Yay, someone knew.
Omg, Marik's voice is so WRONG!!!! It's all nasal and whiney. Curse you, dubbing people! Oh, funny story – I was watching 'Not Another Teen Movie' with my sister and some friends, and when we found out that one of the characters was called Malik the two of us were just cracking up coz we didn't think it was a real name and nobody else got it so we looked insane. ^_^
Out of interest, I think that's why some people call him Malik. Malik would be Marik (well, Mariku or something) in Japanese coz there are no 'l' sounds in Japanese, and maybe people thought that he would be called Malik in the dub coz it's a real name. …or maybe thousands of people can't spell. I know I can't!
All right, I'm ranting. The evil people get off their butts and do something in this chappy, so read, enjoy.
Chapter 13In the safety of darkness a solitary robed figure approached a wall scattered with hieroglyphics. A torch appeared from the recesses of the robes, and the quiet sound of a match being struck was heard before a pale aura of light filled the room. The figure passed the torch along the wall, scanning the markings revealed by the glow. Something, somewhere would give him the answers he needed. There had to be some detail he had overlooked – some way to defy the prophets and stop what he knew would come.
Suddenly he froze, as though listening intensely, and then turned around. Two more figures, identically robed, stood silently behind him. One of the two spoke, malicious glee filling his words.
'Time's up, traitor.'
The one with the torch stood still for a moment, and then lowered the hood hiding his face. The golden torchlight picked out soul-less blue eyes and tanned skin, and glinted off golden earrings.
'So it would appear.'
Shadi did not bother to protest his innocence. They knew, and he knew that they knew – their agenda had never been his. The pretence had ended, but that did not mean that the game was over. The other of the two continued, his voice cold.
'Then you are aware that we cannot allow you to retain ownership of your millennium items.'
Shadi smiled.
'You may find taking them to be less than straightforward. I am no amateur when it comes to the games of darkness.'
The first of the two to have spoken finally removed his hood, revealing a shock of pale hair and cold, cruel eyes. He grinned.
'Perhaps… but I have had millennia to practise. And I can assure you that I will show no mercy.'
Shadi spoke with an attitude of calm acceptance, but his eyes glittered dangerously. 'I would not expect it. But know that even if you defeat me, you still will never succeed in your quest for power. There are others who will stop you from unleashing such a terrible force on the world.'
The pale-haired man grinned again as his partner removed his hood. But there was no amusement in his pale purple eyes.
'If you mean the pharaoh,' he spat the word, 'you are sadly mistaken. The power will be resurrected, as you know full well.' He gestured to the hieroglyphics on the wall. 'Nothing can stop us – the fates have dictated it.'
A confident smile crept onto his face. 'You are merely an obstacle, and one which will soon cease to be an issue.'
Shadi's gaze grew cold. 'We shall see.'
'Oh yes, we shall – but I think that you know who will be the victors in the end. After all, that's what all this was about, wasn't it? Become our supposed ally, and give yourself enough time to warn the pharaoh.' He grinned. 'Your feeble efforts have been amusing, but your time ends now.'
Shadi made a gesture, and the air seemed to ripple as the magic created folds in the surrounding space and a set of golden scales appeared in the air. Clutching them in one hand, he lifted the golden key from his breast with the other. His white-haired opponent, still grinning evilly, stepped forward, the millennium ring appearing around his neck with a flash of gold and one hand producing a golden orb from a pocket.
They stared at each other for a long moment, probing for any evidence of weakness. Tension made the air thick and the silence ominous. Then, suddenly, beams of light shot from the centre of the eye symbol on each item and from the point of the key. They intertwined and became strengthened, before clashing against each other in a flash of light. The meeting-point wavered as each player strained to overcome the other, looks of intense concentration on their faces. Several seconds passed.
Suddenly the bystander produced a golden rod and a beam of light appeared from it to join with his partner's. Shadi's eyes widened in surprise and fear and the strengthened beam surged forward. He began to shape the word 'No….' but before it ever passed his lips the beam struck him and the force knocked him back into the wall.
His opponent smiled as he slumped to the ground, unconscious, then glared at the other.
'I didn't need your help. I would have won.'
The man was already picking up the fallen items, greed and victory shining in his eyes. He glanced back, and smiled as he tossed the golden scales over to his partner.
