Yugi groggily opened his eyes and looked over at his digital alarm clock. The alarm clock read 6:23. Yugi groaned and stuffed his head under his pillow.
"I don't believe it…why I can't just sleep until noon on Saturday like everybody else…I have no idea." Yugi said. He threw his pillow off, wrenched off his covers, and slid out of his bed. He went over to his closet and put on his clothes. He then walked over to his bedroom door, turned the knob, and went through.
"Good morning, Master Muto."
Yugi jumped about twenty feet in the air.
"Holy crap, Winston!" Yugi yelled, "You scared me half to death!"
"I'm sorry master Muto," Winston said, "I was just making sure you were awake. Miss Rebecca would never forgive you if you were late today."
Winston was Yugi's new butler. Yugi had finally decided to spend some of his exceptionally large amount of tournament winnings on a mansion, new car, a swimming pool, and a butler. Being world champ definitely got you a few perks.
"Yeah, I know. She'd definitely kill me." Yugi and Rebecca had been dating since Rebecca turned 19 a few years ago. Today was Rebecca's 21st birthday and she was flying in specially to have a nice dinner with Yugi today. Yugi was going to meet her at the airport in a few minutes.
"Oh, also there is someone calling for you sir." Walter said, "He is waiting on the promenade deck for you. I told him you may not be able to see him now sir. He insisted that he would wait. Shall I tell him you are unavailable?"
"Uh…no I'll see him. Thanks Winston. Can you get the car ready to go? I need to hit the road right away."
"Of course sir. It will be waiting for you momentarily."
"Thanks Winston, I appreciate it." Yugi headed downstairs and went through the lobby to the lounge and then outside to the promenade deck. There, at one of the umbrella colored tables sat a man in a dark blue business suit. His hair was short and brown. He was sipping some tea.
"May I help you?" Yugi asked.
"Aw, hello Mr. Muto. It's a pleasure to finally meet you. My name is Misono Mitogoshi." He got up and shook hands with Yugi. "I am here on behalf of my employer, the new co-owner of Industrial Illusions, Salazar Sleishen."
"Pegasus sold half of his company?" Yugi asked.
"Well, Mr. Sleishen…made him an offer he couldn't refuse."
"Huh. Uh, I'm sorry. I'm meeting my girlfriend in a few minutes and if I don't leave soon I'm going to be late so if you could please get to the point…"
"Oh yes, I'm so very sorry. Mr. Sleishen is having a tournament in a few weeks in Egypt as a celebration for his…new acquirement and he would love to have you attend as his guest of honor."
"Look, please tell your boss that I really appreciate his offer but I can't go on a trip like that. I'm pretty booked for the next few weeks. I have some close friends flying in and I'm afraid that I just can't. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm late. I'm sorry for making you wait earlier." Yugi turned around and began to leave.
"I'm afraid, that I can't take no for an answer. You will be at this tournament, or your friend's lives will be forfeit." Yugi stopped, shocked by this statement. He quickly spun around. Misono was now wearing a duel-disk.
"What did you mean that my friend's lives will be forfeit?"
"Exactly what I said." Misono pushed a button on his duel disk and it projected an image of Rebecca, tied up and surrounded by men with machine guns. Yugi's fear and anger both overflowed at once.
"Rebecca! How…? What do you want?"
"Here's how it works, you and I duel. If I win, your girlfriend dies. If you win, your girlfriend will be released unharmed. Either way, you will show up at this tournament or things will get even worse. Trust me Yugi. If I could get to Rebecca I could also get to someone else you care about!" Yugi didn't know what to say.
"I won't accept your challenge. I won't put Rebecca's life at risk."
"You don't understand," Misono pushed another button on the disk, "He refuses to duel. Kill her." The men in the hologram cocked their guns and held them up. Rebecca screamed.
"No! Stop! Fine…I'll duel!"
"Cancel that last order," The men lowered their weapons again, "If you would please retrieve your duel disk so that we may begin?" He pushed a button on his disk and the hologram of Rebecca flashed off. Yugi gritted his teeth in anger. He turned quickly and ran to retrieve his duel disk. He ran to his room, grabbed his duel disk and returned to promenade deck. "All right, let's duel."
