Snow fell from the darken sky above the world. Ever so gentle it came and lightly touched the ground. During that night it had fallen deeper, covering the earth with it’s white kisses. Serenity flew through the night with it’s gentle arms. Not a sound disturbed the world and not a shadow had touched it.

Hidden within the snowing mountains, within a forest so rich and thick laid a small village. The tranquility of the world around them did not stop them from the celebration of the snow to stop them. The people of the village danced around the fire with smiles upon their face.

The village in which they lived in was untouched by the outside hands. Upon their heads laid what was the source of their uniqueness: a horn. In one of the small huts of the village was a calm family that had recently gained a new member. A child much like his father with his strange tri-colored hair was falling asleep. His mother held him softly and gently as she rocked him back and forth inside of his crib.

Her soft hands touched the pale skin of her darling baby. Long chestnut brown hair fell down from her shoulders and touched her stomach lightly. Soft sapphire colored eyes were only laid upon her child. When she opened her mouth, the mother began to sing warmly to her baby. The baby certainly enjoyed the sound of her voice as he slowly closed his grape orbs.

“Oh my little baby…” she whispered to the sleeping figure, “may you slumber with the arms of Ra wrapped around you.”

“I am sure he will do so, Teana,” spoke a voice from behind the woman, “after all, anyone that listens to your voice can forget about all the troubles in the world and feel nothing but happiness.”

“Oh! Darling, you’re back!” Let out Teana as she slowly stopped rocking the sleeping child and walked over to her husband.

Placing her arms around him, Teana hugged him tightly. It had been a while since her husband had left her on a journey to whereabouts unknown. One thing was for sure, was that he could not leave his precious family behind. As they embraced, Teana’s husband kissed her forehead lightly then released her from his grasps. Walking over to his son, he let out a sweet smile.

“How has Yugi been doing?” He asked as he placed a soft hand upon the Yugi’s cheek.

“He’s been quite the fussy one that’s for sure.” Replied the brunette Teana as she walked over beside her husband. “I swear, I think he’s growing more into you everyday.”

“Hmm…Yugi turning out to be like me? Is it that bad? Because the way you’re saying it it’s like it’s a bad thing.”

“Oh you! You’ve always have been the troublesome one.”

“Oh, I’ll show you how troublesome I can be.” Smirked Yugi’s father as he took a hold of Teana and brought her close to him.

The brunette giggled mischievously and tried to struggle out of her husband’s grasp. He hold was rather strong meaning that he wanted her to be near him and never out of his sight. As she gave in to him, Teana smiled and leaned over to kiss him. Just as their lips were about to meet, a knock at the door had disrupted them.

“I’ll get the door,” spoke Teana as she release her hold on her husband, “just rest, dear.”

Teana walked towards the door, but with each step grew closer to the door, she felt strange. Somehow she felt as if there was something wrong or as something was going to happen. Placing a soft hand upon the steel doorknob, the brunette turned the knob and opened the door. There at the doorway was a dark man with a stern face. Across his left eye was a strange scar. Placing a strong hand upon the door, he moved in.

“I’m looking for a man named Atemu,” he spoke in a dark voice. “I heard that he was in this village.”

“A…Atemu?” Replied the frightened woman as she backed a bit away. “I…I think you have the wrong house. Please…look again.”

“No. The neighbor told me that Atemu lived here….with a wife and child. You wouldn’t happen to be…the wife, would you? Now if you cooperate, I will spare you…but I wouldn’t count on the fact that your husband will be.”

“Teana!” Shouted Atemu as he rushed over to his wife.

Placing a hand upon his sword, the tri-colored hair man ran towards the dark, rugged man and sliced his blade into the man’s side. The rugged man grasped his side and tried to take a hold of the warrior. The wound upon his side made him feel rather woozy and eventually passed out. Blood fell upon the clean wooden floor. Teana stood there shocked as she never felt so frighten before.

“Teana….are you all right?” Asked Atemu as he looked at his wife with concern ruby orbs.

“Yes I am,” replied his wife, “Atemu…what are we going to do?”

“Things will get dangerous. This man….he’s one of the men that followed me on my journey. You have to take Yugi and run for it!”

“No! I am not going to leave you to die here, Atemu!”

“If you don’t go, our son can get killed. Please….think of our son.”

“Yugi….all right….I’ll take him away from here. But promise me that you’ll come back to me alive.”

“Teana, I promise that no matter what, I shall come back to you! I will find you and Yugi. Now go!”

Atemu gave his wife a soft shove, telling her that he wanted her to run now. Teana rushed over to her sleeping child and slowly brought him to her chest. She was careful as not to wake up the child so that he wouldn’t cry and give away anything. Walking fast to the door, Teana looked one last look at her husband. Atemu lightly kissed her lips before he moved her to the door.

Once she was out, Atemu took a hold of his sword and waited inside of his house. Those bastards came to get me, he thought as he held the hilt tighter. If it’s me that want, it’s me they’ll get! I will not let them hurt my family! Even if it means I’ll end up dying! Atemu waited patiently for anything to come up. A dark shadow was approaching the window of the small cottage.

Taking his blade, Atemu destroyed the candles that kept the light and hidden within the shadows of the living room. There the tri-colored man waited within the darkness. A figure emerged from the outside and stopped right above the fallen victim. Atemu could guess that the enemy had tensed when he saw his partner lie dead.

Without thinking of anything else, Atemu rushed over towards the enemy and unleashed his blade onto the man. Once that man was taken down, another one was right behind him. Atemu’s new enemy took out an axe and began to swing it in front of the tri-colored hair warrior. Atemu dodged the axe’s blade by mere inches. As his assailant swung the blade once more, Atemu ducked down and rushed underneath the axe wielder. Taking his faithful sword and buried the tip of the sword deep within the chest of the man.

Taking a moment to rest, the young father walked outside of his home and out into the village. What was in store for him shocked him beyond all believes. What…what the hell is this! Though the amethyst eyed man as he looked on in horror. His village was being raided by the same men that were after him. Several bandits took young woman and began to kidnap them. Another bandit killed an elder of the village right in front of a group of children.

One man in particular took out his mace and rose it above his head. Just as he was bringing it down, a sword pierced through his heart. The rather huge man turned to look at the smaller man and tried to swing his mace to crush his head. Atemu pulled out his blade and delivered one final blow to the assailant’s chest. Blood fell down to the snowy ground as well as dripped on Atemu’s face.

“Get out of here!” Shouted the warrior as he looked at the children. “Find any adult from the village and run for it!”

An arrow zipped through the air and landed right on Atemu’s shoulder. The pain surged through his body. Crimson fell from his arm as he dropped his sword and looked at where it might have came from. A hidden archer in the woods stood there, looking at the fallen warrior. Taking out another arrow, the archer aimed once more at Atemu.

Pulling out the arrow, the warrior rushed over to the archer like a blind boar. Rage consumed the crimson orbs of Atemu as he thought of nothing but bloodshed. An arrow zipped past him, missing his head by several inches. Once he made it to the archer, he lifted his sword above his shoulder. The archer looked at the swordsman with much fear in his eyes.

With one slice, the archer’s head fell of clearly from the shoulders. A high scream disrupted Atemu’s thoughts. Oh no! Thought the warrior as his eyes widen. The children! Running back to the village, the tri-colored hair man reached towards where the children were. In front of him was a man dressed in a red uniform holding a chain and blade. Below him were the piles of children’s dead bodies.

“What….what did you do, you monster?” Barked Atemu as he glared at the man with the red uniform.

“Oh! Atemu, nice to see you again.” Replied the man with the red uniform.

“Huh? You….know who I am?”

“Of course….or did you forget me?”

Atemu took a good look at the man before him. This man knows me and yet I don’t know him, thought the tri-colored hair man. But I must find out. Those beady brown eyes…they looked at me once with hatred and death. Soft blonde hair….and that red uniform….he’s…! Atemu’s eyes widen as he had finally remembered the man before him.

“You’re….King Gozaboru!” Responded Atemu as he glared at the king.

“It seems like you finally remembered, Yurick.” Replied Gozaboru with a rather smug smile. “A fine mercenary like you disappeared after I needed you for my war.”

“I told you before, I will not assist to aid you in any kind of war! You used us Yuricks for your own selfish ambitions. I freed them to get away from you and yet you still persisted into following me.”

“Well it wasn’t hard not to find you. You Yuricks all have horns on your foreheads. That’s the only thing that keeps you away from being normal humans. Maybe if you took it off, you wouldn’t have been followed.”

“Enough talk! Get the hell out of my village….before I kill you.”

“My…such hard words. Tell me….is your wife a young woman with long brown hair and blue eyes? Did she carry a baby around?”

“Wha….Teana!” Atemu’s eyes widen in horror when he heard Gozaboru talk about his wife. “What did you do to her! If you lay one hand upon her or my son I shall kill you!”

“Don’t worry, she’s still alive…for now. My scouts found a woman who was fleeing the village holding onto a baby in her arms. And since the baby had your rather atrocious hair, we’d figure he’d be your son and that was your wife. If you hurry you might be able to see her die.”

“Teana!”

Atemu glared one more time at Gozaboru before he ran away towards any direction he thought his wife might have gone. The moon’s hidden light was no help for the warrior as he kept tripping over the loose rocks and branches. Twigs from some of the bushes scratched Atemu’s face. Blood dripped from his forehead as he tried to make sure his horn didn’t get stuck in the branches.

Just as he reached a clearance, four men appeared out of nowhere. Atemu cursed himself for being careless and took out his faithful sword. Two men rushed over towards Atemu and took a hold of their weapons. One spear wielding banding threw his weapon at Atemu. Atemu quickly dodged the weapon and took a hold of it. Using his strength, the tri-colored man threw the spear aiming directly for the chest. The bandit then fell from where he stood and down upon the ground.

Meanwhile the other men rushed towards Atemu. One man took out a spell book and began to read an incantation from it’s verses. Atemu began to swing his sword at his assailants. The blade tasted the blood of the upcoming assailants. Their bodies fell towards the ground and laid there lifeless. Atemu looked at the final person who stood in front of him: Gozaboru.

“Why you persist on defiling me?” Asked the evil king.

“You just want the power of the Millennium Puzzle, the Yurick’s most precious treasure.” Barked back Atemu as he gripped his blade tighter. “You’d kill anyone that would get in your way! Well I am no longer a servant of the House of Kaiba! Prepare to go to hell!”

“Why do we have to resort to this? But I guess….we have no choice.”

Atemu lifted his sword over his shoulders and ran towards Gozaboru. The blonde king smirked evilly as lifted his hand up in front of him and snapped his fingers. From the fingertips of Gozaboru came a dark aurora that surrounded him and twirled like a whirlpool in front of him. Suddenly, the dark aurora flew in front of him and hit Atemu.

Upon impact of the dark aurora, Atemu felt all his breath leave his body. The tri-color haired man lost his grip upon his sword. Dazed, the warrior tried to move, but he felt his body wobble. Gozaboru walked over to Atemu and kicked the warrior on his stomach. Atemu gave off a grunt as he clutched his stomach.

“My…my….” said Gozaboru. “I thought the great Atemu would be stronger then that. But I guess…you grew weak. Wait a minute…” Gozaboru flipped Atemu on his back and looked at his chest. “Where is the Millennium Puzzle?”

“I….don’t have it…” replied Atemu with a smiled that curved on his lips. “You may have finished me off, but my son will one day be stronger then myself. He will make sure you Kaibas shall never rule this land!”

“You might have killed my son off…but believe me, I’ve all ready have an heir. I found a woman with three boys. The eldest shall now pose as my own blood but sadly like what you did to my son, I’ll make sure your’s dies. Right now I have scouts after them. Very soon, you’ll be hearing your wife scream and your child cry. All….until it dies off.”

“You…son of a bit…!”

An arrow flew right into Atemu’s chest. His deep crimson eyes widen then slowly faded into lifeless orbs. Blood dripped from his lips and fell down to the snowy ground. His chest was tainted with his own blood. Everything around the warrior spun around like some sort of a whirlpool. Slowly he closed his eyes and let the darkness engulf him. Gozaboru then placed a hand upon Atemu’s horn and broke it off from his forehead.

“Atemu…” spoke Gozaboru as he walked away from Atemu’s lifeless body. “You were a great warrior…sadly you and your values prevented you from accomplishing anything. I can forgive you for killing my son, but I won’t forgive you for running away.”

Meanwhile, in another part of the forest, Teana ran as fast as she could. Her baby boy was still resting upon her breasts asleep. His horn punctured a part of her chest, but Teana just bore the pain as she knew her whole life was at stake. Finally she a clearing from the woods. There in front of her was the shore of the lake. Looking at her baby, she knew she had to someway cross it.

Much to her convenience, there was a small boat laying upon the shore. Thanking her lucky stars, Teana rushed over to the boat and tried to push it with one hand. Seeing that it was too heavy, she slowly placed Yugi inside of the boat. Taking off the puzzle from her neck, Teana placed it upon her baby’s own. Trying not to wake her baby up, the brunette mother moved the boat inch by inch.

Once it was in the water, the Yurick mother hopped in and started to row. From behind her, Teana could hear the voices from the men that were after her. Once she was at a certain distance, Teana looked back to see the men arrive. One of the men took out a bow and arrow and aimed at the chestnut haired woman. Once he released the weapon, the arrow flew through the wind and pierced Teana’s back.

“I got her, Gozaboru-sama!” Spoke the archer as he walked over to the king.

“What about the child?” Asked the blonde king.

“We…couldn’t reach the child, but it’s most likely without the mother, the child will die.”

“All right. Did you get the puzzle?”

“…no…we didn’t.”

“You really are idiots! I want you all to follow that boat! Get me the Millennium Puzzle!”

“Yes, sir!”

I must have that Puzzle! That fool Atemu thinks that he can outsmart me and protect the item. Well at least he’s now dead upon the ground and I shall regain the Puzzle! Thought Gozaboru as he walked towards his carriage. The time is coming at hand. Soon it shall be the time of the Amengarde to arise and take a hold of the items. It is within the Amengarde adept to unleash the true power. I must find this one. This adept and make him unleash the power.

Somewhere in another village, a woman with long brown hair and sparkling blue eyes looked over at the lake’s horizon. Day was starting to crack and a new life shall begin. The young woman walked through the shore. Her soft green dress and her dark brown cloak brushed against the snow. As she walked along the shore, she found a boat which was oddly floating in the water. A cry emerged from the boat which started the brunette’s chain of thoughts.

As the woman approached the boat, she looked inside and was shocked at what was inside. Without having anything else to think about, the young woman pulled in the boat onto the shore. The young woman placed a soft hand upon the shoulders of the large figure in the boat. Soon, the figure stirred and opened one blue eye.

“Please….” she spoke with a soft voice. “I am Teana. Please…take my son, Yugi and the Millennium Puzzle…”

“Are you…okay?” Asked the woman. “I can try to take you to a medic.”

“Please…do not trouble yourself. I am all ready dying…and I doubt someone will tend me now.”

“Yurick? You’re a Yurick?”

“Yes….please….take away the horn from my child and raise him as your own…please….”

“I…I may only know your name, but I will take care of your child. I will….as swear on my name, Mana.”

“Thank you….kind stranger.”

Teana smiled at Mana before she closed her eyes and let her final breath come out. Mana let out a frown. Even though she didn’t know the woman, she couldn’t help but feel sadness come upon her face. Holding the infant in her arms, the young woman tried to calm down the crying Yugi. I wonder what Mahaado will think about this? Thought Mana as she walked from the shore and towards her small cottage.

The small cottage was in a somewhat bad condition. Poor was her family but happy nonetheless. Mana opened the door and stepped in quietly as not to wake up, her husband, Mahaado. The brunette had managed to put the baby Yugi to sleep while she walked through the winter winds. Walking towards the fire in the fireplace, Mana sat upon the wooden chair and looked at the baby.

The baby Yugi was fast asleep and snuggled underneath the warm blanket his mother gave him. The soft rosy cheeks blushed so lightly at the fire light. His tri-color hair was so soft and was forming into the shape of what can say a star. What was surprising to Mana was the golden pyramid around his neck. Picking it up, Mana examined it closely.

