Hey, my fellow YGO fans, cheers for the last day of 2024 and say hello to a New Year… and hopefully it's a good year… I hope.
Well, I'm glad to know everyone is enjoying this story so shall we continue? Enjoy!
Riding in the copter, the two set of brothers were off to rescue the Muto brothers' friends.
"We will be arriving at the pier soon," said Mokuba as he saw in his small laptop.
"I just hope Joey and the others are okay," said Yugi, looking down.
"If that scum used the Millennium Rod on them, Yami could counter it with his Millennium Puzzle," said Seto.
Yugi and Mokuba widened their eyes.
"Wait! How would you know that, Kaiba?" Yugi asked.
Yami sighed, "It's best to tell them."
Seto nodded, "Mokuba, you remember the night I was invited to see the new Egyptian exhibit?"
"Yea, and you showed me what the lady gave you, Obelisk and why you wanted to start this tournament," said Mokuba.
Seto started to tell his brother and Yugi what happened after leaving the museum. Regaining some of his past life's memories as a Priest, serving and protecting the Nameless Pharaoh aka Yami.
Yugi and Mokuba widened their eyes.
"So, you know some knowledge about the Millennium items," said Yugi.
Seto nodded, "There's the eye, the necklace, the rod, the ring, the scale, the key and lastly, the puzzle."
"Well, we know who has the necklace, the rod, the key and the puzzle of course," said Yugi before frowning. "We don't know if the ring found itself back to Bakura and the eye was stolen from Pegasus."
"Which leaves the scale," said Yami.
"Right, well each Millennium item had a job to do in the royal court," continued Seto. "It was to judge someone's heart and if they have an evil monster inside, then they would use the items to get rid of the beast, freeing the person."
Yugi and Mokuba had their mouths open in disbelief.
"And what Seto meant, the puzzle can influence the other items' power," said Yami. "I'll be able to break Marik's control, allowing Joey or any of our friends to regain some control of their minds."
Yugi gasped, "Like what you did when Keith was controlled!"
"What?" Seto said.
Yami sighed, "What I didn't mention to you when you visited the hospital was that the puzzle protected me by pushing Keith backwards. I take it that he regained his control before the warehouse was caught on fire."
The Kaiba brothers widened their eyes.
"Then you'll have no trouble using the puzzle's power," said Seto before looking serious. "But be careful how much energy you use."
Mokuba then noticed that they were getting close to the pier. He got up and saw from the front window that there were two people standing by the docks.
"Hey! I think I see Joey and Tea."
Yugi got up and looked out of the window as well.
"Yea, that's them… but something feels wrong."
Yami and Seto got up a bit to see what their brothers were seeing. And indeed, something feels off about the two as they were standing very still.
Yami gritted his teeth, 'Marik! I wouldn't forgive him!'
The helicopter landed and the four of them jumped out from the copter. Standing in front of them were Joey and Tea with blank expressions on their faces.
"I've been waiting for you… Pharaoh," said Marik through Joey.
Yami glared, 'It's now or never. I just hope I don't hurt Joey and Tea.'
That's when he activated the puzzle, and the bright light blinded both Joey and Tea's eyes.
"What's going on?" Marik said, hiding in a warehouse nearby. He gritted his teeth, 'This happened before. When I used Keith and lost control. Don't tell me…'
In Joey's mind, he first felt empty but then he saw a bright light and it felt warm. That's when he remembered; meeting Namu, the Rare Hunters attacked them, then they were taken to somewhere by the pier and after that everything went black.
With one last push, Marik was pulled out from Joey and Tea's minds. He gritted his teeth, "How – How did he do it?! How did he make me lose control?!"
At the pier, Yugi and Mokuba dashed over to Joey and Tea who collapsed onto the ground while Seto was holding an exhausted Yami.
Yami panted, "It's been… awhile… that I haven't used… the puzzle's magic…"
Seto smirked, "Well, looks like your little friends had enough will power to overcome that scum's control."
"That's good to know," murmured Yami.
"Ah man, I feel like I was hit by a truck," said Joey, rubbing his head. That's when he looked around, "Wha – Where the heck are we? And where are those Rare Hunters?"
"We're at the pier," replied Mokuba.
"Yami had to use the puzzle's magic to help you two to break free from Marik's mind control," said Yugi.
"What?!" Joey clenched his hands, "That punk! I'm going to cream him if I see him again!"
