"Bakura!" Atem shouted. "Get away from her!" Bakura looked up from Anika to Atem. He let out a scoff then looked back at Anika. "Atem..." Anika whispered under her breath, both relieved and surprised to see him there.

"Why should I?" Bakura asked.

"I know you're up to no good, and I don't want you dragging Anika in with you." Atem answered in a raised voice.

"Oh-ho!" Bakura exclaimed "So how do you know what I'm doing isn't for the better for this girl?" he kept spitting out questions.

"Because I care for her, and I would never let anyone or anything harm her! And you're one of those things! " he shouted. There was a long pause. Anika's eyes grew wide, tears began to slowly form in the corners.

"So... I'm not... 'nothing important'?" she stuttered, breaking the silence. Atem looked down at her.

"Anika..." he murmured to himself. "No..." He said out loud. "You're very important to me. Why would you think of something so preposterous?"

"I heard you tell the guard you were doing 'nothing important' after we were practicing, and then Bakura said that..." Anika trailed off. Atem answered,

"I only said that because I thought you wanted to keep it just between us at that point. I really do care about you, and I would never say you were nothing important and mean it." Anika looked up at Atem, she could feel tears making their way to her eyes. 'So he does care....' she thought happily.

"What lies." Bakura shook his head.

"What?!" Atem exclaimed.

"You may want the power inside of this girl," he said, and gestured to Anika, "but honestly, she's a lot more trouble then you think." He smirked. "I'll be happy to take her out of your hands."

"I'll be happy if you never laid a hand on her!" Atem angrily responded.

"I already have, and nothing's stopping me from doing it again!" He spun around to grab Anika, who stumbled backwards and fell. Bakura went to grab for her.

"Freeze Spell!" A voice yelled from behind Atem. Bakura couldn't move, he was stopped in his tracks. 'What is this?' he thought. 'I Can't...move...'

"Anika!" Atem called to her, his hand outreached. It took a moment for Anika to realize what was going on. She scrambled to her feet and ran into Atem's arms. Atem looked to see Priests Mahad, Seto, and Shada along with Isis all on horseback next to him. They all got off their horses, running to a still Bakura, about to summon their monsters.

"Master Bakura!" one of his followers called out, also running to Bakura. More of Bakura's men repeated the first one's actions, and encircled Bakura. One of them smashed something on the ground, creating a large cloud of smoke, obscuring everyone's vision. "Don't let him escape!" Seto yelled. As the smoke cleared, everyone saw that Bakura and his men were gone. Anika clung to Atem as they all heard Bakura's voice,

"You haven't seen the last of me... You can bet I'll be back for her..."

Anika was gripping onto Atem while he had his arms around her as they both stared at the village ruins. Anika turned away and buried her face I Atem's shirt. No matter how tightly she closed her eyes or deep she dug into Atem, there was no way of ridding the sound of Bakura's voice off the destroyed walls and his face from Anika's mind. She shuddered, slightly fading both. She and Atem loosed their hold on one another.

"Search the area for a while." Atem called to Mahad and the others. They all nodded and did as they were told. He turned back to Anika. "Are you alright?" he asked. Anika looked up at Atem, then back down.

"Yes... I'm fine..." she answered quietly. "How did you find me here?" she added after a moment of silence.

"Isis had a vision that you were here, in danger." Atem said. Anika gave a nod.

"Oh..."

"What made you come here?" Atem kept asking questions. Anika sighed.

"I'm not quite sure. I had sensed something coming from the village, like something was going to happen."

"I see." Atem responded. "As adventurous anyone may be, you may be, if you think that something bad is going to happen... Please, tell me." Anika lowered her head before nodding once.

"Ok. I'm sorry."

"It's alright." Atem held her close to him and soon Anika released her tension.

After a while, Mahad, Seto, and Shada returned with no clues of Bakura. They all rode back to the palace, Anika sitting behind Atem. As Atem was putting his horse in the stable, he noticed Anika in deep thought. "Something the matter?" he asked. His voice almost made Anika jump.

"Huh? Oh... Um... no. I'm fine." As Atem turned his back on her, Anika murmured quietly, "I can't believe I owe him my life." Atem still heard her.

"What are you talking about?" Atem said. Anika sighed.

