Artificial Souls
by TAFKAE
Prologue
~~~
Saturdays could suck.
Jou hadn't been having an especially good day so far. He'd slept too late to catch his cartoons, after staying up way too late the night before to lose at game after game after game of Starcraft. So what if he sucked at Starcraft, though? He still OWNED Duel Monsters… and even though he was awful at Dance Dance Revolution, it was still therapeutic.
However, that particular plan was quickly shot to pieces when he noticed the ad in the arcade window. KaibaCorp's latest and greatest. The cutting edge of gaming. Duel Monsters and role-playing seamlessly meshed.
The arcade had procured a couple of virtuapods.
It took him a moment to realize he was starting to drool. Hell, maybe with the ultra-high stakes removed, this game might actually be enjoyable! Not thinking, he dashed inside the arcade, and there they were, not even a few days old, sitting in a corner and casting their divine light upon all the others, the old, dirty, fingerprinty, bubble-gum-stuck-to-the-playing-surface-y others! "Oh my dear sweet God in heaven," he whispered, grinning like an idiot.
"They just arrived on Thursday," said Aaron, one of the guys who worked at the arcade but also practically lived there after he got off. "But not that many people want to try it. Apparently, it's pretty easy to lose, and it's a little pricey..."
"How pricey?" asked Jou dejectedly.
"Five hundred yen a pop," Aaron replied in an identical tone.
Jou reached into his pocket and pulled out a wad of junk. Gum wrappers, booster pack wrappers, and candy wrappers, for the most part; which explained the distinct lack of what he was looking for. Finally, he managed to procure a 500-yen bill, and gave a cry of triumph. "Well, I got enough," he sighed, "but then there goes my lunch ticket. Hm..."
"Well, if you're good enough at Duel Monsters, I'd think it's worth it," said the guy, gesturing at one of the pods. "That guy must be amazing; he's been in there since around ten-thirty, and what is it now, one?"
Jou glanced up at the pod in question and was surprised at its occupant, though he probably shouldn't have been. "Yugi?!" he asked in disbelief. "Oh, great. I just can't think of anything first, can I?"
"You know him?"
"Know him? He's my best friend," Jou snapped. "Okay, screw lunch. If Yugi's playing, I'm playing, too!"
"The machine takes bills," Aaron informed him with the air of "I seriously wish it was me who was playing" about his tone. Jou dutifully stuck his money into the slot so indicated, and when the pod's lid opened, he eagerly hopped in. "Don't bother kicking us out at closing time!"
"I won't need to," said Aaron nonchalantly, and then the lid closed...
~~~
Jou was somewhat surprised to find he'd spawned in a city, but after some quick registration (it turns out Kaiba had converted this version of the game to be online multiplayer) he was on his way again, looking for Yugi. "I guess he could be anywhere by now," he figured to himself, "but I've got a hunch he's still in the city..."
However, after ten minutes of searching and a thorough scour of the city, which included being chased and caught by a pack of virtual stray dogs, a hunch turned into a worry. Somehow he knew Yugi was still around, but he couldn't find him anywhere. So what could have happened?
"It's probably my imagination," he laughed, shrugging it off as he walked down the nearly deserted street. "Oh well, I guess I'd better find a quest or I just wasted 500 yen!"
Just then, something caught his eye. A little child, previously pushing a broom on the stairs, had just doubled over and was now clinging unsteadily to the broomstick. Jou ran over to him and knelt down. The child's robe kept him nondescript, and the hood kept him unrecognizable or even invisible. Jou laid a hand on his shoulder. "Hey, are you okay, kid?" The child then dropped the broom and clutched his head, shutting his eyes tightly. "Make it stop!" he shouted.
Jou jumped. He knew the voice well. It was Yugi's.
"The voices," the kid whispered, rocking a little back and forth. "Why won't they stop...?"
"Snap out of it!" exclaimed Jou, shaking him by the shoulder. "Talk to me, man!"
And just as suddenly as it had begun, it was over; the kid blinked, and tremulously got to his feet, picking up the broom as he went, and he looked up at Jou with huge, fearful eyes. "I'm sorry," he murmured, as he put one hand behind his neck. "I guess that was pretty embarrassing, huh?"
