Chapter 1

Sheperd

Yugi and all his friends sat in front of the TV. It was almost eight and the reason that everyone was staying so late was because they lost track of time. They were watching Star Search. It was the finals. And everyone was very good.

"Man, I wish I could do some of this stuff," Joey commented.

"Well, you can't," Tea told him.

"Thank you Captain Obvious," Tristan stated.

"Shush, the last contestant is about to start," Yugi quieted his friends.

A boy walked out on stage and sat down at the piano on stage. He looked about 18 years old. He was tall and skinny. He had brown hair and gray blue eyes. He wore a black overcoat, brownish gray pants, and a navy blue shirt. He looked a lot like Kaiba.

"Is that, Kaiba?" Joey asked in astonishment.

"No, but he does look similar," agreed Yugi.

"Besides, why would Kaiba be sitting down to a piano?" Tea pointed out.

"True," agreed Joey.

The boy had background music with his performance, which was now permitted with musical entries. It started out with the sound of the ocean. Then that faded away as a beat bed came in. Then, the boy started. The background music was semi-soft. The boy's playing was incredible. An electric guitar played a little, then he started in again. He seemed to play the same thing over and over again, but the background would change. But that didn't matter because what he did play was extremely complex. He would play for a while longer then the ocean sound would come back and then he'd start to play again. When he stopped, everyone was silent, even the judges. They were stunned at his performance. One judge gave him a five, so did the next one, and the next one. In fact he got straight fives from all the judges. Then when it went to the audience, they gave him a perfect score as well.

"Menno Sheperd is our next big star," the host said. "I mean, talk about a child prodigy, 14 years old and he's able to play like a pro."

"14!? He's only 14?!" Tea couldn't believe what she had heard. "He looks like he's more like 18, but not 14."

"Yeah, I know what you mean," Yugi agreed.

There's something very strange about him, Yami observed.

/Really? How could you tell?/ Yugi asked the pharaoh.

But the pharaoh didn't answer.

"Oh my goodness! I should've been home hours ago!" Joey shrieked, looking at the clock. "Gotta split, see ya."

And with that he was out the door.

"I'd better be gettin' home too," Tristan stood up.

Tea stood up with him.

"It was fun," she told Yugi.

Yugi waved goodbye and then went to his room to talk to Yami.

/Man, he was really good. I wonder where he's from./

Hmm, there was diffidently something different about him

/Oh Yami, give it a rest/

No, I won't give it a rest until we find out about this boy

Yugi rolled his eyes as his yami went on.

"Good night Yami," he said, and then he fell fast asleep.

Two months pasted and everyone forgot about Star Search. Then one day at school there was a bunch of ruckus as everyone talked in a jumbled mess. They were standing in a large group in the middle of the hall and nearly every student in the gang's class was there.

"Come on you guys, I don't know about you, but I've got a class to get to," Joey growled.

A small path way was opened for the gang, who squeezed past. They sat down just as the bell rang and chuckled as everyone scrambled inside the room. The teacher walked in.

"Settle down, settle down," he shushed the class. "Now, as I'm sure you've all heard, we've got a new student. He prefers that we call him Sheperd, for now. So please meet Sheperd. Now, I know what you're thinking and before you say a thing, he's 14."

A boy who was tall and skinny with brown hair and gray blue eyes who also looked old for his age, walked into the room wearing a blue school uniform. He wore it much like Joey's, though this boy's was very baggy and lose, like it almost didn't fit.

"Yugi, would you please raise your hand?" the teacher asked.

Yugi raised his hand. It was barely visible over all the heads.

"Would you mind showing Sheperd the ropes of Domino?" the teacher asked.

Yugi nodded his head.

"Okay then Sheperd, you'll sit beside Yugi and he's going to show the ropes," the teacher told Sheperd

Sheperd said nothing as he walked back to sit beside Yugi. Yugi felt sort of uneasy around him. He was so quiet and stern. He looked like he was a moving statue, unable to change anything but his position. His face was expressionless, but his eyes were completely different. His eyes were stern and cold. And yet, they were also sort of sad at the same time, though you had to look very closely at him to tell that.

Yugi, I sense something different about this boy

/Oh Yami, give it a rest/

At lunch, he sat outside. He ate his lunch quickly and then pulled out a black book and started to read it.

"Well, he seems to be very quiet," Joey mentioned as he looked out the window of the commons.

"Uh-oh, here comes trouble," Yugi pointed to a group of bullies that were walking towards Sheperd.

"They always have to beat up the new kid on the first day at lunch," Tristan growled.

"And what's worse is that they've never been defeated, not even by me, Tristan, or Kaiba," Joey growled.

"So they're going to beat up Sheperd?" Tea asked in horror.

"Yep, and there's not a thing we can do about it," Tristan grumbled.

They watched the gang of bullies advance forward towards Sheperd, who showed no expression. Yugi noticed, however, that Sheperd had cocked his head when the bullies were almost all the way across the courtyard. He had stopped reading and had froze. When the bullies where only a yard away, Sheperd put down his book and stood up.

"Is he crazy?" Joey asked.

"What does he think he's doin'?" Tristan agreed.

"So, you're the new kid everyone's talking about, huh?" the leader prompted.

"Yes, I guess I am," Sheperd agreed.

"Well, we are the Pounders," the leader told Sheperd. "And we make a tradition that the new kid gets a beatin' on his first lunch period."

"Well, I'll tell ya," Sheperd replied to the threat, "you're going to have to better about sneaking up than you did a couple of minutes ago. Actually, to tell you the truth, it was a disgrace."

"Oh man, we've got a loony," Joey moaned.

"Why you little," the leader growled and came at Sheperd like he was going to punch him, and punch him hard.

But Sheperd simply waited until the boy was almost at him and then he moved out of the way. The guy fell flat on his face.

Yugi noticed a difference in this Sheperd. He wasn't at all like he was before. Before, he was expressionless, with stern, sad eyes. But now, he had a smirk, not a very big one, but a smirk nonetheless and a stern, unforgiving look in his eye.

"Would you like to try that again?" Sheperd asked.

The guy got back up onto his feet and came at Sheperd again. But this time, Sheperd jammed his elbow into the guy's stomach and tossed him aside like it was nothing. Then, Sheperd grabbed the guy by his collar and slammed him up against the tree.

"Now you listen to me, and listen carefully, you leave me a lone or I swear I'll do a lot worse," Sheperd threatened in a low, growling tone.

"Alright, I will, just let me go," whimpered the bully.

Sheperd had a reluctant look in his eye, and slowly he put the guy down and released him. The guy scrambled away as fast as he could, with the rest of his gang behind him. Sheperd snorted in satisfaction and disgust.

"Wow, he's got Jaga scared of him," Joey mused.

No one else said anything. They couldn't.

/Yami/

Yes?

/You were right, there is something different about him/