Ranma King of games Chapter Nine
Disclaimer: I own this work, I don't own these characters.
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Back at the Soatome residence Nodoka was busy cleaning Ranma's room when she found an interesting object in Ranma's desk drawer. It was a round hoop of dented and tarnished gold with five metal points dangling from the outside and a golden triangle in the middle. After studying it more closely she noticed that it was very similar to the pendant Ranma always wore.
"He must have bought them as a pair. Ohhh…what's this?" Underneath where the ring had laid was a sealed envelope and a picture of Ukyou. Nodoka grinned as she held the letter up to the light and made out the words 'Love' inside. This was obviously a love letter for Miss Kuinji, and he intended to give it to her along with this piece of jewelry. Her son was such a Casanova.
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Across town at Furinken High
"So Ranma, how did you reply to that duel monsters magazine's request for an interview over beating Kaiba?"
"I said "Dear sirs, I would love to give you an interview but I will be participating in the Duelist Kingdom tournament by the time you get this letter. Perhaps after that we can talk. Sincerely Ranma Soatome."
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Nodoka was putting the Millennium Ring back when she wondered how it would look like on her. She looped the leather thong around her neck and was surprised at how heavy it was, making her think that it really was made of gold. But just as she was about to take it off she felt a pull from Ranma's desk. Lying on the top was a deck of dueling cards. She knew that Ranma always took his deck with him to school so this must be a new one, and according to the card list next to it, this deck was meant for the Duelist Kingdom tournament. Eagerly she started shuffling through it and trying to figure out the combo's Ranma had designed. Once her curiosity had been slacked she decided that it was time to get back to the other house work and open up her store, which would explain why she forgot to take off the Millennium Ring. But it didn't explain why it had started to become less tarnished and glow.
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At Furinken High
"Class we have a new transfer student today. Please say hello to Mr. Donald Devlin."
A lanky teenager with green eyes flipped a lock of black wild hair out of his face and grinned. "Just call me Duke. It's a pleasure to meet all of you." At that moment the door to the classroom was slammed open and Kuno charged in.
"SOATOME!!!! Show yourself!!!"
"Yo, over here." Kuno turned and glared at his most hated foe.
"Soatome, for to long have you run from my blade! Now face its wrath!!!!" Kuno lunged towards Ranma's desk but unexpectedly tripped and fell flat on his face.
"What sorcery is this? How could you have struck me from so far?!" Ranma and the rest of the class were curious as well as to why Kuno was hurt, but by then Hinako sensei had pulled out her coin. After the drained Kuno had been tossed into the hallway she called for order and assigned Duke a seat. Ranma thought the event was over and was sitting back to relax when he noticed something small and square by the foot of his desk.
"Hmmm…Interesting."
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After school Ranma was packing up his books when Duke Devlin walked up.
"So I heard that you're the guy that beat Seto Kaiba and owns the worlds fourth Blue Eyes White Dragon, that's really impressive."
"Thanks, do you play Duel Monster?" Duke nodded casually.
"Yeah I'm really good too, but I've got other hobbies that interest me more." Ranma opened up his palm to reveal a small cube.
"Something to do with dice perhaps? You must have played a lot of marbles as a kid to be able to shoot and hit Kuno in the leg with this." Duke nodded and grinned.
"Yeah, we'll when you use dice as often as I do it sort of comes naturally. Let me show you." Duke pulled two more dice out of his pocket and threw them towards the wall. The bounced off the side and landed on double sixes. Duke smiled confidently.
"See, I can't be beat when it comes to throwing dice. Lady Luck is always smiling on me." Ranma felt Yami take control as he picked up the dice from the floor and started rattling them in his hand.
"Luck is just another word for faith. Observe." Yami threw the dice towards the wall but much harder then Duke did. They both watched as one landed on a six and Duke's grin grew a little smaller. Then they both shifted their attention to the other one that was spinning on one corner like a top. It slowly moved across the floor until it came to a stop and landed against a chair leg. Duke's eyes widened in surprise while Ranma smirked. The dice was leaning against the leg of the chair with one side saying six and the other one.
"Well, well, it looks like I rolled a thirteen that's got to be a first." Ranma finished packing his bag and held out his hand.
"It was nice to meet you Devlen but I've got to go home and prepare for the Duelist Kingdom tournament now." Duke broke out of his stupor and shook Ranma's hand, but he seemed to be thinking about something else.
"With that kind of skills you could go all the way to facing Pegasus. You might even win."
"Maybe when I get back we can have another game." Duke smiled mysteriously.
"I have the perfect one in mind."
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Nodoka walked into Ranma's room again deep in thought as she shuffled through Ranma's new deck. She had spent the day working out every possible strategy and combo she could think of but she had felt as though something important was missing. It was like he had been depressed or worried about something when he had made it. She reached into her pocket and pulled out several of her own dueling cards and smiled as she added them to the middle of Ranma's deck. She knew that these would be most helpful when he finally got to the tournament. She was leaving when she realized that she was still wearing the piece of jewelry meant for Ukyou. Shaking her head at her forgetfulness she put it back in the drawer the way she had found it and hoped Ranma wouldn't notice it had been moved.
