InheritanceDuel Ch 4

Disclaimer: I do not own Pokemon. It is the property of Tajiri Satoshi, Sugimori Ken, Nintendo, Creatures Inc., Game Freak, OLM Inc., TV Tokyo, 4Kids Entertainment, and the Pokemon Company International. Neither do I own Yu-Gi-Oh!. It is the property of Takahashi Kazuki, Shueisha, Viz Media, Toei Animation, 4Kids Entertainment, and Cartoon Network. I'm just borrowing them for some non-profit entertainment.

Inheritance Duel

Chapter Four:

Croquet awoke to the sensation of a weight on his chest.

Opening his eyes, he blinked at the cat-like monster Master James and not-Jessebelle had brought with them from the monster regions. A meowth, they called it. He blinked at the creature, wondering how it got in his room and if it might possibly be dangerous without a Trainer around. His experience with pokemon was limited to Growlie, and he was a domesticated canid type. The worst thing he ever did was pee on the irreplaceable antique Egyptian carpets.

“Feed me.” Commanded the meowth.

Croquet continued to blink at it. That was right, this one spoke. Pokemon weren't supposed to be able to talk. At least, not anything more than their own names. But this one did speak. “What?”

“You're, like, the butler, right?” The tiny monster announced. He began grooming one arm, paw outstretched, toe-beans spread, sharp, razor-like claws just barely poking out. It was such an innocent and mundane action. But it reminded Croquet that this deceptively cute cat-like creature could probably slice him to ribbons. Pocket monsters were still monsters.

“I'll have you know, I am the head of the late Master Pegasus' security forces.” Croquet informed the feline monster tersely.

“A combat-butler, then.” Meowth jumped off his chest, finding a new perch at the foot of the bed. “Get up and feed me.”

“What do you eat?” Croquet asked, climbing out of bed.

“Whatever's for breakfast.” The pokemon informed him. “I'm not picky. Normally, Jimmy cooks. But he's been shuffling, and stacking, and reshuffling trading cards since he got up this morning, and Jessie's still asleep. So, that leaves you.” The cat jumped to the floor and padded to the bedroom door. To Croquet's great shock, it stretched up on its hind legs and turned the door handle. “I'll give you a few more minutes to finish getting ready and Men-In-Black yourself up.”

Meowth left.

Croquet blinked after him. “Wait. Did he say Master James was shuffling trading cards?”

…

Sure enough, when Croquet made his way downstairs after showering and putting on the day's black suit (his sunglasses in a breast-pocket), Master James was sitting in the late Master Pegasus' study.

He wasn't wearing his Team Rocket uniform anymore either. Instead, James wore a pair of white dress-slacks and a black button down shirt. There was a red blazer with whit piping thrown over the back of the chair that almost looked like one of Pegasus' suit jackets. But while the colors might have been the same, the cut was all wrong.

All of the photos Pegasus kept on his desk were flipped face down so that James didn't have to look at them. Of course, images of his father smiling and looking happy with his adopted brothers was not something he would want to see right now. But Croquet wondered if he took note of the one frame that did not have a photo of his brothers before flipping them all over.

Covering the space directly in front of James were rows of trading cards. Laid out and arranged in stacks of compatibility. He was building a deck. A Main deck and an Extra deck. He was taking the game seriously.

“You're going to Duel.” Croquet said by way of announcing his presence. Coming into the room, he stood before the desk, like he had so many times before with Master Pegasus. “Did you read the diary?”

James paused in studying his cards. Lacing his fingers together, resting his chin on his hands, periwinkle blue forelocks falling over half his face covering one eye. James looked so much like Master Pegasus sitting there! If someone had told Croquet that it was, in fact, Maximilian Pegasus back from the dead, he would have believed them. -Except that James had Cecelia's eyes.

“No.” He informed his father's right hand man. “Jessie said something yesterday to change my mind.”

