Chapter 1: Shadows

"My Blue-Eyes White Dragon destroys the rest of your life points! Blue-Eyes, Sonic Dragon Blast!" yelled a tall boy wearing a KaibaCorp jacket. The Blue-Eyes sent a massive blue ball towards it's younger opponent.

"No!" the opponent screamed but it was too late. He was forced to the ground by the attack and his life point counter went to zero. The monsters disappeared as the younger boy got up on to his feet.

"And the winner is Seth Kaiba!" declared an MC as he ran towards the winner with the microphone. Seth smiled as the MC approached him.

"Any words Mr. Kaiba?" he asked rather eagerly

"Huh," Seth said partially scoffing. "The KaibaCorp World X Tournament is coming up soon. Be there. That is if you think that you're good enough to compete against some of the top duelists in the world and of course me."

"The KaibaCorp World X Tournament be there!" said a different voice before proceeding to tell more details.

"I really wish they hadn't made me sound like such a villain," Seth Kaiba said looking at the flat screen TV over dinner at the Kaiba Mansion. It was the commercial for the KaibaCorp World X Tournament.

"You sound fine Seth" Kaiba said.

He was sitting at the head of the table. Although he was 41, he didn't look a day older than 26, which shows you how much work health spas can do if you go twice a day everyday.

His second son Ryan Kaiba ate quietly as his brother and father discussed the tournament. Ryan never seemed to fit into the Kaiba family like his brothers.

Seth Kaiba was nearly an exact duplicate of their father. He was tall, with blue eyes and brown hair. Not to mention he was ruthless, loved playing Duel Monsters but loved victory even more. He had a largely inflated ego, an incredibly strong desire to win and a glare like his father's known to potentially kill. The main difference between Kaiba and Seth was that Seth had a longer fringe and a few long spikes. Seth was now 20 and was working as vice president of KaibaCorp. While Ryan was 19 and had just graduated from Duel Academy a little over two year ago.

His younger brother, 14 year old Andrew Kaiba was an Obelisk in his second year.

Ryan always felt different, he was kinder, easy to socialize with and hardly ever shot out his killing glare, which wasn't nearly as killing as Seth's or Kaiba's. He had darker hair that just reached the collar of his shirt. At Duel Academy he started as a Slifer before making his way to Obelisk, unlike his brothers who were straight into Obelisk. Ryan was different.

"Seth, I think I'll turn in early," Kaiba said. "I've got a stash of work to do in the morning. I trust you'll be at work tomorrow, won't you. Because the new KaibaCorp duel disk is coming out and I don't expect to launch it myself."

"Yeah, I'll be there Dad," Seth said coolly. "Just don't fret and freak out, k" Kaiba nodded before heading off to his room. Ryan stared at the wall deep in his thoughts. He loved dueling more than anything but he was constantly in Seth's shadow. It just didn't feel fair. He needed to change something or he would always just be Seth Kaiba's younger brother. Not Ryan Kaiba, but Seth Kaiba's brother. That was how he'd be known.

"Watcha looking at Ry?" Seth asked, only seeming half interested. Ryan didn't answer. Seth didn't really seem to care that much. Some awkward silence passed before Seth stood up to leave.

"I'm going to bed, night," he said.

"Yeah, night" Ryan sighed.

The two brothers headed off to their rooms. Seth quickly fell asleep, but Ryan stayed up looking at his Duel Monsters poster on his wall. That was it. He had to beat Seth at Duel Monsters to prove he was different. That he was better then his big brother at something. But it would take a lot of work. He picked up his Magician-Dragon Deck on his side table and flipped through the cards. He had found the solution but the road to achieve it would be extremely tough.