Three months after Battle City, everything had returned to normal. Yugi, crowned champion of Battle City, held his title proudly along with Yami, the spirit of his puzzle. Marik had seen the light do to the defeat by Yugi. Seems life couldn't get much better. Seto Kaiba still held his tournements once in awhile, but finding challenges was harder these days for him. Though he had to return Obelisk to Isis as he "promised," he did not feel stripped of power, thanks to his three Blue-Eyes White Dragons. But Kaiba will soon learn that he's not the only one the contains power. There is another...

"This is ridiculious," muttered Kaiba, watching a duel on his monitor. His sattelite tracking system let him watch any duel going on as long as the duelist were using his Duel Disk system. "These people expect to challenge me in the end? Don't they know what happens? I will defeat them, with or without Obelisk. And then, Yugi. Someday. Someday, you will feel the wrath of my Ultimate Dragon like you had once before. And this time, that duel will count."

Yugi walked along the road, school bag giving him a back ache and his puzzle going up and swinging into his stomach didn't help much either. School was hell that day. Yugi had so many exams before summer that he barely had time to duel with Joey or Tristan lately. And Tea was just as busy. Yugi's only conversations these past couple days were only with Yami. "It's almost summer," Yugi said. "Why all these tests now?"

"You should not be worried," said Yami. A transparent Yami began walking next to Yugi. "You're very intellegent. And your duels show that."

"Yeah, but you always help."

"Not always true. Against Bandit Keith, you dueled alone as I was not near you. And against Joey, when Marik had his mind, you were able to stop him on your own."

"YUGI!" shouted a familiar voice. Yami and Yugi turned around.

"It's Tea," Yami pointed out. Yami faded away as Tea caught up to Yugi.

"There you are," she told him, out of breath. "I haven't seen you in the past couple days. These test are ridiculious. The Math one was terrible."

"I know. It's been a hard week so far. Where's Joey and Tristan?"

"Arcade. We're supposed to meet them there soon."

"I'll head over and call granpa from there."

"Cool. I'll be right there as soon as I change from this school uniform and into regular clothes."

"Eh, school uniforms aren't bad."

"Speak for yourself. Your legs don't constantly show like mine." Yugi and her laughed and then went their separate ways.

Tea walked down the street, looking to her right to see the shops and if they were open or not. She should had been looking forward. "Oof!" she let out as she bumped into someone. She was pushed right down on her bum. "Ow. Watch where you're going!"

"Sorry," said the other person. Male. She looked up to see a boy, around her age. Hair messy and brown, like Akito's from Nadesico. His eyes were blue. He was wearing green cargos, blue t-shirt, and a dark gray vest. "I'm so sorry."

"No, it was partly my fault as well." He stood up and extended his hand to help her. She accepted it and he helped Tea to her feet. Tea noticed that she was maybe a couple inches taller than this boy. "Thank you."

"I'm sorry, again."

"It's fine." Tea looked down. She saw a clutter of Duel Monsters cards on the ground. "Those yours?" The kid looked down.

"Oh, geez. Yeah, they are."

"Let me help you." They both kneeled down to pick them up and ended up conking heads.

"Ow," they both said.

"Sorry," he apologized again.

"It's okay. I've been taking exams all day. It's not like you hurt it anymore than it was hurting already." They continued to pick up the cards, and the kid slipped them in his deck holder hanging off his belt. "I'm Tea," she introduced.

"Ryan," he replied. Tea picked up the last card. It was face down. She flipped it over. Her eyes widened and she gasped. Ryan saw this and snatched the card from her hand. "Um, thank you. I have to be going."

"That was a...."

"I hope we see each other again." Tea stood up and walked home to change. Still in awe over the card she held in her hand.

"I'm telling you," she told Yugi. "That card he held...it was...."

"What was his name again?" Joey asked while intensly playing a game of Marvel VS Capcom.

"Ryan," she replied.

"Ryan Takawa?" repeated Yugi. "Blue eyes, messy hair that's brown."

"Yes."

"He's new to our school. I saw him at lunch playing Bakura in Duel Monsters. But lunch ended before they could finish." Meanwhile, at the machine next to Joey, another kid played his game furiously. He was a tough looking guy. Hankerceif for a bandana. Leather vest. Jeans with a chain. He slammed the buttons and moved around at heavy pace. There was an explosion in the game.