This golden trinket, thought the chestnut haired woman as she let her sapphire eyes examine the puzzle, is this? Is this…the legendary Millennium Puzzle? If it is…then why…why would a little fellow like you have it? Mana stopped her thoughts. Placing the puzzle back down, she used her hand to move Yugi’s hair out of his forehead. And sure enough, there was the dreaded horn that she feared. The horn….he has it.

“Mana….is that you?” Came a voice from behind her.

“Ma…Mahaado!” Called back Mana as she got up from her seat to look into the eyes of her husband.

From the shadows came forward a rather tall man with dark cerulean eyes and light brown hair. He walked over like a dark shadow that brewed nothing but malevolence, even though his soul was pure as snow. Mahaado stalked over to Mana and looked at what she was holding within her hands. At first he couldn’t see what was wrong with what she held, but upon eyeing the horn on the baby’s forehead, Mahaado’s face scowled in fear.

“Mana…do you realize what he is?” Asked the dark man as he looked at the child.

“Yes…” replied Mana with a soft tone.

“Then…don’t you remember what happens if we keep him any longer? The penalty of holding a creature like this is death!”

“Please! I…I just couldn’t let him die. Look at him! Does he look dangerous to you? He’s just a baby…”

“And that baby can cost us our lives!”

“Mahaado…his mother died…and he holds the Millennium Puzzle.”

“What?”

“This child…he’s the son of Atemu, the Great. He carries the puzzle around his neck.”

“…are you sure his mother is dead?”

“Yes….her body is lifeless inside of the boat.”

“…all right. I know that you’ve always wanted a child and myself as well. We will keep him as our own son. But we have to get rid of that horn.”

“Thank you, Mahaado. I promise I will raise Yugi to be a good son.”

“Yugi?” Questioned Mahaado.

“Yes, that’s what his mother called him.” Replied Mana as she smiled at her husband.

“All right…Yugi shall be his name. Now…I shall remove his horn after I bury his mother’s body. If they find her body laying around, they will come looking for him. Stay here and make sure he isn’t fussy.”

“Okay. Be careful.”

Smiling down at his wife, Mahaado took one last look at Yugi. The innocent baby laid still upon Mana’s breast and slept as if nothing in the world mattered. The dark man smiled down at the child before he left towards the door and opened it. The sun had peaked it’s rays through the horizon and touched the small little cottage. Taking one step out, Mahaado walked towards the shore where he found Teana’s body. After he buried her, Mahaado took upon one knee.

“My lady, wife of Atemu, I shall guard over your son as he was my own. I will make sure he will grow into quite a young man.” Whispered Mahaado as he began to give off a small prayer.

Once the old man was done praying, a feather fell from the sky and landed upon his head. Placing a hand upon the feather, Mahaado looked at the object. Though he was unsure about where it had come from nor what was in store for him, it was as if that day, an angel had gave him a mission. Could it be….the Amengarde is arriving? Thought Mahaado as he walked back towards his home to remove the horn.

BOOM! Came the sound coming from Mahaado’s home. Mana had been walking along the shore until she saw the smoke coming from her house. Knowing that it could have been Yugi and Mahaado trying to work on magic spells, the brunette woman rushed through the sandy ground and towards her home. Upon opening the door a full smoke screen flew into her face.

“Cough! Cough! Mahaado? Yugi?” Called out Mana as she squinted her eyes and covered her mouth. “Are you guys in here?”

“Mana!” Spoke Mahaado as he coughed while trying to move the smoke away from him.

“What seems like the spell wrong. Cried out Yugi as he tried to move the smoke away from him.

“Yugi…next need to read thoroughly the spell before you do anything!”

“Sorry about that, Dad.”

“Well enough of that!” Responded Mana as she walked over to the kitchen. “I need this smoke to leave so I can start on dinner!”

“Leave that to me.” Said Mahaado as he finally regains his composure.

The tan skinned man took out his trusty staff and lifted it over his head. Energy flowed through his body as he chanted a spell that was from a foreign tongue. His dark blue eyes turned into nothing but white and soon the staff’s jewel upon it’s tip glowed. The energy flowed from the staff and cleansed the air from around them. Once the smoke cleared, Mahaado placed his staff down and looked at his adopted son. The tri-colored hair boy looked up at his father and smiled nervously.

“Yugi…what do I keep saying to you, over and over again?” Asked Mahaado with a calm tone, but with a serious face.

“Um…to read the book thoroughly and to wait until you say so.” Replied Yugi as he hung his head down.

“Yes. And since you know that, why didn’t you?”

“Because…..I grew impatient?”

“Why?”

“Because….I wanted to go…play?”

“Sigh. Yugi, why is it that your head is just full of games?”

“I don’t know…I just love to play games all the time.”

“Yugi…don’t you want to be a black mage?”

“Of course I do, Father.” Called out Yugi as he looked at his father.

“Then why don’t you take this training seriously?” Asked Mahaado with a rather loosen face.

“I do….it’s just that, I don’t get it. I mean I try to, but every spell I have to learn is just hard.”

“Yugi…son…it isn’t as hard to learn it. You just need practice. You will understand it very well soon.”

“Okay. Um…Mom, Dad? Can I go out now? I’ve been working here since dawn….”

“Sigh. Fine, you can go out now to relax.”

“Yay!”

“Oh remember, Yugi,” spoke Mana as she smiled at her son, “be back before sundown. Dinner will be ready by then.”

“Okay, Mom! Bye! I’ll be back soon!”

“Oh and Yugi!” Shouted his father before he left the door. “Don’t show your puzzle to anyone! Got that?”

“Yes, Dad, I know. Bye!”

Smiling, Yugi bowed his head down to his foster parents and walked out the door and towards the sandy shore. As he walked along, his grape orbs admired the lake’s view as the water reflected the sun. There was a mount of dirt that was rather big. He remembered what his father had said of a fallen unknown woman had been buried there.

The young lad didn’t like the sound of death one bit and chose to ignore the grave. Once he walked a certain distance, Yugi reached the stony road. The stony road was the way towards the main town. The tiny town known as Domino. Yugi fiddled with the chain is his puzzle, but made sure to keep it hidden from anyone’s view.

Yugi let out a smile as he walked through the dirty, stone road and towards the inside of the town. Houses hung cords across from each other to hang their laundry away from others to reach. The market place was open for business and people bumped and shoved into each other to try to buy what they desire. Taking a small leather pouch, Yugi looked inside of it and pulled out one golden coin that was in the shape of a star. Walking over to the fruit cart, Yugi’s purple eyes laid upon a shiny yellow apple.

“I would like to have two apples please!” Chirped Yugi as he pointed to the golden fruit.

“That will be one golden star chip.” Spoke the owner of the stand as he looked at the kid.

Yugi held out the star chip and gave it to the owner. The owner gave a scoff, meaning that Yugi could get the apples as long as he didn’t bother him. Yugi took the two yellow apples and placed them into his knapsack then began to walk off. The tri-colored hair boy noticed that the streets of the city were quite full then the usually sparsely filled aurora.

Looking at the people, Yugi noticed that they were walking in the same direction. Curiosity got the best of him and soon followed after them. Walking through the streets, Yugi eventually bumped into a mop. The townspeople of all over their country had gathered around. Confused about why the townspeople were gathered, the young adult decided to ask around.

“Excuse me,” he spoke as he pulled upon the dirty sleeve of a random villager, “but what is going on?”

“Don’t you know?” Asked the villager as he looked at the boy. “Our king, King Pegasus is going to give an announcement. Something concerning out current state.”

“Our current state?”

“Yeah. Remember for almost twenty years, King Gozaboru Kaiba had took over our kingdom of Crawford. King Pegasus was left defenseless and we hit poverty. Right now, our King has came down with an agreement with King Gozaboru. He said he’s going to announce it in a bit.”

Soon a loud blare of trumpets had caught the attention of the villagers. Yugi looked up towards the stony walls of a rather high wall. The youth had remembered coming towards this stone wall. It was what separated the palace from the city. The dark stones were toned along with the ground’s path and gave a sense of gloom.

His grape orbs looked up towards the rather large platform that stood upon the wall’s edge. There came a figure with shoulder length silver hair. One part of his face was covered by the silver locks of the elegant looking man. His brown eyes shined with anticipation as he walked towards the edge of the balcony. His clothing was made out of the soft red silk that was found in the world.

Behind the man was a rather femine looking figure that was covered with a pink veil. The young woman had a long and silky looking dress that was cut around her shoulders but was long sleeved. She hid in the shadows from the balcony, as not wanting to be seen by anyone. Though onto her left was a young man dressed in a long white tunic. Around the sleeves’ edges were golden trims. His short chestnut colored hair covered his forehead and nearly covered his sapphire eyes. His face was cold and stern.

On the other side, away from the cold man stood an even colder looking man with gray hair and a thick mustache. He wore a dark red tunic with a rather large white coat. Upon his lips was a rather large cigar which he was currently enjoying. His dark eyes were like ice that touched and killed the spring that was in the eyes of anyone that sees him.

“My people!” Shouted out the silver haired man. “I, King Pegasus, am here to give out a most important announcement. As you recall, we are under the watchful eye of the kingdom of Domino. King Gozaboru and I have came to an agreement. My daughter, Princess Anzu is to be wedded to Prince Seto and unite our kingdoms into one!”

Upon saying that last line, King Pegasus turned to his left to see his daughter, who was covered in the pink veil. Taking out his hand, he placed it for her to take it. At first, the princess was hesitant to move, but slowly, she took out her right hand and placed it into her father’s. Gozaboru looked at his son and tilted his head for him to move. Even though he didn’t want to, Seto still walked over towards his now bride and his future father-in-law.

Pegasus smiled to both of them, but neither of the two smiled back. Anzu frowned in her sorrow while Seto frowned in displease. Pegasus then dropped his smile and grabbed their hands and brought them together. Seto didn’t bother to look at Anzu. His cold icy blue eyes fell back to his father’s figure. Gozaboru smirked at his son and thought of only more power to flow into him.

Upon seeing the prince and the princess hold hands, the whole town cheered in a uproar. Yugi looked up from where he stood. Though he was far away from the castle wall, he could make out the figure of the princess. He had never laid eyes upon her before. All he ever did was hear stories about Princess Anzu and how she was the fairest of all. Once the announcements were done, the townsfolk dispersed from the gathering and back to their lives.

The royals all left the balcony upon the castle walls and headed towards the castle. Yugi walked back towards his home in a quite manner. Soon, two figures rushed in front of him and headed towards a dark alley. Curiosity got to Yugi, and quickly followed the shadows after them. Once he reached the end of the alley, he found two men who were gathered around the sewer entrance.

One of the guys was a young man with long brunette hair and squinty brown eyes. Strange purple strands of hair fell into his face. His clothes were that of a green and brown tunic with dark brown pants and grey boots. Upon his hands were fingerless gloves. Upon his scalp laid a rather rugged looking cap that covered his rather wild mane. Upon his back was a sack which was filled with goods that were probably stolen.

The brunette’s partner was about his own size: rather tiny. This individual was a youth with short light teal hair and had dark green eyes. Upon his face stood a pair of bifocals. His attire consisted of a dark green coat that rested on his shoulders, a pair of dark blue pants followed by a dirty green tunic. The boots he was wearing were tearing apart upon the heal.

“So is this it?” Asked the teal haired boy to the young brunette.

“I’m sure it is this time.” Replied the brunette as he looked at his companion.

“I hope it is, because last time we entered the priestess’ bedroom while she was undressing. Then the guards came and we were sent to the dungeon. We barely got out, and if we go back again, we might be sentenced to something worse!”

“Quit your yapping! I know this is the right entrance! We will be soon inside the palace and we’ll steal as much treasure as we can. But who knows? We might even get a peek at Princess Anzu’s can.”

“Okay! Now let’s go, Ryuzaki!”

“All right, all right! I heard you all ready, Haga!”

The young man known as Ryuzaki squeezed inside of them bars. Once he was inside, he signaled his partner to get in. Sucking in the air from his stomach, Haga slipped inside of the gate. Both men nodded at each other and walked through the watery place. Yugi walked towards the gate and peered inside. Nothing but pure darkness covered the area.

I better not get in there, thought the young tri-colored boy as he began to walk way, but yet, they did say they were going to steal and try to take Princess Anzu. I have to warn them. Having that he has a sense of duty to save both the thieves and the princess, Yugi walked over to the gate and squeezed in. Taking out his hand, Yugi tried to remember a light spell or a fire spell.

“Um…let’s see….I think it was Flame of life, flame of dire, come forth to my palms upon my desire!” Shouted Yugi as he closed his eyes and waited for something to happen. Once nothing had happened, the young mage looked at his hand.

“Wha? I thought the spell can work by now!” He shouted as he shook his hand. “Come on! Flame of life, flame of dire, come forth to my palms upon my desire!”

As he shook his hand, a rather big flame had appeared in his hand. Upon feeling the fire, Yugi let out a shout as he tried to move the fire away from him. Once he got everything settled down, Yugi began to walk through the water and into the sewers. The pungent smell of mildew suffocated the small mage as he kept walking inside.

Rats scattered around the in the dank water. Their wet fur also gave a nauseating stench. The purple orbs of Yugi widen as he covered his nose from the horrid smell. Soon, a light came from within the darkness. Smiling, the young mage rushed over towards the light. Fresh air came in which gave him more to smile about. Once he reached the light, Yugi couldn’t believe his eyes.

Where he stood, he was inside of the palace’s walls. His lavender orbs viewed all around him the lively plants that surrounded the place. Rabbits and foxes walked around the small garden. Birds began to chirp merrily. The tri-colored hair boy walked out from the gate’s entrance and began to explore the lovely garden. Behind him, he heard a strange sound.

Turning around, he saw a vicious looking dog that began to growl at him. Yugi’s soft amethyst eyes widen as he started to back up, away from the dog. The beast itself, didn’t want him to escape. Taking a lunge, the dog pounced upon Yugi. At first, the tri-colored hair boy was shocked, but then when the dog began to lick his face, Yugi lighten up and began to giggle.

“Hey!” He let out as the dog continued to lick him. “Stop it! That tickles, boy! Hee, hee!”

Yugi pushed the dog off from his chest and petted the fuzzy friend on his head. He rose up from the ground and began to walk around. The dog followed after him while wagging his tail in pure happiness. As they both walked through the garden, Yugi laid eyes upon the pink veiled figure in front of him. The princess remained quiet for a moment as she sat upon on the fountain’s edge. Slowly, she took off her veil to reveal her face.

Upon doing so, Yugi couldn’t believe what he saw. The princess had short brunette hair that barely touched her shoulders. Her clear sapphire eyes sparkled brightly as she looked over yonder. Her lips were quite rosy like cherries. Everything about her was just magnificent. Yugi couldn’t help but stare at the princess with her rather sad face.

Gosh…she’s gorgeous, though the small Yurick as he kept his eyes on her. I can’t believe the princess looks like this. She’s so beautiful. But I wonder…why is she sad? She’s going to be married. Upon looking at Anzu some more, Yugi can see that she began to cry. Though he doesn’t know her, he couldn’t help but feel sorry for her. Her tears felt like bricks falling into his heart. As much as he wanted to go over there and try to cheer her up, he had to remain hidden.

After a while, Princess Anzu walked up from her sitting position and left towards the inside of the palace. Once she was gone, Yugi continued his journey to find Ryuzaki and Haga. Just before he took another step, he heard a strange sound. Peeking through the small shrubs, he saw Ryuzaki and Haga surrounded by two guards.

One guards was a blonde young man with dark amber eyes and a strong face. He was covered in strong silver steel armor. All but his head was covered in it. One could tell he was wearing a dark blue tunic with light green pants. Upon his waist was a broad sword in which he had claimed was his pride and joy. Looking down at the intruders, he let out a sneer.

His companion was a brunette with a rather strange hairstyle that was like a unicorn horn. His eyes were light blue and were as stern as his companion’s. His armor was similar the blonde’s armor, the only difference was that it was in a different shape. His attire below his armor was a dark red tunic with brown pants. Upon his back was a crossbow and upon his right leg was a quiver.

“Well, well…look what we have here, Honda,” spoke the blonde knight as he glared down at Ryuzaki. “Looks like we have a couple of rogues here!”

“Yeah, it does, Jonouchi!” Replied Honda as he glared down at Haga. “Do you know what we do to intruders like you?”

“Um….let them go?” Asked softly Haga as he tried to look away from Honda’s gaze.

