Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

"Attention, all duelists," an authoritative voice could be heard addressing a crowd. "Welcome to this event sponsored by Industrial Illusions. You received, with your invitation, the star-chips that will grant you entry into the contest. You are all elite; invited by us after close observation of your past Duel Monsters contests. You each have a fair and equal chance to win. It all comes down to how well you've chosen your cards and how well you play." 

As Kemo, the authoritative voice of the Head of Security, sternly welcomed the crowd of invited duelists, three teens hid behind one of the large shipping containers on the dock, waiting for their moment to sneak their way onto the ship leaving for the famous Duelist Kingdom tournament, which was sponsored by Maximillion Pegasus himself; the creator of Duel Monsters!

The first hidden teen, sporting blonde hair and a green jacket spoke up to his friends with a surprisingly Brooklyn accent as duelists lined up to present their star-chips. "Alright, guys. You know 'da plan, I'm gonna try and distract 'da security guys while you guys sneak onto 'da ship. Easy, peasy, right?"

The second hidden teen, a girl with brown hair wearing a light-yellow long-sleeve shirt and pink vest hushed her friend in fear of getting caught. "Joey, quiet down! Now, are you sure this will work? It'd be really bad if Tristan and I got caught. What if they throw us into the ocean?!"

The last teen, Tristan, wearing a brown trenchcoat in an attempt to hide his tall frame, tried to reassure their friend. "Don't worry Tea, our plan is fine! They'll be too busy dealing with Joey to notice us as long we're fast!"

"Yea, Tea," Joey agreed, a prideful smile on his face, "'Da plan 'dat I came up with is foolproof! Now, let's see about puttin' da plan into actio-" Joey paused before finishing his sentence as he noticed something when he went back to sneakily observe the fully formed line of invited contestants. His eyes widened in confused exasperation at what he saw standing near the very front of the line.

"What happened, Joey?" Tristan asked, confused as to why his friend abruptly and uncharacteristically cut off like that. That was until he too peered around the corner of the shipping container to take a look. "Woah... I knew there were gonna be some younger kids participating, but I didn't think they'd invite someone that young."

"What are you guys talking about? I don't see any-" Tea huffed, also confused as to what was going on since she followed Tristan's lead to also take a look but instead did not find anything out of the ordinary. At least until Joey abruptly and also quite rudely turned her head toward what her friends were looking at.

"Is dat a freakin' todlah'!"

{~DYMDM~}

Five years.

Five years was how much time passed since I regained consciousness. It honestly startled the hell out of me the moment I gained self-awareness for the second time. I'm only a tiny ashamed to admit that it absolutely scared the hell out of me when my mature thought process caught up with my younger body's mental faculties. Waking up in the body of a two-year-old with the intelligence of a college student was disorienting as hell.

Nevertheless, I'm proud to admit it only took me three hours to force my toddler body to stop crying.

After that happened, I realized my crying attracted the attention of my Mom, or at least this body's Mom- which holy shit, I hope I didn't just, like, overwrite the soul of a two-year-old because if so then goddamn am I going to hell. I noticed that my Mom in this new life looked quite different than my old Mom, which made me quite curious as to how I'd look like as well as where my Dad was.

But before I could think any further, I was promptly picked up and taken for, in the words of Mom, 'Afternoon Munchies'.

That was five years ago. A lot of stuff has happened since then. I realized we were in Japan which made me wonder why I heard and read everything in English. My parents figured out I was quite intelligent for my age, though thankfully I managed to hide most of my real intelligence so it didn't look really weird why a toddler was speaking in full and grammatically-correct sentences. Then, Mom got sick around three years ago. Like, 'bed-ridden in a hospital' type sick. I never knew what it was since Dad never told me and I was never able to overhear some of the hushed conversations between my parents and the doctors. Then she died, which was a real bummer.

I wasn't that attached to her since, one, I was a hundred times more intelligent than an actual toddler, so the close bond that should have normally formed felt more like having an acquaintance than a Mother, and two, she wasn't really my Mom. I'd already had a Mom and I couldn't see her ever again- okay, no. We're not spiraling right now, at least not while I'm giving some much-needed exposition. Anyway, it's still a bummer. 

After Mom died, it was just me and my Dad. Dad became pretty distant, which was understandable considering the love of his life was just ripped away from him. He tried to act like the responsible adult he was supposed to be but, more often than not, he just couldn't handle it. Honestly, given my age, if I wasn't capable of being as self-sufficient and creative as I was- screw this toddler body- then I likely would have been worse off, if not near death.

One positive, though, was that with the decreased adult supervision, I could actually begin plotting on what to do with my new life! I'd managed to figure out when exactly I was and, sheesh, I'd been reincarnated in the 90's. More specifically, I was born on May 29th, 1990, which meant I was going to get to fully experience the early 2000s, which was going to be great, I just knew it. Maybe I could invest in Bitcoin early and become a multi-millionaire...

And then my growing excitement vanished the day I learned of what city I'd been born in.

Domino City.

Ever since that day, I'd been metaphorically praying on the downfall of whatever higher power thought it'd be funny to send me to the Yugioh-verse. I also began cursing my annoyingly incessant desire to involve myself in established canon.

A very annoyingly incessant desire indeed.

After Dad became so distant that he only stopped by to drop whatever money he thought I needed to live, I started plotting on how exactly I was going to do anything. I was born too late to be of age to be taken seriously as a duelist during the original canon, though given how the years lined up I might be just old enough to enter Duel Academy around the same time as Jaden does.

On the other hand, I could say fuck it and try anyway. It does sound pretty hilarious to think of a 7-year-old not just holding his ground in a shadow duel but winning. 

Decision made, I decided to figure out a game plan. Duelist Kingdom was the current mission objective which meant I'd need to obtain a personal invite from Pegasus. Those are only given to people of interest or those who've won or come close to winning tournaments. Though I do remember a bunch of pre-teens and teenager-aged kids on the boat to Duelist Kingdom in the anime, so maybe the selection is broader than I thought. 

Nah, it wouldn't be good to chance it. Which meant I needed to attract the attention of the creator of Duel Monsters. The man with the evil, ancient, magical artifact that can read minds, put souls into trading cards, and initiate shadow games. Fun.

I decided that daylight dueling was out of the question considering my age and I'm fairly certain people aren't stupid enough to not put age requirements on their tournaments. That means I've gotta find one of those underground dueling rings. I know that they will exist at some point due to some info that I don't remember the source of- and since the Rare Hunters existed during battle city, there was also most definitely a Duel Monsters Black Market- but I'm not sure if they exist right now since Duel Monsters hasn't yet reached the point of taking over the entire world. It seemed like my best chance though.

With short and long-term goals in place,  I only had one thing left to do before I set out on my four-year journey to completely dominate the entire underground dueling industry.

I had to make a deck.

{~DYMDM~}

"Contestants! Present your star-chips before you board the vessel!"

"Excuse me, down here!"

"Huh?"

The security guard at the front table that was placed just in front of the boarding ramp was guarded by two other security personnel who looked around for a moment before I placed my hands on the table that I was just barely able to see over if I stood on the tips of my toes.

"Down here! I'm here to present my star-chips!" My high-pitched, quite admittedly, adorable voice squeaked out passed my lips. That, among many other things about my new body, was something I planned to abuse the shit out of.

"Kid, I'm not sure how you got this far into the line, but I'm going to have to ask you to go back home." The security guard rather politely requested. Surprising too, especially considering I knew just what this arc's version of Pegasus' security roster acted like.

I raised my gloved hand containing my two star-chips as well as my Glory of the King's Hand and Glory of the King's Opposite Hand cards to show I was serious. "But, sir! I was invited by Mr. Pegasus himself! My name's Light Dākami," I internally snickered at the name I'd given myself. The body I've come to inhabit was, unknowingly yet hilariously, named Light Yagami by Mom. I decided to come up with a different family name so that nobody with enough money to buy documents that they shouldn't have access to- cough Pegasus and Kaiba cough- could link whatever family I had left back to me.

