Shadow Rising

There. I kept my promise. Another chapter in only a few days. And I think I’m finally getting over the writers block now. ^^.



******



“How does this stupid thing work?” Nui muttered, shaking the puzzle as if that would somehow make it divulge its secrets. The puzzle gleamed in the dim light of the room, but otherwise didn’t respond any more than it had to the other things he had tried.



“Maybe I should just break it open.” He growled, earning him a muffled answer room Yugi, who laid tied and gagged in a corner of the room. He was more worried about Yami than himself at the moment, though. The spirit had been hit hard, after all, and considering he didn’t have the puzzle anymore… Would he just disappear now, like he would have before? Logically, no, since he had managed well enough when Yugi had been taken by the Orichalcos, and he did seem to have his own body now, thanks to the Priest.



With an irritated grunt, Nui threw the puzzle across the room. Yugi winced as it hit the wall, but thankfully it didn’t break apart.



The evil Pharaoh stared at the duelist, considering.



“You know how to use it, don’t you?” He had figured that the items would have just given off their power, but if it had to be channelled… Well, he couldn’t very well channel all of them at the same time. These brats might come in useful for something other than just slaves it seemed. He’d have to break them first, of course, since he was sure that they wouldn’t just go along with his plan. But that wouldn’t be too hard, really. He had always been good at that type of thing. Like that blonde boy. He had been quite easy to figure out. And all by accident, even.



“Put him in one of the empty rooms for now. Away from the other two. And get me those other items.” It was irritating, really. Three people captured and only one with a millennium item. Maybe he should have directed the thugs to grab the, what did they call them? Yami? Yes, that was it. But they seemed stronger than these ‘hikari’, and he didn’t want to push his luck too early in the game. Maybe he should try grabbing one, though. Or just killing them. If they could be killed.



“And someone get this place cleaned up.” How irritating, having to hang out in this obviously long abandoned place. An inn, or whatever they called it nowadays. Back in Eqypt, he had had a palace.



“Only for a while though.” He muttered to himself. “Soon, I’ll be ruling again.” Without annoying family to get in the way. No more of the lectures about how things should be done, about how the shadow magic was evil and should remain locked away. In his opinion, his great grandfather had been a fool for helping to seal the power. He couldn’t remember the man, since he had died when Nui was still a babe, but the stories that he had been told about him had been enough to make him despise him. Him and those stupid forbidden treasures.



Treasures? Could these millennium items possibly those same creations? Possible, he supposed, but unlikely. It didn’t matter anyway.



“You!” He gestured to one of the slaves, settling himself comfortably in one of the odd modern couches that he had made them obtain for him. “Fetch me something to eat. Sme more of this ‘fast food’ that you brought yesterday.” The slave bowed and hurriedly let the room. Yes, it was good to be the king…



******



“Concentrate…” Set watched Kaiba, the latter having his eyes closed, panting softly. Slowly the room began to fill with shadows. Yami walked in, having sensed the power, and blinked, the sound of the door opening causing Kaiba to lose his focus. Instantly the shadows disappeared.



“You’re teaching him shadow magic?” Yami asked. “Set, is that wise?” He had come to the mansion again today, to again try to escape the guilt that plagued him whenever he was around Sugoroku. Not that anywhere else was much better, really. He had hoped, as well, that the CEO might have uncovered something.



“I don’t see why not. At least he’d be capable of protecting himself somewhat. Didn’t you teach your hikari?”



“No…” Yami frowned, watching as Kaiba half sat, half fell, obviously exhausted. “The hikari don’t have our spirit energy. In time, if I had trained him, I suppose he might have grown stronger, but he’s far too innocent for me to let him be tainted that way.” The shadow magic corrupted the user, by its very nature. The extent of that corruption was, of course, dependant on a number of factors, but he hadn’t been willing to risk it.



“You didn’t train him at all?” Yami shrugged.



“There was no need. I was always with him.” Always, until that mistake. And how could he have known what would have come after. If he had known… No. If he had known, he would have done things differently, certainly, but not that. Yugi would not be corrupted by his hand.



“I do see what you mean by them being weak, though.” Set agreed, watching Kaiba, sighing after a moment. The CEO glared back to him, pushing to his feet, and Yami smirked, wondering how Set had managed to goad him into trying in the first place. Kaiba, surely, would have quickly declared it an annoying waste of time. Though, he hadn’t offered any comments recently when the subject of magic had come up. Maybe having Set around was actually doing some good after all.



Kuribou floated into the room then, chirring softly. Yami wasn’t sure why the monster was here, really. The only solution he could come to was that Set had accidentally pulled the monster out as well when he had summoned Yami back from the shadow realm. It didn’t seem to be serious, really, except for the strange looks he occasionally got on the streets, and the comments about a boy that age still playing with stuffed toys. Most seemed to assume it was a gift for a girlfriend or something, though.