The sounds of the front door opening and closing told her that Ranma had returned home and she hurried down to great him.
"How was school ran..ma…" Without warning Nodoka's eyes rolled to the back of her head and she collapsed.
"Mom! Are you okay? What's the matter?"
"Oh, I'm fine. I've just been feeling a little weak since last night. It must be since I'm so excited over you being in the Duelist Kingdom tournament." Ranma kept his smile plastered on his face as he helped his mother to the sofa but inside he was raging.
Pegasus must have really taken half of her soul like he said. I was hoping that he was just bluffing. Yami agreed.
I can definitely sense that a Millennium Item is behind this. If we don't get it back soon the other half will degrade until there is nothing left and her consciousness will fade from existence. Ranma smashed his fist into his palm and growled.
"Right, when I get my hands on him I'm going to make him pay. I don't care what stands in my way."
Actually Ranma there could be a problem. Let's go up to your room, I need to show you something.
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Once Ranma was sure he was alone he took the Millennium Puzzle from his neck and laid it on his desk. It sat still for a moment but then rose up to balance on its point and glow. The symbol of an eye appeared on Ranma's forehead as the room disappeared and changed into a vast desert with pyramids.
"Where am I?" Yami appeared out of thin air to answer his question.
"This is the Egypt from my memories. Something happened when I was pharaoh that may happen again unless you can stop it." Yami pointed to a massive stone palace next to a group of pyramids. "We need to go there." Yami closed his eyes and the next instant they were inside a huge stone audience chamber. On the back wall was a dais with a golden throne where a young man sat thinking. He looked exactly like Yami and the Millennium Puzzle hung around his neck. On his right a twenty-ish woman wearing a large gold necklace stood waiting.
"Burkera should have been here by now my lord. Shall I send the guards to fetch him?" Pharaoh Yami shook his head.
"He'll be here soon. He's probably spying on the women's baths again." Suddenly from the ceiling a voice was heard and something dropped down.
"Tut Tut pharaoh, what a rude thing to say." A man dressed from head to toe in tight black cloth bowed from the shadows. He would have been completely invisible except for the slit in his turban for his eye's and a large golden ring hanging from his neck. The woman curled her lip in disgust.
"It is not rude if it is true. Our Pharaoh didn't give you the Millennium Ring so you could be a peeping Tom. As his top spy and assassin you are to use it only when you are given a mission and never for anything else." Burkera put his hands behind his head and sighed.
"Anubis! Don't get so upset Ishtar, I think you're really just jealous that I don't spy on you." Ishtar became enraged.
"I'm a married woman you pervert!!! If my husband were here!!!" Burkera suddenly disappeared and reappeared by Ishtar's side.
"But he's down in Giza surveying the troops. You really ought to hook up with me." Burkera's hand disappeared behind Ishtar's back. SLAP!!! Burkera went tumbling down the stairs clutching the side of his face. From underneath his mask he grumbled.
"I don't think I deserved that." Yami gave a loud sigh and both of his courtiers became silent.
"Did you learn anything on your mission Burkera?" Burkera nodded.
"Oh yeah, those Thebes women are really wild." Yami glared and the temperature of the room seemed to drop. Burkera laughed nervously.
"Oh, you mean did I learn anything about what you sent me to do. We'll I'm afraid it's true, Pharaoh. Slysheen has disobeyed your orders once again." Yami's face became dark and he nodded.
"Summon the others and then bring him here. We will deal with this at once."
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Ranma turned to the real Yami and raised an eyebrow.
"This is nice and everything but why are we here?" Yami pointed to a man covered by a cloak and hood that was walking towards the throne.
"That is Slysheen; he was one of the greatest wizards Egypt had ever known and held the Millenium Rod. But he started to act without my permission and use forbidden magic so I had to banish him from my court." Behind Pharaoh Yami were Burkera, Ishtar and four others, each wearing a millennium item, looking stern. Slysheen stopped in front of the steps to the throne and crossed his arms.
"What do you want pharaoh? I have better things to do then waste my time here." Yami gripped the armrests of his throne but remained calm.
"Burkera says that you've been creating monsters for the shadow games. Is that right?"
"Yes, what of it?"
"You do know that to make a monster you need the power of a Millennium Item. And you don't have your Millennium Rod any more."
"Yes, you gave it to General brain-dead over there." A tall muscular man stepped up and growled.
"That's General Sharick to you Slysheen. Ishtar and I have loyalty for the Pharaoh and he rewards such things." Yami cleared his throat and Sharick grew silent.
"I appreciate your help but we have more important maters at hand. Slysheen, how did you use shadow magic if you don't have a Millennium Item?" Slysheen started to laugh as he undid the broach holding his cloak together. It fell to the floor and Ranma gasped as Slysheen's face was revealed.
"That's Kaiba!" Yami nodded.
"Yes, I noticed it too when we first dueled him. But I thought it was just a coincidence until recently." Pharaoh Yami and his followers looked down with curiosity. On two leather belts across Slysheen's chest hung eleven silver ornaments." Slysheen stopped laughing and held up his right arm which bore a large silver bracelet.
