Before I start this chapter, I will strongly note that I am not putting any OCs (Original Characters) in this. It may seem that way at first glance to some of you, but trust me, it's not. If there were OCs, there would be no plot twist, now, would there?

Disclaimer: Yu-Gi-Oh! is owned by Kazuki Takahashi. Kingdom Hearts is owned by Tetsuya Nomura and all that.

Duel Disks and Keyblades

By FlikFreak

Chapter Two: The Name of the Game

Landing hadn't gone quite as smoothly as Sora had hoped, but he managed to get on the ground unscathed. Domino City, as it was apparently called, was definitely a bit more crowded than he anticipated…then again, wherever else he looked there weren't quite as many people. Maybe there was some special occasion going on? Deciding it would be better to see for himself than ask a stranger, Sora pushed his way slowly through the crowd, making his way to the front. It was crowded, yes, but it wasn't packed. Soon he was at the front of the crowd…

…where he found a dinosaur roaring right in his face.

Crying out, Sora stumbled backward in shock and was about to summon the Keyblade when someone grabbed the collar of his shirt and dragged him back into the crowd. "Take it easy, kid! It's just a hologram!"

At first, Sora was about to complain to being called 'kid' again, but the latter comment drowned the thought with a wave of relief. Regaining his footing, Sora turned to his rescuer and rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. "Sorry about that," he said, chuckling nervously.

The person that he now faced was a somewhat odd fellow. He was wearing a green, long-sleeved vest and a pair of jeans, and blonde hair hung unruly over his head, with deep brown eyes staring back at him. A small backpack was slung over his shoulder. "Don't worry about it," the boy replied. "You just look like you've never seen a duel before."

"Duel?" Sora echoed, sapphire eyes blinking. This happened every time he visited a new world; some odd new concept was introduced to him that he knew nothing about.

The boy looked around briefly before leaning in on Sora. "You have seen a duel before, right?" When Sora shook his head, the boy's eyes widened a bit in surprise. "You're not from around here, are you?"

"No," Sora replied, chuckling inwardly at how true the statement was. "I'm not."

"Then it's lucky you ran into me when you did," the boy replied. "I can help you out."

Sora grinned. "Thanks, but…you haven't even told me you're name. I'm Sora." The boy accordingly held his hand out.

The stranger shook it gladly. "Nice to meetcha, Sora. My name's Jounouchi." The blonde turned his gaze back to the scene in front of them. "What's going on here is a casual game of Duel Monsters. The game is really popular here in Domino, though lately people've been dueling to settle arguments, make agreements…" he shook his head. "These two are dueling to decide who's right about a rumor."

The spikey-haired boy blinked. "That sounds…odd."

"It is," Jounouchi replied. "I'm a duelist myself, but I don't normally duel to settle crap like that. I keep it strictly for fun and friendly competition when I have to."

"Competition?" Sora asked.

Jounouchi chuckled. "You really aren't from around here, are you?" he said. "Tell you what. I was headed over to my friend's place." As he said it, he jabbed a thumb behind him to a small shop. "His grandpa is a Duel Monsters expert. He'll tell you everything you want to know."

"Is your friend a duelist too?" Sora asked as they began walking over there. He earned a knowing grin from Jounouchi.

"You bet he is," the blonde said. "He's one of the best I know. In fact, he's good at practically any game you throw at him. He came in first at the Duelist Kingdom tournament a few months ago, and he won Battle City, too…" At the end of the sentence, however, Jounouchi's tone began to fade into a bit of sadness. Sora knew better than to ask about it, judging from how it sounded, and continued to walk silently.

Not much time passed before they came upon the door, which Jounouchi comfortably pushed open. As the bell rang, Sora caught a short conversation going on inside.

"…yet, have you?"

"I passed by him this morning. He said something about the Pha-" A brunette girl standing at the shop counter paused in mid-sentence when she heard the door open. Turning around, she gave a smile to the new-comers. "Hey, Jounouchi. Come to buy more cards today?"

Jounouchi shook his head. "Nah, not today. I found this guy at the duel outside. He's new around here, so I thought I could get Gramps to show him the ropes." Jounouchi gestured to the girl and old man before them. "Guys, this is Sora. Sora, this is Anzu and Sugoroku Mutou."

Sora waved sheepishly before turning his attention to the old man standing behind the counter. "Hi there," he said.

Sugoroku crossed his arms in his trademark fashion. "So, you're interested in Duel Monsters, eh?" he said. "I'd have my grandson show you a few things, but he went out to town a moment ago."

