It was a dark and stormy night in Domino City. The streets were filthy with trash and low life scum, car alarms and screeching voices were tainting the night air, and the gloomy city stunk of pollution and smoke. Needless to say, it was not the choice area to live. But the city had something that others didn't. Something unique. Something heroic, pure, courageous, and a symbol of hope. They had... The Batman.
Or erm... The Pharoah, as he preferred to be called.
He had spiked up hair and dressed in all dark leather, and smothered the top half of his face in kohl to hide his identity. He fought crime and corruption under the cover of darkness, and the city was safe when he was around. He tried to keep his identity a secret, but honestly, everyone knew who he was. No one else had as crazy hair as his. But when his "true identity", Bru- I mean, Yugi Moto, was questioned about it, he would act all innocent and deny it. Yugi was a young successful business man whom everybody seemed to know. But he really never let on that he was The Pharoah. Was he lying about it, or was there something more to his story...
-BEEP- -BEEP- -BEEP-
Yugi pressed the 'off' button on his alarm and sat up in his bed. It was 6:30 am on just a regular old day. He got out of bed and went to the bathroom to brush his teeth and fix his hair. As he opened the door and looked into the mirror, a face that wasn't his own was staring back at him.
"G'Morning sleepyhead!" The other face said with a smirk. Yugi just stared at it for a bit before rubbing the sleep out of his eyes and replying with
"Oh... its you."
The apparition stepped out of the mirror and took a transparent form next to his host, and Yugi's own face was back in the mirror.
"You're really that unhappy to see me?" The being said with a pout.
"Yes! Whenever I see you, something bad is happening! And you're not even real, you're just a figment of my imagination! I'm just a crazy person talking to myself!" Yugi yelled while he fixed his hair in the mirror.
Yugi had the right to think that he was talking to himself though. After all, the spirit looked a lot like him. Same face, same hair, but the spirit was a bit taller and had sharper features. Yugi was on the short side for a twenty five year old, and people still mistook him for a high school kid. But despite that, he was extremely smart and was able to take over his late father's company when he turned twenty one.
The apparition let out a sigh.
"We both know that I'm real. And I have a name you know!"
"Oh yeah, what do like to call yourself? Was it 'yami'?" Yugi snapped back with thick sarcasm.
"Yes, thank you for remembering!" Yami said faking cheeriness.
"Sure! Now, where were you last night?"
Yami's smile turned to seriousness.
"I don't know what you're talking about."
"Really? So these bruises just appeared here?" Yugi was showing Yami his arms, which were coated in black and blue.
"Maybe you're dying." Yami deadpanned.
Yugi facepalmed.
"Look, I know what you're doing at night, and I know I cant stop or control you, but please, wear some armor? I cant take these suspicions that I'm 'The Pharoah' or whatever it is you call yourself."
Yami laughed.
"Believe me, the bruises are the least of your concerns. Have you not seen our hair?"
"Whatever."
Yugi finished up in the bathroom and then went to his closet get changed. He put on a black t-shirt and some khaki shorts.
"Where are you going dressed like that?" Yami asked. "Usually you wear the monkey suits."
Yugi glared at him.
"I'm meeting Marik for coffee this morning."
"Ah, the fruitcake who runs the nightclub."
Yugi spun around and screamed at Yami,
"DONT CALL HIM THAT! In high school I was the only friend of his who didn't abandon him when he came out! Stop being such an ass!"
Yugi stomped out of the room and slammed the door. Yami would have been left standing there shocked at Yugi's sudden outburst, but he was attached to Yugi's soul. So he just drifted behind him with his mouth agape.
Yugi was enjoying the silence, but for good measure he said
"Please don't talk to me when other people are around. If I accidently talk back to you, people will think I'm crazy."
Yami grumbled somehthing incoherent, but trailed behind Yugi and kept his mouth shut the rest of the time they were in public.
As Yugi entered the coffee shop, he immediately spotted Marik. Only that guy would wear a lavender midriff-showing top, pounds of gold jewlery, and skinny jeans. As he waved Yugi over, Yami couldn't help but mutter,
"What the fuck is he wearing?"
