Time's Blood
Chapter 1
By: Lazeralk Standard disclaimers apply. *.* = Yugi's thoughts ^.^ = Yami Yugi's thoughts
#
Yugi Mouto felt the sweat run down his face as he reached for his deck. The card he drew would mean the difference between victory and defeat. His shaking hand touched the top card.
*Heart of the cards, please! * he thought.
Across from him, arms casually laid upon his chest was a smugly smirking Maxmilion Pegasus and his Toon World Book
*There's no way for you to win Yugi-boy. * he thought to himself.
Yugi drew the card, his movements jerky as he forced himself to have faith in his deck. He slowly flipped it over; his eyes first drawn to the picture, then to the sticky note attached to it.
"What the."
Pegasus activated the power of his Millenium Eye and saw the card and the sticky; he could not read what was under it though.
The card was green, indicating magic, and called 'More Than You Asked For', a card neither of them had ever seen before. As to how it had ended up in Yugi's deck, will forever remain a mystery. (To Pegasus at least)
The sticky note attached to the card said: "Trust me! Play me!"
Confused, Yugi removed the sticky and read the box beneath the picture, that of a shadowy gate, to see what the card did.
"Solve my riddle then you'll see, I'll restore your memory If you can, I'll open the door And you'll get more than you asked for!"
Yugi blinked, than read the poem again. Thoroughly dumbfounded, he looked at Pegasus, then back at the card, he looked at the floating book, then back down at the card.
"Oh well, might as well try." He said. He placed the card down, face up on the field and watched as the computer read the information and produced the hologram.
Pegasus raised an eyebrow as a large set of double sided double doors appeared on the field.
"Just what is that Yugi-boy?" he asked, eyeing the gate suspiciously.
"I don't really know Pegasus, but I trust my cards." Answered Yugi, drawing himself up proudly.
A nondescript face appeared on a dais embedded into both sides of the doorframe, allowing the face to look at both duelists. The eyes opened, and the face began to speak.
"Solve my riddle then you'll see, I'll restore your memory If you can, I'll open the door And you'll get more than you asked for!"
"Ok." Said Yugi, addressing the card.
"My riddle is this: I live deeper than the night, I am more red than blood, I am both hunter and hunted, and my name rhymes with kid."
"Oh, tough one.ok.let's see..." said Yugi, gaining a thoughtful expression.
"Something that's red and.can you repeat the riddle please?"
The face calmly repeated the riddle.
"Something that lives deep, is red, is both hunter and hunted, and rhymes with kid.red huh.fox? No.sid, mid.no.red.kid.squid?"
The face vanished and the gate creaked open.
Pegasus and Yugi watched the gate and the think fog that rolled out of it in vast billowing clouds of a distinctly noxious purple.
Yugi mentally crossed his fingers, silently begging both the spirit of his grandfather and the heart of the cards for strength, and for a moment, Pegasus wasn't so sure of himself.
A figure stepped from the shadows of the gate and stopped, a shadow amongst shadows.
There, back-lit by the pulsing foggy purple light was the most beautiful and lethal looking woman either of them had ever seen.
Tight black leather bodysuit creaking as she moved, she raised an arm to her face. Blades, giant and sickle-like adorned her bracers; twin katana rest at her hips and handguns lay within arms reach on her thighs. Her impossibly long metallic silver hair swayed as she crouched, ready to spring. Her eyes, a bone chilling icy blue, narrowed beneath her thick black visor.
Yugi stood in awe of her, unable to move. The voice in the back of his head was utterly silent.
She waited, then tilted her head to the side, asking for orders.
Yugi blinked, snapping out of his trance, and gathered up his scattered wits. His deep purple eyes darted to Pegasus, who, like Yugi, had no idea what to make of this odd turn of events.
*It's a magic card, so I won't loose any points if this doesn't work. * He thought.
Aloud, he declared his move.
"Attack Toon World Book!"
Pegasus smirked.
The woman vanished, and a split-second later, reappeared, back to Pegasus. She was crouched down, one hand on her knee, the other on the ground before her. The blades flashed and the book exploded in a flurry of mangled pages, then burst and vanished into the graveyard.
