YUGIOH

Blast in the Past

Chapter 3.

The man approached an empty school room to find Seto Kaiba there, tapping away at his laptop, drinking some coffee, while also trying to scribble down an essay. Kaiba stopped, as the card encased in a plastic sleeve was put down beside him.

Kaiba looked down and picked up the slip, looking through the encasing at the special card, making sure it wasn't a copy and there was no damage to it. He then pulled out the other 1/2 of the payment, saying, "Any trouble finding me?"

"Not at all....I simply had to follow your aura." The man stated.

"Riiight...." Kaiba said, adding more of his usual sarcasm, obviously not believing him. "Well, the deal's done old man, so you can leave me and my aura, now."

"Before I go....I wanted to show you something that might be of interest. It may prove to you once and for all that magic is real." The old man said.

"Not interested." Kaiba said, keeping his eyes on the laptop.

The man pulled out the box, saying, "Surely, you might atleast be curious enough to look at it."

Kaiba sighed, saying, "Fine....if it'll get you out of my hair, then I'll look at your worthless trinket." The old man opened the box and tipped it, allowing what appeared to be an ordinary rock land on Kaiba's desk. The only difference between it and a normal rock was the strange blue glow to it, which was in an odd shape.

"So? It looks like a normal rock....with a Blue Eyes White Dragon carved into it, and some cheap chemicals thrown on to make it glow. This is supposed to impress me?" Kaiba asked.

"This particular item is on me, sir. You should be honored, for any person touching this rock will be granted their deepest heart's desire. But it can only be used once, I'm afraid...." The man said.

"So for free, what you're doing is offering me some pathetic paper weight. For something like this, you'd have to pay me to take it." Kaiba smirked.

The man's eyes narrowed, saying, "It is not wise to mock the dark magic's of this world. You disbelieve, then touch it, and see for yourself....unless perhaps you fear this magic."

Now Kaiba's eyes narrowed. "Right now, my heart's desire is to see you out of my sight. So, how about this deal....if I touch the rock and nothing happens, I'll take this little paper weight of yours and throw it at you. Does that sound fair to you?"

The man smiled evilly, thinking, 'It's not worth giving the fool a warning on possible consequences. He'll deserve his fate in this world.' "Yes....if it doesn't work, you are welcome to do just that." 'Young fool!'

"Good." Seto said, and grabbed the rock, with full intention to throw it at the man. But he was frozen in place, as he felt like his very soul was being pulled away from this world....which was very frightening to him, because he had felt this way before. Back when he challenged Pegasus and failed, he got that same feeling before he was supposedly sucked into the card. In the distance, he could hear the old man, saying, "Oops, I forgot to mention there's a slight price behind this magic. Enjoy your new life, Seto Kaiba. Heeheeheehee...."

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Yugi was outside the room, since the bell didn't ring yet, and was talking to Tea. "Yeah, I heard from Tristan that Kaiba was picking on him again. I wish he would stop doing that to Joey....I don't know why he keeps acting like this...."

"Maybe he just wants attention." Tea shrugged, then glanced behind Yugi, saying, "Hey, who's that old man that just left the classroom?"

"Hmmm? Gee, I dunno." Yugi said. "It's probably nothing...."

The bell rang, and everyone began entering the class room, including Tea and Yugi. Yet a woman screaming caused both of them to quickly rush in and see what was going on. Yugi was shocked to see Kaiba collapsed in his chair, seeming to be....dead.

"Oh my god!" Tea panicked, and Yugi immediately rushed over to him. He still had a pulse, but was barely breathing.

"All right class, what's going on?" The teacher asked.

"It's Kaiba, ma'am! He's in bad shape!" Yugi cried out.

The school teacher gasped, and said, "I'll call an ambulance!" She then rushed back out of the classroom.

Yugi shook him, saying, "Kaiba....Kaiba! Please, snap out of it!" Even though Kaiba never considered them friends, Yugi always felt they were and held high respects for him....the only one to ever really challenge him in any type of game. His heart sank, unable to imagine Kaiba actually dying. "He can't die, Tea....he can't! What's wrong with him??"

'Yugi....I'm sensing powerful magic at work here.' The voice of Yami spoke to him.

'What do you mean? Some kind of....magic is responsible for this?'

'Check his hands, Yugi.'

Yugi checked both hands, and noticed there was a strange faint smoldering coming from his right hand that was quickly dissipating after being turned over, yet his hand wasn't burned and it didn't have anything in it. 'His hand was smoking a moment ago, Yami. What did that mean?'

'That means whatever the container was that held the magic that's doing this to him, is no more. The magic is now 'in' him.'

"Hey, what's with the crowd....what's going on?" Joey asked. He instantly froze, seeing Kaiba collapsed and unmoving.

"Something happened to Kaiba." Tea said with worry.

"Yami thinks it was magically related." Yugi said quietly to Joey, so others wouldn't hear his claim.

With that said, Joey froze, thinking, 'No....it couldn't have been that old man, could it?' "Uh, no one saw any old man around here, did they?"

"Yes, there was an old man that left, just before the bell rang....why?" Tea asked, beginning to realize the old man had to have atleast seen something. But how did Joey know an old man was here?

From Tea's comment, Joey paled. 'Oh no, I didn't want anything like this! When I said to be gone, I didn't mean dead. Geez, the old man offed him....and it's my fault. I even paid the man!' He thought feeling dirty and guilty, as if he was the one that just did it, himself.