Yu-Gi-Oh! The DiaDhank Days [PG16]

[Naimo]

The Palace was alive, buzzing with rumours as to the break-in last night. How the news managed to spread so quickly over a period of six or seven hours was beyond Nebit's belief, but one thing she was certain of was that this was big news.

What confused her, though, was ... just ... her memory. She could recall nothing, yet she knew she had been there at the scene; she could recall descending the steep, narrow, shadowy set of stairs, and walking onwards to the vault door, a brightly burning torch in hand. Pharaoh Ahkom - the old Pharaoh, the master she had served for three years until his son took over days after his death - had changed the door a week into Nebit's newfound duties as a Sacred Guardian. She had never been in the vaults before, but from what the other Sacred Guardians had told her, the old door had been just a very heavy metal, with an even bulkier lock.

This new door, though, was interesting; there was no lock at all, but rather six etchings, and two ways to open the vault. The middle one was in the shape of the Millennium Puzzle; the other five - all of which represented the other Millennium Items, save for the Eye - were surrounding the Puzzle in a circle. Nebit knew how to work this lock; she was the first to stop at the door, and having gingerly handed her torch to Cronus, unclipped her Necklace and lightly pushed it into its slot.

The door opened when the other four items were placed in their respective slots. Nebit never really understood how the door worked, but then again, she doubted that anybody other than Ahkom knew. Nonetheless, she took her Necklace and torch back, and had entered the vault. It was, as predicted, stacked full of gold and jewels, and also laidened with hidden traps, waiting to congratulate any thieves who successfully broke in. Their purpose for entering had been simple - the Pharaoh had demanded to find some piece of treasure that was buried in the vault, and as he was engaged for the night, had shifted that duty to the Sacred Guardians.

Whilst they had been searching, nobody had locked the door - nobody knew they were going down there, and if they did lock the door, they were in danger of asphyxiation. That had been their fatal flaw - Nebit could still recall a sense of emergency as the dark figures entered, she remembered throwing the torch onto the ground, and drawing her fan -

That was where her memory ended. As she sat upright on her bed, somewhat lost in thoughts, her hand clasped firmly over her Millennium Necklace. She considered herself lucky that she had managed to retain hold of it; she knew that the moment they entered the Pharaoh's court, she would find out exactly who had and hadn't been as lucky as her. She eventually got out of bed, dressed herself, shook off any thoughts about last night, and went directly to Cronus' room. She never liked going in alone; Cronus was possibly the only person who spent more time with her than anybody else, mainly because he was her Assistant, but also because he was ... a little bit quirky. There was just something about his quirkiness that made her like him.

-----------------------------

Mahkut sat, somewhat nervously, in his well-to-do home; he knew last night's raid hadn't gone very well, and he was yet to discover just what had happened. He had heard the rumours, and it was fair to say they troubled him. Never before had he carried out an unsuccessful operation; as long as some of them returned with something, he would be less tense.

Any minute now, the first few thieves were going to be entering through that front door, and proclaim whether they had succeeded or not. He tried not to grasp the hilt of his dagger too tightly, or rock forwards and backwards, but the tension was just too much. He needed an answer to dismiss the more negative rumours, and he needed it now.

[Master Red]

Austa woke up, her head pounding for reason unknown to her. It was like the days back at the brothel after a night where she had been offered a bit too many drinks by some generous man. She didn't drink much anymore, a glass of wine every now and then but nothing else, well there was those times when they had succeeded with a particularly fruitful raid but that was different. At the brothel she didn't drink to celebrate or because it tasted nice, she drank because it was the only way to get through those nights. It numbed the pain and if you drank enough you could be lucky enough to wake up without remembering anything from the night prior. Waking without a memory was a good thing there, nowadays, not so much.

The pounding subsided a bit as she got up and drank some water, perhaps it was just the heat? Although, the pounding in her head was not the only thing that reminded her of the days at the brothel, she also had troubles remembering last night. There had been a raid against the palace, several of the guilds were involved with it and it had even been organized by Mahkut which wasn't all too common. Mahkut was a man that Austa didn't trust at all, he was the head of thieves after all. There had been many discussions amongst the higher ups in the Sacarabs, even back when Set was in charge, to assassinate the man and take over for themselves. It was something Austa would very much like, killing off Mahkut would cause her to have the most powerful position amongst all thieves as well as making the Scarabs the most powerful guild in all of Egypt. It was alluring, indeed, but it was also risky. Very risky. This was such a thing that could only be executed when there was a 100% chance of success, right now it was probably around 50% and that was not good. If Mahkut knew of her plans he wouldn't just go after her, but also her children and the scarabs themselves. Too many lives were at stake for taking stupid risks.

