Kiyoji looked around, noticing he was surrounded by darkness but a
spotlight of blue was shining down on him. Another spot light appeared ten
feet away from him, revealing Seto Kaiba. Three more lights appeared closed
to Kiyoji, revealing the other three members of the Blue-Eyes White Dragon
Clan.
"We finally have you all to ourselves," Jonathan told him, "With all of us here Kaiba, you won't stand a chance."
Justin Grey summoned his four-winged Sky Dragon, Seth summoned his Cybernetic Wyvern, and Jonathan summoned his Tri-Horned Dragon. However, no one had a Duel Disk on their arms. All the monsters appeared as if they were real.
"Attack!" they all commanded.
The three dragons each unleashed their own attack towards Kaiba, who wasn't the least bit afraid.
"Go Blue-Eyes!" Kaiba shouted, summoning his dragon.
As each of their attacks closed in on Kaiba, the mighty white dragon arose, roaring at his opposition. The attacks each hit the dragon, but they ended up getting the dragon mad.
"Blue-Eyes wipe out those pathetic monsters," Kaiba commanded, "White Lightning!"
His dragon obeyed gathering energy into its mouth. After gathering an adequate amount, Blue-Eyes unleashed three blasts of pure white and blue energy to each of them. They were all atomized in an instant, leaving their three masters in shock.
"Kiyoji, do something!" Justin shouted to him.
"All right," he said to him. "I'll summon Hyozanryu, Serpent Night Dragon, Emerald Dragon, and Tyrant Dragon!"
His three colleagues each mounted one of the dragons. Seth got on Hyozanryu's back, Justin got on Serpent Night Dragon's, Jonathan got on Emerald Dragon's, and Kyoji got on Tyrant Dragon's back. All four of them got the dragons to fly away from Kaiba and his dragon.
"You can't escape my wrath," Kaiba told them, mounting his dragon. "Come forth my other two Blue-Eyes White Dragons!"
On each of Kaiba's sides, appeared two more dragons of the same size and power. All three of Kaiba's dragons took flight towards the other four dragons. The three Blue-Eyes White Dragons each fired a blast of white lightning towards them.
"Everyone scatter!" Kiyoji shouted to his friends.
Justin and Seth veered to the left while Kiyoji and Jonathan veered to the right, each dodging the three attacks of White Lightning.
"Pick a dragon," Kaiba told his three dragons. "Kill which ever one you want, just keep the Tyrant Dragon for later."
Kaiba's dragons obeyed picking out the dragon they wanted. One dragon flew after Seth and Hyozanryu. That Blue-Eyes White Dragon fired several blasts of White Lightning to the diamond scaled dragon but Hyozanryu was narrowly dodging by diving down or flying upward. The mighty white dragon then flapped its mighty wings, increasing its speed dramatically. In an instant, Seth and Hyozanryu were face to face with a Blue-Eyes White Dragon. Hyozanryu folded it wings to shield itself from any attacks, but it wouldn't help. Blue-Eyes White Dragon unleashed a White Lightning attack, hitting the diamond dragon dead-on, destroying it. With no dragon, Seth fell to the ground hard.
"Seth!!" shouted Kiyoji as he directed his Tyrant Dragon to swoop down and save his friend.
At the same time, Justin and Serpent Night Dragon were narrowly keeping away from a Blue-Eyes White Dragon. However, Serpent Night Dragon twisted and turned its long body to evade the White Lightning attacks. However, Kaiba's dragon sped up and dove down to be underneath Justin and Serpent Night Dragon. The Blue-Eyes White Dragon then raised its head firing a blast of pure energy puncturing through the dragon's stomach. Serpent Night Dragon roared out in pain as Justin fell off the dragon hitting the ground hard. Not too far from him was his fallen friend Seth.
"Justin!!" Kiyoji shouted again, trying to save both of his friends.
Jonathan however had a different approach. He was attempting to wipe out the mighty dragon Kaiba was riding. Emerald Dragon unleashed stream after stream of green flames towards Kaiba specifically. However Kaiba's dragon was much faster evading each green flame that came his way. When the dragons were face to face, each dragon unleashed their attacks. The green flames were blown away by the pure white energy hitting Emerald Dragon, causing it to explode. Jonathan had narrowly escaped by jumping off the dragon. He had landed on the ground near Seth and Justin.
Kiyoji got Tyrant Dragon to land on the ground. He quickly placed all of his injured friends on the dragon's back and he got in front.
