Author's Notes: Onwards to the first chapter!

Chapter One: When Guests Don't Shut Up

Rikuo glanced out of the corner of his eye at his house guest, who was busy watching the screen. He idly considered trying to distract Drake from his focus, but knew that at this point it was completely hopeless. "And Johnny Cage wins again. Sorry buddy, but this just ain't your day."

The wolf demon scowled and tossed the controller aside. On the screen the human in shades posed over the defeated body of a four armed tanned warrior. "Crap. All these years and I still suck at fighting games."

Drake grinned and pointed at the demon's hands. "I think it's the claws." He held up his hands, extending them like Rikuo might when making a swipe. But on a human with blunt nails it really wasn't fearsome, particularly when the 'wolf' look that Drake was trying looked idiotic.

"That's what I've always said. You're the first person who has said it for me." He was startled as Drake jumped to his feet, punching his fist into the air with a cry of 'eureka'. Rikuo pulled back from the teenager and eye him curiously.

"I've figured it out! I figured out why you always lose. You never block! Not once in the games we played did you ever even try to stop my attacks. You just attacked me again and again, dishing out every move you could. Sure you pulled off some nice combos, but those combos generally fail if the opponent knows when to make a move at the right time. Kinda like in Duel Monsters eh?" The demon scowled and rose from his spot on the floor, glaring at the younger fellow.

"You know, you're my house guest for the moment, but that doesn't mean I can't kill you. Because I know you're problem. You just don't know when to shut up!" The other duelist arched an eyebrow, looking amused at the spectacle. With one quick motion he reached into his pocket and pulled out a very distinctive thick square. A dueling deck.

"Wanna settle it with a rematch?"
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Far away from the rematch that was about to begin another game was going on. Four teenage boys sat around a circular table, three of them with eyes on a dark haired boy sitting behind a tri-fold of some sort. "With the mind bending in process your knight will soon be under the control of the dark wizard. Time to roll for will save."

"I'll blow actions points. This should make it easier for me to defeat the mind warping powers of the dark wizard." The game continued with each player making moves, guided and watched by the boy behind the tri-fold. He was master of the game. Everything that happened was because of his doing. Or at least it was.

A blank look fell upon the boy's features as something moved within him. He closed his eyes, feeling a burning sensation flood through his body. But then the sensation faded away and there was nothing left but emptiness.

The other teens' eyes held looks of concern for their friend, but the looks vanished as the boy's eyes snapped open. Ice blue orbs swept across each of the three players, and slight smirk settled on his features. The room began to darken as a purple fog rolled in around them. "Let's up the ante of this game. From this point on, it's not a simple role playing game, it's real. The Darkness Game is just beginning."

All three of the others freaked out, not knowing what was going on or why their friend was talking like this. One of them panicked so much that he tried to run away, only to come through the other side of the wall of fog. They were trapped, and there was no way out.

The dark haired teen narrowed his eyes and grinned at their confusion and terror, ignoring their shouts and pleadings. Their words hoping that this was all a trick, some kind of joke, something. But there was no reprieve from a darkness game. "Roll initiative worms." XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"I'll flip my face down Black Magic Summoner(500/1200) and use its effect to add a magic card from my deck or cemetery to my hand." Drake declared this move and reached down onto the table and flipped up his monster, revealing the picture. The two of them had decided they wouldn't both with disks, and were just having a normal table top duel.

"Hold it Drake. I'm gonna chain that with Hexblaster, discarding a card from my hand to negate the effect and destroy your monster." Rikuo ditched a card and Drake was forced to pick up his monster and place it in his cemetery pile. Although it wasn't as exciting as a duel with duel disks, both of them weren't in the mood to set that up.

"That's okay. I"ve still got plenty of moves left." XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

While those two were getting reacquainted in a rematch, hundreds of miles away two men were meeting for the first time. They stared at each other, silence reigning as words were searched for. Finally one of them spoke. "You aren't human."