Yugi glared at him, but because no one else could see him, he looked like he was glaring at a nearby ficas. As Yugi sat down, Marik had a knowing look in his eyes.
"He's here today, isn't he?"
Yugi nodded. Yami hung around in spirit form next to Yugi maybe half of the time, and when he wasn't doing that, he was making random comments in Yugis head. He never really left, it was just a matter of whether or not he took a transparent form that only Yugi could see.
"He took control of me last night again."
"I know."
Yugi gave Marik a confused look.
"How do you know?"
Marik slid him the newspaper that was sitting on the table.
"Its all over the news. The 'masked vigilante' and his sidekick put a stop to a huge drug ring downtown. At least there's no pictures this time though."
Yugi read the front page with a groan.
"This is awful. This says 'The Pharoah' got in a fight with ten guys, and they all had weapons!"
"Actually, it was eleven." Yami piped up.
"Save it for someone who cares!" Yugi snapped at the spirit. But once again, it looked like he was yelling at an inanimate object, this time it being a high chair leaning against the wall. Marik couldn't help but burst out laughing at this.
"You better stop talking to him, or someones gonna put you in the funny farm!"
Yugi sighed and turned to Marik.
"I probably should go there. I'm a complete schizophrenic."
Yugi layed his head down on the desk, and Marik patted his head.
"We both know that's not true." Yugi heard a second time today, except this time a much more nasally voice had said it. "I was there when this first started happening to you, remember? We went on the week long trip to Egypt with the rest of our senior class, and when you touched that small, gold pyramid with the eye of Horus on it, you were the only one that could see and talk to Yami."
Yugi groaned.
"What the hell drove me to touch that thing?" Yugi asked to no one in particular.
Of course Yami appeaared above him and chirped in with,
"You're like a small animal, you cant help but touch shiny things."
Yugi got pissed at this and whisper yelled,
"I'm not a small animal and I don't obsess over shiny things! Now please, do shut up!"
This time, Yugi was talking to a deer head hanging above them, and Marik absolutely lost it in a fit of laughter.
After the two finished their coffees, the said their goodbyes and went their seperate ways.
"What're we gonna do today, Yugi?" Yami asked in a perky tone.
"Something dangerous that needs to get done or the fate of the world will be crushed."
Yami thought for a moment.
"More paperwork?"
"Bingo."
"UGH."
We go to a different part of the city, and find another young and successful man, only this man is the city's district attorney. He is the one who would take the bad guys 'The Pharoah' took care of and put them behind bars. He was grateful to the 'masked vigilante' because without him, he wouldn't have enough evidence to put these criminals away. What was this man's name? He was none other than Ryou Bakura. Also known as 'Two-Face' by his coworkers, because he came off as a good guy around the press and everone else, but when it came to criminals he was an absolute monster in the court room. People just thought that that was his fake perspnality, but just like Yugi, he had a secret locked up as well...
"OBJECTION!"
The DA screamed across the court room, in a true Phoenix Wright fashion. All gazes turned to the british man with long, spiky, white hair as he began to sell his case.
"If you came home from work at 7, how could your friend have picked you up to go out at 7?"
"H-he was waiting for me!"
"I think not! You work at a construction site! It would take you at least 30 minutes to shower, change, and make yourself presentable to go out to a night club. Or did you go there straight from work, dirty and smelling like sh-"
"ORDER!" The judge yelled as he slammed his gavel.
The attorney snarled, but still continued.
"So you're telling me your friend took you there straight from work?"
"I-I.."
"Wouldn't it have been much more convenient for him to pick you up from work? It was only down the street. Are gas prices really that high?"
A few on the jury laughed at this, while the accused was trembling at the stand.
"W-well you see-"
"No sir, I don't see. Clearly you didn't go home or to the club that night, because you went STRAIGHT FROM WORK TO THE SHIPYARD, WHERE YOU COULD GAIN SOME EXTRA CASH HELPING TO SHIP OUT COCAINE. IS THAT NOT CORRECT SIR!?"
The man started crying hysterically, until he broke down and screamed.
"ITS TRUE, OK! I DID IT! I helped ship the drugs out..."
