Disclaimer: if I owned Yugioh… if I owned Yugioh, there would be a miniseries on Atem (and Mana) in the Afterlife.

Author's note: IMPORTANT! PLEASE READ! I'm updating successively for two more nights. But there will not be a chapter update Sunday unless I somehow miraculously manage to master the art of writing a duel in one day—which won't happen, I promise you. In fact, I wouldn't expect one until Monday or Tuesday. Yes, I am including a duel! As soon as I master that duel, there will be a succession of four chapter updates in four days (next week) and another pause as I write the next two duels, which will be added both on the same day. And then, we'll be about four, five (give or take a few) more chapters until this is complete. So as you can tell, we're nearing the climax! That's why I need to make sure I get it right. I can't just write a duel willy-nilly and call it good. No—I have to make it Yu-Gi-Oh worthy. Duel Monsters worthy. If I don't do it well, well… let's just say I'll be very upset and so will you!

So please, be patient! Reread your favorite chapters, check out my other stories, do some reviewing, go outside instead of sit at the computer (like me) and wait for some epic-ness in the next week and a half. You won't be disappointed if I can get this right! And I will if it's the last thing I do!

I promise I won't leave you hanging for months on end. I'm a quick study at writing. I'll get the duel down—give me four days at most and two days at least. I'll have to touch-up on my Yugioh dueling skills (which I have none of, except in my head) and study and research a bit before I rush into a bull charge. (Which is never a good idea.)

Whoo! Okay, the thanks/responses will begin now! You can read them or skip ahead. PLEASE read the author's note above! I know it's lengthy, but it's important and informative. Thanks!
Thanks/responses:

Reviewers: The Trio of Twilight, me, Aqua girl 007, princess atemma, Chistarpax, Khemet-Egyptian vampire, fan person & jak dragon!

Princess atemma: hahah I've seen longer stories. There are going to be about fourteen chapters left, maybe. I get my ideas… dunno! They just come to me. I've been told I have a unique/creative brain. My star monster? I love Black Flame Soldier, Dark Magician, Flame Champion, Wingweaver and Gravekeepers spy ^o^

Chistarpax: hahah yeah, Tsuki's a little smart-alek. Good thing she's not here! I framed her that way. And thank you!

Khemet- Egyptian vampire: Yes I did read the reviews—sent you a PM! Try and save them to a computer and uploading them fro there :? I dunno, don't really use Google docs! Sorry :/ I'll see what I can dig into about that.

Fan person: Zorc scares me *-* Atem is so mean! How dare he say we needed this! How could we ever need this? ATEM! How dare Zorc try to offer me a drink! I shall never drink anything he gives me. (sees flash of light. Sees jak dragon) he's saving us, fan person! YES! … oh, wait. Now we're in the Realm of the Beasts! We gotta hide! Some saving -_- now we have to run from monsters!

Jak dragon: (winks) thanks for getting us out of the Shadow Realm—it was pretty gloomy. But now we have to run from monsters, which means I have to write on the run! Dang it! That's kind of hard… (glances at fan person, who looks bored as we sit in a tree, hiding) can we never get a break? -_-

For favoriting: Khemet- Egyptian vampire, Saharakanji, & Chistarpax!

Well, writing on the run isn't easy, but it sure is entertaining! Alright, here we are, let's get to the story already!

Kaiba

Crazy geeks. Crazy psychos. They were everywhere.

Not that Seto Kaiba wasn't used to it, he'd just like some normality for once in his life. It seemed like there was always some enemy out to get him, take his company, hurt his company, him or Mokuba—or trying to defeat him in a duel. That one was one of the most frequent.

Of course, Kaiba turned down most of them. It was only when he wanted to prove his point or shut them up that he finally gave in and dueled them. Only then did they see how easily he beat them, only then did they see his clear superiority—and only then did they leave him alone and shut the heck up.

That was always nice.