"Aaaggghhh!" he said. He reached in his pocket to pull out some tokens. But he came up empty. "No! Errr!" He looked next to him to see a cup full of tokens in the cup holder next to Joey's game. They were Tea's, but of course she'd lend her friends money to play. Without thinking twice, he snatched them from the cup holder.

"Hey!" said Tea. "Those are mine!"

"Tough luck, babe."

"You're gonna give'em back," Joey told him, parting from his game.

"Oh, really? Who's gonna make me, blondy? You?"

"Ya bet I will, punk. Now hand'em ova!"

"Get lost!" He gave Joey a hard shove, forcing Joey to take a few steps back. "Heh heh!"

"The lady wants her tokens back," said a voice from behind the thief. He looked over as did Joey, Yugi, Tristan, and Tea.

"That him?" asked Tristan. Yugi and Tea nodded. It was Ryan, starring him down. On his left arm was his Duel Disk System. And as you know, they aren't handed out to just anyone.

"What do you want?" asked the punk.

"I noticed your Duel Disk," Ryan pointed out. "Duelist, eh?"

"Yeah. Damn good, too. Better than anyone in here."

"Doubtful because over there is Yugi Moto. But here's my offer. Either hand Tea back her tokens, or I duel you and take them from you when I win!"

"When you win? Ha! How about I just beat you down with my fist."

"Heh. Anyone can beat someone physically. But to beat them mentally is much more of a challenge. So are you a tough guy or a moron?"

"Alright. You want your duel? Fine. Winner gets the tokens and by Battle City Rules gains the loser's rarest card. And I could use another."

"Trust me," said Ryan with a smirk. "You're not getting mine!" -----------------------------------------------------

"Prepare to lose!" the punk told Ryan. The duel drew a crowd very quickly, like vultures to a dead body. On both disks, the holoprojectors shot out of both sides, gliding on bat wings. Upon landing, the wings fold in and the projector popped up. The double sides of the Duel Disk clamped together and shifted to the left to create the board. The lifepoints of 4000 lit up on their counters. "I get first move, hotshot."

Ryan drew his cards. All five. He grinned happily. "As you wish. This duel's aready over!"

"Yeah, for you! For my first move, I play Mechanicalchacer (1850/800) in attack mode!" It was a machine type monster. A yellow orb with one eye and bat like wings. It had legs and two sets of arms, each holding a deadly weapon! "This is the strongest non-effect level four monster in the game, except Gemini Elf (1900/900). I can't imagine you'd had drawn anything stronger than this!"

"Oh...but I have. You just watch."

"Seto, what are you doing?" asked young Mokuba walking into his brother's office. Seto starred blankly at the screen in front of him that showed the duel between the punk and Ryan Takawa.

"Watching this duel," Seto replied coldly.

"You spend all your time watching those these days when your not in meetings. Come play with me. I'll challenge you to a duel. I'll even let you use your Blue-Eyes this time I'm so pumped."

"Maybe later. I'm curious about this Ryan Takawa kid. He has no record in my banks, but that Duel Disk is registered to him, so I know it's not stolen."

"No data on him what-so-ever?"

"None. No dueling level. No Rare Card known. It's like a ghost or something."

"Then how is he registered?"

"According to the logs, his father, Jake Takawa, worked on making the Duel Monsters cards and was in charge of making the three Blue-Eyes White Dragons." Seto kept watch of the duel. "You seem tough, kid," Seto thought to himself. "Let's see if you're worth my time."

"My move," said Ryan. "It's the end right now. I have my powerful monster! I summon Lord of Dragons in attack mode (1200/1100)!" A spellcaster wearing dragon bones as armored materialized to the field.

"That power?" asked the punk. "You must be joking! Why even put that card in your deck?"

"Oh, I don't know," Ryan snapped back. "Maybe because he's the only one capable of playing this magic card! I play Flute of Summoning Dragon!"

"Hey," said Joey, impressed. "That ain't bad. This kid's got skill."

"Now he can summon two dragons from his hand!" said Yugi.

"Now I summon my Tri-Horn Dragon (2850/2350)!!!" shouted Ryan. The Lord of Dragons blew into a flute shaped like a dragon's head. A low, loud hum came out, and two dragons began materializing. Tri-Horn Dragon came first. A large blue wingless dragon standing on his hine legs. His toes and fingers were massive, razor sharp claws. His back and tail covered in white spikes. And atop the head were three white horns, hence the name. "Tri-Horn Dragon, attack now!" Tri-Horn let out a growl, then a roar and it jumped into the air. It came crashing down, claws ripping through the Mechanicalchacer's body like a knife through silk. The machine was sliced into three pieces, then burst into particles.

