Father Daughter Bonding, a yu-gi-oh fanfic

Author's Note: This one-shot was inspired by David Rovics's song Tappety Tippety. It is consistent with my main fic: Rakitan Industries and Kaiba Corporation. If you want to read it after this, enjoy! Be warned, however. This story has a much lower rating than the main fic, which contains mature content. In this story, Janet, Seto's daughter, is eight years old. Sarah, Mokuba's daughter, is five years old. Joey also has two sons, Gearfried and Hermos. I mention them in my main fic, but they play only a minor role, so I wanted to elaborate on them. I thought it would be fun to do a few one-shots, so if you like this and you have any requests, please let me know!

Disclaimer: I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh! or David Rovics's song Tappety Tippety. David Rovics is an awesome folk song writer, and inspires much of my work. However, the second part of the plot is entirely mine.

Father-Daughter Bonding

Tappety Tippety Tappety Tippety Tappety Tippety Tap. Tappety Tippety Tappety Tippety Tappety Tippety Tap. Tappety Tippety Tappety Tippety Tappety Tippety Tap. Tappety Tippety Tappety Tippety Tappety Tippety Tap.

"Father, It's Saturday! Why are you still working?" Janet asked.

Seto Kaiba stared at his screen without answering. He was in his home office working on a special holographic system that would allow people to be instantly transported to a different location. The holograms would include force fields so that the people could also interact with the real world. Perhaps after he finished this program, he could spend a few extra hours in his office at Kaiba Corp instead of trying to work from home occasionally, where there were too many distractions.

"Father! It's beautiful outside. Come get some sun and take me to the park," his eight-year-old daughter suggested.

Seto grunted slightly, hoping that she would get the message and find some way to entertain herself. Although he enjoyed helping his daughter with her homework, he always felt awkward when he took her to a playground or to participate in any unstructured activities. He usually left Serenity and Mokuba to supervise Janet and her little sister Sarah during their playtime. Since Janet was already finished with her weekend homework, Seto felt no obligation to pay attention to her.

"Father, get off the computer already! I'm bored and I want to go somewhere," Janet persisted.

"Why aren't you with your mother?" Seto asked.

"She was called in to work on emergency. The hospital had a huge, unexpected influx of patients."

Seto smiled slightly at his daughter's use of the word "influx." Ever since Janet was old enough to go to school, Seto had chaperoned her there on his way to work. He taught her a new vocabulary word every day, and he always enjoyed hearing her use those words in everyday speech. He was so close to finishing the program, though. Just a few more sections of code would allow him to test a working prototype.

"Father, stop it! You're going to tap your life away if you don't get off that malicious machine," Janet begged.

"Wouldn't you have more fun with Sarah and Mokuba?" Seto asked.

"They went to the zoo."

"Why didn't you go with them?"

"The zoo is boring. I've already been there a hundred times and I'm sick of it."

"What did I tell you about exaggerating?"

"OK, I guess I've been there about ten times, but it's still boring. If I wanted to learn more about animals, I could just watch some videos on the internet. The internet stinks less, too."

"Then why don't you go do that?"

"Because I don't want to learn any more about animals."

"Father! Turn it off already. Let's go outside and do all the stuff that fathers are supposed to do with their kids. I'll even do boy things with you like play catch."

Seto simply kept typing. He was so close…

"Father, if you don't turn it off, I will!"

Just a moment after he hit the save button, the computer screen faded away. Seto rubbed his eyes and looked at the computer screen again, but saw nothing there. He then looked around and saw his daughter with her finger on the power button on his laptop, which was sitting under his desk in its docking station.

"Janet! What were you thinking? I could have lost valuable data. You are in so much trouble young lady!"

"Oh yeah? What are you going to do, duel me?" Janet retorted. She had never seen her father this angry before, but from the stories her mother told, Seto always worked out his conflicts with other people by dueling with them. The duels had saved Mokuba's life on several occasions, and at other times they brought a deranged person back to his senses. Janet had never dueled before, but she hoped that through dueling her father, she might be able to make him love her more.

Seto paused at Janet's words and tone of voice. She sounded so unhappy, and Seto felt guilt flood his heart. "You don't even have a deck, do you?" he asked.

"Duh! You keep promising to help me build one, but you never get around to it. You helped mom build her deck, but you never even gave me a single card."

"Oh," Seto said, "The task will be easier with a starter deck, so why don't we duplicate your mother's deck and modify it from there?"

"You mean it?" Janet asked with her eyes shining.