"What?!" shrieked Pegasus as he watched his book and three of his monsters disintegrate into nothingness.
The woman stood then retreated back into the gate.
Yugi watched as the doors creaked closed, fully expecting his new weapon to disappear. The giant set of doors remained on the field however and a new card appeared, face down on Yugi's side.
"What's this?" he asked reaching for it.
A yellow sticky note materialized on the back, reading: 'Don't Touch!'
He jerked his hand away, blinking in surprise. It wasn't everyday that small pieces of paper randomly appeared on his cards. Hesitantly, he mentally approached the spirit he now knew resided both in him and his Millenium Puzzle.
*Um.h-hello? *
^Ah, hello Yugi. Is there something I can help you with? ^ Answered a voice that was his and wasn't.
*.Um.do you have any idea why there are sticky notes on my cards? *
^.I can take a guess, but it's something of a long shot. ^
*Oh.um.ok then.uh, thanks. *
Doing what he could to distance himself from the other presence, he looked down at his hand and lay his Curse of Dragon on the field. He could only assume that the card would tell him when to play it.
*Wait, that doesn't sound right. The card will tell me when to play it? I think I may be hallucinating. That's a bad thing. A very bad thing. *
^You're not hallucinating Yugi, I can see it too. ^
Yugi closed his eyes, trying to calm his nerves. First he's hearing voices, then he's hallucinating, and now the voices are telling him that he's not hallucinating.
"I'm going crazy aren't I?" he asked no one in particular.
Pegasus, for once in his miserable life, didn't take this opportunity to taunt our hero.again.
Still nursing his wounded pride from the destruction of his book, he took extra care in plotting his next move. Not knowing what the face down card was left him at a serious disadvantage, however, he was sure that it could do little to him once he'd made his next few moves. He reached for his deck and drew a card, Relinquished, and smirked. He played a monster from his hand; one he made sure had more than 2000 attack points and smiled for his opponent.
"Your move Yugi-boy." He cooed.
*I hate it when he calls me that. *
^I agree, he sounds like a gay child molester. ^
Yugi shuttered.
*Don't say things like that! *
^Sorry. ^
Yugi drew a card, the Dark Magician, and placed it in his hand.
"You just drew the Dark Magician, did you not?" asked Pegasus slyly.
"I did." Said Yugi, no longer impressed with his adversary's mind reading ability.
He glanced at the face down card in his magic/trap card zone, seeing that the 'Don't Touch!' was still firmly in place, he looked at Pegasus.
"Your turn." He said.
Pegasus smiled in the most annoying way and laid another monster on the field.
Loudly calling out his moves in that aggravating, egotistical, condescending voice of his, he laid down another card.
"I hereby sacrifice my monsters in ritual summon to bring out a new one. A creature so devastating it is simply known as.Relinquished!"
Pegasus laughed, Yugi flinched.
*What a horrid sound. *
^How can you stand to be in the same room with this idiot? ^ Asked the spirit.
*I honestly can't tell you. * Answered Yugi, resisting the urge to drop his hand and cover his ears. His friends wouldn't have laughed at him, they were cringing in disgust as well, but he would still feel stupid. His manners also gave him a good scolding for thinking such a thing of his host.
"Relinquished has zero attack and zero defense, but he has a special ability that I'm sure your Curse of Dragon will find simply irresistible!" said Pegasus with another heinous laugh.
^That sound is actually painful. ^ Observed the spirit, who had given his name as Yami when the younger of them had asked.
*Just be thankful he hasn't tried to sing yet. * Replied Yugi, a shiver passing through his small frame at the mere thought.
"This guy likes to hear himself talk don't he?" asked Joey to Bakura.
The fair-haired keeper of the Millenium Ring nodded, his eyes never straying from Yugi's form.
With the loss of Pegasus's Toon World Book and Yugi's Summoned Skull, their life points were down to 400 and 600 respectively. The next turn could very well decide the duel.
Yugi did not intend to waste his turn and ordered his Curse of Dragon to attack Relinquished. The dragon shrieked and charged but stopped short when the opposing monster began to suck him in.
"What?!" Barked Yugi as he watched his prized dragon disappear. In a desperate move, he threw down the Dark Magician in attack mode.
