I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh!, nor do I own most of the characters in this project.

Disclaimer: No slash, no hentai. It's a project involving dueling. If you don't like it, that's entirely your problem. I just don't see the appeal in having Kaiba nail Yugi, or whatever the fad is right now.

Sorry the last chapter is so late. Please don't hold it against me, and stay tuned for Yu-Gi-Oh! Legacy: Battle City, coming sometime relatively soon to a computer near you!

Chapter 8

"Are you sure about this, Yugi? I mean, you already won the tournament, and Pegasus is the guy that created the game. It was tough enough for you to beat Kaiba, and Pegasus-"

"I'm sure, Tea. Something in me has to do this."

"Yeah, well, don't you go losin' on us, man."

"What do you care? You rip on Yugi all the time, and you treat me and Tea like crap too."

"Little guy just beat the world champion. You gotta respect skills like that."

"Pff. Whatever, just don't start thinking we're buddies all of a sudden."

Yugi grinned a little, said his final goodbyes and left the upper level. He saw Kaiba as he was headed down the stairs. Kaiba didn't say anything but simply nodded as he headed the other way. Yugi stepped down to the platform from which he would be dueling. He was shortly joined by Pegasus, who looked positively delighted to be playing. Tea noticed this and commented to the others, who responded.

"Maybe he's really crazy. You hear these rumors all the time, and who's to say they're not true?"

"Dude's probably just happy to play. Runnin' a company and all, you can't have too much time for games, even if you make 'em, right?"

"Wrong on both counts. He's happy because he knows he's going to win."

Joey, Nikita and Tea all turned to Kaiba. He was still looking out over the duel field, as though unaware he'd just pronounced Yugi's gaming demise.

"What do you mean, he knows he's going to win? It still comes down to luck of the dr-"

"Had you ever even heard of Toon World before this tournament? Because even I hadn't. If I had to guess, I'd say the card didn't pass playtesting for whatever reason, and Pegasus just couldn't let it go to waste. The fact that Yugi's only seen the card once, and only for one turn at that, is the first reason."

"There's more than one?"

"The second reason is this: Pegasus has been watching the finals like a hawk. His duel fields are all linked to a central server, which he probably tore through looking for information on all of us when we reached the castle. He knows every card Yugi's played this entire tournament."

"That . . . that's not fair! It's cheating!"

"That's not the biggest reason. The third is simply this: Pegasus has the Millennium Eye, a powerful artifact that lets him read other people's minds. He'll know what Yugi's playing before even Yugi does."

"So how's Yugi supposed to beat him?"

"He's not. That's why Pegasus offered the concept of the winner wagering his prize on a duel with him. He hates losing more than anything, and this way he doesn't have to. There might be a way, but it relies on Yugi figuring out the Millennium Puzzle early enough in the game for it to matter. But that's something even I couldn't do, and I've been trying for years."

"The little guy can do it. And if he can't, then we'll just have to show that Pegasus's nothing more'n a fraud."

"Good luck with that. I can't think of how you can prove the Eye is little more than a piece of jewelry. Everyone who sees it thinks my Millennium Rod is just some antiquity I like to carry around. No, Yugi has to trip Pegasus up, and fast, if he wants to do anything to him."

Tea couldn't believe what she was hearing. Yugi had worked so hard to get this far, and now he didn't have a chance? She thought she was going to cry. Joey looked furious, and Nikita actually had words with Kaiba.

"How can you say Yugi doesn't have a chance? You're just mad he beat you, you coldhearted bastard! Take it back!"

"I never said Yugi didn't have a chance. I just said it would be extremely difficult. And I'm actually kind of happy he won, to be honest. It was the last test he needed to pass, in my opinion, for him to unlock his true potential as a duelist. Now he just has to show that it wasn't a fluke."

Kaiba nodded at Yugi, who had looked up for one last glance at his friends before his duel. He slowly shuffled his deck, watching as Pegasus did the same. When the decks were taken across the arena for cutting, Yugi made sure Pegasus's deck was sufficiently randomized. Pegasus, on the other hand, simply tapped the top of Yugi's deck, indicating that he didn't want to mess with it. Yugi was a little confused by this, but didn't bring it up; Pegasus had his reasons, whatever they were. His deck was returned to him, and he almost drew his hand before Pegasus spoke.

