FireCacodemon: Welcome back to another chapter of Heart of the Plush. I know the wait has been long but more important matters turned up and more inspiration for other stories...that and it's hard creating a brand new deck for Yami in this story. I've been trying hard to get his deck all sorted. But anyway, Yu-Gi-Oh belongs to Kazuki Takahashi.

Chapter 3

Yami was getting ready for his visit from Pegasus, making sure that all the other plush were ready and waiting to be examined. He kept the prototypes away so that Pegasus wouldn't see them if they moved. They were his friends and he wasn't going to let Pegasus take them away. He wasn't sure if he believed the rumours that Pegasus could read someone's mind but he wasn't completely sure. Yami had dressed up smart but Pegasus had decided to come during school hours so Yami didn't even go to school, too busy worried that Pegasus was just going to turn up and he would be at school...didn't look good if he wanted permission to use his Duel Monster idea. The doorbell sounded, making Yami nearly jump out of his skin as he ran towards the door, pulling the door open, he was happy to see that Pegasus was standing there with a smile on his face.

"Well now, Yami-boy I'm here." Pegasus said in a happy voice making Yami feel a little uncomfortable. From the feel of the atmosphere, he wasn't going to get the shop he wanted or the chance to even sell his plush under Industrial Illusion. The best that Yami could do was to prove what an effective worker he was while still attending school. If that shined, then Pegasus would have to keep up his end of the deal.

"Please come inside sir, they are all waiting for you to examine them," Yami opened the door wider to let Pegasus inside. The taller gentleman passed Yami and made his way into the living room.

Inside the living room, there were rows and rows of all the plush that Yami and the other plush had made. The first copies of the plush were safely tucked away in his bedroom where Pegasus won't find them. He wasn't going to let Pegasus take them away from him, they were his friends and he was going to protect them with his life. Yami watched as Pegasus picked one of the plush Kuriboh and examined it. Testing the brown fur that Yami had picked. Pegasus made sure to check how soft the plush was as well as to see the stitching under the fur. Yami knew that he should be getting ready for school but Pegasus came first. Pegasus moved onto the next plush and did the same test he did on Kuriboh. He was satisfied with how they were made.

"Well, you certainly have put a lot of time and effort into making these plush."

"Thank you sir," Yami bowed.

"You'll certainly bring in customers for your shop. Well Yami-boy, you have my permission to create these plush for you to sell. There is one condition though."

"Sir?"

"I'll take 10% of your earnings after the cost of materials."

"That's a deal."

Heart of the Plush – Chapter 3

"Looks like Yami's not in class," Anzu noticed as she walked inside the classroom.

"Think he's upset about something?" Tristan asked the group. "I mean, that duel yesterday...I don't think Yami wanted it to end like that." Yugi and the group nodded. They had overheard that Yami had a deadline and that was today so they assumed that was the reason why Yami wasn't in school the following morning. Whatever came up was taking priority over the education system.

"Still, I'm going to challenge him the next time we meet, those plush monsters may have looked cute but we never got to see the true strength of the deck," Yugi smiled and everyone nodded.

"Won't it be a bit unfair for you to duel him though? I mean, you're the King of Games while Yami's...maybe not that advanced as you are in duelling," Ryou questioned Yugi.

"It's just a friendly game; it isn't like our lives are on the line."

'Still, I would be careful when we duel Yami, we don't know his deck completely to take it easy when we duel him. That and we do not know Yami well enough to be able to judge and predict his next movements,' Atem warned Yugi.

'I know Pharaoh, but we won't know anything until we duel him ourselves.'

The school bell rang and students started to file in and to take their seats. Projecting conversations across the classroom as their friends either didn't sit next to them or struggled to hear each other over other conversations. The classroom turned into a loud mess before the teacher came in and drew everyone's attention by talking over everyone. The class started without Yami or Kaiba turning up. It was expected of Kaiba to skip school as he had a company to run but Yami, the new student...it was unusual. Not even the teachers had warning that Yami was taking a day off from school. It was safe to say that Yugi and his friends were worried about Yami. The best that they could do was continue on the day like it was normal, duelling each other, chatting and just getting on with their studies.

The bell had just rung for lunch and students were leaving the classroom in their groups as usual. Yugi and his friends stayed behind like normal. It wasn't that they didn't like leaving the classroom but the classroom was often the most quite place to stay in. It was something that they all enjoyed as people didn't come and bother them. Yugi and Joey were having another duel against each other while still talking to their friends. The latest duelling news that was running around the internet, the gossip in duelling magazines and any other form of media that was possible. Anzu was keeping an eye out for Yami at the window.

"Things have been kinda calm, haven't they?" Anzu commented, halting the duel.

"You do have a point there...I know that this sounds bad but I kinda want something interesting to happen soon." Tristan crossed his arms, Battle City hadn't started yet so there wasn't anything really going on in the mean time.