Both players slapped their decks into the duel disk and their life point counters changed from 0 to 4000. Both players reached down and drew 5 cards.
"DUEL!" They both yelled in unison.
"I'll go first," Misono said. He drew a card and surveyed his cards carefully. "I place one card face-down and summon Wall of Illusion(1000/1850) in defense mode." A card appeared face-down on the field and a strange living wall appeared with a vampiric looking face upon it. "Your turn, Yugi."
Yugi drew a card and looked at his hand.
"What's the matter Yugi?" Misono asked. "You look a little worried. Can you handle the pressure?"
"Shut up. I play 2 cards face-down and summon Breaker the Magical Warrior (1900/1600)." A knight in red armor appeared and two cards materialized face-down in front of Yugi. "Now, Breaker! Attack the Wall of Illusion!" The red knight dashed toward the Wall of Illusion.
"Ha! What a foolish attack!" The man in the suit yelled. The red knight slashed through the wall and it shattered then the red knight began to glow and then disappear. "Any monster that attacks the Wall of Illusion returns to its owners hand after it attacks! You should think your moves through more carefully if you want to save your girl! Ha ha ha!" Yugi smiled.
"I didn't battle foolishly at all. In fact, I new exactly what that monster's effect was. That's why I had this face down." Yugi pushed a button on his duel disk and one of his two face-down cards flipped face-up. "I had the trap card hand barrier face-down on the field. It makes it so that my hand cannot change the turn I activate this card. Therefore Breaker cannot return to my hand!" The red knight reappeared on the field.
"Well done, Yugi. But I had this ready just in case." Misono punched a button on his duel disk and his face-down card flipped face-up, "I always have a back up plan! I activate Seven Tools of the Bandit. At the cost of 1000 of my life points, I can negate the activation of one trap card!" Misono's life point counter changed to 3000 and the trap card Yugi had played began to glow.
"You may have had a back up plan for my first move but I know you don't for my second!" Yugi yelled. "I activate Breaker the Magical Warrior's special ability. I remove his magic counter which will reduce his attack to 1600 but it will also allow him to destroy your trap card!" Breaker dashed forward and slashed Misono's trap card in half.
"Brilliant play. What I should expect from the world champion."
"For Rebecca's sake, I cannot and will not lose this duel! I end my turn." Misono drew another card. "Excellent. I summon Space Mambo (1700 atk)!" A giant fish appeared on the field. "Space Mambo! Attack Breaker the Magical Warrior!" The giant fish charged towards Breaker.
"Another poor decision on your part." Yugi said and smiled. "I activate my face-down card! Pitch-Black Power Stone!" Yugi's only face-down card on the field flipped up. "This card restores up to 3 spell counters. This puts a spell counter back on Breaker raising his attack back up to 1900." The giant fish continued toward the red knight but the red knight dodged it and then cut the fish into tiny pieces. Misono's life points went down to 2800.
"Huh. Oh well, that won't matter in the end. I play one card face-down and end my turn." A card appeared in front of Misono.
"My turn!" Yugi drew a card, "You made a mistake playing a trap card. Now I use Breaker's special ability once again!"
"Hang on! My face-down card activates! Judgment of Anubis! This card negates your trap destroying effect and further allows me to destroy one monster on your side of the field and deal damage equal to its attack points directly to your life points!" Breaker shattered into tiny shards and Yugi's life point counter dropped to 2400. "Ha ha ha. Master Sleishen was entirely correct. Without the pharaoh helping you, you are worthless in a duel (1)."
"Yes, Atemu (2) was a powerful ally in a duel. But I have won numerous tournaments and am still the world champion without him here to help me, and soon you'll see why. I end my turn."
"Ha! How pathetic." Misono drew a card, "I summon Baron of the Fiend Sword (1550 atk)." A fat demon appeared in a tux. It held a very wicked looking sword. "Baron! Attack his life points directly!" The fat demon ran and slashed Yugi with its sword. Yugi's life points lowered to 850. "Next turn it will be over for you Yugi. You'll lose and your girlfriend will die! You can't handle the pressure!" Yugi drew his card, looked at it and smiled.
"I told you that with Rebecca's fate on the line I will not lose. I summon Skilled White Magician (1700/1900) in defense mode and set one card face-down. I end my turn." A magician in a white cloak appeared in a huddled position on the field in front of Yugi.
