green, yellow AND red all meant "go."  Unfortunately, the pedestrians probably didn't see it his way.  Neither did the police, for that matter, but they were off dealing with the monsters and didn't have time to try and stop underage teenagers from driving illegally with a stolen car at least fifty miles per hour above the speed limit.

Both boys screamed at the top of their lungs as Joey swerved to avoid a man, who dove out of the way of the car and ran for his life.  The vehicle, however, ran straight into a stop sign, which snapped in half and flew up the windshield of the convertible.  In response to Joey, Tristan cried out, "Well, EXCUSE ME if your terrible driving is making me so dizzy that I'm losing my sense of direction!  And if I'm screaming in your ear, that's because there's no OTHER way to make myself heard over the tires screeching and the bumps in the road!"

Another fire hydrant, another loud crashing noise, another something denting the front of the car and breaking the windshield – but luckily for Tristan, he didn't have to see all that as Joey jumped on him, completely forgetting that he was supposed to be driving. "WHAT DID YOU SAY ABOUT MY DRIVING?!?  TAKE THAT BACK!!!  IT'S NOT LIKE YOU COULD DO ANY BETTER!!!"

"Well, I'm sure that at least I wouldn't come that close to hitting anyone!"

"I haven't hit anyone yet!"

"YET!!  You will soon enough if you DON'T PAY ATTENTION TO THE ROAD!!!"

"Wha?" Joey looked up just in time to notice the car barreling down the street at a full ninety MPH.  Miraculously, it had somehow managed to stay on the road and not hit anyone, but that was about to change.  As the car barreled towards an intersection (the stoplight facing them was glaring red), a black-haired woman of about twenty was crossing the street, apparently not realizing the danger of an incoming car with Joey Wheeler behind the wheel.  Both teenagers in the car yelped as they came closer and closer to hitting her, and the woman looked up, her eyes widening as she realized what was happening.

Joey barely had the time to recognize the sign with the turtle on it as being the place where Yugi lived before Tristan reached across him and spun the steering wheel to the left, using all the force he could muster.  The car crashed into a lamppost by the side of the road, and Joey and Tristan were jolted forward, their advance halted by the airbags that had appeared just in time for them to avoid cracking their skulls.

Isis gasped as she watched the car hit the pole.  Ignoring the fact that the hood was crumpled up, steaming, and looked about ready to explode, she dashed forward to the two boys who were sitting in the front seats. "Are you two alright?"

Extremely dazed, Joey didn't hear her question.  He groaned, turning to the teenager beside him. "Now look what you did, Tristan.  You just totally ruined our ride.  Now how are we supposed to get to the other side of town?"

Tristan muttered something under his breath before replying, "Hey, would you rather have killed someone with your reckless driving?"

"Excuse me…" Isis cut in. "I'm guessing you're both okay?"

The two boys blinked, looking up to see Isis. "Yeah, we're alright," Tristan answered, before realizing that she was the one that they had nearly hit. "Hey, are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," she answered.

Joey blinked, taking a closer look at Isis for the first time. "Hey, you're Malik's sister, aren't you?  Malik Ishtar's?"

Isis started slightly in surprise. "Yes, that's me.  I'm looking for him… he hasn't come home yet.  Do you know where he might be?"

Joey and Tristan glanced nervously at each other, then back at Isis. "Um… well, you see…" Joey began hesitantly.  Malik had said to make something up rather than tell her the truth, and he had suggested telling her that he was on a field trip or something of the sort, but that wasn't really an option at this point.  Come on, anyone who had been on a field trip would have run away long, long ago… "Well, we saw him after the Blue-Eyes appeared… but then we haven't seen him since."

"Oh… well, did he tell you where he went?"

Once again, the teenagers gave each other uncomfortable looks. "Uh…" Luckily for them, they were saved an embarrassing moment when a scream rent through the air.  Ever the heroes, Joey and Tristan sprinted off in the direction of the noise, slightly relieved that they didn't have to answer the question right away.  Isis, however, wasn't about to let them get away.  She followed them into one of the alleyways close to the Game Shop and almost ran into them when they stopped suddenly near the end of the street.

Isis peered around the two boys, who were frozen in place as they stared at what was happening before them.  A gang of punks were attacking an older man, who Joey identified as Yugi's grandfather.  Apparently, Solomon had been knocked out not too long ago, and he was lying in a bloody heap on the ground, while the punks kicked him around, not seeming to care that he was already unconscious.

 "Hey!" Joey yelped, running forward along with Tristan to try and stop them. "Leave him alone!"

"All right then," Tristan muttered, "You're going down!" As an afterthought, he added, "Isis, I don't suggest you watch this…"

She nodded and turned away for the thirty seconds it took for Tristan and Joey to knock out all of the gang.  When Isis turned back around, all the punks were lying on the ground with x's for eyes and the two teenagers were kneeling down next to Yugi's grandpa, looking concerned.  Isis rushed up to them. "Is he okay?"

Joey glanced up at her, all thoughts of their previous argument forgotten. "What do you think?  He was attacked by a gang with knives, beaten up, fell unconscious, and is now on a heap on the pavement.  Of course he's all right." He turned back to Solomon and addressed her over his shoulder. "I don't suppose you have a cell phone with you?"

