Yu-Gi-Oh! Love Selflessly – Chapter 2
Emiko, wearing a mint green button-up t-shirt and jeans, sat on the floor of Yugi's living room with him, Joey, Tristan, and Téa as they prepared to watch the Duel Monsters Regional Championship together. The TV was on and the snacks had been brought out. As Emiko grabbed a small handful of pretzels, Yugi's grandfather, Solomon, brought out a bunch of cans of soda, passing them around to the kids while the announcer on the screen gave his opening commentary.
"Good evening, duel fans and our 10 million viewers at home! Welcome to the Duel Monsters Duel Dome where tonight, the Duel Monsters Regional Championship will be decided. Of the 200 duelists who have competed over the last two weeks in this marathon tournament, only two competitors remain standing. Please put your cards together for Weevil Underwood, the Bug Brawler, and his opponent, the number-one-ranked Rex Raptor, the Dino Duelist!"
Emiko took a swig of her soda and Joey said, "Wow, bug-boy versus dinosaur-breath? Seriously, what kind of a match is that? That could have been me up there!" Yugi said, "Joey, I know you've been training for weeks, but those guys are at a completely different level than you." Joey sighed. Emiko said, "How have your lessons with Mr. Muto been going, Joey?" Joey said tiredly, "I think they've been going pretty okay. Duel Monsters is kind of a crazy game, though." Solomon interrupted, saying, "Hey, Yugi, this package came for you!" He brought in a mid-sized box with a green design and lettering on it. Yugi's eyes widened and he read the shipping label.
"Wow," he exclaimed, "It's from Industrial Illusions!" Emiko's eyes narrowed. She thought, "Hang on. Seto got a package just like that awhile back. I wonder." Joey pondered aloud, "That's the company that makes the Duel Monsters game! Why the heck would they be sending you a package, Yuge?" He shrugged and said, "I'm not sure. Do you think it had something to do with me beating Kaiba?" Emiko looked up at him and asked, "You think so?" Yugi said, "Well, it wasn't an official match or anything, but Kaiba did drop out of the tournament because of me." She sighed.
"Yeah," she thought, "And he walked out on us because of that match, too. It hit him really hard." Tristan said, interrupting, "Woah! Guys! Raptor just stomped Weevil!" Joey asked, "Hey, Yugi, are these guys any good?" Yugi nodded and said, "Oh yeah. They wouldn't have made it up to the top if they weren't. Weevil specializes in insect cards and he's a great strategist. Rex uses his dinosaur cards' power to overwhelm his opponents." Téa said, "So, it's truly a brains-versus-brawns kind of fight." The group turned to the TV screen to watch how the match played out.
Rex picked a card from his hand and laid it on the field. As the announcer gave his commentary, the hologram sprung to life in the arena.
"Oh, and Raptor plays the best card in his deck: the terrible Two-Headed King Rex!" the announcer said, "It looks like this match could be over right here and now!" Raptor snickered, "Your move, Weevil." Confidently, Weevil placed a card from his hand onto the field, cackling, "Aw, all I've got is this weak little bug." The announcer said, "Weevil Underwood counters with a Basic Insect card. What in the world could he be thinking?" Joey asked, "Yeah. What is bug-boy thinking? He plays a wimpy bug against a giant dinosaur?" Rex launched an attack towards Weevil, who swiftly countered, activating a trap card and upgrading his Basic Insect, making short work of Rex's monster and the rest of his life points.
The announcer said, "A stunning upset by Weevil Underwood, our newest champion!" Emiko and the others cheered. As the duelling arena platform lowered Weevil to the ground, the announcer said, "And now, a very special honour for our new champion: here to present the Duel Monsters Regional Championship trophy, the creator of Duel Monsters and the President of Industrial Illusions himself, ladies and gentlemen and fellow duelists, I give you Mr. Maximillion Pegasus!" On the floor of the duelling arena, a small hatch opened up and a man with long, silver hair, dressed in a rich, red suit was slowly elevated onto the arena, holding a golden trophy in his arms. He waved at the crowd pleasantly, then knelt down, handing Weevil the trophy.
"Congratulations," he said, "As Regional Champion, I hereby invite you to compete in a bold new tournament that I am hosting at Duelist Kingdom." Emiko frowned, thinking, "Duelist Kingdom? That was the one Seto was invited to." Pegasus beamed as the announcer closed out the segment, ending the two-week tournament. Yugi turned the TV off and the group let out a collective sigh, the excitement and tension fading just a little bit. Solomon peeked into the room and said, "So?" Yugi said cheerily, "Rex put up a good fight, but Weevil came out on top! Not to mention, the creator of Duel Monsters is hosting another tournament soon!" Solomon said, "Oh, that reminds me! With all the excitement, you forgot to open your package, Yugi." Yugi picked it up and said, "Oh, yeah. I wonder what it could be?" He and his friends walked out to the kitchen. Everyone gathered around and watched as he cut the tape, unfolding it and removing the packing paper from the top of the package.
