Chapter 6

I suppose I should start putting in some disclaimers here.

I do not own any of this stuff. All I own is my OC, and some ideas, but the concept of yu-gi-oh is not mine.

For the next couple of weeks, all was well. For Kim, she now had a new walking companion to and from school. Ryou was always eager to update their Role playing games, and when they weren't doing homework, they would make a story or continue on with existing ones.

However, soon, a new fad came to the school. Duel Monsters was beginning to be a big hit amongst the students. Yugi already loved the game, and it seemed that since his duel with Kaiba nearly two months ago, the students were picking it up more and more.

Yugi was actually quite happy, as it gave him more playing time with his friends. And Jounouchi had picked up the game as well, so Yugi was teaching him how to play.

"I attack with rock ogre grotto." Jounouchi said with a pretty smug smirk plastered on his face

"Ok, well I'll use the spell card wind of the Gods, this holy erode will turn your Ogre to dust. I win." Anzu countered.

"ugh, Yugi, why do I always lose?!" Jounouchi said in frustration.

"Well, show me your deck." Yugi said to him, and Jounouchi proudly put his deck into Yugi's hands. Yugi shifted through them, "Um...all fourty cards are monsters." he said.

"Yup, I found all of the strongest monsters and put them in my deck."

"But Jounouchi, the best strategy is to combine monster and spell cards" Yugi explained "Your opponent will be able to easily dodge all of your attacks or take you down if you don't have any spells or traps to back you up."

"alright Yugi! You gotta train me to be better!" Jounouchi said grabbing his friend by his shoulders.

"Ok, you can come to my place later on, and we can set you up with a better deck."

Kim looked to Ryou,

"Man, Jounouchi is really getting into this."

"It still sounds like pretty fun though." Ryou said in his soft voice. "It's a strategy game with monsters and all of these spells so that way you can win. In a way it's like our RPG's."

"Yeah, I guess I see what you're saying." Kim said nodding. Over the past few weeks, she found that Ryou had enjoyed strategy games just as much as role playing. They had played a little bit of chess in between classes, and also battleship one night when Ryou's internet had crashed. Ryou had won most rounds against Kim, prompting her to get better. She figured he was being polite the very few times she won.

"so, want to go with Yugi to his shop and look for cards then?" She asked him,

"yeah, maybe." he agreed. "But just for a little bit after school,"

"Ok." she said with a nod.

So after school, the two followed the rest of the gang to Yugi's house, so that way they could look at cards.

"Hey Yugi, what type of monsters are in duel monsters?" Kim asked,

"well, there's lots of mythological, fantasy, and supernatural type creatures. Such as dragons, elves, vampire, zombies, ghosts and magicians." Yugi said to her, "And there's so much more, it's almost difficult what all to name."

"Wow, cool." Ryou said, his interest had sparked when Yugi had said there were supernatural creatures in Duel Monsters.

The four soon reached the shop,

"Hi Grandpa, I'm home." Yugi said to the elder gentleman.
"well hello Yugi, you brought some friends over, will they be watching the duel monsters finals tonight?"

"Heck yeah I will be!" Jounouchi said

"erm. No, I must get back soon. I just wanted to check out some cards that you have." Ryou said with a polite smile.

"Sure thing, come on back." he invited them in, and Kim and Ryou went to the counter to look.

"Jeez Yugi, you weren't kidding" Kim said as she examined card after card. There really were too many monsters to name. But she was intrigued by the spell and trap cards as well. More than anything, Kim liked to spring surprises on people, or catch them off guard. As she was sifting through some cards, she spotted a blue creature near another pile. Carefully, she set the pile she was looking at down, and reached over for the card.

The card had a picture of a blue bald elf, carrying a broken doll, and clad in some type of armor.

"Dark Necrofear..." Kim said softly, her eyes glued to the character on the card. Time seemed to stand still and her heart drummed in her ears as she stared down at the card.

"yo, Kim, you found something you like?" Jounouchi asked, prodding her shoulder. Kim shook herself out of it and nodded

"Yeah, I think so." she said and set a small pile of cards down on the counter, Dark Necrofear included. "I'll get these."

"alright, very well." Mr. Muto said, and he rung up her total before putting them in a bag carefully.

Soon after, Ryou had what they wanted, and left the shop. As they were exiting the door, Kim heard Mr. Muto tell Yugi that a package had come for him.

"Huh, there's no return address." Yugi had said, but the door closed before Kim could hear anymore.

"well, cool, we're on our way to making our own decks." Kim said as she and Ryou stepped into his apartment. Ryou nodded and they sat at the coffee table to show one another their cards.

"and here is the last one." Kim said as she showed Ryou Dark Necrofear. Ryou blinked at the card before he reached out to take it. Once his fingers touched the card, a chill went down the boys spine. His breath caught in his throat, as if he had been punched in the gut. Sweat beaded at his forehead and his body felt cold.

