Disclaimer: I don't own Yugioh.

Chapter 3: Opening Day

The pale moon outside of the window of Kou's house was a dead giveaway that it was to late to be up… Or to early. Considering it was 3:00 in the morning, it made sense to think of it as to early. But still Kou continued his desperate analyzation of his deck for the flaw that made him lose today.

"UGH! I give up!" Kou threw his hands up in the air in exasperation. Unfortunately, he was holding his precious Duel Monsters card deck in the same hand, and now the cards were raining down on him. " AGH!" he yelled in more anger as he began to pick up the cards.

Kou lived alone, as his parents traveled so much, so the only person he was worried about waking was his best friend, Shisei Aragashi, who had spent the night. But now he didn't even care about the other boy's sleep schedule.

"You know, if you want to get up early, you could at least make breakfast." Sei came downstairs in his school uniform. "What are you still doing up anyways, I mean its like-" he cut off to yawn.

"I know, 3:00 in the morning." Kou finished the sentence for the sleepy blond. "I just refuse to believe that he only time I lost other than to you, was to a, a-a rich boy!" he stated in disgust. Sei stopped yawning to laugh uncontrollably.

"Hahahahaahahahahahaha!" he burst out so suddenly, Kou jumped a foot in the air. Which is pretty hard to do when you've been up all day.

"What's so funny, hey, Sei!" Kou asked irritated that his friend thought his plight was something to laugh about. When Shisei just continued to laugh, Kou grabbed a hold of the boy and shook him out of it. "Hey, answer me!" Kou glared.

"Oh, s- sorry, but I-I-It's just, you said that your only loss other than to me was to him, but you see Kou, I always beat you!" Sei yelled snickering through the sentence. When Kou didn't get it, he sighed and stated: "Instead of saying your only lost other than to me was him, you should have said you only win was to that boy in the Laundromat!" Sei stated.

All of a sudden, Kou looked pale and sickly. "Oh my god, I'm not even worth mentioning as a duelist." he stated, as he seemed to retreat into his own little world. Sei saw this and immediately tried to cheer his best friend up.

"Hey, come on, you hadn't had half as much experience as the two of us!" he said, walking over and putting a hand on Kou's shoulder. Big mistake.

Kou immediately grabbed Shisei by the and spun around, pulling the poor blonde's arm behind him and saying: "Now who's the world best duelist!" he smiled mischievously.

"OW OW OW OW! Come on Kou, you know I was jus- OW!" Shisei yelled in pain, but he still managed to laugh. It was just what the two of them did, Shisei outwitted Kou, and Kou out maneuvered and overpowered Shisei.

The television then popped on. "In later news, the big Duel Monster's tournament starts tomorrow, and we were promised by Mr. Higentaka Osmos that this tourney will blow all of the other's away!" the newsman reported. Kou let Shisei go as soon as his ears heard the words 'Duel Monsters' and Shisei forgot about his throbbing left arm for a moment. "And so far, with the regional champions of America, Japan, China, and many others, it is shaping up to be a good tournament." After that the boys stopped listening as a new way to test for prostate cancer, was introduced.

"That is definitely the tournament that Osmos was talking about, but why would he invite us?" Shisei pondered aloud. Kou look at the cards he now held in his hand.

"Well, whatever his reason for inviting us, he will pay for not respecting me as a duelist." Kou said, a look of determination in his eyes. Sei smiled at his best friend. 'Wow, I would've never thought of Kou being so determined! Especially over a game he never even liked until a few days ago.''' Sei yawned again after his interior monologue.

"Well, I'm off to bed, see you in the morning Kou." and with that, Shisei left Kouichi Nandao to ponder his own thoughts.

"I will defeat you Osmos, one way, or another." with his silent promise made, Kou went upstairs to sleep as well.


The next morning was hectic. The two amateur duelists were ready to head out… Except for school. So all day they sat in class, anxiously awaiting the final moments for the day so that they could leave and see the first match. Kou was a little too anxious.

"Mr. Nandao why is it, I wonder, that you, who has the lowest average of all the other boys and girls- No, you're the only little boy that is in this room." the teacher, Mrs. Jidai began her tirade. "So why is it, young men and women, that this boy thinks so little of this class, that he cycles through Cards in his favorite Science Teacher's Chemistry class?" she glared down at the sitting Kou. "Well, Kouichi, do you care to answer me?" she asked, tapping her large foot in impatience.

