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Yu-Gi-Oh! The Four Virtues
Episode 23: “Double Lives”
Toshiro lay on his bed, staring up at his ceiling. All around him was evidence of someone in a great rush: bags open, items strewn all over the carpeted floor, and trading cards scattered all over a desk on the opposite wall.
I think I’m ready, Toshiro assured himself. I’ve prepared for every setback. I’ve even modified both my decks so they are completely immune to any strategy. All I need to do now is gather the gang.
Silently, or as silently he could manage considering the mess, Toshiro grabbed a gym bag that clanked loudly when moved and slung it across his shoulders. Moving over to the desk, he slipped the two decks sitting there into the deck boxes hanging from his waist. With his tools gathered, he stealthily moved over to the window and began to slide it open…
“Don’t go”
Toshiro spun around and saw his mother, Violet Henry, standing in the doorway in her night clothes. “Mom, I have to. This is the only way. I need some answers.”
Violet sighed. “Toshiro…your father means well. He has been through a lot in his life, more than you can imagine.”
“So have I!” Toshiro snapped back. “I’ve been locked up in jail! I almost lost my closest friend forever! Everyone is putting pressure on me to live up to you guys, but you won’t tell me what the two of you did when you were younger! My way…is the only way!”
Violet stared at her troubled son for a moment before asking. “How will you go anywhere without your D-Wheel?”
Toshiro grinned as he tossed his bag out the window. “I’ll borrow your motorbike”
Violet’s eyes widened. “You wouldn’t dare…”
Toshiro smile grew wider as he climbed out the window and slid down the drainpipe. “Don’t worry, I won’t dent it…much!” He called up from the lawn.
“Toshiro Henry!” his mother yelled as she watched as he climbed onto her black motorbike, slid his helmet on, and drove off. Sliding the window shut, she burst out laughing. He is so like his father…
* * *
Jaya lay on her bed, reading a Duel Monsters magazine that had been recently covering the tournament. She snorted as she spotted an article talking about Toshiro and how eligible he was. Good luck getting him, she thought, the guy’s clueless when it comes to girls.
One thing she found interesting was that no one was mentioning the strange occurrence that had happened during the Finals match. It was as if it had never happened. Sarah slipped him the card; could she be influencing the press?
Suddenly, there came a tap at her window. Turning, she saw another rock fly up and smack against the glass. Striding over, she looked out into the night and saw Toshiro standing on her lawn, preparing another barrage. Pushing open the barrier, she called softly, “What are you doing?! It’s almost midnight!”
“Exactly!” Toshiro replied. “Sarah said to be there at midnight!”
“You’re actually going to do this?! This is insane! You’re going to get arrested again!”
“No, we won’t” Toshiro replied, putting as much emphasis he could in the pronoun. “Sarah said that nobody would be on duty.”
“And you actually trust her?!”
Toshiro hung his head. “No…” Looking up, Jaya could see the determination and warmth in his eyes. “That’s why I want you guys to come with me. I need you three by my side.”
Jaya hesitated before then nodded. “Wait here while I grab my things.”
In a couple minutes, Jaya was on the ground with her duel disk on her arm and her deck in its slot. “Have you called the others?” she asked.
Toshiro nodded. “They’re waiting at the doors. Everything there is quiet.”
“Good,” Jaya replied as she strode over to the red motorbike next to Toshiro’s on the driveway. “I grabbed my dad’s keys, so I’ll take his bike.”
Toshiro slipped on his helmet and mounted his vehicle. “Then let’s do this thing!”
* * *
Twenty minutes later, the four marked teenagers were standing all together at the doors of Kaiba Corp. “Are you ready?” Toshiro whispered.
Tokyro nodded, and Mara hefted her duel disk. “We’re with you” Jaya promised.
Holding his breath, Toshiro nodded and softly walked towards the double doors…which opened without setting off any alarms.
Letting out his air in a rush, Toshiro walked into the dark and silent lobby. “Clear!” he called softly.
Soon his friends were standing around him. “Where to?” Tokyro asked.
Toshiro pointed down the hallway in front of them. “The library is down there.”
Walking down the corridor was incredibly scary: the shadows seem to form nightmarish images of stalking security guards. Each creak made the group flinch and look around in fear. Their only company was each other and their beating hearts.
Toshiro walked at the head of the diamond-shaped array. Jaya was close behind him on his right and Mara on his left. Tokyro brought up the rear.