It only fueled the ridiculousness of it all to call myself "Light 'Dark God'".

Focusing back on the guard, I noticed he looked at me for a second, his jaw slightly ajar, which is what told me he was surprised that a 7-year-old had been invited to the biggest Dueling tournament of the year. At least that would be the case until Battle City, but they didn't know that.

The guard pulled out a phone before dialing a number and putting it up to his ear. "Mr. Pegasus, sir," he said with slight hesitation before it steeled into a firm, undecipherable tone, "there's a child here by the name of Light Dākami saying he's been invited to the contest." I heard the electronically distorted muffling of what I assumed to be Pegasus' voice on the other end say something before the guard spoke up again, "Right, of course, sir."

The man then put his phone away, likely having been hung up on, and turned back towards me. "You may board the ship, Mr. Dākami"

"Yippee!~" I whooped as I rushed past the guards onto the ramp. Acting like the kid I was supposed to be was sure to be a surprise once I had to get rid of the persona, especially considering I knew that Pegasus was always watching.

As I boarded the transport to Duelist Kingdom, I overheard a commotion from below closer to the line. Some kid with a Brooklyn accent was being hauled off from the premises. 'Ah, that would be Joey,' I thought in amusement.

I climbed the last few steps before making my way to the main cabin. It was a large open area with people beginning to settle down and talk to each other. Some things over here about improving their decks and some things over there about what the island would be like. Really, it was just stuff I didn't care about. There was also a buffet attached to one of the walls where I could see people starting to pick up plates and eat. Normal stuff. 

I guess I'll hang around here for a bit before I decide to go to my room. That was actually a bit of a shocker. I knew from the anime that only championship finalists received private rooms, so to have received a private room as well was quite suspicious. Though, I'd figured maybe it was because I was the youngest participant in the tournament and a Seven-year-old at that. If that was the case, then I guessed it was nice to see a sliver of the good man Pegasus was and could be inside the evil of the man he currently is.

I haven't yet been able to figure out if I was in the anime or the manga continuity, so it'd really hit me right in the heart if I were able to see that there's still a chance that Pegasus could change for the better only for Yami Bakura to murder him for his magic eyeball.

Especially considering I knew just how much better Pegasus could eventually become.

A few hours later, I felt the boat lurch as it began to move away from the dock and settle on a course for Duelist Kingdom. From where I was perched on top of one of the shelves I'd managed to stealthily climb, I was able to have a birds-eye view of the entire main cabin along with many of the contestants who sat around trading cards and talking about their strategies. I eventually saw what I could only assume was Yugi Moto and Joey Wheeler enter after Mai Valentine. I could only really tell it was them at first thanks to Yugi's anime protag' hairdo and their iconic outfits. Their actual looks were quite different than the anime which was to be expected since everything looked like real life. I could still tell it was them upon taking a closer look at their faces, but there were some very minor differences to their faces since now they were real 3D people instead of 2D cartoons.

As Mai stalked off into a hallway leading out of the main cabin and Joey got in trouble again before he and Yugi got approached by Rex Raptor and Weevil Underwood, I decided to begin Operation: "Let's fuck shit up". Quickly sliding off the tall shelf and landing without injury, I stalked my way over to the hall Mai had left through. It was easy to hide my presence from all of the distracted duelists due to having to learn to do so from my previous maybe-definitely-illegal experiences.

I waited for about a minute before I heard Mai start complaining to someone who, upon hearing his voice, I knew was some random security guard. "Rules are rules, ma'am. There's nothing I can do!"

Upon hearing the commotion, I knew it was go-time. Turning the corner, noticing Rex making his way through the entrance to the hall I'd just stood in, I made myself present. I had to crane my neck upwards since she was almost two and a half times my height. "Hello," I tried to put as much adorableness into my voice as possible without it sounding too cringey. "What's goin' on?

Mai, who had turned to me only for her face to fill with shock at the sight of such a small child, managed to snap out of her stupor and regain her angry expression before turning back to the security guard. "These people expect a lady such as myself to stay in a dump like this! Call your superiors right now!"

"A-Ah- ma'am, please!-" he tried to reason before I cut him off.

I gripped the straps of my medium-sized camping backpack, which appeared comically large on my tiny frame. "Well, miss, Mr. Pegasus gave me one of the luxury rooms to stay in since I'm so young. If you want, I could show you around!" I finished with as blinding of a cinnamon-roll smile as I could possibly produce.

Her face returned to the shocked expression it was before she also smiled, though I noticed it was less of the "I'm gonna manipulate this pervert" smile she gave in the anime and more of a "Maybe I can get this small child to let me stay in his multi-millionaire-given luxury room" kind of smile.

Before she could speak, however, I finally noticed Rex catch up to our scene. I didn't want Mai to think she could instead manipulate Rex into forfeiting his room so I did the first thing I could think of and decided to act my age. I rushed up to Rex with the most awe-struck expression I could manage, which seemed to do the trick as he was too suddenly shocked to speak. "Oh my god, you're the runner-up finalist for the last Duel Monsters Championship! I loved the way your dinos go 'Rawr!' and stomp all over the other contestants, Mr. Raptor!"

As he managed to break out of his shock, it seemed I was successful in distracting him by playing on his ego. "Ah, a fan I take it? It was nothing! I'm sure I'm gonna rock this tournament just like the last one! Maybe you'll get to see my dinos again, kid!" he smiled before laughing in that exact scratchy high-pitched voice he had in the anime.

"For sure, for sure!" I said excitable before deciding to get the hell out of there. "Bye, Mr. Raptor!" I shouted as I ran up to Mai, grabbing her hand, and forcing her out of the hallway and away from Rex.

After finally dragging Mai over to the luxury rooms, I used the key I was given in my invitation letter to open the door. As I walked in, I didn't have to fake my awe at the size and detail put into the room. "Woah, this place looks awesome!"

"It's beautiful..." Mai trailed off behind me as she looked at the decorations on the walls and ceiling.

I ran up to the nearest couch I could reach and barreled into the pillows, absolutely relishing my child-like body and the way everything seemed so much brighter and more enjoyably stimulating. A giggle escaped past my lips as I bounced off the firm yet soft cushions of the sofa.

"Come in, come in!" I encouraged Mai once I turned to look at her, only to see her still standing at the door. That snapped her out of her space-out session and she closed the door, making sure to lock it. I internally raised an eyebrow at the action, but then I remembered that she was a self-made woman coming from a background of gambling and general underhanded workplace environments, what with working at a casino and that one guy I remembered during Battle City that she had a history with and who tried to force her to marry him. It's probably instinctual and honestly, I wouldn't blame her, what with it being the 90's.

"This place is awesome!" I beamed as she sat on the opposite side of me on another couch.

It seems now that she's actually gotten her short-term goal of getting into a good enough room to possibly stay the night in, she doesn't know how to deal with children. Teenage and even adult perverts who think they can pull a fast one? Oh, she can deal with them perfectly by playing into their ego and desires and then sweeping the rug out from under them. Adorable little children, who couldn't possibly have an actually malicious ulterior motive? It seems like that's where her experience draws something of a blank.

I decided to break the ice after a few moments of silence since my inner adult couldn't handle the awkwardness. "So, miss. I don't think I can just keep calling you miss since we're gonna be sharing a room. My name's Light Dākami! What's yours?"

That seemed to shock and confuse her as her face visibly reacted to the emotion. "Sharing?" she said, looking at me with an expression that made me think the gears had yet to turn in her brain.

Can she not handle children? From what I remember from the anime, she's usually got the poker face of a tiger about to pounce on its prey which lines up with her personality. Maybe I'm just that good at being a pure, innocent cinnamon roll. "Yea! It'll be like a sleepover! It's gonna be so fun!"

