DISCLAIMER: So...when it comes to Yu-Gi-Oh, there's gonna be a few things that, as you'll see, may end up being retconned. For example, Yami Bakura's new master and the fact that, in ancient times, some characters utilized magic rather than settling things with duels. Just thought I'd let you guys know beforehand so that it won't seem quite as jarring. Also, do keep in mind that this is to benefit this specific universe. None of this is cannon to begin with and I feel like we have the freedom to change a few things. Don't worry, though, we won't be regularly doing this, just here and there if we have some good ideas.

Also, I own absolutely none of the properties you will see here. All rights go to their respective owners.

Mystic Wars

Chapter 1

Long ago, a mighty Pharaoh ruled over Egypt. But he was no mere king of a mighty land. For he was was the Sorcerer Supreme. As master of the Mystic Arts, the Pharaoh guarded the world from the forces of evil that crept out of the shadows. The chiefest and greatest of these evils that the Pharaoh did battle with was Mirage. The mother of all evil. Alongside her children, the Spirits of Evil, Mirage cut a swath of death and destruction across the kingdom of Egypt until the Pharaoh managed to seal her away in her home dimension of Morbia with the use of seven mystic items to trap her and banish her brood to another world far from our own.

Sadly, the king's victory was short lived, for the injuries he received during the battle were fatal. With the Pharaoh gone, the title and duties of Sorcerer Supreme passed on from one bearer to the next throughout history. From the sorceress Thrace to the great wizard Merlin, it was the job of these lords and ladies of magic to keep the forces of darkness at bay, as well as those who used magic for their own nefarious ends. But above all else, it was the sworn oath of all who bared the title of Master of the Mystic Arts to safeguard the world from Mirage and her wicked children, for should they ever return, the world would surely be thrown into darkness.

Centuries have past, and the world has been without a Sorcerer Supreme for far too long. The seven items of power that kept Mirage locked away from our world have been scattered across the globe and the evil is rising once again...

"Okay...concentrate," Marik said to himself.

Marik sat up straight before inhaling deeply and exhaling with a long breath. He had been practicing this technique for three days now in the confines of his room and felt like he finally had it down. He steadied himself as he closed his eyes and reached out internally to the unseen mystical energies that surrounded his being. Once he felt the energy connect to him, he held out his hand as he let the power flow like a river before giving physical form to it in the shape of a circular shape. Opening his eyes to see his success, Marik conjured another magical circle in his other hand.

Acting on his success, Marik put the two circles together and formed a new single circle that was the same size as he was. This bigger circle of mystic energy held symbols and runes within it, glowing brightly in a vast array of colors as it rotated counter-clockwise to how the circle was turning. It took Marik three days to get this barrier spell right, and seeing the fruits of his labor complete made him ecstatic to say the least.

Just then, he heard a knock at his door. It then opened to reveal a pair of red clad ninjas, both of whom stepped inside and approached the spellcaster. For the past several months since being freed from his evil self and breaking away from the Rare Hunters, Marik had been trying to find peace within the the ninja clan known as The Foot. More specifically, the clan's New York clan, which had been rebuilt by Karai, the adopted daughter of The Foot's deceased leader, The Shredder. This new incarnation of The Foot was a place meant to heal the mind and body and welcomed any who needed shelter from their past sins and a chance to redeem themselves.

Redemption. That word seemed so foreign to Marik after all the horrors he committed in his mad quest for power, and the subsequent evil he had unleashed when his darker self took control and nearly destroyed what little light he had left in the world, as well as said world in the process.

Shortly after the Pharaoh freed him from his dark side's hold on him, Marik departed out into the world in order to find peace with himself. He did not tell his sister, Ishizu, where he was going, nor did he tell his adoptive brother, Odion, but he did tell them that he would return one day once he felt that he had found the peace he had longed for. However, while he was away, he couldn't help but get word of his elder sister's wedding to that arrogant blowhard of a billionaire, Seto Kaiba. [1] What Ishizu saw in that jackass he'll never know, but she loved him and, from what he understood, Kaiba did care for her, or at least, in his own way. When Marik found his way to the Foot Clan, he was accepted into the ninja clan with open arms and trained to best the demons of his past as well as hone his skills as a spellcaster.

