The crisp, star-filled desert night filled as background to the mighty egyptian city of Thebes. All was quiet aside from an occasional bark of a dog or piercing meow of an angry cat. The only people milling about were palace guards and now drunk peasants and merchants who'd overstayed their welcome in the city's pubs.
A young prince, barely fourteen stared out of the palace window with eager anticipation.
"Seto, hurry. It doesn't get any better than this!" the prince said in a quiet, yet commanding tone, his boyish voice cracking regularly with deeper tones of adulthood.
"Prince Yami, if we are caught, we will face the wrath of our mentors."
"You afraid?" the prince challenged.
"Never."
"Then come and stop filling your brain with negative possibilities. The night awaits!" the prince replied as he quietly flung himself out the window, lunging onto a ledge along the building.
The fledgling priest followed his long time friend, determined not be undermined by one over-ambitious prince, soon to be pharaoh. Taller and a bit lankier, the agile maneuver wasn't as easy for the young priest. He accomplished it, but with a few bruises and scraped body parts. Yami smirked. There were times when his short stature proved very worthwhile.
"Why must we scamper like rats?" the priest inquired as he and the prince slid among the shadows, narrow roadways, and other areas unbefitting for such high stature beings such as themselves.
"Because rats know where adventure and opportunity lie." the prince replied.
"This is beneath us. What would your father, the pharaoh say?"
"A mouthful I'm sure, but again, will you cease with the negativity. If you didn't want to come, then you should've stayed suckling under your mother's protective wings."
Bile surged into the young priest's throat, but he held himself in check. He and the prince were constantly challenging and testing each other mentally, physically, and in any other way possible. For them, their status meant nothing. They seemed like equals...and that was the problem. Neither would give way to the other. But, they shared a bond deeper than blood. They shared a common thread--mastery of the shadow world and its creatures. And although cousins, neither ever backed down from a duel or challenge. They were two wolves on the prowl, seeking prey to sink their teeth into and although neither would admit it, they were unstoppable as a team.
Prince Yami led the way, naturally seeking out the roughest, meanest portions of the city where the streets had the rank smell of warm urine, alcohol, and animal dung.
"And you enjoy this place? Perhaps you should have your head checked? A labotomy perhaps? I can arrange it." the young priest again complained while breathing as little as possible.
"Perhaps you should have yours checked. I thought you wanted to duel with the strongest of opponents?"
"I do."
"They are here amongst the scourge of our society Seto. These beings fight in every way just to survive. They are cunning, devious, and lecherous--perfect traits for powerful shadow creatures. Do you doubt me?"
"Of course not."
"Then will you kindly shut up...oh, and watch where your are ste---"
But before the prince could complete his warning, the priest growled in complete disgust. It gave Prince Yami a chance to finish his sentence.
"stepping. There's fresh horse and camel droppings everywhere."
The priest looked at his foot covers, removed one, and slid it along a ledge, trying to remove some of the sticky, smelly dung adhering defiantly to it. The prince stifled a chuckle, but it did not go unnoticed by his slightly older cousin.
"You like this don't you? You're amused in my suffering?" the priest mocked in challenge.
"Heheh, yeah." the prince replied with a cocky grin as he opted to continue onward, leaving the priest rushing to catch up.
The priest's blue eyes met the prince's violet ones in a challenging stare-down. But, the prince would have none of it. They had arrived at the prince's selected destination...a rough, dirty, nasty bar called, The Stallion's Nuts.
"Oh how your father would love to learn you frequent this place, prince." Priest Seto muttered under his breath.
The prince ignored his comment and like a regular, made his way to the bar's counter and ordered a mug of egyptian beer. He ordered one for his reluctant cousin as well.
Seto sniffed it before even considering drinking the vile stuff. He was more accustomed to the fineries of high class life with fine wines, fresh spring water, and other 'cleaner' looking liquids than this stuff. "It smells like piss. Perhaps it is?"
The prince downed his mug in one gulp then slid his arm across his mouth, wiping the froth mustauche away. "It's fine if you drink it quickly and not ponder its contents."
"I bet you'd drink my piss in the dark if I told you it was from this place."
"Doubtful, your piss would...." the prince trailed as a couple of burly men in the corner of the room caught his eye. One of which had an obvious scar upon his face. The priest's eyes followed the prince's. "And there are our first challengers."
"How do you know they know of the Shadow Games?" the priest whispered.
"If you doubt me, test their life force with the Millenium Rod."
"I cannot use the power of the rod in this place. We would be discovered for sure."
