Chapter 5: - Sand Gets Everywhere
"Well… this is…" Yugi hesitated.
"Irritating?" Joey hazarded a guess, looking around and squinting against the bright sunlight and the wind which was laden with the same stuff that surrounded them.
Sand.
Lots and lots of sand.
"I was going to say new, but irritating works too…" Yugi nodded, looking around at the desert that surrounded them and wondering what, exactly, the task could possibly be all the way out here…
"So are we just supposed to wander around until the task hits us, or…" Ombre cut off and wheeled around as Solomon groaned and his knees buckled.
Joey was there and supporting him before anyone saw the young man move, "You alright, Gramps?"
"Grandpa!" Yugi wheeled around, kneeling by his Grandfather's side.
"Just my old ticker…" Solomon wheezed, trying to reassure them. "I'll be fine."
"Serenity!" Yami didn't mean to snap quite as harshly as he did, but Serenity understood why, calling her Mystical Elf out and using the Elf's ability to ease the pain a bit.
"How are you feeling, Mr Muto?" She asked, searching through her bag in order to see if she'd packed anything that could help.
"Better…" Solomon started, as Serenity let out an irritated groan as she looked through a green bag she'd dug out of her backpack, "What's wrong?"
"I didn't stock up on any of the potions in my first aid kit before I left. I didn't think I'd need it. It was only supposed to be a holiday." Serenity grumbled, more irritated at herself then anything.
"You aren't the only one who didn't think to pack 'just in case'." Yami reassured her.
"With the sort of trouble we get into, I should have packed more gear." Joey said, trying to remember everything he had in his bag. "I don't think I have anything that would be useful in a desert."
"I have suntan lotion." Ombre said, shrugging off her backpack before spotting the looks she was getting, "We were going to India," She pointed out, exasperatedly, "And sunburn is not fun."
"There's a camp over there." Yugi spoke up from where he'd moved to, to get out of the way, pointing to where a small group of sandy white tents were pitched and people were walking about, "Before we do anything, we should…" He hesitated for half a second, glancing at Yami, "We could go and see if the people there know something about the next task."
"Sounds like a plan." Joey nodded, "You alright now Gramps?" He asked turning to Solomon who had stopped leaning on him and was already looking steadier on his feet then he had a few moments ago.
"I'm alright." Solomon waved his concern off, "Lead the way Yugi." He said, giving his grandson a look the others couldn't read, but made Yugi nod and start heading down the dune and to the campsite.
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"Lady Mana?"
Mana wheeled around, calling her staff and almost blasting the poor Magician's Apprentice hovering in the doorway.
Literally hovering.
That explained why she hadn't heard her approaching…
The Dark Magician Girl, who ruled the Dark Kingdom alongside her husband, the Dark Magician, smiled as the Apprentice landed nervously on the floor as Mana took a deep breath and calmed herself down.
She'd been skittish enough since she'd lost her human partner as it was and the attack on the Kingdom by the forces of Medan, the Red Dark Magician, just a day after their return, hadn't helped in the slightest, so when someone had made her jump, they had been lucky not to lose their heads.
"Mahado warned everyone, Rosaline." Mana sighed, recognising the apprentice as one of the group of gossips that seemed to eternally live somewhere near the throne room. "Don't sneak up on me."
"I apologise my Lady." The apprentice seemed properly contrite, "But there is a Light Spellcaster at the gates who is seeking an audience with you."
"With me?" Mana was wary but not completely surprised. Those who came to the castle were more often looking for her husband, Mahado, but there were occasions when the Spellcasters requested an audience with her instead.
"Yes, my lady."
It was normally the weaker Spellcasters, or those who had fallen out of favour with Mahado, but the latter category had mostly put their lot in with Medan in the last few weeks, and she hesitated to leave her child's crib considering everything.
"Who is it?"
"A Millennium Witch, named Aylth."
"Show her up to the nursery." Mana had known it was coming and had been expecting Aylth to come and see her since Wolf had found his own way through to the human world.
"But my lady!"
Mana knew why Rosaline was protesting, a Millennium Witch was a bigger threat then Kisara herself if angered, however, for the time being, they weren't at war with the forces of Light, and Mana was more then aware that she had to speak with Aylth before the end of the summer. "Show Aylth up to the nursery."
"Yes, my lady." The apprentice bowed and vanished. Mana sighed, just knowing this would be all over the castle by sunset.
She swore, sometimes, that this place was worse for rumour mongering then Hogwarts. She supposed it was because they had so little else to do here…
"Lady Mana." The Millennium Witch had reached the door quicker then Mana would have expected and was bowing.
"Rise Aylth, we have much to discuss."
"Lady Kisara tells me that your human partner, may her spirit sleep peacefully, requested that you keep watch over the human girl that I have claimed as mine." The Millennium Witch straightened, straightening her white hat, the pink ribbons trailing over one shoulder.
"Lady Kisara is correct, Kari did request that I look after Hermione." Mana had to fight back the grief. It had been so long since they had last had someone to grieve for that she and all the monsters that had known Kari well, were finding it difficult.
"I ask that you take me with you, the next time that you cross into the human world." Aylth asked without preamble. "I am aware that there are other paths, like the one that the Grey Prince's partner took, but I have been unable to find them…"
"The Grey Prince?" Mana asked with a frown, worried about potential new enemies.
"Surely you know who I mean, the one who is linked to both the Pharaoh of Darkness and the Prince of Light?" Aylth asked with a frown, "The partner of that insufferable Gold Winged Wolf?"
"Oh, Harry." Mana nodded, "I was unaware he been given a title of his own." She sighed, "I suppose I shouldn't be surprised, Harry is neither light or dark, and I guess that would make him grey."
Aylth nodded, not really having anything to say to that.
The Dark Magician Girl gave the Millennium Witch an appraising look, "Aylth, there is much I need to discuss with you, before you cross over fully for the first time." She warned, "Taking a human partner is not an easy thing to do, and cannot be undone with a wave of our staves."
"I have considered the consequences, weighed up the pros and cons and spoken at depth with Lady Kisara."
"Then Kisara has warned you of the bonds that are formed the moment you meet your partner properly, the emotional attachment you'll form, the desire to protect your human…"
"And the way my human will be able to call me halfway across the world if I am needed." Alyth nodded, "I am aware of how dependant I will become. I am also aware of how much stronger this will make Hermione and I."
"Hermione is a rather…"
"Stubborn?"
"I was going to say strong willed." Mana chastised Aylth, half jokingly, "We will need to make sure we can protect her, especially considering the war that is yet to come."
"Is the war the reason that you and Lord Mahado finally allied the Dark Kingdom with the Light Lands?"
"Our Duellists are caught up in a war where the leader of the enemy forces can control the Shadows. This is no time to be fighting amongst ourselves." Mana scowled, looking out the window towards the kingdom's borders, "My Duellist wasn't the first casualty and she won't be the last."
"And Meden insists on civil war, even though a war among humans that can control the Shadows, would affect our world also?" Aylth asked, shocked.
"The Red Dark Magician does not care. Not for the humans, and not for the safety of our world. He cares only for his own goals."
"And what are those goals?"
"Power, vengeance… he has a lot of reasons to hate the occupants of the Dark Palace."
"It was you who defeated his Master, wasn't it?"
"The Magician? Arkana?" Mana asked.
Aylth nodded.
"Yes, I defeated his Master, but he blames Yami and Yugi for another's actions." Mana growled, "It was Marik who drove Arkana insane after he lost the duel. Yugi tried to save his life."
"Have you tried reasoning with him?"
"There is no reasoning with him, we have tried. He drove his own apprentice away, when she tried to reason with him. She's now studying under one of the blue Dark Magicians and has sworn loyalty to Yugi."
"Then what of the forces Meden has gathered?" Aylth asked, "Surely they can see this war is stupid?"
Mana shrugged, having wondered the same thing herself many times. "I don't think they care much either, they had to have had a reason to join Meden and whatever it was, it's obviously good enough for them."
"Lady Mana!" Something careened around the corner and panted out their message as they straightened themselves out, revealing it to be a Black Rose Witch, "Enemy troops… on route to castle… Lord Mahado… gone…called…"
"Bad timing for a Duel, guys." Mana hissed, thinking of Yugi and Yami and hesitating as she glanced at the crib, in which lay her sleeping daughter.
"Go." Aylth nodded at her, "I'll look after your daughter."
"Aylth…" Mana hesitated.