'He was stronger than you anticipated – even I could tell that.'
The first caught the gift awkwardly, and glared. He gestured with his head to the loser of the duel.
'What do we do with him?'
'Leave him. He will most likely not live the night, and in any case is no threat to us now. Besides, our greatest obstacle is still to come.'
They strode away from the tomb and into the night, the swirling sands mysteriously offering no resistance.
----------------------------------------------
Tristan and Joey gave one last straining effort and the door finally creaked open.
They cautiously looked inside. This room was like the last; it was well lit and very large. However, a giant maze of stone stretched across the floor. The walls of the labyrinth were made up of large stone tablets, which were standing upright like giant dominos.
Joey groaned. 'Not a maze… I hate mazes! Not only do they take forever, but people never seem ta think that they're interesting enough on their own without bungin' in a few surprises. So as well as bein' lost, we get to be trapped, chased, tripped, run dow- OW! What was that for?!'
He turned angrily to Tristan, who at this point was looking several shades paler and had stepped heavily on Joey's foot.
'Oops, my bad,' he mumbled innocently.
Tea quickly pushed Joey onward, avoiding an incident. 'Come on, the sooner we go the sooner we get out!' She hustled him towards the entrance of the maze, but as soon as Joey saw where he was involuntarily heading he twisted out of her way.
'Hey, I'm not goin' in there first!'
'Oh, for goodness sake.'
Seto walked in front of them both and up to the stone tablets forming the path of the maze. Then he stopped, and finally looked properly at the images on the tablets. His eyes grew wide with surprise.
'They're…'
'Duel monsters,' said Yugi to himself even as Seto said the exact same words. Yami, being the only one close enough to have heard, looked down at him curiously.
'How did you know?' he asked quietly as the others went over to see for themselves.
Yugi looked up in surprise at Yami. Did he really not know? The falling floor, the monster tablets…. they were the physical representations of Yami's mental defences – the same defences that had nearly destroyed Shadi and himself when they had gone in search of answers. He shook his head dismissively in response to Yami's question, not really knowing how to answer or what to make of the discovery. Yami gave him one last searching glance, then realised that he was still wearing the millennium puzzle. He removed it and offered it back to Yugi, who shook his head again and smiled.
'You wear it. I don't know how to use it, remember? It will be a lot better if you hang on to it.'
Yami looked uncertainly at the golden object. This was just the debate he had yet to resolve. Despite the logic of him wearing it, some intuitive feeling was telling him to give it back. Of course, it would allay his fears if Yugi knew how to use the magic and wasn't defenceless. Now that he remembered his own training with the shadow magic, maybe he could pass on the knowledge.
He smiled. 'I can teach you. It isn't easy and it takes a lot of concentration and willpower, but I think you could do it.'
Yugi's eyes lit up with excitement. 'Do you mean it? I could learn?'
Yami nodded, and placed the puzzle back around Yugi's neck.
'When we stop next I'll give you some exercises to help you concentrate and make you aware of the magic in the puzzle.'
Yugi grinned up at him, and they both walked over to where the others were gathered. Their smiles soon fell when they realised that something was wrong. Tea was in the middle of the worried group, unsteady on her feet and with a look of fear on her face.
'I-I just touched it,' she stammered, referring to the stone tablet with a carving of a large bug on it. 'And it was so strange, it was like you guys weren't there anymore and I was looking into this black hole and there was something in there, I knew it. And then I saw something move and I swear something was crawling there, in the darkness. I was so scared I took my hand away and it all vanished.'
She looked around with wide eyes at the others. 'It's true!'
'We believe you,' reassured Bakura
Yami looked at the tablets in sudden realisation.
'These aren't just any carvings; these are the carvings. The ones used to contain the monsters!'
Tea looked at them nervously.
'Then that thing I saw, it was really a monster bug… they can't get out, right?'
'It would be best to tread cautiously,' was Yami's only reply.
'Yeah, but which way?' questioned Tristan, gesturing to the dividing path up ahead.
Yami walked up to the division and looked down both passages. They looked exactly the same, except that different monster tablets made the paths.
'Left,' he said after a while.
