Once again, Mokuba was sitting near Imhotep while practically everyone else avoided the mummy. Even the reincarnated form of his dead lover didn't stay around him as much as the Japanese boy. If they found it odd that the kid spoke to Imhotep in Ancient Egyptian at night, they didn't comment.
Tonight Mokuba was talking to the undead man about reincarnation. Even though Imhotep had brought the full memories of Ankh-Su-Namen's mind back, Mokuba was highly doubtful that the woman was really the same woman Imhotep had fallen in love with. Imhotep wasn't happy about the doubt, but the boy brought up some valid arguments in his defense.
"I'm not saying that the woman you brought back doesn't love you, I'm saying that her more modern self isn't nearly as loyal."
"And what, exactly, makes you say such things?"
"Let's look at the facts. Ankh-Su-Namen was willing to die rather than live as a puppet. She was willing to kill a Pharaoh, who was supposedly the son of a god, just to be with you. But! The same cannot be said of her reincarnated self."
"I brought her back in Karnak."
"You brought her memories back. You did not replace the soul of her new body with that of your actual lover. Just because she is willing to be near you and can speak Egyptian does not mean that she is the same woman you fell in love with."
"On what basis do you say this?"
"My brother. He is the reincarnated body of the High Priest Seth, who according to the Tomb Keepers was the Nameless Pharaoh's cousin. However, just because he was one of the Nameless Pharaoh's priests does not mean he has to worship the ground the Pharaoh walks on today. In fact, my brother can barely tolerate to be in the same room as the man."
"Then why does she follow me?"
"Power. There are people in this world who will do anything for power, money, fame. The length some will go to just to obtain these things are both shocking and horrifying. There is a very good chance that she is just using you to obtain power for herself, and that if things start to go wrong or it looks like you will fail, she will abandon you."
"Ankh-Su-Namen would never abandon me," said Imhotep with conviction.
"Yes, but she isn't the same person you knew. She could very easily be playing on your emotions of her past life just to get what she wants. I'm not saying this just to turn you against her, I'm saying this so that you can look at all the angles. There is a chance she is the same as the one you fell in love with, but the opposite is also true."
"You may have a point," Imhotep reluctantly admitted. While the boy was trying to turn him against his reincarnated lover, he also brought up a valid concern. The mere fact Mokuba was willing to bring up such a sensitive topic was astounding.
About the only reason Imhotep had yet to kill Mokuba Kaiba was due to the fact that while he was trying to turn him against ruling the world, he also brought up valid, well-reasoned arguments that people twice his age would be hard put to counter. The former priest rather enjoyed these conversations, as they tended to kill time.
Horus read the latest message from Mokuba. He had to bite back a laugh.
This kid was scarily good at converting enemies into allies. According to the latest note, he had already gotten Imhotep on his side enough that his survival was all but assured. And he was chipping away at the former priest's devotion to his reincarnated lover.
"What did he say?" asked Evy.
"Alex is fine. They won't kill him until they reach the Oasis at least. However it seems the kid has decided to annoy Lock-Nah to the point that he will kill him if given a chance. Mokuba, on the other hand, has managed to keep Imhotep from doing the same to him by talking to the undead priest. According to this he's trying to chip away Imhotep's undying devotion to a woman who could easily be using him. My guess is that the entire 'take over the world' ploy he's got going on at the moment is nothing more than an attempt to impress his lover."
"Which means when things go south and the girl dumps him, he'll give in without a fight to us," said Akefia knowingly.
"How much you want to bet he'll end up as part of Mokuba's guard once we get back?"
"No bet," said Akefia.
"Now, what to do about our present issue? At the rate we're going it's going to take us at least two more days to reach the oasis," said Horus.
"Not much we can do about it. Bastet still has the plane," said Akefia.
"I know, but moving this slowly is damn annoying," said Horus.
Mokuba snapped several pictures of the waterfall they stopped at. At the rate he was going with the pictures, he would fill up the magically charged camera. At least none of the guards had the presence of mind to try to take it from him, since from what they could tell it didn't actually do anything.
At the very least, this was the most amusing vacation he had been on in some time. At least it was never boring.
Though his brother was still liable to strangle Horus for allowing him to be kidnapped, again.
Imhotep walked into the middle of the water pool, and lifted it up to near the top of the canyons they were in. Mokuba made sure to capture the scene, because if he hadn't been there to see it, he would have difficulty believing it actually happened.
When the wall of water rushed to meet the other party, he got ready to move again. It was actually quite impressive, and the amount of power it would take to duplicate the effect was staggering.