Kaiba's three dragons aligned in a horizontal line, with Kaiba in the center.
"Now my three Blue-Eyes, take out that dragon!" Kaiba commanded, "White Lightning!"
All three of the dragons fired a blast of pure energy towards Kiyoji. But Kiyoji got his dragon to take flight, narrowly missing the attack.
Kaiba smirked at Kiyoji as he directed his dragons up high. All three passed Kiyoji's Tyrant Dragon, but continued flying higher and higher. As they reached a certain elevation, all three of the dragons roared loudly as they began to glow white. Kaiba leaped off the dragon he was riding and began to freefall back to the ground. His three dragons merged together creating the mighty Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon. The three-headed dragon dove down, catching Kaiba on its back and then flew towards Kiyoji.
"Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon, wipe them out!" Kaiba commanded, "Neutron Blast!"
The three dragons each gathered a great amount of energy in each of their mouths before firing an inescapable blast of energy to Kyoji and his Tyrant Dragon.
Panicking, Kiyoji performed a last resort. He jumped off of Tyrant Dragon, falling fast to the ground, back first. As he looked up, his dragon, along with his three friends were destroyed without a trace.
As he continued to fall, Blue-Eyes swooped down below Kiyoji and the center head rose up, opening its mouth. Kiyoji shouted at the top of his lungs as he fell into eternal darkness that was the dragon's mouth...
Kiyoji awoke with a pant and a cold sweat. He looked at the clock in his room, seeing it at 11:37 PM. He looked out at the window seeing raindrops pelting his window, with a flash of lightning out in the distance.
"Damn..." he said to himself, sitting up in his bed. "Of all the people I had to duel, it had to be him."
"You're sunk aren't you?" a voice asked him.
"What?" he questioned, looking around. "Who said that?"
"That's it, isn't it?" the voice asked him. "You're dueling Seto Kaiba tomorrow and even if you used the best combos against him, he'd still finish you off fairly easily."
"Hey what's it to you?" Kiyoji asked getting out of his bed. "Show yourself, now!"
Off in a corner, out of the shadows, emerged a rather tall and thin figure wearing a black robe. Out of the cowl of his robe emerged several long strands of black hair. Suspending from his neck looked like a large golden key.
"Who are you?" Kiyoji asked.
"I, like you, despise Seto Kaiba," he told him. "Nothing would please me more but to have him defeated in his first match and then some."
"First of all, who are you?" Kiyoji questioned.
"My name is of no importance," he answered.
"I'll shout for help," Kiyoji replied.
"I can silence you before you could open your mouth," he answered back. "I'm not your enemy. I am here to aid you in your duel against Kaiba."
"So I'm getting help from a guy who's threatening me?" Kiyoji asked. "Besides, how could I defeat a world champion when he has a nearly unbeatable deck?"
"There's your first problem," the black robed man said to him. "You don't even believe you can defeat him. Allow me to take a closer look to see what's in your mind."
The black-robed man took the large golden key from around his neck and placed it in front of Kiyoji. Like a key in a keyhole, he turned it to the left.
Suddenly the black-robed man found himself in a stone room with a door in front of him. He opened the door to find what was inside. The room he entered was curved and had several windows of Kiyoji around the building. The most noticeable thing in the room was a huge stone statue of a Blue- Eyes White Dragon in the center. Kiyoji was there too, rather confused on where he was.
"What is this place?" Kiyoji asked him.
"The inside of your mind," the black-robed man said. "Showing what your personality is like. You seem to have a strong grip on past events."
The black-robed man then looked to the window nearest to the door, to the left, seeing a younger Kiyoji running up many flights of stairs. When he arrived to door with the number 34 on it, he pulled out a key unlocking it. He opened the door, walked in, closed and locked it quickly. He made a few turns in the room until he came across his room. He entered his room, shutting the door and pulled an opened booster pack out of a small pocket in his backpack. He took the cards out of it and dropped all but one of them. He looked at the card in awe and excitement.
"I got it..." the young Kiyoji said. "YES!!"
The adolescent began to jump for joy over the card. The black-robed man looked closer to see the card. It was the Blue-Eyes White Dragon. After a few more seconds of jumping for joy, the image faded to white.
Soon it showed the younger Kiyoji walking into a card store. On the glass case were a bunch of rare Duel Monsters cards.
"Hey Hiraga," the card store owner said to him. "Still trying your luck at getting a Blue-Eyes?"
