Phil: 1000 Pegasus: 0

  The room was silent as the shadows dispersed, until finally the quiet was broken by a soft snort of laughter from Maximillion Pegasus, soon followed by his hands coming together to clap slowly, yet also in a mocking fashion.

  “Well well~, it seems I have been outfoxed~.”

  Phil bowed extravagantly. “A pleasure as always, Mr. Pegasus. Now… our deal?”

  Pegasus’s regular eye lingered on Phil for a moment before the millionaire turned to the door.

  “Do as you wish~…” Pegasus’s voice halted, and then he continued to speak in a much more deadly tone. “So long as you do not interfere with my plans, I care not what you take.” The atmosphere darkened, and from the corner of his eye, Phil could almost swear he could see a nightmarish monster covered in Millennium Eyes, with a gaping, slavering maw hanging open where its stomach should be, watching him from the shadows. But almost as soon as the atmosphere darkened, it lightened once more as Pegasus slipped out of the door with one last “Toodles~!”

  “Plans?” Jean questioned as his hands busied themselves with shoving more land deeds into the nearest sack.

  Phil nodded. He grabbed two full sacks to place out in the hallway, grunting with mild effort as the burlap bags – being much heavier than expected – weighed down in his hands.

  “He wants to bring his dead wife back to life. That’s the entire purpose of this tournament. It goes kinda like this,” Phil dropped the bags outside of the room with a ‘huff’ of effort and turned to Jean, who now had his full attention on Phil. “Yugi beat Kaiba’s ass during Death-T in a game of Duel Monsters in front of the entire world and left the asshole in a shadow game-induced coma called a ‘Mind Crush’. Turned the dude’s brain into a puzzle his consciousness or soul or whatever would have to put back together, becoming less of an evil jackass in the process. That takes however long it takes, and he wakes up when it’s done. However, Kaiba Corp is still trundling along under the leadership of a group of rich douchebags calling themselves ‘The Big Five’. Think of them as the board of directors. While Kaiba is in his little character development coma, they control the company entirely. That being said, also keep in mind Kaiba’s loss seriously embarrassed the company because Kaiba Corp prides itself on being run by the absolute best of the best duelist. The King of Games, if you will. Used to be Kaiba, now it’s Yugi.”

  Working with Jean, Phil lifted one side of the rug to check for hidden floor safes, scowling with mild annoyance when there were none before continuing.

  “Kaiba Corp has some really badass solid vision tech. You’ve seen it before in the underground arena and around the island. It makes the monsters crazy realistic. The thing is, Kaiba Corp still completely controls the tech. That’s the background on the corp’s side of things. Pegasus, on the other hand, his wife passed away a while back. Soon after, he traveled to Egypt and gained control of the Millennium Eye. That artifact is said to possess the ability to grant the user’s dearest wish. He wants his wife, Cecelia, back. The wish only partially worked. He saw a vision of her, but she’s still dead. That’s the background on Pegasus.”

  The room was now empty of valuables. Phil and Jean moved on to the next.

  “So, we’ve got the Big Five, who want to restore the rep of Kaiba Corp. We’ve got Pegasus, who wants to use Kaiba Corp’s solid vision tech to help revive his wife, or at least make a holographic version of her he can see so he can pretend everything’s all hunky-dory. So, Pegasus approaches the five assholes with a deal – he beats Yugi like an alcoholic father in a public tournament. In return, they overthrow Kaiba’s comatose ass with a vote of no confidence and install Maximillion Pegasus as the new CEO. That lets him get full, unrestricted access to Solid Vision tech and gives the company its street cred back.”

  Jean paused in the middle of opening the door. “Right… I see his plan now… but will it even work?”

  Phil snorted and shook his head. “No. Yugi will win their duel. He’s the King of Games for a reason. When he’s locked in, it’s nearly impossible for him to lose.”

  “Hypothetically, if Yugi lost?”

  Phil fell silent in thought. If Yugi, the King of the Motherfucking Games, lost… hypothetically, of course.

  “I can’t say with one hundred percent certainty… but with the tech and his eye combined… there might be a chance to bring Cecelia back. Might. The Millennium Items can do some crazy shit, just the same as they have strange limitations. Very few hard rules with those things to work around. The curse of soft magic versus hard magic, really. It works until it doesn’t. It can do some things but can't do other things.”

  Five priceless paintings were gingerly taken off the wall and lowered into burlap sacks while Phil thought.

