DISCLAIMER: If you recognise it from somewhere else, it isn't mine.

Give Up The Ghost

The White Lightning hit the hat on the far left. Nothing was inside. Yami smirked. Good. This was going well.

'No!' "Kaiba" cried. 'That hat was empty!'

'All right!' Joey cheered. 'This could work!'

'It's gotta work,' Téa said.

'Yugi'll beat that faker!' Mokuba insisted.

'Your guess was wrong. Guess wrong again and it'll cost you.' Yugi laid a card down.

'Huh?' "Kaiba" asked.

'There are still three Magical Hats on the field and one of them hides a special surprise just for you,' Yami said. 'If you destroy the hat that hides my Dark Magician, you'll win this duel. Chose the empty one and it's my turn again. But I'm betting you'll pick that hat that contains the trap card that I just put into play.'

'A trap card?' "Kaiba" demanded.

'Now! Which hat will it be?'

'You're taking a big gamble, Yugi!' Joey called.

'If he guesses right, it's over!' Tristan added.

"Kaiba" glared. 'Blue Eyes White Dragon, attack the middle hat!'

The Blue Eyes shot the attack. 'Heh!' Yami smirked wider. 'Well, now, you've done it! Activated my trap card, that is. Spell Binding Circle!' The Circle appeared first on the ground and then it shot over and encircled the Blue Eyes White Dragon.

"Kaiba" glared hatefully.

'A Blue Eyes White Dragon is normally unstoppable,' Yami said. 'But once drained of its energy by the Spell Binding Circle…' The Blue Eyes's attack points dropped to 2300. '…it's no match for the full power of my Dark Magician!' The Dark Magician emerged from the remaining hat on the left. He raised his staff and destroyed it. 'And that puts an end to your Blue Eyes White Dragon.'

"Kaiba"'s life points dropped down to 500.

'Way to go, Yugi!' Mokuba cheered.

A streak of White Lightning suddenly shot forward and destroyed the Dark Magician. Yami flinched away from the light. His life points dropped down to five hundred. Below him, his friends made sounds of surprise. They hadn't seen that coming.

'Another one?' Tristan demanded.

"Kaiba" laughed. 'And that puts an end to your Dark Magician. There are only three Blue Eyes White Dragon cards in the world and they're all in my deck. Your grandpa had the fourth but I ripped it up.'

Yami's eyes narrowed, a reaction to Yugi's emotions.

'But how could I know that if I'm not really Seto Kaiba? You know I couldn't believe it when you beat all three of my Blue Eyes White Dragons with Exodia, but now without that monster in your deck, there's absolutely no way you can win. Your move.'

'Everyone heard about your duel with Seto,' Mokuba insisted. 'That's how this loser knows about it! That's not my brother, Yugi. I'm sure!'

Yami nodded. So was he. Turning his attention back to the impostor, Yami focused on this. He needed a way to turn this around and then a third way.

Kaiba Mansion

Kaiba stared at the image in front of him. It was a girl with long red hair and blue eyes. She was dressed casually, but sitting in an office or a study. There was someone she reminded him of.

'Who are you?' Kaiba demanded.

'Shauna Pertinicle,' she said. 'I'm Sharee's twin sister and she asked me to track you down.'

Kaiba remembered Sharee. She was Yugi's American friend, the one who stood there watching duels passively. Clearly, she kept a lot of what she wanted to say to herself, unlike the others.

'Why?' he asked.

Shauna turned to her monitor. 'Hang on. I've already got access to Yugi's duel. If we connect our computers, as against that idea as you'll be, it'll be much faster than hacking in.'

Kaiba was against the idea but he also knew she was right. Hacking in would take more time than connecting their computers would.

The interface began loading. 'Connection received and secured. Origin: New Haven House, Connecticut State of Northern America.'

Shauna looked up. 'And the bit you'll find most interesting is the name of Yugi's opponent.'

'What?' Kaiba saw his own name on the screen. He twisted around to face Shauna. 'Is this your idea of a joke?'

