Disclaimer: If we really owned the rights to Yu-Gi-Oh do you think we would be writing this fic? Yugi, his friends (and enemies), and cards belong to the creators of the show and card game, all original characters and cards belong to us.

Warning: This fic will contain some scenes of violence and some offensive language. Viewer discretion is advised.

A/N: The Prologue was kind of short, we know, but this chapter should be a bit more satisfying. Before we continue though, we thought we'd let you know how duels in this fic will work.

Both players start with 8000 LP instead of 4000 like on the show.

Most cards will have the effects they have in the real world, with a few exceptions (Card of Sanctity for instance).

Just to get this out of the way: I have a couple characters use Card of Demise incorrectly in this fic. I (Older Hokage) didn't realize my mistake, and by the time I did I couldn't change anything.

Therefore, for future reference, Card of Demise will have the following effect in this fic: Draw five cards. After five end phases have passed, discard your entire hand before your draw phase.

I know this effect is wrong, but I only use the card three times through the entire fic so It should be okay.

Just so you know, any cards listed at the bottom of the fic belong to us unless otherwise noted. You need our permission to use them.

Glad that's all out of the way (probably should have put all this in the intro!). We now return you to your regularly scheduled chapter.

Chapter 1

A Midsummer Nightmare

It was a hot Saturday afternoon at Domino City Zoo. The animals hid in the shade to keep cool and the tourists mimicked this action. As noon approached, two familiar characters were sitting near the fountain.

The first was a blond haired teenager wearing a white t-shirt that had blue stripes on the sleeve. His jeans were torn at the knees to help him try to cool off in the summer's heat.

A girl sat beside him by the fountain, her long brown hair being blown by gentle breezes. She wore a pink tank top and denim shorts, looking up at her brother with her hazel eyes.

They were Joey and Serenity Wheeler, a brother and sister out for the day at the Domino City Zoo.

"So Serenity," Joey asked, "what do ya think of the zoo?"

His sister gave a great big smile.

"It's wonderful! Thank you for bringing me here Joey!"

She threw her arms around her brother with such force as to send them both into the fountain. They were both very wet now. Joey was thankful he left his duel disk and deck in his back pack, which was back on the ledge of the fountain.

He was thankful for a lot of things, almost a year before he had come so close to losing everything when a mad man named Dartz had acquired the power of a world destroying beast.

He was surprised things had gotten back to normal so quickly. Now it was almost summer again, and that meant he and Yugi could take on the tournaments again.

What he failed to remember was just how long things actually remain normal when you play a game that's over ten thousand years old.

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Observing from a short distance away in the shadow of a nearby tree, a mysterious figure smiled as it watched the two siblings climb out of the water.

"Target located." The figure thought.

Stepping out from the shadow, the figure began to move toward the fountain

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After getting out of the water, the two discussed how they would spend the rest of their day.

"I know!" Serenity exclaimed joyfully, "Let's go to the bat exhibit. It should be nice and cool in there because it's so dark."

Joey shuddered at the thought, "What if one of those things gets in my hair?" he asked in a trembling voice.

Joey played and replayed the scene in his mind, a flying rodent being tangled on top of his head.

"You won't have to worry about that," said a mysterious voice behind them, "bats are expert pilots, especially in the dark."

They turned around to see a young man about three years older than Joey. He had light brown hair and blue eyes. A black gem hung around his neck and matched the color of his t-shirt. Blue jeans were torn and frayed where they met with his gray sneakers.

"Sorry to interrupt, but I couldn't help but over hear your conversation." He apologized. "My name is Brian, Brian Hokage. It's nice to meet you face to face Joseph."

"How did you know my name?" asked Joey.

Brian chuckled, "How couldn't I know your name is a better question Joseph. Everyone knows you were in the finals of both Duelist Kingdom and Battle City. News of both those tournaments reached all around the world."

Joey smiled as he stood up and shook Brian's hand

"Well, I don't mean to brag or nuthin'…" He started.

Serenity started to giggle and whispered to her brother, "Maybe he wants to join your fan club."

Joey stopped talking and blushed a bit.

"Oh yeah, this is my sister, Serenity." He explained

"Nice to meet you." Serenity said.

"Likewise." Brian said he shook her hand, "Now, I couldn't help but overhear you two were going to the bat exhibit. Would you mind a little company? I came here by myself today but it's been awfully lonesome."

Joey looked the new arrival over.