"You know it," he said, pulling out some money. "I saved up this time so I'll buy five booster packs."
"Uh, about those booster packs," the owner began. "Normally I'd never say no to my best customer, but some men representing Kaiba Corp came in and bought all my booster packs."
"All of the booster packs?" he asked, but had an idea. "What about your next shipment?"
"That's the thing," he responded, "You've heard of Kaiba Corp, right?"
"I think so," Kiyoji said, "what does that have to do with Duel Monsters?"
"Well some kid named Seto Kaiba took over," he explained. "He sold out all of the company's military resources, giving him billions of money left over. He used that money to buy out almost every card store in the world, including all of Japan."
"Then, does that mean..." Kiyoji he began.
"It could."
"What do you mean?"
"He might have the best cards, but that doesn't mean he has the card."
"Huh?"
"I still have a few booster packs left," the owner said, pulling out a booster box. "These could be the last unopened cards in Japan. But with these cards, I have to raise their price to thirty dollars."
"Thirty?!" Kiyoji shouted. "That's highway robbery! I only have twenty-one dollars!"
"Hey, I've gotta make a living too you know," he began but soon sighed. "But since you're my best customer, I'll take your twenty-one bucks."
Kiyoji reluctantly exchanged his money for one booster pack. He turned around opening the top gently. He looked at the card in the back of the pack, knowing that's where the rare card was placed. He looked gently at the golden words, making out, "Blue-Eyes..."
He quickly placed the card back and faked a frustrated sigh. He then placed the pack gently into a small pocket, making his way to the door.
"Sorry man," the owner said, "Better luck next time."
"Yeah," he answered back, opening the door.
As soon as he closed the door, he took a deep breath. He then sprinted away, running like a madman. When he reached the corner, he moved his legs up and down, waiting for the light allowing him to walk. When it did, he continued running again. When he reached an apartment building, a familiar scene to the black-robed man appeared.
The black-robed man looked to the next window, finding a slightly older Kiyoji looking through a peephole to the door in his apartment. He opened the door for the black-robed man to see who was there. It was three large men, all in suits. Two of the suits were holding a briefcase.
"Are you Kiyoji Hiraga?" one of the suits holding the briefcase asked.
"Yes..." he said uneasily, placing his hand on the door for them not to see.
"Mr. Hiraga," the suit began, "Kaiba Corp has discovered you hold a Duel Monsters card known as the 'Blue-Eyes White Dragon.' That card means a lot of money to us, and you."
"What do you mean?" he asked.
One of the suits opened up a briefcase revealing hundreds, possibly thousands of rare Duel Monsters cards.
"We are willing to exchange all of these cards, upfront, for that one card," the suit holding the briefcase said. "No strings attached."
The other suit opened his briefcase, revealing thousands of dollars.
"Or you could sell that card to us for one million dollars," the suit holding the briefcase said.
Kiyoji gasped and began wheezing.
"Could you give me a moment to think about it?" he asked them.
"Of course," the suit without a briefcase said.
Kiyoji closed the door and sat down, against the door.
"One million dollars..." he said to himself. "I can't believe it... That could get us out of this place and get a decent home... and any leftover money can get me some cards... wait a minute. Dad wouldn't want that. I was obsessed at getting this card and now that I finally have it, I can't just sell it like a used car."
Kiyoji stood up and opened the door with the suits still there.
"Uh... sorry gentlemen," he said to them. "The card means too much me. I hope you understand."
"You'd pass up a million dollars?" one of them said, raising their voice. "You are sure?"
"I'm afraid not," he said reaching for the door, "Drive safely."
Kiyoji closed the door and sighed.
"Wow," he said to himself, "I have a million-dollar card."
The image in the window faded to white and began repeating itself with Kiyoji answering the door again.
He looked at the next window to find Kiyoji walking down the street, in the same direction to his apartment. It was cloudy out and it looked the city had just been rained on.
A black car with tinted windows pulled up by Kiyoji, stopping him in his tracks.
Three familiar looking men stepped out of the car and approached Kiyoji.
"Hello again, Mr. Hiraga," one of them said.
Kiyoji took a step back, in shock, "What the... how did... what are you guys doing here?"
"Do you still have that card?" he asked.
"I keep it with me always," he answered. "Why?"
"I'm afraid we're going to have to ask for the card again," the suit told him. "I must insist you give it to us."
"Like I'd give it to you," he responded. "Besides, I don't even have it with me."
