Here's the start of the Duelist Kingdom Arc~! This chapter was written by me with some editing done by Renagade :) hope you enjoy soon thing will really start picking up and focusing more on Ryo as a main character.
Also a note. I prefer using the name Ryo and Renagade prefers Ryou just to be clear if the switching between chapters gets annoying or confusing let me know.
Renagade's DeviantArt account: RenagadeRexRider .Deviantart .com
Renagade: Thief Bakura
Miss-DNL: Ryo, Yugi, Yami, Honda, Anzu, Grandpa, Jonouchi & Pegasus
Chapter 6: A new Enemy: The Shadow Eye
The laughter seemed to fade from Ryo's mind as he stood by his work desk. For a moment Ryo thought the Ring was empty, no spirits dwelling inside it just a normal piece of flashy jewelry. Ryo was almost about to leave back for his room when a deep chuckle broke the silence causing him to freeze up again. "Back are we?" A voice said, emanating from the ancient artifact which now seemed heavier around his neck, weighted with the knowledge that he knew a spirit was in there.
Ryo shivered from the sensation of the link; it had been a while since a spirit had talked to him through a link, "Akefia...?" He asked slightly hopefully. It sure sounded like the gruff voice of the thief, which was very different from the cold smooth voice of the yami, but he wanted to be sure.
Hearing his uncertain but hopeful tone caused the thief to chuckle lightly, "Hahaha, the one and only~." He answered causing Ryo to release his worry allowing him to relax in the confirmation. Smiling teasingly despite Ryo still being unable to see him, Akefia regards Ryo, "I must say..."He started slowly, "I knew you had fight in you... but that?" He chuckled slightly sounding a bit impressed he continued, "That surprised me. Well done."
'Ah okay...' Ryo said through the link upon hearing it was indeed the thief. He then blinked and then sheepishly began rubbing his neck, he didn't get praised often, 'I surprised myself to be honest. I don't know where I learned to fight like that...' The white haired boy tilted his head realizing how strange that moment really was. He'd never been able to fight before which is what allowed him to get picked on easily. Finding it unimportant and leaving it marked as a heat of the moment thing, Ryo moves on, 'What happened after he lost? The Ring didn't do anything strange afterwards.' He asked as he sat at his work desk.
The Thief King smirked from within the Ring, "Who knows..." He said slightly to himself in regards to Ryo fighting the fragment. Moving on to his new question he looks off to the darker corners of the Ring and huffs out of irritation, "I'm not sure... I haven't felt his presence around since he lost." He answered flatly not really caring about what happened to the Yami.
'Well can't say that's not a good thing.' Ryo shrugged, it wasn't a big concern of his either. If he was gone that was good for the both of them really, no downside really. Looking to his work desk Ryo frowned feeling a bit guilty, 'Sorry, I would have put the Ring back on sooner if I knew you were still around but it wasn't doing anything weird so I didn't know. Are you free from the binds now?' He asked a bit curiously, looking up a bit like he'd see the spirit.
"No...I'm not... still bound I'm afraid..."Akefia replied before frowning, confused by Ryo's regret for not putting the Ring on sooner. Why should he care? The item nearly ruined his life it's perfectly understandable he didn't want to put it back on. "Why did you bother?"
'Oh I see...' Ryo thought still feeling sad for the spirit. Hearing the Thief King's question the boy hums thoughtfully, 'Bother with what? Putting the Ring back on?' He asked slightly confused, the spirit grunted in response telling him he was correct. Ryo leaned back in his chair rubbing his neck, 'Well, if you hadn't helped me we might not have made it out of the Shadow Game. So I should at least check if you're still in the Ring.' He answered normally like it was the natural thing to do.
Akefia goes quiet for a long while taking in the boy's clearly honest answer before letting out an indifferent huff, "Hmph... You do know it was simply just to get back at that bastard." He said flatly wishing he could cross his arms at the moment.
In response to this Ryo laughs a little, 'That's fine with me.'
The Thief King chuckles giving a slightly amused smirk at how easily the boy was okay with what he had said, "Heheh... just so we were clear..." His tone evened out as he continued on, "Regardless... I suppose things patched over well with your friends then?" He asked shifting a bit in his binds.
Ryo nodded, 'With Yugi and the gang yeah, now that they understood what was going on.' He brightened a bit as he once more felt the relief of everything being over return to him again, 'Everyone that was sealed in the figures has been released as you said they would. Luckily they don't remember how it happened, even the teacher doesn't remember.' His expression dropped a bit and Ryo let out a slight sigh, 'People are still wary of me but things have calmed since Yugi and the others 'survived' coming over.'
The Thief King smirks and tries to shift in his binds, the ring twitching in response, "Well then, everything worked in both our favors..." He said before glancing off and thinking to himself, 'For now...'
