AN: I tried writing this same story before and I hated it. So older and (I hope) wiser and (I really hope) a better author, I'm trying again. The basic plan I have will have references to a school the OC went to. For those of you familiar with Psychic Academy, picture the basic idea of this school meets Yu-Gi-Oh! and for those of you not familiar with Psychic Academy you don't really need to be as this is not a crossover fic and merely a similar concept. I apologize if the first chapter isn't well-written as I'm writing this on no sleep and am writing without a beta. And for time-line purposes, this takes place shortly after the incident with Dartz.
Disclaimer: I own nothing but my OC.
Kaiba and Mokuba were walking around Domino City. Normally Kaiba would be working at this time of day, but there was a fair this weekend and he promised his brother he would take him as the fair fell on his birthday.
It was a typical fair. Games, food stands, and other activities meant to be fun for everyone. Kaiba found himself bored, but as long as Mokuba was having fun he was satisfied.
After roughly half an hour he noticed that several people had necklaces and charm bracelets and similar items. He wouldn't have noticed it if the baubles weren't all similar in make and design and if it weren't for the fact that some of the people he saw with the jewelry weren't wearing them when they entered. After coming to the conclusion that it was a prize at one of the games he disregarded it. He was finally starting to enjoy himself at the fair when he heard Joey's distinct, and loud, voice.
"I'm telling you, she's actually psychic! Her reading was dead-on and I swear this charm she gave me has made me luckier already."
"Come on, Joey, she's probably been at this for years. She probably read your body language and told you what you wanted to hear instead of actually reading your cards. Besides, you bought that charm because you failed her test and she did say that she was opening a small store. She's probably just pretending to be psychic so that people will buy her good-luck charms," Yugi said patiently.
"Come on, Yugi, that test was completely unfair," Joey said, looking around as if the surrounding area would give him proof of this 'unfair test.' At that moment he spotted Kaiba and, for lack of anything else inspiring, continued speaking. "I bet even rich boy over there wouldn't have been able to notice it."
"I probably could, mutt," Kaiba said.
"Then prove it. That blue tent over there," Joey said, pointing towards the tent in question. "Prove that you can pass her test. Unless you're too scared."
Kaiba, not really interested in a bauble or what a so-called 'psychic' could do, but also not about to let his reputation be smeared by being labeled a coward, calmly walked over to the tent and stepped inside.
"Do a reading for you, sir?" A girl about his age asked, looking up from a table where she was organizing the trinkets he saw earlier.
"I'm merely here to prove a point," Kaiba said. "I'm not interested in your 'readings.'"
"Ah, a skeptic, I see," the girl said with an easy-going smile. "Don't worry, I'm not offended. You're not the first person who doesn't believe that's walked in to prove to the entire world that I'm a fraud."
"Like I said, I'm not interested in your readings," Kaiba said, starting to become impatient. "I'm simply proving a point about your 'test.'"
"I see," the girl said. "And would you be proving this point to the blond out there and his friends?" After the confirming nod she smiled and continued. "Well fortunately he was my last customer and I don't change anything until my 'test' has been passed. Though it's not really a test but a challenge. There's one thing, and one thing only about my appearance that isn't correct. Your challenge is to spot the one thing and if you get it right you get one of my charms for free. If you get it wrong, you can pay a small amount of money for a charm instead. Either way, my reading is free. But before we get started, let me introduce myself. My name is Lisa Beldon, a psychic and charm maker, and this is, at its core, an advertising stunt for a store I'm opening in a few weeks. I'll sell these charms and, for a fee, read people. I make all of my charms by hand and while I will not promise that they work, some people who have gotten one of my charms in the past will swear by them. Now that the shameless self-advertising is complete, you can start my little test. You can look at my appearance for as long as you want, unless of course during my little speech you've noticed the off thing about me and are ready to guess now. I warn you, though, you only get one try."
Kaiba studied her for a moment. She was fairly plain in appearance, black hair pulled back into a ponytail though he suspected when let down it would reach to about her shoulders. She was wearing a simple red long-sleeved shirt and black jeans, not your typical psychic's uniform. At her height of roughly 5'6 she was completely average. After a brief moment he smirked and, with complete confidence said, "You're wearing colored contacts. People with black hair don't have blue eyes."
Lisa smiled. "Very good, sir," she said. "You'd be surprised how many people think that people with black hair really do have blue eyes. Reaching up she quickly removed the contacts, proving that they were merely decorative and not prescription and, after putting them in a contact case looked up with what turned out to be very dark, nearly black, eyes. Stepping aside from the table she said, "You've won yourself a free charm. I can do a reading for you if you'd like. And given your skepticism and the fact that I do enjoy shocking skeptics like yourself, I'll give you a charm I don't have on display for free if you'll humor me and allow me a reading."
