Walking out of the house, I make my way to the game shop. Walking in, I see Mr. Moto at the counter opening a box. He's organizing them based on their set, and I count at least three different sets so far. "Hey, Gramps, good morning," I said in a more chipper mood. "Ah, good morning, Jason. I didn't expect to see you back so soon, not that I'm complaining." He said while still working. I responded with a little bit of embarrassment, "I kind of forgot to get a few deck boxes and a storage box for all my extra cards." Looking around, I saw the section with everything I was looking for and walked over there.
Walking up behind me while I was looking at the different deck boxes, Gramps said, "So did you pull everything you needed for your new deck?" He said with genuine interest. "Yes, I did actually, but I also got many cards that I don't plan on using. Mostly many normal monsters and lackluster spells and trap cards," I said while picking out a few deck boxes and moving down the section where the card storage was. "So, Gramps, what's in the new sets you were sorting when I came in?" I said out of curiosity, "Oh, those are just some reprints from the past few years, nothing too impressive," he says. I then asked, "Gramps, do you have any of these traps for sale?" handing him a small list of cards I'm looking for. " "I unfortunately don't think so. These are all pretty rare," he said thoughtfully.
Walking over to the counter, he said, "I will look for those cards as I open some boxes. Come back in a few days, and I should have some news about them." After that, I paid, dropped everything back home, and caught the bus to the Kaiba Corp store to pick up my new dual disk. Once I secured my dual disk, I walked over to the movie theater, about five minutes away, to watch a movie with my parents. "So dear, what did you think of the movie?" my mom said. "It was pretty good," I said with amusement. We watched an action comedy. "Now, dear, I ironed your suit and left it on your bed. Dad can help with your tie," she said with care and excitement for the upcoming dinner. My suit is black but with gold accents. The style is classic, yet it exudes a touch of fun compared to the standard black suit. I'm wearing an emerald green undershirt and a black tie with a gold clip. I grab my deck, put it into the inside jacket pocket, and head to the living room.
I saw my dad standing in a navy blue suit with white accents, a white undershirt, and a navy blue silk tie. "There you are. Are you ready to go?" he said while slightly adjusting my tie. "Why, I'm ready. How about Mom?" I said, looking down the hall to see if she was coming out of their room. After about ten minutes, she finally came out in an all-white dress with navy blue and gold accents and a navy blue purse. "Looks like we all are ready. Let's get going." In my opinion, my parents' 1970 Pontiac Firebird is pretty cool, and they drove it to the Industrial Illusions building.
Pulling up to the garage, my mother showed them her badge and invitation, and they opened the gate to let us into the parking garage. "Ok, before we go in, make sure you speak English because the team is from all over the world, and that's the one language everyone on the team speaks." It was only now that I realized I have been speaking perfect Japanese, reading and writing it, and understanding the language. I have to do some more testing when I get home.
Going inside the building, the first thing you see as you walk in is walls filled with glass cases. Every known card is duplicated, along with proxies of rare cards such as Blue-Eyes White Dragon. In the lobby, a security guard escorts us to the elevator and swipes his badge to get to the Pegasus personnel floor. We enter the hallway. It's light blue with a gray tile floor. The walls have Pegasus's paintings, his wife's, and landscapes from his travels. Finally, leading to the end, there are three doors, and we are led into the middle one, where I see a bunch of people all dressed in their best clothing, presumably the team my mother works with.
