YU-GI-OH: REAL STRENGTH

A Yu-Gi-Oh! Story

by ker-plop

Opening Theme: "Goldeneye" from "Goldeneye," sung by Tina Turner

PROLOGUE

The world has been through many wars: wars for land, wars for power, wars for love and even wars for no reason at all.

Massive world wars are obvious and open to the population. Other wars, though, have been going on for thousands of years in secret. The hidden wars are always for much higher stakes; often the fate of humanity lies in the balance. Fortunately, no humans have ever learned of these epic battles... Until now.

The struggle of the ages is about to take itself global, and the planet's future depends on one thing...

A group of children...

...One of which...

Holds the legendary Millennium Puzzle.

CHAPTER 1

THE PURLOINING OF THE PUZZLE

It was a warm, rich day in the city of Domino, but one boy at the magnet high school was feeling very poor. Young Yugi Muuto was trying to solve a problem. This wasn't a simple yes or no question, nor arithmetic, nor any academia. This was a problem with another human being.

Yugi was a strange boy. Though he was in high school, he was half the size of a normal student. His hair was done up in a mixture of red, black and yellow spikes and he always wore a blue-jean material blazer over his black shirt. A golden, pyramidal emblem with a large eye in its center hung around his neck. He looked dangerous, but he was actually very kind and thoughtful.

None of Yugi's features are as interesting as the puzzle that he wore. Within the puzzle dwelled the powerful spirit of an Egyptian Pharaoh known only as "Yami." Yami, though amnesiac, had a mission to carry out before he was released from the puzzle and allowed to descend to the afterlife; he had to stop the powerful energies of Shadow Magic from being released from their resting places within the seven Egyptian Millennium Items (of which the puzzle was one). Until the magic was sealed away or destroyed, Yami had to inhabit Yugi's body and battle the dark forces that sought to unleash the magic and envelope the world in chaos.

The problem that Yugi faced now, though, had nothing to do with magic or spirits. Yugi sighed and glanced backwards to see the burning green, glaring pupils of Saionji "Rad" Tachikawa trained on him. Rad was a boy of regular height with black hair, piercing green eyes and a cold disposition. He had moved into Domino at the beginning of the term and immediately taken a disliking to Yugi and his friends. He never said anything to Yugi, but whenever he was near, Rad gave off a cold, angry stare. Yugi didn't understand why Rad despised him so much, and as much as he tried to give him a wide berth, Rad was in almost all of his classes, so he often had the hateful glare trained on him whether he liked it or not. Yugi grew uncomfortable with Rad's glare; it seemed like the green-eyed boy knew about the dark secrets that he kept.

The bell rang and the day was over. Yugi sighed, grabbed his schoolbook and got out of his desk. He turned to move out of the row and collided with Rad of all people. He glanced up at Rad's menacing gaze and cringed. "Errr... Excuse me, Rad," he said before moving away and out the door, still feeling Rad's glare on the back of his neck.

"Hey, Yugi!" a soft voice called as Yugi emerged from the school. "Over here!"

Yugi smiled and turned towards the voice; his friends Joey Wheeler, Tristan Taylor and Tea Gardener stood by the school wall, waiting for him. With a wave, he ran over to them. "Hi, guys!" he said cheerfully. "What's up?"

"Ahh, not much. We were just waitin' fer ya," Joey chuckled; he was tall with blonde hair, little tact and a heart of gold. He was the first person Yugi could count on to jump at the chance to help him in a tough spot. "Haven't seen ya since Monday."

"Yeah, now that some of our classes were switched around, we don't see each other as much, do we?" Tristan pointed out. Tristan was also tall and had an unusual spike of hair above his forehead. He was always filled with vigor and bravery, and was just about as dependable as Joey. Tristan also had a softer side that made him an even better friend in Yugi's eyes, but he didn't like to show it.

"How was your day, Yugi?" Tea asked. Tea was shorter than Tristan and Joey (but still taller than Yugi) with had short, fudge-brown hair. Tea had been Yugi's friend for as long as anybody could remember and was always around when Yugi needed someone to talk with. Nobody said anything, but it was pretty obvious that Yugi thought of Tea as his best friend in the world (with the possible exception of Joey).

"It went all right, I suppose," Yugi responded. "I wish I knew why Rad didn't like me..."

