Chapter 9: - Five
"We're back where we started." Yugi commented as they sat around a campfire, having arrived in the middle of what looked like the same forest that they had fallen into when they had first entered the game.
"It makes sense." Yami nodded, "If there's an entrance here, it's likely that there's an exit too."
Ombre tossed everyone a fruit from her bag. "We still have one task to complete, remember?" She asked. Everyone nodded, tucking in.
"Let's worry about finding the exit once it's done." Yugi agreed, finishing his plum.
"A wise decision."
Everyone jumped. Yami and Joey got to their feet and moved between the group and the man who had suddenly appeared in the shadows between the trees.
"It's alright, guys." Yugi called, as the man moved into the light so they could see who he was, revealing him to e the same man that had helped them so far.
Yami and Joey sat back down, and Yugi invited the man to join them.
"I cannot Prince Yugi, time draws short and your fifth and final challenge will prove to be your most difficult thus far."
"While I am grateful for the assistance that you have rendered us thus far," Yami frowned, "You appear to have us at a disadvantage, you know Yugi's name, but he doesn't know yours."
"I apologise." The man bowed for a moment, then straightened up and looked Yugi in the eyes, "My friend, I am King Alexandros the Third of Macedonia."
"Alexander the Great?" Ombre scowled.
"Indeed." He nodded, noting Ombre's look, "I assume then that you have heard of me."
"Indeed." Ombre nodded with a reply, "You single handedly nearly conquered the whole world. It would be difficult not to know of you."
Alexandros snorted, "The events of which you speak occurred many lifetimes ago."
Yugi got to his feet, "Why are you here?"
Alexandros threw back the cloak that he had been covering him during every other appearance, revealing his Roman clothes and a set of gold armour just like Yugi's.
"You took these trials too…"
"Indeed." He seemed to like that word, "It began around two millennia ago, as the world's most powerful empires fell at my feet. Greece, Persia, Egypt, I was unstoppable." Yugi sensed Yami bristle slightly and while he understood Yami's feeling on the fall of Egypt, it had been three thousand years after the Pharaoh's time, "And it was all thanks to a good luck charm I stumbled upon."
"Good luck charm?" Yugi frowned, "What kind of a…"
"Actually it was not unlike the one you wear." Yugi's hand automatically went to his Puzzle, "And while it brought me many victories, it seemed to cloud my mind. Before long I had lost the respect and loyalty of my men. When finally I stood alone, an Egyptian challenged me, told me that if I was to truly claim the power of the mystical, ring like charm I'd gotten in Egypt, and call myself a 'True King', I had to face the trails of the Capsule Monsters."
"I take it you were unsuccessful?" Yugi asked, wanting to hear more, but suspecting that the mystery man that had helped them so far and had been revealed to be King Alexandros the Third, better known in the modern age as Alexander the Great, was still within the game for this reason.
"My lust for power was my downfall." Alexandros nodded, "I'm sure you're all aware of what happened after I failed." He continued said with a small frown.
"Your invasion of India failed." Ombre nodded, "All bar a few of your men deserted you and your Empire fell. There was a rumour that the shock of your failure was so great that it killed you."
"You speak with certain knowledge of times long past." Alexandros frowned at Ombre.
"I am the Keeper of the Orb of Light, knowledge is my domain." She explained.
"In this you are correct, both about the invasion and about me; I failed the stranger's test and lost everything." He sighed and stood up, "It was my own fault and now it's your turn." He opened his right hand and a scroll appeared in it.
"This is the final trial." He told them. Yugi stood up to take it, but Alexandros the Third opened it and started reading. "Slay them all if you dare, earth, fire, sky, water and air."
"Slay them all?" Yugi questioned.
"Sounds simple enough." Joey nodded.
"But where do we start looking?" Serenity asked the King who stood in front of them.
"Luckily for you I know where to look." Alexandros said, offering Solomon a Capsule.
"Thank you, what monster is it?" Solomon asked as he got up.
"One that you will need, should you want to pass this test."
"I'm going to pass." Yugi told Alexandros firmly, "And get everyone out of this game safely."
"Follow me." The King ordered, turning around to leave.
"Yugi?" Yami asked, noting Yugi's slight frown. If Yugi said they weren't going to follow the Roman King, no one would follow Alexandros. An order from Yugi held far more sway and they trusted Yugi a lot more.
"Currently I think it's our best option." Yugi nodded, helping his Grandfather to his feet and put out the fire. "Come on." He looked in the direction Alexandros had gone, only to find that the King was waiting for them with an odd expression on his face.
"Are you alright?" Yugi questioned, going over to wait with him as the others quickly finished packing up.
"I am fine." Alexandros replied, reminded by the group of how close he had been to his own Vassals before he had gotten that accursed ring. "We should be moving, night is falling fast."
Yugi nodded, looking at his family, who finished off their packing and looked to him. He in turn, turned to the Roman King, who nodded and led them out of the forest, away from the river, towards the mountains, and across a small section of desert, until they reached a small town built into a valley.
By this point, Yugi had already worked out that the forest was the only thing the same from the first part of the game, and when Alexandros gestured for him to take point again, he did so, noting when the King fell back, having led them to a shrine to the divine dragon.
He heard Joey's amused snort and practically sensed Yami's eyes roll.
Kaiba would love this.
How could Yugi not know the carving on the wall that the villagers were praying too?
Even carved in stone, the dragon lost none of her majesty, none of her grace and certainly, even from just a craving, Yugi could sense her power.
That huge tablet was carved with an image of the Blue Eyes White Dragon.
But why were the villagers praying to her?
Yugi was about to step forward when a girl in a white dress stepped towards the priest, causing him to pause to listen to what the priest was saying to her.
"Are you prepared to offer up your soul to the divine beast, so it will continue to offer its protection to our people?"
Yugi heard Yami's low growl, heard Joey's swear word, but as he called to the priest, he had already made up his mind that he wasn't going to allow her to be sacrificed. They wouldn't be seeing this if there wasn't something that they could do about it.
After all, Kisara didn't eat souls…
He took another step forward and a blue circle of light radiated from where he put his foot down, catching the attention of all assembled.
"State your business." The priest complained, "We are in the middle of a sacred ceremony."
"I am Prince Yugi, these are my advisors." Yugi said, as calmly as he could manage, knowing that impressions were everything and if he was to find out what was going on and pass this part of the test, he would have to make a good one. "I apologise for interrupting."
The priest hesitated and Joey turned to the girl, "Don't worry, we'll protect you."
"I thank you but I'm fine." The girl said.
Yugi watched as Joey threw a rock over the cliff edge that they were stood on, and listened hard, turning back when there was no impact, "You call that fine?" He demanded.
"Joey." Yugi warned, noting the look on the priest's face. "We're here to slay some monsters you've been having trouble with."
The priest took a half step back and looked at them properly, "You're the legendary warriors." His voice was low, but it carried, causing murmurs from the assembled crowd.
"You were expecting us?" Yami didn't sound too amused by this.
The priest nodded, explaining that five viscous dragons had terrorised the area but had been banished by the divine white dragon, who had promised to protect the people until the legendary warriors arrived, in exchange for one soul, given as an offering, one per year.
The girl wasn't being forced into this either, she had offered.
Ombre nudged Yugi, who nodded, "Tell us where to find these five dragons and we'll defeat them. You won't have to sacrifice anyone ever again."