"I don't know…" He started

"Joey! Don't be rude." Serenity scolded.

She pulled her brother aside.

"Besides," She whispered, "He probably just wants to meet you and be seen hanging out with you since you're a celebrity. It couldn't hurt for a little while. He seems really nice too."

"Alright," Joey sighed, "but any funny business from him and he's gone."

Serenity smiled and turned to Brian.

"We'd love to have you hang out with us." She said with a big smile.

Brian returned with a grin of his own.

"Awesome!" He said, "Thank you, you've really made my day. My traveling companions don't like the zoo so…"

"It's no problem, really." Joey interrupted, "Now let's go!"

Joey grabbed his backpack and they set off.

As they were walking, Joey kept his eye on this new "fan."

"If he knows I'm a great duelist," Joey thought, "then he's probably going to challenge me to a duel. Or ask me to introduce him to Yugi or something like that. Either way, I should keep an eye on this guy."

The three of them went a few exhibits over and reached a large building with a sign in front that said, "Nocturnal Animals Exhibits: NO FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY."

"Aw crud. I should have spent more time thinking of an excuse not to go in here and less time watching Brian!"

Joey and the others stepped inside and shivered as he heard the sound of screeching echo from further inside.

"Well, we saw the creepy nighttime things. Let's go home now." Joey suggested, a cold sweat running down his spine.

Serenity grabbed him by the arm and almost literally dragged him through the short corridor.

"C'mon Joey, stop being a coward!" she ordered.

Brian laughed at the sight of the great duelist being pushed around by his little sister.

The three of them walked into the bat exhibit, Joey trembling with each step. Inside, the trio found themselves on a dimly lit stone pathway overlooking a huge cave-like area. There was nothing but a short fence along the edge of the path, and past that was a large drop to a fake cave floor below.

Looking around, Joey saw that there was only one other person in the exhibit with them, a girl who seemed to be about his age, though that was all he could make out in the gloom of the area. He could hear screeching and the sound of wings flapping but there were no bats down below.

That's when the girl gasped and pointed up, where they saw many little furry creatures flying around freely in the room.

"Wow!" Serenity whispered, "Joey, have you ever seen anything like this?"

Joey didn't answer; he was far too busy being scared out of his mind. The young duelist couldn't move, all he could do was stare fearfully at the winged rodents above him and resist the urge to faint.

It was then that something happened. Joey felt someone shove against his back! He struggled to stay balanced, but fell over the rail and plummeted a full fifteen feet toward the stone floor below that was designed to look like a cave that the bats might stay in if the were in the wild.

Joey hit this surface with a dull thud heard throughout the chamber.

Serenity's eyes were wide with fright.

"Joey!" She screamed, certain her brother could be hurt, or worse.

The girl who pointed out the bats now grabbed Serenity's hand and led her out of the exhibit.

"We should get the zoo keepers!" The girl shouted

Brian turned toward the panicked girl.

"I'll stay here with your brother to make sure he's okay." He called out

The two girls ran out of the cave while Brian stayed behind. Once the girls were gone, the young man jumped down into the pit and pulled Joey up off the floor.

Joey moaned as he woke up.

"What hit me?"

Brian walked a little ways away from Joey, his left arm clouded by the shadows in the cave.

"I did, so I can complete my mission." He said.

Joey balled up his hands into fists.

"What did you say!" He shouted.

Brian sighed.

"I'm going to pretend you're not as stupid as I've heard and assume that bump to your head addled your brain a bit. I knocked you down here so I could duel you." He explained

Brian turned toward Joey, but now he was wearing a duel disk on his left arm.

"I honestly did not want to resort to scare tactics." Brian said, "I really don't like dueling that way. But I also couldn't afford any witnesses so I had no choice. Really, this whole idea just doesn't sit well with me, but my master gave me my orders and I must obey."

At that time, Joey felt someone tap on his shoulder. He turned around and screamed as he saw a shadow standing behind him holding his backpack.

"Come on Wheeler." Brian sighed, "I said I knocked you down here so we could duel with no witnesses, not so that you could faint!"

Joey nervously took his pack from the shadow, which flattened against the ground and ran to Brian's feet. Joey removed his disk, attaching it to his arm, and began to shuffle his deck.

"I was afraid he might challenge me," Joey thought, "but this is a little extreme!"

"Ya know, for someone who doesn't like scare tactics, you sure seem to use a lot of them." Joey pointed out.

