Two teenaged girls were rushing down the well-lit urban street in the middle of the night. Both of them were athletically built, but one was a few inches taller. The shorter girl had deep, dark red shoulder-length straight hair with blond highlights and Asian almond eyes with a very rare, purplish color. She was dressed in worn-looking jeans, white sneakers with pink laces, and a white t-shirt covered with various quotes from well-known people. She was covered in a black, unzipped hooded sweatshirt, and also wore a silver bracelet with the letters "Next King of Games" engraved. The taller girl had even shorter hair which was as white as polar bear fur, and deep blue eyes. Although she looked somewhat Caucasian, her appearance was ambiguous. She had a very pale complexion, but with facial features that were very pretty but could have belonged to a number of different races. She wore a white long-sleeved business shirt with a neck tie wrapped loosely around it, and a just-above-the-knee blue/white pleated skirt. Despite the frigid cold, she opted to tie her beige sweater around her waist rather than actually wear it. She also wore silver sneakers and a silver necklace with a pendant in the shape of a Blue Eyes White Dragon. The two girls were best friends, although clearly they had their own styles. With a common goal in mind, they snuck into a back alley adjacent to a tall office building, and found a door with a key card reader and a number pad. The taller girl took out a key card, slid it into the card reader, punched in her social security number, and unlocked the door, where they immediately rushed down a hallway.

Joanne Moto and Kitara Kaiba were once again on one of their little late night play dates. They were sneaking into Kaiba Corp's technology lab, again, for the seventh time. Joanne realized how atypical it was, for two teenage girls in the middle of Manhattan to be interested in a high security building where a bunch of white coats worked on shit that they couldn't even understand… except maybe Kitara, who was a nerd. That was the whole reason why they waited until Saturday night, because Kitara refused to sneak out and do anything on a school night. She had the guts to sneak into a high security building that was Kaiba Corp's equivalent of Area 51, but not if it meant sleeping past 11PM when there was class the next day. Sheesh. But then the whole thing was usually Joanne's idea anyway, because there was one section of the facility that she absolutely had to see every single time, the Duel Monsters R & D Laboratory. And this time there was one particular piece of technology they absolutely had to check out before Joanne would be able to get more than four hours of sleep a night and not fantasize about it. She had to see the duel runner simulator.

May 30 2025. It's been more than two decades since Yugi and his friends helped save the world, and the course of history did not sit still. Japan, despite some rough patches from the previous decade, rode out the worldwide economic depression virtually unscathed. Overpopulation and the chance to capitalize on the woes of other nations led to a major outflux of Japanese business people and entrepreneurs to different parts of the world, especially the United States and China. By using capital from back home and knowledge of more efficient business and technical practices, quite a few Japanese established themselves nicely in the land of opportunity. Kaiba Corporation was one of the first major companies to outsource its essence across the world, and during the early years of the "Great Japanese Excursion" they created a huge market for their products in virtually every major urban neighborhood in America. Surprisingly, there was very little backlash from the general population. America had successfully adapted to the conditions of the brave new world, but only by giving up its enormous lead as an international military superpower and instead redirecting its resources back towards itself, improving its educational systems, medical systems, and infrastructure. This did wonders for the American people at first, but with a reduced ability to project its military might to the rest of the world, other nations became more economically protectionist and many American corporations collapsed, allowing the Japanese to walk right in and save the day.

Seto Kaiba thoroughly researched American culture and was able to portray his company as the ultimate unification of two worlds, east and west, making it the most popular and well respected out of all the other "posers", as he liked to call them. It also helped that Americans had no trouble pronouncing his last name. Heavily invested in his new sphere of influence, Seto decided to permanently move his residence to New York and leave a young upstart named Rex Goodwin in charge of New Domino City headquarters. This is how his adopted daughter, Kitara, arrived in the United States.

