Disclaimer: Nothing! Nothing, I tell you! Well, except for Flashback Dude. And Drumsticks. They're MINE! But that's it. I don't even own the imaginary eyepatches. I'm gonna have to thank AlterEthereal for letting me borrow those...

Previously on Marik's Boring Day...Bakura broke Ryou's PS2. Ryou wants revenge. And Jonouchi and Kaiba seem to be getting along better...Or are they?

---Chapter 3: Villains and Eyepatches---

Looking down from Kaiba Corp Tower, one had an excellent view of the City of Domino. The tower was the highest point in the city and offered a panoramic view that was almost awe-inspiring. None were allowed in the highest office of said tower except for Seto Kaiba, the young CEO himself. Strangely enough, it was not Mr. Kaiba that occupied the office now, as the two unconscious men whose job it was to guard the room would tell you, had they been able to speak.

"Excellent," said the man, facing the window. He sat in Seto Kaiba's executive chair, long legs clad in red pants crossed, arms resting on the armrests. Smirking, he flicked a long strand of silvery hair out of his one good eye, the other being covered by a black eyepatch. "Soon you will be mine...Seto Kaiba." He paused to cackle evilly, a maniacal laugh that began as bone-chilling, but soon turned to comical as he began hacking in the middle of it.

Once he had gotten over his coughing fit, the man turned his attention to the window before him, a huge window that spanned the entire wall. Looking down from his great height, the people walking on the street below him seemed as small as ants. He fixed his amber eye on three small dots walking faster than the others. Little did he know, those three dots were actually close acquaintances of Kaiba himself. Little did those dots know that the man observing them would be causing them trouble in the near future. "Soon," the man found himself repeating in his melodious voice. "Soon you will be mine...Kaiba-boy!" He cackled again and began wheeling the leather executive chair around the office, pretending he was a race car driver.

Ryou Bakura was angry. And not just a little. No, he was royally pissed.

"Break my PS2, will you?" said teen grumbled. "I'll show you. You'll pay for that...How the heck am I supposed to play Tetris now? You'll pay for that...In blood! Yes you will!"

Yami shivered. "You know, he's kind of scary when he's angry."

Yugi nodded.

"I can't believe he did that!" Ryou continued. "Again! You'd think he'd have learned his lesson last time."

"What did you do to him last time?" Yami asked warily.

Ryou raised a slim finger to his lips in thought. "Actually, I didn't have to do anything. He was so afraid of what I'd do, he didn't stop to realize there was really nothing I could do. You try grounding a 5,000 year old tomb robber." He sighed. "He apologized and begged for forgiveness. You know, on the inside he's just a child afraid of not being accepted."

Once their friend had finished, Yami and Yugi looked at each other. They were silent for a moment, apparently not knowing what to do or say. Then they laughed. And not just a little. "Bakura...begging...for forgiveness...!" Yami choked out between laughs. Yugi wiped a few mirthful tears from his eyes.

"Well," Ryou continued, a slight edge to his voice, "I did threaten to bust his face open if he did it again," he said, almost idly.

Yugi and Yami stopped laughing.

"We have work to do," Ryou said softly, stepping between them. "Track them down, Yami."

"But, Ryou," Yami began, "I'm not a dog..."

"Now, Inu!" Ryou barked.

Allowing a look of frightened shock to spread over his otherwise impassive face, Yami could think of only one thing to say. "Ummm...Bark?"

Well, as Yami was being berated, the two anti-heroes of the story were having fun with Bakura's lighter...

Marik thrust out an arm and managed to seize one of his friends flailing arms. "Ok, Bakura," he said calmly as he secured the tomb robber's other limb as well, "you've set enough stuff on fire...Enough people too..."

"AAAAHHH!!!!" screeched a man as he ran by the devious duo. "I'M ON FIIIIIIRRRREEEE!!!! HEEEEELP!!!!" And indeed, he was aflame. Quite an interesting scene, actually.

Pulling free of his blond ally, Bakura brandished his lighter. "There's no such thing as setting too much stuff – or people – on fire!"

