Dring!

The cheerful little bell that hung above the door to the Kame Game shop chimed as a white-haired teen with a goofy grin on his face rushed in, waving a video game in one outstretched hand.

"Yugi! It's here!"

Yugi looked up, his spiked hair waving as he jumped down from the stool behind the counter. "What's here..?"

"The new game – Super Smash Bros. Brawl!"

Yugi raised an eyebrow. "The remake of Melee?"

"The very same! Want to come over later and play it?"

Yugi smiled. Ryou was passionate about any kind of game, and every time he got a new one he would invite Yugi to play it. You had to admire his enthusiasm.

"Sure, why not?"

Three hours later..

Yugi's shift had finished at his grandpa's game shop, so he was free to meander over to his friends house. It was getting dark, though – it was winter, after all…- and he rushed a little too quickly on his way to Ryou's apartment.

As he passed an alley, a man wearing black armour and a cloak watched him from the darkness…

"Ha! You can't beat me, Yugi – Pit is my best character!"

The two were sitting in Ryou's small front room. Ryou had just loaded up the game, and they were having a free-for-all so that Yugi could get familiar with the controls.

Yugi looked at the screen, figuring out the characters. He lingered over Meta Knight, but thought better of it.

"That's his favourite character." Ryou shuddered slightly.

((I don't know… Which character do you suggest, Yami?))

(Hmm. Characters with good offensive capabilities, but also a long-range backup move, like maybe… Link?)

((Alright.))

"I choose Link as my character."

Ryou winced slightly. "Why you have to choose him I'll never know… I always have trouble with Link."

Yugi grinned. "Lucky guess."

The brawl began, in the Skyworld stage. To make it interesting, Ryou had inserted two random AI characters, who turned out to be Fox and Kirby. He huffed, face locked in concentration.

"No fair! You can fly!"

"What do you expect? Pit is an angel!" Ryou mashed the controller, using Pit's powerful run-A move to smash Link off the screen. He smiled.

Two minutes to go, and Yugi finally got his head round the controls. He used Links whirlwind attack to disrupt Pits knife-spinning from afar, and used Links up-A move to flick Pit into the air and off the screen.

Meanwhile, Kirby ran up to Link and swallowed him, absorbing him a second later.

"Hey! He's got my hat!"

Ryou grimaced. "And your bow, too. Kirby's ability is to swallow his enemies and gain their b-moves."

Indeed, Kirby got out a bow and began to shoot the newly-regenerated Pit, and with help from Fox and Link, Pit was forced under the stage.

With only fifty seconds to go, Ryou made Pit move to the side and let Link clean up the other two, which Yugi did admirably. Ryou smiled as the end screen popped up and Link took the title.

"Are you sure you haven't played this before, Yugi?"

"I played Melee a couple of times, but not Brawl."

[What did you expect? Yugi never loses with the Pharaoh on his side.]

[[Well, you try then.]]

[With pleasure.]

[[I didn't mean-]] But Ryou was cut off as Bakura took over.

Yugi looked sideways at his friend, who had shifted his position slightly on the couch. Now he was leaning forward, his slanted eyes trained on the screen, and his white hair falling over his face. "Ryou..?"

"How about another one, Yugi? In fact, I'll change characters, to make it easy for you."

"Sure." The character select screen popped up again, and

Yugi hovered over the characters again.

Bakura thumbed the control straight to Meta Knight, and changed his color to red-eyed.

(Yugi. Let me take over.) The mental voice of Yami sounded extremely worried.

((Why? It's only a game…))

(That's not Ryou.)

Yugi looked at his friend, sat next to him on the couch. He was tossing the Wii controller around, flipping it in his hands.

((Fine.))

The Puzzle glinted as Yami took control. Bakura sensed this, and smirked at Yami as he raised the controller and chose Ike.

"Ike is no match for my skill with Meta Knight."

"We'll see." Yami pressed + and Bakura quickly chose the Battle Halberd stage.

Brawl- Start!

Bakura piloted MetaKnight away from Ike's sword thrusts, using his up-B move and his whirlwind attack. He charged up his b-attack, before hitting Ike with a powerful slash that almost sent him hurtling upwards.

Almost.

In fact, Yami turned this to his advantage, using his up-B move to slam down on Meta Knight for a large amount of damage.

Bakura winced as MetaKnight was hit off the ground, and nearly defeated.

Nearly.

Bakura mashed the controller and Meta Knight jumped in midair, winging his way back to the central platform. But Ike was waiting for him, and a massive blow with his sword sent Meta Knight hurtling off the screen.

Bakura frowned. [Time to take this up a notch, I think.]

He dropped the nunchuck and pushed Yami to the side so

that he dropped his controller, smashing Ike off the screen while Yami recovered. At that moment, the brawl ended, and Meta Knight was proclaimed the winner.

Yami grimaced. "Just like you, to cheat at a video game, Thief."

"Just because you don't fight dirty doesn't mean I can't. Heh."

Yami shifted his grip on the controller and nunchuck.

"Rematch."

"Fine by me."

This went on all through the night, and both Yami and Bakura wouldn't let up on their ferocious attacks and dirty cheating, respectively.

At one-o-clock in the morning, the power for both the remotes drained completely, forcing the two rivals to end their game. For now.

It doesn't need saying that Yami won twenty-seven games to twenty.

Ganondorf walked up the street leading to his quarry's house. He had been given a gadget by his repulsive pot-bellied ally, Wario, and it had led him to the apartment building he now stood in front of.

Why must I always be the person to wield these infernal gadgets? Give me a good tracking spell any day…

Bakura yawned, stretching on the couch and opening a can of Pepsi. He downed the lot in one, before switching back to his host. [Good thing it's a Saturday tomorrow, hmm?]

Ryou immediately fell asleep, his body too tired to do anything else.

Ganondorf was now at the door to his quarry's apartmnent. He swiftly kicked it down, and stalked inside.

The first thing he noticed was a TV monitor, left on from the earlier game. He grunted. Is that what they call us..? Super Smash Brothers Brawl? What kind of name is that?

Then, he noticed the teenage boy sprawled over the couch, fast asleep, his white hair drooping over the edge of the arm.

Ganondorf raised an eyebrow, scanning the boy with his gadget. Yes. This is the one.

He went to place a hand on the boy, so that the teleporter built into the gadget would return them both, but evidently something was jamming the signal.

Bakura opened his eyes. "Ganondorf, hmm?"

Ganondorf raised an eyebrow, unfazed. "Yes. I am Ganondorf."

"And what are you doing in my front room?" Bakura reached into a pocket for his knife, pulling it out and flicking it around his hands.

Ganondorf didn't reply. Instead, he held out the gadget. "Why don't you see," he said craftily.

Bakura looked warily at the little gadget. "And what is that?"

"Find out."

Bakura took the gadget, and it glowed slightly in his hand. Ganondorf lashed out, pressing a button and grabbing Bakura's shoulder as a black vortex was spat out by the gadget, covering them both and sending them spinning into another world…

Ah, yes. You're wondering... 'What about Yugi? How's he going to get into the Brawl universe?'

Welll... That's up next. Until then, seeya!