Kaimiri had to think on that one. "Well...that's a hard question to answer." He said with a laugh. "I guess I was just...born with the potential."

---

Aila sighed. "The Dark Magican, of course." She said, letting the nature of her aura be known. It was a dark-aligned, the same as her ancestor, and shared many of the same attributes. "Or, as his ka was known in your time, the Magus of Illusion."

---

"Damn. It. Shark. Snap. Out. Of. It!" Yuma said, punctuating each word with a fist. Shark parried each one, not seeming to feel any pain. Of course not. That Kaimiri jerk sealed his mind away! He thought.

"He may be an idiot, but he's also determined. And endlessly entertaining." Kaimiri said, watching Yuma pummel his friend.

Finally, Yuma managed to get in close enough to grab Shark's collar. "WAKE UP!!!" He shouted, head-butting the Water duelist.

"Did you have to work for it or something?" Yuzaki asked.

---

"Ok, who are you and why do you have Mahado as your ka?" Atem growled.

---

"TSUKUMO YUMA! Get you butt back this instant!" the angel growled.

"A lot." Kaimiri said. He rolled up the sleeve on his shirt to reveal the henna tattoos engraved on his skin. "This is the proof of my power. I don't need the tattoos to use it, but...I guess you could call them a badge of honor. They also grant me access to certain circles that normal people don't."

---

"Mahado Ishtar isn't my ka." Aila said. She "saw" another shadow creature out of the corner of her eye, and she switched her gun to magick bullet mode before she unloaded into the thing. It dissipated into a fine mist, shrieking softly.

"He's my ancestor."

---

Yuma looked to Ruby. "What do you---BWAGH!"

His shift in attention allowed Ryoga to slam his shoulder into Yuma's gut, sending him flying. Yuma lay on the ground, groaning. He rolled himself over, but didn't get a chance to recover himself and stand back up before he came face-to-face with the pitch-black blade of Ryoga's sword at his throat.

"Shark...Snap out of it Shark! I know you're still in there! Wake up!" I can't move, or he'll slice open my neck!

"Kill him, Ryoga Kamishiro." Kaimiri said. Ryoga's face was as blank as it was when Yuma blocked his first strike...but something looked different.

The tip of the blade was shaking.

"Shark..."

"What are you waiting for?! KILL HIM!"

"I see...." Yuzaki sighed, then begin to unpack.

---

"You are WHAT?" Atem spluttered, "who or what are you? If you don't answer my question, I will assume you are one of them."

---

With a wave of a staff, the angel blasted Shark into the wall.
"You stay out of this" she growled.

Kaimiri frowned. "I thought you were going to head off and spy on your friends." He said.

---

Aila facepalmed. "You must've taken a dose of stupid pills this morning. Geez, and the legends say you were intelligent...." She shook her head. "My name is Aila Ishtar, last heir of the Ishtar family...and descendant of Mahado Ishtar. Your guardian and best friend."

---

"He can't feel any of the pain you throw at him. He's mind is locked down; he's completely under my control." Kaimiri said.

Yuma didn't reply. He was still shaking. Shark had a sword to my throat. That...that shouldn't happen. He looked to where Ryoga was recovering himself. But...that sword was quaking. He's still in there, I know it. It's why he couldn't follow Kaimiri's order and kill me.

"Astral, whatever happens, don't tell me to stop." Yuma said.

"What are you planning, Yuma?" Astral asked.

Yuma raised the gun. "Something crazy."

And then he shot.

"I change my mind. Please teach me to be like you" he said, "I don't care if i become a fallen angel, I just want to be like you without the orb."

---

"I have no guardian, and my best friend is dead in this time" Atem growled, "I work alone now, so if you don't mind, get out of my way!"

Kaimiri was caught aback for several moments, then grinned. "Well, if you want me to." He said. "When would you like to start?"

---

Aila, who was getting more than a little irritated by now, was about to reply when the blade of a scythe emerged from Atem's stomach, having entered from the back. She watched in horror as the Pharaoh was impaled.

"H-hehehe. I have to thank you, Miss Ishtar, for distracting him." Aila looked up, and the man she had shot in the middle of the forehead was hanging from the ceiling, scythe in hand, only from the waist down it looked like he had emerged from the shadows. "It made killing him so much easier."

"You shitting bastard!" Aila shouted in Heiratic, and let loose with her gun, forgetting to switch it to regular bullets.

---

"YUMA! What did you just do?!" Astral asked, alarm surging through him. "You have just killed Shark!"

"No, I didn't." Yuma said. "At least, I hope not...."

"I don't know" Yuzaki said, "I feel like i can trust you...though you are the enemy..."

---

Atem glared at Aila.
"You bastard!" he growled, "you won't get away from this. You are just like Marik when he was possesed." Then he collasped, his vision went clouldy, then black.

That's it, Yuzaki. Trust me to your heart's content...and then fall from grace and kill your own friends. "Maybe I'm not such an enemy as you've been led to believe."

---

Aila barely caught Atem as he collapsed when the man withdrew his scythe. "Damn it, Atem! ATEM! Say something!" She gritted her teeth and laid him down, before trying to heal his wound. "Hes! Why isn't it working?!"

"Because my scythe is like me; it neutralizes and absorbs magickal energy. And, she drank up a lot of that pharaoh's power." The man said, dropping from the ceiling and landing nimbly on his feet. "You can't heal that wound with magick. Only his body will be able to heal it on its own."

"You f***er!" Aila growled at him. "You were waiting for our focus to drop so you could attack, weren't you?"

The man laughed. "Well, of course I was!" He said. "They don't call me the Fixer because I take unnecessary risks."

Aila was about to reply, before she felt a powerful--and familiar--aura behind her.