Isis nodded and pulled it out, quickly dialing 911.  When she had finished and made sure that an ambulance was on the way, the two boys nodded at each other and stood up.  Isis blinked. "Where are you going?"

Tristan turned towards her quickly. "We, uh, have stuff we need to do.  Right now, I might add.  So can you take care of Yugi's grandpa while we're gone?"

"And just where ARE you going?"

Joey blinked. "To stop the monsters, of course.  Hey, it's not like anyone else can do it right now, now that Yugi and rest of the gang have gone to-" He caught himself just in time and quickly changed the subject. "Well, we've just got to stop them now before they cause any more havoc.  Gotta go!" With that, the two jumped up and sprinted away.

"Wait!" Isis called, but the two weren't Domino High's star runners for nothing.  They were already out of sight, and she sighed. 'They know something about Malik, I'm sure they do… but why won't they tell me?'

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Wingweaver smiled grimly as she watched the monsters pouring out of the front gates of Seth's castle, splitting up into two groups to take out both her and Seiyaryu. "Well, the distraction seems to be working," she muttered as she continued battering the watchtower, causing debris to rain down on the unfortunate monster that was currently serving as watchman.  Ignoring his pleas for help, she unleashed one last blast that successfully caused the tower to collapse halfway down, burying half the army underneath her in rubble.

Seiyaryu's head popped up from the opposite side of the castle and she called out, "Hey Wingweaver!  I've opened an entryway into Seth's rooms!  Wanna come check it out?"

The fairy shrugged. "Sure, why not?  I've got nothing better to do right now anyway." She flew straight over the top of the castle, ignoring the indignant shouts from the monsters that she had changed her position.  Glancing downwards, she saw that a couple hundred monsters had gathered on the roof.  Shrugging and hoping there wasn't a Mirror Force or something of that sort down there, she fired a couple attacks and incinerated half the monsters.  Twitching when she realized that there was no trap, Wingweaver muttered, "That was almost too easy," before joining her dragon friend on the other end of the castle.

Seiyaryu was waiting in front of the collapsed wall, wings beating to keep her hovering in the air as she occasionally fired another Razor Flare Blast at the monsters gathered below her. "What took you so long?"

"I was decreasing the size of Seth's army," Wingweaver muttered. "Tell me why we're up here again?"

Seiyaryu shrugged. "I was thinking maybe we could find some clues as to what Seth's up to, what he plans to do next, etc.  Maybe we could head for the council room or see if any of his high officials would talk…?"

Wingweaver regarded the dragon with a bit of apprehension. "And also so you could have the fun of destroying all of Seth's personal belongings?"

Seiyaryu grinned with not a bit of embarrassment. "You know me too well.  How about you look for the info, I destroy Seth's stuff, and then we cause a bit more havoc in the upper rooms and outside.  So that way, all the monsters are either up here or down there," she gestured to the ground beneath the castle, "and the others can sneak in.  Okay?"

"Sure, why not?" Wingweaver sighed. "You've dragged me into this anyway."

"Hahaha… okay!  Let's go!" Seiyaryu smirked before loosing off a blast at the ceiling, burying half the bedroom in falling rubble.

Wingweaver ducked. "Hey, watch where you're aiming those!"

"Oops… sorry about that.  Well, are you going to go mess up Seth's plans or what?" Seiyaryu demanded.

"Fine… just promise me one thing first.  You won't block off our escape route, will you?  And keep an eye on the way out.  We don't want to get stuck in here."

Seiyaryu shrugged, not really paying attention. "Yeah, yeah, whatever.  Got it.  No blocking off the escape route, keep an eye on the way out, don't want to get stuck in here.  Just go!  I can't have proper fun with you hanging around lecturing me."

Wingweaver sighed and muttered something under her breath about idiot dragons before walking out of the room.  As soon as she was gone, Seiyaryu grinned maniacally. "Alrighty then…" Ten seconds later, practically all of Seth's personal possessions were lying in pieces on the ground.

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Yami, Yugi, Malik, Bakura, Marik, Gemini Elf, Dark Magician Girl, and Chaos Mage watched as Seiyaryu and Wingweaver started demolishing the upper levels of the castle before flying into a room through the hole Seiyaryu had created.  The monsters of Seth's army were already crowded on the top of the castle and around the base, and there didn't seem to be any monsters coming out anymore.  Yami watched, waiting until he was sure they wouldn't be seen, and then nodded. "All right, let's go.  We've got to hurry before they decide to come back in and go up through the castle to reach them."

Bakura laughed softly. "I doubt that'll happen.  That place is like twenty floors tall, and I doubt they have… what're they called again?"

"Elevators," Yugi muttered distantly.

"Yes, elevators…"

Yami shushed them quickly, making sure that no other monsters were in sight. "Now!"

The eight of them jumped up, sprinting towards the castle as fast as they could.  Chaos Mage and Dark Magician Girl took the lead, followed by Bakura, Marik, Malik, Yami, and Yugi.  Gemini Elf took the rear.

Bakura smirked slightly. "This is almost too easy.  Where're all the monsters?"

As if on cue, a Ryu-Kishin Powered turned the corner, stopping suddenly at the sight of the group running towards the castle. "HEY!"

"Shut up!" Gemini Elf yelled, leaving her place at the back of the group.  One slash and the monster stopped and burst into a million pieces.  Grabbing Yami and Yugi, she bounded to the front. "Come on!  Someone had to have heard that.  We've got to get inside!"