"I-I'll be right back." he managed to gasp out to his friend. Kim blinked at his strange reaction but managed to say "ok." before Ryou disappeared around the corner and fled to his room.

He gasped for air and gripped his chest, as his heart hammered painfully against it. For a moment, he felt he might retch, and he went over to retrieve the trash can next to his desk, so that way it wouldn't spill on the carpet.
There was a mirror hanging on the wall in front of his desk, Ryou hung it up there because his desk held all his books and school supplies, and he liked to make sure he looked presentable before going to school.

As he glanced at the mirror briefly, he saw something in his facial features. Cold brown eyes looked back at him, and a fierce frown was fixed on the brow, his thin lips curled in fury.

"she has it!" a voice said in his head.

Ryou quickly looked away from the mirror and collapsed on the floor, shaking and clawing the carpet just to make sure he was still there.

"I don't have it on, you're not here anymore. We destroyed you." he whispered frantically to himself. We buried you in Monster World!"

"Ryou?" Kim knocked on his door. "Ryou, your phone is ringing."

Ryou took a deep breath, steadying his trembling body.

"thanks Kim!" he looked at his mirror once more. A pale confused face stared right back at him. Shaking his head, he made his way back to the door, now hearing the telephone ringing insistently."I didn't even hear it." he said as he opened the door.

"Um, I figured..." Kim began to hand him the phone, but it stopped ringing.

"If it's important I'm sure they'll call back." he said dismissively.

(+_+_+_+)

The next morning, Ryou and Kim were a little early to class, but it seemed that Yugi, Jounouchi, Anzu, and Honda were as well.

"good morning everybody." Ryou greeted cheerfully. Because of his episode last night, he was trying to keep a positive feeling. Kim followed suit, greeting her friends with a smile. However, everybody just looked back at the two with glum expressions.

"what's wrong?" Kim asked as they walked towards Yugi, who's gaze was fixated on some electronic.

"wow, what are you watching?" Ryou asked, bending down to look. Kim looked over his shoulder to see Mr. Muto?

"Oh hey, good morning Bakura and Kim."

"H-he actually talked to me." he said with a gulp, "Is this a video phone?"

"No. My grandpa is stuck in this." Yugi replied.

"Huh?" Kim and Ryou said in unison.

"It's hard to believe, but Yugi lost a game to some guy in a TV." Jounouchi said "He had a millennium item and managed to trap Yugi's grandpa in there."

"A millennium item." Ryou said frowning. He recalled what had happened to him last night, and wondered if it was the millennium ring's doing? After Kim had gone home, he had wrapped it in several handkerchiefs and hid it.

"I don't know what I'd do if I can't beat Pegasus." Yugi said miserably.

"Hey now Yugi, don't worry about me. I'm fine, there's no use in being depressed."

"Yeah, your grandpa is right" Jounouchi told Yugi. "brooding over it won't do a thing."

"Well, I guess I'm ok, but the other me isn't." Yugi said.

"The other you? Have you found a way to talk to him?" Anzu asked,

"well, no. Not with words" Yugi said after a long moment "But if I close my eyes, it's like I can sense what he's feeling." he explained.

"oh, so he's pretty depressed?"

"Yeah, I think he feels bad for losing to Pegasus."
the whole group was silent for a long moment as they processed this. Kim was beginning to feel weirded out by these stories of millennium items. And Ryou was trying to sort out Yugi's word with his connection to his other the silence didn't last long as Jounouchi grabbed the millennium puzzle and began shouting at it

"Hey! Other Yugi! Cheer up!" Yugi looked down at Jounouchi quite startled with his shouting

"In any case." Jounouchi said once he was done shouting at the puzzle, "If we want to beat Pegasus, we have to go to his kingdom."

"What Kingdom?" Ryou asked.

"Duelist Kingdom." Yugi explained "That's where they said they'd crown the king of Duel Monsters"

"And you said he had a millennium item?"

"yeah, he gouged out his eye so he could have it!" Jounouchi said pointing to his eye.

"I wonder if you go, if maybe you'll find the secrets to these millennium items." Ryou said, then reached into his bag, pulling out the millennium ring by its rope. Instantly, everybody recoiled in shock and horror at seeing Ryou carrying it.

"You still carry that?" Honda cried.

"put that away!" Jounouchi said

"It's ok, as long as I just hold it, it's harmless." Ryou assured them. "My father bought it at an antique shop, but as you know, there's another personality in it. Like Yugi's puzzle. I want to learn the secrets to them. I want to know where they come from, who made them, and what their purpose is. I bet Pegasus knows."

"Um, excuse me." Yugi said standing, "But...I guess I want to be alone."