Mahado...!

"What do you mean?" Yuzaki asked.

---

"What did you do Fixer?" Mahado growled, "you are going to pay for it dearly."

"Everybody has light and dark in their hearts, Yuzaki Mutou. Your friends mistakenly believe that I have only darkness in my heart, but that isn't true. I have both sides just like everybody else." He said. "The only difference is that I'm not afraid to access both the light and the shadow."

---

"I took your pharaoh friend out of commission." The Fixer told Mahado. "And, who are you to speak to me, Dark Magician?" He grinned. "Or, should I say, Mahado Ishtar."

Chills ran down Aila's spine. "Where did you learn my ancestor's name?"

"Just like Ashleigh" Yuzaki replied, "that's why she has a different alignment than everyone else."

---

"The Fixer is actually an old foe of ours....." Mahado replied, "And it's not Ishtar! I never married Isis!"

"Exactly." Kaimiri said. "So, do you want me to, 'open your eyes', so to speak to your dark half?"

---

Aila cocked an eyebrow and gave him a mischievous half-smile. "Then why is the family name Ishtar?"

"I never had that last name" Mahado replied sternly.

---

"What do you mean dark half?" Yuzaki asked.

"I know; in that time frame, last names weren't as common as they are now." Aila said. "So, since the Fixer is an old enemy of yours, you have any idea how to get rid of him?"

---

"Why, the darkness in your soul. The kind that every person is born with." Kaimiri replied.

"He has many faces" Mahado replied, "the last face was Zorc."

---

"I don't know..." Yuzaki said, "I think i'm not ready for that..."

"Correct," the Fixer replied. "Only now my power is greatly reduced. I'm merely a human who is a black hole for magick." He fixed his mismatched glare at Mahado. "I have your Pharaoh to thank for that. It looks like I'm going to get my revenge."

---

"Take your time, Yuzaki." Kaimiri said. "I won't force you into something." I don't need to.

"His first form is an old enemy of ours. He was able to recreate it because of his ansistor."

---

"And you agree to take that orb away?" Yuzaki asked.

"I also have the memories of my ancestor. You could say that they're engraved on my DNA." The Fixer flashed to right behind Mahado, raising his scythe. "Now, for you to meet the same fate as your pharaoh!"

"WRONG!" Aila said, loading her gun and firing. And again. And again. And until she had unloaded an entire magazine into the Fixer.

---

"I promise." Kaimiri said.

The gun shots gave enough time to create a mist, which created a portal to get the three out of there. By the time the scythe hit, the three has disappeared.

---

I hope he keeps them Yuzaki thought, he doesn't have a great rep. for keeping them....

---

"YUMA, YOU IDIOT!" the angel cried in anger, "why did you do such a thing?"

The Fixer swore when the mist cleared, revealing that all three were gone. The only sign that they'd been there at all was the bloodstain on the ground, where Atem had been lying. He swore in his primeval language. "Master Kaimiri is not going to be happy."

---

Aila blinked once the transport was done. "Where did you bring us? I looks like a medbay."

Sure enough, a young man in a doctor's coat came striding into the room. "Mahado?" He asked. Then his bi-colored eyes went wide. "Dear gods...What happened! Tavers, get Atem to the operating room now!" He returned his attention to the trio once the man (Tavers) in question had several nurses with him and were tending to the wounded pharaoh. "What happened? How did Atem get that wound?" He fixed Aila with a look that sent shivers down her spine; this 'young' man wasn't as young as he appeared. "And who is this young woman?"

---

"I did it to free Shark!" Yuma replied. "He isn't dead! I know he is!" Or, at least, I hope he isn't dead. While he knew that the gun Kamikaze Sakura gave him wouldn't kill or wound unless he wished it, he didn't know if it would leave any lasting harm. I hope it worked....

---

Ugh...my head.

Ryoga's vision was blurry. He couldn't make out anything, and he heard muffled voices. Gods, it felt like he'd been thrown into a brick wall.

"He got hit by the scythe from the Fixer" Mahado replied, "And it all happened because this one here, forgotten one of the important rules if you cross paths with Atem, which ended up as distraction for the Fixer."

---

"I don't care Yuma! One false move and he would've been dead!! And you should've had better practice with it before using it to your advantage!" the angel growled.

"No offense, but I don't know how to say this without sounding like an asshole...I saved his ass." Aila said. She winced when she saw the wound. "Okay, so I did not so good."

"What's your name?" The young man asked.

"Aila Ishtar."

The young man cocked an eyebrow at Mahado. "You never mentioned that she was your descendant."

---

"I didn't do it for my own advantage!" Yuma protested. "I did it to save Shark!"

"Enough of this." Kaimiri said. He ported to where Yuma was, right in front of him. "Time to break this Circle."

"Yes, and in the moment, i'm teaching her the ways for being part of the court, just in case she has to blend in. Actually, two things that you forgotten Alia. Rule no.1. NEVER piss off Atem, no matter what. Rule no. 2. If a ruler, past or present, ask you a question, you MUST answer." Mahad said.

---

"Yuma, what I meant WAS that!" the angel sighed, "Yugi saved Judai the same way as you did, but it was under a silver situation. Use it for the wrong reasons, and it will control you, like those swords."

Aila stuck her tongue out. "I already know the rules of the court. I'm one of the nobles on the high council that rules New Egypt." She replied. "And I never followed the question rule anyway. Especially when the ruler in question is a derpy idiot teenager half the time...."

---

"She's right, Yuma." Astral replied. "There's a quote I ran accross in your world. I believe it was 'With great power comes great responsibility.'"

Yuma sweatdropped. "Really? You're going to quote Spider-man?"