"Aren't we team mates now? Duel Monsters under the same Duelist? I can stand guard until you get back. I scare Dark Monsters more easily then you do, I'm stronger then Medan, even without my special ability and I can boost up far beyond anything he has in his army within seconds."
Mana hesitated for a split second longer, then nodded. "Be careful, Aylth."
"You too, Lady Mana."
Mana left.
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"Hello?" Joey called, looking around the camp, "Anyone home?"
There was the sound of rustling tents, but the people that they'd seen from a distance had all vanished.
Yugi turned to look at the group, "I think we scared them."
"Us?" Joey pretended to look offended, "We're not that scary."
"Have you seen us recently?" Ombre snorted, "We all need a change of clothes and a wash."
"Well, dusty tunnels and zombie fighting aren't exactly the best ways to keep from looking a state." Yami pointed out.
Ombre turned back to the deserted looking camp. "Hello?"
A small girl, with brown hair that was so dark that it was almost black, and dark grey eyes, her hair in pigtails came to stand in front of them.
"Hello." Yugi bowed, "I'm Yugi Muto, this is my family." He indicated those stood behind him.
"We've been waiting for you." The little girl said.
"Waiting?" Yami demanded.
The little girl did little more then give him a passing glance before she turned back to Yugi, causing Yami's irritation to spike and though Yugi didn't look at him, Joey noted the way Yugi tensed up and the way the hikari had to fight not to do so.
"Can we have half an hour?" Joey asked, causing the little girl to stare at him, unblinkingly.
"Why?"
"I want to look over my patient." Serenity caught on that Joey was trying to get a delay, though not why, and pointed to Solomon.
"There's a tent you may rest in." The girl said, looking them over. "While he comes with me." She pointed to Yugi.
"I'm coming too." Yami started forward.
"Yami," Joey shook his head, "I need a hand bro."
"Joey…" Yami glowered.
"If one comes, you all come." The girl said.
"I'll be fine Yami." Yugi nodded, "Trust me…"
'Yugi…'
"They won't attack me, the task hasn't started yet. If it had, we would have been made aware. It has to be fair, remember?" Yugi winced back as Yami's emotions flared. Concern, confusion, anger… "Please? If you won't stay, they won't let Serenity check Grandpa over."
'I'll stay back.' Yami promised. "All right, I'll stay with the others."
"You may use that tent." The girl pointed to the tent to their right, then turned to Yugi, "Prince?"
"I think she's talking to you Yuge." Joey said when Yugi didn't turn around.
Yugi turned around and gave her a questioning look.
"Please, follow me."
Yugi nodded and followed the girl.
Joey walked over and held the tent flap open for Solomon, Serenity and Ombre to walk through, letting it close on Yami. "You and I need to talk, bro."
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"The one we've been waiting for has arrived." The girl said, kneeling down at the side of an ancient looking man, who Yugi bowed to respectfully.
The man nodded back, without saying a word and raised his hands, blue fire forming in the palm of his hands, the two balls joining together and when it faded, he was holding a scroll, which the girl brought over to the confused young man.
"The elder wants you to have this." She said, handing it over. "It will guide you on our journey."
"Do I have to read it now, or can I wait until I'm back with the others?"
"You should read it now." The girl said insistently, "The others can read it later. One of your number should remember the words anyway."
"What?"
"Please, just… read."
Yugi nodded and unfurled the parchment, "Trial Number One, Silence the Whisper that Rides the Desert Wind."
The wind picked up, the sand blowing through it increasing.
"Turn back!" It was a whispering voice that seemed to come from all directions and none at the same time.
"What?"
"That was the whisper that rides the desert wind." The girl said, her whole demeanour changing, her shoulders sinking, her eyes closing, "You should take this." She took off her pendant. Until that point, Yugi hadn't really noticed it, but as she put it into his empty hand, he examined it closely. It was a pentagram, with five rubies set into it. "Give it to an advisor you trust. Don't lose it."
"Thank you."
"The last visitor taught us that the answer lies in the eye of the storm." The girl said.
The voice cackled evilly, cutting off Yugi's question about the 'last visitor'.
"You should join your family." The girl indicated the door.
"Thank you." Yugi bowed and left.
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"You and I need to talk, bro."
"Joey…" Yami growled.
"Don't 'Joey' me." Joey growled back, "You need to stop doing or thinking whatever it is you're doing or thinking that's making Yuge hesitate. If Yuge can't think on his feet and follow his instincts, we'll lose."
"I'm not doing…"
"So what is it you're thinking that's throwing Yuge off balance? Is it just that the game chose to put him in danger and you're getting annoyed at it or…?"
"I'm fine, Joey."
"You're obviously not fine. If we lose because you're lying and my sister gets hurt because of it, I'm going to hurt you, a lot."
There was a moment where the two glowered at each other and then Yami's shoulders sank and he sighed, fully aware that Joey would make good on his threat, "I can't help it."
"Help what, Yami?"
"I'm worried, I'm irritated that Yugi's been thrown into danger again…"
"You're annoyed it's not you in the armour."
"No!" Joey gave Yami a disbelieving look, "Yes…"
"Thought so." Joey snorted, "He has to fly on his own at some point, Yams."
"Yams again?" Yami half mock scowled.
"You're missing my point." Joey waved it off, "You can't keep coddling Yugi; he is your heir for Ra's sake! If he has to go through you every time he wants to make a decision, what's he going to be like when you go?"
"I…"
"You will leave Yami, we all know it. You want to find your memories and then you'll go, once it's safe to do so. No one wants to talk about it, Yuge least of all, but we all know that's what you want, to get your memories and finally rest. And if you break Yugi's confidence in himself by acting the way you are, he's not going to be able to cope when you do. He has to be able to make his own decisions, lead us his own way, make his own mistakes, without feeling like you're judging him every step of the way!"
"I'm not…" Yami tried to butt in.
"Then stop being angry that it's not you who gets to play hero this time, and just back Yuge up in whatever way he needs you to. Let him take the lead role for a change."
"Joey…" Yami snapped.
"What?" Joey snapped back.
"Guys, we can hear you in here." Ombre poked her head out of the tent.
"How's Gramps?" Joey asked, not missing a beat.
"Feeling much better." The old man, who was considered by all of the young men and women there to be their Grandfather, stepped out of the tent. "Now, what's this row about?"
"Turn back." The wind picked up, driving sand into their eyes and noses and a women's voice whispered from all directions.
"What the?" Serenity gasped, dashing out of the tent and to her brother's side.
"The first task?" Ombre guessed. "What should we do?" She asked, turning to Yami.
"Nothing until Yugi gets back." Joey said, looking at Yami. "Yugi got the armour; it's Yugi that has to lead us."
There was a moment where the tension in the air was so thick that you could cut it with a knife, and then Yami nodded.
The same voice cackled evilly, and again it was impossible to tell where it was coming from.
"I hope he gets back soon."
"Guys!" Yugi reached them, having run the route from the tent with the old man in to the one they'd been allowed to rest in, and handed over the parchment. "That voice. It's the first task."
"Silence the whisper that rides the desert wind?" Solomon frowned.
"That's not really a helpful clue." Joey scowled.
"Apparently the answer lies in the eye of the storm." Yugi said, frowning slightly as Yami looked away from him, "They gave me that much of a hint."
"Silence a voice? How? Do we tell it to shut up?" Ombre snorted.
"I'm guessing we have to tell whoever it belongs to shut up."
"Or defeat the owner." Yugi nodded, well versed in the way the shadows worked. Reasoning didn't get you out of Shadow Games, only victories did.
"So what's the plan?" Serenity asked, turning to Yugi.
"Uhhh…" Yugi squeaked, looking at Yami for a second before seeming to centre himself and nodding, "We go out into the desert, away from the villagers and we try to attract the 'voice that rides the desert winds'."
"Lead the way!" Joey grinned, "Let's take it down!"
Yugi smiled slightly, nodded and led them out.
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Robyn, who was holed up in a motel room, hiding, just as she had told Yugi she would be, was trying to scry.
She'd seen many futures expanding from this summer, and there were many of chances for things to go favourably or badly in the events that were to come, and as such there were just as many possible futures.
But the near future was fogging, making it near impossible to predict.
There were many theories about why this happened, but Robyn favoured the idea that a foretold event was taking place, and that viewing the future at this point would influence the choice about to be made.
So instead she was using ink and water, adding ink to the surface of the water, to see the present.
Robyn couldn't Scry into the future, very few used this method to see the future as it was far too precise. But for seeing the present it was near prefect. At least for this purpose, although it worried her slightly that for it to be working as well as it was, someone was already watching the group rather intently.
