Cake! Yummy yummy cake goes to hobbit13, ShadowFire2, silvermuse89, and Hikage Kitsune. Once again, sorry for the extreme lateness of this chapter. Don't worry, tho, Academic League's over, so now I'll be able to work on this more. Gomen nasai that I haven't been able to work on this more…
Oh, I just kinda spotted a plot hole that I think I should explain away. You may remember, a few chapters back, that Yugi summoned a Mystical Elf in the real world for answers to his questions about why a Leogun appeared at school, but she couldn't talk? Well, my explanation for why Seiyaryu and the others can is that they're in the Shadow Realm at the moment, and that's one of the differences between the Shadow Realm and here: they lose some of their power when coming to the real world, and can't talk. Or something like that.
Disclaimer: Hmm… well, if you want one, go read it on each of the chapters before this. If you still don't get the point, then I'll tell you: I DO NOT OWN ANY MANGA, ANIME, CARS, ETC. Therefore, since YGO is both a manga and an anime, and I do not own any anime or manga, then therefore, by using deduction, I do not own YGO.
Egyptian Shadow Destinies: Chapter Nine
Wreaking Havoc
Gadget Soldier
Fire/Machine
Level SixATK/1800 DEF/2000
"Tell me again just why you memorized the stats for this card," Tristan grumbled as he and Joey dodged the attack that had been fired in their direction.
"Don't ask me. I just know that it's really coming in handy right about now," the blond answered. "So, got any brilliant ideas to take down this thing, or do I have the honor of beating it myself?"
Tristan grinned. "Hey, I was the one who beat the Insect Queen almost single-handedly. I think it's time you earned yourself a bit of honor, hmm?"
Joey shot him a glare and strode forward. "Oh, c'mon! This coming from the person who didn't even know anything was going on until a Blue-Eyes appeared in the schoolyard!"
"Hey, are you going to take care of it or what?"
"Fine, fine," Joey mumbled, rolling his sleeves up and pulling his deck out. His characteristic grin quickly appeared on his face as he reached for a card. "Just watch the master at work! Gearfried, the Iron Knight!"
As soon as it saw the other machine appear, the Gadget Soldier immediately turned its attention to Gearfried and started firing. The Knight quickly deflected it and raced at its enemy, swinging at it, but the Gadget Soldier also blocked it. Since both had attack 1800, it was and would be a stalemate until something else happened to offset the balance. Meanwhile, off to the side, Joey was going through his cards frantically, and smiled when he came across a card that could help. "Malevolent Nuzzler! All right!"
"Wait, Joey-" Tristan was cut off when his friend held up the card, motioning it to attach itself to Gearfried. He sighed. "Too late."
Joey's smile quickly slipped off his face when his magic card moved to equip itself to Gearfried, but quickly slid off and disappeared as soon as it touched. "What the – oh, man. I can't believe I forgot that about my own monster!"
"Nice going, Joey," Tristan yelled. "Gearfried can't take equip cards!"
"Don't you think I figured that out?" Apparently, the Gadget Soldier wasn't as dumb as it looked. Having seen the blond use the magic card on its opponent, Seth's monster put two and two together and decided that, since Joey was the one controlling the other monster, Joey should be made his first target. As the attack flew toward him, Joey ducked quickly and yelped. "Isn't there a rule against monsters attacking people?"
As the Gadget Soldier rushed back at Joey, Gearfried stopped the attack and started fighting again, giving Joey the time to run and duck behind a car while searching his deck for any cards that might possibly help in this situation. Frantically going through his cards, Joey somehow managed to drop half his deck on the ground. Groaning and leaning over to pick them up, looking for ANYTHING that could possibly get him out of the situation he'd found himself in, he almost missed Tristan's gasp of amazement, along with what happened next.
"What the-" Joey glanced up, just in time to see what looked like a building pop out of nowhere, drag Gadget Soldier through it using a mechanical arm, and throw the machine monster back out with many adjustments before disappearing again, as mysteriously as it had appeared. "Machine Conversion Factory! That's not fair!"
"Has it ever occurred to you that, since you could use magic cards, Seth could too?" Tristan snapped back.
"Well, yes, but do you see Seth anywhere around here?" Joey yelled, only to be interrupted by another card flying in from nowhere. He groaned. "Oh, no, don't tell me… Limiter Removal!"
'Well, that certainly isn't a good thing,' he thought to himself as the Gadget Soldier grew bigger to accommodate its increase in power. It was now at 3900 attack points, and roughly the size of a two-story house, which didn't mean good news for the Gearfried it was fighting, with a measly 1800 attack. Did I forget to mention that Seth's monster was still after Joey and any other humans in the area?
Two seconds later, Gadget Soldier's attack had completely obliterated Gearfried and anything else within ten feet. The force of the blast sent Joey flying backward, and he winced as he felt his monster die. In the real world, there was no such thing as a turn-based summoning system; instead, you just had to wait until you had enough magical energy to summon another monster. Unfortunately, with no training in magic whatsoever, it had been all that Joey could do to summon Gearfried, and it would probably take at least another hour before he could even risk trying again. That didn't leave many options, and there was still the fact that Gadget Soldier had destroyed his one monster and now had its sights set on Joey.
"Um, Tristan? Some help here?" Joey cried. Upon receiving no answer, he looked around frantically. "Tristan?" He sweatdropped as he noticed the other boy unconscious on the street, bleeding a little from the various small cuts he'd gotten from flying rubble. A bigger piece of broken building was lying next to him, giving evidence of what exactly the object had been that had knocked his friend out.
"Great…" Joey muttered. "Well then, I guess I'm on my own now. Here's to hoping I can beat this metal monster without getting myself killed!"
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"Eheheh…" Seiyaryu laughed nervously. "Hey Wing, would now be too late for me to tell you that I think you're right for once?"
Wingweaver sighed and shook her head. "This is SO not good."
