What are the correct words...? Mwa Ha Ha? I think that is it.
Didn't think I'd post just like that, huh? Well, I'm proud to say that I'm getting a little more active since I'm just sitting here in a couched area waiting around for my older sister to finish her second lab of the day (she is accepting prayers as I type this).
This first chapter does have the duel but I made sure, based on some reviews from the original story that there was no need to put the entire duel into the chapter as that makes it too wordy and such, to cut bits but have some of the more important bits to add character details.
I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh! as that is owned by Kazuki Takahashi. I only own Christine, my OC.
I admit, when I arrived somehow into the world of Yu-Gi-Oh, I didn't think that I would be, done, and seen everything that I have. The adventures that I have been on with all my friends have made me happier than I can even imagine, despite the danger that comes with being a part of them. Even with that danger, I still fought beside my friends, both physical and spiritual.
And speaking of the spiritual friends, Yami and I have been working out this relationship as well as we can; it was definitely strange when there is a medium, by that I mean Yugi, that didn't understand the essentials that the person I was seeing was actually a spirit that inhabited his body. Yami had lost a bit of his more sadistic side, though he did enjoy threatening a few people with a game. I can only guess that has happened because of his connection to Yugi, it was doing him some good. He was a little quieter but that was to be expected, he was becoming more aware of what he knows and doesn't know about himself. I promised myself that when he fully becomes aware of it, I'd be there for him.
It has been nearly a year since our encounter with Yami Bakura, the Spirit of the Millennium Ring, and the insanity of Kaiba's Death-T and we had had no other problems since. Life had continued as it usually would in a world that was based on a manga. Our problems returned when Miho finally broke her news that she was moving. She had broken down in tears as we all sat in the park relaxing on what seemed like a normal Sunday.
"I didn't want to tell you all." Miho sniffed. "Our last trip was to finish the paperwork on the house and Mama's job."
"I see." Anzu said softly.
The entire gang was practically shell-shocked at the news. No one said a word, and that didn't help the fact that Miho was ready to unleash another torrent of tears. Seeing her torn apart at even the thought of leaving us, I couldn't help but be moved to near tears as well. I was the first to move and wrapped Miho into a hug. Her tears began again but I held all the tighter. Eventually, the rest of the gang had joined in, giving Miho the comfort she deserved.
We spent as much time together as we could, going to arcades and hanging out at restaurants, eating away at the money that Grandpa let us have for this farewell ceremony, until the day Miho had to travel to the airport. Her mother had set up a taxi to take them both there and when we arrived, was placing their baggage into the trunk while Miho said her final goodbyes.
"Thank you for allowing me to be a part of your adventures." Miho smiled, trying to keep herself composed, though her voice shook slightly.
"It was a pleasure having you with us." I replied, giving her one last hug before everyone else came in. "We'll definitely miss you."
Watching the hugs was sad but when Honda finally came over to say goodbye, a tear actually slid down my cheek. I hoped that no one would notice but unfortunately, Yugi did. He gave a comforting squeeze to my hand and I smiled down to him. Honda and Miho were quiet as they spoke and soon, Miho's mother called to her. The two hugged and soon enough, Miho had to climb into the taxi.
The yellow car's engine started and with a final wave from Miho and the rest of the gang, she was soon out of sight. We remained for a minute or two longer before we decided to go to Yugi's house to ease our broken hearts.
After a few weeks, the loss dulled and soon the pattern of not seeing Miho became normal. The shop's selling of Duel Monster cards had increased dramatically, so I guess that the game's popularity was skyrocketing yet again. I had seen tons of people play it at school and even Jounouchi and Yugi had started to play when we were on breaks. Anzu even played a few rounds, kicking Jounouchi's butt each time. Unfortunately for Jounouchi, today wasn't going to be any different.
"Bwa ha ha ha!" Jounouchi attempted to laugh maniacally at the card he had just drawn. "Take this, Anzu! I attack with Rock Ogre Grotto!"
I was watching from my spot next to Yugi as the both of us contemplated what Jounouchi had planned, if anything at all. Anzu didn't seem too worried about it.
"Then on my turn…." She took another glance at her cards before she flipped one onto the field. "I use the spell card 'Wind of the Gods'! The holy breeze erodes your Golem! He turns to dust! I win!"
"Jounouchi: Nothing. Anzu: 14." I was keeping score and apparently on this loss, Jounouchi finally lost it.
"Again!" He exclaimed. "I lost again!" He ran over to Yugi and shook the boy by his shoulders. "Yugi! Why…. Why?! Why can't I win?! What am I doing wrong?!"