Her expression turned into full shock before changing into what I assumed was contemplation and then an "Okay, I can work with this. How bad could it possibly be?" kind of face. "Alright. My name's Mai Valentine. Though, I think I should probably ask- you said earlier in the hall that you were the youngest duelist in the tournament. How old are you, kid?"

"I'm seven years old!" I smiled brightly while holding out seven fingers. Doing good so far, Dākami. You're a natural child, haha!

Mai's eyes widened a fraction before she schooled her expression, though I could see concern written in her eyes. "Kid, do your parents know you're out here participating? I can't image why Pegasus would send a kid an invitation," she asked before muttering, "I thought there was an age requirement..."

I looked her in the eyes for a few moments, my smile still plastered on my face though more forced now. What to do, what to do. I could reveal my tragic backstory or I could start building and air of mysteriousness thanks to being the only kid with a single-digit age on the island. Though, I'm sure Pegasus has recording devices hidden somewhere in the room... Yeah, best to keep that safe and locked up within my noggin' for now. My smile widened again before I waved her off, "Eh, it's okay! I'm sure they know what I'm doing from where they are. Anyway, what's your favorite color? What kinds of cards do you like? Are you good at duel monsters?"

She held that look of concern in her eye for a moment longer before dismissing the emotion and smirking. "Well, Light, my favorite color is purple, hence the jacket. I like the kind of cards that help me show off my wonderful Harpies and, not to brag, but I'm pretty sure I'm a better duelist than 90% of the people in this tournament. Rex Raptor might give me some trouble, though I'm sure I could beat him. If Raptor's here, then Weevil Underwood isn't far behind. He might prove to be a bit more of a challenge..." she trailed off as she began to have a moment to herself.

I let it continue for a few moments before getting her attention again. "Woah, that's so cool, Ms. Mai! My favorite color is red! I love fiend cards and I wanna try to get to Mr. Pegasus' castle! I wanna fight him!" I gave answers to my own questions in return. Wanting to fight Pegasus wasn't actually a lie, I did kind of want to duel Pegasus to see how someone with knowledge of Modern-Earth Yugioh could fair against the freaking creator of duel monsters. 

However, that knowledge is heavily restricted considering the current era. No Pendulums, no Links, no XYZ's, no Synchros, and since I'm currently in the Duelist Kingdom arc, there are barely any worthwhile fusions and ritual monsters. That's not to mention the rules for this arc are what I like to call "Random Bullshit Go" rules and since I'm so early in the Duel Monster's timeline, the kinds of cards one could collect are severely limited from what I'm used to and the support for what is available is practically non-existent. That's also not to mention that the knowledge of available cards currently on the market was heavily restricted thanks to there not being any sort of card catalog, though I'd like to think I've done a fairly good job of circumventing that due to my involvement in the Duel Monsters criminal underworld.

When I heard Mai's laughter I snapped back to reality and asked, genuinely curious, "What's so funny?"

"You think you can win a duel against Maximilian Pegasus? The creator of duel monsters?" She said in incredulous amusement, a smile stretched across her face.

My cheeks puffed up as I got genuinely annoyed at Mai dissing my skill. I could probably even beat her in a duel right here right now considering I know about her card tricks! "Hey! It's gonna happen! I'm gonna get to that castle after I get my ten star-chips and then I'm gonna beat him in a duel and then I'm gonna save the princess!" I added on that last bit to keep up with the childish persona.

"Princess?" Mai asked, confused, as her smile dropped by a couple of centimeters.

"Well, yeah... Mr. Pegasus has a castle on an island in the middle of nowhere! It'd make sense he's hiding a princess in one of his towers." I reasoned childishly while nodding my head like I knew exactly what I was talking about. Which I did, considering Mokuba actually was currently trapped in a tower in Pegasus' castle.

Mai actually giggled this time while her eyes lit up with amusement. "Yeah, I guess it does."

{~DYMDM~}

I woke up the next morning, wrapped in a high-quality blanket on the couch. Taking a moment to wake up and get my brain into gear, I remembered what happened last night.

After about an hour of getting to know each other, Mai and I agreed we should probably figure out how this arrangement was gonna work. Since I didn't really care and the sofa was actually really comfortable I gave Mai the bed. This shocked her at first but I told her that since I'm so small, sleeping on the couch would be like sleeping on my own bed at home and that she wouldn't fit comfortably on a couch anyway, and she conceded to that. As for the shower, I let her have the first go. She didn't question me on that and got up to go organize her stuff before hopping in said shower. 

Getting up from the couch, I rubbed sleepily at my eyes. Sometimes I really hated the fact that I was in the body of a child. The limits I could go to were too small for what I'm used to, but I don't have a choice but to make do until I get older. I really wished that would happen sooner rather than later.

Looking out the window, I noticed that it was still nighttime outside, but considering I always slept for a full eight hours without interruption I assumed the sun was close to rising. Lifting my arms into a stretch before hopping off the sofa, I collected my outfit for the day from my bag. I wasn't going to just be like 90% of the contestants in this competition and look like an extra. This was an anime and I intended to look and, for the most part, act like I was in an anime. That meant I needed a fit that could be iconic.

Smartly deciding to change in the bathroom to eliminate the chance of Mai walking in on me at the wrong moment, I softly closed and locked the door before beginning to change into my new clothes. Taking a moment to look in the full body mirror on the wall once I was done, I thought I looked fucking awesome: Of course, my clothes were really small since I was a paltry four feet tall, but the jacket with the popped collar that looked similar to Joey's green jacket in shape and was intentionally a blue color that was a few shades darker than Seto Kaiba's Duelist Kingdom jacket, the white undershirt I'd chosen that's just baggy enough to look cool once it's been meticulously stuffed into my blue jeans, and the blue sneakers actually managed to make me look cool rather than more adorable.

The outfit looked just right when taking into account the features of my actual body; black hair that looked exactly like L's from Deathnote and green eyes that were just big enough that I could use them to aid me whenever I needed to pull on my child persona. Not to mention, thanks- I guess?- to my Dad never being around and my need to constantly run whenever my opponents decided losing to a kid is something they'd be willing to kill over, I was skinny enough to have the outfit land just right on my frame.

Finally, I put on the last piece of my outfit and arranged it so it sat just right under my jacket but on top of my white shirt. The item in question was a pendant made entirely of gold with intricate designs around a red ruby. 

I'm talking, of course, about the completed Shadow Charm Pendant that was prominent in the Yugioh!: GX anime. Now, let me explain. A year ago, once I decided that my deck was going to be the best it could be for the current era, I attempted to use my knowledge of the magical natures of the Spirit World and Duel Spirits. Thanks to the different series all happening in the same universe, or multiverse when you get to ARC-V and stuff, I knew that what was shown in the future series had to have always existed during the original, which meant that if I could find a way to access the Spirit World, then I could maybe get at least something to help me when the time came for all the Millenium Items' shenanigans.

Was it incredibly dangerous? Yeah. Was it wise for a 6-year-old to be messing with concepts beyond comprehension? Probably not, but I knew that my entire life here was going to be full of taking risks so what's one more? After nearly 6 months of trying to find a way to break into the Spirit World, I'd finally found a way to do so by using my cards. See, all Duel Monsters cards are vessels for the Duel Spirits to utilize in order to be summoned into our world. This was how it was done back in Ancient Egypt, except instead of cards it was giant stone tablets. 

From what I could tell from the information given by the Millenium World Arc and GX, a person's Ka is essentially a contract between them and a Duel Spirit. Their Ba, which would represent themselves, could be strengthened to attract stronger Duel Spirits to make a more powerful Ka. Now, I'm not sure if Duel Spirits force a contract of Ka to be made with humans, considering I'm pretty sure there are a bunch of cases where humans just have access to their Ka naturally without prior interaction with a Duel Spirit, or if there are ways to negotiate a contract with a Duel Spirit, but I know that it's said that a person's nature, or personality, attracts Duel Spirits that are similar in nature or represent concepts that the human agrees with.