"Are you okay, Tea?" Yugi asked.
"Yea, I'm good," replied Tea. "I just can't believe he would use us to get to Yami. Is your brother going to be alright? It's been awhile that he hasn't used the puzzle's power."
Yugi turned his head to see Seto was helping his brother to stand up.
"Yea. With a good rest, he'll be fine," replied the small teen.
Mokuba smirked, "I bet Marik was surprised that he lost his control over you two. Man, I wish I could've seen his face."
"Um, why are you two with Mokuba and Kaiba?" Joey asked.
"Well, they helped us to find you guys," replied Yugi.
"Oh, well, thanks Mokuba," said Tea.
Mokuba grinned, "It's all thanks to KaibaCorp's technology!"
Joey made a face, "Okay, that explains that, but that doesn't explain why Kaiba is being nice?"
Yugi and Mokuba looked at each other, not knowing if they should tell them the truth.
"You can tell them Yugi."
The small teen and Mokuba turned around to see Seto and Yami walking over to them.
"Big brother?" Mokuba said, softly.
"Are you sure?" Yugi asked.
Seto just nodded.
"Tell us… what," said Tea as she and Joey were confused.
Yugi took a deep breath, "When Kaiba was making Yami's fake documents, we found out that his birth mom and my mom were… sisters."
Joey and Tea blinked their eyes before Joey snapped.
"What?!"
"Seriously Yugi?" Tea asked.
The small teen nodded, "Mom noticed that Kaiba looked like her sister did. And when Kaiba told her his birth mother's name, she… um, cried out of joy."
Joey blinked his eyes, "Oh…"
"Sorry for keeping this a secret from you guys," said Yugi.
Tea smiled, "It's fine. No worries, but just remember to tell the others."
The Muto brothers nodded while Joey made a face.
"You know… I can see Kaiba and Yami are alike," said the blond duelist.
Mokuba grinned, "And that's why they're the best tag partners!"
"Hey! I tag dueled with Yami before!" Joey snapped.
"Right, let's find out where the secret location of the finals will be held," said Seto.
He took out the six locator cards and placed them on his duel disk. A holographic projector is activated, displaying the city with a stadium in the middle.
"That's the venue for the finals?" Yugi asked.
"Looks like a stadium," said Tea. That's when her cellphone started to ring.
"Hello? Oh, hey Tristan! Really? Okay, we'll met you guys there then."
She hung up, "Joey! Tristan is coming back with your sister. They want us to meet them at the train station."
Joey grinned, "Yug, Yami, let's meet at the stadium."
The Muto brothers nodded.
"We'll see you there Joey. Let's head out, you guys!" Mokuba said as he and Yugi ran back into the copter.
Yami and Seto boarded the copter as well.
Joey and Tea watched the helicopter leave, heading to the stadium. They waited until they couldn't see the copter any longer and headed to the train station.
Though halfway to their walk, they run into Mai who was driving a car. She gave them a lift to pick up their friends from the train station.
As they picked up Tristan and Serenity, they spotted Duke. With the car loaded, Joey told Mai where the location of the finals will be.
{Serenity's bandages were removed at the train station}
In the helicopter, Yami took that time to get some sleep while Mokuba and Yugi were chatting. For Seto, he stared at the window with a serious look on his face.
'Marik, that scumbag… he's going to regret for what he did.'
It didn't take long for the copter to arrive at Domino Stadium.
As Yami, who woke up, got out from the copter felt someone watching him and looked towards the bleachers.
Seto noticed his cousin was looking around until he felt someone was watching them as well.
"Roland, turn on the lights," ordered Seto.
"Huh?"
"Light up the bleachers!" Seto snapped.
"Y-Yes, sir!" Roland took out a walkie talkie, "Turn on the lights!"
When the whole stadium was lit up, it showed that the bleachers were empty.
Seto and Yami looked around but found nothing unusual until Mokuba spotted a group of people coming.
"Is this where the finals will be?" Joey asked, looking around.
"But it's still under construction," pointed out Duke.
"We're really dueling here?" Mai asked.
That's when Fuguta stepped in front of them. He took out six ID cards and pulled out two, "Welcome to the finals. You two are accepted into the final tournament."
"Obviously," murmured Mai.
Joey took his card, "So, where are the other duelists?"
"Only Mr. Kaiba, Mr. Muto and you two have arrived so far," replied Fuguta.