“Oh.” Croquet clasped his hands behind his back. With Master Pegasus he would never dream of telling him what he should or shouldn't do. But James was different. Croquet had practically raised James himself, because Pegasus sure as hell wasn't going to! In some ways, James was more his son than Pegasus'. Not that he would ever say that out loud, of course. Instead, he reached for one of the face-down frames on the desk. “Did you see this picture?”

It was a wanted poster from the Kanto region. A wanted poster that featured very bad photos of himself and Jessie. You couldn't even see their faces! Not really. Jessie had her hand outstretched, fingers splayed, and that was what was in focus on her shot. On James' you could clearly read the R on his chest, and he was holding one of his trademark roses, but his face was completely in shadow. There was absolutely no way for a person to tell the wanted poster was of himself and his partner unless you already knew it was of him and his partner.

There was also absolutely no reason for Maximilian Pegasus to have it on his desk.

“I did.” James turned his attention back to his cards. “What's you're point?”

“This is the only recent picture Master Pegasus had of you.” Croquet explained.

James did not seem impressed. He gathered up all the cards he'd selected for his deck and shuffled. Then shuffled again just for good measure. Standing from the desk, James brushed past Croquet, heading for the door. Breakfast sounded pretty good right about now. It wasn't like he ate much yesterday.

Croquet grabbed him by the shoulder. “Did you at least look in the diary?”

But the younger man pulled out of his grip. “What does it matter? That man never had anything nice to say to me in life. Why should I give him any of my time in death?”

“There's something for you in it.” Croquet told him.

“A multiple page length lecture on how worthless I am?” James suggested. “All things considered, I'd really rather not read it. Thanks.” Instead, he changed the subject. “I assume the Duels will be held at I2. I'm gonna get something to eat and make sure all our pokemon are fed. Then Jessie and I will want to head over there immediately. Make sure the car's ready.”

Gritting his teeth in irritation at not being listened to, the older man nodded. Adopting the same voice he used when dealing with the younger man's father. “Yes, Master James.”

James nodded and left the study.

The moment he was out of the sight, Croquet went looking for Pegasus' diary. Not-Jessebelle had it with her when they arrived at the manor, but none of them seemed to be carrying it when they came down from the attic. So it had to still be up there. Sure enough, Croquet found it laying out in plain sight, casually abandoned on top of a trunk of Cecelia's. He scooped it up and climbed back out of the attic.

Leafing through the pages as he walked, Croquet found what he was looking for. A unique, one of a kind, only one in existence trading card.

Cecelia's card.

He slipped it in his breast-pocket right behind his sunglasses. Master James didn't know it yet, but he would need that card.

The diary he deposited on the bedside table in James' room. He could choose to read it, or not read it as he pleased, but it would not stay forgotten in the attic. James would see it. James would confront it.

That done, he went to get the car.

…

At the corporate gaming titan that produced the internationally popular card game Duel Monsters, of course Industrial Illusions had the best gaming arenas around. Second, maybe, only to those at Kaiba Corp and that dragon/Duel Monster themed amusement park (also owned by Kaiba Corp) in Domino region. The child billionaire, and owner/CEO of Kaiba Corp seemed more obsessed with the game than its own creator. One would think he'd been playing it his whole life. But, Depre, Yako, Gekko, and Richie weren't going to fly all the way to Dominio just to borrow Kaiba's dueling arenas when they had their own right around the corner at the family business.

In all honesty, they could have just conducted the duels in somebody's living room with their duel disks, or even just a normal and mundane game mat. But this was supposed to be official. Presided over by Pegasus' attorney and witness by the company, so to Industrial Illusions they went.

A private area was cordoned off and reserved. Folding chairs had been brought in for the spectators. At the moment, that included pretty much just the attorney, Hair Guy, and Mullet Guy. But every now and again, an administrative assistant, advertising director, or imagineer on their break would wander in, curious. Realize they hadn't started yet, and wander back out to make sure they at least looked like they were working and not just waiting for the game to decide the fate of the company -and by extension, their jobs- to start.

Everyone noted the distinctive lack of James' presence. Looks like his declaration of having no intension of taking part was, in fact, true. The man wanted nothing to do with the family business. That was fine by them. It made things easier.

In more ways than one.