  "Even then, I'm not sure. I’ve never seen it done before. People coming back as ghosts? Yeah. Seen that a few times, always done through magical artifacts of considerable power. I assume Pegasus’s logic is for the solid vision tech to form her body, then he yoinks Cecelia’s soul from the afterlife through the power of the Eye. Combine the two in a mixing bowl, let it bake for ten minutes at 350 degrees, and 'bam', wifey comes back to lifey.”

  The logic was as solid as Phil could think it to be. He knew Shadi, for instance, had been murdered by Bakura around five or so years before the manga began. That meant every interaction that man had with the main cast had been done as a spirit, likely powered by one of the Millennium Items he controlled, or through weird ancient Egyptian shadow magic. A precedent, if you will, of a soul being separated from the afterlife. Atem's soul being stored in the Puzzle and Yami Bakura's soul being stored in the Ring were two more examples, albeit extreme ones.

  Or, going back to his own past, Phil also knew one of the Shadow Riders, the group that had assaulted Duel Academy in a quest to control the Sacred Beasts, was a long-dead spirit. Abidos the Third, if Phil recalled correctly. Very old, very dead, and very much given physical form through a powerful magic item called a ‘Shadow Charm’. All according to the account of Vellian Crowler, the very same man who had defeated the Shadow Rider in a duel. If a dead pharaoh could come back to life and gain physical form through the wonders of sparkly friendship magic, then Pegasus’s dead wife could probably make it as well with enough elbow grease.

  It was enough to make Phil let out a soft sigh of irritation. The side effect of the events in GX being his past, but this world’s future. A shadow charm had the potential to fix it all. Yet, Phil had no idea how to make one. The two people who did, those being Kagemaru and Professor Banner, would still be murderous assholes at this point in time. In addition, Phil had no idea where to find them since the academy didn’t exist yet. No academy for them to gather at meant they could be literally anywhere in the world. Otherwise, if this had been post-GX, the fix would have been as simple as a phone call.

  “Do you think he wants Yugi’s Puzzle?” Jean suddenly questioned. Phil tilted his head slightly to the side as he thought. Jean’s question was powered by what Phil had already told him about the items. It was the truth that many of Yugi’s enemies moving forward wanted the Millennium Puzzle for themselves. A few of his past enemies had lusted over its power as well. Was Pegasus included in their number?

  “I doubt it.” Phil eventually replied in a slow tone. "He already has the Eye. Plus, the odds would be 50/50 on whether the Puzzle would deem him unworthy and… I don't know, light him on fire or something. The dude was already seriously lucky that the Eye didn’t kill him in Egypt.”

  “Doubt is not certainty,” Jean held up a finger with a wise look on his face, as if he were a Greek philosopher of old instead of a raggedy Frenchman.

  Phil shrugged. In the manga at least, the Puzzle was never Pegasus’s objective. The anime was a whole different question; one Phil knew not the answer to. Many plot points both small and large had been changed seemingly at random between the manga and the anime. He blamed it on filler.

  “Correct. The Puzzle has powerful magic, like the rest of the Items. I wouldn’t put it past any mage worth his salt to want it for their own use, or even to deny it from Yugi or any of their own rivals.”

  Jean gave a grunt of acknowledgment. The two men continued to work in silence for several more rooms, until the entire wing of the castle had been thoroughly cased from top to bottom, and every last one of their burlap bags had been filled to the brim with shiny loot.

  “I… hope the kid wins, but… one cannot help but feel pity for Monsieur Pegasus.” Jean eventually said with a shake of his head.

  “Aye.”

  “Is there nothing we can do to assist? I admit, the love Monsieur Pegasus shows for his wife Cecelia, I… respect that. I cannot even imagine, nor do I want to, what I might do if Tilla were to pass before her time. Perhaps I would find myself treading similar paths.”

  Phil let out a great sigh. Shrugging, he balanced two bags of loot over each of his shoulders, and one precariously atop his head like some strange hat. Jean had a point.

  “If Kaiba can be convinced to let Pegasus in fully on his solid vision tech, maybe.”

  “Certainly,” Jean made a noise of understanding, “Since Kaiba provides the Battle Boxes, no? And Pegasus’s only involvement is providing the space in which they sit.”

  “Kaiba’s enough of an asshole to refuse.” Phil countered. “Especially since Pegasus did kidnap Mokuba and steal his soul. I wouldn’t blame him for refusing after that.”

  “Oui. An iffy situation for both men. No reason for cooperation, every reason for hatred.”