She sighed and walked back into her room, the children were already up but they were most likely with some of the other women in the kitchen. They knew their mother had been out on business last night and as such they would leave her be. Austa was still a bit tired, but there was no point in going back to sleep, she would have to go to Mahkut's place to report how the Scarabs did last night in the raid. [i]"How is one to report on something the can't remember though?"[/i] she thought to herself, perhaps it had gone extremely well and they had ended up drinking a lot to celebrate? It would explain the slight headache and the memory loss. But she had never drank so much during a celebration that she couldn't even remember if the raid had been successful. Something was off with this...

"Mommy!" Anuk exclaimed as she peeked inside of the room and then ran in with a happy expression on her face and her sandy blonde hair flowing behind her as she ran. She was tanned and had brown eyes, but otherwise she was very similar to her mother in appearance. Austa laughed a little and picked her daughter up, spinning around with her a bit and then throwing the wildly laughing two and a half year old down on her bed. She jumped into the bed herself shortly after and tickled Anuk a bit.

There was a crash from the kitchen and Austa was fairly sure it was her four year old son Itep that had caused it in one way or another. Probably by scaring one of the women, it usually was because of that. She rolled her eyes a little as she heard loud voices and then the laugh of Itep followed by quick feet across the floor nearing her room. Now when Itep's head peeked in with his brilliant blue eyes that laid in contrast to his otherwise dark feature, ranging from his tanned skin to his black hair, Austa was surprised. Not by the boy himself, but from what he had in his hands when he came in. "Mom is this what you got last night? These are awesome!" He exclaimed, waving a card around in the air while having some kind of key-like neclace (that was much too large for him as it was the size of his whole upper body) around his neck and some weird... bracelet(?) around his arm. No it couldn't be a bracelet, it was much too large and bulky. A weapon perhaps? It did have blades coming out of it, though in all honesty they were much too blunt to deal any kind of damage with. "What are they?" The boy asked, running up to the bed and placing them beside Austa.

Anuk looked curiously at the things and crawled over to the necklace, grabbing it and inspecting it. "Pretty..." she mumbled, placing it in her lap. It looked a bit funny as the necklace itself was almost the size as herself and Austa giggled a bit. She picked up the card and looked at it and then gasped slightly, having some flashbacks from the other night.

"So we were successful then" she mumbled to herself, taking another look at the things. She knew what the things were, what she didn't know was exactly how she had come over them. She remembered getting into the palace but after that... nothing.

Itep was still playing around with the weird bracelet/weapon thing which Austa knew was a DiaDhank, but as he started to get violent with it Austa took it away from him and gave him a slight scolding saying he couldn't handle things that roughly. Anuk got sad when Austa took the pretty key necklace away as well, but after Austa explained to the young girl that she needed to show it to a co-worker and that she could play with it later she became happier.

-------

After Austa had washed herself, eaten and dressed herself, as well as applying make-up she left to find Mahkut's house. She had a guard with her of course, she wasn't stupid. She had only applied Khol to her eyes, as most Egyptians did, for both fashion and medical reasons and she had dressed herself in a plain white linen dress. If it hadn't been for her white blonde hair and blue eyes, she would have looked like any other Egyptian woman, but there was no blending in completely in her case, she'd stick out no matter what. The guard was dressed very plainly as well and was walking a few paces behind her, having the DiaDhank hidden in a bag on his back. Austa had the key necklace hidden under her dress, you could tell that she had a necklace on of course, but since you couldn't see the key itself it wasn't anything out of the ordinary, she just looked like an Egyptian woman from the upper middle class.

A while later she arrived at Mahkut's place and knocked, three times quickly, paused and then two more quick knocks. It would tell the people there that it was her or one of the other guild leaders. Mahkut had always been able to tell her knocks apart from the rest though, she knocked more gingerly than the others he had once said.

[fenrir]

[i]Figures. Dark figures, creeping at the edges of his vision. His torch is flickering, it's crimson aura casting a gaze of light across part of the hallway, but the shadows avoided it. And so they continued...
[/i]
"No no no no no! Not good enough! There needs to be more light here... And some more detail on this wall..."

