Here's the next chapter.
Enjoy!
Chapter 10- The Millennium Ring
The plane that Heba and the others were on was pretty much flying blind since they had no idea where they were going.
Since the group had decided to met together to try to figure out where to go, Heba had put the plane on autopilot so that the group could discuss what they should do now.
The tigers remained asleep while they were discussing this.
"How are we supposed to find these things? All we know is that those eight items are spread out all over the world. They could be anywhere, and those Zordanians could have destroyed Egypt by the time that we find them!" Bakura said.
Ryou put a hand on Bakura's shoulder. "Calm down, Kura. Getting upset isn't going to help matters." Ryou told him.
"What do we do?" Malik asked from his position in Marik's lap.
Heba was looking through one of the books that Yugi had given them. "You do realize that although these books don't directly tell us where the items are, they do give us clues to each location of them." Heba said.
"It does?" Ryou asked.
Heba nodded. "Yeah. They're spread out all over, so we're just going to go down the list of them." Heba said.
"Okay. What does the first one say?" Atemu asked.
"Well, there's a paragraph about the first one. It says here that we can find the first item in a place that is covered completely in snow. It is on a mountain range with the highest peak in the world. The item can be found in the cave of the great snow beast on that highest point." Heba said.
"Where is that?" Bakura asked.
Seto rolled his eyes. "If you had bothered to do any study when we were learning geography, Bakura, you would know exactly what that is talking about." Seto said.
Atemu raised a hand. "Seto, no condescending remarks in a time like this. We have a lot riding on finding these items, now where exactly is it?" Atemu asked.
"The Himalayan Mountains in Tibet." Yami said before Seto could.
All eyes turned to him.
"What?" Yami asked, confused.
"How the hell did you know that?!" Seto exclaimed.
Yami rolled his eyes. "I'm a year behind all of you, remember. I was on a completely different schedule. I did well in my studies, so I know about that stuff." Yami answered.
"He's' right, though. The highest mountain peak in the world is Mount Everest, which is a part of the Himalayan Mountains." Seto confirmed.
"All right. I'll set the plane to head to the Himalayans." Heba said. He got up and headed back into the cockpit.
"Wonder what it means by the great snow beast." Joey said.
Bakura rolled his eyes. "Please tell me that none of you are crazy enough to believe in that legend!" Bakura said.
"What legend?" Malik asked.
"You don't know?" Atemu asked.
"Até, we're not from this world. We don't know everything that you know about Earth. You're going to have to tell us." Heba said from where he was guiding the plane to the correct course.
"Oh. Sorry." Atemu said.
"What is it?" Ryou asked.
"Bakura's referring to the legend of the Abominable Snowman." Seto said.
"Abominable Snowman? What's that?" Joey asked.
"The legend states that the Abominable Snowman is a creature that is said by Himalayan tribesman to roam the mountains at night searching for victims. It's said to look like a bear, ape, or human. It has fur all over its body. It's called the yeti by the Himalayans. It's also called Sasquatch or Bigfoot." Seto explained.
"Does it exist?" Joey asked.
"Scientists and explores have searched for it, and they have found some evidence that it might exist, but there's nothing conclusive. Most just think that it's a myth, which it probably is." Atemu said.
"Why dismiss it so easily?" Malik asked.
"Because there is no scientific proof that such a thing exists. No one can prove it." Seto said bluntly.
"Just because you can't see something doesn't mean that it doesn't exist." Heba said.
"Name one thing like that?" Seto challenged.
"Air." Heba answered.
"What?" Seto said, incredulous.
"You can't see air, either, but you know that it exists." Heba pointed out.
"That's different." Seto said.
"How?" Heba asked.
"It has been proven." Seto said.
"Maybe, but you can't see it, and you don't really know if it's there or not. You shouldn't be so quick to say that something doesn't exist when you haven't seen something like that." Heba told him as he maneuvered the plane.
"Heba, do you believe in it?" Atemu asked.
"I don't know. I don't know enough about it to formulate an answer to that. I'm just not dismissing it as untrue at the moment." Heba said.
Seto snorted. "Believe what you want, but I don't have any intention of believing something that I can't see." Seto said.
"I will." Heba answered.
