I re-uploaded this chapter because I'm real nit-picky about spelling, so I went back and changed a few things. As I said before, please leave reviews about what you think, but keep them constructive please, no flaming! I'll see how this goes in terms of reviews and visitors before I decide if I'll keep this going. So please review and enjoy ^^
"Kori, hurry it up! We're gonna be late!" A teenage boy shouted at an open window on the second floor of his home.
He stood tall at about 5 foot 11 inches. His dark auburn hair was spiked to one side, with his bangs hanging to the side of his face, revealing his grey- blue eyes. He wore a blue blazer with the top few buttons undone and blue slacks with white and grey sneakers. He also carried a satchel in his hand.
A girl quickly leaned out of the window.
"Yeah, yeah, Tay, I'm coming."
The girl, known as Kori, leaned back into the room and stood in front of a mirror with a scowl on her face. She was about 5 foot 5 inches with an average figure. Her hair was a lighter shade of her brother's hair color and more red in color with messy bangs and some strands framing each side of her face reaching her collarbone. The rest of her hair fell down her back with part of it pulled back into a ponytail. Her eyes were a grayish-lavender. She was wearing a pink coat over a white oxford shirt, a blue bowtie, and a blue skirt. She also wore knee-high socks and black and pink sneakers.
She leaned in closer to the mirror and eyed her reflection from head to toe and scowled even more so.
"Ya know, I agreed to finally stop complaining about moving to this new town, but this new school uniform is a whole 'nother thing!"
"Kori, do you really need to criticize the uniform right now? We're going to be late on our first day." Tay shouted again. A satchel was suddenly flung out the window and Tay scrambled to catch it.
"Kori, be more carefu- wait, what are you doing?!"
Kori had just leapt out the window and was on her way down. Tay was freaking out as he scrambled to anticipate where she would land in order to catch her.
"Ah, ah, wait a second!"
Kori landed not-so-gracefully a few feet away from Tay, tucking and rolling upon hitting the ground. Tay rushed over frantically.
"Kori! Hey Kori, you okay?" He bent over and shook her gently. She quickly jumped up, brushing off her coat and skirt.
"Well that was fun." Kori said as she picked a small twig out of her hair, "But I could do without the dirt and twigs." Tay gave a sigh of relief and a smile.
"Well maybe if you didn't jump out of a second story window and came out the front door instead like a normal person."
"Hey, you were the one that wanted me out here quickly. If you didn't want me to jump out the window you should've said so."
Tay laughed awkwardly.
"Well I honestly didn't think I had to."
"Then next time you better be more specific." Kori said cheerfully before strutting off in one direction.
Tay sighed, smiled then followed after her. As he caught up to Kori, the sun glistened off of two objects, one hanging off of each of their satchels. Hanging off of Tay's satchel was a moderately sized keychain in the shape of a sun. On Kori's bag was a moon-shaped keychain. Both were gold and had an Egyptian eye on them.
About half an hour later, as they approached their new school, they came upon a cross walk. Tay was waiting at cross walk while Kori slowly walked behind. She was walking with her hands on her hips and looking down with a look of exasperation, muttering to herself.
"Last city we lived only a block away from the school, now we live like miles and miles away. Definitely not looking forward to this day in and day out." She sighed as Tay looked back at her with a smile and a small laugh.
"Miles and miles?" Tay chuckled, "Isn't that a bit of an exaggeration?" She glared at him.
"You know what I mean. Anyway, just go on ahead."
Tay simply shrugged.
"Okay then, see you there I guess." Tay walked on ahead towards the school building while Kori continued to complain.
As she dragged her feet begrudgingly across the walk way, she didn't notice a limo approaching from down the street. She only had a second to react and jump back before the limo screeched to halt.
"Hey! Watch where you're going!" She kicked the front bumper of the vehicle before storming off.
"Stupid ignorant high class," Kori started to mumble along with a few other choice words as she walked off, but not before catching a quick glimpse of the young man in the back seat of the limo.
Seto Kaiba, young CEO of the illustrious Kaiba Corp., rolled down his window to get a good look at the girl that interrupted him on his way to school. He narrowed his cobalt eyes to get a good look at the uniform she was wearing before rolling his window back up and telling his driver to continue on.
Kori arrived at Domino High, seeing Tay waiting for her at the gate. He noticed how Kori was even more frustrated than when he left her.
"Geez, you look happy. What happened now?"
"Some jerk in a limo almost ran me down. And mom said that this place would be safer. Pfft, safer my ass."
"Well anyway, as long as you're okay, we're late for our class introduction, let's go." Tay patted his sister's shoulder and walked into the building. Kori watched him in slight disbelief.
'How the hell is he always so happy?'She gave a slight look of disgust as she looked around the school yard before following after her brother.
