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“Hey, Grandpa, what’s this?” Yugi asked, struggling to pick up a box that was as big as him.
“Oh! Careful with that!” his grandfather shouted, “It arrived! My package arrived!”
“What’s in the box, Yug?” Joey asked, casually coming into the Game Shop to see what his best friend had planned for the weekend.
“Something very mysterious. Why, I don’t even know what it is,” Grandpa said as he took the box from Yugi and opened it. Inside was a black scroll. They all stared.
“Well, open it!” cried Joey impatiently.
“Yugi, would you like to look at it first? You seem to have a knack with ancient artifacts,” Grandpa grinned and patted Yugi on the shoulder. Yugi picked up the map curiously and unrolled it.
“The Dark Forest is deep and far. Within its bounds, you’ll find the star. A single wish burns true and bright. This map’s the key, so hold on tight,” Yugi read then asked, “What do you think it means?”
“I bet this here’s a map to a wishing star, Yug!” Joey smiled and put his arm around Yugi, “It’s always a new adventure being friends with you!”
“Yes. I’ve heard of such a thing!” Grandpa chimed in, “A star which fell to the ground long ago and still possesses its wish granting power. This is not at all what I thought I ordered, but who ever remembers what they order online?”
“Here, Grandpa,” Yugi said, handing the scroll over, “This is your wish.”
“No, no,” Grandpa chuckled, “I’m too old to be traveling to Dark Forests to look for lost legends. I want you to have it.”
“Gee, thanks, Grandpa!” Yugi cheerfully said, but then muttered pensively, “But what should I wish for?”
“Besides,” added Grandpa, “I’ve had a long life full of everything I could ever wish for! Think carefully about it, Yugi. I know you’ll make a good decision.”
“Thanks, Grandpa,” Yugi beamed at his grandfather, then excitedly turned to Joey, saying, “Let’s go get Tea and Tristan! They wouldn’t want to miss this!”
“We wouldn’t miss it for anything!” a girl’s voice joined the conversation suddenly.
“Tea! Tristan! When did you get here?” Yugi asked, surprised.
“Just now,” she said, “What is it that we wouldn’t want to miss?”
“Yugi’s got a map to a wishing star!” Joey told them.
“Wow! I would wish to be a famous dancer! What about you guys?” Tea asked.
“Well…if I could wish for anything, I would want to think of something that would help people. I would want to do something good with it!” Yugi said, and his friends agreed that that was a great idea.
So, they said goodbye to Grandpa and headed toward the Dark Forest. Along the way they talked about what wishes would be the best and whether they thought that the map was really leading them to a wishing star or not. They soon reached a portal, and the map indicated that it was the correct way. But then, they heard a familiar voice call out to them, “I heard you have a certain map that I want to buy. How much do you want for it?”
“Kaiba!” Yugi responded happily, “What is it that you want to wish for?”
“Not telling,” Kaiba answered bluntly, “Now how much do you want for that map?”
“He’s not sellin’!” Joey shouted, and Yugi who had turned to Yami for some reason then added, “I’m worried that your wish would only hurt you in the end, Kaiba.”
“Don’t worry about me. Worry about keeping that map you have because I intend to get my hands on it one way or another.”
“Yugi, let’s go!” yelled Tea, and they all ran through the portal before Kaiba could catch up to them.
When Yugi opened the map again, his eyes turned starry, and it showed their path through the Dark Forest. “It looks like we have to go through the Field of Friendship, then the Bridge of the Heart of the Cards, and, lastly, the Castle of Everything You Ever Wanted. Sounds great!”
The friends then reminisced about their time in Duelist Kingdom and the Battle City Tournament, and everyone listened to a lively friendship speech from Tea. Before they knew it, they had already reached the Bridge of the Heart of the Cards, but there was no bridge. It was a cliff facing another cliff with no way to get between the two. So the friends sat down and discussed their ideas of how to get across it.
Meanwhile, Kaiba had entered the portal and was storming across the Field of Friendship. Yugi and his friends were nowhere in sight.
“You’ll get that map, Seto! I brought our tracker so that we could find Yugi. It says they’re just ahead of us, but we’ve been walking a long time and aren’t any closer to them.”
“Mokuba,” Kaiba asked, “Are you sure we’re not lost?”
“They should be just ahead, right past that bush that looks like Shirley Bassey.”
“We passed that bush three times already,” Kaiba said, “I only brought you along because I didn’t want you to get kidnapped while I was gone.”
“I’m sorry, Seto,” Mokuba muttered dejectedly.