"Show me your deck, Jounouchi." Yugi replied when the blond let him go.
"Okay…."
Yugi took the cards and began to search through them. At first he seemed serious until a few more cards in and his eyebrows began to rise higher and higher into his hairline.
"Yugi?" I asked. "Is everything ok?"
He didn't reply for a minute until he held out the deck to me.
"Tell me what is wrong with this deck, Christine." He said seriously.
With my own eyebrow raised, I took the deck, and began to search through it. I swiped through the cards and I'm sure my reaction was the same as Yugi's.
"Jounouchi, where are all your spell cards?" I asked. "Where are the traps?"
"I didn't put any in." Jounouchi replied with a smile. "I stuffed that deck with the most powerful monster cards I could find."
Yugi and I shared a look then looked back to Jounouchi.
"The biggest strategy of this game is combing monster and spell cards!" Yugi explained. "Your opponent can easily dodge your attacks if you only fight with monsters!"
"Or find a way to use that strength against you." I added.
Jounouchi wore a blank face for a minute. Even over the hum of students talking around us, I could hear the 'Hmmm' come from the blond. Jounouchi moved after another moment.
"Awright, Yugi!" He grabbed Yugi by the shoulders yet again. "Please! You gotta train me to play better!"
Yugi smiled at the request.
"Okay! Come to my place afterschool!"
"Yugi…" I went to remind him of something. "Don't forget about what else is tonight."
"Oh yeah!" Yugi exclaimed then turned back to Jounouchi. "You've chosen a great time! The finals of the Duel Monsters Tournament is on TV at 5:00 tonight!"
"It is?" Anzu asked.
"Yeah." I replied. "Both Yugi and Grandpa are pretty excited to watch it."
"Let's watch it together!" Jounouchi suggested loudly.
There were no dissenting votes so when the final bell of the day rang, we all made our way to the game shop. Grandpa was surprisingly outside, flipping the sign of the shop from 'open' to 'closed'.
"I'm home, Grandpa!" Yugi called when we got close.
The old man turned around and gave all of us a bright smile.
"Ah, Yugi, Christine!" He smiled. "Welcome home!" Grandpa looked around and saw that Jounouchi and Anzu were both here with us. "You're all here! Come on in!"
Jounouchi raised an eyebrow, looking confused.
"Huh, you closed already?" The blond asked.
"Ho Ho, of course!" Grandpa chortled. "The Duel Monsters Finals are on tonight! I can't be caught shop keeping!"
"That would suck immensely for him." I smiled and Grandpa nodded as he let all of us into the shop. "We would never hear the end of his complaining."
"Hush, you." Grandpa gave an annoyed look but I knew better since he smiled soon afterward. "Oh, by the way, Yugi..." Grandpa picked up a package that lay on the counter. "A package came for you!"
"A package?" Yugi asked as he took the simple cardboard box from Grandpa. "Who's it from?"
I glanced over his shoulder to look for a return address but saw nothing.
"Apparently someone wanted to remain anonymous since there isn't anything." I answered. "What do you think it could be?"
Yugi shrugged but he had a hard time looking away from the box.
I helped Grandpa make small snacks for when we watched the duel but I didn't think that the duel would last long enough for anyone to eat anything. Soon enough, we all gathered in front of Yugi's TV as the sponsors for the tournament were being displayed.
"The show's almost starting!" Yugi cheered.
"This really is kind of exciting!" Anzu clenched, her hands together in anticipation.
"Of course!" Jounouchi exclaimed. "This decides the top duelist in Japan!"
"I just wonder how the two Duelists are feeling." I said aloud. "Nervous or what?"
"Most likely they are planning their strategies so they don't really have the time to be nervous." Grandpa replied to me.
"I can see that." I nodded, somewhat understanding.
"Why didn't you enter, Yugi?" Jounouchi suddenly asked the boy. "You coulda made it all the way!"
Yugi turned back to the TV, a sort of melancholy look on his face.
"Yeah, but…." He thought for second more. "I made a decision…. To not to fight in a tournament, unless I'm fighting him…"
We all glanced to Yugi. 'Him' meant Kaiba, I'm sure. Anzu even asked to be sure. "Yup!" Yugi answered, his cheerfulness back. "This time fair and square. That's my dream."
"That's a good thing to dream for." I smiled at Yugi. "I'm sure it will happen."
"I hear Kaiba is still…" Anzu went to tell of his condition but we all knew.