“There's four of us.” Yako announced. “Lets just do this tournament-style.”

“That seems best.” Agreed the attorney. “We can get this over with and I'll be back in my office by lunch.” He pause to study the brothers, trying to decide how best to structure the tiers -tier?- there would be only one round before the Championship Match in this 'tournament'. “Gekko versus Richie, then-”

But before he could finish announcing the order, the arena lights suddenly went dark.

Hair Guy and Mullet Guy jumped out of their chairs, fingers at the ready, prepared to defend their employers -their employer's heirs?- at the drop of a pin. The attorney cowered in the dark between the two body guards, while all four of Pegasus' adopted sons looked around, their eyes searching the darkness, seeking the source of the power outage.

Then, from up in the rafters, a catwalk access one would have to be an actual cat to fit on, a spotlight was flicked on.

It illuminated a single human figure, his back to them. Rose petals filled the air, raining down from the rafters and carried on air currents from the ventilation system that had been turned up.

“Prepare for trouble, I've shuffled my deck!”

The figure in the spotlight turned around to glare a challenge at them, and everyone was shocked to see that it was James. He wasn't wearing his R-uniform anymore. Instead, he was wearing utilitarian black dress-shoes, under white slacks. A black button down shirt with a starched collar, and black gloves. Thrown over it was a red jacket that looked like it was supposed to be a blazer, but was cut much too short. It left his pokemon Trainer belt and the lower part of his shirt exposed, very similar to the style of over-shirt from his R-uniform.

“It's not really my thing, but what the heck.”

They all just stared at him in shock. So, he decided to come after all -and he just had to make an obnoxiously over-the-top, flamboyant entrance, complete with roses, spotlight, poses, and rhymes.

Well, he was Pegasus' actual son, after all.

“You all thought you were rid of me yesterday.” James continued. “But I've come back to make you pay! All those years you made me your fool. This is my revenge, its TIME TO DUEL!”

Unimpressed, Yako tiptoed around the dark room to the electrical box and switched the lights back on. “You done?”

In the light, they saw both Croquet and James' woman -what did she say her name was? Jessie?- they saw Croquet and Jessie with baskets of fresh rose petals. Each one, taking a handful and throwing them in front of the air vents to be blown around the room. They each stopped the moment they made eye-contact with one of the spectators. The illusion was gone, there was no point in continuing. Down from that impossibly tight catwalk, jumped the cat-like monster from the other day. It landed on its feet and glared up at Yako.

“Meow! What's the big idea?”

“Yako.” James growled at his adopted brother. “Why do you always have to ruin everything?”

“You're the one who's ruining things!” Yako snapped back without even a moment's pause. “We -literally- just decided how we're gonna do this. It was gonna be quick, and easy, and over by lunch time. Then you had to parachute in with your poses and your rhymes, and literally steal the spotlight like on an episode of Glee!”

“I love Glee.” Gekko muttered from where he stood between Richie and Depre. (Everyone ignored him.)

“What are you even doing here, Jaime?” Continued Yako. “I thought you hated the company. I thought you hated Duel Monsters. Do you even have a deck? Do you even remember how to play? What do you think you can do besides embarrass yourself? You had it right yesterday. You don't belong here, and no one wants you here. You should just turn around and go back to the monster regions. Roll around with that cat-thing. In the dirt where you belong.”

James glared at his adopted brother. Emerald eyes blazing with a loathing so strong it went beyond mere hatred. It was a feeling with a life of its own. Something that couldn't be expressed in words, but was so strong it could be felt through the air. A tension that caused a tightness in the chest that even those watching could feel. Depre might have been the one to beat him up when they were children, but of all his adopted brothers, Yako was the one James hated the most.

For a moment, Jessie legitimately wondered if her partner was going to throw caution, and his suave composure, to the wind and sock his brother in the face.

Instead, James turned his attention to the attorney -whom had his handkerchief back out and was once again dabbing at nervous sweat on his forehead just like at the will reading from the previous day. “My father listed me as one of the duelists. You can't bar me from competing. Tell this ingrate to get off his high horse, shuffle his deck, let his cards do the talking, and comb that birds' nest he calls hair!”