"You have no idea what you're dealing with!" One of the townsfolk protested, "I'm warning you, no human has ever entered the domain of the fiendish five and lived to tell the tale."
"We're not afraid." Yugi told him firmly.
"If you insist on pursuing this foolish quest," The priest nodded, causing them to turn back to him, "Then I will tell you were the fiendish five are."
"We will defeat these dragons, I promise." Yugi answered.
"Alright, they dwell in five nearby locations, the Whirlwind Forest, the Bottomless Spring, the Cavern of No Return, Meteor Mountain and the most dangerous of all the Great Molten Chasm. You have until sun up to conquer them all. If you do not, we will have to make our sacrifice."
"If they're so brave," The same member of the populace spoke up, "Let them offer one of their souls."
"Fine." Yugi replied, "If we should fail, you can have…"
"My soul." Yami interrupted Yugi's offer, noting the look he was getting from his hikari for doing so and trying to ignore it.
"I won't let it come to that." Yugi's tone stated his intentions of not failing incredibly clearly. "We won't fail."
"If this works, we'll be forever in your debt." The priest sounded relived, "Good luck, my friends."
The girl led them into the centre of town, where another dragon statue was stood, this one with none of the grace or power of the carving, and at the base of it there was a sword embedded in the rocks. Apparently it was called the Sword of Divinity and could be the only thing that could slay the fiendish five.
However no one could remove it from the stone and just standing here talking was wasting precious minutes of moonlight that they could ill afford to waste.
Yugi winced as his mind came up with the only logical plan of action considering time constraints and what needed to be done, knowing no one was going to like it and everyone would want to rant at him at the same time, "We need to split up."
He was right, the noise that erupted was enough to wake the dead.
He took a leaf out of Dumbledore's book. "QUIET!"
The others shut up, immediately. Yugi made a note of it for future reference.
"I don't care how much you guys hate it; we don't have time to go together." Yugi told them firmly, scowling as he did so, he needed them to listen and obey without questioning; there was no time for questioning. They could rant and rave all they liked once they were out of here but for now, they needed to follow his orders. "I'll take the Great Molten Chasm, Joey, Serenity, the Whirlwind Forest, Grandpa, Bottomless Spring please, Ombre, I need you to deal with the Cavern of No Return, Yami, you take Meteor Mountain." He could make one concession and send Serenity with Joey at least.
"Let me take the Great Molten Chasm." Yami told Yugi.
Joey watched with amusement as Yugi turned around, fixing his dark side with a look that quite obviously said 'don't start' and told him that he would be taking the Great Molten Chasm and obviously Yami liked wasting time and coming closer and closer to having his soul taken by Kisara, or he wouldn't be arguing, they would be leaving.
Yami scowled at Yugi's comment, but it did cause them to get directions and leave.
There would be a row later, Joey could see it, but for now the urgency of the task at hand was enough to push such pettiness to one side.
They split up.
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For the first couple of days of the holiday, the entire Burrow had been quiet.
Then slowly, as everyone picked themselves up, life had started up again.
Mum had started going about her daily business with as much noise as normal, Ginny had started texting Luna, Rebecca and Mokuba pretty much constantly, she appeared to be glued to the phone that Kaiba had given her, Dad, who had returned to work the next day, had started tinkering with things again, the twins had started working on whatever it was they had been working on again, and Percy, who had barely been effected by what had happened merely returned to being an officious prat again.
Yesterday's game of Quidditch hadn't been the first time they had been on their brooms by any means, but it was the first time that they had really enjoyed the game since the last task of the Triwizard Tournament, and Ron had thought that it had helped a lot.
However, Fred and George's room had been suspiciously quiet for the last few days except for the occasional sound of squeaking.
There was a reason for this, though Ron didn't know it.
Hermione, Ombre and Robyn weren't the only ones who had gotten something out of Kari's will. Along with the notes that she had left for them, she had transferred five hundred Galleons into an account just for the twins, claiming that she wanted them to follow their dreams, and that they were to use this money to start their own joke shop.
If you added to that the prize money that Harry had given them for the same purpose, when he didn't want it and Ombre wouldn't take it, Weasley's Wizard Wheezes were well under way to becoming much more then just a mail order shop.
However, in exchange for Harry's input, they had given him a partnership in the company, and they felt that they had to do something to remember Kari, but they couldn't decide what.
It didn't feel right, creating a range of pranks after her, but George had remembered that she'd really loved Iced Mice, but she'd complained that the enchantments wore off too quickly and if you left the Iced Mice for more then a couple of days, you tended to find that the favour wasn't as good, as the potions in the recipe did something funny to the sugar.
Which was why they were quiet right now. They were trying to reverse engineer some Iced Mice to figure out exactly how they worked and see if they could do it better and in a much more interesting way.
They were planning on trying to see if they could make them study aids, temporarily boost your leaning intake or some such thing, it was doable, there were potions that could do the same thing, and it was something that Kari would have appreciated.
They thought they had the spell work down now, certainly they could get sweets to run around and squeak, but it was getting the potions involved to hold their potency without turning the sweets bad that was eluding them.
But it had only been a week and a half, they'd get there. They'd only worked out how to do the squeaking charm so fast because it was a lot like a spell they'd used on another product, their Liquorice Bats, and those still weren't perfect, they were hoping to get them finished by Halloween though.
Of course if they could get their mother to stop snooping around, things would be so much easier…
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Solomon had been rather glad that the capsule the Roman King had given him had contained Curse of Dragon as the dragon Yugi had entrusted him with defeating appeared from the supposedly Bottomless Spring.
It was an Aqua Dragon, so in theory it should not have been too much of an issue for his Dragon, except that for some odd reason attacks that should have destroyed the enemy Sea Serpent were doing little but bouncing off or exploding.
There was something wrong about this…
Aqua Dragon took off; turning towards the south-east, dodging Curse of Dragon's attacked easily.
Solomon suddenly had a moment of clarity on what was going on and what was needed.
The dragons would reach the village, they had to for the next stage of the trial, and worse then that, they had to get there at around the same time…
It had something to do with that sword, the one that they hadn't been able to remove from the stones earlier, he was certain of it. What had that girl said?
Oh yeah.
"When a great power descends from the skies the sacred sword will rise."
The dragons were incredibly powerful creatures… when they arrived in town he suspected that would count as the great power descending from the skies, which would leave the sword free for the Legendary Hero, and that had to be Yugi, as these were his trials, to take and use to slay the fiendish five.
Solomon climbed onto Curse of Dragon and chased Aqua Dragon, trying to slow it down when he saw Red Eyes and Ancient Fairy Dragon were battling a Luster Dragon, slowing its progress considerably, Yami had picked up a Black Luster Soldier from somewhere. As he watched, Blast Luster Solider actually waved at Serpent Night Dragon, trying to lure it into attacking the Meteor Dragon that he was riding.
Solomon was certain that this was a bad idea, no matter how much stronger the knight was, but since Yugi was close behind, trying to do battle with an Ancient Dragon, while keeping an eye on that particularly bad idea, not that this task hadn't been riddled with them so far, but Solomon didn't really want to think about how much it would hurt to fall about a hundred foot to the ground, and knew that if Yugi missed catching Luster Soldier, and no one else could get there in time Yami would feel everything the Dark Warrior monster did.