"Dark Magician! Attack Relin-!"
The words died on his tongue as Relinquished activated its special ability to the fullest extent. Before he could call it back, the mage threw its dark magic at the creature but destroyed the absorbed Curse of Dragon instead of the intended target.
Pegasus was having trouble breathing, he was laughing so hard.
Yugi muttered every obscenity he knew, cursing his opponent in as many ways as possible.
^Those are words you shouldn't even know at your age, let alone be using. ^ Scolded Yami, a mixture of concern and amusement in his deep voice.
*You shut up. * Thought Yugi bitterly, grimacing as his life points dropped to 100.
*What can I do? If I attack Relinquished, it will just absorb my Dark Magician too. *
^Hey, you told me to shut up. ^
*I wasn't asking you! *
The face on his side of the door winked at him.
Confused, Yugi looked to the face down card, it still said 'Don't Touch!'. His eyes scanned over his other cards and he was shocked to see that another sticky note had found its way to him. This one was attached to his Dark Magician and read: 'Attack'.
He had already attacked with his Dark Magician this turn so he had to wait until his next turn to obey the sticky, he scowled and informed Pegasus that it was his move.
The keeper of the Millenium eye smirked and put another card down.
Jigen Bakudan.
Pegasus gave another hair-raising laugh as Yugi recognized the card.
"That's right Yugi-boy, after your turn the infamous time bomb will explode. Your move."
*If I attack Relinquished and it absorbs my Dark Magician, then the time bomb will explode and I'll loose! *
^Quite a predicament you've gotten your self into huh? ^ Said Yami casually.
*Alright, I'll buy it, what do think I should do? * Grumbled Yugi, sure that he was about to be defeated.
^The only thing you can do. Trust in the Heart of the Cards. ^ Came the reply.
*You're right, - *
^Of course I am. ^
"I have to trust in the Heart of the Cards." He said aloud, ignoring Yami's comment.
"Ok, here goes nothing.Dark Magician! Attack Relinquished!"
"Yugi, Yugi, will you never learn?"
Yugi ignored Pegasus and watched, with no small displeasure, as his favorite card was devoured by the silent monster.
He looked down and saw, to his great relief, that the sticky on the face down card now read 'Play me.'
"I'll also play this." He said, making sure his opponent didn't mistake his silence as the forfeit of his turn. He flipped the card and stared at it.
The Tides of Change. A quick-play magic card, and one that was the very light of salvation.
Everything suddenly made sense.
"I'll equip my captured Dark Magician with this magic card, the Tides of Change, enabling him to switch his attack and defense point with any monster on the field. He'll give his 2500 attack and 2100 defense in exchange for the nonexistent points of your Relinquished."
Pegasus wasn't laughing anymore.
"When your Jigen Bakudan explodes, you loose the life points for it."
Pegasus was now seething with fury.
"My turn is over Pegasus, and with it, so is this duel."
Jigen Bakudan exploded, taking Pegasus's life points down to zero.
"NOOO!" screeched the CEO of Industrial Illusions.
"I won Pegasus, now release my grandpa and the Kaiba brothers right now!"
^Oho, aren't you a scary little man. ^
*Yami! Shut up, you're killing the mood! *
^Let me take over shrimp. He's not likely to cower before the might of a twelve-year-old. ^
*.Fine. *
Yami Yugi now stood a few feet taller and much more menacing.
"Well Pegasus, what'll it be?" he asked, his deep tenor reverberating through the room and causing the silver haired man's head to snap up in surprise.
"W-what?" he asked dumbly.
"Release the souls you have imprisoned or face your doom." Said Yami Yugi, now glowing with fae light, his third eye glaring at the man before him.
The gold Millenium Eye activated and somewhere in the castle, three people awoke at the same time.
The face on the door smiled.
Pegasus stumbled backward, shock and disbelief on his face, clutching his prosthetic eye.
"No! No! You can't!" he pleaded.
Yami Yugi watched with a combination of confusion and pity as his enemy shrieked and raved.
His Millenium Puzzle began to glow and he barely had time to glance down at it before he was forced to the back of Yugi's mind.
Yugi, now back in his proper twelve-year-old body, watched in awe as his puzzle shifted and convulsed, a large hole appearing in the center.