Yugi and I had visited him yesterday after school; Kaiba still hadn't changed since his duel with Yami. He stared blankly at the wall as Mokuba talked to him about everything that was going on. It was nice seeing that Mokuba wasn't giving up hope but it was hard to watch the younger brother having to be strong for his elder sibling.
"I still…" Jounouchi slightly hissed out. "Even if he came back, I still wouldn't trust him! I'd never trust that creep!"
"Jounouchi." I chastised but the blond didn't recant his statement.
"Oho!" Grandpa exclaimed. "It's about to start!"
The TV had sprung to life and was showing the sold out stadium and the announcer that was probably paid far too much to perform this act.
"For many Duel Monsters fans across the country, it all comes down to this moment!" The announcer began. "Out of 200 Duelists who made it through the Regionals, only one can claim the crown! The Finalists are entering the stadium!"
As per the over dramatic rules for finals, the last two competitors had to be brought up in style. Two teen boys appeared out of smoke filled doors. Oh boy, these two. It was Weevil and Rex. These two were the bane of my existence when I watched this show for the first time. Weevil was very distinguishable with his green hair and bug shaped glasses and Rex could be spotted with his less than adequately groomed hair and beanie hat he always wore. "From East Japan! Weevil Underwood! And from West Japan! Rex Raptor!"
The two settled into a similar sort of duel arena that Yugi and Kaiba had dueled in, though this one was shaped more like a square than the small dome from before. The duel started without much of a hitch. I glanced over to watch but not listen to the conversation between Yugi and Jounouchi about who they thought would win. I watched the duel passively until Weevil pulled his trump card, tricking Rex into playing one of his most powerful cards and Weevil used his trap card to defeat him in a perfect strike. "With one decisive blow, Weevil Underwood wins! He is the champion!"
"The bug guy won!" Jounouchi gasped, his mouth nearly hanging to the floor.
"Impressive." I replied with an agreeing nod from Yugi.
"And here to give you your trophy and prize money is a special guest!" The announcer gestured to another entryway where a man was already walking in. He had past shoulder length silver hair that only revealed one of his eyes and he wore a red suit.
My hand accidentally flicked me when I saw Pegasus. I had completely forgotten he came to the tournament. "The President of Industrial Illusions Inc. and the genius game designer, creator of Duel Monsters, Maximillian J. Pegasus!"
The studio didn't record Pegasus' and Weevil's little discussion but I knew the gist of it. The creator was inviting the new champion to his new tournament. When the announcer came back onto the TV, Grandpa shut it off so we all could talk.
"Weevil Underwood, eh?" Grandpa asked quietly. "I can't say I'm surprised."
"Same!" Yugi agreed. "What a great duel!"
"Now I understand what a combo can do!" Jounouchi exclaimed. "Watching that got me fired up! C'mon, Yugi! Train me!"
"Okay!" Yugi exclaimed, a bright smile on his face.
Anzu and I took a glance at each other and smiled. These two were insane.
"Before that..." Grandpa intervened before things really did get crazy. "Let's open this package."
Yugi's smile dropped. He took the package from Grandpa and settled it on the ground in the middle of our group.
"Oh, yeah." He sighed. "I forgot. We can play after opening this!"
Yugi pulled the tape off the box and carefully cut the tape apart on the sides. When he finally got it open, we all raised an eyebrow at the contents. A fingerless glove, two golden stars and a video tape. Who would've sent this to Yugi? Jounouchi picked up the tape, examining it for a moment, before holding it out to Yugi.
"Maybe the explanation is on this tape!" He suggested. "Can you play it, Yugi?"
"Yeah."
The boy took the tape and set it into the player, the rest of us gathering around so we could see what would happen. The screen fuzzed and flickered for a few seconds until a face suddenly appeared. Maximillian Pegasus?
"Hello!" The man on the screen said with a bright smile. "At last we meet, Yugi-boy! Nice to meet you!"
"What?" I choked out. "How did….?"
"That's the guy who…" Jounouchi choked out as well.
"The American who was just on TV... The creator of Duel Monsters!" Yugi managed to finish for the both of us.
Everyone was confused and it didn't help that the Pegasus on the screen began to speak again.
"No, no!" He seemed to plead. "Don't be so surprised! I just wanted to send a video letter to the real champ! I understand you are very skilled at Duel Monsters! After all, you defeated Kaiba-boy! Well done! Good Job! Wonderful!"