  An iffy situation indeed. Frankly, from Phil's point of view, Pegasus had hardly a choice in the matter. The type of man Kaiba was before Yugi defeated him would have laughed in Pegasus's face if Cecelia had been brought up. Laughed, and possibly even used that information against the man in corporate matters. Such an attitude would make diplomacy difficult between the two. However, the type of man Kaiba was after recovering from the mind crush?

  That was a whole ‘nother matter. Maybe, just maybe, assuming neither Kaiba nor Mokuba would have been carded in that situation, a deal could have been made. But even in that case, Pegasus had no way of knowing when or even if Kaiba would wake up, thus making his attempted takeover of Kaiba Corp understandable. The only truly foul parts of the situation were Yugi’s forced involvement and Mokuba’s stolen soul.

  A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

  "I suppose…" Jean said in a somber tone, "Do you think a defeat here may be enough to force Monsieur Pegasus to move on?

  Phil moved down the hallway to begin the long and arduous process of lugging all their loot to the stash location. “Everyone has to in the end.”

  Those words lingered in the air long after the two men left the hall.

  -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

  The next day arrived with none the wiser. The rest of the gang hadn’t even noticed Phil and Jean’s late-night antics, and Pegasus hadn’t let loose a peep of what he’d seen. Nor had the pair encountered a single guard that night. Whether that was good fortune or the machinations of Pegasus, they could not tell. As they’d planned beforehand, Phil and Jean made certain to arrive fashionably late to the semi-finals.

  As soon as they reached the second-floor balcony where the rest of the spectators stood, Phil and Jean were ambushed by Tea.

  “Phil! Jean! We were worried!” She said, rushing up to the pair.

  "Sorry, we were busy committing grand larceny." Phil deadpanned.

  While the gears in Tea’s mind spun as she tried to decipher if he was joking or not, Bakura glanced at them with a questioning gaze.

  “That must have been some task. Pegasus already disqualified you both for tardiness.” The white-haired teen said with soft tones.

  “Oui, as we said, fashionably late!” Jean struck a magnificent pose.

  “Always.” Phil mimicked his pose. Unbeknownst to all but Phil, Lumina did the same.

  “Well, whatever you two were doing, help us cheer Yugi on!” Tea abandoned her investigation to turn back toward the main hall with her hands raised in excitement. “COME ON YUGI! YOU CAN DO IT!” She shouted.

  Phil glanced over the railing. In the main hall below were several people. Pegasus sat on a throne at the front of the room, observing the duel before him with a slight smile that did nothing to reveal his true emotions. To his right and left were two emotionless, black-suited security guards with faint lumps under their arms that spoke of holstered handguns. Seated at the table, still locked in the midst of an intense duel, was Yugi – looking serious enough that it was obvious Atem had taken the wheel, and Mai Valentine, who looked as elegant as always.

  “GUT HER LIKE A FISH!” Phil screamed out. “WOOT WOOT BEAT THE SHIT OUT OF HER! EQUAL RIGHTS EQUAL LEFTS LET’S FUCKING GO!”

  Yugi’s stoic expression trembled slightly as Phil’s foul-mouthed screams of encouragement nearly broke him. So did Mai’s, though instead of nodding stoically like Yugi did, Mai Valentine quickly twisted around to scream, “SHUT UP YOU MANGY DOG!” back at Phil with surprising force, though her voice lacked any sort of venom it might have possessed only a few days prior. Meanwhile, a soft titter of laughter came from Pegasus. Next to Phil, Tea held her head in her hands in despair.

  “Yeah… I said encouragement… but not like that…” Tea groaned.

  "Aw, come'on!" Joey slapped Phil enthusiastically on the back, "Yuges needs all the cheer he can get! COME ON COME ON YOU CAN DO IT YUGES!" Joey finished his words with a bellow that matched Phil's shouts in volume.

  “Yeah!” Tristan moved right up to the railing and placed a foot on the top of it. He tore off his shirt to reveal the words ‘GO YUGI!’ marked on his chest with broad strokes of blue paint.

  “Tristan!” Tea buried her face deeper in her hands out of sheer embarrassment. “Put your shirt back on!”

  But her embarrassed protests were drowned out by a sea of voices from Phil, Jean, Joey, and even Rex Raptor as they ruthlessly interrogated Tristan over where he had found the paint. Then, as the small can of paint was merely hidden behind a potted plant around the corner, all four guys tore off their shirts and painted various slogans on their chests.