"Liar, you just said you always keep it with you. I'm going to ask you one more time, give us the card."
Kiyoji took a step back and shouted, "NO!"
He turned tail and ran down the street as fast as he could. The three suits got back in the car and easily caught up with him. One of the suits rolled down the window to grab Kiyoji, but he turned into a narrow alley to avoid them. The three suits got out of the car again and chased him down the alley. To lighten the weight, Kiyoji took off his backpack, but not before taking a small safe out of one of his backpacks. He ran with it, now moving a bit faster, but the guards were closing in on him. As he reached the end of the alley, a garbage truck was about to drive pass him. As the garbage truck got close to him, Kiyoji threw it up high, landing right on top of the rubbish. The garbage truck kept driving by until it was gone.
"Where is the card!?" one of the suits threatened, grabbing him by his shirt.
"In a mound a trash," he said. "Do you feel like getting your hands dirty?"
The suit groaned angrily as he threw Kiyoji to the ground. The three suits returned to their car and drove off. The image faded to white and began repeating itself.
"I've seen enough," the black-robed man said walking away from the windows and turned to Kiyoji. "I understand why you hate Kaiba now."
"But what's the point?" he asked him, "I'll be beaten like an amateur."
"No you won't," the black-robed man said to him firmly. "You will defeat Kaiba. Nothing else matters."
"Yes..." Kiyoji strangely agreed.
"Pain means nothing..." he said to him. "You fear nothing... victory is life... and once you defeat Kaiba, you shall have the three Blue-Eyes White Dragons..."
"Yes..." Kiyoji said, smirking.
"Good," the black-robed man said.
Then, he exited Kiyoji's mind and they were both back in Kiyoji's room. Kiyoji still had the same smirk on his face.
"One last thing," the black-robed man said pulling out a stack of cards from his robe. "These cards will help you take out all of Seto Kaiba's strategies. Find room for them in your deck and I assure you, you'll be guaranteed victory."
Kiyoji took the cards and looked at a few of them.
"Yes these will do nicely," he said.
The black-robed man chuckled a little as he vanished back into the darkness and was gone from Kiyoji's room.
"Watch out Kaiba," Kiyoji said to no one in particular. "I'll crush you and I will reclaim my Blue-Eyes White Dragons."
He then began taking out cards to be able to put in the new cards he was given, absolutely certain in his victory...
"We finally have you all to ourselves," Jonathan told him, "With all of us here Kaiba, you won't stand a chance."
Justin Grey summoned his four-winged Sky Dragon, Seth summoned his Cybernetic Wyvern, and Jonathan summoned his Tri-Horned Dragon. However, no one had a Duel Disk on their arms. All the monsters appeared as if they were real.
"Attack!" they all commanded.
The three dragons each unleashed their own attack towards Kaiba, who wasn't the least bit afraid.
"Go Blue-Eyes!" Kaiba shouted, summoning his dragon.
As each of their attacks closed in on Kaiba, the mighty white dragon arose, roaring at his opposition. The attacks each hit the dragon, but they ended up getting the dragon mad.
"Blue-Eyes wipe out those pathetic monsters," Kaiba commanded, "White Lightning!"
His dragon obeyed gathering energy into its mouth. After gathering an adequate amount, Blue-Eyes unleashed three blasts of pure white and blue energy to each of them. They were all atomized in an instant, leaving their three masters in shock.
"Kiyoji, do something!" Justin shouted to him.
"All right," he said to him. "I'll summon Hyozanryu, Serpent Night Dragon, Emerald Dragon, and Tyrant Dragon!"
His three colleagues each mounted one of the dragons. Seth got on Hyozanryu's back, Justin got on Serpent Night Dragon's, Jonathan got on Emerald Dragon's, and Kyoji got on Tyrant Dragon's back. All four of them got the dragons to fly away from Kaiba and his dragon.
"You can't escape my wrath," Kaiba told them, mounting his dragon. "Come forth my other two Blue-Eyes White Dragons!"
On each of Kaiba's sides, appeared two more dragons of the same size and power. All three of Kaiba's dragons took flight towards the other four dragons. The three Blue-Eyes White Dragons each fired a blast of white lightning towards them.
"Everyone scatter!" Kiyoji shouted to his friends.
Justin and Seth veered to the left while Kiyoji and Jonathan veered to the right, each dodging the three attacks of White Lightning.