“Eh! Wrong!” Called back Jonouchi as he smirked. “What we do, we get to put you guys in the dungeon and we have all the rights to beat the crap out of you!”

“Gulp! Please, don’t hurt us!” Cried Ryuzaki as he groveled on the ground towards Jonouchi. “Please, let us go! We promise we won’t come in here again! We’ll even tell you where we came from so you guys can, um, block it?”

“Hmm…well…maybe we can let you go.”

“You will?”

“Yes….in the dungeon!”

“Gah! No! We weren’t trying to steal anything and such. We just….uh…got lost! Yeah, that’s right. And we were on our way back to our home.” Said Haga as he tried to convince the guards to let them go.

“Yeah, it’s not like we wanted to spy on the Princess Anzu or anything like that,” blurted out Ryuzaki.

Upon hearing those words, Jonouchi and Honda’s eyes lit up. Glaring at the two intruders, the royal guards grabbed them by the necks and dragged them away towards the dungeon. Haga glared at Ryuzaki for blurting out their true reason. Once the two guards had disappeared with the two thieves, Yugi let out a sigh. Damn I was too late to help them. Thought the tri-colored hair boy. I might as well get out of here before they find me too.

As Yugi started to walk towards the sewer gate, a cloaked figure came running from the palace and headed towards the gate. Confused by this, Yugi followed the figure thereafter, followed by the dog. Once he passed the sewers, Yugi’s grape orbs searched frantically for the cloaked figure. He managed to see her turn around the corner before she disappeared.

Yugi hauled butt over to her. As he continued to follow her through the crowd of townsfolk, the woman could sense she was being followed. She stopped in her tracks and looked around to see Yugi. Upon being seen, the youthful Yugi panicked and tried to hide behind a fruit cart. The cloaked figure let out a chuckle before she continued to walk.

After a while of hiding, Yugi poked his star head out and began to follow her again. The cloaked figure began to quicken her pace and rush through the streets, Yugi increased his pace and try to run as fast as she could, but his short legs had prevented him from going any faster. The cloaked figure ran up the stairs to an abandon building and stopped once she reached a dead end. Turning around to see behind her, Yugi appeared right before her.

“You…gasp….wheeze…are fast,” he let out as he slumped to the ground trying to catch his breath, “but…I…caught up.”

“Why? Why did you follow me?” Asked the cloaked figure as she glared at him.

“I…wanted to know why did you leave the palace like that?”

“I am a servant girl from the palace. My name is Tea and I need to get out of Domino Town. If you don’t mind, you’re in my way.”

“But…aren’t you hungry?”

“I don’t need…” Tea stopped talking as she heard her own stomach growl.

“Here, take it,” spoke softly Yugi as he handed over one of his yellow apples.

“…thank you.”

Tea took the apple from the young Yurick’s hand and bit right into the apple. The sweet nectar of the delicious fruit felt so good to the girl. As hungry as she was, she began to wolf the rest of the apple down. Yugi began to eat his own fruit while giggling at how the girl ate her apple. Tea stopped eating and looked at the tri-colored boy.

“Is something funny?” She asked with an annoyed tone.

“No, it’s just that….you look kinda cute eating your apple like that,” replied Yugi with a smile.

“Oh…you think I’m cute?”

“Uh…I mean…” Yugi stopped himself from saying anything else. He turned around to look away from Tea, while letting out a huge crimson blush on his face.

“Well….I think you’re just the cutest and nicest boy I ever met,” replied Tea as she smiled at the young man.

Upon hearing those words, Yugi’s face just went totally red. His heart began to pound even more now and upon his face was a goofy small smile. Wow…someone called me cute, thought the young Yurick as he tried to calm himself down, gah! My heart is pounding so fast. I wonder what she looks like underneath that hood. I bet she’s pretty….maybe like Princess Anzu.

“So then Tea, how long have you been a servant for the king?” Asked Yugi as he struck curiosity.

“Um…well…I’ve worked there…since I was eight, which is about eight years ago.” Replied quickly Tea as she tried to keep her composure.

“Wow…that’s a long time. What happened to your parents?”

“My mother died when I was little. My father…he’s nothing more then a servant himself. He’s been a servant to a dark man whom I hate.”

“You hate King Pegasus?”

“Well…not really. I hate King Gozaboru. Look what he’s reduced this place to! It used to be a thriving kingdom, or so says my father. Because of the poverty that has happened, King Pegasus is forced to get his daughter, Anzu to marry Prince Seto, against her wishes.”

“Oh…then that must be the reason why she looked so sad.”

“What? How do you know that she was sad?” Asked Tea as she looked at Yugi with a hard eye.

“Well….I um…I got in there by accident because two people walked in and I tried to stop them but two guards got to them.”

“I see…”

“So…you worked with the princess?”

“Yes.”

“Tell me, how is she? All I heard was the fact that she’s really beautiful and that she’s a great dancer.”

“Oh…those are only a few things. I swear, she’s like a wind up doll that everyone wants to see perform. To this kingdom, she’s nothing but that.”

“That’s sad. If I knew her, or at least was allowed to see her, I would be her friend.”

“Why? Because she’s beautiful? Are you going only for her looks?”

“No…it’s just that, it looks like she needs a friend and I don’t like people to be alone.” Replied Yugi as he smiled.

“You…what’s your name?” Asked Tea as her voice changed tone.

“I’m Yugi, I’m studying to be a mage of anima magic. I can do some spells…but I’m not that good yet.”

“Keep trying, I’m sure you’ll be a great mage.”

“Thank you, Miss Tea.”

“No, thank you, for being my friend.”

“No problem! I would be anyone’s friend!”

What happened next, Yugi couldn’t expect. Tea slouched down a bit and placed a soft kiss upon his cheek. Upon impact of the kiss, Yugi went bright red. A goofy grin appeared on his face as he staggered a bit clumsy. Tea began to giggle at the sight of the young Yurick’s actions. Once he composed himself he smiled at her shyly.

“Um…Yugi,” spoke softly Tea as she smiled at him.

“Y-yes?” Asked the small youth.

“Can you…take me to the exit of town?”

“Su-sure.”

Both teens walked through the small town side by side towards the exit of the town. Though Yugi barely met her, he felt a bit hurt at the thought of losing someone that is interested in him. As they reached the lake’s edge, Tea looked back at Yugi and smiled softly. Before either of them could say a word, two figures approached them.

“Hold it right there, pal!” Came a voice from behind them. A knight with blonde hair and armor appeared. Yugi remembered him to be called Jonouchi. “Dah! You are under arrest for kidnapping the princess, pal!”

“Kidnapping the princess?” Let out Yugi as he looked at Tea.

“Jonouchi!” Shouted back Tea as she took off her hood, revealing her true face. It was none other then Princess Anzu. “You leave Yugi alone! He’s done nothing nor did he kidnap me. I run away!”

“What! Why would you want to run away, princess?” Asked Jonouchi as he looked at the princess with much concern.

“Because I do not wish to marry Prince Seto! This unity of marriage…I know I have to do it to save our kingdom, but how can I be sure to guarantee our freedom? How can it guarantee that King Gozaboru will give us what we want? I’m not gonna go and sacrifice my life for something that I know can’t be guaranteed!”

“Princess…if I don’t take you back, it’s my ass that will get sacrificed! Now, let’s go back and I’ll leave the runt go free, but you have to go back to the palace.”

“No! Yugi, help!”

“I…uh….” Let out Yugi as he looked at Jonouchi.

“Heh! You wish to take me on? Very well! I’ll make sure to make this quick!” Boasted Jonouchi as he placed a hand upon the hilt of his sword and took a fighter’s position. “Very soon, Honda will come by and back me up, so be lucky that I can beat you before he does.”

“I…I don’t want to fight….please let the princess go.”

“You’re not getting the point, squirt! I can’t let the princess leave.”

Without another word, Jonouchi took out his sword and rushed towards Yugi. Yugi shivered in fear as he looked on at the soldier who was coming towards him. The tri-colored hair boy placed his hands right in front of him and let out a scream. Anzu looked on at the fight, she let out a scream once she saw the first blow go through.

“I did that?” Asked the young Yurick as he looked at the fallen blonde.

“Yes, you did,” replied Anzu as she walked over to Yugi, “and you’re hurt. Look at your arm.”

“Oh!”

“You have to stop the bleeding. So take off your jacket so I can fix your hand a bit.”

Yugi looked at Anzu and nodded in agreement. Slowly he took off his jacket and placed it on the ground. Anzu looked at the golden icon that hung around Yugi’s neck. That thing….thought the princess as she took a closer look. It…it almost looks like….those symbols. I’ve seen that eye symbol before. Daddy has something that’s similar to that, but instead it’s an eye. This one is a puzzle of some sort. Could this be…one of the Millennium Items? If it is…why is this boy carrying it.

The Princess Anzu kept a straight face as she tried to figure out why Yugi had the puzzle around his neck. The young tri-colored haired boy looked at the princess and saw her straight face. Why is she looking at my puzzle like that? Asked the boy as he looked at Anzu with a puzzled face. The princess shifted her sapphire eyes from the puzzle and towards the grape orbs of Yugi. She let out a smile.

“I’m sorry, but I think I’ve seen something similar to that puzzle you’re wearing.” She spoke softly as she reached out a bit to touch the puzzle.

“You have?” Asked Yugi with widen eyes.

“Is this….?”

“Hoy!” Came a rather high and sweet voice.

Yugi and Anzu looked up to see a young girl. Her long cyan hair was tied together with a yellow ribbon into a tight pony tail and it swung to and fro as she started to run towards the three teenagers. Her dark and rather big eyes shined with joy. Her clothes consisted of a light yellow dress that hung around her ankles with a dark brown cape that strapped around her shoulders. Upon her feet were calf high brown boots.

“Anzu!” Called out the bubbly girl. “I found you! I came looking for you once I heard that you were missing.”

“Miho!” Shouted the princess as she stood surprised. “Does everyone know that?”

“Yes. Your father, King Pegasus found out you were gone quite quickly. Oh, I’m glad you’re not harm, Princess.”

“Miho, please go back to my father and tell him that I have not been found yet.”

“Oh…but why?”

“I don’t want to back. Please understand.”

“I…have to take you back…” croaked the voice of Jonouchi, who was still on the floor. “As soon as I can get back on my feet…I’ll kill that star head and take you back to the palace.”

“Wha! How did that happen to you, Jonouchi?” Asked Miho as she kneeled down to take a closer look at the fallen soldier. “You’re considered to be the best knight in our kingdom. What would the king say if he saw this?”

“Gah! Help me heal with your magic!”

“No!” Called out Anzu. “You’re not healing him until I can get away with Yugi.”

Get away with Yugi? Thought the blue haired girl as she looked at the princess then at her companion. Is that Yugi? If he is…he’s quite short, but he’s totally cute! Why would Princess Anzu run away with him? Unless…Oh my Ra! Princess Anzu found herself a boyfriend. But if that’s the case…isn’t she cheating on Prince Seto since Prince Seto is Anzu’s fiancé. Gasp! She’s trying to elope with this young man in some sort of a romantic run, just like the books.

“Eh! Princess Anzu, I didn’t know you had found someone!” Squealed Miho as she started to jump with joy.

“Found someone? What are you talking about, Miho?” Asked the princess as she looked at the young sorceress.

“Easy! You’re gonna run away with Yugi then elope! Just like the in the books. You decided to run from the palace so that Prince Seto doesn’t find out.”

“E…elope?” Gulped Yugi as he fondled nervously at his puzzle.

“Miho! You got it all wrong!” Shouted Anzu as her face grew crimson.

“Gah! He’s even more of a scoundrel now!” Shouted Jonouchi, who was still on the ground wounded. “And Miho! Just hurry up and heal me!”

“No!” Cried out Anzu as she looked at her friend. “Please, don’t heal him until we can leave….”

“I thought I heard something.” Came a voice from further down the road.

Anzu quickly moved to see who it was that was talking. There upon the road laid a handful of guards. Each of them were looking for the princess. Ugh! I can’t believe there’s that many guards out there right now. Thought the brunette as she started to panic. I’ll be captured and taken back to the palace for sure. There must be a way for me to get away. As she started to move, the princess had bumped into a figure of a young woman.

“Oh, I’m sorry,” replied the princess as she looked up.

“It’s all right,” replied the woman as she smiled at her. “Yugi, dinner time is ready, you should stop playing with your friends and come eat.”

“Mom?” Replied Yugi as she walked over to Mana.

“You can invite your friends over to eat if they want. I made some nice beef stew.”

“Mom, now isn’t the best time to talk about dinner. We have some problems right now.

“What’s going on?” Asked Mahaado as he stood behind Mana.

“Eeep! Dad!”

“Well, Yugi, you have one minute to explain yourself.” Spoke the dark priest as he folded his arms.

“You see…to make a long story short, Princess Anzu wants to leave the kingdom to help us find people that can help us rebel against King Gozaburo’s reign over our kingdom.”

Upon hearing that bit of information, Mana stood speechless at the reply she got from her son. Mahaado stood shocked at what he heard as he widen his dark amber eyes. Anzu felt like an idiot that the moment as she knew that they would say that the idea was stupid and pointless. Much like how everyone else told her.

“If you’re going to leave, then you’ll need food,” replied Mana as she quickly ran home to get some food.

“Princess Anzu,” spoke Mahaado as she looked at the princess with stern eyes, “you sure you want to go on this quest?”

“Yes, I do,” replied the princess as she reassured herself.

“With who are you going with?”

“I….well I decided to go alone on this quest.”

“That is not brave, that’s foolish. You’re a princess and you don’t know about the outside world much. You’ll need someone to protect you. Take my son with you. He will help you protect you along the way.”

“What? You’re really letting me go, Father?” Asked Yugi as his violet eyes widen at his father.

“Yes, even if you are not as experience as I am, you will do great. Besides this journey will help you gain experience and make you into a stronger mage. Now, take this spell book and guard it with all your life. Remember, protect that puzzle, because it is the key to your past.”

“The key…to my past?” Asked Yugi as he looked up at his father. “What do you mean.”

“I’m here and with lots of food!” Called out Mana as she brought a rather huge pack of food over to Yugi.

“Thanks Mom, but what did Dad mean by that puzzle is the key to my past?”

“Yugi….that…” Trailed off Mana as she looked away with a rather sadden face.

“What she means Yugi,” spoke Mahaado as she looked at his son with quite sadden eyes, “that puzzle is a memento of your mother. Your REAL mother.”

“My…real mother?” Yugi responded as his eyes widen at that last sentence. “What…do you mean.”

“It means….Yugi…” spoke softly Mana as she looked at her son with tears. “I…am not your real mother. I…when you were a baby, your mother was badly wounded. She told me before she died to take care of you and raise you as our son. I didn’t know that…it would lead to this. If I knew this would happen, then…I would have told you earlier. I’m so sorry…”

“Mana…” spoke softly Mahaado as he looked at his wife with sorrowful eyes.

“Mana,” spoke softly Yugi as he walked over to the brunette woman, “no matter what, you will always be my mom. And Mahaado, you’ll always be my dad.”

“Oh…Yugi…”

Mana quickly took in the small star headed youth and gave him a rather huge hug. Mana began to whimper a bit. Rogue tears fell down her dark cheeks as she thought she would never see her son again. Yugi slowly lifted his arms and wrapped them around the woman he’s thought of as a mother. The young boy tried his best to hold back the tears that were tempting to fall off.

Slowly the mother and son had released their hold on each other. Yugi walked over to Mahaado and hugged him as well. The dark priest was a bit shocked by the action from the young lad, but smiled and hugged back after a while. Once they release each other, Mahaado give Yugi another book in which he whispered to him to keep it safe.

“Hey, I thought I heard something over there,” called out one of the guards.

“Damn, they’re coming!” Hissed Mahaado as he glared down towards where the sound was emitting from. “Yugi, take that old boat that’s laying towards the shore. Go as far as you can from here. Now!”

“Huh? Wha? Guards! Hey! I’m over here!” Shouted Jonouchi as he began to roll over on his chest. “I found the princess!”

The blonde guard began to lift himself up to his knees. His amber eyes glared down at the lot as he rose to his feet. Slowly he walked over his sword and picked it up. Oh no you don’t! Thought Mahaado as he glared down at the boy. Mahaado rose his hand towards his face and closed his dark eyes. His hand glowed with a dark aura surrounding it. The priest rushed towards Jonouchi and sent his hand to touch Jonouchi’s chest.

