Disclaimer: I own neither Magic: The Gathering nor Yu-Gi-Oh! However, I do own this fic!
About a month ago marked a very important date for me: the one-year mark of Magic: The Gathering vs. Yu-Gi-Oh.
One year ago, I was joking with one of my Magic buddies. We were trash-talking Yu-Gi-Oh (at the time I regarded it as a rip-off of Magic), and my friend said, "If a Magic player went up against a Yu-Gi-Oh player, he would crush him." I laughed, but the idea made its way into my head and that evening, I blew off my homework and cooked up the mixed rule. Next, I wanted to write the story as a one-shot, but I decided to build up to the duel between Yugi and Arrathir. When that chapter finally came around, I had gotten so many reviews that I decided to prolong the fic. One year later, I'm still going strong!
It's all thanks to you, my faithful reviewers. Your heartening reviews spur me on and inspire me.
So, to all those who have reviewed, I thank you!
Arrathir
Oh, yes. A little change in the tribute rule: Magic creatures with an attack of 5-6 require one tribute, 7 two tributes, and 8 or more, three tributes.
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Yugi, Khell, and Arrathir cheered as Joey powered down his Duel Disk and crossed over to claim his prize from the wizard. Khell hurried after Joey to inform the wizard about his plans to get them back to Dominaria.
"So what card did you win, Joey?" asked Yugi.
Joey showed them the card featuring a blond man dressed in a red cloak and wielding a staff topped with a claw. In the grip of the claw was a small red stone. The card read: "Ertai, Wizard Adept. Discard a card from you hand. Tap: Counter target card."
"For a 500/500, that's not too bad," said Joey "Now I've got four locator cards."
Khell came back and told Arrathir he was off to duel, saying they'd meet up later.
Arrathir stuck with Yugi and Joey and they wandered the streets, watching duels as they went. Suddenly, Yugi spotted a white-haired duellist ahead and ran to catch up to him.
"Ryou! I didn't know you entered!"
"I'm not Ryou."
Yugi froze. Bakura was in control.
"Does Ryou know you entered the tournament?" asked Yami.
"Oh don't worry, pharaoh. My hikari was the one who wanted to enter. I wanted to stay home, but he wouldn't allow me. Something about me violating my caffeine ban…"
"Once a thief, always a thief," said Ryou, taking over, "Sorry about that. Bakura only agreed to come along if I let him duel."
"Doesn't he usually?"
"Well," said Ryou "I've learnt a lot from him and I wanted to try duelling for myself. I'm not doing too bad," he added, flashing his four locator cards.
(A/N: Ryou to Bakura, Bakura to Ryou)
You owe one of those to me, hikari
Night was falling, so the four duellists headed back to the Kame Game shop for a good night's rest. Khell met them there, not having won any more duels since they parted.
The next day of duelling was more difficult for Arrathir. Word had gotten out of these 'new duellists' and duellists seemed to flee him. He had just been turned down for yet another duel, when he heard a voice behind him.
"Mr. Arrathir, I presume?"
He turned around to see a man with shoulder-length white hair, wearing a burgundy suit, coming his way.
"Maximillion Pegasus," the man introduced himself with a bow, "CEO of Industrial Illusions, the creator of Duel Monsters."
"Pleasure to meet you, sir," said Arrathir, bowing. He'd learned a thing or two about how Japanese were very polite. As the old adage goes, "When in Rome, do as the Romans do." "What can I do for you?"
"I heard about your victory against Mr. Kaiba. Let me offer my congratulations. I…"
"HEY!"
Arrathir turned to see Joey, Yugi, and Ryou running towards him.
"LEAVE HIM ALONE, YOU BASTARD!" screamed Joey, interposing himself between Arrathir and Pegasus.
"Joey-boy!" said Pegasus "How nice to see you, and you too, Yugi-boy."
"Arrathir, get out of here!" said Yugi, ushering him away from Pegasus.
When they were away, Arrathir stopped Yugi.
"OK, what was that all about?"
"Pegasus is a very dangerous man!" said Yugi "He trapped Grandpa, Mokuba, and Kaiba's souls in cards using the Millennium Eye. He was the reason I went to Duellist Kingdom."
"Yeah," said Joey "Who know what that creep has planned, even though the Millennium Eye 'disappeared' after you beat him, Yuge."
Ryou looked sheepish and withdrew the said item from his pocket. It was a wooden ball with the Eye of Horus affixed to one side.
"It's not like he needs it anymore," he said, pitifully.
"So what's it do?" asked Arrathir.
"Well," said Ryou "Pegasus used it to look into people's minds, so that's why he always won at Duel Monsters; he knew what cards were in his opponent's hands, but to do this, he had it implanted in his left eye. I'm not that desperate."
"All so he could cheat?" asked Arrathir.
"Actually," said Yugi "Pegasus wanted to use the Millennium Items to bring his dead wife back to life. When the Millennium Eye was put into his eye, he saw her, but that wasn't enough for him. That's why he captured Grandpa's soul; so he could get my puzzle."
