DISCLAIMER: If you recognise it from somewhere else, it isn't mine.

Yugi vs. the Rare Hunter Part I

The Pharaoh set the cards down. 'You've assembled a powerful deck.'

Yugi was still worried though. What if it's not good enough to win?

The Pharaoh lifted the cards up again. 'There comes a time when there's nothing left to do but believe in the deck you've created. Yugi, this tournament is unlike any challenge we've ever faced before.'

Right.

'The fate of the world depends on us, so you've got to be strong and trust in your cards.'

But there's still so much we don't know.

'Our destiny will reveal itself when the time is right. According to Ishizu, an ancient evil force will return to threaten the world and you and I must defeat it, by winning Kaiba's Battle City Tournament with this deck. If you believe in the Heart of the Cards, we can unlock the secrets of the past and save the world.'

Yugi smiled. Yeah, we can do this.

'Yes, we can. But it won't be easy.'

I'm ready to face whoever or whatever we have to. You stood by me and helped me rescue my grandpa from Pegasus and now it's my turn to stand by you. I promise you and I will work together to figure out your past. And we've got Sharee helping us too. You already saved the entire world once, 5000 years ago, but there was one difference then. You and Shamee had to do it alone and this time you have me by your side to help you.

The Pharaoh's lips quirked up. Yugi was a brave one. He just hoped that bravery didn't cost him his life as it did his own. 'Thank you.'

YGO

Yugi was walking through the crowds, looking at an odd card in his hand. 'This clear card was in with the duel disk. It looks like a map, but where's the rest of it?' He stopped. 'Huh. It must be another new twist Kaiba threw into this tournament.'

'Yugi!'

Yugi turned as he heard Mai call out to him. 'Hey, Mai.'

'Pretty big turnout for this thing.' Mai looked around. 'All losers.'

'Well, there's a lot of duellists here I've never seen before.'

Mai jumped. 'Oh, this is so exciting! I wonder whose butt I should kick first in this tournament.'

There was suddenly an annoying voice to the left. 'Yugi, I thought I'd see you buzzing around.' There were old opponents coming over.

'If it isn't Rex Raptor and Weevil,' Mai said. 'I thought I smelled something.'

'I'll never forget how you played me like a chump-a-saurus at Duellist Kingdom, Mai,' Rex snapped. 'Now, it's payback time.'

Weevil sniggered. 'And, Yugi, next time we duel you won't be so lucky. My deck is infested with swarms of rare and powerful insects.'

'I wouldn't go around advertising that.'

Weevil's laughter cut off and he and Rex spun around. Yugi and Mai had to turn less because Sharee was just about standing in front of them. She stood there, her weight shifted onto her left leg and her arms folded across her chest. All the same, she clearly expected to be doing a lot of running and climbing through this tournament. She was wearing a pale blue long-sleeved shirt and a yellow skirt that went down to her knees. To protect her modesty when she flipped over, most likely, she was also wearing a pair of black leggings. The shoes on her feet were black lace-up boots that came up to her calves. And, of course, her Millennium Bandanna was tied around her head.

'Oh?' Weevil sneered. 'And why not?'

'Because there've been Rare Hunters spotted in the city.' Sharee waved her hand, dismissing them. 'That's why not.'

Rex and Weevil grumbled, but slipped away. All the same, it didn't escape Yugi's notice how they kept glancing around and keeping their hands near their decks as they moved. Of course, it wasn't long before Mako Tsunami hopped around and scared the life out of them. It seemed the Rare Hunters were pretty well-known to them.

'Have we actually seen them?' Mai asked as soon as they were gone.

'Not us,' Yugi said. 'But they jumped Joey the other night.'

'His Red Eyes?' Mai frowned. 'You better check on him, then. You know what a hothead Joey is.'

'Amen to that. See you.' Sharee turned and ran off.

But Yugi saw her glance at something as she went.

YGO

Sharee was relieved but she knew she had to move fast.

'Greetings, duellists.' Kaiba's voice echoed everywhere. 'Welcome to Battle City.' Sharee, more used to the idea, glanced up as she ran. The big show-off had a blimp. 'It's time to put your duelling skills to the test. I hope none of you entered my tournament looking for friendly competition. Battle City's gonna be an all-out war. Before my Battle City Tournament begins, I thought I'd let you all know what you're in for, in case you wanna back out now. Let's begin with my new duel disks. Everyone who I decided was good enough to enter received one.'

