A Lying Legend

Late at night, in a dark and creepy crypt, a number of strange figures in Egyptian garb were gathered, with torches being the only source of light, and up on a platform there laid a grand sarcophagus. Two of the figures, priests, judging by their outfits, went up to the sarcophagus and gently removed the cover, revealing a pharaoh dressed in blue and gold, holding a crook and flail, adorned in resplendent jewelry and wearing a golden mask. The pharaoh then slowly rose from his sarcophagus, prompting the others to kneel in reverence.

"Why has my slumber been disrupted?" He demanded.

The answer came as a ball of light appeared high above, from which came a disembodied voice. "To fulfill your duty… to the shadows."

The millennium symbol on the pharaoh's mask shone brightly, at which he stepped out of his sarcophagus, standing tall above his servants. "Ready my vessel."

Today Prof. Banner was teaching history to the class. There were drawings of famous duelists on the blackboard.

"You all know who Yugi Moto is." He pointed to a young man. "As well as Seto Kaiba. They are dueling legends far and wide, the best of their generation."

"Kaiba's also the founder of this academy." Kaoru added.

"Best looking too." A random girl cooed.

"They're total dreamboats." Another girl happily sighed.

"I like Mai Valentine." A guy added.

"But you do realize, class, that there were other great duelists well before all of them," Banner continued his lecture.

"How is that prof?" Jaden inquired curiously. "I mean, duel monsters hasn't been around all that long?"

"You must have been asleep during that class, Jaden," Syrus piped up. "They used to play back in Ancient Egypt."

"That's right." Banner said. "And back in those days, one of the best was a powerful pharaoh named Abidos the Third, who never lost a single duel."

"Not a single duel? That's so sweet!" Jaden remarked, impressed. "He must have been something else. Of course, it's a good thing he's not around today, cause then that undefeated streak would go adios."

"Dream on, slacker." Chazz cut in from the row of seats behind them. "You wouldn't last against a duelist like that. I heard about your little duel against Kaiba, including how he flattened you like a pancake." One could almost hear a hissing sound as the blond boy's ego deflated due to Chazz's cutting words. "Next thing you know, Jaden will take down Yugi and Kaiba." He added sarcastically.

"You think?" Jaden asked. "I had no idea that you believed in me so much, Chazz."

"It's sarcasm, got that!?" he shot back, clearly irritated by Jaden's obliviousness.

"Sure, but if you wanted to change your name, you could do a lot better than 'sarcasm'."

"You know what I mean!" Chazz snapped, reaching down to grab the brunette Slifer in a headlock.

"Come on guys, you're gonna get us in trouble." Syrus protested, worried about the racket the two were making.

"I'll show you trouble!" Chazz said, letting go of Jaden's head to pull on his ears.

"Hey Chazz, stop screwing around." Davis insisted.

"I can hear everything." Jaden, Syrus and Chazz all froze at the sound of Banner's voice. "You can all continue… in detention."

"Aw man… fifth time this week."

Later in the evening, Alexis was standing by the lighthouse with Ryan and Zane, gazing out at the sea.

"Thanks for coming." The blond girl said gratefully. "I just needed someone to talk to."

"I thought having my brother back would make everything okay again, but it seems like there's even more questions than ever now. And then with these Shadow Riders… I just don't know what to do."

"Yeah, nor do I." He admitted. "Just know that right now… you're safe, Alexis."

"Yeah… thanks."

A peaceful kind of silence reigned among the trio of Obelisks.

"Hmm, do you heard cracking?" Cracks suddenly appeared in the concrete, growing until several mummies burst through.

"I spend more time in detention than I do in class," Syrus whined as he, Jeremy, Jaden and Chazz walked back towards the Slifer dorm. "My mom's not gonna be happy."

"Just blame 'sarcasm'," Jaden spoke up.

Chazz promptly grabbed Jaden in a headlock again. "Okay! The joke's old!"

"At least things can't get any worse." A panicked scream in the distance quickly proved Syrus' words wrong.

"What was that?" Jaden wondered as they all looked in the direction the scream had come, seeing Alexis, Ryan and Zane standing with the sea at their backs and mummies cutting off their only escape.

"Alexis!"

"Zane!"

"Mummies!?" Chazz exclaimed.

"Don't worry about us." Ryan fought off several of the mummies.

"No way! You need-" Jaden began as they all ran towards the three Obelisks, only to stop in their tracks as a dozen mummies erupted from the ground. "… Help?"

"*Give us the spirit keys.*" One of the mummies uttered in a low, guttural voice.

"Our spirit keys?" Jaden said in surprise.

"What? Are these things Shadow Riders?" Chazz asked.

A bright light then broke through the clouds as what appeared to be a giant golden bird of sorts descended from the night sky, hovering above them. "***Duelists… I have come for you.***" The light shone brighter, until the duelists' vision went white, causing them to lose consciousness soon after.

When Jaden finally came to, eyes blinking open, they found themselves sitting on a golden floor, with Syrus, Chazz, Alexis, Ryan, Zane and Banner nearby.

"Professor?" Jaden exclaimed.

"Uh, guys? You might wanna have a look at this." Following the two Slifer boys' lead, the others all stood up and walked up to the nearby expansive stage, across which they could see a grand throne of gold, upon which the masked pharaoh was lounging, with his servants standing still on either side of him.

"Hello there."

Surprised by the Pharaoh's words, Professor Banner suddenly fell down on his back.

"What's wrong with him?" Syrus wondered.

"I don't know." Chazz answered as Pharaoh the cat poked at his master. "Looks like he's seen a ghost."

"What is this?" The Pharaoh asked as he stood up from his throne.

"Hey, what's the big idea?" Jaden demanded, climbing up onto the stage.