If they'd been running as fast as they could before, now they were running as fast as was humanly possible.  Darting through the front gates, Bakura spotted some stone paths that seemed to need some repairing, as there were large piles of stone and wood next to them. "Over there!"

The humans made a wild run for the piles and slipped behind them, holding their breaths.  Dark Magician Girl, Chaos Mage, and Gemini Elf stayed behind.  Soon enough, the sound of footsteps reached their ears, and a voice asked, "What was that?"

"Nothing," Chaos Mage answered calmly. "I thought I saw something moving, but it wasn't anything important.  Just a Kuriboh that got a little too close to the castle.  I took care of it."

"Oh." The monster paused. "Wait, I don't think I've ever seen you three around here before…"

"You haven't." The three attacked in unison, destroying the opposing monster instantly.

Dark Magician Girl turned to the five humans who were crouched behind the stack. "Okay, we're in the clear.  Let's go."

The group snuck in silently through the front door.  Well, the monsters and Bakura were silent; the others occasionally bumped into something that happened to be in their way, causing little noises that made the group stop and listen for a few agonizing moments before they continued on their way.

Bakura was muttering under his breath about the incompetence of the others the whole time. "I can't believe you guys… you call this quiet?  You call this stealth?  A five-year-old from Kuru Eruna could do better than you!"

Yami's patience snapped. "Well, excuse US if we're not all tomb robbers and thieves!  I bow to your superiority, O King of Thieves!"

Bakura smirked. "About time I got the recognition I deserve."

Yami was about to make a smart retort when Yugi hushed him, reminding him of the need for silence.  Instead, the Pharaoh was left to pout while Bakura smirked about being one-up on him.

They reached the door to the basement levels of the castle soon.  Yami was about to reach over and open it, but Bakura stopped him.

Yami glared at him. "What is it, tomb robber?  If you want to do the honors, go right ahead."

Bakura smiled blandly. "You really are an amateur, Pharaoh.  One," he moved to stand beside the door handle and gestured at the door, "This probably has an alarm system attached to it, to be triggered when someone other than Seth or an authorized guard touches the handle.  Two, what do you want to bet it's locked?"

Yami scowled at him. "Trust you to come up with those theories."

Bakura grinned. "I appreciate the compliment.  Now, give me a few minutes to figure out how to open this." With that, he bent over the door, studying the frame for a few moments while being careful not to touch the handle.

Yugi and Malik watched in interest as he summoned some of his magic and placed it into the door, where it spread to cover the entryway.  A few minutes later, symbols started appearing in a dark, almost navy blue color, that looked somewhat like hieroglyphics.  Bakura read through some of these, muttering under his breath.

Malik couldn't take it anymore. "What are you doing?"

Bakura glanced up at him for a moment. "Hm?  Oh, just checking the structure of the spell.  It looks as if it was made by Seth, which is what I thought… well, that makes it that much easier to break it."

"Even if it was Seth that made it?" Yugi wondered. "But wouldn't that be harder, since he's good at magic?"

Bakura laughed. "The one thing you kids have to learn is that the power of the mage rarely has anything to do with how hard it is to break the spell." Yugi and Malik stared at him.  Bakura sweatdropped. "Okay, so it has a lot to do with it, but that's not the point.  The point is, Seth just gave me a way to break his magic.  Oh, here it is!" He pointed at a series of symbols that looked like all the rest to Yugi and Malik.  Smirking, Bakura traced them with his finger, and they flashed for a moment before the thief's hand also started glowing, the same color as the hieroglyphics.  Reaching for the door handle, Bakura touched it.  It flashed once in recognition of the magic before all the symbols faded.

Marik blinked. "What just happened?"

Bakura shrugged. "Since Seth made the door, there was a bit of his magic in it.  I just copied it and used it to get rid of the alarm.  Now to pick the lock…" It took the King of Thieves a grand total of five seconds to get the door open.  Grinning in triumph, he turned the handle and the door swung inwards.  The group descended the first flight of stairs, coming to basement level one.

Yami twitched as soon as he saw what was in the next room. "The heck?"

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Zake put down the pair of binoculars, turning to Seth. "They've broken into your rooms."

Seth shrugged. "So?"

"You don't care?" Kaiba questioned.

"Not particularly," the priest answered. "That castle was bound to fall anyway.  It won't matter much, since it's in the Shadow Realm and my kingdom will be all of the real world anyway."

"What about Ryou?" Kaiba asked.

Seth gave him a sharp look. "Since when have you taken to calling the prisoners by name?"

"Since you captured Mokuba," the CEO retorted. "He's still in there!"

Seth didn't look like he cared too much. "They won't completely demolish the place; they'll have to leave before then anyway.  Besides, I doubt that they'll try to hurt any of my prisoners.  Haven't you heard the saying, 'The enemy of my enemy is my friend?' "

"All that goes out the window when you're involved," Kaiba muttered under his breath.  Luckily, Seth didn't hear.

"And as for that white-haired kid, we don't need him anyway," Seth continued. "That was just to get them here, to the Shadow Realm.

"For what purpose?"

Seth smiled enigmatically. "You'll soon find out."

"Aren't you worried that they'll find out what your plans are?" Zake asked.

