Prologue: The Price of Arrogance
As he trudged home to his apartment, Jounouchi Katsuya looked up at the sound of shuffling feet. He reacted seconds too late; each cost him dearly in agony. Fists lit into his face, booted feet slammed into his ribs… He fell to the soggy, slimy stones of the alleyway as his six assailants surrounded him. Consciousness eluded him, and black dots twirled before his eyes. "Ungh," Jounouchi groaned as he vainly attempted to rise. One of the gorilla-like men belted him, and he crashed back to the ground. Jounouchi's entire being quivered with rage. However, he could no sooner get up than retract his fateful decision to take this shortcut home from Yugi's house. This is the price of arrogance…what comes of thinking you can overpower everything in the streets, he thought. None too clear, of course, but that was to be expected. Numerous bruises and lumps were obscuring his handsome features as the moon eclipses the sun. His last conscious memory consisted of the leader of his attackers clouting him on the jaw.