Pausing to think, Marik nodded. "Yes, this is true. But what about our quest? Our mission? Our expedition? Remember, the whole reason we came out here was to steal Ryou a new PS2."

Bakura's jaw – and almost his lighter too – dropped. "I completely forgot about that!" he exclaimed, his eyes wide.

Marik sweatdropped.

"Come on," Bakura shouted, grabbing Marik as he strode forward, "let's go! But where do they sell PS2s?"

"Well duh," and exasperated Marik replied, "The PS2 Store, of course."

"Of course!" Bakura agreed as if it were the most obvious thing it the world, which it really was. "Take me to this PS2 store!"

The bronze Egyptian then proceeded to lead his pale friend to The PS2 Store. But before they had taken more than a few steps, someone much unexpected got in their way...

"Halt!" demanded the figure standing before them. Clad in white robes and a turban, he had blue eyes that contrasted sharply with his dark skin. A gold Ankh-shaped key hung from a rope around his neck, the Millennium Key. "Halt, I said!"

Bakura and Marik halted.

"I have finally found you," the man said, an Egyptian accent laying thick on his words.

Bakura fixed the strange man with an aggravated stare. "I know you...Shadi, was it?" At the man's nod, he continued. "So...You were looking for us?"

Shadi nodded. "Yes, I just said that."

"Oh," came Bakura's intelligent reply.

"Hey now, strange man that I vaguely remember from my childhood," Marik interjected. "There's no need to be snippy."

The man known as Shadi turned to Marik. "Is 'snippy' even a word?"

"Yup!" said Marik cheerily. "According to Microsoft Word it is! Some of its synonyms are: unpleasant, disagreeable, ill-tempered..."

Shadi sweatdropped. "Ok, ok, I get it. I bet you're really good at Scrabble..."

Marik nodded. "Actually, I'm the two-time grand champion of Domino City..."

"So," said Bakura, examining his fingernails, "why were you looking for us, oh turbaned one?"

The turban wearing man glared down at Bakura, his cool blue eyes locked loathingly on the mahogany irises of the tomb robber. "I trust you remember Duelist Kingdom and Maximillion Pegasus?"

Bakura nodded. Marik assumed a look of confused ignorance. "Uhh...No..." he said, bemused.

Ignoring the puzzled Marik, Shadi went on. "Well, as I'm sure you must also know, he had in his possession the Millennium Eye. Sometime around the end of his tournament, the Eye was stolen."

The tomb robber's eyes widened slightly.

Marik gasped before remembering he had no idea what they were talking about.

"And I have come to the conclusion," Shadi continued.

Bakura began inching away from the keeper of the Millennium Key.

"...that the one who stole Pegasus's Millennium Eye..."

He began inching faster.

"...is none other than..."

Bakura squeaked. Yes, the big, bad tomb robber squeaked. Then he did the most logical thing that came into his evil little mind. He ran away.

"Hey, best buddy, where're you going?" Or at least he tried to. Unfortunately for the tomb robber, Marik grabbed him before he had taken half a step. "Don't you want to find out who stole the Millennium Eye?"

"Release me, you fool!" the frantic tomb robber yelled.

"...Excuse me..." Shadi said exasperatedly. "I was in the middle of revealing the identity of the thief..."

Marik, keeping a hold on Bakura's wrist so his 'best buddy' wouldn't escape, turned to the taller man. "I'm sorry, go on."

"Thank you. Now, as I was saying, the culprit is..."

Wincing, Bakura held his head high, prepared to accept his fate with dignity...Or to kick Shadi in the shin and run off...Whichever cam first.

"It was you!" Shadi shouted, pointing dramatically in a Jimmy Kudo like fashion...

...at the wrong person...

Marik blinked. It looked like Shadi was pointing at him. But he didn't do it. The tomb keeper looked behind him, expecting to see the thief, but the culprit was nowhere to be seen. He looked back at Shadi, who was still pointing at him. Marik stepped to the right. Shadi's finger followed. Marik jumped. Shadi's finger moved up and the down when the not so graceful accused fell on his rear. Marik blinked again. "Me?" he asked in bewilderment.