"I ate a lot of sugar today." Kou stated dumbly. By the end of the class, Kou had another detention.


"WHAT!" Sei cried when he heard the news. "What do you mean you have a detention!" He looked incredulously at his best friend.

The two were walking around for their lunch period, and they Sei had mentioned what he would do as soon as he got to the tourney. But then Kou, as easily as he could, told his blond buddy that he would not be accompanying him in the Tournament's Opening Matches. "Well, you can't just not come, it'll seem like you just chickened out, and then Osmos will never reduel you!" Sei stated, angry that his friend was serving detention. But Mrs. Jidai was doing this out of all fairness, she couldn't let him off, that would be unfair to all of the other people who served detention before for the same reason.

"I know, I know, but I can't go there today either, just make sure you get me the pass." Kou stated, referring to the pass that allowed the duelist into the tournament area when it was their turn to duel. "And I guess I'll meet you at around four, if my detention ends on time." Kou finished his statement.

"Yeah, okay, but you better not be late!" Shisei smiled as the bell rang to signal classes starting. The boys through away their trash and headed back into the school.

"Thanks Sei." he nodded toward Shisei and then turned his attention back to the duel. "My Sword Hunter (2950/1700) now has more attack power than ever!" Kou watched as the monster was destroyed and a 50 LP amount was deducted from the other player. "And now your monster is treated like an equip card to mine, sorry, but your dead next turn!" Kou bragged.


Kou-1050

Man-5850

"Ahh, very interesting, but your monster can't survive for long." his opponent stated.

"Yeah, yeah, so you say, but now you will see my next brilliant move!" he set a magic/trap card and ended his turn.

"Ooh, now I'll activate the-" he was cut off by his opponent's interjection once again.

"Hey, now, what's your rush, your going to lose soon anyway!" he yelled as his trap card flipped, his opponent saw the Just desserts trap and flipped his own card.

"Your card won't work on me, because I activate Mystical Refpanel, it will shift the target player of a card to another player! So you lose 1000 LP instead of me!" Kou paled at his plight.

Kou-50

Man-5850

"Oh no, Kou, don't lose!" Sei yelled out to encourage his friend. But Kou was to out of it to hear him. "Kou, come on, you can still turn this duel around, he isn't invincible!" Sei shouted, but his support wasn't helping the other boy at all.

'I have no chance of winning with these cards."' he thought and sighed.

End flashback

Higentaka Osmos had replayed this scene of the recorded duel over and over. 'Something is different about the boy, from the start of the duel to the end of it, as soon as that Sword Hunter gets out."' Higentaka knew what was different, what he couldn't figure out was why it had changed. He was thinking of Kou's Aura, how he had managed to decrease it when he summoned the strongest monster of the duel. And why did it increase again when his opponent (Osmos himself) had played the Rainbow flower, the card that ended the duel in a loss for the swordsman. 'And what's even odder, he has fangs, those are more that large canine teeth, but he had no demonic aura or anything of the like about him."' he sighed and turned off the replay. 'Oh well, Kouichi Nandao, eventually, I will find out who you really are, and all of the other secrets you have. And you Shisei, well, your hidden power will also be mine."' with that, Higentaka Osmos left the room in darkness.


Shisei Aragashi walked around and around in circles outside of the registration booth. 'Uh, I still can't believe Kou couldn't have made it."' he slammed his head against the wall of the alley outside of the booth. The walls, were decrepit and spray painted, they hadn't been washed in years, at least. The rest of the street didn't look that good either, It had cracks and urine in those cracks. The neighborhood was more than sick. "If I ever become a rich guy who gets enough money to throw one of these, It'll be somewhere nice!" he promised, trying to take his mind off of the worry that he might not be able to get the tickets for him and his friends. Then someone sent an angel to ease his worries. Or at least an angel in his opinion.

"Hey there, um, mind if I cut?" questioned a feminine voice from behind him. Shisei turned, his first reaction to the question, in his present mood, was "Hell no Bitch", but as he saw the beautiful girl that stood behind him, that reaction was lost.

"Hubba Hubba." he uttered brainlessly, and that was a new way for Shisei Aragashi, top of the class in everything possible.

"Umm… HEY, QUIT STARING AT MY-" the girl was cut off as the announcer's voice yelled out over the intercoms.

"Mrs. Namia Sashimi, please report to the front for your ticket and duel disk." the voice blared. The girl, who was apparently Namia Sashimi rushed up and prepared to get her duel disk.