It was enough to get the answers that she was looking for, how they were doing in the game they'd entered, how far they had gotten…
She watched the images, as the ink danced it formed into one image and slowly shifted into another and another, almost like a shadow puppet show, making notes and thinking.
The mobile phone, which she'd placed at her side when she'd first started scrying rang without warning, causing her to jump and almost scattering the bowl.
Her heart pounded, she hadn't been startled like this since…
The tone pounded against her ears, and she mashed the buttons.
There were a grand total of two people who had her number, and one was beyond even Kaiba's network service.
"Luna."
Her third cousin if her memory of the family tree was to be believed, not that she was going to check… unless Luna had a copy… not that it was important.
"Hello Robyn." Luna said, sounding a little flustered, "I thought you'd want to know that Yugi and the others have gone missing."
"I know."
"Oh… good." Luna didn't sound that relieved, "Mokuba said he'd pass my message on to Seto, but I thought you might know which way the future is flowing, all I'm getting is fog."
Robyn hummed and looked back at her bowl of water, adding another drop and scowling at the pattern that formed. "The future is changing."
"Yes…" Luna hesitated for a moment, "Do you know what is happening?"
Robyn considered it, as she jotted down the pattern. "Did he say why?"
"Mokuba?"
"Hmmm."
"They are missing, they are your family, don't you care?"
"They don't need my help." Robyn replied flatly, "They wouldn't take my help."
"It's not Yugi asking."
Robyn flicked at the water, dissolving the small drama taking place in the waters.
"Robyn… please."
"Tell Mr Kaiba that they are looking in the wrong place. Tell them that the eldest Moto is missing as well… and if they want any more have him call himself."
"I can give him this number?"
"You have my permission, but… no…" Robyn lashed out, slamming her hand into the desk, "tell him. It's not safe, but tell him anyway."
Wanting to destroy something, Robyn carefully packed away her supplies, letting the water drain down the sink and dropped onto the bed, screaming into the pillow, tears falling relentlessly.
"Kari…" She shivered, "I don't know what to do any more."
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The wind had picked up as they'd wandered further into the desert.
"Leave this place!" The voice echoed.
"There's the voice again!" Yugi looked around, as if suspecting that the owner was right behind him.
"It sounds like it's getting closer." Serenity said, looking around also.
"Eek!" Ombre leapt towards Yami, who pulled her close as the place where she'd been stood dropped in on itself and a huge pink worm shot out of the ground.
"It's a Medusa Worm…"
"Grandpa!" Yugi called, already loading his Gaia, the Fierce Knight capsule into his launcher, "We'll handle it, stay back!"
Solomon retreated slightly as Yugi's knight was joined by Yami's Dark Magician, Joey's Panther Warrior, Ombre's Criosphinx and Serenity's Ancient Fairy Dragon.
"Panther Warrior! Take it out!" Joey yelled. His monster leapt forward, swiping at the sand worm with its sword. It would have been a clean blow had the worm not retreated underground.
"Where'd it go?" Joey demanded, looking around, trying to see any sort of pattern in the sand that was shifting under their feet.
"That worm has a huge advantage," Yami growled, also looking, "We're fighting in its native environment."
"Gaia! Take it out!" Yugi called, as the worm emerged behind them.
It was only half way out of the hole when the knight on horseback struck it down and it exploded into thousands of tiny fragments.
"Nice one Yuge." Joey grinned.
"It's not over yet." Yugi warned, already shifting to where there were more worms emerging, the voice whispering to them over the winds, the sand in the air thickening.
"Attack!" Four voices echoed, their monsters leaping into action to destroy the worms as the worms spat some kind of sand concoction at them.
Several worms died but nothing happened except that more worms appeared and the sand grew so thick that they were unable to see each other.
"Yugi?" Yami called, trying to see through the sand to where his partner had been stood just a few feet away.
"Give up, Prince." The voice mocked.
"Panther Warrior! There!" Joey's voice was just about audible over the howling winds, "Attack!"
Yugi had to leap back to avoid getting cut in two, landing on his butt, his hand on a capsule, which revealed his Sunset Magician, who glowered at the Panther Warrior, "JOEY! I'm not a worm!" Yugi complained as he recalled his Fierce Knight.
"Sorry Yuge!"
"Ancient Fairy Dragon, help!" Serenity squeaked, as a worm bore down on her, nearly eating her before she even noticed that it was there.
"Hold fire!" Yugi called, "If we try and fight in this, we'll just take each other out! Only attack if you're one hundred percent sure it's a worm!"
'Yugi, I think the worms are a…'
"Distraction, I know." Yugi returned, thinking quickly, "I need to get to the 'voice that rides the desert winds'."
"The sand shall swallow you all!" The voice chuckled, sounding all too amused about their predicament. Unsurprising considering that she was the one causing it.
If it was possible, the air became even more laden with sand, to the point where it was difficult to breathe or see more then a foot away. Their monsters vanished almost completely.
"Give up! Fighting me is futile!" The voice sniggered. "You fools, turn back. I'm invincible!"
"Serenity, get your dragon above the storm, find out where the eye of the storm is!" Yugi shouted.
"Right. Ancient one!"
They could just about hear the dragon's roar as it shot skyward, getting above the sand clouds and spotting the eye of the storm.
Serenity's scream caught the attention of all there as a worm spat something on her and her legs turned to stone and the petrifaction continued up her legs and didn't stop until Serenity was a stone statue.
"Serenity! No!" Joey reached his sister's side, as Ancient Fairy Dragon roared and landed, nudging her partner.
"Ahh!"
"No!"
"Damn!"
Ombre, Yami and Joey were hit by the worms.
'Yugi, take down…'
Yugi froze for a critical second as Yami's mental voice went silent, and it was only through the actions of his Sunset Magician that he didn't join his friends as statues.
"YAMI!" Yugi wriggled, trying to get down as Sunset took him above the storm and out of reach of the worms.
"Behold, the source of the storm." It was a man's voice this time, one that shouldn't have been there, but one that surprised Yugi enough to make him stop panicking and look at the huge black tornado that was just to his left.
"The eye of the storm… the tornado's eye!" Yugi realised, "Sunset Magician take me down there, I have to reach the eye before something worse happens to my friends!"
Sunset Magician dropped him on the sand in order to raise a hand and blast an attacking worm with a blast that was full of darkness and stars.
"Thanks, but I can't afford to lose you," Yugi said, recalling the Spellcaster, "Now, to find the eye of that storm…"
"You'll never find me." The voice mocked.
Yugi glowered at the air in general and ran forward, towards where the storm had been just a few moments ago.
It shouldn't have been possible, but the wind picked up even further, making Yugi struggle against it, while dodging attacks from the worms. One came up right under him, knocking him flying, and forcing him to roll out of the way of another attack, this one just missing his foot by inches.
"Turn back, Prince." The voice mocked, "You can't beat me."
Yugi staggered, falling to his hands and knees as he tripped over a really uneven dune and trying to catch his breath. "So…close…" He panted, the tornado's base in sight now, as it flung sand away from it. "Just… have to…"
He got to his feet, walking against the wind. "I have to save the others…"
The voice laughed again, the outline of someone obvious now as Yugi struggled forwards.
He collapsed.
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Hermione had given up trying to read an hour ago and now sleep was refusing to come.
At this moment of time she was counting squiggles on her ceiling, doing something, anything to try to keep her mind of her missing family and to a point where she could sleep.
It was impossible.
It had been easier when she hadn't known when her friends were in trouble, because then at least she hadn't been unable to sleep because there was nothing she could do and because she was unable to travel to somewhere where she could be useful.
She wanted to go to Japan and help Seto with his organising, or go to India and join the search team.
Instead she had found out that there were exactly 7942 funny little squiggles on her ceiling caused by the artex.
She gave up, turned her bedside lamp on and pulled the book she'd been reading out from under the bed.
If she wasn't going to sleep, she could at least try and look up something useful.
She just hoped that if she did fall asleep, that her mobile phone would be loud enough to wake her if they found anything. It normally lived downstairs, on the arm of the chair that she always curled up in with a good book, but at the moment the phone was resting quite peacefully on the bedside cabinet.
She glowered at it, for not having rung for the last few hours and then started reading.
She just hoped there was something useful in this one.
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Yugi looked down at himself, examining the blue gauntlets which faded to purple at the tips of the gloves, and the blue and purple armour that surrounded his torso, his legs and seemed to form wings of some kind behind him, not to mention the black crown that he now wore.