'I'm more for dry humour.' She proved it with that statement. 'You've got yourself an impostor, who claims to be your ghost. That was why Sharee had me track you down and then contact you. First she wanted confirmation that you were still alive and now she wants to see if we can shut this guy down from here. She said you don't want to lose your company and we don't want to lose Yugi. The only reason he's even duelling in this thing is because his grandpa was kidnapped.'

That made sense. Kaiba didn't like to admit it, but she had a point. They'd have to team up whether they wanted to or not. He growled to himself as she reported the rest with a disgruntled expression.

'Sharee thought early on that Pegasus had taken off with your deck and she must've been right. Both are sitting at 500 life points and your impostor has his second Blue Eyes out. Yugi defeated the first one with a combination of the Dark Magician, Magical Hats and the Spell Binding Circle, then the second one blew the Magician away. It's Yugi's move.'

'But without…' Kaiba stumbled. '…Exodia, Yugi can't win. He has no other card left in his deck that can beat the Blue Eyes White Dragon, let alone two of them.'

Shauna's eyes narrowed. 'Then if you want to keep your company, we better think of something fast.'

Kaiba looked at her. 'Fast…yes. Are you familiar with the process of loading viruses into Duel Monsters?'

Shauna's eyebrows rose. 'I've heard the theory but I've never seen the need nor the opportunity to try it.'

'Yugi will lose on the next attack from the Blue Eyes White Dragon unless we decrease its power from here,' Kaiba said.

Shauna looked thoughtful and then started typing. 'How's this?'

Kaiba received the inactive virus as Shauna built it up. She was good. Nearly as good as him. If she was Sharee's contact – the one she called every time she needed to know something – then it was understandable how the girl moved so fast.

'Upload this virus into the monster's holo-computer,' Kaiba ordered his machine. 'That Dragon is about to get sick – real sick.'

'Standing by.' An image of the Blue Eyes appeared. 'But shouldn't we first wait to see Yugi's next move?'

'No time!' Shauna insisted. The girl had her priorities in order.

'We can't afford to risk Yugi loosing the duel,' Kaiba said. 'Upload.'

The computer began injecting the virus. 'Viral injection underway.'

Duellist Kingdom

I don't have any monsters that can withstand his Blue Eyes White Dragon. Yami shut his eyes. This could be it.

'This duel is over, Yugi,' "Kaiba" said. 'I'm sure we'll be hearing the fat lady sing right after your turn. I still have Defence Paralysis active, so whichever monster you pick won't be able to defend itself.'

'I choose the Feral Imp in attack mode.' Yami laid the card down and the monster appeared.

Kaiba Mansion

'I wish Yugi waited a few more seconds before moving,' Kaiba said. 'Isn't there anything you can do to get that computer virus uploaded faster?'

'This is as fast as it goes,' Shauna insisted as she turned and started working something on her knee.

The numbers climbed. 'We're already halfway there. Viral implant now at sixty per cent. But it doesn't seem to be working. The Blue Eyes White Dragon is still showing no signs of weakness.'

'Something is wrong,' Kaiba said.

Duellist Kingdom

"Kaiba" sniggered. 'This is almost too easy.'

'Yugi!' Téa called from below.

'Hang on!' Tristan turned. 'Yugi can still win this.'

'Don't forget,' Joey said. 'He beat Kaiba last time.'

'And this time…' Shamee finally spoke. Yami saw, out of the corner of her eye, she was holding her cell phone, looking at the screen. '…he's got an ally they're not expecting.'

Yami briefly wondered what she meant as the rest of them down there twisted around and looked at her.

'It's time, Blue Eyes White Dragon,' "Kaiba" said. 'Attack!'

Yami drew back but only for a second. 'Huh?' Something was happening to the Blue Eyes White Dragon. Lights were shooting out of it and it was beginning to shake. The image of it distorted.

'What are you waiting for?' "Kaiba" demanded. 'Attack!'

Kaiba Mansion

The image on the computer screen showed the Blue Eyes nearly full. 'The virus is taking effect. Blue Eyes White Dragon's attack power is beginning to drop.'

'But it's still too strong!' Kaiba insisted, watching the numbers go down. 'It has to get weaker or it'll still beat Yugi!'