After a brief meeting with their new teacher outside the classroom, Tay and Kori were asked to come in and introduce themselves to their new classmates by their Teacher.
"Alright class, this is Taran Ardent and Kori Ardent. Tay, Kori please put your names on the board." Both siblings picked up a piece of chalk and wrote their names on the chalk board.
"Hello there," Tay said as he bowed to the class, "my name is Taran Ardent, but feel free to call me Tay."
"I'm Kori Ardent, pleased to meet you," She said with a hint of sarcasm and without a bow.
She gave the room a quick scan to get a glimpse at her new classmates. A group of them stood out to her. There was a guy sitting towards the back of the room with light violet hair and quiet looking brown eyes, he appeared to be the kind of guy that girls go crazy for, nearby him were two taller guys, sprawled out over their desks, snoring and drooling. One of them had a head full of messy, dirty blonde hair and the other had dark brown hair styled in a large spike at the front of his head. There was also a girl with neck-length brunette hair and blue eyes, she was whispering to another guy. He stood out the most of them all. He was shorter than most high school student with hair three different colors; blonde spiky bangs, and black hair in seven large spikes with magenta-colored outlines. He had very friendly violet eyes. He also wore a strange, upside down golden pyramid with an Egyptian eye on it hanging from a chain around his neck.
'That guy looks so familiar,' Kori thought, 'I know I've seen him somewhere before. And that necklace of his, the eye on it is the same as my moon charm and and Tay's sun charm.'
She continued scanning the room to the other corner of the room and saw a guy with dark brown hair and cobalt eyes that were locked on a book, completely locking out his senses from everything else in the room. The sight of him sparked something in her memory. After a few seconds of thought, she made the connection.
"YOU!" She pointed across the room at the young man, who simply looked up from his book for a second before returning to the pages. Kori's sudden outburst startled everyone in the room, especially Tay who had the misfortune of standing right next to her. Her shouting had also managed to wake up the blonde and brunette boys from before.
Kori rushed over to the guy's desk and stared him down.
"May I help you, or are you just going to stand there gawking at me all day?" He asked her with a tone of arrogance.
"You're the guy who was in the limo that almost ran me over this morning!" The guy arched his eye brow
"So you were the one that caused my driver to suddenly stop and made me late today," He said with a dry tone, "I take it you'd like to apologize for that now."
A vein throbbed on Kori's temple; Tay could tell how close she was to losing control, so he moved quickly. He rushed over to her and grabbed her shoulder, pulling her back and smiling awkwardly at the guy. He laughed it off before starting to pull her away.
"Um, sorry about her, she tends to get really wired up. I'll make sure she doesn't bother you again."
Kori continued glaring at the guy as she was pulled away. Tay leaned in closer and whispered to her.
"Kori, everyone's staring." Kori blanked for a moment before turning and looking at the room.
"Eh." Everyone in the room, except for the guy Kori had just lashed out at, were watching the event. They all looked dumbfounded. Kori suddenly flushed a bright red before silently going back to the front of the room, keeping her eyes locked to the floor and avoiding all eye contact.
After a moment or two the Teacher had pointed out two empty desks for the two, both we near the back of the room, in the same area as the group from before.
Class went on, nothing new to Tay and Kori, and soon it was the student's break time. Tay and Kori kept to themselves for the most part at first, Tay was sitting at his desk writing some things down in his notebook; Kori was huddled on her seat, flipping through a deck of Duel Monsters cards. Soon, the two were approached by the group of five that Kori had noticed before.
"Hey Tay, Kori." The short one with the multi-colored hair began, "how are you guys enjoying your first day?" The two stopped what they were doing to look at the group. Tay smiled at them.
"It's taking a while to get used to the way things are done here, but it's not too different from before."
"That's good, I'm Téa Gardner, but you can call me Téa." The brunette girl moved forward.
"My name's Ryou Bakura," the lavender-haired boy said with a polite smile.
"Yo, I'm Joey." The dirty blonde said with a goofy grin.
"You can call me Tristan." The guy with the large spike in his hair said. As these introductions went on, Kori kept peering over her cards at the one with the insane hair, still trying to remember where she knew him from. Now it was his turn to introduce himself.
"And I'm Yugi Muto." Kori bolted at recognition of that name, nearly falling out of her chair in the process and dropping her deck of cards. Tay too, had also shown surprise at the name 'Yugi Muto.'
"Yugi Muto?! You mean the Yugi that defeated Pegasus at Duelist Kingdom?" Yugi was taken back slightly at the sudden outburst, but then sweat dropped and laughed awkwardly.
"Yeah, that's me. I guess I'm more famous around Japan than I thought."
Joey gave a huge grin before patting Yugi on the back.