"Since you need a Millennium Item to create a duel monster I made one of my own. Of course I don't have the magical powers to create something at strong as your puzzle but my Century Bracer does just as well. Instead of holding its own power it draws from my other eleven century items. The more I have the more powerful I can become. Face it Yami, with my new toys I'm the one in control." Yami frowned.
"I will admit that you have become more powerful but you're still not as powerful as me." Slysheen pulled a stone tablet from behind his back and threw it onto the floor. When it shattered a ball of light shot out and turned into a black dragon with red eyes. "You won't care about that once you're a corpse. Attack him Red Eyes!" Ishtar threw a tablet of her own and a woman with six wings and purple hair appeared. Ishtar pointed towards the dragon.
"Defend us Wing Weaver!" Ishtar's monster flew to block the dragons attack but it knocked it back with a heavy claw. With a scream it fell and dissinagrated while the dragons fire ball hit Ishtar, knocking her unconscious. Slysheen's laugh rocked through the hall's.
"Surprised, you should be. In a normal shadow game my Red Eyes Black Dragon would have been stopped. But I created each of my century items to have a power similar to your millennium items. Instead of interacting with opponent like the millennium items do, my century items interact with an opponents monsters. Take this one here for example." He pointed to a century item in the shape of a hand mirror "My Century Mirror can destroys any opponent's defense monster by reflecting its attack points right back at it." Slysheen threw another tablet, which turned into a dragon covered from head to tail with diamonds and gold. Burkera flipped through the air and hurled a tablet of his own. It turned into metallic jar, with a smiley face from hell peering out.
"Just try and attack now, my Cyber Jar will keep me safe. If you attack now your monsters will be destroyed and you'll be open to a direct attack." Slysheen shook his head.
"You still don't get it do you. Red Eyes, destroy his Cyber Jar!" Burkera winced as his monster was destroyed but then smiled.
"Now all of the monsters on the field are sent to the graveyard, you loose your only defense and now I'll finish you." He pulled a dagger from behind his back, but his smile faded as when he saw that Slysheen's dragons were untouched and that only his own monsters had disappeared. Slysheen shrugged his shoulders and chuckled. "You fell into my trap as well." He pointed to a century item shaped like a scepter. "This item reverses a monsters special effect back onto your side of the field. Now my Youzanryu can attack you directly." The bejeweled dragon charged down and knocked Bukera through the wall of the throne room. Slysheen held up another monster tablet and grinned.
"I've been saving the best for last pharaoh, meet my favorite creature. The Blue Eyes White Dragon!" from the pieces of shattered stone a massive dragon burst forth and roared as its head smashed through the ceiling. Sharick growled and summoned a monster of his own.
"Buster Blader! Attack the Blue Eyes!" A warrior clad in purple armor slashed his sword in the air to create a crescent of energy, which blasted against the white dragon and filled the throne room with dust.
"My monster gains five hundred points for every dragon on your field so it can easily beat your monsters." But as the dust cleared it became obvious that no damage had been done. Slysheen clicked his tongue a few times.
"Did you forget about my items?" He held up an item with the picture of a sword. "My Century Blade can take the attack of your strongest monster and add it to one of my own. And I chose my Blue Eyes which I now order to attack you!" The white dragon roared as energy collected around its body and was launched in a massive beam. Once it had destroyed the Buster Blader it continued on to knock its master back through the wall next to Burkera. The three remaining Millenium Item users began to take out monster tablets of their own but Slysheen shook his head.
"I can't have any of that now can I? Red Eye's, Youzanryu, attack those fools!" The dragons launched twin balls of fire and light, which smashed into the group and vaporized them. A second later the clink of gold on stone showed that there was nothing left but their items. Slysheen smiled, and chuckled and then began to laugh insanely as his century items began to glow.
"You have no more lines of defense pharaoh! With my three dragons I can easily destroy you. But I have something much worse planned. For I now sacrifice my three dragons to bring forth the most powerful card in my possession!" Pharaoh Yami's eye twitched while Slysheen pulled out a monster tablet much bigger then the others.
"That's right pharaoh. My god card, Slypher the Sky Dragon!" The three dragons disappeared as the area around Slysheen began to glow white. Clouds appeared out of nowhere and thunder crashed down from the sky to split the ground. A mighty roar echoed across the dessert sands as the clouds burst to reveal a massive red beast. Slysheen began to laugh and held out an open hand.
"Now give me your Millenium Puzzle pharaoh and declare that I am now the ruler of Egypt, or face your destruction." Yami sighed and slowly took the Millenium Puzzle from around his neck.
"I can't believe it's come to this." Ishtar had awakened by now and fought to sit up.
"Please Yami don't give him your puzzle!" Yami shook his head and began twirling the thong around his finger.
"I don't intend to." Without warning he smashed the puzzle against the back of the throne, shattering it into its individual pieces. For a moment Slysheen was confused, but then his expression changed to anger.
"You think you can stop me by destroying your puzzle? You fool! I can easily repair it, all you've done is cause me to get mad. Slypher, destroy this fool!" Slypher roared, but didn't move to attack. Instead, it crash landed and started gasping in pain. Ishtar and Slysheen looked on in confusion while Yami walked down from the dais.