"Pick a dragon," Kaiba told his three dragons. "Kill which ever one you want, just keep the Tyrant Dragon for later."
Kaiba's dragons obeyed picking out the dragon they wanted. One dragon flew after Seth and Hyozanryu. That Blue-Eyes White Dragon fired several blasts of White Lightning to the diamond scaled dragon but Hyozanryu was narrowly dodging by diving down or flying upward. The mighty white dragon then flapped its mighty wings, increasing its speed dramatically. In an instant, Seth and Hyozanryu were face to face with a Blue-Eyes White Dragon. Hyozanryu folded it wings to shield itself from any attacks, but it wouldn't help. Blue-Eyes White Dragon unleashed a White Lightning attack, hitting the diamond dragon dead-on, destroying it. With no dragon, Seth fell to the ground hard.
"Seth!!" shouted Kiyoji as he directed his Tyrant Dragon to swoop down and save his friend.
At the same time, Justin and Serpent Night Dragon were narrowly keeping away from a Blue-Eyes White Dragon. However, Serpent Night Dragon twisted and turned its long body to evade the White Lightning attacks. However, Kaiba's dragon sped up and dove down to be underneath Justin and Serpent Night Dragon. The Blue-Eyes White Dragon then raised its head firing a blast of pure energy puncturing through the dragon's stomach. Serpent Night Dragon roared out in pain as Justin fell off the dragon hitting the ground hard. Not too far from him was his fallen friend Seth.
"Justin!!" Kiyoji shouted again, trying to save both of his friends.
Jonathan however had a different approach. He was attempting to wipe out the mighty dragon Kaiba was riding. Emerald Dragon unleashed stream after stream of green flames towards Kaiba specifically. However Kaiba's dragon was much faster evading each green flame that came his way. When the dragons were face to face, each dragon unleashed their attacks. The green flames were blown away by the pure white energy hitting Emerald Dragon, causing it to explode. Jonathan had narrowly escaped by jumping off the dragon. He had landed on the ground near Seth and Justin.
Kiyoji got Tyrant Dragon to land on the ground. He quickly placed all of his injured friends on the dragon's back and he got in front.
Kaiba's three dragons aligned in a horizontal line, with Kaiba in the center.
"Now my three Blue-Eyes, take out that dragon!" Kaiba commanded, "White Lightning!"
All three of the dragons fired a blast of pure energy towards Kiyoji. But Kiyoji got his dragon to take flight, narrowly missing the attack.
Kaiba smirked at Kiyoji as he directed his dragons up high. All three passed Kiyoji's Tyrant Dragon, but continued flying higher and higher. As they reached a certain elevation, all three of the dragons roared loudly as they began to glow white. Kaiba leaped off the dragon he was riding and began to freefall back to the ground. His three dragons merged together creating the mighty Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon. The three-headed dragon dove down, catching Kaiba on its back and then flew towards Kiyoji.
"Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon, wipe them out!" Kaiba commanded, "Neutron Blast!"
The three dragons each gathered a great amount of energy in each of their mouths before firing an inescapable blast of energy to Kyoji and his Tyrant Dragon.
Panicking, Kiyoji performed a last resort. He jumped off of Tyrant Dragon, falling fast to the ground, back first. As he looked up, his dragon, along with his three friends were destroyed without a trace.
As he continued to fall, Blue-Eyes swooped down below Kiyoji and the center head rose up, opening its mouth. Kiyoji shouted at the top of his lungs as he fell into eternal darkness that was the dragon's mouth...
Kiyoji awoke with a pant and a cold sweat. He looked at the clock in his room, seeing it at 11:37 PM. He looked out at the window seeing raindrops pelting his window, with a flash of lightning out in the distance.
"Damn..." he said to himself, sitting up in his bed. "Of all the people I had to duel, it had to be him."
"You're sunk aren't you?" a voice asked him.
"What?" he questioned, looking around. "Who said that?"
"That's it, isn't it?" the voice asked him. "You're dueling Seto Kaiba tomorrow and even if you used the best combos against him, he'd still finish you off fairly easily."
"Hey what's it to you?" Kiyoji asked getting out of his bed. "Show yourself, now!"
Off in a corner, out of the shadows, emerged a rather tall and thin figure wearing a black robe. Out of the cowl of his robe emerged several long strands of black hair. Suspending from his neck looked like a large golden key.
"Who are you?" Kiyoji asked.
"I, like you, despise Seto Kaiba," he told him. "Nothing would please me more but to have him defeated in his first match and then some."
