(Yuji's POV)
"This is...a shadow game!" Hearing those recognizable words and voices had woken me up. I still don't know if I am awake or still dreaming until I opened my eyes and saw a familiar scene.
'What...?''
"Oh...it looks likes someone I expected has arrived already!" A fake cheerful and creepy voice spoke and clap their hands as if they were congratulating somebody for their successful arrival. Moreover, I could feel his eyes and even his other eye hidden behind his silver hair peering at my soul. Yep, someone who exactly looks like Maximillion Pegasus is looking at me.
Everyone looks exactly as in the anime. 'The world has to be playing some kind of trick on me, right?'
"Since we're all here..shall we get on with the duel? It's your turn, Yugi-boy!" As I could see they were about to question what he meant by his first sentence. Um.. can they not see me? Pegasus did even though he was just inside a TV screen, well he did it with his millennium eye.
Well, this happens sometimes when you're inside a dream.
"Remember your friend Kaiba-Boy? Even his super rare Blue-Eye White Dragon is powerless before this card!" Pegasus proudly states.
"This is a new card I just added. This game never stops evolving! There's always some new card you've got to have.." He adds.
"Then I'll challenge you with this! Beast card! Silver Fang!" The tri-colored hair Yugi or I could say his other soul placed the card in attack position and his monster appeared. 'This is amazing if only it exists in real life and get to witness in it's not all a dream'
Pegasus smirks, knowingly. "I knew that you would play a beast card"
Other Yugi's eyes widened in shock. "He read me again!"
I yawn quietly as I watch the duel continues. 'I can't believe I'm still tired even though I'm asleep..when will I ever wake up?' My dreams are really strange, why the hell am I seeing this?
But is this a dream? If so, why does everything look real? Normally, my dreams always appear to be more unclear and the voices are always a bit muffled.
"Now I think it's about time..let me tell you the other reason I challenged you. It wasn't just for fun..." He trails off and then turns to me. "But before I tell you why, I need everyone to hear this out, especially you Tea-girl"
'Huh? What does he need with Tea Gardner?By the way, where is she?'
"Uh...Tea? Hello! Earth to Tea!" A certain blond with a Brooklyn accent or Joey called out waving in front of my face.
"Tea?" Other Yugi called as well.
'The heck are they looking at me? I am not Tea'
"Hey, Tea! This is not funny! We are in the middle of some upcoming trouble! So snap out of it!" Joey shakes my shoulders.
"Are you talking to me?"
"Well, who else could we be talking to?" The old man or known as Yugi's grandpa asked with a concerned look. I gulped. 'This isn't really a dream and I'm Tea?' "I'm sorry, just trying to figure this out" I reasoned. They all gave me a weird look so and the other Yugi stared at me for a few seconds with a hint of suspicion.
Pegasus cleared his throat. "Ah!...Where was I? Oh..right. The other reason I challenged you Yugi-boy because if you lose this game, you must take part in the tournament my company is holding! That event will determine the true champion of duel monsters! The Duelist King!" He explained then turned to me once again with his millennium eye shining grimly.
"Tea-girl must participate too" He smirked.
"Participate? He meant just to participate as a guest or audience, right?" I asked.
"Participate as a duelist" He corrected.
"What?!" They all gasp in disbelief while I sat there, dumbfounded.
'No way...this never happened in the anime or the manga!' I glanced back at him, having a feeling that... 'He knows something I don't'
"Leave Tea out of this!" Other Yugi angrily shouts at him.
Pegasus continues to speak. "To be honest, I'd wanted Kaiba-Boy to come as well...but too bad. I hear he's not going to recover"
"Anyways, of course, the one who becomes "king" or "queen" will also win a large sum of money and something even more valuable! Wait till you see what it is!"
Other Yugi repudiates. "We're not interested in any event of yours! What if we refuse?"
"No, no, no! None of you can't refuse.. because you can't defeat me! You can't escape!" Pegasus boasted.
"Oh really...!" Other Yugi smirks confidently. "Well, I haven't lost yet!"
"Okay..that's the spirit, Yugi-boy! I knew you'd say that!"
Other Yugi begins forming a plan in his head until he picks up a card. "I play this card face down!"
"Grandpa! Joey! Tea!" He called looking at us from the corner of his eyes.
"Yes!" They all said except for me.
"You haven't seen the card I played, right?"
"Of course not! Only you saw it!" Guess who.
Without answering I just shook my head still not getting used to this. But still wanted to say something for not to question my silence. "I get it you're trying to get us to use our sixth sense, right?"
That surprised him for a moment. "Right," He nods.
"What? We can't do that!! We aren't psychic!"
"That doesn't matter! Just say whatever pops into your head!"
Yugi's grandpa closed his eyes, thinking. "It's just a feeling but...I got the picture of a skeleton!"
