All rights to Yu-Gi-Oh© are reserved to Kazuki Takahashi.

Chapter 3: Home Again

The heat hung in the air like a damp blanket as dusk was approaching. It was just another slow day for Sanako Minase in the Game Shop. Sweat drooled down her skin as she tried to sleep away the last hours of the day. Bells chimed, signaling that someone had just walked through the door.

Ugh…customers now?...what a pain…

"Welcome to the Kame Game Shop. It you have any questions please, don't hesitate to ask…" she said drowsily, not even bothering to lift her head to see how had come in.

"Man, you good fer nuthin lazy bum! What would've happened if I was some sorta robber eh?"

Oh man…not him, please anyone but him…

She lazily lifted up her head from the table. In front of her glaring down was the exact opposite of her wish.

"Jounouchi? What are you doing back? You just left last week…"

"Well, Yuugi and gramps over here finished their excavation and we decided to head back home after touring Egypt a bit."

Once her eyes became better adjusted she saw other people there as well. Among them was the famous Yuugi Motou.

What?...two of them?...I need to lay off the booze…oh…speaking of which…

Sanako reached down to her feet and pulled out a sake bottle and started drink from the lip.

"Sanako! How many times have I told you not to drink in the shop!"

"Relax Jounouchi. It's 6, no one comes at this time."

"So you must be the Sanako I've been hearing about. I'm Sogoroku Motou, thank you for watching over my shop while I was gone," Grandpa said, stepping in before Jounouchi could respond.

"No problem Mr. Motou. Jounouchi here was in some heavy trouble managing the store by himself a while back, I'm glad I could help," she responded, immediately sounding sweet and considerate.

Oh, so she's polite when she has to be. Useless little… Jounouchi thought, glaring at Sanako.

"Please no formalities. Just call me grandpa. That what the others do."

"I guess I should introduce you to everyone else. This here is Anzu, Honda, and of course you've heard about the famous Yuugi Motou," Jounouchi said.

However Sananko's attention was more concentrated on the second Yuugi.

"Let me take a wild guess here. One of those Yuugi's is the Pharaoh's spirit?"

Oh so she only thinks hard when she needs to too…geez, is she really that lazy? Jounouchi thought sarcastically.

"Eh?" Atem said, "How did you know about me?"

"Oh she knows everything about you, Atem. You'll never guess who her dad is," Jounouchi said excitedly.

"Who? Do we know him?" Yuugi asked.

"Knowing Jounouchi here, I guess he was waiting to tell you the 'big secret ' until we met," replied Sakano.

"Hint #1. He invented the entire duel monsters game!" Jounouchi announced.

"Your father is Pegasus?!" the gang gasped.

"Adopted father. He's really my uncle. But yes."

"How come we've never met before," asked Yuugi.

"Unfortunately I was at boarding school during the time of the tournaments and my school has a strict rule of staying on campus no matter what circumstance."

"So how did you get here?" Aznu asked.

"I was really looking for a duel with Yuugi, so I came to the game shop. Instead I found Jounouchi here struggling with stock items, costumers, and budget keeping. I offered my services if he'd get me a place to stay. I knew our paths would eventually cross."

"What?!" exclaimed Jounouchi, "You said you were just looking for some work and a place to stay! I didn't know you really wanted to duel Yuugi."

"So I lied. It's not like it was any of your business what my intentions were," she shrugged.

"So why didn't you just fly to Egypt if you wanted to duel him? Your father is Pegasus. He could easily afford the ticket," Honda said.

"Didn't feel like going through the trouble of airport security. Besides my situation here was pretty nice."

Man this girl really is lazy. She's an interesting one, she is. I can see Jounouchi ready to pummel her. Honda thought. Jounouchi and Sanako continued to bicker against each other. Man I haven't seen Jounouchi like a girl this much since Mai, he smiled, she is pretty cute.

Sanako was pretty. She was average height, a bit shorter then Anzu but taller then Atem, with a slim figure. She had short mid-neck dark hair that perfectly framed her round face with deep chocolate eyes. However she was constantly slouched or in a relaxed position and her expression was always tired or bored.