"Hold that thought," said Jou, and grabbed onto the boy's hood. This did not go without protest; the boy shrank back and took him by the wrist with both hands, trying to make him let go. His only response was to reach up and unhood the boy with his other hand, which didn't take long, and produced the expected result, more or less. Under the hood was none other than Yugi.
"What's the big idea!?" Yugi shouted indignantly, finally pulling back and whipping the hood back over his head.
"What's the big deal? It's just me!" Jou replied, a bit confused.
Yugi had dropped the broom again, and now he bent down to pick it up. "Does that mean I should know you from someplace?" he asked quietly.
"Yugi, quit playing around! I know you know me!" Jou wailed, in disbelief that his friend either didn't recognize him or was playing around with him. Neither option fit with Yugi's personality well enough to make any sense.
Yugi shrank back from him a little. "Yugi? What are you talking about? That's not my name! I -"
Jou didn't catch whatever was said next. Of course, this was, after all, a video game, and as he remembered, there was a certain Princess of Simlau who was modeled after Mokuba. Still, he also knew Kaiba hated Yugi with a passion, so he had no idea why he'd model an NPC after him. He closed his eyes, sighed, and shrugged it off. "Sorry, man. I was looking for a friend of mine, and you look exactly like him."
"Oh," said the Yugi look-alike. "Well, I'm called Satoshi. What's your name?"
"Jounouchi," he replied. "Have you seen my friend?"
"I don't know," said Satoshi. "I've had enough to worry about. I've been told of a gang of thieves hanging around who only beat on travelers. Apparently they've got the most valuables. The travelers, I mean." He started back up on sweeping the shop steps. "Someone told me I look like a gaijin. That's why I keep my face hidden. Please don't take it personally."
"Well..." Jou thought for a second "... that sounds like a quest to me, and the Registration Fairy said this game is all about quests. So, I gotta go find these bandits, beat 'em up, and take their stuff! ... But it just won't be the same without Yugi telling me how crazy it is..."
"You've gotta be nuts!" exclaimed Satoshi, dropping the broom again. "I'm no duelist, but from what I've heard, these guys are tough! You don't just walk in on a thieves' guild, Jounouchi."
Jou sighed. "I guess you're right. I've gotta find a quest that I can do on my own, then..."
"No, you don't."
He glanced down at the NPC, surprised. "What?"
"I'll come along with you," said Satoshi. "Besides, I feel like I've got something to finish." He smiled sweetly. "Come on, I'm sure I can help somehow."
"Oh, great, an NPC that follows you..."
"What?"
"Nothing."
~~~
Satoshi had directed Jou to a street food vendor, and surprisingly enough, what he was selling actually looked appetizing. From what Jou could tell, it was just chicken. So he bought as much of it as he could afford.
"So, eh, about these bandits," he said in a spare moment between bites, which was so short it ended up overlapping them, "what do you know about them?"
Satoshi shook his head. "Not much, really. Only that they have a total obsession with gold. If you've got any, they'll go and take it." He paused for a moment to watch Jou eat. "Jeez, you could lose a hand in there..."
Then he stiffened, and his eyes widened. Jou ceased his rapid eating as he noticed the difference in his non-player companion. "You okay?" he asked. He couldn't help but worry; the guy was, after all, modeled after Yugi, and it honestly scared him to see Yugi like this, shaking and quivering.
"It's happening again," the smaller boy whispered, burying his head in his arms. "I wish it would just..."
"What's happening?" Jou prodded.
Satoshi looked halfway up. "I'm going crazy. I must be going crazy." And then he pulled his head back into his arms again. Jou grabbed him by the hood and tried to drag him back out. Of course, this succeeded only in drawing the hood off and displaying Satoshi's dark, almost blood-red hair for everyone to see. Including an unnoticed bunch of rather shady character in the shadows a few feet away. Satoshi himself either didn't notice or didn't care about the fact that his hood was off, but remained hunched over the table, trembling considerably. "Who are you?" he half-whispered, half-mumbled. "What do you want with me?!"
