IMPORTANT: THIS IS A DUEL UPDATE! DO NOT READ WITHOUT READING CHAPTER 10 FIRST!

Phew! These two chaps were originally meant to be one chapter but thought they came out shorter as a result, I feel like it works better ;)

So since I drew a complete and total blank with the latest June Prompt I decided to work on this since its long over do and also because it actually FIT the prompt XD Don't you just love it when stuff like that works out?

Disclaimer: Dialogue belongs to Kazuki Takeshashi (The manga was just way better for this particular section. I take no ownership of it)

Yu-Gi-Oh June Prompt Challenge

Week Three: Earth/Day 20: Prophecy


Catalyst: Gathering the Players of Fate

Yami stares at the image of his likeness in the stone tablet like he was seeing a ghost of himself from another plane. Vaguely he heard Anzu's shocked gasp "is that, Yugi?"

He barely heard her.

"This 3,000 year old Pharaoh...there's no doubt about it. This is me!"

Anzu gasped again, probably more shocked than he was. He can't even imagine what she's thinking. His own mind was a labyrinth of questions and overlapping thoughts with no answers but one was clear...the answer to the question that burned in his heart like a flickering ember that refused to burn out. "The soul of the lost king of ancient Egypt, trapped in the millennium puzzle for thousands of years...that is who I am."

He laughed then.

He couldn't help it.

It all sounded so...

So...

He snorted. "After all this time it's no wonder I've forgotten everything."

The humor was small but he needed it now that thousands of more questions with no answers filled his brain but none as disturbing as the other figure carved opposite himself in the stone. "It's him."

There was no mistaking Kaiba's face.

"We've been waiting for you, Yugi."

Yami skin around and immediately recognized the woman from the article Yugi had shown him. The woman in charge of the ancient Egypt exhibit. The person responsible for bringing this tablet, the first clue of his past, the catalyst to finding his lost memory, to Japan.

"I am Ishizu Ishtar. For a thousand years...I have protected a piece of the pharaoh's memories..."

It was then he saw the choker around her neck, or rather the Sennen eye at its heart. A Millennium item.

She continued as though reading his mind. "The Millennium Tauk grants the power to see into the near future. I knew you would visit..." a deliberate pause. Her eyes unflinching. "And I knew that a great battle will soon be waged in this town. I have seen it."

Yami's eyes widened at the words great battle. Something stirred in his chest making his heart pound: Expectation.

The woman nodded. "Yes. You came here yourself. You chose your fate. A fate of fighting...to regain your memory you must gather all seven Millennium items."

"Tell me one thing," Yami stood his ground confronting her. "You hold one of the seven items. So...are you my enemy?"

She shook her head. "It is true that the seven items have an evil intelligence inside them. However," another pause. "My Millennium think is no enemy of yours."

He stared at her. She was hiding something. Something important. He knew it.

A flicker of sadness flashed across her face gone before he could properly decipher it. "The enemy who will soon appear before you..." there was a hitch in her voice. "Is the one who possesses the last millennium item. And this battle..." She turned away making it clear this was all she was allowed to reveal. "Will be a battle to regain your lost memory."

My memory.

Those two words echoed in Yami's mind like a stone dropped down a well.

X X X

"Anzu," the spirit broke the silence that had lingered since they left the museum.

Anzu blinked surprised.

The spirit looked sad and serious and resolved. "My partner doesn't know I came here today. Anzu..." he paused and she could see the struggle in his eyes. "Can you keep a secret?"

He didn't wait for her answer. "Don't tell him about Ishizu or about the stone slab."

"Sure," she said but in her mouth it was a question.

The spirit must've heard it because he continued "he knows what it means if I regain my memory...but I don't think he can accept that yet."

"You're right," Anzu frowned knowing full well just how deeply Yugi's affection for the spirit was. How deeply his loss would affect him. "But there will come a time when he will. Yugi's a tough kid."

"Yes," he agreed and pulled out the deck from Yugi's belt. He stared at it intently and Yugi wondered if he could see, feel the power of it. The power of their unity.

"He and I built this deck together. Half of it is the fruits of his soul. If I keep secrets from him, these cards won't trust me either. But when he understand who I truly am." He held the cards closer, as if to press them to his heart. "This deck will display its true power."

X X X

Seto Kaiba leaned out of his helicopter door, looking for all the world like an untouchable god as he locked eyes, not with Yugi, but the other Yugi who dueled him.

Yugi...I knew you'd come. That single confirmation fired his blood with an excitement so fierce he could almost call it giddy. This battle will be the fight to decide our destiny.

"In one week's time..." he announced to the world. "This town will become Battle City!"

To his absolute delight, the other Yugi didn't even flinch

Observing the whole debacle from the shadows, Bakura shook his head in disgust. "Why does that damn priest always have to make such an annoying spectacle."

He snorted again then smiled. "Oh well," he smiled a toothy smirk his eyes locked on the Pharaoh who met Kaiba's challenge with unflinching grace and resolve. Determination burning all around him in an unstoppable, untouchable flame. A warrior with the heart of a god. A true king.

It set Bakura's blood on fire.

"Now, it can finally begin. And once it does..."

His smirk curled, a delicious, indulgent chuckle that bubbles to a laugh.

Well...

Bakura always was a patient man.

"Battle city, huh?" Marik watches the festivities from the shadows though his Ghouls were already in place. Rushed stood besides them the two of them invisible among the plethora of duelists cheering and stroking Kaiba's ego.

"Yes, Master Marik. It seems duelists from all over the country have gathered already."

Marik listened But his gaze locked on the parasite who still wore the flesh of his one true love, at Kaiba, the arrogant fool who was his sister's champion, though he had no idea what desperation made her choose him. The two who he would need to defeat to claim the title of king, to save his people from darkness and grant them their long denied and well-deserved freedom, to rescue the boy, who in only a short time had stolen his heart, from the devil who had brought this darkness upon them and who did not deserve the being of strength and courage and light and kindness that was Yugi.

He would not fail. "There's nothing more convenient than all your prey gathered in one place."

He would not fail.

It's finally started.

The wheels of fate have been set in motion.

Yes, all the figures who will decide Fate have gathered here.

Eight duelists, seven items, six souls, five gods, three God Cards, three Avatars, three rivals for the King's heart, two in the final fight...

Two rivals for the Rod...

Two fighting for that Boy's soul...

And only one can be chosen king.

That sounds like a children's song.

So, sisters. Have you chosen your Avatars?

Not yet. That's the purpose of all this after all?

A test to see whose worthy of the power of a God.

It is not a decision to make lightly, after all.

Of course not, after all...we're discussing the fate of everything...

Yes, we won't be able to stop that thing without them.


I want to tell you all to pay VERY close attention to the final passage (particularly how each one has a different subtxt ;) )

But that would be telling ;)

NOW WE CAN FINALLY START BATTLE CITY! FINALLY! THIS IS GONNA BE FUN!

MARIK IS GONNA GET SO MUCH CAMERA TIME!