"You are unworthy." Hissed a voice, detached, otherworldly.
In a flash of blinding gold, the hole in Yugi's puzzle was filled and Pegasus was gripping an empty socket, blood pouring down his face.
Howling in pain and mental anguish, the mad man departed, or tried to, slamming into the door as he staggered in the entranceway. Finally, he limped from view, leaving a startled and confused Yugi and seething and wounded Yami behind.
*What just happened? *
^It forced me out! Damn piece of scrap metal forced me out! ^ Hissed Yami.
*Um.sorry? *
^It's not your fault Yugi. ^ Yami said with a sigh. When he'd calmed down he did what he could to explain what had happened to him.
^Another power pushed me out of the way and reshaped the Millenium Puzzle. I think that the Millenium Eye is now imbedded in it. Technically it should give you, or me depending on who's in control, the power of telepathy. However, like all the other Millenium Items, you have to master it. Don't worry though Yugi, if you can master the Millenium Puzzle, you can master the Millenium Eye. ^
"Yugi! That was so cool!" cried Teya, rushing down to meet him.
"Yugi! You won! That was awesome!" crowed Joey also racing to reach his friend.
"Great moves Yugi! You're the best ever!" yelled Tristan.
"Quite a duel Yugi! Very impressive!" added Bakura.
They continued the shower him with congratulations and praise, crowding around him and chattering wildly.
Yugi smiled then gagged as he was dog piled.
None of them noticed that the gate had remained on the field, its giant doors hung open and it's shadowy depths quite empty.
End Chapter 1
Notes: I am well aware that Jigen Bakudan would have killed Yugi. For the purposes of this fic however, it does not. Also, Yami Yugi is a bit out of character, he's more sarcastic than encouraging. Personally I think being encouraging makes Yami look like a quixotic fool. I much prefer the sharp and witty Yami to the dorky 'you can do it maaan!' Yami of the show. I also apologize to any of you that don't like the English names. If any of you can provide me with all the name translations (for ALL the characters), I'd be more than happy to rewrite this fic using them. That's all for now! Thanks for reading!
Chapter 1
By: Lazeralk Standard disclaimers apply. *.* = Yugi's thoughts ^.^ = Yami Yugi's thoughts
#
Yugi Mouto felt the sweat run down his face as he reached for his deck. The card he drew would mean the difference between victory and defeat. His shaking hand touched the top card.
*Heart of the cards, please! * he thought.
Across from him, arms casually laid upon his chest was a smugly smirking Maxmilion Pegasus and his Toon World Book
*There's no way for you to win Yugi-boy. * he thought to himself.
Yugi drew the card, his movements jerky as he forced himself to have faith in his deck. He slowly flipped it over; his eyes first drawn to the picture, then to the sticky note attached to it.
"What the."
Pegasus activated the power of his Millenium Eye and saw the card and the sticky; he could not read what was under it though.
The card was green, indicating magic, and called 'More Than You Asked For', a card neither of them had ever seen before. As to how it had ended up in Yugi's deck, will forever remain a mystery. (To Pegasus at least)
The sticky note attached to the card said: "Trust me! Play me!"
Confused, Yugi removed the sticky and read the box beneath the picture, that of a shadowy gate, to see what the card did.
"Solve my riddle then you'll see, I'll restore your memory If you can, I'll open the door And you'll get more than you asked for!"
Yugi blinked, than read the poem again. Thoroughly dumbfounded, he looked at Pegasus, then back at the card, he looked at the floating book, then back down at the card.
"Oh well, might as well try." He said. He placed the card down, face up on the field and watched as the computer read the information and produced the hologram.
Pegasus raised an eyebrow as a large set of double sided double doors appeared on the field.
"Just what is that Yugi-boy?" he asked, eyeing the gate suspiciously.
"I don't really know Pegasus, but I trust my cards." Answered Yugi, drawing himself up proudly.
A nondescript face appeared on a dais embedded into both sides of the doorframe, allowing the face to look at both duelists. The eyes opened, and the face began to speak.
"Solve my riddle then you'll see, I'll restore your memory If you can, I'll open the door And you'll get more than you asked for!"