As large as Seth's ground army was, and as powerful as some of his monsters were, it paled in comparison to the sheer number of things on wings that were floating/flying/crowded around the opening on the wall. It seemed like at least three hundred monsters were there, all with attack over 1500 and all with murder in their eyes, facing toward the wall and ready to attack as soon as they saw any sign of movement. Luckily, they didn't seem to have noticed Seiyaryu and Wingweaver yet, but that didn't change the fact that they'd still have a difficult time trying to get out in one piece. It didn't help that one of Seth's Blue-Eyes was hanging around in the background, obviously there to make sure neither Duel Monster escaped in one piece. The two quickly backed away from the hole, pressing their backs to the wall on either side.
"Well then, what now?" Seiyaryu asked.
Wingweaver glared at her. "You're the one that got us into this. Got any brilliant ideas on how to get us out?"
"Actually, yes…" Seiyaryu seemed to be deep in thought for a while, then nodded decisively. "Okay. It seems like most of the flying monsters are concentrated around this area, right? So I suggest we go down a few levels and exit from another direction. Blow another hole or two in the wall and get the heck out of here before they realize what's going on."
"Somehow, I don't think Seth's that dumb…"
"Hey, do you have any better ideas?" the dragon shot back. "Well, other than exiting out the front gate disguised as humanoid monsters, which I don't think will work, because the last time I checked, I probably won't even FIT in the stupid entry hall!"
"How would you know?" Wingweaver queried, curious.
"…let's just say the measurements of the stupid place say it would be a tight fit," Seiyaryu responded, ruffling her wings and pausing when they met slight resistance. She paused, rolling one of them until the globe fell from her back and hit the ground with a soft thunk. She bent to pick it up and inspected it. "Hey, I almost forgot we had this. Do you think this'll explode if I throw it at them?"
"No, but it'll shatter into a thousand pieces, and from what we saw, I'd say it's too important for that," her friend answered. "Well, are we going to leave or not?"
Seiyaryu paused. "Hold on a minute." She fired a Razor Flare Blast at the ceiling above and slightly in front of the hole, causing it to cave in and block the opening. "Okay, now let's go."
Wingweaver blinked. "What'd you do that for?"
Seiyaryu shrugged. "That way, they won't be tempted to follow us in. By the way, how do you think they get in and out in the first place? I'm pretty sure some of those Whiptail Crows are as big as I am, not to mention the Blue-Eyes…"
"I dunno. They probably have some way out through the upper levels. But let's not worry about that now; they already knew a Seiyaryu and a Wingweaver came this way. They're not dumb enough to not put two and two together if they see a Seiyaryu and a Wingweaver coming out."
"Really now…" Seiyaryu mused. "I wouldn't have put anything past their stupidity. But oh well, I guess you're right."
"Like always?"
"…shut up."
A few minutes later and with the help of four new holes in Seth's floor, they were on the fifth floor from the top and ready to make their inconspicuous exit – or as inconspicuous as it ever got if you had two eight-foot tall monsters blasting a hole through a wall to escape. Of course, nothing is ever that easy…
"Can we leave now?" Seiyaryu grumbled, apparently annoyed that Wingweaver had gotten to do all the blasting through the floors. The fairy had insisted, saying that Seiyaryu's attacks would call too much attention to them, and knowing the dragon, she was right.
"All right," Wingweaver sighed. "So which way do you suggest we go?"
"This way!" Seiyaryu answered by promptly blasting through a wall in the opposite direction from the one they came in, revealing another room on the other side. "I don't think we should go directly opposite from where we came from… that would be too obvious. We came in from the east, how about we go out from northwest? On the opposite side of the main entrance."
"Sure, why not?" Wingweaver agreed. "All that's left is to get there and hope we didn't attract too much attention. And try not to blast through the walls, will you? If anyone sees that, we might get caught."
"That's nice," Seiyaryu replied, once again not paying attention. "C'mon." She led the way through the hole she had created and was about to make another "entryway" into the next room when a glare from Wingweaver stopped her in her tracks. She sighed. "Aw, you're no fun…"
"I'm leading the way," the fairy replied, stepping around the dragon. The duo exited through the door this time, Seiyaryu grumbling the whole time. Wingweaver gave her a look that plainly told her to shut up.
"Why can't we do it my way?" Seiyaryu whined.
"Your way attracts too much attention," Wingweaver answered, not really listening. As footsteps echoed through the hallway in front of them, she ducked into one of the side rooms and pulled the dragon with her. As the footsteps died away, she peeked out, checking for any monsters. Seeing nothing, she stepped out again.
"You know, it would be so much easier if you just listened to me and got rid of any monsters that appeared…"
"If I listened to you, we would've died a long time ago," Wingweaver said dryly. Seiyaryu pouted, sulked, and decided not to say anything else for as long as she could, which amounted to a total of about thirty seconds for the crazy dragon.
"Are we there yet?"
"No. Shut up."
"…are we there now?"
"Do you want me to hit you?"
"I'll let you hit me if you let me blast through a few more walls!" the irrepressible Seiyaryu chirped.
Wingweaver sighed. "Just SHUT UP."
"Okay." They walked on. A few minutes later…
"Are we-"
"Don't even go there," Wingweaver snapped. The dragon rolled her eyes and stared at the ceiling, obviously bored with the complete lack of things to do.
"Y'know, I wonder how they're doing," Seiyaryu murmured after a while. "The rescue party, I mean. Wouldn't it be a shame if we caused this nice little distraction, got ourselves chased around the castle, and escaped, only to find out that the others were caught? Or died? Or were tortured? Or-"
"That's enough for the mental pictures," the fairy interrupted her. "I don't want to think about that."
"Fine." Seiyaryu was beginning to wonder just how big this place was. Ten minutes of wandering, and they were nowhere close to where they wanted go. "You know, we would be there already if you'd only let me blast through the walls. That would've led us in a straight line."
"I know. But you're not going to do it."
Seiyaryu grumbled something under her breath and turned her eyes to the ceiling again, humming quietly. Of course, as she wasn't looking straight ahead, she wasn't paying attention, and she didn't notice when Wingweaver stopped abruptly. So, as can be expected, Seiyaryu ran right into her and sent the both of them tumbling loudly down a small flight of about ten steps.