"Yes," said Seto, "It's about time you had your own deck, and your mother has a light deck which is designed to compliment my own deck and its Blue Eyes White Dragon cards, which are light monsters. The idea is that if we ever duel side-by-side as a family, we will be unstoppable."

"That's a great idea! I want a light deck, too!"

Seto smiled and pressed a button on the intercom in his office. "Roland, duplicate Serenity's deck for me. If we are missing duplicates of the rare cards, go track them down. Also, bring a briefcase full of new cards. I want every single light monster on the market, and all the best magic and trap cards."

"Understood, sir," Roland replied.

While they waited, Seto took out his own deck and sifted through the cards. It had been a while since he last used them, but his glory days were still fresh in his mind. He showed Janet some of the key cards that had helped him out of sticky situations. Janet had heard most of the stories before, but she looked at the cards for the first time with keen interest.

Serenity's duplicate deck arrived within the hour, but the briefcase took longer to make its appearance. Some of the cards in Serenity's deck were exactly the same as Seto's cards, but most of the monsters were different. Both decks sported a Monster Reborn card along with other classic, extremely useful cards.

"Father, I like mother's deck just the way it is. Are you sure I need to get new cards? I mean, why can't I just start dueling now?" Janet asked.

"Good point. You may want to duel a few times before you decide which new cards you want in your deck. Why don't you start with your Uncle Joey? He shouldn't be too much of a challenge."

"But mom says that Uncle Joey is a great duelist; one of the best!" Janet protested.

"Your mother is just biased towards him because he is her brother. You should be able to beat your uncle without any trouble at all. In fact, I won't let you have any new cards until you beat him at least once. Why don't you call him up and challenge him to a duel right now?" Seto's words came out more like an order than a suggestion.

"All right," Janet sighed. Janet knew that her father was just using Joey as an excuse to get back to work, but at least now she had the means to make her father proud… or bitterly disappointed in her. Janet's heart beat faster, and goose bumps formed on her arms as she dialed Joey's number on her cell-phone. At the age of only eight, Janet was one of the few girls in her class lucky enough to have a cell-phone. However, her father had programmed it to connect with only certain numbers. Although Joey was not one of Seto's favorite people, Seto felt that his brother-in-law was trustworthy enough to communicate with his daughter, and made an acceptable babysitter when Mokuba was not available.

After three rings, Joey picked up the phone. "Janet! What's happening? My boys and I were just deciding whether to go to the beach or the skate park today. What do you think? Would you like to come along?"

In the background, a little boy's voice whined, "Aww dad! You know she is going to pick the beach. Girls don't skate."

Joey briefly scolded his son for being rude and apologized to Janet. "I'm sorry for that. Gearfried needs to learn better manners when people are on the phone. So, to what do I owe the pleasure of your call?"

"Uncle Joey, I challenge you to a duel," Janet said confidently.

"Are you sure? Don't you think it would be more fun to duel someone your own age like Hermos?" Joey responded.

"No, Uncle Joey. I want do duel you."

Joey responded with pride. "I get it! You want to see what it is like too duel a legend! In that case, I'll be right over. We'll duel and then let the outcome of the duel decide whether we go to the beach or not!"

"Thanks, Uncle Joey! I'll see you soon."

After the call ended, Janet paced her father's office in anticipation.

"You're going to wear a hole in the floor," Seto commented. He had turned his computer back on and was typing away again.

"Father, how do I use a duel disk?" Janet asked.

"Father?"

The printer activated. Click. Swish swish swish swish click. Swish swish swish swish click. Swish swish swish swish click. Swish swish swish swish click. Swish swish swish swish click. Swish swish swish swish click.

From the printer emerged several colorful pages that together made up the user's manual for Kaiba Corporation's top-of-the-line duel disk system. Seto handed the pages to his daughter and said "Read these first and then let me know if you have any questions."

Janet took the document and started scanning it. As a wealthy child with many electronic toys, she was able to easily and quickly decipher the technical jargon in the manual. As soon as she finished reading, the doorbell rang.

Seto Kaiba retrieved the latest duel disk model from his briefcase while his daughter raced downstairs to greet her uncle and cousins. Although Seto itched to continue working, he did not want to miss his daughter's first duel. Seto joined his daughter downstairs shortly after everyone had finished exchanging friendly greetings.

"Wow Kaiba, are you sure you want to stick around to watch your daughter lose to me?" Joey asked.

"Don't get your hopes up, Wheeler. No Kaiba will ever lose to the likes of you." Seto replied with a smirk as he gave Janet the duel disk he had selected for her.