This information is important because it means that if I could attract a Duel Spirit to form a Ka with me through the use of my cards, I could then ask them to take me to the Spirit Realm. From there, all I'd have to do was find that Graveskeeper guy from the anime and beat him for a Shadow Charm.

The card I'd chosen to try and summon was my Reaper of the Cards. I'd chosen him because I thought I'd have better luck with him than any of the other monsters. See, I have a Dark/Fiend-type deck, mostly focusing on monster card destruction and spell/trap negation. This is to say that, since most of my monsters have card descriptions that depict them in less than favorable ways- pretty fucking evil- I'd have to go with the monster that would want to send me to the Shadow Realm the least. 

Not to mention, he was essentially a Shinigami... and I was Light Yagami. The humor practically creates itself.

I thought I could at least rely on the Grim fucking Reaper to be fair and unconcerned with the concepts of morality, which was pretty similar to my current mindset. I acknowledge the existence of good and evil in all people, but it hardly matters to me since I'm too focused on doing what I want- when I want- to care. I also acknowledge that most things must come to an end, so I wasn't then concerned with putting a complete stop to death so much as I was concerned about dying at that particular moment. 

It was my will to adhere to those conditions and form a Ka with the Reaper of the Cards that allowed me to actually bring him into our world. He was mostly transparent and I could tell it had taken all of my effort to try and keep him in the physical plane, which lined up with how the presence of Duel Energy- or shadow magic- increased the longer the series went on. I'd explained the proposition to the Reaper and, for a moment, I'd thought he would either leave or kill me, but he eventually agreed to form a Ka and take me to the spirit world.

Now, months later, I knew that I'd probably change my convictions since that contract was made with a version of me that knew nothing of what it meant to face death, so I'm fully expecting and prepared to have the Repear of the Cards leave me once the time was right. For now, though? I got a sweet Millennium Deterrent and a Duel Spirit to aid my defense against Shadow Magic.

As I finished admiring my outfit and getting ready for the day, I stepped out of the bathroom and noticed Mai sitting on the couch, fully decked out in her gear and clothes. I turned to the window to notice the sun was fully up already.

"Hey, Light," Mai greeted me from where she was seated. I could see she was taking another look at her cards, possibly to reinforce whatever combos she had planned for the tournament.

I smiled as I began packing up the things I'd taken out of my camping bag last night. "Good morning, Ms. Mai. Did you sleep well?"

She gathered up all her cards, making sure the deck was organized before placing it in one of her pockets. "Yeah, I did. Thank you, by the way. For letting me stay."

"It's no problem! There's way too much room for someone my size anyway." I adjusted the strap on the bag once I had it on me, making sure they were tight enough that I could run without worrying that the bag would hinder my movement. "Anyway," I started, looking back at her once I was fully ready to head out, "I think I'm going to head out. I wanna make sure I don't miss anything."

Mai nodded her head and agreed, picking up her own bag. Once we left the room, with me making sure to leave the key inside, she turned to me and said, "Now, don't think about getting any ideas. I may be grateful that you let me share the room, but we're in a tournament, Light. Don't expect me to go easy on you if we find each other in a duel."

"I wouldn't dream of it," I replied in earnest, with a grin on my face. Which only served to encourage Mai's own smile. I nodded to her before turning around and making my way to the outside of the ship.

I figured the ship practically just arrived at the Duelist Kingdom port since I could see that even the ramp wasn't up yet. I only had to wait about 10 minutes, looking around unsuccessfully for the target of phase 1 of my handy, dandy 3-step plan, before I heard the voice of a man amplified through one of the speakers on the ship. 

"Attention all duelists, please disembark in an orderly fashion," the voice directed. I still couldn't find my target so I decided to wait until everyone was off the ship before conducting a more thorough search. Once I stepped off the ramp, I noticed Yugi and his friends up ahead talking to each other. I planned to get involved with them during phase 2 of the plan, so instead I ignored them for now.

After a few minutes, I heard Rolan speak up from the front of the crowd, "Welcome all duelists. Please, follow the stairs to meet your host."

'Ugh... more walking,' I thought. Maybe I didn't quite realize how much of that I'd be doing over the next couple of days.

Once everyone fully climbed the gigantic zigzagging staircase up to the front of Pegasus' smaller castle, I sneakily made my way up onto a vantage point so that, once everyone was standing on the port, I could finally find my target. I could easily make out the forms of Weevil, Rex, and Mai thanks to their recognizable outfits. I could also make out Mako Tsunami thanks to his recognizable lack of an outfit.

"Attention," Kemo's voice once again spread out across the sea of people. "Your benevolent host is anxious to greet you all."

I turned my attention up to the balcony where I saw the main man himself. Sporting immaculate, white, shoulder-length hair and decked out in his recognizable red suit, Maximillion fucking Pegasus stepped up to the balcony to address the participants of his tournament. 

"Greetings, duelists," the man happily welcomed, spreading his arms out elegantly, "I am Maximillion Pegasus! It is my great honor and pleasure to welcome you all to the Duelist Kingdom. You stand before me, the world's greatest duelists, but come tournaments end, only one shall be crowned King of Games! I implore you all to assemble your dueling decks with care, with creativity, and with cunning. For this competition will test your skills like never before! To track your progress within the tournament, you've each been given a dueling glove. You've also been given two precious star-chips. You must wager these star-chips in each duel you compete in to advance to the final level of competition. For a chance at the three million dollar price, you must win ten star-chips. Ten star-chips will admit you into my main castle where you'll face me in one final duel!"

"This will be a tournament unlike anything you have ever experienced," Pegasus declared, putting his arms down and behind his back. "State-of-the-art dueling arenas cover this entire island and intriguing new dueling rules will be in effect! I could tell you what these new rules are, but what fun would that be? You'll discover them as you compete or you won't last very long. Remember, play boldly, think strategically, and duel mercilessly. You have one full hour to prepare both your cards and yourselves. When the skies light up with fireworks, the duels will begin!"

As he finished up his speech, I noticed him lock eyes with Yugi before his face scrunched up by a fraction and searched the crowd. He searched with his eyes before he locked his eyes with mine. From this far away, I wasn't sure if I saw correctly, but I'm pretty sure his eyes widened microscopically once his gaze lowered down to my Shadow Charm. He only kept his gaze for a second before turning and walking back into his portside castle. Just like that, my first long-term goal is complete.

Attract the attention of Maximillion Pegasus and get onto Duelist Kingdom.

Chapter Text

Once the fireworks started blasting colors across the sky, I finally found my target- or well, targets. Across the sea of duelists stood a man who, compared to the nationalities of the rest of the contestants, looked very out of place. Sporting that blue leather jacket of his along with a red undershirt, the blonde American known as "Bandit Keith" and his three cronies, Zygor, Sid, and Bonz, were surprisingly tricky to find.

See, the first phase of the plan was to collect ten star-chips. Easy enough, right? Except I didn't know who I could and couldn't reliably beat in a duel. I'm confident in my skills, at least enough to be able to win despite Duelist Kingdom's stupid rules, but this tournament consisted of people experienced in Duel Monsters competitions. If I wasn't careful, I could be wiped from the tournament before I even had the chance to see Pegasus' main castle.

It was that exact reason that led me to the American Duelist. See, I had two star-chips, and Keith and his gang had a total of eight. That means, if I beat his entire gang, I could secure my spot in the finals in one fell swoop. From what I remember, Bandit Keith wasn't that important to the story of Duel Monsters. He made it to the finals and stole the Glory of the King's Opposite Hand card that Yugi gave to Joey. The only real ramification from that was Mai gaining some character development since she had already lost against Yugi, so she gave her Glory of the King's Opposite Hand to Joey so he could still Duel. 

