Chapter 13: - Split
"Yugi, why have you taken over for me?" Yami asked, not sorry for a moment to gather himself and recover briefly, but surprised to be shoved out of control. It had only happened once before, and it wasn't a moment Yami was particularly proud of.
"I just figured you could use a rest, you know, to recover from all those direct attacks. One more blast could have destroyed you, so I jumped in." Yugi replied, smiling at his partner, having seized control when Gansley had attempted to attack them directly…again.
"Thank you," Yami nodded, "You were very brave."
"Don't thank me, you should thank Kuriboh," Yugi giggled, looking at the Duel Monster who looked rather pleased with himself, "Without his special ability we would have both been finished by now."
"That's true, something's are more powerful then they first appear." Yami considered the fuzz ball, but was more referring to Yugi's inner strength then anything.
"You can say that again," Yugi missed it completely, "Kuriboh turned out to be the most valuable monster on our side of the field so getting him as our Deck Master wasn't just some trick Gansley played on us in order to win." The teenager grinned, poking his dark side after he'd been rather rude over the link when he'd realised he couldn't understand Kuriboh's speech.
"No, you're right, it was the Heart of the Cards that guided Kuriboh to us." Yami nodded, eyes closing. So tired, and hurting so much from the direct attacks, that even as he was worried about Yugi, he was grateful that his hikari had jumped in.
Yugi groaned, his eyes closing. Yami's eyes snapped open at both the sound and the sudden wave of exhaustion and agony that slipped through the barrier he had put between himself and Yugi and was coming from the hikari himself.
Yugi's knees gave out from under him and he toppled forward.
"Yugi!" Yami seized control without thinking, both to stop Yugi's body from hitting the floor and to send Yugi back to his soul room to recover. He'd been so busy blocking his own pain from reaching Yugi, he hadn't realised that Yugi had been going through the same thing.
It was with surprise that he had to reach out and catch the teenager's spirit. That shouldn't have been right… "This duel has affected you too, let me finish this." He said softly, his tone full of concern. It was a tone of voice that only Yugi could elicit from the harsh and cold Pharaoh.
Yami had to hide his concern when Yugi didn't stir, not willing to show weakness to their enemy, even in the face of Yugi's current state.
The weight of the young man's spirit weighed heavily on Yami's arm as he turned back to their enemy, his harshest scowl on his face, "Alright Gansley, this duel's not done."
"Your furry little powder puff blocks one attack and you think you've won?" Gansley sounded highly amused, smirking at them across the battle field as Yugi finally faded into his soul room, "I'm afraid nothing could be further from the truth, thanks to the Deck Master rule, now that you've activated Kuriboh to defend yourself, you've introduced him to the playing field. That means I'm now allowed to attack your little furball and according to the Deck Master rulebook, if your Deck Master is destroyed you lose the duel and your Kuriboh is no match for my serpent so this match is over."
"Last I checked," Yami snarled, ready to defend his hikari, no matter how bad it looked. "It was still on!"
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Well, I'm pretty sure that was the last door." Jamie scowled, looking around the arena. "And don't say I told you so, Kura."
Bakura didn't say anything; he hadn't for the last couple of hours, not since their…discussion… earlier.
Jamie sat down on one of the seats and looked around.
This stadium reminded her so much of home that it hurt.
She wasn't stupid, she was fully aware of the odds of going home and remote didn't even begin to cover it.
She was one of the strongest Trainers in the world… but she was no match for Palkia…
And it was only through Palkia's power that she could ever get home.
"I don't want to be here anymore." Jamie curled in on herself, head on her knees, "I want to go home, I want my family… I want…"
"Do you mean to sound like a petulant child?"
Jamie's head shot up and she glowered at the kid in front of her, with his short green hair and blue eyes and that irritatingly smug expression.
"Me, a petulant child?" Jamie snarled, getting to her feet, feeling Bakura stir at her rage, "Compared to you, Noa?" The boy watched her without a trace of fear, "Who sealed us all in this virtual hell because you want someone else's toy?" She snorted, "You are the petulant child here."
"It was never Seto Kaiba's in the first place." Noa hissed, glowering at her. Compared to Yami and Bakura's glowers, or the glares of the Galactic administrators, it was tame, "Prove me wrong." There was a glow and a Duel Disk appeared on Noa's arm, "Duel me and earn your freedom, just as Yugi has, or flee and prove you were never fit to earn the title you covet so much."
"You'll take my body if I lose, won't you?"
"When you lose, you mean."
"Kura, I may need your help here…" Jamie scowled at the child in front of her, "I won't lose. I'm going to go home eventually, but to do that I need to get out of this virtual nightmare."
Noa vanished and reappeared in the centre of the arena. Jamie vaulted over sides and landed back in the arena, walking over. "Ready?" Noa smirked at her.
"How can I duel when my deck is with my real body?"
"Pick your cards." Noa waved and cards started scrolling in front of her, "Try not to miss any good ones." He wasn't concerned, Yugi was trapped in one of the virtual mazes, Tea was heading towards the frozen north, on her way to face Crump and he had time, "Try not to let any good ones slip past."
'Make sure you pick a humanoid card for your Deck Master.' Bakura said, she could sense him hovering over her shoulder and looking at the cards, 'One that works well with your deck, but is human enough to be able to talk. You're going to need it.'
"What would you suggest?" Jamie asked, already in the process of building her deck from the cards that were flying up in front of her.
'Take that one.' Jamie touched the card, the last one in a forty card deck.
"Okay." Jamie looked at Noa, who looked like he was contemplating something, "That's all my cards."
"Now pick your Deck Master." Noa said, as the deck she'd picked out appeared in the deck slot in her Duel Disk.
Jamie shuffled through the cards, looking for the one that Bakura had suggested… there it was. "I pick Kitsune Maiden." Jamie called. The Duel Monster, a human looking young woman in little clothing, with fox ears and five rather bushy red and white tails appeared at her side, with a small giggle and a smile for her partner. "What's yours?"
"You'll see." Noa replied, activating his own Duel Disk and looking through the cards. "You may go first if you wish."
"No thanks, I prefer second turn."
Noa gave her an amused smile and nodded, "Very well, I'll go first then." He put the deck back and Jamie gasped as a shadow appeared over the arena. It was a huge boat, floating in mid air. "Normally I'd have my Shinato's Ark in water, but since we're in the middle of the desert…"
Jamie, who was trying not to feel like it was going to fall and crush them both nodded her understanding.