"OW! Darn stupid stairs! Whoever put those there has no brains whatsoever! Didn't it ever occur to Seth that those were a hazard?"
"Only for idiots, which there's an unfortunate lack of in Seth's army," Wingweaver muttered. Hearing something, she slapped her hand over Seiyaryu's mouth and listened intently.
"I said, who's there?" a slightly croaky voice asked. The eyes of both Duel Monsters widened, and Wingweaver's hand slipped off Seiyaryu's mouth.
"Oh, Ra," the dragon gasped. "We are so dead."
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When escaping a highly guarded fortress in the Shadow Realm, it is always a good thing to have a plan. Unfortunately, Ryou didn't think much farther beyond getting out of his jail cell, but that was okay, because now he had his magic, twenty-seven Duel Monsters cards, and a whole lot of anger at his disposal.
The first order of business? Simple enough. Get his deck back. Sure, he had useful monsters now, but what he really needed were cards he was familiar with. After that, he could try and let free any other prisoners that had been thrown into Seth's dungeons, and after that… well, he was sure he'd find a way to escape somehow. That way probably involved trying to avoid all contact with monsters and such, which would be difficult, since the place was practically crawling with them… and from there, he could use Bakura's little compass spell to find the others, who were most probably here in the Shadow Realm, looking for him. Then they could go to back to the real world together. Simple enough, right?
Well, that's what he thought. Problem number one came with step zero of his plan: the chains, which were STILL attached to his arms, made very, very loud clanking sounds when they hit the floor, and they were much too long for him to just hold his arms up the whole time. He tried wrapping them around his arms, so they wouldn't hang and might provide some sort of protection, which led to problem number two; chains don't knot well. So, with that rather obvious discovery, Ryou was forced to kind of tie two links together with a bit of magic. Okay, that was done. Now on to the next problem, which was by far the most annoying yet!
How exactly was he supposed to FIND his deck? Ryou hadn't gotten much of a glimpse of the castle when he was being kidnapped, but from what he'd seen, the place was big enough for it to take a good few years to search the whole thing, even with the help of the few monsters he had with him. At that point, he tried to think about where Seth would probably keep the cards. There were a few main choices: with him, in his rooms, or in some room in the castle just for that purpose. There was also the chance that they might've been destroyed to keep him from using them, but Ryou tried to ignore that possibility.
"Okay, so if I was Seth, where would I put the cards?" he muttered. "Well, the most obvious choice would be to burn them or keep them with me, and I'm really hoping it's not the former… and it's not like I can just walk up to Seth and demand my cards back. Okay, so let's see… well, I can either go to his rooms and look there, hoping I don't run into anything on my way there, or I can search for a room in the castle where they're most likely keeping enemy monsters. Oh joy, this'll be a blast. Now, how to find them…" Well, they were his monsters, right? Ryou vaguely recalled hearing Bakura saying something about other people not being able to use your cards unless they got them fairly, from a trade, a lost bet or duel, or if you just gave them your cards. Being reasonably certain that having his deck stolen didn't count as them being fairly acquired, Ryou at least had the reassurance of knowing that his cards weren't working for Seth. Well, that at least was a good thing… but that brought him back to the problem of how to find them.
Having no idea at all of where to start looking for his cards, Ryou decided to put step two aside for the moment and concentrate on getting others free. Hopefully, he'd be able to get some help in finding his cards, along with some extra backup from anyone that didn't particularly like Seth… so, remembering that the flights of stairs that led upward were to his left, he turned right and headed for the lower levels. After considering it for a moment, he also summoned back the Hinotama Soul and a Wretched Ghost of the Attic and sacrificed them for a Ryu-Ran, a pyro-dragon with 2200 attack. No sense in being caught off-guard and having an alarm raised, right?
Well, that's what Ryou told himself as the two of them snuck down the halls as best they could. Of course, him not being the expert tomb robber that Bakura was and having a huge dragon that was still halfway in its shell didn't help the situation any. Following an instinct that told him to go right, he turned in that direction, still lost in his thoughts, but not too distracted to miss the fact that he had yet to find any prisoners – at least, any living. The remains of skeletons, both human and Duel Monster, were strewn across the floor of more than one of the cells. In a few of the ones which he stumbled across, he was unlucky enough to come across some that were apparently more recent, as they consisted of more than just bone. Being a decent person, as well as having a slightly restless fire monster with him, Ryou decided that, if he couldn't give them a proper burial, he might as well dispose of the… remains… of the people as best he could. It was while he was waiting for the Ryu-Ran to finish that he first took a good look at his surroundings and blinked as he realized that one, he had no idea where he was going, two, he was most definitely lost, and three, the corridor he was in took a sharp turn to the left in a few feet. He crept forward cautiously, peering around the corner and trying to make as little noise as possible. The door at the end of the hallway was barred and locked, and so most probably didn't lead to the next flight of stairs. In fact, it was this door that held his attention: something in it seemed to be calling quietly to him. Ryou blinked and was about to take a step forward when he realized that it probably wasn't the smartest thing to do in this situation: there were two red dragons curled up around the door. He reflexively ducked back behind the corner, then peeked around as soon as he didn't hear a roar that announced his presence to the entire Shadow Realm. Taking a closer look, he noticed that both dragons were asleep on guard duty, and he almost laughed. Almost. By this time, the Ryu-Ran had finished its work and crept up beside him.
"Well then, two Duel Monsters against one human and one monster," the white-haired boy whispered almost unconsciously to his companion. A stray strand of white hair fell into his eyes, and Ryou brushed it away irritably. As soon as he got out of this place, he was definitely going to see someone about having his hair cut. At least until this whole mess with Seth was over.
"Actually, it's only one monster, a Twin-Headed Fire Dragon. It has the same attack as me, but it's only level six," the Ryu-Ran surprised him by answering. Ryou jumped about three feet into the air before giving his monster a glare that would've made even Bakura cringe. "What? Didn't you know I could talk?" the monster asked in a slightly surprised voice.