The attorney smiled to himself as the judge banged the gavel while saying,
"Court ajourned."
"Oh poopy, I'm gonna miss my favorite show!" Ryou whimpered as he ran down the street. He lived about a ten minute walking distance from the courthouse, so he made it a habit to get his exercise and walk there when he had a case. He was carrying a load of papers and was running down the busy street, trying to get to his apartment on time so he wouldn't miss 'American Idol'.
"I told you so, Ryou. You shouldn't have wasted your time with those wankers at the water cooler. You can only blame yourself for this one!"
The young man wasn't running with anyone, the voice talking to him was coming from his head.
"I know, Bakura, but I really needed to talk to them! Jim's sister had her first kid and-!"
"Just shut up, I don't give a damn."
The boy had slowed down to a fast walk, so he wouldn't trip.
"Oh, Bakura, I forgot to tell you- great job on the case today! I couldn't have done it without you."
Normally, someone talking to himself would get a lot of stares. But Ryou was always sure to keep a bluetooth on at all times, so when he needed to talk to the spirit in public, he looked like he was in the middle of a call.
Upon hearing the praise, Bakura let out a sigh.
"Whatever. I just like to yell a lot. You do all the legal jargin and I get your point across in the court room."
Ryou smiled to himself.
"Yeah, but you're a big help!"
While not paying attention to where he was going, he ended up crashing into someone, and he dropped his heavy stack of papers.
"Ryou, you're so uncoordinated that its embarrassing. I'm taking over."
As the spirit took over Ryous body, he started picking up the papers, and the stranger who he bumped into started helping him.
"Sorry, I wasn't looking where I was going." The stranger said.
"Its quite alright, I wasn't either."
Bakura looked up into the strangers eyes and his heart nearly stopped. He quickly looked back down and went to collecting the papers.
'Those are probably the most gorgeous eyes I've ever seen.' He thought to himself. Little did he know, the stranger had the exact same thoughts.
"Uh, would you like help carrying these?" The stranger asked him.
"Yeah, thanks, its only a block away."
Once the two had picked up all the papers, they stood up and saw each other fully.
Bakura noticed the stranger starting to check him out, and he instantly became nervous and started walking.
"I've seen you on tv, haven't I? Two-face I believe they call you." The stranger said in a flirtatious tone.
Bakura just laughed it off.
"Yeah I guess. Though you're probably expecting me to be all sweet and kind to you now, aren't you?"
The stranger laughed.
"Not really."
This caught Bakura off guard.
"And why not?"
The stranger seemed to be thinking, and then said,
"I have a friend like you. I can tell which is which. And he's not a schizo, as I can see that you're not either."
Bakura was impressed.
"Well, I didn't think anyone had seen through our facade, but I guess that we were wrong."
The stranger smiled.
"Pretty much."
They reached the front door of the apartment building, and Bakura took the papers the stranger was holding.
"Thanks... uhm what's your name?"
"My name is Marik." The boy said with a smile as he started to walk away. "And for the record, I like the 'court room' you better."
The boy walked away, and Bakura smiled to himself as he walked inside. Though once he rode the elevator to the top floor, found his room and went in, and put his paperwork down, he realized something. And this something made him want to smack himself.
"Why didn't I get his number!"
He yelled out loud.
He heard Ryou giggle to himself.
"Wow, Bakura, I didn't know you swung that way."
Bakura was pissed off enough as it is, and Ryou wasn't helping.
"Just shut up, ok!? I'm probably never gonna see him again! God why am I such an idiot..."
Ryou laughed again and appeared beside Bakura.
He then pointed to the first paper in his massive pile that Marik had helped him carry.
"Why don't you check your paperwork for now?"
Bakura looked at him cofusedly and then picked up the paper he was pointing at.
Across the top of it in purple ink were 10 digits and a tagline that read '- Marik'.
"He dots his 'i' with a heart. What a fruitcake..."
"Should you of all people really be saying that?"
Bakura smirked.
"I'm not a fruitcake, I'm just gay. Now take over. I don't wanna do all this writing."
"I'd be happy to." Ryou said with a smile.
