Destiny and the Dragon
Author's note: OK, time for chapter 4. It's only been like, what, a week since I started? Two? At the rate I'm going, this should be complete in no time! (Well, actually, considering this is going to be a loooooooooooong story, maybe not.) Anyway, in response to Mystic of Nile's review, yes, Isis is Ishizu's Japanese name. However, I'm more accustomed to Ishizu. Plus, it sounds cooler, IMO. Oh, and one more thing: At least in this story, Yugi and Yami's mental dialogues may seem to last a bit, but to everyone outside of Yugi's mind, they only last a second. Before anyone says this contradicts Yugi looking down at the puzzle in chapter 1, here's how I have it working: When Yugi is talking to Yami, he looks at the puzzle. Thus, for the second the conversation takes, Yugi is looking at the puzzle. Just a little nugget of info just in case anyone gets confused.
Copyright info: I do not own Yu-gi-oh! If I did, though , you can bet we'd see a lot more Seto Kaiba(and, considering he already appears a lot, they'd probably have to rename the show "The Seto Kaiba saga", or some other, less crappy, title.).
Continuity info: First, I'm using all Japanese names, as well as personalities (in short, Jounouchi isn't going to have that heavy New York accent, and Bakura won't be British). Thus, Joey is Jounouchi, the Millennium items are sennen items, and so on. Finally, the actual continuity is kind of a mixture of the manga and anime. This takes place after Battle City, but the Noa saga did not occur. However, in the manga, Yugi immediately uses the God cards to open up the doors to Yami's memory world. In this, like in the anime, he must wait until the appropriate time. Also, this is going to act as an alternative to the Memories arc in the manga so I can add my own little spin on the ancient past. Enjoy.
I want to run away,
I want to know the truth
I want to know the answers,
I want to shut the door and open up my mind.
-"Runaway Reanimation", Linkin' Park
Chapter 4: Set into Motion
By Blue Eyes Shining Dragon
Seto blinked repeatedly to clear the spots in his eyes. Alas, though the spots vanished, the rapid blinking only made Seto's headache worse. Everything felt lighter, somehow, as if the law of gravity had become null and void. When at last both his vision and his head cleared, Seto found himself standing in a very familiar room. "This is impossible." Seto thought.
Seto was now standing in the middle of the room he had lived in when his parents were still alive. "This is impossible," he mentally repeated, "my old house was torn down shortly after Mokuba and I were sent to the orphanage."
Looking around, Seto began to contemplate just what was happening. The last thing he remembered was being at the Domino museum and, against his better judgment, had taken the sennen rod once held by Malik Ishtar. He still wasn't entirely sure why he had done it. Something deep within him had simply urged him to do so. "And here I am." Seto thought.
Although he had at first thought the place he was in was a perfect replica of his old room, Seto now noticed several key differences. The first was that there were three Blue Eyes White Dragon statues in the room. Duel Monsters had not yet been invented before he had moved to the orphanage, so Seto knew he couldn't have had those. The second thing he noticed was that there was a photo of Gozaburo Kaiba on his dresser. He knew that couldn't have possibly been there, either, as he and Gozaburo did not meet until after his move. "Just where am I?" Seto wondered.
Just then, the door to the room blew open. What it revealed shocked Seto. Outside of his room was a stone hallway, and parallel to his own room's door was another door, but this one was quite different. Rather than the plain wood door that belonged to the room he was in now, this new door was a fancy blue steel, trimmed with gold. Seto wondered whether he should go and open the blue door. "What have I got to lose?" He reasoned.
Thus, Seto exited his altered child-hood home, and turned the knob of the new door. When he pulled it open, he was greeted with a stunning sight. It was a gigantic chamber, one of (to no surprise to Seto) Egyptian architecture. Each side of the chamber was lined with golden torches, ablaze with fire inside of them. At the end of the chamber hallway was a man whose white caped back was to Seto. He was on his knees, presumably praying, in front of a large stone tablet with a familiar beast carved upon it. "The Blue Eyes White Dragon."Seto observed.
As soon as the thought passed through his mind, the figure at the end of the hallway stiffened. He stood to his full height, equal to Seto's. "You've finally come. I knew you would." He spoke in a low raspy voice that sounded identical to…
"Mine." Seto said out loud, without even realizing it.