It was a little known fact that the Ishtar family were formidable magic users in the past so that they could better protect the Pharaoh's tomb, but Marik's father had denied his children the chance to learn magic, claiming that they were not worthy of harnessing such raw power. Yet another reason for him to hate his father. Before he joined the Foot, he returned to his childhood home and collected the ancient spellbooks that his father had once hidden away from him and soon studied the ways of magic to his heart's content while at the same time training in the arts of Ninjitisu to balance his mind and body. Karai and her ninjas accepted Marik into their ranks, but the former villain had a tendency to distance himself the clan, not that he thought that he was above them, but more of a fear he may have a relapse and bring harm to them.

"Master Karai wishes to see you," one of the ninja's said.

Marik nodded in acknowledgement before fallowing the two other Clan members, all the while wondering what Karai would want with him.

"Keep your eyes peeled," Wheeljack said to the other team members. "The intruder is close."

Rena Rouge, Herc Armstrong and Sailor Jupiter all nodded as they carefully entered the Tower's engine room. Moments ago, Sheila informed the League members who were on duty at the moment of an unregistered teleportation, meaning that there was an intruder within the Tower. The heroes quickly split into teams and began to search for the unknown threat that had entered their orbital base, but found nothing. That was until Wheeljack and his group detected an unknown life sign in the station's engine room. Fearing what could be done to the base, the four of them instantly headed there in order to keep whoever or whatever was skulking around in there from doing any damage to the base.

The four heroes spread out as the searched every inch of the engine room, but still found nothing, until they heard the sound of whistling in the darkness, and it was getting closer.

"Get ready," the Autobot said to the others.

The four of them readied their weapons for their unknown adversary to make themselves known, but when they did casually step into the light, they were not a foe, but a friend...kind of.

"Janna?!" they said in unison in total disbelief.

Janna was a punk goth girl who was friends with Marco and Star, but she was not a member of the Infinity League due to her lack of skills and her lack of respect for authority. True, Janna was well versed in the occult, but her attitude made her nearly impossible to work with. The teen also could care less about joining the team of heroes, but she did have a tendency to break into the tower every now and again for the fun of it.

"Sheila, cancel the red alert," Wheeljack said to the A.I. "It's just Janna...again."

"S'up, my dudes?" the punk girl greeted casually, as if if she wasn't aware that she had broken into a secure facility.

"What do you think your doing here?" Armstrong scolded. "How many times do we have to tell you to stop breaking into the Tower?"

"Eh, I lost count after twenty-five," the teen brushed off.

"Why are you even here?" Rena questioned. "Star-"

"Is benched by the League for PTSD and Marco's time-traveling with a few other heroes, I know," Janna cut off. [2] [3]

"How did you-" Sailor Jupiter attempted to ask.

"I know things," the goth again interrupted. "Besides, I'm not here to see them, I came up here for a reason."

"You mean aside from breaking several protocols?" Armstrong cited.

"Well, yeah, it wouldn't be fun if I wasn't," Janna noted. "Anyway, I found something and wanted your big brains to figure out what it is."

She then reached into her jacket and pulled out a small, golden object. It was a jewel, or at least half of it. The jewel in question was in the shape of a scarab and appeared as though it connected to another half that was clearly missing. Like a lost puzzle piece.

"What is it?" Jupiter asked.

"No idea," Janna simply replied. "I found it at one of local occult stores I shop at. The owner said that it's part of a key that lead to a great power."

"Or, it could just be a hunk of junk," the leader of the Earth Corps pointed out.

"I have to agree with Armstrong," Rena added. "It just looks like a broken piece of jewelry to me."

"See that's what normies like you would say," Janna said. "But I want a second opinion."

She then held it up to Wheeljack.

"Think you can run a quick scan on this for me?" she asked.

With an annoyed sigh, the Autobot engineer scanned the jewel.

"Well, aside from some minor energy readings, there's nothing out of the ordinary with this thing," Wheeljack answered.

"Now if your satisfied with wasting our time, we'll have you teleported back down to Earth," Herc said.