"Wow, so this is what merging with Sunset Magician does…" Yugi breathed, making a mental note to thank the man who had spoken with him, even if it had been an illusion or a hallucination brought on when he'd collapsed. He looked up at the tornado. "Now to save my friends."
"Then bring it on, princeling."
Yugi leapt and his wings kept him going upwards, flying directly at the tornado and through into the eye, where a woman in red clothes and flying on a broom stick laughed at them.
"A Sand Witch!" Yugi realised, flying up to her level and raising his hand.
"Demons, strike him down!" She screeched, raising her own hand. Creatures leapt out at Yugi from the sand trapped in the tornado, forcing him upwards as he dodged their attacks and blasted them away, nearly reaching the Sand Witch again, to try to take her down when a huge hand, made completely out of sand grasped him, crushing him in it's grip.
She sniggered, convinced he was defeated, either crushed or suffocating in the hand's grip.
Right up until the hand exploded in a burst of stars and dark energy and Yugi flew right at her, "Starlight Blast!" He gasped, focusing his own power and the power that Sunset Magician was lending him while they were merged, and blasting the Sand Witch at point blank range.
She screamed and exploded into tiny little fragments.
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Harry's head shot up from his mug of hot chocolate, spilling the contents all down his front.
"What's wrong?" Sirius demanded, "Are you burnt?"
"The chocolate was almost cold." Harry said, setting it aside and walking out onto the balcony, which looked out over the hotel's courtyard, which was bathed in starlight and the lights from many windows.
"Harry?" Dudley asked.
"Yugi… Yami…"
"You can sense them again?"
"No," Harry shook his head, "But I thought I felt…"
Emotional echo. Wolf said, his tone sounding as if he was stating the obvious. Something must have happened.
"What do you mean?" Harry demanded, turning to glower at the golden furred wolf.
Even if the link is broken, if there are strong enough emotions, the echo can be felt from great distances.
"So something bad's just happened?" Sirius hazarded.
Or something really good. Wolf turned to look at his partner. There's nothing we can do about it at the moment.
"I know but…"
Aren't you supposed to call your Mate about now? Wolf asked, stretching and wandering over to the bowl of water which was resting on the floor.
"Luna's not my…"
Mate, girlfriend, it's all the same in the end.
"It's important to stick to your schedule Harry." Sirius sniggered, "Its good practice for when you have a wife to whip you into shape."
"Sirius…" Harry groaned.
"Can't keep your girlfriend waiting." Dudley wandered over and poked him, causing Wolf to growl.
Harry retreated to the chair he'd been sat in and pulled his phone out as Wolf curled up at his feet. "She'd understand." He said, staring at it. He sighed, flipping it open and pressing a couple of keys before putting the phone to his ear, "Hey Luna…"
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The storm was dying down quickly as Solomon got to his feet, having been forced to sit out the whole time because of his lack of monsters. "Yugi must have done it."
Joey took a deep breath of sand free air, well as sand free as desert got normally, as the stone petrifaction started fading, finally getting past his chest and fading completely as it reached his shoes. He could feel sand up his trouser legs and down his top, and groaned, knowing just how long it would take to get rid of all the sand.
"Big brother!" Serenity gasped, clinging onto him.
"Easy, Serenity." Joey hugged her. "We're free."
"Yugi must have completed the task." Ombre said, looking around.
"But where is he?" Yami scowled, looking around, sensing that Yugi was hurt and tired and wanting to check that his hikari was still standing.
"Hey guys!" Yugi called, from the top of a dune, grinning, "Thank the Gods you're alright."
"Wow Yuge." Joey stared at him, the blue armour, which faded to purple at the bottom and was complimented with a black crown, shining in the desert sunlight. "Looking good. Where'd you get the armour?"
"I merged with Sunset Magician." Yugi said, looking at his gauntlets properly in the sunlight.
"How?"
"There was a man… out in the storm…" Yugi looked around. "At least, I think there was…"
"Quite possibly." Ombre said, noting that Yami was almost at the top of the dune that Yugi was stood on. "Anything's possible."
"I bet Harry could do with some armour like that, do you think your friend has some we could…" Joey cut off as Yugi's armour vanished in a burst of golden light and Yugi cried out, collapsing.
Yami caught him and as he carefully led Yugi down, the others rushed over and knelt down at Yugi's side. 'Yugi?' He asked fearfully, shocked at the amount that the pain had increased once the armour had vanished, sending his own energy down the link to boost his hikari's flagging strength.
"I'll be fine…" Yugi sent, the energy Yami was sending him flowing straight into his reserves without Yugi even having to accept it. "Just… let me… catch my breath…"
Serenity was concerned. She could see Yugi's breathing was heavy and laboured, but there was nothing she could do to help without her wand and, what seemed like an hour later, but was in fact only a couple of minutes, as the young man opened his eyes, he tried to look reassuring. "Hey." He said weakly, sitting up with Yami's help. "Sorry, I guess that battle was rougher on me then I realised…"
Yami didn't buy it, sure that Yugi knew exactly how hard this would be, but didn't say anything, as the relief the others felt, about the fact that Yugi was awake and aware, was evident in the others. They, like Yami, were afraid that Yugi had seriously injured himself in the fight.
"Here Yuge." Joey handed over a bottle of water from his pack, rather glad he'd gone back for the bags.
Yugi gulped it down quickly, draining the entire bottle, and then looked at it, feeling rather guilty. "Sorry guys."
His voice didn't sound much better and as Yami helped him to his feet, supporting Yugi and watching him with a rather concerned look, Serenity saw the slowed movements and the brief grimace that told her that he was probably in a lot more pain then he was letting on.
"Yugi…"
"I'll be fine, Serenity. We don't have time to worry about me." Yugi sounded sure of himself. Yami understood exactly what Yugi was doing.
Yugi had to stay strong, make the others believe that he was alright, so that they didn't have another thing to worry about, and so they didn't stop to see just how much he hurt, and waste time, when it was of the essence…
He couldn't hide it from Yami, not when there were only certain levels of pain you could block and it had yet to occur to Yugi to even try to close the link, but he could try to hide it from the others…
There was something Yugi could do though… Yami's eyes widened in surprise when he felt the energy transfer break off and he frowned at Yugi.
"Don't send all your energy to me." Yugi still sounded knackered, "Or you'll be in the same state I am."
'You're the one with the armour, Yugi. You're the one that has to lead us out of here.'
"Don't you dare start that!" Yugi sent the mental equivalent of a scowl, "I need you, so don't you dare get yourself killed because you let me drain too much of your energy."
'Alright.' It was obvious from Yami's tone that he didn't agree with Yugi's thoughts on the matter, but Yugi was too tired to press it.
"Yugi, I want to examine you when we get out of here." Serenity said quietly, still worried about the shortness of breath and the eyes that were dulled by pain.
Yami's eyes glimmered in amusement, as Yugi nodded resignedly.
"So, where do we go now?" Joey asked, getting to his feet and looking around.
"Back isn't an option." Ombre scowled, looking around also, "The village is gone."
"Do you think the sandstorm blew it away?"
"Back isn't an option, remember guys?" Yami reminded them, "This is a game; we can't win if we go backwards instead of forwards."
"Umm, those statues look familiar." Serenity pointed to a small shrine, which had been revealed by the sandstorm and inside which were statues of the villagers…
"So they were just illusions? Part of the test?" Ombre asked.
"Guides perhaps." Yami nodded.
Serenity picked up the pentagonal pendant that had fallen out of Yugi's pocket when he'd collapsed, surprised when it lit up with a reddish glow, one of its purple sides turning a rather deep shade of red.
"Yugi, what's this?" She asked.
"I think it's important." Yugi said, leaning heavily on Yami. "The villagers told me I shouldn't lose it."
"One of the sides just changed colour. Maybe it's a beacon that shows when we've completed the test…" Serenity suggested.
"Could well be." Yami nodded.
"Look after it for me?" Yugi asked her.
Serenity nodded.
There was silence for half a minute and then Serenity yelped and Joey and Ombre moved between the others and the suddenly rising column of sand.
"Not another worm!" Joey yelped as Yugi reached for his capsule, ready to merge with Sunset Magician again if necessary.
Once the sand started falling again, what had actually emerged was a door that opened by itself and opened onto nothing but yet another bright light.
"Guess that's our cue to move on." Solomon said, having stayed quiet for most of the conversation.
"Let's go then!" Joey nodded, "The sooner the better."
"Right!" Yugi nodded, moved away from Yami and took the first step, vanishing into the light without a second thought.