This was what tended to happen when Cronus sits down and paints. You have a Greek man complaining about every single detail in his work, whether it was important or not. That being said, so was the life of an artist; it concerned seeking the perfection in imperfection. That was the kind of thing a warrior of his caliber should have no concern for; yet the canvas... It beckons.

He was attempting to paint his thoughts of yesterday night, or well, the little memory he had of it. Was this even a memory? Didn't he give the torch back to Nebit...

Nope. Nothing. As an Assistant, he should have gotten up to wake the Sacred Guardian he was in charge for, but Nebit had the tendency to wake up before him anyways. Not to mention he was dreadfully busy with his painting.

[TotalObelisk]

Jamin sat on the edge of his bed turning over his Millennium Ring in his hands, an uncharacteristicly serious frown on his head. Ordinarily he'd still be in bed asleep right now, or at least pretending to be asleep, but right now something was nagging at the back of his mind that he couldn't ignore. For one thing he didn't actually remember getting into bed last night and for another he could remember his Millennium Ring had warned him about something but he could neither remember what it was or when it had happened. When he'd woken up and first realized this he'd passed it off as a dream until he saw that his Ring was still reacting to something and had only just now stopped leading Jamin to ponder what it was warning him off in the first place. He leaned back on his bed, twirling the golden ring around one finger as he tried to remember what had happened; he remembered being in the Guard Room, flirting jokingly with one of the servant girls as he often did (and occasionally some of the guys too) when his Ring had alerted him to some kind of threat. He was sure he recognized what it was at the time but he couldn't remember now no matter how hard he tried. After which he had left the guard room and made his way to the treasurey when...Everything went blank beyond that.

He stopped fidgeting with his item, catching it in one finger to stop it spinning and then stood up to get dressed, setting the ring down on the bed behind him. It was unusual to see him concerned like this and the only reason he was at the moment was he only knew of two ways in which to completely forget the events of one night, the first of course to get hammered and the second was magic. Since only one of this came with a painful hangover the morning after which was currently absent then the possibilites where significantly narrowed down and he did not like it one bit.

He finished getting dressed and took up his Millennium item, hanging it about his neck and leaving his room to make his way to the Pharaoh's court. As he walked he caught snaches of conversation from passersby and concluded he was not the only one with memory loss, although far from make him feel better it simply made him even more concerned as to what happened.

He looked down at his Millennium Ring, poking it absently with a finger as though this might produce some results. As it was, however, the item remained dormant and continued to hang from his neck like an overzelous piece of jewelry. He heaved an irritated sigh and left it alone, looking up in time to enter the palace throne room.

Aside from a few guards and servants he appeared to be the only one here so he simply took the opportunity to lean against one of the decorated pillars and close his eyes, trying to communicate with his item in order to find out what had happened and why he and so many others had such specefic memory loss.

[Elƒie]

Nakia lived within a small cave on the cliffs just outside of town. The morning sun out the cave in a dim light. This caused Nakia to wake up with a yawn, stretching out her arms and legs. She had something cool clenched in her right hand. She brought the object closer to face. She let out a small yelp as she dropped the item and crawled back from it. Rubbing her eyes, she looked back at the item with clearer vision. She let out a sigh of relief. "Oh thank the Gods.. I thought it was an eyeball." She reached out and grabbed the object: a mysterious rod of which she's never seen before. She stared at the eye, feeling a great power within this seemingly simple object. "Just might help me with my dream." She smiled for a second, but it disappeared as she tried to remember how she gained this. "Hmmm... Last thing I remember is entering the Palace and going through a strange door... Gr!" She groaned a little, not liking the thought of not having recollection of last night. She shook her head, "There's nothing I can do about it.."

A few minutes past and she was fully dressed. She stood at the entrance of her cave, looking out to the city. "Such a beautiful view.." She looked behind her, at a pile of ashes surrounded by a rocks in a circle formation. Next to her fire place, laid a DiaDhank, a small pile of weapons and tools, and a few supplies. "Fire's out completely, good." With that, she slipped a card into her pocket and slipped the rod behind her back and under her cloak. She jumped out of her cave, landing on a ledge and worked her way down to the ground.

