"Mr. Mutou? Mr. Otogi?"

At the sound of their names, the duo stood up. The receptionist smiled at them and gestured to her right, where a man in a dark suit stood. "Mr. Isono will take you to see Mr. Kaiba now."

They both gave their thanks and followed after the man as he led them into the bowels of Kaiba Tower. They soon entered an elevator that took them to the top floor of the building. Then they were guided to an enormous office occupied by two people.

The first was Seto Kaiba. The billionaire was leaning back at his desk, watching them with narrowed eyes. At his side sat the second person, a young boy with long shaggy black hair.

That must be Mokuba, Yuugi thought, but he didn't comment on the boy's presence. Instead, he and Otogi bowed in unison and gave their practiced greeting.

"Thank you for taking the time to meet with us, Mr. Kaiba."

Kaiba smirked. "Well, it was quite a proposal you put together. We're looking forward to hearing the whole story. The computer is set to project on that wall whenever you're ready."

The duo nodded and Otogi took the lead, walking the two Kaibas and Mr. Isono through their pitch. Throughout it all, the audience remained silent, but focused. Listening intently to every word. When Otogi finished with the final slide, Kaiba turned his gaze on Yuugi and said, "It's an intriguing proposition. Excellent potential. It would require you to work for me, though."

Yuugi nodded, watching Kaiba with wary eyes.

"Kaiba Corp employees are expected to act with integrity," Kaiba continued, attention focused solely on Yuugi. "I have to be able to trust you to do what I tell you. To trust that you will always tell me the truth."

Yuugi could already see where this was going, but that was okay. This was one of the scenarios he'd prepared for. He just had to find the courage to talk. A small touch of strength from Atemu and a steadying breath later, he said, "Well, Mr. Kaiba, if you're meeting with us, then you're clearly open to the idea of trusting me, otherwise you wouldn't have wasted your valuable time."

Kaiba raised an eyebrow, smirk growing. "Perhaps I am, but I clearly don't trust you right now."

"We have had a rather unusual relationship so far," Yuugi agreed. "Could we wipe the slate clean? Start from the beginning?"

Kaiba didn't reply right away. Instead, he studied the teen before him with calculating eyes, at least pretending to consider the offer. Then he reached into his lap and held up the millennium rod.

Otogi jumped back, but Yuugi stood firm, Atemu appearing at his side. Both were ready for a fight, but unwilling to start it. Kaiba appeared to be equally unwilling. He didn't summon a monster or cast a spell. He simply twirled the rod between his fingers, glancing between it and Yuugi's puzzle.

"This magic business complicates things. As long as it's here, it's hard to believe what your eyes are telling you. Games of skill lose their value as assessments of talent."

Yuugi unconsciously began to reach towards his puzzle, but a word from Atemu had him stopping, lowering his hand back to his side. His mouth felt dry and there was a slight tremor in his hand. He really was not meant for big confrontations.

"You are doing fine, love," Atemu murmured, sending strength across their bond once more.

Yuugi accepted it gladly, focusing his mind on Kaiba's words. There was an offer there, but accepting it would mean facing Kaiba alone. He subtly glanced at his partner, letting his worries flow between them.

Atemu frowned, then sighed. "I have no doubt that you can do it, but if he is double crossing us, then I will have no way to protect you."

Yuugi closed his eyes, considering his options. He didn't have to do this. To one line of thought, it was actually an unnecessary risk. They had the god's monsters and more items on their side. Overpowering Kaiba and taking the rod by force was a viable option.

It also went against everything Yuugi believed in.

I won't turn to violence when he's giving me another option. An option that might just bring him to our side. We'd get the rod and everything that he knows, which we might need to find the ring. I can't let my fears get in the way of that.

Course chosen, Yuugi opened his eyes and said, "If you want to face me without our items, I'll do it, but only on one condition."

Kaiba raised an elegantly trimmed eyebrow. "And what condition is that?"

"Nice setup you got here," Marik praised, glancing around the underground arena with an appreciative eye. "I especially love the hidden secret lab vibe. Very mad scientist."

Kaiba frowned, glaring at the Egyptian, but he didn't say a word. He just watched as Yuugi handed over his puzzle, then turned and left his friends' sides. Kaiba did the same, leaving his item with his brother, coming to meet Yuugi in the center of the room.

"S-so, what's the game?" Yuugi asked, wincing when he heard himself stutter.

Kaiba didn't say anything. He just walked away, motioning for Yuugi to follow.

They walked around the dueling arena, coming to stop before two doors. He opened the one on the left, taking Yuugi into a small side room. Inside there was a computer connected to some sort of machine. They were the only items in the room other than a clock on the wall.