"You aren't a normal human." Satisfied that each was correct in their assumptions, the two men turned and walked away from each other. Despite their certainty in what the other was, neither of them cared. Both had business to attend to.

Before he had gone too far the larger of the two turned his head and said one last thing over his shoulder. "There is great power dwelling within you. I can see it in your eyes. Perhaps sometime in the future we might meet on the battlefield."

The other man didn't look back, but responded in words nonetheless. "I would look forward to such a meeting. You intrigue me." With their final words said, the two men parted ways.
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"Wolf Demon Lord(2400/1000) attacks your defense mode monster." Rikuo's declaration of attack forced Drake to flip up his face down monster so that battle damage could be calculated. Drake showed it to be an Apprentice Magician(400/800) but because of Wolf Demon Lord's ability, the magician's effect wasn't activated.

"Now I follow up with a direct attack from Jinzo(2400/1500) for game." Drake waggled a finger and grabbed the sole card in his magic/trap zone. It was revealed to be the Magister School quick-play. Since it allowed Drake to produce two Magister Tokens(500/500) he was safe from the attack. And since Jinzo killed one he got to draw a card.

"Alright Rikuo, I'll activate Royal Edict. It lets me declare the name of a magic or trap card and take it from your deck if you have it. So I declare Hell Meteor." The wolf growled and searched through his deck. Once he had the named card he handed it to the other duelist, therefore giving Drake one of the strongest cards he had.

"I play Hell Meteor to deal four thousand damage. And with only 1700 life points left that should finish you off." He slapped the card down in one of his magic/trap zones, and began reaching for the pencil to mark Rikuo's life points down as zero. But the wolf wasn't done yet.

"I activate my quick-play card, Mystik Wok. So I'll sacrifice my Wolf Demon Lord to gain twenty-four hundred life points before being hit by the damage." The punk scowled after doing the math, realizing that with the increase in life points Rikuo would have forty-one hundred life points before taking the four thousand damage. That left him with 100 points remaining against Drake's 1200.

"Looks like this duel isn't over yet. So I guess I'll just set one card face down and end." XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXx

Jasmine Amero, Kitsune thief, was having a great time. She was currently working on a method to steal the Crowned Jewels, something she had been planning on doing for a very long time. Of course they were well guarded, so it'd be a challenge.

"Excuse me, you don't happen to know where I can find a hotel do you?" Jasmine looked up to see a pretty girl of probably around twenty looking down at her. Not wanting to be rude, as there was no need, Jasmine decided to tell the girl.

"Sure, I'm staying at one not to far from here. Just go down three blocks and look for the sign with neon letters." She offered the girl a smile, and was surprised at the girl's reaction. She smiled back, but Jasmine could have sworn she saw the area around them light up. With a quick bow the girl departed.

"Hmmm....if I had a smile like that it'd be even easier to have Rikuo eating of my hand. Oh well, I'll just use the normal methods instead." XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

In California a teenager with black hair in an old-styled ponytail sits in front of a computer in a library. He is typing away, his eyes focused on the screen. "If I'm going to find any leads, outside of the newspaper the best place to look is most definitely the internet. But so far I've turned up nothing."

Grimacing at the lack of results he refocused himself and tried a new search, hoping to get results in this manner. The faster this was completed, the better. If they didn't find what they were looking for it wouldn't matter how hard they had tried. "I hope Drake isn't slacking off. He better be recruiting..."
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"Now that Irios has cleared a path to your life points and you have no magic or trap cards remaining on the field, this makes it all too easy for me to win. So Bronze Wind-Up Knight attacks directly!" Rikuo smirked smugly, watching as Drake marked down the change in score, leaving Rikuo with one hundred points and Drake with just two hundred.

"We're down to the final moments of this duel. Think you can turn the tide, or is it over? We'll find out in your next turn. Now I set one card face down, emptying my hand, and that means my turn is over." He remained confident in this duel, because he knew he had a good chance of winning. After all, Drake was top decking with an empty field with so few life points.