"Well," she began, "Remember how I said the village you found me in was my second home?" Atem turned to face Anika. "Yes." Anika sighed as she told Atem the story of when she was younger; it was Bakura that had saved her from the rest of the villagers. "That's why I owe him my life." Anika ended. "If he hadn't helped me, Khalil and I would surely have been killed." Atem shook his head.

"You don't owe him anything. Maybe if he was on our side and not trying to come after you, you could surely repay him somehow. But this time, he's hurt you, and he's trying to get at something that not his, you can't owe him anything. He's using that story as an excuse, a shortcut, possibly." There was a long pause. Atem lowered his voice. "I understand why you feel the way that you do. But now he's the enemy." Atem walked over and put his hand on Anika's shoulder. Anika was tense, but Atem's touch made her relax a bit. "Everything will be fine. We're making the next move, Anika. Soon this situation will be over and dealt with." Anika tensed up again.

"It's not that simple." she said.

"I know." Atem barely got the words out of his mouth before Anika backed away a little.

"Atem!" She shot. "Bakura will stop at nothing to kill you!" She fell back into Atem's arms, sobbing. Atem held her and stroked her hair.

"I know... He's persistent." He whispered to Anika. "But I promise nothing is going to happen to anyone, or anything. Especially you. And I'll stand my ground even if the odds are against us. Against all of us." He held her back a little and wiped the tears from her face. No later, Shada came in.

"Prince Atem," he said. "We couldn't find a trace of Bakura.

"He escaped." Atem said, slightly annoyed. "Persistent and tricky." He thought for a moment. "Alright, since Bakura can't be found now, we'll head back to the palace. We'll just have to keep an extra keen lookout for him. A very good eye so we can make the next move before he does.

"Yes, sir!" the guards responded in near unison.

"Let's go." Atem said to Anika, leading him back to his horse. Anika got on first with Atem behind her. "Hand me the reigns?" she asked. Anika leaned by the horse's bit and grabbed the dangling reign to hand to Atem. "Maybe we can talk later tonight, ok?" he suggested as he held the reign with both hands. His arms were on either sides of Anika. She blushed slightly, but nodded.

"Yeah." She answered softly.

"Alright, men!" he called over his shoulder. "Let's head out!" as Atem's horse took of with the snap of the reigns. All his men did the same and followed him back to the palace.

About an hour had passed since she arrived back to the palace. She wanted the night to start falling immediately. Apparently it wasn't falling fast enough for her, even though the sun was starting to dip from its high position in the sky. "Maybe Mana or Khalil are around..." Anika began searching for either of them without any luck. "So the deal with these two villages." She heard Atem speak as she neared the meeting room. "Since they are fighting and stealing, we should go down there to sort things out. And if needed---" that was all that Anika heard as she walked away from the room.

Anika began walking up and down the halls, looking for either her brother or Mana. No one seemed to be around. Anika had her head down when Mana found her walking.

"There you are!" Mana called out. Anika turned. Mana smiled a little, but it turned into a calm, yet concerned look. "Are you ok?" Mana asked quietly. Anika nodded slowly.

"I never seem to stay out of the excitement, don't I?" She mentioned, in a way, slightly scolding herself for stirring things up. Anika started talking about what happened at her village. Afterwards, Mana began to talk about how herd the last of her lessons were, just for a different subject, an attempt to cheer the girl up. As they were talking, Atem came up to them. He didn't look too happy.

"Something the matter?" Anika asked.

Atem sighed, "We just got more news about two villages that are fighting. A rumor started about someone nearly killing someone else." Both girls gasped. "We're going to figure things out, and it probably will take the rest of the night. I have to leave in the morning. I'm very sorry, Anika, we can't talk tonight." Anika smiled and shook her head.

"Don't be sorry, things come up. I understand." Atem smiled.

"thanks, I needed that." Anika stood and gave him a hug. "I needed that, too."

"Group hug!" Mana exclaimed, putting her arms around both of them. Everyone laughed at the spontaneity of the moment.

"I think we all needed that." Mana said, letting go of the two.

"When I go off to the villages to work out the situation, don't go wandering around, alright, Anika? I want you to stay here, where it's safe." He winked, making a small joke. Anika was a bit tense, but it seemed that whatever Atem did made her a little calmer as she let out a small chuckle.

