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It wasn't all that unusual to hear about newly awakened magical girls on TV, and that was good, because there were more and more monsters emerging from the shadows to wreck havoc on the Earth's populace. The increasing frequency with which these monsters appeared caused more and more of the human population to spontaneously display signs of magical ability.
And Japan, of course, was cursed with more monsters and blessed with more magical girls than the others. The experts claimed that the veil between the human dimension and the shadowy homeworld of the monsters must be particularly thin over the islands. Their small population meant that the magic that empowered the humans to fight back had to be less choosy with who it presented itself to, with a few reports of magical girls actually being guys.
All these facts being what they were, Yugi shouldn't have been so surprised when he heard screaming outside his bedroom window, found a tree-trunk monster with tentacle-like roots advancing up his driveway, and noticed that the just-completed puzzle in his hands had begun to glow.
But the way the puzzle's light enveloped him and replaced his star-dotted blue pyjamas with a frilly black and gold dress that only just covered his crotch and swapped his fluffy socks for thigh-highs left him yelling in surprise and mild outrage. His slippers were exchanged for black leather boots with golden wings and a tiara dropped onto his spiky mess of hair, and Yugi could have sworn that his underwear felt silky when it had been cotton.
He was staring down at himself in shock, when a tiny pop! sounded over his desk. A large mass of brown fur appeared over the golden puzzle that lay innocently on top of his homework, as if it hadn't just given him an impromptu magical makeover. He stared, trying to process everything that had just happened when the red-and-black fur-ball opened its large, reddish-violet eyes and spoke in a surprisingly deep voice.
"Yugi, we must hurry before the Trent destroys your home!"
Yugi's eyebrows furrowed, and he opened his mouth to ask the talking hairball where it came from when he heard his grandfather's panicked voice calling out to him from downstairs.
"Grandpa!" He turned and rushed out of his room.
The creature, which Yugi would later find out was a Kuriboh, waved its large green paws in alarm. "No, Yugi! Don't forget your Puzzle!" It grabbed the still glowing artefact and bounced in the air, following after its new master. A tinkling crash announced the arrival of the tree monster as it entered through the shop door, roots grasping towards the old man and his grandson hiding behind the counter.
The Kuriboh reached the bottom of the stairs and spotted the two humans shaking in fear as the Trent roared, smashing its way through the small store. Growling softly to itself, the smaller monster rushed to Yugi’s side, shoving the Puzzle into the boy’s hands just as a gnarled root lifted over their heads, ready to crush them into the floor.
The Puzzle broke apart in Yugi’s hands, and he cried out in alarm, their last hope shattered in his hands just as the root began its deadly downswing. The pieces of the Puzzle floated in the air above Yugi’s hands then, emitting another burst of golden light that forced the Trent’s root to retreat as if burnt as the light formed a protective sphere around Yugi, his grandpa, and the Kuriboh.
As the tree monster roared, the Puzzle changed, its pieces dancing and rearranging themselves in the air, morphing and changing until it had turned itself into a wand, with a smaller pyramid at the tip framed by the wings of a holy scarab. Yugi did not get to admire it for long, however, because the Trent recovered quickly and attacked again.
He pointed the wand instinctively at the monster and was not disappointed as a beam of golden light shot toward the tree, tearing through one of its eyes. It screeched in pain and attempted to retreat, but trees were not good at running, and Yugi was able to use the wand’s power to injure it until it exploded into a shower of sparks that showered harmlessly onto the ground and disappeared. The furball and his grandpa cheered then, though only until they noticed the wreckage that had been made of the previously tidy little shop.
“Well,” sighed his grandpa, “I’m very glad I signed up for the monster coverage on the insurance policy.” He looked at his grandson, and his eyes widened as he really took in Yugi’s new outfit. “Yugi, I didn’t know you were into cross-dressing!”
Yugi groaned, and hid behind the counter again, glaring accusingly at the furball that still floated in the air beside him. “Do I really have to wear this outfit to have the magical powers? I can’t fight monsters in, say, a leather vest or something?”
The Kuriboh shrugged. “The dress comes with the magic. I suppose you can try changing back into regular clothes during a fight, but I wouldn’t recommend it.”
The elder looked incredulously at the floating, talking furball. “The powers came with a pet, too? Does it prefer cat food or dog food?”
The creature looked horrified at the suggestions, and Yugi laughed. “But really, what are you?” The Kuriboh settled down on a stool to explain.