He could vaguely hear the sound of a nitrogen-canister going off, and could only assume the blimp he spotted had a pair on it. It would certainly explain why he didn't hear any crashing until about half an hour later.
"Mum? Dad?" said Alex.
"I wouldn't worry too much. Horus knows his way around barrier spells. Chances are good that he would have kept them from being crushed under that water," said Mokuba.
Horus coughed up water. That had been surprising, but he had managed to keep them from drowning on the way down.
"That was a complete pain in the ass! How the hell are they going to get out of here now?" demanded Akefia.
"Marik, can you and Ryou help Izzy rebuild this thing while we rescue the kids?"
"What's in it for us?"
"Half of any treasure we find," said Akefia promptly.
"Deal!" said Marik.
"Once that's done you can join the Medjai in case they wake up the Army of Anubis," said Horus.
"Anything would be better than sitting around doing nothing," said Marik.
"What would you recommend if they do wake up?" asked Ryou.
"The only way to kill an Anubis warrior is to take out the head," Ardeth told them.
"Decapitation, got it. Sounds better than trudging through this stupid forest," said Marik.
Mokuba was having fun taking pictures of the corpses.
"Look, Roman Legionaries. And here, turn of the century French...Napoleon's troupes," said Hafiz. (The curator)
"What in the name of Anubis did this?" said Lock-Nah.
Mokuba took a good look at one of the bodies.
"My guess? Pigmy. Mean little bastards."
"How would a pigmy do this?" asked Alex.
"Well, considering the theme that's going on and the fact that we have yet to see any living animals around here aside from birds...I would say we are most likely going to be dealing with mummy pigmy monsters. Considering their size, we should definitely avoid tall grass at the very least," said Mokuba.
"You hear that?" asked Rick.
"What?" asked Ardeth.
"Nothing. Absolutely nothing," said Rick.
Akefia paused in reloading his crossbow. Now that Rick mentioned it, it was oddly quiet.
"I can see them from here. Looks like they're guarding Alex more carefully than Mokuba. Though that isn't very surprising since he did mention Alex had a habit of annoying the guards and attempting to escape," said Horus.
"Is Alex alright?" asked Evy concerned.
"He's fine. Wearing less clothes than he had on when he was taken, but that's normal since we kept finding them."
"My word!" said Jonathan. He had pulled back some vines to reveal a rather impressive collection of shrunken heads.
"I say, chaps, look at this. Shrunken heads. I would love to know how they do that."
Everyone turned to look at him.
Horus chuckled.
"You really want to know or are you just asking?" said Horus.
"Just curious."
Horus was so amused that he told the man. Seeing Jonathan pale was rather funny.
"I'm done. Everyone else ready?" asked Akefia.
"Just one question. Is that the one with the automatic reloading bolts or the regular that you got just so you could slip it past magical defenses?" asked Horus.
"The one with the reloading bolts. Anything that makes a jungle this quiet is worth the extra trouble of carrying the damn thing around."
"What about you?" asked Rick.
Horus drew and tossed up his sword. It was the same one he swiped from Hamunaptra nine years ago. (If you want an idea of what it looks like, just think of the one Rick used in the first movie against the guards before Jonathan completed the spell.)
Rick blinked.
"You still have that sword?"
"Of course I do. You have any idea how hard it is to find a good quality sword like this? The balance is just right and it's made of metal that's forged with the ability to absorb spells. Besides, once I'm done using it, it doubles as an art piece so no one asks about it in the house."
Horus went with Rick and Ardeth while Akefia stayed with Jonathan and Evy. If the creatures in the jungle got too close he double as a guard.
"Wow...so that's the pyramid you were looking for?" said Mokuba.
"Cripes, I'm in trouble now," said Alex.
"It's your own fault for deliberately ticking off those guards," said Mokuba unsympathetically.
Suddenly Mokuba heard the wind whistle past him.
"Uh-oh..."
"What is it?"
"I think the mummified Pigmy are about to wake up..." said Mokuba.
"How do you know?" asked Alex.
Mokuba gave him an odd look.
"Sudden wind whistling, a jungle with no obvious signs of animal life, and that was just thunder over head. Do I need to continue pointing out the cliché signs of something very bad about to happen, or is that enough?" he said sarcastically.
"Nope."
"In any case, I better get my spells ready. Good thing Horus showed me the one he uses to bring the shadow bat out..."
"The what?"
Mokuba cast his hand out, as if drawing something from his wrist. A long, blackish bat appeared in his hand. It was just the right weight for someone his size, and it was balanced perfectly in his hand. He quickly cast a generic shield spell over him and Alex, so the pigmies would think twice before they shot them with darts.