Without taking his eyes off of James, Yako commanded the attorney. “Tell this irritating little prima donna pissant that he forfeit his right to compete yesterday when he stormed out and left us, just like he did fifteen years ago. And before he stars making comments about other people's hair, he should try adding a little lift to his own!”

“Um...” The poor lawyer dabbed at his sweat.

“Tell Yako to shut the hell up! He doesn't get to dictate father's will! And he can lecture me about my style once he gets a little of his own! What's with that jacket? Really? Its not 1985, Yako, and this isn't Miami Vice!” James sneered.

“Tell Jaime that if he expected to get more than an old book, he should have stayed home and tried to be a part of the family!” Yako shouted. “You say I look like Miami Vice, well at least that makes me a grown-up. You look like you just walked out of a game aimed at children!”

“Oh. You mean like this card game we're about to play!”

Yako focused his glare on the lawyer. “Tell this pissant to shut the hell up!”

“Um...” The handkerchief was soaking now.

“No, tell Yako he's the one who needs to shut the heck up!”

“Who are you more afraid of? Him or me?” Yako demanded.

“Um...” The poor attorney rung out his handkerchief. Then dabbed nervously at his head again. He fiddled with the cloth between his hands, not making eye-contact with either brother. He tried not to get sidetracked by their squabble and stay on the topic of the inheritance duels. “There is some room for interpretation within Master Pegasus' will.” He admitted. “But there were no instructions for excluding someone whom was already named as a Duelist. So long as the transfer of ownership of the company has not been finalized, Master James is free to change his mind and participate in the Duels.”

“Unbelievable!” Yako threw his arms up in dismay.

“But he never even wanted the company before!” Richie reminded everyone. Then, addressing James directly, “What changed?”

James smirked at the taller man. “Nothing's changed. I still don't want the company.” He crossed his arms over his chest, holding one of his roses delicately against his lips. “I just don't want any of you to have it even more.”

Richie grit his teeth at that admission. Glaring daggers at his adopted brother. Trying really, really hard not to say something inappropriate for a developer of children's games. “Wh-why you...! That's just evil, Jim! You're a villain!”

That smirk only widened and he threw his rose at Richie's feet. “Oh, if you only knew...”

“Quit it with the faggoty roses, you fucking fruit-cake!” Depre shouted at him. He stomped on the rose that had fallen in front of Richie as if it was something dirty and offensive. “You can't just barge in here, put on a show, and steal father's legacy out from under us -and think that we'll just let you!” He cracked his knuckles. “Out of respect for father's memory, I didn't hit you yesterday. I think I'll beat your ass double today to make up for it.”

Pulling another rose from seemingly out of nowhere, James offered his brother an appraising look. “Ya know, Depre, I never really realized when we were kids, for someone who claims to hate the gays so much, you sure are eager to pound other men.”

Off to the side, Jessie snorted into her hand.

“Fucking fight me, faggot!” Depre practically screamed.

“Oh, I will.” James promised him. He reached a hand down to his Trainer belt where he had added a deck case. From it he pulled the stack of cards he'd carefully composed that morning. “With this.”

“You can't play with us!” Yako roared.

“But there's nothing that says he can't.” The lawyer seemed on the verge of tears.

“We have an uneven number.” Richie pointed out, trying to remain calm, not let his emotions get the better of him like his brothers, and be the voice of reason. “We can't have a tournament with an uneven number.”

“Even if we did have an even number!” Yako continued to shout. He was well and hysterical, one eye swollen in a way that just did not look healthy. Like the socket had expanded and was pressing on the rest of his face. It made him look almost deranged. “I refuse to accept him as father's heir unless he can beat all four of us!”

Yako paused for breath. Panting hard as if he'd just run a mile. But all he did was stand there and argue with his adopted brother.

There was a beat of silence.

Then, “Alright.”

“Huh?” All eyes in the room turned to look at James.

