One

"Now students, I want you all to read the latest chapter we had just reviewed. There is a test coming up this next week and I want you all to study hard for it," Mr. Lancer stated in his usual monotone voice, "It does count a quarter for your final grade. That means twenty five percent for those who cannot do the math."

His small green eyes glanced over at one such student who in question was bad at math. Danny Fenton frowned as his icy blue eyes scanned to Sam Manson, the only friend of his who happened to be taking this class along with him. The Goth girl simply shrugged before she turned her violet eyes back up front.

Danny mentally sighed as he rubbed his spiky raven black hair. He knew he had to seriously past this class. But could he help that it was so boring that even his older sister Jazz would even yawn during it? He rolled his eyes at this thought. What was he thinking? Jazz found nearly everything in school not tedious.

Besides, with the whole rounding up ghosts for the past year and his fifteenth birthday that will soon be coming up in another couple of months, he had a lot on his mind. Being the town's protector Danny Phantom had both it's perks and downs. The young teenage boy frowned even more as he drowned out Mr. Lancer's drone with him thinking over his own private thoughts.

Ever since he got his ghost powers from his dad's home made ghost portal, Danny had made a vow to protect this town and the whole world. He had felt lucky that his other female friend Carrie Francess had ghost powers as well. According to her, she had gotten them at very younger age from a random portal and never told anyone but her own sister and mother. And despite that, she never was able to practice her powers all that often until Danny got his. In other words, she was pretty much a novice like he was.

Ring!

Danny jumped at the sound of a bell going off and that indicated that class and school was over. He sighed as he got to his feet and gathered his things from his desk. As other students hustled for the door, Sam made her way to Danny.

"Did you get everything Mr. Lancer said, Danny?" she questioned as she gripped her purple spider backpack's strap.

"About the test? Yeah," Danny nodded but Sam's face soured and that caused the half ghost boy to frown and then question, "I'm taking he said something else didn't he?"

"Duh? He was talking about the school exchange program," Sam began as the two walked out of the classroom and into the crowded hallway, "I'm thinking of signing up for it. It sounds really exciting. I heard that the other school is in Japan. I always wanted to go to Japan."

Hearing this mention of going to Japan and the rare smile on Sam's face caused Danny to smirk at her, "I can always go you know what and take you, Carrie, and Tucker there without the flight charges." He pointed out.

"Take us where?" a girl's voice questioned that caused Danny and Sam to see Carrie, who had questioned, and Tucker Foley.

"To Japan. But I rather win at this student exchange contest." Sam answered as she shrugged.

"Oh! Japan! I heard it's really lovely around this time of the year." Carrie giggled as she bounced on her heels slightly.

"Could be, but it sounds kind of a waste to sign up for it." Tucker put in his own thought as he pushed up his glasses.

"It's really an extra credit project, Tuck. And with your grades, you might need them." Sam quipped as the group started for the main exit doors.

"Hey!" The African American technology-knowing boy cried as Danny laughed.

"Ease up guys, but I'm with Tucker on this. Going to Japan sounds kind of waste wouldn't you say? I can always just fly there." The half ghost boy put in his own thought as he rubbed his black hair.

"Sure. But it's a waste of energy. I might sign up for it myself." Carrie stated as she started to skip ahead of her friends with her long brown hair waving behind her.

"Whatever. Look, I've got to get going home. After me missing my curfew from yesterday, I don't want my folks riding on me again," Danny started walking toward his house before he turned to wave goodbye to his friends, "See you guys later."

"Bye dude! We still on for gaming night tomorrow?" Tucker questioned with a smirk.

"You got it!" Danny nodded before he turned and rushed home.

By the time, Danny got home, he noticed his father was on the living room couch working on an invention as usual but reading his top favorite book that was laid open right next to him. The black haired boy frowned as he closed the door behind him and started to sneak toward the stairs. Jazz was lucky that she had an important meeting with Lilly, Carrie's older sister, tonight. If his dad saw him, he was going to babble on not just about the invention he was making or ghosts, but of the book he was reading.

Danny had heard about this book millions of times. His father Jack Fenton didn't always read books, but if it was ghost related, Jack was on it like a fresh batch of fudge made for him. The young teenage boy was nearly to the stairs when his father's dark blue eyes glanced up.

"Hey Danny!" Jack greeted as he put down his invention and started to come over.

Mentally cursing his luck, Danny slowly turned toward his dad, "Hey dad." The boy greeted his father half-heartily.

"I think I may found something interesting about ghosts that I never knew! Want to hear about it?" Jack questioned.

Knowing fully well the answer Danny tried to state, "Actually I-"

"Swell! According to this book, ghosts in the Ghost Zone are spirits of people who never wanted to move on," Jack described as Danny sighed,

"That's great, dad. But-"

"A good old friend of mine taught me this. His book is what always fascinated me." Jack cut off Danny again before the large man glanced down at his son, "Did I ever tell you I met him?"

"About a million times."

