Chapter 1
"I can't believe we never knew this place existed!"
Four youths ruffled through dust covered boxes, their contents jingling as each searched for a prize.
"I know!" said the only girl, her blue eyes sparkling as she held up a limited edition cd, its tracks full of dance compilations. "Too bad it's closing down."
"Aw man, Yugi look at dis!" One of the taller boys poked his blonde head out, and motioned to his friend, a shorter boy with a head full of multi-coloured spikes and violet eyes that shone with pure excitement.
In his hand he held a small wooden music box, its insides were lined with red velvet and a small man with a painted face moved humorously to a macabre tune.
"Wow, Joey! That's awesome," the boy commented. "I feel like I've heard that tune before."
"I know!" the last boy said, plucking a stray cobweb out of his short cropped brown hair. "That's the theme from Edward Scissorhands!"
"Never picked ya for a Scissorhands fan, Tristan," said Joey with a grin.
"Hey man, that movie was a classic! But what's with the little dude on top? Sure does add to the creepiness factor."
"It's a pantomime character." The girl had spoken up again.
"Say wha, Tea?" Joey queried.
"Pantomime. It's a type of theatrical genre. I went and saw a Peter Pan production with my parents last summer. It was pretty cool actually."
Joey's fingers ran over the smooth cover. "Too fancy for me, but maybe Serenity'll like it. Her birthday's comin' up real soon."
Tristan's head shot up. "Serenity's birthday? Tea lend me some money?"
"Nuh-uh!" Joey shook his finger under Tristan's nose. "Dun even think 'bout it, Casanova!"
"Aw, come on man! It's her special day! You're gonna deny her… her birthright to get showered in gifts?"
"If ya wanna give her a present, then give it to me an' I'll give it to her."
"Pfft, and probably tell her you bought it for her in the process! No thanks, I'll give it to her myself."
"Fine, but keep it G-Rated or me an' you is gonna have some problems."
Tristan waved him off and determined to find a present got back to work at sifting through boxes. The commotion had stirred the old shop keeper, and he cleared his throat to get their attention.
"Something particular I can help you with, hm?" His voice was raw and grated, and he kept a gnarled hand upon his walking stick at all times.
Tea was the first to speak up. "No, thanks. How come we've never heard of this shop before?"
"Been open for years. Really only got customers when they stumbled through the door to ask for directions and found something that caught their eye."
"Is that why you're closing?" Yugi asked.
The old man chuckled. "No-no. Can't move around like I used to. My son's all grown up now, and he thinks I'd do better moving over to Tokyo with him. So he put an ad in the paper advertising our last sale, and well, that's where this story ends."
Joey's hand shot up with his find. "How much ya want for da box?"
As the old man's pearly gaze caught on the box, he faltered. "Wh... where did you find that?"
Four fingers pointed to the same box. "In there, sir," Yugi said.
Licking his lips, the old man shook his head almost violently. "It's not for sale!" he hissed.
"--But it was in the box!"
"--I found it!"
"--You can't do that!"
"--That's not fair!"
Four angry faces glared out from the dusty shop, but it was no deterrent.
"Put it back where you found it, pay for your stuff and get out!"
The old man hobbled quickly away from them and back to his perch, where he sat and muttered quietly to himself. Glancing back and forward between themselves, the four friends sighed and shrugged before paying for what they wanted and silently letting themselves out.
"What a total freak!" Tristan spat, angrily kicking a stray stone.
"I guess he's suffering from some old age ailment," Tea said in her usual calming tone.
"Yeah, it's called being a complete jerk off!"
"Come on, Tristan," Yugi reasoned. "We should cut him some slack. For all we know his son packed all that stuff away."" Ehehehehe..." Tristan, Tea and Yugi stopped, turning to their blonde comrade.
"Did I miss something?" Tristan asked.
"Well..." Joey started, rubbing the back of his head in an embarrassed fashion. At that moment he pulled his hand out of his jean's pocket to reveal his prize: the music box. "I kinda swiped it while he wasn' lookin'."
"JOEY!" Tea and Yugi yelled in unison.
"You have to take it back!" Tea urged.
Joey shook his head, his blonde bangs swaying with the movement. "No way! I left him some money. Lot more than it's probly worth."
Tristan clapped him on the back in a congratulatory way. "Nice one, Joey!"
A grin split across his face. "Thanks pal!" He then turned to Tea. "I know what ya gonna say, but I'm not gonna take it back. Maybe if he hadn' been rude 'bout it, I might've. As far as I'm concerned, this's Serenity's now."
With that, he kept walking in the direction of the park. Slowly but surely, the others fell into step beside him. It wasn't long before Yugi shattered the silence.
"Can I see the box, Joey?"
"Sure, Yuge."
Yugi was surprised to find it was heavier than it looked. He twisted the key a few times and listened to the melody, watching the pantomime doll dance its jerky little movements. As the song slowed and the key neared its last turn, Yugi's fingers closed around it ready to give it another twist when suddenly a small compartment opened up near the bottom of the box. The contents slipped to the pavement and Yugi gave a little yelp of surprise.
His friends stopped walking, and looked to him as he bent to retrieve the sole object: a slender silver box no longer than the length of a child's hand and no wider than the width of a matchstick. It was decorated beautifully with a snake coiled around the edges, a majestically tiger graced the middle, overhead soared an eagle and on each side of the tiger stood a wolf and a fox.
Yugi's fingers caressed the metal, feeling each groove and dip. As his fingers grazed a clasp at the side, the top sprung open to reveal a familiar pattern.
What's a Duel Monster card doing in here? Yugi wondered to his other self.
Carefully, he flipped the card over and came face to face with a duel monster he'd never seen before.
"Whatcha got there, Yuge?" Joey queried as he kneeled down to his friend's height.
"It's a Duel Monster card. 'The Shapeshifter', have you ever seen this card before?"
Taking it in his hands, Joey studied the card. It depicted a lone female, symbols of an unknown language wrapped around her body, binding her hands together. Her long dark brown hair flew out behind her as though she were in a tremendous gust of wind. She wore a long white skirt and matching shirt, that Joey could of sworn changed colours whenever he looked at it from the corner of his eye. But what caught his attention most was her beautiful emerald eyes that seemed to call out to him and beg him to play her card.
Joey shook his head, and pulled his gaze away from the gorgeous girl etched in ink.
"Nah, can't say I have."
He held the card out to his friend.
Yugi shook his head. "It was in your music box."
"Yeah, but you found it, so it's yours. Sides, it's only got 500 attack points."
Yugi took the card , sliding it in his pack with the rest of his deck, before offering back the music box and silver case.
As Joey placed both the trinkets back in his pocket, he heard Tristan offer a mock snore.
"Are we going yet?" he muttered.
"Hey! Dun rush me!" the Blonde yelled.
"Well some of us need to cruise popular shops for birthday presents rather than stealing junk from geriatric old men!"
Joey clenched a fist before tearing off after Tristan, hurling threats and insults. Tea and Yugi walked slowly behind them, talking about school, food and whatever else came to mind. Soon the old man, the music box and Yugi's new card were long forgotten about.