The man turned to Seto at last. Seto felt like he was staring in a mirror. With the exception of the blue-gold armor and white robes he wore on his body, the man in front of him was identical to Seto in every way. Blue eyes, brown hair, lanky body. He was also the other person who Seto had seen with Kisara in his dreams. "Who are you?" Seto asked, surprised at just how afraid his Egyptian double was making him feel.
"I am the High Priest Seth, and you are going to help me take my revenge!"
The conversation between Yugi and Kisara was going better than expected. Rather than be shocked at all the experiences and secrets Yugi held, Kisara was positively captivated. She was attentive for the entire thing, and understood every word of it. This confused Yugi. Even he hadn't been able to absorb all the information about Yami and his history THAT quickly. "This clinches it, Yugi. Somehow or other, this girl is linked to my past." Yami mentally commented as Yugi finished telling the pharaoh's story.
"What makes you say that?" Yugi asked.
"She understood everything, Yugi, even what you didn't fully understand. It can't be coincidence. Besides, if what she says is true,Bakura knows who she is." Yami answered.
"But we still don't know how she's connected, Yami." Yugi commented.
"True. That is why we say nothing to her about it until we're sure." Yami said.
Yugi nodded, then exited his mental conversation. He was greeted by Kisara's response. "So a pharaoh's spirit lives in that puzzle of yours? That's so cool, Yugi. Still, it doesn't explain why that Shadi guy was at my house."
Yugi nodded. "Shadi is a bit of a mystery, even to me. I'm not fully sure he's human; I think he might be a wandering spirit of some kind."
Jounouchi decided to finally interject. "So what do we do now? I mean, if Bakura is after Kisara, do we just wait for him to attack us?" He asked.
Yugi contemplated this for a moment. "There's only one thing to do: We've got to find Bakura while he isn't possessed by the spirit of the sennen ring. Maybe then we can get some answers." He said.
Kisara nodded. "Well, what are we waiting for? Let's go!" She said.
"We aren't doing anything." Honda interjected. "Bakura wants to kill you, remember?"
Kisara rolled her eyes. "Oh, come on, not the 'over-protective' bit. What are you going to do, leave me here alone and even more vulnerable?" She protested, annoyance evident in her voice.
Anzu smiled, patting Kisara on the shouler. "That's the spirit." She laughed.
Honda grunted something unintelligible, folding his arms over his chest in frustration. Yugi stood up and walked over to the phone. "I'll call and see if he's home."
Just as the young boy's hand reached the phone, however, the entire building rumbled. "What was that?" Kisara asked.
"Not good." Jounouchi said, poking his head outside of the door.
What he saw was smoke, settling down around a large flame. "An explosion!" He said out loud.
The others rushed outside at that. "LOOK!" Yugi shouted, pointing at the dieing smoke. Walking away from the flames was Seto Kaiba, stumbling around confusedly. One hand was clutching his head as if in agony. The other…
"He has the sennen rod, Yugi!" Yami shouted.
With that, the sennen puzzle glowed, and Yami took over Yugi's body. The boy now looked taller, the golden portion of his hair now spiked in front the red and black part. "Seto…?" Kisara asked out loud, obviously confused.
Suddenly, Seto's other hand thrust the rod in a random direction, and a blast of destructive energy burst forth from the eye on the rod's top. "What does Kaiba think he's doing? He's bound to hurt somebody!" Jounouchi shouted.
"Something isn't right here." Yami Yugi said.
"His face…" Kisara said mournfully.
Yami Yugi looked closely at Kaiba to see what Kisara was talking about. Indeed, his face kept changing. One moment, it looked normal. The next, however, his eyes became more slanted, and his hair turned grew wild and spiky. "That looks just like what happens when…" Yugi thought.
"When we change places!" Yami said.
Seto and Seth rolled across the floor of the Egyptian chamber on top of each other. "Get off of me!" Seto growled, trying to strangle the high priest.
"NEVER! I need your body for my revenge!" Seth said angrily.
