Yu-Gi-Oh! R: The untold story of the anime.

I'm back! At last, I'm back! I've just finished my first university exam, and bro was it stressful. I actually think I did better than I expected. So, in this chapter, Kaiba confronts Yako, and Gekko faces off against Richie Merced.

Twilight Rose Witch: Don't worry, I was just messing. Sorry if I was offensive. Yeah, the Yugi vs. Depre duel is a bit of a pain in the ass to write, but I still maintain that Depre's speech at the end of Chapter 19 is just so awesome.

Note: Creative Credit goes to Kazuki Takahashi for the original concept and Akira Ito for the story and art.

Gekko vs. Richie.

In the Duel Ring server control room, Seto Kaiba looked incredulously at Yako Tenma, as Yako held up the Wicked Avatar card. "Your 'god card'?" asked Kaiba.

Yako stared back without missing a beat.

"You expect me to believe that?" asked Kaiba. "There are only three god cards! 'Slifer the Sky Dragon,' 'Obelisk the Tormentor,' and the Winged Dragon of Ra'!" he yelled. "And Yugi Muto has them all!" He continued angrily clenching his fist. "There were only three divine beasts drawn on the ancient Egyptian stele that Pegasus used as the theme for his Egyptian God cards!" He spread his arms, satisfied. "There can't be any other God cards!"

"And yet, the Wicked Gods are real," replied Yako. He held up the Wicked Avatar. "They are cards Master Pegasus disavowed. God cards which were never meant to exist."

"What?" asked Kaiba in shock.

"Master Pegasus created the Egyptian God cards," said Yako. "However, the cards surpassed even Master Pegasus's expectation. They were so powerful it was as if they were truly possessed by the Egyptian Gods." He sighed remembering seeing Pegasus bent over his desk, head in his hand. "For that reason, it is said that Master Pegasus agonized over them, even tried to destroy them by his own hand."

Kaiba snorted. "What a coward!" said the CEO derisively.

Yako bowed his head angrily. "But in the end," he said. "They were his creations. He loved them. He couldn't bear to destroy them." Yako turned his head sideways. "Instead, he sealed them away in Egypt, where Duel Monsters originated. I believe you know more than I do of what came after." He opened his eyes. "But that isn't the end of the story. Master Pegasus created something for use in the event that the Egyptian God cards went on a rampage."

Yako spread his arms, wishing the images would appear behind him – a black orb, an aqua skinned demon sheathed in bone, and a sickly pink serpent.

"He designed other God cards – my Gods cards – to keep the three Egyptian God cards in check."

"Keep the Egyptian Gods in check?" asked Kaiba. "Are you telling me they're just as strong as the Egyptian God cards?" he asked in fury.

"Yes," said Yako. "If only he hadn't stopped at the design stage. If only he had released them. I'll never understand why he didn't."

Kaiba did. He'd had enough experiences with the Egyptian God cards to know that anything close to their level of power would frighten anyone. If Pegasus had created the Wicked God cards, he would have dreaded the consequences.

"But now I know why he left them unreleased!" called Yako. "He left them for me!" He raised the Wicked Avatar. "I carried out Pegasus's will, and poured it into these cards! The Wicked God cards!" He spread the arm that wasn't holding the Wicked Avatar wide. "And this is the God card that will pass judgement on Yugi Muto!"

Kaiba just snickered. "Your cards aren't so bad, but they won't be enough for you to take down Yugi!" he said. "Even your brother Gekko is a better duelist than you!"

"I surpassed Gekko the moment I got these cards," replied Yako, right eye bulging. "I will beat Yugi. Even if no one else can, I will. Now that I have the Wicked Gods, why not test me yourself?"

Kaiba grinned. "Why not? Yes, I'll take you down, and then I'll tame your 'God card' with my own hands!"

"Well then," said Yako with a smile. "Where shall we duel?"

"Follow me!" called the CEO, picking up his briefcase. "We'll go to the Apex Arena!"

The last vestiges of Cosmic Space faded.

Depre Scott, tears in his eyes, slammed his fist onto the floor as Gekko and Yugi looked on. "Nooo!" screamed Depre. "I can't lose! Not to you! I, we," he spluttered. "Master Pegasus is all we have!" he sobbed. "If it weren't for you, Master Pegasus would never have left us," he blubbered.

Richie Merced bent down, and helped his adoptive brother up. "Depre," he whispered.

"I just wanted to see the master just, just once more," he moaned.

"Hey!" yelled Richie. "Can I get some help here?"

"Yes sir!" called a voice over the intercom. The door opened, and two Industrial Illusions suits ran out.

"Take care of Depre," said Richie.

"Leave it to us, sir," said the first suit.

"Master Depre," said the other to the defeated duelist.

Yugi and Gekko watched as the cards carried Depre away.

Richie looked back at them, steel in his gaze. "Yugi," he said. "That's the first time I've seen you duel. The rumours don't lie." He shook his head. "To think that you beat Depre."

"I can't lose!" cried Yugi. "Not until we save Tea!"

Richie sighed. "Yeah, that's how Depre thought too," he replied. "To him – no, to all of us kids he raised, Master Pegasus was something like the sun." He glared at Yugi. "Do you understand? Without him, we can't survive!" He clenched his fist. "Depre wanted to see Master Pegasus again. That's all he wanted. Just that. . ."

