Chapter Three: Testing, Testing

An hour later, Yugi, Joey, and Tristan were standing around inside of an abandoned warehouse. The place was rather eerie, with its grey, rotted walls, cobweb covered crates, and only a few windows with shattered glass letting a tad bit of sunlight in.

"Man, dis place is creepy," Joey commented, giving a small shiver of fear. He'd changed into a T-shirt, green jacket, and jeans. "Why in de world did we agree to meet here?"

"Because, Joey, if other people find this place creepy as well, it's likely that they'll avoid it," Yugi said. He'd opted out of changing, instead remaining in a typical high school uniform of a white T-shirt, blue jacket, blue jeans, and tennis shoes, with a buckled blue collar and, of course, the Millennium Puzzle around his neck. "And then we won't have to worry about someone walking in on us while we're using our magic."

"Yeah, um, about that, Yug…" Tristan paused. He wore a brown trench coat, men's shirt, and blue jeans. "Are you sure that you didn't just imagine seeing those sparks? I mean, c'mon, us having 'mystical powers' just seems way too freak-"

He was suddenly interrupted by the sound of squeaking behind him. All three of them whipped around in time to catch sight of a rat's tail disappearing behind one of the crates. "Oh, great. Rats. Yep, this is THE perfect place to hang out after school." Tristan said, his voice dripping with sarcasm.

The guys then heard the door to the warehouse squeak open and shut behind them. "Hi, guys!" Téa's voice chirped cheerfully.

The three of them turned around-and stared. Téa had changed into yellow shirt with puffy sleeves that was pleated at the bottom, a pink vest, blue skirt, and knee high brown boots.

She was also hovering three feet above the ground.

Joey suddenly sat down hard, and Tristan's jaw dropped, letting out a few "Ah…eh…wha" sounds.

Yugi was slightly surprised, but he still managed to speak coherently: "Téa! You can fly?!"

Téa laughed and floated towards them, nearing the ground until her feet finally touched down as she landed in front of them. "It was incredible! I was putting my boots on while sitting on the edge of my bed, you see, and all of a sudden I accidentally rolled off-but I didn't fall! I just sort of floated on the air! I managed to soar out of my bedroom window and all the way over here!"

Joey and Tristan still could only stare at her in utter shock. Yugi breathed, "Incredible…"

"But that's not all! When I thought about how you suddenly sent magic out of your hand, I decided to try and see if I could use it as well-and look!"

Téa closed her eyes and let her body simply relax. Nothing happened for a few seconds, then suddenly her outline glowed with a mystic pink light. Pink sparks shot out of her fingers, and when she opened her eyes, they glowed with a soft pink as well.

Yugi watched her for a few seconds, then shut his eyes and also let his body relax. He attempted to focus on the same warm feeling he got when he first felt the sparks shoot out. Suddenly, he felt the warmth spread all around him, and when he opened his eyes, he saw that his outline was glowing with a blue light, and the same blue sparks he saw before were also shooting out of his fingers.

Joey and Tristan couldn't stop staring at the both of them. Finally, Joey managed to say, "Tristan?"

"Yeah?"

"Téa was flyin', right?"

"Yeah."

"And now she and Yug are glowin', right?"

"Yep."

"So I'm not hallucinatin'."

"Nope."

Yugi and Téa finally let their glow fade. They turned and looked at the other two. "Well?" Téa said.

"Well what?" Joey asked, still sitting on the ground and shaking.

"Aren't you guys going to try?" Yugi asked.

"WHAT?!" Joey yelled, finally jumping back onto his feet "ARE YOU INSANE?! THERE'S NO WAY THAT I COULD DO DAT!"

"You had the dream, too, Joey," Téa said, "so you must be able to do it."

"Nuh-uh. Sorry, but dat just can't be possible. Right, Tristan? Tristan?"

Tristan wasn't listening. He had also closed his eyes and stood in place, slightly shivering in fear. Now, suddenly, his outline glowed with an orange-like light, and orange sparks shot out of his hands. He opened his eyes, now glowing with orange as well, and looked down at his hands. "No way," Tristan murmured in awe as the glow slowly faded and the sparks fizzled out.

"Erk," was all Joey could say.

Now all eyes turned to him. "Well, Joey?" Yugi asked.

Joey looked around as his friend's questioning eyes, gulped, and scrunched his eyes shut. He stood shivering for a few seconds, then quickly opened his eyes and grinned sheepishly. "Nope, sorry, can't do it."

"You didn't even try," Tristan said, rolling his eyes.

"C'mon, Joey, it's easy," Yugi said. "All you need to do is focus and try to make contact with it. It doesn't hurt or anything-it's an incredible feeling, actually."

"You promise?" Joey asked.

The other three nodded.

"Okay," Joey gulped, and closed his eyes once again. He tried to simply relax. "Focus…focus…" he muttered to himself.

