"Alright, I'll start off by playing a face down card." Said Kaye, putting a card down. A section of the field lit up for a second. "And I'll put Armed Ninja in attack mode." A dark figure holding a staff appeared in front of the lit area, staring at the two. "Your turn Joey."
"Alrighty." He said, drawing a card. He looked at it, than said;
"I play Axe Raider in Attack mode." A large barbarian appeared on the field, holding a large axe. "Go Matt."
"Alright." He said, pulling a card out. "I place one card face down and bring out the Mad Sword-Beast in defence mode! A huge, reptilian rhinoceros appeared, roaring at the pair.
"Alright…" said Yugi, pulling a card out of his hand. "I summon-!"
"Wait!" said Matthew suddenly, holding out his hand. Yugi and Joey looked at him, puzzled.
"What?" said Tristan from the sidelines. "He's forfeiting already?"
"Nothing of the sort." Smirked Matthew, narrowing his eyes at him. He looked to Kaye. "Now we tell them."
"What?!?" said Joey, confused. "Waddya' guys talkin' about? Tell us what?" Kaye looked sorrowfully at the pair.
"I'm sorry, I wanted to tell you before, but Matthew wouldn't let me." She explained, bowing her head slightly.
"Do the words: 'Millennium items' mean anything to you?" said Matthew slyly, smirking at the shocked expression going about. "Yes Yugi, we knew right from the start what it was. Because…" He held up his right hand, palm facing them.
The same glistening substance leaked out of his wrist, re-covering his entire hand again, turning it bright golden. At the ends of his fingers, the substance curled up and away from the fingers, making them hooked and pointed.
In the centre of his palm, a small, eye-like hieroglyphic rose from the surface of his palm. The Eye of Anubis. The substance covered his whole hand, so could not be removed.
"Yes. That's right." Said Matthew, closing his glittering hand with a clinking sound. "These are the omnipotent Millennium Claws!" Yugi gasped, completely taken aback.
Millennium Claws?!? I have never heard of such a thing!
You haven't?!? Oh no. This is bad…
"And that's not all!" he smirked, looking at Kaye out of the corner of his eye. "Show them!"
"Matthew, do I have to?!?" she pleaded, looking at him, biting her lip. "I hate having to do it-!"
"Do it!" he barked, glaring at her. She sighed in defeat, pulling down her right sleeve. She held it up, the back of her hand facing them.
"I'm sorry." She said finally. A line down the middle of her arm glowed brightly. It came out towards them, the line changing into a golden stick. At the top, next to the hand, a shining arrowhead emerged, attached to the stick.
Finally, at the bottom, near her elbow, a triangular shape widened and flattened, the Eye of Anubis imprinted on it. The arrow was attached to her arm by two golden plates entering her skin vertically, so it was impossible to remove without injuring her.
"The Millennium Arrow…" she sighed, straightening her arm again so that the arrow pointed at the pair.
"Er, Yugi…?" asked Joey, looking to the boy for answers. "What the heck is goin' on?"
"I…" He said, looking at the items with an open mouth. "I have no idea…"
"You don't?!?" he said, looking back at the two. "Oh, man…"
"As with your Millennium Puzzle, Yugi, the items have certain, benefits shall we say?" Matthew said, looking at the arrow. "Yours can send the souls of the wicked to the shadow realm. Mine can destroy them utterly. And my sister's item has an amusing effect."
"Mine can…" she sighed, looking at it. "Nullify any millennium items."
"In English, please?" Said Joey, nonplussed.
"It can cancel out the effects of Yugi's puzzle, including his precious mind-link with his ancient spirit!" laughed Matthew, pointing at the puzzle. "Do it now!" he ordered, glaring at Kaye.
"I'm sorry." She said again, pointing the arrow at Yugi's Puzzle. "I don't have a choice." She placed her hand at her elbow, on the blunt end of the arrow. She swept her hand down the length of it, towards Yugi.
A shining spear that looked like the card 'Living Arrow' shot out of the end of it, straight towards the puzzle. Yugi, unable to move, could only watch as the arrow hit the dead centre of the Eye of Anubis.
He felt a great pain as the link between him and his spirit was severed. Suddenly, for the first time in over two years, he was alone.
"Let's see you duel now, Champion!" laughed Matthew, watching Yugi grow pale.
"Ma-aatt!" complained a 7-year-old girl, running after an older boy through the stalls of an Egyptian market. "Come back! Mom said we godda go back to the hotel!"
"You godda catch me first, Kaye!" laughed the 9-year-old boy, pushing past people in an effort to get away.
"Matt, come on!" she complained, catching him up. "We're gonna get lost!"
Matt ran ahead, laughing, until he saw a strange man with a turban on, wearing a long robe, enter an alley. He stopped, looking at the alley. Kaye caught up with him.
"Matt, c'mon, let's get back to Mom." She said, pulling at his arm.