Back at the cliffs, Yugi was staring at the map while his friends searched up and down for a bridge. “The Bridge of the Heart of the Cards. Hm. I wonder…” Yugi spoke to himself, and then pulled out his Yu-Gi-Oh deck, repeating, “Heart of the cards. Heart of the cards,” as he walked to the edge of the cliff.
Tristan shouted, “Woah, Yugi! Watch out!” but Yugi pulled out a card, saying confidently, “I summon the Dark Magician! Take me across this ravine!”
Then the Dark Magician was there and took Yugi by the arm across the air, and a bridge seemed to appear beneath them as they walked. “Why did we stop?” Yugi asked and looked around.
“Because it’s our turns!” Joey came running at them, boisterously shouting with card held high, “I summon Red Eyes!” He jumped onto the back of the dragon which then stepped onto the invisible bridge. They could only move ahead one place each turn, and therefore needed approximately twenty episodes for all of them to get to the other side.
Still lost in the Field of Friendship, Kaiba was becoming increasingly agitated as Mokuba grew more and more glum with each passing of familiar landmarks which they had passed multiple times. “We’re going in circles,” Mokuba grumbled, but then perked up at a funny thought which he shared, “Do you remember that time we got lost in our own mansion? And you kept thinking that the stairs were around the corner, and finally one of the maids took us to our rooms because she got mad at us for wandering around.”
Kaiba chuckled as Mokuba continued, “I’m so glad you were there, though. You’re always so cool and sure that you know the way out of situations. It made me feel better.”
“There it is! I see them ahead!” Kaiba interrupted, and Mokuba rejoined, “Run! We can catch up to them!”
Although, as soon as they started running, the scenery shifted so that they were lost in the same loop once more. “What is happening?” they cried out in frustration.
“It seems to be an enchanted field,” a high-toned voice answered from behind them, “It seems that your story was going to get us out of here. If it wants a story, I have one. Remember that time that Yugi beat you in a card game, and you spent a fortune building a computer program that would help you win? Then you just ended up destroying half the city all because you can’t stand to lose?”
“Oh yeah? I remember someone losing his eye in a duel at his own tournament!” Kaiba deflected.
“That was hardly fair!”
“Nothing about that tournament you hosted was fair, Pegasus,” Kaiba was about to strike with more insults, but Mokuba interrupted, “Look! We got out!”
“How did that happen?” Kaiba asked, and Mokuba then questioned, “What are you even doing here, Pegasus?”
“There’s no time for back stories, Mokuba. Do you see them on the other side of that ravine?”
“Looks like they’re using duel monsters to cross it,” Pegasus observed, “And I’m here for the same reason as Kaiba-boy.”
“You’re trying to get the map, too?” Mokuba asked.
“The map?” Pegasus sang, “So Yugi-boy has it, does he?”
“Mokuba, stop helping Pegasus,” Kaiba ordered.
The three of them ran to the edge of the cliff, and Kaiba pulled out a card, declaring, “I summon Blue Eyes White Dragon!” He and Mokuba jumped onto its back before it took one step off the edge of the cliff, then stopped. “What?! Take us to the other side!” Kaiba demanded.
“Perhaps I’ll give it a try,” Pegasus purred, then pulled out two cards, “Toon World, send me Toon Blue Eyes White Dragon, and we’ll see if we can beat them across!”
But when Pegasus got on Toon Blue Eyes White Dragon’s back, the toon plummeted into the valley below them. Kaiba stood with a look of mild amusement while Mokuba fell to his knees in shock, but moments later Pegasus and his cartoon dragon came falling from the sky, landing exactly where they had been. “Toon humor,” Pegasus explained though he was visibly shaken, “They never miss an opportunity for a little slapstick fun.”
Yugi turned around and watched Kaiba, Mokuba, and Pegasus for a minute. “Let’s not wait for them to catch up. Come on!” Joey insisted, and Yugi followed after him, saying, “I just wanted to make sure they knew how it works so they don’t fall, but I see they figured it out.”
“Look at the castle up ahead!” Joey said, “Sure is beautiful! Boy, if I could live in a place like that!”
“Yeah,” Tea and Tristan agreed, “That would be awesome.”
It was Kaiba’s tenth turn, commanding Blue Eyes to take another step, then shouting, “Hurry up and take your turn, Pegasus!”
“You’re not the one being plunged down and up again every time, Kaiba-boy,” Pegasus retorted, “Now, Blue Eyes, take a step this time, please, without any silly games.”
Toon Blue Eyes White Dragon took one step forward, and Pegasus sighed in relief. Just then, the toon’s blue eyes grew comically large, he looked down, and then looked at Kaiba. He waved his claw goodbye and suddenly, quickly fell, leaving a trail of cartoon smoke behind him.