Shadi sweatdropped again. "No, the person behind you."

Marik turned around again. "But there's no one behind me..."

"I was being sarcastic..."

"What?! But I don't even know who this Peggy guy is!"

"It's Pegasus!" Shadi snapped. "And don't try to play dumb!"

Bakura, having been standing confused in the background during this verbal exchange, couldn't help but snort. "Play dumb? Dude, you obviously don't know Marik."

"Yeah!" the bellyshirt wearing teen agreed. Then, "Hey...Wait...Was that an insult?"

Growing tired of the two, Shadi decided to speed things up. "Look," he said, his right eyebrow twitching, "return the Eye, or I shall poke yours out and take that as payment!" With that, he held up his index finger, preparing to strike the gold besparkled Egyptian in the eye.

"But I didn't do it!" said besparkled Egyptian shouted as he thrust his arms in front of his face. "It was obviously Bakura! He is the tomb robber, after all!"

Shadi stopped, his finger and inch or so from Marik's eye. "You know, that really makes sense." He turned the finger to Bakura.

"Gee, thanks, Marik," the tomb robber said, sarcasm oozing from his every word.

Oblivious as ever, Marik replied with a bright smile. "No problem, best buddy!"

Bakura sweatdropped.

Sighing, Shadi interrupted. "As much as I hate to interrupt this...moment...I must. Return the Eye. Now you fiend!" Lightening flashed in the background.

"No!" the thief shouted.

The lightening died down. "Well why not?" Shadi asked in a tone that sounded suspiciously like whining.

The tomb robber then took out a piece of paper with a list written on it. He put on a pair of glasses, even though he didn't need glasses to read and would probably end up ruining his eyes, and began reading down the list. "Ok, first of all, I don't like you. Second of all, I'm collecting the Millennium Items. They're shiny. Fifthly – I mean thirdly, you're wearing an eyepatch."

Shadi looked at him blankly. "I am wearing no eyepatch."

"...Yes you are..."

Curiosity getting the better of him, Shadi gave in and felt over one of his eyes. Coarse fabric met his touch. "Now how did that get there?"

"It's a good look for you!" Marik chirped in.

"Yeah...But I'm not done yet!" Bakura continued. "Fourth of all, I'm gonna send you to the Shadow Realm and take your Millennium Key! Ok?"

"What about my Millennium Scale?" Shadi asked.

Bakura looked at him vacantly. "You have that Item?"

Shadi nodded.

"Pfft. Scales? What a wussy Item!"

"May I keep it then?"

Bakura shrugged. "Yeah, sure, whatever. Let's just get this over with."

A shadow fell across Shadi's eyes. "Very well then. You may send me to the Shadow Realm!"

Taken aback at this lack of argument, Bakura muttered, "Umm...Good..." and tapped into the immense shadow power that resided within his own Millennium Item. Then, with a flash of dark light, the Egyptian was gone, and the Millennium Key was resting in Bakura's hand. Turning to Marik, he displayed his prize.

Marik pouted.

"Eh? What?" asked the confused thief.

Marik made no reply.

"What? Come on, you can tell me," he cajoled.

"Well.." Marik looked down at his feet. "I wanted to send him to the Shadow Realm..."

Bakura blinked. "Oh."

A moment of silence passed.

"Well," began Bakura, "what if I let you send the next annoying person we meet to the Shadow Realm?"

Marik looked up. "Really?"

Bakura nodded. "Yup."

"Yay! Thanks Bakura!"

"No problem." He turned away, looking for The PS2 Store.

Grabbing Bakura's shoulder, Marik said, "Wait! There was something else I wanted to tell you!"

The tomb robber turned to face his friend. "Yes?"

"Since Shadi still has the Millennium Scale, he'll be able to easily escape from the Shadow Realm." He paused. "You do know that you need all of the Millennium Items in order to take over the world, don't you?"

Bakura's eyes went wide. "I forgot!"