"Ol' Rad was givin' ya the evil eye again, eh?" Joey asked. "That guy gives me the creeps. He always glares at us, but he never says anythin'."

"It's like he's accusing us of something, almost..." Tristan muttered. "But what it could be, I have no idea..."

"Well, don't let him bother you too much, Yugi," Tea said. "If he doesn't want to fight, just leave him alone."

"That's what I'm worried about," Yugi replied. "If he doesn't want to, why does he always look at me like that?..."

"...Maybe he's just training his eyebrows," Joey suggested.

Yugi rolled his eyes and sighed in response.

"Well, I'm glad that Rad is your only problem right now," Tea piped up again. "I say it's a welcome change from all the psychos that have been around here lately. At least Rad isn't after your Puzzle."

"I guess so," Yugi sighed as he looked down at the glittering, golden triangular ornament that hung around his neck. "Everyone seems to want my Puzzle these days..." He sighed and thought back on his recent campaigns against Maximillion Pegasus, the creator of Duel Monsters, and Marik Ishtar, a power-hungry tomb keeper. Both madmen possesses Millennium Items of their own, and wanted Yugi's puzzle for its unique powers. Fortunately, though, Yugi and his friends had met every challenge head-on and always came out victorious.

"Yeah, they either want your Puzzle or just want to whip you in a game," Tristan said. "You'd think they'd have better things to do besides hassle you."

Suddenly, a voice that made Yugi's blood run cold came from behind the group.

"Yugi! I challenge you to a duel."

"Oh, great..." Joey muttered as everyone turned around to see Seto Kaiba, the local kid billionaire and president of KaibaCorp, a multimillion dollar game corporation. Seto was a cruel and arrogant person, but he was as good as it got when it came to games. Though he didn't believe in magic or Yugi's puzzle, he clearly thought of the spikey-haired youth as his chief rival, and always sought to fight. After many battles, Kaiba had acknowledged Yugi as a powerful duellist and had granted him something he rarely gave away: his respect.

"I guess that they don't," Tea chuckled halfheartedly.

"What? You want to duel? Now?" Yugi asked.

"That's right," Kaiba responded. "School's over and the area in front of the building is empty. I need to double check my new virtual software, and what better way to run a test than by defeating you with it?"

As Kaiba trash-talked, Tristan glanced over his shoulder and noticed that Rad had walked up behind them. "Oh, uh, hi, Rad," Tristan said quickly.

Rad didn't reply; he merely frowned at Tristan.

"Errr... I think Yugi and Kaiba are gonna duel," Tristan said in an attempt to make conversation. "Uh... You wanna watch?"

Rad didn't reply.

"Oh, forget him," Joey said. "If he wants to watch, he'll watch."

"Well?" Kaiba asked. "Come on, Yugi. I'll crush you."

"(SIGH) Well, OK..." Yugi muttered.

Suddenly, Yugi's Millennium Puzzle flashed brightly. Rad looked up with interest.

"YU-GI-OHHHHH!" Yugi shouted as his voice dropped an octave and his body was enveloped in light. When the light faded, Yugi was taller, his clothing sharper and his eyes fiercer. He had become his alter-ego, Yami Yugi.

"If it's a fight you want, Kaiba, it's a fight you'll get," Yami Yugi declared defiantly.

"Good luck, Yugi," Tea said as everyone else backed away.

"So... What are your new rules this time?" Yami Yugi asked.

"No change; I'm just checking the updated graphics in my Battle City duel disk system," Kaiba grunted as he tossed Yami Yugi a small machine. "Let us begin."

Even when fused with the spirit of his Puzzle, Yugi could feel Rad's steely gaze. "(Maybe this will get him to stop,)" he thought before he shuffled his deck.

---

Yami Yugi and Kaiba battled valiantly for at least half an hour. Finally, Yami Yugi had 200 Life Points remaining and Kaiba had 350.

"This is the end for you, Yugi," Kaiba chuckled darkly as he yanked a terrifying card from his deck. "I'm playing my final Blue Eyes White Dragon!"

"I'll counter that by using Magical Mist to wet the field," Yami Yugi declared as he slapped down a green-tinted card, "which increases my Summoned Skull's attack points even further... he's strong enough to destroy your dragon!"