"Your money, of course," said a gruff voice from beside the table. Satoshi and Jou looked up to find two big grunts and one small woman standing over the table, dressed all in black.
"You're our biggest catch of the day," the second grunt added.
"Not just one, but two gaijin! We couldn't pass it up," sighed the woman.
Jou jumped to his feet, knocking his chair flat on its back. "Bandits," he said coldly.
"That's right," said the woman, appearing to just now see the dueling deck on his left arm. She decided it would be a bad idea to attack a duelist like that first, and instead, in what she couldn't possibly have known was a worse idea, pointed at Satoshi. "The little one. Don't leave anything of value on him."
In the first second that followed, Jou glanced around the street only to find that it was deserted now even more than ever. Satoshi hadn't been kidding about these guys' reputation. Well, he'd just have to shred it, then. The second and third seconds were devoted to him drawing a card and summoning the Flame Swordsman with it. The three thieves backed sharply away, and Satoshi scrambled to put Jou roughly in a line between him and the monster.
"If you want him, you're gonna have to go through me first!" Jou declared.
The grunts put up their fists, but the woman lowered them with one hand and smiled knowingly and dangerously into their eyes. Then she turned around to face the duelist. "Look, we're all civilized here, and no one wants this to turn into an all-out fight." She was approaching him a little now. "Why don't we just talk this out? Come on, let me get you something..."
Suddenly he heard an "MMPH!" from behind him and whipped around. One of the grunts had snuck around behind him and grabbed Satoshi, clamping a hand over his mouth. Jou wasn't sure what to do; if he had the Swordsman attack, he would run the risk of hurting his friend, but at this point, it looked like Satoshi was going to get hurt anyway. From what Jou could tell, the kid knew that, too, and was scared to death. He growled something only his Swordsman would have understood, hesitating for a moment -
Satoshi struggled in vain for a few seconds as the guy reached into his empty pockets with the hand he now had free, as he wasn't bothering to cover the boy's mouth, which, as soon as it was free to do so, let out a somewhat frightening statement. "Please let go - I don't want to end up hurting you!"
"Like you could," said the thug that wasn't holding him.
"Leave him alone!!" Jou shouted.
"What're you gonna do about it?" said the woman. "I'll bet he could kill your little friend with a flick of his finger."
"I found something," said the first thug, reaching into Satoshi's collar and drawing forth the object in question. The other thug, the girl, and Jou all gasped when they saw it.
It was the Millennium Puzzle.
The woman immediately figured it was solid gold and was about to comment on its market worth when a look of complete horror crossed Satoshi's face, and he exclaimed, "I can't stop it!!"
"What?" the woman asked, bewildered.
And suddenly they were all looking at an entirely different Satoshi, one with cold, dark eyes and a malicious flair about his person, and it was in that instant that Jou realized there was no way he could be a simple NPC. This was reinforced when he brought his foot up and somehow managed to give his captor a good kick to the groin. The man's grip loosened, and the boy who could no longer be anyone but Yugi rolled away, taking his stand next to Jou.
"You've made me very angry," he said softly.
The woman blinked as her comrade moved to stand (or as best he could) behind her. "What the hell is this?" she demanded.
"Yugi! So it is you!" shouted Jou.
Yugi ignored him for the moment. "I normally don't approve of death, but for bandits, and NPC bandits especially, like yourselves, I'm willing to make an exception."
"NPC?! What's that supposed to -"
"Feel free to hit them anytime, Jou," he remarked casually.
Jou smirked. "With pleasure." He didn't even need to order the Flame Swordsman to attack. All three bandits quickly became digital potato hash. This task accomplished, he turned to face Yugi again. "It's good to see you acting a little closer to normal, Yugi," he said.
Yugi faced him full-front, something he rarely did, and a tone of great urgency invaded his voice. "Look, I'm not sure how much longer I can hold this, so I'll make it quick," he almost whispered. "You need to find a certain pixy - called the Faerie of Lost Dreams." He took his taller companion by the sleeve and glared into his eyes. "Take 'Satoshi' along whether he likes it or not. Understand?"
Jou nodded. "I read you," he said quietly.