I glanced at Yugi and he seemed as confused as I was. Apparently, Pegasus was convinced that Yugi would open his package after the Tournament had finished so he recorded the video that way. My stomach was beginning to quake with the bad feeling that was running through my thoughts. "Let's get down to business, shall we? I want to test your skill right away! I challenge you to duel this video recording of me at Duel Monsters!"
"What?!" Yugi and the rest of us exclaimed.
"How can Yugi play against someone on a video recording?" Grandpa asked aloud. "Impossible! That's no challenge! He can't know what cards Yugi will play!"
"What is going on?" I muttered but no one paid me any heed.
"All right?" Pegasus asked as he pulled out a deck of cards. "Build your deck in front of the monitor! In five minutes, our duel will begin!"
Yugi immediately jumped to his feet.
"Okay, I'll take any challenge!" He exclaimed.
Jounouchi and Anzu cheered him on but I tried to be the voice of reason.
"But Yugi!" I called, turning in my seat, as he ran to get his cards. "How can you possibly play against a recording? Nothing will add up!"
"Well, it never hurts to see!" Yugi replied as he settled his cards and began to build a deck.
Yes it does… I sighed and went to fight some more but it was already too late. "Okay, my deck is ready!"
"Are you ready?" The Pegasus on the monitor asked, cheerfully. "Let's go!"
"Duel!" Yugi called and drew his first card. "I'll start with the Koumori Dragon—The Evil Dragon card!"
The Duel continued on from there but the weird kept getting weirder. Every card Yugi put onto the field, Pegasus was able to combat it without even blinking an eye. Yugi must have realized that this was no ordinary duel but a Shadow game since Yami had come out pretty early on into the duel. The spirit glanced over to me and I gave him a comforting nod but apparently that wasn't what he was looking for.
He continued on with the duel and the same thing kept happening. He first read his strategy for strengthening his monster then Yugi's captured Koumori dragon defeated his Silver Fang resulting in the first loss of life-points for the match. Yami's next card was also read since Pegasus was able to counter Yami's Great White, a water monster, with Oscillo Hero, an electric type. This wasn't going well at all.
"I understand your shock…" Pegasus used the unneeded pun as he spoke again. "But this is reality! You cannot defeat me!"
That hit a nerve and my hand twitched. Reigning in my temper, I slid off the couch, crawled over to Yami and gave a gentle squeeze to his hand. It didn't help him in the duel any but he actually smiled.
"Don't give up." I whispered.
Yami nodded and for the sake of his concentration, I returned to my seat. Anzu and Jounouchi gave him more encouragements until Pegasus spoke again.
"Now, I think it's about time…" The silver haired man gave a sigh. "Let me tell you the other reason I challenged you. It wasn't just for fun… Hear this, Yugi-boy! If you lose this game, you must take part in the tournament my company is holding! The event that will determine the true champion of Duel Monsters! The Duelist Kingdom! To be honest, I wanted Kaiba-boy to come as well… But it's too bad… I hear he's not going to recover…" The mellow personality soon jumped back to the cheerful one. "Anyways, of course, the one who becomes 'king' will also win a large sum of money! And something even more valuable! Wait till you see what it is!"
Here comes one of the reason why I love both Yugi and Yami, they are not greedy in anyway. With the offer of tons of money, every time, they both would refuse and this time was no different.
"I'm not interested in any event of yours!" Yami straightened his spine defiantly. "What if I refuse?"
"No, no, no!" Pegasus cried out. "You can't refuse… Because you can't defeat me! You can't escape!"
"Oh, really…" Yami drawled and I fought the chuckle that would have come up at the way he smirked at Pegasus' words. "Well, I haven't lost yet!"
The duel continued and the next break didn't have to wait to come as long as the first. "I'll play this card face down!" The card smacked as it hit the ground and he glanced back at us. "Grandpa! Jounouchi! Anzu!"
"Yes!" They all cried out.
"You haven't seen the card I played, right?"
"Of course not!" Grandpa quickly reported to him. "Only you saw it!"
"Nope!" Jounouchi agreed with Grandpa.
"Not me!" Anzu cried.
Yami preceded to ask them to use their sixth sense to identify the card that Yami had placed on the field. At first they argued about how they weren't psychic but Yami convinced them to try and as they processed the thought, I butted in.
"Hey, how come you didn't call me?" I asked. "Jerk."
Yami turned, a slightly condescending smirk on his face, and I raised an eyebrow.
"I know you, Christine." He simply said. "You probably already know what card I played and the card I was even thinking about."
I went to object but faltered. Crud, he was right. I crossed my arms petulantly and refused to look at the spirit.