'Ummm… are you sure 'bout that, or are you just guessing?' asked Joey uncertainly. 'Cause, ya know, I'm all for getting' lost in a maze made of trapped monsters, but I'm not cool with not-so-trapped monsters lyin' around the next corner.'
Yami pointed at the tablets of the left passageway.
'Beaver Warrior, Celtic Gaurdian, Curse of Dragon, Feral Imp… all these monsters were loyal to the Pharaoh – me,' he amended. 'The odds of them being all in succession are slim if there is no order to these tablets. Only those in service to the crown would know that all these monsters are loyal, and so it could be that this marks the path.'
'Someone who duelled you enough would know your monsters,' stated Seto quietly.
Yami gave him a backwards glance. 'No one ever duelled the Pharaoh twice,' he said simply in the same low tone.
Tristan shrugged. 'Well, if that's our best bet… I guess you're leading the way.'
There was subdued silence as they walked through the passageways. Tea kept glancing nervously at the carvings that loomed on both sides, in case they decided to come to life. Yugi kept looking around too, but for one monster in particular. After the third or fourth turn he saw it – the stone likeness of the Dark Magician. He dropped back behind the rest of the group to just pause and look for a second. Then, curiosity burning in his eyes, he reached out a tentative hand to touch the surface of the tablet.
Tea's descriptions could not prepare him for anything like it. The world around him fell away so that there was only the rectangle of stone, which had become a dark doorway consuming his gaze. As clearly as he had felt Yami in his mind, he felt another presence through that doorway. Watching him. His breath caught in his throat as eyes flashed in the darkness and a vague, yet distinctly familiar form neared and loomed over him, still shrouded in shadow.
He heard his heart pounding in his ears, but strangely he wasn't afraid. 'I… know you,' he whispered, and it was more of a statement that a question.
A pale hand, larger than his, slowly emerged from the darkness. He watched it as it slowly placed a palm against whatever separated the two realms, just where his own hand was resting. For one surreal moment, only the shadowy barrier separated them. Then suddenly something behind Yugi pulled him back and broke the contact. The world came rushing back and he once again looked confusedly upon a lifeless carving.
Someone was shaking him by the shoulder, and he heard Joey's voice saying urgently 'Hey, come back Yuge, come back.' Yugi looked around and to his embarrassment found everyone looking at him in concern.
'Sorry,' he apologised meekly.
Joey sighed in relief. 'Geez, Yuge, ya nearly gave me a heart attack when I saw ya lookin' all zombie-like. Don't go touchin' any more tablets, kay?'
Yugi nodded and, satisfied that Yugi was okay, Yami turned and led them off again. However, a few turns later he halted, looking confused. The others came up behind him.
'What's up?' asked Tristan.
Yami pointed to one tablet on the left wall of their path. 'That one. It's wrong.'
'Wrong?'
'Not one of mine.'
The monster in the carving looked like some sort of worm, but beyond that they could see the Mystical Elf, Kuribo, Stone Giant… the path continued. Just the one tablet was out of place.
'Are you sure?' questioned Tea. An annoyed glance was all the reply Yami gave to the suggestion that he did not know his own monsters.
Joey scratched his head. 'Well, no biggie. Maybe they just ran out of blocks. The ones after that are okay, right?'
Yami nodded, but did not seem reassured.
Bakura looked at the tablet thoughtfully. 'Even if it isn't one of your loyal monsters, it probably can't do anything while it is locked in that stone. This is the only path, so maybe we should just keep going.'
Some others nodded in agreement. Casting a suspicious glare at the offending carving, Yami took a step forward, onto the stone at the foot of the tablet.
Suddenly, the stone gave way beneath his feet and Yami fell with a cry into the darkness below. Yugi gave a fearful yell and dashed to towards where Yami had been, when Joey looped an arm around the smaller boy's waist and pulled him back forcefully – just in time to avoid the large stone tablet that crashed down like a giant domino to cover the hole.
Yugi scrambled from Joey's grip and shoved futilely at the stone slab, but even with all of them straining together they could not move it. The Pharaoh was gone.
Mwa ha ha ha ha! Evil, yes? Do not worry, I would not kill someone off… that easily. Now I must think about what to do next, but I actually have most of the plot from now on worked out in my mind, so this bodes well.