"Yugi!" Serenity flew up between Yugi and the incoming attack, her dragon hit by the pulse of dark energy that Serpent Night Dragon had sent at the Duellist, who had been distracted with stopping Ancient Dragon from blasting Red Eyes into next week.
Joey watched in horror as Serenity was knocked off of her dragon, who reverted to a capsule and fell into the forest, and fell through the air. Yugi dove to try and catch her, only to be stopped when he was hit by a second attack from the dragon which had injured Joey's little sister, and though Joey had already sent Red Eyes into a dive to catch her, it was Solomon and his Curse of Dragon that snatched her out of the air.
Red Eyes wheeled on Serpent Night and everyone and everything was forced to move out of the way as Joey's partner monster when berserk on Serpent Night.
And still the damn thing wouldn't stop in its attempts to reach the village.
Yugi saw his Grandfather touch down in a clearing near to where Ancient Fairy Dragon had fallen, but, since he knew they were safe, he had to focus on reaching the town before the fiendish five did.
He needed the people to go into hiding. He had a plan but he wasn't sure it would work.
"Everyone hide. The dragons are coming!" Yugi demanded as he landed, rushing over to the pedestal where the Sword of Divinity was stood, "Please," He muttered, "Let this work."
The dragons arrived.
Yugi pulled on the sword.
It came out easily, the rust appearing to fall away.
The dragons were surrounded by a blue glow, all of them, including the enemy ones, and Yugi felt his strength rise.
He attacked, taking down the fiendish five in one fell swoop.
The five dragons came crashing to the ground.
The guys landed in a circle around the sword plinth, and the girl rushed over, "Are you alright?" She asked him.
"Yes." Yugi nodded, wondering if his Grandfather and Serenity were.
"Thank you kind sir. You spared my soul and I am forever in your debt."
"You truly are the Chosen One." The priest nodded, smiling slightly.
'Something wrong?' Yami asked, when Yugi didn't seem happy about the fact they'd defeated the dragons.
"This isn't over." Yugi replied, thinking quickly, turning to the dragons, who were beginning to pick themselves up. The task had said 'slay them all', not 'defeat them all' but the sword wasn't glowing any more. He didn't have the power now to destroy one dragon, yet alone all five.
With a single roar, the fiendish five turned green and fused together.
Five dragons, one fusion… Yugi knew what was coming even as he backed up and started telling the villagers to run for it. There was only one monster in all of Duel Monsters that required the tribute of five dragons of different elements in order to summon it and he had no light monsters to combat it with… unless… he looked over his shoulder, towards the shrine as the fusion came to it's completion… he needed help and he knew he had to, somehow, get help from Kisara.
But how to call her?
A five tone roar pierced Yugi's thoughts, making him turn back towards the enemy.
Five God Dragon, also known as Five-Headed Dragon, or in Kaiba's game world, the Mythic Dragon, glowered at him.
Yugi felt a surge of fear pass through him.
Five God could only be defeated by a creature of Light and he had none. He had no idea how he was supposed to call to Kisara and if he let this dragon rampage, it was going to kill everyone there, there was no doubt about it.
He had to stop it, and he could think of one possible way without a Light attribute Duel Monster.
He heard the gasp from the villagers as he started glowing with a bright white light.
He could call on his own magic and his own aura to use to battle the creature.
"Yugi?" Yugi heard Joey's hesitant tone, sensed Yami's shock turn to concern.
Yugi raised the sword, using it and his light in a combination attack on the dragon, distracting it from the villagers, giving them time to get away.
It had been his failure that had let the fiendish five become this monster and he wasn't going to let them destroy this town.
The dragon bellowed in pain, but its counter attack from the dark head sent Yugi flying. He crashed into the ground painfully, stunned for a couple of moments, unable to move or think.
In another couple of moments, the five headed dragon had brought everyone else crashing to the ground.
Yugi got to his feet, summoning more light, "I won't lose…" He growled. "Ombre, Yami, Joey, please, protect the villagers."
"Yugi…"
"Don't argue with me, I'll deal with the Dragon, you protect the people." Yugi snapped back.
Ombre moved without hesitation, Joey following slowly, Yami moving last of all. No one noticed that the girl who they had saved from being sacrificed had run to the temple.
Five God opened fire on a group of Villagers.
Yugi got between the attack and the villagers, throwing up his left arm instinctively to shield himself, using his capsule launcher to try to shield himself from the powerful attack, just as he had used his Duel Disk in the past.
A lot of the other townsfolk joined the girl in the shrine of the divine dragon.
Yugi was barely able to block the blast from just the two heads, so when a third and fourth joined in the attack, he was knocked off of his feet and left, semi-conscious on the ground a few foot backwards from where he had been.
"Yugi!" Yami darted forward as Five God prepared to strike for the final time, readying all of its heads for its ultimate attack.
Yami was never going to reach Yugi in time.
A roar. The roar. The most unmistakeable roar in all of Duel Monsters. Even the cry of the God Cards wasn't as well known.
Five God Dragon opened fire.
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They had arrived at the foot of the pyramid to find that not much had gotten done since they had told the rescue parties that they were on their way down from the airport and to be organised and ready to enter the pyramid.
When they arrived they found nothing was sorted.
In a matter of minutes Seto had split the searchers into four teams. Squads A, B and C would enter the pyramid with him, to look for Yugi and the others, while Team D, headed by Mokuba, would stay at the base camp with the healers and technicians, just in case it was attacked.
Seto was in the process of pushing past the traps that were trying to impede their progress into the Pyramid, leading A Group, amused by the fact that these, obviously ancient, traps still worked after all this time. Either these were ancient traps that the others hadn't triggered on their way past, but thinking about who had passed through here earlier that wasn't likely, or these were ancient style traps that had been reset by the group that had kidnapped Yugi and the others.
That or someone had reset the traps behind the earlier group.
"Mr Kaiba…" Someone spoke up as they reached a room that split off in three different directions.
"A group, with me, this way." He pointed towards the downwards steps to his left. "B group, that way," He pointed towards the stairs upwards, "C group, that way." He indicated the steps downwards and to his right. "If you locate the Mutos and their group, report in immediately."
"Yes Mr Kaiba." The group leaders of B and C nodded and led their groups in the directions he'd ordered.
He wasn't convinced that there would be such a large group of witches and wizards, if he wasn't offering such a huge wage to the search party, but he didn't care. The company could afford it, and he wasn't going to risk the enemy offering more. There weren't many people who could afford to offer fifty galleons an hour, with a two thousand Dollar bonus each, to the group that found the missing people within twelve hours.
He watched B and C groups depart and then started heading downstairs.
It didn't matter what country or culture you were raised in. Money was always an issue. Over half his staff at one point had been loyal to him only for the money, and while this wasn't an issue so much anymore, he knew that the two things that attracted people to Kaiba Corp were the influence it would have on their future job prospects and the wages he paid out.
He was just glad that he'd left his brother outside. The pyramid hadn't degraded enough to have been left to wind and rain for as long as it should have been and even if a pyramid had been hidden from Muggle eyes, there would have been something on the maps that represented the huge crater it was sat in and there was nothing.
This was obviously a trap for Yugi and the others, and while he hadn't been able to prevent Mokuba coming with him. He had been able to convince Mokuba that he was needed by the base camp, rather then following him in.
