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

Espa Roba, the ESP Duellist Part I

The Pharaoh and Shamee were in a back alley, where very few people would bother them and even fewer would bother listening to what they were saying. The Pharaoh leaned against the alley wall while Shamee sat on one of the steps that led up to the back entrance of some establishment.

'From what I understand, the Ishtars were sworn to keep your tomb and guard your secrets,' Shamee said. 'All of the males were supposed to stay underground from birth to death, to ensure they didn't get lured away from the cause by something in the outside world.'

'I see.' The Pharaoh frowned. 'And who came up with this practice?'

'I have no idea,' Shamee said. 'However, there is one thing…'

'Yes?'

'They were always just outside Thinis,' Shamee explained. 'While my time guarding your actual physical tomb is foggy in my mind, I do recall a feeling of agitation…anger even during the early days.' She stood up. 'That could be anywhere in the first few hundred years. If I'd had the ability to leave your tomb and box someone upside the head, I would've. Now, I suspect that feeling had something to do with the Ishtars.'

'Hm.' The Pharaoh scowled. 'You believe there is more to it than merely isolation?'

'Much more.'

Before the conversation could go on much further, though, some kids ran past.

'Did you hear?' one of them asked. 'Joey Wheeler's duelling some dude with ESP!'

'This I gotta see!' a second kid insisted.

'Come on!'

'That makes two of us,' the Pharaoh said.

'Make it three.' Shamee headed after the kids.

YGO

Sharee knew why Shamee had handed the reins back to her. This kid was claiming to have extrasensory perception. Sharee was more used to dealing with fakes and frauds. And she was certain that was exactly what this ESP guy was. As she walked towards the duel, she sent a message to her sister. She wanted to know what this "psychic" guy's name was.

Sharee was only just coming to the duel when she heard a return message, Flicking out her cell phone, she read the answer. Espa Roba. As she was coming up behind him, she heard Espa making a prediction. Well, actually, he had his fingers pressed to his head and was humming loudly. For someone who didn't know better, it looked very convincing. But, as someone who'd met actual psychics before…He might as well be wearing a "fake psychic" t-shirt. And the speech just dug it in.

'Celestial forces, I call upon you! Make me one with the psychic universe! Show Joey's thoughts to me! And every card in his pathetic hand!' Then he started laughing. 'The extrasensory forces of the universe flow through me. Your strategies are helpless against my all-knowing power!'

'Okay!' Sharee called out. 'Once more, with credibility.'

'Sharee.' Joey grinned when he saw her.

Espa Roba glared at her. That was when she noticed two things. The first was an itch at the back of her neck. It was the kind of feeling Sharee got when she was being watched. The second was what confirmed to her that this guy was as fake as wax fruit.

'Oh, really?' Espa asked. 'Then how come I know he's toast?'

'Oh, yeah, well, how's this.' Joey played the card. 'Go, Giltia the Dark Knight.'

'Uh-uh.' Espa held his hand up. 'You'll have to think of a different move.'

'Against the rules,' Sharee said.

YGO

Joey watched Roba.

'Now, I'll summon Cyber Raider!' The "psychic" played the card and his monster appeared on the field. 'And since you have no monsters on the field, I can directly attack your life points!' The Raider attacked.

When the blast hit, Joey was mildly surprised that it hurt. But that was very Kaiba. He landed on his butt and leaned up. 'This isn't my day so far. I can't lose to this misfit.'

'What's the matter, Wheeler?' Espa mocked him. 'Cyber Raider got you down. Or, you ready for more?'

Joey got to his feet.

Sharee huffed. 'Roba, if you're going to pretend to be a psychic at least make it believable.'

Roba looked at her. 'You need a demonstration of my power?'

Sharee shook her head. 'Real psychics don't advertise it.'

Roba laughed. 'Please!' He looked at Joey. 'I predict that you're finished!'

'You wish, Roba,' Joey said.

YGO

The Pharaoh stood on the rooftop. He looked down at the duel. This Espa Roba was certainly getting a hell of a lot over on Joey, but something told him that something about this duel wasn't right.

Hang in there, Joey. I know you can beat this guy, on your own. I have a feeling this so-called Psychic Duellist isn't all he claims to be.

'Let's tell Espa what else this guy's got.'