"Lucky shot," said the punk, unphased.

Ryan: 4000

Punk: 3000

"Wow, Tri-Horn Dragon!" said Yugi. "You're right, Tea. That is a powerful rare card."

"No," she replied. "That wasn't it. It was...."

"You still have three-thousand more LP to destroy," said the punk. "And once I use my rarest card, Michizure, a powerful trap, you'll be gone."

"I know..." said Ryan. "That's why you must be beaten now. I can summon two dragons. Now I summon my second!" The second dragon took form.

"You can't possibly summon--HUH?" The second dragon roared a familiar roar to the ears of Yugi, Tea, Tristan, and Joey. More familiar to Yugi as he has faced this beast before on more than one ocassion.

"Seto..." said Mokuba in awe. "That's not....it can't be...is it...."

"It...it..." Seto has never been this fear struck ever. "I upgraded my Duel Disk to detect conterfiets. It is, Mokuba. That's a..."

"Blue-Eyes White Dragon (3000/2500)," said Tea. "I knew I wasn't seeing things. He does own that card!"

"No way," said Joey. "One's torn in half, the other three belong to Kaiba."

"There has to be more to this," said Yugi.

"No!" said the punk. "Come on, kid! I'll give her tokens back. Don't take my Michizure." Blue-Eyes bent it's head down, going face to face with Ryan's opponent. It let loose a roar that gave massive wind.

"Sorry..." said Ryan. "Should have though about that before, punk! WHITE LIGHTNING!" Blue-Eyes blasted his massive beam of pure power straight at the unprotected punk. With no Magic or Trap to help him, or no monsters to protect him, his LP dropped straight to 0 in nothing flat. "I win."

"Impossible..." he said. "You cheated! No one owns a Blue-Eyes besides Seto Kaiba!"

"Well, Kaiba should count again how many Blue-Eyes White Dragons there are in existance. Because he missed one!" The punk placed the cup of tokens on the ground and searched his deck for his Michizure. The crowd broke up as people raced to tell their friends what they had whitnessed. The punk walked away in a hurry. Ryan walked over, picking the cup up. He took Michizure out and slipped it in his pocket. Then he walked over to Tea. "I believe these are yours, Tea."

"Thank you," she said, smiling, and accepting her coins back.

"Excellent duel," said Yugi. "One move destruction!"

"Thank you, Yugi," said Ryan. "My hope is to duel you and Kaiba some day. Well, not both at the same time. I'd get my rear handed to me on a silver platter." There was a few moments of silence.

"Look, if no one else is going to say it, I will," said Joey. "What's up with the Blue-Eyes White Dragon? Only Kaiba has them, not counting Yugi's torn one."

"I guess I owe an explaination," said Ryan. "My father made duel monsters cards. Everyonce in awhile, he'd slip one in his pocket to give me. He wanted me to have the greatest deck ever. When production of the Blue-Eyes White Dragons came into play, he made four like ordered. But he saw its power. He wanted me to have one. So...when the factory closed up, he stayed late. He created a fifth Blue-Eyes White Dragon and gave it to me as a late birthday present the next day. Then that night came. Coming back from work, he was involved in a car accident. He...He died."

"That's so sad," said Tea.

"I'm sorry," said Yugi.

"I was so upset," Ryan continued. "I locked my Blue-Eyes away, never mentioned it. I stopped playing all together. But, after some time, I realized that my dad wouldn't want this. He gave me that card to win...and I won't let him down!"

"Well, you can't do it alone," said Joey. "Maybe if you stick with us, especially me, you'll get some good tips."

"You?" asked Tristan. "He'd get better tips from Rex Raptor."

"Are you making fun'a me? I got second place in Duelist Kingdom! I beat Weevil Underwood, Espa Roba, Mako Tsunami. All the top names in dueling!"

"Heh heh," laughed Ryan. "Guess I made some new friends." Yugi nodded in agreement.

Seto got up from his chair and walked towards the door. "Big brother," said Mokuba. "Where you going?"

"To get that Blue-Eyes," he replied. "If Ryan duels again, inform me of his location. He'll either give me that card, or I'll pry it from his defeated fingers." Seto walked down the long hallway, with one final thought on his mind. "Why does he have one of my strongest cards? I'll have to ask him after I win it from him!"

To be continued...