A Past and Future Pharaoh

Written By: Lady Lunar Phoenix

Original Beta: WhiteSwan

Current Beta: Overworked Author. Me.

A/N: OMG This whole ARC is proving to be one huge overhaul to the point where I am 'seriously' questioning my followers who have been here longer for sticking with the vision when the writing was so poor. Hopefully I'm getting better but good grief.

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Isis was never going to profess that she knew a great deal about computers. She knew the basics, enough to get her work done in the Museum, oh and Solitaire. Which meant that the screen that Mokuba was so fixated on was a meaningless row of numbers and words to her. She rubbed her hand on his back in soothing slow circles, trying to comfort the boy as he sat there, staring at the screen until his eyes watered. Sharing the childs' frustration as they were trapped out here, while his brother sought to rescue everyone.

The Kuriboh had fallen asleep, having worried itself to exhaustion by the time the Ishtars arrived with Jounouchi via Isono, only to find all the pods were now in use. Not that Malik took that well, arguing that the Bunny couldn't duel or protect himself, and Jounouchi counter arguing that neither could Malik and it should have been Jounouchi in that final Pod.

Being a responsible, mature, adult meant realizing that their words were borne out of concern for their friends. That the subsequent argument over who would be more useful in the game was just blowing off male steam. It also meant knowing it wasn't going to help if she knocked both boys upside the head. However; regardless of the situation, the pair's need to start describing what was 'probably' going on in the game was very counter productive.

Each idea became more brazen, casting Mahaado and Mokuba into deeper worry as the most outrageous of ideas were tossed about. After all, since no one knew exactly what was going on in the game, there was no way to comfort the boy or the mage. Exacerbated by the fact that Yugi hadn't summoned Mahaado in the game so he couldn't just possess his copy. So it was up to Isis to put her foot down and deal with Malik and Jounouchi…

\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ Outside the Pod room \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\

"Gee what's up with your sister?" Jounouchi asked, sulking outside of the Pod room planting himself on the ground beside the door.

"How should I know how women think?" Malik asked grumbled, before he turned and walked down the hallway. Even if he wasn't good with computers there had to be something he could do!

"Hey where are you going?" Jounouchi asked as he got up from the ground and followed Malik.

"Mokuba said this game had been under wraps for months, that no one here knew what was going on." Malik explained as he walked down the hallway towards another set of double doors.

"Yeah?" Jounouchi replied curious as to how Malik was thinking.

"Well those pods aren't simple things, someone had to have built them and I don't see Kaiba hand building each one by himself in such short time. That means they got it from somewhere." Malik pointed out as he walked past the pair of doors. "But if the programs are purely Kaiba's than someone had to have hacked into it to get a hold of Yugi."

"Gee for a guy who's lived most of his life underground, you seem to know a lot about computers." Jounouchi casually noted as he followed the fellow blond, though he 'was' pretty impressed by Maliks' insight.

"It's not a matter of understanding computers, as it's about understanding manipulation, control, and abuse of both." Malik explained as he walked down towards another door. "Besides this is all man made, anything man can make, man can destroy as well."

When Isono had gathered them, Mokuba, over the car speakerphone, began explaining the situation; about Yugi's mind being trapped in the game and subsequently Kaiba, Anzu and Bakura as well. He had explained about Yugi getting hypnotized and his mind trapped within the computer. As well as the impossibility of just unplugging Yugi or anyone else from the series cold.

"Because his mind has been tricked into believing its in the system, turn the system off and his body may react the same was as being killed."

The only thing Malik could think of was that there had to be another pod somewhere in the building, and that pod was connected to the ones upstairs and being used. Mokuba had said that the basement was the only other floor; the upper levels were probably scoured when Kaiba took over, but was the basement? Malik found the door and opened it in order to descend into the basement, flipping on the light switch he found and discovered it 'still' worked.

Pleased with this discovery, he continued down the stairs towards the basement, looking for who knew what. The odds were slim that the would-be hacker was in the building, but right at the moment Malik would take any leads he could find. Anything so that he had something to do other then sit and worry, worry about things he didn't understand. The air grew colder the further they descended, and there was a hint of resting dust on the stairs as well.

When they reached the basement level, it looked… well Malik didn't know what standard was set for the basement of a lab. The room had systems that generated cold, leaving him to assume they were a type of cooling unit for the building or the pods. There was no table in the room, and Malik found himself wishing that the Thief was there, while at the same time Jounouchi wished he could find the punk who had locked Yugi's mind in the virtual reality game. It was a low blow, to essentially attack someone while they were in the middle of a game, without telling the person. Then again what did Jounouchi know? He was traveling around with the guy who brainwashed him into trying to kill Yugi just a year before.

Watching Malik roaming the room, Jounouchi had to pause and give that alone some thought. After all, didn't gramps say something about how tricky tombs were? It was never easy to find the doors around the place, so maybe Malik was viewing the room like a tomb? "I don't think we'll find anything Malik, I think Kaiba pays his clean up crew well enough to keep up with this place." He pointed out as Malik checked the floors for something.

"Perhaps, but one of the things I was taught was how to tell when something has been disturbed, granted old things like tombs. There's always a sign of disturbance when things are moved, dust or scratches. If there's only one set of pods and realistically only two people who knew about it…"

"You think there's a trap door or something?" Jounouchi asked, impressed, before he began aiding in the search.

"Could be," Malik replied, which left the pair to continue searching the room for another half an hour before Jounouchi called out for Malik's attention.

"Look at this!" He pointed to the wall before explaining, "you can just see a line there, like someone painted over something!" Jounouchi was crammed between the side of one of the cooling units and the wall.