On the side monitor, he noticed out of the corner of his eye, Shauna's jaw clenched. She didn't want Yugi to lose either, for a totally different reason than him.

Duellist Kingdom

Yami watched the numbers go down, the Blue Eyes White Dragon got weaker and weaker. 'What…I don't believe it!'

Neither did "Kaiba". He threw himself forward. 'What's going on? My Blue Eyes White Dragon!'

Yami looked down. Shamee was the only one who didn't look confused. Instead, she was smirking. She saw him looking and scratched the back of her neck. 'It appears to have gotten a virus.'

'…Virus?' Yami asked. She must've gotten a message on her cell phone. That was the only way that she would understand what was going on. Yami looked back at the degenerating Dragon. Now it was beginning to melt.

Yami heard only one voice beside that. 'This is Kimo to Pegasus. I hope you're watching, sir, because we got a real problem out here.'

Yes, he was watching.

Kaiba Mansion

'The Blue Eye White Dragon's attack power is dropping rapidly,' the computer reported. 'The virus implant is successfully disabling the monster completely.'

'All right.' Kaiba raised his hand to the headpiece. 'Now let's get to work on Dragon number three.'

'Uh-uh!' Shauna called. 'You're getting hacked!'

'What?' Kaiba glanced to the side.

Suddenly his computer shut down and contact with Shauna was lost.

'What's the matter?' Kaiba demanded.

'She was right! We've been locked out by a remote terminal. Looks like we've been hacked! Shauna got cut off because of a very sophisticated set of firewalls. You might want to talk to her about getting some of those. They keep out intruders, sending all levels of hackers a software-eating virus and all connection is cut if she has one with another computer that gets hacked.'

Kaiba registered in the back of his mind that he did need to find out how she had firewalls like that. But, he was more focused on the series of ridiculous-looking cartoon rabbits that appeared and started chanting "hey, Kaiba". 'It's Pegasus.'

But his computer managed to reboot. They didn't bother trying to re-establish contact with Shauna. 'Blue Eyes White Dragon attack power is holding at 2000.'

'But this should have worked!' Kaiba insisted.

'The Blue Eyes is launching its attack.'

'No!' This couldn't happen!

Duellist Kingdom

Yami knew he had a real problem when the deterioration stopped. That meant whatever the virus was, it had stopped working. Shamee cried out in denial as she looked at Sharee's cell phone again.

'Now, Blue Eyes White Dragon, time to obliterate them!' "Kaiba" yelled.

Yami drew back. The Blue Eye began to shoot it White Lightning attack.

Kaiba Mansion

Kaiba couldn't let this happen. He just couldn't. He loved his Blue Eyes White Dragons, yes. Just as much as he loved his brother but if they won…they would all lose everything. He would make this work! Kaiba slammed his fists down.

'Yugi!'

Duellist Kingdom

'Yugi!'

The Millennium Eye glowed on Yami's head as he heard the call. 'Kaiba?' The attack in front of him suddenly cut off, leaving his Feral Imp unharmed. 'It stopped. The Dragon…' It really did look terrible to Yami's eyes, melting with chunks of it falling off and the last of its attack dying in its mouth. It vanished in a bright flash.

The pieces all came together in Yami's head.

"Kaiba" started in disbelief. 'This can't be.'

Joey, Téa, Tristan and Mokuba stared in relieved awe. Shamee looked a bit like she was coming down from a heart attack. Her cell phone rang and she fumbled for it. From the looks of it, that had rattled even her.

'It's a trick!' Kimo insisted.

Shamee answered the phone. 'Yeah? It came apart. It's gone.' She composed herself. 'Yeah, what happened? Cut off? Rat rot. He'll think of something. Thanks, Shauna.'

Kaiba Mansion

On the screen, the image of the Blue Eyes was gone. 'The Blue Eyes White Dragon is destroyed, but the virus was not responsible.'

'Then how?' Kaiba demanded. 'Did Yugi Moto somehow do this?'

'How could he? It is your deck.'

'…if you put your heart in the game, there is nothing you can't do.' He'd believed that he could do it, no matter how it looked, and it worked. That meant…'It's the Heart of the Cards. Yugi was right.'

Suddenly the door behind him beeped with an alert. Of all the lousy timing!

