Atem stood in the middle of Tristan's empty room. They had found the front door wide open, the house in shambles. And now Tristan was gone. "Tristan…" Atem said sadly, sinking to one knee. Yugi walked forward and put a hand on his shoulder, but Atem pushed it off and punched the ground. "This is my fault!" he yelled. "It's my fault that Tristan is gone."

"Atem, you can find him," Tea said. "You can sense where Tristan is before it's too late."

Atem turned to Tea. "If you hadn't healed me, Tea, I would barely even be able to walk. Bakura has some sort of super speed—he's too strong for me."

"Bakura is a Mutation?" Yugi asked. Atem nodded, feeling like he could explode with frustration.

"Alright, I got a plan," Joey said suddenly. The others stared at him. Joey had a plan? How often did that happen? "Atem'll search for Bakura and Tristan. Then I'll keep Bakura busy since I can't get hurt. Then Tea will go get Tristan and heal whatever wounds he's got."

The plan was sound. "What do I do?" Yugi asked.

Joey frowned. He was at a loss. "Ya can, uh, go wit' Tea," he answered finally. "You're small; Bakura'll barely notice ya."

Atem began to search for Tristan's aura. He picked up on it quickly, which meant that Tristan was still in the city and he was still alive. Atem and the others took off, each with their unique missions, and Yugi trailed along, not really sure if he had any purpose in this mission at all.


Tristan was thrown down into a wooden chair in a generic room. Bakura bound him to the seat for good measure, just like he had bound up Tristan's arms and legs before Tristan had even see him. So Bakura was a Mutation too. But how was he alive? Whatever the reason, it wasn't good news.

"I wonder whether I should kill you now or use you as one of my mind slaves," Bakura said ponderously. "But I don't want the pharaoh messing up my plans again."

"Ya know why Atem beat you before?" Tristan asked, displaying every bit of bravado within him. "'Cause he's better than you, that's why! Five-thousand years and some fancy new powers aren't going to change that!"

"You don't understand," Bakura said, grinning. "I've already beaten him. I have you within my grasp, and I can do whatever I want with you. I'm going to make sure that the pharaoh and all of his friends are devastated when they find you, one way or another."

Bakura continued to think about Tristan's doom for another few minutes. Then he stood up and pulled a menacing-looking knife out of his jacket pocket. "I've decided to kill you. I can always possess another one of the pharaoh's friends."

Bakura strode towards his captive, and Tristan instinctively tried to kick at Bakura before he realized that his legs were still tied up. But he snapped the cords as if they were twigs, and he kicked Bakura so hard that he flew backwards and left a dent in the wall. Tristan stared wide-eyed at himself. How had he done that?

He looked up and Bakura was gone. He must have run away when he saw that Tristan was going to put up a fight. Experimentally, Tristan tugged on the cords that tied his hands behind his back. They broke easily. "Dude, this is the best power ever!" Tristan exclaimed aloud. Super strength! He'd be able to rub this one in Joey's face for a long time.

Joey, of course, would argue that it didn't matter how strong a person was; if Tristan fought Joey, Joey would win because he couldn't get hurt. But in the long run, super strength was far more useful. "Oh, yeah," Tristan told himself, and he walked out of the room he was in onto the street. He just had to tell the others about this.


"This is a problem. A big problem," Atem stated. "It nearly took a miracle for us to defeat Bakura last time. Now he has super speed?" He sighed. "But he, apparently, is the least of our problems. Bakura has a master."

"It doesn't matter what mutations Bakura or his master has," Tea said. "We have mutations too." She looked guiltily at Yugi. "Well, almost all of us," she corrected. Yugi looked at the floor.

"We'll find him and we'll take care of him. We just need to be careful. Bakura could have a whole bunch of Mutations on his side," Tristan said. "We need to watch our step so we can find out what we're getting into."

Atem nodded at this wisdom. "It's not exactly what I would have hoped for, but it's the best thing for us to do at this point. We'll wait it out."