Yugi and the others were supposedly family now, and Seto would do whatever was in his power to help them, but Mokuba was the one that Seto would offer his life for. Only Mokuba had been there during the worst times of his life, only Mokuba truly knew what he had been through at the hands of Gozabora, and only Mokuba had prevented him going completely insane or dying at the hands of his insane teacher…
Everything he could ever possibly do to protect his brother… it would never be enough, not ever.
But if he could stop Mokuba from following him into danger, then it was one small light in what was turning into a rather bad week.
"What… is this?" Mira Lin, the leader of Group A, asked, looking around the room they arrived in.
The group stopped to look around. Seto made a note of the floor, which appeared to be a map of some kind. He could sense the magic from it…
There was a man watching them, looking incredibly startled.
"Who are you?" Kaiba demanded.
"I was about to ask you the same question." The blonde male stood up. "I am Dr Alex Brisbane. This is the pyramid of Alexander the Great. What are you doing here?"
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A roar. The roar. The most unmistakeable roar in all of Duel Monsters. Even the cry of the God Cards wasn't as well known.
Five God Dragon opened fire.
"YUGI!"
A bluish light burst from the carving and shot in front of Yugi, shielding the Prince from the attack, before shooting skywards and forming the shape of the dragon that that had been depicted on the wall.
"Kisara, help me, please!" Yugi pleaded.
She roared.
There was a burst of white light which swirled around Yugi, pulling him to his feet, allowing him to stand. He could feel power surging through him, as his armour defused, became a capsule again and new armour formed around him, power that resonated with his heart and soul.
When the light died Yugi was floating in mid air in a rather impressive set of white armour that glowed with a pale blue light.
Solomon and Serenity arrived on the back of Curse of Dragon as Yugi turned to glower at the dragon.
"What…?" Serenity asked.
"He fused with the divine dragon." Solomon sounded impressed, recognising the wings that sprouted from the back of the armour and the head that adorned one side of the chest plate.
Five God Dragon roared at Yugi, attempting to strike him down with a blast from its entire set of five heads, but missing when he dodged easily, striking his own blow that caused the Five-Headed Dragon to bellow in agony.
"I won't let you destroy this village." Yugi's voice carried surprisingly well considering the noise that was going on, as the light from the sword that he had gained when he had fused with Blue Eyes grew bright enough to be painful to the eyes,
Five God Dragon opened fire again.
"White Lightening Strike!"
A burst of light from the sword, laced with electricity, battled for a moment with the five energy blasts from the dragon, before piercing through and striking Five God Dragon in the chest.
The dragon bellowed, collapsed and exploded.
The sun rose above the horizon…
The last stone on the pendant that Serenity was wearing lit up.
It was over.
They had won.
Yugi floated in mid air for a little longer, taking a deep breath, before landing among his friends.
The armour defused from Yugi by itself, part of the bluish white light it left behind shooting into his Capsule Launcher, which ejected a Capsule straight into his hands, and part of it returning to the wall, to become a carving once again.
"Yuge, that was awesome." Joey sounded astounded, causing Yugi to giggle, trying not to wonder why he had been given a capsule even though the trials were over.
Yami gave him a small, proud smile, making Yugi grin back.
"I will not be sorry to get out of here." He heard Ombre mutter, as they said goodbye to the villagers and headed back towards the forest.
"I would not be so hasty if I were you." Alexandros murmured.
"King Alexandros?" Yugi asked, wheeling around to look at him.
Yami turned to scowl at the Roman King, "What haven't you told us?"
"You have completed the five trails, but your journey is not yet complete. One task remains."
"What?" Joey demanded, thoroughly sick of this whole thing and wanting nothing more then to get Yugi to a doctor and his sister somewhere safe.
"Once you make it back to your world, you must quickly locate a hidden chamber at the top of the pyramid, your pendant will now be able to open the door. Once inside, you will be granted the power I once craved. The power to rule the world."
"I've already told you, I don't want that power." Yugi scowled at the King, wondering why he was so determined that he get all this power. "All I want is for us to get home safely."
"I know." Alexandros was fully aware of Yugi's irritation, but he had to be made aware of the stakes if he didn't claim the power that was now his. He removed his mask, revealing…
"He looks like Doctor Brisbane…" Serenity breathed.
"I've known Dr Brisbane for years." Solomon didn't look amused, "And though he bares a striking resemblance to this man, I can assure you that they are not the same person."
"I'm afraid that what you speak is only half true, Dr Muto." Alexandros replied. "Your colleague is possessed by my dark half."
"What?" Joey yelped. Ombre merely looked irritated, Serenity was shocked, Solomon's scowl deepened, but Yugi and Yami merely looked at each other, conversing quickly over the link before turning to Alexandros.
"You said that you had an item like ours." Yugi asked for confirmation.
Alexandros nodded.
"It looks like we weren't the only soul split by the Millennium Items in the past." Yugi hissed. "Am I right? Your Ring, the 'good luck charm' from Egypt, it did this to you, didn't it?"
"Indeed." Alexandros nodded. "I was trapped in this world, while my evil side was locked in the pyramid, until Dr Muto and Dr Brisbane entered the temple. Dr Brisbane is a direct descendant of mine and my dark half seized control of him the moment he stepped foot in the temple and brought you here to unlock the power that we never could."
"How can you know this?" Yami demanded.
Alexandros looked from Yugi to Yami and then to the Puzzle, Yugi's words registering in his mind. "My link to my dark side remains strong as long as he remains in the pyramid containing this game." He explained. Yami looked disbelieving, "Now is not the time for questions," He turned away from Yami and spoke exclusively to Yugi, "You must take that power before he does.
"Serenity, give me the pendant." Yami demanded, "I'll guard it."
"No." Alexandros looked a little frightened, reaching for his capsules as Serenity took the necklace off and offered it to the Pharaoh. "You can't…"
"I trust Yami with my life," Yugi reached for his own, warning Alexandros as he did so. "An attack on him is an attack on me."
"But…" Alexandros growled at their stubbornness, "You cannot allow darkness to seize this power." He warned Yugi.
"I won't." Yugi promised. "Your dark side is going to be waiting, isn't he?" He asked, trying to change the subject.
"Yes." Alexandros nodded.
Ombre looked from Yugi to Yami, then thought for a moment before turning to Alexandros. "If we could get you into our world, could you hold down your dark side?"
"What do you mean?" The King looked confused, but Yugi got it instantly.
"If you piggyback onto one of our minds, we can get you into our world," Yugi explained, "And if we do that, then you can try to rejoin your dark side in one body. If we do that, would you be strong enough to keep your dark side from attacking us long enough for us to be able to stop him?"
Alexandros thought for a moment. "I believe so…"
"Alex is my friend," Solomon said, when Yami caught Yugi's arm before he could make the offer and gave him a glower that basically equated to 'no way, no how', "You can possess me."
"You sure Grandpa?" Yugi asked, hesitating.
"I'm certain." Solomon nodded.
"Then please, excuse me…" Alexandros put his hand on Solomon's arm and in a bright flash of light disappeared completely.
Yugi froze, watching his Grandfather carefully. "Grandpa, are you ok?"
"I now understand why you used to get distracted when Yami was talking to you." Solomon replied. Yugi chuckled nervously, not sure that allowing someone to possess his grandfather was the best idea.
