The Best Laid Plans of Plushies and Men

He looked up into the most concerned, gentle, and utterly adorable expression he'd ever seen. Something about it, not just the warmth behind it, but the absolute craftsmanship evident in Yugi's plush face made Mahaad's gaze drop to where Yugi's hand rested on his shoulder. Mahaad, in bemused wonder, picked it up and looked at it.

"There's not a single stitch," he stated aloud.

"Wh-what?" Yugi asked. Mahaad noted the higher register Plushie Yugi spoke in, but filed it away for future consideration. He was far more fascinated with the evidence before his eyes and open to the questing touch of his hand.

He turned Yugi's hand over, and presented his own side-by-side. Yami loomed as he leaned over the two diminutive plushies and peered down. "You see how there are stitches showing how my plush form was put together." Indeed, though they were tiny and finely wrought, stitches ran the length of Dark Magician's plushie hand, joining the pieces of fabric together. "There's not a single stitch in your hand - or I suspect anywhere in you."

"What does that mean, Mahaad?" Yugi asked. "Am I not really plushie...? Did something go wrong?"

Yami's chuckle sounded like distant thunder. "Exactly the opposite, aibou. If I know my friend here at all, he was lamenting the fact his attack was so silly not just because he thinks it looks silly (and he feels in some way it damages his dignity) but that it would show some lessening in the skill he uses whenever he shapes magic." Despite himself, Mahaad nodded. Yugi looked up at him, only then realizing that even though both were now plush toys, he was still significantly shorter, a fact that didn't stop a questioning look from crossing his now plushie face.

"My pharaoh knows me all too well. Truly this is a difficult experience for me. It has been more than a lifetime since I was last - frivolous. To be turned into this... It is almost more than I can bear. When I saw how inane my attack has become," Mahaad shook his head. "Oh, my masters, I hope this ordeal is over soon! To think that my magic, which I have fought so long and so hard for, and for which I have given such a high price as my own life has been reduced to flinging pillows!" Yami struggled to hide his smile. The incongruity of Mahaad grousing in his usual, wordy way while appearing to be a mere plush toy version of himself nearly caused him to laugh out loud.

"But, it wasn't you..." Yugi began.

"All but. I am Mana's master in magic. She is my student. When she fails, so do I. This spectacular failure is my fault."

Yugi looked up, and up and over Mahaad's head to meet Yami's eyes. Yami quirked a grin, lifted an eyebrow, and eloquently shrugged a 'what can you do?' shoulder at him.

"But, Mahaad..." Yugi almost flinched as Mahaad flung a challenging glare at him. Plushie though it might be, it was still the displeased expression of the Dark Magician - something that could even give a Blue-Eyes White Dragon pause. "You said it yourself - there's not a stitch in me. I'm not about to show you, but I can feel it, if that makes any sense. So, explain to me why that is, and what it means." Again, over Mahaad's head, Yami grinned, and nodded. Yugi knew that even though he might be plushie, and Yami not, their hearts and minds were still connected through their link with the Millennium Puzzle. It would take far more than Mana's misuse of magic to disturb that connection.

"Mana's magic transformed me, and through me, the Magic Box and everyone in it, but I transformed you," Mahaad said, and stopped, as if that were the end of it.

"So, the reason I don't have stitches..." Yugi began.

"And appears as though he were merely born to a race of people who just happened to be plushie instead of flesh and blood..." Yami continued.

"Instead of looking like I'm just an animated plush toy that was hand-crafted by a person is...?" Yugi finished, leaving the question hanging in the air.

"Is the effect of my skill and talent with magic. Yes." Mahaad smiled shyly and ducked his head. "And yes, it does help me to calm down and see the humor of the situation a little better. Is that what you were after, my masters?"

"Mahaad, you really don't have to worry about your dignity or your magic. We respect you; everyone in the Magic Box respects you; everyone knows this is Mana's fault and no one blames you that she messed up her spell and caused this in the first place. I certainly haven't lost any respect for you, and I'm just so glad that you came to us for help when this whole thing happened. We can get everything back to normal, I know we can; because nothing can stand against us, well me and Yami for sure, but I think you are most definitely part of it whenever the 'heart of the cards' is in play because I respect you so much..."

Yami picked up his currently tiny partner and placed a finger across his lips to stop the chattering flow of words. "He might be plushie, but he's still Yugi. You can tell by his babbling," Yami noted laconically.

"It is best if we undo this quickly. In the past, one of the cornerstones of my magic is that nothing would ever harm you here in the Magic Box, but I don't know how strong that intent is now that I am rendered into a plushie state. We should make haste so that Yugi is returned to normal as soon as possible. I can think of at least one who does not respect me to the extent that Yugi claims."

Yami shook his head wondering what Mahaad was talking about.

"The Blue-Eyes White Dragon. Normally, only select monsters of Joey's deck are able to come here on their own - all others must be formally admitted. But, the Blue-Eyes White Dragon is now plushie, even as I am - I'm not sure how that affects my wards. He might be able to get past them."

"He seemed entranced with Seto, so I don't think he'd bother you," Yugi offered.