After that, he only showed up one more time in the anime when he tried to steal Yugi's Millenium Puzzle during Season 2. And that was only in the anime, in the manga it was some other guy, so I'm not entirely worried about whether me beating him now will have side effects for the timeline. Though since he's entirely a cheater, I fully plan to pull Keith into a Shadow Game. That way, when I do catch him cheating, I can start a Pentaly Game and card his soul. I'm not going to outright kill him and banish his soul to the Shadow Realm, but I do want him out of the way and I'd prefer not to waste my time with him before I moved on to his less skilled goons.

Plan set, I began to use my small size to stealthily follow Keith as he, and the rest of the duelists, began to spread out onto the island. We walked for a good 40 minutes before I saw Keith say something to one of his goons. I looked around and noticed we'd ended up in a clearing by a waterfall before I heard Keith's voice shout out. "Hey, kid! I know you've been following us, so hows about you come out?"

Startled at first, I took a deep breath before straightening my back in confidence and dramatically walking out of the thick bushes. I stopped just ten feet from the four men before pointing a finger at Keith and declaring, "Bandit Keith, I challenge you to a duel!"

There was a tense few moments before Keith burst out in laughter. I'm talking right hand clutching his stomach and left hand propped up on his knee, kind of laughing. I held my pose until he was finished so he could figure out I was one hundred percent serious. I saw Bonz attempt to whisper to Keith, but he was clearly bad at it. "Boss, doesn't that kid look a little young?"

Bandit Keith finally managed to stifle his laughter enough to actually be able to talk, though he still had a shit-eating grin on his face, "Yeah, he does! Hey, kid. Why don'cha find the nearest boat home? This clearly ain't the place for toddlers!"

I finally put my hand down before looking at him with the most serious expression I could make on my admittedly adorable face. "If you think I'm such a baby, why don't you stop yapping and start dueling? Or are you too afraid to fight a Seven-Year-Old?"

I grinned internally as my words wiped the smile off of Keith's face. Sid stepped up to him trying to placate his American leader, "It's okay boss, I'll duel him and take his star-chips for ya!"

"SHUT UP!" Keith yelled at his subordinate before turning back to me, "Fine, squirt. If you wanna get wrecked by Bandit Keith, then I'm happy to help you!"

Once he agreed to the duel, a rumble started up around us. All of a sudden, closer to the waterfall, the ground opened up as the sudden earthquake subsided. A duel stadium had risen from the depths of Duelist Kingdom to provide the stage for our battle. Admittedly, I couldn't hide my smile.

As I stepped onto the platform, it raised until I was capable of seeing both my cards and the field perfectly. It seems the machines can adjust the height of the platform depending on the height of the duelist... quite convenient, Pegasus, I will admit. Once both our decks were in place, we each drew our hands and the stadium screen lit up, showing both our life points. I could see out of the corner of my eye, Zygor, Sid, and Bonz standing just within view of the stadium. They couldn't actually see what was on the field since the stadium was tall enough to reach past their heads, but I bet if either of us played any monsters, they'd be able to see that.

"Alright," I turned back to Keith as he started speaking, "Like the nice guy I am, I'll let you go first, kid."

A moment passed and Keith's smile dropped by a fraction as I started laughing. The sound of my laughter started to sound malicious even to my ears as I willed the Shadow Charm's magic to begin pulling all five of us into the Shadow Realm.

"Hey, what's happening?", "What the-", "Is it getting darker or is it just me?" I heard the three goons below us begin to question in distress.

My piercing gaze landed on Keith's startled face. He wasn't yet trembling in fear, but he soon would be. It won't be long before his arrogance catches up with him and decides to cheat in our Shadow Duel. Once that happens, I'll rip his soul body to shreds before sending his soul to a hell worse than anything he could ever imagin-

"Hey, kid! What the hell is happening?!" Keith demanded, snapping me out of my thoughts.

I internally shook my head in an attempt to get rid of the intrusive, murderous thoughts. Damn, I'm really going to have to be careful when I use these things. I knew Shadow Magic could corrupt but holy hell, I felt like I was about to leap across the stadium and attack him then and there.

Making a mental note to control myself from now on, I let a smile grace my face once again, though this time not as evil-looking. "What, you didn't think Pegasus wouldn't pull out all the stops would you? The creator of Duel Monsters? This is, after all, his tournament!"

"Now, let's shut up and start dueling!" I looked at my five-card hand. I had Crush Card Virus, Yomi Ship{800/1400}, Earthbound Spirit{500/2000}, Change of Heart, and Creature Swap. "Alright, here goes! I set Yomi Ship in defense position!" I announced as I set the card in its rightful spot on the board. Only a moment of silence before the duel stadium started whirring. The light itself condensed and colorized and my eyes widened as I saw a giant wooden suddenly appear in great detail.

I snapped myself out of my shock, though my smile widened as I felt the energy of the Shadow Realm swirl around my monster. I also set Crush Card Virus in a spell/trap zone behind Yomi Ship, though I didn't say anything about it. What? If he didn't notice the board change, then it's his fault. It's not cheating. "Your move!" I said as I ended my turn.

"Heh," Keith chuckled as he drew a card, "All bark and no bite. I draw!" Once he got a look at his card, he laughed before slamming it on the table. 

"Beat that kid, boss!" I heard Bonz encourage from the sidelines.

"Shut up, Bonz!" Keith reprimanded as a large mechanically enhanced spider formed from the condensed light and swirling shadows. Keith grinned as he began to announce his strategy, "I play Launcher Spider{2200/2500} in attack mode! Next, I think I'll activate the continuous spell Machine Assembly Line which gives all my machine-type monsters 200 more attack points! Launcher Spider{2400/2500}, Concussion Missile Attack!"

I watched as the missiles flew through the air before landing on my Yomi Ship, blowing it to smithereens as light particles shimmered through the air. Once the monster was destroyed, I couldn't help but place a hand on the table to steady myself. I knew characters would react to the attack's landing as though it was painful, but I couldn't tell if that was anime logic or the Shadow Realm in this particular scenario. 

Regardless, a laugh slipped from my lips as I grinned wildly, "Thank you, Bandit Keith! Since your Launcher Spider destroyed my Yomi Ship, two things get to happen! First, my Yomi Ship's effect activates! Once it's destroyed by battle and sent to the graveyard, The monster that destroyed it also gets destroyed!"

"What!" Bandit Keith and his three goons exclaimed as they all watched the explosion from the Yomi Ship grow until it encompassed the Launcher Spider, sending it to the graveyard as well. I saw Keith's life points drain as he took damage equal to half Launcher Spider's attack points, dropping them down to 800 thanks to the effect damage rule. 

"Next, since my monster was destroyed, my trap card activates," I announced as the card on the field that Keith could now see was revealed. "Since the monster you destroyed was infected with Crush Card Virus, all monsters you have in your hand, deck, and field that have more than 1500 attack points get sent to the card graveyard!"

I could hear Keith growl in displeasure as he was forced to search his deck and hand for all monsters above 1500 attack points, place them in the graveyard spot, and reshuffle his deck. "Now, I draw!" I declared happily. I focused my gaze on Keith to try and catch him red-handed if he tried to cheat. 

Completely and unsurprisingly, that's exactly what he does. He started out with five cards at the start of his last turn, drawing one to total six before discarding two when he tried to make his attack play. He then had four before my Crush Card Virus swept through his cards, forcing him to discard 3 more cards, leaving him with one. Now, when I see his hand, he has two cards. 

Looking back at the card I'd drawn, I saw it was Kiseitai{300/800}. Not necessarily helpful to wipe out his life points, but now that I know he just cheated, it doesn't matter. I started to laugh as I imagined the look in his eyes. I couldn't quite see them since he was wearing sunglasses, but I certainly could imagine.