"Of course, Yug'. You're the King of Games now," he then turned towards the siblings with an even wider grin, "and I'm the King of Games best friend, Wheeler Joey. I came in second at Duelist Kingdom!"
Tristan laughed.
"You're more like the King of Lame. You wouldn't have even made it that far if it wasn't for Yugi's help."
Joey growled at him.
"Hey, watch it Tristan!" Tay laughed at the exchange and then turned towards Yugi while Kori bent over to pick up her Duel Monsters cards.
"Well you all seem like a lively bunch, of course when it comes to outbursts of energy, my sister's got anyone beat hands down, as you've seen this morning." Téa nodded.
"Oh we've been meaning to ask about that. Did something happen?"
"Duh, it was Kaiba," Joey began, "whatever it was, the stuck up jerk probably deserved it." Kori looked up from her scattered pile of cards.
"Like I said this morning, the jerk almost ran me down with his limo." She turned back to her cards. "And then he expects me to apologize for making me late!" Kori began muttering and cursing under her breath. Yugi noticed the cards on the floor.
"Hey, are you into Duel Monsters too, Kori?" Kori finished collecting the last of her cards and stood up.
"Yeah, both of us are." She gestured to her brother.
"Kori and I have been playing for years, but only against some friends from our old school and in some local unofficial tournaments. We had heard about Duelist Kingdom and wished we would've been able to participate, but of course we weren't professional enough to receive invitations." Kori crossed her arms and gave a smug grin.
"Too bad too, we could've totally dominated that tournament." Joey gave his own smug expression.
"Not likely; 'cuz in that tourney, you would've had to go against me and Yug'. And let me tell ya, you wouldn't have last two seconds." Kori put her arms on her desk and leaned over, narrowing her eyes.
"Is that a challenge I hear Joey, 'cuz I would gladly accept, any day, any time." Tay sweat dropped.
"Aren't you getting a little ahead of yourself, Kori. I mean, I would love a chance to duel against the winner and runner-up of Duelist Kingdom, but Yugi and Joey are tournament-level duelists, and you only came in as high as second in our locals." Yugi smiled.
"Well that doesn't make a difference. We can all duel against each other for fun today after school. They have duel arenas at Kaibaland." Kori cringed at the name.
"Kaibaland? As in that guy from earlier?" Bakura, who'd been rather quiet up until now stepped forward.
"Yes, he's Seto Kaiba, the CEO and owner Kaiba Corp. He made a facility where duelists can go to and duel each other in official duel arenas. It's open to the public." Kori beamed with excitement.
"Duel arenas? They have authentic duel arena's here? I've heard about them, but our town was small and we only had stores with table top set ups."
"Yeah, Kaiba was the one that invented the duel arenas, so it's natural that he would have them there," Tristan added.
"So then after school we can all head over there and you guys can all duel each other," Téa said excitedly, "and besides, it'll be nice not being the only girl in the group for a change."
"So Tay, if your sister always came in second, how far did you make in your locals?" Yugi had stepped up to Tay's desk.
"Well who do you think was the one that beat out Kori for first place all those times?"
"Hey the only reason you won those was because I wasn't all that good back then. Next tournament, I'm taking you down. And that goes for you two as well." Kori pointed at Yugi and Joey. Yugi in turn gave a friendly laugh.
"We'll just have to see about that then won't we Kori." Tay and Kori looked at each other and nodded. Kori faced the group again.
"You're on. See you there."
A school bell went off and the students started rushing back to their seats. Kori and Tay picked up their satchels to exchange some notebooks and their sun and moon charms glistened in the light, catching the attention of Yugi and Bakura.
'What the?! Are those Millennium Items?' Yugi thought. Meanwhile, Bakura's expression suddenly changed; his eyes became more sinister, his facial features became sharper and his hair was slightly altered.
'What?! It can't be! I have already possessed the Millennium Ring, I have recently acquired the Millennium Eye from Pegasus and Yugi's Millennium Puzzle is within my grasp. The other four Millennium Items will soon follow, and now these two items have shown up. This is a rather unexpected turn of events, but a very fortunate one at that. Now I have two more potential victims to drag into the shadows.' He smiled sadistically and laughed to himself.
When school let out, the seven kids gathered in the school yard by the front gates, waiting for everyone to finish collecting their things. Kori pulled out her cell phone and started punching in a few numbers.
"Ok, let me just call our mom and let her know what's going on. She stepped away for a moment to take on the phone. "Hey mom, Tay and I are gonna be late coming home tonight."
"So then Tay, what were the tournaments like back where you lived before?" Téa walked next to Tay.
"Well, only one of the two game shops there ever had tournaments. A close friend of Kori's worked as a clerk there and helped organize a tournament once every few weeks. There were usually about sixteen participants at the most. I'd say that about seven of the usual participants were inexperienced elementary students. Four of them were middle school students that had some experience, and then there was Kori, myself, and three of our classmates. So like I said before, there wasn't a whole lot competition." Tay answered.