In the center of the room are three large tables, one horizontal and the other two vertical, one coming off the ends of the first table. As I look around the room, I notice that there is no one else my age; however, I do see a stairway in the back right corner with a Pegasus coming down it. "Good evening, everyone. I'm glad you all could make it. Dinner will be ready soon, so please continue to chat with each other," he said with his dramatic and drawn-out way of speaking. He scans the room and walks right up to my mother. "Aoi, my dear, it's so nice to see you. Gabriel, it's wonderful you could come as well. And you must be young, Jason. Your mother has said so many wonderful things about you." He said with an extremely friendly tone
"It is pleasing to see you as well, Mister." Both of my parents said it simultaneously. He stretched my hand out. I said, "It's wonderful to meet you, sir. I have read all your books, and I was wondering if you would humor me with a duel after dinner," I said with a little awe and embarrassment. I never thought I would be able to ask that. I caught a glimpse of my parents' expressions, which were filled with sheer embarrassment. After what felt like an eternity, he finally shook my hand and started to laugh. "Hahah, of course I will duel you. It's been a while since I have had the chance to duel someone." My excitement is rising. "Jason, my boy, let's give everyone a show before dinner," he said in his iconic exasperated way of speaking. "Come, everyone, to the duel arena," he called out as he escorted everyone to the room on the right of the hall. Upon entering the room, it dawns on me that we are witnessing a duel from the Duelist Kingdom finals.
As I took my spot on the red side, Pegasus walked to the blue side, and everyone took to watching on the left and right sides of the stage. Finally, Pegasus Man walks up to me and holds out his hand to shuffle my deck. After he finishes, he does the same to the Pegasus deck and walks to a slightly raised platform. He begins announcing, "We shall begin the duel of Jason Todd vs. Mister Maximillion Pegasus. Are both dualists ready?" "Yes-yes," we both said at the same time. "I'll go first," he said, drawing his card for the turn.
[P] 4000 LP6 cards in hand
[J] 4000 LP 5 cards in hand
[P] I will start by playing the Toon Table of Contents. This card allows me to add one "Toon" card from my deck to my hand. I will add a second copy, then play it again to find a third. Finally, I will play the spell Toon World, which will cost me only 1000 life points. As he did, a massive book appeared on the field and opened, showing a pop-up castle. Then I will play Pot of Greed, allowing me to draw 2 cards. I will then set one monster face down and set these two cards and end my turn.
[P] 3000 LP 2 cards in hand, one monster set, and 2 cards set in back row
[J] I draw "my hand is not that bad 1 vendread houndhorde 1 vendread striges 1 pot of greed 1 Vendread core 1 preparation of rites 1 Vendread Revenants: I will start by playing Pot of Greed to draw 2 cards-]" In response, I will activate one of my set cards, Jar of Greed, allowing me to draw one card," he said with a small smirk. "The cards I drew were 1 vendread Origin and 1 vendread Nights."
Next, I will provide the private preparation of rites. This spell allows me to add one ritual monster that is level 7 or lower. I will add Revendread Slayer. I will then activate the ritual spell Vendread Origin, allowing me to summon any Vendread ritual monster. I will send Vendread Core, Vendread Houndhor, and Vendread Striges as the material for the summon. Then Revendread Slayer [Dark/LV6/Zombie/Effect/ATK 2400/DEF 0] appears on the field, puts the locket from its origin around his neck, and gains a powerful aura as he acquires the effects of the other monsters. Next, I will normal summon Vendread Revenants [Dark/LV4/Zombie/Effect/ATK1800/DEF200]. When they are summoned, three zombies appear on the field next to Slayer, who shoots them a nasty look.
Now, when you use Vendread Houndhorde on a Vendread ritual monster, the ritual monster gains the effect. Once per turn (Quick Effect): You can target 1 Spell/Trap your opponent controls; banish it. And I will have Slayer use that effect, targeting your Toon World. After I say this, Slayer jumps across the field past the facedown monster and stabs the card in the back row with his scythe-like appendages on his back. After it is banished, his face-down monster also flips face up, revealing Toon Merma, before it blows up because Toon World is no longer on the field. Next, I will activate the effects of Vendread Striges and Houndhord by revealing a Vendread card in my hand. I can summon them to the field but banish them when they leave.
After saying this, I showed him Vendread Nights. After doing this, a flock of undead birds appeared on the field in defensive position [Dark/LV2/Zombie/Effect/ATK200/DEF2000], and then right next to it is a pack of undead hounds in defensive position [Dark/LV3/Zombie/Effect/ATK0/DEF2100]. Now it's time to finish this. I will have Slayers and Revenants attack directly! I said with excitement. After declaring this, Revenants ran over first and swung their claw-like arms at Pegasus, then Slayer followed up by throwing a solid jab at him, ending the duel.