A half hour passed before Nakia finally made it to Mahkut's place. The reason she took so long was because she was gathering information from the rumors around town. From what she gathered, her and the others lead a raid into the Palace. Some of it made it sound successful while the rest made it sound like a failure. [i]"I guess the only way to find out for sure is with time..."[/i] she thought to herself as she stood outside the door. She gave the door her secret knock, which was five fast taps and two long knocks.

[Naimo]

"Good morning Cronus," said Nebit as she poked her head round the door to Cronus' room. She saw him painting, and here was proof that she knew him terribly well; her prediction was he was painting to try and remember events, as usual. He did take some fond delight in painting, that was for certain; she had never seen anyone happier to have a canvas and paint in front of them. "Come on, the Pharaoh is expecting us. I'm sure you can paint later."

-------

Mahkut jumped eagerly to his feet - at last! They were there! He rushed to the door, heard the two seperate knocks that belonged to Austa and Nakia, and opened the door at a calmer pace, though his hands were trembling with excitement. As usual, he said nothing, but waited for them to enter first before shutting the door as quickly as possible.

He still said nothing until the door was locked, and they were sat down at the table. It was only when he resumed his seat that he asked them, "Well? What news of the raid?" He tried to keep his voice calm, but it was clearly shaking from too much excitement and nerves.

[Master Red]

Austa didn't pay much attention to Nakia, though she did find it amusing that the one other thief that had arrived was a woman. Perhaps this was proof that the best thieves in Egypt were, in fact, women?

As she got invited in she just nodded slightly in greeting to Mahkut, not even her eyes showed how much she detested the man but hiding her emotions was something she had grown talented at while at the brothel. You couldn't show in any way that what lousy excuse for a man you thought was before you when "working" around them, that never ended well. She sat silently, her arms crossed over her chest and her legs crossed as well, looking very nonchalant and calm. Nonchalant and calm was something she could be withot being arrogant though, she was the guild leader of one of the most powerful guilds in all of Egypt and if you were not allowed to be a bit nonchalant when before Mahkut then, then she didn't know when you were allowed to.

"Velgengni" Austa said in perfect Icelandic, fishing up the key necklace from under her dress and holding it before her. "Ahn" she then stated, waving her other hand towards her while glancing back at the burly man that was standing by the wall and he approached her, presenting the DiaDhank before her on the table. "I think this spells success, don't you?" She said, smiling a bit towards Mahkut and picking the DiaDhank up. The smile she shot him looked genuine, but there was nothing real about it.

[Elƒie]

Nakia let out a smile. "I'm sure you've heard the rumors.. Seeing Austa's success just confirmed I wasn't the only one with success.." Nakia pulled a card out of her pocket and showed it to the others. It was the synchro monster Black-Winged Dragon. "I also got one of those," she nodded towards the DiaDhank, "and this..." She put the card back in her pocket and reached behind her, pulling out the Millennium Rod with a big grin on her face.

[fenrir]

At first Cronus didn't pull way, not even to look at Nebit. He knew it was her already, and upon hearing her voice well; it was just confirmed. Upon hearing the word 'Pharaoh' though, he grimaced and broke away from his work. He didn't like the Pharaoh nor did he really think the Pharaoh liked him all to much. Honestly, not a lot of Egyptians liked Greeks like him. He didn't know why either, it's not like he grew up in Greece or anything. Cronus certainly was as Egyptian as they were...

With a sigh, he placed his tools down by the canvas rack and walked towards his door. He was already dressed and as he stepped out to greet Nebit he attempted to comb his hair back; he had [i]some[/i] form of dignity.

[Quiksilver]

"He's expecting us right now, in fact." A grave voice spoke, and a suddenly a tall, angular man in white robes had appearing, striding down the hallway towards Nebit and Cronos. Sharp, keen eyes flickered over the Sacred Guardian and her Greek assistant; a hand went up to stroke his small black beard as he surveyed them. The other hand held the Millenium Scales- if the two hadn't recognized the man before, they would now know that he was Rehu Bekhit.

Not that they not knowing him was likely. It wasn't that he was famous throughout the land for being a great and wise judge- though he undoubtably was. No, he was a fellow Sacred Guardian of Nebit, and he too had been at the event that had happened last night.

Rehu, after entering his Millenium Scales into the door to the treasure vault, and had been distracted by a strange sight by the edge of the door. He stayed behind to investigate it while his companions strided forth into the vault; unforunately, Rehu did not remember what it was. After stooping down to peer at it, he remembered hearing the cry of someone from within the vault, and then darkness.