"What's so funny?!" Keith demanded, still angry about my virus play.

"No, no," I waved away before grinning maliciously at him. "It's just that... I can't help but notice that you've got two cards left."

Keith looked shocked for a moment before he immediately tried to play it off, "Yeah, and? Your Crush Card Virus didn't exactly leave me with much!"

I couldn't help but get angry, though whether that was the Shadow Realm's influence coursing through me, angry that Keith cheated, or my own feelings, I couldn't tell. I pointed a finger at him as he bore the front of my piercing glare, the red gem on my Shadow Charm glowing against the shadows. "You think I'm stupid, don't you? I clearly saw that machine in your arm hand you a new card! You cheated!"

The man was properly stunned now that I revealed his play, but then he formed a grin of his own, "So? What are you gonna do about it, punk? You may have wiped all the stronger monsters in my deck, but that doesn't mean you can win against the Bandit Keith!"

"You messed with the wrong kid, Bandit Keith... For cheating in a Shadow Duel is no laughing matter," I warned before flaring my will to invoke the Shadow Charm's magic. "I call a Penalty Game! Your soul is forfeit!"

I couldn't help but laugh as Bandit Keith started to scream.

{~DYMDM~}

As Maximillion Pegasus got settled in at his dining room after concluding his journey from the portside castle to his larger, main one at the center of the island, he couldn't help but think back to the introduction speech he'd given nearly an hour and a half ago. Not the speech itself, mind you, but the crowd listening in on his introduction to his wonderful tournament. 

At first, he'd searched for Yugi-boy to make sure he'd made it safely onto the island. He needed Yugi Moto to be defeated in this tournament, as it was a condition for his contract with KaibaCorp's board of directives, the Big Five, in order for him to assist them in their takeover against Seto Kaiba. That stipulation couldn't exactly be fulfilled if Yugi-boy wasn't in a position where he could be defeated in a duel, so to see that the boy on his island and that the plan was still in effect was comforting. He was a bit miffed to see that his friends had come with him, no doubt for a second that they'd snuck aboard his cruiser to do so. Though, giving one of his star-chips to the Wheeler boy to allow him to enter the competition was brave. Foolish, but brave.

But it wasn't little Yugi who his mind continued to focus on. No, it was the boy he'd invited after hearing he'd dominated those underground dueling circuits used for illegal gambling and black market trading. It wasn't exactly illegal to buy trading cards from unofficial vendors, but it was illegal to use ill-gotten funds to do so. 

When he'd been alerted that a certain someone was making waves in those areas, he'd originally been interested in hiring them to be an Eliminator in his tournament. Then that idea was thrown out the window once he'd obtained solid information on the man, or boy in this case. Born in Japan in 1990, Seven-Year-Old Light Dākami had taken to Duel Monsters like a fish to water. His dueling skills in such spaces, as well as his ability to deal with such an unruly bunch without backlash or harm, suggests an intelligence far greater than what a boy his age should have.

When he'd sent Light an invite to his Duelist Kingdom, he was truly interested in how the boy would fare in his competition. He assumed he'd make it very far, though whether he'd be able to enter as one of the final four contestants was something he wasn't truly convinced about. Of course, seeing as how the boy was so young, he'd thought to give him one of his luxury rooms aboard the cruiser transporting his contests' participants. He wasn't without kindness, after all. Pegasus was a man of his word and he had enough honor not to invite a child so young to his Duelist Kingdom and leave him to fend for himself, at least on the journey to his island. Once he was here, the boy would have to pick himself up by his bootstraps and push through the tournament on his own, as he agreed to when he boarded the transport cruiser.

Yet, despite being originally concerned about that child's choice to hang around such uncouth company, he couldn't help but grow wary once he'd actually seen the boy. Oh, he was certainly adorable in his little outfit, though on the boy, the choice in attire seemed just right for a skilled duelist. Maybe if he was a little older, the choice of clothing would actually add to his flare immensely. Regardless, it wasn't the outfit itself that caused his mind to swirl, but the object hanging around his neck.

He knew it wasn't one of the seven Millennium Items, it couldn't be. The shape of it didn't match the shapes of the holes in the stone tablet he'd seen during his trip to Egypt when he'd obtained his own Millenium Item, the Millennium Eye. The shape of it mostly resembled the Millennium Ring, but it was slightly smaller and it didn't have the pointy accessories that the Ring did. He'd also seen the Millennium Ring, as it was one of the few items still left in the stone tablet, so he was sure it wasn't one of the seven items.

And yet, Shadow Magic swirled around the boy's item. It clearly utilized the same magic and was of a similar design to the Millennium Items, since it too held the Eye of Anubis on its front. Perhaps there were more than the original seven items?

No matter, there was no reason to keep his mind on the topic. It's not like he could do anything about it unless the boy entered his castle during the playoffs. Either the child knew what it was or he didn't. Either the Shadow Magic would consume him or it wouldn't. Though he hoped it wouldn't...

Pegasus was not the kind of man who would be completely unconcerned with the fate of such a young child when the matter of such dark magics was introduced into the equation. He may have become more obsessed about bringing back his dear Cecilia than he'd care to admit, but he was confident he could control the influence of his own Millenium Eye enough to retain his own humanity.

"Sir." Pegasus was snapped out of his thoughts once he'd heard Croquet's voice.

"Yes, Croquet? What is it," the creator of Duel Monsters replied, internally grateful for his subordinate taking his mind off the youngest duelist in his tournament.

Croquet turned on the widescreen television on the other end of the dining room as he continued, "Three of the contestants you requested be flagged for any duels they partake in have alerted the system."

"Three? Already?" Pegasus asked, somewhat surprised that so many of his very short list of persons of interest had immediately started dueling.

"Yes," Croquet began as the screen changed to show Yugi-boy's face and life points along with Weevil Underwood's. "Yugi Moto has nearly finished his duel with Weevil Underwood, earning himself both of his opponent's star-chips."

Ah, of course. Pegasus wasn't surprised that those two would clash so early on, not after getting word that the little insect had tricked Yugi-Boy and thrown his Exodia Cards into the Pacific Ocean. Seeing Yugi prevail against the insufferable insect-loving boy would certainly have been entertainment he'd wished to have seen in real time. He'd have to settle for the recording. "And the other contestant, Croquet?"

"Ah yes," Croquet immediately went to the remote and the screen changed to show just the boy he'd been thinking about for the past hour and a half. "Light Dākami has engaged in a duel with an unregistered opponent, though video footage shows the unknown to be the United States Duel Monsters Champion, Bandit Keith. We don't know how he slipped past our security, but we believe he was going to attempt to make his way through the tournament in order to enter the castle."

Bandit Keith? Pegasus was surprised to see him again after the Intercontinental Championship. And to be facing Light in a duel certainly surprised him even further. "Who won, Croquet?"

Croquet presses a button on the remote, which pulls up the transcript of plays between Light and Keith, showing that the duel only lasted for three turns. "Mr. Dākami prevailed in his duel, though not by defeating Bandit Keith. He'd originally used a Crush Card Virus strategy to cripple Mr. Keith's deck, but the network doesn't show Mr. Keith's life points dropping to zero. Instead, it registers as Mr. Keith having surrendered."

"And what of the video footage? We have cameras focused on every dueling arena on the island, yes?" Pegasus asked, confused as to why there seemed to be an error in the network. He knew Bandit Keith would never surrender a duel, so it was either an error in the network or...

"Well," Croquet started, his tone now somewhat hesitant, "We tried to access the video footage of the duel, but when we did, we couldn't see the contestant's duel. Instead, it showed a black barrier surrounding where the duel stadium would have been."

Pegasus' eyes widened as his back straightened. His gaze bore into the image of Light Dākami's smiling, childish face that was used as his profile picture. 'A Shadow Duel,' Pegasus thought. There was no other explanation. His network was perfect, there was no way that an error would have occurred on its own, which means outside interference was all but guaranteed. 

