Hello everyone! Sorry for the "small" delay for the next chapter. Busy with college and a lot of other stuff happening in my life. I'll try and update as quickly as possible. I've been also reading through my story, Yu-Gi-Oh! Rise of the Gods and Dark Force and boy oh boy….I'm really glad I doing a rewrite. For one thing, WAY TOO MANY DUELS! I've been also going through my rewrite mentally in my head, trying to see how I would start and finish. I've also been getting rid of unnecessary chapters, but keeping the ones that are important. Also, I realized I tried to make some comedy out of it, yeah, didn't work out so well either and most importantly, I'm trying to make this story short, simple, but also entertaining for you all. 60 (I know it is 58, but I'm just rounding it off to make life simple) chapters is way too much and I want to try to cut that down by half or maybe even more than that if possible.

Also as you can see, I'm completely taking a whole new approach somewhat, so this might also cause some delays on updating since you know like I said, I'm rewriting certain events/chapters/duels/etc. I hope this won't cause any problems, but I'm only doing this rewrite to improve my old story and also making it more entertaining for you all without any trouble.

And this is for Starlight AT:

You're so silly. If I told you what the sequel will be, then I would have to tell everyone and I would like to try to keep that as a surprise :). All you'll know is that in the sequel, that's where all the OC's will be that people have sent me (Yes, including Amelia and Lotus :)) Hopefully though, it won't take half a year! This story seems to be making a quick progress compared to the old one (at least I hope it is), so I should be able to finish a lot quicker than the old story since the first one was created back in 2005 and it is already the year 2011!

Anyways, don't want to talk any longer since you all are anxious to read so here is my next chapter for you all! Enjoy!

Chapter 9 – New Duelists! Friend or Foe?

Aeru sat down on his huge Egyptian throne, lost in his thoughts. He kept wondering why his younger brother had completely lost all of his memories while he still had his. He also had forgotten in his own birth name and yet Aeru knew his. Something in his memory was blocking out his brother's name, and he couldn't understand what was causing it, but that wasn't the only thing bothering him. He had felt something, a powerful force…a force of light, emerging out of nowhere and disappearing instantly. He held his black puzzle firmly and looked down at it, wondering if it was his younger brother's doing. It did not matter to him though, he had everything what he needed and everything was going according to plan. Sigma walked up his master, kneeling down and lowering his head to him as he appeared in his throne room.

"Lord Aeru," said Sigma calmly, "Your men are working on the new duel-disk system they had stolen from Kaiba Corp."

"Excellent," said Aeru as he sat straight up towards his most loyal general, "Progress?"

"It will take a while to get the technology to build it, but the blueprints have all been recreated to your desire," said Sigma as he stood up from the ground and faced his master.

"You serve me well Sigma," laughed Aeru as he slowly got up from his throne and walked down his steps.

"What I don't understand is, what is the big deal of it," asked the black robed figure hiding in the dark, "Why do you need that woman's notes and as well Seto Kaiba's duel-disk designs?"

"Patience now," said Aeru as he grinned towards the man, "Everything will come into place. I just need everyone to do their parts and everything will go as I planned."

"So, what will you do when the pharaoh is defeated," asked a second black robed figure, sounding female, "Take title as pharaoh?"

"Not just that. I will make sure he will suffer as much as I have suffered," grunted Aeru.

Soon, Revenant appeared into the room where Aeru and the three other dark generals were having their discussion. Everyone looked up to him to hear if he had any important notes he had to share.

"Revenant, hahahaha, how was Kaiba," laughed the black robed man as he eyed at his partner.

"Kaiba had no idea that the raid was just a diversion to gain access into his system," said Revenant, "The two proved to be quite useful. One of them was able to give Seto Kaiba a hard time in a duel, but of course lost to him. He was knocked unconscious by the explosion from the duel-disk Kaiba had caused with his monster. The other one, however, was able to hack into Kaiba's computer with no trouble."

"I told you those two would be useful," laughed Aeru, "How is he by the way? The one that was knocked out?"

"Recovered. Waiting for further instructions Master Aeru," replied Revenant.

"Tell the two to head to Domino City immediately," said Aeru.