"As you put it 'Surprised, you should be.' My Millenium Puzzle is much more then just a tool for the shadow games, it is also the gateway for shadow energy to enter this world. With it broken apart the supply of shadow energy is limited and your monster can hardly stay awake. But something that big needs a lot of shadow energy and a new gateway has to be formed." Slysheen's look of anger turned to horror and he started tear off his century items. But suddenly he cried out in pain and grabbed for his bracer. It was flashing from silver to gold and suddenly a spike erupted from its surface. More soon followed as Slysheen fell onto his hands and knee's. Yami picked up Ishtar and helped her move behind a pile of ruble. She watched in stunned fascination as Slysheen writhed in agony and the bracer continued to consume his arm like a vine.
"What is happening to him?!"
"His bracer can't let in enough energy to maintain Slypher and it's beginning to back up like a clogged drain. To prevent it from overflowing the extra shadow energy has to force its way through Slysheen's body. In a few minutes there will be nothing left of him."
"But where will the shadow energy go when he is destroyed?!"
"No where, once Slysheen dies the duel will be over and his monster will disappear. Since there will no longer be a monster the shadow energy will stop flowing to this plane." While Yami was talking Slysheen had forced himself into a standing position. He glared at Yami with burning hatred and then threw back his head to scream.
"I WILL HAVE MY REVENGE ON YOU YET PHAROH!!!!! IF IT TAKES ME A THOUSAND MILLENIA I WILL FIND YOU AND DESTROY YOU!!!!" There was a tremendous explosion of light and then silence, which was broken by the metallic clink of silver against stone. Yami slowly walked over to pick up the century bracer and other century items, apparently untouched from the ordeal.
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Ranma found himself back in his room.
"That was freaky, what happened next? And why are you telling me this?" Yami flopped back on Ranma's bed and closed his eye's.
After I had examined the Century Items I decided that they were a hazard to the shadow games since they can be manipulated by the user to get around the rules and defeat the whole purpose of a duel. Burkera was sent to dump them in the middle of the Mediterranean, but something happened along the way.
"What?" Yami waved his hand and Ranma found himself once more in Egypt, but this time in a bustling market place. A man dressed in black and carrying a traveling pack on his shoulders was trying to maneuver his way through the crowds. Suddenly he backtracked and stopped in front of a stall maintained by a pretty teenage girl.
"Hello gorgeous, what's a pretty little lotus like yourself doing on a mud bank like this?" Ranma groaned at the lame pick-up line but the girl just frowned.
"Are you going to buy something?" Burkera looked the girl up and down and grinned wolfishly.
"I definitely see something I want." The girl growled.
"I don't have time for perverts, now get lost!" Burkera suddenly appeared sitting next to the girls side.
"I'm not a pervert, I just wanted to give such a lovely young lady an equally lovely gift." He rummaged around in his pack and pulled out a tiny silver ornament shaped like a hand mirror. The girl's eyes lit up with interest and she smiled.
"Maybe I was too quick to judge." Burkera smiled.
"So when do you get off work baby?" Ranma groaned again.
"You mean he used the century items to…" Yami nodded.
Yep, by the time he got to the coast he didn't have any left. After I had dealt with him I tried to track them down but by then his "friends" had either sold them or become impossible to find.
"So what's the problem? If they're scattered to the four winds we shouldn't have to worry right?"
Under normal circumstances no, but think back to the duelist finals last night. Realization dawned across Ranma's face.
"That guy that won had the Century Bracer!"
"Yes, he's going to be in the duelist kingdom tournament as well so we have to be careful. For all we know he might have evil intentions." Ranma shook his head and sighed.
"My life was so much simpler before I met you."
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The next morning Ukyou stood waiting in front of Nodoka's game shop while Ranma said goodbye to his mother.
"Don't worry mom, I'll only be gone for three day's and I'll come right back alright?" Nodoka nodded and wiped a tear from her eye.
"I know but I'm just so proud of you son, you truly are a man among men. Here, I packed some cloths and a few personal items for you to take along." She handed Ranma a duffel bag and hugged him goodbye.
"Good luck son." Ranma hugged back and smiled grimly.
"I have a feeling I'm gonna need it."
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Once they were around the corner and out of site Ranma dumped the duffel bag into a nearby trash can while Ukyou watched confused.
"Why are you throwing that stuff away Ranma? Ranma reached into a nearby bush and pulled out a pack he had prepared earlier.
"Just look inside for yourself." Her curiosity getting the better of her Ukyou did what Ranma said and pulled the pack out of the trash. But after looking inside she snapped it shut and a deep blush appeared on her face.
"I didn't know they could do that with leather." Ranma nodded and started walking away.
"You learn a lot of things when you have a mom like mine."
[End book one]
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Authors Notes
Remember me? Yes, I'm back and now that school is under control I should be able to write more often. I've also been creating some new fics and planned an end for Red Eyes Fury. I've also taken down Spirit detective Ranma since I haven't planned the story out well enough but maybe I'll post it again if I can work out the kinks. As for RKG, I've got most of the Duelist Kingdom arc planned so look for it soon along with some familiar characters from the TV show. Now that we know how the century items came to be they will definitely re-appear along with Ashaton Nonaka. But is he good? Evil? Neutral? We'll soon find out.