When the screams started, Mokuba remained alert and ready to send the things flying.
And attack they did. Alex soon learned why Mokuba summoned that bat. He was frighteningly good at using it. What he didn't know was that Mokuba had opted to use this as an excuse to work out some anger management issues he had about his brother.
Misplaced aggression at it's finest. The pigmy mummies didn't stand a chance.
Horus took one look at the flying pigmies, and when he saw the bat he couldn't help his reaction. He snorted with amusement.
"What is it?" asked Ardeth, wanting to know what was so amusing.
"Mokuba's working out some anger issues. I almost feel sorry for the pigmies."
"What?" said the other two. Horus pointed at a black bat, illuminated by magic that was sending the mummified menaces flying left and right.
"I taught him how to summon a shadow bat, which is what I use to keep Marik's darker half in line. Mokuba is making short work of those pigmies."
"...He's rather good at that."
"I'm just going to claim he's working out some anger issues. His brother hasn't taken him to an amusement park since he became CEO, even though last I heard he was planning to build one."
"Exactly who is this kid?" asked Rick, fending off the pigmies.
"Vice President and one of the major shareholders in a multi-million dollar gaming company that produces realistic illusions through technology and pumps out more ideas for games than you would believe. Oh, and my first student."
Both of the older males blinked.
"This is his vacation. You wouldn't believe how overprotective his older brother is."
"He calls running around Egypt and dealing with an undead mummy a vacation?" said Rick.
"Well yeah, he rarely has a chance to get out like any normal kid his age. Besides, it was either tag along while we kill some wizards trying to control Imhotep or deal with another end of the world scenario with that asshole Pharaoh," said Horus amused.
Horus snagged Mokuba on the way to the pyramid.
"So Mokuba, you really to be properly inducted into the group?"
"If you mean am I ready to rob a most likely priceless tomb for the hell of it, then yes. Can we get on with it already? I want some tacky artifacts to decorate my room and desk with," said Mokuba sarcastically.
Horus beamed at him. The boy was becoming more and more like one of them already. Now they just had to drag his brother into the mix and really annoy the Pharaoh.
Once they landed in the tacky looking pyramid, Horus immediately cast a spell that lead them to the treasure room. He handed Mokuba a bag with an infinite expansion.
"Grab anything you want, and if you don't know if it's cursed or not feel free to ask. Hold on while I get Akefia, Marik and Ryou."
A quick message to the other three, and soon the treasure room was looking much more sparse than it was before. By common consent, most of the treasure marked with the sign of the scorpion was left alone. Not because it was cursed, but because it looked so tacky they didn't want it.
When the room started shaking, Mokuba looked up.
"What was that?"
"I guess the Scorpion King is waking up. Want to go see while Marik and Ryou practice their aim on some Anubis Warriors?"
"Only if we can nab Imhotep when the King's dead. I kinda like him, even if he is a bit outdated," said Mokuba.
"We were going to nab him anyway. What better way to keep the wizards from trying to control him than by bringing him back with us?"
"Where are they anyway?" asked Akefia.
"Last I checked the pigmies got them. They were disguising themselves as part of the group," said Horus.
"Actually, one did manage to survive, but without help he'll die anyway when the oasis is reclaimed by Anubis," said Bastet.
"By the way, how did the old Jackal feel when he learned you sent your Chosen here to cause trouble?"
"He could care less either way, so long as you don't interfere with the past. He even said you could have the Priest, since he didn't want to hear the man whining about the fact he stole all the immortal powers from him."
Horus' eyes widened as he bit back a chuckle.
"Anubis took his powers? Oh that is rich! Think we could convince him to do the same to that damn Pharaoh?"
"Oh how I wish we could. Unfortunately Ra would bitch and moan about it until Anubis gave them back. Besides, that spoiled brat already defeated his last Avatar, so the Jackal god no longer has any chance to do so."
"I seriously can't wait until he grows a damn backbone so we can be done with the Items and that damn Pharaoh," said Horus.
"What do you mean?" asked Mokuba.
"The Millennium Items, like that tacky Puzzle of his. In order to get rid of their influence and let the souls stuck inside go on to the afterlife, Yugi has to defeat his other half. Once he does that, the damn Pharaoh will have to leave, since he wasn't given a new body like Akefia was. In fact, my brother has already been granted his own body once he gave up his quest to collect the Items once he learned I was alive in this time."
"So in other words, once Yugi is no longer a wimp..." said Mokuba.
"Goodbye Pharaoh and a good portion of the end of world schemes. I daresay your brother will be pleased to hear that as well."