Joey thought that was way too far on describing the card. "I'm thinking of a cool warrior!"
Now all eyes are on me. "Uhh...same thoughts with Grandpa" I responded, unsure. That's what Tea said though but not the same as her speech
"Heh, heh, heh...! Well, it's my turn!" Pegasus draws a card. "I so hate to repeat myself...but I know what card you're playing! An Undead! A zombie-type card!"
"What's going on? He said the same thing we did! What's going on?"
'Please just get to the point' Having some more of my patience, I sit still on my spot waiting for the duel to finish.
Pegasus summons Rogue Doll on his turn. "I play the Rogue Doll! The Rogue Doll destroys all zombies with her holy light of chaos!"
"I knew it.." Other Yugi anticipated. "He's inserted frames into the film! He's using subliminal messages!"
"Subliminal messages?!! You mean the technique where you flash images on the screen for just an instant, so you don't remember it consciously? Could he really do that?" Other Yugi begins explaining to us about the trick Pegasus pulls off which I didn't pay much attention to.
Unable to contain myself anymore I spoke. "Hold on. Didn't you mention earlier that this is a shadow game? That means some magic is involved too" Again, all eyes are on me.
"Don't you guys get it? He must have a millennium item to create shadow games since millennium items are the only items that can create them. And..his millennium item must have the ability to read through your hand"
"Tea? Since when do you know about shadow games and millennium items?" Other Yugi's eyes are now full attention on me. For a moment I thought he was choosing his words to say to me.
"Um... A shadow game?" The confused blond asked trying to fit into the topic.
'Oh shit..this is much worse than being silent'"Recently, I got into it because I became interested in ancient histories" I lied. "Anyways, why ask about this now when there's a duel that needs to be ended?"
"This battle is mine! I win, Yugi-boy!"
"Is that so?" Other Yugi then flips his face down. "The card I placed face down was...The Dark Magician! Dark Magic Attack!"
Rogue Doll was now destroyed and leaves the field. "Heh...I also knew that it was about time...for you to see my trick, Yugi-boy"
"Don't be a sore loser! You big cheat!"
...
The duel ended with the other Yugi almost winning if not for Pegasus who added a timer to their game just as a big cheat as he is. Yugi would've attacked with Summon Skulled and left Pegasus' life points to zero but the time runs out causing the Other Yugi unable to continue his attack.
Just like what happened in the anime and manga, Yugi's grandpa's soul was sucked out of him. Honestly, I felt bad I can't do anything to save him but...it needs to happen, it's part of their adventure.
Pegasus smirks in triumphant. "Finally..let me show you how I could read your hand" He removes his hair from his left eye to reveal the millennium eye.
"Tea's right..." I hear the other Yugi mutter in shock.
"Now, let's meet in my kingdom. If you defeat me, your grandpa will be returned" The TV then switches to show Yugi's grandpa calling for him.
"Grandpa's on the TV!"
The two worriedly rush towards his soulless body as I followed by. "He's breathing but he's not moving...it's like his body is an empty shell!" Joey exclaimed.
(Third Person's POV)
The Next Day...
"Mornin' Yuge!"
"Good morning Yugi!" Yugi came bringing along the videotape because his grandpa is inside it.
"Good morning Joey and Tristan" Yugi's eyes wandered around searching for the missing blue-eyed brunette. "Have you seen Tea?"
"She's gone somewhere near the school. But Yugi..have you noticed something's off about her? And..what's with that thing she wears on her hair yesterday? I never saw her wearing it before" Yugi thought for a second. 'Joey's right..Tea seems not herself yesterday... something is going on with her..'
(Yuji's POV)
Decidedly, my only choice to think this out is to stay far from the group as I don't want to be seen as suspectable even though I already am. For sure, I'm possibly on someone's top 'suspicious' list.
My mind is in a state in which it is bombarded with tons of unanswerable questions. An answer, a specific answer is what I need.
First of all, how was I brought here? The last thing I remembered before I passed out was that guy who stabbed me with the hairpin, but he's still vaguely defined since I forgot what he looked like, the only thing I'm certain about is I knew him and now I woke up as the character who chatters a lot about friendship in the Yu-Gi-Oh series. No offense but why?
I guess that's two in a row.
Second, my brother Yosef and those mugger-looking trespassers, I wonder if the cops had arrested them and I hope Yosef is safe.
Third, back from my first two questions of how I got here, how everything is likely not a dream and how am I stuck as Tea Gardner, and it's possible that I'm dead and got reincarnated. The question is where is the real Tea Gardner?
Lastly, when the other Yugi, or should I say 'Yami' for short dueled Pegasus. 'I kept calling him 'Other Yugi' when I knew he's called 'Yami'(Mentally facepalms) I know this is the season, Duelist Kingdom takes place. Now, between the mysterious guy and Pegasus, I'm sure he's not Pegasus because...his only plan is to bring back his love, take over KaibaCorp or possibly take Yugi's millennium puzzle, unlike that guy who plans on ruling the world. The only thing I'm bothered about is Pegasus might know something about my appearance in this world.