Kaiba gestured to the computer and said, "This database and its associated storage unit house three copies of every card ever created, even the as of yet unreleased ones from the upcoming set. Using it, you can make any deck you like. There's an identical unit in the next room. Over the next hour, we'll both make a deck. Then we'll duel and see just how good you are when you don't have that puzzle helping you out."

Yuugi let out a shaky breath and nodded. "Best of three?"

"Best of five," Kaiba replied. "And, in between rounds, we can both make any modifications we like, so long as they take less than 10 minutes."

When this earned a surprised look, Kaiba chuckled. "The goal of this is to see how good you really are, so I'm giving you every chance. Let's really see what you can do. You have one hour."

With that, he strode from the room, leaving Yuugi alone with the machine.

Yuugi's first instinct was to simply recreate his dark magician deck, but he found himself quickly dismissing that thought. Kaiba's already played that deck and knows its tricks. If he assumes that's what I'm playing, then he can beat me with ease. If I want to win this, I have to make something new. Kaiba's smart, so he'll have the same thought. I have to assume he's playing a deck that I've never seen before, which makes it impossible to plan my strategy around him. That means that I have to make a deck that's well balanced. Something that I'd play against almost anyone and I only have one hour to do it.

The thought made Yuugi tremble. Anxiety and doubt prickled along his skin, but he clenched his fists and pushed those feelings aside. He brought his hand up to the spot where his puzzle normally hung and closed his eyes, focusing on what it felt like when Atemu fed him courage. Stop freaking out. Kaiba wants to assess your skill. Nothing more, nothing less. There's no lives on the line. No crowd watching. It's just you, him, and a handful of onlookers. Not really that different from a duel at school. Way less pressure than a real fight. So, stop focusing on your fears and focus on picking a deck. You don't have time to make something completely new, but that's okay. You've thought up dozens of decks. Pick one of those and maybe improve it a bit. In fact, pick a few. That way, if the first one's a dud, we're ready to go with the next one within the ten-minute time limit.

Yuugi opened his eyes and nodded to himself. Then he approached the computer. A moment later, he was typing away, fingers flying across the keyboard as he began to spell out the name of his first card.

Yuugi could feel his hands shaking as the arena raised him and Kaiba to dueling height. Then their life point counters flashed on, signaling the start of the match. Yuugi took a deep breath and drew his opening hand before looking across the field. The sight of Kaiba standing there made his trembling worse, so he focused his attention back on his cards. You don't have to look at him to duel. Just keep your head down and worry about your strategy. Block him out and play the game.

He kept repeating those words to himself as the game progressed, forcing himself to keep all of his attention on the cards and the field. He knew that Kaiba kept talking, likely dishing out insults, but Yuugi simply ignored the older teen. Nothing his opponent said mattered in terms of winning the game. All that matters was the cards.

Play this monster. Combo with that spell. Activate that trap? No, not yet, the attack's too weak. Save it. Okay, now activate it.

On and on he played, focusing on his strategy above all else. Knowing that the win didn't matter anywhere near as much as showing off his deck. Even the best decks didn't have a 100% win ratio. A competitive duelist like Kaiba knew that. He also knew how to assess a deck. As long as Yuugi proved that he was good enough to have legitimately won the championship, this would hopefully still end in his favor.

He was so focused on keeping himself from freaking out that he almost missed his opponent's life points hitting zero. When they did, he blinked, staring at the score displayed on his player's board. Then he looked up at Kaiba for the first time since the duel started. The tall brunet was studying Yuugi with a calculating look. Then he glared and said, "Next match."

Yuugi sighed and nodded. Here we go again.

As he walked back towards his deck building room, he began to go over strategies. Kaiba's gonna assume that I'm just editing this deck, so I'd better switch to another one. That's the best way to keep him on his toes and make sure he can't counter me. I can come back to this one later if I really need to.

As the duels went on, Yuugi's confidence grew. His decks were actually working! Even his loss in the third round wasn't a total failure. Just a matter of Kaiba getting the right draw at the right time. By the fourth match, he wasn't even staring at the player board anymore. Instead, he could look Kaiba in the eye. Yuugi knew he might not have Atemu's overwhelming confidence, but he was managing to pull this off. He wasn't coming across as a second-rate loser. He was coming across as a duelist of equal caliber to Kaiba. When the fourth round ended in his favor, his shoulders slumped and a relieved smile spread across his face. He'd done it. He'd won 3 to 1 and that was really all he could do outside of a perfect streak. Now it was all up to Kaiba, who was staring at Yuugi with the oddest look on his face.

On the other side of the arena, Seto's mind was reeling. Four duels. Four duels and four completely different decks unlike anything he'd ever seen! Where the hell had Mutou come up with these combos? That last one had cards from seven different sets! Seven !