"What's the matter, Kaiba, scared of something you don't believe in?" Joey asked, trying to goad Kaiba into agreeing, a tactic that, surprisingly, worked yet again, though Kaiba more agreed because Mokuba looked interested than because of anything the 'mutt' said.
"Fine," he said walking towards a table that, presumably, Lisa did her readings at. "So tell me, where's your crystal ball?"
"Now, look, I'm being generous offering you a charm from the back. Those charms take longer to make than the ones I have on the table and I would appreciate it if you kept your sarcasm to yourself," Lisa said. "I don't read people using crystal balls, or looking into pools of liquid, and I don't read palms. There are very few people who actually use those methods and my skills don't lie there."
"Then what do you do?" Kaiba asked, not keeping his disbelief out of his tone.
"I read cards. The cards I read with vary from Tarot cards to playing cards depending on where I am, but I chose this town specifically because the people here have the greatest interest in where my skills actually lie. I heard that this town had an incident where the duel monster cards came to life or at least seemed to. The cards I have always been the strongest with are in fact duel monster cards, which the people of this town seem to use more frequently than eating utensils. Most people seem content to believe that it was merely a malfunction of their duel disks, but a few are aware that the cards are alive and have spirits." Seeing that Kaiba was bored and that he wanted to make a comment on how the cards weren't alive, she decided to cut her speech short. "Long story short, if you shuffle your deck, I will place the top four cards in front of me and tell you what they say. Sometimes I will get a reading of someone's future, rarely their past, but more the cards tell me about the people themselves and I get a decent picture of their present."
"You expect me to give you my cards and-" Kaiba was interrupted by Lisa in the middle of his rant.
"As collateral, while I'm holding onto your cards I will give you my own deck. While the cards aren't overly rare, they are valuable to me and are my most important possessions. And after I am done with the reading you are free to check your deck and if you find any cards missing or damaged I will pay you for it. If it turns out that my funds cannot cover the cost of the damaged card, I have papers that say that you get sixty percent of all of my store's profits until my debt has been paid in full and including whatever interest you place. Is this fair?" Having recognized her skeptic customer as Seto Kaiba of Kaiba Corp she quickly handed him the paper in question and allowed him to read it. After a few minutes of careful study, and a quiet plea from Mokuba, he nodded and pulled out his deck, setting it on the table.
"All right, before we begin here is my deck," Lisa said, sliding over her cards. "I need you to cut and shuffle your deck however you please, and since your brother has a question, while you're doing that I'll field any questions asked."
"What do you use for people who don't have duel decks?" Mokuba asked.
"I have duel monsters cards in the back of the tent, behind the curtain I have set up. People without decks are free to study them, make a deck of 40 cards, and cut and shuffle them. And since your brother doesn't seem interested in his free charm, why don't you pick one out?"
"I probably should have asked this when we were here earlier, but do your charms mean anything?" Yugi asked.
"Most people assume that these are good luck charms, and most of them are," Lisa said. "However the ones that the boy is looking at are protection charms that ward off danger." Walking over she picked up a charm that had a rectangular prism-like gem in the center with two bead-shaped ones on either side. "I'd personally recommend this one for protection. It will help ward off spiritual attacks."
"No one attacks spirits anymore," Joey said, "We beat him in case you haven't heard."
"On the contrary," Lisa said. "I don't mean 'spiritual attacks' in the sense of someone trying to take one's spirit or a spirit trying to possess someone, though it will ward off those types of attacks as well. But when people shoot out harmful words or even physically attack you that also has an affect on your spirit. This charm helps keep the full effect of these attacks from reaching you, allowing you to bounce back from these attacks more quickly than you would otherwise."
"What kind of charms do we have? And how can we tell which charm has what property? They all have the same design." Yugi asked because, even though Joey was the only one who had a reading done and truly believed Lisa was psychic, all of them bought a charm as Lisa struck them as a nice person and they wanted to help her store out.
"The blond boy who I read earlier has a classic good-luck charm, I suspect he was drawn to it because it will enhance his own fairly uncanny good luck. Good-luck charms are signified by their pale yellow color. The brown-haired male has a protecting charm. It will help him defend his friends should the need arise. This charm is signified by it's light red color. The brown-haired female has a charm to enhance her charisma, making people more likely to listen to her. They are signified by a light purple or lilac color. Your white-haired friend has a spirit protection charm, much like the one I reccomended to him. They are always a pale blue color. You, Yugi, have a spirit strengthening charm, essentially the opposite of this charm. Where this one will shield the wearer's spirit, your charm will make your spirit stronger," walking over to him, she quietly added, "and it should also strengthen the spirit of your friend in the puzzle." In a normal speaking voice she finished describing the charm. "The kind of charm you have will always bee this pale green." Looking up she walked over to the table seeing as Kaiba had finished shuffling his deck during her explanation and was looking impatient.