Ryou shook his head, trying to clear it, and stored away his questions for later. "Um… actually, no. So what do you think we should do?"
"Got any power-ups or power-downs?" the dragon asked casually. "That's the easy way around it. Unless you want to try a combined attack, me and another monster. That's always fun." Ryou stared at him blankly, and Ryu-Ran sighed. "You don't know about combined attacks? Well, you sure have a lot to learn. Okay, so what about that power booster?"
"Hm…" Ryou pulled out the cards and searched through them. "How about this one? Dragon Treasure!" As the glowing green orb was absorbed into Ryu-Ran's body, the monster grinned.
"All right then…" He walked out into the hallway, right in front of the Twin-Headed Fire Dragon, which had started to wake up when the green light filtered into its vision. One blast later, all opposition was completely destroyed, including the door. Ryou blinked.
"Well… that's one way to get in. Thanks." The two walked in, slipping through the remains of the doorframe and taking a good look around – or as good a look as you can take when the room's pitch-black.
"You'd think they'd have an automatic light or something," Ryu-Ran commented. "As it is, I guess it's up to me." He flew up to the ceiling, only stopping when his head hit it rather hard. Ryou rolled his eyes as a loud yelp echoed around the room. A moment later, the room was dimly lit, and he peered upward to see the dragon sitting on a chandelier on the top.
"Well, whaddya know, they do seem to have lighting. It just isn't working," Ryu-Ran called down. "Well? Are you going to look for your cards or what?"
Ryou nodded slightly and stepped into the middle of the room, glancing around. He noticed a pedestal-type thing on the far side of the room, and stepped towards it cautiously, ready for a trap of some sort to activate. When he reached the platform, he stepped onto it and headed towards the solid black block in the middle of it. On the middle was a stack of cards, locked into something like a cage, albeit a cage made of Shadow Magic. The top card in the deck was clearly recognizable, even in the not-so-great lighting that the room had to offer: Dark Necrophia.
"So those are yours?" Ryu-Ran asked, flying down from his perch to join Ryou. "Well, looks like you got here just in time. Seems like Seth was going to perform the spell to destroy them a couple hours from now."
"…the spell?"
Ryu-Ran glanced at him. "Yeah. To destroy more than just the cards, but also the monsters that they're connected to in the Shadow Realm."
Ryou turned to face the dragon, leaning against the pedestal and trying his best not to touch the cage. "What do you mean?"
Ryu-Ran sweatdropped. "You mean you didn't know? All cards – no wait, I should say the magic, traps, and monsters that the cards summon – come from the Shadow Realm. You just use the cards to call them wherever you want. Every card has a counterpart in the Shadow Realm, but not all the… um, beings… in the Realm have a card that goes with it. You got it? So, some of the monsters that are found here don't have a card that goes with them, though in your world, they might be printing a card for that species of monster. In some cases, even whole species haven't been 'invented' for the game yet."
Ryou blinked slowly. "I think I get it. So, what're examples of those?"
Ryu-Ran suddenly turned grave. "Well, there're actually a lot of them, but I think the best one would be the Egyptian god cards, Ra, Osiris, and Obelisk. Those three have joint rule of the Shadow Realm, and if anyone were to get hold of one of their cards, then utter chaos would break out, both in your world and ours. But that's beside the point. Are you going to get your cards or not?"
"Oh yeah…" Ryou kneeled down so his shoulders were level with the block. "I don't suppose you know how to get rid of this cage?"
"Hey, I don't know everything," the dragon complained. "It's up to you to get rid of it. But since they were 'calling' you here, you might be able to use that to your advantage to break the spell."
"Really now…" Ryou closed his eyes and put his hands on either side of the cage, concentrating on the thin line of magic in the back of his mind that had been leading him in this direction. As soon as he found it, he "grabbed" it mentally, pulling on it and strengthening it as much as he could. He met resistance from the cage, but tried his best to ignore it, instead pouring his magic and energy into that one line. He felt it grow thicker, and as it did, he could feel the resistance weakening… putting all his hopes into one last try, he threw everything he had left into the line and yanked as hard as he possibly could.
The line went taut for a few agonizing seconds before it suddenly went slack again. For a moment, Ryou was afraid that it had broken. He was almost afraid to open his eyes, but then he heard Ryu-Ran's whoop from beside him and what felt strangely like splinters of ice flying past his face and hands…
Reluctantly, Ryou looked at where the bars had been… and felt a surge of joy fly through him as he realized that the cage had been broken, with splinters of dark Shadow Magic lying around, quietly flickering out of existence as proof of what exactly had happened to the resistance he'd felt before. Triumphant, he reached out and grabbed the cards, smiling slightly as a little flick appeared in his mind and something clicked into place, knowing that his deck was welcoming him again, having recognized the touch of its master. "It's good to see you again, too," he whispered quietly, pocketing it and standing up.
"If I may interrupt this touching reunion, we should probably get out of here," Ryu-Ran hissed to Ryou, glancing around warily. "That cage was probably made out of Seth's magic. Breaking it would have alerted him that we're here."
"Now you tell me," Ryou grumbled. "C'mon. Let's go." The pair snuck out of the room and back the way they had come – at least until they reached the first intersection. At that point, the two glanced at each other and sweatdropped. Ryu-Ran was the one who voiced the problem.
"I don't suppose you know which way we came from?"
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A few miles from where Seth's castle stood, a certain brown-haired, blue-eyed priest smiled self-contentedly, a half-lidded smile that showed that someone had just set the next stage of one of his plans into motion. "So they've started."
Zake glanced up from where he was lounging, on a rock that was a good hundred feet from where the rebels were gathered and out of their line of sight. "What's started?"
Seth sighed, closed his eyes, and shook his head in an exasperated manner. "That boy. The white-haired child. He's escaped and has his deck back. I should've known those idiots wouldn't have been able to keep the Pharaoh and his friends out of the castle."