Noa drew, "I play two cards face down," He looked at her, "You're so concerned with getting home, you've missed all the signs that there are others from your world being left in ours, but it's alright, I'll remedy that mistake when I leave here, in your body. I set a card in defence mode."
"What do you mean? Others from my world?" Jamie demanded, drawing, "I set two cards face down and then I summon Fox Shadow, in attack mode!"
The black fox appeared, shadows rolling off of it like smoke, glowering at Noa.
"That ends my turn."
"Is that all?" Noa sniggered, "Your puny shadow is no match for my monsters. I summon Chiron the Mage in attack mode."
The centaur glowered at her fox.
"And I use Raigeki Break, discarding one card from my hand to destroy the spell card on your right." Jamie's Spellbinding Circle exploded.
"Chiron the Mage, destroy her fox!"
"Ha!" Jamie grinned, "I activate Transformation!"
Shadow Fox vanished, replaced by a fox with icy blue fur that shone in the light, which shrugged off the attack and blasted Chiron away with a wave of snow, causing Noa's points to drop by 900.
"What did you do?" Noa snapped.
"Transformation allows me to tribute a fox card in order to summon a higher level one." Jamie sniggered, "Allowing me to swap my Shadow Fox for my Frostbite Fox."
"That ends my turn." Noa scowled.
'Nice opening moves, but anyone can take the lead early; it's keeping it that is the difficult bit.' Bakura told her as she drew and the pair considered her hand, 'Tidal is your best bet next.'
"Right…" She looked up from her cards, "I summon Tidal Fox in attack mode, using its ability to return your left hand face down card to your hand."
Noa scowled but the card returned anyway.
"Now if my addition is up to scratch, my Frostbite Fox and my Tidal Fox have enough points to win this duel." Jamie grinned. Frostbite had 2400, while Tidal's was 1900 and if you combined that with the 900 points that Noa had already lost, the duel was over. "But before I attack, I need to know. What other people from my world?"
"Humans, and Pokémon, being deposited all over the world, and you've been so content with the life you've built up around yourself, that you've been ignoring the signs." Noa snarled, unable to understand how she'd managed to get him to this point already.
"You know nothing about me." Jamie glowered, "Foxes, wipe him out!" The pair attacked and rebounded off of a barrier that appeared in front of Noa, making Jamie scowl. "Let me guess, trap card."
"Hallowed Life Barrier." Noa sniggered, "It prevents me from taking any damage from the effects of your cards this turn."
Jamie growled and nodded, surprised as Bakura came to her side and considered her hand. 'That's all you can do…'
"That ends my turn Noa, but next time I'm going to win."
Noa drew, considering his hand, "You know I'm going to win. This is my world, and there's nothing you could do to stop me from messing up your deck's data…"
"You wouldn't do it though, not if you wanted to prove yourself better then Seto." Jamie snorted, only slightly worried at his idle threat. "Cheating proves nothing."
Noa shrugged, wanting her off guard and off her game, "I set a card face down and set a card in defence mode and that ends my turn."
"Do you have a strategy?" Jamie asked, sensing Bakura's question, confused as to what exactly Noa was trying to accomplish. "I draw."
"I activate the trap card Shadow Spell!"
"Shadow Spell?" Jamie asked, growling as chains shot out of the floor and wrapped around her Frostbite Fox, taking it's attack points down to 2000. "What did you do to her?"
"Your Frostbite Fox can no longer attack or switch to defence mode, plus she loses seven hundred attack points."
Jamie considered her field, before sacrificing her Frostbite Fox for her Cloud Fox, "And I use Cloud Fox's special ability to summon Forest Fox." There were now three monsters on her side of the field. "Forest Fox, attack his face down card!"
The grassy furred fox rebounded off of a Giant Soldier of Stone.
"Cloud Fox, take it down." The fox that resembled little more then a cloud took it down easily. "Tidal, attack him directly!"
Noa's points dropped to 1200.
"You must have a strategy!" Jamie protested, "Bad guys are not supposed to be this easy to defeat!"
"I haven't lost yet!" Noa protested, annoyed at Jamie's quick dismissal of him.
"But… your cards have no rhyme or reason to them!" Jamie pointed at where his Giant Soldier of Stone had been, "And you don't appear to have the combos to back up such a random style of game play!"
'Jamie please stop prodding the virtual entity in charge of releasing you.' Bakura sighed at her.
"It's like playing against someone with Metronome, you never know what they are going to pull, and half the time it's useless." Jamie complained to Bakura
"Is it my go or not?" Noa demanded.
"Just go."
"I play Fissure." Noa growled. A fissure opened, and a hand popped out, pulling Forest Fox to be sucked under the ground before the fissure snapped shut. "Then I play one card face down. Then I summon Giant Rex!" The 2000 attack point level four dinosaur appeared. "Destroy her Tidal Fox!"
It exploded and took two hundred points with it.
"Your move."
To Jamie this just seemed to confirm her suspicions. "I set a card in defence mode and use Cloud Fox's ability to special summon another Forest Fox to my field."
Jamie was back up to three monsters while Noa only had one. "Cloud Fox, attack!"
The t-rex died, taking 300 points with it.
"Forest Fox, win this!"
"Activate Earthshaker!"
"What does that do?" Jamie squeaked as the ground shook and the sand tried to pull her down.
"I choose two attributes, and you get to pick the attribute that gets destroyed." Noa explained, "I choose Earth and Wind."
That made sense, Cloud Fox was Wind while Forest Fox was Earth. She hesitated. She'd lost one Forest Fox already, so logic would dictate that if she wanted to get her Seven Tail Fox out, she'd need to keep that, but if she lost her Cloud Fox, she'd only be able to summon one monster per turn…
'You're forgetting that if you keep Forest Fox, you can win the duel here and now.'
"I'm sorry Cloud, but I choose to save the Earth Element."
Cloud Fox vanished.
"Now, Forest Fox, let's try this again, attack Noa directly!"
Forest Fox leapt at Noa, attacking to end the duel.
Something exploded.
This was strange considering that Forest Fox's attack didn't explode.
Forest Fox came back to prowl in front of her.
"He's not done, is he" Jamie asked as the smoke cleared.
'Probably not.' Bakura admitted.
Noa was still standing when the smoke had drifted away into the clear desert sky. "Are you quite done?"
"How did you survive?"