Upon impact of the spell, Jonouchi was sent into flying towards the water’s edge. The dark aura surrounded the boy and slowly entered his body. Jonouchi’s eyes rolled and soon, he closed his eyes and fell into a deep sleep. Upon looking at the boy, Mahaado looked towards Miho. He yanked his head slightly to show her that he wanted her to pick up the boy. Miho nodded and dragged the guard towards the boat. Anzu helped Miho, lift Jonouchi up onto the boat and began to move the boat towards the water.

“Hold it right there!” Shouted one guard as he came running towards the crew.

Amongst the hoard of guards stood, Honda. The young man had been in charge of the operation of leading the team. Jonouchi, on the other hand preferred to rush ahead and go solo. Hee hee, poor fool, Jonouchi, thought Honda as he made his way towards the group. Jonouchi must have gotten lost or something on his way to find the princess. Now I have found her. I might share the glory with him if he promises to spit shine my shoes for a week.

“Hey, you!” Called out the brunette as he took out a huge crossbow from his back. “You all better stop before I shoot!”

“Honda!” Called out Miho as she waved her hands at Honda.

“Eh! Miho! Wha-wha-what, are you doing here!”

“I’m here to help the Princess Anzu! What are you doing?”

“I…I’m here to take the princess back! You shouldn’t be doing this, Miho! Think of what the king might think if they find out that you’re helping that crook kidnap the princess.”

“Crook! For the last time, I’m not a criminal!” Shouted Yugi as he started to get upset.

“Ha! You could have fooled me. Well…you could since you don’t look like the type to kidnap a woman. But I guess it’s the innocent looking ones that deceive in the end.”

“You are a bunch of idiots,” spoke Mahaado as he stepped in. “You will have to face me first. Yugi, take the girls and soldier and go!”

Yugi nodded as he pushed in the rest of the boat into the water. Once it was there he tried to jump inside, but couldn’t make it. Anzu and Miho grabbed the tricolor haired boy and pulled him inside of the boat. Meanwhile, Mahaado’s dark brown locks started to float around him. Gathering his energy onto his hands. The dark priest lifted them up towards the sky and created some sort of a dark thunder bolt. The bolt swiftly moved from the skies and managed to hit the guards.

Every single one of them were hit by the bolt. Honda let out a loud yell before he was knocked down onto the floor. Parts of his chestnut brown hair were burned off from the shock. Sh…shit! Thought the young guard as he tried to move, but sadly his body gave in. Bastard…I can’t move now….I have to get up, if not the king will be displeased.

“Bye Honda!” Cried Miho as she cheerfully waved her arms in the air.

“Mi…Miho!” Cried back Honda as he tried to get up. “Miho, my love, come back!”

“You are not even at my level,” spoke Mahaado as he walked over to Honda, “you are a fool.”

“The fool is you when the other guards find you! Do you think you can fight off the rest of them?”

“Mana…I want you to run. Get out of here.”

“No…I’m not leaving you, Mahaado!” Cried his wife as she clung onto his arm.

“Mana, don’t be a fool! If they find you with me, they will…”

“My….my…looks like we found a priest,” interrupted a voice from behind the priest.

Behind Mahaado stood three dark shadows covered in dark blue hooded robes. One of the hooded men was a bit smaller then the other two. His physique stood cockily. He walked towards the priest with a smug smile which was the only part of his face that was shown. Another man who was slightly taller then the first man began to approach his companion. The chest part of his hood was left wide open, to exposed his chest.

The man behind the second one, was a rather large man. Even though he was covered with the robes, one could tell that he was very built with strong shoulders and a buff chest. As he walked over with his two smaller counterparts, he cracked his knuckles. All three hooded men let out slight chuckles as they surrounded Mahaado and Mana.

“Heh, Mahaado, you are a fool,” spoke Gozaburo as he approached the team.

“I’m not as much as a fool as you!” Growled back Mahaado. “You’ve changed Gozaburo Kaiba.”

“Well, time does fly and people do change. I’m surprised that you still are your old self. I wonder…if you’re still as strong as you were young. You must be an old geezer like myself now. Fifty-four years old? Or was it fifty-five?”

“Either way, I’m still stronger then you!” Shouted back the raven haired priest as he took a fighting position. “I am ready to fight you.”

“Heh…Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha! You are still such a dinosaur! I’m not fighting you! You’re going to fight my three mercenaries! They are three mercenaries from the far east side of the world. They’re quite the skilled killers. I’m sure they’ll be more of a challenge for you. Boys, get him! But don’t kill him…I want him alive. Spar the woman as well.”

“I’m gonna give ‘im a good ol’ fight that he will never forget!” Called the shorter of the three as he pulled out a sword from his waist.

“I’ll make sure he will burn with my flare magic!” Spoke the second smaller one as he took out a staff from his back.

“I’ll pound this old geezer hard enough to make his ancestor’s dizzy.” Said the third and rather large fellow as he pulled out his fists and placed them right in front of him.

Ugh…this isn’t good! Thought the priest as he shifted his gaze from each and every one of the mercenaries. I might have a chance….but Mana is right behind me. I don’t want her to be involved in this. Maybe…if I can get Mana out of this fighting circle, I can be given a chance to fight to my fullest. I don’t know how strong these idiots are, but I might as well find out with my full power.

“Mana…” whispered softly Mahaado as he tried not to keep his glance off from the mercenaries, “when I give the signal and I attack one of them, all three of them will rush at us. When they do, slip past the middle sized one and run away as far as you can.”

“But…Mahaado…” let out Mana softly.

“Don’t disagree with me. If you must…follow Yugi along. Just go….NOW!”

Once Mahaado had shouted the word “Now” the dark priest gather magic onto his body and unleashed a full blast of flare magic onto the smaller fighter. The smaller fighter dodged the flare attack, but sadly part of the flare had managed to hit his left side. The other two figures quickly began to rush towards their enemy and began to fight.

Mana took the opportunity to run past the middle sized fighter and rush towards the shore. The middle sized boy had managed to catch a glimpse of Mana’s escape. He stopped his rush towards Mahaado and locked onto his wife. Taking out his staff, the middle sized man began to chant a dark spell. A light blue aurora surrounded the staff. With one wave of the staff, the hooded man managed to released an ice spell towards Mana.

The young priestess stopped in her tracks. She felt the power of something coming towards her. Turning around, Mana began to chant a counter spell to stop the ice from coming towards her. The shards were stopped right in front of her. Soon, the ice shards had cracked and surrounded the brunette woman. In a split second, the ice had managed to wrap around Mana. Her body was frozen completely and there she stood as lifeless as a statue.

“Mana!” Shouted Mahaado as he began to rush towards his wife.

“Sorry, ol’ man, but your fight is with me!” Shouted the smaller fighter as he went after the old priest.

The bigger of the mercenaries let out a rather huge punch onto Mahaado’s stomach. Upon the impact of the hit, the old priest has the wind knocked out of him. The smaller of the two lifted his blade above his head and swung right at Mahaado. Blood fell from the tattered body of the old priest as he fell to the ground.

“Heh, good job, boys!” Called out Gozaburo as he signaled his guards. “Take those two away in the dungeons. Make sure the woman is defrosted. The penalty for treason is torture followed by death.”

“Yes, sir!” Called out random guards as they whisked away Mana and Mahaado.

“You three,” spoke happily the king as he smirked at them, “you three did a good job today. I guess this is what I get for hiring the three best mercenaries in the world. Varon, the Swift, Amelda the Avenger, and Raphael the Wise. The three of you are the Shikkonmo Trio.”

“That we are, Your Highness,” spoke the smaller one.

The smaller one, known as Varon the Swift, slowly took off his hood from his head. His face revealed to the world. Soft and pale his face stood out. Covering parts of his face were strands of his rather long chestnut brown locks. He wore a soft smirk upon his poisonous lips which matched his sparkling sapphire eyes that gleamed with sadism.

“We are after all, the best from the east,” spoke the middle sized one.

The middle sized one, whom was called Amelda the Avenger, took off his hood with immense grace and poise. He smiled bitterly and evilly with his soft pale lips. His dark ocean blue eyes held no gleam, but rather a story to tell about this young man in particular. Soft fuchsia hair touched the rim of his cheeks and the back of his strong neck.

“We live only to serve our boss and our boss is you, Your Highness,” replied the biggest of the three.

The biggest of the tree took off his hood. Upon taking down his hood, his tan and rugged face was shown in to the light. His eyes were dark ocean and yet were beady. Blonde sideburns touched his harden cheeks and flowed up towards his scalp where a small set of blonde lock touched his face. His neck was strong and firm like iron.

“I will see you three later on then…” spoke Gozaburo as he started to make his way towards the palace. “…make sure that you three bring back the princess safely and unharmed.”

“Father…” spoke Seto as he started to walk towards his father.

“Seto…it seems like your bride has been taken away by a peasant.”

“I’ll go get her back.”

“Yes, but the Shikkonmo Trio will go with you. They are the best men I have and I will assure you that you’ll be guaranteed a safe journey.”

Seto spoke nothing to his father about the last line. Instead he slowly walked towards the shore where the water met the land. The three mercenaries bowed down their heads towards the prince, but Seto remained silent. His dark black coat brushed against his black pant legs. The top part of his coat was red along with the trim. Around his chest was open and there hung a piece of golden jewelery.

Glaring down at the faint figure of the disappearing boat, the prince had only one thought. That idiot…snarled the prince as he clenched his fist. She got caught! Well…it wouldn’t matter. If I’m going after her, I have to make sure she gets this right. She better be a good hider because I think these imbeciles my father hired are quite skilled. If not…then I will have to take matters into my own hand. I have to make sure my father’s plans don’t go to work.

“My prince, when do you wish to leave?” Asked Amelda as he approached the prince.

“We leave soon.” Replied the brunette as he glared an icy stare towards the ocean’s horizon. “I want to bring Mokuba along.”

“Prince Mokuba?”

“Yes. I won’t leave until he comes along.”

“As you wish.”

Meanwhile Varon had been talking to Raphael. The other two members of the Shikkonmo Trio had been trying to formulate a plan to accomplish what Gozaburo had been asking for as well as trying to figure out how they’re going to get their own plans into action. Amelda saw from the corner of his eye and sprinted towards his other two companions.

“Things are going according to plan,” said Raphael.

“Soon he will be please,” said Amelda as he smirked.

“And soon we will accomplish what he wants,” added in Varon as he smiled.

“So…where do we head off to?” Asked Raphael.

“We should go to Tetera,” replied Varon.

“Tetera? Why should we go to that town? It’s nothing more then gambling town full of criminals, prostitution, bounty hunters, and mercenaries.” Asked Amelda as he looked down at the brunette with questionable eyes.

“Well Tetera is the number one city with all sorts of information. Usually people stop by there no matter what.”

“I think I know why Varon wants to go there badly.” Said the big, bulk blonde man. “I remember…Varon started to flirt with this blonde woman.”

“Blonde woman?” Asked the fuchsia haired man.

“Well, it was some hot babe I saw back there. Long blonde hair and cute purple eyes. Her name was…Mai Kujaku I think.”

“Wasn’t she that bounty hunter girl that brought in that head for that mayor, Otogi, I think?”

“Yeah. She brought in the head of the bounty towards that bratty mayor. He’s lucky his daddy died so he could take over the city. Either way, I think the princess’ ship is heading over there anyway. So I suggest we quit dawdling and get going.”

“Whatever,” teased Amelda, “lover boy.”

“Heh, you know I’m going to get me that woman one day,” chuckled Varon as he began to make his way towards the palace.

Amelda and Raphael followed soon after. Still looking at the water’s edge, Seto kept his eyes focused as if, if he could keep looking on, he would see what he wants. Once the sun had set, the prince let out a frown and began to walk towards the palace. Soon, thought the brunette as he clenched his fists. Soon, I shall be rid of that old man and that princess. I want nothing more to do with this anymore.

Meanwhile, somewhere far from all the chaos that was happening in the world, stood a small quiet temple. Hidden within the trees, this temple stood rather humongous size that reached the sky, yet the trees were even taller. The outside was made out of the soft white marble and the carvings of the words were in gold letters. Pictures of valiant heroes were engraved upon the arc that stood above the temple’s opening.

Inside, the cold stone floor greeted those that happened to touch it. Just by entering, strong smells of incense emitted from the very heart of the temple. The aroma was rather sweet and yet spicy to whom ever took a whiff of it. Candles were faintly lit upon the walls, leaving the inside rather dark. One had to trust their own senses if they wanted to enter without fear.

If one squinted their eyes, one could see more murals upon the inside of the walls. Each and every mural told a story that was left hidden in the dark. There was one mural in particular that stood in the way back of the temple. It was the craving of a silhouette that had wings sprouted on the back. The figure had lifted their hands up towards the sky holding a strange object. Surrounding the winged silhouette were seven golden items : an eye, a rod, a necklace, a scale, an auk, a ring, and a puzzle.

A rather slender figure had been sitting in front of the mural of the winged person. A young woman with long raven colored hair that fell down and touched her entire back. Dark piercing blue eyes sparkled on her rather tan colored face. Her attire consisted of a long, silky white dress. The white dress had touched her strong ankles and flowed like a bell when she walks. Her chest was a bit exposed, only to allow the golden necklace that rested upon her neck to show.

The strange golden necklace that was upon her neck was the same as the figure that was carved upon the wall. Opening her eyes, the young woman looked up at the mural again. Incense were placed surrounding her and emitted their aroma around her. Her eyes began to grow stern as she slowly gotten up from here kneeling position.

“It is here….” she spoke softly, “the one that carries that power. I can see….this necklace gave me the ability to do so. The Amengarde is approaching with every second towards me, but first….it must go to a place that is filled with danger. Allies and enemies will approach the Amengarde, but it can not tell the difference between the two. I have to go find Amengarde! I do hope that the Chosen One will have the power to save my brother…”

The young woman walked outside of her incense circle and walked towards the exit of the temple. Leaning upon the wall, stood a strange staff. It staff was all white and smooth and upon the top of the staff was a blue sapphire. Placing a cloak around her body, the raven haired woman began to make her way towards a journey.

“Lady Ishizu, where are you going?” Asked a voice from behind the woman.

Ishizu turned around to see a dark figure approach her. A tan skinned young man approached the priestess. He had a small ebony colored pony tail that hung from his head. Upon the left side of his face were strange tattoos that were written in a strange text. Upon his ears were golden earrings that hung easily. He wore a dark blue cape that covered his entire body.

“Rashid,” replied Ishizu as she looked at her guardian, “I must go. The Amengarde is coming and I must find it and protect it from the dangers that will approach it later.”

“You will not go alone. I must follow you.”

“Rashid, you don’t have to.”

“No, I insist. After all, I failed at being a guardian to your brother….”

“What happened to Marik…it was not anyone’s fault that it happened. You mustn’t blame yourself for it.”

“I understand,” replied Rashid as he bowed his head down, “still I shall go with you to protect you at least.”

“All right, if you insist then we’ll leave together.” Let out Ishizu as she began to walk more down the dirt road. “Let us hurry.”

“Yes, ma’am!”

Without another word, Rashid followed Ishizu along the road. The strong looking man had no clue as to where they had to go, but he knew that Ishizu had a way of finding out how. The necklace around her neck was none more then the Millennium Necklace. Yet lingering in Rashid’s body, he felt the guilt rise to him again. The guilt of failing to protect Marik from a rather unfortunate fate.

His heart had been racing one hundred and fifty kilometers per second upon her touch. Of course, he didn’t mind having her close to him. Miho had whined that evening trying to get Jonouchi to sleep sitting up while she lay down. The blonde guard wasn’t too happy about her wishes, but one scowl from the princess made him think otherwise.

Morning had soon broke out, and Yugi slowly opened his amethyst eyes. Once he had gotten up, he noticed something strange about the boat. The boat…it stopped moving, he thought as he looked over to see that their small vessel had stopped upon a strange shore. His eyes had lit up with much joy and quickly he began to shake Princess Anzu.

“Princess,” he spoke softly, “Princess….wake up. We’ve reached land.”

“Mmm….” Let out Anzu as she moved her arm over her, dragging hug into an unexpected hug.