Sharee nearly tripped at that. Well, she had gotten Joey one and he knew all about it. But he was hardly going to announce to the world that there was someone out there who could get into his system with no problems. On top of that, he hardly was going to disqualify him either. That would be announcing it to anyone that found out that he was unprofessional. Like he said during Duellist Kingdom, he'd done his homework on her family. If they could get away with suing their government, they had no problem sharing that bit of information.

'With it you can duel anytime, anywhere. And they contain a tracking chip that allows me to watch every move you make.'

Like Big Brother, Sharee mused as she ran into the building and headed for the stairs.

'Next, let's talk about the most important tournament rule. The loser of each duel is required to fork over their rarest card to the winner. If you don't have the guts to risk losing your precious cards, then I suggest you forfeit now. And anyone who's foolish enough can challenge me to a duel because I'll also be competing in this tournament.'

Yeah, for the God Cards.

'But don't get your hopes up because I intend to win. And there's one duellist out there I can't wait to defeat.'

Everyone knows who that is.

'And speaking of winning, only the eight best duellists will make it to the final round. And these finals will be held in a hidden location. In order to find the finals, you'll need these locator cards. You each received one with your duel disk but don't get too excited, because one's not enough. You'll need six of them to make it to the tournament finals. Every time you win a duel, you get a locator card from your losing opponent. When six cards are stacked together they produce a map of Battle City and activate a global positioning satellite, which will transmit the location to you. But the tournament finals are a long time away and most of you will be eliminated way before that. All right, everything I just said and more can be found in my tournament rulebook.'

Sharee came onto the roof and found Yugi.

'Just remember, only one player can win and claim the title of number one duellist in the world. Now, get ready duellists. Let the tournament begin!'

'Well,' Yugi coached himself, 'time to face my destiny!'

'Okay, first,' Sharee said, grabbing Yugi by the shoulder and steering him down to the street fast. 'I managed to talk Joey into it.'

'So he's gonna let me duel this guy for him?' Yugi asked.

'Yes. Just don't ask me how.' She'd seen the guy before and she didn't know how she knew it was him. It was just the old instincts acting up again, she supposed. But what had happened was unfair and they weren't going to let it go by.

Sharee was satisfied that Yugi switched to the Pharaoh as they ran down to Joey, before their friend did something stupid.

YGO

The Pharaoh watched.

As soon as Joey confirmed the person Sharee had found was the Rare Hunter who stole his Red Eyes, she crossed over and slammed her hands on the back of his chair. The man, evidentially unprepared for someone to do that, started and twisted around.

'Rare Hunter.' Sharee's eyes narrowed. 'The Red Eyes Black Dragon you stole two days ago. You still have it?'

'That wasn't stealing.' He smirked. 'The tournament rules clearly state…'

'The tournament hadn't started yet,' Sharee said. 'Do you still have it?'

The Rare Hunter was confident and smarmy. 'Yes.'

'Then either give it back nicely, or we will actually use the tournament rules.'

The Rare Hunter rose up, sneering. 'Is that a challenge?'

'I take it, then, that you won't give it back nicely.' Sharee quirked an eyebrow and switched over. Shamee turned her back. 'Very well.' She stepped out of the café and crossed over to the Pharaoh and Joey. Pulling Joey back and out of the way, she said, 'The King is your opponent.'

'If you win this duel, I'll hand over my Dark Magician to you,' the Pharaoh said.

'Yugi,' Joey turned to him, 'there's no way I can let you hand over your Dark Magician.' He glared at the Rare Hunter. 'I can take him. I'll never forgive myself if that ugly bum takes your most valuable card.'

'Let it go,' Shamee said. 'He has to do it this way.'

'I'll have to risk losing my Dark Magician eventually,' the Pharaoh said. 'This is my first Battle City duel and the first step in fulfilling my destiny.'

Joey drew back.

'Let's get on with this hunt already,' the Rare Hunter snapped. 'The sooner I can take my prize, the better.'

The Pharaoh clenched his fist. 'I'm ready to duel whenever you are, Rare Hunter.'