"Yes, I'll stay." She answered.

"Good." Atem said. He looked slightly behind Anika, and saw Khalil coming up behind Anika very quietly. Atem smiled, and tried not to laugh. Anika looked at him funny, now suspicious.

"What is so-- Ahh!" she let out a small yell as Khalil grabbed her waist. "Hello, there." She said, looking down at him.

"Where were you earlier today?" Khalil asked.

"Just out." She answered. Khalil had a feeling that Anika was in danger, and Anika knew that. However, she didn't want her little brother to worry. She turned back to Atem.

"Get plenty of rest!" she smiled.

Atem nodded, "Will do. I should get back to the meeting now, the break is probably long over."

"See you tomorrow morning?" Anika asked.

"If our paths meet, yes."

Mana, Anika, and Khalil watched Atem leave for a moment before talking once again. Mana whispered,

"So what were you and the prince going to talk about?" a sly smile was on her lips. Hoping the answer would be something juicy. Anika shrugged.

"Oh well, you know, nothing important."

Atem yawned as he made his way back to his room. It was dark outside, probably midnight. He stopped short to take a quick look at Anika. He slowly pulled back the curtain and peered inside. No Anika. A flashback of the day's events whizzed through his mind. "She safe, she's safe, she's safe." Atem mouthed, calming himself down. He knew that he had to only check one place: the roof. As he got to the last step, he saw something lying on the roof. Atem let out one light chuckle as he closed on Anika. Though it was dark, he could still see her face. She looked so peaceful. The prince gently picked her up and carried her back to her room. "Sleep well, Anika. See you in the morning." He bent down to kiss her, but she turned over before he had the chance. Atem smiled and softly touched her cheek before making his way to his own bed across the hall.

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Far from the palace in his secret hiding place, Bakura was recovering from Mahad's spell, which had somehow slightly weakened him. He shook his arms, and stretched.

"Alright..." he began. "Time to go down to those two villages and see how my plan is working..."

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It was bright and early in the morning as Anika tiredly made her way to the stables. She stood near Atem and his horse, stretching every once and a while.

"This shouldn't take long." Atem told Anika. "When I get back, we'll figure it all out, and then work on some things, if you wish." Anika knew what he meant by "some things" and nodded her head. Her power and how to control them. "Alright then. Let's move out!" he instructed as he and his group of all the priests and a few guards all rode off into the distance.

"Be safe." Anika murmured.

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Atem and about a dozen other men were closing in on the two neighboring, and arguing, villages. A cloud of smoke was seen on the horizon before the men on horseback were visible. Some people noticed the dust cloud increase in size as the men drew nearer.

"It's the Prince!" a villager shouted, once he saw someone coming closer. Both villages crowded outside to meet Atem and the priests. Both villages were very nice, only a wide road separated them. Once they had arrived, the same man said, "Please, sire, please help us to resolve this problem." he bowed slightly. Atem nodded. All the men got off of their horses and stood in the wide street between the markets.

"We'll get to the bottom of this." He assured the man. "Now, this all started with a stolen horse, correct?" many people nodded. "Does anyone know who it was that stole the horse?" Everyone looked at each other, but no one seemed to know.

"It was someone not from either village, an outsider." A woman's voice said.

"Stop covering the truth!" another woman responded. Everyone started arguing and throwing blames on each other.

"Everyone, please, settle down!" Atem yelled over all the noise. It was almost immediately silent. Atem drew in a long breath. "Now then..." he began. There was then a small bird-like chirping noise heard. The villagers all let out some type of gasp or scream as many robed men suddenly surrounded all the villagers, swords in hand and pointing to almost everyone. No one moved. They were Bakura's men, Atem and the priests knew in an instant. No later had everyone been surrounded, Bakura appeared in the wide road between the villages.

"Long time no see, Prince," Bakura said, spitting out the last word.

"Impossible..." Mahad whispered. Mahad had figured that Bakura would have broken the spell, but it should have weakened him considerably. Here Bakura stood as if he was never put under a spell at all.

"What business do you have here?" Atem demanded. Bakura shrugged.

"I had to get you here somehow." Atem was silent.

'Was this all a setup?' he thought.