“P-p-princess….” Whimpered the youth as he felt quite nervous about his situation.

“Mmm….Yugi?” Let out the princess, “where are we?”

“We…we…we made it…”

“Oh! Then we should get going!”

“Um…princess?”

“Yes?”

“Can…you….um…let go…”

“What is going on here!” Shouted Jonouchi as he lept into the air and swung his sword right in front of Yugi.

“Eeep!” Let out Yugi. “Don’t hurt me!”

“Jonouchi! Behave yourself!” shouted Anzu.

“But…but princess, he was touching you! You don’t know what these peasants are capable of!”

“I would, since I learned from you! I know that you’re that one pervert that keeps looking over at the girls’ bath every Thursday!”

“I…well…but…I was only looking out for you girls!”

“Yeah, right! I heard from Honda that same thing. Anyway, stop yelling so much in the morning. We have to go now and see if there’s a town nearby.”

“Ugh! Right, princess. Anyway, I’ll be keeping a eye on you, midget,” called out the blonde guard as he looked down at Yugi, “I don’t trust you.”

“Oh…I’m sorry,” Apologized Yugi as he looked down at the floor.

Anzu gave Jonouchi a bad scornful look on her face before she got out from the boat and began to walk. Miho had the giant bag of food with her and handed it to Jonouchi, telling him that it was too heavy for a girl like her to carry. Yugi trotted along close to the princess as they walked through the forested area. Soon, their eyes had caught the figure of a rather different kind of looking town.

The gates were wide open right from the start and the guards didn’t bother to ask them where they were from or who were they. Easily, the group just walked and took in what looked to be a rather strange place. The entire town looked like some sort of a rogue town. On every corner was a pub followed by a casino of all sorts. People were gambling everywhere, even on the streets themselves.

Many men had cards and other things, but the main object they played were dice. As they continued to walk, a young woman with red hair stood by the corner. She was rather scantly dressed and wore heavy make up. Her rather overly covered eyes caught the figure of Yugi. A smile formed upon her dark ruby lips as she made her way towards the star-headed youth.

“Hello there,” she spoke as she placed a hand underneath Yugi’s chin, “aren’t you a cutie. How about you want me to make your fantasies come true?”

“I…um…I don’t know you….lady,” replied Yugi as he felt somewhat terrified.

“Oh, come on. If this is your first time, I’ll be gentle and help you do what you need to do with me. For a good price I’ll be with you all night long.”

“Leave him alone!” shouted Anzu.

“Who’s this rag?”

“I…I’m someone he knows! Now leave him be!”

“Oh…a jealous brat, eh? Sorry toots, but I saw him first. He’s my client, go get some other sucker for you to roll around in the sack.”

“Let go of him! He’s not interested in harlots like you!”

“Take a hike, bitch!” barked the harlot as she pushed Anzu with all her might, sending the princess back.

“You! Keep your hands off from her!” shouted Jonouchi as he took out his sword.

“Oh…this one is hotter then this midget. Would you care for my services?”

“Even though I’m tempted to….and you have quite…”

“Jonouchi!” shouted Anzu.

“I mean no! You…just release that midget.”

“Fine,” spoke the harlot with a rather annoyed tone, “but just remember, Ryuji Otogi will not be happy about this. He wants all his businesses to be blooming. Anyone that interferes will be punished by his rule.”

Miho helped Anzu rise to her feet once more after the harlot had pushed her. Yugi walked over to Anzu and helped her walk as well. Jonouchi sneered at the harlot and began to look around for a place in which they could stay. The nearest pub had some vacant rooms, but they only allowed people who would buy their extra services.

Seeing as they just got passed that red headed woman had made the entire crew just shake their heads and keep looking for another place. Finally they found a pub which was mostly an inn, but had quite a lot of noise. The inn keeper allowed them to go in without extra services and gave them the only remaining room left.

Taking the key, all four of them walked up the stairs. They had to swerve to and fro as to not knock the drunken man off the stairs, or the heated couple that were making out or the other harlot that was offering her services. As they reached their room, a rather fat obese man blocked the way. He stood rather intoxicated and wouldn’t budge unless they told them his story. When Jonouchi became impatient, he kicked the fat man out of the way and over the rail.

“Jonouchi!” scowled Anzu.

“What? He was just getting in our way,” replied Jonouchi as he opened the door.

Once the door was open, the four companions walked in. Miho looked around and saw with her two blue eyes who ranshackled it is. Four rather messed up beds were there along with a broken mirror. The floor was rather dirty looking and the window was cracked. A rather strange smell came from that room, and one can guess what kind it was.

“I don’t like this place,” whimpered Miho.

“I know…but this is the best we can do,” replied Anzu as she walked over to a bed and claimed it.

“This entire city…it’s just….very nasty.”

“Yeah…nothing but gambling and harlots. I wonder if this is how this cities makes its money?”

“Probably,” spoke Yugi.

“Well…what should we do now? We can’t really travel any further until tomorrow at dawn since the sun is setting….and we still need to ask for directions.”

“Maybe…we can tell stories? Or play a game?”

“Stories? What kind?”

“Well…maybe like….stories to get to know each other better.”

“That’s a great idea, Yugi! We still don’t know much about you. Tell us…about your past.”

“Well….” Began Yugi, “everything I taught was real…isn’t. I always taught that Mana and Mahaado were my true parents and all. They never told me anything and they treated me like I was their real son. No one would ever imagine. But I guess…that’s a reason why I was picked on a lot. Some of the kids at school called me ‘bastard child’ since I didn’t look like Mahaado.

“Not to mention, I am not good at magic. Even though my step-father was a trained mage which knew ever nature spell, dark spell, light spell, and healing spell there is to know, I was never good. I guess…it’s because I often concentrated on playing games then learning myself. I enjoy playing all sorts of games and I just wish I had someone to play them with.”

“Heh, you could have asked your friends to play with you,” replied Jonouchi.

“I….never really had friends….”

“Eh…? Heh, what kind of a guy wouldn’t have at least one decent friend?”

“….”

“Jonouchi!” scowled once again Anzu, “you have such a big mouth! Fine, if you’re so popular, then why don’t you just say what kind of friends you have….besides Honda.”

“Well…if you really wanted to know, then I guess I’ll just tell you. If you think leaving as a peasant is rough, why don’t you live a life of a rogue? Believe me….my father….was one horrible man. Shizuka and I ran away from home and decided to lend our own lives to serve the royal family. I became friends with some guys in town then that’s that.”

“That isn’t the entire story, I can tell you have more to say.”

“That part….I will not say.”

“Why not?”

“It’s something I rather just forget. Now, please, Princess, let’s drop this. We have to take you home anyway.”

“I told you, Jonouchi, I will not go home! I made up my mind, I will go and search for people to help us win our freedom! I don’t think me getting married to Prince Seto will do anything to help our country!”

Unaware as this conversation went on, a dark shadow lurking in the pub had been walking through the hallway. The shadow pressed its ear against the door and heard all the bit of information. A smile pursed upon that tainted lips. Heh, so this is Princess Anzu, though the shadow, sounds interesting. Though I’m interested into that golden trinket that midget had. It looks rather promising. Though approaching all four of them at once will only cause havoc, I guess I’ll have to wait until they’re alone.

“All right, you are quite a stubborn one,” said Jonouchi as he got up from the bed he was sitting on and walked towards the door, “if anyone needs me, I’ll be at the pub having a pint.”

“You better not get drunk!” Replied Anzu as the knight closed the door on her.

“So…princess, why don’t you say some things about yourself,” said Yugi as he waited with anticipation.

“Things…about myself?” said the princess, “well…when I was a child, I was raised by both my parents. My mother, Cyndia, passed away one night with an illness. She was quite young to be a mother. Father cried a lot when she died and so did I. After that, my father was overly protective of me. He didn’t want anything to happen to me.

“During that time, King Gozaboru’s power grew even more. My father had gotten scared, that’s why recently he made an agreement with him. I am to marry Prince Seto soon. I do not want to marry him because I do not love him. If I want to marry I want to marry for love. When I told my father that, he merely just sighed and told me that kingdom needed this.”

“Wow….I wish I could help,” said Yugi as he placed a hand on her shoulder.

“I wish you could….”

Meanwhile back at the pub, Jonouchi had took a seat down by the bar and ordered a pint of ale for him. The hard, stale liquor touched his rough mouth and quenched it from its dryness. Damn….what am I going to do now? He thought, I can’t really go back right now, not with the princess being uncooperative. Not to mentioned that shrimp is with him.

I didn’t go off wasting eight years of tough training with apprenticeship just to be thrown off like this! What am I going to tell Shizuka? She will be worried about me. That’s the least of her problems. Damn it! Jounochi felt even worse when he thought about his sister. Soon, a figure brushed passed him and took a seat next to him.

“What will it be, sweetheart?” asked the bartender to the figure.

“I’ll take the usual,” spoke the figure in a somewhat seductive voice.

“Gotcha!”

Hmm…what a voice, thought the blonde knight as he lifted his head a bit and saw from the corner of his dark brown eye. Wow, this woman here is hot! A woman with long, flowing blonde hair had been sitting next to the knight. She had dark purple eyes that sparkled like amethysts. Her clothes consisted of an orange corset that had been tighten, but showed some of her cleavage as well as her belly button.

Upon her legs, she had dark read pants that hung tightly around her. Upon her feet were long black boots that covered close to knees. Her soft hands were covered by elbow long gauntlets. Jonouchi couldn’t believe that such a woman existed in his life. The blonde woman moved her seductive eyes towards the admiring knight.

“May I help you?” asked the blonde woman.

“Eh? Oh, no! I was just….well, drinking,” replied Jonouchi.

“Heh, Mai Kujaku.”

“What?”

“I’m Mai Kujaku, what’s your name?”

“I’m Jonouchi Katsuya.”

“I see….and judging by your attire, are you a knight?”

“Yeah, I am.”

“Heh, what’s a knight doing in a place like this? Unless…he wants a bit of action to call for.”

“Well, I’m not here for such things! I’m here because I’m taking someone to somewhere far away. Other then that, I’m not saying much.”

“Oh? All right. I’ll buy you a drink, my treat, handsome.”

“Handsome? Aren’t you one to talk so?”

“Barkeep, give this young gentleman another pint, it’s on me.”

It must have been quite a while when Mai had met Jonouchi. The blonde woman kept flirting with him while he was getting his fill on alcohol. Often, she smirked at him, though he had no clue as to why she was doing that, Mai had quite a few things hidden in her sleeves. That’s right, get nice and drunk for me, she thought, soon, you’ll be too intoxicated to even notice what you’re doing.

“Say, Jonouchi,” said Mai as she took a sip of her ale, “I have a question.”

“Yeah?” slurred the blonde knight.

“Can you tell me about your mission? Tell me about who are you taking with you?”

“Oh…don’t tell anyone, but I’m taking the Princess Anzu with me to some place.”

“The Princess Anzu?”

“Yes! Don’t say anything to anyone, it’s a secret. She is running away from her arranged marriage to Prince Seto so she’s trying to find some country that will help her rebel against Gozaboru’s kingdom. Of course we have no idea where to go, but the princess insists of doing so. We have also have Miho, this playmate of hers and we have some shrimp kid with a golden trinket around his neck. I think it’s the Millennium Puzzle thing.”

“Oh…that’s quite interesting. You must have quite an important job then. Say, which room are you staying at?”

“It’s the second room upstairs. But don’t tell anyone.”

“Sure thing, handsome.”

It was then that Jonouchi had quite a lot to drink. Soon as he was about to finish his seventh pint, the boy passed out on the floor. Mai tipped the barkeep then began to drag off the knight with her. Once she had reached for the second door, she then placed an ear upon their door. The blonde woman slowly opened the door to see the other three still wide awake.

Oh, crap! They’re still awake! Thought Mai, I’m gonna have to wait until those snot nose brats are sleeping. At least I have Captain Stupid here snoring. Hmm, I’ll go ahead and wait a bit in the pub. Perhaps by then they’ll be sleeping soundly. I guess I’ll leave the drunkard here on the floor. No need for me to carry this heavy thing all over.

Mai dropped Jonouchi upon the floor and began to walk down towards the stairs and into the pub once more. The young woman then took a seat down in one of the chairs and just relaxed for a bit. Out from the corner of her eye, she could see a familiar figure appear through the front door. Oh, great, he’s back again, she thought as she placed a hand upon her hair and pushed it back.

“Well, well, if it isn’t my lovely lady,” said the young man.

“Hmmm, nice to see you too, Varon,” said Mai, looking a bit displeased.

“Did you miss me, love?”

“Like person misses a rock in their shoe.”

“Why do you have to be so mean to me? And yet….you’re so tempting?”

“Heh, it’s my nature. What brings you here? Didn’t you say you had an important job for Gozaboru?”

“Yeah, that old man wants us to find a missing princess. Princess Anzu ran away from the kingdom along with some low class knight, an alchemist, and some wimpy kid. Supposedly they came here in this town, so we’re searching for them all over the place. Of course….seeing as that you are here….”

“Keep it to yourself, Varon,”

“Have you seen them Mai?”

Crap! If he finds out that the princess and the Millennium Puzzle are here, there goes my big chance at making it big, thought the blonde woman, I didn’t go bounty hunter to be poor! Hmm, perhaps there is a way to get what I want without stupid here finding out. I’ll just work my charm like I did for that stupid knight then I’ll run out of here with the puzzle and the princess. She will be a good ransom, that’s for sure. Good thing stupid here is alone without his other two baby-sitters to be here.

“I haven’t seen them, but perhaps….” said Mai.

“Perhaps what?”

“Perhaps….we can share a drink. What do you say?”

“Heh, you got it, babe,” replied Varon as his smug smile pursed his lips.

As Mai and Varon walked over to the barkeep, the brunette then moved his hand over towards Mai’s bottom and placed it on there. Mai quickly slapped his arm then playfully moved her finger in a “no” position, to show that she was kidding. Varon just smirked and winked at her as they sat down at the bar. Mai ordered from the barkeep the usual for both herself and Varon. The barkeep had to hide his smile as he knew where this was going.

Unknown to Varon and to Jonouchi, the barkeep was a good time friend of Mai. One of her routine gigs was to lure men towards her, get them drink and drugged with a sleeping position to get them to tell her what she needed to hear. She did that tactic in order to find her next bounty and bring back money. Using part of the money, she would tip off the barkeep. He, in return, had to provide her with drinks.

Varon had drank away from the pints that Mai had been ordering for him. The brunette had often tried to cope a feel towards the blonde, but Mai often slapped his hand, giggled then moved away, or just simply pushed him. Around his eighth drink, Varon passed out upon the floor. Mai then carried the drunk boy up towards the second floor. She picked him up over her head then tossed him over to the table.

“It’s a pub fight!” She shouted at the top of her lungs.

Upon that yell, everyone’s reaction was completely out of control. Varon’s passed out body landed near a rather big tough looking man. Upon seeing that scene, he flipped over the table he was sitting in, throwing all the pints he had. Another man near by had been hit by one of the points and so he flipped his table over and walked over to the first man.

He let out a punch, and the man responded with a blow of his own. Soon the entire pub began to burst into one huge brawl. Everyone around each other were busy fighting off their assailant. Mai looked over the rail and smiled at how stupid the men were. Alcohol can really bring out a real person, she thought as she smiled.

Taking this opportunity, Mai opened the door to the second room on the second floor and saw that Yugi, Anzu, and Miho were dead asleep. Awww, don’t they look like perfect little angels? She thought as she walked towards them. Mai slowly lit a candle and shook them up lightly. Yugi opened one grape eye then slowly moved himself out of bed.

“Wha….what is going on?” He yawned.

“Wake up, you guys,” said Mai, “there’s a pub fight loose right now!”

“There is?”

“Yes, I’m just a helpless girl, may I stay here the night?”

“Of course you can,” said Anzu, “but…where’s Jonouchi?”

“Oh, you mean this boy? He’s been knocked out cold for a while.”

“That’s so like him. Anyway, you can stay with us. You may have Jonouchi’s bed since he won’t needing it right now.”

“Thank you.”

Mai had blew quickly barricaded the door to using a spare chair. She locked the place tight then blew out the candle. Slowly, she got into bed and waited for the others to fall asleep. After fifteen minutes of waiting, the blonde woman crawled out of bed and walked over to Yugi. The tri-colored haired boy had the puzzle clutched tightly in his hands.