"First of all, who are you?" Kiyoji questioned.
"My name is of no importance," he answered.
"I'll shout for help," Kiyoji replied.
"I can silence you before you could open your mouth," he answered back. "I'm not your enemy. I am here to aid you in your duel against Kaiba."
"So I'm getting help from a guy who's threatening me?" Kiyoji asked. "Besides, how could I defeat a world champion when he has a nearly unbeatable deck?"
"There's your first problem," the black robed man said to him. "You don't even believe you can defeat him. Allow me to take a closer look to see what's in your mind."
The black-robed man took the large golden key from around his neck and placed it in front of Kiyoji. Like a key in a keyhole, he turned it to the left.
Suddenly the black-robed man found himself in a stone room with a door in front of him. He opened the door to find what was inside. The room he entered was curved and had several windows of Kiyoji around the building. The most noticeable thing in the room was a huge stone statue of a Blue- Eyes White Dragon in the center. Kiyoji was there too, rather confused on where he was.
"What is this place?" Kiyoji asked him.
"The inside of your mind," the black-robed man said. "Showing what your personality is like. You seem to have a strong grip on past events."
The black-robed man then looked to the window nearest to the door, to the left, seeing a younger Kiyoji running up many flights of stairs. When he arrived to door with the number 34 on it, he pulled out a key unlocking it. He opened the door, walked in, closed and locked it quickly. He made a few turns in the room until he came across his room. He entered his room, shutting the door and pulled an opened booster pack out of a small pocket in his backpack. He took the cards out of it and dropped all but one of them. He looked at the card in awe and excitement.
"I got it..." the young Kiyoji said. "YES!!"
The adolescent began to jump for joy over the card. The black-robed man looked closer to see the card. It was the Blue-Eyes White Dragon. After a few more seconds of jumping for joy, the image faded to white.
Soon it showed the younger Kiyoji walking into a card store. On the glass case were a bunch of rare Duel Monsters cards.
"Hey Hiraga," the card store owner said to him. "Still trying your luck at getting a Blue-Eyes?"
"You know it," he said, pulling out some money. "I saved up this time so I'll buy five booster packs."
"Uh, about those booster packs," the owner began. "Normally I'd never say no to my best customer, but some men representing Kaiba Corp came in and bought all my booster packs."
"All of the booster packs?" he asked, but had an idea. "What about your next shipment?"
"That's the thing," he responded, "You've heard of Kaiba Corp, right?"
"I think so," Kiyoji said, "what does that have to do with Duel Monsters?"
"Well some kid named Seto Kaiba took over," he explained. "He sold out all of the company's military resources, giving him billions of money left over. He used that money to buy out almost every card store in the world, including all of Japan."
"Then, does that mean..." Kiyoji he began.
"It could."
"What do you mean?"
"He might have the best cards, but that doesn't mean he has the card."
"Huh?"
"I still have a few booster packs left," the owner said, pulling out a booster box. "These could be the last unopened cards in Japan. But with these cards, I have to raise their price to thirty dollars."
"Thirty?!" Kiyoji shouted. "That's highway robbery! I only have twenty-one dollars!"
"Hey, I've gotta make a living too you know," he began but soon sighed. "But since you're my best customer, I'll take your twenty-one bucks."
Kiyoji reluctantly exchanged his money for one booster pack. He turned around opening the top gently. He looked at the card in the back of the pack, knowing that's where the rare card was placed. He looked gently at the golden words, making out, "Blue-Eyes..."
He quickly placed the card back and faked a frustrated sigh. He then placed the pack gently into a small pocket, making his way to the door.
"Sorry man," the owner said, "Better luck next time."
"Yeah," he answered back, opening the door.
As soon as he closed the door, he took a deep breath. He then sprinted away, running like a madman. When he reached the corner, he moved his legs up and down, waiting for the light allowing him to walk. When it did, he continued running again. When he reached an apartment building, a familiar scene to the black-robed man appeared.
The black-robed man looked to the next window, finding a slightly older Kiyoji looking through a peephole to the door in his apartment. He opened the door for the black-robed man to see who was there. It was three large men, all in suits. Two of the suits were holding a briefcase.
"Are you Kiyoji Hiraga?" one of the suits holding the briefcase asked.
"Yes..." he said uneasily, placing his hand on the door for them not to see.
