Disclaimer: don't own them, just the results of their aquaintance.
If you hadn't figured it out, this is a Magic Kaito/Yu-Gi-Oh crossover.
If you're not familiar with Magic Kaito, then the basic in a very small
nutshell: Kaito Kuroba learned his magic tricks from hisfather, a
world-famous stage magician who died when Kaito was ten. When Kaito
later discovered his father was also the notorious Kaitou Kid, a
phantom thief with a signature of sending notices in riddle form before
heists, he took up the Kid's mantle himself in order to draw out the
men that killed his father.
He's gotten pretty good at it. And nothing says he can't have fun in the process.
Does anyone know why this site seems to enjoy eating punctuation and spaces? At least hyphens show up now.
And as per usual, anonymous reviews get answered in my profile.
(Edited 3/06)
"You know, the Shadow Realm is going to consider you one of my monsters now."
"…I'm sorry, could you please repeat that? I must have not dodged that last attack as well as I thought, because my ears seem to be malfunctioning. I could have sworn you just called me a playing card. One of your playing cards, even."
"I'm serious. I had to let it do that in order for my magic card to work on you."
"I thought you could just point and the magic would work."
"Shadow Magic doesn't work that way. It's fundamentally designed for battle, and there have to be clear delineations between which side is yours and which side isn't."
"I thought it was a game!"
"It is. A game is merely another name for a contest, is it not? The stakes are what make the difference."
"And which part of this says I'm a Duel Monster?"
"In order for a magic card to apply to you, the Shadow Realm had to treat you as a monster. My monster, to fall under my protections. And once that's done, it is almost impossible for it to be undone."
"Almost impossible?"
"Oh, there are ways, but trust me, you wouldn't like them. The price is not something you would want to pay."
"…"
"I'm sorry, I really am. Both of us are. But if that blast had hit you...well, perhaps it's better that you not know, but trust me, it would have been infinitely worse than this. We had to do something, and in the time we had…"
"What exactly did you do? I mean, I know you used a magic card on me, but what does that mean? I'm not a vampire or something now, am I?"
"No, no, you're still fully human, just like Yugi."
"…"
"Don't look at me like that, it's true. There's just…more to you as well, that's all."
"If I have a tail now, I swear that –"
"That is not what I meant. And no, you don't. At least, not if you didn't start with one."
"Very funny. So what's different about me now?"
"Not much, really. The main difference is that the Shadow Realm tends not to notice most humans unless they get involved in Shadow Games, but it sees you as one of its own. That's how you can survive here in the Shadow Realm almost unprotected without feeling any real ill effects."
"Unprotected?"
"Almost, yes. You haven't been shielded by my Item since I used it to get us here. This may be one of the relatively hospitable areas of the Shadow Realm, but it would still drain an ordinary mortal within minutes."
"…I just thought it was a bit chilly in here."
"That's because the Shadow Realm sees you as belonging here, so you are now somewhat linked to Shadow Magic. You have vulnerabilities to the same avenues of attack as any Duel Monster, but you are also under certain protections, especially since you're recognized as belonging to my deck."
"That doesn't sound like 'not much different'."
"Unless you get mixed up in more Shadow Games, you shouldn't notice any difference. It really just means that if you're attacked with Shadow Magic, it'll hurt you in a different way than ordinary people. It's not accepted practice to attack specific monsters rather than the duelists who hold them, though, and as part of my deck, you're under my protection. You can't be attacked directly through the Shadows without me noticing and getting very displeased with whoever tried, and you can learn to use Shadow Magic to defend yourself and attack as a monster instead of a duelist."
"…"
"…"
"…"
"It's not that bad, you know."
"If I learn Shadow Magic, will I be able to use it in the real world, too?"
"I don't see why you couldn't, at least some of it."
"You said you owed me a favor."
"I did."
"Well, I'd like to call it in. Can you teach me Shadow Magic?"
"Certainly not right now, and not monster-type Shadow Magic. I use mostly the Item-based, duelist and Shadow Game magics."
"But–"
"I can, however, arrange for a teacher who would know. If he agrees, we can set up arrangements for lessons."
"Wh–"
"However, we have to go now, or we'll both be late. I'll help you a bit and send you out right at the school."
"Wait–"
"I will see you later."
- - - - -
/…Teleporting the other person somewhere else is not a legitimate means of winning a discussion, Yami./
/But it does work./
/Maybe, but it wasn't very nice to dump him at school still in his costume./
/I left him on the roof and made sure he was out of anyone's sight. There's no way he would have neglected to have a change of clothing hidden. The worst that happened was a brief scare, and you know how long that lasts on him./
/True./
/Besides, you know he'll find a way to get back at me if he's really miffed. …I should actually make sure he's not before I have him learn any Shadow Magic./
/Speaking of which, I thought you were planning to have one of our monsters teach him anyway since it's sort of our fault he needs to learn. Why didn't you tell him when he tried to use the favor we promised him?/
/I would like to point out I never said he'd used it up. But it doesn't make any real difference. He is one of our monsters, so we are responsible for him. If he needed help, I would be honor bound to provide it if I could./
/So he can call on us anytime he needs to, he just doesn't know about it./
/Exactly. Oh, he'll be told eventually, but until then…/
/…if he doesn't know about it, he won't be tempted to abuse it./
/Though he'll probably be too busy with his lessons for the next few months to even consider it anyway./
/Who were you going to ask to teach him?/
/I was actually going to ask the Dark Magician./
/The Dark Magician?/
/Who better to teach magic tricks? Not to mention he's had experience teaching before./
/Huh. But wouldn't he have to be a spellcaster or something to learn from the Dark Magician?/
/I actually think he's a light-type monster. There probably isn't a 'thief' category. But it shouldn't matter much. I don't think he'd be interested in learning the Dark Magic Attack anyway./
/Good point. Hey, you said he's one of our monsters now, right?/
/Yes, he is./
/What would happen if we called on him in a duel?/
/…Let's not try that unless it becomes absolutely necessary./
Comments treasured. Criticism desperately needed.