"I just discarded a card from my hand and its special ability kicked in, protecting my life points."
"Just go."
"I discard a card from my hand to call two Thunder Dragons from my deck to my hand and then activate Polymerisation."
The two dragons appeared briefly, and then were replaced by a rather large twin headed orange thing with a huge purple horn on each head.
"Uh oh."
"Twin Headed Thunder Dragon, attack her Cloud Fox!"
It exploded, causing her points to drop to 3300. This was fine if you compared it to Noa's 900 points but… she didn't have much that could destroy a monster with that many attack points.
"Your go." Noa looked amused.
Jamie drew and scowled at her hand, "I set a card face down and end my turn."
"Now who's not trying?" Noa sniggered at her. "Twin Headed Dragon, attack her directly!"
Jamie squeaked and threw up her arms to protect herself, only to be surprised when the lightening the dragon had shot at her collided with a wall of will-o-whisps.
"I'll protect you." Jamie's head shot to her right, where her Kitsune Maiden was looking at her with an odd expression, somewhere between fear, concern and something else she didn't recognise.
'She's hungry for a human that can understand her.' Bakura explained, 'A few of the Duel Monsters get like this when they haven't been out of the monster world in millennia.'
"Monster World?" Jamie asked, then smiled and nodded at the Maiden, "Thank you."
'There's a world of monsters out there, it's another alternate dimension.'
"Oh." Jamie supposed that made sense, there probably were many alternate universes out there, she'd just got stuck in this one.
It was Noah's turn to be irritated, "I take it that your Deck Master saved you?"
Jamie looked at Kitsune Maiden questioningly, noticing one of her tails had vanished.
"I can prevent five direct attacks on the player, but to do so I have to give up a tail." The Maiden sounded rather mournful about that.
"Sorry." Jamie apologized to her.
"It won't matter after my next turn anyway." Noa grinned at her, confident in his victory. "Thanks to the Deck Master rule. Now Kitsune Maiden's been activated as a Deck Master, I can attack her and once she's gone, you lose."
"Damn…" Jamie's eyes flickered to the Maiden. She was no match for Twin-Headed Thunder Dragon.
'You can still win this, think and draw the right card.'
Jamie looked at her hand then looked at Noa, "Can our deck masters attack once they've been put into play?"
"Yes."
She drew, "I play Reincarnate Fox Spirit, bringing back my Frostbite Fox!" She called, the fox appearing on the field and pacing the field. "And activate my face down card, Kitsune Clan, increasing her attack by five hundred."
This made Frostbite stronger then Twin-Headed.
"Frostbite, attack Twin-Headed!" Twin-Headed Thunder Dragon roared and exploded. "Kitsune Maiden, take Noa down!"
The maiden transformed into a fox and bit Noa, before returning to both her Duellist's side and her humanoid form.
Noa's points finally hit zero.
"Finally." Jamie sighed in relief, "Now let me out of here, Noa."
"How did I lose?" Noa was asking himself.
"I told you, you had no strategy, you just kept throwing monster after monster at me, and you can't beat a well built deck like that." Jamie scowled at the kid. "You need to have a…why am I even talking to you?" She asked him, though it was a rhetorical question rather then one she wanted an answer for, "I've won my freedom, Noa, let me out of this virtual nightmare."
Noa glowered at her, startling her as he rushed forward putting his hands on her stomach and pushing, actually entering her virtual body. "If I can't win your body I'll just take it!"
Jamie felt Bakura surge to the fore, to protect her and then her mind was invaded by memories.
A village burning.
Priests, priests of the Pharaoh…
An army slaughtering hundreds… no not hundreds… ninety nine…
One had survived the horror…
There was a blindingly bright light and Noa was repelled, pushed back a few of yards.
"What are you?" He was demanding.
Bakura was furious, and had taken control, standing between Jamie and the child. The Trainer herself was in too much shock over what she had seen to respond, or to notice that Bakura actually had a form here and was busy swearing at Noa in multiple languages.
He'd had many hosts over the years and had to pick up many languages from them, and all of those rude words he'd been saving up seemed appropriate now.
"Arceus…" Jamie breathed, sinking down in semi-visible form, ghost like but not invisible, "No wonder 'Kura hates Yami…"
"You alright?" Bakura turned to look at her, with a rage in his eyes that terrified her even though she knew wasn't directed at her, "Jamie?"
"'Kura…what was that?"
"This punk just found out how bad an idea it is to try to steal a body from someone who has more then one soul within them." Bakura snapped, unaware of what she meant while glowering at Noa, who looked somewhere between pissed off and fascinated. "And it looks like he's holding your body hostage somewhere."
"What are you?" Noa demanded again.
"I'm a Thief and a stealer of souls and this is a Aspiring League Champion." Bakura was smug.
"That's not what I meant!" Noa snapped. "What are you? No normal human…"
"Whoever said we were normal?" Bakura smirked, "You should check your victim's history more carefully."
"How are there two of you? I only downloaded her mind into my virtual world!" Noa pointed a shaking finger at the ghost of the girl, who was still in shock over what she'd seen.
Yami's on our side, one of the good guys… How could Joey claim that? There was no way that a Pharaoh who had ordered his army to do that could be classed as a 'good guy'. How could Yugi trust Yami as much as he did?
"You download one you download the other." Bakura shrugged.
How could Yugi defend Yami? From what she knew of Yugi, there was no way that he would support Yami's ancient actions… the Ring hung heavily on her, as the fact that she was wearing a mystical item forged in gold and blood and souls permeated her mind.
"Are there others, like you?" Noa demanded.
"There's no one like us." Bakura answered honestly.
"Let us out of here Noa!" Jamie demanded, suddenly very angry, shooting to her feet and becoming solid in a heartbeat, "You said if we won we could leave."
"You'd leave your friends behind?" Noa looked amused as Bakura looked at the girl who was stood up, eyes widening as he saw the girl still sat on the floor shocked, lost in thought.
"Ra damn it." He hissed, realising what had happened. He'd been waiting for the Ring to pull something to gain control over Jamie, had known it would happen sooner or later, but hadn't expected the Ring to do to Jamie what it had done to so many hosts before her.
Stood-Up-Jamie hesitated, as angry as she was at Yami, she couldn't blame the others for crimes he had committed five thousand years ago. She wasn't even aware of the shocked Sat-Down-Jamie behind her. "Release us." She hissed, tone darkening, glare really quite impressive.