"Come on, kiddo," Wheeljack said to the girl. "I'll send you back home."

Janna merely shrugged in indifference before following Wheeljack out of the engine and back toward the teleporter. However, while her outward expression didn't show it, on the inside, Janna was upset. Not at the League, but with herself. True, she was a great help to Star and Marco, but the young goth wished she could do more. As she looked down at her trinket before being sent back down to Earth, she couldn't help but feel that there was more to this little jewel than met the eye.

As he entered her throne room, Marik still had no idea as to why Karai and summoned him. Had he done something wrong? He honestly couldn't think of anything he had down to offend his master. A promotion, perhaps? That wasn't it either. Marik wasn't a skilled ninja as the other Clan members were. The two ninjas lead him into the throne room before departing, thus allow him to approach Karai, who was sitting on her throne with her right hand woman, the illusionist known as Shinigmi, standing by her side. Marik bowed before the Clan leader before Karai motioned for him to rise up.

"You summoned me?" he asked.

"Yes," Karai answered simply. "We have something urgent to discuss."

"Urgent?" Marik repeated in confusion. "What do you mean?"

"I just received word from a messenger of a mutual acquaintance of ours," the daughter of Splinter began. "The Huntsmaster."

Marik looked away in shame, for he did indeed know that name. During his days as the leader of the Rare Hunters, his organization clashed several times with the Huntsclan. A secret order of monster and magic hunting warriors who wanted to see to the total eradication of the supernatural. Because Marik and his Rare Hunters were in the business of acquiring magical items, it resulted with clashes with the Huntsclan, who wanted to destroy all things magic. The secret wars between the two factions resulted in several deaths among both sides, though the Huntsclan suffered greater losses due to Marik's Millennium Rod giving the Rare Hunters the edge the needed to combat their enemy. It was one of the many things Marik deeply regretted in his life that made him want to change. He had hoped that his lfe here among the Foot would go unnoticed, but that was clearly not the case.

"It seems that word has gotten to the Huntsmaster that you are among our ranks," Karai continued. "And as you can guess, he's not happy about that."

"I don't blame him..." Marik said in a low voice. "The things I did to his men were...unspeakable."

"I wouldn't play the sympathy card for that monster," Shinigami spoke up. "He's responsible for the deaths of our best warriors."

It wasn't just the Rare Hunters that the Huntsclan fought against, but also the Foot Clan at one point as well. Both clans occupied New York and often fought over territory within the city. The war went on for years until the Foot's previous leader, the Shredder, forged a ceasefire with the Huntsclan, not out of the kindness of his black heart, but because he wanted to focus on his own personal vendetta against Hamato Yoshi and his four sons, who had since become allies to the Foot since Karai's ascension to the throne. Karai worked hard to keep the peace with the Huntsclan, but Marik knew that his presence put that fragile peace in danger.

"After discussing our all options, we reached a agreement," The leader of the Foot continued. "I'm sorry Marik, but you must leave the Foot Clan."

"What?" Marik said, taken aback by that statement.

"Be thankful they agreed to only your exile," Shinigami mentioned. "They originally wanted your head."

"But where can I go?" Marik asked. "I'm still trying to redeem myself."

"Perhaps your redemption is not with us," Karai posed. "Perhaps it's somewhere else out there in the world."

If the young spellcaster was being honest with himself, he always knew that he would have to leave the ninja clan behind. However, now that he had finally come to this point, Marik had to ask himself: Where would go now? Back to his family? Seek out solace somewhere else? He had no idea.

"You can stay for the rest of the day," Karai informed him. "But at dawn's first light tomorrow, you have to leave."

The young leader then stood up, came down from the steps and gently placed a comforting hand on his shoulder before speaking again.

"As someone who's...made their share of mistakes, I understand what you're going though," she said. "I believe your calling is out there in the world. You may keep your sword as a remembrance of your time here with us."