His host smiles, 'Yeah, it was good to have some peace and not feel like he was watching everything I did.' Ryo replied, getting up and heading into his room looking for something to do thinking to himself, 'What to do now...' He brightens getting an idea, "I wonder if Yugi still watching the Duel Monster's tournament with the others." Ryo grabs his coat, as it's getting late in the day, and slipped the Ring under his shirt and heads to the door, "I hope I can catch them at his place."
Akefia chuckles at his eagerness to go meet up with his friends, "Yeah... you do that." The King of Thieves smirked darkly keeping his next thoughts to himself, 'So then I can better oversee HIM as well...' He said mentally growling 'Him'.
Heading out of the apartment complex Ryo walks briskly through the still busy city of Domino to Yugi's home which doubled as a game shop called the 'Kame Game Store'. Heading inside Ryo catches Yugi's Grandpa as he entered the store, who stood with a package in his hand. A quick greeting passed between them and the two proceeded inside to the house part of the building.
In the living room with his friends Yugi blinked his big violet eyes seeing someone come in with his grandfather. Seeing it was Ryo he brightens happy to see his friend, "Oh hey Bakura!" He called happily, waving a warm greeting to him, getting a polite wave back. He looked to the television in front of him, "You just missed the match." He said pointing to the screen.
Looking at the TV screen that was now showing a commercial Ryo's sighed disappointedly, his homework had held him up longer than he had thought. Letting that go he looked back to his friend, "Oh...so who won?"
"Insector Haga." Yugi answered normally.
Sitting down with them Ryo hums, "I expected as much...Ryuzaki is too forward to beat him." Yugi nodded in agreement, he had said as much earlier to Jonouchi.
Jonouchi who was sitting next to Yugi blinked in surprise, it sounded like Ryo played the game himself. "You play Duel Monsters?" He asked, Ryo didn't look like the type who played card games. He had been surprised when he found out he played Monster World.
Shaking his head Ryo waved it away, slightly disappointing Jonouchi who had hoped for a new friend to duel, "I know the rules and some tricks but I'm not good myself. I haven't really worked on my deck that much." He answered looking at his two friends who he knew dueled, Yugi being pretty good at it.
Yugi glanced past Ryo and took notice of the package in his Grandpa's hands, "Hey what's that?" He asked getting up to get it when his Grandpa motioned for him to come get it.
Holding it out to him his Grandpa looked at it a bit unsurely, "I'm not sure but it's for you."
Knitting his brows Yugi tries to figure out who would send him something, "Huh, wonder what it is..." He said to himself as he sat down to open it.
Within the Ring, Akefia blinks having listened to Ryo's conversation with Jonouchi 'Duel Monsters?' He thought curiously causing him to pay little mind to the package Yugi was working on opening.
Hearing that Ryo did in fact have a deck Jonouchi grins, "Wanna duel with me?"
Ryo sweat drops nervously at his blond friend's challenge not seeming the least bit up to taking it, "Don't have my deck with me. Besides like I said I'm not that good..." He said warily looking away from him.
Jonouchi gives him a look, not approving of his meek behavior when he had seen him fight back during the Shadow Game against his oppressive Yami, "You sell yourself short Bakura." He said simply, then smiles encouragingly to him, "How about we duel once doing school sometime?"
Seeing the smile Ryo nods slowly still seeming unsure but nods nonetheless, "Alright, once couldn't hurt, I guess..."
Even though he was still uneasy Jonouchi continues to smile and give Ryo a good pat on the back, "There you go!" He exclaimed getting a happy laugh from his timid friend.
"A glove and a videotape?" Yugi said suddenly, catching the attention of his friends. He picked the tape up out of the packing peanuts blinking confusedly he looks it over seeing no label of any sort on it.
"Put it in." Anzu said as she sat next to the TV and points to the VCR on the shelf just below it. Yugi nods and puts the videotape into the slot letting it begin to play.
Akefia was keeping an eye on the puzzle as Ryou talks to his friend, having grown bored with the conversation when he feels a distinct shudder go through him, '...What was that?'
A man with silver white hair wearing a high class red suit appears on screen giving a friendly wave at the people watching the video, "Greetings Yugi-boy!" He greeting with a big cheery smile on his face.
Recognizing the man as the host of the previous tournament Yugi gasped in surprise, "Its Maximillion Pegasus the guy that created duel monsters!" He exclaimed, immediately catching Ryo's attention who then looked at the man in intrigued surprise.