"Should we send orders to try and capture them?"
"Don't bother," Seth said. "There's no way any of those monsters will be able to stop Pharaoh and his companions when they really put their mind to something. And besides, you wouldn't want to miss the upcoming battle, would you? And besides, everything's going to plan. I'm a man of honor; if Yami's going down, he's going down by my own hands." Off to the side, Kaiba rolled his eyes at this statement.
Seth took a quick look at the teenager from where he was standing. "Why so quiet, Seto? I thought for sure you'd have something to say about all this, being the great corporate genius that you are."
Kaiba just glared at him. "Why would I have anything to say about your pathetic dreams to conquer the world? Sorry, old man, but your techniques are five thousand years outdated. They won't work in this day and age."
Seth just chuckled softly. "We'll see about that, won't we, Seto?" He received no answer. Smiling slightly, the priest shook his head before addressing Zake. "Tell those monsters to hurry up and catch the two that were destroying my castle. If nothing else, we can get some of the leaders of the rebels." The boy nodded and left. Seth turned back to Kaiba. "Oh, and by the way…" He trailed off.
Kaiba glanced up, giving him an indifferent look. "What do you want?"
The former high priest just smirked. "If you're hoping they'll rescue your little brother, don't count on it. You think they care about him? You think they care about you? Even if they did try, there's no way they'll be able to free him. Come to think of it… there's no way you can either, Seto. You're going to work with me or watch little Mokuba die a slow and painful death."
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"Well then, now that we're FINALLY here… I don't suppose anyone remembers how to get to the stairs to the next level?" Bakura asked casually.
Chaos Mage shrugged. "It's fairly easy, if you compare it to the last two levels."
"Anything's 'fairly easy' when you compare it to those floors," Malik grumbled quietly. Bakura and Marik nodded agreement.
"Well, here, it's pretty much just a matter of going straight until you hit the stairs," Chaos Mage continued, ignoring Malik's comment. "The real problem will be finding the right cell – from the main corridor between flights of stairs, there're at least twenty corridors branching off, and more coming off of those, and so on and so forth. Even if we did find the right cell, there's still the matter of finding it back to the stairs."
"We really should've brought markers of some sort," Yami murmured. "Oh well, I guess it can't be helped now. And I don't think it'll be as easy as just standing around yelling for Ryou?"
"Not unless you want to attract the attention of the whole stupid castle, no."
"Okay then," Bakura said, suddenly a lot more cheerful now that the end was in sight. "Supposing Seth hasn't remodeled this floor or the others like he did to the last two, this'll be a pretty straight-forward task. So, remember, we have a three-hour time limit to search each of our own floors, then we meet back on the second dungeon floor. If we haven't found Ryou by then, we go search the last one – and it's kinda a given that we release anyone else we happen to find, unless they're a raving idiot or likely to get us caught."
"In other words, if you were locked down here, Bakura, you wouldn't want us to rescue you?"
"Shut up, Marik."
"Anyway," Gemini Elf cut in, "I don't know about you guys, but Marik and I have to go down three levels before we reach the one we're searching, so if you don't mind, we should get going now." The rest of the group nodded, and Yugi and Malik split off to begin searching the level they were on at the moment. Yami and Dark Magician Girl headed for the next floor down, while Chaos Mage and Bakura took the third floor and Gemini Elf and Marik got the fourth. Of course, each group had their own share of the fun, but let's concentrate on the two mortals first…
The first turn was a left, then another left, a fork, where Yugi chose the left pathway, and then another left… Malik blinked and put that together in his head. "Um… hey Yugi. If we took four lefts, shouldn't we have gone in a circle and ended up back where we started?"
Yugi stopped walking for a moment to think that over. "Let's see… hey, you're right. Of course, that's supposing that we went the same distance each time before we hit another turn…"
"So supposing we didn't, where would that leave us?" The two stood blinking at each other for a moment before they sighed.
"That would leave us totally lost," Yugi concluded. Malik nodded his agreement. "So then, what do we do now?"
Malik pondered that for a moment, then grinned. "Get even more lost?"
Yugi just stared at him. The blond Egyptian shrugged. "Hey, look at it this way. We're already lost, so we have two choices: try to find our way back, or just keep going. Either way, we're probably going to end up back where we started – either that, or this is one of those places where it's an endless maze and we'll be wandering here for eternity."
"That's a nice thought," Yugi muttered dryly. "But I agree, might as well keep going. If this place is such a maze, though, I wonder how they feed the prisoners?"
"Maybe they don't." Malik answered, totally serious. He blinked at the look Yugi was giving him. "What? Have you seen any live captives since we got here?"
"No, but I don't really want to think about that," the shorter boy answered. The path they were in turned suddenly – right this time, not another left. And at the end of the corridor…
"Hey look! It's a door!"
"You know, normally I wouldn't get so excited over a door, but hey, it's the first interesting thing I've seen so far…" Malik said. "So whaddya say we go check out what's in it?"
Yugi shrugged. "Sounds like a good idea. Besides, I don't think we're likely to find anything here anyway. If Ryou were on this floor, I think we would've found him by now. After all, it's been about an hour since we started, right?" He was about to grab the handle and yank open the door when a hand on his arm stopped him. He glanced at Malik. "What?"
"I don't suppose this is like the first door we saw? The one that had a spell on it?" Malik asked him.
"Well… there's only one way to find out…" Grabbing a handy rock, Yugi flicked it at the handle. When no alarms went off and the rock bounced off, still in one piece, the teenager shrugged. "Seems okay to me." He grabbed the handle, noticing that Malik stayed a good five feet behind him, and rolled his eyes. "Malik…"
"Hey, if something happens, I'm not coming any closer to that door!" the boy retorted.
"Fine, fine…" Yugi pulled it open. "See? Nothing! Nothing at all!" he said, half to himself to assuage his nerves. "There's no one in there, either, I don't think…"
"And that is where you're wrong," a mildly amused baritone voice told him from inside the room. At that point, both teenagers jumped about ten feet into the air, Yugi's hand immediately going to his deck and Malik's to the knife that he'd had since they arrived in the Shadow Realm.