"So then you guys really haven't faced anyone as good as Yugi before,' Tristan said, "as for Joey, I'm sure the elementary students put up more of a challenge then he ever could." Joey growled at Tristan.
"Hey, watch it there Tristan. I still may not be able to beat Yugi, but I could beat you any day." They all looked over as Kori was coming back to the group, shouting into her phone.
"No mom, it's not a boyfriend! I mean, some of our new friends are guys but it's not like that. Yeah we're going to Kaibaland. We'll probably be about an hour late, two tops. Ok, bye." Kori hung up her phone.
"Alright, so now that that's all taken care of, let's get goin'," Joey said.
They walked several blocks into town and eventually arrived at Kaiba land and immediately reserved a duel arena. Kori and Tay, who had never seen one in real life, were in awe, especially Kori.
"Oh wow! Amazing! This is so cool!" Kori was bouncing around enthusiastically as a young child. Yugi found her excitement amusing.
"Yeah I gotta admit, Kaiba may be a jerk, but he sure know how to make a dueling arena," Tristan said.
"OK, now you guys take the red boxes over there. Joey and I will take the blue boxes over here," Yugi said, pointing to the different colored duel boxes on either side of the arena. The players took their places and readied their decks. The playing field activated and all players received their life points. At that moment, Yugi's Millennium Puzzle started glowing a little, which soon caused Tay's and Kori's Sun and Moon charms to start glowing lightly too, although no one seemed to notice.
Yugi Muto: 2000 LP
Joey Wheeler: 2000 LP
Tay Ardent: 2000 LP
Kori Ardent: 2000 LP
"This is so exciting; it's been a long time since we all just dueled for fun without anything major at stake," Téa said.
"Alright let's do this!" Kori shouted, "ladies first." She drew a card and placed it in her hand, looking over the cards available to her right now and what kind of strategy she could come up with.
"I'll start things off by playing one card face down then setting a monster face-down in defense mode. Your turn Joey." Two panels in the arena began to glow.
Joey then made his draw.
"Oh yeah, we're gonna win this thing Yug. I'm gonna play Axe Raider in attack mode (1700/1150). Then I'll play a card face down and end my turn." The orange-skinned axeman appeared with a glowing panel right behind him.
Tay drew a card and placed it in his hand.
"I'll set up my defenses by playing the Mystical Elf (800/2000) in defense mode. But that's not all, because I'll equip her with the Book of Secret Arts to power her up. (1100/2300). The blue elf woman appeared with her hands clasped with a spell book appearing in front of her. "Your turn Yugi." Yugi nodded and proceeded to make his draw.
"Look, he's got Mystical Elf, just like Yugi does," Bakura pointed out.
"Good move Tay, but not quite good enough. Especially since I drew this card on my first turn! I play the Summoned Skull (2500/1200) in attack mode!" The skull demon appeared in a battle-ready stance, "And since I can't attack until everyone has taken one full turn, I'll end it there and pass it off to Kori."
"OK, I'll draw, then I reveal my face down monster, the Harpie Lady!" (1300/1400) The glowing panel started shimmering and a Harpy appeared clad in a blue skin-tight suit and with long red hair. Joey grimaced.
"Oh, you have got to be kidding me! This girl plays with Harpies too? It's Duelist Kingdom all over again!"
"Kori plays a Harpie Lady deck, just like Mai Valentine does," Téa started.
"This should be a piece of cake for Yugi and Joey, they defeated those cards before and can do it again!" Tristan proclaimed.
"Oh stop your whining!" Kori snapped. I'll reveal my face down card now, Cyber Shield! And I'll equip it to Harpie Lady!" The armor appeared around Harpie Lady and her attack power increased. (1800/1400) "And I won't leave it there, because now I play the field spell Mountain, which further increases my Harpie's attack! (2000/1600) And now I'll attack Joey's Axe Raider! Go my Harpie!" Harpie Lady lunged forward with her claws bared and prepared to strike.
"I don't think so Kori, because I activate my face down card, Kunai with Chain, which increases my Raider's attack by 500!"(2200/1150)
"Oh no!" Kori groaned.
"Now Axe Raider, attack her Harpie Lady!" Axe Raider, new weapon in hand, struck back against Harpie Lady, destroying her and taking away Kori's life points.
Kori: 1800 LP
Among all the action of the duel, Kori failed to notice her moon charm shining slightly.
"Whatever, I'll finish my turn by playing two cards face down and setting a monster in defense mode."
"What's wrong, Kori? Upset that your little Harpie's gone?" Joey taunted while he drew a card, "if you ask me, when it comes to those Harpies, they're better off in the graveyard," Joey shivered, "Now I'll play the monster Baby Dragon in attack mode. (1200/700) Now Axe Raider, attack her face down monster!"
