Ryou-Ran's back! I've been on vacation for a month. I've been on a boat, no TV, no internet...
Ad I've got a bad case of bronchitis. Tonight I could not sleep because I could barely breathe.
Ryou: And what is going to happen to me in this chapter?
Ryou-Ran: I'm not going to tell you. It's a secret.
Marik: Hey... there's a crack in this egg.
Ryou-Ran: What?
Yami Bakura: He's right. The egg is going to hatch!
Ryou: I wonder what kind of chicken will come out of it.
Yami: (sticks out his thin chest) Time shall learn.
Ryou-Ran: Let's go on with the fic. I'm so nervous, I've got to do something in between!
Roots Exposed
Ryou grabbed at his chest and produced a horrible gurgling sound. Mr Bakura grabbed his shoulders and shook him roughly. "Ryou!"he cried. "Wake up! Breathe!" Yami was the only one able to keep cool, as usual. He managed to shoulder Mr Bakura out of the way, grabbed Ryou and lay him with his stomach over his knees. He gave Ryou a hard slap on the back. Ryou coughed, and began to turn blue. His hand plucked at Yami's trouserleg. His eyes closed.
Yami Bakura anxiously paced around in his soulroom and watched the process through a soul-window. He saw Ryou lose consciousness and saw Yami slap him on the back. He knew that if Ryou would die he would die with him. The Yami looked at his hands. Tiny bolts of energy sparkled between his long fingers. It was all the fault of the power that had once belonged to him and was now too much for the weak body of his Hikari.
Suddenly Ryou gasped and breathed in. His chest went up. Mr Bakura let out a sigh that seemed to come from the tips of his toes. Yami went back into his soulroom and let a relieved Yugi come out. Marik wiped some sweat from his forehead. "One of us should constantly be guarding Bakura." he said. "Just in case he somehow hurts himself again." Tristan nodded. He agreed to stay with Ryou as the Japanese boy slept and recovered.
It was late at night. Joey had taken Tristan's place. Ryou was asleep. Yami Bakura, on the other hand, was not. The dark power flowed through his veins, feeling like boiling oil that scarred his bones and burned his flesh. His hair was wilder than ever, like there was a thunderstorm ahead. He slapped his arms around his stomach and bent over. A soft cry escaped his lips. He had to get rid of this overflow of power somehow, he had to...
Ryou suddenly groaned. Joey had been dozing a bit and woke up. Ryou groaned again and began throwing his head to and fro. "Bakura-Kun, what is it?"Joey anxiously asked. He grabbed Ryou's arms. Ryou tossed and turned and tried to get free. He kicked against the wall, waking the people in the next room. The others came out. Yugi's Puzzle emitted a faint light. Ryou's Ring began to glow. The pointers moved frantically. Ryou's hair stuck up, fell down again and stuck up again.
"The Spirit of the Millennium Ring tries to take over."Yugi said. "Bakura-Kun is resisting...." Ryou suddenly leapt up. He tossed the blankets away and wanted to run outside, but Tristan stopped him. Ryou's face displayed a devlish expression. The eyes were mean and narrow; the eyes of the Spirit of the Ring. Yami Bakura grabbed Tristan by the front of his shirt and simply lifted him up and threw him aside. He ran out of the house.
The others picked Tristan up, but when they had gone outside neither Ryou, nor Yami Bakura were anywhere to be seen. "We have to find him."Mr Bakura said. "Who knows what will happen to him?" Yami, who had come out, nodded. "Yes. But how do we find out where he is?"he asked. Marik suddenly blew on his fingers. "Ow!"Tristan whined. "You can't do that much louder, can you?"
Suddenly a piece of the sand came up, near Joey. "WAAAAAH!"Joey screamed and flew around Tea's neck. "A ghost!" Exactly at that moment Odion stuck a bald head out of a hatch in the ground. "Did you call me, Marik?"he asked. "Yes."Marik said. "Odion, will you get us a sniffer-dog, please?" Odion nodded and vanished again as Tea tried to wrestle herself out of Joey's grip. Less than a minute later he came up again with a dog. They let the dog smell Ryou's handkerchief. The dog immediately ran in the direction of the little barn where Mr Bakura had stored the bones he had found earlier.