"Ok." Said Yugi, addressing the card.
"My riddle is this: I live deeper than the night, I am more red than blood, I am both hunter and hunted, and my name rhymes with kid."
"Oh, tough one.ok.let's see..." said Yugi, gaining a thoughtful expression.
"Something that's red and.can you repeat the riddle please?"
The face calmly repeated the riddle.
"Something that lives deep, is red, is both hunter and hunted, and rhymes with kid.red huh.fox? No.sid, mid.no.red.kid.squid?"
The face vanished and the gate creaked open.
Pegasus and Yugi watched the gate and the think fog that rolled out of it in vast billowing clouds of a distinctly noxious purple.
Yugi mentally crossed his fingers, silently begging both the spirit of his grandfather and the heart of the cards for strength, and for a moment, Pegasus wasn't so sure of himself.
A figure stepped from the shadows of the gate and stopped, a shadow amongst shadows.
There, back-lit by the pulsing foggy purple light was the most beautiful and lethal looking woman either of them had ever seen.
Tight black leather bodysuit creaking as she moved, she raised an arm to her face. Blades, giant and sickle-like adorned her bracers; twin katana rest at her hips and handguns lay within arms reach on her thighs. Her impossibly long metallic silver hair swayed as she crouched, ready to spring. Her eyes, a bone chilling icy blue, narrowed beneath her thick black visor.
Yugi stood in awe of her, unable to move. The voice in the back of his head was utterly silent.
She waited, then tilted her head to the side, asking for orders.
Yugi blinked, snapping out of his trance, and gathered up his scattered wits. His deep purple eyes darted to Pegasus, who, like Yugi, had no idea what to make of this odd turn of events.
*It's a magic card, so I won't loose any points if this doesn't work. * He thought.
Aloud, he declared his move.
"Attack Toon World Book!"
Pegasus smirked.
The woman vanished, and a split-second later, reappeared, back to Pegasus. She was crouched down, one hand on her knee, the other on the ground before her. The blades flashed and the book exploded in a flurry of mangled pages, then burst and vanished into the graveyard.
"What?!" shrieked Pegasus as he watched his book and three of his monsters disintegrate into nothingness.
The woman stood then retreated back into the gate.
Yugi watched as the doors creaked closed, fully expecting his new weapon to disappear. The giant set of doors remained on the field however and a new card appeared, face down on Yugi's side.
"What's this?" he asked reaching for it.
A yellow sticky note materialized on the back, reading: 'Don't Touch!'
He jerked his hand away, blinking in surprise. It wasn't everyday that small pieces of paper randomly appeared on his cards. Hesitantly, he mentally approached the spirit he now knew resided both in him and his Millenium Puzzle.
*Um.h-hello? *
^Ah, hello Yugi. Is there something I can help you with? ^ Answered a voice that was his and wasn't.
*.Um.do you have any idea why there are sticky notes on my cards? *
^.I can take a guess, but it's something of a long shot. ^
*Oh.um.ok then.uh, thanks. *
Doing what he could to distance himself from the other presence, he looked down at his hand and lay his Curse of Dragon on the field. He could only assume that the card would tell him when to play it.
*Wait, that doesn't sound right. The card will tell me when to play it? I think I may be hallucinating. That's a bad thing. A very bad thing. *
^You're not hallucinating Yugi, I can see it too. ^
Yugi closed his eyes, trying to calm his nerves. First he's hearing voices, then he's hallucinating, and now the voices are telling him that he's not hallucinating.
"I'm going crazy aren't I?" he asked no one in particular.
Pegasus, for once in his miserable life, didn't take this opportunity to taunt our hero.again.
Still nursing his wounded pride from the destruction of his book, he took extra care in plotting his next move. Not knowing what the face down card was left him at a serious disadvantage, however, he was sure that it could do little to him once he'd made his next few moves. He reached for his deck and drew a card, Relinquished, and smirked. He played a monster from his hand; one he made sure had more than 2000 attack points and smiled for his opponent.
"Your move Yugi-boy." He cooed.
*I hate it when he calls me that. *
^I agree, he sounds like a gay child molester. ^
Yugi shuttered.
*Don't say things like that! *
^Sorry. ^
Yugi drew a card, the Dark Magician, and placed it in his hand.
