Chapter Two - Magic Box
Akai lifted his head. Again he was in complete darkness. The light touch on his shoulder told him without words who was with him.
"Mahaad?"
"Akai. Let me show you the way to get to the Magic Box. It's a simple, but precise, card magic manipulation..."
Akai felt Mahaad do...something. He sensed it, not quite with his magic, as when he used a Dark Magic attack, but with a magic sense that was somehow deeper than his Dark Magic. A magic he'd never been aware of before.
"There!" Mahaad stated with satisfaction. As before, light met Akai's eyes, forcing him to close them until they could adapt. When he could open them comfortably, he noticed they were in a place seemingly suffused with golden sunlight, but offering deep shadows on the edges. As he glanced around, he noticed a fire pit and a fountain; a verdant forest and a dead sere area; a gaping tunnel leading down into the earth, the open regions of air above and the shore of a great sea. He realized this one place, unlike the Graveyard, held regions comfortable to every type of duel monster.
"Where?"
Mahaad smiled. "This is what I meant when I told Yami that I was able to tap the banked power of the Magic Box I crafted. This is the region my mind creates. I willingly share it with all the cards in Yugi's deck."
Mahaad led Akai through each of the areas. Yugi's Celtic Guardian, Celedor, rested in the forest region. His words were courteous, but Akai noted the concern buried deep in the elf warrior's eyes. Gaia, the Fierce Knight willingly brought Ashelocke, Yugi's Curse of Dragon, down in one of the shadow regions, ending their practice drill. Akai felt carefully leashed hostility from both monsters.
"Hmm. Dark. I like!" Akai felt a hand slide up over his arm boldly. Surprised, he glanced into teasing yellow eyes. The woman had wings and skin of ebony.
"Marie," Mahaad sighed. "Please don't trouble Akai too much! Marie is a Fallen One," he explained for Akai.
"'Akai'?" she sneered. "'Red'? What kind of a name is that!"
"Don't scoff, Marie," Mahaad advised. "Yami himself gave Akai his name. How many here can claim that distinction?"
"Feh!" She looked Akai up and down one more time with her hungry gaze. "If you aren't quite so stuffy as Mahaad here, come and see me sometime!" She took off into the air on her black wings.
"Marie is...perhaps a bit bitter. She is a powerful fighter, but her best ability comes forth once she is sent to the Graveyard," Mahaad noted watching after her. "But there are more here to meet."
All of Yugi's duel monsters were polite but seemed wary, hostile or otherwise concerned in some way about Akai's presence here.
"Oh. Why did you bring him here?" the pretty Dark Magician Girl demanded as Mahaad led him to where many of the female monsters tended to congregate.
"Mind your manners, Mana," Mahaad advised mildly. "Akai is one of Yugi's cards. He has the right to be here."
"But he tried to...no, he did hurt Yugi!" Mana protested.
"Do not forget that when it mattered the most Akai helped you," Mahaad reminded her. "He is one of Yugi's cards now. We should welcome him."
"Hmph!" Mana crossed her arms and flounced, turning her back on Akai. The Mystical Elf, whose name was Vialla, caught Akai's eye and smiled a slight, rueful smile.
"They will come around," Mahaad reassured as he led Akai to the next section. "As you start to help Yugi in duels, they will start to accept you."
Akai appreciated that Mahaad was trying to offer comfort, but wondered if it would be true. Monsters who hadn't even been used in the battle against Arcana seemed to hate him just as much as the Dark Magician Girl.
"Perhaps I shouldn't come here again," Akai pondered aloud. "I could just remain asleep unless Yugi needs me in a duel."
"You could..." Mahaad replied. "But..." He paused to think.
"There is one place you will always be accepted here," Mahaad told him. "My workshop." He turned to walk toward the modest structure rising up from the very center of the Magic Box. Mana rushed to intercept them.
"What are you doing, Mahaad!" she demanded. "You won't even take me to the atelier! Why does he get to go! Just because he's a Dark Magician!"
"Yes."
Mana stood stunned as Mahaad brushed past her. Tears of frustration started in her eyes. She whirled.
"You! Red Dark Magician!" All conversations stopped and everyone turned to see what was breaking the peace of the Magic Box. Every eye was on the Dark Magician Girl. "Step one foot in there and I swear...I'll NEVER accept you!" she cried out.
"It is such behavior that shows me you aren't ready to enter the atelier, Mana," Mahaad warned her.
Embarrassed by the public dressing-down by the master she was apprenticed to, the Dark Magician Girl dashed into the comforting arms of the Mystical Elf and Lady of Faith.
"Mana has always been loyal but headstrong," Mahaad noted. "I care for her dearly, but there are times she behaves like such a child. Until she matures past such outbursts, I dare not trust her with the secrets of my atelier."
Akai felt completely at ease the moment he stepped into Mahaad's workshop. Dark Magic seemed to flow from the very walls, recharging his energy. Tomes of magic, crucibles, beakers, powders of every color in containers of every shape and size strewn across a work table showed that this room really was a place to research and work magic.
He turned and smiled toward the Dark Magician watching him so closely.
"That's the first real smile I've ever seen from you, Akai," Mahaad noted. "My workshop pleases you?"