Any chance of a change of plans taken from them as in a burst of golden light they vanished from the forest.
"It makes sense." Yami nodded, "If there's an entrance here, it's likely that there's an exit too."
Ombre tossed everyone a fruit from her bag. "We still have one task to complete, remember?" She asked. Everyone nodded, tucking in.
"Let's worry about finding the exit once it's done." Yugi agreed, finishing his plum.
"A wise decision."
Everyone jumped. Yami and Joey got to their feet and moved between the group and the man who had suddenly appeared in the shadows between the trees.
"It's alright, guys." Yugi called, as the man moved into the light so they could see who he was, revealing him to e the same man that had helped them so far.
Yami and Joey sat back down, and Yugi invited the man to join them.
"I cannot Prince Yugi, time draws short and your fifth and final challenge will prove to be your most difficult thus far."
"While I am grateful for the assistance that you have rendered us thus far," Yami frowned, "You appear to have us at a disadvantage, you know Yugi's name, but he doesn't know yours."
"I apologise." The man bowed for a moment, then straightened up and looked Yugi in the eyes, "My friend, I am King Alexandros the Third of Macedonia."
"Alexander the Great?" Ombre scowled.
"Indeed." He nodded, noting Ombre's look, "I assume then that you have heard of me."
"Indeed." Ombre nodded with a reply, "You single handedly nearly conquered the whole world. It would be difficult not to know of you."
Alexandros snorted, "The events of which you speak occurred many lifetimes ago."
Yugi got to his feet, "Why are you here?"
Alexandros threw back the cloak that he had been covering him during every other appearance, revealing his Roman clothes and a set of gold armour just like Yugi's.
"You took these trials too…"
"Indeed." He seemed to like that word, "It began around two millennia ago, as the world's most powerful empires fell at my feet. Greece, Persia, Egypt, I was unstoppable." Yugi sensed Yami bristle slightly and while he understood Yami's feeling on the fall of Egypt, it had been three thousand years after the Pharaoh's time, "And it was all thanks to a good luck charm I stumbled upon."
"Good luck charm?" Yugi frowned, "What kind of a…"
"Actually it was not unlike the one you wear." Yugi's hand automatically went to his Puzzle, "And while it brought me many victories, it seemed to cloud my mind. Before long I had lost the respect and loyalty of my men. When finally I stood alone, an Egyptian challenged me, told me that if I was to truly claim the power of the mystical, ring like charm I'd gotten in Egypt, and call myself a 'True King', I had to face the trails of the Capsule Monsters."
"I take it you were unsuccessful?" Yugi asked, wanting to hear more, but suspecting that the mystery man that had helped them so far and had been revealed to be King Alexandros the Third, better known in the modern age as Alexander the Great, was still within the game for this reason.
"My lust for power was my downfall." Alexandros nodded, "I'm sure you're all aware of what happened after I failed." He continued said with a small frown.
"Your invasion of India failed." Ombre nodded, "All bar a few of your men deserted you and your Empire fell. There was a rumour that the shock of your failure was so great that it killed you."
"You speak with certain knowledge of times long past." Alexandros frowned at Ombre.
"I am the Keeper of the Orb of Light, knowledge is my domain." She explained.
"In this you are correct, both about the invasion and about me; I failed the stranger's test and lost everything." He sighed and stood up, "It was my own fault and now it's your turn." He opened his right hand and a scroll appeared in it.
"This is the final trial." He told them. Yugi stood up to take it, but Alexandros the Third opened it and started reading. "Slay them all if you dare, earth, fire, sky, water and air."
"Slay them all?" Yugi questioned.
"Sounds simple enough." Joey nodded.
"But where do we start looking?" Serenity asked the King who stood in front of them.
"Luckily for you I know where to look." Alexandros said, offering Solomon a Capsule.
"Thank you, what monster is it?" Solomon asked as he got up.
"One that you will need, should you want to pass this test."
"I'm going to pass." Yugi told Alexandros firmly, "And get everyone out of this game safely."
"Follow me." The King ordered, turning around to leave.
"Yugi?" Yami asked, noting Yugi's slight frown. If Yugi said they weren't going to follow the Roman King, no one would follow Alexandros. An order from Yugi held far more sway and they trusted Yugi a lot more.
"Currently I think it's our best option." Yugi nodded, helping his Grandfather to his feet and put out the fire. "Come on." He looked in the direction Alexandros had gone, only to find that the King was waiting for them with an odd expression on his face.
"Are you alright?" Yugi questioned, going over to wait with him as the others quickly finished packing up.
"I am fine." Alexandros replied, reminded by the group of how close he had been to his own Vassals before he had gotten that accursed ring. "We should be moving, night is falling fast."
Yugi nodded, looking at his family, who finished off their packing and looked to him. He in turn, turned to the Roman King, who nodded and led them out of the forest, away from the river, towards the mountains, and across a small section of desert, until they reached a small town built into a valley.
By this point, Yugi had already worked out that the forest was the only thing the same from the first part of the game, and when Alexandros gestured for him to take point again, he did so, noting when the King fell back, having led them to a shrine to the divine dragon.
He heard Joey's amused snort and practically sensed Yami's eyes roll.
Kaiba would love this.
How could Yugi not know the carving on the wall that the villagers were praying too?
Even carved in stone, the dragon lost none of her majesty, none of her grace and certainly, even from just a craving, Yugi could sense her power.
That huge tablet was carved with an image of the Blue Eyes White Dragon.
But why were the villagers praying to her?
Yugi was about to step forward when a girl in a white dress stepped towards the priest, causing him to pause to listen to what the priest was saying to her.
"Are you prepared to offer up your soul to the divine beast, so it will continue to offer its protection to our people?"
Yugi heard Yami's low growl, heard Joey's swear word, but as he called to the priest, he had already made up his mind that he wasn't going to allow her to be sacrificed. They wouldn't be seeing this if there wasn't something that they could do about it.
After all, Kisara didn't eat souls…
He took another step forward and a blue circle of light radiated from where he put his foot down, catching the attention of all assembled.
"State your business." The priest complained, "We are in the middle of a sacred ceremony."
"I am Prince Yugi, these are my advisors." Yugi said, as calmly as he could manage, knowing that impressions were everything and if he was to find out what was going on and pass this part of the test, he would have to make a good one. "I apologise for interrupting."
The priest hesitated and Joey turned to the girl, "Don't worry, we'll protect you."
"I thank you but I'm fine." The girl said.
Yugi watched as Joey threw a rock over the cliff edge that they were stood on, and listened hard, turning back when there was no impact, "You call that fine?" He demanded.
"Joey." Yugi warned, noting the look on the priest's face. "We're here to slay some monsters you've been having trouble with."
The priest took a half step back and looked at them properly, "You're the legendary warriors." His voice was low, but it carried, causing murmurs from the assembled crowd.
"You were expecting us?" Yami didn't sound too amused by this.
The priest nodded, explaining that five viscous dragons had terrorised the area but had been banished by the divine white dragon, who had promised to protect the people until the legendary warriors arrived, in exchange for one soul, given as an offering, one per year.
The girl wasn't being forced into this either, she had offered.
Ombre nudged Yugi, who nodded, "Tell us where to find these five dragons and we'll defeat them. You won't have to sacrifice anyone ever again."