Mahaad crossed his arms around himself and reached up to grasp his own shoulders. "When he attacked me, this plush toy form betrayed me. I've been blasted by the various attacks of the Blue-Eyes White Dragon, indeed the highest attack from the Ultimate Blue-Eyes White Dragon, before, but it never hurt me as that last attack did. My magic might be in some disarray, but there was something more, something deeper in that attack. In less than an instant, the stuffing within me now super-heated to beyond a solid state, and blasted me apart from within. It was like he wanted to turn me inside out. That is the sense I got from the dragon before my consciousness dissipated. That there is a desire to unmake all the way to the core of being."

"Don't fret," Yami advised. "Even if a Blue-Eyes White Dragon got lost and wound up in the Magic Box, he'd have to get by all the monsters of our deck," Yami lifted a hand to stop Mahaad's protest. "Then past you, and then past me, to get to Yugi. It's not going to happen. And, even though Kaiba doesn't subscribe to it, the heart of the cards is part of his deck, too. The dragons wouldn't do anything that Kaiba didn't want them to - and, don't breathe a word of this to him either one of you," Yami interrupted himself to glare at both the plushies staring adorably up at him. "even I know that he doesn't want to hurt Yugi. Beat him in a duel, yes, but really hurt him, no. So, even if a Blue-Eyes White Dragon got in here, and got past all of us, the most he'd do is glare dismissively at Yugi and spout off some sarcastic quip - if the Blue-Eyes White Dragons can even talk. If not, he'd roar dismissively and then stalk off to tell his master that he accomplished his mission. Though what Kaiba would hope to gain from that is beyond me."

Yugi giggled. To everyone's surprise, so did Mahaad.

An hour later there was no merriment. Yugi had tried, and failed, several times to return to his natural, non-plushie state.

"I don't understand!" Yugi wailed for what felt like the hundredth time. Yami had stopped counting. "This is a place of pure spirit, and we are pure spirits while we are here, so why can't I manage to return to my normal self? It's not like I - well, my body - was actually turned into a plush toy! This doesn't make any sense!"

"Spirit magic, aibou," Yami said. "It's one of the strongest magics there is. If you were to return to the normal world..."

"What? What would happen?" Yugi's plushie eyes managed to become even wider.

Yami spread his hands in a gesture meant to calm. "You'd be you. You wouldn't be plushie. But, your spirit is convinced you are plushie, and so that's how you would perceive yourself. It could be - embarrassing for you if you acted like you were a plush toy, while in the physical world."

"Wouldn't I just return to normal?" Yugi asked in a small voice. "Then I could return here and help..." He stopped as Yami shook his head.

"Oh, Yugi. No. Magic is in force here. It's not just some hypnotist's trick making you believe you are plushie - something that could be undone with a quick dose of reality. All the magic that made this work in the first place, your identification with Mahaad, his plushie state, the Millennium Puzzle... True magic wrought this and it is all still in play. There's no shortcut we can use. We just have to find a way through."

"Is-is there a way?" Yugi asked in a tiny voice.

"There is. If not, we will make one." Yami struck one of his most confident, arrogant poses. "Mahaad is researching it as we speak. Plush toy or not, he is not going to let anything happen to you. If worse comes to worse, I am certain you would revert to your normal state once Mahaad disappea..." Yami petered out.

Yugi shook his head. "That is not an option! I'm not going to sit around moping and feeling sorry for myself if that means that we end up losing all our friends!"

"It is good to hear you say that, Master Yugi." Mahaad walked toward them as he spoke. He shook his head in bemusement. "There is a complication. One that we didn't realize was in place." He shook his head again. "I am not sure how to get around it."

"Complication?" Yugi asked. "What is it?"

Mahaad shook his head a third time. "I don't want to..."

Yami narrowed his eyes at his friend turned duel monster turned plushie. It was rare for Mahaad to be so reluctant about anything. The last time Yami could recall Mahaad trying so hard to get around telling him something... The pieces snapped into place for him. He found himself shaking his head, too.

"Oh, no...!"

Even the misery on Mahaad's plushie face was adorable, only to be outdone by the confusion still reigning on Yugi's face. "What is going on? Someone better tell me, or...!"

"Kaiba," Yami said.

"Seto," Mahaad said at the same time. "His signature duel monster has also been turned into a plushie. Not only does his deck rival us in power..."

"More like match if not exceed," Yami interrupted.

"His identification with the Blue-Eyes White Dragons is as strong as your identification with me. And, in the past, he bore a Millennium Item. He may never admit it, but there is spirit sorcery dwelling in his soul from his past life," Mahaad explained.

"Meaning...?"

"Kaiba's deck has been infected, too. You don't have any deep connections with the monsters of Kaiba's deck, and you just aren't strong enough to change both decks without one. I doubt anyone is. We're going to need Kaiba's help to undo this."

Yugi sat down abruptly at that. "I'm not telling him," he stated flatly.

"Aibou! I'm certainly not...!"

"He looks down on me enough when I'm my normal height! I couldn't bear it if he were to see me this way - he'd laugh and..." Yugi stopped and shook his head, abject horror twisting even his cute plushie features.

"Okay. I'll tell him."

"And ask him for help," Yugi added. "In a nice way, Yami. We need him!"

"I knew I should have been the one turned plushie," Yami muttered under his breath.

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Author's note

Next chapter teaser – Enter the Dragon(boy)