When Pegasus ceased falling, Kaiba sighed, complaining, “You and the Toon cards! It’s getting old just like you.”
“It’s peak comedy. You’ll never understand,” Pegasus put his hand on his head in exasperation.
After several more turns, they were across the Bridge of the Heart of the Cards and soon caught up with Yugi near the entrance to the Castle of Everything You Ever Wanted.
“Strange,” Yugi commented, “It looks like an empty castle to me.”
“Maybe there’s stuff inside,” Joey said.
“Or maybe it’s just a nice castle,” Tristan speculated.
“Cecelia!” They heard a shrill shout from behind their backs, and they all turned. Pegasus ran right past them and through the gate. A beautiful woman was running toward him from the castle, and he was loudly sobbing as he fell into her arms.
“His wife,” Tea said, holding her heart, “That’s what he wanted.”
“I bet that’s why he’s here looking for a wish,” Yugi stated.
“Are you sure you don’t want to hand over that map?” Kaiba approached Yugi, “Or will I have to duel you for it?”
“Sure, Kaiba. You can look at the map,” Yugi said.
Joey groaned, “What’re you doin’? Don’t give it to him!”
“You can see it if you give it back,” Yugi continued, “The Castle of Everything You Ever Wanted is the last place before we get to the wishing star, but, Kaiba, I wonder what it is that you really want. I’ve been thinking this whole time, and I actually don’t know what I want to wish for. It seems unfair for me to use a wish when I have everything I want already. I know I could ask for something that would help others, but I can’t think think of what the best wish would be. So what’s your wish?”
“Let me see the map, and I’ll tell you,” Kaiba said.
Yugi handed him the map. Kaiba opened the map, his eyes turned to stars, and the entire landscape changed. The castle grew and towered ominously over them as the sky went black. “I see. It changes depending on who holds it,” Kaiba read, “Swamp of Abandonment, the Mountains of Blind Ambition, and now we’re in the Kingdom of Absolute Rules.”
Then he grabbed Mokuba’s hand and took off running.
“How predictable,” said Tristan.
“I’’m having Exodia flashbacks,” quavered Joey as he bolted after them to rescue the map.
Once inside, Kaiba approached a massive duel arena. “Impressive,” he said, “Almost as good as my latest innovations in dueling technology. Almost.” He walked down the steps to the dueling platform, shuffled, and placed his deck on the table. An armored robot humanoid then stepped into the arena opposite him.
“So I have to defeat you to get to the star?” Kaiba asked, and the pointy-armored man answered, “Yes, but this is no regular duel. I summon Celtic Guardian in attack mode.”
Yugi and his friends burst into the castle, and, seeing the duel already underway, stood at the sidelines, cheering for Kaiba. “His victory may be the only way through,” thought Yugi.
“This will be easy,” boasted Kaiba, “I summon Blue Eyes--”
A loud buzzer sounded. “That is against the rules,” a robotic voice stated.
“The rules?” Kaiba questioned, “Everyone knows what I think about the rules!”
“It cannot be done. You must follow all rules in this duel,” the man said, “For I am the Rule Book.”
“I don’t believe it. You can’t just call yourself the Rule Book. You’re not a character in this show,” Kaiba responded, annoyed, “Very well. I summon Saggi the Dark Clown in defense mode, and one card face down. I end my turn.”
“This tired strategy?” Pegasus mocked.
“Where did Cecelia go?” Tea asked him.
“When the castle changed, she disappeared along with it,” Pegasus stated coldly and only stared down at the dueling arena.
Rule Book summoned Harpie’s Brother in attack mode, placed one card face down, and ended his turn. Kaiba paused for a while.
“He’s going to force you to play by the rules, isn’t he, Kaiba-boy? I know you won’t hand the map back to Yugi-boy, but perhaps if you hand it to me the scenery will change again. Then you will be out of this troublesome duel.”
“What makes you think I can’t win?” scoffed Kaiba.
“Because I made this game, and even I have no idea what the rules are,” Pegasus stated.
“Good point. Take the map. I can outrun you, anyway, old man,” Kaiba said as he handed the map to Pegasus who opened it, turned starry-eyed, and lost his footing as the castle collapsed and gave way to a pit of darkness.
“What’s wrong with your version of the map?” Joey cried.
“Let’s see,” Pegasus hummed while being consumed by complete darkness, “Heartbreak Hotel? How outdated. Desert of Forgotten Characters? This is getting a little personal.”
“Good thing we didn’t go there, right, Tea?” commented Tristan.