Marik sweatdropped.

Shrugging, Bakura changed the subject. "Now, let's do what we came here to do!"

"The Hokey Pokey?"

Opening and closing his mouth, Bakura decided to let that slide. "...No...The PS2 Store..."

"Oh yeah!"

So the two pyromaniacs walked into a conveniently placed PS2 Store. They then proceeded to send a bunch of people to the dreaded Shadoew Realm and steal a PS2.

Breathing a sigh of relief, Bakura tucked the newly acquired PS2 under his arm. "Finally, a new PS2. Now Ryou won't kill me!"

"Yeah, agreed Marik. "Let's go put it in your house before he gets back home!"

The two turned to head back to Ryou's house, thinking they'd gotten away with their little scheme. The gods, however, seemed to have different plans for them...

...Seth, god of Chaos, observed the tomb robber and the tomb keeper from above. He enjoyed watching them, for they enjoyed discord almost as much as he. However, though he held more respect for the two than he did for other mortals, he couldn't just let them get away with no problems at all. No, it wasn't in his nature. So the Egyptian god hatched a plan of his own. He'd send some...interference...to keep the two on their toes. Yes. Interference...He knew two mortals that would be perfect for the job...

"...MY DICE...!"

The yell caught Bakura's attention. He stopped and looked back.

"What's up?" Marik asked, noticing Bakura's attentive state.

Bakura shrugged. "I just thought I heard some-"He never got to finish his sentence, for at that very moment, none other than Honda and Otogi came running by.

Running for his life with contraband dice and said dice's owner hot on his tail, Honda wasn't exactly watching where he was going. "AHHH!" cried the distressed brunette. "Watch out!!!"

In a slow motion-like sequence, Bakura shouted a long and dramatic drawn out "NOOOOO!!!!" as Honda collided with him, sending the PS2 flying from the tomb robber's grasp and crashing to the ground, where it became another pile of broken plastic and bent wires.

"Sorry!" Honda managed to shout before once again running away, Otogi still hot on his heels.

"Get back here, you dice-thief!" the dice-deprived, raven-haired teen shouted as he pursued the brown-haired bandit.

Bakura sank to his knees in front of the former PS2. "Well, it's over," he said, crestfallen. "I may as well just go back and confess everything to Ryou."

"But, dude," Marik protested, "The PS2 Store is right over there." He pointed across the street at said store. "We could just go steal another one."

Looking at Marik, Bakura said somberly, "We could, but haven't enough PS2s lost their lives today?"

After contemplating this strangely un-Bakura-like thought, Marik nodded sadly.

"Plus I'm getting really sick of PS2s," the thief added, sounding back to his psycho self. "Now let's go find my Ryou."

"Your Ryou?" Marik asked, arching an eyebrow.

Apparently unruffled by his friend's tone of 'your,' Bakura replied steadily, "Yes, well, he's certainly not yours."

Leaning closer to the thief, the tomb keeper asked with a sly grin, "Bakura, do you...like Ryou?"

Bakura's eyes widened noticeably. "No," he said gruffly, avoiding the tomb keeper's gaze.

Marik snickered. Then, was struck by a random, but nonetheless interesting thought. "Hey, do you think they named the word 'snicker' after the candy bar 'Snickers'?"

Although grateful his friend was so easily sidetracked, Bakura still sweatdropped. "Shut up. Let's go." The white-haired tomb robber then lifted the Millennium Ring from his chest and held it horizontally before him. "Find hikari," he snapped at the item. One of the Ring's pointers pointed in the direction Ryou was in and Bakura set off with the pondering Marik following.

Kaiba and Jonouchi sat in awkward silence. After being kissed (and altogether felt up) by the blond for a minute or so, Kaiba snapped back to reality and become conscious of just who it was who was kissing him. He got a little spooked, finding himself in his rival's arms. Ok, maybe more than a little, if yelping then punching the blond in the chin was being more than a little spooked. Maybe he had overreacted. He glanced over at Jonouchi.