Sei just stared after her. Then he heard the announcer call Kou, so he went up instead.

"You Kouichi Nandao?" a big gruff black man questioned, he looked down at Sei as though he were a disgusting insect. Or an alien.

"No, I'm Shisei Aragashi, but Kou is my best friend, and he can't get his-" he was cut off by the man muttering something , then going into a quiz.

"Okay, friend, when is the kid's b-day?" he asked the question.

"His birthday is January 14. Now that that has been settled, you know I'-" Once again he was cut off as the man began to ask him another question.

"Okay, what is the kid's favorite color?" the quiz continued.

"His favorite color is violet, but he usually puts green down to throw off the man." Sei answered, more than slightly annoyed that he had to answer questions about his own best friend. He had, after all, come to get his friends duel disk, and he was sure there was no law against that. So he decided to put his foot down. "Now looky here, your not going to quiz me on the likes and dislikes of my best friend, I don't care about security or the like, now gimme that duel disk!" and with that, he snatched his friends dueling equipment and stomped away angrily.

The man sighed and stepped in the path of retreat. "Alright, now you need to calm down before I get angry. Got that, boy!" the man towered over Shisei, and he instantly felt his anger evaporate. It was replaced by fear. Not so much the fear of the large man that could crush his head in his hand, but more so the fear that he would be kicked out of the tournament.

So he did the only thing he could in that situation. He set the duel disk down right where it was before, and began to bow and apologize. "I'm sooooooo sorry, you have to forgive me, I had a lot of sugar today, and well, I really need the duel disks." he said in such an apologetic way.

"Now that's more like it." the man smiled greedily as an evil thought came to his head. "You know what, I think you should give me more of an apology than that." the man looked up in false thought. "I know, how about you give me your rarest Duel Monsters card!" he questioned. The man didn't play the little child's game, he just wanted to see how far he could push the kid. Unfortunately, his little game was brought to an end rather quickly.

"How dare you treat a duelist this way!" a certain silver haired man stepped into the room, as he had come to see the major hold up. The big burly man immediately turned to mush.

"I'm sorry, please, forgive me." he paused to kiss his employer's feet, who looked as though a disgusting bug had been kissing him. SMACK! The sound resonated within the chambers. The man got up and stumbled backward, as he realized that Higentaka had just hit him. "You, y-you" he could only say the same thing over and over, he had gone into such shock.

Shisei stared at the scene that was taking place in front of him, he had half a mind to run, before he saw the man get hit again. But then the rage of seeing someone utterly disrespect another person began to remind him of the match that poor Kou had lost.

"Yes, I hit you, and I hope I get the chance to hit you again for what you've been doing to these poor duelist." he stated in as pure a rage as Shisei himself. "Unfortunately, I don't hit those that are homeless. And since you won't have a decent paying job… You will be soon." he stated with a smirk on his face.

Shisei watched as the man stopped holding his own cheek and shoot up, outraged by the smaller man's actions. "Wait, you, you can't be firing me!" he yelled, he grabbed Higentaka by the collar of his shirt. Osmos looked up into the crazily angry eyes and nodded. The man grabbed Higentaka by the collar, he looked at the smaller silver haired man. "YOU CAN'T FIRE ME!" he yelled.

Higentaka didn't look like he would be changing his mind. Instead the entire room seemed to go dark, hiding the features of Osmos. Shisei's eyes went wide.

'Somehow this seems like my cue to run…"' with that Sei slowly edged toward the door. Then the big burly man roared in pain, Shisei couldn't help it, he had to see what was going on. Turning around he saw…

A giant dragon glared down at the man who was previously the biggest living thing in the room. Now though, the dragon far outstripped him in size. But the shocking part about the dragon, wasn't its size it was it's color. It had beautiful blue eyes, and it's scales were a pearly white.

"No way!" Shisei yelled. He covered his mouth right after. 'Please say it didn't hear me."' he kept his eyes closed as the Blue Eyes white dragon roared.

"No, you don't' want him, it's the oaf you want, eat him." Higentaka stated, twirling strands of his long silver hair between his fingers. The beast tossed its head around a bit, as though warming up. "I leave it to you." the dragon roared once more. Shisei opened his eyes in time to see the beast power up a White Lightning attack, and to see Higentaka disappear. Then the dragon's attack hit.