Axe Raider charged forward and attacked her face down monster. Kori smirked.
"You fell right into my trap Joey! First I'll activate the quick-play spell, Mystical Space Typhoon to dispose of your Kunai with Chain," A small tornado suddenly appeared around Axe Raider and the Kunai with Chain disappeared, "now I'll activate my trap card, Call of the Haunted, to bring back my Harpy Lady, in defense mode of course." (1300/1400)
"Oh man, she's back! Whatever, at least I got rid of your face down monster. I'll end my turn." Joey said. Tay drew a card and placed it face down on the field.
"I'll play a card face down, then summon Gemini Elf in attack mode." The two elves appeared on the field, dancing around (1900/900). "Then I'll attack Joey's Baby Dragon!"
The elves grabbed each other's hands and charged at the small dragon, kicking both of their heels right into the dragon's gut. The dragon shattered to pieces and Joey's life points dropped.
"What?! My dragon!"
Joey: 1300 LP
Just like Kori's moon, Tay's sun charm continued to ever-so-slightly shine.
"And with that, I'll end my turn," Tay said. Yugi drew a card.
"Now I'll summon my own Mystical Elf in defense mode."(800/2000) the elf appeared, mimicking the same pose as the other, "now I'll attack Tay's Gemini Elf with Summoned Skull!" Summoned Skull charged up a lightning attack while the twin elves cowered in fear. Tay smirked.
"Sorry Yugi, but you fell into my trap. I activate Mirror Force, and you know what that means."
"Oh no! All of my monsters will be destroyed!" Yugi grit his teeth.
"Yep, so say good-bye to Summoned Skull and Mystical Elf!" Tay said as Yugi's monsters shattered.
"I guess I'll play this card face down, then, and end my turn."
"Wow, these two aren't half bad. They can hold their own against even Yugi and Joey," Bakura said.
"All right, my go!" Kori shouted as she drew a card. She saw what she drew and grinned widely, "Alright, now that's what I'm talking about! I activate Elegant Egotist to turn my Harpie Lady...into Harpie Lady Sisters!" (1950/2100) Harpie Lady suddenly tripled and two new Harpies sat at her side, one with spiky blue hair and one with short orange hair, "and let's not forget the power boost I get from the Mountains." (2150/2300)
"Now she's strong enough to take out my Axe Raider!" Joey freaked out. Kori snapped her fingers and grinned.
"That's right, and I'm having my Harpies attack your monster, go!" The three Harpies flew forward with their talons bared and struck Axe Raider. Joey's life points dropped.
Joey: 850 LP
"Ok, I'll take my turn then." Joey said as he drew a card, "for now, I'll summon the Flame Swordsman in defense mode!" (1800/1600) The man dressed in red and blue appeared kneeling. "And then I'll play a card face down and end my turn." Tay drew a card and readied an attack.
"You should've done better than that Joey! Now my Gemini Elf will attack your Flame Swordsman!" Gemini Elf charged forward at Flame Swordsman, but Joey didn't look worried.
"Not so fast! I activate the trap card Chasm of Spikes! Which will destroy your elves and give you some damage!"
A large hole appeared right under Gemini Elf as they fell down right upon a bunch of sharp crystal shards, destroying them with Tay taking life point damage equal to a quarter of their attack.
Tay: 1525 LP
"Grrr, I'll end my turn." Tay frowned.
"My go!" Yugi drew a card, "And now I'll summon Gaia the Fierce Knight!" (2300/2100) The dark knight suddenly appeared in a shimmer of light.
"So what? His attack matches the defense of my Mystical Elf. You're still not strong enough to take down my defense." Tay pointed out. Yugi smirked.
"I will be when I combine him with this card, the Horn of the Unicorn!"
A golden horn appeared on Gaia's horse and his power increased. (3000/2800)
"What? 3000 attack power? Now he can take out my elf!"
"That's right! Now Gaia, attack and destroy his Mystical Elf!" The knight charged forward and struck Mystical Elf with his lance, destroying her. "And I'll end my turn."
"Yeah, way to go Yugi!" Téa cheered on.
Kori drew a card.
"I think I'll start by playing this card, Hinotama! And set it to strike Joey's life points!"
"What! Why me?" Joey exclaimed as a meteor appeared and struck him.
Joey: 350 LP
"Nothing personal Joey, I just gotta win. Which is why I'm also playing this card, Fairy Meteor Crush!"
"What does that card do?!" Joey freaked out.
"Glad you asked. When I equip this card to my Harpie Lady Sisters, and they attack your defense position Flame Swordsman, the difference between my monster's attack points and your monster's defense points are deducted from your life points!" Joey started counting on his fingers confusedly.