"I will, once you've found your friends." Noa smirked and vanished, though his voice stayed for a moment longer, "Though from here on in, I'll be watching."
Stood-Up-Jamie vanished and Bakura knelt down next to the Jamie who was still sat down and had become solid. "Jamie, are you alright?"
"'Kura, I don't…" She hissed suddenly and went to remove the Ring, causing Bakura to grab her arm.
"Don't." He advised, "You still need it."
"I can't… not knowing what it is…"
"What do you mean, knowing what it is?" Bakura scowled, causing Jamie to flinch. "What did you see?"
"I…" There was a flicker and Bakura found himself face to face with a girl that he didn't know how to deal with.
This wasn't Jamie as he knew her, it never would be again. The Millennium Ring had reacted to the threat of an invasion of the mind from someone who had failed to rightfully win possession of the item, protecting itself and using Jamie's shock and anger as an opportunity to do to her what it was rapidly becoming obvious that most of the Millennium Items would do to their wielders, splitting them into two, the light and the dark, yami and hikari, just as the Millennium Items had done to the Pharaoh and Bakura back in Ancient Egypt, Alexander the Great during the Roman age and Marik just a couple of years ago.
The Millennium Items had been formed as part of a pact with a Shadow Demon, Zorc, gifting their wielders with powers beyond imagining, so say in order to defend Egypt, but it had come at the cost of almost a hundred lives, and Bakura had sworn revenge for each of those lives over five thousand years ago.
The newly formed 'dark Jamie', looked at him, anger flickering behind midnight blue eyes, "Was it true? What the Pharaoh did to create these?" She asked, holding up the Ring.
Bakura hissed, grabbing her by the collar, "What did you see?"
"Kul Elna." The two words made Bakura drop the Trainer who sat on the floor and gave him a look he couldn't read, "It is, isn't it?"
"Yes." Bakura hissed out the word, looking away unable to face the girl.
"How many?" She demanded. "How many lives were sacrificed to create these…things?"
"Ninety-nine." Bakura replied, the answer dragged out of him, "I was the only survivor."
There was silence for a moment, then the sounds of Jamie getting to her feet, then she was stood in front of him, sapphire blue eyes catching his brown ones. He made a mental note to keep an eye on that... sapphire for hikari Jamie, midnight blue for yami Jamie. "I'm so sorry 'Kura."
"For what? You weren't responsible." Bakura growled.
"I had no idea…" She hesitated, "He hasn't told Yugi, has he?"
"He doesn't remember." Bakura replied, knowing who she meant without having to ask. "At least, that's what he claims. That he has no knowledge of the past." Bakura snorted, "Besides, it would break the runt, to know what created the item he wears."
"Yugi's…" Jamie shook her head, looking down at the Ring.
"You shouldn't have worn it." Bakura told her, "But it's too late now."
"Just promise me that you won't hurt Yugi. It's not his fault that the Pharaoh's hurt a lot of people."
"I can't keep that promise, Jamie. If I have to go through Yugi, I will."
"Bakura…" Jamie sighed, "At least promise me you'll try to avoid hurting Yugi if you can help it."
"You cannot hold me responsible if the runt throws himself in the way." Bakura growled at her.
"No, I can't." Jamie acknowledged. She sighed again, not knowing how to explain, "And I won't… just…"
"It cannot be helped, Jamie, haven't you ever hurt someone because they were in the way?"
"No."
"Could you swear that you would never harm anyone who was just in the wrong place at the wrong time in the future?"
"Of course I…"
"Jamie." Bakura stopped her short. No, this Jamie wouldn't, she would hold back, even if it meant losing, that's what the light did, but the other Jamie, the dark one, the one that was all of her killer instincts, and the Jamie that had once been, might have, even if it was just by accident.
"'Kura…" She hesitated, "Let's just find the others. The sooner we find them, the sooner we can leave and the sooner I can find out if Noa was telling the truth about the other Trainers."
A door appeared in front of them.
"This just screams trap." Bakura looked at it.
"No choice. All the exits from the stadium lead back here."
"Let's go then."
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"It's so cold…"
Yugi's hands balled into fists as Tea's voice echoed around the maze they'd found themselves trapped in. "Tea!"
Yami took spirit form, glowering at the four walls. "Noa's letting us hear her just to torture us… a cruel trick."
A shriek, not Tea's caught their attention, and in half a heartbeat Yugi was on the floor, sprawled with someone on top of him.
"Yugi!" Yami would have darted forward, but he was all too aware of his inability to interact with the real world.
"I told you it was a trap." Bakura said, appearing solid and helping Jamie to her feet.
"What?" Yami stared as Yugi sat up, slightly stunned.
"This whole thing is in our heads." Jamie indicated herself and Yugi, her tone cold, "We're bound by the laws of the game world but the game world doesn't have programming to deal with people who are hosting another soul."
"Wait, you couldn't see or hear me before…"
"Gods he's thick."
"Kura."
"I'm going." Bakura vanished again.
"I get it," Yugi said as Jamie helped him to his feet, trying to ignore Yami, "Yami and Bakura are beyond the rules of the game, so they can do pretty much whatever they want, because when they come out, they have avatars that don't have any pre-programmed definitions and their presence messes up our code too." He turned to look at Yami, "Which explains how you caught me when I shouldhave just faded…"
"And why I didn't just take over when you passed out…" Yami nodded, wondering why Jamie's eyes darkened when she looked at him. "I got my own avatar..."
"I don't know how much longer I can hold on."
"Tea!" Yugi's head snapped up, the conversation temporally forgotten in his fear for his friends, "Where are you?" He looked around desperately, "We have to find her, now!"
He ran at a door of light.
"Yugi, no!"
The light grew and hit Yugi with an arrow of it, sending Yugi flying across the room, passing through Yami, and hitting the floor hard.
"Yugi," Yami helped him sit up, reluctant to take the advice of the Tomb Robber, but thankful he could do this much. "We have to think this through."
"Can't you pass through it?" Jamie asked.
"I think I get what we're supposed to do." Yami said, ignoring her question and looking at the doors properly. "I think there's a one star monster behind that door so to get through, we have to defeat it."
"How do you figure?" Yugi asked.
"Look above the door."
There was a rectangle with one star in it.
"Makes sense I suppose." Yugi nodded, drawing a card.
"Use your lower star monsters to start with." Jamie suggested, "In case we need our higher ones for later."