"But did I ever tell you that your mother and I went with him to Egypt to discover more about the Ghost Zone?" Jack questioned again with a big grin on his face.

"Yeah, a hundred times. Look, dad I have some homework to work on." Danny started up the steps as Jack looked on.

Yes, Danny had heard his dad ramble on about how he, his wife Maddie, and that professor, whatever his name is, go into some fallen temple in Egypt and nearly got their lives killed trying to find out some secrets. It was cool to hear the first few times. But hearing it endlessly was very tiring.

Danny sighed in relief when he got to his room and slowly walked toward his bed. After putting his backpack to the side, the half ghost boy allowed his body to fall onto his soft bed. He closed his icy blue eyes and pondered if he should just nap there or get started on his homework. He was glad today was Friday and he was looking forward to the game night tomorrow with Tucker.

Recently, both boys have discovered the joys of a great game that Danny never thought he would ever like: Duel Monsters. It was certainly a big hit in Japan and now it had spread all over the world. The half ghost boy smiled as he slowly sat up in his bed and reached over to his drawer. Pulling it open, he took out his deck that he had been working hard on.

He was of course still a novice, but so far, he has had beaten Tucker at nearly every duel. But Danny had Tucker swore to keep this secret. Carrie and Sam had found out about it, and Sam thought the game looked boring. Carrie on the other hand was interested and wanted to know more.

Danny and Tucker both promised to teach Carrie about Duel Monsters the next night. Also, premiering was the show of the game master who was a king at Duel Monsters. After getting into the game, Danny went into research and found that a boy only a year older than Danny himself had won every tournament of Duel Monsters. According to studies, Danny saw that this Yugi boy was about as popular as his alter ego Danny Phantom.

As Danny went through his cards, he thought over the information he had learned about Yugi. It suddenly dawned on him that Yugi lived in Japan. The half ghost boy felt slightly stupid for never realizing this, but what if he got picked for the exchange student program? He could go to Japan and possibly meet the King of Games himself.

Danny smiled on the look on Sam's face that after stating of not wanting to sign up that suddenly he signed up. The Goth would possibly call him a hypocrite. But hey, it beats of having to waste energy and fly over to Japan. Not to mention he wanted to save his energy to maybe even meets this Duel Monsters king. Plus, he really wasn't the type to stalk someone, right? He slowly smiled and made up his mind to sign up for the program.

The next night, Danny, Tucker, and Carrie met at 8 o'clock sharp, "You ready to begin?" Tucker questioned as he got out his own deck.

"Yeah, but first, the show is about to begin." Danny answered as he turned on the TV.

"Show? About Duel Monsters?" Carrie questioned as she sat on the couch next to the two boys.

"Yeah. One of the greatest duelists of all times is about to duel. His name is Yugi and he's won every Duel Monster tournament ever thrown at him." Danny explained as his icy blue eyes were now on the screen.

"Welcome to the Duel Monsters Challenge. Coming up, we have the challengers, Weevil Underwood up against our never losing champ, Yugi Muto." The announcer stated.

"Weevil? That bug guy again?" Tucker questioned as he watched a thick glasses kid, with bright aqua hair that looked like a beetle, come onto the stage.

"Yeah. I heard he's a big cheat and hates to lose," Danny answered as he frowned at Weevil's evil smirking face, "And that smirk certainly tells me he is a big loser."

"He looks really creepy." Carrie put in her own thought as she shivered.

Danny and his friends watched as the camera moved away from Weevil toward the opposite of the stage to reveal none other than the King of Games himself; Yugi Muto, "Whoa, the dude must use a lot of hair gel to get his hair like that." Tucker laughed.

Indeed, Yugi did have strange hair all right. It was in the shape of a star with black and maroon highlights. And in front of his face were long blonde bangs. But Danny himself had black hair that turned white, so he honestly didn't care about the strange hair. He only admired of how determined Yugi looked.

"I think it looks fitting on him and he is kind of hot." Carrie giggled as Danny glanced over at her.

"Hot?" he questioned and felt slightly jealous at this mention.

"Just an observation." The female half ghost shrugged before all three turned their attention back to the TV screen.

"I hope you are ready to lose, Yugi, because I rearrange my deck that will surely defeat you this time." Weevil's stated in his annoying voice as he put his deck in the duel disk.

"We'll see, Weevil." Yugi's deep voice answered as his calm violet eyes glanced down to his own deck to put it in his dueling disk.

"Ok, I honestly think Yugi is way too calm in this. I mean Weevil certainly seems confident he will win." Tucker stated as he folded his arms and leaned back in the couch.

"Hey, come on, Tuck. Don't jump to conclusions yet. Let's see of how the duel goes." Danny quietly retorted as his icy blue eyes were fixed on the TV.

Danny had no doubt that Yugi will win this. After all, he wasn't called the King of Games for nothing. As the duel went on, it did seem Weevil had Yugi on the ropes. Tucker at that point was thinking the insect kid had it in the bag. Carrie turned to Danny,

"Do you think Yugi will win, Danny? I mean he's down to 50 life points and Weevil has all of his." She questioned with a frown.