Finally, his outline slowly started to glow with a green light. Green sparks flew out of his hands. "Whoa…dat actually feels kinda nice…" he said. He opened his eyes, which now glowed green, and stared shocked at his sparking hands. "Oh man…"

"Wow, Joey, that has to be the fastest you've ever been able to learn to do something right," Tristan teased.

Joey whipped around and pointed at him. "SHUT UP, YOU LITTLE-"

All of a sudden, the glow around him increased in intensity, and a ray of green light shot out of his pointed finger. Tristan barely managed to jump out of its way, forcing the ray to then hit a tower of old crates. They exploded on impact.

Everyone stared at the former tower, now a mere pile of smoking wood. Joey looked down at his hand, where the green sparks continued shooting out a bit more, then fizzled.

"Whoa…dat's some pretty powerful stuff…" Joey said in awe.

Tristan glared at him. "Watch where you're pointing that thing!" he yelled. His orange glow suddenly returned, and a similar ray flew out of his hand towards the ceiling. The ray blasted straight through the roof, leaving a gaping hole that was singed at the edges.

"Guys, stop firing those things before someone gets hurt!" Téa cried, rushing to stand between Joey and Tristan before they could go at one another. Her glow suddenly returned as well, and pink rays shot out of both of her hands, hitting two more towers of crates and turning them into a pile of wood and ashes.

"Everyone, calm down!" Yugi cried as Joey and Tristan managed to get around a stunned Téa and started clawing at one another. He, too, once again started to glow, but suddenly, the Millennium Puzzle glowed as well with a golden light. Yugi vanished, and the Pharaoh appeared in his place. Before 

any magic rays could shoot out of his hands, the Pharaoh shut his eyes and took a few deep breaths. Slowly, the glow faded, and the sparks ceased from shooting out of his hands.

The other three turned and stared at the Pharaoh, their glows slowly starting to fade. "How'd you do dat?" Joey asked, one arm wrapped around Tristan's neck.

"This magic isn't something which acts on its own," the Pharaoh replied. "It's connected to us, reacting to our desires and emotions. I believe that when we get angry or excited, the magic begins acting up as well."

"Wait-so we can't ever experience emotion again widdout blowing sometin' up?" Joey asked.

"Of course not. The magic is still under our own control. We just need to make sure that we can keep it in check whenever we're feeling a bit too excited," the Pharaoh replied.

"Be sure you remember that, Joey," Tristan said.

"You want another beam fired atcha, wise guy?!" Joey snarled. The glow around him increased in intensity again.

"Joey!" Téa yelled. The glow increased around her for one second, but suddenly Téa realized what was happening, closed her eyes, and focused. The pink glow slowly faded away.

"Excellent, Téa," the Pharaoh said. He looked back at Joey. "Joey…"

Joey looked at his sparking hands and quickly shut his eyes in concentration. The glow faded away. When he opened his eyes again, he commented, "Geez, dis is gonna be hard to keep quiet."

"I'm sure it will become easier over time," the Pharaoh said.

"Okay, so now we've got these magical powers, but what exactly are we going to use them for? Last I checked, Domino wasn't exactly rampant with monsters and 'mystical beings'" Tristan said, making quotation marks with his fingers when he said 'mystical beings'.

"Remember what those three beings said, though-the magical balance in this world has shifted. For all we know, there could be evil approaching at this very minute," the Pharaoh said.

Almost at the exact moment that he said that, the four of them heard a strange noise from outside. The sound was a small humming noise which became louder and louder as it slowly approached the warehouse. It almost appeared to be coming from over them.

"What in de world is dat?" Joey asked.

The four of them went outside and looked above the warehouse. To their shock, above them was a strange looking flying machine. The machine was shaped like a bird with wings outstretched, baring extremely sharp 'feathers' on their edges. The craft had been painted an ominous black, and as it hovered over the warehouse, its shadow engulfed it almost entirely.

"Oh, man…" Joey moaned.

The ship's 'feathers' suddenly pointed downwards, towards the warehouse. The 'feathers' opened to reveal silver guns. The guns turned, aimed right at them, and started firing down silver missiles.

"What de-" Joey screamed.

The Pharaoh glowed with a blue light and sparks of magical energy shot out of his hands. "Everyone, quickly! Stop them!"

The four quickly flung rays of blue, green, orange, and pink towards the approaching ammunition. Although quite a few of the rays missed since they were all new at this, eventually a ray was able to collide with each of the missiles before any of them could hit the ground.

"What happened?! The missiles didn't even hit earth!"

"I'm sorry, my queen, but apparently they were destroyed before they could make contact."

"What?! By who?"

"Well, my queen, apparently our ship's cameras show that they were stopped by four human kids on the ground."

"That's ridiculous!"

"That's the truth, my queen. None of us would dare lie to you."

"Humph! In that case, take those four human children down NOW!"