Seto's hand was pushed down by Seth before it could reach his throat. "What 'revenge'? Who are you even trying to kill?" Seto asked, throwing a punch at the priest.
Seth dodged, and slammed his elbow down at Seto. Seto rolled out of the way, leaping to his feet instantly as he did so. "The pharaoh! I have waited so long to finally be able to take my vengeance for what he did to my family!" Seth roared.
"Yugi?" Seto asked, confusedly.
Seto thought of Yugi as a rival, but he also knew the boy was gentle and would never intentionally harm anyone. "But," he thought, "what about the spirit of the sennen puzzle?"
This caused Seto to pause for a moment. It was the spirit, after all, who had been willing to kill Seto when they dueled at Duelist Kingdom. Still, that wasn't important right now. "Even if I believed what you're saying, no one uses my body but me!" Seto finally spat.
Seth's face darkened. "You still don't get it, do you?" He asked.
"Get what?"
"It's going to happen again."
"WHAT is going to happen again?"
"3000 years ago, the pharaoh murdered my family. I have spent that time seeking my vengeance. He must be stopped before he strikes again!"
Seto growled. Moving quickly, he punched Seth and pinned him to the ground. "Enough riddles. Give me a straight answer NOW!"
Seth sighed. "I've been trying to stop the pharaoh ever since he was reawaken. I allowed Malik's dark side to manifest itself with my power, knowing he would eventually fight, and hopefully defeat, the pharaoh. When he failed, I called to you, giving you visions of our past so that you would come for the rod. Once you had it, I could possess your body and stop the pharaoh."
"STOP HIM FROM DOING WHAT???" Seto screamed in frustration.
"From murdering your family, just like he did mine."
The stumbling Seto stopped, his head slumping to his body as if it had been held up by a string that had just been cut. He stood perfectly still. "Is he OK?" Kisara asked worriedly.
"I'm not sure." Yami Yugi said.
Jounouchi leapt forward. "Let's take that rod from him before he starts blowing stuff up again!"
Anzu and Honda nodded in agreement. The three started walking towards Seto. Yami Yugi and Kisara staid where they were. "I don't get it, Yugi, what happened to Seto?" Kisara asked.
Yami Yugi never stopped looking at Seto as he answered, "I'm not sure, but I have a theory."
"This must be linked somehow to the high priest from the tablet!" Yugi mentally told Yami.
From the rooftops, Yami Bakura remained hidden from everyone else, save his white-cloaked compatriot, who sat right alongside him. The tomb robber could not stop laughing. "This is too much fun! Watching those little puppets perform the same show from 3000 years ago!" He managed to gasp between fits of laughter.
His ally looked at him. From beneath the darkness of his cloak, a glint of gold shined from where his right eye would be. "When do we strike?"
Yami Bakura controlled his laughing long enough to answer. "Not yet. Let's see if the high priest can finish the job this time."
Kisara ran ahead of Anzu, Honda, and Jounouchi, reaching the still-slumped Seto first. Yami Yugi followed cautiously, still ready for anything that might happen. "Seto, are you OK?" Kisara asked nervously.
Yugi observed Kisara's actions. "She's really quite concerned for Kaiba, isn't she?" He asked Yami.
The spirit simply nodded. He was too focused on Seto and the potential threat he posed to talk right now. Yugi understood. However, he still felt Kisara acted as if Seto was a close personal friend, when they had only met a day ago. Jounouchi stepped in front of Kisara. "Hold on, Kisara. We don't know what's up with Kaiba, so keep your distance." He said.
Seto began to stir slightly. His head rose, revealing a face similar but different from his own. The eyes were slanted, and a blank empty black. "Just like Shadi's…" Kisara observed worriedly.
The hair was also spikier, but not by much. "Pharaoh!" Seto called, his voice deeper than usual. Yami Yugi immediately took notice.
"I challenge you to a duel!" Seto shouted to Yami Yugi.
The young duelist stepped forward to confront Seto. "There are no duel disks to use, Kaiba…IF that's who you really are!" He said, his eyes focused on Kaiba with great intensity.
Seto laughed. "Duel disks? Who said anything about duel disks?"
With that, a dark energy began to emerge from the sennen rod, reaching out to engulf everyone in its path…
To be continued…