Crap! This kid sleeps with it! Thought Mai as she placed a hand upon the puzzle, looks like I have no choice now. The blonde woman slowly placed her hand upon Yugi’s small and delicate one then pried it away from the puzzle. Slowly, she placed the hand upon his pillow then moved the puzzle from his chest and over to his head. Taking her other hand, Mai lifted his head a bit to slid the puzzle off from his neck and head.

Once she had the puzzle in her hand, Mai’s face was full of glee. Yugi let out a tiny snort before he rolled over on his bed and kept on dreaming. Mai let out a smile then walked over towards Anzu. The bounty hunter then took out her pack and opened. She took out a handkerchief and poured down a bit of chloroform onto it.

In one movement, she roughly placed it on Anzu’s mouth and nose. The princess opened her eyes widely and tried to struggle to get free. She let out a muffled yell, but soon it died out once the chloroform got to her. She fell into a dead faint and stopped moving. Mai took off the handkerchief from the girl’s face then lifted the princess in one swoop.

Ugh! She’s heavier then I thought! thought Mai as she began to carry her off towards the window. Mai placed the girl upon her back then opened the window. Once she was by the sill, she slowly lowered Anzu’s unconscious body towards the street. Once she touched the floor, Mai jumped on the window sill then jumped out. The blonde woman landed upon the street with such ease then picked up the princess once more and walked off through the streets.

Mai smiled with such glee as she kept looking at the puzzle that was now around her neck. Heh! What pure luck! Thought Mai, first I bag myself a bounty, then I end up finding the Millennium Puzzle and a princess, then I manage to make a mockery out of the Varon brat! Wow! This is far the greatest thing to ever happen to me! I better not go to Domino Kingdom yet. I think I’ll just go and to my hide out until it’s safe to come out.

As Mai carried out the princess, she stopped right in her tracks. From way beyond her, she saw the figure of Amelda and Raphael heading towards her direction. Damn! Those bastards here heading this way! Thought the blonde, if they see me with her, they’re going to take away my prizes! I can’t take on both of them….that would be suicide. What to do? What to do?

Quickly Mai jumped towards the back alley and quickly hid behind one of the stands. She placed the princess leaning against the stand then slowly poked her head out. The figure of Amelda and Raphael soon appeared and quickly she dove for cover. Amelda stopped in his tracks and looked over to the stand. His eyes were cocked into a thinking position.

“Is something wrong, Amelda?” asked Raphael as he eyed his partner.

“I thought I saw something,” spoke the magenta haired youth.

“Like?”

“I don’t know….perhaps like some dog or a person.”

Dog! thought Mai.

“Let’s go! We have to find Varon,” said Raphael.

“All right, who knows what he’s doing,” responded Amelda.

The shadows of Amelda and Raphael soon disappeared from the light that stood in the main street. Mai let out a sigh of relieve then quickly walked towards the opening of the main street and checked to see how far the two assassins were. Once they were at a good distance, Mai rushed back towards Anzu and lifted her up upon her shoulders.

“You know, you’re more trouble then you’re worth,” said Mai as she carried off Anzu to the opposite direction that Amelda and Raphael had gone to, “but I hope I’m wrong. You better be worth a good price if Daddy wants to see you again.”

Mai ran through the streets of the city and ended up by a dock. She place the princess inside of a boat then threw her bag at the fallen princess. Mai untied the rope that kept the boat from moving then jumped inside of it. The blonde woman gave off a swift kick off the dock and soon it had floated towards an island off far in the middle of the water.

Raphael and Amelda had arrived at the pub where a lot of commotion had been going on. From the look of things, both knew that this was the pub that Varon usually goes to see Mai. Both ran inside and saw the entire rumble. Amelda quickly took out a spell book and chanted an incantation to stop the fighting. Everyone had been blown away by the spell.

“Look at you, filth!” spat Amelda, “you’re acting like a bunch of kids!”

“Where’s Varon?” asked Raphael.

“He’s right there, passed out like the idiot he is!”

“Great…he goes off to get himself drunk.”

“Let’s get him out of here before anything else happens.”

And with that, Amelda and Raphael quickly walked over to Varon and hoisted him up upon their shoulders. They rushed out from the pub and headed off towards where they were staying. Unaware of all this that their objectives were dead asleep in their rooms, they sped away. Yugi stirred a bit in his bed and opened one eye. He tried to grab the puzzle, but couldn’t feel it anymore.

“Miho? Jonouchi? Anzu? Mai?” called out Yugi.

“Mmm…Yugi?” let out Miho as she let out a soft yawn and rubbed her eyes, “What’s going on?”

“I can’t find my puzzle! And Anzu isn’t here!”

“Anzu! Princess Anzu? Jonouchi wake up!”

“Ugh….my head!” spoke the blonde Jonouchi as he got up from the floor, “What happened?”

“Princess Anzu isn’t in the room and neither is Miss Mai!”

“Mai! She was in here?” let out Jonouchi.

“Yes, she dragged you in here when you were drunk.”

Yugi rushed out from the room and down the hall stairs. Morning was approaching and the sun’s light hit the inside of the pub. The young mage looked down at the entire mess that was around in the pub. Men were on the ground, bloodied and bruised up. Some of the tables were turned upside down. Others were broken into pieces of scrap wood.

The bartender nodded his head at Yugi and began to clean the messes that he could do. His wife, whom was a rather plumb woman, began to drag some of the bodies out into the front porch. Yugi couldn’t make out from the scene, but one thing was for sure, worry rose up in his spine. I hope Anzu wasn’t caught up in this, he thought, but where is she? And I wonder what happened to my puzzle.

Yugi rushed over to the tables and towards the bloodied men. He began to ask them if they have seen Anzu, but none knew what he was talking about, or where conscious to answer. The tri-color haired boy began to search through some of the pockets to see if anyone had his puzzle. Alas, he couldn’t find it with any of them. Having his heart set down, Yugi then slunk to the ground and tried not to cry from the frustration.

“Yugi?” asked Miho as she sat next to him, “What’s wrong?”

“I can’t find the puzzle and no one has seen Anzu leave the pub,” spoke Yugi, “but she’s not here at all.”

“We have to find her. She couldn’t have….”

“Hey guys,” spoke Jonouchi as he looked at the window of their room, “I think Miss Mai thought of this all along.”

“What do you mean?” asked Yugi.

“It means that she somehow had her eye on your puzzle and somehow found out that Anzu was the princess. Come look at our window.”

Yugi rushed towards the window of their room and looked down. There was the alley way and it wasn’t such a big jump from the window. Could Mai have jumped from here with the Princess? He thought, also, how did Mai know all about this? Jonouchi tried to register everything that was taking hand. He licked his lips and tasted the alcohol.

“Hey, bartender,” he spoke as he approached the man.

“Yes, sir?” asked the bartender.

“You know that woman, Mai, right?”

“Perhaps…and perhaps not.”

“Listen here, asshole! I am not going to be patient with you! You need to tell me who this Mai is and where can we find her!”

“You better go now, sir.”

“Please….sir,” let out Yugi as he approached the bartender, “that woman took our friend. And she took something that belonged to my dead mother. The golden puzzle around my neck is all I have of her….”

“…..there is a way to find Mai,” replied the bartender, “she lives upon this island not far from here. You have to take a boat over to that lake upon Hitori Port which is a bit down that road.”

“Thank you, Mr. Bartender!”

“Oh…one last thing. Beware of that island. There lies quite a bit of cases of missing people. There are…how do we say, monsters of some sort that I heard. Supposedly there are beasts that can…fly.”

“We’ll keep that in mind. By the way,” added in Yugi, “you wouldn’t know where we can find a place to get some food, would you?”

“My wife will hand you the food.”

The bartender’s pudgy wife came in with a rather large sack of food. She gave it all to Jonouchi then pushed the three of them out of the pub. All three of them stood stupefied as they shut the door with a lot of force and locked the pub. I wonder why they did that? Asked Yugi, Perhaps they’re scared of what happened last night.

The trio then made their way through the rather crowded streets. They couldn’t believe that the town was still up in a fuss yet they managed to work. The same harlots were still standing by at the corners waiting for any man to pay up a good fee. As the trio kept walking by a young man just walked by them. He accidentally pushed Yugi, but didn’t bother to say anything.

His long black hair was tied together into a long ponytail. His emerald eyes glared at him with rather dismissing eyes. Upon one of his eyes, he had strange markings. His clothing was a black tunic with a dark crimson jacket that hung upon his shoulders. He wore lovely silk leggings and red boots. Upon his neck he wore a strange pendant.

Jonouchi stood up to him and was about to tell him something when six men surrounded the blonde. Each man was strong and rather welt built. They were the young man’s bodyguards. With that, Jonouchi slunk away from him and helped Yugi stand up. The black haired man looked away from them and walked towards the opposite direction from the dock.

“Who was that guy?” asked Yugi.

“I don’t know, but he certainly is a jerk,” spoke Jonouchi.

“I liked his clothes!” let out Miho, “I wish I had clothes of that quality.”

“Eh? Don’t praise him for that! Anyway, we have to make our way to the dock.”

Without another word, the three of them continued to walk towards the dock. Once they arrived there, they met with a rather old man with a rugged face. His clothing was all torn and dirty. Upon his hands were torn gloves. One eye was covered by a patch. Though beyond the patch, one can see the rather large scar upon his face.

“Excuse me,” spoke Yugi as he approached the man.

“Who are you?” asked the man.

“I’m Yugi and this is Jonouchi and Miho. We’re here to take a boat that will take us to an island that is across the lake.”

“You mean Harpy Island? No one has ever tried to set foot there…except for some crazy blonde woman.”

“That’s who we have to find! Please….can you take us there?”

“I can let you borrow the boat, but I won’t take you there. I’ll lend you the boat for free. All I can say is good luck.”

Yugi, Jonouchi, and Miho bowed their heads at the old boatman then walked over to the boat. Miho jumped into the boat as Jonouchi and Yugi untied the boat then pushed it off. Yugi jumped over to the boat as Jonouchi followed suit. Taking an oar, the two men began to row. Miho looked over the lake and kept her eyes searching for the island.

“I want to know something,” spoke the blue haired girl, “how did Miss Mai know about the puzzle?”

“Ulk!” let out Jonouchi as he kept his head down.

“Jonouchi? You wouldn’t have anything to do with it?”

“Well….um…”

“Jonouchi, the puzzle and Princess Anzu’s identity were to be kept in secret!” let out Yugi as he looked at the knight with unpleasing eyes.

“I…didn’t mean for it to come out! She…got me drunk and when I was drunk I couldn’t think straight! I swear…she just had this…sense. I mean she was just beautiful and so seductive…and with free drinks on her tab then…I couldn’t resist! I was so intoxicated by both her and the ale! I now know never to trust the pretty ones! That means Miho too!”

“Huh?” let out Miho with a confused voice.

“Nothing,” spoke Jonouchi as he kept rowing, “don’t worry about this! It is my duty to protect the princess and I will bring her back safely. And because it was my fault, I’ll be sure to bring back Yugi’s puzzle too!”

“Thanks Jonouchi!” smiled Yugi as he continued to row.

Meanwhile, back at the town, the black haired youth had finally reached the tiny pub. As he knocked on the door, no one answered. The youth became impatient with this action. He looked at one of his guards and pointed at the door. Upon that signal, the guard kicked the wooden door and down it came. The bartender and his wife stood horrified at the figure before them came in.

“L-lord Ryuji Otogi,” let out the bartender.

“The one and only,” replied Otogi, “you didn’t open the door for me.”

“I’m sorry, there was a fight here last night and I wanted to have my wife clean it up.”

“Interesting, but that doesn’t mean you couldn’t at least answer when knocked.”

“I…I’m sorry, my lord.”

“That’s far enough. I came here with some questions.”

“Questions?” let out the old man.

“Yes,” sneered Otogi, “you see I heard from one of my…spies, not saying who, whom said that she saw a young man with a golden puzzle around his neck. She also said that three men by the names of Amelda, Varon, and Raphael are here in Black Crown Town looking for the puzzle wielder and a missing princess.”

“I…I don’t know,” spoke the bartender.

“I think you might.”

Otogi signaled one of his bodyguards to walk over to him. A rather large man with short blonde hair and a supremely strong body appeared before him. He then lifted the poor man above his head and twirled him around. The bartender’s wife began to scream at the scene as her husband soon began to yell out his information.

“I don’t know about any princess,” sobbed the bartender, “however, I did happen to see a young man with a golden trinket around his neck. He came here with three other people. Two young women and one rather drunk knight. They left this morning towards the dock.”

“Towards the dock? To where?” asked the raven haired youth.

“To…go see Mai. She took the puzzle and the brown haired girl I suppose. I am not so sure if Mai actually wanted the girl, but the puzzle for sure.”

“Hmm…so Mai has it then.”

“Please,” let out the old woman, “leave Mai alone.”

“Of course, I’ll leave Mai alone,” replied Otogi as he flicked his hair back, “she is, after all one of the best bounty hunters out there. She brings them in and we make some money by putting them here as my spies. I guess we’ll have to wait for Miss Kujaku to get back then. Then I will take the puzzle myself. Good day.”

And with that, Ryuji Otogi left the pub. His bodyguards followed there after him. The bartender and his wife let out a sigh of relief but soon worried about the trio. If that girl that got kidnapped was really Princess Anzu, thought the bartender, then things will only get worse for them. My only hope is that those kids will be smart enough to leave this place and head off somewhere else. Especially of Amelda, Varon, and Raphael are here. I don’t think those three left now.

Elsewhere…

“I see land!” let out Miho as she got up from her seat.

“Miho! Sit down!” let out Jonouchi.

“I see it! That’s the island where the princess is being held captive!”

“All right, then we’ll land there when we see the shore!”

After a while, the trio had docked their ship upon the shore of the island. Once setting foot there, they searched around the area. Nothing but vast jungle and lushes green plants. Jonouchi took out his sword and lead the way, having Yugi and Miho trailing behind. The blonde knight cut through the vines and ivy that hung in front of them, making a trail for them to follow.

Miho felt herself quiver even more as they passed quite a lot of rather strange looking bugs. Huge centipedes at the size of her fist appeared upon her side. She yelped and grabbed tightly onto Yugi. The young mage let out a gasp for air as he felt Miho apply more pressure to him. Jonouchi stopped himself he saw a clearing before them.

“Hey…what’s that?” he asked.

In front of them stood a dark cavern. Near the cavern was a tiny crystal clear lake which surrounded by dozens of flowers. Though what caught Jonouchi’s attention was the red haired woman that was in the lake bathing. She was relaxing upon the lake as she stood there floating. Her voluptuous body was quite a view to look at.

“Clara,” spoke a blonde haired woman, “mind if I join you?”

“Go ahead, Mimi,” replied Clara.

“Lets have a splash fight!”

Mimi began to splash water upon Clara’s face as she giggled in a manner. Clara soon got up from her position and splashed water back at her companion. Meanwhile, Jonouchi and the rest were looking on at the thing. Yugi had closed his eyes as he had seen two naked women before him. Miho was interested in finding the princess, while Jonouchi enjoyed watching the women. Wow…two lovely ladies, yet there isn’t a Mai to be around, he thought.

“What’s going on here?” let out a voice from the cavern.

“Oh, Mai!” called out Clara, “We were just playing around while bathing.”

“Well hurry up then, girls,” spoke Mai, “we have to hurry so we can start the ceremony.”

“Oh, okay!”

Ceremony? Thought Yugi, What kind of ceremony will they be hosting? Once the two girls had finished bathing, they hurried to dress in their attires then made their way into the cavern. Taking that advantage, the trio then rushed towards the cavern. Each of them was readying themselves for a fight if that is what it came down to.

As they walked in deeper, all they saw were nothing but stone walls. It seems like nobody ever stays here, thought Yugi, I wonder where they are. Finally before them stood a stairway which light came from? Looking at each other, the three nodded in approval as they rushed through the stairs. Yugi poked his head up and saw a platform before them.

He quickly ducked his head down as he saw the figures of dozens of women before him. Torches here lit around them as they gathered around some sort of altar. Yugi slowly rose up trying not to make a noise as he walked on the stone ground. He looked over and saw that they were now on a cliff. Nothing but pure trees covered the land.