Rehu's lip curled slightly as he remembered this, though his expression remained neutral.

"Since we are going to the same place, perhaps we could go together...?" Rehu continued, looking to each of them in turn.

[Naimo]

Mahkut nodded as he listened, with relief, to their words. "Ah, 'tis excellent to hear that you have succeeded. If you believed all the rumours, it would seem that nobody succeeded. Well, seeing as we still have four of our friends to arrive, why don't we pass the time a little? Perhaps ... well, would anyone like to bring up a topic?"

---------------

Nebit fluttered a smile at him. "Sure. The more the merrier, although I suggest we walk quickly; you know how I despise being late for the Pharaoh." True to her word, she did start walking at a faster pace; there was time for chat much later, after all.

They arrived in good time, early enough to take their usual places in front of the Pharaoh. Immediately, it became clear that only Nebit, Rehu and Jamin had been the only Sacred Guardians to have kept their items; the Millennium Key, Rod, and - here, Nebit felt her stomach turn ever so slightly - Eye were gone, in the hands of the thieves. Thus, the three former Sacred Guardians were stood largely in shadow, clearly ashamed. Nebit wanted to approach them, but at that moment, a cry came from the side, and Pharaoh Remmao emerged.

The eighteen-year-old was, in many respects, quite good looking. He certainly had his mother's large, round eyes that were full of experience and benevolence; Nebit could still remember that hollow, aged, bloodthirsty stare that Ahkom had possessed; it was something she was unlikely to forget soon, even though it had been exactly a year since she had last stared into those eyes. Remmao truly was different to his father! He certainly didn't rush into things, and always avoided violence and gory ways out where possible - again, much unlike his father, who was more the reverse. In fact, it was only the Millennium Puzzle which had any trace of his father on him; as it was tradition to hand the Puzzle down to the next Pharaoh, Remmao was wearing it somewhat fondly, and certainly with a lot of pride.

The usual courtesies were paid, and when Nebit straightened again, Remmao wasted no time in getting straight to the point. He began by consoling the ex-Sacred Guardians, before swiftly turning onto the subject that was currently on everybody's mind.

"Nebit, Rehu, Jamin, I am pleased that you have retained your Items; it is a comfort, indeed, to know that we still have some power on our side. I have been staying up all night, troubled by such an event ... but I have decided that we must do something. Now that the thieves have three of the Items, it is only a matter of time before they learn how to use their powers, and it is highly likely that they will come back to try and steal your items too. Our only hope may be that they will challenge you to a duel, now that they have their own DiaDhanks; of course, even if they create a challenge, there is still some comfort there, for the only serious threat is that they use their stolen Sacred Dragons against you. However, without the aid of a Tuner, they will be unable to summon the Sacred Dragons, and it is here that we may have an advantage.

"The only Tuners that exist are currently in the hands of Psychics..." He paused, and Nebit already knew what this meant. It was fair to say she wasn't going to be leaping with joy at the news. "...and those Psychics reside in the Psychic Village. Do not panic; I have a correspondent in the Psychic Village, and she is willing to help you. She has many useful contacts, and sooner or later, she will be able to direct you to where the Tuners are. We can only hope that the thieves have no such contact, and won't dare to stray into the Psychic Village. I doubt any of them were Psychics, else you would all have probably lost your items.

"Does anybody have any questions?"

Nebit stayed silent. The Psychic Village was a fairly large area that was located south-east of the Palace, and would only take an hour to reach by foot. Nobody but Psychics ever went there willingly; it was a highly shoddy and deeply feared area, and constant roars and screams could be heard emitting from within its walls. Very few non-Psychics ever made it out of the Village again; anybody who entered just simply vanished without a trace. The only comfort Nebit could find out of the news was the contact; if she could keep them safe, then maybe this wouldn't be such a daunting task...

[Master Red]

"Minnisleysi..." Austa stated and then, did a double take, realizing that she had accidentally spoken in Icelandic. "Amnesia" she corrected herself, "it seems I can't remember the event of last night. I don't know how it's with the rest of you... or the people at the palace, but I can't recall much at all" She said calmly, relaxing back into her seat looking from Mahkut to the other thief. She couldn't be a guild leader, in that case Austa would know her by name and appearance. [i]"Who is this woman and how could she possibly have been included in such a raid?"[/i] she thought to herself, giving her a once over, discreetly of course.

