Chapter Three

The Spirit of the Millennium Ring

As they walked back to Skylar's home, she seemed to grow more and more enthusiastic about having Deirdre meeting her family. She spoke about them with the highest esteem and told her new friend every single aspect about their lives. Down to the minutest detail. Her mother was a respected lawyer in the most successful firm in Domino and her father was a paleontologist.

Deirdre, though, wasn't exactly thrilled at the prospect. He hated meeting new people entirely and her parents were without a doubt going to assume he was her new boyfriend and it wasn't likely that any amount of protest was going to convince them otherwise.

When they got there, Deirdre was treated too an unexpected surprise. The house was empty.

"Aww, no fair!" Skylar pouted and stomped into the kitchen. The front door of her home was located directly at the base of the stairs that led to the top floor of her house. Deirdre took a curious peek up, saw nothing but polka dot wallpaper, and then strolled after her.

Her kitchen was very large and led into the dining room, the backyard, and the pantry. She hovered over the counter and was silently reading a note that had been left for her.

"This is sooooo uncool, Deer. My dad was recalled to Egypt and my mother is completing paperwork from a case at the office. Even my dorky little brother went to a friends house." She whined pitifully then hunched down on a stool. "I don't want the house to myself!"

"Your not by yourself." Deirdre said absent-mindedly, not meaning anything by it at all, just stating simple fact.

"Yeah, but what are you going to do? Stay here? My parents would murder me if they found out that I had a boy over night."

"Ditto," he replied. "I mean, my parents would kill me if I stayed at a girls house, or vice-versa. But if you want my company so much I'll wait with you until you mother gets home." Then, almost as an after-thought. "And stop calling me 'Deer.' "

"Well, what about—"

"No," he interrupted. "Not 'Dre' either."

"Well, fine then! You can't call me 'Sky'!"

Deirdre twitched at the mouth. "Well, that isn't fair at all." He then realized that his Duel Disk was still strapped to his wrist and he clicked the button that released the catch, then pulled it off and set it down on the counter. "C'mon, I'll teach you a few tricks."

The next few hours were spent with Deirdre explaining dueling strategies and advanced tactics. Skylar seemed more than willing to learn as well and after awhile he forgot to keep up his apathetic attitude and let his barrier of indifference drop, though Skylar's warm smiles and teasing pushes continued to go unanswered.

While he explained a few things to her, she began to have the feeling that she should be teaching him something, so the obvious choice was some much-needed emotion. Up until 8:00 p.m., he and Skylar sat across from one another discussing Duel Monsters. Secretly, she made every attempt she could too get him to crack a smile. He never did, but she felt like he was breaking internally.

When Deirdre saw the clock, he realized he was very late for dinner and shot to his feet. When Skylar saw the clock, she panicked and they bid each other a hasty goodbye. Deirdre scooped up his Duel Disk from the counter downstairs before jetting out of Skylar's house and toward his own. He felt somewhat bad about leaving her alone but she understood. The prospect of tomorrow's duel really got his blood pumping.

He would be facing Griff Terrace for a card of incomparable rarity. Such an addition would give him an unstoppable edge against any opponent, and in that lay the problem. Griff would most likely be using the card against him, and if he truly was the apprentice of Maximillion Pegasus then his deck would have many more super-rare cards waiting for anyone dumb enough to challenge him. Of course, this was excluding his Blue-Eyes White Dragon, which Deirdre already knew about and rightfully feared.

Deirdre clasped his Duel Disk back on his wrist simply because he was tired of holding it. Deirdre was still a good three blocks from his house and dark clouds were quickly shadowing the full moon. It didn't take long for the streets to become drenched with rain.

The weather report this morning had somehow neglected to mention a storm any time this week, let alone today, so he had not brought a coat with him. It had been a warm day and a warm night, and now it was just wet and miserable. But his spirits had already been brightened and a little rain would not be enough to dampen them. He would soon be the proud owner of a grand Toon World magic card. Either that, or he would be handed a devastating defeat, but if that were the case then he would go down in a blaze of glory. His match against Griff would be legendary and spoken about for years to come.

Then quite suddenly, Deirdre was shoved off to the side and against the rain-slick window of a clothing shop he was passing by. The culprit didn't even stop long enough to see who he pushed, just shouted something that was drowned out by the rain then vanished into a distant alley.

Deirdre sighed angrily but dismissed it. Nothing, absolutely nothing, would spoil his good mood. He stood up, rubbed the back of his head and started walking again. He walked no faster than he did before and looked down the alley where that kid disappeared. He was definitely a teenager, probably around his own age. His most discernible feature, however, was his long and pointed silver hair. He was wearing a cardigan sweater, blue jeans and was carrying something in his hands. Perhaps he was a thief. Whoever he was, he was none of Deirdre's concern.

He saw nothing in the alley and continued walking. He circled one more block and came upon his residence. He pushed open the door and walked upstairs to his room without even announcing that he was home to his parents.

*~*~*~*~*

Deirdre left early the next day, rushing out of the house without a word to his mother and father who watched as he bolted past the kitchen and out the door. They looked at each other with slight concern for a moment, then shrugged and went back to their morning activities.

When he stepped out of his house, people were already gathering around and starting the days dueling festivities. It took him less than five minutes to reach the spot where he would be meeting Griff. Normally, that walk would have taken him ten but he was in somewhat of a rush. Nonetheless, he reached Town Square and searched the small but quickly growing crowds. He didn't immediately see his challenge for the day so he took a seat on a rusty iron bench behind him.