On the virtual playing field, one swift flash from Yami Yugi's skull creature disintegrated the holy dragon on the spot, and Kaiba's LP faded away to nothing. "Rrrrgh..." Kaiba fumed as he stuffed his deck and machines back into his briefcase. "Why can I never defeat you?... And DON'T even START with your 'heart of the cards' speech! However, this proves that my upgrades were a success... I thank you for assisting me. Until next time." With that, he turned around and walked off.

"Yeah! Yugi won!" Tea exclaimed. "Nice job, Yugi!"

Yami Yugi shimmered and shrank back to regular Yugi. "Thanks, Tea," he said in his normal voice.

"Yeah, you really whooped his keister on that one!" Joey laughed.

"Nice work, buddy," Tristan replied.

"Thanks... Huh?" Yugi said as he suddenly became aware that the nervous sensation on his neck had vanished. He looked around quickly; Rad had disappeared. "Where'd Rad go?" he asked.

"Beats me," Joey said as he looked around. "I guess he took off."

"Hmm..." Tristan said. "Well, we don't need to worry about him. He probably just went home."

"Well, I bet you showed him!" Joey laughed. "He won't be makin' faces at you for a long time!"

"All right," Yugi said. "Well, I'm gonna go home now. Catch you guys later."

"See you tomorrow, Yugi," Tristan said as Joey and he headed off towards the city park.

"So, Yugi, are we still on for this evening?" Tea asked as she turned to the youth.

"Hmm?" Yugi suddenly said.

"You said you were going to show me some advanced Duel Monsters techniques," Tea stated. "Remember?"

"Oh, yeah! I almost forgot!" Yugi exclaimed. "Silly me! Is 7:30 all right?"

"That's fine," Tea said. "See you tonight, Yugi."

"See you later," Yugi called as Tea headed home. He enjoyed hanging out with Tea a lot; she made him feel things that he'd never felt before. He wasn't sure what they were, but he liked their sensation.

Yugi turned and headed for his own home. As he turned the corner, though, a cold voice caught his ear.

"So, that's your little secret..."

Yugi turned and saw Rad leaning against the school wall, his green eyes piercing into Yugi's like precision lasers. A smoking cigarette butt dangled from his mouth.

"What... what do you mean?" Yugi asked.

"Don't act so surprised," Rad snorted. "I've known about HIM for a long time."

Yugi gave a startled frown. Only his grandfather, Tea, the rest of his friends and he actually knew about the spirit inside of the Millennium Puzzle. "Him? Who do you mean?" Yugi asked, trying to play innocent.

"Don't play dumb," Rad grunted as he pointed his cigarette at Yugi's puzzle. "I know who's in your little neck weight there."

"Huh!" Yugi gulped. How the heck did Rad know about Yami? "H-how..." he started to say.

Rad dropped his cigarette on the ground and crushed it with his shoe. "You're pathetic," he said.

"What? What did you say?" Yugi asked as he (for a change) glared at Rad.

"I said..." Rad said in a soft and dangerous voice as he continued to glower at Yugi. "...that you're pathetic."

"What!" Yugi exclaimed as he flushed with anger. "How can you say that!"

"Hmmph," Rad snorted. "You talk big, but whenever you get in trouble, the Pharaoh pops up and does all the work for you."

"He doesn't do anything FOR me!" Yugi protested. "We're a team! We-"

"Keep on lying to yourself if you must," Rad interrupted. "Who makes the decisions? Who makes you look vicious? Who wins the matches? Not you."

"I..." Yugi said as he looked down at the puzzle.

Rad chuckled coldly. "It must be a real privilege to be the one chosen to save the world... Oh, sorry. I mean, 'the one chosen as a vessel for the one that will save the world,'" he paused and lit another cigarette. "If you think you're doing that spirit any favors, you're sorely mistaken. He doesn't need you; he just needs a body. He could have easily taken mine or Kaiba's, but you found him first."

Yugi was flabbergasted. "...But..." he started.

Rad obviously wasn't finished. "And your so-called 'friends...' Don't make me laugh. They stay around you because they respect the Pharaoh. They only treat you nice because they know that Yami could crush their skulls in the blink of an eye," he took another drag, then stared at Yugi with an even icier gaze. "And that girl friend of yours?... You don't even want to get me started with her."