Seth grinned wickedly. "Let them.  That'll make this all the more interesting.  For now, let's forget about all that and enjoy the upcoming battle, okay?"

"Enjoy the battle?" Kaiba stared at Seth in disbelief. "What about the monsters back at the castle?  You left them there with no leadership.  For all we know, there'll be nothing left of them by the time we get back."

Seth chuckled. "Oh, there will be… Pharaoh and the others will be busy trying to rescue that kid.  They didn't bring that many monsters with them… they'll be greatly outnumbered.  It will be easy to wipe them out, along with those monsters that came with them, who are most likely the leaders of this little band.  Even if they do escape, we can chase them down in the real world.  There's nowhere that they can go that I can't reach.  And besides… I have my own ways of doing things.  They can't stay away from me long, even if they tried."

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"…you have so got to be kidding me."

"This wasn't in the blueprints," Bakura muttered, staring into the room.

"Well, apparently, Seth's had some reconstruction of the dungeon levels, because the fact still remains that we are standing in the first basement level with NO IDEA where to go next!" Yami yelled in frustration.

As previously stated, they were standing in a room on basement level one of Seth's castle.  It was circular in size, and not exactly something you'd think you'd find in the Shadow Realm.  It looked almost like a living room, complete with sofa, table, fireplace, and lamp.  The only thing that was missing seemed to be a TV set.  It was anyone's guess as to how Seth had had the time and energy to fashion a living room in his basement that looked almost modern-day, when he wasn't supposed to have been out of the Shadow Realm for a couple thousand years.  With Kaiba and Zake's help, maybe?  Well, anyway, the point is that the room looked just like a typical, circular living room that could be found in any American household all over the United States.  Albeit the fact that it had eight doors leading out of it, including the one they had entered by.

Marik swiveled around, staring behind them at the door they had come through. "You know, if it wasn't for the fact that there's a stone staircase in the door behind us, I'd almost think that we were in Malik's living room," he commented.

"The last time I checked, my living room only had about two ways to get in or out," Malik said sarcastically. "So, oh great, powerful, and all-knowing Pharaoh, where to next?"

"That's easy, we try one of these doors," Yami said.

Bakura rolled his eyes, walking towards one of the doors. "Yes, but which one?" he asked. "Besides, we don't know if there are any traps behind the doors, or if Seth put one of his alarms on these… but I highly doubt he bothered this time around.  It would be too complicated if he did."

"So in other words…?"

Bakura shrugged, smiling sheepishly. "I agree with the Pharaoh: we wander around aimlessly and try to avoid any traps.  So where to first?"

Dark Magician Girl shrugged. "Straight ahead sounds good to me."

