First Shadi! First Millenium Scales! First Millenium Key! First Yami as a separate personality!
Duel 13-14: The Man From Egypt
Yugi: They found a pharoah's tomb in Egypt! And it's in the newspaper!
(Two months later, classroom)
Yugi:...and it's coming to the Domino City Museum. One of the discoverers is Grandpa's friend, Professor Yoshimori. Grandpa was invited to see the exhibit free, and I thought I'd invite all my friends.
Honda: Is there a mummy?
Jonouchi: I'm scared of mummies and all supernatural creatures.
Anzu: Speaking of the supernatural, Yugi's puzzle is from Egypt. The one Grandpa Mutou said everyone who touched it except him and Yugi died.
Jonouchi: You're not cursed, are you, Yugi? Because I touched that puzzle too.
Yugi: I'd better not tell them I have mysterious blackouts after which people who offend me die or go crazy.
Anzu: Domino High has school on Saturdays, so we'll go tomorrow instead.
(Next Day, Domino City Museum)
Jonouchi: You know, Yugi, you don't have to wear your school uniform on your free time.
Yugi: What, and wear my Pokemon t-shirt in public?
Sugoroku: Ah, here's my friend Professor Yoshimori, who I presumably met while drifting around Egypt some years back.
Yoshimori: And this is Kanekura, the owner of the museum and the man who financed the expedition.
Kanekura: My piglike face reflects my greed. Yoshimori, ask an invasive question.
Yoshimori: Is your grandson the one who solved the Millenium Puzzle?
Sugoroku: Maybe I shouldn't have told you that. Curse my habit of providing exposition.
Kanekura: What a valuable, er, historical artifact! I must steal, er, exhibit this!
Millenium Puzzle: Eww, he's touching me.
Yoshimori: Mr. Kanekura makes his living in the antiquities industry.
Kanekura: Can I have the puzzle, pleasepleaseplease?
Yugi: Oh, what the hey, I trust you. But only for one day.
Kanekura: One day will be plenty. Heheheheee.
Millenium Puzzle: I feel so dirty.
(Airport)
Shadi: I am mysterious. And given the paranoia about Middle Eastern travelers lately, it's a good thing I can go unseen at will.
(museum)
Jonouchi: So all this loot is yours, prof?
Yoshimori: In my dreams. Egyptian law says everything belongs to the government. How the Millenium Puzzle ever got into civilian hands is a mystery that won't be solved for many volumes yet.
Yugi: You mean all those action movies lied about archaeologists being treasure hunters who can get immensely rich off old civilizations?
Yoshimori: Yep. We're actually very poorly paid. Archaeologists do it for the thrill of discovery.
Kanekura: I'm going off to put the puzzle on display...and make a phone call.
Yugi: Without the puzzle I feel weaker...and shorter.
Yoshimori: Even though I owe large amounts of money to Mr. Kanekura, and thus cannot be critical of him, I don't feel he's entirely on the level.
Anzu: Look at the pretty pictures!
Yoshimori: Oh, this is the Judgement of the Dead, which foreshadows something that happens later in the chapter.
Honda: Isn't there a character like Osiris in Yu Yu Hakusho?
Yoshimori: And now, the mummy!
Jonouchi: I'll just be standing waay over here, away from the curse.
Yoshimori: Nonsense. There's no such thing as curses. Say, does anyone else hear thunder?
Shadi: (cries)
Yugi: Hi, obviously Egyptian man. Why are you crying?
Shadi: In reality, I just have something in my eye, but I'll make up a story about ancient Egyptian spirits, because it sounds better.
Yugi: I wonder if he carries that scale everywhere.
Shadi: You're such a cute little boy.
Yugi: A, I'm a high schooler, and B, get away from me, you perv.
Yugi: Anzu, there's a pervert over there and—
Anzu: There's no one there, Yugi.
Jonouchi: Yugi's puzzle is on display over there, where that suspicious-looking guy is talking to Mr. Kanekura.
Collector: I have no ethics, or common sense, considering I'm trying to conduct an illegal transaction in a public place, but I've got lots of money!
Kanekura: That's good. Meet me after we ditch the audience.
(the gang poses in front of the puzzle while Anzu takes a picture)
Kanekura: That puzzle's going to make me a lot of money. Now to figure out a way to silence Yugi.
(outside)
Yugi: I want to go to Egypt. But that won't happen for many, many volumes.
Yoshimori: Please come by my lab sometime. The next story will be plenty soon.
Anzu: What now?
Sugoroku: I need to go back to the store:
Honda: Me and Jonouchi will hang together somewhere not involving the supernatural.
Anzu: I presumably have something to do too.
Yugi: I'll hang around so I can get my puzzle back.
(the others leave)
(office)
Kanekura: My museum is doing a boom business, and now I can sell this puzzle. Being a sleazeball is sweet[!
(Collector knocks)
Kanekura: Come in!
Shadi: Okay. You don't mind that I've knocked out your other guest, do you?