"That's not how one should address an Egyptian Pharaoh." The masked man replied calmly.

"Egyptian Pharaoh? He looks just like the picture Banner showed us in class today." Chazz remembered.

"Abidos." Alexis said.

"The name's Alexis, not 'doll', you masked weirdo. Now what's going on?"

"He's a Shadow Rider." Zane stated. "After those Sacred Beast cards, like the rest of them."

"And unfortunately, it looks like the punk's got us outnumbered," Chazz remarked, looking at the Pharaoh's servants.

"That's right, so just leave your keys and walk away. You don't want to duel me."

"I do!" Jaden insisted, wildly waving his arm. "Over here! Please pick me! Come on!"

"I'll take you on." Arisa stepped forward.

"You can't talk to me like that!" The Pharaoh exclaimed in disgust.

"You can't talk to him like that!" One of his servants grunted.

"You do realize this will be a shadow game?" Zane reminded them.

"He's right, your soul's on the line." Alexis added.

"And this guy's undefeated." Syrus pitched in.

"Not for much longer." Arisa replied.

"DUEL!"

Abidos: 4000

Arisa: 4000

"I'll begin this duel." Abidos drew. "With Pharaonic Protector in defense mode."

Pharanoic Protector: 900/0

"Then I place a card face down and end my turn."

"Then it's my move." Arisa drew. "And I summon Magical Warrior Breaker."

Magical Warrior Breaker: 1600/1000

"Now I remove the spell counter on it to destroy your face down."

"Now attack." Pharaonic Protector was cut in half.

"I'll end my turn there."

"It's my move." Abidos drew. "I use Pot of Greed."

He drew two more cards.

"Then I use Tribute to the Doomed to destroy Magical Warrior Breaker."

A pair of mummified hands dragged Breaker down.

"Now I summon Pharaoh's Servant."

Pharaoh's Servant: 900/0

"Attack her directly."

Arisa: 3100

"I'll place a card face down and end my turn. It's your move Key Keeper."

"Very well." Arisa drew. "I summon Magister of Endymion."

Magister of Endymion: 1500/900

She commanded her monster to attack Pharaoh's Servant.

Abidos: 3400

"You can't attack me." Abidos stated.

"What is he talking about?" Chazz asked. "Of course she can."

"I'm the best duelist the world has ever known." Abidos pointed out.

"The greatest? Not to be mean, but… you haven't been dueling that great. I mean, for someone who's supposed to be undefeated, I was expecting some kick-ass monsters, really rare cards, or something like that. Honestly, so far it's been a little underwhelming."

"Yeah, his cards are hardly better than a starter deck." Syrus observed. "For a legend, this guy is a bit of a let-down."

"Tell me something. Did you really win the duels you participated in?" Arisa questioned.

Abidos thought about what she was talking about. He considered that his servants didn't give it their all when they dueled him, essentially losing on purpose.

"Wait… could it be that all my servants let me win?"

"They let you win?"

"Wow, what a giant loser this guy is." Chazz spat out venomously.

"I wouldn't mind having some servants like that." Syrus noted.

"His whole life has been a lie." Alexis stated.

"So let me see if I understand. You never actually dueled?"

"I...I guess not." Abidos admitted.

"Well, now's a good time to start." He lifted his head, looking at Arisa.

"What?"

"You heard me. Give me your all after getting rid of that mask."

"Way to give a pep talk sis." Kaoru said.

"Thanks." Arisa smiled at her comment.

"Just promise to give me your best." Abidos pleaded.

"That's what I intend to do." Arisa replied.

"Well then, I sacrifice Pharaoh's Servant to summon Ryu Kokki."

Ryu Kokki: 2400/2000

"Let's see if you can get past my Ryu Kokki." Abidos said.

"It'll be easy." Arisa replied, confidently. "My move."

She drew a card.

"I summon Ghost Ogre and Snow Rabbit in attack mode."

Ghost Ogre and Snow Rabbit: 0/1800

"Next I'll tune it with Magister of Endymion to synchro summon Arcanite Magician."

Arcanite Magician: 400/1800

"Now I remove one of it's spell counters to destroy Ryu Kokki."

Ryu Kokki exploded.

"There's still the matter of it's attack. Arcanite Magician attack Abidos directly."

Abidos: 2000

"My move." Abidos drew. "And I summon Clown Zombie in defense mode."

Clown Zombie: 1350/0

"Next I place a card face down and end my turn."

"So it's back to me, huh?" Arisa drew a card. "I summon Magical Warrior Breaker in attack mode."

Magical Warrior Breaker: 1600/1000

"I'll remove it's spell counter to destroy your face down."

The card Abidos set was Mirror Force.

"Now I'll remove Arcanite Magician's last spell counter to remove Clown Zombie."

"Breaker, Arcanite wipe out the remainder of Abidos' life points."

Abidos: 0

"This duel's over." Arisa said.

Syrus rolled his eyes and looked towards the beaten Shadow Rider. "Hey...guys? Abidos doesn't look so hot."

"Wow, Syrus, didn't know you swung that way."

Arisa noticed Abidos sitting quietly on his knees.

Kaoru and Davis felt it had something to do with the loss.

"Is there a problem?" Arisa asked.

"Chances are that he's fading away." Kaoru said.

"I used to think I was the best duelist of all time, but I now know...that I need a lot of practice to be a true dueling legend."

"Indeed you do." Davis said. "Hey practice makes perfect."

"Will you come with me?" Abidos asked Arisa.

"Sorry, but I'm still needed here at Duel Academy." Arisa turned his offer down.

"Very well." Abidos understood what she was saying.

Abidos's ship began to fade away.

The group walked back to their respective dorms.