บท 73: Shadow Game of Connect Four (Part 3)
DIMENSION: MANGA (The One That Saves the Day)
Yuugi headed to his bedroom. He had no idea how Atem would fair, but he had no control of him. He had his own body. ///Yuugi: Please don't go too far, Atem. I know you./// Atem got emotionally invested in games. Duel Monsters suited him the most because he liked talking to his opponent more. Except that one time, when he came down after Aigami beat him. Atem saved him, but he looked like a regal god more than a man. That power was hiding inside of Anzu, now in Satiah?
Yuugi heard his phone and looked. Bakura's. Satiah would want to talk to Anzu. "I trust in Atem." They could later, but he couldn't risk Anzu jeopardizing Atem's plan.
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Bakura's House
///Atem: She will be on Bakura's side. It won't be easy to get her to Kaiba's limo, if it comes down to that. The fact that I don't have the millennium puzzle might make it easier to accept the challenge though./// Atem knocked on the door. Ryou Bakura answered it again. "Hello."
"Uh? Hello?" Ryou Bakura said. Atem's skin was a giveaway he was not Yuugi. "May I help you?"
"I need to speak with Satiah," Atem said. He wasn't going to be soft with his words or actions. Ryou Bakura moved slightly, and Atem walked over to her. She was playing capsule monsters. "I am here for Anzu and Yuugi. Yuugi wanted to know about her in person. None of us know her in person, and I find the best way to see into someone is through games. So? Name your game."
"King Atem." Satiah looked toward him. "I may have barely came to the surface in the early years I was with Anzu, but I know well enough never to accept your challenges." She looked at the capsule monsters. "You take all the fun out of it."
"Yes. You're a bore," Bakura said to him. "You're a bored whore, hoarding attention. What are you even doing here? Get out. Get to know her tomorrow!" Ryou Bakura took over. "Relax. A small session won't hurt if he's here on behalf of Anzu and Yuugi." Bakura's face showed he came back though.
Satiah looked at the different capsules in the box, completely ignoring him.
"Pick a game that you are best at, Satiah." ///Atem: The power isn't massive, but it's there. Energetic yet converted. I can feel it. I can even see it, she slightly glows. I know I can summon the gods with it./// Atem was studying her. ///Atem: Even if she has the puzzle's millennium power of luck, I have to risk it. I need that energy. I can win it in a shadow game./// "If you win, I relinquish this whole body to Bakura."
----
She glanced toward him again. What? He stood proudly almost right next to her. Like he was begging to play a game. ///Satiah: What could he possibly want from me?/// "I don't have my best game here."
"I can get it here," the King said with certainty.
She scoffed. "I'm sure you could, but I haven't accepted anything anyhow." However, Bakura was now staring at her. ///Satiah: The King has it right where it hurts.///
King Atem looked toward Bakura. "If she wins, at the game of her choosing, I will give it to you and move back to the afterlife."
"You've got to be kidding me, she's not that stupid," Bakura warned him.
"I have no millennium puzzle," the King said as he gestured to the front of his outfit. "The puzzle was left in the afterlife."
She looked at the capsule numbers, trying to distract herself. Do not answer tended to be the best way to get through in life with him. Yet. ///Satiah: I could take him at Connect Four but it would be nuts to make a bet with the Pharaoh./// He wanted something. What did he want from her?
"And what would happen if she loses?" Bakura asked the words she wanted to know, but couldn't ask.
"The energy inside of you, Satiah," the King said. "You must feel it. If you lose, you relinquish it to me. One of us will relinquish something. You, your energy, or me, my body."
"No, that's not an even trade," she said. "A body is worth more than some energy. I don't care what the energy is. What else would you win?"
"Just had to do that, didn't you, Rider?" Bakura complained.
///Atem: That's a new one./// No one had ever cried unfair on what he put at stake before. ///Atem: That energy is millennium energy, if I win, it should come from the bet./// He didn't have powers for the shadow game, she did. If that energy did not work the same way. ///Atem: I have to do what I can, if it doesn't give it back to me, I will have to take it./// He would have to go Kaiba's way if it didn't work out. That required isolation from Bakura. "A date tonight." That still wasn't worth the price of a body, but? "And your real name." Ah. He knew that would strike a chord.
"Is this a shadow game?" She outright asked it. "Will the wish be granted no matter what, or is this a regular bet of honor? If you are offering a body, it sounds like something supernatural."
"It should be. I don't have that power, but you might," he teased. "There's no telling what will happen, so treat it as such."
"Then we should have two options," she declared. "King of Darkness. One for if it is a shadow game, and one for it it isn't."