So it was unsurprising when the unimpressive duelist fell to his knees with a groaning complaint of, "No." Like he had expected any less. Kaiba always handed his opponents an embarrassing defeat. It was their punishment for daring to challenge him. Anyone who got in his way was shot down without a glance—all except one person: Yugi.

But, Kaiba actually didn't mind.

Whenever he dueled Yugi, he got better, and he always wanted to duel again. Yugi was the one opponent that actually pushed him to his limit. Other opponents fell easily, without much conscious thought and with a bare minimal of his talents. He still wanted to beat Yugi, and he still believed that one day that day would come, so no, he hadn't given up—not by a long shot.

Besides, sometimes he actually found himself liking the kid. He had spirit and he was a duelist to contend with—obviously, since Kaiba, one of the number one duelists, could never beat him. He was second only to Yugi, and though that thought often haunted him, it also pushed him. As long as Yugi was around, he would always have something to aspire to.

It gave him a strange sense of purpose. Well, that, his company and Mokuba. He had promised the kid a life.

He shook himself and tried to get back to work, pulling at the collar of his white suit. Something was bothering him, but he couldn't really place it. It was just this odd, constant discomfort in his gut, like he was supposed to be somewhere else or he was missing something.

For perhaps the thousandth time, he checked the calendar on his computer, then his phone—he didn't have anything planned, so why did he feel so urgent? He growled angrily and paged his secretary: "Kou, do I have anything planned today?"

"No, sir," she answered in her soft-spoken tone. She was probably the only secretary he had managed to keep for longer than two weeks—she'd been here three. He liked her. She wasn't overbearing or pushy. She answered to him and him only—listened to orders well and did them right. "Was there supposed to be something?"

He sighed, "No, I don't think so. Thank you, Kou."

"Yes, you're welcome, sir."

Kaiba started. He never said thank you. Odd.

He felt so strange lately. Why? He had no idea.

He ground his palm into his head, finally standing. He needed some fresh air. As he exited the room, Kou jumped to her feet in surprise. "Was there something you needed, Mr. Kaiba? I can get it for you."

Kou was pretty—long light hair, almost white, pale skin and blue eyes. She was petite in form; gentle, kind and very quiet in manner. Today she wore a slimming business suit, her hair falling naturally down her back with the occasional hair trailing across her face.

Kaiba smiled. Smiled, of all things. "Actually, Kou, could you get me my other outfit, coat and dueling brief case? I'm going out."

"Do you need any accompaniment?" she asked in concern. Even she could see something was wrong.

Kaiba was tempted to smile again, but refused to let his face muscles do that horrid action again. It didn't work. "I'll be fine, Kou. Just fetch my coat and brief case—please."

Please?

Holy… mother of… Set!

Set?

What on Earth, Heaven and above, had he just thought?

Kou hurried to do his bidding, returning with his white coat, dark outfit and brief case only a minute later. How she did that, he had no idea. The clothes were stacked neatly on the silver briefcase, which held all of his cards and his duel disk.

Then, what popped out of his mouth was: "Thank you."

He had been saying that ever since she had gotten there, it seemed. How odd.

Kou bowed, "My pleasure, Mr. Kaiba. If you need anything, page me."

He nodded and turned away, resisting the urge to smile again. What is wrong with me? he thought, shaking himself as he stepped into the elevator. Something about Kou got to him. He definitely needed to get some fresh air—and clear his head off all the oddities he had been experiencing.

Often on the streets, people avoided him rather than seeking him out. It was the wise thing to do, after all. Everyone knew of the high-and-mighty attitude Seto Kaiba had, along with his combat skills and well, money.

He didn't care what they thought of him. He wanted them to keep their distance—people were all too often a nuisance, doing stupid things at stupid times with their stupid, small minds.

One hand in his pockets and the other holding the brief case, he took his time moving down the sidewalk. He didn't know exactly where he was going or what he was doing, but he kept walking. He thought he might find Yugi and duel him, just for the sake of dueling. Yugi was the only person he ever really wanted to duel.