"You just drew the Dark Magician, did you not?" asked Pegasus slyly.
"I did." Said Yugi, no longer impressed with his adversary's mind reading ability.
He glanced at the face down card in his magic/trap card zone, seeing that the 'Don't Touch!' was still firmly in place, he looked at Pegasus.
"Your turn." He said.
Pegasus smiled in the most annoying way and laid another monster on the field.
Loudly calling out his moves in that aggravating, egotistical, condescending voice of his, he laid down another card.
"I hereby sacrifice my monsters in ritual summon to bring out a new one. A creature so devastating it is simply known as.Relinquished!"
Pegasus laughed, Yugi flinched.
*What a horrid sound. *
^How can you stand to be in the same room with this idiot? ^ Asked the spirit.
*I honestly can't tell you. * Answered Yugi, resisting the urge to drop his hand and cover his ears. His friends wouldn't have laughed at him, they were cringing in disgust as well, but he would still feel stupid. His manners also gave him a good scolding for thinking such a thing of his host.
"Relinquished has zero attack and zero defense, but he has a special ability that I'm sure your Curse of Dragon will find simply irresistible!" said Pegasus with another heinous laugh.
^That sound is actually painful. ^ Observed the spirit, who had given his name as Yami when the younger of them had asked.
*Just be thankful he hasn't tried to sing yet. * Replied Yugi, a shiver passing through his small frame at the mere thought.
"This guy likes to hear himself talk don't he?" asked Joey to Bakura.
The fair-haired keeper of the Millenium Ring nodded, his eyes never straying from Yugi's form.
With the loss of Pegasus's Toon World Book and Yugi's Summoned Skull, their life points were down to 400 and 600 respectively. The next turn could very well decide the duel.
Yugi did not intend to waste his turn and ordered his Curse of Dragon to attack Relinquished. The dragon shrieked and charged but stopped short when the opposing monster began to suck him in.
"What?!" Barked Yugi as he watched his prized dragon disappear. In a desperate move, he threw down the Dark Magician in attack mode.
"Dark Magician! Attack Relin-!"
The words died on his tongue as Relinquished activated its special ability to the fullest extent. Before he could call it back, the mage threw its dark magic at the creature but destroyed the absorbed Curse of Dragon instead of the intended target.
Pegasus was having trouble breathing, he was laughing so hard.
Yugi muttered every obscenity he knew, cursing his opponent in as many ways as possible.
^Those are words you shouldn't even know at your age, let alone be using. ^ Scolded Yami, a mixture of concern and amusement in his deep voice.
*You shut up. * Thought Yugi bitterly, grimacing as his life points dropped to 100.
*What can I do? If I attack Relinquished, it will just absorb my Dark Magician too. *
^Hey, you told me to shut up. ^
*I wasn't asking you! *
The face on his side of the door winked at him.
Confused, Yugi looked to the face down card, it still said 'Don't Touch!'. His eyes scanned over his other cards and he was shocked to see that another sticky note had found its way to him. This one was attached to his Dark Magician and read: 'Attack'.
He had already attacked with his Dark Magician this turn so he had to wait until his next turn to obey the sticky, he scowled and informed Pegasus that it was his move.
The keeper of the Millenium eye smirked and put another card down.
Jigen Bakudan.
Pegasus gave another hair-raising laugh as Yugi recognized the card.
"That's right Yugi-boy, after your turn the infamous time bomb will explode. Your move."
*If I attack Relinquished and it absorbs my Dark Magician, then the time bomb will explode and I'll loose! *
^Quite a predicament you've gotten your self into huh? ^ Said Yami casually.
*Alright, I'll buy it, what do think I should do? * Grumbled Yugi, sure that he was about to be defeated.
^The only thing you can do. Trust in the Heart of the Cards. ^ Came the reply.
*You're right, - *
^Of course I am. ^
"I have to trust in the Heart of the Cards." He said aloud, ignoring Yami's comment.
"Ok, here goes nothing.Dark Magician! Attack Relinquished!"
"Yugi, Yugi, will you never learn?"
Yugi ignored Pegasus and watched, with no small displeasure, as his favorite card was devoured by the silent monster.