"Just remember Yugi-boy, if you win, you get the prize money plus a single favor, which can be anything you want. But if I win, you get nothing but a ride home and a story to tell your friends. Sound fair?"

Yugi nodded, trying to stay in the zone as much as possible. Pegasus smiled.

"Well then, let's get this party started! I'll take the first turn, summoning my Happy Lover in Defense Mode, and playing one card face-down for good measure. Your turn!"

Yugi drew and found himself staring down his Curse of Dragon. He grinned, thinking that this might be a quick duel as long as Toon World didn't come into play. Searching the other cards in his hand, he found Monster Recovery. It wouldn't do him any good right now, but would do as a bluff.

"I play a card face-down, and summon my mighty Curse of Dragon in Attack Mode! Now-"

"Let's be honest, Yugi. I'm not fooled by your Monster Recovery card. You don't have many traps in your deck to begin with, and really, why would you need one this early in the game anyway? Still, more power to you for trying."

Yugi was stunned. How had Pegasus known his card? Had he accidentally let it show as he was playing it? He turned around, scanning the upper levels for any kind of hidden cameras. Pegasus actually laughed as Yugi was frantically searching.

"No cameras, Yugi-boy. No mistakes, either. My Millennium Eye just gives me a little bit of insight as to the inner workings of your mind. Fascinating place that is, if I do say so myself. So full of thoughts I've stopped thinking, myself. Oh, to be young again! But I'm going on, aren't I? You still have an attack to make, don't you?"

"Ye-yeah, sure. Curse of Dragon, wipe his monster off the field!"

Yugi's wormlike dragon unleashed a gout of fire, burning Pegasus' fairy to ash. Yugi gestured to Pegasus to take his turn, still too confused by Pegasus' knowledge of his plays. What did he do? What did I do? How did he know what my card was? Does he know-

"Oh Yugi-boy! Are you paying attention? I said, I attack your Curse of Dragon with my Bickuribox!"

An ugly jack-in-the-box popped out of the field, slicing Yugi's dragon neatly in half with its scythe. (Yugi: 1700; Pegasus: 2000) Yugi drew his card and saw Silver Fang, the white wolf monster he had used to great effect against Tea in the tournament he'd won to qualify for Duelist Kingdom. He scanned his hand and found he had the other card, the one that combed with the otherwise weak Silver Fang to make it an almost unstoppable force. He decided to use this combo while he still could.

"I summon Silver Fang and combo him with the Full Moon spell card, doubling his power while the moon is in the sky!"

"Hmmm. I trigger Sun Shower. The sunlight from my card negates your Full Moon spell, rendering your wolf just a sad little puppy dog again. Anything else?"

Yugi silently switched Silver Fang to defense mode. This was ridiculous, that Pegasus could outplay him so easily. How was he doing it? He knew already that there weren't any cameras, but he couldn't think of any other way for Pegasus to know his plays like this. Did he know-?

"The contents of your hand? Of course I do. Horn Imp, Horn of the Unicorn and The Eye of Truth, which I'm amazed you haven't played yet. It might help you if you can see my hand just like I know yours, although letting me gain more Life Points is probably a bad idea at this point. Your call."

"Cheater! Play fair!"

"Yeah, what she said!"

Pegasus turned his cycloptic glare to Nikita and Joey, who had both jumped up at Pegasus' latest mind trick. While he was berating them, Yugi became aware of another presence in his head. He knew this well; whatever it was, it had helped calm him during some of his more intense duels of the tournament. To his surprise, it seemed to be talking to him, and it was saying-

"So, my turn, is it? Well, I think it's time to bring out my ultimate weapon. I play the spell Toon World, and use its magic to summon my ultimate toon monster, the Blue-Eyes Toon Dragon! Isn't it adorable, Kaiba-boy?"

Pegasus had directed this last fragment to the upper level, where Kaiba had shot up in fury at the sight of his dragon warped to Pegasus' twisted designs. Pegasus got a laugh out of it, and another when his dragon wiped Yugi's wolf off the field. He was a little surprised to see Yugi muttering to himself, but thought nothing of it; the little boy was probably praying or something.

Yugi was not praying, but instead talking silently to the voice in his head. Still talking, he drew. Across the field, Pegasus saw Yugi stand up a little straighter before he played a card.