Pegasus held up a hand as if to stop them from chatting about his surprise appearance, "I hope you're not too surprised. I just wanted to send this video-letter to the new champion!" He clapped his congratulations on the screen making Yugi look a bit shy, "You did defeat Kaiba-boy after all great job!" Pegasus cheered before looking more serious and pulling out a Duel Monster's deck, "But let's get down to business shall we? I challenge you to a duel with this recording." The man said with a slight smirk playing on his lips.
Yugi's Grandfather who stood at the back of the group looked baffled by the strange challenge, "But how? There's no way of dueling with a recording!"
Yugi's best friend Jonouchi looked confused as well and turned to him, "You gonna do it Yugi?"
Looking determined Yugi pulled his deck out of his deck case and placed it on the ground moving to sit in front of the TV to meet his challenger, "I won't turn down a challenge!" He declared proudly.
Ryo looks at the man on the screen, blinking puzzled, 'Such an odd challenge...' He thought to himself wondering how this would turn out, if it went anywhere at all.
Akefia looked at the video curiously as well as confused having never seen a TV before nor even knew what a videotape was either; despite this it seemed just as impossible and strange to him as it did to everyone else in the room. "How in the hell...? What is this?" He asked in a blunt confusion as he continued to watch.
Starting the duel Yugi looked his hand over weighing his options of his first summon before placing a card down, "I play Devil Dragon in attack mode!" He declared playing the dark dragon monster, "I end my turn."
Pegasus with his eyes closed humming as if in thought before speaking, "Let me guess...Devil Dragon right?" He guessed opening his eyes with a knowing look on his face.
Yugi stared in complete shock, how could he have knowing that through a video, "What!?" He gasped not knowing what else to say.
His blond friend was just as flabbergasted at him and stared at the TV screen, "How'd he do that!? It's just a recording!?" He exclaimed in sheer confusion.
Pegasus chucked slightly as if seeing their confusion through the television screen at the present time, "Oh Yugi-boy, I knew you were going to play that card, I even know what's in your hand! You were going fuse the dragon with your knight to increase your attacking power on your next turn am I right?" Yugi is left completely stunned silent making Pegasus laugh lightly, "Well, I can't let you do that can I? I'll remove your Devil Dragon with this dragon capture jar." Pegasus said as he placed the card on the table that was in front of him on the video. The tan jar appears and the Devil Dragon card turns to mist floating into the screen into the jar that eyes lit up a ruby red. "Your Devil Dragon is sealed!" Pegasus proclaimed with an enthusiastic wave of his arm.
Ryo's eyes widen in sudden realization and he stifled a gasp that wanted to work its way out of his throat, 'This isn't just a game...' He thought as he began to feel a familiar dark sensation form around him and the room.
Akefia growls coming to the same conclusion as his host, "This is indeed a shadow game... I knew I felt something off..." He said keeping his eyes locked with the one visible eye of Pegasus.
Gulping, Ryo feels a shudder go through him realizing what could happen at the end of the game, 'I have a bad feeling about this...' He though cautiously before the Puzzle's eye lit up, signaling Yugi's spirit switching places with him.
"If this is a Shadow Game, then I'm your opponent!" The spirit of the Puzzle stated firmly. Pegasus remains calm chuckling to himself appearing to have expected the spirit to show up. Thus the duel goes on and Pegasus manages to stop every plan Yami Yugi sets up, soon reducing his life points to 1300. Looking frustrated and confused the yami watches as another monster of his vanishes, 'How, how does he know my every plan!?' He thought beginning to feel a bit discouraged by his repeated failures.
Pegasus looked out at him through the television while smirking, looking ever knowing of his thoughts, "I understand you're shocked, but this is reality. You can't beat me." He stated as if it was a cold fact of life.
The spirit of the puzzle looks momentarily surprised at his thoughts being read; now frustrated, he lets out a frustrated growl, "Urgh..." He gripped the carpet trying get a hold of himself.
Seeing his uncharacteristic frustrations Anzu yelled out in worry, "Yugi!"
"Hang on man!" Jonouchi turned to his white haired friend, worry barely hidden in his expression, "Ryo, you had one of those items. Can you see what he sees? Is this another Shadow Game for real!?" He asked hopping it wasn't actually a dreaded game of darkness even though his instincts were saying it was.
Ryo looks to the TV seeing Pegasus's monsters floating near him looking pretty real, "I'm afraid so..." He said grimily. Ryo shifted as Jonouchi said 'had one of those items' knowing he's very well wearing the Ring beneath his shirt.
Pegasus, still appearing very calm with the situation hums, "I think it's time I tell you the other reason I challenged you. It wasn't just for fun." He waved that notion away as if it was foolish, "Listen here Yugi-boy! If you lose you must join the tournament my company Industrial Illusions is holding!" He declared pointing to him, "That event will determine the true Duel Monster's champion-the King of Games! I wanted Kaiba-boy to join to but...too bad I hear he's not going to recover..." Pegasus gave Yami Yugi a knowing look before suddenly brightening right back up again, "Of course the winner will get a LARGE sum of money and something even more valuable!"