'Even if Drake manages to draw a monster stronger than Bronze Wind-Up Knight he'll just be walking into my trap. Attack Redirection Armor can be equipped on any monster, so if he tries for an attack I'll equip the armor to Irios.' With his strategy in mind he could only sit back and wait to see what Drake could manage.

"I accept your challenge to win with one draw. So I'll do so!" Drake drew his next card and let out a small sigh that most people wouldn't have noticed. But being a demon Rikuo was able to hear it and know that Drake was disappointed in his draw. Any other duelist would have just seen Drake's confident look and not realized that the draw was worthless.

"It seems that I can't win. So the duel is over." Slowly Drake placed the card into his magic and trap zone, face-up. The symbol at the top showed that it was a quick-play magic card, and the image was one that Rikuo hadn't seen for sixteen years. But the effect was on display, and he knew that the game was over.

"I activate Trap Reflector. But there are only three traps left in your cemetery, and none of them would give me the win. So I'll copy the effect of a trap that I myself negated with my Negative Morality card. Trap Reflector, copy Ring of Destruction!" It didn't matter which monster Drake chose to target, that was game.

"Another tie? Well that's getting annoying. But I'm sure that sooner or later we'll get a real outcome. In fact, why don't we" He was cut off by a sudden buzzing sound. Drake took a small cell phone out of his pocket and flipped it open. He held it to his ear and walked away from the table so that he could talk in privacy.

Of course privacy was something Rikuo couldn't supply to Drake. He couldn't exactly turn off his hearing, so he heard everything that Drake was saying. "No, I haven't asked yet. I'm sure he'll be willing to help out, but he's kind of a grumpy fellow. If I ask him the wrong way he'll get pissed. He's got a really bad temper after all."

As he was speaking Rikuo's left eye was beginning to develop a twitch. "Well he's a good duelist, even if he can get arrogant." A pause followed. "What do you mean by that?" Drake's silence continued for a little bit, as he listened to whoever was on the other line tell him what he needed to know.

"Seriously? Alright then, I'll arrange a flight and head out there to meet you. This is definitely the lead we'll be looker for. A pity it'll take the others longer to show up. I'll see you there. And don't worry, I promise to ask the grumpy wolf-boy. Bye." Drake snapped the cell phone shut and put it back in his pocket. Shoving his hands into his pockets with the phone he turned around and walked back towards the table.

"Hey Rikuo I was....ummm...." He fell silent upon noticing the look on Rikuo's face. Drake had encountered plenty of freaky people in the past few years, and he knew what that look was. It was a look of pure unadulterated evil. The look one gets when planning swift and deadly vengeance.

The wolf demon kept this look, along with a nasty twitch of the eye, as he spoke. "Who's a grumpy wolf-boy?" The teen punk gulped, understanding exactly what was going to come next. So, with that in mind, he began to back slowly away.

"Now Rikuo...I can explain." Rikuo narrowed his eyes and then brandished his claws, standing up and advancing on the teen.

"My policy is, gut them first, wait for explanations later. Wanna see my policy in action?" Snarling, he leapt across the table, forcing Drake to turn tail and run the other direction. Rikuo followed him at a steady pace, albeit not as fast as he could go.

'Eh, scaring him is all I need to do. Killing him would probably end badly, and he's not a bad guy. He just doesn't know when to shut up.' XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Drake grimaced and leaned back against the couch, holding an ice pack to his head. There was also a large bandage on his left cheek, covering what were most definitely claw marks. "You know, therapy would be a good idea for that anger management problem of yours."

"Keh. No reason for that. I can handle my anger well enough. I just take it out on other people like any civilized person would." Drake raised an eyebrow, wondering exactly what world Rikuo lived in where trying to kill people was considered the action of a civilized person.

"Anyway...I wanted to let you know the reason I was back. See, me and some of my friends tracked someone here. This person is pretty dangerous, and we need to put him down. So I came here to find out if you'd be willing to help us track him and bring him down." He winced slightly as he shifted the ice pack from one large lump to another.

