It was night, and Danny was doing a patrol of the city while thinking about all that had happened in the several weeks since he saved the world from the disasteroid and revealed his identity. Tucker had served a very brief period as town mayor before the city council deposed him because they didn't want a teenager running the town.

In the past several days, a number of people in Amity Park and the surrounding area had gone into comas for unknown reasons. Although the victims were medically fine, doctors were unable to recisitate them. Among the stricken was Valerie, who Danny had been able to patch things up with rather easily after explaining his side of their conflict.

While Danny was going over these thoughts, an enemy was observing him from a safe spot. This is perfect, Johnny 13 thought to himself as he watched his target. I know the boss man said to not go after the ghost boy so that he wouldn't get a chance to muck up our plans until it's too late, but I'll never get an opportunity this good to finally take him out.

Johnny 13 revved his motorcycle and accelerated towards Danny. He was planning to eliminate the ghost boy with powers granted to him by his new employer. But before he could strike, time came to a halt.

Clockwork emerged from a portal right next to Danny after stopping time. He then brought out a time medallion and put it around Danny's neck.

Danny felt disoriented as he was brought out of stillness and looked around him. "Clockwork," Danny said upon spotting the temporal ghost. "What are you doing here?"

"I just saved you," Clockwork said, then motioned his staff toward the still frozen Johnny.

"Not that I don't appreciate the assist," Danny said. "But I'm pretty sure I could take him even if he got in a lucky hit."

"Johnny's not exactly the same as last you remember him."

"What do you mean?"

"It's a long story, Danny," Clockwork said as he began twirling his staff and produced an image a desert temple. "It all began 5,000 years ago, in Egypt. There were individuals who were able to summon monsters from another dimension by using powerful shadow magic. the monsters would then fight for them."

The image changed to two people wearing white clothes that had monsters standing in front of them. The two people were also wearing large, gold objects on their arms that had three parts that almost looked like wings.

"These contests were called shadow games, but that's another story," Clockwork said, then changed the image so that it displayed a desert village at night. There was a large, black dragon soaring through the sky and breathing dark fire on the buildings below.

"But there was one creature that could not be controlled by the shadow magic wielders," Clockwork continued. "It was called the Chaos Emperor Dragon, and it sought to destroy the entire world. Fortunately, all the shadow wielders banded together to fight back."

The image changed once more. It showed dozens of the shadow wielders summoning their monsters to attack the Chaos Emperor Dragon. "The battle lasted many days without stop," the temporal ghost said. "Eventually, the shadow wielders drove back the evil creature, but after taking heavy causalities. But despite their valiant efforts, the Chaos Emperor Dragon wasn't destroyed: it simply retreated."

The image now showed a battle damaged Chaos Emperor Dragon going through some kind of inter dimensional portal. The portal lead to the ghost zone. "In its haste to escape, he arrived in a remote region of the ghost zone instead of his intended destination," Clockwork explained. "Once there, it entered a state of hibernation due to the injuries it received in battle. And it stayed that way until a few days ago, where one of your old enemies found it."

Now the image displayed a picture of prince Aragon, the tyrannical, dragonic and technophobic brother of Dora that he dethroned. "What does he have to do with this?" Danny asked.

"I'm glad you asked," Clockwork said. "After you defeated him, he was exiled from his home. Since then, he's been wondering the ghost zone in search of a way to reclaim his power. And he found it."

The image changed to Aragon standing in front of the sleeping dragon. The dethroned prince touched the dragon, which caused a bright light to shine. When the light faded, Aragon had an object shaped like a duel disk on his right arm that a deck in the appropriate slot.

"Why is he wearing a duel disk?" Danny asked. While he did not participate in the game of duel monsters, he was aware of it. He never took up the game because he was too busy with fighting ghosts, but Sam and Tucker played.

"Because the Chaos Emperor Dragon bestowed shadow magic upon Aragon," Clockwork said, "and the Duel Monsters trading card game is the current incarnation of the ancient shadow games."

"Okay," Danny said as he put his hand on his forehead. "How exactly can a trading card game and ancient Egyptian mysticism be connected?"

"That is also a long story. The short version is that Duel Monsters is based on the shadow games. But to get back on track, when Aragon made contact with the Chaos Emperor Dragon, the former prince was brain washed by the dragon. Since then, Aragon has spread the control and shadow magic to other enemies of yours: like Johnny here."

With that, Danny took a closer look at the frozen form of Johnny 13, and noticed that he had a duel disk on his arm that was loaded with a deck. "If I hadn't intervened, he would have extracted your soul out of your body," Clockwork continued.

"Say what now?" Danny asked as he quirked an eyebrow in curiosity.

"That's its plan, Danny. All the brain washed ghosts have been using their shadow magic to take people's souls and send them to the Chaos Emperor Dragon so it can recover its strength. But I have a way for you to fight back," Clockwork said, then materialized some kind of black amulet with a clasp in front of him. "Put this on your right arm."

Danny did as he was instructed and put the clasps around his right arm. This caused a black ring of energy (similar to the ones that appeared when he transformed) to travel horizontally across his body and changing his appearance. His hair was now black with white tips, and he was wearing black boots, pants and a shirt with a black trench coat and a silver stylized D emblem for a belt buckle. As he got his new look, a great deal of information regarding Duel Monsters was sent into his brain.

Once the apparel transformation and information download were complete, Danny looked at himself at wondered what just happened. "What's with the new threads and why do I suddenly know what a field spell is?" he asked.

"The amulet is a special artifact that allows the wearer to participate in any incarnation of the shadow games," Clockwork explained. "It gave you the knowledge to play Duel Monsters and imbued you with shadow magic abilities. As for the clothes, that's a side effect."

Danny took a look at the amulet and noticed that it had changed to resemble a duel disk with a deck in it. He took the deck out and looked through it. It had a lot of monsters called Destiny Heroes.

"Even with that deck and shadow magic, you might not be able to handle this threat by yourself," Clockwork continued, then brought forth six other amulets like the one Danny had on: a pink one, a green one, a purple one, a blue one, a white one and a red one. "Give these to people who can help you," the temporal ghost said.

"Thanks Clockword," Danny said as he placed the extra amulets in the pockets on the inside of his new trench coat.

"Don't thank me yet," Clockwork said with a mischievous grin. "Time in," he said as he touched his staff and resumed the movement time before vanishing. And with that, Johnny resumed his charge.

When Johnny approached Danny, there was a flash of light and Johnny was violently repelled. "What the hell was that?" Johnny asked. "I should have taken your soul, no problem."

"Nice try Johnny, but I know what you're up to," Danny said. "If you want my soul, you'll have to challenge me for it in a shadow game."

"Gladly," Johnny said as got off his motorcycle and materialized the arms of his duel disk.

"Let's duel," they both said in unison.

Author's notes: This isn't a crossover, more like a Yugioh plot with the DP cast. And I know that the plot seems derivative of the Oricalcos arc, but it's the best I could come up with. The duels will play out like a mix of anime rules and real TCG rules.