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Yu-Gi-Oh! Season 6: Magician's Templar
Episode 01 - The Real-Life Magician, Part 1
In a dark chamber a cloaked man stepped toward a pedestal caught in a sunbeam. On its surface sat the Millennium Spellbook, rippling with red energy. He stepped over a blood-red magician's circle, it matched the eerie candles along the walls. He came to a stop before the ancient tome and took a deep breath...
"Finally... thanks to the brave sacrifice of the Pharaoh, the way is clear. Zorc, the dark one. Leviathan of the Orichalcos. These threats were defeated and so the Pharoah's spirit returned to his resting place. Atem..."
An eerie breeze flickered the torches and still air of the hidden space.
"Now I of the Magician's Templar may pave the way to power. Our magic is limited for the moment... but here we are in the lost island of Bermuda. All the information I need is here in the Millennium Spellbook. We have also transmuted power to these three cards of legend..."
He hovered his hand over the tome before turning around. At three other points along the circle were smaller pedestals, each holding a Duel Monsters card. They were Black Luster Soldier - Envoy of the Beginning, Dark Magician of Chaos, and Chaos Emperor Dragon - Envoy of the End.
"...everything has been going according to plan. But as a safeguard and way to expedite the process, I want you to steal the three Egyptian God cards from Yugi Muto. Do you understand?"
Hidden at the edge of the room was another cloaked man. An older fellow with a mischievous voice. He bowed.
"Yes, High Leader. I will take a plane to Domino City at once."
o0O0o
Morning sunlight shone through thin curtains into a long and spacious mess of a bedroom. There was an assortment of toys cluttered in shelves, drawers and in stacks against the wall. Some were prototypes while others came from a nostalgic hoarding problem. Puzzles, board games and models littered about. Clothes were strewn along with an assortment of Chinese take-out boxes. Under the blankets peeked spiky triangles of hair the colour black, purple and yellow. The sleeper stirred comfortably while his radio alarm kept up the announcements, having been long ignored.
"...a stunning victory conclusion. Yet another tournament win for Joseph Wheeler, he's been making quite a name for himself in the duel circuits. You know who we haven't heard from in a while? The holder of the King of Games title, Yugi Muto."
"That's true, Tom. Yugi won that title while he was still in school, but now he's graduated of course, and oh how the times have changed."
"Mm-hm. You said it, Stew. It could be true that he doesn't publicly duel so he won't lose his title... but he's also real busy running his new business partnership, Pyramid Games. His fame helped with the initial success of the business, but now he owns about five stores all over Domino City. A growing franchise, not bad for a nineteen year-old entrepreneur."
"Not bad... for a nineteen year-old entrepreneur of a game business..." Yugi repeated sleepily. "He probably has to do things like... annoying shareholder meetings. Like..." His eyes snapped open and he threw himself upright, scattering plush toys. "Wait a second, that's me! I'm Yugi Muto and I'm going to be late for an important shareholder meeting!"
There was a knock on the door. "Yugi, you better be ready. Come on, pal."
"Uh, Duke! Just give me a second here..." Yugi struggled to unwind his limbs from the blankets.
The door opened and in walked Duke Devlin, dressed in a black-red outfit somewhat toned down for the shareholder meeting. He still had his trademark dice earring and those emerald-cut eyes gave a cold examination. Yugi wagged his hands to shield himself before giving up and collapsing backwards.
Duke sighed "man, you're still such a kid Yugi. Imagine if our shareholders could see the state of your bedroom."
"It's a little messy, yeah..."
"It's a lot messy, but I didn't mean that. The posters and fluffy toys and lego pieces... you really are a kid at heart, Yugi. But you're also Domino City's biggest up-and-coming young entrepreneur right now. When I suggested we start our own business partnership together, I wasn't expecting this." he indicated to all the mess.
Yugi finally freed himself; he was wearing mint pajamas. The short boy went to his wardrobe to pick out clothes.
"Well Duke... I do still feel like a kid." he opened the doors and rifled through shirts. "I'm still not used to living out of home, having no rules or curfews. I'm my own man now and with the growing success of our business I feel way over my head than ever before. I don't know how Kaiba does it. It's like..." he stretched on his toes to reach. "We've saved the world and now the world is ours..." Suddenly a stack of boxes came loose and toppled onto the boy as he cried out, getting buried beneath them.
Duke pinched the bridge of his nose.
"...a little help here?" Came Yugi's muffled voice.
"The King of Games." Duke shook his head. "Just be ready in five. We gotta go." Duke turned and shut the door behind him.