Marik gave her a small smile before bowing in respect, which she returned, before he departed the throne room. However, his thoughts still lingered on what his future would hold.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the city, someone from Marik's past had finally arrived in New York. But this was not a friend or family member, though he did consider him an ally for a time. The man had long white hair and was wearing a pair of light blue jeans and a blue and white stripped shirt with a long black leather trenchcoat. Hidden underneath his coat was an object of great power and even greater malevolence. Hanging around his neck was a gold ring with several prongs attached to it as well as a golden triangle with an eye at the center of it.

The man looked like he was someone in his early twenties, and on some level that was true, but while the flesh of the man was young, the spirit that was man was a host for something far older and darker. It took some time for the traveler to reach the city that never sleeps, but he finally did, and now he could begin his search for what he had been hunting all these centuries.

As he stalked the streets with his relic leading the way, he felt a a force reach out from beyond, calling to him from a place beyond the borders of this world's plane of existence. Heeding the call, the man quickly ducked into an alleyway. He then opened his coat up just as his necklace had been glowing, a clear indication that he was indeed being summoned by his master. Just then, the man's shadow on the wall began to twist and morph as it grew larger until it towered over him. The shadow now had a feminine look to it, but with cat-like features such as a pair of feline eyes that glowed a dark green. The man keeled before the shadow, who in turn crossed its arms as it looked down in contempt at him.

"Bakura," the shadow regarded.

"Master Mirage," Bakura replied.

Mirage. The mother of all evil. In history, she had been called many things: Lilith, Hecate, Eris, but no matter the name, she still had the same purpose: To bring wrath and ruin down upon mankind. Though she had been trapped in her home dimension of Moriba, she could still reach out and touch the dark souls of those who would serve her. Bakura was one of her many apprentices, though they had a special relationship. When Mirage was still free to walk the world, she found Bakura as a child. Even as a boy, she could still feel the hatred and darkness that radiated through his soul like a wildfire.

She groomed the boy to be her latest apprentice until the Pharaoh defeated her. However, before she was locked away, Mirage managed to imprint a piece of herself into the Millennium Ring so she could still have a connection to her student. Before he met his own end, Bakura transferred his spirit into the ring as well where he waited for centuries for someone to free him so that he could carry out his mission: To free his mistress.

"I'm growing tired of these setbacks, my apprentice," Mirage stated. "Time and again you've sworn to find the Millennium Items, and yet after all these centuries, I still remain here in Morbia!"

"It's a task easier said than done, master," her student said. "Did I not recover the Millennium Eye for you?"

"So you did," Mirage agreed. "But, tell me: Where is the Millennium Puzzle? Or the Necklace? Or the Scale? Perhaps you've. found the Millennium Key and wanted to surprise me?"

Bakura grit his teeth and he looked up his master's shadow with anger in his eyes, who in turn narrowed her own back down at him. A silent warning to stay his hand from doing anything foolish.

"My freedom can only occur when we have all seven Millennium Items," Mirage reminded him. "And you have taken centuries to accomplish this task."

"Then I'm happy to report that I am closing in on the bearer of the Millennium Rod," the Thief King stated. "And once I find him I will-"

"Do what? Challenge him to a card game?" his mistress cut him off sharply. "I did not spend years teaching you all that I know so you could focus your magic on playing games!"

As Mirage's apprentice, Bakura was trained in the dark arts of magic and was well adapt at it. However, the Thief King understood that his magic would attract unwanted attention, so he limited his use of magic to whenever he dueled. But now that he thought about it, perhaps it was time to unleash his true magic on Marik, for the world had been changing greatly since his return to this plane of existence. From super powered beings to aliens, the world was clearly not the same. Even other magical beings had begun to arise among the ranks of the metahumans.

"It will be done, my master," he finally compiled.

"Good," his teacher said. "And to help you with this matter, I've arranged for you to have some assistance."

Bakura was confused by this remark. But before he could ask his master what she meant by that, a dark portal opened up in front of him. Out of the portal, several yellow reptilian eyes peered from the darkness at him, all the while they snarled and growled, making Bakura grin wickedly in response to the sight of the creatures looking back at him.

"Oh yes, they'll do nicely," he said before letting out a cackle.

[1] - As explained in part 15 of The New Frontier

[2] - As seen in chapter 3 of The Dark Phoenix

[3] - Currently ongoing in Infinity League: No Road Home