The Pharaoh turned his head as he heard that. Below him there were three boys, one of which had a baby strapped to his back. They had binoculars, turned towards Joey's cards, and an earpiece.

The Pharaoh listened as they reported to the so-called ESP duellist the cards in Joey's hand. 'I'm pretty sure that I see Graceful Dice under his Swordsman.'

'Okay, big brother, Graceful Dice is under his Swordsman.'

'It looks like he is a fake,' the Pharaoh said.

YGO

'I predict you're ready to quit!' Roba crowed.

'Yeah? Well, guess again, Roba. This duel's not over.' Joey drew. 'And I know you're up to something.' He looked at the card in his hand. Graceful Dice.

Roba lifted his hands to his head. 'Tapping in.' He made that humming sound again.

Joey growled. 'Not this again!'

Roba lowered his hands and looked at Joey. 'You just drew yet another Graceful Dice card, am I right, Wheeler?'

Joey drew back. 'Huh?' Yes…and no.

Behind him, Sharee clicked her tongue.

YGO

The Pharaoh watched the boys chuckling amongst themselves. This little scheme may have gotten them this far in the tournament but I know Joey will defeat these cheats. Besides, there was one little detail about those Charity cards in his hand that the Roba boys were obviously unaware of.

YGO

Espa Roba was gloating. 'Don't feel bad. No one expects you to keep up with my unique telepathic duelling powers.'

'If you had any,' Sharee muttered.

Roba didn't hear her. 'I foresee that your Battle City days are over! And that your rarest card will be sitting in my deck soon. It's all in the stars, Wheeler!' He smirked.

Joey's eyes narrowed. Old Blue-Hair's definitely up to something. But Sharee's right. He looked at his cards. He said he knew I picked up a second Graceful Dice card from the deck, and he was almost right, but not quite. I think it's time for me to play some mind games of my own with this cheat. He looked up and grabbed three cards. 'It's my turn! He threw his cards down. 'I summon Swordsman of Lanstar.' The card appeared in attack mode and the monster emerged from the field. 'And now, I'll place two cards face-down and end my turn.' The cards appeared in front of him.

Roba smirked. 'Let me guess. You'll play both of your Graceful Dice cards as soon as my Cyber Raider attacks, and multiply your Swordsman of Lanstar's attack points. Am I warm?'

Joey quirked a smirk. 'You're burning up.' He scowled. But you'll be even more steamed when I prove what a fraud you really are.

Roba lifted his hand to his chin. 'It's a great plan except that it won't work. The new rules say you can only play one Graceful Dice card at a time.'

Joey's eyes narrowed.

'That's right, Wheeler. Looks like my power psyched you out again.' He lowered his hand. 'It's my move.' He drew and laid his card. 'I'll sacrifice Cyber Raider and summon the Fiend Mega Cyber.' The card appeared below the Cyber Raider and he disappeared. The new, stronger, monster rose up in his place.

'I'm ready for you,' Joey said. 'Reveal magic card, Graceful Dice!' The card flipped up. The die emerged, carried by a little puppet man. The puppet rolled the die. Joey watched anxiously. His Fiend Mega Cyber's attack strength is 2200, more than four times the strength of my monsters. But if the die comes a five or higher, I'll win!

The die came to a stop, but it only landed on a three. He growled even as his Swordsman was powered up. Annoying, but not so bad. He had a second chance at this. Though, Roba wasn't aware of that and he immediately gloated.

'Aw! Only a three? That makes your monster's attack points a measly 1500 points, which means my monster won't even break a sweat! Fiend Mega Cyber, bring him down!' The monster roared and went to attack.

'Hey, slow down, Roba,' Joey said. 'You forget my other face-down card?'

'What did I just get through telling you, Wheeler?' Roba demanded. 'You can only use one Graceful Dice card per turn!'

'Who said it was a Graceful Dice?' Joey used the same type of question he'd once heard Yugi use.

'Huh?'

The card flipped up.

'A Skull Dice trap card?' Roba drew back, shocked. 'Is this some kinda trick?'

The card glowed and released a second sprite with a die.

'Don't cheat me!'

The sprite let the die roll. Joey just explained it. 'Skull Dice reduces your monster's attack strength depending on the roll of the die. The higher the number, the more your monster's points are reduced.' The die landed on a five.

'No!' Roba cried. His monster's attack dropped to 440.