"Hey Sanako!" Yuugi said, desperately trying to break up the verbal war between her and Jounouchi. The two immediately ceased and diverted their attention to Yuugi who gulped nervously at the sudden response. "U-um, you said you wanted to duel me right? Why don't we do that now?"

Sanako's face suddenly lit up, "Really? Alright, let's go!"

As if she randomly had an energy boost, Sanako jumped up and grabbed a couple of duel discs on display and tossed one to Yuugi.

"Umph…" he grunted as he caught it.

On top of it she laid down a deck of duel monster cards. Yuugi blinked at the deck. He knew immediately in his heart which cards were in there. It held an all too familiar feeling.

"We've been keeping it safe for you," she winked.

Yuugi picked up the old cards and gently wiped the dust off. He felt as though he had just been reunited with a very old friend. He flipped over the first card which showed the Dark Magician.

"Hello my old companion…" he smiled. Slowly he went through each card, reminiscing on how each one had served him faithfully and well.

"Yuugi?"

"Huh?" he snapped out of his memories.

"Are you ready?"

A smile of confidence and contentment crept across his face as he looked up.

"It's time to duel!"

The two went out into the street, each one preparing their decks and getting their duel ready to begin.

Man…I haven't seen Sanako this excited since I first brought home that bottle of sake. Why does she look so confident? I mean yea, she's a decent duelist an' all but even she would know that she's nothing up against the King of Games… Jounouchi thought to himself.

"This will definitely turn to be an interesting duel…" Atem said.

"Iono…I've played Sanako plenty of times before. She's aite but personally, I don't think she got what it takes to beat Yuug."

"I'm not sure Jounouchi. She's already proven to be a very unpredictable girl. I've seen that look before…"

"We'll hafta see…"

"Are you ready for this Yuugi?" Sanako challenged, her once drowsy voice now full of confidence and excitement, "You may have defeated my father, but he didn't have the cards I have."

"We'll hafta see Sanako. You still haven't seen me play yet!"

"Let's Duel!" they shouted in unison.

Each one of them drew 5 cards and the lifepoint meter on their duel discs tallied up to 6000.

"I'll go first! I'll play this card face down and Rogue Doll in attack mode," Sanako said.

A hologram of the monster on the card on the card suddenly appeared before them.

That's one of Pegasus' cards…Yuugi thought, I've fought them before so this shouldn't be much of a problem…

"Very well. My turn. I play Gamma the Magnet Warrior and this magic card to raise his attack points by 500, giving him the attack strength of 2000! Now go Gamma! Attack her Rogue Doll."

The robotic figure that had just appeared then charged towards Sakano's monster. But before it could attack Sakano's face down card then flipped up and Gamma stopped in its tracks.

"What?"

"Your Gamma Warrior activated my trap card Magic Curse. Whenever you play a magic or trap card while this card is on the field, it will immediately be terminated and its effects negated. However, the same applies to me as well."

Yuugi's magic card slowly evaporated and Gamma Warrior's attack points dropped back to it's original strength.

"I believe your Gamma Warrior was attacking then huh?"

Gamma then return to its charge but Rogue Doll, being the stronger monster destroyed it, decreasing Yuugi's life points.

"Wow, good move," Yuugi commented, "It was only 100 life points but still, I was not expecting that."

"I told you that my cards were different to my fathers. Either way, now we're both crippled to using just brute strength now. Of course I could take away my trap card at any time I want, but where would the fun be in that?" Sakano smirked.

"That was an impressive move," Sogoroku commented, "I've never even heard of that trap card before."

"Neither have I…" Jounouchi responded.

What's going on? Has Sakano been hiding her true cards and strength all this time? I've never seen her like this before…

Atem stared intensely at the Sakano. She was definitely a different person then he had met before.

I'm curious to see what else she has up her sleeve.

The duel progressed with each duelist summoning back and forth out more powerful monsters then last, hoping that the other didn't have more. Sakano played very subtly, summoning monsters with attack strengths that were only a small percentage higher then Yuugi's, while as Yuugi just played whatever monster was stronger then hers. The monsters then came to the point where they were so powerful that Yuugi was forced to summon one of his Egyptian God cards.

"I sacrifice my Dark Magician to summon Slifer the Sky Dragon!"