'Yugi, wait…'

The Rare Hunter tutted. 'Don't even think about revealing my strategy to him, Joey Wheeler. If you say a word about how I defeated you, I'll tear your Red Eyes Black Dragon to shreds.' He threw his cloak off. 'So, I'd give my mouth a rest if I were you and allow me to stalk the Duellist Kingdom champion and take his Dark Magician without your commentary.'

'Tear the Red Eyes to shreds?' Shamee inclined her head. 'How will that help you?'

The Rare Hunter glared at her.

The Pharaoh smirked. 'Fine.' He set his deck into the duel disk. 'I'll duel you one-on-one.' He held his arm out. 'Activate holo-imagers!' The projectors shot out and took up their position, establishing his side of the field. The Pharaoh raised his arm, allowing the duel disk to move into shape. It activated.

The Rare Hunter did the exact same thing. People had cleared a wide berth for them. Shamee and Joey stood nearest to the duel, right behind the Pharaoh. Of course, now that he knew he was a Pharaoh and she was his Right Hand it meant Shamee's placement around him made a lot more sense – protocol that had been drummed into her from a young age.

When at the Pharaoh's side, stand this far away and behind him, remain on the right.

YGO

Kaiba watched the screen flash up the information. 'How fitting that Yugi is competing in the very first duel of my tournament.' He was likely trying to get the Red Eyes Black Dragon back for Wheeler.

'Hey, look!' Mokuba leaned over their computer. 'The other duels are coming in now too. Our system is recording all the cards being played. If anyone uses one of the two remaining Egyptian God Cards we'll know exactly where it is.'

YGO

'Let's duel!'

The Pharaoh noted that Kaiba had raised the life points up to 4000, instead of the old 2000 that they used to play with. Both of them drew five cards and the Pharaoh started off, drawing. 'I draw first, now get ready.'

The Rare Hunter looked at the cards in his hand. He looked a little too cocky.

'Yug, watch out for him!' Joey called.

'Silence, Wheeler,' the Rare Hunter snapped. 'Or say goodbye to your Red Eyes.'

'To start off, I place two cards face-down on the field.' The Pharaoh laid the cards down. The holograms appeared in front of him. 'Next I summon Beta, the Magnet Warrior in attack mode!' He laid the card face-up. It appeared on the field and emerged from its card. 'Can you handle my newest monster?'

'My first card will be…' He drew and his brow twitched. 'Just what I suspected.' He turned it around. 'Graceful Charity lets me draw three cards…' He did just that and took some from his hand. 'And I discard two.' He looked rather pleased at what he saw. 'If you only knew what was in my hand, waiting, you'd forfeit now and relinquish your rare Dark Magician.'

'Never.' He activated one of his face-down cards. 'I may not know what's in your hand, but my trap card Light of Intervention reveals all your hidden monsters on the field.' It flipped up. 'There will be no surprise attacks from you.'

The Rare Hunter smirked. 'Hm. Doesn't matter.' He laid a card down. 'Stone Statue of the Aztecs, in defence mode.' The card and its monster appeared on the field.

All he's done so far is draw cards and play defence. He must be waiting for something. 'It's time for your Stone Statue to crumble.' The Pharaoh drew. 'Now! By Battle City rules, I sacrifice my weaker Magnet Warrior…' It disappeared in a flash of light. '…to summon the almighty Berfomet!' The Berfomet appeared on the field with a great roar. A blast shot out of his mouth. And he is able to bring forth Gizelle, the King of Mythical Beasts!' Gizelle emerged out of the light with his own roar. 'And that's not all. Now, I use Polymerisation…' His other down card flipped up and glowed brightly. '…to fuse them together…' With a bright spiral of light Berfomet and Gizelle were merged into one beast. '…forming Kimera, the Flying Mythical Beast!' Kimera settled down on the field floor. 'On my next turn, my all-powerful Kimera will erode your Stone Statue into tiny pieces of rubble. Then, according to Battle City rules, once you have no monsters on the field, I can attack your life points directly!'

'Very impressive,' the Rare Hunter said. 'But you'll need more than that to scare off the Hunter.'

Joey tried again. 'Listen, Yug, this guy's got a plan to wipe you out. Check out the grin on that ugly kisser of his! This is exactly what the old creep did to me. He's got something in his hand that's gonna…'

'Silence, Wheeler!' The Rare Hunter cut him off again. 'One more word out of you and say goodbye to your Red Eyes forever!'

