The tide had turned in the duel, and Dark Ringo seemed poised for victory."So you admit defeat?" Dark Ringo was now overly confident in her seemingly inevitable victory, and was possibly blinded to the risks of Deep Blue's set card from the turn before. "This is perfect! What happened to all that good shit where you were going to defeat me, Master Deep Blue?! Huh?! Did it vanish once I summoned the Dark Magician?!" She then drew a card.

As soon as she did, Deep Blue replied, "No, it never went anywhere. Reverse Card Open!" Deep Blue then revealed his set card, Secret Barrel. "I activate Secret Barrel!"

Dark Ringo yelled in horror, "What?!"

"And since you have two cards in your hand and one on the field," Deep Blue declared. "That means you lose the last of your life points! Fire at will!" Secret Barrel's card then gave way to a cannon that popped up on the field and fired a round directly at Dark Ringo, engulfing her in a massive explosion that caused her to scream in pain before she collapsed to the ground.

DEEP BLUE: 2300 (WINS)

DARK RINGO: 0000 (LOSES)

Deep Blue then walked up to her as she struggled to get up from the blast, badly hurt. "You... You bastard!"

"I wouldn't be insulting me in your position," Deep Blue replied in a sinister voice. "After all, you just lost this Shadow Game, and you know what that means, don't you?" He then pointed at her and declared, "PENALTY GAME!"

As Dark Ringo stood up, she began to see her body slowly fade away into the darkness of the shadows that surrounded both of them. She simply chuckled and smiled at him. "You think this will be enough to kill me?" She took her duel disk off, took her cards out, and set the duel disk on the ground before throwing the cards into the air, allowing them to be dispersed by the wind. "Have fun trying to find them all when the wind carries them. I'll be back, Deep Blue."

Finally, as the shadows faded away and revealed a normal rooftop once again, she vanished. The cards she threw into the air landed on the roof and on the street below in random spots, and as Deep Blue looked around, he said to himself, "Petty and annoying to the very end... Of course."

"I see you had a little civil war on your hands," a voice then inferred from behind him on the roof. As Deep Blue turned around, he saw himself face to face with Malik Ishtar. "I have some experience with that myself."

"Malik Ishtar," Deep Blue replied. "What a pleasant surprise… You aren't dead."

"You tried resurrecting the dark half of me I killed in 1997," Malik explained. "And I sent him back to Hell where he belongs. Now I know the truth about the Cyniclons and the Ancient Egyptians, and I'll make sure to stop you in any way I know how."

"I'd like to see you try," Deep Blue challenged him. "Tell you what, if you lose in the tournament before you can face me, I'll challenge you to a duel on this very rooftop."

"And if I were to say no?"

"I wouldn't do that if I were you," Deep Blue replied as he summoned his sword. As it began to glow, he told him, "Not unless you want to never see Rishid again."

Shocked, Malik yelled at him, "What the Hell did you do to my brother?!"

Then, Rishid appeared before him in a flash of light, an Eye of Wdjat on his forehead and his eyes completely dull, indicating he was under mind control. Deep Blue told Rishid, "Mind Slave, tell Malik what will happen if he refuses my challenge."

"I will jump off of this roof," Rishid explained in a monotone voice. "Accept the challenge, Malik."

Malik quickly pulled out the Millennium Rod, hoping that he could use its powers to snap Rishid out of it. "Come on, Rishid! Snap out of it! You're stronger than this!" As the Millennium Rod unleashed a glow of yellow light, Deep Blue's sword suddenly flashed red and fired a beam of light at the Millennium Rod, instantly shutting it off and blasting it out of Malik's hands. "No way! How did… How?!"

"As I've said before," Deep Blue told him. "Humans merely adopted the powers within the Millennium Spellbook. Us Cyniclons were born with these powers, and we can wield them even without a pesky little gold trinket. You really aren't in a position to negotiate, Mr. Ishtar, so do as I say."

"Fine," Malik replied, picking up the Millennium Rod and admitting defeat. "I'll accept your challenge! If I win, hand back my brother. I won't even do anything else to you as long as he comes back to me unharmed."

"Of course," Deep Blue agreed with a nod. "However, if you lose, you'll meet the same fate as our friend Ringo here."

"That's a risk I need to take," Malik replied. "My family is that important to me!" He then thought to himself, "I need to win if I go up against Deep Blue either in the tournament or outside of it! I don't know what I would do without Rishid!"

The Present, July 13, 2003

Minto and Zakuro were both in civilian clothes, shuffling and comparing their decks to practice and see which strategies worked out best for them both as they sat in a break room in the stadium. One such way of doing this was to swap decks and practice against the other in a duel. As Zakuro drew a card, Minto asked her, "Not to interrupt, but I must ask you something."

"Hm?" Zakuro was curious. "What is it, Minto?"

"What made you get into the game so much? I mean, I'm not asking to be rude or anything, I'm just… Curious."

"It's fine," she replied with a smile. "I got into this game initially because it was fun. However, when I learned of what it was being used for and what our enemy had in store for us, I committed myself more to it. Now, the game reminds me of the bonds I have to the team."

"The bonds you have to the team?"

"Minto," Zakuro asked her. "Answer me honestly. Do you think I had a lot of friends when I was younger?"

Minto paused for a few seconds to think before shaking her head. "No?"

"Correct," she confirmed with a nod. "I had few, if any. I barely interacted with anyone my age, much less girls my age. I was alone most of the time, and when my father died, it only got worse." She then sighed. "If I had not been chosen to be part of Tokyo Mew Mew, I'd still be looking for something to belong to instead of having found it. Being a part of this team gave me my best friends, and I wouldn't trade them for the world. There's nobody else in this world that I'd rather protect it with."

Minto blushed. "Awww, thank you. That's so sweet."

"Minto," she then told her. "If I'm successful, we may face each other in the finals."

"I'll be facing Ichigo before then," she replied. "I'm not going in with the expectation of her winning or me losing. I won't insult her by giving her any less than my all."

"I agree," Zakuro replied. "Whether I face you or her, I'll treat it like any other duel. I do want to try to duel Ichigo at some point, either during or after this tournament, though."

"Why's that?"

"I want to win back the Infernal Flame Emperor fairly," Zakuro explained. "I took Thestalos back from her after she defeated that Ghoul who took them both from me, but I refused to take back my most powerful monster. The only reason I kept Thestalos was so I wasn't totally lost or powerless." After a brief pause, Zakuro then began her turn. "Well, anyway, I summon UFO Turtle…"