A beam of light came down on the darkly dressed monster, making it disappear as an enormous red dragon with 2 mouths took its place. It wrapped protectively around Yuugi, awaiting it's orders.

"Slifer's attack power is verified by the number of cards I hold in my hand. Right now I hold 5 so his attack strength is 5000! Now Slifer! Attack her Vanity's Ruler!"

Finally…it was about time he called it out…

The mouth of the great dragon opened wide as a blast erupted from it's mouth, destroying her monster and lowering her life points from 3000 to 500.

"This isn't looking good for Sanako," Anzu commented, "She only has 500 life points and Yuugi still has 3600 along with Slifer now on the field."

But she doesn't look defeated… Atem thought. She looks as if she got exactly what she wanted.

Sanako smiled confidently at Yuugi's puzzled look.

I don't get it. I took out 3/4ths of her life points. Why is she still so confident? What is she up to?...

"Your move…"

"Hmph…be prepared Yuugi for it's here where things truly get interesting. First I lift away Magic Curse from the playing field so that I can now play magic cards. And the magic card I play is Level Modulation. You now have to draw two more cards from your deck."

Yuugi drew two cards from his deck to put in his hand.

I don't get it…why would she play that? That only makes Slifer more powerful…

"What the heck did she do that for? Now Slifer is at 7000 attack points," Jounouchi said.

"Quiet Jounouchi, she's not done," Honda responded. He was clearly interested what sort of strategy she was pulling. As he experienced in the army, to strengthen the opponent was only used when they planned to that strength against them. How Sakano was going to pull this off greatly intrigued him.

Sakano pulled out one card from her hand. The one card she had been saving since the beginning.

This is it. I will finally witness the strongest monster in all of Duel Monsters!

Sanako recalled back to when she was a little girl watching her dad create new monster cards.

"Daddy? What's that one called?"

"This one? This one with called Kuriboh," Pegasus answered.

"Is that one the strongest one Daddy?"

"Oh no princess. Far from it. But he can be very useful if you use him right."

"I wanna see the strongest monster there is!"

"I'm sure you do. But the strongest monster won't appear just because you want it to appear, little princess. You have to be worthy enough for it to show himself to you."

"How do I do that?"

"Here. Take this card. If you use this card right it can be even more powerful then the Egyptian God cards. And then you'll be worthy to see the most powerful monster in Duel Monsters."

"My next card is my trump card. The one that will finish this duel. I summon Mythical Shroud!" Sanako announced excitedly. She had been waiting for this day ever since Pegasus had given her this card.

A masked figure emerged, looming over Sanako. It's cloak was pure white with a hood that concealed its face.

I've never even heard of that monster before. But it doesn't have any attack or defense points. And she doesn't have any cards on the field either. What's so special about this monster?... Yuugi thought. Well…I won't know until I attack…

"Go Slifer! Attack!"

However the dragon stayed silent and still, arousing concern and confusion to everyone.

"Slifer?" Yuugi said.

"Heheh…" A smile creased onto Sanako's face. "You just activated my monster's special ability," she answered, "One thing about Mythical Shroud is that it's the only one of its kind. One my father made especially for me to be able to defeat the Egyptian God cards! It's true that it doesn't have any attack or defense points but that's because it doesn't need them. Instead it takes it's opponent attack points and how ever many cards I hold to convert into its own strength and defense. And since I hold 3 cards, Mythical Shroud now has the attack and defense power of 10,000!"

Shock spread through everyone as the duel had been switched entirely around. As different thoughts flooded into everyone's minds.

10,000 attack points?! No way!

So this is what she's been planning all this time, slowly drawing out Yuugi's most powerful monsters until he was forced to call out his strongest. Then she used its power to feed her own monster.

That's why she played that magic card! To make Slifer even stronger then Yuugi had him.

Impressive…she's been planning this duel from the beginning. Everything fell according to her plan. Yuugi had lost since the beginning.

"Go Mythical Shroud! Destroy his Egyptian God!"

The hooded figure jumped from behind Sanako and floated above Slifer. The cloaked then consumed Slifer and contracted till they both disappeared. Then the hooded figure was found at Sakano's side once more.