[TotalObelisk]

Jamin stood silently in his place as the Pharaoh arrived to console the now defunked Sacred Guardians who were now hiding themselves in shame. His normally jovial expression diminished to a worried frown while his eyes were cast downwards, no doubt still trying to gain some response from his millennium item but finding none. However it wasn't this that worried him, nor the palace-wide amnesia that seemed to have come over them all, but rather the fact that some of the items themselves had been stolen, including the Millenium Rod and the Millennium Eye and even more worrying was that the Millennium Items couldn't simply be taken, they had to be earned in order for their powers to be used otherwise their would be thief would end up in a state of perpetual madness and as of the moment nobody in that condition was present and the items were missing.

[i]It's almost too convenient,[/i] Jamin thought to himself [i]A single raid leads to mass amnesia and the theft of three millennium items, the DiaDhanks and the dragons.[/i]

He looked up as the Pharaoh took up his place on the throne, looking as equally worried by the events that had transpired. Jamin barely listened to the speech he made still intent on getting a response from the Millennium Ring until the Pharaoh mentioned the village of Psychics which caused Jamin to finally look up. If his expression showed concern before then it was nothing compared to what was showing now. He was by no means against desperate measures but seeking out forbidden cards in a village of squander was not the sort of thing he would resort to easily, but he had to admit it seemed like they had little choice.

[b]"Travel to the village of Psychics,"[/b] he repeated [b]"Can this day get any worse?"[/b]

[Elƒie]

"I, too, have amnesia.. I only remember entering the vault and everything else is a blank.. Even me getting back home is a blank.. But I think we have more pressing matters..." Nakia took a seat, leaning forward as she resting her elbows in her knees. She intertwined her fingers and brought them up to her face, hiding her lips. She glanced from Mahkut to Austa, looking them directly in the eyes. A small smile came to her as she looked to Austa. [i]"Looks like I've got her worried.. Seems like I know her name, but she knows not of mine. Just goes to show that numbers bring strength, but not stealth.."[/i] She was referring to the fact that Austa was the leader of the Sacarabs. She then looked back at Mahkut. "We're going to be needing tuners... I have two other synchros besides the dragon, but haven't been able to locate a tuner.. Without them, synchros are just useless objects..."

[Master Red]

Austa snorted a bit at the mention of Tuners and them being important. "I'm sorry but I cannot agree with you on the fact that Synchros are useless without Tuners" She said, and placed her hands behind her head, looking the woman right in the eyes. Whoever she was, she was surely not a threat. "I snatched one as it seems but I don't intend on using it, I'll either keep it as a trophy or I'll sell it on the black market for good money" She let out a giggle of content, closing her eyes for a short while. "So you see, a synchro without a tuner might be worthless to the game but it is still worth a lot of money, thus not useless" She stated, summarizing her point and then bringing up the card she had snatched [b]Life Force Dragon[/b].

"This is a good card, there's no denying that, but it has no place in my Deck so therefore I don't see the need for a tuner" She said, looking at the card nonchalantly and turning it over between her fingers. "If I could, I'd sell it as soon as possible, but given that it's something that was stolen from the palace it won't be safe to do so for a while. Not while I'm still in Egypt at least..." She said, placing the card back in it's slot on the DiaDhank.

[Elƒie]

"Yes, it's usefull if you desire such feeble objects like money.. But for what the card was ment to be, it's useless... As for my dragon, it fits perfectly fine like the gods willed it to be.." She said to Austa without looking at her. With that said and done, she got back to the matter at hand. "The tuners I require are as unique as my deck. And from what I've heard, they're in a certain village.." She kept her gaze on Mahkut. [i]"He's sure to know what I refer to. After all, age comes with wisdom. And if not, may the Gods have mercy on your arrogant soul.."[/i]

[Naimo]

Remmao chuckled slightly at Jamin's comment, before he clapped his hands. Three of the servants stood by the side stepped forward, and stopped by the side of each Guardian. They were carrying a plain gold casket each, and Nebit noted how tightly they were gripping them.