Revenant lowered his head and began walking away out of the room. Aeru then focused his attention on the black robed male and pointed his finger towards him.

"I need you to head to Domino City as well," continued Aeru, "I need you to pay a visit with the thief."

"Hahahaha! All right then! I'll be heading out now," laughed the black robed male.

He extended his hand and a huge black portal appeared before him. He stepped inside and the portal closed behind him, leaving no trace of him.

Aeru then looked at Sigma and the black robed female and pointed his finger towards them as well, "I need you two to continue working on the new duel-disk and setting up those sad excuse minions Marik called, Rare Hunters, to prepare themselves."

Sigma and the black robed female lowered their head and walked away out of Aeru's throne room. Once they were gone, he retreaded back to his seat and sat down, resting the lower right side of his cheek against his fist with his elbow resting on the arm of his seat.

"Soon little brother…we will meet again and then you will know the true meaning of pain," mumbled Aeru.

The sun was rising, indicating morning. Solomon was cooking breakfast for Yugi and his friends as they began cleaning up. Yugi and Joey told everyone the events that happened to them in the Spirit World and meeting with the Legendary Knights. Yugi then told about Rex and Weevil trying to steal his Egyptian God Cards, but ending up stealing the Millennium Items by mistake and also the meeting he had with Bakura before he disappeared into a dark alley.

"This is a lot serious than I thought," said Tea, "If they said they felt a huge disturbance that matched close to the Orichalcos, than you guys really got to prepare yourselves."

"Still hard to believe Ryou had his own dragon," said Tristan, "I wonder why his dragon was not with the other three?"

"It doesn't matter. We just got to hope Bakura will help us," mumbled Yugi.

"Well you gave him that forth dragon knight, so that should make him join our side…right," asked Duke.

"Even if Ryou's evil spirit joined Aeru's side, we still got our legendary knights with us," grinned Joey as raised his fist up in the air, "No one can beat us now!"

"I hope so," mumbled Yugi, "I hope so…"

"Come on Yugi. Cheer up," smiled Tea softly, "Why don't we walk around Domino City for a bit? Maybe a walk in a nice day with good old fresh air will lighten up the mood."

"Yeah," yelled Joey happily as he wrapped his arm around Yugi's neck, almost chocking him, "Don't be so down on the dumps! Let's all walk together!"

"I was talking about just us two," whispered Tea softly, glaring at Joey.

"You say something," asked Joey as he looked at Tea with confusion.

"Oh! Nothing! Hahaha! A nice walk together sounds like a great idea Joey," smiled Tea nervously towards Joey as she waved her hands at him, blushing a bit.

"Why don't we finish eating breakfast first and help Yugi's grandfather wash up the dishes before we go out for a walk Joey," smiled Serenity softly.

"Good idea! I'm starving," laughed Joey as he released Yugi.

"Me too," yelled Tristan and Duke at the same time.

"All right, breakfast sounds good and a nice walk around the city as well," smiled Yugi softly, feeling a little better now.

Yugi and the gang were now walking the streets of Domino City. After they all finished eating, they helped Solomon wash up and put away the dishes before setting out. Domino City seemed calmed and relaxing, everyone was just doing their own business. It seemed like just a normal day, a normal city living a normal life. Even the duelists that have been trying to challenge Yugi to a duel in the past calmed down a bit. Of course a lot of people still recognized him and yelled out his name, it's been mostly getting his autograph and taking his picture, which he didn't mind. It was a lot better than the constant duels.

After a while, they noticed a huge crowd in front of them. The gang wondered what was going on and walked up towards them, trying to see what was all the commotion about. They were able to push through the crowd and go all the way to front, witnessing a duel. It was a tag team match, two duelists pinned against two other duelists. The gang recognized a certain duelist and Joey recognized one duelist he faced during the Battle City Tournament. Mako Tsunami was the water duelist the gang had met once before back in Duelist Kingdom and Espa Roba, the fake psychic duelist Joey had faced in the Battle City Tournament, winning his Jinzo card. The two were tagged together facing two duelists the gang had never seen before. One duelist had a dark skin color, wore complete black clothing, an open buttoned black long sleeve with a white shirt underneath it, long baggy black jeans, and black sneakers. His hair was tied at the back, almost like a pony-tail, except he had multiple dreads hanging down. The second duelist had a light tan skin color and wore rectangular glasses. He wore mostly blue clothing; a dark blue polo shirt with a white shirt underneath it, long blue shorts that almost reached down to his ankles, and black sneakers as well. By the looks of things, Mako and Espa had a nervous expression on their faces, meaning they were probably losing while the two new duelists had determined smiles on their faces. The two new duelists ordered their monsters to attack Mako and Espa, lowering their life points to 0. Mako and Espa groaned in defeat while the two other duelists slightly raised their fist in the air towards each other, indicating their victory.