"We'll soon see how mighty his majesty is."

"How dare you defile--" Seto broke in.

"Seto, stop!" Atem exclaimed as some of Bakura's men drew closer to the villagers.

"I have some questions to ask you." Bakura said in a serious tone. He waited a bit, "Do you ever doubt your strength?" he finally asked. Atem did not move or answer. "Do you wonder how you will make it as a Pharaoh?"

'He's trying to corrupt my mind, like he tried Anika's.' Atem thought as Bakura went on. "Do you think that you can save, or even protect, all these people at once?" Atem looked around him, seeing everyone scared with sharp points only mere inches from their faces.

"What are you trying to get at?"

"This is going to be the ultimate battle." Bakura explained. "To see who is stronger." He smirked. "To see who has the strength to rule over this country, with everything attached."

"If you think you're going to win over this country, my country, over a single battle, you're sadly mistaken." Atem declared.

"If you don't fight, I'll wipe out these entire villages." Bakura threatened. Atem looked around again. After waiting not even a minute, Bakura announced. "Time's up!" a robed man held up his hand, holding a small round object.

"No! He's got another smoke pellet!" Shada exclaimed. He tried to stop the man from throwing it on the ground, but it was too late. A thick cloud covered the area. Many people coughed.

"Prince Atem!" all the priests cried in almost unison. There was no answer. Once the smoke cleared, Bakura and Atem was nowhere to be found.

"Where did they go?" Seto questioned.

"They vanished, just like before..." Shada stated. At the same time, Bakura's men had slightly backed away, as there was a long exhale from everyone. "We have to keep these people safe..." Shada said.

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Anika was back at the palace, talking with Mana as Khalil continued playing. Anika suddenly shuddered.

"Are you ok?" Mana asked.

"I'm fine, it was just a chill." Anika smiled a little. Mana nodded. "Atem..." Anika thought. "Please, be safe."

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Atem opened his eyes to find himself in a large, dimly lit room. The room was twice as long as it was wide. There were a few pillars, along with two huge doorways. There were large platforms near each of these doorways. Atem was on one of them. It seemed like a giant pit twenty to thirty feet below. He looked from side to side, wondering how he got where he was.

"Now that you're fully aware of your surroundings, shall we begin?" Bakura's voice said. Atem turned to see Bakura facing him from the other side of the room. He was on the opposite platform.

"What are you up to now, Bakura?" Atem asked.

"There are many details, but it's quite simple." He paused before continuing. "We are going to have a duel to see who's stronger, who's more fit to rule this land, and who is willing to sacrifice what to get... or keep... what they what." Atem clenched his fist.

"That seemed simple, so what are the details?" he demanded. Bakura smiled.

"If I win this battle, I become Pharaoh, no one gets hurt. Except you, of course and maybe you little girlfriend." He snickered.

Atem clenched both fists now. 'I'll never let him harm Anika!' Atem calmed down quickly before asking, "And if I win?"

"If you win, you keep your title, but as soon as my men see that you've won, they will extinguish every life in those two villages." Atem scoffed.

"What kind of ruler destroys his own people?"

"What's a few people? Your palace would be cleaned out as well." Bakura shrugged and paused again. "Don't worry, I won't destroy all the people." He said slyly. Atem knew immediately he was referring to Anika.

"Don't you lay a single hand on her..." he muttered.

There was a slight rumble within the shadows of the area. Atem tensed a bit and took a small step back. Diabound was suddenly visible and snaked through the room violently before resting beside Bakura.

"Enough small talk." Bakura stated. "Let's begin."

'Bakura must not have thought this plan out thoroughly.' Atem thought. "Diabound is strong, but he must have forgotten I can summon an Egyptian God." Atem let a small smirk appear on his lips.

"All right Bakura, I'll play your game. And I'll protect every life at the same time." He raised his arm to show his diadiakh, and then he brought it in front of his face in one giant motion. "Obelisk the Tormentor, come forth!" Atem yelled as his diadiakh glowed as a blue light appeared on Atem's side of the room. Tension was high as both yelled out,

"Get ready to lose!"

Atem stared angrily at Bakura. 'I have to end this quickly. Who knows what plans Bakura has up his sleeve.'

"First attack honors are mine," Bakura declared.