"That's 350 points," Téa pointed out, annoyed.
"What?! But that means I'll lose the duel!"
"Yep that's right! Now attack my Harpies!" Harpie Lady Sisters struck Flame Swordsman and destroyed him, causing Joey's life points to drop to 0.
Joey: 0 LP LOSE
"Poor Joey. Now Yugi's up against two opponents on his own." Bakura said.
"Sorry Yug, looks like I'm out."
"Don't worry Joey, I'll finish this for the both of us." Tay dew a card.
"Not if we finish this first! I'll play a monster in defense mode and end my turn." Yugi drew a card.
"First, I'll play two cards face down, then I'll play the spell card Monster Recovery!" Tay gave Yugi a confused look.
"Why would you play that card?"
"Why? what's it do?" Kori asked her brother.
"It lets him return one monster on his field and his whole hand to his deck and redraw a new hand," Tay explained.
"Why would he get rid of the strongest monster on the field?" Yugi returned Gaia and his hand to his deck and redrew a new hand.
"So that I can play this! The magic card Dark Hole!" Yugi activated his face down card and a black hole appeared on the field, sucking up all three Harpies and Tay's face down Rogue Doll.
"No, our monsters!" Kori exclaimed.
"All right! Now that's what I'm talking about Yug!" Joey made a fist in the air.
"And now I'll play the Dark Magician in defense mode!" (2500/2100) The purple clad magician appeared, kneeling on the arena.
"Whoa, there it is. Yugi's signature card, the Dark Magician!" Kori exclaimed as she drew a card, "It's impressive, but don't count me out just yet. You didn't think I only had one set of Harpie's in my deck did you? 'Cuz now I'll play another Harpie Lady along with another Elegant Egotist, and bring back the lovely Harpie Lady Sisters! (2150/2300) Now attack his Dark Magician!"
"Wait, stop Kori, he has a face down card!" Tay shouted, but couldn't get her attention. She continued her attack anyway.
"You should've thought before you attacked, Kori. Because I'm activating the Magical Hats!" Four magician hats appeared on Yugi's field and hid his Dark Magician, "Now you'll have to find him if you want to attack him." The Harpie Lady Sisters looked from hat to hat, waiting for Kori to pick one.
"Fine then, my Harpies, attack the middle left hat!" The three Harpie's lunged forward and struck the hat, but Yugi smirked.
"You activated the trap I hid, Spellbinding Circle!" The magic seal appeared around Harpie Lady Sisters and froze them in place.
"Damnit! Fine I guess that's it for now!"
"My move," Tay drew a card. "I'll set a monster in defense mode and end my turn." Yugi drew a card.
"Now I'll reveal my Dark Magician," Yugi said as the Dark Magician appeared from the far right hat, "Now I'll equip him with the Book of Secret Arts to raise his attack power! (2800/2400) Now attack Kori's Harpies!" Dark Magician raised his hand and cast a spell that destroyed the sealed Harpies. "And that's it for now."
Kori: 1150 LP
"I gotta turn this thing around but for now I'll play Spirit of the Books in defense mode," (1600/1200) the humanoid bird appeared in a defensive stance. "And I'll end my turn." Tay drew a card.
"I'll place another monster face down and call it quits for now." Yugi drew a card.
"Going on the defense isn't going to help you, Kori, because I activate the spell card Stop Defense, to switch your Spirit of the Books into attack mode!"
"Oh no, now I'm wide open for an attack!"
"That's right. Now Dark Magician, attack her Spirit!" Dark Magician cast another spell and destroyed Spirit of the Books. Kori took a blow to her life points.
Kori: 0 LP LOSE
"Yeah! One down and one to go. Keep it up Yugi!" Tristan cheered.
"Damnit! Looks like I'm out," Kori said as she stepped down from the Duel Arena. "It's up to you now Tay." Tay nodded before taking his turn. Kori looked down at her moon charm as it suddenly stopped glowing, giving it a quizzical look.
"Huh, I could've sworn this thing was glowing just a second ago." Kori spoke to herself.
"I'll draw then," Tay smirked at the card he drew, "I now summon Cosmo Queen in attack mode!" (2900/2450) The tall woman appeared on the field.
"Oh no, she's got more attack points than Yugi's Dark Magician!" Téa shouted.
"Now my Cosmo Queen, attack his Dark Magician!" Cosmo Queen charged a blast energy before shooting it at Dark Magician, destroying him. "And that's it for now."
Yugi: 1900 LP
Yugi drew a card before giving Tay a determined look.
"Well this was fun Tay, but with this card, this duel is mine. I play the Black Luster Ritual Spell Card!"
"Oh no, that means-," Tay started.