"Mr. Hiraga," the suit began, "Kaiba Corp has discovered you hold a Duel Monsters card known as the 'Blue-Eyes White Dragon.' That card means a lot of money to us, and you."
"What do you mean?" he asked.
One of the suits opened up a briefcase revealing hundreds, possibly thousands of rare Duel Monsters cards.
"We are willing to exchange all of these cards, upfront, for that one card," the suit holding the briefcase said. "No strings attached."
The other suit opened his briefcase, revealing thousands of dollars.
"Or you could sell that card to us for one million dollars," the suit holding the briefcase said.
Kiyoji gasped and began wheezing.
"Could you give me a moment to think about it?" he asked them.
"Of course," the suit without a briefcase said.
Kiyoji closed the door and sat down, against the door.
"One million dollars..." he said to himself. "I can't believe it... That could get us out of this place and get a decent home... and any leftover money can get me some cards... wait a minute. Dad wouldn't want that. I was obsessed at getting this card and now that I finally have it, I can't just sell it like a used car."
Kiyoji stood up and opened the door with the suits still there.
"Uh... sorry gentlemen," he said to them. "The card means too much me. I hope you understand."
"You'd pass up a million dollars?" one of them said, raising their voice. "You are sure?"
"I'm afraid not," he said reaching for the door, "Drive safely."
Kiyoji closed the door and sighed.
"Wow," he said to himself, "I have a million-dollar card."
The image in the window faded to white and began repeating itself with Kiyoji answering the door again.
He looked at the next window to find Kiyoji walking down the street, in the same direction to his apartment. It was cloudy out and it looked the city had just been rained on.
A black car with tinted windows pulled up by Kiyoji, stopping him in his tracks.
Three familiar looking men stepped out of the car and approached Kiyoji.
"Hello again, Mr. Hiraga," one of them said.
Kiyoji took a step back, in shock, "What the... how did... what are you guys doing here?"
"Do you still have that card?" he asked.
"I keep it with me always," he answered. "Why?"
"I'm afraid we're going to have to ask for the card again," the suit told him. "I must insist you give it to us."
"Like I'd give it to you," he responded. "Besides, I don't even have it with me."
"Liar, you just said you always keep it with you. I'm going to ask you one more time, give us the card."
Kiyoji took a step back and shouted, "NO!"
He turned tail and ran down the street as fast as he could. The three suits got back in the car and easily caught up with him. One of the suits rolled down the window to grab Kiyoji, but he turned into a narrow alley to avoid them. The three suits got out of the car again and chased him down the alley. To lighten the weight, Kiyoji took off his backpack, but not before taking a small safe out of one of his backpacks. He ran with it, now moving a bit faster, but the guards were closing in on him. As he reached the end of the alley, a garbage truck was about to drive pass him. As the garbage truck got close to him, Kiyoji threw it up high, landing right on top of the rubbish. The garbage truck kept driving by until it was gone.
"Where is the card!?" one of the suits threatened, grabbing him by his shirt.
"In a mound a trash," he said. "Do you feel like getting your hands dirty?"
The suit groaned angrily as he threw Kiyoji to the ground. The three suits returned to their car and drove off. The image faded to white and began repeating itself.
"I've seen enough," the black-robed man said walking away from the windows and turned to Kiyoji. "I understand why you hate Kaiba now."
"But what's the point?" he asked him, "I'll be beaten like an amateur."
"No you won't," the black-robed man said to him firmly. "You will defeat Kaiba. Nothing else matters."
"Yes..." Kiyoji strangely agreed.
"Pain means nothing..." he said to him. "You fear nothing... victory is life... and once you defeat Kaiba, you shall have the three Blue-Eyes White Dragons..."
"Yes..." Kiyoji said, smirking.
"Good," the black-robed man said.
Then, he exited Kiyoji's mind and they were both back in Kiyoji's room. Kiyoji still had the same smirk on his face.
"One last thing," the black-robed man said pulling out a stack of cards from his robe. "These cards will help you take out all of Seto Kaiba's strategies. Find room for them in your deck and I assure you, you'll be guaranteed victory."
Kiyoji took the cards and looked at a few of them.
"Yes these will do nicely," he said.
The black-robed man chuckled a little as he vanished back into the darkness and was gone from Kiyoji's room.
"Watch out Kaiba," Kiyoji said to no one in particular. "I'll crush you and I will reclaim my Blue-Eyes White Dragons."
He then began taking out cards to be able to put in the new cards he was given, absolutely certain in his victory...