One: Let the Games Begin
"Grandpa."
"Oh, I see."
Yugi grinned. "He said maybe I should try something besides Duel Monsters."
***
The Cabalos were gaining. Genki could hear their
yammering over the noise of his rollerskates; once again he looked about
wildly for a shrine. And this time there was one, just ahead. He looked
to Holly, who jerked her head in a nod; she had seen it as well.
"TORPEDO!"
This knocked out a few in the front; more rushed
to take their comrades' place. If Genki had been a few years over eleven
he might have cursed. As it was, he pressed on.
They clambered up the mercifully few steps, Tiger
and Golem occasionally pausing to counterattack when the Cabalos were too
close for comfort. Holly placed the disk in the appropriate spot.
***
Yugi took out the game CD, then put in a random one handed to him by Ryou. When the screen prompted him, he replaced the Monster Rancher 200x.
***
Holly cried, "Unlock!"
***
The screen turned white, then shot out dark tendrils.
Yugi was flung violently across stone; someone landed
on top of him. As Bakura apologized and Yugi pulled himself up, he heard
several exclamations of surprise. Yugi looked around and promptly made
one of his own.
There were two who looked somewhat normal- a girl
around his own age, and a boy who was just about Mokuba Kaiba's. The others
didn't look in the least normal- a pink something that resembled a penguin,
a yellow thing with a single tremendous eyeball, a rock behemoth, a tall
brown rabbit with a red bandanna, and a blue wolf with horns.
The boy was the first to step forward, grinning.
"Hi, I'm Genki-"
The eyeball jumped in front of him. "In case you
haven't noticed, we're in a situation here!" This statement was made even
clearer by the vibrations of the door.
Yugi crawled over to where his deck had been thrown
and shuffled through, finally pulling out the Dark Magician. He held out
his hand, the card in his palm, not quite sure exactly what he intended
to do.
The Puzzle glowed. The Dark Magician appeared, inciting
more gasps. Shortly afterward, the door gave. A wave of more horned wolves-
but these were purple- roared in, and he yelled, "Dark Magician! Attack!"
The Dark Magician held out a hand and attacked.
***
The world's colors seemed to swap for a split second,
and Tiger of the Wind reeled backward; the Cabalos screamed and… shattered?
Tiger blinked; by the time he was done with the blink the Lost Disks had
already formed.
And who had caused this? A human? Wearing purple
armor and the most ridiculous hat he had ever seen?
Genki decided it was time to commence the introductions.
He pointed to himself. "I'm Genki-" the direction of his arm and his pointing
finger changed "-and this is Holly. And here's Mocchi-" the penguin, "-and
this is Suezo" the eyeball, "-and Golem, and Hare, and Tiger." Tiger nodded
in response. His eyes shot wide open and he took another look at the kid
Genki was speaking to.
He looks like… like… I don't know what… just what
happened to his hair?
"I'm Yugi, and this is Bakura."
"It's nice to meet you." Tiger blinked once again-
he had never imagined that this "Bakura" might be a boy.
***
"So we're looking for the Phoenix, so it can turn
all the baddies into goodies. Even Mu," Genki finished his tale and leaned
back.
Yugi blinked. "Like a Monster Reborn?"
"A what?" Yugi produced it after some more shuffling,
whereupon Genki, Holly, Mocchi, and Suezo ran up and began to "ooh" and
"aah" over it. Hare and Golem would have done so as well, but there was
only so much space around Yugi. "But still," said Genki, "it only brings
back one, right?"
"Maybe," said Yugi, "but then, Dark Magician's only
supposed to attack one at a time." He nodded toward the Dark Magician in
question, who was staring off at a wall with an inscrutable expression.
"So. You want to join up with us?"
***
Mahaad had never been more confused in his life.
At least back in Egypt he generally knew more or less what was taking place,
even if it wasn't the most pleasant of things. But now… he had absolutely
no idea what was going on.
Yugi turned to him. "Dark Magician?"
"Yes?" Yugi blinked, confused, and then Mahaad realized
he had been speaking in Egyptian. "I apologize. What do you wish of me?"
"You're real?" A nod. "Well, do you think we should
go with them?"
Mahaad couldn't help but admire Yugi's quick adjustment.
"I will agree with whatever decision you make."
Yugi turned back to Genki. "All right, if it's to
save the world, I will."
"YEAH!" Genki leapt into the air. "Let's go!"
"Er, Genki?" Everyone looked at Hare. "Wouldn't
it be more advisable to eat first?"
***
"Of course!" Bakura cried. "The potato chips!" He
ran about the shrine, gathering up the bags. "Oh, and here's a pack of
soda, and candy bars- Yugi, I think there's one over there…"
After a while everything Bakura had brought into
the room was rounded up and taken outside for them to make camp. Yugi was
grateful for Joey's prodigious appetite, as it appeared there just might
be enough chips for everyone.
It was right around then that the full insanity
of what was taking place occurred to him. Here he was, sharing chips and
soda with characters from the video game he had just been playing. It had
to be a dream. Maybe Bakura had accidentally dropped the food tray on his
head and he was currently delirious.
… did delirious people wonder if they were delirious?
No matter. He might as well make the best of it.
Besides, maybe when he woke up he would wake up
not only from the dream-sleep, but from the dream altogether.