"Ok, we're here. Promise me that when you stop drooling all over the floor you're not gonna like, make me start licking it, ok?" Kitara said this with a disgusted tone. Joanne smirked back. "Hee, is that what you want?" She then tilted her head up and put her finger to her chin as though she were actually thinking about it. Kitara lightly smacked the back of her head. They were now at the end of another hallway, and were confronted with an imposing metal door. Kitara slid her dad's key card through another card reader and enter the password into another keypad, "k-i-s-a-r-a-'-s-d-r-a-g-o-n". Kitara never understood why dad would use her name misspelled as the password, but then there were a lot of things she didn't know about him. The large metallic door unlocked after several seconds of internal mechanisms clicked and clacked and creaked. Kitara knew the thing was designed to withstand a bomb blast. When the door finally opened, Joanne rushed in and started looking around at the new equipment that had been developed. As she hopped from one piece of machinery to the next, her eyes began to water with excitement. Both she and Kitara were obsessed with electronics (although Kitara was much more skilled with them). Joanna turned her smiling but conserved friend, who had just started to really enter the room. "I wish my dad was in to these kinds of things." Kitara began to walk towards the opposite end of the room where there was another metallic door. That door held the main attraction. "I actually like your dad's career. You don't like learning about pyramids and stuff?" Joanne turned to her nerdy friend. "Yah, but you guys hardly ever talk about pyramids. You're all obsessed with the Pre-Dynastic period or whatever before they were built."

It's rather ironic that Kitara, Seto's adopted daughter, would be the one to take an interest in ancient Egyptian history. Seto was always aloof about ancient history. In his opinion there was "no sense in learning about things unless you can change them." Joanne actually agreed with this more than Kitara, who was always more romantic about learning in general. That's why Kitara and Yugi Moto got along so well.

After Atem returned to the spirit world and the millennium puzzle was locked away forever, Yugi was once again just an ordinary teenager. However, his newfound self-confidence would serve him well. Not having to worry so much about rare hunters and giant demons with dragon penises did wonders for both Yugi's sanity and his academic success. Yugi found himself attracted to great historical leaders and activists. Foreigners, such as Martin Luther King, Gandhi, and Elizabeth Katy Stanton, and local heroes like Sakamoto Ryoma, who helped overthrow the Tokugawa shogunate and bring modernity to Japan, were all equally fascinating. Yugi felt a kind of kinship with these people, having shared a body with the spirit of an ancient Egyptian pharaoh who saved the world, twice. By the end of high school little Yugi had risen to the top ten percent of his class and decided he would make a career out of learning about history and teaching it to others. Yugi also developed a slight interest in feminism, after thinking about how brave Tea had been throughout all their experiences. By somehow managing to turn all the moral lessons he had learned (through ridiculous events) into a coherent personal statement that did not sound like the ravings of a mad lunatic, he managed to earn an international scholarship to New York University in America, where he graduated magna cum laude with a B.A. in history in 2005. He then went on to become an associate professor of Egyptology at the same school.

Oh, and he retired from professional dueling as he was pursuing his master's degree. His last official tournament was supposed to be in Domino City in 2006, the same year the "zero reverse" incident tore the city in half. Obviously the tournament was canceled and Yugi would have to move on with his life. His career and his fiancé, Tea Gardner, were calling. At the time Yugi was still the King of Games, but his fame waned as other champions like Jaden Yuki, Zane Truesdale, Jack Atlas, and Yusei Fudo eventually made names for themselves. After growing older and settling into pretty much the perfect life, Yugi decided there were worse things than having other people save the world for a change, something he knew about since his connection to the duel monsters spirit world kept him up to date with the latest "chosen ones".