"Loosing will be yours, too." Atem muttered, preparing to fight. Bakura chuckled.

"There's more to this game than you think Prince..." Bakura quickly stated before yelling,

"Diabound, attack!" Diabound shot a ray of dark energy towards Atem and Obelisk. Atem shouted,

"Obelisk! Counter---!" then suddenly stopped, he sensed something wrong, and he could barely move. "C-counter attack!" he managed to choke out. But it was too late. Obelisk could only half-defend him self against the attack. Obelisk was hit. Atem went down on his knees, clutching his chest. "What... just--" he said in a harsh whisper. He looked behind him to Obelisk. A dark green mist floated around. It was some sort of spell. Not only that, the room they were in was too small for Obelisk to move freely like Diabound. Atem looked around, thinking of a way to get out of the mess he was in.

"Better make your move before it happens."

"Before what happens?" Atem asked, beginning to stand up.

"Attack again, Diabound!" Atem took a step back.

"No!" Atem yelled. "Obelisk-" He looked again. Obelisk was still stuck.

"Too little, too late!" Bakura laughed as Diabound's attack hit Obelisk. Atem yelled out in pain as he went on his knees again. He was running out of energy, and fast.

'This wasn't supposed to happen.' Atem thought. 'Only two attacks and I'm on my knees and can't get up. Even though all of Bakura's tricks, his Diabound seems stronger. What else has Bakura done to tip this fight in his favor?' Bakura began to speak,

"I told you my plan was simple, but had many details. I did happen to leave some out. Oops. Sorry." The last two words mocked the prince. Atem coughed.

"Like what?" he muttered angrily.

"The fight between the two villages was a way to get you where I wanted, and also, it was a distraction." Bakura explained. Atem glared at him. "Diabound increased his strength through training and sacrifice."

"Sacrifice?" Atem echoed. "You don't mean--"

"A strong Pharaoh has to make a few sacrifices to become stronger, doesn't he?" Bakura laughed.

"You're a monster." Atem growled.

"And you're about to lose your title!" Bakura declared.

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Anika suddenly sensed something wrong. She stood and walked to the door.

"I'll... be right back." She told Mana and Khalil with a smile. She quickly went to the roof and looked over to the horizon. "Atem..." Anika said. "I don't know what's going on, but please, be safe. Don't give up!"

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Atem heard Anika calling out to him, he stood, glaring at Bakura.

'I won't let you down, Anika.' he thought, as he turned away from Bakura. "Obelisk! Return." Atem ordered, as Obelisk disappeared.

"Giving up already?" Bakura asked.

"On the contrary, I'm just warming up." Atem shot the look in his eyes had intensified greatly. "Slifer the Sky Dragon! Help me win this fight!" he yelled out as his diadiakh glowed once more. Slifer appeared in place if Obelisk. "New strength and a new strategy." Atem smiled. "This is where things get interesting."

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Isis's Millennium Necklace began to glow as she received a vision.

"Seto." She called to him. Seto turned to her and nodded, waiting for her to continue. "I just had a vision." She began to explain. "Sometime while we are here, all of Bakura's men will attack the villagers."

"Hmmm..." was Seto's response. "Mahad, Shada," he called. "We have another situation on our hands."

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Bakura looked at Slifer, then to Atem. He was looking around quickly, planning something.

"Changing your strategy at the end of a battle?" He questioned.

"A minor change of plans." Atem explained. "I don't think your tricks can work with Slifer the Sky Dragon."

"We'll see about that." Bakura snickered.

"We will see. We'll see that I may have a trick of my own, Bakura." Atem thought. Atem had a plan and was about to put it into action. "Slifer!" Atem called out. "Thunderbolt attack!" Slifer opened his mouth as a ball of light emerged and shot to Bakura's side.

"Winding Shield!" Bakura responded quickly. Diabound projected a blue barricade, only to have it be blasted through by Slifer. The impact knocked Bakura down. "Frontal assault!" Bakura said, getting up. Diabound moved closer to Atem.

"Fine by me." Atem replied and sent Slifer to do the same. Diabound and Slifer circled each other in the large room, trying to find a point to strike. Slifer quickly circled Diabound and went to strike. Diabound quickly moved out of the way but was hit by Slifer's tail. Before Slifer could get another attack in, Diabound quickly blasted him. Both sides were formidable as Atem and Bakura yelled out commands, one after another. Once both monster and human alike were getting worn, they stopped the frontal attacks. Atem and Bakura were breathing hard, Atem looked a bit weary.