"HA! That was the best you could do? You just gave away this duel! What a worthless monster!" Misono drew a card, "HA! My ultimate beast will now show itself! Prepare for the worst because here it comes! I sacrifice my Baron of the Fiend Sword to summon Visage of Exodia (2500/2500)!" The Baron exploded and a small, see-through version of Exodia appeared on the field. "This monster only remains on the field for one turn. But because of its special effect, when it destroys one of your monsters, you take damage equal to that monsters attack and defense combined! When it attacks and destroys your monster your life points will go to zero! Plus your face-down card can't help you! Visage of Exodia is immune to trap cards! Visage of Exodia! Attack his monster and end the duel! Ha ha ha!" The Visage of Exodia began to charge up an attack. Yugi smiled.
"I'm afraid your strategy is about to fail!" Yugi yelled, "Activate trap card!"
"Didn't you hear what I said? My monster is immune to trap cards!"
"It's a good thing my card isn't targeting your monster then, isn't it?
"What?"
"I activate Return of Trap! This card allows me to activate any trap card in my graveyard! And I activate Pitch-Black Power Stone!"
"NO! IMPOSSIBLE!"
"Oh yes. The trap puts 3 spell counters on my monster and when skilled white magician has 3 spell counters on it, I can activate its special ability! I sacrifice it to summon Buster Blader (2600/2100)! And since you already declared your attack, you can't stop it!" A huge dark knight appeared in front of Yugi.
"N-no! I can't lose like this!" The Visage of Exodia attacked the dark knight but it knocked away the blast like it was a beach ball. The knight then counter attacked and sliced the Visage of Exodia in two. The man in the suits life points lowered to 2700. "This duel isn't over yet! I play one card face-down and end my turn!" 'Yugi won't be able to defeat me!' Misono thought, 'If he attacks me I will activate my trap card mirrorforce! Then all of his monsters will be destroyed!'
"I'm afraid you are wrong again! I activate the magic card Monster Reborn! And I summon Breaker the Magical Warrior back to the field!"
"WHAT? NO! THIS CAN'T BE HAPPENING!"
"Oh it is! I activate Breaker's special effect and destroy your face-down card!" The face-down card shattered. "I don't know what you want from me, but putting my loved ones in danger is unacceptable. Here is a message for you and your boss! Buster Blader, Breaker the Magical Warrior! Attack his life points directly!" Both knights charged Misono and slashed at him. His life points dropped to 0. "Now you will release Rebecca as you promised or I swear…"
"I lost? No…I…" Misono's duel disk beeped and a hologram of a man in Egyptian garb appeared.
"Well done Yugi Muto, well done. I am Salazan Sleishen, the new co-owner of industrial Illusions." The hologram said, "I am very impressed by your skill. My congratulations on a duel well played."
"I won the duel! Release Re…"
"There is no need. Rebecca is fine. The image of her you saw earlier was a fake. My way of getting your full potential to show itself. The real Rebecca is getting off her plane right now."
"How dare you!"
"Yes, I do apologize. I very much dislike using underhanded tactics such as these but I must say the duel was certainly more exciting this way. I am not an evil person Yugi Muto, but I am resourceful. Your friends are not safe and I will harm them if it means getting you to come to my tournament. Hopefully, for your friend's sake, I will see you in a few weeks. You will receive a letter with an actual invitation in a few days. As for you Misono…"
"Master Sleishen, please…"
"You know the penalty for failure!"
"No master! Please!"
"Penalty Game! (3)" A millennium symbol appeared on the forehead of Misono and he screamed. He then fell to the ground, a blank stare upon his face. Yugi stared amazed
"But the millennium items…"
"There is much in store for you soon, Yugi Muto. You can count on that. I suggest you go to the airport now, you're quite late." The duel disk began to spark and the hologram disappeared. Yugi took one last glance at Misono and ran for his car.
1: In the final episode of the manga and anime, the pharaoh returns to the spirit world and the millennium items are destroyed.
2: Atemu is the Pharaoh's real name in the Japanese manga.
3: A penalty game was always played when Yami Yugi won a shadow or dangerous game in the comic. He was only able to use these games because of the power of his millennium item.