"I tribute from my hand the Celtic Guardian and the Winged Dragon Guardian of the Fortress in order to summon...the Black Luster Soldier!" (3000/2500) The soldier clad in dark blue and light green armor appeared, ready to strike.
"That's one of Yugi's most powerful monsters. There's no way he can lose now!" Téa cheered. Tay was starting to tremble, but Kori offered up some words of encouragement.
"C'mon Tay, you can take him!"
"Easy for you to say. You're not the one dueling against this soldier."
"Now Black Luster Soldier, attack his queen!" Yugi commanded. The soldier raised his sword high above his head before striking Cosmo Queen and destroying her, "your turn."
Tay: 1425 LP
Tay drew a card, then looked over his hand, trying to think up a strategy. After having a thought, he started his move.
"I'll summon Man-Eating Treasure Chest in attack mode. (1600/1000) But that's not all because I'm powering him up with these equip cards! Malevolent Nuzzler, Black Pendant, and Dark Energy!" The three equip cards appeared and raised Man-Eating Treasure Chests power. (3100/1300)
"Whoa that is one nasty jewelry box!" Joey said. Kori cheered her brother on.
"Woohoo, go Tay!"
"Now Man-Eating Treasure Chest, attack his Black Luster Soldier!" Tay commanded. The treasure chest lunged forward and chomped on Black Luster Soldier, destroying him.
Yugi: 1800 LP
"Whoa, he took out one of Yugi's best monster!" Tristan shouted.
"It's time to finish this," Yugi said as he drew a card, "because I activate the Spell-Shattering Arrow!"
"What?!" Tay exclaimed.
"You're gonna regret powering up your monster with all those equip spells, because this arrow will destroy all three of them, then deal 500 points of damage for each one!"
"Wait, hang on a second!"
"Tay, no!"
"Too late, since my arrow destroyed three of your spell cards, you take 1500 points of damage and your life points drop to 0!"
Tay: 0 LP LOSE
Tay smirked as the duel arena disengaged. His charm too, stopped shining.
"Well I guess that's it. We lost fair and square." He smiled down at Kori, who returned with a wide grin of her own.
After finishing their tag duel, Tay, Kori, and their new friends stopped for a bite to eat at a nearby burger joint.
"Man that was so cool! Seeing my monsters right in front of me as if they were really alive? I don't even care that I lost!" Kori shouted while taking a sip of her milk shake.
Joey, who was sitting across from her, hanging his head in despair, groaned.
"You may have lost, but at least you weren't the first one out!" Tristan laughed before adding his own two cents in.
"And to make things worse, you even lost to a girl! You're never gonna live this one down." Kori and Téa both glared at Tristan intensely.
"And what is that supposed to mean?" Téa asked.
"Yeah, why does it matter that I'm a girl?" Kori demanded.
Tristan sweat-dropped before quickly turning to face them and laugh awkwardly.
Tay, Yugi, and Bakura, who were sitting at the table next to the others, watched the exchange and laughed. Tay then turned to Yugi.
"Well, that certainly was an amazing experience; I mean dueling in a real dueling arena for the first time and having it be against the top two duelists from Duelist Kingdom? That sure was fun, you live up to the name 'King of Games,' Yugi."
"You and your sister weren't that bad yourselves. You two work good separately, but just need to work on playing off of each other better." Tay smiled.
"Yeah, Kori's never been too good at working with others and my deck is set up more to work independently. I'm just disappointed that you sent my life points to zero before I was able to use my ace."
"There's always next time." Bakura spoke up.
"By the way Tay, I've been meaning to ask you, what's up with those charms that you and your sister carry?" Bakura asked, pointing to the sun charm hanging from Tay's satchel. Tay scooped up the charm in his hand, giving it a quizzical look before returning his gaze to Bakura.
"Oh these? Our father's a photographer that travel's a lot; he picked them up while on assignment in Egypt. I think he called them the Millennium Sun and the Millennium Moon."
Upon hearing that, Yugi and Bakura instantly bolted in shock. Tay noticed this and gave the two a confused look.
"What? Did I say something weird?"
"No, no not at all," Bakura said quickly, waving it off. Inwardly he smiled wickedly.
'I was correct, these two items have at last revealed themselves.'
"Tay, have you and your sister ever heard of the Millennium Items?" Yugi asked. This question caught the attention of the other four and caused Bakura to silently scowl.
"Millennium Items? What are those?" Kori questioned. Yugi held up his Millennium Puzzle.
"It's this, they're golden items from Ancient Egypt that have this eye symbol on them. They hold strange and dark powers and have some kind of connection to the origin of Duel Monsters. I have one, called the Millennium Puzzle, and Bakura used to have one that took him over with a dark spirit called the Millennium Ring. Even Pegasus Crawford, creator of Duel Monsters, had the Millennium Eye. I think that those charms of yours may be some kind of Millennium Items as well."