Aknankanon sat in the throne room with Amara and all the priests except for Mahado.
"I wonder how the boys are doing." Amara said.
"They haven't been gone that long. We know that this is going to take some time. We've given them a rather difficult mission." Aknankanon said.
"If anyone can pull this off, they can." Isis said.
"Yes. Let us just hope that they find the items in time for us to save the kingdom." Aknaudin said.
"If we win, it won't just be the kingdom that we are saving, brother." Aknankanon said.
"What do you mean, Pharaoh?" Shada asked.
"You read what was in that book Emperor Yugi sent us. That is the only thing we have to go by in this situation, and according to that book, these Zordanians want control of the universe, meaning that all of Earth is in danger as well. Should we end up victorious, we will have saved the entire universe from possible destruction." Aknankanon said.
None of them had thought about that and grew silent as the implications of their defeat finally hit them.
"We cannot afford to lose then." Karim said.
"Indeed." Aknankanon said.
The doors to the throne room were thrown open, and Mahado raced into the room.
"Pharaoh! We have a serious problem!" Mahado said hurriedly, forgetting all formalities.
For Mahado to forget formalities, it had to be serious.
"Mahado, what is it? What has happened?" Aknankanon asked as he stood up, worried that something had happened to one of the towns.
"There have been several towns on the outskirts of the kingdom that have been destroyed. From the few survivors that lived, I think that it might be the Zordanians who have done this." Mahado said.
Aknankanon's expression was grave. He had known that this was coming, but he hated to hear it. "Gather a group of soldiers together. We must be ready." Aknankanon said.
"If those books are true, then it would be pointless to try and fight them." Shada pointed out.
"I know that, Shada, but I can't stay here and do nothing while my people are attacked. I have to do something." Aknankanon said.
"We understand, Pharaoh." Mahado said.
Karim went with Mahado to gather together some soldiers to go against their enemy.
Aknankanon sat back down.
"What are you thinking?" Amara asked.
"I think that it is time to contact Emperor Yugi. I believe that we will need his aid to survive this madness." Aknankanon answered.
The plane finally arrived at the Himalayan Mountains.
Heba landed the plan in a clearing.
"Okay. Before we go out, we need to change." Atemu said.
"Why?" Joey asked.
"Because it is going to be very cold, Puppy. Trust me. If we don't wear something warmer, we are going to regret it." Seto said.
The group changed into long underwear and warm pants. They also put on parkas, gloves, and snowshoes.
"Okay. Now, we can go." Atemu said.
The group got out of the plane along with the tigers.
The moment that their feet hit the snow, they started to sink.
"Man. This is some deep snow." Joey said.
"It usually is. Come on." Bakura said.
The group then started to walk before they stopped.
"Um, where are we going exactly?" Marik asked.
"According to what we learned, we have to go to the highest peak here." Heba said.
"That's Mount Everest." Seto said.
"Where's that?" Ryou asked.
Yami looked up at the different mountain peaks that were around them. He studied each one before he pointed up. "There." Yami said.
The others looked to see that the point that Yami had shown them was rather high.
"We have to climb that!" Joey exclaimed.
"Apparently so." Atemu replied.
"Why didn't you just land the plane up there, Heba?" Joey asked.
"There's no place to land any higher to land, Joey. We're just going to have to do some climbing. It's not going to kill us." Heba said.
"What about us?" Lighteningstar asked.
Heba glanced back. "Sorry, guys, but I think that you're going to have to sit this one out." Heba said.
"We'll look and see if there is another way up." Waterstar said.
"Okay. You can try." Heba agreed.
The group walked to the edge and started to climb up while the tigers started to look around to see if there was another way up.
After a while of climbing, Bakura said, "How much further?"
"Look at it this way." Heba said as he reached up to grab another rock. "We're only about halfway up." Heba said.
"How can this take so long?!" Bakura growled rather loudly.
"Bakura! Stop yelling!" Seto hissed quietly.
"Why?" Bakura demanded loudly again.
The mountain started to shake.
"What the hell is that?!" Joey exclaimed.
"It's an avalanche!" Atemu shouted.
The group watched in horror as huge amounts of snow started to fall down toward them.