"So when was the Pharaoh Atem born?" Joanne asked as politely as she could without sounding bored. Kitara raised an eyebrow as she opened the door. "Around 3000 BC. He was the grandson of Menes, the pharaoh who unified Egypt's upper and lower halves, and the son of Aknamkanon, who helped develop much of Egypt's economic and political structure." Joanne nodded politely. "And why was Atem so important again?" Kitara, hoping that Joanne was actually starting to take an interest in this stuff, cracked a smile. "Well, he's famous for-" Joanne rushed into the room and exclaimed, "Talk later! Woah!" Kitara, excited at Joanne's excitement but also mildly disappointed, rubbed Joanne's shoulder and then rested her head on it and whispered into her ear, "Aren't they awesome?" Joanne suppressed a squeal. "Oh my god I'm going to cum in my pants!" What they were looking at were two motorcycle-like machines hooked up to platforms on the ground via a bunch of cables. In front of the machines were two large screens, the size of billboards. Joanne rushed to get a closer look and noticed that duel-disks were rigged to the front of the motorcycles. "Oh man, I'm going to play with this thing every chance I get when it comes out!" Joanne hugged the seat of the cycle like it was her lover. "Just don't use it as a vibrator." Kitara walked up to her and smacked her butt. "That's my job." Both of them looked around awkwardly and started laughing… until all the lights suddenly went on.

"Umm, hi dad!" Kitara stared at the back of the room, where stood a tall, thin, well-built man in blue silk pajamas underneath a black bathrobe. Joanne jumped and turned around to confront the legendary Seto Kaiba, who looked sincerely pissed off. Joanne had a great deal of respect for a man who could look respectable and intimidating while wearing pajamas, something she imagined very few old geezers could do. She remembered pictures of Kaiba when he was their age, and aside from looking even taller and stronger now, and less boyish, he was pretty much the same. His chin was now a tad thicker and he had traces of facial hair, and his features were more defined. But he didn't really seem old. It was more like… ripe, fully grown, and fucking scary to have staring right at you. "I have to say I'm very disappointed in myself. I thought I had raised you better." Kitara was trembling. She was much paler than usual, and that was saying something. "I, well I just thought that… well, I mean… I am going to inherit this place some day, so I'm… you know… taking a tour of my… I'm inspecting my future inheritance!"

Kaiba's lower lip began to twitch, and Joanne prepared herself to attempt at least one futile shot to the nuts before he beat the ever-loving crap out of them. Both she and Kitara were relieved when Seto couldn't keep a straight face anymore and snorted into a deep laughter. "I'm not disappointed in you for sneaking in here. I'm disappointed that you've managed to do it unsuccessfully seven times in a row." Seto pulled a remote out of his pocket and started clicking randomly around the room. In each location that he clicked holograms of normal objects, like trash cans, power tools, cabinets, and taped-up agendas disappeared and were replaced by various cameras and motion detectors. "You would have noticed them if you had the courage to turn up the lights more than half way when breaking in the first time." Kitara looked around, her ego bruised. Seto then turned to Joanne. "I apologize for my daughter providing such inconsiderate accommodations for her guest." Joanne smiled. "Heh, that's alright. But since we're here, can we try out the new duel runner simulators?" Kaiba grinned, but it was a sort of stern grin. "Sorry, but you'll have to wait until they're massed produced several days from now. I wouldn't want you two to get hurt."

Shortly after acknowledging Yugi as the King of Games back in 1998, Seto realized that deep down inside he was more interested in his career as a philanthropist, and his relationship with his little brother Mokuba, who had been there for him through every phase of his life despite times when he was a self-centered asshole (which when he was young was most of the time). This prompted him to focus on expanding his corporate empire as a positive influence in the world, which he did for the next twenty years. The fact that he was able to essentially get through his midlife crisis while he was still a teenager meant that by the time he was in his late-twenties, he was ready to adopt a baby girl, whom he hoped would grow up to be as successful and powerful as him without the emotional trauma Gozaburo put him through. Kaiba had essentially become as close to lovable as he would ever be. Still, he never forgot that money made the world go round, and so in a strictly business sense, he was as ruthless as ever even in his mid 40s.