Kori and Tay looked back and forth from their charms hanging on their bags, and each other. They then started laughing loudly.
"Seriously, you expect us to believe that?" Kori laughed. Tay wiped some tears from his eyes.
"Oh I get it; trying to play a joke on the new kids. Good one guys." The twins looked up from their laughing fit and saw the serious looks of their new friends. They stopped laughing.
"Oh, you're serious." Tay said.
"Look guys, that was interesting story and all, but I stopped believing in fairy tales long ago." Kori spoke up.
"It's not a fairy tale, the whole thing's true," Téa said, "Pegasus used his Millennium Eye to steal the souls of Yugi's Grandpa, Kaiba, and Kaiba's younger brother Mokuba."
"And Bakura's Millennium Ring used to have an evil spirit in it that would take him over and make him do bad things." Joey said.
"Well if that's true than how are the souls back, and where's this so called 'evil spirit' you just talked about?" Kori questioned.
"And what kind of power is your Millennium puzzle supposed to have?" asked Tay.
"Yug' defeated Pegasus at Duelist Kingdom and set the souls free." Tristan started before making a fist in the air, "and I chucked that evil Millennium Ring far off into the forest of Duelist Kingdom, so it won't be bothering us anymore.'
"And as for my puzzle," Yugi began, "well I don't know entirely. But it has a spirit inside that helps me whenever I duel."
"Sorry, I'm still not buying." Kori waved it off.
"Yeah, I think we would've noticed if our charms had any kind of super power by now. I mean we've had these for years." Tay said. Yugi spoke up.
"But haven't you? I know you felt it during our duel; your charms were reacting to the dueling energy of being faced off against another Millennium Item."
Tay and Kori stopped to think for a bit while Tay glanced around the room. His eyes fell upon his watch and he noticed the time.
"Oh crap, it's getting late!" Tay quickly got up, grabbing Kori's wrist as she sipped more of her milk shake, "sorry guys, we gotta get going. See you tomorrow."
"Ah wait, my milk shake!" Kori whined as she was pulled away. The twins rushed out of the restaurant and headed home. Téa chuckled.
"Well, those two sure are an interesting pair. It actually is getting quite late, we should get going to." Everyone started getting up and gathered outside. They said their good-byes and all went their separate ways.
Yugi kept thinking about the twins and their charms.
"Those charms have to be Millennium Items; I just know it. What do you think, Spirit?" The spirit of the Millennium Puzzle appeared in front of him.
"I did sense some kind of power emanating from those two. There is no doubt in my mind that they do possess some kind of connection to the Millennium Items, whether they possess any or not." The spirit said.
"Well, we'll just have to convince them that then."
Meanwhile, Bakura stood in a dark alley, a malicious look on his face.
"Tay Ardent and Kori Ardent…their ignorance of the past will prove most useful to me." He started laughing maniacally.
Later that night, back at the Ardent Residence, the twins sat in Tay's room. They were looking over their decks and their charms.
"We're gonna need to really revamp our decks if we want to ever stand a chance against Yugi." Kori said, flipping through her cards. Tay was laying on his bed, flipping his sun charm over in his hand.
"So what do you think about those Millennium Item things that Yugi and the others kept going on about? You think there's any truth to it?" Kori put her deck away and pulled out her own moon charm, examining it.
"I dunno, the whole thing seems kind of crazy. I mean, ancient mysterious artifacts that have a connection with a modern card game? That makes no sense." Tay smiled and put his charm away.
"Yeah, I guess you're right. G'night." Tay rolled over on his bed and turned off the lights. Kori got up from the desk chair and headed out of the room. She stopped and turned back, by the door.
"Night, bro." She said as her moon charm glistened slightly. She blinked and Kori could have sworn she saw several glowing red threads coming from her brother. She rubbed her eyes and looked again, but saw nothing. She shrugged and continued to leave.
"Oh well, I guess my sleep-deprived mind is just playing tricks on me." She muttered to herself.
Later that night, back at Kaiba Land, Seto Kaiba was reviewing footage from the Duel Arena taken throughout the day.
"There have to be some duelists in here that are worthy of my tournament." Kaiba said as he continued to sift through the footage. Eventually he came across the tag duel from earlier. "Hey, that's Yugi and Joey. Who are they dueling against?" He zoomed in on their opponents on the other end of the arena. "That girl, where have I seen here before?" He narrowed his eyes on the girl's image.
Kaiba's thoughts recalled back to earlier that day at school and the new girl that had a sudden outburst at him.
"Kori Ardent and Taran Ardent? Hmmmm." Kaiba watched the tag duel with slight interest. Behind him, sitting on a table, was an open suit case containing a blue Duel Monsters card called Obelisk the Tormentor.