"Why me? Why do you need help at all? You're a good enough duelist to tie with me, so I don't see why you wouldn't be able to bring down whoever this is." Despite the seriousness of his voice he couldn't help but snicker slightly at seeing Drake's discomfort. Rikuo had avoided his vitals though, so everything was fine.

"Well, this person has a tendency to go after the strongest people around. In this case one of the strongest people here is you. I sensed that when I first met you. So basically it's a preventative method. If you're with us, we have more of an advantage, instead of having this person confront you separately and add your power to its." The demon noticed something about the way Drake was talking, and decided to bring it up.

"You've been saying 'this person' and 'it'. Why not just tell me what 'this person's' name is." The duelist closed his eyes, his entire posture changing in response to Rikuo's question. Finally he opened his eyes and sat up, setting aside the ice pack.

"The reason I saw that is he, or it, has a tendency to swap bodies. In other words, it doesn't have one of its own. So it could be anyone. My friends and I are looking for hints of something bad happening, like people losing their souls. And we've finally gotten a clue on this thing's whereabouts. Some place called Duelist Academy."

Drake yelped as Rikuo grabbed the front of his shirt, holding him up in the air and glaring at him. "Duelist Academy? Somebody lost their soul there? Who?!"

"Damn it Rikuo, let me down! A couple of boys who attend the school, that's all I know. We haven't gotten names yet." Letting out a sigh of relief Rikuo released Drake, dropping him back onto the couch.

Drake grumbled and fixed his shirt, casting glares at the demon out of the corner of his eye. "Man, you sure do need that therapy. But all that aside, what do you say? You willing to come and help out?"

"I'll help alright. But for my reasons. So, let's grab some stuff and get going already." He stalked off into his room, and Drake heard sounds of thumping and bangs. With his curiousity peeked Drake leaned into the room to see what was going on.

To his surprise Rikuo was in the closet, casually hurling items of clothing and bags out of it, causing them to crash violently into the wall. One item hit the wall right next to Drake's head, causing him to jerk back and look to see what it was. He blinked and bent down to pick it up. "Ummm....why the hell do you have a riding crop?"

"My wife is kinda kinky." Drake sweat dropped, and chucked the riding crop away. He didn't want to touch it again, because it just brought disturbing thoughts. He didn't even want to know.

"I don't know how you'll be dressing Rikuo, but when my friend and I get there we'll be going incognito. Considering it's a school, that means stealing a uniform." All he heard in response was a barked 'keh' and then Rikuo continued hurling things out of the closet. A few of the items gave Drake a similar reaction to the riding crop, including ones he couldn't put a name to. Things he didn't want to put a name to, or a use to.

"Hey Rikuo, this place is like a high school right? So the uniforms will be kind of like a regular high school uniforms right?" There was a slight pause as Rikuo processed the question, and then he began hurling things back out, before giving a brief answer.

"Sorta." Drake grinned and leaned back against the wall, his mind slipping into certain thoughts.

'Since we'll be going incognito, that means wearing the uniforms. I can't wait to see Kirani in a school uniform.' His grin became rather goofy as his thoughts dwelled on that subject, trying to imagine just what she would look like.

Another thought struck him, and he asked before he could even think about whether he should or not. "Hey Rikuo. Is your wife hot?"

Before they left Drake was sporting a matching pair of cuts on his right cheek, and another lump to add to his growing collection. All courtesy of not knowing when to shut up.
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Next chapter: Girls In Uniform Are Always Cuter

Author's Notes: Hope you enjoyed that and got a laugh or two from it.

Time Mage: You'll find out next chapter.

G.O.T. Nick: The end is coming. Your end! MWUAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHHA!!!!

Original Cards

Drake: Black Magic Summoner, Magister School, Royal Edict, Trap Reflector

Rikuo: Hexblaster(WolfGeneral), Wolf Demon Lord(WolfGeneral), Hell Meteor(WolfGeneral), Irios the Steel Monarch(WolfGeneral), Bronze Wind-Up Knight(WolfGeneral)