"Who's there?" Malik yelled into the torch-lit room, sounding a lot braver than he felt at the moment.
"Only me." A Maha Vailo stepped out of the shadows into the doorway, where the two boys could clearly see him. He raised an eyebrow at the looks on their faces. "Come on in, I won't harm you."
"But if you're in here, then doesn't that mean you're working for Seth?" Yugi asked warily.
The spellcaster chuckled. "That's what he thinks, and I must say, I don't try to convince him otherwise. As for me, I'm just a mere scholar that met him one day and decided that I couldn't let this little collection of documents go to waste."
"Okay…" Malik said slowly, wondering where exactly the Maha Vailo had picked up a British accent. "Then do you mind telling us where we are?"
The monster swept his arm, taking in the expanse the room, and as he did so, the torches flickered suddenly, brightening the room and exposing it in all its glory. "Welcome to the Library of Forbidden Knowledge."
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One floor below them, Yami and Dark Magician Girl were having no more luck than Yugi and Malik at finding Ryou. Luckily for them, however, between the two of them, they had a fairly good sense of direction and enough brains to find a way to mark the path that they had taken. Of course, that didn't mean that they weren't still going in circles…
Yami sighed in frustration as they hit another fork and he spotted one of the arrows on the floor, marking that they'd already taken this path and had somehow ended up backtracking. "Sometimes I wonder if even Seth can find his way around down here."
Dark Magician Girl shrugged. "Well, judging from what I've seen, the prisoners that are thrown in the back corridors are the ones he never wants to see or hear from again – and judging from the number of skeletons, that's a lot."
Yami gave her an annoyed look. "Thank you for that little bit of information. Do you think he threw Ryou in one of these hallways?"
"I really, really hope not…" she said in reply. "But it's only been, what, maybe a day or two since you arrived in the Shadow Realm? That's not long enough for anyone to starve to death, and from what you've told me, this kid has enough magical training to last here unprotected for quite a while, even without the barriers Seth has around this place."
"Yes, but you're forgetting the time fluctuations here…"
"Time fluctuations?" Dark Magician Girl looked at him oddly. "I've never heard about those. But then again, I've never been to the real world, since I don't have a duelist… or at least, not one that knows enough magic to bring me there."
Yami pondered his explanation for a bit before he answered. "Well, between the real world and here, there's a slight problem with time. It's nothing continuous, like an hour there would be equal to a day here. It's more like, you stay five minutes in the Shadow Realm, and sometimes, when you go back, a week's passed, and during other times, it's like you never left. Time's weird that way; it's impossible to predict how much has changed between there and here. The royal scholars were always trying to find patterns between the realms, or at least create a spell of some sort that told you how much time had passed in the other realm, but they never did succeed." Yami shrugged. "For all we know, when we go back, Yugi, Ryou, and Malik would've been missing for months, or we might end up back at the school with the police about to question us."
"Ah. That's gotta be annoying."
"Believe me, it is." Finding a corridor that didn't have any arrow on it, or at least any that they could see, Yami and Dark Magician Girl walked down it in silence for a few minutes. Going straight, like the others, they eventually reached a door – or in this case, a pair of ten-foot-tall big, black doors that looked to have been carved out of some sort of black stone, obsidian maybe, and embellished delicately with silver hieroglyphics. They walked up to the doors and stopped about a foot away, studying the writing and the polished bronze handles that gleamed in the dimly lit dungeon.
After a minute of this silent studying, Dark Magician Girl broke the silence. "What does it say?"
Yami didn't answer for a moment, running his finger over the silver emboss in the door. "It's a shrine of some sort. An altar."
"What kind?" Yami was silent. He dropped his finger and knelt to study the etchings closer. "…Pharaoh?"
Yami looked up from his work, grinning a bit sheepishly. "Well, to tell you the truth, I can't pick up much more than that." Dark Magician Girl sweatdropped. "What? It's been five thousand years since I saw any glyphs at all, so of course I'd forget a few things. And besides, from what I can decipher, it's mostly about religion. I let the priests deal with that stuff; mine was more about the annual harvest, the flooding of the Nile, the complaints of the people, and so on and so forth."
"Um…" Dark Magician Girl hesitated. "Is it, by any chance, a sacrificial altar?"
"From what I can tell, no," Yami answered. "Why?"
The monster gave him a slightly disbelieving look. "It's a religious thing, located in a dungeon full of skeletons. I don't know about you, but I haven't seen any other living thing since we got down here, not even a Bone Mouse. Don't you kind of wonder what happened to the rest of the people and monsters he locked up for five millennia?"
Yami sweatdropped. "Not really, but thanks for the mental image. So are we going in or not?"
"Depends. Do you think it's dangerous?"
Yami hesitated for a moment, once again studying the hieroglyphics. "From what I can tell, no. Let's see what's inside." Reaching out, he yanked both of the bronze handles, and the double doors swung outward silently to reveal a large room, with a chapel-like ceiling. The whole room was dimly lit, with torches spaced at regular intervals across the walls and along a path that led straight to the altar in the middle of the room. Carved into the stone walls were hieroglyphs and all sorts of pictures, some depicting Duel Monsters, and others various people. Ignoring the walls for now, Yami walked straight up to the altar and knelt down for a second, reading what was written it. "It's a shrine. To Set."
"Well, duh. Seth's a priest of Set, of course he'd have a shrine somewhere here," Dark Magician Girl said sarcastically, glancing around nervously. "Can we go now? This place is creeping me out."
"Not quite yet." Yami stood up and walked to the wall on the far side of the room, studying the writing there and taking a closer look at the pictures. "Interesting…"
"What is it?"
"Come here." DMG obeyed warily. Yami grabbed a torch and brought it over to the section he was reading. "Look at this."
"What does it say?"
"It's a prophecy of some sort, but that's not what's important." Yami dismissed it quickly. "What I want you to look at is the subject of the prophecy – the picture down here."