Prime out
Animeprime1@hotmail.com
Disclaimer: I own this work, I don't own these characters.
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Back at the Soatome residence Nodoka was busy cleaning Ranma's room when she found an interesting object in Ranma's desk drawer. It was a round hoop of dented and tarnished gold with five metal points dangling from the outside and a golden triangle in the middle. After studying it more closely she noticed that it was very similar to the pendant Ranma always wore.
"He must have bought them as a pair. Ohhh…what's this?" Underneath where the ring had laid was a sealed envelope and a picture of Ukyou. Nodoka grinned as she held the letter up to the light and made out the words 'Love' inside. This was obviously a love letter for Miss Kuinji, and he intended to give it to her along with this piece of jewelry. Her son was such a Casanova.
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Across town at Furinken High
"So Ranma, how did you reply to that duel monsters magazine's request for an interview over beating Kaiba?"
"I said "Dear sirs, I would love to give you an interview but I will be participating in the Duelist Kingdom tournament by the time you get this letter. Perhaps after that we can talk. Sincerely Ranma Soatome."
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Nodoka was putting the Millennium Ring back when she wondered how it would look like on her. She looped the leather thong around her neck and was surprised at how heavy it was, making her think that it really was made of gold. But just as she was about to take it off she felt a pull from Ranma's desk. Lying on the top was a deck of dueling cards. She knew that Ranma always took his deck with him to school so this must be a new one, and according to the card list next to it, this deck was meant for the Duelist Kingdom tournament. Eagerly she started shuffling through it and trying to figure out the combo's Ranma had designed. Once her curiosity had been slacked she decided that it was time to get back to the other house work and open up her store, which would explain why she forgot to take off the Millennium Ring. But it didn't explain why it had started to become less tarnished and glow.
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At Furinken High
"Class we have a new transfer student today. Please say hello to Mr. Donald Devlin."
A lanky teenager with green eyes flipped a lock of black wild hair out of his face and grinned. "Just call me Duke. It's a pleasure to meet all of you." At that moment the door to the classroom was slammed open and Kuno charged in.
"SOATOME!!!! Show yourself!!!"
"Yo, over here." Kuno turned and glared at his most hated foe.
"Soatome, for to long have you run from my blade! Now face its wrath!!!!" Kuno lunged towards Ranma's desk but unexpectedly tripped and fell flat on his face.
"What sorcery is this? How could you have struck me from so far?!" Ranma and the rest of the class were curious as well as to why Kuno was hurt, but by then Hinako sensei had pulled out her coin. After the drained Kuno had been tossed into the hallway she called for order and assigned Duke a seat. Ranma thought the event was over and was sitting back to relax when he noticed something small and square by the foot of his desk.
"Hmmm…Interesting."
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After school Ranma was packing up his books when Duke Devlin walked up.
"So I heard that you're the guy that beat Seto Kaiba and owns the worlds fourth Blue Eyes White Dragon, that's really impressive."
"Thanks, do you play Duel Monster?" Duke nodded casually.
"Yeah I'm really good too, but I've got other hobbies that interest me more." Ranma opened up his palm to reveal a small cube.
"Something to do with dice perhaps? You must have played a lot of marbles as a kid to be able to shoot and hit Kuno in the leg with this." Duke nodded and grinned.
"Yeah, we'll when you use dice as often as I do it sort of comes naturally. Let me show you." Duke pulled two more dice out of his pocket and threw them towards the wall. The bounced off the side and landed on double sixes. Duke smiled confidently.
"See, I can't be beat when it comes to throwing dice. Lady Luck is always smiling on me." Ranma felt Yami take control as he picked up the dice from the floor and started rattling them in his hand.
"Luck is just another word for faith. Observe." Yami threw the dice towards the wall but much harder then Duke did. They both watched as one landed on a six and Duke's grin grew a little smaller. Then they both shifted their attention to the other one that was spinning on one corner like a top. It slowly moved across the floor until it came to a stop and landed against a chair leg. Duke's eyes widened in surprise while Ranma smirked. The dice was leaning against the leg of the chair with one side saying six and the other one.
"Well, well, it looks like I rolled a thirteen that's got to be a first." Ranma finished packing his bag and held out his hand.
"It was nice to meet you Devlen but I've got to go home and prepare for the Duelist Kingdom tournament now." Duke broke out of his stupor and shook Ranma's hand, but he seemed to be thinking about something else.
"With that kind of skills you could go all the way to facing Pegasus. You might even win."
"Maybe when I get back we can have another game." Duke smiled mysteriously.
"I have the perfect one in mind."
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Nodoka walked into Ranma's room again deep in thought as she shuffled through Ranma's new deck. She had spent the day working out every possible strategy and combo she could think of but she had felt as though something important was missing. It was like he had been depressed or worried about something when he had made it. She reached into her pocket and pulled out several of her own dueling cards and smiled as she added them to the middle of Ranma's deck. She knew that these would be most helpful when he finally got to the tournament. She was leaving when she realized that she was still wearing the piece of jewelry meant for Ukyou. Shaking her head at her forgetfulness she put it back in the drawer the way she had found it and hoped Ranma wouldn't notice it had been moved.
The sounds of the front door opening and closing told her that Ranma had returned home and she hurried down to great him.