“So now we find ourselves in…” Pegasus paused for dramatic effect, “The Realm of Shadows.”
Kaiba and Mokuba were screaming from somewhere in the darkness below.
“I’m tempted to give this back to you,” Pegasus spoke to Yugi, “Because then I could see my Cecelia again. And it would be easier to get to the star. But I know if I get to the star then I will see her, not just for a moment, but hopefully for good. I’m at a loss for what to do. Sometimes I still feel trapped in the remnants of the Shadow Realm in my own head.”
“Pegasus,” Yugi replied, “I was thinking that maybe you deserve the wish out of everyone here. No one could give you your wish otherwise. It has to be the wishing star! If you want to give the map to me, I’m willing to give it back to you once we get to the star. I think, though, that you need to find the way to get us out of here. Often, through the conquering of our own worst qualities, we become the true winners.”
“But I can’t help that I’m trapped in an eternal dark night of the soul,” Pegasus shook his head, troubled, and asserted, “If my Cynthia returned to me this would all go away. All of the troubles that I took on in my attempt to find her would disappear once I found her. But now, that darkness is what is keeping me from her. Yet she’s the only one who could get me out of this mess I’ve gotten myself into.”
“Swords of Revealing Light!” Yugi shouted, and they could see each other at least. Kaiba, from below, called out to Pegasus, “Give me back the map! Somehow you’ve gotten us into a worse situation than a duel that follows the rules.”
“I know you can get us out of here, Pegasus,” Yugi encouraged, “I believe in you!” His friends echoed him in agreement, and the ground shook.
But Pegasus held his head, and his despair grew; the ground beneath him shook and dropped and forced him to fall flat. “If I knew how to get out of here, I wouldn’t be here!” Pegasus whined miserably, and the ground dropped further toward Kaiba.
“Hand it over,” Kaiba exclaimed, standing at the cliff where Pegasus was above him, just out of reach. “Mokuba, go get the map,” he said, lifting his brother, but, just as he did so, the ground beneath them shook and rose to the same level as Yugi, leaving Pegasus far below.
“I understand the way out now,” Pegasus stood and quipped, “We’ve heard plenty of speeches on the power of friendship, but what about the power of love?”
Then Pegasus rose over all of them, breaking free of the Realm of Shadows, and they all saw the glow of the Wishing Star ahead of them.
“Pegasus,” Kaiba entreated, “I will give you anything you ask in exchange for the map!”
“What is it that you want?” Yugi asked Kaiba, “What is it that you can’t buy with all your money? I want to know.”
“You know what it is that I want, Yugi. Don’t play dumb,” Kaiba scoffed.
“Is it a family?” Yugi asked timidly.
“Of course not! I have Mokuba right here,” Kaiba snapped, “I want to be the greatest duelist! I want to be the King of Games!”
“But you are the King of Games in your own right. Don’t you see, Kaiba?” Yugi said as Kaiba glared dubiously, “I may win a lot of duels, but I didn’t invent Duel Discs or arenas. I didn’t host any tournaments. I may be a great duelist, but I’m just playing a game in a world that you and Pegasus created. Can’t you feel proud of yourself for who you are instead of focusing on what you don’t have? In many ways, you are far greater than me, but you choose to focus on the one way in which you cannot surpass me. Even when we speak of friendship, you brush it off, and you ignore the gift you have right in front of you. Your brother, Mokuba. But see that Pegasus has no one? Let him have his wish.”
Pegasus was already nearing the star. Bathed in its purple light, he gripped the map and with nervous hands pulled it open. A golden text appeared on the shining black surface of the map. The wishing star rose so that Pegasus could step onto it. When he did, the light of the star encompassed him.
“Star light, star bright, first star I see tonight. I wish I may. I wish I might have this wish I wish tonight,” Pegasus read aloud, and, with tears streaming down his face, shouted to the star, “I want Cecelia to be alive again!”
Then she was before him, just as he remembered her. “What?” she asked him, confused, “Am I really here with you? Is it true?”
The star’s light burst forth in every direction before fading away. The star was gone, and only the couple remained at the top of the hill. The Dark Forest’s magic began to fade away until it was just a regular forest all around them.
Kaiba huffed.
Tears came to Tea’s eyes, and she hugged Yugi.
”I just love happy endings,” Joey said, and Tristan replied, “I thought love was only true in fairy tales.”
Then a loud, beating sound grew closer, and a helicopter hovered over them. Kaiba and Mokuba started up the ladder.
“Can you take us home?” Yugi shouted to Kaiba.
“Do whatever you want,” Kaiba sassed, and Mokuba smiled at them before everyone climbed into the helicopter to return home.