Chapter Four - The Magic Boxes
By Seth Oleson
CHAPTER FOUR
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The man at the landing dock at Duelist Kingdom gasped for breath as he was trampled by the barrage of Duelists exiting the boat. "Kids these days. No respect at all."
James walked briskly off the boat, shuffling his Deck absently. He looked around at all the other Duelists, looking for an easy target. He spotted one, the kid who had just gotten off the boat before him. He was a short kid, looked to be about 13 or 14 years old. His hair was what startled James. It was yellow, with black and red spiky things coming up from the back. Smiling, James brushed the hair from his eyes as he walked up to the Duelist.
"Excuse me," James said as he tapped him on the shoulder. The kid turned around, as did his friends. There were four of them altogether, three boys and a girl. The kid looked startled as he looked up at James.
"Who are you?" he asked. James smiled.
"I'm James Leigh, Regional Champion of the US." The kid smiled up at him, and extended his hand.
"My name is Yugi Mutou. Nice to meet you," Yugi said. James took his hand and shook it.
"Well, shall we Duel?" James asked. Yugi looked back at one of his friends who had blondish hair and wore a green jacket. He nodded. Yugi turned back and nodded. "Good. We'll each wager one Starchip, so neither of us are knocked out this early in the game. Deal?"
"Sure," Yugi said. He took a few steps back, then light enveloped him. James took a step back first in fear, then in wonder as he stared into the light. He could hear Yugi yell, "YU-GI-OOOH!" When the light dissipated, Yugi was standing there, only he was now much taller, almost up to James' height. "Well, let's go," he said in a much deeper voice. James was shocked as he watched this transformation. Surely he was in it now.
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A few minutes later, James was sure he'd gotten in over his head. For now, his Suijin was overpowering Yugi's Dark Magician by a good 900 Attack Points, thanks to an Axe of Despair, but James had no other monsters on the field, while Yugi had a Dark Magician, Curse of Dragon and Kuriboh on the field. James had nearly fallen over in laughter when Yugi played his Kuriboh, but Yugi had stopped him cold with a well-placed Swords of Revealing Light. James knew it was down to the wire. He had to do something quickly, or Yugi was sure to win the day. "I end my turn. Your move, Yugi," James said as he went over his options. Right now, he was totally on defensive mode.
"Very well, I activate a Magic Card; the Magic Boxes!" Yugi called out. Two boxes appeared on the field, one on James' side of the field and one on Yugi's. "Now watch as your Suijin and my Kuriboh enter the two boxes." A dozen swords immediately pierced the box on Yugi's side of the field. Slowly, the boxes open to reveal that James' Suijin was the one who had been skewered. Kuriboh emerged on James' side of the field. "By giving up my Kuriboh, I have destroyed your Suijin. Now! Dark Magician! Attack Kuriboh! Dark Magic Attack!" Yugi's Dark Magician easily dispatched the hapless Kuriboh and reduced James' Life Points from the maximum of 2000 straight down to zero. James pounded on his Deck relentlessly, chanting, "No! No! No!" over and over until he heard a sickening crack. James collapsed to the ground, cradling his left hand with a look of pain on his face. Yugi, now a short kid again, ran over to James. "Are you okay!?"
"Does it look like I'm okay!?" James growled between gasps of pain. Slowly, he looked at his hand. A bone was sticking stright out of his hand just underneath the thumb.
"Joey! Go get the doctor!" Yugi yelled to one of his friends.
"There's a doctor on this island?" Joey called back.
"I don't know, just find one!" Yugi called. Joey took off running. Soon he returned with a man in a white coat and a first aid bag. He looked at James' hand with a sympathetic look on his face.
"Ouch. What did you do?" The doctor asked. James shook his head in pain. "Well, we need to bandage it up. This will only hurt for a minute."
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"Thanks for you help back there Yugi," James said. He looked down at his left hand, which now sported a shiny new cast up to his elbow. It was signed by Yugi and all his friends: Joey Wheeler, Tristan Taylor and Tea Gardner. Yugi scratched the back of his head and smiled.
"No problem," he said as he extended his hand. James took it and shook. "If you'd like to travel with us, it's alright by me." James thought about that for a minute, then nodded.
"It would be my pleasure. But I'm going to have to get someone else to shuffle my Deck for me now." Yugi chuckled and smiled. James smiled back. James had lost the use of his left hand, but he had made a new friend. Plus, he was on a three-game losing streak, and had to get off of it somehow.
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