Seto escorted the pair outside to a limousine, which was prepared to take them all to their homes. Joanne pouted. "Come on, do we really have to go home? Can't I just sign one of those little waiver things with really tiny print that removes all liability you guys have towards my safety and lets you play with my organs when I'm dead?" Seto chuckled. "Driver, let's start with Yugi Moto's residence." Joanne pouted again. "Aww come on! Can't me and Kitara at least have a few duels at your penthouse first?" Seto yawned. "I'm not even confident I should let you two hang out Sunday afternoon. I could technically have you two arrested for trespassing on my property." Joanne became irate. "Hey, she's got her name on it too!" She gestured to Kitara, who had been conspicuously silent. Seto retorted, "Yes but you're forgetting I gave her that name, and I'm the one that decides if she gets to use it to take over my company." Everyone kept silent until they arrived at the front of a large apartment building. Seto pulled out his phone, which was the equivalent of an iPhone except it had 10 terabytes of memory, 20 gigabytes of RAM, and a 5.3 gigahertz tri-core processor. It was more powerful than a 20th century supercomputer, and Kaiba had designed it himself. He used it to dial Yugi Moto.

It was about 1:00 AM and Yugi and Tea were lying in bed together. Yugi was having a recurring dream where he was Atem, in the audience watching his wife on stage. Tea, in her youth, had a successful career as a dancer/singer and performed in many Broadway shows and music videos. A broken leg forced her into a temporary retirement, but that only allowed her and Yugi to focus on their daughter, Joanne, who was born July 22, 2008. It wasn't long before Tea continued her career as a coordinator, consultant, and choreographer. The dream however starred her in her prime, her intense voice thundering across the stage and into the audience, her body moving with all the passion and intensity of… root beer? Huh… Yugi's dreams always seemed to involve food, and in this dream each of Tea's arm movements released a thin, floating ribbon of root beer that would eventually accelerate into the mouths of a thirsty audience. He figured the presence of food in his dreams was his subconscious mind paying homage to Joey Wheeler, who was still one of his best friends and famous for his appetite. It was an odd dream, but he was enjoying it until Kuriboh suddenly popped into his head and crashed into his mind's eye that was watching the dream, essentially mind eye-gouging him awake. Yugi stood straight up and looked around, and then reached for his phone. He realized it was set to vibrate but that Seto Kaiba was calling him. If it wasn't for the spirit of Kuriboh he would have missed the call. "Kaiba, is something wrong?"

"It's not a major concern. I just wanted to let you know that we both raised delinquent children." Kitara and a twitchy Joanne were waiting in the limousine while Seto stood outside explaining the situation. Joanne took a deep breath and turned to Kitara. "I'm really sorry if I got you into trouble." Kitara stared blankly out the window. "I'm not in trouble… Hey." She suddenly turned back to Joanne. "Let me know if you can still hang out tomorrow afternoon." Joanne smiled and put her arm around her best friend. "You can count on it!" A few minutes passed and a man came out the front door to meet with Seto. He was shorter than him, but built similarly. It was hard to tell in the dark, but occasional patches of light emanating from passing cars revealed that the man had spikey black hair with a red tint and two yellow highlighted bangs hanging in front. It was hard to believe his hair was just like that. Kitara eyed him. Apparently he gave his daughter her eyes, but most of her other features were her mom's. Kitara thought he looked more congenial than her own father, which was true since whenever she came over he was very talkative and an advice giver. Yugi was just the kind of guy you could talk to about anything. He was sweet, gentle, and friendly. He was also an amazing duelist, never ceasing to amaze her when they dueled. Kitara had to remind herself that he was indeed known as the most ferocious duelist in history at one point, and he gave up his fame and fortune for his family.