"How was school ran..ma…" Without warning Nodoka's eyes rolled to the back of her head and she collapsed.
"Mom! Are you okay? What's the matter?"
"Oh, I'm fine. I've just been feeling a little weak since last night. It must be since I'm so excited over you being in the Duelist Kingdom tournament." Ranma kept his smile plastered on his face as he helped his mother to the sofa but inside he was raging.
Pegasus must have really taken half of her soul like he said. I was hoping that he was just bluffing. Yami agreed.
I can definitely sense that a Millennium Item is behind this. If we don't get it back soon the other half will degrade until there is nothing left and her consciousness will fade from existence. Ranma smashed his fist into his palm and growled.
"Right, when I get my hands on him I'm going to make him pay. I don't care what stands in my way."
Actually Ranma there could be a problem. Let's go up to your room, I need to show you something.
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Once Ranma was sure he was alone he took the Millennium Puzzle from his neck and laid it on his desk. It sat still for a moment but then rose up to balance on its point and glow. The symbol of an eye appeared on Ranma's forehead as the room disappeared and changed into a vast desert with pyramids.
"Where am I?" Yami appeared out of thin air to answer his question.
"This is the Egypt from my memories. Something happened when I was pharaoh that may happen again unless you can stop it." Yami pointed to a massive stone palace next to a group of pyramids. "We need to go there." Yami closed his eyes and the next instant they were inside a huge stone audience chamber. On the back wall was a dais with a golden throne where a young man sat thinking. He looked exactly like Yami and the Millennium Puzzle hung around his neck. On his right a twenty-ish woman wearing a large gold necklace stood waiting.
"Burkera should have been here by now my lord. Shall I send the guards to fetch him?" Pharaoh Yami shook his head.
"He'll be here soon. He's probably spying on the women's baths again." Suddenly from the ceiling a voice was heard and something dropped down.
"Tut Tut pharaoh, what a rude thing to say." A man dressed from head to toe in tight black cloth bowed from the shadows. He would have been completely invisible except for the slit in his turban for his eye's and a large golden ring hanging from his neck. The woman curled her lip in disgust.
"It is not rude if it is true. Our Pharaoh didn't give you the Millennium Ring so you could be a peeping Tom. As his top spy and assassin you are to use it only when you are given a mission and never for anything else." Burkera put his hands behind his head and sighed.
"Anubis! Don't get so upset Ishtar, I think you're really just jealous that I don't spy on you." Ishtar became enraged.
"I'm a married woman you pervert!!! If my husband were here!!!" Burkera suddenly disappeared and reappeared by Ishtar's side.
"But he's down in Giza surveying the troops. You really ought to hook up with me." Burkera's hand disappeared behind Ishtar's back. SLAP!!! Burkera went tumbling down the stairs clutching the side of his face. From underneath his mask he grumbled.
"I don't think I deserved that." Yami gave a loud sigh and both of his courtiers became silent.
"Did you learn anything on your mission Burkera?" Burkera nodded.
"Oh yeah, those Thebes women are really wild." Yami glared and the temperature of the room seemed to drop. Burkera laughed nervously.
"Oh, you mean did I learn anything about what you sent me to do. We'll I'm afraid it's true, Pharaoh. Slysheen has disobeyed your orders once again." Yami's face became dark and he nodded.
"Summon the others and then bring him here. We will deal with this at once."
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Ranma turned to the real Yami and raised an eyebrow.
"This is nice and everything but why are we here?" Yami pointed to a man covered by a cloak and hood that was walking towards the throne.
"That is Slysheen; he was one of the greatest wizards Egypt had ever known and held the Millenium Rod. But he started to act without my permission and use forbidden magic so I had to banish him from my court." Behind Pharaoh Yami were Burkera, Ishtar and four others, each wearing a millennium item, looking stern. Slysheen stopped in front of the steps to the throne and crossed his arms.
"What do you want pharaoh? I have better things to do then waste my time here." Yami gripped the armrests of his throne but remained calm.
"Burkera says that you've been creating monsters for the shadow games. Is that right?"
"Yes, what of it?"
"You do know that to make a monster you need the power of a Millennium Item. And you don't have your Millennium Rod any more."
"Yes, you gave it to General brain-dead over there." A tall muscular man stepped up and growled.
"That's General Sharick to you Slysheen. Ishtar and I have loyalty for the Pharaoh and he rewards such things." Yami cleared his throat and Sharick grew silent.
"I appreciate your help but we have more important maters at hand. Slysheen, how did you use shadow magic if you don't have a Millennium Item?" Slysheen started to laugh as he undid the broach holding his cloak together. It fell to the floor and Ranma gasped as Slysheen's face was revealed.
"That's Kaiba!" Yami nodded.
"Yes, I noticed it too when we first dueled him. But I thought it was just a coincidence until recently." Pharaoh Yami and his followers looked down with curiosity. On two leather belts across Slysheen's chest hung eleven silver ornaments." Slysheen stopped laughing and held up his right arm which bore a large silver bracelet.