"Irritating?" Joey hazarded a guess, looking around and squinting against the bright sunlight and the wind which was laden with the same stuff that surrounded them.
Sand.
Lots and lots of sand.
"I was going to say new, but irritating works too…" Yugi nodded, looking around at the desert that surrounded them and wondering what, exactly, the task could possibly be all the way out here…
"So are we just supposed to wander around until the task hits us, or…" Ombre cut off and wheeled around as Solomon groaned and his knees buckled.
Joey was there and supporting him before anyone saw the young man move, "You alright, Gramps?"
"Grandpa!" Yugi wheeled around, kneeling by his Grandfather's side.
"Just my old ticker…" Solomon wheezed, trying to reassure them. "I'll be fine."
"Serenity!" Yami didn't mean to snap quite as harshly as he did, but Serenity understood why, calling her Mystical Elf out and using the Elf's ability to ease the pain a bit.
"How are you feeling, Mr Muto?" She asked, searching through her bag in order to see if she'd packed anything that could help.
"Better…" Solomon started, as Serenity let out an irritated groan as she looked through a green bag she'd dug out of her backpack, "What's wrong?"
"I didn't stock up on any of the potions in my first aid kit before I left. I didn't think I'd need it. It was only supposed to be a holiday." Serenity grumbled, more irritated at herself then anything.
"You aren't the only one who didn't think to pack 'just in case'." Yami reassured her.
"With the sort of trouble we get into, I should have packed more gear." Joey said, trying to remember everything he had in his bag. "I don't think I have anything that would be useful in a desert."
"I have suntan lotion." Ombre said, shrugging off her backpack before spotting the looks she was getting, "We were going to India," She pointed out, exasperatedly, "And sunburn is not fun."
"There's a camp over there." Yugi spoke up from where he'd moved to, to get out of the way, pointing to where a small group of sandy white tents were pitched and people were walking about, "Before we do anything, we should…" He hesitated for half a second, glancing at Yami, "We could go and see if the people there know something about the next task."
"Sounds like a plan." Joey nodded, "You alright now Gramps?" He asked turning to Solomon who had stopped leaning on him and was already looking steadier on his feet then he had a few moments ago.
"I'm alright." Solomon waved his concern off, "Lead the way Yugi." He said, giving his grandson a look the others couldn't read, but made Yugi nod and start heading down the dune and to the campsite.
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"Lady Mana?"
Mana wheeled around, calling her staff and almost blasting the poor Magician's Apprentice hovering in the doorway.
Literally hovering.
That explained why she hadn't heard her approaching…
The Dark Magician Girl, who ruled the Dark Kingdom alongside her husband, the Dark Magician, smiled as the Apprentice landed nervously on the floor as Mana took a deep breath and calmed herself down.
She'd been skittish enough since she'd lost her human partner as it was and the attack on the Kingdom by the forces of Medan, the Red Dark Magician, just a day after their return, hadn't helped in the slightest, so when someone had made her jump, they had been lucky not to lose their heads.
"Mahado warned everyone, Rosaline." Mana sighed, recognising the apprentice as one of the group of gossips that seemed to eternally live somewhere near the throne room. "Don't sneak up on me."
"I apologise my Lady." The apprentice seemed properly contrite, "But there is a Light Spellcaster at the gates who is seeking an audience with you."
"With me?" Mana was wary but not completely surprised. Those who came to the castle were more often looking for her husband, Mahado, but there were occasions when the Spellcasters requested an audience with her instead.
"Yes, my lady."
It was normally the weaker Spellcasters, or those who had fallen out of favour with Mahado, but the latter category had mostly put their lot in with Medan in the last few weeks, and she hesitated to leave her child's crib considering everything.
"Who is it?"
"A Millennium Witch, named Aylth."
"Show her up to the nursery." Mana had known it was coming and had been expecting Aylth to come and see her since Wolf had found his own way through to the human world.
"But my lady!"
Mana knew why Rosaline was protesting, a Millennium Witch was a bigger threat then Kisara herself if angered, however, for the time being, they weren't at war with the forces of Light, and Mana was more then aware that she had to speak with Aylth before the end of the summer. "Show Aylth up to the nursery."
"Yes, my lady." The apprentice bowed and vanished. Mana sighed, just knowing this would be all over the castle by sunset.
She swore, sometimes, that this place was worse for rumour mongering then Hogwarts. She supposed it was because they had so little else to do here…
"Lady Mana." The Millennium Witch had reached the door quicker then Mana would have expected and was bowing.
"Rise Aylth, we have much to discuss."
"Lady Kisara tells me that your human partner, may her spirit sleep peacefully, requested that you keep watch over the human girl that I have claimed as mine." The Millennium Witch straightened, straightening her white hat, the pink ribbons trailing over one shoulder.
"Lady Kisara is correct, Kari did request that I look after Hermione." Mana had to fight back the grief. It had been so long since they had last had someone to grieve for that she and all the monsters that had known Kari well, were finding it difficult.
"I ask that you take me with you, the next time that you cross into the human world." Aylth asked without preamble. "I am aware that there are other paths, like the one that the Grey Prince's partner took, but I have been unable to find them…"
"The Grey Prince?" Mana asked with a frown, worried about potential new enemies.
"Surely you know who I mean, the one who is linked to both the Pharaoh of Darkness and the Prince of Light?" Aylth asked with a frown, "The partner of that insufferable Gold Winged Wolf?"
"Oh, Harry." Mana nodded, "I was unaware he been given a title of his own." She sighed, "I suppose I shouldn't be surprised, Harry is neither light or dark, and I guess that would make him grey."
Aylth nodded, not really having anything to say to that.
The Dark Magician Girl gave the Millennium Witch an appraising look, "Aylth, there is much I need to discuss with you, before you cross over fully for the first time." She warned, "Taking a human partner is not an easy thing to do, and cannot be undone with a wave of our staves."
"I have considered the consequences, weighed up the pros and cons and spoken at depth with Lady Kisara."
"Then Kisara has warned you of the bonds that are formed the moment you meet your partner properly, the emotional attachment you'll form, the desire to protect your human…"
"And the way my human will be able to call me halfway across the world if I am needed." Alyth nodded, "I am aware of how dependant I will become. I am also aware of how much stronger this will make Hermione and I."
"Hermione is a rather…"
"Stubborn?"
"I was going to say strong willed." Mana chastised Aylth, half jokingly, "We will need to make sure we can protect her, especially considering the war that is yet to come."
"Is the war the reason that you and Lord Mahado finally allied the Dark Kingdom with the Light Lands?"
"Our Duellists are caught up in a war where the leader of the enemy forces can control the Shadows. This is no time to be fighting amongst ourselves." Mana scowled, looking out the window towards the kingdom's borders, "My Duellist wasn't the first casualty and she won't be the last."
"And Meden insists on civil war, even though a war among humans that can control the Shadows, would affect our world also?" Aylth asked, shocked.
"The Red Dark Magician does not care. Not for the humans, and not for the safety of our world. He cares only for his own goals."
"And what are those goals?"
"Power, vengeance… he has a lot of reasons to hate the occupants of the Dark Palace."
"It was you who defeated his Master, wasn't it?"
"The Magician? Arkana?" Mana asked.
Aylth nodded.
"Yes, I defeated his Master, but he blames Yami and Yugi for another's actions." Mana growled, "It was Marik who drove Arkana insane after he lost the duel. Yugi tried to save his life."
"Have you tried reasoning with him?"
"There is no reasoning with him, we have tried. He drove his own apprentice away, when she tried to reason with him. She's now studying under one of the blue Dark Magicians and has sworn loyalty to Yugi."
"Then what of the forces Meden has gathered?" Aylth asked, "Surely they can see this war is stupid?"
Mana shrugged, having wondered the same thing herself many times. "I don't think they care much either, they had to have had a reason to join Meden and whatever it was, it's obviously good enough for them."
"Lady Mana!" Something careened around the corner and panted out their message as they straightened themselves out, revealing it to be a Black Rose Witch, "Enemy troops… on route to castle… Lord Mahado… gone…called…"
"Bad timing for a Duel, guys." Mana hissed, thinking of Yugi and Yami and hesitating as she glanced at the crib, in which lay her sleeping daughter.
"Go." Aylth nodded at her, "I'll look after your daughter."
"Aylth…" Mana hesitated.
"Aren't we team mates now? Duel Monsters under the same Duelist? I can stand guard until you get back. I scare Dark Monsters more easily then you do, I'm stronger then Medan, even without my special ability and I can boost up far beyond anything he has in his army within seconds."