"If you're ready, I'll begin," Lisa said. She quietly picked up the top four cards and placed them face down on the table. "You take good care of your cards, Mr. Kaiba. It will make reading them easier as it shows you already have a connection with them." Flipping over the first card on the far left she looked at the picture.
"The Mystical Genie of the Lamp. A surprising card for someone who doesn't believe in magic, but at the same time irrefutable proof that it is very much a part of your life." She then moved to the card next to it.
"The Genie's Lamp. I'm not surprised that this was the second card as the Genie is rarely seen without it. It represents your fervent denial of all things magical and your attempts to bottle them up, largely successful in your mind only, I'm afraid." She then moved to the third card, noting absently the surprise on the faces of Yugi and his friends and Mokuba as she accurately read Kaiba.
"Polymerization. I rarely see this card in my readings. The same way this card binds monster cards together, this shows that aspects of your life are coming together and merging, despite your dislike of this and attempts to keep everything separate." As she moved over to the last card she jerked her hand back as if burned.
"There's a strong connection between you and this card, it would seem. I usually only get clear connections after I reveal the card." Flipping the card, this time without difficulty, she finished her reading.
"The Blue Eyes White Dragon. One of the strongest cards and represents your own inner strength. But this card also shows devotion to the people you care about and your willingness to defend those select few with your entire being." Grabbing the top two cards from Kaiba's deck, despite her claims that she only needed four, she flipped them over revealing the other two Blue Eyes cards. "For you to have all three, particularly when drawn in responce to a reading, shows that you have all of the aspects of the Blue Eyes. Its strength, its courage, and its devotion. The reaction that I got from this card tells me that this is what is known as a 'Soul Connection.' This card will always be in your deck when you need it, and will always come to your aid without question."
Looking up, she quickly replaced the six cards and handed Kaiba his deck, waiting patiently for him to be satisfied that all of his cards were indeed there and that she hadn't damaged them before reclaiming her own cards.
She quickly walked towards the back of her tent and past the area sectioned off by the curtain. When she came back into view she was wearing a brown wig, presumably her next test and carrying a small box.
"As promised, a charm from the back. This is one of my stronger charms and very few people ever will be seen wearing it. This charm will make you more receptive to things you don't wish to accept. When you do come to accept them, you will be better able to cope with this acceptance and will also be a better conduit for the things you previously denied. In short, Kaiba, this charm will open your eyes. I am aware that you don't believe, but you will. And you'll need this charm."
Opening the box, she handed him a charm that actually looked like it had the colors of a prism instead of one specific color like the other charms she had. "I'm afraid I cannot explain this charm beyond this or mention it by name. But I promise that by week's end I will be able to explain everything." After a moment's hesitation where she looked like she was listening to someone the others couldn't hear, she shook her head and walked back to the curtain, asking them to wait for a moment.
"I wasn't going to give you these yet, but apparently the decision was made for me. With the exception of Mr. Kaiba, can you all exchange your pendants for these?" She held out pendants with the same colors as the ones they already had except for the fact that these seemed to glow much the way the one she gave to Kaiba did. After the others, with confused murmurs, had done so, Lisa shook her head as if to clear it completely and smiled apologetically.
"I'm sorry if my actions just now confused you. I'm sometimes a little disoriented after a reading. Do me a favor and don't lose those. Those are my good pendants and I would be sad to see them lost when you've not even had them for one day. And whatever you do, don't get rid of them or give them to someone who asks. Those pendants are my gift to you and if anyone else wants my good pendants and I think that he or she deserves it, that person will get it." After looking at their new pendants they saw that the colors were brighter and seemed to glow slightly.
As he was turning to leave 'this madhouse' with Mokuba, Kaiba saw for the briefest second as Lisa was bending down to grab something, the exact same pendant that Lisa had just given him, and for a moment he thought he saw a ghostly figure with purple hair, a golden dress, and six wings standing behind her.
AN: This is officially the longest introductory chapter I've ever written, and quite possibly my longest chapter ever. I do appologize to my reviewer (and any other reviewer or reader) who has black hair and blue eyes. I was unaware that this was not actually a thing that does happen naturally. For the sake of the story, please allow this universe to have different laws of naturally ocurring things that do not allow black hair and blue eyes to happen. Again, my appologies to anyone offended by this.