Jonouchi and Miho slowly rose up and joined Yugi; trying not to be soon. Yugi tried to see above the crowd, but most of the women were taller then he was. Ugh! Curse this short body of mine! He thought as he crouched down on the ground to peek through their legs. Yet as he looked beyond their legs, the young mage found it strange that all of them were wearing boots.

Out from the corner of his eye, he saw a strange pair of legs. At first he thought it was just his imagination, but he thought he saw bird legs. His grape colored orbs then changed its position and looked at the altar beforehand. He couldn’t make out how was on it, but he could see one pair of booted legs while the other pair had just slippers on. That must be Anzu! He thought.

“My fellow sisters,” called out Mai from the altar, “I have before you, a harpy, not like us, but of human wretch. This here is Princess Anzu!”

“Ugh! Let me go!” called out Anzu as she struggled to get free from the ropes that bind her to the posts.

“Heh, do you think I’d pass out a prize like you? As of today, word is coming across that Domino Town had lost their sweet princess. Someone kidnapped her and brought her to Black Crown Town. I just so happen to know that those three bumbling mercenaries are looking for her too. Well, I beat them to it. With the prize her head has, she will surely be helping us out.”

“Prize! What do you mean by that?”

“You, dear princess, are worth quite a good amount. When we send you back to your town, we’ll be rewarded with a ship load of gold!”

“No! Please, don’t send me back!” shouted Anzu, “I don’t want to go back! Please, help me save my kingdom! King Gozaburo has enslaved my town and soon he is to make me his son’s bride! I beg of you, please let me go!”

“As much as I hate men,” replied Mai, “I am not stupid enough to pass this opportunity up. Besides, Gozaburo will not be a threat to me anymore. I have this! The Millennium Puzzle! I hold it in my hand! Once I harness its power, I will become unstoppable! I will lead us into victory and we will rule the world into our own rules! Women are to rule as we make the men crawl upon their stomachs!”

“You’re mad! How can you think of such things!”

“You…really want to know? A human woman like you wouldn’t know anything!”

“Hu-human woman? What do you mean? What are you?”

“Heh, ladies….lets show the princess our true forms.”

Upon hearing that, the women began to take off their boots and gloves. Yugi, Miho, Jonouchi, and Anzu couldn’t believe what they saw. As they stretched out their hands, feathers that formed into wings appeared upon them. Their legs were bird claws that scratched the ground. Mai spreads out her wings a bit as she felt relieve.

“Ahhh! This feels good!” let out the blonde woman, “I really hate wearing these gloves every time I go off to a new town. It really ruffles my feathers and hurts my wings.”

“You…you’re harpies,” let out Anzu.

“Thanks for letting out the obvious. We are the lost race of harpies. Much like Amazons, we are all females. We stayed on this filthy island for far too long! We can’t be seen by men’s world because of what we are! But with this puzzle, it will all change!”

“You don’t know how to wield that puzzle!”

“Actually I have learned a bit about it. You see, there are seven Millennium Items out in the world. When all seven are collected they are a key to open a gateway. What is needed is the power to open the doorway. It is prophesized that a human with a pure heart will be the key to the power. It is called as the Amengarde. No one knows if the Amengarde is a man or a woman, but one thing is for sure is that the Amengarde is all ready born. I will search for the Amengarde.”

“But…how can you find it?” asked the princess.

“Easy, the Amengarde will react to the items once they are together again. To find the other items, they will react to each other. So this puzzle will tell me where the next item is. The Amengarde is known as the Angel of Repentance. Once the items are together, supposedly it will awaken the chosen one and then I will find him or her and use him or her to open the gateway to power and with that power we Harpies will roam the earth.”

“I can’t let you do this!”

“Too bad, because tomorrow at dawn, I’m sending you back to daddy.”

“No!” shouted Yugi.

“Who said that!”

Jonouchi grabbed Yugi and covered his mouth with his hand. He tried to get him back down, but it was too late. The Harpies have seen them all and were not pleased. Yugi now felt like an idiot as all the eyes glared at him. The group of Harpies parted to allow Mai walk through the crowd. Anzu saw who it was and cheered up as she struggled even more to break free.

“Well, well,” spoke Mai as she reached Yugi and the others, “if it isn’t the guys from the pub. What are you doing here and how did you get here?”

“We came here to take back the puzzle and save Anzu,” spoke Yugi.

“Heh, you came here to save the princess and the puzzle? Like you’d have a chance in Hell to get it back from us.”

“We’ll fight you all to get it back!” shouted Jonouchi as he pointed his sword at Mai, “I’ll make sure a Harpy like you will feel that pain I felt!”

“Oh…upset of our little fling?” cooed Mai coldly.

“Grr…I’ll make you eat those words!”

“Oh….are you really going to fight us all? All of us Harpies?”

Jonouchi stopped and looked beyond Mai. Behind her were probably an army of Harpies. All of them had taken out spears, swords, and several other weapons. From their looks, they have a sense of danger around them. Jonouchi then shook a bit as he knew he wouldn’t be able to fight them all of. Anzu let out a sigh.

“That’s what I thought,” let out Mai, “get them!”

“Wait!” shouted Yugi as two Harpies latched themselves at him, “Please, let me have the puzzle and the princess back.”

“If you want them back you have to fight me for it!”

“I…I detest violence! I don’t like fighting!”

“Heh, if you don’t like fighting then what are you doing protecting the princess?”

“I am here to help her! I made a promise I’d help her liberate Domino Town. My adoptive parents are in danger! That’s why I can’t let you have the princess taken back. Their efforts to help us escape will be futile! I don’t even know if they’re alive. And that puzzle is the only keepsake I have of my real parents! Please, let me have them back.”

“Hmm…”

“Mai! Are you really going to let them have it that easily?” asked a Harpy, “They did break the laws of outsiders coming here!”

“I know about that! I made the rule!” barked Mai, “However, their plea sounds plausible. I’ll let you have the princess and the puzzle back, if…”

“If what?” asked Yugi.

“If you three managed to pass three tests!”

“Three tests?”

“Yes, but they won’t be any tests, they’re going to be games.”

“I love games!” let out Yugi with a smile.

“Heh, I’m not so sure if you’ll like these games. We’re going to play Shadow Games.”

“What’s a Shadow Game?”

“Well according to legend of the Millennium Items, when people wanted these items, they would have to play a Shadow Game. It is like a regular game with rules and all, but this one you gamble things. In the Ancient Time when the original holders held the items, they gambled with more then just the items; they gambled their sanity, their body parts, and even their lives. This is a test to see whose will is stronger.”

“Oh…this doesn’t sound good,” let out Miho as two Harpies latched on to her.

“Well, if it sounds good to you or not, you’re still participating. The Shadow Games will begin tonight! Take them away so you can prepare them.”

Upon that order, the Harpies took away the trio. Anzu tried to break free once more, but couldn’t. No! She thought, The Shadow Games are dangerous! They can get killed! I have to break free from this so they can avoid this! Please….Yugi don’t fight! Run….all of you just run away! Anzu struggled some more until her body soon gave out. All she had was nothing more then rope burn upon her wrists.

“Please…” she whispered under her breath, “….Goddess of the Sun, please….protect my friends from such fates.”

I hope Jonouchi and Miho ware doing okay, thought Yugi. I hope they haven’t started without me on those games. I know these are dangerous, but we have to save Princess Anzu. Anzu…don’t worry about us, we’ll save you soon enough. Yugi began to undress from his tunic and other clothing and put on the attire the Harpies gave to him. Once he was dressed, he waited for the Harpy guards to come back and let him out.

Yugi sat down on the floor and began to draw figures on the ground to pass the time. Just then, two Harpies appeared before him. Both carried spears with strange feathers on them. Another harpy, which looked older then the others, walked behind them. She carried a small bowl and placed her thumb inside of the bowl.

“Open the cage,” she said.

The two harpies then walked over to the door and opened the door. One of them grabbed Yugi by the arm hard and dragged him over to the older harpy. The older harpy glared at him then took her thumb out from the bowl. She then began to do strange markings on Yugi’s frail body. She placed two stripes on each of his cheeks then made two long lines on his arms. Once she was done she began to walk out from the prison.

“Take him to the temple,” she said.

The two harpies nodded their heads before they each grabbed a hold of Yugi’s arms and began to drag him out from the prison. Yugi was scared about what was going to happen. He knew that he had to do this to save Anzu and get the puzzle back. His scared face soon was replaced by a face of determination. He could feel his heart soon slow down into a steady heartbeat.

Just then the harpies dragged Yugi over to the temple. The temple was hidden underground and from the world. The walls of the temple were made with such lovely marble. On the ground was made from jade. Very few torches were put inside of the temple, making it quite a dark and scary looking building. On the ground were several skeletons of fallen warriors, which Yugi thought to, have been of poor people that arrived on the island.

He was placed on the ground and was put a chain around his neck which was tied to a stake. Next to him were Jonouchi and Miho. Jonouchi’s clothing was similar to Yugi’s loincloth. As for Miho’s attire, it was a torn up brown dress which had two slits on her legs and close to her stomach. Both of them had the strange paint, but in different colors. Jonouchi had green while Miho had blue.

“You guys okay?” asked Yugi.

“Yeah, I think so,” replied Jonouchi.

“I’m getting a bit scared,” spoke Miho.

“Silence!” shouted Mai as she appeared from the shadows.

Mai had different attire now. She wore a black corset that was cut down all the way through. Only a black leather string was able to keep the corset together. She had a short skirt that was slit through the legs. The flaps of the skirt went down to her knees. Upon her legs were taped sandals that rose up all the way to her knees. Around her neck was the Millennium Puzzle.

“Well then, you cheeky things, I just came up with your games,” said Mai as she flipped a rogue hair back. “You three will be tested in a game of wits, strength, and willpower. Now for you guys to win the princess back, you need to win two out of the three tests. If you can do that, then you will be given what we took from you. However, if you loose, then the penalty will be death for the boys, but the girl can be released.”

“Why is Miho the only one spared?” asked Jonouchi.

“Shut it! It’s because she’s a girl and not an idiot man like you.”

“You’re such a mean person, you know that?”

“I said for you to shut up!” shouted Mai as she hit Jonouchi on the head. “Anyway, the first task will be the test of strength. The stupid one will be tested on that one.”

“Hey!”

“Take them away!”

The harpies untied the chains from the stakes then used them as leashes for the trio. One harpy pulled on the leash too hard that it choked Yugi and fell to the ground. Jonouchi was about to help him up, but his harpy pulled on his leash. The harpy pulled Yugi up from the ground then pushed him to walk. They walked up a large amount of stairs before they arrived at the summit of the mountain where they were caught.

The other harpies were waiting all ready for the action to begin. Out of the crowd of harpies were three harpies that stood by Princess Anzu. One of them was a blonde harpy with rather skimpy clothing. Another harpy was covered by a lot of armor. She didn’t even look like a woman, if it wasn’t for the front armor to be shaped like a pair of breast on her breastplate. The other harpy had long blue hair and a long green dress. She looked rather pale compared to the other harpies.

Jonouchi, Yugi, and Miho were then tied to three stakes that were placed upon the summit by three harpies. Anzu struggled once more to break free from her ropes, but nothing would work. Anzu began to move her feet and manage to get one foot out from the ropes that bind her legs. Anzu smiled as she was able to do something. She then hid her leg away from the others.

“Sisters!” shouted Mai as she arose from the stairs. “We have the three perpetrators! Now we shall test them in the ancient ways of the Shadow Games! The first test will be the test of strength! Olga! Come on down!”

The armored harpy then began to walk down from where Anzu was and walked right next to Mai.

“Olga here is our strongest harpy,” said Mai. “She is known for her unbelievable strength. When she was nothing more then a lad she was able to lift up a boulder over her head. With this armor, she is able to invincible like a god. The stupid blonde one will end up fighting her in this test.”

“What the crap?” let out Jonouchi.

“Take up the challenge…unless you’re scared of our dear Olga. Did I mention that Olga is super sensitive? She also wears the armor for another reason…one that I won’t tell you.”

Olga walked over to the small arena that was formed from the circle of harpies. The one holding Jonouchi took off his metal leash then pushed him into the circle. The harpies began to chant for Olga as both Jonouchi and Olga began to circle each other. Jonouchi let out a yell before he sent out a punch. His fist connected with the armor.

He let out a yell as he hurt his arm with the armor. The harpies just giggled at his misfortune. Olga let out a giggle. Jonouchi scowled at her then let out a kick to her chest. The impact of the kick made Olga stumble a bit back, but didn’t do much damage. Olga smirked behind her helmet then decided that it was her turn to attack. She swung her fist. The fist connects to Jonouchi’s face, making the blonde knight tumble back to the ground.

“Damn it!” shouted the knight as he spat out blood. “This is so not fair! How come she gets armor and I have nothing more then a loincloth?”

“Because it isn’t nice for a man to fight a woman,” said Mai.

“Oh, but it’s all right for a woman to try to kill a man?”

“He he, if you did die, that would be a win for us.”

“That’s cheating!” shouted Anzu.

“That’s not fair, Jonouchi should wear armor too!” shouted Yugi.

“Or at least make Olga take off her armor!” said Miho.

“Ugh! Shut up, all three of you!” shouted Mai. “Besides…you don’t want to see Olga without armor.

“Mai no want to?” asked Olga.

“No, no, no! Don’t take it that way, Olga.”

Jonouchi got up from ground in one leap then prepared himself for another attack. He rushed over to Olga and delivered a blow at the only part that wasn’t covered: her womanhood. As he kicked her down there, Olga let out a yelp she fell on the ground and began to whimper a bit. Jonouchi laughed as he pushed her on the ground.

“How do you like that now, ugly?” asked Jonouchi.

“Olga…ugly?” whimpered Olga as she began to cry now.

“Oh, look what you did!” shouted Mai. “You hurt Olga! I told you she was sensitive!”

“I thought you said she was sensitive on her body!” yelled Jonouchi.

“No! I told you Olga’s invincible when she’s fighting physically, but when you call her such names!”

“Listen…Olga, I’m sorry that I called you that,” said Jonouchi. “If I can make it up to you.”

“You…don’t think Olga ugly?” asked Olga as she stopped crying.

“No…well I can’t say until I see you.”

Olga slowly got up from the ground. She placed her armored hands upon her helmet and took it off. A long golden mane fell down to her face and covered it. She then moved the hair out from her face to reveal something Jonouchi was shocked to see. Both of her eyes had scars on them. Her nose was covered with a large wart and had a bit of hair coming out from it. Her lips were big and blotchy as well as her chin. She smiled to reveal part of her teeth missing.

“Ugh!” let out Jonouchi.

“You find Olga ugly…” whined Olga as she dropped her smile.

“No! You’re not ugly…just…um…unique, that’s all.”

“Blond one think Olga not ugly?”

“No.”

“Oh! Blond one make Olga happy! Olga love blond guy!”

“What!”

Olga smiled brightly as she ran over to Jonouchi. Jonouchi tried to get away, but the harpies just giggled as they pushed him over to Olga. Olga then gave Jonouchi a rather large and hefty bear hug. Jonouchi tried to squirm away, but the hug was too much for him. He began to feel light headed then suddenly fainted from lack of oxygen. Olga then released Jonouchi and frown.

“Olga hurt boyfriend,” she whined.

“Don’t worry about it too much, Olga,” replied Mai. “Knowing that this guy can drink quite an amount of ale, he’ll wake up in about an hour or so. Since the bear hug managed to knock him out, that means this is a victory for the harpies.”

“Yay! Olga won!”

“Yes you did. I guess now we will start the next test. The test of wits. This one is for the blue haired girl because she’s the only one out of the two that looks smart enough.”

“That’s not really nice to say,” said Yugi as he gave a small glare at Mai.

“Don’t pick up bad habits from that stupid one,” replied Mai. “Anyway, the opponent for the blue haired girl will be our blue haired girl: Lydia. Lydia is our smart and wonderful tactician. Whatever the enemies does she knows how to find weakness and infiltrate. She knows what to do and she’s rather well with board and puzzle games. You two will battle it out over a game of chess. However there’s a little more to it then just chess.”