Mana hesitated for a split second longer, then nodded. "Be careful, Aylth."
"You too, Lady Mana."
Mana left.
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"Hello?" Joey called, looking around the camp, "Anyone home?"
There was the sound of rustling tents, but the people that they'd seen from a distance had all vanished.
Yugi turned to look at the group, "I think we scared them."
"Us?" Joey pretended to look offended, "We're not that scary."
"Have you seen us recently?" Ombre snorted, "We all need a change of clothes and a wash."
"Well, dusty tunnels and zombie fighting aren't exactly the best ways to keep from looking a state." Yami pointed out.
Ombre turned back to the deserted looking camp. "Hello?"
A small girl, with brown hair that was so dark that it was almost black, and dark grey eyes, her hair in pigtails came to stand in front of them.
"Hello." Yugi bowed, "I'm Yugi Muto, this is my family." He indicated those stood behind him.
"We've been waiting for you." The little girl said.
"Waiting?" Yami demanded.
The little girl did little more then give him a passing glance before she turned back to Yugi, causing Yami's irritation to spike and though Yugi didn't look at him, Joey noted the way Yugi tensed up and the way the hikari had to fight not to do so.
"Can we have half an hour?" Joey asked, causing the little girl to stare at him, unblinkingly.
"Why?"
"I want to look over my patient." Serenity caught on that Joey was trying to get a delay, though not why, and pointed to Solomon.
"There's a tent you may rest in." The girl said, looking them over. "While he comes with me." She pointed to Yugi.
"I'm coming too." Yami started forward.
"Yami," Joey shook his head, "I need a hand bro."
"Joey…" Yami glowered.
"If one comes, you all come." The girl said.
"I'll be fine Yami." Yugi nodded, "Trust me…"
'Yugi…'
"They won't attack me, the task hasn't started yet. If it had, we would have been made aware. It has to be fair, remember?" Yugi winced back as Yami's emotions flared. Concern, confusion, anger… "Please? If you won't stay, they won't let Serenity check Grandpa over."
'I'll stay back.' Yami promised. "All right, I'll stay with the others."
"You may use that tent." The girl pointed to the tent to their right, then turned to Yugi, "Prince?"
"I think she's talking to you Yuge." Joey said when Yugi didn't turn around.
Yugi turned around and gave her a questioning look.
"Please, follow me."
Yugi nodded and followed the girl.
Joey walked over and held the tent flap open for Solomon, Serenity and Ombre to walk through, letting it close on Yami. "You and I need to talk, bro."
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"The one we've been waiting for has arrived." The girl said, kneeling down at the side of an ancient looking man, who Yugi bowed to respectfully.
The man nodded back, without saying a word and raised his hands, blue fire forming in the palm of his hands, the two balls joining together and when it faded, he was holding a scroll, which the girl brought over to the confused young man.
"The elder wants you to have this." She said, handing it over. "It will guide you on our journey."
"Do I have to read it now, or can I wait until I'm back with the others?"
"You should read it now." The girl said insistently, "The others can read it later. One of your number should remember the words anyway."
"What?"
"Please, just… read."
Yugi nodded and unfurled the parchment, "Trial Number One, Silence the Whisper that Rides the Desert Wind."
The wind picked up, the sand blowing through it increasing.
"Turn back!" It was a whispering voice that seemed to come from all directions and none at the same time.
"What?"
"That was the whisper that rides the desert wind." The girl said, her whole demeanour changing, her shoulders sinking, her eyes closing, "You should take this." She took off her pendant. Until that point, Yugi hadn't really noticed it, but as she put it into his empty hand, he examined it closely. It was a pentagram, with five rubies set into it. "Give it to an advisor you trust. Don't lose it."
"Thank you."
"The last visitor taught us that the answer lies in the eye of the storm." The girl said.
The voice cackled evilly, cutting off Yugi's question about the 'last visitor'.
"You should join your family." The girl indicated the door.
"Thank you." Yugi bowed and left.
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"You and I need to talk, bro."
"Joey…" Yami growled.
"Don't 'Joey' me." Joey growled back, "You need to stop doing or thinking whatever it is you're doing or thinking that's making Yuge hesitate. If Yuge can't think on his feet and follow his instincts, we'll lose."
"I'm not doing…"
"So what is it you're thinking that's throwing Yuge off balance? Is it just that the game chose to put him in danger and you're getting annoyed at it or…?"
"I'm fine, Joey."
"You're obviously not fine. If we lose because you're lying and my sister gets hurt because of it, I'm going to hurt you, a lot."
There was a moment where the two glowered at each other and then Yami's shoulders sank and he sighed, fully aware that Joey would make good on his threat, "I can't help it."
"Help what, Yami?"
"I'm worried, I'm irritated that Yugi's been thrown into danger again…"
"You're annoyed it's not you in the armour."
"No!" Joey gave Yami a disbelieving look, "Yes…"
"Thought so." Joey snorted, "He has to fly on his own at some point, Yams."
"Yams again?" Yami half mock scowled.
"You're missing my point." Joey waved it off, "You can't keep coddling Yugi; he is your heir for Ra's sake! If he has to go through you every time he wants to make a decision, what's he going to be like when you go?"
"I…"
"You will leave Yami, we all know it. You want to find your memories and then you'll go, once it's safe to do so. No one wants to talk about it, Yuge least of all, but we all know that's what you want, to get your memories and finally rest. And if you break Yugi's confidence in himself by acting the way you are, he's not going to be able to cope when you do. He has to be able to make his own decisions, lead us his own way, make his own mistakes, without feeling like you're judging him every step of the way!"
"I'm not…" Yami tried to butt in.
"Then stop being angry that it's not you who gets to play hero this time, and just back Yuge up in whatever way he needs you to. Let him take the lead role for a change."
"Joey…" Yami snapped.
"What?" Joey snapped back.
"Guys, we can hear you in here." Ombre poked her head out of the tent.
"How's Gramps?" Joey asked, not missing a beat.
"Feeling much better." The old man, who was considered by all of the young men and women there to be their Grandfather, stepped out of the tent. "Now, what's this row about?"
"Turn back." The wind picked up, driving sand into their eyes and noses and a women's voice whispered from all directions.
"What the?" Serenity gasped, dashing out of the tent and to her brother's side.
"The first task?" Ombre guessed. "What should we do?" She asked, turning to Yami.
"Nothing until Yugi gets back." Joey said, looking at Yami. "Yugi got the armour; it's Yugi that has to lead us."
There was a moment where the tension in the air was so thick that you could cut it with a knife, and then Yami nodded.
The same voice cackled evilly, and again it was impossible to tell where it was coming from.
"I hope he gets back soon."
"Guys!" Yugi reached them, having run the route from the tent with the old man in to the one they'd been allowed to rest in, and handed over the parchment. "That voice. It's the first task."
"Silence the whisper that rides the desert wind?" Solomon frowned.
"That's not really a helpful clue." Joey scowled.
"Apparently the answer lies in the eye of the storm." Yugi said, frowning slightly as Yami looked away from him, "They gave me that much of a hint."
"Silence a voice? How? Do we tell it to shut up?" Ombre snorted.
"I'm guessing we have to tell whoever it belongs to shut up."
"Or defeat the owner." Yugi nodded, well versed in the way the shadows worked. Reasoning didn't get you out of Shadow Games, only victories did.
"So what's the plan?" Serenity asked, turning to Yugi.
"Uhhh…" Yugi squeaked, looking at Yami for a second before seeming to centre himself and nodding, "We go out into the desert, away from the villagers and we try to attract the 'voice that rides the desert winds'."
"Lead the way!" Joey grinned, "Let's take it down!"
Yugi smiled slightly, nodded and led them out.
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Robyn, who was holed up in a motel room, hiding, just as she had told Yugi she would be, was trying to scry.
She'd seen many futures expanding from this summer, and there were many of chances for things to go favourably or badly in the events that were to come, and as such there were just as many possible futures.
But the near future was fogging, making it near impossible to predict.
There were many theories about why this happened, but Robyn favoured the idea that a foretold event was taking place, and that viewing the future at this point would influence the choice about to be made.
So instead she was using ink and water, adding ink to the surface of the water, to see the present.
Robyn couldn't Scry into the future, very few used this method to see the future as it was far too precise. But for seeing the present it was near prefect. At least for this purpose, although it worried her slightly that for it to be working as well as it was, someone was already watching the group rather intently.