"The cave below us!" Heba shouted.
"We can't get there fast enough!" Yami shouted back.
Heba then brought his wings. "We can!" Heba said. He let go and stayed in the air. He grabbed a hold of Atemu and Yami.
Ryou brought out his own wings and grabbed hold of Bakura.
Malik brought out his wings and grabbed Marik by the arm.
Joey brought out his wings and grabbed a hold of Seto.
All four Millennials flew down with their passengers and flew into the cave.
The cave was rather small, and it was a tight fit for all of them, but the group forced themselves in so that no one would get caught in the avalanche.
The roar of the avalanche was loud, and the group was forced to cover their ears as the snow went past them.
Being in the cave was able to protect them enough that they were not caught in the avalanche. They remained squished together as the snow fell down past them until it was gone.
Heba and Joey, who were at the entrance to the cave, peered out and looked up.
"Well, I think that the snow is gone now." Heba said.
"Great. More climbing." Bakura said.
"Not anymore." Heba said.
"Why not?" Atemu asked.
"I think that I speak for everyone when I say that I don't want to take the chance of another avalanche. I think that we'll just fly up there." Heba said.
"That's great!" Bakura shouted.
Atemu and Seto slammed their hands over Bakura's mouth.
"Stop yelling!" Atemu hissed in a low voice.
"We don't need another avalanche." Seto added.
Bakura nodded his head, and the two uncovered Bakura's mouth.
"Come on." Heba said.
The four grabbed the Egyptians and flew up to the top of the mountain.
After landing safely on the ground, the four Millennials hid their wings again.
"Okay. Now what?" Bakura asked as he looked around.
"Well, we have to find a cave." Heba said.
"How are we supposed to find something like that?!" Bakura exclaimed.
"The old fashioned way." Atemu said.
"Looking." Yami added.
"Maybe we should spilt up. We could cover more ground that way." Seto said.
"I'm not sure of splitting up would be such a good idea given the situation that we are in." Atemu said doubtfully.
"Well, we have the communication devices from the Millennial Kingdom. We can keep in constant contact, and we can check in every ten minutes. If someone doesn't answer, everyone else will head over to that area and look for them." Heba said.
"It's a good idea." Marik said.
"All right. We'll split up." Heba agreed.
Heba, Yami, and Atemu would head out in one direction. Seto and Joey would take a different direction than them. Marik and Malik would also go in a completely separate direction. Bakura and Ryou would go off in the last direction.
Mahado and Karim were thrown back into a wall.
The Zordanians had managed to take down many of the soldiers as it was.
"I think that we are in a lot of trouble now." Karim said.
"I know. I think that we are going to need some help." Mahado said.
"But who can we turn to?" Karim asked.
A Zordanian walked up to them. "No one can help you now." a Zordanian said. He raised hiss word to strike them.
Mahado and Karim braced themselves for death.
The clanking sound of metal on metal met the two priests' ears, but they didn't feel the pain of the strike.
The two looked up and saw Yugi was standing in front of them.
Yugi rammed his shoulder into the Zordanian before he turned and kicked the Zordanian in the chest, throwing the Zordanian backwards.
There were other soldiers from the Millennial Kingdom, including the Knights and Dartz.
Yugi glanced back at Karim and Mahado. "Are you both all right?" Yugi asked.
"Yes, Emperor." Mahado said.
"Thank you." Karim added.
"Glad to help." Yugi answered.
The Zordanians decided to leave.
"I don't understand. Why did they run like that?" Mahado asked.
"Let us return to the palace. I will explain it then." Yugi said. He turned to the Knights and said, "Make sure that they are gone for the time being." Yugi said.
"Yes, Emperor." Timaeous said as Critias and Hermos nodded their agreement.
Yugi then headed back for the palace with Karim, Mahado, Dartz, the remaining Egyptian soldiers, and the Millennial soldiers.
After searching for some time, Heba, Atemu, and Yami found a cave.
"Do you think that this is it?" Atemu asked.
Heba looked over the cave. "It's the only one that we have come across. We can check it out." Heba said. He put a hand to the earpiece communicator and said, "Ryou? Joey? Malik? Do you read me?"
"I'm here." Joey said.