The next day was Monday, and Yugi groaned when the alarm went off. He had gone to bed much later than usual last night, helping Grandpa board up the entrance of the shop and clean up as much as they could while the Kuriboh explained the particulars of Yugi's new powers. The fluffy creature peered up at him from the foot of his bed, where it had chosen to rest, and Yugi smiled at it as he rubbed the sleep from his eyes.
"Good morning! Umm, actually, you never told us your name last night. Isn't 'Kuriboh' the name of your species?"
It nodded, then sighed. "I don't actually know my name. I only remember the darkness from which I came from and some of the rules of the magic that brought me here."
Yugi frowned. "Well, I can't just call you Kuriboh, that'd be like you calling me Human. Hmmm..." He tapped his chin thoughtfully. "How about Yami? Since you came from the darkness?"
The Kuriboh looked pensive, then pleased. "Yami... Yes, I like it." Yami glanced at the clock. "Shouldn't you be preparing for school? Isn't that a typical daily activity for magical girls?"
Yugi yelped and jumped out of bed. "Yes, you're right!" He dashed out of the room, Yami in hot pursuit with the Puzzle between his paws again.
"Wait, Yugi, the Puzzle!"
"Yami, I'm going to the bathroom, not to fight crime!"
Luckily, Yugi made it to school on time, sliding in through the classroom door as the late bell rung. He flopped onto his usual seat next to his best friend, Ryou, and tried to get his breathing back to normal after racing all the way to school. The Puzzle now hanging heavily from his neck hadn't made the run any easier, though the Kuriboh in his bookbag had actually seemed to make it lighter. Yami had insisted on joining him at school, since he could sense the appearance of new monsters and give him some background info for most enemies.
Ryou smiled at Yugi as he sat down, then his their eyes widened (he had to remember to use "they") as they saw the large golden pyramid hanging around his neck. "You're wearing jewelry to school, Yugi? That's a first!"
He laughed awkwardly, rubbing the back of his neck nervously. "Umm, yes, I just-" The teacher tapped impatiently on the board with the pointer stick, staring at them meaningfully. They both mouthed "sorry" at the teacher and turned to pay attention to the class. Yugi slipped Ryou a note telling them to meet at the most corner of the schoolyard fence for lunch. He then steadfastly ignored Ryou's curious glances as he tried to pay attention to the math being written on the board and not the whirling thoughts in his head.
Lunchtime came around fairly quickly, and Yugi wasn't sure how he felt about that. On one hand, sitting in class was certainly no fun, but on the other, Ryou was waiting for an explanation for something Yugi would rather not be true. And there was no way to wiggle his way out of this story- Ryou was hot on his tail the instant he got up from his seat when morning class ended, and the looks they shot him told him that Ryou already had some inkling of what was going on.
Ryou clearly couldn't wait until they had made the trek to their meeting spot, opening their mouth only halfway across the schoolyard. "So, Yugi, what's the big secret of the golden pyramid? It's Egyptian, right? That's the Eye of Wdjat, I think."
Yugi heard so little of Ryou's dad that he sometimes forgot that the man was an archeologist. Clearly Ryou took after him at least a little. "Well, yes, Grandpa and I certainly think it's Ancient Egyptian, but... that's not quite the reason why I asked you to come over here."
They sat down on the grass at the corner of the fence, making sure to avoid the ant hill nearby. Students rarely ventured out to this corner of the schoolyard, which made it ideal for trading secrets. However, putting themselves in a corner made it more difficult to escape the bullies that frequented Domino High should they ever be spotted. Yugi's large, multicolored hair and Ryou's long white mane made them impossible to miss even from across the yard, and they had gotten into trouble a few times when they had hung out there. Sitting down made them a lot less noticeable to enemies, if more vulnerable to ants and dirt.
"So why did we come out here? What couldn't you tell me in the cafeteria?"
"It's not what I can't tell you there, though I really wouldn't want to tell you there." He pulled his backpack onto his lap and carefully unzipped it. "It's more about what I can't show you in the cafeteria."
Yami's fluffy head popped out of the backpack as soon as Yugi opened it, and Ryou looked puzzled. "A dog...? But I thought-" Their eyes widened, and they pointed a shaking finger at the Kuriboh. "That's- that's not a dog! That's a magical familiar! You, you really are a...!"
"A magical girl." Yugi sighed. "Yeah, I definitely wasn't expecting that to-" "What is it like?" Yugi blinked. He was unused to Ryou interrupting him, but Ryou's eyes were wide and full of awe, and there was no way he could be annoyed with his best friend when they looked so excited.