It was enough to get the answers that she was looking for, how they were doing in the game they'd entered, how far they had gotten…
She watched the images, as the ink danced it formed into one image and slowly shifted into another and another, almost like a shadow puppet show, making notes and thinking.
The mobile phone, which she'd placed at her side when she'd first started scrying rang without warning, causing her to jump and almost scattering the bowl.
Her heart pounded, she hadn't been startled like this since…
The tone pounded against her ears, and she mashed the buttons.
There were a grand total of two people who had her number, and one was beyond even Kaiba's network service.
"Luna."
Her third cousin if her memory of the family tree was to be believed, not that she was going to check… unless Luna had a copy… not that it was important.
"Hello Robyn." Luna said, sounding a little flustered, "I thought you'd want to know that Yugi and the others have gone missing."
"I know."
"Oh… good." Luna didn't sound that relieved, "Mokuba said he'd pass my message on to Seto, but I thought you might know which way the future is flowing, all I'm getting is fog."
Robyn hummed and looked back at her bowl of water, adding another drop and scowling at the pattern that formed. "The future is changing."
"Yes…" Luna hesitated for a moment, "Do you know what is happening?"
Robyn considered it, as she jotted down the pattern. "Did he say why?"
"Mokuba?"
"Hmmm."
"They are missing, they are your family, don't you care?"
"They don't need my help." Robyn replied flatly, "They wouldn't take my help."
"It's not Yugi asking."
Robyn flicked at the water, dissolving the small drama taking place in the waters.
"Robyn… please."
"Tell Mr Kaiba that they are looking in the wrong place. Tell them that the eldest Moto is missing as well… and if they want any more have him call himself."
"I can give him this number?"
"You have my permission, but… no…" Robyn lashed out, slamming her hand into the desk, "tell him. It's not safe, but tell him anyway."
Wanting to destroy something, Robyn carefully packed away her supplies, letting the water drain down the sink and dropped onto the bed, screaming into the pillow, tears falling relentlessly.
"Kari…" She shivered, "I don't know what to do any more."
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The wind had picked up as they'd wandered further into the desert.
"Leave this place!" The voice echoed.
"There's the voice again!" Yugi looked around, as if suspecting that the owner was right behind him.
"It sounds like it's getting closer." Serenity said, looking around also.
"Eek!" Ombre leapt towards Yami, who pulled her close as the place where she'd been stood dropped in on itself and a huge pink worm shot out of the ground.
"It's a Medusa Worm…"
"Grandpa!" Yugi called, already loading his Gaia, the Fierce Knight capsule into his launcher, "We'll handle it, stay back!"
Solomon retreated slightly as Yugi's knight was joined by Yami's Dark Magician, Joey's Panther Warrior, Ombre's Criosphinx and Serenity's Ancient Fairy Dragon.
"Panther Warrior! Take it out!" Joey yelled. His monster leapt forward, swiping at the sand worm with its sword. It would have been a clean blow had the worm not retreated underground.
"Where'd it go?" Joey demanded, looking around, trying to see any sort of pattern in the sand that was shifting under their feet.
"That worm has a huge advantage," Yami growled, also looking, "We're fighting in its native environment."
"Gaia! Take it out!" Yugi called, as the worm emerged behind them.
It was only half way out of the hole when the knight on horseback struck it down and it exploded into thousands of tiny fragments.
"Nice one Yuge." Joey grinned.
"It's not over yet." Yugi warned, already shifting to where there were more worms emerging, the voice whispering to them over the winds, the sand in the air thickening.
"Attack!" Four voices echoed, their monsters leaping into action to destroy the worms as the worms spat some kind of sand concoction at them.
Several worms died but nothing happened except that more worms appeared and the sand grew so thick that they were unable to see each other.
"Yugi?" Yami called, trying to see through the sand to where his partner had been stood just a few feet away.
"Give up, Prince." The voice mocked.
"Panther Warrior! There!" Joey's voice was just about audible over the howling winds, "Attack!"
Yugi had to leap back to avoid getting cut in two, landing on his butt, his hand on a capsule, which revealed his Sunset Magician, who glowered at the Panther Warrior, "JOEY! I'm not a worm!" Yugi complained as he recalled his Fierce Knight.
"Sorry Yuge!"
"Ancient Fairy Dragon, help!" Serenity squeaked, as a worm bore down on her, nearly eating her before she even noticed that it was there.
"Hold fire!" Yugi called, "If we try and fight in this, we'll just take each other out! Only attack if you're one hundred percent sure it's a worm!"
'Yugi, I think the worms are a…'
"Distraction, I know." Yugi returned, thinking quickly, "I need to get to the 'voice that rides the desert winds'."
"The sand shall swallow you all!" The voice chuckled, sounding all too amused about their predicament. Unsurprising considering that she was the one causing it.
If it was possible, the air became even more laden with sand, to the point where it was difficult to breathe or see more then a foot away. Their monsters vanished almost completely.
"Give up! Fighting me is futile!" The voice sniggered. "You fools, turn back. I'm invincible!"
"Serenity, get your dragon above the storm, find out where the eye of the storm is!" Yugi shouted.
"Right. Ancient one!"
They could just about hear the dragon's roar as it shot skyward, getting above the sand clouds and spotting the eye of the storm.
Serenity's scream caught the attention of all there as a worm spat something on her and her legs turned to stone and the petrifaction continued up her legs and didn't stop until Serenity was a stone statue.
"Serenity! No!" Joey reached his sister's side, as Ancient Fairy Dragon roared and landed, nudging her partner.
"Ahh!"
"No!"
"Damn!"
Ombre, Yami and Joey were hit by the worms.
'Yugi, take down…'
Yugi froze for a critical second as Yami's mental voice went silent, and it was only through the actions of his Sunset Magician that he didn't join his friends as statues.
"YAMI!" Yugi wriggled, trying to get down as Sunset took him above the storm and out of reach of the worms.
"Behold, the source of the storm." It was a man's voice this time, one that shouldn't have been there, but one that surprised Yugi enough to make him stop panicking and look at the huge black tornado that was just to his left.
"The eye of the storm… the tornado's eye!" Yugi realised, "Sunset Magician take me down there, I have to reach the eye before something worse happens to my friends!"
Sunset Magician dropped him on the sand in order to raise a hand and blast an attacking worm with a blast that was full of darkness and stars.
"Thanks, but I can't afford to lose you," Yugi said, recalling the Spellcaster, "Now, to find the eye of that storm…"
"You'll never find me." The voice mocked.
Yugi glowered at the air in general and ran forward, towards where the storm had been just a few moments ago.
It shouldn't have been possible, but the wind picked up even further, making Yugi struggle against it, while dodging attacks from the worms. One came up right under him, knocking him flying, and forcing him to roll out of the way of another attack, this one just missing his foot by inches.
"Turn back, Prince." The voice mocked, "You can't beat me."
Yugi staggered, falling to his hands and knees as he tripped over a really uneven dune and trying to catch his breath. "So…close…" He panted, the tornado's base in sight now, as it flung sand away from it. "Just… have to…"
He got to his feet, walking against the wind. "I have to save the others…"
The voice laughed again, the outline of someone obvious now as Yugi struggled forwards.
He collapsed.
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Hermione had given up trying to read an hour ago and now sleep was refusing to come.
At this moment of time she was counting squiggles on her ceiling, doing something, anything to try to keep her mind of her missing family and to a point where she could sleep.
It was impossible.
It had been easier when she hadn't known when her friends were in trouble, because then at least she hadn't been unable to sleep because there was nothing she could do and because she was unable to travel to somewhere where she could be useful.
She wanted to go to Japan and help Seto with his organising, or go to India and join the search team.
Instead she had found out that there were exactly 7942 funny little squiggles on her ceiling caused by the artex.
She gave up, turned her bedside lamp on and pulled the book she'd been reading out from under the bed.
If she wasn't going to sleep, she could at least try and look up something useful.
She just hoped that if she did fall asleep, that her mobile phone would be loud enough to wake her if they found anything. It normally lived downstairs, on the arm of the chair that she always curled up in with a good book, but at the moment the phone was resting quite peacefully on the bedside cabinet.
She glowered at it, for not having rung for the last few hours and then started reading.
She just hoped there was something useful in this one.
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Yugi looked down at himself, examining the blue gauntlets which faded to purple at the tips of the gloves, and the blue and purple armour that surrounded his torso, his legs and seemed to form wings of some kind behind him, not to mention the black crown that he now wore.