He knew of Bandit Keith's willingness to cheat at Duel Monsters, which leaves the truth of the events to be plain as day. Either Bandit Keith or Lighty-Boy challenged the other to a duel and Light had drawn Keith into the Shadow Realm, forcing the American into a Shadow Duel. Once Keith had fallen to Light's Crush Card Virus, he'd attempted to cheat in some way, which Lighty-Boy must have noticed. Once he did, Light forced Keith into a Penalty Game, banishing his soul to the Shadow Realm. That was why it registered as him having surrendered. It was because Keith could no longer play, not without a soul.

If Lighty-Boy was able to summon the powers of the Shadow Realm and bear the brunt of its influence, then things just got a lot more complicated.

{~DYMDM~}

Forty minutes, three duels, and eight star-chips later, Phase 1 of my Handy, Dandy, Three-Step-Plan was complete.

Now that I thought about it, I wondered why they actually had star-chips. Last I remembered of the show, Bandit Keith wasn't actually invited to the tournament which was why he had to steal Joey's Glory of the King's Opposite Hand card. Though, considering it was Bandit Keith, now that I think about it, he probably just stole a bunch of star-chips from the other contestants, enough to keep him and his goons in the game. That way, if he couldn't get enough star-chips by the end of the free-for-all part of the tournament, he could just beat up his goons and take their star-chips, which was what he did in the anime.

The three bozos following Bandit Keith had surprisingly lasted longer in their duels than Keith did but it was no matter. Once I was done with all my duels, the three goons tried to make a run for it but I forced them to stay for a few moments. 

I'd gone up to Keith's comatose body, taking all of the cards he'd stored in his jacket, which was- to put it crudely- a fuck ton, before telling the goons to take his body and get off the island. Unsurprisingly, they didn't object and tried to get as far away from me as quickly as possible. After they'd left, I'd lifted a card up to look at. It looked like a normal Duel Monsters card, except for the card art. 

Instead of normal card art, it was an image of Bandit Keith's screaming face.

I sighed as I reflected on my duels within the Shadow Realm. While the battles against Zygor, Sid, and Bonz were Shadow Duels, I didn't have anything against them so I decided not to put any conditions on the duel. Along with that, once they lost, I let them keep their souls. 

I know that they'll eventually fall to Bakura during the Battle City Arc, but I decided against trying to convince them to leave Domino City. It wasn't really my problem and, best case scenario, their souls would return to their bodies once Yami Bakura was defeated during the Millenium World Arc. Not to mention, if it wasn't them, then it'd be someone else falling to the Thief King's Ghost.

Remembering the duel with Bandit Keith, I promised myself to keep my control against the influence of the Shadow Realm. It was an unfortunate side effect, but nothing could be done. I'd need the completed Shadow Charm Pendant because one of its main purposes, used by Jaden Yuki, was protection against Shadow Magic. Other powers included short-range teleportation and energy constructs, which I should probably learn how to do now that I think about it... Regardless, it's necessary. I'd need it against Pegasus and if Bakura showed up. 

Taking my eyes off the Soul Card, I decided to spend the rest of my day combing through the rest of Keith's card collection. I might find something useful to add to my deck which could help me in a pinch.

Though, I think I'll find a nice secluded spot away from the duel stadium. Wouldn't want any contestants challenging me to a duel.

Chapter Text

I'd been looking at cards for what seemed to be hours after I'd found a nice secluded cliffside. There were tons of cards of all different types that could be used for different purposes, which I would probably make into a new deck once Battle City starts up. The deck I may have now is pretty good for Duelist Kingdom rules but for Battle City rules? It'd probably be best if I put some of that meta-knowledge to use when I built that deck, seeing how similar those rules were to my world's.

Taking a moment to stretch my back, I took a look up into the sky. The Sun was placed quite a bit before it sat directly above me, meaning it was probably either around eleven in the morning or a little after it. Now would probably be a good time to start up phase two of The Plan™.

See, the Duelist Kingdom Arc began with Yugi and his friends waking up at sunrise to watch as the cruiser docked on the island. Then, around eight, the actual tournament began with fireworks. Yugi started the contest by beating Weevil Underwood in a duel, before wandering around for a bit until he found Mako Tsunami, also beating him in a duel. He'd come out of that battle with five star-chips. Directly after that, they encountered Mokuba. 

So, assuming each duel was about forty minutes since I remember there was a tiny montage of Yugi drawing cards during the Weevil duel, and also accounting for time spent walking around the Island to both find Mako and then the whole plotline with Mokuba stealing those kids' star-chips, again with the gang having to walk across their side of the island at least twice, I'd say there's still quite a bit of time left for Yugi to encounter Mokuba. Though, there was no doubt in my mind that Mokuba had already escaped the tower.

Nodding to myself, thinking that logic was perfectly sound, I gathered up the cards from the floor of the cliffside before putting them back in each of the deck boxes I stole from Keith. Those went into my backpack once I made sure they were secure and wouldn't open up inside. After that I picked up the granola wrappers that used to be the snacks I'd brought along with me, placing them in a separate compartment of the bag.

What? There's no need to litter on such a beautiful island. Even if it does belong to Pegasus.

I shrugged the bag onto my back, securing the straps so it wouldn't sway in case I needed to run for whatever reason, before starting the trek back to the docking port we'd all stepped onto when we first arrived. From what I remember, it was the same one, just with a little dingy the kids had to use to get back to the mainland. Which, by the way, was pretty fuckin' cruel. I'd be having some choice words with Mr. Pegasus on just what in the hell he was thinking when approving that decision.

This entire island is just one big hazard to the health and safety of everyone who steps foot on it, so the least that Pegasus could do was make sure that anything man-made was safe for use. But nooo... Instead, we have to have flamethrowers attached to Duel Stadiums and little dingies to send the clearly pre-teen contestants back to the mainland, an eight-hour sail through the Pacific fucking Ocean.

In fact, I'm ninety percent sure that the only people who were adults in this tournament would have been Bandit Keith and Mai Valentine. Every single other contestant was under the age of eighteen. Though, I guess that's only a criticism based on my standard of culture since everyone here was Japanese, besides Keith and maybe Pegasus and Mai, which means that if you were thirteen or older, you were "of age".

It still sucks that Pegasus has actual children wading through unknown danger just to win a stupid tournament. He literally has an indoor Duel Stadium in his gigantic freakin' castle! Why not just host the tournament inside? There's no way there isn't enough space for all of the contestants, what with those labyrinth-like dungeons of his. He easily could have renovated to include more space for living quarters.

Taking my mind off Pegasus' crazy machinations, I focused more on my surroundings. I looked at the compass attached to the strap of the camping bag. When I first arrived at the port, the compass pointed directly east. The introduction platform of the secondary castle was only a short distance in front of the port and I'd followed Keith as he headed South-East. 

I wasn't too far from the Duel Arena where I'd kicked Keith's, and his goons', asses. Easily retracing my steps, I began to head North-West, though closer to North. I knew directly North-West lay the giant castle Pegasus called home, but if Mokuba had already escaped and the port to leave Duelist Kingdom was North-East, then that meant I should be able to catch him in the middle. 

Well, hopefully.

{~DYMDM~}

It was all Mokuba could do to keep his legs from collapsing due to exhaustion. He ran and ran until he couldn't see the castle of that damn man that locked him up and planned to take his big brother's company right from under Seto's nose. Seto hadn't been the same since his duel with Yugi. He could clearly remember the day that Seto left him, telling Mokuba that he needed to find himself again. Now, Mokuba didn't know what that meant, but it did hurt a lot to see his big brother leaving him. 

It hurt slightly less to be knocked out by those sleazy "Big Five" bastards.

