----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Mondo super thanks to Kekewey for the ONLY reveiw of Chapter 1 (thus far, hint hint) and the awesome site suggestion. What a fabulous site it is too! I did go to look at Sugoroku's pics as drawn in the manga (which to this point have not gotten to the US yet in the Manga Novel form, we're only on number 7!!!! Ack!) and I must say he was a rather rakish looking sort wasn't he? Sort of an Indiana Jones/James Bond/Atemu combo going on there. For those who have not seen those pics, I can happily assure you, he was very...arresting. Gave my story a whole new spin, he he! I had to redo my outline a little based on the appearance he presents but I definately think I'm going to like doing these changes and his story even more! And just to confirm, I did know that Sugoroku had found the puzzle (thanks to Edo's YGO page and his manga translations), which of course means that Sugoroku lied to Yugi (or is that just prevaricating the truth a little) in the beginning when he told Yugi it was found in the beginning of the century and starts chasing him around the shop for it. As IF he would really sell it! At least Sugoroku didn't fib on the part about people dieing when it was found.

Anyways, here is chapter 2 for your perusal AND reveiw (once again, hint hint...do I really need to do that again or should I just beg? lol.) I know they are short chapters here in Part 1, but it worked better for me this way. Kept the creatve juices flowing so to speak. But I should mention that I do plan on having some larger chapters in the future, particularly in Part 2 when Sugoroku goes to..........

What? Did you think I was really going to give you all a spoiler? You'll just have to stick with me to find out where he goes! Honestly, I think you intelligent readers will be able to tell that pretty well yourselves anyway. I'll take guesses!

And now with out further ado (and no more of my inane, 3am, Pepsi-rush drivel) I leave you to read...and review. Did I mention you could review? Oh, guess I did. He, he. Just kidding.

Enjoy!

Trixie21

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Okay, you all know the drill. I have to take up valuable space and time to say that I do not own any part that is the coolness of the Yu-Gi-Oh universe. That honor goes completely to Kazuki Takahashi. Authoress as she bows subservantly before her shrine of great creators... "We're not worthy! We're not worthy! We're not worthy!"

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

This Old Man: Sugoroku's Story

Part 1: Japan

2. The Game…

The day it occurred was a dreadfully dreary rainy one in which Sugoroku had found himself stuck indoors after completing his assignments for the day early as usual. He languished mournfully in the back of the room in a corner and having exhausted the fun out of kicking his short legs back and forth and twiddling his thumbs he, unable to keep quiet any longer, had started to pester the nearby students still working.

The teacher, unable to take anymore, had been a man of some astuteness himself and saw that Sugoroku was in dire need of something to occupy the boy constructively, so without further ado he walked back to the table where Sugoroku sat, plunked down a box, handed him a sheet of characters and walked away.

Sugoroku blinked in surprise but at the same felt intrigued.

What could possible be in the box and what was he to do with it?

His curious mind having settling the matter quickly, he opened it and soon found the meaning of the word delight.

Within the box was a number of varied pentagonal pieces carved out of wood with varying characters upon each, and on the inside of the box was a pattern of squares set nine by nine. It was obviously a game of some kind but not knowing what, he began to read the sheet the teacher had left with him.

The game, Sugoroku quickly discovered, was called Shogi. A Japanese form of chess, it was a game of strategy which involved two players, each with an army of 20 pieces. In the beginning, each side had one king, one rook, one bishop, two lances, two knights, two silver generals, two gold generals, and nine pawns. Arranged in three specific rows he quickly found that the object of the game was to capture or 'checkmate' the opponents king to win the game. Movement, he found, varied between the pieces and if he were to capture a piece from his opponents army he could then make it a part of his own. Even better, he quickly discovered that when one of his pieces crossed the board and made it to his opponents beginning three lines or 'ranks', that piece could be promoted to the next higher piece and thus move differently as well.

Sugoroku was amazed! He had never seen such a complex and organized game before. He had played simple games of guess and chance with his friends and even some involving special numbered cubes and disks yes, but nothing quite compared to this.

The boy succumbed to its appeal and he spent the rest of that afternoon learning the names of the pieces, how to set the board, how to move each piece and was just beginning to try playing it a little himself when the teacher called time on the class and sent them home.

Sugoroku tried begging out to stay just a little longer.

"Please sir! Can I stay just a moment more? I was just beginning to play!"

"My apologies Mutou but I must end the day and send you home for dinner. I myself wish to get home quickly before the rain becomes any heavier."

Crushed that he could not continue right then he walked slowly home hardly noticing the rain. When he arrived home, his mother admonished him for coming in completely soaked.

"Sugoroku! Why are you so late getting home and soaked as well! We were waiting to start dinner. Quickly, change and hang your things to dry."

The boy did as he was told expecting no more but when he sat at the table his father looked at him and asked pointedly, "Why are you late Sugoroku?"

"I am sorry father. I wanted to stay at school to play Shoji but Sensei would not allow it so I walked home."

"That does not explain why you are late."

"I walked very slowly thinking of the game."

Osamu looked at Sugoroku for a moment.

"You risk your health for thinking of a game that you could just as easily be playing tomorrow?"

Sugoroku started slightly. He hadn't thought of that. He'd been so preoccupied with the thought of not playing the game at that moment that he hadn't even considered that he would be able to play later.

The boysmiled to himself as he said, "I am sorry. I will not take so long again."

His father looked at him almost warily, "Certainly not over a game", he concurred and turned silent to eat his dinner.

Sugoroku never heard his father.

He was too busy thinking of school tomorrow and the game he would be able to start playing.

Shoji quickly became Sugoroku's obsession. He could not get enough of it. He did very nearly whatever it took to get back to his game. If his class work was done quickly before, it was now done in nearly a flash. He skipped full lunches, rarely played during recess and quickly volunteered for any and all extra class time. In hardly a two months time he was good enough to play both sides and have a game that could last a week.

the teacher watched in amazement at the rapid progress the boy made and out of curiosity as well as his own competitive nature he finally thought him good enough to offer a free day to the students if Sugoroku could beat him. The match itself lasted two hours and Sugoroku had won.

The children of the class had a set up quite a cheer and for some months Shoji became the new interest of all the students. Sugoroku then had the new distinction of teaching his classmates how to play and before long there were many more than just 1 board in the class. No other student came close to Sugoroku when they played him so it wasn't long before the teacher had begun to allow the children to bring other games to school to test Sugoroku with. It happened often enough that someone would bring a new game in and until Sugoroku was comfortable with the rules and the object of the game those already familiar with it might actually beat him once or even twice. But from that point on the game was no longer usable with him as he could no longer be beaten at it.

It quickly became all to obvious that Sugoroku was not just good at games.

He was a game prodigy. Even in games of chance he seemed to have an other worldly edge that allowed him to consistently see him the winner.

In the next several years the teachers were reduced to looking for the oldest and most ancient of games still in memory and present them to Sugoroku for trial. The players were by then most often the older folk who had imparted the knowledge of these games to the teachers and after that it was only rarely when a fellow student would attempt to challenge Sugoroku to a game they thought they had sufficient talent in to take him on.

It was exceedingly rare when they successfully beat him.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Next Chapter: A Captain's Challenge