"Sure, why not?"

~~~Ten minutes later~~~

They entered through another door… only to find themselves right back at the living room setting.  Malik sighed in frustration. "See, I told you we should've taken a right at the kitchen!"

Marik glared at him. "Hey, didn't I tell you that the bedroom we passed through before looked familiar?  We went through it before that!"

"Don't tell me…" Gemini Elf muttered.  She went to the door directly to their left and flung it open, to reveal the stairs that they had entered by.  She grumbled something incomprehensible and probably inappropriate under her breath.

"So we've been going in circles this whole time?" Chaos Mage asked.

"No DUH!"

"Is anyone else reminded of those video games where you always end up back where you started and the only way to get where you want to go is to wander around randomly for hours on end?" Yugi asked.

Bakura sighed. "I don't know about you, but I do not want to wander around for hours!  Our time's going to run out; we can't stay here forever, you know."

Unlike the others in the group, Yami was about the only one who had been able to keep a level head. "This has to be some sort of magic," he mused. "I know for a fact that we either went straight ahead or northeast whenever we could.  There's no way we could end up back where we started unless there was some force of magic at work."

"Whatever gave you that idea?" Marik muttered, not in a good mood. "I think this could've been planned better.  Okay, so maybe we couldn't anticipate this, but we could have at least allowed for some flexibility!"

"Well then, if this is magic, I don't suppose anyone here knows a good way to break the spell or at least get to where we want to go?" Dark Magician Girl asked.

"Let's try something, shall we?" Yami said, leading the group to the door directly across from it.  They opened it and went inside, revealing what looked like a gameroom.  Ignoring this, Yami closed the door, then opened it again.  The living room was no longer there; instead, it looked more like a closet.

"And what was the point of doing that?"

"To prove that this is like those games where you come in through one path, go back, and end up in a different place than you started from?" Yugi asked.

"Not exactly… all it proves is that, even if we marked the paths we took, we'd end up in a different place if we took them again." Yami told them.

"That's great.  Now, do you have any bright ideas on how to the next level?" Malik asked.

"Well, maybe…" Yami frowned. "It might have to do with where we want to go.  We've been wanting to reach the next level, so it brought us back to where we started from.  So maybe, if we want to reach the stairs where we came from, it would bring us to the stairs to the next basement level."

The others stared at him. "Would you mind telling us that so that we can understand it, Yami?" Bakura asked.

Yami sighed in frustration. "Just think that you want to go back to where we started from.  I'm just testing out a theory, but it may work."

"Okay… so what now?"

"Now, we start by going through this door." They walked into the closet, which was a pretty tight fit, and Yami frowned slightly. "So, if we wanted to reach the stairs to the basement level… in the first room, the stairs were right about… here." He flung open the door, to reveal a bathroom.

Yugi sweatdropped. "Does Seth have an entire modern-day house in his basement?"

Gemini Elf shrugged. "Does it matter?  I'm pretty sure we haven't been in this room before."

Yami nodded his agreement. "Let's go.  If we keep heading in the direction where we think we came from, then we should eventually end up at the stairs to the next level."

So after passing through two bedrooms, a computer room, a loft, another bathroom, and an attic, they finally ended up in the first room that actually looked like it belonged in the basement of a Shadow Realm castle.  What was even better, it only had one door in it, not counting the one the group had used to get in.

"Think this is it?" Chaos Mage asked.

Bakura shrugged. "There's only one way to find out." He strode towards the door and flung it open, to reveal…

"Stairs!  The stairs to the next level!" Malik crowed. "All right!"

"Congratulations, Pharaoh.  It has been officially proved that you are indeed the King of Games," Marik stated, grinning. "Well, what are we waiting for?  On to the next level!  And probably the next puzzle, too…"

They descended the stairs, trying to ignore the fact that Marik was probably right.  There was still one more level before they reached the basement, and knowing Seth, that level had probably also been renovated… and it would be harder to get through than the last one.  And, of course, they were right.

Bakura sighed, shaking his head in annoyance. "Why can't anything ever be easy for us?"

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Practically all of the top floor of the castle had been completely trashed, thanks to a certain crazy dragon who had been let loose inside the place.  About the only two rooms that hadn't been touched yet were Seth's office and the meeting room, and that was because they were currently in the domain of Wingweaver, who wouldn't let Seiyaryu anywhere near the place as long as her friend was in hyper-destructive mode.

Flipping through the papers that littered the desk and tables, Wingweaver muttered, "Why the heck does Seth need all this stuff anyway?  It's not that complicated to stage an attack on the world.  Well, okay, so we're making things a little difficult for him, but it's not that bad… what's this?" She grinned as she realized what she held. " 'Top threats to my plan'? Hahaha, sounds interesting… 'One, the Pharaoh and his little pals.  Two, the rebels.' Seiyaryu would throw a fit if she saw this, since we're only ranked second… 'Three, SETO KAIBA?!?' The heck?  Why would Kaiba be on this list, if he's working for Seth?  Unless they never really agreed with each other in the first place, and Seth's using his own means to have Kaiba on his side… but then that means he would be a threat.  Take away whatever Seth has against Kaiba and he's completely powerless over his reincarnation… that's just it!  Kaiba's Seth's reincarnation, so he would have basically the same raw power, and with a bit of training, would be his equal in strength.  So that means that Seth's actually afraid that Kaiba will work against him, and that would be a problem…" Deciding to hold onto the paper for future reference, Wingweaver went through the rest of the papers.

"Let's see… this one says there are twenty main generals in Seth's army, each one a different type of monster.  Since they're only really destroyed in the Shadow Realm, then that means that only three of them are actually gone… which leaves seventeen more to take care of.  Great.  This will be so much fun…"