When ready Yugi and Duke took a taxi across the city. They had boxes, folders and charts ready for the presentation. After pulling over at the venue they paid the driver and got out on the sidewalk. Suited employees waved them over.
"Mr Muto, Mr Devlin. Good to see you," a man with a clipboard said. "Most of the representatives are already inside."
"Sorry we're late, someone had trouble getting out of bed this morning." Duke stated, making Yugi blush. "You know we're not just business partners, we're room-mates too. You should really..." Duke's attention was caught by the list. "Hey, that's a lot of people today."
"Yes, Sir. We have representatives from Industrial Illusions, Yotsuba Group, Shroeder Corp..."
"Pegasus..." Yugi blinked. "And Zigfried."
"But most importantly-" the doorman got interrupted.
"Hello, Yugi." Standing beside them was a teenager they hadn't looked at properly. He stood grinning, waiting for them to recognize him.
"Mokuba!" Yugi realised. "Is that you? You've really grown!"
"Hey yeah, you were that snot-nosed little kid always following Kaiba around."
"Watch it, Duke!" the teen snapped before regaining composure. "My brother has been keeping an eye on your success, Yugi. It seems like the whole word has. Normally we get business employees to do all the boring meetings, but it's been so long that I wanted to come in person and see all your game designs for myself."
"I never thought I'd end up working with Kaiba Corp." Yugi admitted.
"We're not going to buy out all the shares or cause trouble. I guess it was just my brother's way of keeping track of his old rival." Mokuba said. Yugi nodded back with heartfelt eyes, understanding the sentiment behind it. They'd all been through a lot together. "Say Yugi, I know Joey's making a big name for himself in all the card tournaments. But what ever happened to Téa and Tristan?"
"Well Téa wanted to pursue her dream of becoming a professional dancer, so she left for New York. Tristan's helping with the family business and getting an apprenticeship out of it. It's harder to stay in touch now that school's over and we have our own lives, but we reach out when we can."
"All these companies are seriously loaded." Duke spoke up, flicking through the list. "Better bring your A-game to this presentation, Yugi."
"I can do that. Just make sure you brought the financial statements."
"I thought that was your job?"
"Tell me you're kidding. Please tell me you're kidding."
The doorman sighed "I can get them printed off here. Just please make your way in, you two. We shouldn't keep the representatives waiting."
"Thank you, Sebastian." Yugi said. He and Duke nodded at each other before running up the steps into the building.
"Heh," Mokuba scratched his nose before walking after them.
Twenty minutes later Yugi was in a boardroom full of suited businessmen. Duke had been saying 'a few words' to thank everyone and get introductions out of the way. Yugi stood aside holding a box of prototypes under his arm. The powerpoint was showing slides of his new game design. Mokuba stood out from where he sat with the other professional adults, he shot Yugi a smirk to boost his confidence.
"...without further ado, I'll have the King of Games present it to you. Take it away, Yugi." Duke swept his arms as he stepped aside.
Yugi went into action, setting his box at the end of the long table and trying not to look flustered. He stepped back.
"Uh, hi. I'm Yugi Muto." he cleared his throat. "You probably already know who I am. I'm here to show off my latest project-" something caught his eye.
One of the men had a small medallion around his neck. It looked like a magician's circle. It seemed out of place, the grey-haired man watched Yugi from among the others with twinkling eyes. Yugi snapped out of it and continued his pitch.
At the end of the presentation Duke was thanking everyone as they filed out the room.
"You did amazing, Yugi." Mokuba appeared beside him. "You've got Kaiba Corp's support for sure. I can't wait to see how this new game of yours goes when we start marketing!"
"Thanks, Mokuba." Yugi smiled then got distracted by the medallion-wearing man as he shot Yugi a look on his way out. "Excuse me..."
Yugi had to hurry down the halls to catch him in the lobby.
"Wait!" Yugi called and the man stopped to turn around.
"Ah, Mr Muto. How can I help you?" Something about him was strange. Hypnotic, even.
"That necklace... it looks old. But I've seen that symbol before, on my Dark Magician card. What is it?"
"It's a magician's circle, of course. And yes, this heirloom is quite old. It goes back to ancient times, from a cult of sorcerers that even predates the history of Egypt. But you'd know all about that, wouldn't you Mr Muto?"
"Who are you?"
"I am Fulk. If you want to know more, come find me here." He reached into his pocket and pulled out a card with an address. "Tonight at eight o'clock. Bring your deck and come alone, tell no one." After handing Yugi the card he continued on his way out the building.