"Oh, I know you would made it Yami. And I see Yugi has tagged along as well," said Mai, walking over to them.
"Hey there Mai. Glad to see you made it," said Yugi.
Mai winked, "Never underestimate me, Yugi. The same goes with you, Yami."
The older Muto smirked, "Likewise Mai."
That's when another person entered the stadium.
The figure stepped into the light, and it was…
"Hey, Namu!"
Tea and Joey went over to him.
She sighed in relief, "Glad to know you're alright."
"I'm glad that you two are safe as well," said Marik, acting innocently.
Joey slightly narrowed his eyes, 'Now I think about it when the Rare Hunters attacked us, they only captured us, but not him. Why?'
"Guys, let me introduce you to Namu," said Tea as the Muto brothers walked over to them. "He tried to help us when the Rare Hunters attacked us. Right Joey?"
"Uh, oh yeah," said Joey, snapping out of his thoughts.
"Nice to meet you. I'm Namu," said Marik, offering his hand.
"Hi, pleasure to meet you," said Yugi, shaking hands with Marik. "You must be a good duelist if you made it to the finals."
"I guess I got lucky," said Marik, fake laughing. "Actually, I feel intimidated to be surrounded by such great duelists."
Joey rubbed his head with confusion and was thinking if he was imagining things until he saw Yami's face. He noticed that the older Muto was glaring at Namu.
'So, I'm not the only one,' thought Joey.
Then another duelist entered the stadium, and it was…
"Bakura?!"
"What are you doing here?" Joey asked as he and the others ran over to him.
"Are you all healed up?" Tea asked.
Bakura smiled, "Yes, I'm quite alright. Thanks for asking."
"I don't think so man. I mean look at your arm. You're still bleeding," pointed out Tristan. "You should head back to the hospital."
"Um, why do you have a duel disk?" Yugi asked.
"Why to enter the finals, of course," replied Bakura.
"What?!"
"Look," said Bakura as he took out six locator cards.
'So, he managed to collect all six locator cards in a short amount of time,' thought Marik.
The Muto brothers frowned.
Yugi glanced at his brother, "Do you think it's him?"
"Definitely. We need to be careful," said Yami.
"Look, another duelist is coming," said Bakura.
The Muto brothers and their friends turned around to see a man wearing a dark purple cloak walking over to them.
The Muto brothers widened their eyes, 'Is that…'
The cloaked man stopped in front of them.
"Are you Marik?" Seto asked.
"Correct," answered Odion.
Joey ran in front of him, "You punk! I'll never forgive you on what you almost made me do!"
Odion turned his head to Joey, "Do you want me to control you again?"
Joey gritted his teeth, hand clenching into a fist, "I want to pummel you right now, but we'll settle it in a duel, so you better be ready!"
"As the organizer of this tournament, I should disqualify you, but I won't because I rather crush you instead!" Seto said, glaring at him. 'Mostly what you almost did to my cousin and get back what's rightful mine.'
"Yeah, so you better watch out!" Mokuba said.
Odion just ignored them and walked away.
Yugi stared at him, "Is he really Marik? I mean I can sense his fighting spirit, but it's not as powerful as I thought it would be."
"I was thinking the same thing, Yugi. For all we know, he could be just another pawn," said Yami before glancing over to Namu. 'I wonder…'
"To the seven duelists, I have an announcement. By winning the prelims, you're arrived at Domino Stadium for the finals. But the finals won't take place here," said Roland.
Joey and the others were confused minus the Kaiba brothers and the Muto brothers.
"The actual location will arrive soon," said Fuguta.
"What do you mean?" Joey asked.
"The actual location?" Mai said.
Suddenly the lights shined upward.
Everyone looked up and gasped to see a blimp hovering on top of them.
"It has arrived," said Fuguta.
Everyone stared at the aircraft in awe minus the Kaiba brothers and the Muto brothers. Marik and Odion were not interested one bit.
"Um, guys, is that really the location of the finals?" Joey asked the Muto brothers.
The others were confused as to why Joey was asking them for the answer.
Yugi nodded, "Yup."
Mokuba stood in front of the gang, "The finals will take place 1000 meters in the air!"
The blimp lowered down and landed in the middle of the stadium.
"Please step aboard," said Roland as the stairs lowered itself. "We will depart when the eighth duelist arrives."
As everyone started to climb aboard, Fuguta stopped Serenity and the others.
"You can't get on without an ID card!"