And then Yugi's eyes softened, and he was Satoshi once again, and the look of fear and horror returned to his face, and he shrank back away from Jou. "Wha - what happened?" he exclaimed, noticing the distinct absence of the three bandits who had been about to pound the daylights out of him. "I don't remember ... I couldn't control myself!!" He tried pulling himself in closer upon himself, as if doing so would somehow protect him. "It's all like a bad dream I can't wake up from..."
He jumped slightly when he felt Jou's hand resting on his shoulder, and looked up. "Don't sweat it," Jou said cheerfully. "You're still a friend, all right?"
"I don't want to hurt anyone," Satoshi whispered.
"Well, I'm sure he'll respect that from now on," said Jou, and while Satoshi was puzzling over that, Jou hauled him to his feet. "Come on, we got a new quest, and this one's a hell of a lot more important than some bandits." Then he started walking off, his friend in tow behind him.
~~~
The search really lasted only a few minutes, but it seemed like hours. Finally, they ran into a young man with longish silver hair and glasses. "Oh, yes, I remember you," he said to Satoshi. "Yugi Mutou, age fourteen. Yes, we ran into each other earlier this morning, if I remember correctly."
"We're looking for the Faerie of Lost Dreams," Jou snapped, taking notice of his companion's obvious unease.
"Is that what they're calling me now? Sheesh," said the man. "Well, now you're looking at him, not for him." He turned around back toward the jamb of the door whence he had come. "Please, come inside." The boys both moved to cross the threshold, but Jou found himself stopped by one of the man's long, thin hands on his chest. "Not you, him," he said forcefully. Jou grumbled, but stayed outside as the man led Satoshi into the building. Instead, he snuck around to a window and watched the events transpiring within from there.
Of course, he actually saw very little. There wasn't much of anything to speak of inside the room, and a room was all this particular little edifice was. What he did see was Satoshi collapsing for no apparent reason, and the man hoisting him over his shoulder and pulling him to the door, to which Jou bolted. "What the heck did you do to him?!" he demanded.
"He'll be fine, given a few minutes," said the man, transferring the limp weight of Yugi's small body over to Jou, who gladly took it.
"I didn't ask you if he'll be fine, I asked you what you did!"
He shook his head. "Sorry, that would be giving you too much information. Carry on." With that, he glowed purple for a second, and disappeared.
True to form, Yugi came to a few minutes later to find himself staring straight at Jou. "Jou?" he asked, suddenly wide awake, and pulled away from him. "What's going on? How did you get here? How did I get here?"
"Whoa, Satoshi, chill out, all right?" Jou replied quickly.
"Satoshi? Jou, did you get hit in the head or something?" Yugi asked, now genuinely worried. "It's me, Yugi."
It took a moment for this information to sink through Jou's thick skull, then he spoke. "OH! So that weird guy gave your memories back, or something. Well, that's great!"
Yugi blinked. "My... memories?" He shrugged halfheartedly. "I didn't know they were missing."
"What?"
"The last thing I remember was that I was on a quest to get my dueling deck back, and then somebody grabbed me and I blacked out," he explained. "And then the next thing I knew, it was now. Did anything bad happen?"
"Well, you kept getting all distraught all over the place, and that was kind of embarrassing, and we almost got mugged," Jou replied casually, "but other than that, no, not really."
There was another pause in which Yugi gave the appearance of being deep in thought and was probably talking with Yami, and then Jou spoke again. "So, eh, what was that about losing your dueling deck?"
~~~
Both boys had a lot to think about when they arrived home. Yugi was worried about the account Yami had given him of his incapacitation. If they can freely muck around with my memories while I'm in the game, it kind of makes you wonder what else they can do. He shuddered. I don't even want to think about it!
Yami had, by now, made the rather vehement decision not to play this game again.
Jou, not really knowing what had happened, was worried about missing Inuyasha the next day.
And elsewhere, a young man with silver hair and glasses made plans.
*OWARI DESU KA?*
I always place my Author's Notes at the end. Tell me what you think, but I'm putting Chapter One up soon anyway. Ja mata ne!
(o^.^o) The Artist Formerly Known As Ed