"I play the spell Card Destruction! Now both players discard their hands and draw a new one equal to the number of cards they discarded. I then play a monster face-down and play a card face-down. Your turn."

Pegasus grinned; Yugi had no secrets from him as long as he had the Millennium Eye on his side. He reached into Yugi's mind, searching for the cards he had played and what he had in his hand and found . . . nothing. He looked over and saw the lone card from Yugi's hand sitting face-down next to his fleshy hand. He tried again, but still came up dry.

"What . . . how are you-?"

"How am I what?"

Pegasus was furious, but he couldn't really do anything without blowing his secret about the Millennium Eye, and at that point it could be said he was cheating, at which point he would automatically lose. And he did so hate to lose. Still, what happened if Yugi had a monster or trap he hadn't seen yet? If he walked into an obvious trap like that, he'd look like a fool.

"Hmmm . . . I summon my Toon Skull in Attack Mode and end my turn."

All watched as Yugi drew his card. Everyone up top noticed his sudden change in stature and sheer aura that occurred right before he drew. Tea saw Kaiba smile a little and decided to ask him what was so funny.

"He did it. I tried to figure out how the Millennium Puzzle worked for years, and he's done it in a few weeks. It's just funny in a self-depreciating way, if you think about it."

Tea didn't see the humor, but nodded like she had. Down below, confident Yugi grabbed one of his face-down cards, turning it over.

"It looks like I'm going to get to use this card after all. I trigger my Monster Recovery spell card, returning my face-down monster and my hand to my deck. And now my spell lets me draw two new cards from my deck!"

Pegasus was infuriated by Yugi's sheer hubris. How could he expect to win? How was he beating Pegasus' mind probes? What had turned him around from nervous and twitchy to skillful and arrogant? He was so distracted by his frustration that he almost didn't notice Yugi playing a monster.

"I'm sorry, Yugi-boy, could you repeat that?"

"I said, I summon the real Blue-Eyes White Dragon, and order him to attack your Toon Skull! Blue-Eyes, White Lightning!"

Pegasus' monster, like all good cartoon characters, refused to die, but he still took the damage. (Yugi: 1700; Pegasus: 1500) Pegasus grinned. Yugi had just set himself up to lose. His Toon dragon could kill Yugi's Blue-Eyes without him taking any damage, at which point he could send his Toon Skull in for the kill. It lacked the dramatic flair he'd planned for earlier, but he couldn't have Yugi showing him up. He glanced at his hand and set a card face-down, just in case. In case what, he didn't know, but it never hurt to have insurance.

"Now, my Blue-Eyes Toon Dragon attacks your monster. Blue-Eyes Toon Dragon, Toon Lightning, go!"

The lightning bolt looked dead on target with Yugi's dragon when, astonishingly, a hat dropped down over the dragon. It spread out into a set of four. When Pegasus' attack hit the hat it had been aimed at, nothing was destroyed. Pegasus glared at Yugi, who had a slight grin on his face.

"Sorry, but my Magical Hats card makes you guess where my dragon lies. And I warn you, only your dragon has the attack points to destroy mine. Just something to think about."

Pegasus was absolutely furious. By the time he dug into Yugi's brain, the information on which hat was hiding his monster had vanished. How is he . . . that thing on his neck! It's a Millennium Item! Pegasus didn't know how he had missed that before. A few Millennium Items had spirits hidden within them; whether they were beneficial or harmful depended on the temperament of the wielder, or so he'd heard. Obviously Yugi's wanted to help. How to turn that fact against this particular spirit was a mystery, but Pegasus needed to find out before he lost this game. Mulling it over, he gestured to Yugi to take his turn. Yugi drew and grinned.

"I hide a face-down card under one of my hats and end my turn."

Pegasus grew a wicked smile. He now knew exactly what hat Yugi had hidden his monster under. The game was his. He drew his card, not really caring what he drew.

"You little fool, you've given it all away. Blue-Eyes Toon Dragon, attack his monster under the hat on the left!"

Yugi smirked a little.

"You guess wrong. Trigger face-down card, Mirror Force!"