"Those two are powerful," mumbled Espa.

"We never stood a chance," sighed Mako.

"Stand aside boys," said one woman as she walked into the duel area.

"It's time us ladies show you how to properly win a duel," grinned another woman.

The first woman was Mai Valentine, another duelist they all had met back in Duelist Kingdom. She participated in the Duelist Kingdom tournament just for the money, but after spending time with Yugi and the gang, she realized it's not always about fame and glory. She then participated again in the Battle City Tournament, during a duel with Marik's evil spirit and losing to him, she was placed into a coma. She also became an enemy during Dartz's reign of terror, but came into her senses when Joey dueled and lost to her.

The second female was Vivian Wong. The gang had met her during Seto Kaiba's KC Grand Championship. When they all had met her, she was an avid fan to both Yugi and Kaiba to the point of being obsessed, especially to Yugi. There was one part where she even blackmailed Yugi into dueling her outside of the contest by threatening to leave Yugi's grandpa with an injured back if he didn't accept. The two dueled and if she won, she would make Yugi her "love" slave, but of course lost to him in the end.

"By all means ladies, we will gladly accept any duel," smiled the duelist with glasses happily.

"We will accept and we will win," said the dark skinned duelist calmly.

"Time to duel," yelled the two female duelists at the same time as they prepared their duel-disks.

"Duel initiated," yelled the two male duelists as they prepared their decks on their next duel.

The duel had ended and the two female duelists lost. They barely put a dent on their opponent's life points and proved to be far stronger than them. The two male duelists gave each other an air high-five towards each other, knowing they earned another victory.

"Can no one challenge us," asked the tan colored male towards the crowd.

"Are there no more duelists to face us," asked the dark skinned male as he faced the audience.

"I accept," yelled Joey as stepped out of the crowd and into the front with a huge smirk on his face.

"Joey Wheeler," yelled Mai in surprised as she turned around to face him.

"What a surprise to see you again," smiled Espa softly.

"Is Yugi Moto with you," grinned Mako.

"Yugi," yelled Vivian in surprised, her head up in the air to look for the small duelist.

"I'm right here," smiled Yugi softly as he appeared out of the crowd next to Joey.

"And the rest of us as well," smiled Tea softly as she and the rest of the gang appeared.

"Yugi," yelled Vivian as she raced towards the small male and grabbing his hands.

Yugi gave a nervous smile and Tea was giving Vivian a death glare, but the Chinese duelist paid no attention to her, or seemed to not even notice the glare she was getting at all as she was focusing her attention towards Yugi.

"Hello Yugi," smiled Vivian brightly as she held tightly to his hands, "You came just to watch me duel?"

"I uh…I," smiled Yugi nervously, trying to think of his next words to say.

"Oh I'm so going to put my foot against her face," mumbled Tea as she continued to give Vivian her death glare and resisting the urge to put her foot on Vivian.

"So what brings you here," asked Mai as she looked at the gang.

"We were just strolling the city, getting some fresh air," smiled Joey softly, "What about you freaky fish guy and Roba dude?"

"I am not a freaky fish guy," yelled Mako angrily as he stomped his foot on the ground, "Stop calling me a freaky fish guy!"

"These two duelists appeared in Domino City and were yelling out duelists to challenge them," replied Espa.

"We accepted their duel and lost badly to them," mumbled Mako softly, calming down.

"But I'm sure you two will have no trouble whatsoever which these guys," smiled Mai softly.

"Go avenge my defeat Yugi," said Vivian as she pointed her finger towards the two male duelists, but everyone ignored her comment.