"It was pretty cool, blasting the monster, though I wish it hadn't messed up the game shop, and I really wish I didn't have to wear a dress the whole time! It was only up to here, Ryou, up to here!" He gestured at his thigh, looking outraged, but Ryou looked the opposite of sympathetic with his terrible dilemma.
"I bet you rocked that dress though! Did you get any pictures? And besides, I'd wear even the ugliest and most ill-fitting rags if it meant getting magical powers!"
Yugi pouted at the Kuriboh still half-way in his bag. "See Yami, why couldn't you have picked Ryou instead? They'd be down for it in a heartbeat!" Ryou also looked to Yami for an answer, but the Kuriboh shook its head.
"Trust me when I tell you that it wasn't my decision. The magic chooses its wielders and their familiars."
Both teenagers looked disappointed to hear that, and they sat back on their haunches. "Well, Yugi, at least tell me how you found out about being a magical girl. You said that a monster ruined Grandpa's game shop?"
"Yeah, I had just finished putting together this puzzle I've had ever since I was little- or rather, littler, I guess, when-"
The Kuriboh hopped out of the bookbag and onto Yugi's shoulder. "Yugi, I sense a disturbance! I think a monster's about to emerge from the shadows just east of here...!"
Eyes wide, Yugi grabbed his schoolbag and scrambled to his feet. "Ryou can you-"
"Don't worry about the teacher, Yugi, I'll think of something to tell them! Good luck, and be careful!" As Yugi fought his way through a hole in the fence hidden by a thick bush, Ryou headed back to the cafeteria. Yugi later found a text message on his phone from Ryou saying that he didn't have to come back to school. They had told a teacher that Yugi's grandpa had picked him up from school early because of a monster incident at his house.
As the days passed, more and more monsters started appearing, and Yugi ended up out of school more often than he was in it. When he had to go fight in the morning, Grandpa Mutou called him in sick to school, and when Yami pawed at his leg during class, Ryou would help make up some excuse or start a disturbance so that Yugi could sneak out. Ryou dutifully made copies of his notes and delivered them to Yugi's house, and Yugi felt badly that he was so rarely able to thank him in person for it.
The Kuriboh proved itself to be an invaluable friend and ally, warning him of monster appearances and aiding Yugi in battle, distracting the creatures while Yugi took aim. Yugi learned that, in a tight spot, Yami could explode, causing a good amount of damage to their opponent, though the Kuriboh would be exhausted for the next few days from the release of energy.
Outside of battles, while they rested and patched up their wounds, Yami would tell Yugi what he knew of the shadowy realm from which the monsters emerged, and of the magic that fought it through humanity's youngest and strongest. Yugi told Yami of his own life, all the joys and the hardships he had lived through, and the secrets he had never shared with another soul. Yami gave him surprisingly sound advice, considering that he was a furry alien creature, and Yugi cared for the familiar that felt more like a brother than a pet.
Yugi found that the Puzzle could do more than shoot energy blasts and form a protective shield, and he was grateful each time he learned a new trick, for the monsters grew stronger and wilier with each new manifestation. While he never felt truly comfortable in the short dress and heeled boots, he became used to running and fighting in his magical uniform. He supposed that it saved him time and money in clothing replacement, since the ripped dress would melt back into his previous, undamaged, outfit once the battle was over, and re-emerge unharmed when he transformed again.
Monsters started appearing twice in one day, sometimes with such short breaks in between them that Yugi hadn't even transformed back to his usual outfit before Yami was pointing at a new location. He was missing so much school that he and Grandpa were considering telling the school administration what was really going on. Yugi really hoped he wouldn't have to because he knew it would be less than a day before the entire school found out. Then the students would want to see him in the magical girl outfit, and he knew there were plenty of people who wouldn't mind forcing him physically into a transformation.
There were already a few students who he had saved and who were close to figuring out his mundane identity. Jonouchi and Honda, two of his former bullies, had been getting beaten by Ushio and his gang when a monster had appeared nearby. The group had scattered, leaving behind the beaten and winded boys on the floor to be attacked by the green cyclopic ogre. Yugi saved their lives, and they recognized his resemblance to someone they used to pick on, and it seemed that they might have changed their ways after the experience.