The hat lifted, revealing nothing but a silvery sheen in midair. His dragon's attack bounced off of it, reflecting back onto his monsters. (Yugi: 1700; Pegasus: 300) Pegasus was flabbergasted. No one knew that his Toon monsters were vulnerable to their own attacks but him, right? But somehow Yugi had figured it out, and now Pegasus had no monsters to defend himself with. He did have a monster in his hand, which might prove useful. He played it face-down and called it a turn.

Yugi felt his mind shift, and in an instant the voice in his head was in control. It held out a hand over the field, gesturing importantly.

"I think it's time to show you what you missed. I dispel my Magical Hats, revealing my dragon! Now I play Pot of Greed, letting me draw two cards!" He grinned when he saw what he had drawn. "This gets better and better. First, I play my De-Spell card, sending your Toon World to the Graveyard. Then I summon Gaia the Fierce Knight, and order it to attack your face-down monster!"

Pegasus was ecstatic. Yugi had walked right into his trap without even knowing it. Come to think of it, he had the perfect idea for how to deal with Yugi's little mind shuffle trick, but first things first . . .

"My Dark-Eyes Illusionist laughs at your pathetic attack, and so do I! My monster paralyzes your attacking monsters for the turn after it's been flipped face-up! And now I activate my Black Illusion Ritual spell, sacrificing my Illusionist to summon my most powerful monster, Relinquished! No more kid gloves, Yugi-boy, I'm throwing everything into this battle now. Relinquished, absorb his Fierce Knight as your own!"

Pegasus' new monster was covered in a pair of armored plates, which rose at his command to reveal a sucking orifice in its center. Yugi's knight was pulled into that hole; as soon as it hit the hole, the armor plates closed, and Gaia melded out of the armor in front of the monster. Pegasus didn't seem to be done, either.

"I say, Yugi-boy, do you know what would make this game even more fun? No? I see Kaiba hasn't told you about Shadow Games yet. Well, no time like the present to learn, eh? Here in the Shadow Realm," and as he said this, the arena began to darken until the only light seemed to be coming from the two duelists and the spectators, "the games are all too real. Is the pressure too much for you already?"

Yugi had dropped to his knees as soon as the arena had gotten fully dark; his head was pounding from some kind of stress, though he couldn't tell what had caused such stress. Up in the stands, Kaiba had pulled out his Millennium Rod and was gesturing to the others to take hold of it. Nikita, the last to grab on, had almost passed out before she could lay a hand on the Rod; as soon as she touched it, she came fully back into her senses. Kaiba looked furious.

"Monster! He knows Yugi hasn't had time to get used to Shadow Games. Is he trying to kill him?"

"What do you mean?"

"In a Shadow Game, everything is real. The monsters, the magic, even the damage. It takes an exceptionally strong will to survive a Shadow Game, something Yugi hasn't had the time to develop yet. The spirit in the Puzzle could take care of it, but that means Pegasus can read his mind again. It's not good."

Down below, Pegasus was gloating as Yugi stumbled to his feet. He was so busy laughing that he didn't notice Yugi playing the last card in his hand face-down. Before he could fully black out, Yugi slipped back behind the presence in his head, letting it take the brunt of the Shadow Realms' attack. Now that it was in charge, the spirit looked very angry.

"You cheat. How can you expect the boy to compete with you if you keep changing the rules on him like this? You should be-"

"Oh, please, like you wouldn't do the same thing in my position. I just hate to lose so, and this provides the perfect chance to not do so. I mean, who's going to believe this kind of story, anyway? Now, are you going to make your move or not?"

"Fine. I attack your abomination with my Blue-Eyes White Dragon!"

"Are you serious?" Pegasus chuckled as Yugi's attack impacted the knight embedded within Relinquished's armor plates. "Maybe you should have done your homework first. When Relinquished is protected by a monster, you take the damage that I would normally take! Isn't that great?"

It was not great. Yugi really didn't need to take any more damage in this duel, but Pegasus' insidious monster was determined to mess with him. (Yugi: 1000; Pegasus: 300) Pegasus looked smug as he drew his card, and he had every reason to be; Yugi had nothing to stop him from taking the Blue-Eyes and attacking him for the win. He drew, laying down his hand immediately afterwards. He had no need for a backup plan, not when he had victory within his grasp like this.

"Well Yugi-boy, it looks like this game is over. Relinquished, absorb his monster and end this, now!"