"Now, now, Yugi-boy, that's in the past. Let bygones be bygones," said Pegasus, who had followed them.
"What do you want?" asked Yugi.
"I just wanted to challenge your friend Arrathir to a friendly duel," said Pegasus.
"What's the catch?"
"No catch, just a way for me to assess his duelling abilities."
"Hey!" said Arrathir "I'm right here! You can talk to me, you know."
"Anyways," continued Pegasus "We will have to schedule it for later. Right now, I am very busy."
"Why?" asked Yugi, suspiciously.
"Well, I really shouldn't tell you, but…well, recently, I've created a new Egyptian God card."
"Not another one!" moaned Yugi and Joey.
"Well, yes," said Pegasus "I realized I had left out one of the most important Gods of the Egyptian mythology: Anubis, the god of the dead. This card is complete, but we're still fixing the bugs. I'd appreciate it if you all kept it quiet. I don't think the duelling community is ready for another God card after the last Battle City."
Yugi, Joey, and Ryou nodded in consent. During Battle City, the god cards had been responsible for Ryou's, Joey's, and Mai Valentine's souls becoming trapped in the Shadow Realm. Not to mention Yami Marik almost destroying the world.
"Have you considered the possibility of theft?" asked Ryou.
That'd be the tomb robber speaking
Pegasus shook his head.
"Currently," he said, "The card is secured in my office."
That alone was too much information
Pegasus looked at his watch.
"Well, I must be going," he said "Lots more to do."
As soon as he left, Bakura took over and said, "That card will be gone before tomorrow. Yami Marik surely knows of the card and will not hesitate to mind-control someone to steal it."
"So what do you suggest we do?" asked Yami, taking over.
Bakura grinned, "The only thing we can: Steal it ourselves."
"WHAT?" said Arrathir, Yami, as well as Yugi and Ryou though their mind-link.
"Surely you jest, tomb robber!" said Yami "Committing a crime to prevent a theft is not justified!"
"Just think, though," said the tomb robber "If we steal the card, Yami Marik won't be able to, and that way he wont go on another take-over-the-world rampage."
/He has a point, Yami/
Hikari, if you think for even a second that I am going to let you assist the tomb robber to steal that card, you're crazy!
/But Pegasus doesn't know it will be stolen! We have to warn him. Maybe he can step up his security or something./
All right! We'll talk to Pegasus if it makes you happy. But I am not helping Bakura steal that God card!
This is insane, hikari!
Yugi rolled his eyes as his yami complained for the ump teeth time about their present situation. Pegasus had disregarded their warning, much to Bakura's satisfaction. The tomb robber pointed out that their only hope now was to steal the card themselves. It had taken a lot of coercing, but Yami had finally grudgingly agreed to go along. Bakura had noted the safe behind Pegasus' desk where the God card was probably stored. He'd noted the security in the building and shrugged it off as 'amateurish'.
"Now, in Egypt, they had real security: poison darts, snake pits, falling rocks, swinging blades, none of this 'high tech' crap," said the tomb robber as he exposed his battle plan, "We'll scale the wall outside the office and enter by the window. From there, I'll deactivate the alarm system and I'll be able to hack the safe computer to get at the card."
"Bakura's been adapting his thieving," said Ryou, in spirit form.
"What if we get caught?" hazarded Arrathir.
Bakura scoffed, "I'm the King of Thieves! I don't get caught! Right, I'll need to gather my equipment and we'll leave immediately."
Bakura left and returned several minutes later with a backpack full of sundry equipment.
"Right, off we go."
They left and walked in silence until they reached the Industrial Illusions building. Night had fallen and Bakura had slipped on a pair of night-vision goggles. He surveyed the lobby where the security guard was watching TV.
"All clear," he whispered, "Now, from now on, no talking, and stay close!"
They darted across the lawn and across the parking lot toward the back of the building. Bakura quickly spotted the window to Pegasus' office and dug out a grappling hook. After a few tries, he managed to hook it onto the parapet on the roof. He gave it a few expert tugs and nodded, beginning his climb. They watched as he expertly climbed to the window and ran some kind of electronic device along the edges, no doubt deactivating the window's security mechanism. Taking out a lock-pick set, he worked away at the latch for a few minutes before it gave a faint click and opened. He opened the window and clambered in, signalling to the others to follow.
Yugi, let me say again…
/Shut up, Yami/
As Arrathir climbed, he was apprehensive. This was the first time he was helping someone to steal something, and he wasn't feeling too good about it. Sure, it was with a good intention, but that didn't make it right.
When he arrived on the windowsill, Bakura was cutting wires in a small sliver box near the door that no doubt held the security system. Arrathir looked around for cameras, but didn't see any.
They're probably hidden. Hope he's thought about that.
They jumped as they heard a soft beep. Bakura signalled that everything was OK, pointing to the box to signal he was done deactivating the security system. He crossed over Pegasus' desk and stopped in front of a painting of a pretty blond woman dressed in a blue dress. Cracking his knuckles, he removed the painting, revealing a safe set in the wall.
Amateurs. When will people learn?