There was one other person he wanted to duel, but that was impossible. The Pharaoh, whoever he was, dramatic mumbo-jumbo hi-ku gung-ho man, was gone. Dead, from what he understood. The Pharaoh had been the one to teach Yugi, so surely he was better? Although, he had seen Yugi beat the Pharaoh—well, there was no way to tell who was better.

Then he remembered—Mr. King of Games had dropped off the face of the planet. Even if the Geek Squad hadn't seemed too concerned the last time he had seen them—the night of Bakura's freak attack. When he got his hands on that psycho, he was going to pay. Losing those duel disks had cost his company millions in production and customer fees!

Kaiba rolled his eyes. Wherever Yugi was, he was sure he was off 'saving the world,' again. That seemed to be a hobby of his.

He recalled briefly the fact that Bakura had been the spirit of some millennium ring, but he didn't really believe that, did he? He wasn't sure anymore. Maybe he did, maybe he didn't. Who cared, anyway? Whether Yugi was off saving the world or doing whatever it was the King of Games did, he wasn't too worried. Yugi was usually pretty lucky.

Bakura, however, would pay.

Kaiba kept walking. He still didn't know where he was going. He just kept walking, block after block. Slowly the strange feeling inside was going away, and that was an enormous relief. Just to get rid of it more, he kept walking.

And stopped outside the Kame Game shop.

Stepping inside and not knowing why he was doing so, he looked around to find no one manning the shop. He could, however, hear shouting above. In a loud voice he called: "Hey, Muto! Can I get some customer service?"

The shouting quieted and minutes later, Yugi appeared through the doorway. He leaned back, as if listening to someone else, and then moved forward, "Kaiba, what are you doing here?"

"I might ask you the same thing," Kaiba said coolly, "You've been missing for a long time."

Yugi scratched his neck uncomfortably, "Yeah, well, something important came up."

"Saving the world again?" he asked dryly. Yugi couldn't tell if he was serious or not, so he didn't answer. Kaiba kept talking, "Look, Yugi, I don't care about your little saving-the-world conquests."

"Then why are you here?" asked Yugi, folding his arms.

Kaiba was surprised at the show. He hesitated, "I-"

"Came to help?" interrupted another voice.

Kaiba's eyes narrowed, "I know that voice."

"Yes," the deep baritone agreed mildly, "I would hope so, Kaiba." And from around the corner stepped none other than-the Pharaoh.

"Pharaoh," he said. "Aren't you supposed to be dead?"

The Pharaoh chuckled, "Aren't you supposed to not believe in me? In magic?"

He had a point.

Kaiba scowled, "I don't."

"Then why are you talking to me?" smirked the Pharaoh. Kaiba folded his arms stubbornly, but before he could speak, the Pharaoh continued: "I can sense it inside you, Kaiba. You can feel that your ancestor, Priest Seto, is in trouble. You've been feeling it. You came to help, even without realizing it." He jerked his head at the brief case, "You even came prepared."

Still Kaiba said nothing, but his eyes showed a spark of defeat. Yugi looked back at the Pharaoh, who nodded, so Yugi followed, grinning at Kaiba and waving a hand for him to follow.

Seto Kaiba sighed. Couldn't he have even a spark of normality?

Sorry, fellas—gots me some school tomorrow. I'll update tomorrow, don't worry. But as I said above, I won't be updating again until Monday or Tuesday as I put together a duel—there's a small possibility that I'll get it done Sunday, but I doubt it.

So read your favorite chapters, review, read my other stories, do some reviewing, go outside, hang out with friends, share this story with friends—I dunno, whatever—just stay calm and be patient with me! ^o^

PS: my avatar (picture on profile) is the Black Flame Soldier, drawn by my friend, who first created Hikari and technically Tsuki, though I hammered out some details-anywho, check it out if you like!

Until tomorrow!

-Anevay