Suddenly, the shadows swirled around Yami, wrapping around him tightly. Or trying to, at least. After a moment of puzzlement, he summoned his own powers to break the hold, being careful of the backlash. Set probably wouldn’t enjoy it if he landed Kaiba in bed for the next week with a headache



“Not too bad for a beginner, but you’ll have to get much better than that, Kaiba.” He was actually surprised, though he hid it, at the amount of effort he had had to put into repelling the attack. Maybe he had been relying too much on the puzzle lately. The puzzle. Yugi… He hoped he was all right.



Deciding to try to take his mind off of the problem for the moment, Yami carefully used his power to entangle the teen. Kaiba blinked and looked to Set, a movement that seemed to surprise even the priest, but Set, it seemed, was content to let Yami take over the training for the moment. Yami merely crossed his arms, giving Kaiba an amused smirk that he knew would set the brunet’s blood boiling. Kaiba usually seemed to do better when he was furious, anyway.



As predicted, the attempt to break Yami’s hold was more powerful than the attack had been, enough so that Yami even had to put even more effort into the hold. Kaiba, it seemed, had the potential to be nearly as strong as Set. Yami hesitated at that thought, but then relaxed. It had been a long road from their first meeting, and, though still ruthless, Kaiba was, surely responsible enough to not fall into the trap that had ensnared Pegasus and Malik. Hopefully…



******



“Get out of my sight.” The thug grunted as he hit the wall, he and his gang quickly hightailing it out of the alley. The easy mark had turned out not to be so easy, it seemed.



For a moment, the silver-haired spirit debated going after them and either sending their souls to the shadow realm, or summoning a monster to play with them. He abandoned the idea after a moment more, though. It just didn’t seem amusing anymore.



“Damned Tenshi’s making me go soft.” He muttered to himself, strolling out of the alley and down the street, ignoring the people that avoided him. There was only one person worth his interest at the moment, and he wasn’t here. Even the damned ring couldn’t pick him up, or the others.



He had actually been home today, long enough to shower and change, before he had gone on the prowl again. Not that he really expected to find anything; a concealment spell strong enough to confuse the ring surely wouldn’t be gotten around so easily, after all. But he couldn’t handle just sitting around, either. Marik, at least, had access to some of the old scrolls and such, both because of Malik’s tombkeeper heritage and the fact that he was related to Ishizu. Bakura had a cell phone with him, surprisingly not stolen, in case something turned up. Such useful technology they had in this world. Though, it seemed to cause as many problems as it solved, it seemed to him.



Maybe he should just go and pester the pharaoh or something. Without the puzzle, the shrimp was undoubtedly weaker than him; their little argument the day before had certainly proven that point. The puzzle was the most powerful of the millennium items, o course, everyone knew that, but he had to wonder just how much of the Pharaoh’s power was from the puzzle, and how much was his own? Something to check out.



He stopped suddenly as he stepped around the corner, just managing to keep from running into the blond that had been coming the other way. The two stared at each other for a long tense moment, before Bakura moved to continue in the direction he had been headed. After a moment, Jounouchi fell into step beside him, managing to look like taking a walk with his best friend’s mortal enemy was a common occurrence. Bakura smirked slightly. The dog might be stupid, but he couldn’t fault his courage or stubbornness, at least.



“We’ll find them.” The blond said after a moment, and Bakura wasn’t sure whether it was a promise or a challenge, nor to whom it had been addressed. He remained silent himself. Whether promise or challenge, it was true. They would find them. And then… Then he would play.



******



Yeah, this one’s a bit short, but I thought it might get too long if I didn’t cut it here.



I’m not quite sure what prompted me to have Set train Kaiba, really. It was mostly just a spur of the moment thing. The lack of Yugi’s shadow ability, actually, is pointed out in the Japanese version anime, when Yugi can’t properly handle Pegasus’s shadow duel because of a lack of spirit power. Admittedly that’s early on, but since Yami does most of the duelling, it’s reasonable to assume he never got much stronger at it. And then there’s Yami’s over-protectiveness there, as well.



As for that last bit about Bakura and Jounouchi… *Shrugs.* Even Bakura can change, I suppose, and anyway, when you think about it, those two are actually kind of similar, in some ways. Little ways… I think, had he not befriended Yugi, it wouldn’t have been unreasonable to see Jounouchi turn out to be similar to Bakura.



Ayachan - I don’t want to say it out loud and ruin it for anyone else, but it’s towards the end, and it’s a common Kaiba quote. Don’t worry. I have a miserable memory too. It’s not uncommon for me to reference something in an earlier chapter and have to go back to it to check and see what I wrote there. And it’s my story ^^;;;



Kiyomi- Well, I can promise that he is going to get kidnapped at some point, but I’m not quite sure when, yet. I’ll try to make it soon, though.



Meanwhile, I’m in the middle of another debate with myself, having to do with the millennium items. Of course, Yugi controls the puzzle, Ryou the ring and Kaiba the rod, but I’m not sure abut the other items. I was thinking of having Anzu take the necklace, and Mokuba the eye, since it would go with Kaiba’s background, but that would leave the scales and key for Jounouchi and Malik. While I’m not worried so much about Jou, I can just imagine the fun Marik (and Malik) would have with the key, and neither Jou nor Malik seem quite suited to be judging people’s souls.