"I read you." Ryou said.
"What's going on?"Malik asked.
"I think we might have found the cave. Head over this way." Heba said. He then cut the connection.
"Now what?" Yami asked.
"We wait. We don't know what's going in there, and we need to be together for that." Heba said.
"Heba, do you believe in that Abominable Snowman legend?" Yami asked.
"I don't know yet, but that's not the reason. We don't know what kind of animals are around here, and I don't want to take any chances." Heba said.
The other two nodded, seeing the logic in it.
"Master!"
The three looked over to see the four tigers running up to them.
"Waterstar! You guys found a way up!" Heba exclaimed.
"Yep. There was an easier way." Lighteningstar said.
"Uh oh." Atemu said.
"What?" Heba asked, looking at his husband.
"Bakura's going to be pissed when he finds out that there was an easier way up here." Yami explained."THERE WAS AN EASIER WAY UP HERE!" Bakura shouted.
All three jumped and turned to see a very pissed Bakura.
"YOU MADE US CLIMB UP A MOUNTAIN AND NEARLY GET KILLED BY AN AVALANCHE AND THERE WAS AN EASIER WAY UP HERE THIS WHOLE TIME!" Bakura shouted at the top of his lungs.
"Bakura, we didn't know." Atemu said.
"THAT'S NOT AN EXCUSE!" Bakura yelled.
"Bakura! Calm down! It's done, and there's nothing that we can do." Ryou scolded.
Soon, the others arrived.
"Let's go." Heba said.
The group walked into the cave.
"It's getting kind of dark." Marik said.
"That's why I brought this." Heba said, pulling out a high-powered flashlight and turning it on.
"Wow! That brighter than any flashlight I have ever seen!" Seto said, impressed.
"That's because this is from the Millennial Kingdom. I thought that we could make use of it." Heba answered.
The group continued on.
Waterstar, Lighteningstar, Earthstar, and Windstar all tensed.
"Prince Heba." Windstar said.
"What is it?" Heba asked.
The four tigers, who were in front, stopped and started growling.
"Something is here!" Earthstar growled.
"RRRRROOOOOAAAAARRRRR!"
Something lunged out at them.
"I'm glad that you came to aid us. The treaty between us had not been finalized, so you have no true obligation to aid us." Aknankanon said.
"I'm glad to lend our help. As far as I am concerned, we already have a military alliance." Yugi said.
"Emperor Yugi, why did the Zordanians run like they did?" Mahado asked, curious.
"As you already know, the Zordanians can defeat anyone by channeling their magic to make their attacks more powerful. Well, it takes more magic to defeat us because we are Millennials, and they didn't want to have to use all that magic, at least not now." Yugi said.
"That will help." Amara said.
"Only so much. Once they start using that tactic on us, we're going to be in trouble." Yugi said.
"The extra help is appreciated, though." Aknaudin said.
"Emperor, what now?" Dartz asked.
"Dartz, I'm leaving you in charge of our forces here. You'll plan things with the Pharaoh." Yugi said.
"Are you not staying?" Isis asked.
"He can't remain here, Isis. He has to worry about his kingdom." Aknankanon said.
"If my aid is needed, I will come, but for now, I will leave things in Dartz's hands." Yugi said.
Aknankanon nodded his understanding.
Heba and the others moved back as the creature went at them.
The creature had reddish hair as well as some black.
"What is that?!" Seto exclaimed.
"I believe that you call it the Abominable Snowman." Heba answered.
The Abominable Snowman lunged forward, but Waterstar launched himself at it. He latched his teeth into the Abominable Snowman. The beast roared in pain and swung his arm around, but Waterstar kept his grip.
Lighteningstar jumped at the beast from behind and dug his claws into the beast's back before latching onto its neck.
Earthstar lunged at it and bit into the beast's leg.
Windstar jumped at it and latched onto the other arm.
"They've got him!" Joey shouted.
Unrepentantly, the Abominable Snowman threw the four tigers off of him and into the cave wall.
"Or not." Marik said.
Heba pulled out his sword and went forward.
"Heba!" Atemu exclaimed.