'And now that your monster's basically a wimp…Swordsman, attack!' Joey commanded. His monster slashed across the Fiend and destroyed it. Roba screamed as his life points dropped down to 2940. He dropped to his knees.

'Looks like your psychic friends dropped the ball,' Joey said.

'Well, that's true,' Sharee said. 'Real psychics don't make a show out of their powers. Point of fact, the most you can tell when they're having a vision is when they close their eyes or they go all glassy-eyed and vacant. No humming, no chanting.'

Joey smirked. Trust her to know actual psychics. 'Yeah, I only had one Graceful Dice card.'

Roba pushed himself up and growled.

Joey pointed at him accusingly. 'You've been getting some bum information and now I know why. Because of how I held my cards, you knew I had two Dice cards but you couldn't tell which ones.' He planted his hands on his hips and glared at him. 'Which means your ESP game was just a card. You couldn't see my cards at all. But I'll bet you got friends in high places that can, you snake in the grass.'

Roba went blue in the face.

'You cheat!' Rex yelled.

YGO

'Uh oh.'

'Busted.'

Yes, and the Pharaoh and Yugi were both very satisfied on that front. 'Nice work, Joey. Now you're in control.' His attention was suddenly drawn, however, by a loud whistle from down where those Roba boys were. He looked down and saw Mokuba Kaiba running at them.

'Violation!' he yelled. Clearly Kaiba had put his younger brother in control of enforcing the rules in the tournament.

'Run!' One of the Roba boys immediately took off.

Mokuba shot past the other three and snatched the binoculars off of the boy holding them. 'Freeze!' The one who'd run tried to duck under a billboard but Mokuba was quick and a Kaiba. He slid down, grabbing his foot as he did so. 'Gotcha!' The Roba boy tripped and landed on his face. He'd be all right but his nose would throb for a while.

Mokuba shifted so he was sitting more comfortably and smirked. He rubbed his finger under his nose. 'Your brother will never duel in this town again.'

Another one of the brothers, the one with the baby, moved to one of the girders supporting the billboard. 'We've learned our lesson. Please, you gotta give him another chance!'

Mokuba planted his fists on his hips. 'As the Battle City Tournament Commissioner, it's my sworn duty to bust cheaters.' He folded his arms. 'Give me one good reason why I shouldn't cancel this duel.'

Thought so. It was nice to see he took it seriously.

'You just can't!' the boy insisted.

The brother, who likely had a sore nose, moved up onto his hands and knees and begged him. 'Show some mercy, Commish. Our brother isn't doing this for the duelling glory. He's doing it for us.'

'Huh?' Mokuba asked.

The one with the baby explained. 'We're carnival folk, or at least we used to be. Since we left the show, he's kept the bullies off our backs.'

Well, that explained why they were cheating but that wasn't fair. There were other ways to go about dealing with bullies. All the same, the Pharaoh knew that would strike a cord with Mokuba.

And so it did. 'Your big brother protects you from bullies?'

The boy went on. 'See, everyday after school the big kids would gang up on us.'

'But even bullies respect a good duellist like our brother. As long as he wins, they leave us alone. We're just trying to make sure he does.'

But it was a false respect. The Pharaoh knew Sharee earned respect in a variety of ways, depending on who it was: by being rich and not flashing her dollars at everyone, by being loyal to her friends, by knowing when it was a good time to do what. Besides, Yugi faced many of the same problems, due to the fact that he was smaller than most boys his age, and he never felt the need to do anything like that.

At that point, Mokuba saw him. 'It's Yugi!' And he knew he'd seen everything. The look on the younger Kaiba's face showed his internal conflict. On one hand, he sympathised with the boys and on the other he knew it was unfair to all the other duellists in the tournament, including Joey. He shook his head. 'It's still cheating! If I let you guys off the hook, what's to stop you from pulling this stunt again?'

'I'm begging!' the boy nearest him said. 'Let my brother duel or we're toast after school!'

Mokuba tensed.

The boy with the lollipop spoke. 'Just give him a chance to go legit. Espa maybe a bogus psychic but he's a great duellist.' He laughed lightly.

Mokuba looked up at him again. The Pharaoh mused, as he watched them out of the corner of his eye, that everyone – barring Seto Kaiba – seemed to turn to him. And, more often, when he was in control of Yugi's body. He turned his eyes back to the duel as he heard the brothers speak again.

