Hey, I'm back again. I would like to start off this author's note with an answer to a question I received in one of my VERY few reviews (hint, hint). HarUwHiTe2blAcK asked me if Bakura makes any appearance in the movie. Bakura is my favorite YGO character, and so I am saddened and dismayed to report that he does not appear in the movie. However, because he is one of my all time favs, second only to Kurama, he will make an appearance a little later on with the rest of the YGO cast in this story. Yes, and there will also be appearances by the other faithful members of the YYH group as well, not just Kurama. Alright, that takes care of that, and now...ON WITH THE FIC!!! :)
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-Kessen: Bakemono no Hishi (Fight to the Finish: Secret History of the Monsters)
Duel 2: Ki Tozoku (Energy Thief)
Arumi slowly became aware that she was lying in a bed, but where was anyone's guess. Her head hurt and her whole body felt heavy and hard to move. She tried to remember what had happened to her; what had caused all this, but her memories were distorted and nonsensical. Unable to access her memories, she decided to concentrate on what to do now in the present, rather then what had happened to her in the past. Gathering all the strength she had left, she tried to open her eyes. Finding that her eyelids weighed far more then usual, she was only able to crack one eye a fraction of an inch opened. As her dark eye focused on her surroundings, however, she somehow managed to pool enough energy to open it and her other eye all the way.
"So, you're finally awake," a soft, familiar voice said from her left. She turned her head to see Minamino sitting in his desk chair, regarding her with his calm, sparkling emerald eyes. She would have blushed, had she had the strength.
"Minamino-kun?" she managed to whisper. 'Why do I feel so tired?' she wondered to herself as the process of speaking sapped even more of her quickly draining energy away.
"You shouldn't speak, Nubayuki-chan," Minamino warned her, sensing how much it was costing her to talk.
"Call me...Arumi..." Arumi muttered, feeling sleep sink it's claws into her once more.
Minamino smiled kindly at the ailing girl. "Then call me Shuichi," he replied softly.
"Arigato...Shuichi-kun," Arumi managed to mumble with a nod before closing her eyes and falling into an unconscious stupor once more.
-()-()-()
Kurama's smile turned to a concerned frown the moment Arumi's eyes were closed. Something was stealing this girls energy, leaving her with a dangerously low supply of it. But what could it be? He thought back to when she had first collapsed, wondering what had caused it. It couldn't have been anything Kaijuta had done, the boy hadn't even touched Arumi except to knock her to the ground, and that hadn't even injured the girl. Besides, Kaijuta was a normal human with exceptionally low spirit energy and a bad disposition. There was the option that he had been being controlled by someone, or something, else at the time, but Kurama had sensed nothing of the kind when he had confronted the other boy. No, having considered all that, he could safely eliminate Kaijuta from the suspect list.
He sifted his thoughts to those moments right before Arumi's collapse, after Kaijuta had been disposed of. She had thanked him, and then... She had looked down before she had fallen unconscious; down at her wrist, at her bracelet. The bracelet... It had looked innocent enough, but looks can be deceiving.
Quietly, Kurama got up from his chair and walked around his bed until he was standing on Arumi's right side. Carefully, although he doubted she had the energy to wake up no matter what he did, he took her right arm from under the bed sheets. As soon as placed his hand on it, he knew. This was it, this bracelet was the thing that was draining all of Arumi's precious energy. It was strange, however, the way the bracelet didn't react to his touch. He would have thought that the item would suck energy from anything it came into contact with, but it seemed to be interested only in Arumi's energy. He could feel her ki seeping into the golden piece of jewelry, and yet it didn't even attempt to do the same to him.
'Perhaps it's only interested in human energy,' Kurama thought to himself. That would explain why his demon aura wasn't being assaulted as well. But somewhere, in the very back of his mind, he had a feeling that that wasn't the true reason for this bracelet's behavior. Whatever its reasoning, one thing was obvious; he had to get this thing off of Arumi's arm before it sucked her dry. He was surprised she had lasted this long. It was lucky for her that this thing, whatever it was, was taking her energy in absurdly small portions. He wondered why it would do that, but pushed the thought aside.
He attempted to pull the bracelet off, but it wouldn't budge. Frowning, he leaned in closer, examining it more closely. He had to wonder how she got it on in the first place, considering that the band was of solid, unmarred gold and had no clasp or anything that would suggest it would open and release Arumi's wrist. His eyes traveled back to the eye on the front. That seemed to be where Arumi's energy was being held. It didn't look demon, or like anything he had ever seen before. That made him slightly nervous. Being an accomplished thief, he had knowledge of most demon devices that worked like this one, and yet he did not recognize this. It surely couldn't be it? Wherever it had come from, it wasn't coming off. With a sigh, he laid Arumi's arm back on the bed and went back to his desk to fish his communicator out of the top drawer. It was time to give Koenma a call.