"The bones... from the grave... They're gone!"Mr Bakura cried. He picked up the crate the bones had been in and showed it to the other people and Yami. "I think Yami Bakura has taken them."Yami said. "But why?"
Marik suddenly paled. "Yami..."he said. "Bakura began to act strangely after we had exposed those bones, remember?" "What do you mean by that?"Mr Bakura asked. Marik looked at the arrow that had been stuck inside the rib-cage of the skeleton. "There were still plucks of hair attached to the skull."he mumbled. "White hair... and the skeleton did not appear to be that of an old man..." Yami's eyes widened. "You mean... the skeleton we found..."he began, but Mr Bakura finished the sentence. "...belonged to the Spirit of the Ring before he died?" Marik nodded. "That's what I think."he said. "And I know we have to go after Bakura quickly."
They followed the dog and found out the Spirit of the Ring had run to his own grave. When they arrived there they saw him standing, laying the bones back into the grave, like a puzzle. The Ring hanging down his chest was glowing faintly.
The Milllennium Item must have warned him, because he suddenly stood and looked in the direction of Yami and the gang. A grin appeared on his face. He bent over the grave again and continued piecing the skeleton together. He hummed.
"We have got to stop him."Yami said. "Let us go." The gang wanted to run over to Yami Bakura, but Mr Bakura suddenly stepped on something. The next moment he felt something sting, like someone had stuck a needle in his leg. When he looked down he saw a snake that was curled around his leg. A warm sensation spread throught his entire leg.
Something gold flashed into his field of vision and crushed the head of the snake. It was the Millennium Rod. Marik had killed the snake with it. Odion bent over the snake. "It is a poisonous snake."he said. "You need to go to a hospital as soon as possible, or you will die." Marik cleaned his Rod with sand. The Spirit of the Millennium Ring had looked up, but was back to the bones again.
"Odion, will you go with Mr Bakura to the nearest hospi-"Marik began, but Mr Bakura interrupted. "No..."he said. "Ryou... I've got to save Ryou..." He got up. His leg had an alarming purple color. Joey quickly grabbed him. "You will die if you don't go a hospital right now."he said. Mr Bakura looked at him. Joey read a strong persevearance in the eyes of the older man. "No."Mr Bakura firmly said. "Ryou comes first, he needs me." Together they walked over to Yami Bakura.
Yami Bakura spun around when they arrived there. A dark veil covered him and gave his hair a grey color. His eyes were two red pools. He looked absolutely not like Ryou. "I was expecting you."he said. "Please forgive me, Pharaoh, I can't give you a hand. My hands are dirty." He chuckled. "Aw, I'm being a poor host! Why don't you come in?"he then said. The Ring began to glow a golden light. The gang was sucked into the Ring.
All the people and Yami smashed against the ground. It existed of cold rocks. Yami blinked a couple of times and looked around. They were inside a small room. The walls were covered with sheets of paper. When Yami took a closer look at them he could see they were letters, written by Ryou, adressed to his deceased mother and sister. Standing in the middle of the room was a big table, with an enormous Monster World playing field on it. Yami had seen it before. That same table was standing in the game-room in Ryou's apartment. It was the biggest Monster World field in the world. A small puppet was standing in the middle of the field. It was a puppet with white hair and a rod shaped like an ankh. The drawings on it's robes were also shaped like ankhs. It was Ryou's avatar, White Magic User Bakura. On a small edge of the table was the laptop Ryou used to control the field with. Spread over the floor was Ryou's deck. They were inside Ryou's soulroom.
"Oh!"Tea suddenly said. She pointed at a pair of feet that stuck out of a small door. The gang moved over to the door and found out the feet belonged to Ryou. Ryou was face-down on the floor. Tristan turned him over. Ryou's head was covered by his hair. When Tristan brushed it away he saw the boy was unconscious. Ryou did not wear his own clothes. He wore Egyptian clothes, a heavy necklace with red and green jewels, a ivory colored skirt with two blue lines running over it, and his calfs were covered with golden plates.. He also wore the Millennium Ring. He was, in fact, not the real Ryou, but his soul. There was no bandage around his back and chest either.