Duellist Kingdom

'Why?' "Kaiba" bellowed. 'Why me?'

'Why?' Yami repeated rhetorically. 'Because Kaiba's still alive. He stopped you.'

'Silence!' "Kaiba" yelled. 'I am Kaiba!'

'Enough!' Yami barked. 'Your charade is over!'

'My brother is alive!' Mokuba cheered.

'What's going on?' Téa asked.

'It's like Yugi said,' Mokuba answered. 'Last time Yugi duelled my brother, he showed Seto the Heart of the Cards. This faker may have taken his deck but the real Seto Kaiba's alive and well.'

'Impostor! The real Seto Kaiba destroyed that monster. I know because I sensed him calling out to me when it happened.' Yami pointed an accusing finger at him. 'Now, enough of your lies. We know you're not Kaiba. It's time for you to show us who you really are.'

'I told you. I am Kaiba.' He laughed and then seemed to start breaking out of his skin, swelling and rippling. 'Or at least I'm part of him – the darkest part.'

Yami drew back. Now he was facing a fat pink-haired…well, he wasn't sure what to call him. Whatever he was, he laughed. 'I can see you don't recognise me, Yugi. I wasn't lying when I told you I was Seto Kaiba – the evil part of him that you sent to the Shadow Realm after our last duel. But now I'm back, thanks to Pegasus.' He cackled in laughter.

'You're not a part of my brother anymore!' Mokuba yelled.

Téa cringed. 'Ew! It's hideous!'

'I always thought that this duel just might turn ugly,' Joey stated. 'But I never thought that ugly!' He gave it a thumb's down.

Mokuba, as was typical for a boy his age, was goading his brother's evil side. 'Hey, Ugly! If I were you, I'd start worrying about what my big brother's going to do to you when he finally catches up to you!'

'I guess I just don't know what to call you,' Yami said. 'I was thinking about "monster", but I didn't want to insult the cards.'

The evil side smirked.

'It's your move.' Yami narrowed his eyes. 'You've got a whole deck to go through and only one Blue Eyes White Dragon left.'

The evil side of Kaiba drew a card. 'Grappler in defence mode.' He laughed as he laid the card down and the monster appeared.

He's just biding his time until he draws his last Blue Eyes. 'It's my turn.' Yami had the Celtic Guardian in his hand. I'd play this card in defence mode but he's still got his Defence Paralysis card in play. So I can only attack. And with no defence, if he draws the Blue Eyes White Dragon card I'm finished. 'I'll set one card face down on the field and draw the Celtic Guardian as well in attack mode.' Yami did exactly as he said. The Celtic Guardian shot forward and cut into the other monster. 'Your Grappler split.'

'Ah. Parting is such sweet sorrow. Next up is Mystic Horseman in defence mode, and I'll lay one of my cards face down just like you.' The monster materialised.

Face down? Is it a magic card? Or is he setting a trap? Yami drew. 'Again, I'll lay a card face-down. And I'll use the Mystical Elf in attack mode. Plus, this Book of Secret Arts will raise its attack and defence power by three hundred points!' The Mystic Elf appeared on the playing field and began chanting as its points went up. 'My turn is over.'

Kaiba's evil side waved his finger. 'Patience, Yugi, for it will soon be all over.' He drew and scrutinised him over his hand.

From below, Joey began speaking. 'I find it hard to believe, but I'm likin' the look on that guy's face even less than I did before.'

'Wipe that smile off his face, Yugi!' Téa called.

'Loser!' Mokuba yelled at the evil side. 'Make your move!'

The evil side laughed. 'As you wish.' He drew and grinned widely. 'Oh, prepare…'

Rat rot!

'…for the Blue Eyes White Dragon!' The monster appeared on the field.

'Yugi!' Joey yelled.

'Don't worry, Yugi!' Mokuba called. 'My brother will help out just like last time!'

'Dream on!' Kimo scoffed.

'Huh?' Mokuba asked.

Kimo went to say it but Shamee beat him to it. 'They worked out where he was.'

'How do you know that?' Téa asked.

'Same way I knew what was wrong with the last Blue Eyes,' Shamee said. 'I've got sources.'