“When we get inside,” Toshiro whispered, “head towards the computers. Their databanks will have everything you need. Search for anything relating to our marks.”
As soon as he said this, the said door materialized out of the darkness. Gripping the handle, Toshiro pushed it open and revealed a room filled with shelves stocked with CDs and DVDs. Four computers stood at the far end of the room.
The four teenagers quickly claimed chairs and booted up the research software. For a few minutes, all you heard we rapid keystrokes and labored breathing.
While Jaya was searching, she happened to catch a glimpse of Toshiro’s monitor. Instead of searching for weird symbols, he was searching for…“Your parents?!” Jaya exclaimed. “Why?!”
Toshiro kept scrolling down a long list of links. “I need to know what they are hiding. If they won’t tell me, I’ll find out by myself.” Selecting one link, he opened up a new page. A picture of a younger version of Greg was in the upper-left hand corner. Toshiro’s eyes began skimming the document, with Jaya reading over his shoulder:
Gregory Henry
Deck: Elemental Heroes
Titles: King of Games, Battle City Champion
Current Status: Active
Family: Sophia Muoto (cousin), Christy Truesdale (sister), Violet Henry (wife), Toshiro Henry (son)
Biography: At the age of 15, Gregory Henry applied at the Duelist Academy. After defeating his cousin Sophia in the entrance exam, he was placed in Critias Purple, the most prestigious dorm in the school.
Gregory’s dueling style is quite aggressive, yet it is extremely adaptable. His Elemental Heroes work best when fused, and he always used combos to increase their attack strength. One card that always seemed to bring him victory was his signature card, Elemental Hero Tempest.
While Gregory was at the Duelist Academy, many different strange events began occurring. Marik Ishtar, long presumed dead, made a return and attempted to take over the school. As a diversion, Noah Kaiba kidnapped Gregory’s girlfriend Violet Jones. While Jaden Yuki and Gregory made a rescue attempt, Sophia dueled Marik in the Shadow Realm.
Gregory’s dueling prowess attracted the attention of many high-profile duelists. Zane Truesdale, Seto Kaiba, Dr. Crowler, and even Yugi Muoto all fell to this prodigy. There was no denying Gregory’s rise to King of Games, a title given freely by Yugi.
Dartz, another former terrorist presumed dead, launched an attack on the Academy following Gregory’s duel with Yugi. In his first attempt, he was stopped by the combined efforts of Violet, Sophia, and Gregory. In his second attempt, he recruited Marik and Zane, both of whom fell in battle. Gregory descended to the basement of the Academy to duel the Orichalcos-fueled madman, but here his unbeaten streak ended as he lost to Emes the Infinity. Here there is a gap in the official record, but what is known is that Gregory challenged Dartz for a third time and won, this time with the backing to the three Cursed Knights: Critias, Timeaus, and Hermos.
In these series of events, Gregory also discovered that Dartz was father. As a symbol of his heritage, a scar resembling the Seal of Orichalcos is emblazed on his left wrist.
After these events, Gregory dropped out of the Academy with Sophia, Violet, Zane, and a few other students to form a group called Team Evolution, a group dedicated to the safety of the world. Their first adventure took place in Egypt, where Sophia sought the Egyptian God Cards. However, Marik also wanted that power, and possessed Sophia and the Team’s newest recruit Joe Malia. Gregory was forced to duel both, and eventually defeated Marik.
Upon returning from Egypt, Team Evolution entered in the Battle City Tournament. Gregory and Violet met in the finals, with the former claiming victory. Marik once again attacked, and this time Greg lost…but a timely assistance for Atem, Dartz, and many others rescued Gregory’s soul.
However, there would be no rest as Duelist Academy was overrun by the Shadow Riders. Many of the students had been captured by Anubis, and Team Evolution was called in. Gregory, while training a group of renegades, encountered his dark half Yang. After a furious duel, Gregory was captured by the Shadow Riders. Violet led a rescue attempt, and after Bakura fell to Sophia, Gregory was rescued from the Shadow Realm. The three leaders challenged Anubis, but could not defeat him. Instead, they revived the lost soul of Atem, who defeated the arch villain. After defeating Jaden Yuki in a duel, the team went their separate ways.