"Yugi Moto…huh. The King of Games has honored us with his presence," smiled the duelist with glasses, lowering his head slightly to him.

"We heard a lot about you as well Joey Wheeler," said the dark skinned duelist as he looked at the blond male.

"Who are you guys anyways," asked Yugi, "I never seen you before."

"Haha, sorry. My name is Mikey, Mikey Strife," smiled the duelist with glasses.

"And the name is Vince Miles," replied the dark skinned duelist.

"Joey, they look pretty tough," mumbled Serenity, "Mai had a hard time with those two…"

"It's ok sis! This is going to be exciting," yelled Joey happily as he cracked his fingers, inching to duel.

"You going to duel Yugi," asked Tristan.

"It's a tag team duel so I have to," smiled Yugi.

"Do you best ok," smiled Tea softly.

"Can't wait to see what The King of Games is capable of," said Mikey, his voice filled with excitement.

"Let's begin shall we," said Vince as he prepared his deck.

"It's time to duel," yelled Joey and Yugi at the same time, activating their duel-disks.

"Duel initiated," yelled Mikey and Vince as well.

Bakura stood at the roof of a building, watching down as he saw Yugi and the gang dueling against the two new duelists. He gave a small chuckle, remembering the events that had happened to him before.

x*x*x

"Hahaha! This is rich," laughed Bakura as he couldn't believe what he was hearing, "You are the older brother of the pharaoh? Hahaha!"

"Indeed," grinned Aeru, "I have a grudge against him, for taking the title of pharaoh away from me. I went searching for you, knowing Ryou is your descendant and a small portion of your spirit would still be lurking inside of him, even without the Millennium Ring."

"I see. Then what is your purpose for being here and what is this deal then you speak of," asked Bakura as he finally stopped laughing, crossing his arms and showing a small smirk on his face.

"I came here to cut a deal with you. Join me and together we can crush the pharaoh," said Aeru as he went straight into the point.

"Hahaha. Like I never heard that before. Though your explanation is short and simple. I like it," grinned Bakura, "However I will decline. I realized it's a mistake to join with another villain. I learned that from Marik when he had problems with his Millennium Item. So, if you want something done, you got to do it yourself."

"I see. What a shame," said Aeru shaking his head in disappointment, but giving a small chuckle as well, "So unwise. You would've been a great ally to me, especially to one who owns three Egyptian God Cards. Oh well, you will suffer along with my little brother. Until the next time we meet than thief."

"I hope we DO meet again so I can take your Egyptian God Cards," grinned Bakura.

With that, Aeru disappeared from Bakura's void, leaving the spirit alone in his endless world.

x*x*x

"Hahaha. As the saying goes…the enemy of my enemy is my friend," chuckled Bakura softly to himself.

Just then, he felt some kind of energy, a dark energy. He turned around to see a dark portal appearing behind him, darkness swirling around, and a black robbed figure appearing out of the portal. Once the black robed figure stepped outside, the dark portal disappeared behind him, leaving just the two males on the roof of a building.

"Heh, did Aeru sent you," asked Bakura as he grinned towards the black robed male.

"Yup. I'm here to crush you, beat you, and humiliate you," laughed the black robed male.

"You don't know who you are dealing with fool," said Bakura as he prepared his duel-disk.

"Oh I think I do, thief," grinned the black robed figure.

He lowered his hood, revealing his huge spiky green hair flowing in the back with two short pony-tails hanging down behind the back of his head. He even had green eyes to even match with his hair. What caught Bakura by surprise was that something on his chest appeared and it was a Millennium Item that looked very identical to his; the only difference was that instead of gold it was black.

The green haired male prepared his black colored duel-disk, grinning at Bakura as if he was enjoying the expression he saw on Bakura's face, "My name is Maverick Duo! One of Aeru's dark generals and owner of the Dark Millennium Ring! Prepare to meet your end!"

End of Chapter 9

Next Chapter – Maverick, the Mecha Duelist

Done! Mikey and Vince are back in action! Hope you guys are happy. Okay, you know the drill! Review! I want to have at least 30 reviews, so come on everyone! I know you can do it and I'll update as soon as I can. Sayonara! :)