"You have no idea what you're dealing with!" One of the townsfolk protested, "I'm warning you, no human has ever entered the domain of the fiendish five and lived to tell the tale."
"We're not afraid." Yugi told him firmly.
"If you insist on pursuing this foolish quest," The priest nodded, causing them to turn back to him, "Then I will tell you were the fiendish five are."
"We will defeat these dragons, I promise." Yugi answered.
"Alright, they dwell in five nearby locations, the Whirlwind Forest, the Bottomless Spring, the Cavern of No Return, Meteor Mountain and the most dangerous of all the Great Molten Chasm. You have until sun up to conquer them all. If you do not, we will have to make our sacrifice."
"If they're so brave," The same member of the populace spoke up, "Let them offer one of their souls."
"Fine." Yugi replied, "If we should fail, you can have…"
"My soul." Yami interrupted Yugi's offer, noting the look he was getting from his hikari for doing so and trying to ignore it.
"I won't let it come to that." Yugi's tone stated his intentions of not failing incredibly clearly. "We won't fail."
"If this works, we'll be forever in your debt." The priest sounded relived, "Good luck, my friends."
The girl led them into the centre of town, where another dragon statue was stood, this one with none of the grace or power of the carving, and at the base of it there was a sword embedded in the rocks. Apparently it was called the Sword of Divinity and could be the only thing that could slay the fiendish five.
However no one could remove it from the stone and just standing here talking was wasting precious minutes of moonlight that they could ill afford to waste.
Yugi winced as his mind came up with the only logical plan of action considering time constraints and what needed to be done, knowing no one was going to like it and everyone would want to rant at him at the same time, "We need to split up."
He was right, the noise that erupted was enough to wake the dead.
He took a leaf out of Dumbledore's book. "QUIET!"
The others shut up, immediately. Yugi made a note of it for future reference.
"I don't care how much you guys hate it; we don't have time to go together." Yugi told them firmly, scowling as he did so, he needed them to listen and obey without questioning; there was no time for questioning. They could rant and rave all they liked once they were out of here but for now, they needed to follow his orders. "I'll take the Great Molten Chasm, Joey, Serenity, the Whirlwind Forest, Grandpa, Bottomless Spring please, Ombre, I need you to deal with the Cavern of No Return, Yami, you take Meteor Mountain." He could make one concession and send Serenity with Joey at least.
"Let me take the Great Molten Chasm." Yami told Yugi.
Joey watched with amusement as Yugi turned around, fixing his dark side with a look that quite obviously said 'don't start' and told him that he would be taking the Great Molten Chasm and obviously Yami liked wasting time and coming closer and closer to having his soul taken by Kisara, or he wouldn't be arguing, they would be leaving.
Yami scowled at Yugi's comment, but it did cause them to get directions and leave.
There would be a row later, Joey could see it, but for now the urgency of the task at hand was enough to push such pettiness to one side.
They split up.
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For the first couple of days of the holiday, the entire Burrow had been quiet.
Then slowly, as everyone picked themselves up, life had started up again.
Mum had started going about her daily business with as much noise as normal, Ginny had started texting Luna, Rebecca and Mokuba pretty much constantly, she appeared to be glued to the phone that Kaiba had given her, Dad, who had returned to work the next day, had started tinkering with things again, the twins had started working on whatever it was they had been working on again, and Percy, who had barely been effected by what had happened merely returned to being an officious prat again.
Yesterday's game of Quidditch hadn't been the first time they had been on their brooms by any means, but it was the first time that they had really enjoyed the game since the last task of the Triwizard Tournament, and Ron had thought that it had helped a lot.
However, Fred and George's room had been suspiciously quiet for the last few days except for the occasional sound of squeaking.
There was a reason for this, though Ron didn't know it.
Hermione, Ombre and Robyn weren't the only ones who had gotten something out of Kari's will. Along with the notes that she had left for them, she had transferred five hundred Galleons into an account just for the twins, claiming that she wanted them to follow their dreams, and that they were to use this money to start their own joke shop.
If you added to that the prize money that Harry had given them for the same purpose, when he didn't want it and Ombre wouldn't take it, Weasley's Wizard Wheezes were well under way to becoming much more then just a mail order shop.
However, in exchange for Harry's input, they had given him a partnership in the company, and they felt that they had to do something to remember Kari, but they couldn't decide what.
It didn't feel right, creating a range of pranks after her, but George had remembered that she'd really loved Iced Mice, but she'd complained that the enchantments wore off too quickly and if you left the Iced Mice for more then a couple of days, you tended to find that the favour wasn't as good, as the potions in the recipe did something funny to the sugar.
Which was why they were quiet right now. They were trying to reverse engineer some Iced Mice to figure out exactly how they worked and see if they could do it better and in a much more interesting way.
They were planning on trying to see if they could make them study aids, temporarily boost your leaning intake or some such thing, it was doable, there were potions that could do the same thing, and it was something that Kari would have appreciated.
They thought they had the spell work down now, certainly they could get sweets to run around and squeak, but it was getting the potions involved to hold their potency without turning the sweets bad that was eluding them.
But it had only been a week and a half, they'd get there. They'd only worked out how to do the squeaking charm so fast because it was a lot like a spell they'd used on another product, their Liquorice Bats, and those still weren't perfect, they were hoping to get them finished by Halloween though.
Of course if they could get their mother to stop snooping around, things would be so much easier…
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Solomon had been rather glad that the capsule the Roman King had given him had contained Curse of Dragon as the dragon Yugi had entrusted him with defeating appeared from the supposedly Bottomless Spring.
It was an Aqua Dragon, so in theory it should not have been too much of an issue for his Dragon, except that for some odd reason attacks that should have destroyed the enemy Sea Serpent were doing little but bouncing off or exploding.
There was something wrong about this…
Aqua Dragon took off; turning towards the south-east, dodging Curse of Dragon's attacked easily.
Solomon suddenly had a moment of clarity on what was going on and what was needed.
The dragons would reach the village, they had to for the next stage of the trial, and worse then that, they had to get there at around the same time…
It had something to do with that sword, the one that they hadn't been able to remove from the stones earlier, he was certain of it. What had that girl said?
Oh yeah.
"When a great power descends from the skies the sacred sword will rise."
The dragons were incredibly powerful creatures… when they arrived in town he suspected that would count as the great power descending from the skies, which would leave the sword free for the Legendary Hero, and that had to be Yugi, as these were his trials, to take and use to slay the fiendish five.
Solomon climbed onto Curse of Dragon and chased Aqua Dragon, trying to slow it down when he saw Red Eyes and Ancient Fairy Dragon were battling a Luster Dragon, slowing its progress considerably, Yami had picked up a Black Luster Soldier from somewhere. As he watched, Blast Luster Solider actually waved at Serpent Night Dragon, trying to lure it into attacking the Meteor Dragon that he was riding.
Solomon was certain that this was a bad idea, no matter how much stronger the knight was, but since Yugi was close behind, trying to do battle with an Ancient Dragon, while keeping an eye on that particularly bad idea, not that this task hadn't been riddled with them so far, but Solomon didn't really want to think about how much it would hurt to fall about a hundred foot to the ground, and knew that if Yugi missed catching Luster Soldier, and no one else could get there in time Yami would feel everything the Dark Warrior monster did.