'So this means Kaiba is alive?' Tristan asked.

'You think maybe a Duel Monster got a virus by itself?' Shamee asked.

'Dimwits,' Kimo said. 'It means don't expect another miracle, cause this duel's about to end.'

'Oh, no!' Mokuba cried.

Good thing Yami had this plan cooked up. The Blue Eyes roared and the evil side of Kaiba laughed. 'Such a good Dragon! Wouldn't you say, Yugi? This duel's about to end, now. Go, White Lightning attack!' The Blue Eyes shot the attack.

Yami narrowed his eyes. 'This duel's not over yet.' He held up his trap card. 'Activate Mirror Force now!' The attack, which had been aimed at the Mystical Elf, stopped dead in its tracks.

'Whoa! He's turned over a trap card!'

'And Mirror Force reflects your attack right back at you!' The attack shot back at the Blue Eyes White Dragon.

'Pretty good trick, but I'm ready with one of my own. I'll use Negate Attack.' He flipped the card up. The attack disappeared into little vortexes before they hit the Blue Eyes.

Yami tensed. He had a magic card waiting just in case!

'Negate Attack neutralises any attack thrown at me, even if its one of my own.'

'Yugi!' Téa called.

Yami chuckled. 'It's time to finish this duel…' He held up a card. '…with Reborn the Monster.'

'Oh, no! That allows you to revive any monster lost in this duel from either deck!'

'I'm glad you know the rules,' Yami said. 'Now, guess which card I want. Be reborn, Blue Eyes White Dragon!' The beast appeared on the field between Yami's Celtic Guardian and Mystical Elf.

The evil side of Kaiba smirked. 'Fat lotta good that move's gonna do you, Yugi. Both of these monsters are evenly matched.'

Yami smirked. 'Their powers are not the same.'

The evil side cried out in surprise.

'You forgot about my Mystical Elf,' Yami said. 'She's been chanting a spell since I put her on the field. It allows the Mystical Elf to transfer her attack power to any other monster I choose.'

'What?' he demanded. 'This can't be!'

'This move was inspired by Seto Kaiba himself,' Yami stated. 'He showed me that you can alter the power of a Blue Eyes White Dragon, but I'm raising the power of mine…' The Dragon's attack power went up to 4100. '…instead of lowering it like Kaiba did to yours.'

'This can't be happening!' He covered his face. 'Oh, no! No!'

'Consider this a message from the real Seto Kaiba: you lose! Now, Blue Eyes, obliterate!' His Blue Eyes White Dragon opened its mouth and let the White Lightning shoot out into its counterpart, destroying it and dropping the evil side's life points to zero. Yami felt the power, the level of which he had not felt for far too long, and the burning of the Millennium Eye on his forehead. 'Pegasus may have helped you escape the Shadow Realm before but it won't happen again!' He extended his hand. 'Never again!'

The evil side of Kaiba screamed as he was banished back to the Shadow Realm, deep enough that not even Pegasus's power could pull him out.

Yami could still feel the power coursing through him and that wasn't all he could feel either. 'Pegasus, I sense that you're watching. Consider this a warning: nothing you send against me will stop me. And when we finally duel, believe me, victory will be mine. I'll win back my grandfather's soul and you will pay for all the people you've hurt in the name of your sick little game. I'm coming for you, Pegasus.'

And for good measure, he made sure the wine glass, that he knew was in Pegasus's hand, shattered.

YGO

Shamee watched as, after the duel, Yami went over and picked up Kaiba's deck. She smiled and looked around. That was when she noticed it. She looked around quickly and then used her extra sense.

'That ghost is toast, huh, Yugi?' Joey called.

'I knew that the real Kaiba was alive the whole time,' Tristan insisted.

'Yugi!' Shamee called, heading over to him as he came down.

'Hm?' He looked down at her.

'I think Kimo took off with Mokuba.'

'What?' Joey, Tristan and Téa yelled.

The lot of them looked around. There was no sign of the kid anywhere.

'He's gone,' Yami said. 'Taken again!'

'Oh, no!' Tristan groaned.

Joey and Téa started calling out for him.