"So I guess I'm duelling you next," said Yugi after a pause.

Richie ran his hands through his hair. "Well, yeah. If I were fighting for Depre, we'd do that. But you know I'm not fighting for Depre. Sure, he was a fellow card professor, but I wouldn't put my neck on the line to avenge him. That's not my style." He turned his head to the side. "We card professors only meet up when we're duelling. We win or we lose, and that's it. This stuff happens."

"Especially when you get too big for your boots," muttered Gekko angrily.

"But you, Gekko!" yelled Richie. "You're the one I want to duel!" He pointed at his adoptive brother. "You're a traitor!" he roared. "You betrayed all of us who were raised by Master Pegasus!"

Gekko blinked in surprise. He nodded. "Yugi, I'll handle this." He stepped forward, shifting his duel disk to duelling mode. "Richie, I know how you feel about Master Pegasus's disappearance. But we can't drag others into this, especially when we never had all the facts. Not Yugi, or Miss Gardner, or the Kaiba Corporation." He clenched his fists. "This is something we should have dealt with ourselves, but Yako had to involve innocents!"

Richie shifted his black duel disk to duelling mode. "Hah! What do we care who we use or whose stuff we take? We live for Master Pegasus! Outsiders don't matter!" he yelled.

"Master Pegasus would never condone that sort of thing!" yelled Gekko.

"Yeah well, we'll ask him when we see him!" retorted Richie. He raised his black duel disk. "If you don't like it, try and stop me! C'mon and duel!"

Gekko sighed. "This has gone too far." He drew his starting hand. "Let's go!" he called, drawing a card as Richie drew his entire hand at once. "I play one card facedown!" he called. "Then I summon Learning Elf in defence mode!" (1400/1500) Gekko's bespectacled elf maiden appeared, clutching her tome. "I also equip her with Shield Reflector!" added Gekko, and a shield with the top left half replaced by a circular mirror appeared in the right hand of Learning Elf. "My turn's over."

"Feh!" laughed Richie. "You call that a monster? And you try to turn my attacks back on me? Okay, right back at you!" he laughed. "I also play a card facedown, and I use the Desert Mirage spell card!" he added. Then he grinned, and held up a card. "I summon Twin Gunfighter!" he yelled, and a Revolution-dressed man clutching twin pistols appeared. (1600/1000) "Destroy the elf!" yelled Richie. "Double Fire!"

Twin Gunfighter blasted two torrents of flame from his pistols, and they curved for Gekko and Learning Elf.

"Shield Reflectors effect activates!" called Gekko. It halves the attack points of the attacking monster, turns then back on you, and then it stops the attack if it can't break through my elf's defence!"

A blast of fire streaked towards Richie. He grinned. "Okay, right back at you!" he said again. "Once per turn, Mirage negates an effect or a direct attack that targets me!" he called. Sure enough, the blast shattered an illusionary Richie. He grinned. "For three turns, you can't touch me!" he called. "But you're not so lucky," he added, and the second flame smashed into Gekko, leaving a smoking circle on his leather coat. His life points dropped to 2400.

"Gekko!" cried Yugi in shock.

Richie burst out laughing. "One of Twin Gunfighters pistols is always aimed at your chest, slamming you with damage equal to its attack points!"

Yugi gasped. So it hurts Gekko no matter the outcome of its attack? This could get hairy.

Richie snorted. "Sure, you used to be good, Gekko. There was a time when Master Pegasus called you the 'Perfect Duelist,' a time where I couldn't beat you no matter how hard I tried." He looked up. "But listen up. I left Master Pegasus and fought countless duels as a card professor. I climbed all the way to the top spot in the Card Professor's Guild." He raised his arm, showing them his duel disk. "I fought hard, and earned this black duel disk!" he called. "A disk that only the number one card professor gets to use!" He lowered his arm. "You may have been perfect once, but that's ancient history! I'll prove it to you!" He glared at Gekko and Yugi. "And after that, I'll be the one that Master Pegasus calls the 'Perfect Duelist!'" he roared.

"Richie," said Gekko sadly, watching his adoptive brother glare across the field at him.

The black duel disk is actually where I first heard of Yu-Gi-Oh! R, believe it or not. Until I read the actual manga, I thought Richie was a little weed, but he's huge! It just looks and sounds awesome though. The black duel disk. No, I am NOT being racist.

And in the corner of white, we have the appearance in the anime of Number C32: Shark Drake Vice! The original is probably better, but Vice looks far cooler. Attention, for those who don't like Zexal, just like Shark. He's only fourteen, but he's badass. For example, he rides a motorcycle, can scare the pants off these two massive thugs (seriously, they could give Richie a run for his money), and, for a Joey role-type character, is so not funny. He just keeps his cool so well; it's like, damn, what froze you? Oh, and he's used four Numbers now. That's more than Kite, III, IV, or even Yuma have used.

Bah, I digress. I'll probably be able to finish Gekko's duel with Richie before my next exam, so it might be up in a couple of days. I still have to script Kaiba vs. Yako, and Richie's next duel though.

So, guys, once again, please rate and review!