The Abominable Snowman turned his attention to Heba. He went at Heba. Heba ducked as the beast struck out with his claws, and Heba went forward at the beast. He brought his sword across, but barely nicked the beast. The beast swung out an arm and hit Heba, slamming Heba into the cave wall.
"Master!" Waterstar shouted, running in front of Heba.
Suddenly, the beast stopped before dropping to its knees.
"Uh, what's going on?" Marik asked.
"No idea." Joey said, his hand on the hilt of his sword.
"Forgive me, Prince. I was not aware that it was you." the beast said.
Bea blinked. "What?" Heba asked.
"I did not realize that you were a Prince of the Millennial Kingdom. You are, aren't you?" the beast asked.
Heba stood up. "Yes. I am Prince Heba. Why?" Heba asked.
"I am known as Kayuk. Emperor Strata gave me one of the Millennium items, giving me order to protect it." Kayuk answered.
"So, you're from the Millennial Kingdom?" Heba asked.
"Yes." Kayuk said, standing up.
"Where is the item?" Atemu asked.
Kayuk looked uneasily at them.
"They are with me. We need that item. The Zordanians have returned. We need the power of the items to save everything." Heba explained.
"I see. I will be right back." Kayuk said before going further into the cave.
"Can we trust him or it?" Marik asked.
"I don't see where we have a choice." Bakura replied.
Soon, Kayuk returned. "Here." Kayuk said, handing Heba the gold box.
"Thanks you." Heba said.
"Of course. I wish you well in your battle against the Zordanians." Kayuk said.
"Can I ask you something?" Seto asked.
"What's that?" Kayuk asked.
"Are you really the abominable snowman?" Seto asked.
Kayuk growled. "I hate that name! I wish that these people hadn't named me that!" Kayuk growled.
"Sorry." Seto said.
"No worries. I am that creature, but keep that to yourself. I don't want people to come here hunting me." Kayuk said.
"We will." Heba said.
The group then left the cave.
"Can we take the easy way down this time?" Marik asked.
"I agree." Heba said.
The group then headed down the path that the tigers had taken to get to the top.
Once at the bottom, the group headed back into the plane.
All of them changed into their normal clothing.
"Okay. So, what's in this box?" Bakura asked.
Heba had set the box on the table in the plane.
"We can find out now." Marik said.
Heba unlocked the box and opened it to reveal the Millennium Ring.
"Which one is this?" Seto asked.
Ryou got out the book and opened it. "It's called the Millennium Ring. It's the one that can sense good and evil around them." Ryou said.
"So, how do we use it?" Bakura asked.
"It says here that it chooses it's owner. Only that person can use the power of the ring." Ryou said.
"How do we know who the owner is?" Atemu asked.
"It says that the ring will glow when its true owner touches it." Ryou said, reaching from the book.
"That could be just about anyone in the world." Seto said.
"Well, we have to figure out a way to find the owner. Without that person, we may never be able to defeat these Zordanians." Yami said.
"What do you expect? That someone will pick up the ring and it starts to glow?" Bakura asked as he picked up the ring to prove his point.
The Millennium Ring started to glow.
"Actually, yes." Atemu said, smirking.
"No way! How could that have happened?!" Bakura exclaimed.
"It chooses its owner, Bakura. It means that it chose you to be its owner." Heba said.
"I don't know the first thing about it, though." Bakura said.
"You can learn, though. You've never had a problem with learning something new." Ryou said.
"Maybe, but this is a little different." Bakura said.
"Bakura, the fate of the world is relying on this." Atemu said.
"Fine." Bakura said as he put the ring around his neck.
"Good. Now that that's settled, I think that we had better get going." Heba said.
Heba and Ryou got into the pilot and copilot's seats so that they could fly the plane out of there.
Everyone else sat won in a seat and buckled up.
Heba then started the plane, and the plane started to lift off the ground.
Once at a steady altitude, Heba flew the plane away from the Himalayan mountains.
The group had managed to find the first of the Millennium items, but they still had to find seven more items. Their adventure had only begun.
Hope you liked it. The information I found on the Himalayas and the Abominable Snowmen was from the Grolier Encyclopedia set I have at home. It's an older version, so I don't know if the information has changed.
Next: The Millennium Necklace.
R&R.