He looked down and saw, to his great relief, that the sticky on the face down card now read 'Play me.'
"I'll also play this." He said, making sure his opponent didn't mistake his silence as the forfeit of his turn. He flipped the card and stared at it.
The Tides of Change. A quick-play magic card, and one that was the very light of salvation.
Everything suddenly made sense.
"I'll equip my captured Dark Magician with this magic card, the Tides of Change, enabling him to switch his attack and defense point with any monster on the field. He'll give his 2500 attack and 2100 defense in exchange for the nonexistent points of your Relinquished."
Pegasus wasn't laughing anymore.
"When your Jigen Bakudan explodes, you loose the life points for it."
Pegasus was now seething with fury.
"My turn is over Pegasus, and with it, so is this duel."
Jigen Bakudan exploded, taking Pegasus's life points down to zero.
"NOOO!" screeched the CEO of Industrial Illusions.
"I won Pegasus, now release my grandpa and the Kaiba brothers right now!"
^Oho, aren't you a scary little man. ^
*Yami! Shut up, you're killing the mood! *
^Let me take over shrimp. He's not likely to cower before the might of a twelve-year-old. ^
*.Fine. *
Yami Yugi now stood a few feet taller and much more menacing.
"Well Pegasus, what'll it be?" he asked, his deep tenor reverberating through the room and causing the silver haired man's head to snap up in surprise.
"W-what?" he asked dumbly.
"Release the souls you have imprisoned or face your doom." Said Yami Yugi, now glowing with fae light, his third eye glaring at the man before him.
The gold Millenium Eye activated and somewhere in the castle, three people awoke at the same time.
The face on the door smiled.
Pegasus stumbled backward, shock and disbelief on his face, clutching his prosthetic eye.
"No! No! You can't!" he pleaded.
Yami Yugi watched with a combination of confusion and pity as his enemy shrieked and raved.
His Millenium Puzzle began to glow and he barely had time to glance down at it before he was forced to the back of Yugi's mind.
Yugi, now back in his proper twelve-year-old body, watched in awe as his puzzle shifted and convulsed, a large hole appearing in the center.
"You are unworthy." Hissed a voice, detached, otherworldly.
In a flash of blinding gold, the hole in Yugi's puzzle was filled and Pegasus was gripping an empty socket, blood pouring down his face.
Howling in pain and mental anguish, the mad man departed, or tried to, slamming into the door as he staggered in the entranceway. Finally, he limped from view, leaving a startled and confused Yugi and seething and wounded Yami behind.
*What just happened? *
^It forced me out! Damn piece of scrap metal forced me out! ^ Hissed Yami.
*Um.sorry? *
^It's not your fault Yugi. ^ Yami said with a sigh. When he'd calmed down he did what he could to explain what had happened to him.
^Another power pushed me out of the way and reshaped the Millenium Puzzle. I think that the Millenium Eye is now imbedded in it. Technically it should give you, or me depending on who's in control, the power of telepathy. However, like all the other Millenium Items, you have to master it. Don't worry though Yugi, if you can master the Millenium Puzzle, you can master the Millenium Eye. ^
"Yugi! That was so cool!" cried Teya, rushing down to meet him.
"Yugi! You won! That was awesome!" crowed Joey also racing to reach his friend.
"Great moves Yugi! You're the best ever!" yelled Tristan.
"Quite a duel Yugi! Very impressive!" added Bakura.
They continued the shower him with congratulations and praise, crowding around him and chattering wildly.
Yugi smiled then gagged as he was dog piled.
None of them noticed that the gate had remained on the field, its giant doors hung open and it's shadowy depths quite empty.
End Chapter 1
Notes: I am well aware that Jigen Bakudan would have killed Yugi. For the purposes of this fic however, it does not. Also, Yami Yugi is a bit out of character, he's more sarcastic than encouraging. Personally I think being encouraging makes Yami look like a quixotic fool. I much prefer the sharp and witty Yami to the dorky 'you can do it maaan!' Yami of the show. I also apologize to any of you that don't like the English names. If any of you can provide me with all the name translations (for ALL the characters), I'd be more than happy to rewrite this fic using them. That's all for now! Thanks for reading!