"Tea?" Yugi asked as he reddened even more. "But..."

"How could she ever see anything in you?" Rad asked coldly. "Yami, on the other hand... He's brave, he's strong, he's clever... and he's her size... She hangs around you in hopes of seeing the one she's really interested in."

Yugi was shaking with anger and frustration, and suddenly felt sick to his stomach. "What! But... that couldn't be true..." he stammered.

"Lie to yourself all you want, but that's the way it is," Rad said. "Without that ghost, you're absolutely nothing."

Yugi glanced back down at his puzzle and then back at Rad, too flabbergasted to defend himself. He just stood there with his mouth hanging open.

Rad's expression remained unchanged as he ground his second butt into the pavement. "...You make me sick," he finished. Before Yugi could react, Rad spat on his shoe, turned and left.

Yugi stood in the sidewalk for a long while, his eyes wide and mouth agape, his mind asking the same question over and over: "Nothing? I'm... nothing?..."

---

Later that evening, Yugi lay on his bed and stared up at the ceiling. "Nothing?..." he said aloud.

"Yugi, are you in there?" Yugi's grandfather asked through the door. "Tea's here."

"Tea?... Oh, geez, I forgot!" Yugi said as he hopped off the bed and ran out the door. "Thanks, grandpa," he said before he headed down the stairs.

Tea was sitting on the living room couch and shuffling a deck of cards. She had changed out of her school uniform and now wore her usual pink shirt and sky blue skirt. "Hi, Yugi," she said as Yugi entered the room. "What's up?"

"I'm so sorry I'm late," Yugi apologized. "I had a lot on my mind."

"A lot on your mind?" Tea asked.

"Um, Yeah..." Yugi sighed as he wondered again if what Rad had said was true. "(Could she only be hanging around me to see Yami?)" he thought. "(Could any of them?... But... I don't know what I'd do if she was...)"

"Yugi? Are you OK?" Tea asked.

"Huh?" Yugi asked as he looked up. "Oh... I'm all right. Now then, what would you like to learn?"

---

Yugi and Tea spent a good two hours going over card strategy and acceptable gambles. The clock chimed 10:00 just as Yugi finished his last lecture.

"...So, that's about it," Yugi finished. "Any questions?"

"No, you've covered it really well," Tea replied. "Thank you. I know who I'm coming to the next time I need help."

"You're welcome," Yugi said as he glanced over at the clock. "Oh, look at the time! We've got school tomorrow, too..."

"Yeah, I should really get going," Tea said as she gathered her cards. "I've got a nasty math quiz to study for..."

"Well, uh, let me see you home," Yugi said as he quickly got up and grabbed her jacket and his own.

"Really? That's nice of you," Tea replied as she blinked a few times. Yugi was her friend, but he'd never offered to take her home before.

Yugi smiled faintly as he opened the door for her.

It was a crisp fall night in Domino and the city lights sparkled in the darkness like hundreds of fireflies.

"Wow... What a nice night," Tea said as they walked down the sidewalk towards her apartment. "I always enjoy fall evenings. They seem so peaceful and relaxed."

"Peaceful and relaxed, hmm?" Yugi asked. "Funny, Tea, that kind of sounds like you..."

"What?" Tea replied as she pondered what Yugi had said. "...Yeah, I guess it does, doesn't it? Weird. Well, if that's the case, then you must like bright, cheery days!"

Yugi laughed; the joking around had definitely put him in a better mood. "Thanks, Tea. I was feeling kind of down before you came tonight, but now I'm just fine again."

"Glad I could help," Tea answered. "...Ah, there's my apartment building. I guess this is where we part ways for tonight."

"Of course," Yugi said. "I'll just-" Suddenly, something caught his eye and he stared hard into the dark.

"...Yugi? What's wrong?" Tea asked as she looked down at her friend.

"There's someone standing in front of your apartment," Yugi said as he frowned. "...And I don't like the looks of him."

Tea looked up the walk in confusion. There was a man with a half-crescent scar beneath his left eye standing in front of the apartment. He wore a black leather jacket, matching pants and dark-brown leather boots, and a large, black sword was strapped to his back. Now that he noticed the two staring at him, he smirked cruelly and walked towards them.