Tea, his middle school crush, had particularly bad luck with monsters, and Yugi had to save her quite a few times, especially since her first instinct was not to flee, but to fight. She actually managed to take down a few smaller monsters with powerful kicks from her dancer's legs, but the stronger ones were too much for any magic-less human. Yugi wondered sometimes why the magic had picked him and not her, when she was a fighter even without powers. He made sure that she never saw his face clearly, mortified by the thought of the girl he still fancied seeing him in a fluffy dress and thigh highs. But she was sharp, and he knew she had her suspicions.
Yugi occasionally saw other magical girls while on duty, though the sightings were rare. One time, when two monsters had appeared within a half-mile with only minutes between them, he saw a particularly tall and slim magical girl rain blue fire and lightning on the other monster while he blasted golden light at his. He tried to thank her after he finished his fight, but she had already gone, and none of the onlookers could tell him where she went. Yami had been interested to note that he hadn't sensed the other monster's manifestation, and they theorized that maybe the magic only warned the familiars of their "assigned" monsters.
And it seemed that the tall magical girl had been picking up the slack, because after they spotted her, Yami's warnings were much fewer and farther in between. Unfortunately, all his fights now happened during the early morning, and Grandpa told the school that Yugi had to get check-ups in the hospital each morning before heading to school at noon. The monsters appeared so regularly in the morning that the city people who were out and about at those hours started recognizing him. He was fairly certain that at least some of them were actually following him to the monster appearance site and watching him fight, most of whom were wearing weird purple cloaks. He was glad that they always dispersed once the monster was destroyed, and he could hide to change back to his normal clothes and go to school.
Homeschooling, as murky as the law was on the subject, was starting to look more practical, especially given the number of crazy bullies still at large in Domino High. Yugi was surprised when the three students that he had saved started hanging out with him at school though, and Jonouchi and Honda's presence seemed to scare away most bullies. He knew they were trying to figure out whether he was really the magical girl that had saved him, but he had fun chatting and playing games with them on breaks, and he thought they might consider him a friend as well.
Ryou was surprised when people joined them at their lunch table, especially since they and Yugi were usually ostracized due to their weird hair and general nerdiness. They were more surprised when it turned out that two of those people used to harass Yugi regularly. Yugi had to hastily and discreetly shoot him a text message explaining the situation, though Ryou never seemed quite convinced that the three were ready on Yugi's side.
Ryou treated Jonouchi, Tea and Honda civilly enough, but Yugi worried that Ryou felt neglected as a friend, especially since they had always hung out together exclusively before. He made up for it by regaling Ryou with tales of his adventures and near-death experiences by text-message whenever he had the chance. He smiled whenever Ryou would answer back with some of the school gossip he had missed or some of the more outlandish stories they had been forced to concoct to explain Yugi's absences.
Luckily (and unluckily) enough, the staff at Domino High were much too underpaid to really care what went on in the classrooms or the schoolyard. Ryou had managed to get away with some excuses that wouldn't hold a second's examination by a kindergartner, and they claimed it was their cute smile that helped them get away with it. Yugi didn't doubt it- Ryou always looked almost supernaturally cute and innocent, except when they were talking about the occult with a fanatical gleam in their eye or playing as the diabolical game master during a table-top RPG.
And though he sometimes invited all of his friends to come play games at the repaired shop, he missed getting to play campaigns at Ryou's house. Ryou said they needed to write a new multiplayer campaign before they could invite their new friends over, and Yugi hoped they'd finish soon. Maybe then the others would warm up more to his first friend, and Ryou could see that they really did consider him more as a friend than as a mystery to solve.
One Monday morning, as he finished off a monstrous moth that had been scattering poisonous dust over the local park, Yugi got a text from Ryou. As soon as the moth and its dust had been banished back to the shadows, Yugi sat down on a park bench to rest and read the message. "Yugi, I'm not feeling so well. I think I might have caught the flu. Please tell the school, I'm having trouble speaking."
Yugi frowned softly at the news and told Yami once the Kuriboh had plopped onto his lap to recover from the battle. Yami also frowned.
"Yugi, I know you want to go visit your friend before school, but that poison dust may have damaged your immune system. If you were to fall ill, then Ryou would be in double the danger if a monster showed up near his apartment."
Yugi sighed, knowing he was right. He texted Ryou his well-wishes and assured him that he would take photocopies of Anzu's notes for him before heading to school. He told the teacher what was happening, and then sat down for his evening class.