"Kuriboh!" A brown fur ball hopped onto the duelling mat and scattered cards everywhere. Joey and Yugi scrambled to catch their cards as the brown fur ball looked around and hopped off onto another desk. The sound of running footsteps quickly entered the classroom and over to where the brown fur ball had jumped to.

"You followed me to school?" In came the angry voice of Yami, everyone turned to see that Yami had managed to catch the fur ball...only to see that he was holding onto a very excited looking Kuriboh...plush?

"What's...going on?" Ryou asked as the plush was flailing its tiny green claws in the air while its little feet flailed too. It was entertaining to watch but at the same time, confusing on why the plush was moving, squeaking and desperate to escape from Yami's arms. Yami tensed up, seeing Yugi and his friends all watching him.

"Sorry, I apologise for ruining your duel thanks to Kuriboh," Yami bowed to them, feeling very embarrassed. "If I was aware of Kuriboh following me, I would have taken him home."

"Wait a minute...That Kuriboh plush is alive?" Joey yelled as the Kuriboh plush waved its little claws at the group and squeaked.

"Kuri Kuri~" It squeaked before looking up at Yami.

'Well, this is a turn of events,' Atem materialised next to Yugi who nodded. They had heard of the cards having souls of the duellist and sometimes won't attack if being controlled by another duellist but this was different. This was a plush toy having a piece of someone's soul and becoming alive! Joey felt himself starting to panic. He never was a fan of ghosts and this looked exactly like a ghost was involved with the possessing of the plush in Yami's arms.

"Guess...I should start talking...right?" Yami asked and everyone nodded.

Heart of the Plush – Chapter 3

"Ever since I was little...I loved duel monsters. How the game is played, the designs of the monsters, cards and traps. I loved the whole idea of the game and its history linked to Ancient Egypt. But...I noticed how little the game was to the younger audience, like the children who were too young to even read the cards or how to play the game based on the rules. So I came up with an idea I pitched to Pegasus of Industrial Illusions. If I made plush versions of the monsters, making them child friendly so they wouldn't scare the children...then young children could get involved with the Duel Monster universe while they waited to play the card game. That and people who don't play but are collectors can have something else to collect too," Yami started, the Kuriboh on his lap was playing with some string. Yugi and his friends sat and listened carefully. It seemed that Yami and Kaiba were going to become rivals in the business life.

"So that's what the phone call was about yesterday?" Yugi asked and Yami nodded.

"I want to run my own shop where I can sell them...but without permission from Pegasus, I won't be able to. He wasn't thrilled to see me when I came to him with the idea in the first place but I interested him by making a deal with him. Since I'm the only one making them while attending school...the deal was that if I could prove that I was an effective worker in making the plush, while attending school...I would be able to sell them in a shop I have yet to own. With the help of my parents, getting the shop won't be hard since they knew what I wanted to do. They said they'll help me get started and then when or if the plush sell well, my parents will stop backing me and let me continue on my own feet."

"Sounds like you know what you want...is this why you were late to school?" Anzu asked and Yami nodded once more.

"Pegasus came to see me this morning and we wrote out the contract, Pegasus will be getting 10% of my earnings after the cost of material and tax, which is fair enough in my opinion as I am using his Duel Monster idea. He was pleased with my work but I feel that he wanted me to fail so that he could have my idea. If I didn't satisfy him, then I would have to give up the dream and let him have the idea himself."

"How come Kuriboh is alive?" Joey asked Yami.

"Similar to how the Duel Monster cards have their own souls, the first plush I make of a monster...gets its own soul too. Kuriboh happened to escape after lunch and I've been chasing him until now."

"You and Kaiba are going to be rivals in the business world," Ryou half smiled.

"I'm aware of that...but the Kaiba Corporation near enough sell ways to improve the card game itself while the plush won't do that." Yami looked down at Kuriboh and smiled.

"I think your idea is great, I would back it up. Just one question...how did you get plush type monsters?" Yugi asked.

"They...kinda made themselves after I created the plush. Each monster I made, the night after the card was just sitting there on my desk. I stopped trying to understand a while ago and just accepted it. Thanks to the duel yesterday, I managed to create this little guy." Yami took his bag off his back and unzipped it pulling out a plush version of the Red-Eyes Black Dragon. Everyone's eyes widened at the sight of it. It looked amazing and very similar to the real dragon that Joey had used yesterday in the duel. Joey felt his excitement grew the longer he looked at the dragon. "I'm...going to apologise for how the duel turned out yesterday and you can keep the Red-eyes Black Dragon. I already apologised to my monsters and they understood why I had to do it."

"You made this after one duel with the dragon?" Joey asked.

"Yes, and you can have him." Yami offered the dragon to Joey, who took the plush off Yami.

"You didn't have to," Joey was ready to burst.

"What's your dream now?" Yugi asked.

"I want to make the Egyptian Gods as plush...but I want their permission first or I'll end up like Pegasus' men while they worked on the cards," Yami zipped up his bag and put it back on his back, Kuriboh hopped onto his shoulder. "Well...I better go and take my seat before the bell rings."