Yugi nodded and drew, smiling at the card, "Celtic Guardian, attack!"
He destroyed the monster that was hiding in the one star doorway.
"Let's go."
"I just figured you could use a rest, you know, to recover from all those direct attacks. One more blast could have destroyed you, so I jumped in." Yugi replied, smiling at his partner, having seized control when Gansley had attempted to attack them directly…again.
"Thank you," Yami nodded, "You were very brave."
"Don't thank me, you should thank Kuriboh," Yugi giggled, looking at the Duel Monster who looked rather pleased with himself, "Without his special ability we would have both been finished by now."
"That's true, something's are more powerful then they first appear." Yami considered the fuzz ball, but was more referring to Yugi's inner strength then anything.
"You can say that again," Yugi missed it completely, "Kuriboh turned out to be the most valuable monster on our side of the field so getting him as our Deck Master wasn't just some trick Gansley played on us in order to win." The teenager grinned, poking his dark side after he'd been rather rude over the link when he'd realised he couldn't understand Kuriboh's speech.
"No, you're right, it was the Heart of the Cards that guided Kuriboh to us." Yami nodded, eyes closing. So tired, and hurting so much from the direct attacks, that even as he was worried about Yugi, he was grateful that his hikari had jumped in.
Yugi groaned, his eyes closing. Yami's eyes snapped open at both the sound and the sudden wave of exhaustion and agony that slipped through the barrier he had put between himself and Yugi and was coming from the hikari himself.
Yugi's knees gave out from under him and he toppled forward.
"Yugi!" Yami seized control without thinking, both to stop Yugi's body from hitting the floor and to send Yugi back to his soul room to recover. He'd been so busy blocking his own pain from reaching Yugi, he hadn't realised that Yugi had been going through the same thing.
It was with surprise that he had to reach out and catch the teenager's spirit. That shouldn't have been right… "This duel has affected you too, let me finish this." He said softly, his tone full of concern. It was a tone of voice that only Yugi could elicit from the harsh and cold Pharaoh.
Yami had to hide his concern when Yugi didn't stir, not willing to show weakness to their enemy, even in the face of Yugi's current state.
The weight of the young man's spirit weighed heavily on Yami's arm as he turned back to their enemy, his harshest scowl on his face, "Alright Gansley, this duel's not done."
"Your furry little powder puff blocks one attack and you think you've won?" Gansley sounded highly amused, smirking at them across the battle field as Yugi finally faded into his soul room, "I'm afraid nothing could be further from the truth, thanks to the Deck Master rule, now that you've activated Kuriboh to defend yourself, you've introduced him to the playing field. That means I'm now allowed to attack your little furball and according to the Deck Master rulebook, if your Deck Master is destroyed you lose the duel and your Kuriboh is no match for my serpent so this match is over."
"Last I checked," Yami snarled, ready to defend his hikari, no matter how bad it looked. "It was still on!"
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Well, I'm pretty sure that was the last door." Jamie scowled, looking around the arena. "And don't say I told you so, Kura."
Bakura didn't say anything; he hadn't for the last couple of hours, not since their…discussion… earlier.
Jamie sat down on one of the seats and looked around.
This stadium reminded her so much of home that it hurt.
She wasn't stupid, she was fully aware of the odds of going home and remote didn't even begin to cover it.
She was one of the strongest Trainers in the world… but she was no match for Palkia…
And it was only through Palkia's power that she could ever get home.
"I don't want to be here anymore." Jamie curled in on herself, head on her knees, "I want to go home, I want my family… I want…"
"Do you mean to sound like a petulant child?"
Jamie's head shot up and she glowered at the kid in front of her, with his short green hair and blue eyes and that irritatingly smug expression.
"Me, a petulant child?" Jamie snarled, getting to her feet, feeling Bakura stir at her rage, "Compared to you, Noa?" The boy watched her without a trace of fear, "Who sealed us all in this virtual hell because you want someone else's toy?" She snorted, "You are the petulant child here."
"It was never Seto Kaiba's in the first place." Noa hissed, glowering at her. Compared to Yami and Bakura's glowers, or the glares of the Galactic administrators, it was tame, "Prove me wrong." There was a glow and a Duel Disk appeared on Noa's arm, "Duel me and earn your freedom, just as Yugi has, or flee and prove you were never fit to earn the title you covet so much."
"You'll take my body if I lose, won't you?"
"When you lose, you mean."
"Kura, I may need your help here…" Jamie scowled at the child in front of her, "I won't lose. I'm going to go home eventually, but to do that I need to get out of this virtual nightmare."
Noa vanished and reappeared in the centre of the arena. Jamie vaulted over sides and landed back in the arena, walking over. "Ready?" Noa smirked at her.
"How can I duel when my deck is with my real body?"
"Pick your cards." Noa waved and cards started scrolling in front of her, "Try not to miss any good ones." He wasn't concerned, Yugi was trapped in one of the virtual mazes, Tea was heading towards the frozen north, on her way to face Crump and he had time, "Try not to let any good ones slip past."
'Make sure you pick a humanoid card for your Deck Master.' Bakura said, she could sense him hovering over her shoulder and looking at the cards, 'One that works well with your deck, but is human enough to be able to talk. You're going to need it.'
"What would you suggest?" Jamie asked, already in the process of building her deck from the cards that were flying up in front of her.
'Take that one.' Jamie touched the card, the last one in a forty card deck.
"Okay." Jamie looked at Noa, who looked like he was contemplating something, "That's all my cards."
"Now pick your Deck Master." Noa said, as the deck she'd picked out appeared in the deck slot in her Duel Disk.
Jamie shuffled through the cards, looking for the one that Bakura had suggested… there it was. "I pick Kitsune Maiden." Jamie called. The Duel Monster, a human looking young woman in little clothing, with fox ears and five rather bushy red and white tails appeared at her side, with a small giggle and a smile for her partner. "What's yours?"
"You'll see." Noa replied, activating his own Duel Disk and looking through the cards. "You may go first if you wish."
"No thanks, I prefer second turn."
Noa gave her an amused smile and nodded, "Very well, I'll go first then." He put the deck back and Jamie gasped as a shadow appeared over the arena. It was a huge boat, floating in mid air. "Normally I'd have my Shinato's Ark in water, but since we're in the middle of the desert…"
Jamie, who was trying not to feel like it was going to fall and crush them both nodded her understanding.