As the peeping of the life point counter ends, the guard declares me the winner, and Pegasus starts to walk over to me. "Jason, boy, that was a wonderful duel. While I didn't expect to lose on the first turn, I'm still impressed at your skill." I smile, gaining a bit of confidence. "I have something for you; please follow me upstairs. A little raven told me it should be given to you," he said with a bit of an amused tone before saying to the crowd. "Please return to the dining hall. Dinner will be served in a minute. Jason and I will be with you in just a minute." After saying this, he led me up the staircase and down the hallway to his office.
The office is decorated with different cartoon and manga merchandise, along with a picture of his wife and a picture of him and Yugi on some island. "Please take a seat," he said, waving his hand at the nearest chair. Sitting down, I watch Pegasus move a bookshelf on the side wall and remove a hatch on the wall. It reveals a small black safe. Unlocking it, he pulls out a case and locks it again, moving everything back in place. He walks back to his seat and places the case down. "In this box are two powerful items imbued with magic." He analyzes my face as he speaks. "I wasn't lying when I said a little raven told me these items were for you. The first time this gold chain was delivered by a raven made of green energy was almost 10 years ago, when your mother started to work for me right after the duelist kingdom tournament," he said, handing me the thin gold chain.
As I picked it up, a flash of golden light appeared, and a flood of information about the chain filled my mind. Its name, Gleipnir, is the chain meant for holding Fenrir until Ragnarok. That should not be possible, but I'm not going to complain. I put it in my left pocket for easy access. Then he continued; he pulled out a pair of black leather gloves with gold runes, laced with red thread. "These are a pair of leather gloves that were given to me by a black raven with gold runes on its wings about a week ago. I've done some research into them," he continues. "The runes are used to store the magic and enhance it while the magic is induced into them, all while the creator sings "Quite a unique piece of craftsmanship, I must say."
I have heard of these gloves before, back in my past life when I was studying different mythologies as a kid. They are from Estonian mythology and hold magic and whispers from the maker's song. I pick them up and slide them into my jacket pocket alongside my deck.
"Now, Jason, boy, having these will be useful to you, but you must be careful. Some unscrupulous individuals may attempt to complicate your acquisition of these items, so you need to be ready for such situations. I suggest practicing with them somewhere private to draw as little attention as possible. If you need my help, feel free to come to me." He keeps talking to me, still in awe and shock. "Now, to make sure your parents don't find out about the more supernatural part of the world, let me give you this," he says, reaching into his desk drawer and pulling out a piece of paper. "This is a letter of recommendation. I can only give out a few of these a year because of my position as a sponsor of the dual academy. He said, "If you do well on the practical dual, you'll skip the paper test and be in the RA yellow dorm." I accepted the paper, still astounded by all I've just received and been told, and we both headed down the stairs and took our spots at the dinner table.
" Dear, what did Mister Pegasus want after your duel?" My mom said with a bit of concern. "He gave me this letter of recommendation. I must take it to the testing site tomorrow for processing before the test. He also said to come to him if I ever need his help," I said with a bit of pride. As the rest of the night progresses, all I'm focused on is my conversation with Mister Pegasus. I eat my dinner all the while anticipating the night's end so I can go home and reevaluate all I've heard tonight.
After dinner, I change into my pajamas, get on the computer, and research the various languages used today. I can read and write them perfectly. Looking out of my room, I see that my parents have already gone to sleep, so I quietly start trying to speak the different languages.
At first it was difficult, but after a minute I was able to do it. The easiest ones were languages related to English, like German, Dutch, and Danish. Next, I found the Romance languages, as well as Asian languages and Sanskrit, to be easier than others. Finally, the most difficult ones were the African languages, while sign language was almost impossible without having to watch multiple videos on the different versions of it.
Finally, I looked up ancient languages, like Egyptian hieroglyphs and ancient Greek, finishing up with ancient Sumerian. It took my brain a while. Unlike the others, I translated it into English in my head instead of reading it. I also couldn't write or speak them. Exhausted after today's events and my studies, I finally hit my bed and slept for the evening.