"What's this one?" Wingweaver skimmed through it quickly, frowning. "It's a list of names… Mokuba Kaiba.  Solomon Muto.  Those are the only two that are checked off… wonder what that means?  And then, after that… Serenity Wheeler.  Never heard of her.  And one more… Isis Ishtar?  Sounds familiar… where have I heard that name before?  Ishtar…"

Before she could ponder it any further, Seiyaryu popped her head into the entryway. "Hey Wing!  Find anything interesting?  Can I destroy the other rooms now?"

"Yeah, sure, go ahead…" Wingweaver muttered, then did a double take. "Seiyaryu?  I thought I told you to watch our escape route!"

Seiyaryu grinned sheepishly. "Oh yeah, huh… you did, didn't you?  Well, I found something that I think you might want to take a look at…"

"Fine.  If you didn't destroy it, it must be something important."

The dragon shrugged. "I couldn't destroy it, but it wasn't for lack of trying…"

Wingweaver's interest was peaked. "What is it?"

"Come and see for yourself." Seiyaryu led the way to a room that was slightly off to the side of Seth's bedroom.  As soon as they were out of the meeting room, Seiyaryu turned around and loosed off an attack at the ceiling of the room, causing it to collapse.  Wingweaver gave her a strange look, and she sweatdropped. "Hehe… sorry.  Couldn't help myself."

"Whatever," Wingweaver muttered, then gasped as they entered the room that held the object in question. "What…?"

"That's what I've been trying to figure out," Seiyaryu shrugged.  She walked up to the glowing golden orb that was floating in midair and poked it.  The globe flashed once before it stopped glowing and settled down, showing an image of a city with a Gadget Soldier wreaking havoc in it.

"Gadget Soldier… the machine general," Wingweaver muttered, before gasping slightly. "It shows the real world!"

"Well, duh… watch this." Seiyaryu poked it again, and the scene changed to show two boys, running down a street in the direction of the Gadget Soldier.  Another poke, and it changed to the inside of an ambulance, where an unconscious old man and an younger, black-haired woman were.  The next scene was of a young girl with long brown hair, sitting alone and looking nervous in an empty apartment.  One last poke, and the globe flashed before it started glowing again.

Seiyaryu looked at Wingweaver. "Well, what do you think?"

"At this point, I don't know what to think," the fairy muttered. "Well, whatever.  It's obviously of some importance.  Take it."

Seiyaryu nodded and grinned. "Okay!" She grabbed it and settled it between her wings before looking back. "Well, are we done here?"

"I guess so… it's been at least an hour since we got in.  I'm sure the others are inside by now.  We've caused enough of a distraction, so let's go."

"Otay!" Seiyaryu chirped. "Time to meet up with the others!"

"That's supposing everything's been going right…" Wingweaver muttered.

Seiyaryu shot her a glare as they walked back into what was left of Seth's rooms. "Have some hope, Wing.  Of course everything's been going right!  What could go wrong?"

The two stopped dead right in front of the hole they had used to enter.  Wingweaver sighed. "That, maybe?  I told you that you should've kept watch over this place…"

Because crowded around the collapsed wall were what looked like all of the flying Duel Monsters that Seth had at his disposal.

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"Well, isn't that typical," Malik muttered. "A maze.  I'm serious, in every evil guy's castle, there is always a dark, dank, and spooky maze.  Riddled with traps at every dead end, too, I'm betting you."

"Shut up, Malik."

The group stared down at the maze.  They were standing on a ledge, with stairs leading down to the beginning of said maze, looking on at the walls that seemed to stretch on forever.  They couldn't see it from where they stood, but the stairs were probably at the other end.  Which meant that they had to go through it to get to the next level.

"I have an idea," Yugi suggested. "Why can't we just fly over it and find the way down that way?"

"There's an idea, except I'm betting you Seth's already thought of that," Chaos Mage said. "Watch this." She picked up a pebble from the ground and threw it ahead of them, into empty space.  It hit an invisible barrier and bounced back, forcing the group to duck. "See?  Magic.  We won't get in that way."

"Then what about under?"

"That would take too long," Yami mused. "Then that leaves only two ways: going straight through, and going through the maze."

"Aren't they the same thing?" Marik asked, confused.

Bakura shook his head. "The Pharaoh means going straight through.  As in, breaking a path straight through the walls."

"Oh…"

"But I'm betting it won't work," Bakura continued.  He jumped down the stairs and held up a card. "Watch!" The Gross Ghost of Fled Dreams popped out of the card, and Bakura ordered it to attack.  It did, blasting a hole in the wall – for about two seconds, before the wall magically fixed itself.  Bakura rolled his eyes. "Told you." He went back up the stairs, joining the others.

"Well, then, the only way is to find a way through," Yami said matter-of-factly.

"Then please tell us how you suggest we do that?" Marik snapped.

Dark Magician Girl shrugged. "Well, the only way I could think of is to go in there and mark off every path we take… except that would take us days to get through, and there's still the problem of getting back out."

"So then…?"

"We go down there and hope we don't get lost?" Gemini Elf suggested.  Everyone sweatdropped.

"I was thinking more along the lines of trying to keep going in the right direction," Yami muttered. "We know that the next flight of stairs is almost directly opposite this one, so if we go that way…"

"And what if we hit a dead end right there?" Bakura asked.

"…we can discuss that when we get to the first fork," Yami said.

"Wow, so even the famed King of Games doesn't know what he's doing," Marik muttered, but was quickly shushed by the others.  Team morale wasn't very high, considering all the annoying, unexpected obstacles that they had met so far.

The first fork in the road didn't take too long to reach.  There was a choice of three paths, and no way to tell which one to take.  Bakura turned to Yami. "Where to, Pharaoh?"

"Just pick one, tomb robber," Yami hissed.

Bakura shrugged and stepped onto the path on their left.  Immediately, a slight scratching sound was heard and Bakura's thief instincts kicked in.  He quickly jumped back, just in time to avoid the rain of knives that came flying at him from the ceiling.

Yugi sweatdropped. "There are traps?!?  This makes it so much more fun…"