Noa drew, "I play two cards face down," He looked at her, "You're so concerned with getting home, you've missed all the signs that there are others from your world being left in ours, but it's alright, I'll remedy that mistake when I leave here, in your body. I set a card in defence mode."
"What do you mean? Others from my world?" Jamie demanded, drawing, "I set two cards face down and then I summon Fox Shadow, in attack mode!"
The black fox appeared, shadows rolling off of it like smoke, glowering at Noa.
"That ends my turn."
"Is that all?" Noa sniggered, "Your puny shadow is no match for my monsters. I summon Chiron the Mage in attack mode."
The centaur glowered at her fox.
"And I use Raigeki Break, discarding one card from my hand to destroy the spell card on your right." Jamie's Spellbinding Circle exploded.
"Chiron the Mage, destroy her fox!"
"Ha!" Jamie grinned, "I activate Transformation!"
Shadow Fox vanished, replaced by a fox with icy blue fur that shone in the light, which shrugged off the attack and blasted Chiron away with a wave of snow, causing Noa's points to drop by 900.
"What did you do?" Noa snapped.
"Transformation allows me to tribute a fox card in order to summon a higher level one." Jamie sniggered, "Allowing me to swap my Shadow Fox for my Frostbite Fox."
"That ends my turn." Noa scowled.
'Nice opening moves, but anyone can take the lead early; it's keeping it that is the difficult bit.' Bakura told her as she drew and the pair considered her hand, 'Tidal is your best bet next.'
"Right…" She looked up from her cards, "I summon Tidal Fox in attack mode, using its ability to return your left hand face down card to your hand."
Noa scowled but the card returned anyway.
"Now if my addition is up to scratch, my Frostbite Fox and my Tidal Fox have enough points to win this duel." Jamie grinned. Frostbite had 2400, while Tidal's was 1900 and if you combined that with the 900 points that Noa had already lost, the duel was over. "But before I attack, I need to know. What other people from my world?"
"Humans, and Pokémon, being deposited all over the world, and you've been so content with the life you've built up around yourself, that you've been ignoring the signs." Noa snarled, unable to understand how she'd managed to get him to this point already.
"You know nothing about me." Jamie glowered, "Foxes, wipe him out!" The pair attacked and rebounded off of a barrier that appeared in front of Noa, making Jamie scowl. "Let me guess, trap card."
"Hallowed Life Barrier." Noa sniggered, "It prevents me from taking any damage from the effects of your cards this turn."
Jamie growled and nodded, surprised as Bakura came to her side and considered her hand. 'That's all you can do…'
"That ends my turn Noa, but next time I'm going to win."
Noa drew, considering his hand, "You know I'm going to win. This is my world, and there's nothing you could do to stop me from messing up your deck's data…"
"You wouldn't do it though, not if you wanted to prove yourself better then Seto." Jamie snorted, only slightly worried at his idle threat. "Cheating proves nothing."
Noa shrugged, wanting her off guard and off her game, "I set a card face down and set a card in defence mode and that ends my turn."
"Do you have a strategy?" Jamie asked, sensing Bakura's question, confused as to what exactly Noa was trying to accomplish. "I draw."
"I activate the trap card Shadow Spell!"
"Shadow Spell?" Jamie asked, growling as chains shot out of the floor and wrapped around her Frostbite Fox, taking it's attack points down to 2000. "What did you do to her?"
"Your Frostbite Fox can no longer attack or switch to defence mode, plus she loses seven hundred attack points."
Jamie considered her field, before sacrificing her Frostbite Fox for her Cloud Fox, "And I use Cloud Fox's special ability to summon Forest Fox." There were now three monsters on her side of the field. "Forest Fox, attack his face down card!"
The grassy furred fox rebounded off of a Giant Soldier of Stone.
"Cloud Fox, take it down." The fox that resembled little more then a cloud took it down easily. "Tidal, attack him directly!"
Noa's points dropped to 1200.
"You must have a strategy!" Jamie protested, "Bad guys are not supposed to be this easy to defeat!"
"I haven't lost yet!" Noa protested, annoyed at Jamie's quick dismissal of him.
"But… your cards have no rhyme or reason to them!" Jamie pointed at where his Giant Soldier of Stone had been, "And you don't appear to have the combos to back up such a random style of game play!"
'Jamie please stop prodding the virtual entity in charge of releasing you.' Bakura sighed at her.
"It's like playing against someone with Metronome, you never know what they are going to pull, and half the time it's useless." Jamie complained to Bakura
"Is it my go or not?" Noa demanded.
"Just go."
"I play Fissure." Noa growled. A fissure opened, and a hand popped out, pulling Forest Fox to be sucked under the ground before the fissure snapped shut. "Then I play one card face down. Then I summon Giant Rex!" The 2000 attack point level four dinosaur appeared. "Destroy her Tidal Fox!"
It exploded and took two hundred points with it.
"Your move."
To Jamie this just seemed to confirm her suspicions. "I set a card in defence mode and use Cloud Fox's ability to special summon another Forest Fox to my field."
Jamie was back up to three monsters while Noa only had one. "Cloud Fox, attack!"
The t-rex died, taking 300 points with it.
"Forest Fox, win this!"
"Activate Earthshaker!"
"What does that do?" Jamie squeaked as the ground shook and the sand tried to pull her down.
"I choose two attributes, and you get to pick the attribute that gets destroyed." Noa explained, "I choose Earth and Wind."
That made sense, Cloud Fox was Wind while Forest Fox was Earth. She hesitated. She'd lost one Forest Fox already, so logic would dictate that if she wanted to get her Seven Tail Fox out, she'd need to keep that, but if she lost her Cloud Fox, she'd only be able to summon one monster per turn…
'You're forgetting that if you keep Forest Fox, you can win the duel here and now.'
"I'm sorry Cloud, but I choose to save the Earth Element."
Cloud Fox vanished.
"Now, Forest Fox, let's try this again, attack Noa directly!"
Forest Fox leapt at Noa, attacking to end the duel.
Something exploded.
This was strange considering that Forest Fox's attack didn't explode.
Forest Fox came back to prowl in front of her.
"He's not done, is he" Jamie asked as the smoke cleared.
'Probably not.' Bakura admitted.
Noa was still standing when the smoke had drifted away into the clear desert sky. "Are you quite done?"
"How did you survive?"
"I just discarded a card from my hand and its special ability kicked in, protecting my life points."
"Just go."
"I discard a card from my hand to call two Thunder Dragons from my deck to my hand and then activate Polymerisation."
