Lion's Mouth: Part 2 (Yu-Gi-Oh)

Chapter 18

Chapter 18

Yugi picked me up at my house early the first day of Duelist Kingdom. Actually, Yugi and Yami had already merged into one. I suddenly realized that, even for me, this duality would be highly confusing. How would I know who to address? It was easy for everyone else who would take him for Yugi alone. I would have to pay careful attention to tell who spoke to me.

After much teasing from my brothers, we exited my house. Then Yugi turned around to face me. "Samia, I've been thinking about something." It was Yami who spoke. "We can communicate through our mind when you touch the Millennium Puzzle, correct?"

I nodded. "That's right."

"Let us see if we can use the Puzzle and your powers to connect our minds so we will always be able to communicate in that way."

"Could we really do that?" The idea filled me with happiness.

He smiled. "It would not hurt to try. Go ahead and touch the Puzzle."

I placed my hand on top of the Millennium Puzzle, and Yami placed both of his hands on top of mine. I focused hard on our connection. I could feel some sort of power coming through the Puzzle and into me. Once the power faded, I let go of the Puzzle and looked up at Yami.

"Samia? Can you hear me?"

Excitement bubbled inside me. "I can hear you!"

Yami smiled and nodded. "Good. We can talk this way if you need to speak to me rather than Yugi."

"Sounds good to me!"

We smiled at each other and then departed for the train station. I was glad we had found this solution. Now it was like we would always be together even if no one around us knew it. And no one would give me off looks for the way I talked to 'Yugi.'

We arrived at the city center plaza just as fireworks were lit overhead. The plaza swarmed with duelists, some with good intentions and others with ill motives. Either way, they all had powerful emotions that made me dizzy. I really had to work on blocking them out.

Many of the duelists we knew greeted us, including Mai. I smiled and nodded when appropriate. In all honesty, I wanted the duels to start so I would have something to focus on All of this stimulation was overwhelming. Eventually, Yugi broke away from the crowd to search for Joey. I tried to use my senses to find him, but there were way too many people around for that to work.

We were on the roof to get a better view when Kaiba's voice rang throughout the plaza. I looked up to see an airship decked out with huge video screens, all displaying Kaiba's face. He explained the tournament rules, including some dueling rules he had changed to make the game more difficult. The duel disks contained trackers so he could keep an eye on all the duels. A bit paranoid, if you ask me. The clear card every duelist received was locator card, and six of the cards stacked together would reveal the location of the finals, which only eight duelists were allowed to enter. Apparently, even Kaiba, who would also be dueling, did not know the location. Finally, he announced the beginning of the tournament, and the chaos and noise resumed.

I caught sight of a blonde-haired streak chasing a guy in a purple hood. "There's Joey!" I pointed down at the street.

"Good work," Yugi said. "Let's catch up with him!"

We ran down to the street just in time to watch Joey angrily corner the other man. From the looks of it, this was the guy who beat him in a duel and won his Red Eyes Black Dragon card. He did not appear interested in dueling him again. There was something ominous about this stranger that made me shiver. What's more, the robe he wore resembled the one Bandit Keith had when someone forced him to steal the Millennium Puzzle! So, these Rare Hunters were our enemy?