  Tea’s face turned pure beet red, but the damage was already done as the quintet of guys rejoined her on the balcony. Tristan with his ‘GO YUGI’, Phil and Jean with the words ‘WIN OR DIE’ sloppily painted on their chests, Joey with a bold ‘DON’T LOSE’, and Rex Raptor with the final nail in the coffin – large letters spelling out the word ‘LOSE!’ on his chest. Bakura, sadly enough, abstained from joining in, choosing instead to stare at the duel below with blank eyes and an expressionless face.

  “Now now, would the monkeys in the peanut gallery quiet down, please~!” Pegasus exclaimed to the rowdy bunch. The chorus of cheers died down to a much more respectable level, but the boys would not let the words painted on their chests die in vain. One by one they looped their legs over the edge of the balcony to sit, balancing precariously to sit on the railing so that if Yugi merely glanced up, he could see their encouragement with his own eyes as easy as could be.

  “You know if we fall, we’re going to break our legs, right?” Phil idly snickered to the rest.

  “Ah, but a glorious leg breakage it would be!” Jean countered. The others let out whoops of agreement.

  -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

  Mai Valentine struggled to keep an amused smile off her face as the rowdy boys on the balcony level continued to cheer, shout, and horse around like the fools they were. She could see the effects clearly enough – Yugi Muto’s face was full of resolve, fuller than it had even been before, which was an achievement in of itself.

  Friends.

  This was a word that, until two nights ago, she had scorned. Two nights ago, after a most irritating day, she had shared a campsite with Yugi Muto and his friends. Originally, her intent had only been to gather information in preparation for their likely match in the semi-finals. But… throughout the evening, Mai Valentine had found herself actually… laughing, and having fun with the odd group. Tea was an absolute sweetheart with a hidden side of fire and steel to her. Yugi was a powerful duelist, but also quite the shy kiddo. Joey was a complete moron, but his stupidity worked well as comic relief. She supposed he also had a good heart. The same went for Tristan and… somehow even Rex Raptor, who seemed to, after only a day, have had his more annoying edges filed off by the influence of Phillip Jenson and Jean Dubois. Those two men were weird as well, but made for surprisingly enjoyable company.

  And that night, that strange night, Mai Valentine had also witnessed another duelist risk everything to pull her out of a tough spot. Truly, that was the most surprising of all. Yugi Muto, who stood absolutely nothing to gain and everything to lose, dueled Panik, won back her chips, and forced her to accept them back! Seriously! Every bone in Mai’s body had screamed for her to refuse them, to slap away the boy’s pity with a healthy dose of scorn, but… the kid was so earnest, she couldn’t make herself refuse! If- if Yugi Muto had done what any other duelist ought to do and kept those star chips for himself, then he would have had even fewer barriers between him and his match with Pegasus!

  Was that… friendship?

  But here she was. Mai Valentine, staring across the table at Yugi Muto. Her Harpie Ladies were poised to strike. Harpie’s Pet Dragon was lurking on the sidelines for the perfect chance to lunge. All Mai needed was for the final turn of Swords of Revealing Light’s duration to pass.

  She could win. So, what was this pit forming in her chest?

  Yugi’s friends were making fools of themselves cheering him on. Even Rex Raptor, who was set to duel Joey right after this, was shouting his lungs out for the kid to win. And his voice wasn’t purely filled with a desire for revenge, as it should have been. Sure, there was some of that there, but the rest of his tone sounded… warm. Like a guy shouting for his friend to win.

  Mai Valentine knew at that moment how dearly she wished for friends like that. It was like a difference between night and day, how she’d felt before the island and how she felt now. Mai had been living in a scorching desert for all of her life, and only now had a cup of the purest, coldest water been freely given to her, without a single string attached.

  She understood now.

  It was before her, clearer than anything had ever been in her life. As clear as the pit in her stomach. But pit or no, despite her longing for friendship…

  Mai was still a duelist, and so was Yugi. To duel at anything less than her best would be an insult to the both of them.

  “I pass my turn.”

  The final sword of crackling light hovering over the field between her monsters and Yugi's monsters faded away. He had nothing that could reach her, only possessing a Gaia the Fierce Knight (2300/2100) to defend himself. It was nothing that could reach the attack points of her Harpie's Pet Dragon, which was boosted up to 2900 points due to its effect, which let it gain 300 attack and defense points for each Harpie Lady on her field.

  Yugi closed his eyes, appearing to Mai's gaze as if he were made of solid, unmovable stone. Then he drew a card. The action was like an arc of light cutting through the darkness.

  “Draw! Monster card!” The boy shouted firmly with such volume that it completely overpowered the cheers from the balcony. Without even glancing at the card, Yugi revealed a spell in his hand.