"Since you need a Millennium Item to create a duel monster I made one of my own. Of course I don't have the magical powers to create something at strong as your puzzle but my Century Bracer does just as well. Instead of holding its own power it draws from my other eleven century items. The more I have the more powerful I can become. Face it Yami, with my new toys I'm the one in control." Yami frowned.
"I will admit that you have become more powerful but you're still not as powerful as me." Slysheen pulled a stone tablet from behind his back and threw it onto the floor. When it shattered a ball of light shot out and turned into a black dragon with red eyes. "You won't care about that once you're a corpse. Attack him Red Eyes!" Ishtar threw a tablet of her own and a woman with six wings and purple hair appeared. Ishtar pointed towards the dragon.
"Defend us Wing Weaver!" Ishtar's monster flew to block the dragons attack but it knocked it back with a heavy claw. With a scream it fell and dissinagrated while the dragons fire ball hit Ishtar, knocking her unconscious. Slysheen's laugh rocked through the hall's.
"Surprised, you should be. In a normal shadow game my Red Eyes Black Dragon would have been stopped. But I created each of my century items to have a power similar to your millennium items. Instead of interacting with opponent like the millennium items do, my century items interact with an opponents monsters. Take this one here for example." He pointed to a century item in the shape of a hand mirror "My Century Mirror can destroys any opponent's defense monster by reflecting its attack points right back at it." Slysheen threw another tablet, which turned into a dragon covered from head to tail with diamonds and gold. Burkera flipped through the air and hurled a tablet of his own. It turned into metallic jar, with a smiley face from hell peering out.
"Just try and attack now, my Cyber Jar will keep me safe. If you attack now your monsters will be destroyed and you'll be open to a direct attack." Slysheen shook his head.
"You still don't get it do you. Red Eyes, destroy his Cyber Jar!" Burkera winced as his monster was destroyed but then smiled.
"Now all of the monsters on the field are sent to the graveyard, you loose your only defense and now I'll finish you." He pulled a dagger from behind his back, but his smile faded as when he saw that Slysheen's dragons were untouched and that only his own monsters had disappeared. Slysheen shrugged his shoulders and chuckled. "You fell into my trap as well." He pointed to a century item shaped like a scepter. "This item reverses a monsters special effect back onto your side of the field. Now my Youzanryu can attack you directly." The bejeweled dragon charged down and knocked Bukera through the wall of the throne room. Slysheen held up another monster tablet and grinned.
"I've been saving the best for last pharaoh, meet my favorite creature. The Blue Eyes White Dragon!" from the pieces of shattered stone a massive dragon burst forth and roared as its head smashed through the ceiling. Sharick growled and summoned a monster of his own.
"Buster Blader! Attack the Blue Eyes!" A warrior clad in purple armor slashed his sword in the air to create a crescent of energy, which blasted against the white dragon and filled the throne room with dust.
"My monster gains five hundred points for every dragon on your field so it can easily beat your monsters." But as the dust cleared it became obvious that no damage had been done. Slysheen clicked his tongue a few times.
"Did you forget about my items?" He held up an item with the picture of a sword. "My Century Blade can take the attack of your strongest monster and add it to one of my own. And I chose my Blue Eyes which I now order to attack you!" The white dragon roared as energy collected around its body and was launched in a massive beam. Once it had destroyed the Buster Blader it continued on to knock its master back through the wall next to Burkera. The three remaining Millenium Item users began to take out monster tablets of their own but Slysheen shook his head.
"I can't have any of that now can I? Red Eye's, Youzanryu, attack those fools!" The dragons launched twin balls of fire and light, which smashed into the group and vaporized them. A second later the clink of gold on stone showed that there was nothing left but their items. Slysheen smiled, and chuckled and then began to laugh insanely as his century items began to glow.
"You have no more lines of defense pharaoh! With my three dragons I can easily destroy you. But I have something much worse planned. For I now sacrifice my three dragons to bring forth the most powerful card in my possession!" Pharaoh Yami's eye twitched while Slysheen pulled out a monster tablet much bigger then the others.
"That's right pharaoh. My god card, Slypher the Sky Dragon!" The three dragons disappeared as the area around Slysheen began to glow white. Clouds appeared out of nowhere and thunder crashed down from the sky to split the ground. A mighty roar echoed across the dessert sands as the clouds burst to reveal a massive red beast. Slysheen began to laugh and held out an open hand.
"Now give me your Millenium Puzzle pharaoh and declare that I am now the ruler of Egypt, or face your destruction." Yami sighed and slowly took the Millenium Puzzle from around his neck.
"I can't believe it's come to this." Ishtar had awakened by now and fought to sit up.
"Please Yami don't give him your puzzle!" Yami shook his head and began twirling the thong around his finger.
"I don't intend to." Without warning he smashed the puzzle against the back of the throne, shattering it into its individual pieces. For a moment Slysheen was confused, but then his expression changed to anger.
"You think you can stop me by destroying your puzzle? You fool! I can easily repair it, all you've done is cause me to get mad. Slypher, destroy this fool!" Slypher roared, but didn't move to attack. Instead, it crash landed and started gasping in pain. Ishtar and Slysheen looked on in confusion while Yami walked down from the dais.