The roses were gone from his hands. Now he held only his Duel Monsters deck. “Alright.” He repeated. “I'll duel you. I'll duel all four of you. One-on-one. Instead of having a tournament, it'll just be me versus all of you. If I win, I get father's empire. If I lose, fine. I lost. I'll go back to the monster regions and the rest of you can have the proper tournament you originally planned.”

Yako glared at him, eyes burning with just as much abject loathing as James felt for him. “If you think any one of us is going to duel with you-”

“I'll do it.” Gekko raised his hand, shocking everyone else in the room. He lowered the hand slowly, suddenly feeling insecure at all the stares he was getting. “I mean, father obviously wanted Jaime to participate, that's why he named him in the will even though he hasn't been home in fifteen years. He wanted Jaime to have the option to inherit, even if he might not want it. Out of respect for Father's memory we should honor his desire to give James a chance. So... I'll duel him...”

He trailed off meekly as he realized that all his brothers were glaring at him.

James shrugged. “Sure. Make me play against the Perfect Duelist right out the gate. Should be interesting.”

Now Gekko was really unsure. Everyone called him the 'Perfect Duelist', because when they were children he was usually the one who won most of their duels. Master Pegasus was the one to give him the title originally. Playing against other children, he had the perfect technique. But what everyone failed to realize was that something that was 'perfect' was also stagnant. It wouldn't advance. Something that was 'perfect' couldn't be improved. Pegasus called Gekko perfect because he'd already reached his peak as a Duelist when he was a child -and Gekko hadn't improved since. The title of 'Perfect Duelist' might sound intimidating, but in reality, Gekko knew he was probably the weakest player of all his brothers -possibly James included.

He wasn't about to tell anyone else that, of course!

Especially not right now. He could read the room.

“Hmph.” Yako grinned. Of the two of them, Gekko always was the better Duelist. He would crush James easily. This absurd little farce would be over, he'd go back to shoving monsters in his pockets, and they could get back to running a company. Suddenly, Yako liked the idea. “You'll lose immediately and this absurd little scene you're making will be over. Alright, lets do it! If Jamie wins, the rest of us will have a go at him. But when he loses, he leaves forever and we never have to see his face again!”

“Nothing would make me happier than never seeing your faces again.” James agreed.

The attorney breathed a sigh of relief at all five heirs finally reaching an agreement. He wiped his palms on his handkerchief. “May I inspect your decks for any counterfeit or banned cards, please.”

“Banned cards?” James blinked. It had been years since he was up-to-date on the Duel Monster mandates. There certainly weren't any banned cards when he left home. Instead of banning cards, would the company just stop making them? That seemed like the obvious solution -of course, that wouldn't do anything about the ones already in circulation. He handed his deck to the attorney.

The older man flipped through James' cards. The fifteen in his Extra deck and the forty of his Main deck. The lawyer only took out two cards. “Unfortunately, the use of both Monster Reborn and Mirror Force are now illegal in official duels. Other than that, your deck is fine. Gekko, may I see your deck now?”

“I know the drill.”

The attorney handed James his deck back and took Gekko's to examine.

James looked at the cards that were taken out for a moment, wondering what to do with them now. What did you do with banned cards? Just throw them away?

Croquet came up beside him. “I can hold onto those for you, Master James.”

“Uh, sure.”

When James passed him the banned cards, Croquet slipped Cecelia's card into his deck. Maybe he wouldn't use it in his match against Gekko. Maybe it wouldn't even come up in his hand after the shuffle and cut. But, eventually, James would need that card. Especially if he had to beat all four of his brothers.

Gekko took his cards back from the lawyer after they were also deemed perfectly legal for use in official Duels.

“Shall we have our opponents cut our decks?” He asked, now holding the cards out to James. “As a sign of trust.”

Lowering his eyes with a nostalgic smirk, James traded decks with Gekko. “Geki, still practically perfect in every way.”

They cut each other's decks. Splitting the stacks and placing the bottom half on top. Then they traded back.

“Please take you positions in the area.” The attorney commanded.

They each took up positions on opposite ends of the arena.

“IT'S TIME TO DUEL!”

…