"Feeling light-headed, Prince?" Bakura mocked. Atem shot him an angry glance. "I have plenty of fight left, Bakura." Atem assured him. "Slifer as well!" he claimed as Slifer wound around the room between Atem and Bakura. A faint light appeared on Atem's side, a faint "coo" was heard, but ignored. Once Slifer had returned to Atem's side, Bakura noticed Atem was hunched over.

"He didn't use his energy wisely." Bakura chuckled to himself. "Diabound..." he said to his monster, "Gather enough strength to destroy the pathetic excuse for a Prince!" Atem looked up quickly, sudden panic made his eyes wide.

"Slifer, be ready!" Atem gasped. Slifer shifted and prepared to counter attack.

"This is the end!" Bakura yelled. "Diabound, DESTROY!" Diabound aimed for Atem and was about to attack. He leaned back to thrust out a wave of energy. As he was about to move forward, a small ball of fur popped in Diabound's view, letting out a small "coo" sound as before. The small creature bounced around in Diabound's view, entirely obscuring it at times. Bakura looked back behind him. "NOW! Helical Shockwave!" Bakura yelled at Diabound. The attack was powerful, almost too powerful for Diabound to handle. The wave of energy went to Atem's side of the room, but missed entirely. The attack made the area shake violently. Large slabs of rock fell from the ceiling. A select few of the pillars trembled and other cracked considerably. Bakura got much weaker from that play. "What was that?" he growled, stumbling a step forward. He saw the brown little creature make its way to the other side of the room.

"That..." Atem chuckled. "was Kuriboh." He simply said as he stood completely erect. "Thank you." Atem said to Kuriboh flew over to him and disappeared. Kuriboh gave Atem a bit of extra energy as he left. The prince inhaled deeply, ready for another assault on the enemy.

"Nice trick." Bakura mumbled angrily after his attack didn't work. Kuriboh had distracted Diabound, making him loose focus and wasted energy with his most powerful attack. He saw Atem had fooled him to thinking he was weaker as well. Still, Atem was a bit fatigued. "However, that stunt you pulled is only prolonging your defeat." Bakura mentioned. Atem had gotten a small amount of energy back from Kuriboh, but he was still not at his strongest, and he was breathing a bit heavier. But he had to finish it here. He had to.

"Bakura, now, this is the end! This last attack is for everyone who suffered because of your thieving ways!" Bakura looked up at Atem.

"I saved your girlfriend! You should be grateful." He smirked when he saw Atem's movement back. Anika obviously had told him something about that night.

Atem shouted back, "That may be, however, you have nullified that deed with trying to kidnap her, not to mention destroying her village! That's unforgivable!"

"You have no idea what she can do. You've seen her powers. What would happen if she lost control? Many lives would be lost. It's still not too late, prince." Bakura suggested. "You can still give her over to me. Save you... a little bit of trouble."

"Never."

"You're stubborn." Bakura groaned. Atem knew he was talking to waste time so he could regain some energy.

'I need to make him think he has the upper hand.' The prince thought. 'He's pretty overconfident already, trying to make me have second thoughts about Anika...'

"Could it be that you... love her?" Bakura's voice slammed into Atem's thoughts hard. His heart skipped a beat, breath quickened ever so slightly.

'Don't slip up now!' Atem warned himself. "Love is a strong word, Bakura." He told him. "I don't 'love' Anika, but she has grown close to me. It's something a thief would never understand."

Bakura laughed. "That's a lie! You shouldn't lie to the people of Egypt, prince. It won't look good towards the--"

"Slifer! Muster all the strength that you can and attack with Dual Lightning Blast!" Slifer opened his mouth to release the attack. Bakura was caught off guard, his overconfidence got the best of him. Slifer's attack was headed straight for him and Diabound.

