The setting is…um, wherever they hold Pegasus' Tournaments. And it's set around the same time that Jaden submits his monsters to Kaiba (who, being a rich ass, decides to instead of giving them back to the winner, launches them into space. I mean, what the hell?!).
Anyway, here you go.
Prologue-Enter Clopel Morgan, the nine-year old dueling champion!
Bright flashes appeared everywhere in the audience of the stadium. So many that it looked like fireworks being set off this way and that. The center of all the attention was two Duelists in the thick of the fight. One a man, about in his thirties and a stressed look on his face. And the other was a little girl with brown hair pulled back into pigtails. She wore a green turtleneck and dark blue jeans. Her face read to be very calm, and despite the tension the setting would have given anybody, especially a child, she seemed to enjoy the attention, as if it was no more daunting than a game of hide and seek. The man drew a card.
"I tribute my King Tiger Wanghu and my Seven Colored Fish and summon Cosmo Queen (atk-2900 def-2450)! I attack your Dragon Zombie (defense pos., atk-1600 def-200) and send it to the graveyard.
Beat that, shrimp!"
The girl looked at his side of the field. The only monster there was Cosmo Queen, and all she had on her side was Alligator's Sword (defense pos. atk-1500 def-1200) and Gearfried the Iron Knight (attack pos. atk-1800 def-1600). She looked at the cards in her hand, and nothing could help her there. She had the spell card unicorn's horn, but because of Iron Knight's effect, she couldn't equip anything to him. She drew a card from her deck. Upon seeing it, her eyes widened and she grinned ear to ear. She could win this easily now.
"I play Fissure, which destroys one monster on your side of the field with the weakest defense points. And since you only have one monster…"
The smug look on the man's face disappeared and was replaced by an expression of total horror. He had been defeated…by a mere child!!
The audience roared with applause as confetti was released from the ceiling. There were even more flashes than before, as the very creator of duel monsters itself walked up to her; Maxamillion Pegasus.
"Congratulations, Miss Morgan. I believe you are our youngest finalist ever."
Clopel began to get weak in the knees. She was speaking to the creator of Duel Monsters himself! She had always admired him and his Unique Toon monsters. It should have been a dream come true for her. But in that moment that she was able to see his one uncovered eye face to face, she thought she saw, if only for a second, just the smallest hint of sadness.
Before she knew it, she was standing up on the podium receiving her trophy that was almost as big as her. Pegasus laughed as she attempted to lift it, and He helped her raise it up for the cameras and reporters to see. For Clopel, when she lifted the trophy, with help from her idol, she felt nothing but absolute happiness.
That night there was a celebration of Clopel's victory. It was held in Pegasus' Building on the top floor. Clopel stared out the window, looking at the warmly lit buildings and lights on the street outside. The whole world looked like a big Christmas tree. She wanted to ask Pegasus if this was the highest place in the world, but when she looked around, she saw her parents and her parent's friends, the occasional reporter, but Pegasus was nowhere to be seen. He was there only two minutes ago, he couldn't have gone far.
Clopel walked over to the bathroom and peeked inside, unfortunately vacant. She even went so far as to look in both the closets. She looked under magazines, under couch cushions, and everywhere else a nine year old would look. She actually decided to take her mother's advice and check each area twice! But she still couldn't find him.
Clopel huffed. She didn't even remember why she was looking for him in the first place, now she just wanted to know where he was. She was tired of searching. She leaned against the wall behind her. But to her surprise, the 'wall' creaked. The last time she checked, walls didn't make any noise when you leaned on them. She turned around and saw a door that she had overlooked. It was easy to miss, it was the exact color of the wall, and it was a sliding door, so it had no doorknob.
Clopel looked around to see that nobody was looking, she quickly slid the door open just enough for her to squeeze through, stepped in quietly, and shut it behind her. Sure enough, she saw Pegasus sitting at a desk. She was just about to greet him, but then she saw how he was sitting. He was slouched over, resting his chin on his folded hands. He was staring at his deck, not smiling, not frowning, just…staring. Clopel was worried. Was he sick? If he was then she thought that he'd rather be alone. She decided to ask him just in case.
"Umm…Mr. Pegasus? Are you okay?"
His eye seemed to uncloud, as if he was pulled out of a trance. He turned around to find the little girl staring at him with worried eyes.
"Oh…Miss Morgan…Um, yes, I'm fine, thank you."
Almost immediately after he finished speaking, he sighed and shook his head.
"Oh, who an I fooling? No I'm not."
Pegasus told Clopel about his company losing popularity to Kaibacorp, and the pressure of keeping his title as a duelist was too much.
The young girl spoke.
"Well…why don't you stop dueling then? That way you can focus on just your job."
Pegasus weakly chuckled.
"Believe me, if I could, I would."
Pegasus paused, and then his eyes widened, as if he had realized something important.
"Unless…"
Pegasus grabbed the top card of the deck he had been staring at and held it out in front of little Clopel. His face grew very serious.
Clopel was thrilled to see the card was probably her favorite card that only Pegasus had-Toon Black Cat.
"Now tell me Clopel-what do you see? Look very closely."
Clopel looked at the card as hard as she could, not even blinking, when suddenly, a misty little head popped out of the card. It pushed itself fully out, and twisted around Clopel in a friendly manner. Clopel giggled like the little girl she was and said happily,
"It's a Toon black cat! A real one! Off the paper and everything! Even without a duel disk!!"
Pegasus' face lit up.
"So you can see duel spirits! What marvelous fate!"
As Clopel admired the transparent monster, Pegasus rooted through his things until he found a small briefcase, he undid the clasps, and Clopel stared at the hundreds of cards in it, all having to do with the Toon monsters. He took the deck, leaving the Toon black cat, he placed the cards in an empty sleeve in the case and clasped it shut. He turned and looked deeply into Clopel's eyes.
"Clopel, this is a very special card. It contains a spirit. Spirits can think and feel like people, although only some can see them. I've had Toon Black Cat since I was a child, and having no children, I have nobody to pass them on to. I think I trust you to take good care of them."
Clopel's eyes sparkled. Her favorite duelist was entrusting her with his precious deck…! Without even thinking about it, she ran to Pegasus and hugged him tightly.
"Oh, Thankyouthankyou thank you!!! I promise I'll take really good care of them for ever and ever and ever!!"
Pegasus laughed. And not just a half-hearted laugh like before, but a true, wholehearted laugh.
"I trust you will, Miss Morgan. I trust you will."
End
I might add more chapters later, but it depends on reviews.
Thanks!