"As you put it 'Surprised, you should be.' My Millenium Puzzle is much more then just a tool for the shadow games, it is also the gateway for shadow energy to enter this world. With it broken apart the supply of shadow energy is limited and your monster can hardly stay awake. But something that big needs a lot of shadow energy and a new gateway has to be formed." Slysheen's look of anger turned to horror and he started tear off his century items. But suddenly he cried out in pain and grabbed for his bracer. It was flashing from silver to gold and suddenly a spike erupted from its surface. More soon followed as Slysheen fell onto his hands and knee's. Yami picked up Ishtar and helped her move behind a pile of ruble. She watched in stunned fascination as Slysheen writhed in agony and the bracer continued to consume his arm like a vine.
"What is happening to him?!"
"His bracer can't let in enough energy to maintain Slypher and it's beginning to back up like a clogged drain. To prevent it from overflowing the extra shadow energy has to force its way through Slysheen's body. In a few minutes there will be nothing left of him."
"But where will the shadow energy go when he is destroyed?!"
"No where, once Slysheen dies the duel will be over and his monster will disappear. Since there will no longer be a monster the shadow energy will stop flowing to this plane." While Yami was talking Slysheen had forced himself into a standing position. He glared at Yami with burning hatred and then threw back his head to scream.
"I WILL HAVE MY REVENGE ON YOU YET PHAROH!!!!! IF IT TAKES ME A THOUSAND MILLENIA I WILL FIND YOU AND DESTROY YOU!!!!" There was a tremendous explosion of light and then silence, which was broken by the metallic clink of silver against stone. Yami slowly walked over to pick up the century bracer and other century items, apparently untouched from the ordeal.
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Ranma found himself back in his room.
"That was freaky, what happened next? And why are you telling me this?" Yami flopped back on Ranma's bed and closed his eye's.
After I had examined the Century Items I decided that they were a hazard to the shadow games since they can be manipulated by the user to get around the rules and defeat the whole purpose of a duel. Burkera was sent to dump them in the middle of the Mediterranean, but something happened along the way.
"What?" Yami waved his hand and Ranma found himself once more in Egypt, but this time in a bustling market place. A man dressed in black and carrying a traveling pack on his shoulders was trying to maneuver his way through the crowds. Suddenly he backtracked and stopped in front of a stall maintained by a pretty teenage girl.
"Hello gorgeous, what's a pretty little lotus like yourself doing on a mud bank like this?" Ranma groaned at the lame pick-up line but the girl just frowned.
"Are you going to buy something?" Burkera looked the girl up and down and grinned wolfishly.
"I definitely see something I want." The girl growled.
"I don't have time for perverts, now get lost!" Burkera suddenly appeared sitting next to the girls side.
"I'm not a pervert, I just wanted to give such a lovely young lady an equally lovely gift." He rummaged around in his pack and pulled out a tiny silver ornament shaped like a hand mirror. The girl's eyes lit up with interest and she smiled.
"Maybe I was too quick to judge." Burkera smiled.
"So when do you get off work baby?" Ranma groaned again.
"You mean he used the century items to…" Yami nodded.
Yep, by the time he got to the coast he didn't have any left. After I had dealt with him I tried to track them down but by then his "friends" had either sold them or become impossible to find.
"So what's the problem? If they're scattered to the four winds we shouldn't have to worry right?"
Under normal circumstances no, but think back to the duelist finals last night. Realization dawned across Ranma's face.
"That guy that won had the Century Bracer!"
"Yes, he's going to be in the duelist kingdom tournament as well so we have to be careful. For all we know he might have evil intentions." Ranma shook his head and sighed.
"My life was so much simpler before I met you."
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The next morning Ukyou stood waiting in front of Nodoka's game shop while Ranma said goodbye to his mother.
"Don't worry mom, I'll only be gone for three day's and I'll come right back alright?" Nodoka nodded and wiped a tear from her eye.
"I know but I'm just so proud of you son, you truly are a man among men. Here, I packed some cloths and a few personal items for you to take along." She handed Ranma a duffel bag and hugged him goodbye.
"Good luck son." Ranma hugged back and smiled grimly.
"I have a feeling I'm gonna need it."
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Once they were around the corner and out of site Ranma dumped the duffel bag into a nearby trash can while Ukyou watched confused.
"Why are you throwing that stuff away Ranma? Ranma reached into a nearby bush and pulled out a pack he had prepared earlier.
"Just look inside for yourself." Her curiosity getting the better of her Ukyou did what Ranma said and pulled the pack out of the trash. But after looking inside she snapped it shut and a deep blush appeared on her face.
"I didn't know they could do that with leather." Ranma nodded and started walking away.
"You learn a lot of things when you have a mom like mine."
[End book one]
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Authors Notes
Remember me? Yes, I'm back and now that school is under control I should be able to write more often. I've also been creating some new fics and planned an end for Red Eyes Fury. I've also taken down Spirit detective Ranma since I haven't planned the story out well enough but maybe I'll post it again if I can work out the kinks. As for RKG, I've got most of the Duelist Kingdom arc planned so look for it soon along with some familiar characters from the TV show. Now that we know how the century items came to be they will definitely re-appear along with Ashaton Nonaka. But is he good? Evil? Neutral? We'll soon find out.
Prime out
Animeprime1@hotmail.com