"Yami, how complete is your deck?" Yugi asked.

"Not enough for 4000 life points, just enough for 2000, why?"

"I want to challenge you when you have a complete deck then, if that's okay with you?" Yugi asked. Yami nodded.

"You'll win though; you're the King of Games."

Heart of the Plush – Chapter 3

Seto Kaiba, the CEO of Kaiba Corp was busy typing away on his laptop. His big plan for Battle City was starting to fall into place as he typed away, making new rules for the game which would provide more of a challenge to duellists and especially Yugi, but also to himself as the new rule of summoning came into effect when that tournament started. Sacrificing monsters to summon higher star monsters meant that he couldn't just play his Blue-Eyes White Dragons when they came into his hand and needed more planning if he wanted to do that. His deck would need re-sorting to make it easier to summon the dragons without sacrificing too many monsters. He knew that Yugi was going to have to do the same if he wanted to get his Dark Magician out, if Kaiba really wanted, all he needed to do was to stop Yugi from sacrificing monsters while he could. That wasn't up for him to decide though, that was when the deck came into play. It wasn't long before his phone started to ring. Without looking at the phone, he picked it up.

"Hello?" Kaiba asked in a displeased voice.

"Kaiba-boy, it's been a while since we talked," Pegasus spoke. Kaiba mentally groaned, he thought that he had had enough of Pegasus after Duellist Kingdom. Guess he was wrong on that.

"What is it Pegasus?"

"I thought about being nice to you Kaiba-boy and letting you in on a new project being started."

"I don't care," Kaiba said in a monotone voice and went to hang up.

"Before you hang up, I hope you start seeing the new product soon. They were ado-" The phone was hung up. Kaiba didn't care if a new project had started up. It wouldn't even dent his company so it wasn't his concern. Getting back to the more important matter, getting Battle City ready, the duel disks were already selling quickly as it enhanced the game. Nothing a small business will be able to do.

"Who was on the phone?" Mokuba asked as he entered the room.

"Pegasus being annoying and calling me because he's bored," Seto told his little brother. Mokuba nodded. He's had enough of Pegasus too and with the plan that he had back then, he wasn't surprised that Pegasus had turned to teasing Kaiba in more ways than one.

"I thought I saw Yugi running down the street after a Kuriboh," Mokuba said. Anything that had to do with Yugi caught Kaiba's attention. It was unhealthy but he wanted to know everything possible about his rival and he always wanted to be one step ahead of him. He wanted to beat Yugi in Duel Monsters and claim back his title of being the King of Games. He wanted to prove to the world that he was still better. Kaiba's fingers stopped typing as he just thought about what Mokuba had just said. Yugi was chasing a Kuriboh?

"Mokuba, are you sure you saw what you just said?" Kaiba asked his little brother.

"Yeah, he was chasing a Kuriboh down the street. Have you done some new holographic program that I'm not aware of?" Mokuba asked.

"You know everything I do. I've done nothing to make Duel Monsters become solid holographic just yet." So then why was Yugi chasing a Kuriboh?

Heart of the Plush – Chapter 3

Atem sat in his soul room. Yami's story was rather interesting and he wanted to back up Yami's dream as much as possible but what puzzled him more was his lack of memories. Something nagged at him telling him that his memories were somehow linked to Yami or that Yami himself was soon to be thrown into a world of danger. Yugi's friends were right at school, things did seem calm for now while they waited for Battle City to start up. Kaiba was planning something big and they could all feel it. Atem should probably ask if they could go to the museum to start searching for Atem's memories. Even if the museum didn't help, being around Ancient Egyptian artefacts couldn't hurt and maybe make him feel better slightly. His mind drifted back to Yami. A toy maker who didn't plan on damaging any other business...would Solomon's shop hold anything against Duel Monster plush? From the look of the Red-Eyes Black Dragon, they were well made and probably impossible to damage quickly. Yami's hands were good at making the plush and the active Kuriboh plush that came to school too...Maybe Yami wasn't normal like he was? Maybe Yami had some powers that not even he was aware of? It seemed possible in this world. Atem looked at the many doors in his soul room, one of them held answers while the many others held nothing but more room for him. He thought back to when Shadi entered his mind to have a look around and only found himself in trouble. If Yugi didn't come and save him...then would Shadi have been trapped here too?

"I'm going to need as much help as possible if I'm going to get my memories back."

FireCacodemon: Unknown1234567 - Yes, they are alive and kinda explained in this chapter. There'll be more (maybe) interaction between Yami and Yugi and his friends, maybe some Yami and Atem interactions too. Depends on where the story goes. Thanks for the review.

FireCacodemon: That's it for the story, hope to please more readers in the next chapter...whenever that gets written. Thanks to everyone who's looked at this story, it means a lot and I hope to get Yami's deck all sorted out at a future date.