Bakura advised the digital keypad set into the safe. Pulling out his knife, he pried off the keypad, revealing a mess of wires. He carefully cut a few wires and hooked them up to another electronic gadget he pulled from his backpack. It was composed of an LCD screen and several buttons and switches. Pressing a button, Bakura turned on the device. He pushed a few more buttons and the LCD screen sprung to life, number scrolling down the screen. Bakura worked the buttons for a few seconds before he smiled triumphantly and disconnected his device, reassembling the keypad. He punched in a few numbers and opened the safe.
He's good.
Arrathir's thoughts were interrupted by Bakura's strangled cry.
"What is it?" Yugi whispered.
Bakura looked furious, " The card is gone!" he said, through gritted teeth, "We've been conned!"
Suddenly, the lights in the room sprung on.
"Well, well, well, what have we here?" said Pegasus, entering the room, followed by several security guards.
Bakura looked like the proverbial child caught with his hand in the cookie jar. He gave Yugi a terrified look and, with inhuman speed, sprung for the window. Before he could throw himself out, Ryou took over and had just enough time to stop his momentum from taking him out the window.
"Yugi-boy," said Pegasus "I am shocked! I expected better of you!"
"We didn't do it!" squeaked Yugi.
Pegasus marched over to the safe and looked inside.
"The card!" he roared "You stole the Egyptian God card! Where is it?"
"We didn't do it, sir," said Ryou "True, we were trying to steal the card, but only to keep it safe from Yami Marik."
BAKA HIKARI!
"Yugi-boy," said Pegasus "I can't begin to tell you in how much trouble you are right now. Breaking and entering with intention to steal valuable."
"Well, we tried to warn you," said Bakura, "But if you hadn't been so stubborn, we wouldn't of had to break in."
"All right, Yugi-boy," said Pegasus "Here's what I will do. Just return the God card, apologize, and you can be on your way."
"Look, we told you, we don't have it! Are you deaf and stupid?" asked Bakura.
"You just had to mouth off to him, didn't you?" yelled Yami at Bakura.
The duellists were in a cell at the local police precinct. Pegasus had been most infuriated by Bakura's comment and he'd called the police. Since all the evidence pointed against them, they were held, without bail, until further notice. Arrathir would have found the situation humorous, had the circumstances not been so dire: He was in an alternate universe, being framed for the theft of a card he'd helped attempt to steal. To a certain point, it was funny. He was dozing off, when the clang of a key in the cell door lock awoke him. A police officer stood in the doorway, Pegasus behind him. The officer let Pegasus in and locked the door behind him.
"Boys," said Pegasus "I'm afraid your little escapade has resulted in you being eliminated from the Battle City tournament."
"WHAT?" said Joey and Yugi.
"But I thought it was run by Kaiba?" said Ryou.
"Yes, but since Industrial Illusions is the second shareholder of KaibaCorp, we co-sponsored the tournament."
Asshole! Can't he see we're being framed? If only there was some way to prove our innocence. All the facts point to us! We'd need photographic proof of the real culprit…photographic proof…the camera!
"Ryou," said Arrathir "I need to talk to Bakura."
"What is it, mortal?"
"Very funny. Did you disable a camera in Pegasus' office?"
The tomb robber snorted, "Of course! There was a hidden one just above the safe…" he stopped, realizing what this meant. "Check the video footage!" he yelled at Pegasus.
Pegasus was taken aback. "What for?" he asked, "You were found at the scene of the crime, you are the guilty party."
"Has it ever entered your thick skull that maybe someone stole the card before us?"
"Impossible!" said Pegasus "My security would have caught them!"
If you call that security…
"Yami Marik can use the Millennium Rod to control people's minds," said Yami "Perhaps he force someone to steal the card for him."
Pegasus paused at the possibility. "Well," he added, "My lead developer is the only other person who knows the access code…Maybe I will check the surveillance tapes. Yugi-boy, if you've been framed, I owe you a big apology." With that, he left.
"Looks like we may have just saved ourselves," said Bakura.
It turned out that the lead developer was caught on tape, stealing the card. The duellists were set free, after a long apology from Pegasus, mostly to Yugi. By now, it was morning, and they knew they only had one day left to get their remaining locator cards if they wanted to enter the finals. Struggling against sleep, they set out among the growing crowd of duellists, eager for a last crack at fame. The five duellists split up to find opponents.
OK, so some psycho Egyptian spirit has an uber-powerful card that he wants to use for world domination…that's just weird.
"Hey! You!"
Arrathir was brought out of his reverie by a duellist calling out to him. It was a tall man with wild white hair. He was wearing a blue cloak and was marching purposefully towards Arrathir.
"I challenge you to a duel!"
"Fine," said Arrathir, powering up his Duel Disk, "I'll wager two locator cards."
"All right," said his opponent, as life meters clocked up.
Yami Marik was watching the duel through the eyes of the mind-controlled Rare Hunter.
"Fool," he said "You have just sealed your doom. You will not defeat Exodia."
To be continued…
Author's note: None. It's late and I'm tired. The things I do for my readers...