The Pharaoh turned that over in his head. 'I'll end my turn by placing this card face-down on the field.' He set the card and it appeared in front of him.

'I predict another Graceful Charity.' The Rare Hunter drew. 'Well, what do you know?' He played the card. 'I was correct. I draw three more cards…' He took them from his deck. '…and discard too.' He took two out of his hand and added them to his graveyard.

How does he know what card he'll draw next? The Pharaoh would really have liked to know that one.

And that guy still seemed way too cocky.

YGO

'This duellist is battling well against Yugi,' Kaiba remarked. 'But who is he? What info do we have on him?'

One of the operators answered. 'Very little. He wasn't listed in your tournament database until about a week ago.'

'What?' Kaiba demanded. 'How's that possible?'

'He must've hacked into the system and added himself.'

'That's illegal!' Mokuba insisted.

'He calls himself a "rare hunter".'

Kaiba looked at the images of the man in question. So, the Rare Hunters had finally graced them with their presence. Ishizu's idea had worked perfectly. They'd come into the trap like, as he'd said, vultures to a carcass.

'We'll disqualify him!' Mokuba turned to him. 'Right, Seto?' He went to run off.

But Kaiba had a different idea. 'Wait.'

'Huh?' Mokuba looked back at him.

Kaiba looked forward again. 'Hm. Rare Hunters. They took my bait.' He smirked. 'Mokuba, it's just as I planned.'

'Huh?' His brother was, understandably, confused.

YGO

Shamee stood next to Joey, watching the duel.

'Yugi, your Dark Magician is as good as mine,' the Rare Hunter said. 'Now, I'll strengthen my defences.' He pulled a card from his hand. 'To protect me Gear Golem, the Moving Fortress!' The card and its monster appeared on the field, in defence mode. 'Even your Kimera's not powerful enough to destroy it.'

The Pharaoh ground his teeth.

'What are you going to do now, Yugi?' The Rare Hunter gloated. 'You can't beat me if you can't get by my defences.'

'You might be protecting your life points with fortresses and stone walls, Rare Hunter, but in order for you to win this duel you must attack me eventually. So what are you waiting for?'

That was a point. And why does he have more than one monster with huge defence points but tiny attack points?

'Oh, you'll find out soon enough, Yugi,' the Rare Hunter said. 'So go ahead. Make your move. The Hunter will strike his prey when the time is right.'

Joey was shaking behind her. Suddenly his hand clamped on her shoulder. Only her quick reflexes allowed her to hold him back. 'Hey, Yugi. Hold it. I can't stand by and watch this. No way. I won't let you lose your Dark Magician for me.'

'That's enough, Joey,' the Pharaoh told him. 'You must not reveal the Rare Hunter's strategy. I will defeat him. You're my friend, Joey, and I am fighting this duel for you, just as you would do for me.'

'You're right,' Joey said.

The Pharaoh turned around. 'Do you remember the time Weevil through my Exodia cards into the ocean? You risked your life to try to get my cards back. Not just because Exodia is the most powerful card in the game, but because I was a friend in need.'

Sharee and Shamee had both taken note of the look on both Joey's and the Rare' Hunter's face. That's it! That makes sense. This Rare Hunter's drawing his cards until he can assemble all five pieces of Exodia. Of course…those cards are probably fake.

From the look on the Pharaoh's face, he and Yugi worked it out too. He turned back to him. 'I'm onto you. I know your strategy, Rare Hunter!'

'Hm?' The Rare Hunter drew back.

The Pharaoh pointed at him. 'You're planning to summon Exodia, the Forbidden One!'

The Rare Hunter cried out in shock.

'All right!' Joey cheered.

The Pharaoh grinned and gave him a thumb's up. 'Thank you, Joey. You allowed me to figure out his strategy without actually telling it to me.'

'Aw, yeah.' Joey returned the thumb's up.

The Rare Hunter sneered. 'Just because you figured out my strategy doesn't stop me from succeeding! Everyone knows Exodia's the most powerful creature in Duel Monsters. How will you stop the unstoppable Exodia?'

'True,' the Pharaoh said. 'No one has ever defeated Exodia. But in order to win back Joey's Red Eyes Black Dragon, I'll be the first.'

'Give up, Yugi! My hunt is over!'