"It feels like..." Akai searched for the word, "...home."
"I hope that someday you will feel that about every area of the Magic Box. You really are one of us, one of Yugi's cards now."
"Come."
Akai furrowed his brow, wondering what Mahaad was talking about as he turned away from the door leading from the small workshop.
"This is why Mana is not yet mature enough to enter here. You have reason to know all the Dark Magic secrets of Yugi's deck," Mahaad explained. A gesture caused a door to appear, floating in the middle of the room. He opened the door and gestured for Akai to proceed him. Mahaad was careful about closing the magic door behind him, so that if someone were rash enough to enter his workshop, they would not stumble across its ultimate secret.
"And so, now you know," Mahaad said sometime later after he and Akai had returned to the small work room.
"Incredible! For all his ranting, Arcana knew nothing of the Dark Magician," Akai shook his head in pity for his former master.
"Arcana..." Akai's face darkened.
"What are you thinking?" Mahaad asked. He was concerned about Akai for two reasons. First, it would be nothing but good for Yugi to have the power of another Dark Magician in his deck. In order for Yugi to truly tap that power, Akai would have to come to terms with the other card monsters of Yugi's deck, and, more importantly, they would have to come to terms with him. Mahaad also wanted Akai to be content in his new situation. For Akai to remind himself about Arcana concerned Mahaad. Though there was no reason for it, Mahaad knew Akai could still hold loyalty for his former master. If such were the case, Akai would not be happy here in Yugi's deck until he let such feelings go.
"Arcana...trimmed my card. I just now realized. Yugi can't use it in duels, as he duels with honor. He'd never use a cheat like my card!"
"So Arcana diminished you in fact as well as in spirit. Do not concern yourself. My Magic Box will remedy the flaw of your card," Mahaad told him. "Ah! I've not told you why it is so important that Yugi's other card monsters accept you!"
Akai turned his head to indicate he was listening.
"Yugi is so earnest! It's kind of cute. He calls it the 'heart of the cards'," Mahaad smiled indulgently. "I suppose it is in a way. You will see. Whenever Yugi's in a duel all his card monsters are aware of it. Even if a certain card is not in his deck, that card monster is aware of his actions in duels."
Akai realized that was why so many of Yugi's card monsters disliked him. They had watched him attack Yugi in the duel with Arcana.
"As the duel unfolds sometimes we can tell that Yugi will need to draw a certain card. When that happens, we...make certain the proper card is on the top," Mahaad explained a bit uncomfortably.
Akai grinned. "Are you telling me you cheat!"
Mahaad drew himself up straight and crossed his arms defensively. "Certainly not! Cheating is when a player does something outside of the rules of the game to gain an unfair advantage! We're his cards. We just..."
"Stack the deck in his favor?" Akai suggested.
Mahaad nodded, still uncomfortable. "We never do it in ordinary duels. It's only when absolutely necessary that we will 'card shuffle' someone to the top. Even then, Yugi still has to figure out on his own how to use that monster, trap, or spell card properly."
"Hmm," Akai indicated that he understood. It wasn't exactly cheating, as Yugi didn't do anything to cause it. Yugi's connection with his cards was much deeper than Arcana's had been, probably much deeper than Yugi himself was aware of.
"Until everyone accepts you, I don't think we could card shuffle you well," Mahaad explained.
"I can't imagine Yugi would use my card in place of yours. If he needs a Dark Magician, it makes sense that the deck would shuffle you to the top," Akai countered.
"Perhaps. Still..." Mahaad interrupted himself. "Ah. The wait is over. Yugi's opening the box."
"Does this place just...disappear when you aren't here? Make all the cards not used in the deck go to sleep?" Akai asked.
"No, the Magic Box remains even if I'm not here. But I don't think you have to worry about that right now."
"Pardon?"
"Yugi's looking for your card," Mahaad informed him.
"Oh," Akai swallowed. He'd been in countless duels. Why was the prospect of a duel making him so nervous! Maybe that it was the first duel he would be in as Yugi's card monster. That had to be it. He'd never been played by any other duelist than Arcana. He had no idea what to expect...
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Author's notes -
I've definitely departed from both the Japanese and the American versions of Yu-Gi-Oh with this story. Hopefully, it isn't too weird or unbelievable.
The names for specific card monsters, with the exception of Marie (the official card name is Marie The Fallen One), Gaia (Gaia the Fierce Knight) and Mana (according to my knowledgeable friend, Mana is the name of Mahaad's apprentice from 5,000 years ago in ancient Egypt), are just ones I thought fit the monster. Why shouldn't Yugi's cards each have their own name?
It seems to me that whenever Yugi relies on "the heart of the cards" he manages to pull exactly the card he needs for the duel he's in, even if he doesn't know which card that should be. (In one of the Gameboy games, Yugi says he 'mind-shuffles' his cards.) So I just came up with a card-centered explanation for it! Yes, this story IS all about the cards!
Next Chapter teaser - Dueling Field
Reviews, comments and constructive criticisms are always welcome! Please feel free to email me also if you see something awkward that needs to be clarified or fixed. I need all the help I can get!