"Heh! Evenin', folks!" The man said as he stepped forward and confronted Yugi and Tea. "You're Yugi Muuto, eh?"

"Who wants to know?" Yugi asked as he stepped back a bit.

"Hmmm..." the man crooned as he ignored Yugi's question and looked Tea over. "Boy, you must've been pretty good," he chuckled. "Damn, she's fi-i-i-ine!"

"N'ghhh!" Tea exclaimed as she blushed furiously.

"How dare you!" Yugi snapped. "Leave us alone!"

"Sure, kid," the man cackled. "Just give me what the boss man wants..."

"And what would that be?" Yugi growled as he put himself in front of Tea.

"Well, gee, what would a spikey-haired little boy have that anyone would want?" the man mused. "I know! How 'bout that little tchotchke of yours?" He pointed at Yugi's puzzle. "Cough it up, kiddo."

Suddenly, the puzzle glowed, and Yugi transformed into Yami Yugi. "If you want my Millennium Puzzle, you'll have to duel for it," he boomed in his deep voice.

"Puhh," the man grunted as he started to reach back. "I don't play sissy card games..."

"Yugi, watch it..." Tea gulped.

"I prefer the old school method of gettin' what I want!" the man chuckled coldly as he pulled his sword off of his back and held it in a battle stance. In the light of a lamppost, Yami Yugi and Tea could make out the words engraved into the blade: DARK RIVAL.

"Who are you?" Yami Yugi asked.

"Heh heh heh..." the man chuckled darkly. "You wanna know who I am? THIS is who I am!"

The man raised the sword into the air. "Aurora, Exhale Bloody Air!" he chanted. "DARK HOLY!"

"What the-" Yami Yugi started to say when a huge burst of negative energy exploded around Tea and him, throwing them backwards and onto the pavement with extreme force.

"A-Aaaooouuch!" Tea yelped as she landed. Yami Yugi crashed down next to her and reverted to regular Yugi.

"Heh. What weaklings," the man snorted. "I've fought twelve year-olds that were stronger than you! Now, I'll just take my prize..."

"N-no..." Yugi gasped as he tried to get up.

The man raised his foot kicked Yugi's chest, knocking him to the ground again. He then raised his sword, and with one swift motion cut the chain that held the Millennium Puzzle. He snatched the bauble up and grinned maliciously. "Score," he said. "I still rock."

"Y-you..." Yugi choked as he struggled for air.

"Well done, Law," a darker voice said.

"Who... Who's that?..." Tea asked as she weakly lifted her head.

Another man appeared next to Law. He had long, black hair and wore a black military outfit. He held out his gloved hand and Law handed him the Millennium Puzzle. "Excellent," the man said. "This is the final piece that I require."

"Heh heh heh... It was nothin'!" Law chuckled. "It was like takin' candy from a spikey-haired, midget baby."

"Errrrgghhh..." Yugi grunted as he tried to get up.

"You should be honored," the man in black said. "Your puzzle, and its spirit will help usher in a new world order. Until we meet again, youth. Oh... And my name is Madrak. Remember that..."

Madrak vanished. Law walked up to Yugi and yanked his hair upwards until they were looking into each other's eyes. "Don't think this is the end," he snickered. "I can tell that we're gonna have a lot of fun, kid."

Law then shot a glance at Tea. "...Or should I say, WE'RE gonna have a lot of fun? Heh heh heh."

"You... You..." Yugi snarled as he tried to free himself from Law's grip. However, the magic attack and the kicking had taken their toll, and Yugi could merely writhe in Law's iron grip.

"Ahhh, you're not even worth killin'," Law chuckled as he dropped Yugi. "Don't worry; I'll be back some other time. C ya!"

Law threw down a smoke bomb and disappeared. After a few moments of silence, Yugi forced himself to sit up and look around. "They... They took it..." he said.

"Yugi... Yugi, what happened?" Tea asked.

"Those guys... Madrak and Law took my Puzzle!" Yugi exclaimed. "They just... came in and took it, just like that... So easily..."

"Oh, no..." Tea gulped. "Now what will we do!"

"They took it..." Yugi said as his eyes started to close. "...And I couldn't stop them... at all... Maybe Rad was right..."

"Yugi!" Tea cried as Yugi keeled over in a dead faint.