The next day, Yugi fought the monster that had appeared, like clockwork, in the morning, then headed to school. He was disappointed to notice that Ryou wasn't in their seat, and when the teacher wasn't looking, he sent them a text asking them if they were feeling any better. He was copying down notes from the board when he noticed his bookbag rustling, then Yami was pawing urgently at his leg. Yugi's eyes widened. It had been weeks since Yami had sensed monster attacks outside the morning time slot.
He made his excuses and headed off to fight, but as soon after he had crushed a zombie warrior to bits Yami was pointing out another monster to fight. Exhausted by the two earlier fights, Yugi and Yami only narrowly avoided serious injury when the dragon caught them by surprise with a lashing from its tail. Grandpa bandaged their injuries and they fell into a deep sleep as soon as they landed on Yugi's bed.
On Wednesday, Yugi didn't even get a chance to go to school. As he shielded himself from the energy blast shot by a robotic monster's laser eye, he wondered to himself where the other magical girl had gone, and whether he would now have to deal with all of the monsters by himself. There were four monsters he had to destroy, and he limped so badly that he was forced to call a cab to ferry him the short walk home. He texted his friends to let them know he was okay, that he had taken the day off school due to illness. He didn't want them to worry or suspect that he had been beaten so badly.
On Thursday, Yugi woke up to find that it was already 2pm. Yami had not alerted him even once of a monster appearance, and Grandpa had let them sleep in. Yugi panicked for a minute, thinking that they had left Domino to the mercy of the shadowy monsters. Yami reassured him, however, that there had simply been no appearances, for whatever strange reason. Though they remained on high alert as they ate and bathed and redressed their wounds, no more monsters were assigned to them that day.
On Friday, Yugi was feeling better, and he was able to fight off the harpy that appeared midmorning in the downtown area without too much trouble. A few hours later, another monster appeared. It was a gremlin that was small and weak but quick on its feet, and Yugi and Yami were forced to chase it all around the park. They had finally cornered it and had barely finished it off when another monster appeared nearby, roaring angrily. There were two more monsters after that one, and it was all they could do to stay alive and destroy the monster before the next one appeared.
On Saturday, they slept in. No monster appearances until the afternoon, and they were glad the only creature that showed up was a skeletal hound. They dealt with it and returned home to fall asleep again almost immediately.
It was barely Sunday when Yami shook Yugi awake. Some sort of evil koala was terrorizing the homeless that were sleeping on the park benches. It should have been an easy fight, but at 2am, even simple tasks are surprisingly difficult to accomplish. After an hour of chasing the creature around and trying to blast it without damaging the park, Yugi lost his patience and dropped a tree onto it.
Yugi and Yami trudged back home and had just snuggled under the bedsheets when the Kuriboh groaned. A witch was flying over the school on a broomstick and pouring acid onto the field from her cauldron. Yugi did not enjoy having to hop from patch to patch of clean grass in boots to avoid the acid. Yami was very lucky that she ran out of acid when she did, or he would have been left hairless.
They were halfway home when Yami let out a deep sigh. Luckily, a cafe next to them was open early, and they each grabbed a cup of coffee, gulping it down as they ran towards the next monster appearance site. A furry creature that looked like it could be Yami's evil cousin was screeching at people in a hospital’s emergency room, threatening them with its claws. Yugi and Yami had to lure it outside before they could really attack, worried that a stray blast could hurt people or the machinery that was helping keep them alive. They got it out on the streets, and Yugi barely avoided getting hit by a car before they could take it down.
Yugi was forced to hail a cab, too tired to walk, but before he could tell the cabbie his home address, Yami piped up and did the talking for him. There was a monster downtown, not too far from where they were before, which was lucky because Yugi didn’t have much change. Once they arrived, they looked up in despair at the eagle with a jetpack shooting across the skies so quickly that the shockwaves were decimating skyscraper windows. Common citizens, whose only crimes were to go to work early, screamed as they ran away from the buildings, and they spotted one of those strange cloaked men staring at them as they hurried away.
While Yugi had quite a few tricks up his sleeve from his many fights, he had never been able to figure out how to fly. Yami could float and hop in the air, but he had no hope of reaching even a fraction of the speed the eagle was boasting. Yugi shot off a few blasts and tried to imprison the monster in a cage of golden light and puzzle pieces, but a slight tilt of the eagle's wings changed its trajectory enough to avoid his efforts entirely.
Yami considered floating up as close to the monster as possible and exploding, but that would make him useless for the next fights he was sure they'd have to face. They had no other choice, though, and the Kuriboh began to hop up into the air as if climbing an invisible staircase when it spotted someone riding a large gold platform through the air. Yami stopped and pointed out the unusual sight to Yugi, who turned to watch.