"Like I said, I had little choice." Brian said.

Joey slid his deck into his disk and it beeped, signaling it was ready to start.

"Well then," Brian said with a slight tinge of evil to his voice as prepared his duel disk, "you ready to duel Wheeler?"

Joey stared at his new found opponent with a mixture of confusion and fear.

"Just what do you think you'll gain by doing this?" The blond teen asked as he shuffled his deck and put it in the proper slot.

"You'll find out soon enough." Brian explained.

Joey LP: 8000

Brian LP: 8000

"DUEL!" Both duelists shouted as they drew their opening hands.

"I'll go first since you challenged me." Joey explained, "And I'll lead with my Gearfried the Iron Knight in attack mode (1800/1600)!"

Joey smiled as a warrior clad in solid black amour appeared in front of him, the monster's attack and defense stats projected in the air above it.

Brian just yawned. "Glad to see I didn't scare you too badly. I summon a monster in face down defense position. That's all."

Joey snickered a bit as he drew his next card, "That's really all you got? Looks like you're the one who's scared! Now I'll bring in my Marauding Captain (1200/400) in attack mode and use his special ability to bring in Command Knight (1200/1900) to increase the attack of all my warriors by 400 points!"

A heroic looking young soldier with two swords and blond hair jumped to the field, and a young woman appeared next to him, wearing brown-and-red leather armor!

"Gearfried (2200/1600) go! Attack his face down monster now!" Joey ordered.

Gearfried leapt forward eagerly slicing through Brian's face down card only to reveal a strange metallic pot with one large green eye and an amazingly creepy smile.

"Not your best move Wheeler," Brian taunted, "That was my Cyber Jar so say goodbye to your monsters!"

A huge explosion rocked the battle field destroying every monster present!

Joey grumbled to himself as he drew the top five cards of his deck and placed them on the duel tray so Brian could see them.

Brian smiled as he looked at the cards on Joey's tray.

"Bad luck there, you only got a measly Battle Warrior (700/1000) to summon. I on the other hand got three monsters. Meet Vampire Lady (1550/1550), Pitch Black Warwolf (1600/800), and Mystic Tomato (1400/1100)!"

Immediately, a woman with pale gray skin and an alluring purple dress appeared on the field, followed by a savage looking werewolf with black fur and a large sword, and finally a slightly comical looking tomato with a large tongue sticking out of its mouth showed up.

"Aw, crud! My monster will go into defense mode and I'll lay one card face down. And since I end my turn here I discard two cards to keep my hand at the six card limit." Joey declared.

A blue skinned man in dark blue armor materialized in a crouching position, and a brown card appeared behind him.

Brian picked up his next card and began to laugh.

"Shame this is going to be over so quickly. I just drew the card I needed to assure my mission would be successful!"

"What are you talking about?" Joey asked

"Haven't you noticed anything about my monster's yet?" Brian queried.

Joey thought for a moment (something he rarely did) and suddenly came to a realization.

"All of them have been creatures of darkness so far." He stated.

"Exactly, and now I'm going to play the card which will ensure my victory." Brian shouted as he slammed a card bearing the image of a black circle surrounded by strange letters into the field zone on his duel disk.

"Now I play: ELEMENTAL SEAL OF DARKNESS!"

Immediately a black infinity symbol appeared on the ground between the two duelists, followed by the black circle and strange letters surrounding the field!

"What is this?" Joey exclaimed, trembling at the feeling of the encroaching shadows that began to swallow the field, and watching as infinity symbols appeared on Brian's arms and face.

As the duelist looked up at him, Joey was shocked to see Brian's eyes had become deep pools of shadows.

"This," Brian stated, "is the beginning of the end for you Wheeler!"

Looks like Joey is in a bit of a bind! What does this seal do, and who is this master Brian referred to? If you want to find out, you'll need to wait for the next chapter titled:

Shadow's End

See you then!

A/N: Here's an offer you can't refuse. You review, we post the next chapter, you get to find out what this seal does and what other surprises Brian's deck packs. So what are you waiting for? Read and Review!

A/N: Not a lot of actual dueling, we know. Don't worry, the next chapter will have a lot more!

A/N: In case your wondering why we reposted this chapter, I (Older Hokage) felt that Brian came across a little too two dimensional the first time. So I re-edited this chapter in hopes of fleshing him out a bit. Let us know what you think!