"Hm?" Dark Magician Girl grabbed the torch and knelt down to study it, only to almost drop the light as she gasped. "Why, it's-"
"Yes. A prophecy regarding Seth and me."
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The third basement floor. Chaos Mage and Bakura were, like the others, wandering around in aimless circles – or at least, that's what they were doing until they came upon an interesting discovery.
Bakura peered into another hallway, blinking in annoyance as he found that he couldn't see much more than ten feet ahead of him. But still… "Hey, Chaos Mage, is it just me, or is there a hole in the bars of that cell?"
"Huh? Where?" Turning into that corridor, the two walked until they came to the cell in question, where it seemed like the bars had been melted to make a human-sized hole, along with a puddle of molten metal on the floor. "Well, that's interesting."
"And fairly recent, too," Bakura muttered, looking at the metal. "From what I can tell, this was melted not-so-long ago. Whoever did it is probably still in the castle – in the dungeons, too, if they're as lost as we are."
"So do you think we've found your friend?" Chaos Mage asked.
"Well…" Bakura was about to say he wasn't sure when he saw something sparkle in the corner of his eye. "What's that?" He walked over to the cell across from the one they were at, and spotted shards of glass lying all over the floor. A light blue spark caught his eye again, and he bent down to examine it, carefully picking up a bit of the glass. "Pure crystal. The only thing that can hold magic captive…"
"And it's broken," Chaos Mage noted. "Probably held the magic of the person who was in that cell."
"You know, if you're right, then I think we really have found Ryou. The magical residue left on here fits his magical aura…" Bakura touched the spark, and it flashed quickly before a slight shock ran up his arm. "Yes, it's definitely Ryou's."
"Well, what now?"
"I'm not sure… HEY RYOU! CAN YOU HEAR ME?" Chaos Mage sweatdropped, and Bakura glanced at her. "What? Do you have any better ideas? Besides, I think most of the castle's outside, trying to deal with Wingweaver and Seiyaryu. Might as well try."
"Or…" Chaos Mage said slowly. "We could follow the tracks." She pointed farther down the corridor, where a bunch of ashes were clearly visible, inside one of the cells.
Bakura walked down to inspect them and nodded at what he saw. "Seems like these are recent, too. So we just follow the tracks that Ryou and some fire monster or another made and hope we find him?"
"Yeah. Lucky for us that your reincarnation's not too good with subtlety."
Bakura shot her a glare. "I know it's lucky, but you don't have to make it sound like a bad thing."
"Yeah yeah, whatever." They walked in silence for a few minutes, occasionally turning when they came upon another pile of ash or backtracking when they hit a dead end. "It seems like this Ryou has a really bad sense of direction."
"Don't tell me you wouldn't be going in circles, too."
"I'd try not to…" Chaos Mage paused. "Do you know how much time we have before we're supposed to go meet everyone else?"
"Um… I think it's only been about half an hour, actually. What do you have in mind?"
The magician shrugged. "Well, if we have time after we find your friend, we can head down to the last dungeon floor and search down there. Maybe we can free that kid who's stuck in the wall…"
"I highly doubt it, but if we have time, then it's worth a try," Bakura said. "But first, we need to find Ryou." The duo turned right again, only to find themselves back at a path they'd already taken.
Chaos Mage sighed. "Okay, we've been here and here, so let's try here!" They turned down another path and walked on. It wasn't long, however, before Bakura threw out his arm to stop her.
"Did you hear that?" Bakura asked tersely. "I could've sworn I heard voices coming from down there."
Chaos Mage frowned. "No, I don't think I did…" Bakura glared at her. "What? So sue me! Not all of us have your tomb robber hearing!"
"Shh. Let's try and get closer."
The two snuck forward a bit, Bakura mercifully sparing Chaos Mage his criticism about her "stealth." As they got closer, the voices became clearer, until the two could finally hear what was being said.
"…are we going to do now?"
"I don't know. Just wander around and hope we find our way?" the second voice said. Bakura's eyes widened until they were as big as saucers. Before Chaos Mage could say anything, the King of Thieves had left the cell they'd been hiding in and was dashing towards the source of the two voices.
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One floor below the elated tomb robber and his friends, Marik and Gemini Elf were also wandering around aimlessly, totally unaware that, one floor above them, Ryou had been found.
"So, where to next?" Gemini Elf asked as they left a room with a battered wooden door that was barred with iron. She was forcibly cheerful after their last discovery.
"I have no idea, but it better not be another torture chamber," Marik grumbled, trying to hide his disgust. "I never knew before now how truly sadistic Seth could get."
Gemini Elf shrugged half-heartedly. "Look at it this way – you didn't have to spend the last five thousand years locked in the same Realm as him."
"What's worse, that or living in the same country for sixteen years?"
"Hmm… good point." Gemini Elf thought for a moment, then smiled. "How about this – instead of anyone having to coexist in the same ANYTHING as that guy, we create a whole different realm-slash-universe and throw him in there?"
Marik matched her grin with one of his own. "Ooh, good idea. I'll have to suggest that to the Pharaoh." The two arrived back at the main corridor that connected both flights of stairs and turned to each other. "Well then, my dear elf, where to next?" He bowed and took in the hallway with a sweep of his hand.
Gemini Elf stared thoughtfully around. "Well, I think it's safe to say we've explored everything on this side of the dungeons. Let's go onto the other side and see if we can find anything interesting."
"By 'interesting,' I hope you don't mean another torture chamber…"
Gemini Elf let out a long-suffering sigh. "I'm serious, how many does that guy need? We must've found at least twenty by now…"
"You know, the next time we find a door, I'm making you open it," Marik grumbled. "I've seen enough to keep my nightmares happy for the next few weeks, thank you very much."
She sent him a sideways grin. "What, the great Marik still has nightmares? And he's afraid of lil' old Seth's torture chambers, no less!"
"Shut up or I'll be forced to throw you in the same dimension as Seth. Then I'll lock it and throw away the key."