Even the rocket-powered eagle slowed down to watch the approaching spectacle. Yugi tried to take advantage of the fact to blast it, but the dodged it again, so the magical girl gave up in favor of trying to make out the figure flying towards them in style. It seemed to be covered in shadows, so noticing small details was difficult, but as it approached, it was clearly some sort of magical girl with dark grey skin and long, light blue hair. Yugi’s stomach lurched unpleasantly when he noticed that her eyes were completely white, glowing blankly without any sign of an iris.
For a second, the girl’s head turned towards him, blank white eyes seeming to stare right into his and he recoiled slightly, but then her attention returned downwards. Yugi noticed that the golden platform was flying in pursuit of a rabid-looking black pterosaur. As they watched, a pair of enormous golden spikes dropped from the platform’s sides and pointed at the dinosaur, blasting bright golden laser beams at it. The pterosaur dodged, but just barely, and as it approached Yugi and Yami’s location, they could see that the monster was exhausted, straining to flap its enormous, tatteredwings.
The magical girl was close enough that they could see the ruffles on her black dress and a short white scarf around her neck. The rocket-powered eagle shot past them, away from the incomer, but she narrowed her eyes and a third golden spike moved. An arc of light, and the eagle’s jetpack exploded, causing it to screech as it tumbled towards the ground. Another flash, and the pterosaur had a hole in its wing, and it screamed as it lost control of its flight, smashing into the falling eagle, and they both exploded into a shower of sparks.
The magical girl’s platform slowed, then moved to float downwards next to Yugi and Yami, who were still awestruck by her ruthless efficiency. She stepped off her platform, which shrunk into a golden pendant the size of her hand with five dangling spikes. The eye on its surface reminded Yugi of his puzzle, and he wondered if the Puzzle could also grow and carry him around. When her eyes met his, he was struck by the creepy blankness of her eyes, and the shadows that enveloped her. Her scarf moved, and it wasn’t a scarf at all, but a white, winged snake, watching them with red eyes.
Her mouth opened, as if to speak, when a high-pitched hum interrupted her, and they all turned to stare at the ground below which the monsters had crashed and exploded before disappearing. A thin beam of light emerged from that point and slowly began to move, inscribing upon the ground a star-shape, enclosed by a circle. The completed symbol glowed golden, and then an immense cerberus with a flaming mane appeared, all three heads howling with the thrill of the hunt.
“Shit,” said Yugi, and he pointed his Puzzle wand at the beast, firing off a blast, but the hound shook it off as if it barely stung. The shadowy girl grinned, and turned, holding her pendant sideways before throwing it like some sort of golden magical frisbee. It soared through the air and slashed a deep cut on the monster’s shoulder, but while two of the heads yelped in pain, the third had grabbed the pendant in its teeth.
“Shit,” said the other magical girl, and now that Yugi took a close look at her, there was something oddly masculine in the way she stood. And there was something strangely familiar about-
The cerberus charged directly towards them, the spikes in the pendant clinking together in an odd counterpoint to the snapping of its jaws. They scattered, Yugi dashing one way and Yami hopping after him while the shadowy figure sprinted the other way. She snapped her fingers and the pendant disappeared from the hound’s jaws to reappear around her neck, though she frowned at the lava-like slobber now dripping onto her clothing.
The monster was so disoriented by the way its teeth suddenly snapped together that it tripped over its own feet and fell ungracefully onto the ground. Yugi saw his chance and took it, imprisoning the cerberus in a golden cage of light and puzzle pieces. He sighed in relief as the hound howled, but could not escape, yelping as it hurt itself on the laser-light bars.
The shadowy magical girl approached Yugi and the way her paper-white teeth matched her glowing blank eyes made him sick to his stomach. She seemed to notice his discomfort, tilting her head, and the white snake wrapped snugly around her neck flapped its wings as it chuckled.
“What,” hissed the snake, “Don’t you recognize your friend, Yugi?”
Ryou’s grin widened. “Hi, Yugi. It’s been a while, hasn’t it?”
Someone was perched on the windowsill of a highrise whose windows had all been obliterated, watching the two magical girls and the imprisoned hell-hound. A hooded figure brought him a glass of juice, which he sipped thoughtfully as he held a battered Dandylion plush in his free arm.
“Wouldn’t it be interesting if we had that kind of power?”
The plush seemed to smirk. “Wouldn’t it, indeed?”