"You're very thoughtful than usual" My thoughts were interrupted when a voice chime in. My head turns behind to see Yugi. No, his other self, Yami. "Oh hey, Yugi.. what's up?" I awkwardly waved.
"You can cut the act now... I know you're not Tea" His eyes narrowed at me.
"What do you mean?" I pretended to be confused but it's not worth trying.
Knowing he won't be fooled by it, I eventually sighed in defeat. "Fine. But how do you know?"
"On my duel with Pegasus, there are some changes in your appearance, you were silent and speak rather differently, Tea is never one to be like that because..."
"She would've cheered for you?" I asked, and he slowly nods.
"The fact you aren't Tea..now, tell me who are you? And state why are you controlling an innocent mind?" He interrogates.
"Whoah... you look like you're judging me when you don't even know me. And it's kind of unfair, why would I tell you if you don't tell me first who you are? The fact you aren't the real Yugi either" I hid a smirk, returning his question.
Before he could reason out, I cut him off. "I can tell that you're smart but don't think that your intelligence is superior to others. Reasoning won't work on me too because I've already seen the differences between you and the real Yugi" 'If you can't be fooled, neither am I'
"Fair enough" He admits with pride, closing his eyes and his arms crossed stepping an inch towards me. "You're quite the headstrong, aren't you?"
I shrugged not knowing how to respond.
"But no matter who I am, I'll never be a threat to my friends.." He states.
"I can assure you I'm no threat as well" I firmly said. Wait a minute, Yami can't tell who he is because he lost his memories, right? Even if I ask him about it, it's still unfair. Plus, I already knew who he is.
"That may be true since you haven't done anything yet.." Came a reply.
"...And about who I am, sorry to tell but you won't get an answer from me"
I thought for a moment. "Fine. You don't have to answer it anymore"
"You don't want to know why can't I answer you?"
"It's up to you..." Yami seems he is still dubious towards me.
"..It's just I don't have a reason to hide my identity"'Just my identity'. Maybe I should tell you.. at least my name"
Yami stayed silent waiting for me to continue. "I am Yuji Selene..and..to be honest, I don't know how I got here, I just woke up in her form"
Yami still didn't speak as if he was inspecting me and asked another question. "It's you..that Pegasus needs in his tournament and not Tea, right? Do you know him? What does he need with you?"
"I've been thinking the same thing...and I can't answer those questions because I'm finding the answers myself"
"And why would I believe everything you said?"
"Then I wasted my time answering all your questions when you won't believe a single thing I said" I felt my eyes twitch. "Dude, you're so unfair.."
He dismissively shook his head. "No, that's not what I meant..a confirmation is what I need to trust you.."
"There's no need on trusting me for the first time, we barely met. Besides, someday, you'll figure out if I'm trustworthy or not but for now, you can't judge me yet" I said.
"...It's fine to be distrustful, just don't assume me of something... because I may not be that kind of person" I added.
Silence.
"I suppose you're not wrong..." Yami then looks at the view in front of him, once again thinking to himself. "You can't stay in her body forever, you have to release her soul"
"What makes you think that her soul is still here?"
"That hairpin..."
'Huh?' I reached the thing he pointed at my hair. It is the hairpin, the one that was used to stab me. 'It was here the entire time?? And I didn't even notice it was just on my hair! How?!'
"I felt a strong reaction from it and I know the real Tea is not gone. Perhaps, it has to be one of the millennium items that make the both of you connected just like how I and Yugi are chained within this puzzle" He grabs a hold of his millennium item. "Now you have to let her take over since it's her body"
Realization hits me, it's been a day since I got here as Tea and she must be unaware of the things that had happened earlier. "There's one problem..."
"What?"
"Ever since I got here, I never figured how to do that thing you want me to do..."
He sighed and explained.
*To be continued.*
NovaScorpio:
As much as I want to show you what Yuji looks like...I can't because I suck at Art and Digital Art
But I can still highlight her appearance by writing (typing); She resembles Tea a lot but is much more mature, her eyes are sharper and darker than hers, almost similar to Yami Yugi. Her hair is originally straight and shorter back in the real world, it changes when she got into the Yu-Gi-Oh verse. (I can't think anymore). Her height is an inch taller than Tea's.
In the first paragraph of this chapter, I did something..if you know what I mean if you don't, you'll figure it out in the following chapters. I shouldn't give a lot of spoilers, should I?
While writing this, I'm reading it in a weird accent.I just hope all of you are not thinking I'm discouraging myself, this is just a behavior of mine and I really like being honest with myself when writing and you're all free to be honest with me too, hehe..
And that's all! See you in the next chapter!!