"What are these?" Yugi asked. Inside was a glove, two small, metallic stars, and an unmarked VHS tape. Emiko thought silently, "It's definitely something to do with Duelist Kingdom." Yugi looked through the package, but couldn't find any kind of explanation. Tristan suggested, "Maybe there's an explanation on the video!" Yugi shrugged and said, "Maybe. Let's see." He slid the VHS tape into the slot and pressed the play button. After a moment of static, a familiar face appeared on the screen.
"Greetings, little Yugi," he said, "I am Maximillion Pegasus." The group looked around at each other in surprise. Pegasus continued, "I have heard some terribly interesting things about you, Yugi. Your impressive defeat of Seto Kaiba intrigued me so much that I've decided to personally assess your amazing duelling skills." At the mention of her brother's name, she felt a jolt of unease, a shiver crawling down her back. She shook it off and listened as Pegasus said, "Right here and now, we shall hold a special duel." Téa asked, "A duel? What is he talking about?" Pegasus said, "We'll play with a strict time limit of fifteen minutes and when time is up, the player who has the highest life points will be the winner. Are you ready, Yugi-boy?" Emiko said, shifting nervously, "Please tell me he's joking." Joey scoffed, "He can't seriously expect you to duel against a videotape!" Téa said, "That's insane!"
"No," Pegasus said, chuckling, "It's magic." He laughed, then everything went completely dark. Emiko felt as if she were floating in a void where there was no light. She tried to look around, but couldn't tell if her eyes were open or closed. Finally, her vision began to fade back into focus. She shook her head. She wondered, "Did I pass out? No. Something else happened-" Before she could begin to work out what happened, Solomon fell to the ground behind them. Téa and Joey ran to his side, trying to help him up, but he was out cold. Yugi was still staring at the TV, clutching the sides of the screen, which had now been replaced with static, screaming, "Grandpa! Grandpa!" Emiko stood up suddenly, her heart racing. She felt like something was very wrong, so she ran to her backpack, grabbed her phone and dialled the emergency number.
The next three days crawled by at a snail's pace. Yugi and Joey had made up their minds. They were both planning to go to Duelist Kingdom together in the hopes of saving Yugi's grandfather. Yugi had told them that Pegasus had taken his soul. Emiko didn't really believe what he told her, but Solomon had been in a coma since that night, so she wasn't sure exactly what to believe.
After school, Emiko opened the door to the manor and called out, not seeing any lights, "Mokuba? You home?" No response came through the darkness. She habitually walked upstairs to the boy's bedroom first. Looking inside, she saw nobody. She sighed and thought, "Now, where has he run off to this time?" She looked through every room in the manor, but when she reached Seto's office, she saw that the door had been broken through. She gasped and ran inside. The waterfront window had been broken through. There was glass on the ground, but the majority of the window was clearly broken outwards. She looked around the dimly lit room and saw that there were bullet holes on the walls and one of Seto's computers was smashed. His office chair was tossed into the corner, broken. She clapped her hands to her mouth and let out a light shriek through her fingers.
"What happened!?" she gasped. She ran to Seto's desk to look for an answer, only to find a simple, hurried note pinned to the desk with a tack. The handwriting was rushed and messy, but she recognized it immediately as her older brother's. She ripped the note off the tack, reading it, her hands trembling.
Emiko, you're in danger. Don't stay here. Pegasus got to Mokuba and if you're not careful, he'll find you, too. He's after Kaiba Corp. Just get out. I promise I'll find you both.
She sobbed lightly, staring blankly at the note, her heart pounding in her chest. She clenched her fists around the small piece of paper and gritted her teeth. She looked out the shattered window at the city skyline, tears clouding her vision. She knew exactly what she had to do. She took a sharp breath and ran immediately upstairs to her bedroom, grabbing her backpack along the way and dumping her school books onto the bed. She swiftly grabbed a change of clothes and a hairbrush, shoving them into her bag and zipping it shut. She changed out of her school uniform into a black, long-sleeved shirt, shorts, and her favourite boots. She slipped on her Kaiba Corp belt without thinking, slipping her deck into the case attached to it, and grabbed her card-shaped locket off of her nightstand, slipping it over her head and around her neck before rushing through the mansion back to Seto's ransacked office. She opened one of his file-drawers and grabbed his box of Duelist Kingdom stuff, taking the glove, star chips, and entry cards and hurriedly shoving them into her backpack. As she ran to open the front door, she caught a glimpse of her red, cropped Kaiba Corporation vest. She paused, reached up, and took it off the coat rack. She held it in her hand, running the fingertips of her left hand over the embroidered logo on the collar. She smiled, throwing her backpack on the ground and putting on the vest over her black shirt. She picked up her backpack again and ran out, grabbing her bike and jumping on, pedalling as fast as she could towards Domino's harbour.
"I'm on my way, guys," she thought as she pedalled, "Just hold on, Seto and Mokuba."
October 20, 2020 – 1901 Words