Seto called Joanne out of the car. Reluctantly, she picked herself up and got out, leaving the car door open. Yugi looked at her daughter like he was going to finish off an opponent. "Well now, I didn't realize you had a new hobby other than dueling." Joanne smiled and scratched her head. She was getting pretty tall, as tall as Yugi, but he had the effect of making her feel shorter. "Well, you know me! I always like exploring new ideas and strategies. I just… wanted to see what it was like to live as a… ninja, arch-type… monster… yah." Seto was listening in and remembered her daughter's attempt at being a smartass that amused him so. He realized where she was learning it from. Yugi's face now looked like he had drawn the last piece of Exodia. With a sadistic smile he said, "So I guess this is the latest trend, method acting dueling!" Joanne's stupid grin became even stupider. "Yes, exactly! I… I… I'm grounded aren't I?" Seto and Kaiba eyed each other and then Yugi responded. "Yes, well, consider tomorrow your last day of freedom for three weeks. It would be longer but Kaiba tells me you two didn't cause any damage and didn't mean any harm." Joanne appeared disheartened until she understood the first part. "Wait, so me and Kitara can still have our duel?!" Yugi nodded and Joanne clapped her hands together. Yugi explained, "I expect you to keep your promises to your friends, and this is no exception." Joanne then put two and two together and turned to Kitara. "That means you're not grounded for tomorrow either! So I get to spank your ass!" Seto thought to himself how he managed to raise the soft one when Yugi and Tea, the friendship-speech-loving-dweeb couple, managed to spawn… that. Still, she was a good kid, and he contemplated some of her personality rubbing off on her daughter. Decades ago that would have made him shudder… actually, it still kind of did. Seto interjected. "Kitara, I expect you to be back home by five if you don't want a security detail escorting you home." Kitara nodded in affirmation.

Yugi told Joanne to run back inside. She said her goodbyes and did so. Yugi then turned to Kitara. "Good luck. You'll be needing it." Kitara smiled for the first time since she got in the car. Yugi then turned to Seto. "You know we should try to meet more often without it involving our children's mishaps." Seto smirked, "Hmph, what a multi-million grant to NYU's Department of Egyptology wasn't enough of a gesture of friendship?" Yugi smiled warmly. "A cup of coffee and a good old fashioned duel would have worked just as well." Seto's smirk turned into a genuine smile as well. "I have things to do. We can't all save the world just by using a magical puzzle box to destroy an evil demon with a giant dragon for a penis. Some of us have to do it the hard way." Yugi laughed. "Well I suppose you're right, although I've had a few more adventures on my own since then." Seto said sarcastically, "Yes, those old bones must be itching for someone like you to share your friendship speeches with them. How is Tea doing anyway?" Yugi's reaction to that was a little like an anime girl about to smack the main character in the head with a mallet for staring at her cleavage. But he regained his composure with a deep breath. "Well, as long as your inflated ego can handle our apartment, you're welcome to visit any time." Seto extended his hand out for a handshake. "I'm sure as long as our daughters keep meeting like this we'll be seeing each other more often." Yugi accepted the handshake. "Let's hope so."

Kitara and Kaiba rode back home, sitting next to each other. They were silent at first, and the Kitara spoke up. "Are you mad?" Seto thought for a moment. "By the time I was your age I had taken control of my father's company and ruined at least two major corporations without even flinching. Frankly I'm wondering why you aren't rebelling a bit more." Kitara was solemn. "I don't have the guts to pull something you did, and no reason to either. Besides, I don't think I deserve to own a major company." Seto stated frankly, "I'll make sure you deserve it." He meant this to be reassuring. "I have no intention of just handing it to you. I'll still be the best person to run Kaiba Corporation as a whole for a while. I'd like it if Uncle Mokuba started training you when you have time off from school next month, and every summer until you get out of college… that is, if you want it." Kitara looked at her dad's face with worry. "That's another thing, I'm not sure I do want it." Seto thought for a moment, again. "I didn't raise you to be a coward." Kitara squirmed, but then Seto added, "When you reach, an age where you have the confidence to make your own decisions, and are the past the age where you break into my company's top secret facility for no other reason than peer pressure, I want you to be able to look me in the eye and tell me that you're either ready to take on the reigns of Kaiba Corporation, or have decided to follow your own path. When that happens I'll respect your decision, because I don't expect you to throw your life away either way." Seto could sense that Kitara's heart had been touched, even though she tried to hide it. He put his hand on hers, causing her to look up at him. "And I'll always love you."