"No, no- AGHHHHH!" the man, too shocked by the appearance of a dragon, didn't get to beg for mercy, before he was killed. And so Shisei was alone.


"Okay Sei, I think you had a little to much to drink, and that's saying a lot, when the closest you get to alcohol is grape juice!" Kou replied to the story that Shisei, his best friend in the world, had told him.

"Kou, I'm telling you I'm not making this up, Higentaka like went… demon or something, okay." he sighed in exasperation. Really he could only be aggravated with himself. How could he expect Kou to believe this with no proof?

The two boys were busy unpacking the stuff in their hotel rooms. The tourney grounds were about 30 miles away from their home, so they had got a hotel room to share, splitting the cost between them. The hotel had many other duelist staying there as well. So the two were very well prepared in case anyone challenged them. They had, in fact, already been down to see the weaker duelists of the tournament go against each other.

"Oh well, the first matches should be good. Some girl named Namia is going against Mako Tsunami. Should be good, Mako is a water duelist, and the weird Namia girl is a fire duelist." Kou stated, happy that he knew something about the players competing. After the excitement of the day, both of the boys were anxious to get to sleep. And so, with the events of earlier that day wiped from their mind's, the two boys fell asleep.


The next day, the two got up and brushed their teeth, as well as got their duel disks (which Sei had snuck out and answered a few awkward questions about before he was allowed to leave.) ready and eat a small breakfast with no conversation. The match was supposed to start at nine, so that every duelist would have time to go at least once that day. The two boys equipped their respective duel disk by eight thirty, and headed across the street to the tournament area.

"Wow, I had no idea that so many people turned out to these things!" Kou stated as he looked down on the heads of everyone. He was walking the aisles along the balcony, so as to find a seat. Sei had left him to get some refreshments.

"HELLO!" Kou jumped five feet in the air as the booming voice came on over the intercom. The voice was none other than an official Duel Monsters Tournament announcer's. "Welcome to the fifth annual Duel Monsters Japan Tournament!" the announcer cried from his place in the stands. "Today, all of those that wish to duel will get their wish! But only one of the hundreds of duelists that were said to be eligible to compete in this tournament will achieve the title of The Japanese Regional Champion." he continued, listing the prize. "But that's not all, the winner will also receive three special edition tournament packs!" Sei and Kou both turned to pay attention to this announcement, though they were still split up. "The tournament packs are said to contain the strongest of strong monsters that have been released. The winner will get all three. So get ready, because the first three match ups are already on display!" he finished and let the screen that was where the duel was to be broadcast, in case the people in the far back area of the proscenium couldn't see it, showed several names.

Namia vs. Mako- Round 1

Kouichi vs. Rex-Round 2

Shisei vs. Espa Roba- Round 3

'Oh crap, I'm up against a regional champ right off the back!"' Kou thought to himself. He looked at his deck that was inserted into his duel disk. 'Please don't let me down,"' he took a deep breath and sat down, ready to watch the match before his own.

"ALLRIGHTY THEN!" the announcer's voice rang throughout the air. "Let's get the first match under way!" he smiled as Namia and Mako walked out.

Kou and Shisei had just met up again, and both of their jaws dropped as they laid eyes on Namia. "I saw her, Kou, she was the girl that went before me to get the duel disks!" Shisei said, he turned to Kou, who only continued to stare, as though mesmerized. "Kou, hello?" Shisei said, he waved his hand in front of the blue haired boy's face. Kou only continued to stare. Sei sighed and took a deep breath. "KOU!" the boy yelled, almost loud enough to be heard over the roar of the crowd. Though the rest didn't hear him, Kou did, and he immediately snapped out of it.

"Sorry, Sei, she was just so beautiful." Kou stated, putting a hand behind his head.

"Shhh, the match is starting." Sei shushed his best friends and watched as the LP scores were set.

Namia and Mako had already entered the ring, they looked across from the areas that each had chosen, to each other. "I hope you don't expect me to go easy on you, just because you're a female duelist." Mako smirked as his LP score popped up.

"Never, now you'll see that fire can and will beat water!" she yelled across to him as her own LP score was set.

The look in both of their eyes told they both knew what they were doing.

Looking at their decks, the two drew their hands, and in unison, they yelled: "DUEL!"

To be continued


Next time: Namia and Mako begin the duel, but shortly after the start, Mako takes the upper hand, how Is Namia supposed to be a challenge to someone who can disable her attacks, find out next time on: Duel Monsters Maximum!