The two dragons appeared briefly, and then were replaced by a rather large twin headed orange thing with a huge purple horn on each head.
"Uh oh."
"Twin Headed Thunder Dragon, attack her Cloud Fox!"
It exploded, causing her points to drop to 3300. This was fine if you compared it to Noa's 900 points but… she didn't have much that could destroy a monster with that many attack points.
"Your go." Noa looked amused.
Jamie drew and scowled at her hand, "I set a card face down and end my turn."
"Now who's not trying?" Noa sniggered at her. "Twin Headed Dragon, attack her directly!"
Jamie squeaked and threw up her arms to protect herself, only to be surprised when the lightening the dragon had shot at her collided with a wall of will-o-whisps.
"I'll protect you." Jamie's head shot to her right, where her Kitsune Maiden was looking at her with an odd expression, somewhere between fear, concern and something else she didn't recognise.
'She's hungry for a human that can understand her.' Bakura explained, 'A few of the Duel Monsters get like this when they haven't been out of the monster world in millennia.'
"Monster World?" Jamie asked, then smiled and nodded at the Maiden, "Thank you."
'There's a world of monsters out there, it's another alternate dimension.'
"Oh." Jamie supposed that made sense, there probably were many alternate universes out there, she'd just got stuck in this one.
It was Noah's turn to be irritated, "I take it that your Deck Master saved you?"
Jamie looked at Kitsune Maiden questioningly, noticing one of her tails had vanished.
"I can prevent five direct attacks on the player, but to do so I have to give up a tail." The Maiden sounded rather mournful about that.
"Sorry." Jamie apologized to her.
"It won't matter after my next turn anyway." Noa grinned at her, confident in his victory. "Thanks to the Deck Master rule. Now Kitsune Maiden's been activated as a Deck Master, I can attack her and once she's gone, you lose."
"Damn…" Jamie's eyes flickered to the Maiden. She was no match for Twin-Headed Thunder Dragon.
'You can still win this, think and draw the right card.'
Jamie looked at her hand then looked at Noa, "Can our deck masters attack once they've been put into play?"
"Yes."
She drew, "I play Reincarnate Fox Spirit, bringing back my Frostbite Fox!" She called, the fox appearing on the field and pacing the field. "And activate my face down card, Kitsune Clan, increasing her attack by five hundred."
This made Frostbite stronger then Twin-Headed.
"Frostbite, attack Twin-Headed!" Twin-Headed Thunder Dragon roared and exploded. "Kitsune Maiden, take Noa down!"
The maiden transformed into a fox and bit Noa, before returning to both her Duellist's side and her humanoid form.
Noa's points finally hit zero.
"Finally." Jamie sighed in relief, "Now let me out of here, Noa."
"How did I lose?" Noa was asking himself.
"I told you, you had no strategy, you just kept throwing monster after monster at me, and you can't beat a well built deck like that." Jamie scowled at the kid. "You need to have a…why am I even talking to you?" She asked him, though it was a rhetorical question rather then one she wanted an answer for, "I've won my freedom, Noa, let me out of this virtual nightmare."
Noa glowered at her, startling her as he rushed forward putting his hands on her stomach and pushing, actually entering her virtual body. "If I can't win your body I'll just take it!"
Jamie felt Bakura surge to the fore, to protect her and then her mind was invaded by memories.
A village burning.
Priests, priests of the Pharaoh…
An army slaughtering hundreds… no not hundreds… ninety nine…
One had survived the horror…
There was a blindingly bright light and Noa was repelled, pushed back a few of yards.
"What are you?" He was demanding.
Bakura was furious, and had taken control, standing between Jamie and the child. The Trainer herself was in too much shock over what she had seen to respond, or to notice that Bakura actually had a form here and was busy swearing at Noa in multiple languages.
He'd had many hosts over the years and had to pick up many languages from them, and all of those rude words he'd been saving up seemed appropriate now.
"Arceus…" Jamie breathed, sinking down in semi-visible form, ghost like but not invisible, "No wonder 'Kura hates Yami…"
"You alright?" Bakura turned to look at her, with a rage in his eyes that terrified her even though she knew wasn't directed at her, "Jamie?"
"'Kura…what was that?"
"This punk just found out how bad an idea it is to try to steal a body from someone who has more then one soul within them." Bakura snapped, unaware of what she meant while glowering at Noa, who looked somewhere between pissed off and fascinated. "And it looks like he's holding your body hostage somewhere."
"What are you?" Noa demanded again.
"I'm a Thief and a stealer of souls and this is a Aspiring League Champion." Bakura was smug.
"That's not what I meant!" Noa snapped. "What are you? No normal human…"
"Whoever said we were normal?" Bakura smirked, "You should check your victim's history more carefully."
"How are there two of you? I only downloaded her mind into my virtual world!" Noa pointed a shaking finger at the ghost of the girl, who was still in shock over what she'd seen.
Yami's on our side, one of the good guys… How could Joey claim that? There was no way that a Pharaoh who had ordered his army to do that could be classed as a 'good guy'. How could Yugi trust Yami as much as he did?
"You download one you download the other." Bakura shrugged.
How could Yugi defend Yami? From what she knew of Yugi, there was no way that he would support Yami's ancient actions… the Ring hung heavily on her, as the fact that she was wearing a mystical item forged in gold and blood and souls permeated her mind.
"Are there others, like you?" Noa demanded.
"There's no one like us." Bakura answered honestly.
"Let us out of here Noa!" Jamie demanded, suddenly very angry, shooting to her feet and becoming solid in a heartbeat, "You said if we won we could leave."
"You'd leave your friends behind?" Noa looked amused as Bakura looked at the girl who was stood up, eyes widening as he saw the girl still sat on the floor shocked, lost in thought.
"Ra damn it." He hissed, realising what had happened. He'd been waiting for the Ring to pull something to gain control over Jamie, had known it would happen sooner or later, but hadn't expected the Ring to do to Jamie what it had done to so many hosts before her.
Stood-Up-Jamie hesitated, as angry as she was at Yami, she couldn't blame the others for crimes he had committed five thousand years ago. She wasn't even aware of the shocked Sat-Down-Jamie behind her. "Release us." She hissed, tone darkening, glare really quite impressive.
"I will, once you've found your friends." Noa smirked and vanished, though his voice stayed for a moment longer, "Though from here on in, I'll be watching."