Danny laughed, "Take a look at Yugi, Car."

She obeyed and noticed that smirk on Yugi's face, "He's smiling?"

"Yep. Ya know what that means." Danny put in as he smirked himself.

Tucker and Carrie both frowned as did Weevil, who also noticed the smirk on Yugi's face, "What is so funny? I'm about to win this duel!"

"I'm sorry Weevil, but I had you going on from the start. I knew what you were up to and I wanted to put your confidence up so you wouldn't suspect my trap." Yugi explained as he picked a card from his hand.

"Trap? What trap! You're bluffing!" Weevil cried out.

"Am I? Then watch."

To Tucker and Carrie's amazement, Yugi had pulled his triumph card and without even a second glance, all of Weevil's insect army was gone, leaving him wide open for an attack. Yugi then used his own free monsters to attack Weevil directly and the insect kid had lost, again.

"Awesome!" Danny cheered as he put his fists in the air.

"What a duel! Yugi Muto once again wins this duel!" the announcer stated as everyone in the stadium cheered.

"Whoa, he had me fooled." Tucker put in as Carrie laughed.

"I thought it was cool. Now I'm pumped to learn about Duel Monsters!"

"All right, let's get started then!" Danny stated before he turned off the TV and he and his other two friends sat on the floor and took out packets of Duel Monsters.

Danny's own deck contained variety of ghost, ice, light, and dark combo monsters. Tucker's own was focused on robot and metal monsters. Going through the monsters, Carrie decided on angel, water, and fairy theme monsters. To demonstrate, Danny and Tucker started to duel once again. Carrie laughed when Danny once again defeated Tucker.

"Really, dude, it's like you played this game before and I'm not just saying that." Tucker stated he started to straighten his deck.

"Tucker's right, Danny, you ever played Duel Monsters before?" Carrie questioned as she glanced over at the half ghost boy.

"No. I guess I got the hang of the game." The raven-haired boy answered with a shrug.

"I'd say it's more than that." Tucker put in his own thought as Carrie laughed.

"Ah who cares?" Danny questioned as he shuffled his deck.

"I don't know. But I honestly want to sign up for that School Exchange Program. I mean come on? What if you get picked to go to Domino City?" Carrie questioned as Danny and Tucker glanced over.

"Not sure. I may sign up for it." Danny answered as the African-American techno boy glanced over in slight surprise.

"What? But I thought you said it was a waste?" Tucker questioned.

"At first, but hearing of the chances of going to Japan and meeting the King of Games? It sounds pretty cool." The raven-haired boy replied while shrugging his shoulders.

"Yeah, but chances of getting picked are pretty slim, D. You might not get to go." Tucker answered with a frown.

"If I get picked, I'd like to meet Yugi myself." Carrie giggled as Danny gave her a sharp look.

"Because you think he's hot?" he questioned with an icy tone.

"What? No!" Carrie retorted, although a blush was shown on her face.

Danny rolled his eyes. He couldn't help feeling a bit jealous that Carrie found Yugi hot. The thought slipped though when he realized that Tucker was right; the chances of winning the School Exchange program was like winning a lottery ticket. But who said he couldn't go for it? He decided to ask Jazz for help on how to sign up for it.

Meanwhile, inside the endless void of the Ghost Zone, inside his clock tower was Clockwork himself. The master of time was staring at his portal that was showing Danny about to play another round of Duel Monsters with Tucker. The ghost turned into his infant form before he stated in his low voice,

"Very soon, young Daniel, you will find out more about Duel Monsters and Yugi Muto himself then you ever did."

"Clockwork, you do remember the vow of never interfering."

Clockwork sighed patiently as he turned to see the same two Observants that had appeared out of nowhere, "I am well aware of the vow. Do you both even realize what this boy's past is?"

"We have only known about how he would turn evil in the future. Thanks to you cheating ways, it was prevented." The first Observant answered.

"What makes you think his past has anything to do with his future?" the second questioned.

"His past has a lot to do with his future," Clockwork answered with very tight patience before he turned back to his portal, "And very soon, he will need to discover and learn about it if he and Yugi Muto are to save this world from a terrible ancient evil…"

The Observants stared at Clockwork, at each other, before glancing back and the first finally spoke, "Very well, but you mustn't interfere, Clockwork. You have already done enough damage by even being in contact with this ghost boy."

"Understandable. Besides, I know a certain someone who will be assisting me into having young Daniel know of his past." Clockwork lifted his time staff in the air and his portal that had the image of Danny dueling Tucker faded.

"Who would that be, Clockwork?" the second Observant questioned in distrust.

The portal's image showed a young Egyptian woman with black hair and blue eyes. She was right now wearing work clothes and she was on her hands and knees. She was dusting sand off of something. Her eyes widen when she was startled to see an image on what she was dusting off.

"Ishizu Ishtar." Clockwork answered simply.