Mai snapped her fingers and a large group of emerged from the stairs. Carrying with them was a group of regular people. Each one of them had cuffs around them as to never let them escape. Yugi stood a bit baffled at what was going to happen. The humans were given spears. One of the men then stabbed one of the harpies.

The others ganged up on the man and managed to kill the man. Miho looked on in fear and cringed at the sight. Mai rolled her eyes and snapped her fingers again. This time, they brought over another man and gave him the dead man’s spear. A group of harpies lined up in two rows and lifted their weapons up high. Two of the harpies had crowns on their heads. The crowd of harpies then lined up the humans and gave two of them crowns.

“In ancient times, chess was more then just a board game,” said Mai, “it was a game about life and death. You can guess where chess originated from. It originated from war. The pawns were the soldiers that ran on foot. The knights were the captains that fight along side the soldiers. The bishops and the others were the generals which were in charge of the turn of battle.

“The queen often had more power through history as in charge of the wars. The king, however, signifies the power of the kingdom. Once the king is taken chapter, the land was then claimed for the other kingdom. This battle will reenact the entire battle scene using real people. The humans will be the chess pieces for the blue haired girl and the harpies will be the pieces for Lydia. The game is simple: first one to kill the king wins.”

“Kill?” asked Miho. “What do you mean kill?”

“Easy,” replied Mai. “Why do you think we gave them spears? You move the pieces over to the next step. If they come over one of the soldiers then they have the right to kill that person on the spot with no struggle.”

“This…this isn’t right!”

“That’s why it’s a Shadow Game. You bet more then just what’s at stake. You bet in your own sanity and life. Let’s see how much you can handle the guilt of the deaths of the soldiers as they are at your own hands.”

Miho shifted her feet uncomfortably as she thought about what was at stake here. She didn’t want this pressure to come up, but now she had no choice. Yugi looked over at Miho and could feel that she didn’t want to be there. Miho shook as she began to walk over to where she was supposed to be standing. Lydia looked over at her with dull eyes.

“I’ll go first,” said Lydia, “Pawn to A4.”

The harpy walked over to the designated place and waited for the next command.

“Um…” whimpered Miho, “Pawn to C5.”

One of the harpies pushed the human over to make him walk. The pawn walked over to designated spot and shook in fear.

“Pawn to D3,” said Lydia as the pawn began to move over to the designated spot.

“Pawn to G5,” said Miho.

“Pawn to E3.”

“Pawn to…B5.”

“You walked over to a trap,” said Lydia as she let out a small smirk. “Pawn at A4, kill the pawn at B5.”

The harpy flew over to the human and let out a smirk. The harpy twirled her spear before she stabbed the spear right into the man’s head. Miho let out a scream as she saw the man fall down to the ground dead. Her blue eyes widen. Her knees began to buck as she felt her entire world begin to fall. She had never seen a dead man before.

“What…have I done?” she whimpered.

“Heh, you’re lucky you’re not in the test of willpower,” said Lydia. “You would have lost ten minutes in the round. Now make your move…I don’t want to waste more time on you.”

Miho shook slightly as she made her next move. Ever since that turn, more deaths soon came. One of Miho’s men ended up killing a harpy, but soon was killed by one of the Knight harpies. The humans were starting to become quite frighten as they tried to resist getting killed. The harpies on the chest table weren’t scared. More and more of Miho’s pawns were getting killed until the queen and king were left open.

“Bishop to A6,” said Lydia as her harpy walked over to the spot. “In just three moves I’ll kill your queen and king. I hope you’re prepared for that.”

“I…I….can’t go on…” said Miho.

“Do I hear a forfeit?” asked Mai. “Is the little blue haired girl going to throw this and let us win?”

“I…”

“Miho!” shouted Yugi. “You can do this! I know you have the brains and the will to do this. You shouldn’t let them pressure you like this. I know you can do much better. I know these people’s lives are on the line, but you can save them if you win this match. I know that you can beat this woman and help us save Anzu. We can’t give up on her!”

“Yugi?”

“Miho!” shouted Anzu. “I know you can do this! I believe in you and I know you can win!”

“Anzu…”

“Well?” asked Mai. “Are you forfeiting?”

“No!” shouted Miho. “I’m going to keep playing! I have to save Anzu and win Yugi’s puzzle back. Now it’s my turn. I’m going to move my last Bishop over to G7 and kill your pawn.”

“That was really stupid of you!” shouted Lydia. “That was the only thing that could have killed my King and now you just messed it up. Queen to G7 and kill that Bishop!”

“Actually you fell for my trap,” said Miho. “For removing your queen, I can now rest assure of my next move. I move my queen over to D1 where your king is and kill it!”

“What!” shouted Lydia as she stood baffled.

The human which was portrayed as the queen ran across the board and killed the harpy posing as the king. The game was over and Miho was now the winner. Miho smiled as tears fell from her eyes. She may have won the chess match, but the humans’ lives were lost. Yugi smiled for her victory, but soon frowned as she saw her cry.

“Miho…are you okay?” asked Yugi as she walked over to him.

“Oh…I’m…I’m okay,” she replied as she was tied up to the post.

“Well, well, this is certain bad news,” said Mai. “I guess the next match is our tie breaker. The battle of willpower. This one is for the little star head. Sarah will be his opponent. Sarah has been our willing person with an iron will. In every battle she’s been in, she has never backed out from a fight. She is not as strong as Olga or as smart as Lydia, but she has the will to continue which makes her even as strong or smart if not better. The next match will be a simple task. Bring me the book.”

The old harpy that did Yugi’s make-up walked over to Mai. She opened an old book and flipped the page over to an incantation. Mai looked at the incantation then began to chant it. The puzzle began to glow an eerie color. The sky began to turn into a dark red color in the sky. Eight giant worms appeared behind Yugi and Sarah. Each of them had dozens of rows of teeth.

“What is that!” shouted Yugi as he turned to see the worms.

“Back in ancient times when dark magic was used a lot for battles,” said Mai, “there was an old book that was used to harness the power of the Millennium Items. One with the knowledge of the items would be able to use the power. What I used was an old power for the puzzle. It’s a fairly weak one, but it is able to do one terrible thing: make you loose your sanity. The worms are not real, but they do eat away your sanity and will to live. The way you loose is how you can handle pressure. If you can’t handle what’s thrown at you then you shall loose. Begin!”

Just then two vines came out from the ground. Each of them wrapped themselves onto Yugi’s wrists as to not escape. The same thing happened to Sarah. Both looked each other and waited. Suddenly their entire bodies began to glow a light golden color which signified their will. Sarah smirked as she had an idea of what to do.

“So…what do we do now?” asked Yugi.

“Easy,” replied Sarah, “we will throw in our will against each other. I’ll show you!”

Sarah let out a yell as she applies pressure through her body as she thought about the time she was in training. Just then the aura that surrounding her body got off from her body and took into her form. She then rushed over at Yugi and punched him. Yugi let out a yelp as he was then bitten by one of the worms on his arm. Blood came down from his shoulder, though he and Sarah were the only ones that saw that.

“Yugi!” cried Anzu. “Yugi, are you all right!”

“Yeah…I’m fine, Anzu,” replied Yugi, “but I want to know how she did that.”

“Heh…” said Sarah, “I doubt you’d be able to do it. You really don’t know what it was to be weak and an outcast of society. To be ridiculed because you can’t do anything for yourself. If you want to know about pain, then here it comes! When I was young I got lost on this island for about a week. No one tried to help me because in this island, it’s sink or swim! I had to fight my way over and show you what pain is really about!”

Sarah let out another yell as she threw her will over to Yugi. She punched him in the stomach this time. One of the worms then bit Yugi on his back. The young mage let out a yell of pain as he felt the teeth sink down on his bare flesh. He glared at her as he felt his rage come over to him. She thinks that she has suffered a lot? Thought Yugi. She has yet to know what I’ve gone through.

What I have seen and felt. Everything about me was a lie. My mother died while trying to take me to safety and my father probably died as well! I could never forgive the ones killed them! Just then Yugi’s aura began to take the form of him. He flew over to Sarah and kicked her in the face. The worms then began to bite her shoulder. Sarah let out a yell as she felt herself become weaker.

“Feh! A weak boy like you can never understand what I’ve gone through!” shouted Sarah as her aura began to glow brighter. “I was out into battle. I know that a brat like you has never seen such bloodshed happen before your eyes. When you see your friends and comrades die before your eyes because you can never help them because you’re too weak and pathetic!”

The aura from Sarah grew even brighter as it flew off towards Yugi. The aura began to hit Yugi multiples of times. Yugi then was bitten by three of the worms. One latched itself onto his shoulder, another one was on his leg and the other one was on his back. Blood fell from his body as he let out a yell of pain. Anzu began to struggle from her prison. She took out her other foot then began to move her arms once more.

“Yugi!” she shouted. “Yugi! Be careful! Please, survive this! You can do it, Yugi! You can’t die…not now!”

“Anzu…” let out Yugi weakly as he opened one of his eyes, “Anzu…I won’t loose…not if you’re life is on the line. Hey you…Sarah….you think that your battle was something dramatic? I know it was horrible for you, but your comrades are dead now. I, on the other hand, have to save three people that are precious to me: my stepfather, my stepmother, and Princess Anzu. I can’t loose in this…I won’t loose in this! I have to be strong! I made a promise to Anzu that I would be there to protect her no matter what and I intend to do that!”

Just then the aura that surrounded Yugi began to glow even lighter then usual. The worms behind him began to shrivel and die. The vines that were latched onto Yugi’s wrists soon disappeared. Just then the aura that took into Yugi’s form changed a bit. Now it was bigger and stronger looking. The aura then rushed over to Sarah and delivered one final blow. Sarah let out a scream as all four worms soon bit into her body.

Everything around Sarah began turn dark. She couldn’t see anything anymore as she felt her entire body fall down into a dark abyss. She let out a scream as she saw an enormous worm appear before her and consume her body. Though all of this was in her mind. She curled into a little ball and began to foam at the mouth. Meanwhile, Anzu pulled on the ropes and was able to break free from her hold. She ran pass Mai and hugged Yugi tightly.

“Yugi!” she cried. “I’m so glad you’re okay.”

“Anzu,” let out Yugi, “I’m glad you’re okay right now.”

“Oh Yugi…this is my entire fault…I shouldn’t have let you guys fight for me.”

“But Anzu…I promised that I would take care of you and that’s what I did.”

Anzu then felt tears sting her eyes. She shivered a bit before she began to cry into Yugi’s shoulder. Yugi slowly wrapped his arms around her and comforted her. Miho looked over to them and smiled. I’m glad that we were able to save her, she thought. Just then, Jonouchi began to stir. He shook his head and opened his eyes.

“Wh-what happened?” asked Jonouchi.

“We did it,” replied Miho, “we saved Princess Anzu.”

“Aww…I missed the entire thing,” Jonouchi looked over at Anzu and Yugi hugging. “Well at least I got to see a cute moment.”

“Ugh!” I don’t believe this!” shouted Mai. “How could we loose! Explain yourselves: Olga, Lydia, and Sarah!”

“Olga won,” whined Olga as she felt a bit offended.

“I don’t know how in the world that girl could beat me,” said Lydia. “I’m the smartest woman in the world.”

“Well you proved yourself wrong just now!” shouted Mai. “Now to get rid of this useless harpy.”

Sarah still was curled into a ball. Her eyes were now dilated from the fear that struck her.

“What do you mean get rid of her?” asked Yugi.

“Easy,” replied Mai, “she is no longer needed. A broken harpy is now not a good harpy to the group. She can’t get out of this curse. It is irreversible.”

“You can do the curse, but you can’t do the cure?”

“There is no cure! The book doesn’t show any form whatsoever about a cure!”

“There has to be!” shouted Yugi. “You can’t kill her. Please…give me the puzzle, maybe I can do something.”

“You?” chided Mai. “What can you do to save this girl?”

“If what you say is true, then the will of a person can help her. Maybe I can be able to do so.”

“Fine, knock yourself dead.”

Mai took off the Millennium Puzzle from her neck and tossed it over to Yugi. Yugi took a hold of it and then placed it around his neck once more. He looked over at Sarah then closed his eyes as he took a hold of the puzzle. Please, spirit of the puzzle, he thought, please help Sarah. Please with my will, wake her up from this curse. Please, help her.

Just then the Millennium Puzzle began to glow brightly. Everyone stood in awe as a bright light came out from the puzzle. The bright light took to the sky cleared the sky back to its indigo hue. Then the bright light fell from the sky and landed on Sarah’s body. The harpy then stopped shaking and stopped foaming at the mouth. Her eyes returned back to the original color she had and she slowly got up into a sitting position.

“Ugh…” she let out, “what happened?”

“I…don’t believe this,” said Mai as she saw Sarah get up from the ground. “How can a mere boy do such a thing?”

“Easy,” replied Anzu, “you see Yugi was chosen by the Millennium Puzzle to do the biding of the spirit. You had a dark soul that is why you couldn’t know the knowledge of using light spells but only curses. The holder’s heart of the puzzle will be reflected by the power that is given out when they use it.”

“I…see…”

“So does that mean we can go now?” asked Yugi.

“Yes…you four are free to go now,” said Mai.

“But Mai,” whined one of the harpies, “what about our code?”

“Never mind the code. A deal is a deal. They won the Shadow Games and we lost. They are free to go to wherever they wanted to go in the first place.”

“Mai,” said another harpy, “what about our dream? Our dream of actually making a world built for harpies?”

“I know about the dream,” let out Mai, “I know that we wanted society to accept us as one of them, but there is no way I’ll go back on my word.”

Yugi looked over at Mai as other harpies began to protest against her decision. Yugi frowned as he saw this. This is a different look on Mai, he thought. She has the power to kill us and get the puzzle, but she never did go back on her word. Perhaps she isn’t as bad as she gives out. Yet when I heard about them not being able to fit well into society…they remind me of me.

“Um,” said Yugi, “Mai?”

“What do you want?” asked the blonde harpy.

“I was wondering…if you would like to come with us.”

“What?”

“What do you mean by that Yugi!” shouted Jonouchi. “You seen what’s she’s did. What makes you so sure that you can trust her?”

“Because the harpies are not bad…they’re just mistaken. I know that they want to be accepted into society, but they can’t because of their bird type things. They’re not monsters or anything….they’re just outcast that just want to be accepted. Wouldn’t you want to accept them as well?”

“Yugi…” said Jonouchi as he tried to think of something to say to him.

“Kid…you don’t have to stand up for me,” said Mai. “There is much to it than that.”

“I know,” replied Yugi, “but with someone like you, we’d be a much stronger team. And if you help us, I promise I’ll use the puzzle to help the harpies be accepted into society.”

“Can you really do that, kid?” “Yes! And I promise!”

“Yugi, are you crazy?” asked Jonouchi. “That is a harpy and she can’t be trusted. Besides she’ll probably say…”

“All right, I’ll join you,” said Mai.

“What!”

“Besides…someone has to teach the blond stupid one how to act in front of a lady,” said Mai as she stuck her tongue out at Jonouchi.

“Why I outta…!” growled Jonouchi as he wanted to hit Mai.

Just then Olga appeared and hugged Jonouchi.

“Olga happy that boyfriend alive!” she squealed as she squeezed.

“Ugh! Not too tight!” wheezed Jonouchi as he tried not to black out.

“Ha, ha, ha!” laughed Mai. “Olga, let him go before he blacks out again.”

“Okay,” replied Olga as she released Jonouchi. “Blond boy must take care of Mai and come back to see Olga!”

“Yeah…sure,” replied Jonouchi as he began to massage his arm.

“So…where are we off to?” asked Mai.

“Well, we have to go back to Black Crown Town,” replied Yugi. “We have to give back this ship to the ship owner at that town.”

“Oh, okay. Then I guess I’m off ladies. You all better take care of my place while I’m gone, you got that?”

“Of course, Mai!” shouted a harpy.

“We will do our best, Mai!” shouted another.

“Take care of yourself, Mai!”

“You guys better return Mai to us in one piece!”

The harpies then saluted Mai on her departure. She smiled as she began to walk alongside with Yugi and company. Along the way, she often teased Jonouchi by telling him that his girlfriend, Olga, would be waiting for him. Jonouchi just growled as he tried to grab Mai, but the harpy was a bit too sneaky and slipped out of his way. Anzu just rolled her eyes as Yugi and Miho giggled at the sight.