"I cannot possibly send you to the Psychic Village without your designated Sacred Dragons, can I?" smiled Remmao. He didn't need to say anything else, and the servants opened the caskets at the same time. Nebit peered into the box, and was somewhat startled to see that she had Black Rose Dragon. She didn't know what to feel as she reached in, with a shaking hand, to take her card. She glanced at the artwork; although inanimate, she could feel the dragon's eyes burning into her soul, reading her every thought, trying to find her weakness and prey upon it - hence why she quickly stowed it away into her DiaDhank.

---------------------------

Mahkut smiled, though this one was lost under his thick beard. [i]Nakia is certainly very sharp, very knowledgable. One could say she is well indeed a step ahead of everybody.[/i] "I would not be so rational with your card, Austa; I sent you to raid the Palace for a reason. I can assure you, these Sacred Dragons have their purpose.

"Yes, Nakia, the only Tuners to exist do reside in a certain village-" His eyes suddenly gleamed, and an amused smile played on his lips. He felt a tad excited about where he was going to send his thieves. "-the Psychic Village. I wouldn't abandon you there, for one of my former business partners was a Psychic, and although he has now retired to the village, he owes me a fair amount during our youth, and he has assured me that to accomodate six more people in his home is no problem at all. That is where you shall be going once our fellow thieves arrive."

[Master Red]

"Of course I desire money, I'm a thief aren't I?" Austa chuckled, throwing her hands out as if to enforce the whole 'I'm a thief' thing.

She caught her breath at what was said next though. "You [i]can't[/i] be serious!?" Austa exclaimed, slamming her hands down on the table and rising to her feet. "Are you seriously saying we should go to the Psychic Village, just to gather some lousy cards!?" she couldn't believe what she was hearing, everyone knew to stay away from that place... unless you was a psychic yourself that is. "I can't see why I should join you for this foolishness, I have absolutely no use for this card.. you out of all people should know that Mahkut" she looked at Mahkut with a piercing look in her eyes. Not that it was very hard for them to be piercing, the color of them really made that simple. "and I certainly won't sign my own death sentence by entering that village... I have a guild and children to care for" she added, calming herself and sitting back down again.

[Naimo]

Mahkut glowed visibly red from anger, and he cried in a louder voice, "Foolish girl! I never send anybody anywhere that dangerous unless I have a reason to! I cannot say that reason now, but I am saving you from what could possibly be a much bigger atrocity!" Seeing as Naimo cannot disclose more on that particular topic - else she will give away too much of the plot - she shall now digress Mahkut's subsequent speech to keep the argument flowing (she also promises never to use this style of RPing again in here, for she reserves these for the more "satirical" characters of hers such as Regiana. She also will not advertise another RP in here again.)

Mahkut's eyes narrowed, and for a second, he was locked in a staring battle with Austa. "I know what you think of me ... you think I'm a senile old man, don't you? I've worked with more thieves, fools, knaves and charlatans than you have, I can still read people, even if I can't physically take part in another raid!" He rarely used such damning words on people, but it was fact that Mahkut was 58 years Austa's senior, and he was still committing raids when she was born. Nonetheless, seeing as the fourth wall has already been broken, Naimo shall now end this post with hopes that the argument can somehow still continue.

[Master Red]

Austas eyes widened slightly for a second when Mahkut said he knew what she thought of him, but as he continued she realized he didn't know exactly how she felt about him... he was not even close. She knew he wasn't a senile old man, he was someone to be feared as he was possibly one of her biggest threats, but if that's what he thought she thought of him, she'd let him think so and play along. She sat silent for a while glaring from Mahkut to the other girll, she seemed to get along great with Mahkut for some reason, why was that? [i]"could it be that they are...?"[/i] Austa thought, being prevented to think the last part in text form as it would get censored anyways.

"Let's hear your fantastic plan then... but I'll let you know that if you plan on getting the co-operation from me, or the Scarabs, there'll better be more to gain from this than a puny little tuner" Austa said, keeping her composure and going back to be completely business like again. It seemed she was forced to go, but she wouldn't just bend over for Mahkut's will. If he expected her help he better know that it came with a price.

[Elƒie]

She let out a small chuckle as Mahkut and Austa went at it for a brief moment. "I'm sorry for laughing. I just find it so entertaining. I really need to be more social with more mature people rather than playing with children as their parents shop or work" She laughed a little more, mostly to herself as she had her eyes closed. She opened them back up once she finished laughing, a serious look came back to them. "Now that this little fight is done, let's talk about this plan of yours Mahkut. You two can have at it with each other's throat once this all said and done with."