Tristan woke Ryou up. Ryou opened his big eyes and looked around. Yami told him about what was going on.
Suddenly Mr Bakura groaned. He grabbed his leg in both hands. "Dad! What's going on?"Ryou anxiously cried. "Your father was bit by a snake."Marik softly said. "It's too late for an antidote." He saw tears appear in Ryou's eyes. Ryou gave a high groan and buried his face in his hands. "Oh, Dad!"he sobbed. "Why?" He began rocking his upper body and cried like a child. Mr Bakura weakly lay a hand on Ryou's arm. "I wanted to save you."he said. Ryou looked up, eyes puffy and red. "You did not have to!"he angrily said. "I cannot be saved anyhow!" The others looked at him in surprise. "The Spirit of the Ring is linked to me."Ryou said. "He will stay with me forever." He looked at the Ring hanging around his neck. "You should have gone to a hospital and saved yourself."he told his father. "I know the Spirit of the Millennium Ring will eventually be my demise. He almost killed me once before." Mr Bakura's eyes grew big. "That bandages around my arm... My other half stabbed a knife into his own arm so I would be hurt. It gave Marik an alibi. By helping me Yugi and the others would think he was not evil at all. But he and the Spirit of the Ring worked together."Ryou softly said. "I got really sick, but Yami Bakura escaped from the hospital and managed to get himself six locator-cards. He entered the BattleCity-finals, disguised himself as me and had to play against the Spirit of the Millennium Puzzle. When Yugi and Yami summoned Slifer the Sky-dragon Yami Bakura knew he would lose. Marik told him to release my soul. He, the Spirit of the Ring, Yami and Yugi knew I would die if Slifer would attack me. Yami Bakura released me, but Marik made him unsure about Yami not daring to attack. He took my body over again and saved me." Ryou had looked at the Ring the whole time, but now he looked at his father. "The Spirit is so reckless... once he will kill me and himself thanks to that." The others were silent. They had never heard Ryou speak that much. And they had never seen the real Ryou. Ryou always appeared lighthearted, but that was just a mask. The real Ryou was sad, scared and worried.
"We should go to the soulroom of the Spirit of the Ring."Yami suddenly said. "I get the feeling that is the only place where he can be beaten." Ryou stood and helped his father get up. Mr Bakura swayed and had to heavily lean on Ryou's shoulder. Together they opened the door that led to a small corridor. On the other end of the corridor was a gate. The Eye of Sennen was engraved in it. Tristan was the strongest member of the gang, but he was having trouble opening it. He eventually ran into it with his shoulder and opened it far enough for them to get through.
When they entered the soulroom of the Spirit, they saw the room had no walls, and no ceiling either. They looked at a dark sky, with red clouds drifting in it. They could feel their energy was been drained away partly. "I've been here before."Ryou said. "It's the Shadow Realm." Yami spun around so quickly that his Puzzle bounced against his back. "You mean the soulroom of your Yami is the Shadow Realm?"he gasped. "I cannot believe that!"
"See for yourself, Pharaoh!"A loud, harsh voice suddenly bellowed. Yami Bakura was standing in front of them. He grinned.
Suddenly Mr Bakura groaned and grabbed Ryou's shoulder for support. His hand slid down Ryou's arm as he collapsed. Ryou watched him fall with open eyes, fallen jaw. He let himself fall to his knees and grabbed his father's arms. He shook him roughly. "DAD! OH, GOD! DAD, WAKE UP!"he screamed.
Darn, we went on vacation for five weeks in stead of four... Luthien, you still alive?
Mr Bakura: Did I hear something about an egg going to hatch?
Ryou: Yes, it's Ryou-Ran's egg.
Mr Bakura: Great! And how is our happy mother doing? (slaps Ryou-Ran very hard on the back)
Ryou-Ran: (slams with her head into the table) Head-ache...
Mr Bakura: (wags a finger) Ah-ah-ah, you should not drink that much, Ryou-Ran.
Yugi: ?
Ryou-Ran: But I don't drink alcohol!
Mr Bakura: OO Uhhh... whatever. You should not drink that much.
No inspiration, please review. Chicken will be born in the next ficcie.