Yugi's determination made him scrunch the card. Is Fulk a real-life magician? In his mind Yugi flashed back to the time he visited ancient Egypt through the Pharaoh's memories. He remembered Mahad and Mana, two people who were capable of doing magic without a Millennium Item. He stared forward determinedly. Two years ago he'd set Atem free and put all the mystic stuff behind him. Now he wanted answers.
Back home in the multi-level game store, Yugi was in his bedroom on the third level. He'd attempted some cleaning before taking out his deck, sitting on his bed and staring at it. He should tell Duke about the suspicious shareholder Fulk, but for some reason he didn't want to. Yugi stood and left his room. The second and third levels had banisters overlooking the first where giant Duel Monsters like Blue-Eyes and Black Luster Soldier stood. They almost reached the ceiling, winding tracks spiralling around them with toy trains zipping up and down. There were huge pyramids and puzzles, promotions for their game designs. Now it was late, the shop was closed and empty. Eerie, even. Yugi found his resolve and turned to leave.
He caught a taxi and gave the address, fifteen minutes later Yugi was dropped off in front of a warehouse. It was dark and cold. Staring at the suspicious building he realised it was madness to come here without telling anyone. Too late to back out now. Yugi mustered his courage, closing the taxi door and walking to the entrance. A huge sliding door was open, Yugi stepped in and tried peering through the shadows.
"Hello? Fulk?"
Echoing laughter made Yugi halt.
"You're early. Well done, little Yugi. Though I suppose you're not so little anymore..."
"Fulk! Where are you?" Just then the lights flicked on, temporarily blinding him.
Yugi blinked, adjusting his vision to emptiness - just a concrete floor with a high ceiling and overhead lights. There stood Fulk with arms crossed, he was wearing dark robes and one of Kaiba's new version duel disks. Yugi was holding his under his arm. He quickly shoved his arm through and it lit up.
"Oh good, you already have one. That makes this easier." Fulk spoke, his medallion shining under the lights.
"Who are you and what do you want?" Yugi demanded.
"Why I already told you." The man snickered. "I'm a member of the Magician's Templar. You saw my necklace, and not only that but you came here to meet me all by yourself. Now why would you agree to something so foolish?"
"Because I want answers!" Yugi demanded.
"No. Because I told you to." The man said seriously. Something about him had been hypnotic after the shareholder meeting. His appearance, voice and suggestions. Now he seemed downright sinister as he began to ripple with red energy. "For you see, Yugi Muto, I am a magician. As for what I want... it's the three Egyptian god cards in your deck!"
"I won't let you! It's my job to keep these cards safe from the likes of dangerous people like you! I don't know how what you're doing is possible... but I'm going to defeat you in a duel and find out!" His duel disk whirred, projecting a holographic surface.
Fulk's disk shone red in comparison to Yugi's blue. Their life point counters flashed, beeping up to 8000 points each.
"Then it's time to duel!" Fulk announced. "And I'll start by activating the magic card Final Countdown!" Suddenly their surroundings became purple and cloudy, a ring of flames spawned to life around them, separating into twenty. "It costs me 2000 life points. Final Countdown is a normal magic card so it goes to the graveyard after activation. This means its effect cannot be countered. As for what it does... if this game is still going after twenty turns pass I'll be the automatic victor of the duel."
"Twenty turns... most duels don't go for half that long." Yugi murmured.
"I set one monster face-down and end my turn." Fulk's life reduced to 6000. One of the surrounding fires extinguished and he grinned.
"It's already in the graveyard so I really can't counter it... but I will defeat you before that timer runs out! I summon Silver Gadget!" A hologram of Yugi's machine flashed to life with 1500 attack. "Thanks to its special ability I can also summon Gold Gadget!" A similar machine appeared on 1700.
Yugi pointed "Silver Gadget attack his face-down monster!"
"It's Bubonic Vermin!" Fulk announced. A mechanical fist punched through the floating card, revealing a quivering hamster that shrieked before shattering into triangles. "It lets me summon another from my deck in its place." A second hamster reappeared in defense mode, sitting atop a projection of its card.
"Alright... Gold Gadget attack!" Yugi's other monster punched the critter and it exploded. Yet another Bubonic Vermin appeared on the field in its place.
"We're allowed a total of three copies of cards in our deck, therefore I have three Vermin and my life points are safe for this turn." Fulk explained.
"I set one card face-down and end." Yugi declared. Another ball of fire extinguished.
I have to find out what exactly is at stake in this duel. Yugi thought to himself worriedly. Could it be that another force of evil has come to put the world in danger... again!?
AN: Yes it could. Please review.