'What d'you say?'

'Come on. Have a heart!'

Mokuba was silent for a moment and then he sighed. 'This is your last chance. If he cheats again, then it's no more Mr. Nice Guy.'

'Thanks, Commish.'

Well, it wasn't what the Pharaoh would have done…but it was what Yugi would have.

YGO

Téa was worried.

'I haven't seen Yugi all day. I hope that everything's all right. Ishizu said he had to enter this tournament to save the world from an ancient evil. But who knows when that evil will show up?' She stood up. 'All I know for sure is that when it does, we'll all be there to stand by him, not just Sharee.'

'…everyone died last time.'

'No matter what the cost is.'

YGO

Roba was on his feet. 'Ha! Are you accusing me of faking all my psychic abilities?'

'Yes,' Sharee said.

'Too bad! Cause I'm getting a telepathic vision right now that's just guaranteed to come true!'

'You know you're a fraud.' Joey was really getting sick of this.

'We'll see who's a fraud when I win!' Roba insisted self-confidently, pointing to himself. And then he pointed at Joey. 'And when you…you lose in disgrace.'

Joey gave him a bland look. 'Dream on, pal.'

Roba lowered his arm. 'I don't need to dream. Even without my psychic abilities, I've never lost a duel. And I can tell that's not gonna change anytime in the near future.'

The people around them were fooled but Sharee scoffed.

Joey closed his eyes. 'Espa, I don't have psychic powers.' He opened his eyes. 'But I do have a belief in myself that a chump like you would never understand.'

'Very poetic, but you'll need more than a belief to stop me from blasting you right out of the tournament!'

'I'm tired of yapping about the future. Let's finish this duel here and now!'

Roba closed his eyes. 'I predict a nasty end for you, Wheeler!' He opened his eyes. 'Rumour has it, without Yugi to help you, you couldn't duel your way out of a paper bag!'

'Idle gossip!' Sharee called.

Roba's eyes narrowed and he ignored her. 'Prepare to taste the psychic power of my duelling deck, you amateur!'

'Bring it on, psycho-boy!' Joey retorted.

Roba growled and drew. 'It's psychic!' He laid a card. 'I'll place one card face-down on the field and end my turn.' The card appeared.

YGO

Sharee watched the duel continue. At least Roba had stopped with the over-dramatic falsetto psychic visions. Mind, the dead giveaway was the fact that he was advertising it. Real psychics never advertised their power. It was too much trouble. She grinned when she saw Joey's two monsters attack Espa's life points directly and bring them down to 1440. One more move and Joey would win the entire duel. But she wasn't entirely happy to see him finally flip up his face-down card.

It was a Mind Control card.

'Eh,' Joey said. 'This can't be good.' The Swordsman of Lanstar slowed to a stop and turned around.

'Ha!' Espa crowed. 'Once a monster falls into my mind trap it instantly becomes my brainwashed servant.'

Sharee was confused though. She twisted her lips to the side. That's the weaker of the two. Why didn't Espa use it on the Alligator Sword?

Because he wants to use it as a tribute to summon an even stronger monster.

Oh…right. Duh.

Joey drew and smirked at the card he'd drawn. 'I place one card face-down and end my turn.'

'It's showtime!' Espa drew. 'I'll sacrifice your Swordsman of Lanstar and I'll Jinzo!' He played the card.

Uh oh.

'The end is near, Wheeler!' The Swordsman vanished into the card that had appeared beneath it. Another, much more powerful monster rose up out of the card. It was tall and had a bald head.

Joey was smirking so Sharee guessed the face-down card he'd placed was a trap. But, unfortunately, she wasn't the only one.

Espa scoffed. 'You better hope your face-down card isn't a trap cause, if it is, my next move may disappoint you. Show your stuff, Jinzo!' The monster's eyes glowed brightly and then a bright beam of light shot out of the mouthpiece of his mask. It soared right through Joey's down card, destroying it.

Joey drew back. 'Ah, my trap!'

'With Jinzo on the field, all your trap cards are useless!' Roba crowed. 'I foresee the finish, with no defences Jinzo will defeat you in no time at all and you'll be out of the tournament for good, Wheeler!'

Joey ground his teeth. 'I can't let him win!'