"Wait a second." He said, jogging to the alley. He peered round, curious. The man walked slowly ahead through a door and down some steps.
"Matt, come on!" she pleaded, looking at the vanishing man. "Mom said we shouldn't go with strange people!"
"We're not going with him, we're following him." He said, looking back at her. "It's completely different."
"Really?" she asked, looking up at her big brother.
"Yeah!" he said, running down the alley. "Now c'mon!"
"Well…" she mumbled, twisting the fabric of her T-shirt in her hands, looking around. "…Wait for me!" she yelled finally, running after him.
They reached the doorway and peered down into the gloom. A little way down, they could see a burning torch in a metal bracket fixed to the stone wall. Kaye clung to Matthew's arm, whimpering slightly.
"C'mon. There's nothing to be scared of." He said, half to himself, holding her hand caringly. He stepped down, his trainers tapping on the stone stairs. Kaye followed next to him reluctantly, whimpering quietly. When they reached the bottom, Matthew looked round the corner.
The room was long and wide, made of ancient stone blocks and pillars. At the far end to the sides, two armed men stood, eyes in shade. The man they had been following walked towards a great stone block at the far end, with shiny objects imbedded in it.
"(C'mon, let's check it out.)" Said Matthew quietly to Kaye, tip-toeing inside. He backed up against a pillar, looking in. Kaye followed, but tripped on a loose stone, crying out.
The man at the far end turned slowly, watching someone scrabble into the shadow of a pillar. He paced up the corridor to the pillar and looked around the curve. He saw a young boy, standing up, facing him, while a younger girl crouched behind, scared. At this distance, Matthew and Kaye could see his eyes. They were white and pupil-less.
"Welcome." He said, obviously unsurprised at their appearance. "I am glad you followed me."
"Huh?" said Matthew, lowering his guard. "How'd you know we were following you?"
"I can sense certain things." He said simply. "My name is Shadi. Now, please follow me one last time."
"Er, sorry, we'd rather not." Said Kaye quietly, watching the man from behind her brother.
"I am afraid you don't have a choice." He said, straightening up. At that, the two guards they had seen came out from behind the pillar and seized them both. They cried out, trying to throw the large men off. But the men simply picked them up and walked down the corridor behind Shadi.
"Anyone who enters this Crypt must be tested by the items." He said over his shoulder, stopping when he reached the block. From here, the pair could see it was a sarcophagus, with strange, golden objects attached to it. He took hold of two of these items and pulled sharply, dislodging them.
"You shall be tested by the Millennium arrow and the Millennium claw." He said unemotionally, holding up said objects. The claw was like a golden glove with hooked ends and the arrow had two open, golden manacles attached to the stick. "Hold them." He ordered the guards.
The guards pulled down the right-hand sleeve of each of them, baring their arms.
"Let us GO!" Kaye yelled, struggling in her captor's grip, tears running down her face. "We haven't done anything!"
"Yes you have." Said Shadi quietly, lowering the items onto their hand and arm. "You have entered the crypt of the Millennium items. Only those who are chosen to wear the items may enter. Your spirit will explain more deeply… Unless you descend into madness before that time." And at that, he pushed the claw onto Matthew's right hand and the Arrow onto Kaye's upper right arm.
They screamed in pain as the items took a hold of them.
The claw skin contracted, crushing Matthew's hand, burning the skin under it. The wrist opening constricted its razor sharp edges, cutting into his skin and causing scarlet blood to drip onto the floor.
The arrow clasped both of the manacles shut, scalding the skin underneath, stretching round until they met at the other side. The manacles contracted, ripping the skin they were on, nearly shattering the arm as ruby blood leaked out and trickled onto the stone.
"Release them." Said Shadi, ignoring their screams. The guards dropped them, the children falling to their knees in pain.
"It is obvious now that these children are destined to wear them as long as they live. Even though these are not true Items of the Pharaoh." Matthew and Kaye looked up, whimpering.
"After the Pharaoh Ankunukanon passed into the afterlife, hiding the Items with him, a Persian King invaded Egypt, taking over from the Egyptians." He explained, watching them. "After several years, the King found out about the Items of the Pharaoh and decided 'If an Egyptian could do it, so could he.'"
"The King and his descendants set all of their priests on completing the task. There were many failures, many resulting in the deaths of the priests who tested them. Until, three hundred years afterwards, these two Items were created."
"Unfortunately, the land of Egypt was attacked again, this time by the Romans. The King of that time decided to hide them with the other Items, so they could never be found." He fell silent.
"Your spirits will explain about you role in these events. Go." He said, waving the guards to stand back. They struggled to their feet, took a few steps backward to see if they'd let them, then turned and ran. They ran down the corridor, up the stairs and down the alley they'd previously come down.
There, they hugged each other, shaking and crying, falling to their knees again.
That last bit was a flashback, in case you didn't know.