Shortly after Seto had left, he'd caught the Big Five in a meeting with Mr. Pegasus. They'd been making a deal to take KaibaCorp because his big brother wasn't there anymore. If it wasn't for that big-headed guy, Kemo, revealing his spying, he would have left and immediately tried to find Seto.

From there, Mokuba was shipped off to Pegasus' Island. Something about Pegasus needing a figurehead and that only Mokuba could be one because he was Seto's brother. Immediately after, Pegasus locked him in that tower. He'd almost died trying to climb down out from that makeshift bed-sheet ladder he'd made, for crying out loud! Thankfully, he'd landed in several tree bushes before hitting the ground, softening his fall.

Now, he was trying to find a way to challenge Yugi to a duel. He didn't actually have a plan to do that, since he didn't have a Duel Monsters deck, but he'd overheard the Big Five saying they needed Yugi defeated since he beat his big brother in a duel and he wanted payback for Seto. It was Yugi who made his big brother question who he was. It was Yugi who forced Seto to leave him.

It was Yugi who took Seto away from him.

As he heard rustling in the bushes around him, Mokuba was snapped from his thoughts and found he wasn't paying as much attention to his surroundings as he should have, tripping on a tree root and falling into a clearing in the forest. Landing roughly, he coughed as his fall kicked up dust from the dirt beneath him. After managing to get the coughing settled down, he opened his eyes by a crack, noticing a pair of legs in front of him.

Mokuba slowly let his gaze drift upward as he followed the pair of legs, wondering if he'd finally been caught by Pegasus' goons. That was until he realized that the guy in front of him was actually really small. In fact, he wasn't really a guy, he was a kid! He looked younger than Mokuba was and he was certainly shorter than the younger Kaiba. 

The kid had black, unkempt yet fluffy hair and a pair of eyes that shined so green from the angle that Mokuba was looking from. His eyes glowed a vibrant green and Mokuba assumed it was the sunlight reflecting off of his irises because there was no way they were actually glowing.

It looked really cool though, Mokuba had to admit.

He took in the rest of the boy, noticing the blue jacket that looked so cool with the way the popped collar was rustled with the breeze. The rest of his clothes seemed pretty normal, though it seemed to look just right when the jacket was thrown into the mix. The only thing odd about the boy's choice of attire was the golden-colored amulet hanging off of his neck. It seemed pretty big and there was even a shiny ruby sitting in the middle of the intricate designs. Paying more attention to the designs, they seemed familiar to him. As if Mokuba had seen them before...

The younger Kaiber was snapped out of his thoughts again when the boy stretched a hand out towards him. Mokuba was confused for a moment before he realized what was going on. This random kid was offering him a hand. Y'know, because he'd fallen on his butt. Pretty hard, in fact.

Mokuba, taking the hand, was surprised when the younger boy practically hauled him up to his feet. Though, now that he could see the kid from a normal point of view, the guy was really a kid! He was almost a head shorter than Mokuba was and his face looked absolutely adorable.

"Uh," Mokuba started up, his voice hitching in awkwardness before he gathered his thoughts, "Thanks... for the hand."

The boy blinked before smiling- and holy moly, it was practically blinding. He felt like he had to shield his eyes just to keep looking at the kid. "It's no problem! I saw you take a pretty bad fall there, though it looked like you were running. Were there some nasty duelists trying to challenge you over there?" The boy excitedly replies, his cheerful tone not dropping for a second.

"Uh, no- No duelists. These big security guys were chasing me trying to take me back to the castle. Pegasus doesn't want me leaving," Mokuba explained. He didn't understand why he was saying this, the boy was literally a stranger! And yet, he looked so young and cheery that the younger Kaiba couldn't help but relax and be affected by the happiness that seemed to permeate the air.

The boy put a finger to his chin, very animatedly before his expression lit up, said finger pointing to the sky. "Oh!" The boy yelped as if he had come to a realization, "I think I saw some guys like that on my way over here! Yeah, they really looked and acted mean... Don't worry though, I already dealt with them."

"Dealt with them? How?" Mokuba couldn't help but ask. Those security guys were practically three times the boy's size!

"I sicked my Man-Eater Bug on them!" The younger boy says, a happy grin on his face, seemingly completely serious.

A moment of silence passed as Mokuba attempted to decipher whatever the heck that statement was. Deciding to ignore the implications of this child supposedly getting a Duel Monster to attack Pegasus' security, Mokuba finally noticed the dueling glove that the kid was wearing. It even had a full set of star-chips! Maybe if he took those star-chips, he could get Yugi to duel him and finally admit that he's not better than his big brother. Though, that would mean he'd have to take this kid's deck and beat him up, which made Mokuba feel really bad...

"My name's Light Dākami! What's yours?" The boy- Light- introduced himself. 

Mokuba realized he was staring and scrambled to introduce himself as well, dark thoughts of thievery banished in moments, "A-Ah! My name's Mokuba Kaiba. Sorry, I just couldn't help but notice the glove you're wearing..." Though, now that Mokuba thought about it, it may not have been the best idea to give Light his full name... 

Eh, he was just a kid. How bad could it possibly be?

"Kaiba..." The boy seemed to think for a moment, again putting a finger up to his chin before realization dawned on him in that same manner as before, "Ah! Your brother is Seto Kaiba! I overheard from those security guys from earlier that he was on his way here!"

"Yeah, I know he got beat by Yu-" Mokuba grumpily responded automatically, expecting to have heard Light gush about how Yugi had beat his big brother. He then suddenly realized just what exactly the younger boy had said, scrambling up to him. A feeling of hope blossomed in his chest as he asked the boy, "Wait, you heard that my big brother was coming?!"

"Yeah! They said that he'll be here by tomorrow," Light cheerfully confirmed. "And if he's on his way here, that must mean he's going to be joining the tournament! He's a bit late, so I expect he'll have to talk to Pegasus first to get his dueling glove and star-chips. Though, that just means that we know he's going to Pegasus' main castle!"

Mokuba's eyes widened. His big brother was coming! But Mokuba's gonna have to go back to the castle and wait until tomorrow to see him. He couldn't do that! Pegasus would lock him up again! What could he do...

"Hey," Light called out, snapping Mokuba out of his head for the umpteenth time. Mokuba really needed to see his big brother again. He really didn't like to worry so much, it's exhausting. "Don't worry, Mokuba. I've already got all ten star-chips needed to enter the castle, which means they'll have to let us in! And if for some reason there's a problem since you don't have any star-chips, I'm sure he won't kick you out if I say you're with me!"

The younger Kaiba blinked before taking a moment to consider Light's words. He didn't trust Pegasus to not try anything just because Light was there, but Mokuba really didn't have any other options. He couldn't stay out in the forest all night waiting for his big brother and if he got caught by the security goons that were running around, he'd either get forced back to the castle or they might even think he was a contestant without any star-chips and send him off the island. Should he put his trust in this boy? He may have gotten far enough in the tournament to actually enter the castle, but he was still very young...

There was Yugi... he was on the island and also a duelist in Pegasus' tournament, but he'd no doubt have his little group of friends with him. That meant more people to watch his back if they could be trusted...

Nah. Yugi was the reason his big brother went away. Yugi can't be trusted, not until he said he was sorry and admitted that Seto was better than him.

Mokuba took a deep breath in. There was only one option. If he didn't want to run across the entire island until Seto came or risk putting his trust in the guy who took Seto, he'd have to place his trust in Light.

"Alright, Light," Mokuba started, determined to get back to his brother, "Let's get into that castle!"

"Onwards!" Light declared, walking back into the forest path that Mokuba had come from, heading towards Pegasus' castle.

From behind, Mokuba couldn't see Light's victorious smirk.

Chapter Text

Hey guys! So I've figured out how exactly most of the first half of the series is gonna go and I wanted to start the series over, so if you enjoyed the first three beta chapters, then stay tuned for what comes next!