  “Black Luster Ritual activates! By sacrificing the level seven Gaia the Fierce Knight from my field, and the level one Kuriboh from my hand, I ritual summon the level eight iron-clad warrior of old, brought forth from the very legends themselves to grant its master victory! Come forth, Black Luster Soldier (3000/2500)!”

  A knight covered in blue and green armor slowly strode onto the field. In its right hand was a curved sword, its edge honed so sharply that it felt as if Mai’s eyes were being cut open just from glancing at it. In its left hand was a mighty shield covered in green markings that seemed to loom over the observer like a great wall that would let not a single drop of damage past. Behind the warrior’s spiked helmet flowed a long red ponytail.

  “Three… thousand…” Mai gasped. As strong as Seto Kaiba’s legendary Blue-Eyes White Dragon.

  “Black Luster Soldier! Heed my command! Destroy the dragon!” Yugi roared out the order and the soldier obeyed. The neck of Mai’s precious Harpie’s Pet Dragon was sliced in two like a tree falling under a lumberjack’s axe.

  The game wasn’t technically over yet. Mai still had life points left to spare. But this? She took a long, grave look at Black Luster Soldier. With her dragon defeated…

  She had no card left inside her deck that could destroy that monster. Not anymore.

  “I… surrender.” Mai sighed, placing her hand on top of her deck to make the decision official. “Well played, Yugi.”

  “You as well.” Yugi’s voice, that blasted, friendly voice, replied. Mai’s face finally betrayed her as a smile broke out on her lips. She took Yugi’s hand to shake it firmly. It was a shame to lose out on the prize money… but losing to Yugi… it didn’t feel too bad at all.

  "Good luck, I'll be cheering for you." Mai stopped fighting it and let the smile fully bloom across her face. Then, with a look of exasperation toward the balcony, which was practically shaking with the force of the celebrations, Mai added, "Don't expect me to paint my chest, though."

  -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

  A flush of red stole over Joey’s cheeks before he could fully master it as he watched Mai Valentine’s face transform with a brilliant smile, as if a sunflower was blooming before his eyes. Quickly he looked around, but the rest of the guys were still too busy celebrating to notice, and Tea still had eyes only for Yugi (eyes that he could swear had hearts in them). He let out a ‘phew’ of relief.

  Yeah, he had a crush on Mai. That didn’t mean he wanted the others to know about it. If Tristan found out, he’d never let the subject go.

  "Hey, gambler boy,” Rex’s snarky voice interrupted Joey’s thoughts.

  Joey's gaze sharpened. Opposite of him, still shirtless and proudly bearing the 'LOSE!' painted on his chest, was Rex Raptor. His next opponent. The barrier between his duel against Yugi.

  "Dino boy." Joey stoically responded. On his own chest, the painted words 'DON'T LOSE' felt like they were glaring back at Rex. Though he’d already beaten this foe before, Joey had no intention of looking down on this duelist. He knew fully well the game could go either way.

  “Looks like our rematch is up next.”

  Joey sharply nodded. “Looks like.”

  Eyeing each other warily, the two teens made their way down to the main floor, passing Mai and Yugi along the way.

  “Good luck!” Yugi slapped Joey on the back. Surprisingly enough, Mai Valentine did the same to Rex, which made the dino duelist sputter in surprise. His surprise elicited a spurt of amused laughter from Mai.

  The boys took their places opposite each other at the table. With narrow eyes, they stared each other down. Only one could walk away from the table victorious. For Serenity’s sake, Joey knew it had to be him. There was no choice in the matter, none at all.

  Pegasus’s voice cut through the cheer section. “May the second match of the semi-finals begin~!”

  Joey: 4000 Rex: 4000

  -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

  Watching from the balcony, Tea put her head in her hands. “They left their shirts up here…” She groaned.

  Mai put her arm around Tea in a big-sisterly gesture, smiling a rueful smile as she did. “Trust me. They know.”

  “CAUSE THEY’RE THE LADS! RAHHH LET’S FUCKING GOOO!!!!” Phil, as exuberant as ever, gave a laughing shout from his perch on the balcony railing. “Go Joey! Beat Rex’s face in! I believe in you!”

  “FUCK YOU PHIL!” Rex replied calmly with an elegant raising of his middle finger. That only served to bring forth even more uproarious laughter shared between the three weirdos on the balcony railing and the two weirdos at the dueling table.

  Tea could only bury her head further in her hands, even as a giggle threatened to break through her embarrassment. They were a bunch of weirdos, and she wouldn’t have it any other way.

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