-()-()-()
The demi-god was sitting at his desk, stacks of paper towering all around him. He was muttering to himself furiously as he stamped papers without even looking at them.
"Paperwork...always paperwork...I should make Yusuke do this!" he muttered. He had fallen quiet behind on his work while attending the Dark Tournament and now had the day's work as well as the past week's to do.
"Um...sir?" Jorge, the blue ogre, stuck his head through the office door.
"What is it?!" Koenma asked, his voice daring Jorge to upset him.
"Um...you have a phone call, sir," Jorge stated, taking a step into the room.
"Tell them I'm not home!" Koenma answered, still stamping and having yet to even look at the blue nuisance.
"It's Kurama," Jorge continued.
"Who cares who it is!" Koenma shouted back.
"But sir, he says it's important," Jorge tried again.
Koenma sighed. "Well if Kurama thinks so... but if it turns out I wasted my time on him for nothing..." Koenma gave Jorge a threatening look, eyes glowing with anger. Jorge gulped and quickly pressed a button on the large screen in front of Koenma's desk. The dark screen flickered to life and Kurama appeared before them.
"Koenma-sama?" Kurama's voice filled the room.
"You have my attention, now make it quick!" Koenma said, sitting back in his chair.
"I have a bit of a problem..." Kurama said, proceeding to tell Koenma about Arumi's condition and how he was unable to remove the thing responsible from her. When he was finished, Koenma folded his arms and sucked on his pacifier thoughtfully.
"Hmm...that is interesting..." Koenma muttered. "And you're sure it's this bracelet of hers that's causing this?"
"I'm certain," Kurama replied, nodding. Koenma was silent for a moment longer before leaning forward and picking up his stamp once more. "I have far too much paperwork to deal with this now, but don't worry, I'll have Botan do some research. In the mean time," he paused, opening a drawer and retrieving a metal band, "this should keep your friend's energy in place. I'll have Botan drop it off." With that, he retrieved his remote and turned the screen off before Kurama could say anther word.
"Ogre," Koenma said, mechanically stamping the papers once more.
"Yes, sir?" Jorge replied, glad that Kurama hadn't made the overworked ruler angry.
"Send for Botan."
-()-()-()
Yugi was sitting in his room, finishing off the last of his algebra homework as the spirit of his puzzle stared out the window.
"Do you sense something?" Yugi asked as his friend suddenly became very tense.
"How much do you know about the Millennium Items?" the spirit responded, obviously troubled.
"Well, only that there are seven," Yugi replied, counting them out on his fingers. "Let's see, there's the ring, rod, necklace, eye, key, scale, and puzzle. Right?"
"That's what the ancient Scriptures say, yes," the spirit continued, still staring out the window.
"Why, what's wrong?" Yugi asked, concerned.
"I thought I sensed..." the spirit trailed off, searching the stars in the dark sky before shaking his head. "No, I must have been mistaken."
"Well...if you're sure..." Yugi replied, still sounding worried. The spirit smiled at him, feeling regret for causing his young friend worry.
"No, I'm sure. It was nothing," the spirit assured his counterpart, despite the feeling deep in his heart that told him otherwise.
-()-()-()
In the depths of an underground room beneath the great city of Cairo, Shadi, the keeper of the Millennium Key and Scale, was shocked by a sudden wave of energy.
"What is this?" he wondered out loud as the candlelight flickered from a nonexistent wind. "Could it be?"
Dowsing the flames of the candles, he hurried form his crypt to the streets of the city. He swept through the city, a dark figure that barely merited a second thought. Soon, his swift steps had left the city behind and he was but a shadow flickering over the unforgiving sands. After nearly an hour of travel, he came to his destination. He gasped at what he saw. The tomb that had once been sealed away, covered under tons and tons of sand, was standing bare before him. The door stood solemn and...opened?! Shadi stared for a moment more before hurrying inside, pausing momentarily at the door as the reasonable side of his mind refused to let him enter. But need overcame reason and he stepped inside, taking a candle from his robes and lighting it.
This tomb...was never to be opened again. How had this happened?! Taking a step further in, his wavering, dim light revealed a sarcophagus at the far end of the room with rows and rows of ruble on either side.
'The stone tablets...?! They've been destroyed!' Shadi thought to himself, once again wondering how this could have happened. Shadi hesitantly crossed the room, his eyes darting all around him. When he reached the sarcophagus, he noticed several things. The first, was that something had been taken from this place. In the middle of the sarcophagus, there was a space for something to have been placed, but he couldn't even begin to imagine what it was, how long it had been gone, or where it was now. Below the space, there was writing...a prophecy.
"In absence of chain in absence of Ra," Shadi read aloud, "they will be freed and chaos will descend once more upon this world. Life has not the power to stop them, only Anubis's eye will contain them."