Jonouchi was nursing his chin, which still smarted from when Kaiba had hit him. His sore chin wasn't what was bothering him at the moment though. No, it was far down on his list of annoyances. What was bothering him at the moment was the silence. Had he scared Kaiba that much? Would the brunette ever speak to him – or at the very least insult him – ever again? He glanced over at the object of his thoughts and was startled to find a pair of blue eyes looking back at him.

Both looked away from each other, the silence becoming so intense it was almost suffocating.

Finally unable to take any more, Kaiba stood up, intending to go to Kaiba Corp Head Quarters and get some work done. Or at the very least fire a few people. That would take his mind off of his recent...distractions. But before he had taken his first step, a voice behind him demanded, "Where do you think you're going?"

Scowling, he spun around. "None of your business, mutt."

Jonouchi matched the brunette's scowl with a fierce one of his own. "Yeah, whatever, richboy."

"Cur," he mumbled under his breath as he turned to walk away.

"Boy billionaire."

"Mongrel."

"Moneybags." Jonouchi's voice was heated now.

Kaiba narrowed his eyes. "Sit, puppy. You don't want to play with the big dogs." He began walking towards his destination. Before he could stop himself, he threw one last insult at the already furious blond. "Stay. I won't tolerate a mutt like you following me home." Satisfied, he changed his mind about firing anyone today. Insulting Jonouchi was always enough to put him in better spirits.

Suddenly, he felt something hit him hard in the back and was introduced to the sidewalk very quickly. The sidewalk seemed happy to meet him. Kaiba, however, did not share the same sentiments as the stone surface beneath his sprawled out body. He realized that someone was on top of him preventing him from standing up, and putting two and two together, could easily figure out who that person was. "Get off me, mutt," he practically spat.

"Not until you apologize," Jonouchi growled from above him, sounding very much like the canine Kaiba so enjoyed comparing him to.

"I see nothing that I need to apologize for," the brunette muttered, struggling to overthrow Jonouchi.

Jonouchi held him steady, pinning both of the CEO's shoulders to the ground and positioning himself on the center of his back. "Nothing?!" he exclaimed. "What about all the doggy names?!"

"I thought you enjoyed those," Kaiba said with a sardonic smirk.

The blond's cheeks tinted red. "Ok then, apologize for hitting me!"

Kaiba tensed beneath him. "That was your fault. You brought that upon yourself."

"What?! What'd I do?!"

The brunette remained silent, but fidgeted uneasily.

"Oh," Jonouchi said quietly, realization dawning upon him. "The, uh, kiss..."

"That was not a kiss," Kaiba said, shaking his head. "A kiss is short and simple. That was..."

"Massive face-sucking?" Jonouchi offered.

"...Sure...That works..."

"So I guess I kinda scared ya," Jonouchi said sheepishly as he swung a leg back over the lean frame of the CEO, allowing Kaiba to get up.

"It was...unexpected," Kaiba agreed, dusting himself off a bit as he sat up.

Jonouchi was quiet for a moment. "Soooo...Do you hate me?" he asked cautiously.

Kaiba looked up sharply at the blond. "I've never hated you. Hatred is a very strong emotion, one I preserve only for my worst of enemies. You are not on my list of enemies and even if you were, I doubt you'd be high enough for me to even think about wasting my time and energy to hate you. So just be content with your status as a mutt."

Jonouchi was ecstatic to hear that Kaiba didn't hate him. But by the time the CEO had finished speaking, the blond's trademark ire flared up again. "Oh, so now I'm not good enough for rich boy to even hate?!"

Kaiba stared at him incredulously. "There's just no pleasing you, is there?"

Jonouchi was about to reply that yes, there very well was a way to please him and if he was sure Kaiba wouldn't hit him, he'd do it again, when he heard a series of loud beepings.

Tilting his head, Kaiba asked, "What's that?"

"Oh, this?" Jonouchi asked, pulling a small black box out of his pocket. "This is my friend radar. When it beeps like this, it means Yugi and the others are nearby."

Kaiba grunted. "I'm out of here." He got to his feet and felt a hand on his shoulder. Slowly turning around, he came face to face with Jonouchi.