Kanekura: The costume party is next week.
Shadi: My bloodline has guarded the tombs of the pharoahs for 3,000 years. And quite frankly, we've done a sucky job. That's why I travel around killing the people who dare dig up my ancestors. And now you'll endure the trial of Anubis.
Kanekura: Trial? But I'm not selling anything *I* removed from the tombs.
Millenium Scales: Behold my righteousness!
Shadi: Short version. This feather of Ma'at, goddess of truth is on one side of the scales. Your soul will be on the other side. I'll ask some simple ethical questions. If you lie, the scales sink and you get eaten by Ammit the Devourer.
Kanekura: Boy, you Egyptians sure believe in short trials.
Shadi: Given a choice between mercy and greed, which do you choose?
Kanekura: Mercy, of course.
Millenium Scales: LIE!
(outside)
Yugi: The museum's closing, time to get my puzzle back.
(office)
Kanekura: That isn't fair! I'm giving the right answers, but the scales keep tipping.
Shadi: Dude, you didn't pay attention. You don't need to give the answers that make you look good, you need to give truthful answers. By the way, your chair has turned into a monster.
Ammit: I hunger!
Shadi: Okay, last question. Are you a scumbag?
Kanekura: Don't kill me! I'll pay you money!
Shadi: I'll take that as a yes. Bon appetit, Ammit.
Ammit: Chomp, slurp, mmmm....a bit fatty, but a monster can't be too choosy.
Shadi: My Millenium Key lets me open the door to the Room of the Soul. I don't see good rooms too often. You'll be eaten alive by your own illusory greed. Wait a minute, is that the Millenium Puzzle?
Millenium Puzzle: Yes.
Shadi: After 3000 years, it's finally been completed! But who could have done it?
(museum floor)
Yugi: Boy, I'm lost. Must find puzzle. Say, isn't that the Egyptian man? Mister, have you seen my Millenium Puzzle?
Shadi: It can't be! Not this tiny boy! That would mean he has the same power as my bloodline! I must know!
Yugi: I don't like the way you're staring at me. No funny stuff, now.
Shadi: Time to use the Millenium Key.
Millenium Key: Unlock!
(Inside Yugi's head)
Shadi: There's two rooms in here! One filled with toys and light, and the other has a closed, creepy-looking door, with veined walls.
(door swings open on its own)
Yami: Enter freely and of your own will. Let's play a game.
(cliffhanger! By the by, Yami is not actually the character's name. He's known through most of the manga as "the other Yugi" or "the Yugi inside Yugi." His actual name is not revealed for many, many volumes yet.)
(back inside Yugi's head)
Shadi: I've seen plenty of weird Rooms of the Soul, like Pegasus Crawford's, but I've never met someone with two rooms before. And this dark one is like a pharoah's tomb.
Yami: You're my first visitor ever! What are you selling?
Shadi: I want to find out about your Millenium Puzzle. It's one of the items created by ancient Egyptian priests to punish tomb robbers, or so the Book of the Dead claims.
Yami: Let me guess, you have one too?
Shadi: Yep! The Millenium Key, which unlocks the Room of the Soul. Plus I have the Millenium Scales which I use to weigh sins. There are seven Millenium items altogether, though you won't get the final count for a while. Anyhow, because the Millenium Puzzle has never been solved before that I know of, its power is unknown.
Yami: Thus your little home invasion.
Shadi: If I enter the Room of the Soul, I can see your power, and take it if necessary.
Yami: Bored now. If you want to see my power, you'll have to find my *actual* Room of the Soul, rather than this antechamber.
Shadi: Did I mention that while I'm in here, I can "redecorate" your soul, even destroying the current personality entirely? I accept your challenge.
Yami: Riight. Your "Trading Spaces" tricks won't work on me.
(pull out to reveal MC Escher-style maze)
Shadi: I love what you've done with the place. Let's try this door.
(TRAP)
Shadi: Umm, no.
Yami: See you at the finish line.
Shadi: This kid's soul has more doors than the Monsters Inc. factory. Ah, perhaps this one?
Yami: Just sitting here, looking smug.
(floor gives way)
Yami: After a little teasing, I'll save you.
Shadi: That was unexpected.
Yami: Game over. Out of my head.
(museum)
Yugi: You look a little overwhelmed. Jet lag?
Shadi: I feel so used. Hey, kid, here's your Millenium Puzzle.
Yugi: Yay! Thanks!
Shadi: I owe you.
Yugi: Huh?
Shadi: The other you.
Yugi: There's only me here. Unless you mean the name Yuu.
Shadi: He doesn't know he has MPD? What's your name?
Yugi: Yugi!
Yugi: Great, you're talking in riddles. That means this is a prophecy, right?
Shadi: By the way, you're the first person I've ever told my name, Shadi. I never told anyone else to avoid prosecution.
Shadi: And now I need to go set up the next chapter.
Yugi: Ooh, foreshadowing!
—- Thoughts, comments, favorite Duel Monsters card?