Stood-Up-Jamie vanished and Bakura knelt down next to the Jamie who was still sat down and had become solid. "Jamie, are you alright?"
"'Kura, I don't…" She hissed suddenly and went to remove the Ring, causing Bakura to grab her arm.
"Don't." He advised, "You still need it."
"I can't… not knowing what it is…"
"What do you mean, knowing what it is?" Bakura scowled, causing Jamie to flinch. "What did you see?"
"I…" There was a flicker and Bakura found himself face to face with a girl that he didn't know how to deal with.
This wasn't Jamie as he knew her, it never would be again. The Millennium Ring had reacted to the threat of an invasion of the mind from someone who had failed to rightfully win possession of the item, protecting itself and using Jamie's shock and anger as an opportunity to do to her what it was rapidly becoming obvious that most of the Millennium Items would do to their wielders, splitting them into two, the light and the dark, yami and hikari, just as the Millennium Items had done to the Pharaoh and Bakura back in Ancient Egypt, Alexander the Great during the Roman age and Marik just a couple of years ago.
The Millennium Items had been formed as part of a pact with a Shadow Demon, Zorc, gifting their wielders with powers beyond imagining, so say in order to defend Egypt, but it had come at the cost of almost a hundred lives, and Bakura had sworn revenge for each of those lives over five thousand years ago.
The newly formed 'dark Jamie', looked at him, anger flickering behind midnight blue eyes, "Was it true? What the Pharaoh did to create these?" She asked, holding up the Ring.
Bakura hissed, grabbing her by the collar, "What did you see?"
"Kul Elna." The two words made Bakura drop the Trainer who sat on the floor and gave him a look he couldn't read, "It is, isn't it?"
"Yes." Bakura hissed out the word, looking away unable to face the girl.
"How many?" She demanded. "How many lives were sacrificed to create these…things?"
"Ninety-nine." Bakura replied, the answer dragged out of him, "I was the only survivor."
There was silence for a moment, then the sounds of Jamie getting to her feet, then she was stood in front of him, sapphire blue eyes catching his brown ones. He made a mental note to keep an eye on that... sapphire for hikari Jamie, midnight blue for yami Jamie. "I'm so sorry 'Kura."
"For what? You weren't responsible." Bakura growled.
"I had no idea…" She hesitated, "He hasn't told Yugi, has he?"
"He doesn't remember." Bakura replied, knowing who she meant without having to ask. "At least, that's what he claims. That he has no knowledge of the past." Bakura snorted, "Besides, it would break the runt, to know what created the item he wears."
"Yugi's…" Jamie shook her head, looking down at the Ring.
"You shouldn't have worn it." Bakura told her, "But it's too late now."
"Just promise me that you won't hurt Yugi. It's not his fault that the Pharaoh's hurt a lot of people."
"I can't keep that promise, Jamie. If I have to go through Yugi, I will."
"Bakura…" Jamie sighed, "At least promise me you'll try to avoid hurting Yugi if you can help it."
"You cannot hold me responsible if the runt throws himself in the way." Bakura growled at her.
"No, I can't." Jamie acknowledged. She sighed again, not knowing how to explain, "And I won't… just…"
"It cannot be helped, Jamie, haven't you ever hurt someone because they were in the way?"
"No."
"Could you swear that you would never harm anyone who was just in the wrong place at the wrong time in the future?"
"Of course I…"
"Jamie." Bakura stopped her short. No, this Jamie wouldn't, she would hold back, even if it meant losing, that's what the light did, but the other Jamie, the dark one, the one that was all of her killer instincts, and the Jamie that had once been, might have, even if it was just by accident.
"'Kura…" She hesitated, "Let's just find the others. The sooner we find them, the sooner we can leave and the sooner I can find out if Noa was telling the truth about the other Trainers."
A door appeared in front of them.
"This just screams trap." Bakura looked at it.
"No choice. All the exits from the stadium lead back here."
"Let's go then."
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"It's so cold…"
Yugi's hands balled into fists as Tea's voice echoed around the maze they'd found themselves trapped in. "Tea!"
Yami took spirit form, glowering at the four walls. "Noa's letting us hear her just to torture us… a cruel trick."
A shriek, not Tea's caught their attention, and in half a heartbeat Yugi was on the floor, sprawled with someone on top of him.
"Yugi!" Yami would have darted forward, but he was all too aware of his inability to interact with the real world.
"I told you it was a trap." Bakura said, appearing solid and helping Jamie to her feet.
"What?" Yami stared as Yugi sat up, slightly stunned.
"This whole thing is in our heads." Jamie indicated herself and Yugi, her tone cold, "We're bound by the laws of the game world but the game world doesn't have programming to deal with people who are hosting another soul."
"Wait, you couldn't see or hear me before…"
"Gods he's thick."
"Kura."
"I'm going." Bakura vanished again.
"I get it," Yugi said as Jamie helped him to his feet, trying to ignore Yami, "Yami and Bakura are beyond the rules of the game, so they can do pretty much whatever they want, because when they come out, they have avatars that don't have any pre-programmed definitions and their presence messes up our code too." He turned to look at Yami, "Which explains how you caught me when I shouldhave just faded…"
"And why I didn't just take over when you passed out…" Yami nodded, wondering why Jamie's eyes darkened when she looked at him. "I got my own avatar..."
"I don't know how much longer I can hold on."
"Tea!" Yugi's head snapped up, the conversation temporally forgotten in his fear for his friends, "Where are you?" He looked around desperately, "We have to find her, now!"
He ran at a door of light.
"Yugi, no!"
The light grew and hit Yugi with an arrow of it, sending Yugi flying across the room, passing through Yami, and hitting the floor hard.
"Yugi," Yami helped him sit up, reluctant to take the advice of the Tomb Robber, but thankful he could do this much. "We have to think this through."
"Can't you pass through it?" Jamie asked.
"I think I get what we're supposed to do." Yami said, ignoring her question and looking at the doors properly. "I think there's a one star monster behind that door so to get through, we have to defeat it."
"How do you figure?" Yugi asked.
"Look above the door."
There was a rectangle with one star in it.
"Makes sense I suppose." Yugi nodded, drawing a card.
"Use your lower star monsters to start with." Jamie suggested, "In case we need our higher ones for later."
Yugi nodded and drew, smiling at the card, "Celtic Guardian, attack!"
He destroyed the monster that was hiding in the one star doorway.
"Let's go."