"D-Diabound," Bakura ordered, stuttering at first. "Let's finish this with Capture and Rebound Defense!" Diabound opened his arms wide as a translucent shield appeared. "It's over!" Bakura exclaimed. Slifer's attack was caught right in Diabound's trap. Atem let a small smile appear on his face. "All according to plan." He thought. Bakura had his arm outreached as he commanded, "Now Diabound, return Slifer's attack and--" he stopped to see a second attack coming towards him.

"'Dual' is in 'two separate attacks' not 'doubled power'!" Atem explained simply as Bakura took a step back; his trap had not caught Atem, but Bakura himself.

"No! This was not how it was supposed to be!" he yelled as Slifer's second blast collided with his first in Diabound's trap. Both attacks exploded immediately on impact, creating a blinding light. Slifer's double attack made the room shake violently. Bakura had lost everything as Diabound was destroyed. Diabound let out a final cry as he shattered in the light.

"It's over." Atem said softly as he dropped to one knee. He heard Bakura scream at him.

"This isn't where it ends! I'll be back and I'll achieve what is mine!" Atem breathed heavily as the light faded away. He stood, staggered, and looked over to the other side of the room. Bakura, as far as Atem could tell, was face-down and unmoving.

"Let it be known," he began. "Egypt is safe from true evil." Dark spirits took care of the rest as Bakura slowly faded away and finally disappeared. He turned to Slifer. "Thank you, Slifer the Sky Dragon." Atem said, bowing slightly. "Egypt will rest peacefully tonight because of you and Obelisk the Tormenter." Slifer gave a short roar and returned to his domain. "Now to get out of here..." Atem sighed. A gasp escaped him as a rumble was heard behind him. He turned to see a trap door revealing a secret passage opened along the wall. Atem looked around for another exit. Nothing. This was the only way. Atem nodded and went through. It was like a maze inside. Nearly pitch black darkness, with only his hand tracing the walls to guide him. He took a left, a right, and hit a dead end. "Well this is going perfectly." He mumbled, unpleased with his situation. After retracing his steps, and what seemed like more than an hour, he stubbed his toe. He cried out in pain, feeling what he hit on the floor. A staircase. He followed it up, took the only turn he could, and he could see sunlight through cracks in the door. He forcefully pushed one open, sending it across the Egyptian sand. He climbed out of the darkness and into the bright open desert. Atem shielded his eyes from the bright sun as he escaped the underground room. "Now that that's over..." Atem began. "Time to figure out how to get back." He looked to the sky once again. It was after midday, the sun was headed to where it would set on the horizon. Atem knew that the palace faced south, so he had to make sure that the sun would always be to his right as he headed north. Atem only hoped he wasn't too far away, and that he wouldn't miss his target. "I should have asked Bakura for directions." Atem gave a small chuckle to amuse himself. "But knowing him, he would have lied." Atem said as he followed his own direction.

Back at the twin villages, Isis and the other priests were tense. They did not know where Atem was, plus Isis had predicted that Bakura's men were going to attack, the question was when.

"Never let your guard down." Shada had instructed. "We need to be ready, for these people's sake."

Atem had been walking for quite some time as he approached a large dune. There was no way to go but up. Even though he was exhausted, Atem climbed the sandy dune. Once he was at the top, Atem's eyes widened and he smiled a bit when he saw what lie on the other side. The two villages! Atem let out a sigh of relief. Everyone in the area saw Atem appear over the hill.

"It's Prince Atem!" they exclaimed.

"Thank Ra." The prince said. "I won over Bakura, I didn't get lost, and everyone's safe." He took a step forward before panic caught him.

"If you win, you keep your title, but as soon as my men see that you've won, they will extinguish every life in those two villages." Bakura's voice echoed in his mind.

"No..." Atem whispered.

"You know the plan, right?" One of Bakura's men said to the others. The army was still surrounding the villagers. The robed men all nodded. "Right." The same man said. "Kill them all!!" he shouted.

"No!" Atem shouted as he helplessly ran down the dune.

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(A/N:) Dun dun dun DUN! Well, this is going to be interesting. Not a huge cliff-hanger. (Do you think so?) When I was first writing these, they were in parts of 500 words or so, and at the end was something of a cliff-hanger. I hope to update more often, since I won't have to edit so much (I can tell where I started to write better with this! XD less editing = happy me = more frequent updates = happy you) Hope you enjoyed this chapter! I'll work on the next one soooooon!

~DQ64~