"Yugi's not here?" Jounouchi asked.

"Yugi?" Sora echoed.

"My friend," Jounouchi explained. "I was coming to see him, remember?"

"He was at the central square earlier," Anzu said, tucking a stray strand of hair behind one ear. "He was talking about some weird guys in black cloaks."

At the mention of this, Sora stiffened. Whenever he heard the mere mention of a black cloak, he always thought immediately of Organization XIII. He had already taken care of them! How could they possibly be back? Turning to Jounouchi to speak, he found the boy in a similar state of thought, but he shook his head. "It's probably just some thugs trying to creep people out," he said. "The Rare Hunters disbanded ages ago, everyone knows that."

"Rare Hunters?" Sora asked.

"It's a long story," the blonde replied, an odd look of thought on his face.

The moment he did, the bell at the door jingled once again. "I'm home, Grandpa!" a voice said as a boy just about Sora's height entered the room.

"Nice to see you, Yugi," Jounouchi said, waving to the newcomer.

Sora stood in silence; the boy he was looking at had to be the strangest person he ever laid eyes on. He had seen crazy things in the various worlds he had been to – the zombified pirates in Port Royal, the strange characters in Halloween Town, and even the programs inside a computer – but this took the cake. The boy looked to be in at least middle school (at the thought of that, Sora absently wondered how much homework he had missed during his adventures over the years), wearing a pair of blue pants, a loose, dark shirt and a blue jacket over it. A strange collar was buckled around his neck, and hanging from a chain was what caught most of his interest: a golden, pyramid-shaped pendant, hanging with the point facing down, a wadjet eye staring out the front. Sora knew that something was odd about this young man…but what?

"Ah, Yugi!" Sugoroku said grandly, jerking Sora from his thoughts. "This boy here was expressing some interest in Duel Monsters. We were just wondering if you could show him a trick or two."

Yugi smiled sheepishly. "I guess," he said. "It'd get my mind off of those freaks, at least."

"Freaks?" Anzu asked. "Don't tell me you ran into one of those cloaked guys…"

There was a brief moment of silence. Yugi glanced to the side momentarily, then shook his head. "I did," he said, "But it's nothing to worry about."

At this point, Sora decided that it was time he spoke up. If this was Organization XIII he was dealing with, he wouldn't want to endanger anyone. "You keep mentioning guys in cloaks," he said. "Are there any other rumors about them?"

"Not that I know of," Jounouchi said. "But these guys near the shop were dueling about it."

"Cloaked guys, you say?" The old man interjected. "I heard a few things."

Sora's attention was diverted immediately. "Like what?"

Sugoroku crossed his arms. "Well, one of my customers came in with a warning the other day. It seems like these guys are foreigners looking to cause trouble. They aren't really into Duel Monsters, but they seem to possess powers on par with even the Millennium Items, and they go around picking fights in search of something."

"Sounds like a mix between the Rare Hunters and a bad villain from a comic book," Anzu grumbled.

"Were there any sightings of them recently?" Sora asked, a serious look on his face.

"They usually pop up when people duel," the old man continued. "But they only pick fights with certain people…"

"Now that you mention it," Jounouchi said, rubbing his chin, "I saw one near that duel just outside. If it's still going on we could go outside and find him."

Sora nodded. "But if he picks a fight, can you defend yourselves? If not, you should probably stay here." When the two boys nodded, Sora headed swiftly out the door with them following.

Outside, the duel was indeed still going on. The two were apparently tied and at a stalemate judging by the crowd's reaction, and Sora wasted no time in examining the crowd closely. Nothing could be seen immediately. Calling upon the keyblade's power silently, his attention soon focused on the far end of the block, where a man stood on the street corner. Racing forward, he charged past the crowd and skidded to a halt a few yards from the stranger, with Yugi and Jounouchi right behind him. The cloaked figure, however, noticed, and took off running.

"You're not ganna get away!" Jounouchi shouted. Sora couldn't help but agree. He could stop the stranger right then and there if he wanted, but using magic now would be too risky. Do not meddle in the affairs of other worlds, he had been told. It's a rule.

But rules could be bent.

As the group rounded a corner, however, they were confronted by corpse-white humanoids, zipper-like maws open and gaping to reveal razor-sharp teeth within. Their roars of anger were silent, their motions jagged and threatening. Sora backed away a few steps. "I thought I already took care of all of you!" he cried.

The cloaked figure, whom stood not far away, chuckled. "You didn't get all of us…Roxas."

Soooooo…chaos? Next chapter soons.