Smart. Atem nodded.
"If this does turn out to be a shadow game, you may have my energy if you win," she said.
"If this does turn out to be a shadow game, you may have my body if you win," Atem matched her.
"If it doesn't turn out to be a shadow game, then what do you want?" she asked.
Hm. ///Atem: If it isn't, if we play a game and that energy isn't restored to me. Then. "The date and the name." Hmm. "And you?"
"America," she uttered. "If I win, then you have to try your hardest to convince Yuugi to make Anzu go back."
Ah?! ///Atem: I risked my body, it was my body./// "I cannot guarantee that."
"No, but if you try your hardest, then he should let go of Anzu. Once this whole mess is over, she can have her proper chance."
If it was his early days of being trapped in Yuugi, he would easily agree to that. He could never agree to it now though. ///Atem: I can't. Yuugi is absolutely in love with Anzu, he has been since before he met me. If he has a chance at happiness. I need that energy. I can risk myself. I can't risk that./// "Anything else."
"Hm. My slave for a week?"
"Done."
"You already know that's a terrible thing to bet."
"I don't care, I won't risk Yuugi's happiness." Slave for a week was still nothing.
"The mighty Pharaoh as a slave for a week?" Bakura was practically starting to drool. "Now that's a bet. Take that."
"I can't do that, I was just testing you," she said toward Bakura, like she couldn't believe him. "You have got a long ways to go still, Bakura." She looked back at Atem. "A change. If I win a shadow game, you give up your body to Bakura when I say so, and not before."
She was letting him off? ///Atem: From the way she was acting and her choices in options, if she could hand over the power she probably would have. What can I physically give her if I win and it's not a shadow game?/// "You may have the greatest respect of the King." As far as she had shown not to be a fan, she still had not stopped calling him King or Pharaoh or King of Darkness. Even though his friends called him by his name, everyone else called him something else. "You may call me Atem."
If she were a true egyptian, hopefully that made a dent.
"She could call you a bastard if she wanted, what kind of prize is that?" Bakura complained.
"These bodies may be temporary, I don't know why we have them," Atem went on. "If so, you and I could both be associated with each other for some time if Yuugi and Anzu stay together. Calling me Atem would be less aggravating."
"That's all you can offer?" She seemed to be thinking.
Bakura just cackled. "Oh please. The only parts of the past she remembers? Is me!" He stood up in his chair. "That's it. Besides the facts she remembers from time with me, she is just a clueless spirit."
She also stood up in her chair. "I have what is important. I very much doubt I want everything anyhow except the thoughts of my friend."
///Atem: She doesn't remember. Only memories of Bakura, probably because of the way she sacrificed herself./// "What about Heba?"
"She was a good girl."
"Anything else?" Atem asked.
She sat back down. "The game is Connect Four."
Heba. Atem had assumed back then Heba was her daughter. She had never called her a daughter though. Did she? ///Atem: She knows there was a Heba. The afterlife she went with Heba. Not only did she lose most of her memories, but coming back from the afterlife had also made it harder./// He brought in the Connect Four Yuugi had gave him. A simple game. A strategy game, no luck. No cards, everything was already laid out to see. That improved his chances. He grabbed all the red checkers. "Your move."
She didn't answer, grabbed one of her yellow checkers and pushed it in. As he made his move, her eyes followed not only it, but the corners around it. She didn't make a sound as she held her yellow checker. Her eyes shifted from spot to spot, from around where he placed the checker to the other side of the board, to the middle of the board.
"The game is just beginning, you don't have to be nervous." He grabbed his checker, but she wasn't deterred. She wasn't going to engage in conversation. She took her checker and moved it away to the other side, but her eyes were still darting between each move.
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2:00 AM
"Cat game." She kept her focus strong, but he still seemed to have it stronger. She fought against his moves, but he fought against hers aggressively too. She could see Yuugi's 'King of Games' traits in him, puzzle or not. They were constantly blocking each other, and constantly putting each other in a draw. Even Bakura, who had been enthralled at first, had his head lying on the table asleep. Probably as Ryou Bakura.
It was tiring, but that only added to the challenge now. The person who slipped up. Who got too tired, too complacent, would be the loser. She fought to hold the concentration, but the King also decided he would call Kaiba on the phone. However while he chatted he still didn't break his concentration.
His moves were still stunning. She was having to guess and see three moves ahead at least. ///Satiah: What am I doing? Why did I take this bet? Oh yes, that's right, because the King wanted a game and he wasn't going to leave. He always ended up playing his games./// "We could call this a draw," she tried. "Neither of us will win."
"I just did."
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