These duels had more than proved that Yuugi was every bit the duelist that he claimed to be. Possibly the best duelist Seto had ever faced. Every deck the little twerp had played had been of competitive quality and he had a feeling that he'd only glimpsed the surface of what Yuugi could do.

That didn't mean that this was over though. Something was still bothering him.

Seto growled, slamming his hands on the consul, watching closely as his opponent started and shrunk back.

There it was again. That odd wiltinging flower shyness. Where had that come from? Where was the smack talk? The confident smirk? It was like Mutou had somehow traded his showmanship for even better dueling skills. Sure, it made for a greater mental challenge, but it was setting off alarm bells. What had changed?

A thought occurred to him then. Seto glanced to the side where the onlookers were sitting. Then his eyes narrowed.

"Put the puzzle back on."

The unexpected command left Yuugi staring at his opponent blankly for a few seconds. Then he frowned. "I'm sorry, what?"

"Put the puzzle back on," Seto repeated. "I want you to wear it for our last duel."

Yuugi's face grew even more confused. "Wasn't that our-"

A pointed look cut the teen off mid-sentence. Then he nodded. "Right, puzzle, okay."

Seto smirked as he watched his diminutive opponent place the golden artifact around his neck. Okay, let's see what happens now.

As soon as their bond reformed, Yuugi could sense Atemu's intense curiosity. He was honestly impressed that his partner waited until they were back in the deck-building room before appearing and demanding, "How did you fare in your duels? I was going to watch as best I could through the eye, but Marik left the stupid puzzle sitting face-down!"

"I missed you, too," Yuugi replied, an amused grin spreading across his face.

Atemu immediately grew sheepish, leaning forward and pressing a kiss to Yuugi's cheak. "I did miss you, but-"

"-but you wanna know how the duels went," Yuugi guessed, unable to hide the swell of affection his partner's excitement was bringing.

Armed with the knowledge that Yuugi wasn't actually annoyed, Atemu nodded and said, "I would very much like to know how the duels went."

Yuugi laughed and then closed his eyes, sending his memories of the past two and a half hours across their link. Atemu processed them quickly, then his gaze grew fond. He leaned forward and pressed a kiss to Yuugi's forehead before saying, "You did an amazing job, love."

Yuugi flushed, ducking his head in embarrassment. "I don't know about that. I couldn't even look him in the eye for the first two duels."

"But you still won them," Atemu countered, placing a transparent hand underneath Yuugi's chin, prompting his partner to glance up so that their eyes met. "I am proud of you. You faced something that has always caused you a great deal of anxiety and still managed to win the day. Those decks of yours were brilliant."

As Yuugi's flush darkened, Atemu pressed a kiss to his cheek and then walked over to stand beside the decks still sitting next to the computer. "Which of these is the one that you have yet to play?"

"The one on the right," Yuugi replied, coming to stand at his partner's side. "Did you wanna take over and have a look?"

Atemu nodded and they switched places. Then the former pharaoh grabbed the deck in question and began to flip through it. He already had a decent grasp of its strategy from Yuugi's memories, so it wasn't long before he'd figured out the full play-style. When he had, he glanced over at Yuugi and said, "Did you want to use this deck for the final match?"

Yuugi shrugged. "We can use it or any of the other decks. I'm honestly too drained to care at this point. I don't even understand why we're having this final duel. I thought I won?"

"You did," Atemu agreed, looking back down at the cards. "Whatever Kaiba is up to goes beyond winning at a card game. I believe that this is all about me."

Confusion flashed across their link, so Atemu clarified, "Or perhaps, not me, but the puzzle. He had you put it back on for a reason and I do not think that it has anything to do with magically manipulating cards. Most of your decks lack even a single marked card and he left the rod with his brother."

Yuugi considered this, then nodded tiredly. "Yeah, you're probably right."

"And you are exhausted," Atemu said, frowning as he studied Yuugi's transparent form. The smaller teen's eyes were drooping slightly and Atemu could sense a great weariness within his love. "This day has not been kind to you and you have already fulfilled your end of that bargain with Kaiba. Will you allow me to face him in this final match?"

"Sure. After all, he said to put on the puzzle," Yuugi agreed, more than willing to give his brain a break.

Atemu smiled. "Go to your soul room, love. I will call upon you if the need arises."

There was a brief moment where it seemed as if Yuugi was going to protest, then he nodded and vanished, too mentally drained to give up a chance to rest. Once he was gone, Atemu's gaze hardened. Gone was the young lover. In his place stood the pharaoh of Kemet, ready and eager to face an opponent in a game of skill.