Excited by finally a chance at an opening, Malik struggled to find a way to get behind the machine only to come up with nothing; they couldn't tell what machine was important to stay online for the group upstairs. So while they had a lead they had no idea how check on it that is, until Jounouchi remembered something.

"Hey Mahaado can pass through things, so long as he doesn't touch these machines he should be able to see what's beyond without damaging anything right?"

Malik looked at him like he was a genius before the pair took off running back upstairs towards the lab. They burst through to the door and went straight for Mahaado who was looking at the pair rather calmly. Then rather amusedly when they forgot that though he looked solid, he was still a ghost, and proceeded to fall right through him.

"Is something wrong?" he asked, turning to look down at the pair as they climbed to their feet.

"You don't have to stay here right? Cuz we found something we could use your help with." Jounouchi asked quickly as he got up from the floor, his excitement almost a visible aura.

"Yes, since the Pharaoh is not summoning me fully," Mahaado replied, which seemed to be the answer they were looking for.

"Come with us! We want you to check something out since we can't reach it!" Malik urged, "We may have found the way they've gotten into the system!"

There was not much for him to understand as fast as they spoke; however, all Mahaado really needed for motivation, was that it might help Yugi. Thus he floated after Malik who began explaining what the pair had been up to since Isis had ejected them from the room.

"We think there is probably an original version of the pods downstairs that someone is using; because it would be of similar style and format, they've used it to enter into Kaiba's game, giving him the chance to tamper with Yugi. There's a possible chance if we can get to that person, we can stop this." Malik explained as he walked down the hallway and into the stairwell, reverting back to the ancient language so that it could be more deeply explained to Mahaado.

"But wouldn't they know I was coming?" Mahaado asked while he followed Malik; though his heart wished him to be by the Pharaoh's side still. But if this helped awaken the Pharaoh, who was he to object? It would be time far better spent, rather then hovering in the other room doing nothing.

"It's just something we're going to have to deal with, but I doubt they have anything prepared to deal with you." Malik answered confidently, even without the Rod and the insane alter ego Malik still could project an air of control around him. The pair reached the basement without any fanfare; if someone was watching they didn't make any sign of it. Malik showed Mahaado where the door was estimated as being, before the spirit slipped away from sight moving forward to check things out for them. Malik didn't know what was waiting for Mahaado, didn't know if a secret door would burst open and the room be flooded with S.W.A.T team-esque people. He knew of the duplicity of the ancient world, he had been taught that, but the modern one? It was kind of a fun challenge in a way.

Yet Mahaado wasn't gone as long as Malik had expected, and was curious if this was proven to be a dead end as to why the mage returned so soon. As the mage visually returned into sight, Malik gave a look, something that didn't require words to express his curiosity. While Jounouchi, not to be denied an answer to his questions, kept the partial open door to avoid being near 'the ghost mage'.

"Your assumptions are correct Malik, there 'is' another pod down there, however it is damaged. The glass cover, is broken as though pierced by a single weapon. The body that rests within it has long decayed into dust; mere bones remain to tell any tale. However the item that the Pharaoh wears around his head is not present, nor could I see anything that would resemble such a device. The room has not been touched for a long time, but there are devices similar to those Mokuba is using, and those in this room." Mahaado reported as he reappeared before the young Egyptian.

"A corpse," Malik paused giving the very idea some thought. "Someone died, and their body was left there? That makes no sense though, because even if it absolutely came down to space, there should have been something done for the body. There isn't anything else you can tell me is there?" Of course not, Mahaado had a very limited understanding of the modern world, even if he saw anything out of the ordinary he wouldn't know how to put it into words, either Japanese or Ancient Egyptian.

"You know… maybe Isono knows? After all, he may have been around here since before Money Bags and might have an actual idea." Jounouchi suggested from outside the room. Which was a bit of a surprise that Jounouchi would come up with a good idea when scared of 'Ghost Mage'…

"Say could you go out there and say 'hi' to him?" Malik asked Mahaado in Egyptian only to get a chastising looking from the spirit before said spirit simply disappeared.

Malik left the room, joining Jounouchi in the hallway before turning around to face the closed doors, his thoughts on what rested beyond that. "Let's not tell Mokuba about that yet, about the body. I don't want him to know his and his brother's project is over a gravesite."

Jounouchi nodded; there was no point in telling the kid that, not when he was already so worried about his brother and Yugi. "Where do you think we'll find Isono?"

"Probably with the limo, does he even know about what's going on here?" Malik asked as they walked off. "And while I'm at it, what 'is' the normal funeral customs in this country?"

"The body is cremated, why?" Jounouchi answered and asked in the same breath, wondering what was going on inside that blonde's mind.

"Why would there be a dead body? Someone didn't stay in that pod until they died, they were killed, given Mahaado's description of the body and the pod. So who is that person? What was their connection to the Kaibas?"

Jounouchi tried to recall any news stories about the Kaibas while Malik talked, than again given his home life, sometimes it was a wonder he knew he was Japanese. Nothing came up and it was frustrating to think that he had nothing to offer, considering he came from this country. He was trapped outside the game while his friends fought some weird computer glitch. "I don't follow why would you need to know about our funeral customs?"

Malik gave a thoughtful look at the ground before looking over at Jounouchi, "Something isn't right. Why hide a body? How could someone be hidden away like that in that state?"

"Dunno, Gozoboro was known for being ruthless, I wouldn't be surprised if the guy in the pod was just some poor employee who was in the wrong place at the wrong time. After all look at what he did to Kaiba, guy can't be all great if he turns a kid into that." Jounouchi suggested when a thought struck him. "Say, you think maybe somehow it's the person who died who's doing this? That he's trying to get revenge on anyone tied to Gozoboro no matter how round about he goes?"

"That's my line of thought," Malik acknowledged with a nod.