"Fine." I huffed and was received with a chuckle.
"It's just a feeling but..." Grandpa finally answered Yami's call. "I got the picture of a skull!"
Yami's eyes widened at the words.
"I'm thinking of a cool warrior!" Jounouchi exclaimed, making Yami shake his head and turned to Anzu.
"Well... Actually…" Anzu replied. "I thought the same thing your grandpa did. A skeleton!"
Yami's smirk returned ten-fold and he returned his gaze to the TV. To our surprise, Pegasus said the card that Yami was going to play was also an undead type monster and had prepared to counter it.
"He's using subliminal messages!" Yami announced triumphantly.
"Subliminal messages?!" Grandpa asked, disbelievingly. "You mean the technique where you flash images on the screen for just a second, so you don't remember it consciously? Could he really do that?"
"It wouldn't have been difficult." I replied and everyone turned to me. "He asked Yugi to put together his deck in front of the TV screen so Yugi would pick those cards to start with and after each turn he would set up another image so that Yugi would unconsciously pick it and Pegasus would be ready for him."
Jounouchi and Anzu gave wide eyes and we all quickly turned back to the duel. Pegasus was convinced that he would win but Yami proved him wrong by playing a different card, the Dark Magician. Pegasus brushed off the attack, claiming that he knew that Yami had played the Dark Magician all along but was impressed that he had figured out his mind trick. The game then became even more interesting when a timer was added to the mix. If Yami had more life points when the timer ran out, he would win automatically. The only dark side was the loser had to be hit with a penalty game.
The next few minutes were just filled with a constant battle between the opposing monsters. It was very repetitive and got boring fast. Though the part where the Dark Magician was controlled by Pegasus to destroy his own monster was enough to shake me out of the lull. Yami managed to corner Pegasus with his Summoned Skull but the attack was too slow and the timer ran out.
"Game Over!" Pegasus cheered happily, much to our horror. "Whew! That was close… if that battle had gone one… I would surely have lost. Or would I?"
Yami shook with anger and the entire gang and I jumped over to attempt to comfort him. I was the only one to touch him, as I took his shoulder to try to shake him out of it. "My dear Yugi-boy… You have even more talent than I expected… I predict we will meet again in Duelist Kingdom." Yami sneered at the silver haired in response to the 'compliment'. "By the standard rules of trading card games, the winner can take any card of the loser's. But you don't have any cards I want…"
"Then just leave him alone!" I growled out.
Yami turned as if to tell me to be quiet but I shot him a dirty look which hopefully said 'Don't even try to stop me'. Pegasus tutted at me, his finger shaking in front of him.
"Can't, my dear." He smiled. "The game has already been decided so it must be followed through."
His gaze turned back to Yami. "So, Yugi-boy… I'm gonna take something special from you instead! That way you won't try to escape me!"
Light exploded from the TV, making all of us cover our eyes. A hand grabbed my wrist and didn't let go, as if to make sure that I didn't go anywhere. There was a thump behind me and the light soon faded away.
"What the heck?" Anzu asked aloud. "What was that?"
I was blinking rapidly. My eyes hurt from the bright light but soon the dark spots were fading away.
"Are you ok, Christine?" Yami asked quickly.
"Yeah." I managed. "Just a little blinded."
Yami seemed relieved at the words and the hand holding my wrist let go. Using the newfound mobility, I turned around to see Grandpa collapsed on the floor. "Grandpa?"
"Hey, gramps!" Joey called and tried to shake him awake but the old man didn't move.
Yami jumped up and shook Grandpa himself while I ran over to the side where Jounouchi was.
"Grandpa!" Yami nearly shouted. "What's wrong, Grandpa?!"
Pegasus said something but I was too distracted by the unconscious Grandpa. I immediately checked for vital signs. His pulse was still there but it was faint; Grandpa would need a hospital and fast. I looked up, to tell Yami and the gang the seriousness of this moment, to see the item responsible for this. Pegasus' Millennium Eye, capable of reading minds and removing souls… Oh no… Pegasus then vanished and Grandpa suddenly appeared on the TV screen.
"Yugi…." Grandpa called, his voice slightly fuzzy from the static.
Pegasus had taken someone important to Yugi, all right. And while Yami thought that I would be taken as he had taken my wrist, the target was someone else. Pegasus was a monster; he had taken the only family Yugi had, his grandfather.
I hope you enjoyed that! I'll attempt to finish the story so that I can get the rest of the story up in a timely fashion.
Have a great day! RobynHood3