Deirdre sat alone in silent contemplation for nearly an hour and Griff Terrace had yet to show. It was still early, but he said he would be here early. He said 9:00 a.m. and it was now ten. Once the hands on his watch hit ten o' clock, he began to think he had been punked.

Griff never intended to duel him. He probably thought he was too good for the commoners of such a simple tournament and skipped town. Pegasus was going to be getting some serious hate mail.

He stood up, let out a heavy-hearted sigh and prepared to leave. If he wasn't going to have his headliner match today then he didn't feel like having any matches at all.

Just then, he noticed someone in the distance. A boy wearing a blue vest and white undershirt. The blue jeans might have set off the obvious, but this had to be the same kid who knocked him down last night. He had unmistakable hair. Silver, long and spiked.

Deirdre's brow furrowed and he marched toward his assailant. After being lied too by Griff and robbed of the rare Toon World magic card, he was in a very sour mood and this kid was going to get a piece of his mind. Maybe a piece of his fist if he said something offensive.

Deirdre pushed through a group of people and approached the boy. He was with four other people. One being Yugi Motou, some tall kid wearing a brown trench coat, a girl wearing a blue skirt and looking awfully cheery, and the second-place finalist at Duelist Kingdom, Joey Wheeler. He wasn't even remotely as well-known as the champion but the match those two had was quite entertaining and worth remembering.

But none of them were any concern to him. Deirdre wanted this kid, the boy with spiky hair. And up close he really didn't look like the kind of person who would be violent. He had a wide smile on his face and actually looked quite soft and baby-like.

"Excuse me," Deirdre said after clearing his throat. "But I want a word with you."

The spiky-haired kid looked up and immediately his face changed from one of humor and joy to that of sadness and regret. Apparently he recognized Deirdre as well. "Oh, sir! You're that boy I ran into last night. Oh, please accept my humblest apologizes, I was in a great hurry!"

Even his voice, thick with an English accent, sounded delicate. And if he was so sorry now, why couldn't he have stopped and apologized last night? Something about this situation seemed odd.

Deirdre was confused and unable to think of anything to say too this kid but a stern verbal assault. But he bit his tongue, so the boy continued. "I really am very sorry." He extended his hand and smiled. "My name's Bakura. Yours?"

Deirdre accepted his hand and shook. "Deirdre. But, if I may ask, what was the big hurry?"

"Don't worry about it," came another voice from behind him. Joey stood up and put his hand on Bakura's shoulder, leading him off to the side.

"He said he was sorry and that's all you gotta know, now beat it."

Now this was something he didn't need right now. "You have the means of backing up your attitude?"


The other kid wearing the trench coat took up his friend's right side. Both of them were taller than himself but that didn't bother him much. Neither looked all that tough but they were obviously used to being intimidating. "You got what you wanted, now do as Joey says and leave."

"Both of you stop it!" Bakura said, stepping up. "He wasn't doing anything wrong, just looking for an apology! You don't have to threaten him."

Something caught Deirdre's eye then. This Bakura guy was wearing a Duel Disk on his left wrist. Maybe a good duel would help to get his mind off the one that he was cheated out of with Griff. He stepped out of the glare the two boys were giving him and approached Bakura. He was finally able to look someone in the eye without having crank his neck up.

"Despite this rather tense situation, care to duel?"

Bakura grinned and nodded but then Yugi, who had suddenly grown a couple of inches and changed his hairstyle, stood up and got behind Bakura. He gently moved him aside and looked Deirdre in the eye. "Perhaps you would do me the honor of a duel instead of Bakura?"

"Or me!" Joey said stepping forward. "C'mon, Yug! I can take this good-for-nuttin' punk."

Temporarily ignoring his two challengers, he snatched a glance at Bakura, who stood off to the side looking less than pleased. Deirdre looked back at Yugi and Joey and snickered, a rather cryptic sound and definitely not meant for someone like him. "Don't you two ever let him off his leash?"

Yugi looked more than a little taken back by that. Joey just looked flat-out angry. "Hey! Were just lookin' out for Bakura, kid! We just don't want him to lose, that's all."

Deirdre knew that Joey would say something stupid like that (he often spoke without thinking about the words before hand) and turned to view the results on Bakura's face. He was looking a lot more irritated now, and even a little insulted. "You think I can't defend myself, Joey? I can hold my own in a duel just as well as either of you!"

Deirdre grinned and took a step back.

Joey stumbled and stuttered, holding up his hands as to prove he didn't mean any offense. "That isn't what we meant, Bakura. I just meant that—"

"I know what you meant, fool." All of a sudden, Bakura's voice grew deeper and his silver hair seemed to eclipse his countenance, making a once calm and frail-looking boy appear much more serious and even a bit sinister. The atmosphere he gave off made the entire group swallow and recoil a bit. "Deirdre, I accept your challenge. Prepare for the worst I have to give." He grinned and spread open his arms. His three friends stepped back and shot each other frightened glances.

Yugi nudged Joey in the arm. "It's happened," he whispered. Tristan overheard and leaned in. "The evil spirit of the Millennium Ring has taken control of Bakura's body."

The girl behind the three boys stood up, smoothed out her skirt and joined the group, paying more attention to the impending duel between Deirdre and Yami Bakura then any of them.

Yami Bakura smacked a wayward lock of hair away from his face then launched his holo-imagers and armed his Duel Disk. He reached into his back pocket and pulled out his deck, slid it into the card reader and crossed it over his chest. "Ready?"

Deirdre nodded and prepared his Duel Disk and deck as well, then stepped back giving them both an ample-sized playing field. Both of their life point meters reset to 4000 and they drew their starting hands.