"Nah, come with me," he said, his happy-go-lucky grin finding its way to his face. "We're friends now."

"We...are?" the brunette asked slowly.

Jonouchi's grin got wider. "Yeah. Now come on." He grabbed Kaiba's wrist and starting pulling him as he followed the sound of the beeps.

Friends? Kaiba thought, confused. I have no friends. But he still followed the blond.

The Millennium Scales glowed brightly as they created a tear in the fabric of the Shadow Realm. The tear widened into a sizeable gap, large enough for a man to step through. Shadi did this now, Scales in hand, and found himself in a spacious office. As the gap closed behind him, light from a wall-sized window illuminated the room, revealing its contents to Shadi's dark eyes: files, a desk, a computer, and a black leather executive chair. He found his eyes drawn to the chair. It was turned away from him, hiding whoever occupied its cushiony depths from the Egyptian's view. But Shadi already knew who sat in it.

"So," he said, addressing the man in the chair, "we meet again, Maximillion Pegasus."

The chair spun around, revealing the man sitting in it. "Ah, Shadi," he said, pushing a long strand of silvery hair from his one good eye. "Forgive me for not being overjoyed at the sight of you. I was actually hoping to meet someone else here. Perhaps a few someones. Hmmm..." He trailed off, apparently in thought.

Shadi strode over to Pegasus. "And would one of those someones happen to be Seto Kaiba?"

Pegasus smiled slightly. "Why, yes. However did you guess?"

Uncharacteristically rolling his eyes, Shadi concentrated on the Millennium Scales. The Item shimmered and disappeared, concealed for the time being. Then, he turned his attention back to the man sitting before him. "And Yugi Motou as well, I suppose. You know, neither of them stole your Millennium Eye. It was the tomb robber, Bakura."

Pegasus nodded. "Yes, yes. I know, I know..." His mind wandered, back to that day at Duelist Kingdom...

Suddenly, the door to the office burst open and a man rode in on a pony. "Howdy," he said as he tilted his brown cowboy hat at the two. He then dismounted and walked over to a TV in the corner. Sticking a tape into the VCR, he turned the TV on. "The Battle for the Eye," he said as he hit play.

The TV Pegasus leaned forlornly over a desk, three soul cards staring back at him: Mokuba Kaiba, Seto Kaiba, and Sugoroku Motou. "I am a man of y word," he said softly. "I will return these souls." With that, he delved into the power of his Millennium Eye and released the souls. He knew that Mokuba Kaiba was waking up on the balcony above the dueling arena, his elder brother Seto Kaiba in the dungeon, and little Yugi's grandfather Sugoroku Motou in the hospital. It was over. He had lost. "Cecilia," he murmured. "I have failed you, darling."

"Oh, quit it with all the angst!" a gruff voice said from behind him. Pegasus turned around to see who had spoken and found a boy standing in the doorway, one of Yugi's friends, if he wasn't mistaken. Only, he seemed different...Darker...

"What do you want?" he asked bitterly. "You are the dark spirit of the Millennium Ring, aren't you?"

The boy nodded and stepped forward. "I want your eye," he said.

Pegasus blinked. "My...eye?" He reached up to touch his good right eye. "But then I'll be blind!"

The white haired youth rolled his eyes. "Your Millennium Eye."

"Ohhhh..." Pegasus said, deciding that made more sense. "No."

The spirit narrowed his eyes. "Why not?!"

"Because I wish to keep it," Pegasus replied evenly.

"Well," the dark being strode over to the desk, picking up Pegasus's Duel Monsters deck. "Allow me to dazzle you with my card tricks." He then began shuffling the deck, tossing it around as good as any Las Vegas dealer ever could.

"Oooo!" Pegasus exclaimed in awe. "Wonderful! Where did you learn how to do that?"

The spirit shrugged. "You pick up a lot of nifty tricks in the Shadow Realm. Give me the Eye now."

Pegasus shook his head. "Nice try, but no."