"Let's just go…" Malik muttered. "Besides, something tells me that isn't the right path." He walked straight ahead and paused for a moment.  When nothing dropped on his head, opened beneath his feet, or flew towards him, he shrugged and continued walking.  The others exchanged glances before following him.

They soon realized that not every wrong turning was marked by a trap that appeared as soon as you stepped onto it.  Having tried both paths on a fork (one leading to a dead end, the other to pit full of spikes), the group realized that they must've taken a wrong turning somewhere and backtracked, only to realize that they couldn't even recognize which path they had originally come from in the first place.  Bakura sighed and slumped to the ground.

"I give up," he murmured. "We've been wandering around here for at least an hour and we're still nowhere near reaching the end.  Any bright ideas, Yami?"

"I was about to ask you," the Pharaoh returned. "You're the one who has experience navigating through mazes to get to the gold.  Mind telling us how you managed it, tomb robber?"

"Easy," Bakura said sarcastically. "You look at each path and take the one with the least amount of obvious treasure.  The others are obviously decoys to lure you into a trap."

"Well, that's nice," Chaos Mage said. "Do you see any handy piles of gold to tell us where not to go?"

"No, but Bakura may have an idea there…" Yami said slowly.

The others looked at him. "What did you say?" Gemini Elf asked in amazement. "Did the Pharaoh actually just compliment the tomb robber?"

Both Yami and Bakura chose to ignore the comment. "What I'm saying is that we should look at the clues that we have, and that may lead us to traps," Yami said.

"And those would be…?" Malik asked, taking a few steps forward and sneezing suddenly. "Hurry up.  I don't like it in here; it doesn't seem like it's been cleaned since the place was built."

Yami chuckled. "Take a look around you.  Like you said, this floor doesn't seem to have been cleaned for a while.  It's covered in dust."

"Your point being?" Dark Magician Girl asked, still not getting it.

Yami grinned, which quickly spread to Bakura. "I must admit, Yami, you actually seem to have something there for once," the thief remarked. "What he's trying to say is that the path that leads to the next level won't seem to be as dusty, since it's traveled along the most.  Which means…"

Yugi got the idea. "Which means that we just have to follow along that path until we reach the stairs to the next level!  You're a genius, Yami!"

"Well, I wouldn't exactly say that, but you must admit, he does have a knack for games," Marik muttered. "Well, then, what are we waiting for?  Let's go!"

"Um…" Gemini Elf interrupted. "I hate to break it to you, but there are two paths that seem to be clear here: the one where we came from and the one that leads to where we're trying to go."

"Oh…" Yami paused for a moment, but the smile didn't disappear from Bakura's face for an instant.

"Don't look so down, Pharaoh.  Don't tell me you already forgot about that rock that almost fell on our heads before we got to this point!" Bakura pointed down a pathway, and sure enough, there was a distant shadow of a boulder down it.

"Well then, let's go!" Chaos Mage called.

Bakura gave a fake pout. "What, don't I even get any thanks?"

Yami gave him a glance before heading down the correct path. "Yeah, sure.  Thanks, Bakura.  It seems you're actually good for something."

"Thanks a lot for the compliment, Pharaoh…"

It was half an hour later of stopping at every fork, examining every path, and going down the one that seemed to be right.  Sure, they made a couple mistakes here and there, but that was to be expected.  After all, we can't expect Yami to listen to Bakura's pearls of wisdom all the time, can we?

So it was that they were heading back to the last fork they had come from, Bakura muttering about the Pharaoh being so stubborn as to not listen to him and almost having something acidic dumped on his head.  Yami was choosing to ignore him, but judging from the vein popping out of his forehead, he'd be in the mood to throttle a certain tomb robber soon enough.

Reaching the fork, Bakura immediately went to the only one of the three paths that they hadn't taken. "So, I'm just wondering how we'll able to get out of here once we've rescued Ryou," he said casually.

"That's easy, we just follow the path we took to get here…"

"Ah.  And does anyone else happen to remember how often we took a wrong turning?"

Dead silence met his question.  After a while, Yugi muttered uneasily, "Well… I guess we'll just solve that problem when we get to it…"

Bakura grinned in triumph. "Right answer, little Pharaoh.  You're becoming more and more like a tomb robber every day."

The rest of the group sweatdropped.  Malik leaned down to whisper in Yugi's ear, "The way he says it, you'd think it was a good thing." The shorter boy nodded agreement.

They soon reached a large, circular room with a door at the opposite end, and Bakura smirked. "And once again, the tomb robber instincts always lead you in the right direction!" He started for the door when a hand on his shoulder stopped him.  He looked down to see Yugi, whose confusion showed in his large purple eyes. "What is it?"

"Don't you think this might be a trap?" Yugi murmured.

Dark Magician Girl blinked. "Well, what makes you say that?"

"It's a classic element in lots of video games.  You have a big, circular room, and there's this part in the middle that, if you walk into it, something pops out and attacks you…"

Bakura shrugged. "If you ask me, I'd say that someone's been playing too many games.  C'mon, there's nothing there, and even if there is, we're at least somewhat prepared now, right?" Without waiting for an answer, he stepped into the center of the room.

The stones beneath him started glowing, and Bakura jumped back in reflex. "What in the name of Osiris?" He then glanced at Yugi. "Y'know, I'm starting to think you were right."

Out of the circle of magic rose an oddly-shaped figure.  A strange, feminine cackle filled the room, and as the light faded, it revealed none other than a Duel Monster.

"Okay, who didn't see that coming?" Malik muttered.

The monster, which looked like a sort of green-skinned woman with a rose as the lower half of her body, peered down at the group before her. "Who is it that wishes to pass onto the next level?" she asked.

Marik sweatdropped. "Um… us?"

The monster, now identified as a Rose Spectre of Dunn, glared at them. "I am the guardian of this maze.  The one who makes it out has to identify themselves to me as either Lord Seth or one of his servants, or else incur my wrath!"

"I'm guessing that was the wrong answer!" Gemini Elf yelled.

The group scattered as a vine snaked its way out from the monster's body and whipped towards them. "Whatever gave you that idea?!?"