Yuugi stared in shock as he saw that his dragon was now gone and his life points tallying down to 600. Even if Yuugi have 100 more life points more then Sanako, the duel was now completely in her favor. One more attack and he would be done for. Yuugi desperately looked down at his hand. He still had Obelisk and Ra…but they couldn't do anything, not against her Mythical Shroud. He could call back Slifer with a Monster Reborn. But what use? It would just go back to the graveyard. Then his eyes fell on his last card: Polymerization.

That's it! Alone they can't defeat her but together…they might have a chance!

However it was only a lucky gambit. He had never combined the 3 Egyptian Gods before. But he was willing to take that chance.

"I call my Kuriboh and Celtic Guardian for sacrifice to summon my other two Egyptian Gods: Obelisk the Tormentor and Winged Dragon of Ra. I also play Monster Reborn to resurrect Slifer the Sky Dragon."

That's it, you have all 3 of them now. Play the final card now. Awaken it! Sakano became more and more excited by the second. I have fought hard to get to this point! To become worthy enough! Reveal yourself to me!

"And now I play the magic card Polymerization to combine all 3 Egyptian Gods to create the ultimate monster!"

The three colossal monsters twisted together as they began to morph into one. The 3 monsters disappeared as a star of light began to draw itself.

Wait a second…Yuugi thought.

We've seen this before…Atem thought.

Why this is…!

But before Sogoroku could finish his thought a large muscular arm emerged from the star. On its wrists were broken and worn down chains. Slowly the body submerged and then the head, revealing the only unstoppable monster ever. It was the Forbidden One. It was…

"Exodia!" Yuugi called to his monster. "Obliterate and end this duel!"

On command the large legendary monster reached out his arm and destroyed Mythical Shroud with one blast as the explosion filled the surroundings with a bright light. Sanako's life points fell down to 0 and the holograms disappeared as she smiled with content. She picked up her Mythical Shroud card and gazed at it with relief.

Finally, all are work has been paid off. Together we were able to witness the most powerful monster in Duel Monsters. Now it's all over.

Yuugi came over to Sanako with his hand outstretched. Sanako smiled and shook it thankfully.

"Congratulations Yuugi. You truly deserve the title of King of Games."

"Well actually Sanako you played an impressive match yourself. I almost didn't win that duel. If I hadn't had the right cards in my hand at the moment then you would've won."

"What are you talking about? I did win."

"Huh?"

"When I dueled you, I didn't duel to actually win the match. My purpose of facing you was to see the most powerful monster ever. Why did you think I went through all the trouble just to find you, and to draw out your most powerful cards? If I wanted to duel to win then I would be content with just facing Jounouchi."

"I heard that!" Jounouchi said as the gang walked over to the two duelists.

Sanako ignored him and continued, "And now that I have I want you to have this." She handed Yuugi her Mythical Shroud card.

"What?! B-but I can't take this!"

"I want you to have it. I know that you would put it to better use then I ever could. I would be happy knowing that my prized card was in the hands of the King of Games."

Yuugi stared at the card reluctantly before he smiled as he accepted the card. Everyone beamed at the new blossoming friendship between the two.

"Besides, now that I've seen Exodia, I have no reason to duel anymore. It's better in the card was with you then just collecting dust in my pocket," Sanako added, her usual lazy voice returning.

"Geez!" Jounouchi cried, "You certainly know how to ruin the mood you good-fer-nuthin hobo!"

Jounouchi and Sanako got into another argument as Anzu and Honda tried to calm them down. Sogoroku watched the bicker in amusement as Yuugi stared awkwardly. He felt a hand on his shoulder and turned to see Atem smiling down at him. His eyes spoke his pride and admiration to Yuugi. Yuugi smiled back at his companion as they both looked back at their friends. New ones, old ones, it didn't matter. Their minds didn't have to be connected to know that they were both happy to be home again.

Wow! That duel was a monster to write! Ahahaha, monster xD stupid pun….ahem either way, so this chapter introduced an entirely brand new character! Yea, I never saw Mai as a good match for Jounouchi. Sanako is basically what the type of girl I imagined him pairing off with. So yea, welcome to the gang Sanako :D R&R por favor