"Very well then," he said pursing his lips. "I shall have to take it from you by force."

"Bring it on, albino!"

"You're one to talk. You can't be more than forty and your hair's already whiter than a ninety year old's!" He then waved his hand before the silvery haired man. "You will give me the Eye."

Pegasus's eyes glazed over a bit. "I will give you the Eye," he replied in a monotone voice." There was a sickening pop and Pegasus soon held the Eye in his hand.

Thanking the gods – or, at least George Lucas – for Jedi mind tricks, Bakura snatched the Eye from the man. Then, unable to resist the urge, brought it to his mouth and licked it. "Mmmm. Tastes like chicken!" He then ran out the door and jumped off of the tower before remembering he couldn't fly. Luckily, the Man-eater Bug caught him and they stowed away on Kaiba's helicopter and flew off into the sunset.

There, the tape ended. The cowboy man took the tape out and casually glanced at his watch. "Ahhh!" he shouted, running for his pony. "Drumsticks, we're gonna be late!" And with that, he rode off, his trademark shout of "Hi Ho Drumsticks!" echoing down the halls.

Pegasus and Shadi exchanged glances and tacitly decided to ignore the funny cowboy man and his pony.

"So, why are you after Kaiba and the others?" Shadi asked, continuing their conversation from before.

Pegasus shrugged. "Boredom can drive us to do strange things. I thought this would entertain me when Funny Bunny's not on." He stood up and walked to the large window before him. "Kaiba-boy and Yugi-boy are much easier to track down than that little white haired spirit. When I find those two, I have a feeling I'll find him." He paused, as if considering to reveal more. Deciding to, he spoke again. "I've put together a little 'gang.' Actually, the first agent should be encountering Yugi-boy and his friends sometime soon. We call ourselves 'The Eyepatched Ones.'" At this, he turned his head a bit, his good eye meeting Shadi's. "Would you like to join us?"

Puzzled, Shadi felt over his eye. "Damn eyepatch," he muttered as he moved to take it off.

"We have a good dental plan!" Pegasus said quickly.

Shadi paused. "You don't say. Well, keep talking, Pegasus."

"Do you think we're close to finding them?" Yugi asked.

"How should I know?" Ryou snapped. "But when we do find them, blood will be spilled!"

Yami shivered. "He's scary," he mumbled to Yugi.

"Not as scary as I am!" a mysterious voice said from behind them.

Yugi's normally wide eyes widened even more. "Uh...Why does that voice sound familiar?" he asked slowly.

"Perhaps that's because we've met before!" the voice said, sounding a bit irritated. "Why don't you turn around and look at me instead of looking around up in the sky?"

Thinking this a logical idea, the trio turned around to face this new person.

"Gasp!" Yami shouted. "It's...Noa!"

"Gasp!" Yugi shouted in suite.

Ryou, on the other hand, didn't seem as surprised. "Huh? Who?" Perhaps that's because he had never met Noa. Poor Ryou gets left out of everything.

"That's right!" Noa said, his freakishly green hair gleaming in the sunlight. "And now I'll prove that I'm better than all of you!"

"Ummm..." Ryou looked the boy, who couldn't have been much older that Kaiba's younger brother, over. "Is that why you're wearing an eyepatch?"

Noa turned his attention to the until now ignored by him teen. "Huh?" he then felt over his eyes wondering what the heck this guy was talking about. Sure enough, a piece of fabric was strapped over his left eye. "Oh. Well. Would you look at that? I am!"

Yami had had enough of this. He strode forward, towering over the boy. "So," he said, reveling in the fact that he was actually taller than someone besides Yugi and Mokuba, "do you want me to beat you in a duel first and then send you to the Shadow Realm, or should we just skip to the me sending you to the Shadow Realm part, since that's how this confrontation will ultimately end?"

Pausing to untangle what the King of Games had just said, Noa shook his head. "No. As tempting as that sounds, I think we should settle this with a different kind of game..."

END

Will Pegasus's plan to find Bakura work? What's Noa planning? Will Yami win? Why am I asking you?