"Don't worry, I'll handle this!" Chaos Mage dodged another one of the vines before coming in for an attack.  The Rose Spectre barely had time for one last scream before it disintegrated for good.

"Well, that was easy enough," Bakura remarked. "Unexpected, but rather easy." Everyone else glared at him, not too pleased that he hadn't listened to Yugi's warning.  He ignored them. "Let's get going, shall we?"

Before they had a chance to open the door, which undoubtedly led to the staircase to the next level, a smaller white circle began glowing in the middle of the room.  They turned towards it, and Marik glanced expectantly at Yugi. "What do you think, video game expert?"

Yugi shrugged. "My guess is a portal to the beginning of the maze.  We'll test it out when we've got Ryou back.  Now let's go!" And so they descended the stairs, finally reaching the dungeons after making it through Seth's two levels of dungeon insanity.

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As Ryou soon found out, it wasn't easy to pick the lock on a jail cell, especially if you couldn't manage the handcuffs.  It was even harder to pick the lock when you were locked inside said cell.  Needless to say, Ryou was getting very frustrated very quickly and was about to throw away the lock-picking set before he thought better of it.

As he absently (and futilely) tried to pick the lock on the manacles that were still around his arms, Ryou stared into the cell across from him, trying to figure out a way, ANY WAY, that would enable him to reach his magic.  The chains on the manacles weren't long enough to reach, he'd already tried that, so he couldn't drag it over… dropping the tools, Ryou grumbled something incomprehensible and reached to pick it up, deciding to give up on the lock-picking thing for the time being.  Bakura wasn't called the King of Thieves for nothing; if Ryou couldn't even pick a lock with a set of tools designed just for that, he wondered how Bakura managed with next to nothing.  It was a complete mystery to him as to why anyone could do it at all.

Ryou returned his attention to the little jar that held his magic in the cell across from him.  If he couldn't reach it, he might as well try and break it… but that would be difficult, to say the least.  Ryou wasn't exactly known for his throwing arm, and it didn't help that there were at least two sets of bars in the way.  Picking up various rocks and aiming at the bottle, he threw them all, until there were none left in the cell.  All either missed the bottle, hit the bars, or bounced off the bottle without leaving so much as a dent, leaving him with nothing but considerably less to work with than what he had started with.  Annoyed with the uselessness of the lock-picks, Ryou tried to throw those, too, but the case just bounced off the bars and lay there.

Ryou sighed and leaned back against the bars of the cell. "Where is everyone?" he asked himself. "No one's been down here for a while, not even Kaiba and Seth to see Mokuba… I wonder what's going on up there?  I'm betting Bakura and the others are here in the Shadow Realm somewhere, trying to break me out… come to think of it, I'm doing the same thing, but not doing it very well." He sighed again and turned to look at the light blue magic that was swirling lazily inside the glass bottle.  Maybe he shouldn't have thrown the lock-picks out there, maybe he should have kept trying, maybe… maybe there was another way.

'Why am I kidding myself?' he thought bitterly. 'There's no other way out, except to break down the bars, pick the lock, go through the walls or ceiling, or to use magic.  One, I'm not strong enough to break down the bars.  Two, the lock-picks are out there, where I can't reach.  Three, there's no way I can get through the walls or ceiling.  And four, all of my magic's locked away in that little bottle.  Wait… not all of it…'

Ryou sat bolt upright, suddenly remembering something he'd had on him that day at school.  Sure, they'd let him keep the kind of magic he needed to summon Duel Monsters, but they had taken his deck.  But maybe, just maybe… he dug in his pockets for a moment.  Not finding it, he searched more frantically, before his hand came into contact with something in the pocket of his jacket and he relaxed slightly, taking it out.

"Thank goodness," he sighed, really smiling for the first time since he had gotten here. "I have to remember to thank Yugi for this." For in his hands, he held an unopened Duel Monsters booster pack.  Apparently, Seth's guards were none too bright and couldn't put two and two together, not figuring out that the monsters on the pack meant that it held monster cards.

Ryou ripped the pack open, searching for anything that could help him. "United We Stand… good card, but not what I need… Driving Snow, Hyozanryu, is there any non-sacrifice monster in here?  Oh, here's one!  Hinotama Soul!"

The monster appeared, and would have made some sort of battle cry if Ryou hadn't quickly shushed it.  Sure, it was a relatively weak monster, but the flames would be able to melt the iron bars, wouldn't they? "Hinotama Soul!  Melt the bars and get me out of here!"

The small monster nodded and obeyed, flaming the bars down to pools of heated iron on the floor before returning to its card.  Grinning in triumph, Ryou stepped over the molten metal, picked up the lock-pick tools on the floor, and opened the door of the cell across from his.  He stepped on the glass bottle and the magic immediately returned to his body, flowing through his veins in rampant power before settling down again.  Ryou smiled, slightly evilly; he hadn't felt this good in a while.

"Now then, Seth," he whispered, "let's see what an irate magic-using teenager can to your castle, shall we?"

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And… done!  Finally! *sighs* Yet again, extremely sorry about the wait, guys.  Next chapter'll be up in maybe three weeks or so, due to the conditions that I explained earlier… BLAME IT ON THE SCHOOL, NOT ME!!!  On the upside, I'm done watching GW, so no more random anime marathons until spring break for me. ;p Oh, and about the title… we're doing A Tale of Two Cities in English, as well as the French Revolution in history, so anytime I think of storming something nowadays, it's the Bastille.

The usual, review, review, review, no flames, etc., etc.  Reviewers get cake ("Let them eat cake!" said Marie-Antoinette), with pretty colored frosting and pretty colored sprinkles and whatever flavor you feel like having.  Flames will be used to test what synthesized compound of my choice is flammable – in front of your house, too!!  MWAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAA!!!  Of course, that's assuming I know where you live… so no flames, HK.  Said compounds will be donated to Bakura and all my fellow pyros worldwide.