"Perhaps you don't need a brain transfusion afterall. "
The young priest was ready to clobber his royal cousin, but abstained. He was still driven by the rules of higher society. His younger cousin was the heir to the throne. Any infliction upon him would mean an infliction upon oneself. Before the priest could arrive at another come back line, the prince had already departed and was actually making conversation with the two scruffs in the corner! It was unbelievable! The future pharaoh actually communing with commoners lower than peasants! Worse yet, the prince had left the priest with the tab! Leaving a gold coin to the bartender, the priest reluctantly joined his friend at the table of the scruffs. As he listened in, he realized that the prince was testing them and challenging them at the same time...seeking out their kaa, or baa if need be as the two men grew ever more angrier, ever more annoyed. Once Yami had discovered what he sought, he did the unthinkable...he picked a fight. With a cat-like gesture, the prince had managed to spill both of the mens' tankards of beer onto their laps. The two men rose in fury and fists. Yami sidestepped their blows effortlessly. The priest found himself stepping backwards out of the way of all three. While he figured he could easily outfight the two men, he had no desire to waste his energy. Besides, it was the prince's fight.
Yami made a gesture to the two men that he wanted to take their conflict outside, away from the confines of the bar. He then winked at the priest to accompany them. With a smug grin, Seto followed.
"What know you of fighting whelp? Does your mother know you're disrespecting your elders!" one of the men taunted. Yet, the prince remained unphased. He simply continued to walk on, leading them towards a small temple. In the yard before it, stood two statues...one of a winged cobra, another, a rendition of the jackal-headed, Anubis. Yami gazed at the two statues, bowing his eyes in respect to the two statues unnoticably, aside from the priest, who did the same. It was one of the remote dueling platforms for Shadow Games. The two men, however, knew none of this. They were expecting a down and out brawl with two ego-headed young teens.
Beneath the prince's peasant cloak, the Millenium Puzzle glowed. The Millenium Rod hidden securely beneath the priest's did the same. They had only recently received these items from the pharaoh as they were being taught how to harness and master the Items' powers. Now, they only had to goad the two buffoons into releasing their own.
Upon seeing the seriousness in the two youths' eyes, the two men suddenly realized what form of fight the boys had chosen. For most peasants, Shadow Duels were accidental...a strange side effect of pure rage. Only a few discovered they could control this and harness it in the form of powerful, fighting creatures. Those who could, never spoke of such in open public. Like the game's namesake, the knowledge and ability to summon shadow creatures was something one kept as a deep, dark secret...unless beckoned by another of similar knowledge.
"Boy, your innocence deceives what you know."
"My innocence? My abilities are deadlier than you know. It would be a mistake to underestimate me." the prince replied as he eyeballed Priest Seto who let out a half chuckle, half cough upon hearing the word, 'innocence.' He and the prince were no innocents, in any respect of the word. Forced to grow up quickly, both youths were mentally beyond their physical years.
"And will your lover be joining us?" the other man asked in mocking reference to the quiet priest as he peeled the hood off his head, revealing long, whitish hair. The prince stifled a laugh. THAT line was a new one. But, nonetheless, he would defend the priest, who was obviously beginning to seethe from within.
"I was thinking the same of your own. But upon our victory, I and my friend will seek out the company of ladies. We have no trouble finding willing females...unlike the problem you two share."
The two men spat, as if snakes releasing venom. It was all going along to plan. The prince wanted these two at their best. The angrier these two would become, the more powerful their summoned creature could be. Glancing at Seto, Yami knew he was ready and just waiting for the actual duel to begin.
A strange swath of eerie, dark clouds enveloped the quartet. They were summoning the energies of another realm...a realm of deadly creatures and powerful magic...the Shadow Realm.
"Ladies first." the prince mocked as he urged the two ruffians to summon their best. The two men were confident that no mere boys could summon strong monsters. The boys seemed too young and two innocent to have mastered the game just yet. Oh how they should have heeded the prince's warning of underestimation!
The two men brought forth two gruesome beasts, though the white haired man obviously had better skills than his partner. Yami took careful note of this. One beast looked something like a crab while the other an insect of some sort.
"Before we summon, may I have the courtesy of knowing the names of whom I am dueling against?" Yami inquired, perhaps a bit more elegantly than he should have. The white haired man eyed him suspiciously.
The white haired man answered for both he and his partner. "I am Bakura. This is Paneb, my collegue. And your names, boys?"
Seto looked at Yami with a near panic. Surely their names then status would be known if spoken. Luckily, the prince had already thought of that. " I am Ramose and my moody partner is, Kaha." The priest's eyes became slits as he eyed his prince. It was a warning that he'd get even at some point.
"So boys, we await your summoning. Our beasts haven't feasted in days."
Before Yami could reply, Seto had already summoned a dragon-like creature. It was a typical reaction of the rash young priest. He always came out with raw power as a show of force. Yami opted for a more subtle creature...a large white wolf-like beast. As Yami's creature took an attack stance, Seto was busy muttering some incantation. Leave it to the priest to pull out all the stops.