Yugi felt oddly… inadequate. He felt like Lois Lane in the middle of a Superman convention. He was surrounded by heroes, and he… he was just a normal kid. His adventures were over, just like he had told Atem before. The others' journeys were just beginning. He was already finished with his.

"I'm going to… take a walk, alright?" Yugi said, getting up.

"Yugi, are you sure it's safe?" Atem asked. "Bakura is still out there."

"He probably won't try again today. Tristan gave him a pretty good warning," Yugi replied genially. Atem nodded his consent, and Yugi walked. He walked, and he thought. But he had no one to tell his thoughts to, and that made his situation worse. So he walked to Serenity's house.

Serenity was surprised when she answered the door. "Oh, hi, Yugi," she said. "Did you find Atem? Is he alright?"

"Yes, he's fine," Yugi replied. "Serenity… would you like to go out for coffee with me?"

Serenity looked confusedly at him. But then she made an "oh" face and sat down on her porch steps. "Yugi, I know that you don't really love me," she said. Yugi stared at her. "You love Tea, and I'm sorry that she doesn't love you back." How did Serenity know all of this? Had someone told her? Was she a Mutation too, with the power to read every embarrassing thought in your head?

"I don't really want to date anyone who doesn't love me. Do you understand?" She was one of the most honest and polite people Yugi had met, even in a rejection. Her candor made Yugi hurt less. "You'll find someone that you can love and be loved by, and that's what you should be looking for." She smiled at him. "But why are you asking me this now? Isn't Joey still at your house?"

Yugi sat down next to her and sighed. "Tea and Tristan are Mutations too," he said, hoping that Serenity would understand and that he wouldn't have to explain. He had a feeling that she did understand, but she knew that it would be best for Yugi if he was forced to explain it. "And I'm not," Yugi went on.

Serenity just continued to smile at him. Yugi was encouraged by her warmth and simplicity—she wasn't judging, and that brought Yugi out of his shell. "When I'm around them now, I have this feeling like I don't fit in anymore. Like I'm the black sheep."

She still didn't respond. Yugi knew he had to keep going until he was finished. "And… and I wonder if they'll still… notice me if I'm not a Mutation too." That was it. That was the root of it all. "And it's not only that," Yugi said. "I mean, what if they notice me, but they think that I can't take care of myself? What if they always want to 'protect' me?"

"You don't want to feel inferior," Serenity said. "So you're jealous."

"Jealous?" Yugi asked. The word sounded so… dirty when he connected it to himself. But was he really jealous?

"You're not really jealous of their strengths. You're jealous because they share something that excludes you," Serenity said. "I understand. But don't worry, I won't tell anyone—your secret's safe with me."

She patted his shoulder and walked back inside, knowing that Yugi wanted to continue drifting until he found the strength and tolerance he needed to return to his house. Yugi did get up and wander down the streets for a while, rolling the information over in his mind.

He walked around a familiar corner and saw a familiar diner. It still had the "No Mutations" sign on the door. But this time, Yugi went inside. The place was somber and unfriendly, but Yugi sat down in one of the booths anyway. A buxom waitress walked up to him and appraised him, checking to make sure he didn't have any horrible deformities. Deformities like Atem had, Yugi thought.

"What can I get you?" she asked, now confident that Yugi was normal through and through.

"Why do you work here?" Yugi demanded suddenly. "How can you stand the sign on the door?" He stood up, his eyes swimming in tears of anger, misunderstanding, and frustration. "Think of all the people that you've hurt or offended! Think of all the money you've lost!"

The waitress backed away, and the other customers starting staring at him. "You're a horrible person for treating Mutations the way that you do," Yugi declared. "And you're horrible people for eating here when you know what this diner stands for!" he yelled to the diner's patrons.

He stormed out of the diner and ran down the street to the game shop. He would never become like those people. Never.