"Wow, so this is what merging with Sunset Magician does…" Yugi breathed, making a mental note to thank the man who had spoken with him, even if it had been an illusion or a hallucination brought on when he'd collapsed. He looked up at the tornado. "Now to save my friends."
"Then bring it on, princeling."
Yugi leapt and his wings kept him going upwards, flying directly at the tornado and through into the eye, where a woman in red clothes and flying on a broom stick laughed at them.
"A Sand Witch!" Yugi realised, flying up to her level and raising his hand.
"Demons, strike him down!" She screeched, raising her own hand. Creatures leapt out at Yugi from the sand trapped in the tornado, forcing him upwards as he dodged their attacks and blasted them away, nearly reaching the Sand Witch again, to try to take her down when a huge hand, made completely out of sand grasped him, crushing him in it's grip.
She sniggered, convinced he was defeated, either crushed or suffocating in the hand's grip.
Right up until the hand exploded in a burst of stars and dark energy and Yugi flew right at her, "Starlight Blast!" He gasped, focusing his own power and the power that Sunset Magician was lending him while they were merged, and blasting the Sand Witch at point blank range.
She screamed and exploded into tiny little fragments.
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Harry's head shot up from his mug of hot chocolate, spilling the contents all down his front.
"What's wrong?" Sirius demanded, "Are you burnt?"
"The chocolate was almost cold." Harry said, setting it aside and walking out onto the balcony, which looked out over the hotel's courtyard, which was bathed in starlight and the lights from many windows.
"Harry?" Dudley asked.
"Yugi… Yami…"
"You can sense them again?"
"No," Harry shook his head, "But I thought I felt…"
Emotional echo. Wolf said, his tone sounding as if he was stating the obvious. Something must have happened.
"What do you mean?" Harry demanded, turning to glower at the golden furred wolf.
Even if the link is broken, if there are strong enough emotions, the echo can be felt from great distances.
"So something bad's just happened?" Sirius hazarded.
Or something really good. Wolf turned to look at his partner. There's nothing we can do about it at the moment.
"I know but…"
Aren't you supposed to call your Mate about now? Wolf asked, stretching and wandering over to the bowl of water which was resting on the floor.
"Luna's not my…"
Mate, girlfriend, it's all the same in the end.
"It's important to stick to your schedule Harry." Sirius sniggered, "Its good practice for when you have a wife to whip you into shape."
"Sirius…" Harry groaned.
"Can't keep your girlfriend waiting." Dudley wandered over and poked him, causing Wolf to growl.
Harry retreated to the chair he'd been sat in and pulled his phone out as Wolf curled up at his feet. "She'd understand." He said, staring at it. He sighed, flipping it open and pressing a couple of keys before putting the phone to his ear, "Hey Luna…"
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The storm was dying down quickly as Solomon got to his feet, having been forced to sit out the whole time because of his lack of monsters. "Yugi must have done it."
Joey took a deep breath of sand free air, well as sand free as desert got normally, as the stone petrifaction started fading, finally getting past his chest and fading completely as it reached his shoes. He could feel sand up his trouser legs and down his top, and groaned, knowing just how long it would take to get rid of all the sand.
"Big brother!" Serenity gasped, clinging onto him.
"Easy, Serenity." Joey hugged her. "We're free."
"Yugi must have completed the task." Ombre said, looking around.
"But where is he?" Yami scowled, looking around, sensing that Yugi was hurt and tired and wanting to check that his hikari was still standing.
"Hey guys!" Yugi called, from the top of a dune, grinning, "Thank the Gods you're alright."
"Wow Yuge." Joey stared at him, the blue armour, which faded to purple at the bottom and was complimented with a black crown, shining in the desert sunlight. "Looking good. Where'd you get the armour?"
"I merged with Sunset Magician." Yugi said, looking at his gauntlets properly in the sunlight.
"How?"
"There was a man… out in the storm…" Yugi looked around. "At least, I think there was…"
"Quite possibly." Ombre said, noting that Yami was almost at the top of the dune that Yugi was stood on. "Anything's possible."
"I bet Harry could do with some armour like that, do you think your friend has some we could…" Joey cut off as Yugi's armour vanished in a burst of golden light and Yugi cried out, collapsing.
Yami caught him and as he carefully led Yugi down, the others rushed over and knelt down at Yugi's side. 'Yugi?' He asked fearfully, shocked at the amount that the pain had increased once the armour had vanished, sending his own energy down the link to boost his hikari's flagging strength.
"I'll be fine…" Yugi sent, the energy Yami was sending him flowing straight into his reserves without Yugi even having to accept it. "Just… let me… catch my breath…"
Serenity was concerned. She could see Yugi's breathing was heavy and laboured, but there was nothing she could do to help without her wand and, what seemed like an hour later, but was in fact only a couple of minutes, as the young man opened his eyes, he tried to look reassuring. "Hey." He said weakly, sitting up with Yami's help. "Sorry, I guess that battle was rougher on me then I realised…"
Yami didn't buy it, sure that Yugi knew exactly how hard this would be, but didn't say anything, as the relief the others felt, about the fact that Yugi was awake and aware, was evident in the others. They, like Yami, were afraid that Yugi had seriously injured himself in the fight.
"Here Yuge." Joey handed over a bottle of water from his pack, rather glad he'd gone back for the bags.
Yugi gulped it down quickly, draining the entire bottle, and then looked at it, feeling rather guilty. "Sorry guys."
His voice didn't sound much better and as Yami helped him to his feet, supporting Yugi and watching him with a rather concerned look, Serenity saw the slowed movements and the brief grimace that told her that he was probably in a lot more pain then he was letting on.
"Yugi…"
"I'll be fine, Serenity. We don't have time to worry about me." Yugi sounded sure of himself. Yami understood exactly what Yugi was doing.
Yugi had to stay strong, make the others believe that he was alright, so that they didn't have another thing to worry about, and so they didn't stop to see just how much he hurt, and waste time, when it was of the essence…
He couldn't hide it from Yami, not when there were only certain levels of pain you could block and it had yet to occur to Yugi to even try to close the link, but he could try to hide it from the others…
There was something Yugi could do though… Yami's eyes widened in surprise when he felt the energy transfer break off and he frowned at Yugi.
"Don't send all your energy to me." Yugi still sounded knackered, "Or you'll be in the same state I am."
'You're the one with the armour, Yugi. You're the one that has to lead us out of here.'
"Don't you dare start that!" Yugi sent the mental equivalent of a scowl, "I need you, so don't you dare get yourself killed because you let me drain too much of your energy."
'Alright.' It was obvious from Yami's tone that he didn't agree with Yugi's thoughts on the matter, but Yugi was too tired to press it.
"Yugi, I want to examine you when we get out of here." Serenity said quietly, still worried about the shortness of breath and the eyes that were dulled by pain.
Yami's eyes glimmered in amusement, as Yugi nodded resignedly.
"So, where do we go now?" Joey asked, getting to his feet and looking around.
"Back isn't an option." Ombre scowled, looking around also, "The village is gone."
"Do you think the sandstorm blew it away?"
"Back isn't an option, remember guys?" Yami reminded them, "This is a game; we can't win if we go backwards instead of forwards."
"Umm, those statues look familiar." Serenity pointed to a small shrine, which had been revealed by the sandstorm and inside which were statues of the villagers…
"So they were just illusions? Part of the test?" Ombre asked.
"Guides perhaps." Yami nodded.
Serenity picked up the pentagonal pendant that had fallen out of Yugi's pocket when he'd collapsed, surprised when it lit up with a reddish glow, one of its purple sides turning a rather deep shade of red.
"Yugi, what's this?" She asked.
"I think it's important." Yugi said, leaning heavily on Yami. "The villagers told me I shouldn't lose it."
"One of the sides just changed colour. Maybe it's a beacon that shows when we've completed the test…" Serenity suggested.
"Could well be." Yami nodded.
"Look after it for me?" Yugi asked her.
Serenity nodded.
There was silence for half a minute and then Serenity yelped and Joey and Ombre moved between the others and the suddenly rising column of sand.
"Not another worm!" Joey yelped as Yugi reached for his capsule, ready to merge with Sunset Magician again if necessary.
Once the sand started falling again, what had actually emerged was a door that opened by itself and opened onto nothing but yet another bright light.
"Guess that's our cue to move on." Solomon said, having stayed quiet for most of the conversation.
"Let's go then!" Joey nodded, "The sooner the better."
"Right!" Yugi nodded, moved away from Yami and took the first step, vanishing into the light without a second thought.