[Naimo]

Mahkut heavily sighed. "Damn you Ahkom..." He mumbled some more under his breath, though what he said was inaudible. "I don't think these Sacred Dragons are ordinary cards. They're alive, I can feel their pulse ... but they're terrifying me at the same time. No card can possess so much soul, so much life - and I'm not saying that they are going to spring out one day and move, talk, think, feel like a human. They could be more dangerous than you or I can tell.

"I handpicked each and every one of you for a reason. You know that the DiaDhanks are the most dangerous tool a duellist can have; I believe you are strong enough to duel with them ... and to ultimately unleash the Sacred Dragons." He finished in a much quieter voice, and it was during these times that he really was greateful to have a hood on. He didn't want anybody seeing his face right now, as he half-slumped into deeper, darker thoughts.

[TotalObelisk]

Jamin glanced about when the pharaoh clapped his hand, signalling for three servants to appear each clutching a gold casket. When ordered each servant opened the casket, revealing the white bordered cards inside, leading Jamin to raise an eyebrow and take his own card, the Red Dragon Archfiend. The card felt strangely weighted in his hands as Jamin held it and appeared to pulsate with some sort of warmth of power as if the monster itself was begging to be set free and unleash its wrath.

[b]"Well aren't you a handsome little guy,"[/b] Jamin commented, grinning at the demonic dragon depicted on the card.

He looked up at the other two guardians, seeing that they too were staring at the cards they had recieved.

[b]"I guess I can relax a bit with a creature like this on hand,"[/b] he continued [b]"I feel better just having it with me."[/b]

[i]Too bad most of my monsters are either WIND or FIRE element,[/i] he thought to himself [i]I won't have much support for this guy. I guess really he's not much more than a last resort. Still, I can't deny he's certainly powerful.[/i]

[Quiksilver]

During most of the meeting, Rehu had stayed silent, his face, as usual, inscrutable. But now, as the servants stepped forward with the Sacred Dragons, Rehu opened his mouth to speak, while staying the servant baring his Ancient Fairy Dragon with one hand in the same movement.

"Are you sure that is wise, my lord?" Rehu's voice was caution, yet respectful. "I do not believe we should enter the Psychic Village loaded up with DiaDhanks, our Sacred Dragons, and our Millennium Items. I'm not trying to belittle the skill of us Sacred Guardians, but if we are disarmed in one way or another- ganged up on by many foes, for example- than all three of these will be taken from us. Given the severity of the current situation-" At this, Rehu glanced at the ashamed Sacred Guardians; clearly, he was referring to the fact half of the DiaDhanks, Sacred Dragons, and three Millennium Items had been taken. "-I hardly believe we should risk what weapons we still have in such a needless way. We are one step away from destruction, and such a move might be our undoing." Rehu said, finally becoming blunt at the end.

[Naimo]

"My lord, I disagree," Nebit immediately added at the end. Her eyes were fixed only on the Pharaoh, and nobody else. "Surely the fact that we have retained our Items proves that we are capable of undertaking such a task? I trust the thieves fought that night - it does, after all, seem impossible that anybody here would have surrendered - and even if we do encounter bandits in the Psychic Village, we are all capable of defending ourselves, even going as far as killing if necessary. Plus, we still have the Millennium Ring with us-"

Nebit would have gone on, had Remmao not interposed at that moment, "I understand your concerns, which is why I suggest that you, Jamin and Rehu, leave your items behind at the palace; they are far too eye catching, and a little unyielding. Nebit, I do believe that you sometimes wear your Millennium Necklace with you outside of the palace?"

"Yes, my lord," she answered. "Nobody ever spots it hidden amongst other necklaces."

"Very well; if you feel it necessary to wear the Necklace, you may do so; if it gives you visions, it may help your quest progress more smoothly. I will also ask you to leave behind your DiaDhanks and Sacred Dragons, but do take your decks with you. I sense that duelling may be inevitable if it eventually leads you to the Tuners you seek. As for your weapons-" He paused as his eyes fell largely on Jamin and Cronus; he clearly didn't find Nebit's fan to be too much of a problem. "I recommend you leave them behind too; once you enter the village, my contact will issue you with new swords that apparently are used only amongst Psychics, and exist only with the Psychics.

"Before I give you her name, does anybody have any more questions?"