"oh, ok Yugi." Anzu said gently, smiling a little at the group, he left the class and went out to be by himself.

"Jeez, what a mess." Jounouchi sighed, he and Honda went to go sit at their desks with Anzu and discuss what had happened the previous night. Ordinarily, Kim would've liked to listen in, as she was still a little confused as to what was going on. But, she felt something was troubling Ryou.

"Ryou?" she asked looking over at him, he was staring at the ring, but when he heard Kim address him, he looked up.

"Kim, is it...odd that I want to know the answers?"

"No of course not" she assured him "I'm curious as well..."

"It's not like that." he stuffed the ring back into his bag. "It's just...I want to know if maybe there's a way to control it, or at least know the origins so I can understand my millennium ring better."

"I know Ryou, and there is nothing wrong with it." Kim's hand reached for Ryou's, but she paused and lowered her hand back down to her side. "It's like you said, Pegasus might have more answers about the items than we do. We have to start somewhere."

"Then, are you coming to this kingdom too?" he asked, looking at her hopefully. Kim smiled.

"I wouldn't miss it." she said, but there was a pause at the end of her sentence.

"But?" Ryou prompted, and she sighed.

Kim wanted to go so she could cheer Yugi on in this tournament. He needed some support. But, she was also interested in the millennium items. Especially the millennium ring. Ever since she and Ryou had become friends, she had been dreaming about it. She dreamed that she was carrying it whilst running through a desert. She would pant and struggle with her footing as she ran as fast as she could. But that was all. She'd would wake up feeling physically exhausted and couldn't help but think, that someone was waiting for her. Which for the first few nights, she decided it was just Ryou, as she woke up late, and that he would be waiting at the train station.

But after she began waking around two or three in the morning, she realized that the feeling of keeping someone late, was something that lingered from her dream.

"But, I don't know, my reasons are like yours. I just want to learn more about the items rather than watch a bunch of people duel one another." she looked over at her friend "does that make me a terrible friend?"

Ryou smiled at her, "Of course not."

(+_+_+_+)

The following day was a Saturday, so that meant no school. Yugi had called everybody to his apartment. somebody had left another package at his house. it was a pile of cards, but each of them had a picture as well as instructions on it.
One was a picture of a ship, which meant that Yugi was to be at the pier by nine p.m. so he could get to Duelist Kingdom. The other was an island, showing that was where the tournament would be held. Another had a picture of a red glove, which meant each duelist had to wear it, and have at least one star chip that came with the glove, the idea was to gamble your chips until they gathered ten to get into the final stages.

Two more cards showed the prizes, a large sum of money, but the last card remained blank.
"It must be a secret prize." Yugi concluded.

"Well enough with these cards, let's watch the video that came to Jounouchi." Anzu said.

"oh, right." Jounouchi had been so absorbed with the cards he almost forgot. Earlier that day, a video tape had been delivered to him, and his dad had destroyed their video player, so he brought it over to see if he could watch it with Yugi's.

The group held their breaths, worried that it might be something from Pegasus. As the static cleared, they saw a young girl with reddish brown hair, and brown eyes.
"Hey big brother." the girl said, smiling into the camera. "I just wanted to see how you were doing, and wanted you to see my face. I had been hoping that maybe I would see yours...one last time." she smiled sadly, "But we live so far away, and you're really busy."

Everybody looked at Jounouchi, who's face had gone white, and he looked almost terrified.

"well, that's all for now. Take care of yourself big brother." she said waving, and then the t.v. went back to static.

"Um, Jounouchi?" Kim asked, reaching out and touching his shoulder gently "was that your little sister?"

"My parents split up, almost six years ago." the blonde finally mumbled. Kim's eyes widened. In a vague memory, she remembered a little girl with the same hair color with Jounouchi when she was younger. She remembered how sad Jounouchi seemed for a long time, and he soon turned into a bit of a punk shortly after. This must've been when his parents split.

"But, my sister has had a condition ever since she was born, and the doctors say she'll go blind soon enough. She said in the video "one last time" so that must mean, that the time has finally come. But there are treatments that would (give her at least a fifty percent chance!" he gripped his fists "But there's no way we can get that money. I'm her big brother, and I can't do anything."

"Jounouchi." Yugi stood, his voice seemed deeper, and he gripped the others shoulder. "cheer up." he grinned "remember this card?" he held up the card with the picture of the treasure on it. "Don't give up. these star chips are proof that you're a duelist. so take one of mine." he offered him one of the star chips. "Let's go to this island, and fight together to save Grandpa, and your sister.

Ok, don't get used to updates like these. I'm beginning school tomorrow, so I imagine I won't be having a lot of time.

I hope you enjoyed this, thank you for reading!

DSSM