"Yugi!" Serenity flew up between Yugi and the incoming attack, her dragon hit by the pulse of dark energy that Serpent Night Dragon had sent at the Duellist, who had been distracted with stopping Ancient Dragon from blasting Red Eyes into next week.
Joey watched in horror as Serenity was knocked off of her dragon, who reverted to a capsule and fell into the forest, and fell through the air. Yugi dove to try and catch her, only to be stopped when he was hit by a second attack from the dragon which had injured Joey's little sister, and though Joey had already sent Red Eyes into a dive to catch her, it was Solomon and his Curse of Dragon that snatched her out of the air.
Red Eyes wheeled on Serpent Night and everyone and everything was forced to move out of the way as Joey's partner monster when berserk on Serpent Night.
And still the damn thing wouldn't stop in its attempts to reach the village.
Yugi saw his Grandfather touch down in a clearing near to where Ancient Fairy Dragon had fallen, but, since he knew they were safe, he had to focus on reaching the town before the fiendish five did.
He needed the people to go into hiding. He had a plan but he wasn't sure it would work.
"Everyone hide. The dragons are coming!" Yugi demanded as he landed, rushing over to the pedestal where the Sword of Divinity was stood, "Please," He muttered, "Let this work."
The dragons arrived.
Yugi pulled on the sword.
It came out easily, the rust appearing to fall away.
The dragons were surrounded by a blue glow, all of them, including the enemy ones, and Yugi felt his strength rise.
He attacked, taking down the fiendish five in one fell swoop.
The five dragons came crashing to the ground.
The guys landed in a circle around the sword plinth, and the girl rushed over, "Are you alright?" She asked him.
"Yes." Yugi nodded, wondering if his Grandfather and Serenity were.
"Thank you kind sir. You spared my soul and I am forever in your debt."
"You truly are the Chosen One." The priest nodded, smiling slightly.
'Something wrong?' Yami asked, when Yugi didn't seem happy about the fact they'd defeated the dragons.
"This isn't over." Yugi replied, thinking quickly, turning to the dragons, who were beginning to pick themselves up. The task had said 'slay them all', not 'defeat them all' but the sword wasn't glowing any more. He didn't have the power now to destroy one dragon, yet alone all five.
With a single roar, the fiendish five turned green and fused together.
Five dragons, one fusion… Yugi knew what was coming even as he backed up and started telling the villagers to run for it. There was only one monster in all of Duel Monsters that required the tribute of five dragons of different elements in order to summon it and he had no light monsters to combat it with… unless… he looked over his shoulder, towards the shrine as the fusion came to it's completion… he needed help and he knew he had to, somehow, get help from Kisara.
But how to call her?
A five tone roar pierced Yugi's thoughts, making him turn back towards the enemy.
Five God Dragon, also known as Five-Headed Dragon, or in Kaiba's game world, the Mythic Dragon, glowered at him.
Yugi felt a surge of fear pass through him.
Five God could only be defeated by a creature of Light and he had none. He had no idea how he was supposed to call to Kisara and if he let this dragon rampage, it was going to kill everyone there, there was no doubt about it.
He had to stop it, and he could think of one possible way without a Light attribute Duel Monster.
He heard the gasp from the villagers as he started glowing with a bright white light.
He could call on his own magic and his own aura to use to battle the creature.
"Yugi?" Yugi heard Joey's hesitant tone, sensed Yami's shock turn to concern.
Yugi raised the sword, using it and his light in a combination attack on the dragon, distracting it from the villagers, giving them time to get away.
It had been his failure that had let the fiendish five become this monster and he wasn't going to let them destroy this town.
The dragon bellowed in pain, but its counter attack from the dark head sent Yugi flying. He crashed into the ground painfully, stunned for a couple of moments, unable to move or think.
In another couple of moments, the five headed dragon had brought everyone else crashing to the ground.
Yugi got to his feet, summoning more light, "I won't lose…" He growled. "Ombre, Yami, Joey, please, protect the villagers."
"Yugi…"
"Don't argue with me, I'll deal with the Dragon, you protect the people." Yugi snapped back.
Ombre moved without hesitation, Joey following slowly, Yami moving last of all. No one noticed that the girl who they had saved from being sacrificed had run to the temple.
Five God opened fire on a group of Villagers.
Yugi got between the attack and the villagers, throwing up his left arm instinctively to shield himself, using his capsule launcher to try to shield himself from the powerful attack, just as he had used his Duel Disk in the past.
A lot of the other townsfolk joined the girl in the shrine of the divine dragon.
Yugi was barely able to block the blast from just the two heads, so when a third and fourth joined in the attack, he was knocked off of his feet and left, semi-conscious on the ground a few foot backwards from where he had been.
"Yugi!" Yami darted forward as Five God prepared to strike for the final time, readying all of its heads for its ultimate attack.
Yami was never going to reach Yugi in time.
A roar. The roar. The most unmistakeable roar in all of Duel Monsters. Even the cry of the God Cards wasn't as well known.
Five God Dragon opened fire.
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They had arrived at the foot of the pyramid to find that not much had gotten done since they had told the rescue parties that they were on their way down from the airport and to be organised and ready to enter the pyramid.
When they arrived they found nothing was sorted.
In a matter of minutes Seto had split the searchers into four teams. Squads A, B and C would enter the pyramid with him, to look for Yugi and the others, while Team D, headed by Mokuba, would stay at the base camp with the healers and technicians, just in case it was attacked.
Seto was in the process of pushing past the traps that were trying to impede their progress into the Pyramid, leading A Group, amused by the fact that these, obviously ancient, traps still worked after all this time. Either these were ancient traps that the others hadn't triggered on their way past, but thinking about who had passed through here earlier that wasn't likely, or these were ancient style traps that had been reset by the group that had kidnapped Yugi and the others.
That or someone had reset the traps behind the earlier group.
"Mr Kaiba…" Someone spoke up as they reached a room that split off in three different directions.
"A group, with me, this way." He pointed towards the downwards steps to his left. "B group, that way," He pointed towards the stairs upwards, "C group, that way." He indicated the steps downwards and to his right. "If you locate the Mutos and their group, report in immediately."
"Yes Mr Kaiba." The group leaders of B and C nodded and led their groups in the directions he'd ordered.
He wasn't convinced that there would be such a large group of witches and wizards, if he wasn't offering such a huge wage to the search party, but he didn't care. The company could afford it, and he wasn't going to risk the enemy offering more. There weren't many people who could afford to offer fifty galleons an hour, with a two thousand Dollar bonus each, to the group that found the missing people within twelve hours.
He watched B and C groups depart and then started heading downstairs.
It didn't matter what country or culture you were raised in. Money was always an issue. Over half his staff at one point had been loyal to him only for the money, and while this wasn't an issue so much anymore, he knew that the two things that attracted people to Kaiba Corp were the influence it would have on their future job prospects and the wages he paid out.
He was just glad that he'd left his brother outside. The pyramid hadn't degraded enough to have been left to wind and rain for as long as it should have been and even if a pyramid had been hidden from Muggle eyes, there would have been something on the maps that represented the huge crater it was sat in and there was nothing.
This was obviously a trap for Yugi and the others, and while he hadn't been able to prevent Mokuba coming with him. He had been able to convince Mokuba that he was needed by the base camp, rather then following him in.