"Hey! Me and Yugi don't have an ID card either. Let them in," said Mokuba.
"But Master Mokuba!" Fuguta said.
"They can enter, right big brother?" Mokuba said.
Seto shrugged his shoulders, "Let them in."
Serenity and the others cheered and dashed into the airship.
Yugi and Mokuba went aboard as well and closely followed were their brothers.
"Prepare for takeoff," said Seto.
"But the eighth duelist hasn't arrived yet," stated Roland.
"If they don't show up within five minutes, then they are disqualified," said Seto before boarding into the aircraft.
Roland and Fuguta were puzzled about what to do until they saw someone coming.
It was Ishizu, but her face was covered.
Fuguta gave her the last ID card and the three boarded into the aircraft. As the blimp went up to the sky, it was hovering above the city.
"Incredible, we get a whole view of the city!" Tea said, standing next to the Muto brothers.
"Isn't it incredible to duel on an airship, big brother?" Serenity asked.
"Oh yea! Powerful duelists can even fly!" Joey joked, laughing.
Seto stopped beside him, "For a novice duelist, you're in high spirits."
Joey gritted his teeth, "What you say rich boy?"
"Nothing that concern to you, Wheeler," Seto smirked, "But you must be prepared. The upcoming duels will be so cruel that it will chill you to the bone. So, enjoy your sightseeing while you can."
'I'm gonna crush that punk in this tournament!' Joey thought, clenching his hand into a fist.
Seto walked away from them with Mokuba closely followed him.
"We've prepared a room for each duelist. Use your ID card to enter your room. The tournament starts in an hour," announced Roland.
Yami used his ID card to enter his room to see that it has two beds instead of one.
While Yugi was looking around the room, Yami took a seat on one of the chairs and looked through his deck. That's when they heard a knock on their door.
Yugi went over to open the door to see their friends standing there.
"Hey guys, what's up?"
The small teen allowed his friends to enter the room.
"Just want to see how your room looks," Tea looked around, "Yup, your room is much better than Joey's."
Joey just glared at her.
"By the way, why were you two with Kaiba?" Tristan asked.
The Muto brothers looked at each other before nodding.
Yugi smiled sheepishly, "Plain and simple, Kaiba and Mokuba are our cousins."
Everyone minus Joey and Tea were in complete shock.
"Well, I wasn't expecting that," said Tristan.
"When did you learn about this?" Duke asked.
"Around the time I returned from overseas," replied Yami.
"Speaking about relatives. Serenity, this is Yugi and Yami," introduced Joey. "The brothers and their grampa taught me all about duel monsters. Guys, this is my sister, Serenity."
Serenity gave a small bow to them.
"Nice to meet you two. My brother told me that it was your help that he could pay for my surgery. Thank you."
"No need to thank us Serenity," assured Yugi.
The younger Wheeler just smiled and gave Yugi a small kiss on the cheek which caused Tristan and Duke to look defeated.
Yami chuckled a bit as he could see that his brother was slightly blushing. Even Joey noticed it and slowly formed a plan to protect his sister from the two idiots.
That's when Roland announced that the first duel will begin shortly.
Everyone headed to the hall where there was a spread of different foods.
"So, this is it," Mai stood next to the Muto brothers, "But this time I'm going to win. Too bad you're not dueling Yugi. I would've liked a second chance to duel you again."
'Technically, you are getting a second chance,' Yugi smiled, "Well, I may not be dueling, but if you duel against my brother, good luck."
Mai winked, "I can't wait then. Give it all you got if we do duel Yami."
The older Muto smiled, "Of course, Mai."
Meanwhile, Joey was enjoying the delicious food they were offering in the hall. He grabbed two plates and was heading to where his sister and his friends were until he spotted Marik (Odion).
Joey was glaring at him and failed to notice someone was in front of him. He bumped into that person who happened to be…
"Oh, sorry Bakura," he said.
"It's alright," said Bakura. "Though, I'm kind of nervous, Joey."
"You don't say," said Joey before wondering about something. "Hey, what deck are you using?"
"Oh, it's an Occult deck," replied Bakura.
"O-Occult deck?" Joey said, slightly scared. "Is it like Bonz's Zombie deck?"
"Oh, I dueled with him, but it was an easy win," said Bakura.
"You beat Bonz? Easily!?" Joey said.
Bakura smiled, "That's right. That's how I got all my locator cards."