Yugi slumped visibly. At first Pegasus thought he was resigning himself to defeat, but then he realized that Yugi had switched again. Why had he done that? Why couldn't he just lie down and die already? When Yugi reached down to his field, Pegasus realized that he had made a grave error, one that he could not possibly correct now.

"I activate the Spellbinding Circle trap card I set earlier, while you were busy lording your superiority over me! While your monster doesn't have any attack points to reduce, my circle prevents it from raising its armor, keeping you from stealing my monster! You'd better do something now, because you're not going to last through my next turn otherwise! Nothing? Oh well, I guess my Blue-Eyes is going to have to attack you for the win. Blue-Eyes White Dragon, White Lightning to end this nightmare!"

As his dragon's attack arced towards Pegasus' imprisoned monster, Yugi watched the darkness melt away; by the time it hit, he was back in the real world, able to stand up fully as the pressure of keeping his cards in play vanished. Pegasus watched in horror as his monster shattered and his Life Points dropped to nothing. (Yugi: 1000; Pegasus: 0) Yugi had to grab the sides of his duel platform to keep himself steady, especially when Joey, Tea and Nikita rushed down to congratulate him; Tea and Nikita sandwiched him with a double hug, while Joey slapped him hard on the back after the girls had let him go. Even Kaiba had come down, though he didn't get quite as outwardly enthusiastic as the others. Before either of them could say anything to each other, Pegasus walked over, looking distinctly put-out. He held his hand out to Yugi, who shook it reluctantly.

"Well, like I promised, any one thing you want. What'll it be then: my deck, my company, my-"

"I want to know everything you can tell me about Millennium Items. That's all."

Pegasus looked a little surprised, but managed a smile. At least I won't be losing anything on this. Just sharing a little knowledge. He said "Follow me", gesturing for Yugi to follow him. They walked out of the arena together, heading deeper into the castle, while everyone else stayed behind.

"That's five times in a row. Now will you admit that you would never have beaten me if I had been trying?"

"All right already, ya made your point, okay? Can we lay off for a bit?"

"Sure, I guess you've had enou-Yugi's back!"

Joey and Nikita had been spending the time while Pegasus and Yugi had been talking by having rematch after rematch of their duel in the finals, to the point that Nikita had roundly proven that she could easily beat Joey in a duel. Tea had been watching from the sidelines, while Kaiba had been on the phone with someone at his company, distanced far enough away that no one else could hear him talking. All four of them came over when Yugi came in. Tea was the first to say anything to him.

"How was it? Did you learn anything?"

"A little. I need some time to process all this, though. Maybe on the boat ride home I can-"

"Yugi, the boats are all gone, taking the people that didn't win back. Kaiba did offer us a ride in his private jet, though, so . . . . if you want to take him up on that . . . "

Yugi nodded, and the four of them followed Kaiba to the roof, where his jet had landed. They boarded, though Yugi took a moment to look over the island. Who would have thought, even a month ago, that Yugi would have even gotten here, let alone won the whole tournament? He couldn't wait to tell other people. Those memories would keep him going for quite a while.

He got onto the boat, pulling on the mask and hooded cloak he wore around his followers, even those as important as the one on this boat. He walked below deck to find Alister, Odion and Strings waiting for him. Alister and Odion looked bored, while Strings looked nervous. Clearly, she hadn't forgotten that he was extremely mad at her for losing not only the chance at Mouto's deck, but also some very valuable cards and a potential recruit. He didn't mention it, though, occupied as he was with other affairs.

"We have a potential windfall, my friends. Alister, will you explain?"

"My lovely friend, Miss Lennox, has uncovered some interesting information." Alister said, keeping his face from showing the triumph he felt at uncovering this. "It seems Seto Kaiba is trying to host his own Duel Monsters Tournament in the near future. This might prove an opportune time to reveal ourselves to the public at large. We will of course need everyone we can get, so . . . "

The leader nodded. He looked to the other two, both of whom looked eager, even Strings through her worry. He raised his hands and stood up, proclaiming his will.

"So be it. When Kaiba's tournament comes to be, the Rare Hunters will be there, waiting to strike. Let us go now. I don't want Pegasus to get suspicious."

Alister signaled to the pilot of the boat, who immediately took it away from the dock. The time for hiding was over. It was time for the Rare Hunters to make their presence known. Soon, he thought. Soon, my plan will come to be.