Yugi and the others were supposedly family now, and Seto would do whatever was in his power to help them, but Mokuba was the one that Seto would offer his life for. Only Mokuba had been there during the worst times of his life, only Mokuba truly knew what he had been through at the hands of Gozabora, and only Mokuba had prevented him going completely insane or dying at the hands of his insane teacher…
Everything he could ever possibly do to protect his brother… it would never be enough, not ever.
But if he could stop Mokuba from following him into danger, then it was one small light in what was turning into a rather bad week.
"What… is this?" Mira Lin, the leader of Group A, asked, looking around the room they arrived in.
The group stopped to look around. Seto made a note of the floor, which appeared to be a map of some kind. He could sense the magic from it…
There was a man watching them, looking incredibly startled.
"Who are you?" Kaiba demanded.
"I was about to ask you the same question." The blonde male stood up. "I am Dr Alex Brisbane. This is the pyramid of Alexander the Great. What are you doing here?"
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A roar. The roar. The most unmistakeable roar in all of Duel Monsters. Even the cry of the God Cards wasn't as well known.
Five God Dragon opened fire.
"YUGI!"
A bluish light burst from the carving and shot in front of Yugi, shielding the Prince from the attack, before shooting skywards and forming the shape of the dragon that that had been depicted on the wall.
"Kisara, help me, please!" Yugi pleaded.
She roared.
There was a burst of white light which swirled around Yugi, pulling him to his feet, allowing him to stand. He could feel power surging through him, as his armour defused, became a capsule again and new armour formed around him, power that resonated with his heart and soul.
When the light died Yugi was floating in mid air in a rather impressive set of white armour that glowed with a pale blue light.
Solomon and Serenity arrived on the back of Curse of Dragon as Yugi turned to glower at the dragon.
"What…?" Serenity asked.
"He fused with the divine dragon." Solomon sounded impressed, recognising the wings that sprouted from the back of the armour and the head that adorned one side of the chest plate.
Five God Dragon roared at Yugi, attempting to strike him down with a blast from its entire set of five heads, but missing when he dodged easily, striking his own blow that caused the Five-Headed Dragon to bellow in agony.
"I won't let you destroy this village." Yugi's voice carried surprisingly well considering the noise that was going on, as the light from the sword that he had gained when he had fused with Blue Eyes grew bright enough to be painful to the eyes,
Five God Dragon opened fire again.
"White Lightening Strike!"
A burst of light from the sword, laced with electricity, battled for a moment with the five energy blasts from the dragon, before piercing through and striking Five God Dragon in the chest.
The dragon bellowed, collapsed and exploded.
The sun rose above the horizon…
The last stone on the pendant that Serenity was wearing lit up.
It was over.
They had won.
Yugi floated in mid air for a little longer, taking a deep breath, before landing among his friends.
The armour defused from Yugi by itself, part of the bluish white light it left behind shooting into his Capsule Launcher, which ejected a Capsule straight into his hands, and part of it returning to the wall, to become a carving once again.
"Yuge, that was awesome." Joey sounded astounded, causing Yugi to giggle, trying not to wonder why he had been given a capsule even though the trials were over.
Yami gave him a small, proud smile, making Yugi grin back.
"I will not be sorry to get out of here." He heard Ombre mutter, as they said goodbye to the villagers and headed back towards the forest.
"I would not be so hasty if I were you." Alexandros murmured.
"King Alexandros?" Yugi asked, wheeling around to look at him.
Yami turned to scowl at the Roman King, "What haven't you told us?"
"You have completed the five trails, but your journey is not yet complete. One task remains."
"What?" Joey demanded, thoroughly sick of this whole thing and wanting nothing more then to get Yugi to a doctor and his sister somewhere safe.
"Once you make it back to your world, you must quickly locate a hidden chamber at the top of the pyramid, your pendant will now be able to open the door. Once inside, you will be granted the power I once craved. The power to rule the world."
"I've already told you, I don't want that power." Yugi scowled at the King, wondering why he was so determined that he get all this power. "All I want is for us to get home safely."
"I know." Alexandros was fully aware of Yugi's irritation, but he had to be made aware of the stakes if he didn't claim the power that was now his. He removed his mask, revealing…
"He looks like Doctor Brisbane…" Serenity breathed.
"I've known Dr Brisbane for years." Solomon didn't look amused, "And though he bares a striking resemblance to this man, I can assure you that they are not the same person."
"I'm afraid that what you speak is only half true, Dr Muto." Alexandros replied. "Your colleague is possessed by my dark half."
"What?" Joey yelped. Ombre merely looked irritated, Serenity was shocked, Solomon's scowl deepened, but Yugi and Yami merely looked at each other, conversing quickly over the link before turning to Alexandros.
"You said that you had an item like ours." Yugi asked for confirmation.
Alexandros nodded.
"It looks like we weren't the only soul split by the Millennium Items in the past." Yugi hissed. "Am I right? Your Ring, the 'good luck charm' from Egypt, it did this to you, didn't it?"
"Indeed." Alexandros nodded. "I was trapped in this world, while my evil side was locked in the pyramid, until Dr Muto and Dr Brisbane entered the temple. Dr Brisbane is a direct descendant of mine and my dark half seized control of him the moment he stepped foot in the temple and brought you here to unlock the power that we never could."
"How can you know this?" Yami demanded.
Alexandros looked from Yugi to Yami and then to the Puzzle, Yugi's words registering in his mind. "My link to my dark side remains strong as long as he remains in the pyramid containing this game." He explained. Yami looked disbelieving, "Now is not the time for questions," He turned away from Yami and spoke exclusively to Yugi, "You must take that power before he does.
"Serenity, give me the pendant." Yami demanded, "I'll guard it."
"No." Alexandros looked a little frightened, reaching for his capsules as Serenity took the necklace off and offered it to the Pharaoh. "You can't…"
"I trust Yami with my life," Yugi reached for his own, warning Alexandros as he did so. "An attack on him is an attack on me."
"But…" Alexandros growled at their stubbornness, "You cannot allow darkness to seize this power." He warned Yugi.
"I won't." Yugi promised. "Your dark side is going to be waiting, isn't he?" He asked, trying to change the subject.
"Yes." Alexandros nodded.
Ombre looked from Yugi to Yami, then thought for a moment before turning to Alexandros. "If we could get you into our world, could you hold down your dark side?"
"What do you mean?" The King looked confused, but Yugi got it instantly.
"If you piggyback onto one of our minds, we can get you into our world," Yugi explained, "And if we do that, then you can try to rejoin your dark side in one body. If we do that, would you be strong enough to keep your dark side from attacking us long enough for us to be able to stop him?"
Alexandros thought for a moment. "I believe so…"
"Alex is my friend," Solomon said, when Yami caught Yugi's arm before he could make the offer and gave him a glower that basically equated to 'no way, no how', "You can possess me."
"You sure Grandpa?" Yugi asked, hesitating.
"I'm certain." Solomon nodded.
"Then please, excuse me…" Alexandros put his hand on Solomon's arm and in a bright flash of light disappeared completely.
Yugi froze, watching his Grandfather carefully. "Grandpa, are you ok?"
"I now understand why you used to get distracted when Yami was talking to you." Solomon replied. Yugi chuckled nervously, not sure that allowing someone to possess his grandfather was the best idea.
Any chance of a change of plans taken from them as in a burst of golden light they vanished from the forest.