"I-Is that right. Well, I better get this plate to my sister," said Joey before walking away from him. 'If he beat Bonz that easily, his Occult deck must be powerful.'
"Sure. And if we duel against each other, let's have fun," said Bakura.
'I really don't want to duel against him,' thought Joey with a scared look on his face.
While he went to his friends, Yami went over to Seto and Mokuba went with Yugi to the gang.
"I'm having second thoughts about Marik," said Yami, softly.
"You're not the only one," said Seto, glancing over to Odion.
"Yugi and I think he might be another pawn," said Yami.
"And the 'real' Marik is hiding among the other duelists, but who?" Seto said.
Yami narrowed his eyes, "Namu is my first suspect, and I think Joey also suspects him as well."
Seto snorted, "I guess Wheeler does have some brain cells. Do you have another suspect?"
"The eighth duelist," replied Yami.
"Mm, Mokuba did mention that Roland was going to inform me that the eighth duelist came when we boarded," said Seto. "But he never got the name of the eighth duelist."
"Then we need to keep our eyes open," said Yami before frowning. "And there's Bakura. Not as a suspect, but how he got a duel disk? You didn't register him in the tournament, did you?"
Seto frowned, "No, I didn't. Heck, I didn't know he was a duelist. What about him?"
"Yugi and I think he's being controlled by the spirit of the Millennium Ring," replied Yami. "But we don't know why he would take part of this tournament."
Seto narrowed his eyes towards the white hair teen with uncertainty.
"Hey Kaiba, how are we going to find out who is dueling who?" Joey asked.
"Can't you wait patiently, mutt?" Seto said before using his lapel radio to start.
Suddenly the lights go down as a big high-tech bingo machine, designed to look like the Blue-Eyes Ultimate dragon, rises from a dais at the end of the room.
"The first match will be determined via lottery," started Roland.
"Lottery?" Mai said, confused.
"The lottery will choose the first two competitors to duel," continued Roland. "We'll use this Ultimate Bingo Machine. When we have a winner, we'll hold the lottery again. In other words, you won't know your opponent until the last minute. This machine contains eight balls, one for each duelist. It will select two balls at random."
Seto was #1.
Yami was #2.
Joey was #3.
Mai was #4.
Namu was #5 (who really is Marik).
Bakura was #6.
Marik was #7 (who really is Odion).
And lastly, #8 was…
Fuguta ringed the room number 8, and the duelist allowed him to enter.
"Excuse me. Number 8, please come to the hall."
"I know when each duelist will duel. I will duel in the fourth match."
Fuguta looked at her strangely but said nothing and left.
At the hall, Roland started the bingo machine.
Everyone waited for the machine to drop the first ball. It didn't take long when the ball dropped to the first slot.
"The first duelist is #6! Ryo Bakura!" Roland said.
"What? Me?" Bakura said as he pointed at himself.
"Alright, you're first Bakura," said Duke.
"Will you be alright?" Tea asked, staring at his bandaged arm.
"Yea, you look a bit pale," said Joey.
"You really should rest up in your room, man," said Tristan.
"Don't worry, I'm fine everyone. Just nervous," assured Bakura.
"Who will be the other duelist?" Roland wondered.
Everyone waited in suspends as they stared at the bingo machine.
"Ryo Bakura's opponent in the first match is duelist #2! Yami Muto!" Roland said.
"What? I'm dueling Yami? I'm in trouble now," Bakura said, laughing nervously.
Yami narrowed his eyes, 'Are you really Bakura? Or the evil spirit of the ring?'
'If Bakura is really being controlled, who knows how the evil spirit improved since Duelist Kingdom,' thought Yugi.
Joey sighed in relief, 'I'm glad it wasn't me.'
"Bakura, I wish you luck," said Duke. "Yugi says that his brother is quite strong."
Yugi laughed sheepishly, "Well, I think Yami is a bit stronger than me."
"Then we already know who'll win," joked Duke.
'Don't be so sure,' thought Marik, smirking.
-Break Line-
So, what do you guys think?
Next chapter: Yami vs Bakura
PS: the duel of Yami vs Bakura, I need a bit of help.
In the anime, they changed some card effects of Bakura's cards, so not sure if I should follow up in the game of Yugioh Legacy or change the duel… somehow.
So, help me out. Follow up in the anime with a few small changes or follow up in the game with the right card effects?
Anyhow, enjoy your New Year with your family! Ciao to you all!