Ryo sweat drops seeing his rather…odd behavior, 'For someone with dark power...he's certainly odd...'
Underneath Ryo's shirt, the millennium Ring begins reacting slowly, its power just beginning to return. Noticing this Akefia's expression turned perplexed, "What the hell? It's trying to react? But then... that means..." He looked up at the screen wide eyed; there was only one explanation, "That man has a Millennium Item!"
The sudden revelation made Ryo gasp aloud, 'There are more of these things!?' He asked through the link to Akefia. He had hopped there were only two of the items, his Ring and the Puzzle. It looked like there were more now, sadly. He turned to Yami Yugi and warned his friend, "Yugi that man has a Millennium Item!"
Alarmed the spirit snaps his head to Ryo then back to Pegasus trying to figure out where the item was. He couldn't see the item but he trusted Ryo's sudden declaration. Pegasus, for a moment, looks surprised then smiles placidly only a moment later; Ryo shivers slightly feeling the sensation of being watched. It was like something was creeping over his back.
"Indeed I do Bakura-boy," Pegasus said suddenly startling Ryo when he suddenly said his name. The man pushes his long silver hair back revealing a golden eye in the place where his second eye should be, "I possess the Millennium Eye." The foreigner smirked darkly before continuing, "I must say it's been awhile since I've seen two items in one place." He said smoothly blowing the cover of what Ryo had been trying to hide from his friends.
Ryo let out a small 'Eep' before sweat dropping as everyone turns to him with a questioning look on their faces.
"You're wearing the Ring aren't you?!" Honda interrogated sternly.
Having no way out of this Ryo sighs and pulls the Ring out from under his shirt showing it to everyone, "Yes, but relax the evil spirit not in it anymore. I'm fine." He reassured to the others. His friends looked wary but accepted it since there was a bigger problem at the time for them to worry about. This let Ryo calm a bit, he had been worried about their reaction if they found out he was wearing it. They had taken it rather well though, which was a relief.
Recognizing the particular item Pegasus smiles faintly in an almost nostalgic way, "It's been awhile since I've seen the Ring, the Tomb Keepers finally let it go? Anyhow," He said calmly as he moved on, "as with both of your items, mine has its own power. It allows me to read minds." He gives Yami Yugi a dark knowing smirk, "So you see I wasn't lying. No matter what you do I'll always know and as the creator of the game I will know how to stop it."
The Spirit grits his teeth realizing the disadvantage he was at, "Enough talk Pegasus and get back to the game." He said continuing the game as he plays a monster face down without looking at what it was.
'Hmm, interesting letting his instincts choose for him.' Pegasus thought smiling, totally at ease with his opponent's new strategy, "Your right I should stop talking. This is timed after all." He indicates to a timer up at the top of the screen with his pointer finger. His tone seemed to freeze over with dark warning, "If you don't beat me by the time the tape on this video runs out. I'll take something precious from you, Yugi-boy."
Ryo stiffened catching the American's meaning, 'He's going to take someone's soul!'
The Thief narrows his eyes mentally looking out at Pegasus, "Very perceptive... And it can be any one of them... or you."
Hearing that Ryo gets a cold chill down his spine but glances at the others looking very worried for them, 'I know but I get the feeling it'll be someone closer to him...'
The duel goes on Yami Yugi striking back once but the duel goes on remaining close. Nearing the limit, Yami Yugi summons the fiend Summoned Skull to destroy Pegasus's Faceless Mage… but the final attack fell short as the clock stopped. Yami losing the duel by mere 100 points. Pegasus held his forehead with his hand appearing to be relieved, "Oh! That was close! If that attack had hit I would have lost!" He drops his façade and a creepy smile draws out his lips, "Or would I? He questioned slyly making the spirit of the Puzzle growl angrily. "Now Dear Yugi-boy, I must say that was exciting! You're more talented than I expected!" The praised in a rather genuine manner, "I predict we will meet again in duelist kingdom!" Pegasus's tone turned serious again and a small grin appeared on his face, "Now as I said before since you lost I'll take something precious from you, just so you don't escape...Penalty Game!" The Millennium Eye flashed brightly as Pegasus's activated its power.
Everyone braced themselves even though they had no way to defend against the dark shadow power it was unleashing. The light faded and a foreboding thud was heard…
The next chapter is going to be a GOOD one folks so keep reading ;) Next chapter we'll find out how this will all turn out for Ryo!
Renagade will be doing the next chapter I'll post when she finishes naturally :)
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