"I'm so scared," Gemini Elf shot back sarcastically. Their bickering was soon cut short, however, when they reached – guess what? Another door!
"You're opening it this time," Marik reminded her.
Gemini Elf was too busy staring thoughtfully at the door to answer. "Is it just me, or does this door seem different from the last fifty or so?"
Marik spared only a glance at it before answering. "Yeah. It's on the other side."
"That's not what I meant… the last few looked like they were all made of rotting wood, and were barred by iron. This one… well, just look at it." Unlike the last few, this one seemed out of place in the dungeons; it was pure white and looked to have been made out of marble, with gold flourishes and spirals around the edges.
"Hm… you're right. Maybe it's a torture chamber for his more important prisoners?" Marik asked cynically.
"Somehow, I don't think it's a torture chamber…"
"Whatever. You're still opening it." Marik stood, tapping his foot impatiently as he waited for her to open the door. As much as he hated to admit it, Gemini Elf was right; he got a completely different feeling from this door, and he was just as eager as her to see what lay behind it.
Reaching out, the monster gave the door a light tap, and it swung inward to admit them. Inside, it was all white, just like the door; Marik was momentarily blinded by the dazzling brightness of it all. Once his vision cleared, he noted that it most definitely didn't belong in a dungeon; crystal chandeliers that hung from a high ceiling reflected and cast off light so bright that it was completely out of place in the dark, dreary Shadow Realm. Other than that, however, the room was deceptively simple: it was completely circular, and in the middle was a small, raised platform about three feet higher than the floor, with steps leading up to it on four sides. There was nothing else to be seen.
"Bright, flashy, and absolutely nothing of interest in it," Marik remarked, stepping forward. "Wouldn't you expect that of Seth?" Gemini Elf didn't answer, just walked forward until she was out of the little alcove that housed the door. As soon as she left the mini-hallway, something happened in the middle of the platform.
Marik blinked as a big, bronze circle materialized out of thin air, positioned itself vertically, and began spinning so that the space it contained was something like a sphere. The air inside the sphere glowed for a moment, before slowly flashing blue, green, yellow, orange, red, purple, and fading back to blue, where it started the cycle over again. "Whoa…"
"I don't suppose you know what this is?" Gemini Elf asked casually, like this was something that appeared everyday. Malik shook his head to clear it before he stepped up beside her, standing in front of the stairs that were directly in front of the door.
"I haven't seen one before, but I'm pretty sure what it is," he murmured. "An inter-realm portal, of a sort. This must be how Seth gets his monsters and whatever else he needs between the real world and the Shadow Realm. Of course… he can't call them into existence in our world without their cards, and there's way too many monsters in his army for him to have cards of them all."
Gemini Elf was smiling slightly. "Interesting. Well, we can use this to our advantage."
Marik sent her a curious look. "What, so we're not going to destroy it?"
"No… see, this is the easy way for us to appear in the real world if Seth starts causing more trouble there," she explained. "Plus, I'm pretty sure there might be a way to… no, never mind. It probably won't work. I'll have to talk to the Pharaoh, see what he says."
"Okay… whatever you say." Marik shook himself out of it, grabbed Gemini Elf, and pulled her back to the door. "C'mon. We're looking for Ryou, remember? We can find out more about it later."
"Sure, but don't you realize that this just caused a few more problems for you?" Gemini Elf asked.
Marik looked completely puzzled. "What?"
"Every portal, every pathway has two ends. Without them, someone who entered through one end would be lost forever. So…"
"If there's one opening here, there must be another in the real world," Marik said softly. "We have to find that portal… and then what?"
Gemini Elf smiled grimly. "Then you destroy that side of the portal. And when it's destroyed, then it causes problems for Seth, because he can no longer send most of his army to the real world."
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I finished the next chapter! I'm so proud of myself! *dances around* Be happy, because I spent half of spring break so far writing fanfics! Well… the half where I wasn't reading fics or sleeping… *sweatdrops* Ya, once again, sorry it took so long. But hey, it's a lot longer than usual again, and the next chapter will probably be, too, 'cuz I'm having so much fun with Seth's castle. ^^; C'mon, everyone's so split up it takes up more space, and there's lots and lots to do here!
Um… yeah. Sorry for the cliffhanger-ish things on some parts. I was really planning on continuing those parts in another part of this chapter, but it ended up being so looong… so those are in the next chapter. By the way… have you realized, that at this point, most everyone's in pairs? It's Tristan and Joey, Ryou and Ryu-Ran, Bakura and Chaos Mage, Seiyaryu and Wingweaver, Yugi and Malik, Yami and Dark Magician Girl, Gemini Elf and Marik, and Seth, Zake, and Kaiba, which isn't a pair, but oh well. *sweatdrops again* I really didn't notice the "duos" when I wrote this, but that's how it ended up… besides, 02 is always better than 01, right HK? *nudgenudgegrin* Go Duo! And if you didn't understand that, don't worry… it's just me being an obsessive fangirl again.
Okay! Now that I've taken up enough space with author's notes to fill up my twenty-page goal (Tahoma, size twelve font), I can go on to the important stuff! As usual, review, review, tell me what you liked, what you didn't, any questions you have, etc. You can flame if you want, it's just it'll be used to make pocky s'mores for the reviewers, Anime Club-style!
Oh yes, I didn't explain the pocky s'mores. Well, we had Multicultural Fair on Friday, where all the clubs set up a booth and sell stuff during lunchtime, which is extended to an hour and fifteen minutes for the event. Well, Anime Club sold Japanese stuff as a fundraising thing, as well as bringing DDR (squee! DDR! Of course, the bell rang RIGHT when it was my turn, and I didn't get to play… -_-;), and I bought two boxes of pocky! ^^; Okay, pocky s'mores… part of what they were selling was pocky with marshmallows on the end, which they flamed for a bit with who-knows-what (I wasn't really watching), and then it was a pocky s'more! So, if you want a virtual pocky s'more (or two… or three… or a couple hundred… ^o^), REVIEW!