"So, you're saying that she inherited the superior Wheeler dueling genes?" Joey taunted.

"No, he's saying that I inherited the best of both," Janet answered smugly.

"All right, you little squirt! It's time to put your duel on!" Joey shouted confidently.

Hermos tugged at Joey's pant leg. "Dad, the phrase is 'get your game on.' If you're going to insist on using our slang, at least get it right!"

"I'm just putting a new spin on the phrase," said Joey, "So, are we going to duel or what?"

Janet smiled and activated the duel disk that her father had handed her. "Absolutely, Uncle Joey. I'm not backing down now."

"OK. Since I'm feeling nice, I'll let you go first," Joey said as he activated his own duel disk. Although the duel disks were different models, Seto Kaiba had designed all of his devices to be compatible with each other, and if the older models had any difficulty with certain moves, the newer duel disks had an override protocol. 4000 life points appeared on the display for each player, and the duel began.

Janet drew her first hand and looked at her mother's cards with delight. She quickly re-read the descriptions of each card before deciding what to play. "I summon Dunames Dark Witch in attack mode and place one card face-down."

"Is that all you've got?" Joey asked, "In that case, I summon Goblin Attack Force and attack your Witch."

"Nice try, Uncle Joey! I activate Mirror Force, destroying your ugly Goblins and keeping my Witch safe." Janet looked at her father for approval, but saw that his expression was blank. It was then that Janet realized she could not accept anything less than victory.

"You came out on top this round, but don't forget that your Uncle Joey has a few tricks up his sleeve. I set one card face-down and end my turn."

"I know you're bluffing, Uncle Joey. I sacrifice my Witch to summon Airknight Parshath. Now, I attack your life points directly." Airknight Parshath slashed Joey's life points down to 2100 and his special effect activated, allowing Janet to draw an extra card. Janet ended her turn and Joey took his.

"Don't think that's going to stop me," Joey said, "The last face-down card I set may not have been useful, but this one will be!" Joey set one card face-down and ended his turn without playing a monster.

"I don't think so, Uncle Joey. I plan on finishing you this turn. I summon Maha Vailo and…"

"Not so fast! I activate Torrential Tribute, sending both of your monsters to the graveyard. It looks like I'm safe for now!"

"Fine! I end my turn. Let's see what you've got!" Janet trembled slightly as she said it, but a glance at her mother's cards reassured her that she could pull through and win.

"Let's hear a warm welcome for Alligator's Sword and another face-down card. I now attack your life points directly!" As Janet's life points dropped from 4000 to 2500, Joey said, "Don't look so glum. It's only a game, and it's your turn now."

"You're going to regret that, Uncle Joey! I summon Hysteric Fairy and attack your Alligator's Sword!"

"I activate my graceful dice and skull dice! Let's see who is going to regret what now! First, my graceful dice rolls… a two?! And my skull dice rolls… a six! Yes! Read it and weep! My Alligator's Sword has 1700 attack points while your Hysteric Fairy has only 1200! That means you take five hundred points of damage!" While Joey did his victory dance, Janet's life points fell to 2000. "See if you can come back from that! My turn!"

"Wait! I set one card face-down. Now you can go."

"Fine, I summon Panther Warrior and sacrifice my Alligator's Sword so he can attack your Hysteric Fairy."

"Oh yeah? I activate A Hero Emerges! Let's see if I'm as lucky as you." The duel disk randomly selected a card from Janet's hand and called forth Guardian Angel Joan with 2800 attack points. Although Janet's Hysteric Fairy was destroyed and she lost another two hundred life points, Janet now had a powerful monster to use against Joey in her next turn.

Joey looked at his niece in shock. "You're a better duelist than I thought you would be. You might even win in your next turn if you play your cards right. I have no more moves for now, so take it away!"

Janet grinned and said, "That's right, Uncle Joey. By removing two light monsters in my graveyard from play, I summon Soul of Purity and Light, which has 2000 attack points! Now, I attack your Panther Warrior with Guardian Angel Joan and wipe out the rest of your life points with Soul of Purity and Light!" Joey's life points dropped to zero, and Janet looked up into her father's face to see a rare, genuine smile accompanied by blue eyes glistening with tears of happiness.

Janet jumped up and down with glee and ran to her father for a welcoming and heartfelt embrace. As Seto wiped the moisture from his eyes, all he could say was, "I'm taking you all out for ice cream."

Closing Note: Again, please review and request more one-shots from me. I am looking for inspiration.