However, at the Duelist Academy Grand Prix, Gregory was called upon to save the world once more. The entity known as Hell Kaiser appeared and captured several people’s souls, including his sister Christy and his cousin Sophia. In a truly memorable duel, Gregory used Yang’s assistance and summoned the Knight of Destiny, defeating Hell Kaiser’s Cyber Chaos Dragon.
Following the victory, Gregory married Violet and the Team officially retired. Gregory and Violet have one son, Toshiro Henry, who has had many encounters with the law before winning the Domino City Grand Prix.
Toshiro’s eyes were as round as saucers. “King of Games…?” he breathed.
“No wonder he didn’t want to tell you of his past.” Jaya realized in awe. “He wants you to have a normal life, one without worrying about the future of the world. Your father missed out on that kind of life, so he wants you to have one.”
Toshiro shook his head. “But I’m not normal! We,” he gestured to the four of them, “are not normal! We have been branded by a mark, a mark that is most certainly calling us towards something…but what?”
“I found something!” Tokyro shouted, interrupting the exchange. Jaya, Toshiro, and Mara all leapt from his seats and crowded around Tokyro’s monitor. The article he had opened was entitled “The Virtuous Ones.”
The Virtuous Ones are a group of four ancient warriors who embodied life’s central beliefs. They were identified by marks on their arms, a circle circumscribing a star. The color of this symbol depended on their virtue. The Virtuous Ones each controlled a mythical dragon, whose cards were created by Maximillion Pegasus prior to the Duelist Academy Grand Prix. Currently, these cards are locked in a high-security vault deep within the Kaiba Corp Archives that is designed to be opened only by Pegasus or a Virtuous One. However, the Virtuous Ones were killed long before Year 0, so it is unlikely they have any living descendents.
The four teens stared at each other, at their marks, and their gaze returned to each other. “Well…” Toshiro breathed.
“This explains everything!” Tokyro exclaimed. “We’re descendents of the Virtuous Ones!”
“It explains the marks,” Jaya corrected, “but not our ancestors.”
“The article mentioned four dragon cards,” Toshiro realized. “And they are somewhere in this room!”
The four teens immediately began scanning the shelves for something that would look like a safe. While they were searching, Mara’s hand brushed against a wall and, with a loud clanking sound, a door appeared from nothingness.
“Guys!” Mara called. “I found it!”
Her three friends ran over eagerly. “Great!” Toshiro exclaimed while looking at the sealed gate. “But how do we get inside?”
Jaya glared critically at the safe door, and noticed a faint design on the front, next to the protruding handle. The design was in the shape of the marks on their arms. “Maybe our marks are the key?” she suggested.
Toshiro stepped forward so he was in front of the door. Feeling the area of the design, he frowned. “It has ridges! We can’t make it fit while it’s on our arms!”
Suddenly, Toshiro’s mark began glowing. He gasped, because he actually felt heat emanating from it. As they all watched, the mark on Toshiro’s arm duplicated itself and created a physical, three-dimensional copy. Toshiro, hesitating for a moment out of shock, placed the copy in the slot on the door. The group of four listened as the door clicked several times as the interconnecting system of locks opened. Toshiro pulled open the door, and revealed four monster cards sitting on a black pedestal. He reached out to claim the treasures…
“Hold it right there!”
The four spun around and, standing behind them, was the cloaked figure of Electra. “What are you doing here?!” Jaya demanded.
“Claiming my prize,” the vixen replied. “Thanks to you four, you’ve saved me the trouble of doing some hard work. Now,” Electra held out her hand, “hand over those cards.”
Toshiro took a random card from the safe and slipped them into his deck. “No! You won’t take these! These are our birthright! We ARE the Virtuous Ones! And we will protect OUR Dragons with our last breath!”
Electra chuckled. “You are so delusional. You stand no chance against me in a duel. I have been training for this moment for years, ever since the Japanese Nationals. I have mastered every strategy, and my deck cannot fall to your Dragons. Give up your hope.”
Toshiro frowned. “Wait, the Japanese Nationals?! Does that mean Sarah is involved in this somehow? She told us how to get in!”
Electra’s chuckle turned into an outright cackle. She whipped off her cloak to reveal the body underneath.
Toshiro’s eyes widened as he beheld the black-clad female in front of him. “No…”
Sarah Smith smiled coldly, her eyes the color of darkness around her. “I will obtain those Dragons, Toshiro…and nothing will stop me!”
End of Episode