Suddenly the prince realized what his priest cousin was up to. "Hey wait! No!" But the priest grinned smugly and continued with his incantation. "I do get even." he whispered between verses. With a bright flash, Yami's monster was sacraficed to strengthen the priest's monster.
Bakura laughed. These two liked to duel, but not as a team...at least according to one of the boys. Now one boy was left wide open to attack with no monster summoned. Bakura wasted no time in seizing the opportunity. He commanded his insect-beast to attack the defenseless one.
Yami swore under his breath as he saw the attack coming towards him. He braced for its impact, but it never came. The priest's monster deflected the blow then torched the insect's head right off!
Bakura reeled in pain as his monster met its demise. Paneb launched his crab monster, but it was too weak. Seto's dragon beast mashed it into crab cakes. Paneb fell to the ground, in obvious pain.
"I told you I could do it alone." Seto boasted.
"You didn't do it alone. You sacraficed MY monster to power yours up." Yami reminded him as he growled. He wanted to duel and he was denied!
"Perhaps you should summon another monster and we should duel against each other?"
"Forget it."
"Afraid of my beast?"
"Hardly. Look, we'd better return to you know where before we get whipped on the you know what." Yami suggested. Seto craned his eyes upward towards the sky. Yes, it would be morning sooner than they wished. "Fine then. Another time perhaps."
"You can count on that." Yami replied. He then noticed the two ruffians regaining their footing, though stumbling. The booze and the shadow fight would give them one hell of a headache in the morning. "A privledge kicking your asses." Yami replied with a subtle bow.
Almost immediately Bakura recognized the smaller boy. "Prince!? Heheheh, it IS you isn't it? If only I had known before the duel. Ah well, it makes no difference, I know your little secret now. And I can presume this is that ego-headed priest friend of yours." Bakura snarled as he pointed to the taller boy.
Seto scowled and prepared to launch a fist, but Yami held him back. "You presume correctly, but know this, it matters not if you know of us here or not."
"We'll see your royalness...we'll see." Bakura replied as he assisted his buddy up. Both stumbled away into the confines of the village.
"Great, that loser knows who we are and where we were. What if he rats on us?"
"Seto, firstly, name a guard that would let such a ruffian enter the palace walls? Secondly, he's half drunk and then took a beating in a shadow duel. He probably won't remember this night and if he does, he will want revenge. So, he won't want us in trouble and confined to the palace now would he?"
"Fine. Let's just get back before we cook our own asses."
Yami and Seto ran through the village as fast as they could. As they did, a cat lept out of a window and landed upon Seto. With its forward momentum, it sent the surprised priest flying sideways into the prince. Both crashed solidly into a pile of garbage.
"Curse the damn cats!" Seto yelled then continued to mutter a swarm of other nasty words of the day. Seto wasn't very good with animals to begin with and revered cats seemed to pose the largest issues with the young priest.
"Cats can't be cursed. They have god-like status. If you curse them, you curse yourself to a rough life." The prince said. He then looked at the mess upon himself and scowled. Rather than entering through the kitchen or laundry wing, they'd now have to enter back through the prince's bedchamber. Otherwise, their smell would tip off anyone who came into contact with them that they were somewhere they weren't supposed to be.
Both boys stood and brushed themselves off as best they could. Yami looked down the path, he could see the palace walls. "Seto, just remove the common robe. We're close enough to the palace now and we have to use an alternative entrance now anyway."
As both flung their peasants' robes into the pile of trash, they continued on their run. They slinked their way along the castle walls and slipped into a secret doorway on the backside of the palace wall. Using a rarely used passageway, the two boys eeked their way deeper into the palace. Yami had wanted to climb the tree to his bedchamber, but the priest protested. So, they were forced to slink through the palace like the rats they despised.
They reached the upper levels of the palace with success and were in the wing of their bedchambers. Seto reached his first as Yami continued down the hallway. With a grin of victory and a sigh of relief, he opened the door to his bechambers. Suddenly his grin turned into a scowl. Akunadin, his mentor was there to greet him just inside the doorway. Lowering his head in defeat, Seto prepared for whatever he was going to receive.
Down the hall, Yami whipped his bedchamber's door open while in a full run. He skated to a halt as two figures blocked his way deeper into his room.
"Greetings father, I was just well, funny thing happened on my way to my bedchambers this evening..." Yami sputtered. His mind was racing for the right words to talk his way out, but deep down, he knew he was busted.
"Son." the pharaoh sternly replied. His tall frame stood firm and his arms crossed gave the prince every indication that this wasn't a friendly social call by his father. The prince's mentor, Simon, also stood defiantly at the pharaoh's side. "I can explain." Yami muttered softly.
"I'm sure you'll try." Yami's father replied as he shut the door thus preventing his son from any wily escape attempt.
to be continued...