Domino City High School. Recess time. At one of the outdoor tables, Tea is having lunch with her main friends (Yugi, Joey and Tristan).

Her cell phone rings. Tea picks it up. When she sees who it is, her face becomes radiant with joy. She activates Skype and beckons to her friends to come close to her. 'Come on, guys. It's Mai,' she whispers happily.

'Oh, really? Great!' Yugi exclaims in joy. 'I can't wait to see her. It's been so long.'

Mai appears on the screen. She's sitting on a bed cross legged. 'Hello, everyone,' she raises her hand.

'Hi, Mai,' Yugi, Tea and Tristan cry, almost in unison, while Joey just crosses his arms and snorts.

'How does it feel to be the Duel Queen?' Yugi asks, without a trace of envy.

'Not bad,' the woman winks.

'Wow, Mai, this bed looks luxurious,' Tristan remarks. 'Where are you?'

'At Pegasuses mansion,' the older woman replies casually.

'WHAT?' everybody cries in unison, their eyes bulging in a Japanese gag manner.

'Yeah, I kinda stay here,' the blonde woman drawls. 'Temporarily. As a friend of his!'

'Mai, are you nuts?' Joey yells. 'That guy tried to kill us.'

'Nobody is perfect, Joey. Get over it,' Mai rolls her eyes.

'Oh, whatever, I'm just so glad to hear from you again, Mai,' Tea exclaims and kisses the screen.

'Likewise, babygirl,' Mai giggles.

With a sigh of irritation, Joey walks away. His friends, who keep chatting on Tea's cellphone, did not notice him leave.


Domino City High School. Recess time. A few days after the incident above.

Joey is sitting on the ground, with his back resting against the building wall.

Tristan approaches. 'Hey, dude,' he greets his blond friend. He's holding a can of coke.

Joey indifferently reciprocates the greeting with a head motion.

Silence.

'Umm... so...' Tristan tries to initiate conversation. 'Are you still sad about... you know who?'

Joey raises his eyes anew. 'What do you think she's doing right now?' he asks.

Tristan shrugs, taking a sip of his coke.

'I bet that, at the moment, she and Pegasus are screwing each other as if there's no tomorrow,' Joey continues, causing Tristan to spit out the coke in surprise.

Joey stands up. He takes a sultry expression, clutches his hair, slightly bends his knees and starts squirming, doing an impression of Mai: 'Oh, yeah, baby. Yeah, one eyed freak. Fuck me like the whore that I am.'

Joey stops when he realizes that some students passing by have stopped and are looking at him.

'Go away,' he yells.

The students resume their own business, giggling at that last incident nonetheless. Tristan can't help laughing as well.

With a sigh, Joey presses his back against the wall and falls on his butt anew. Tristan sits next to him.

The brown haired boy takes hold of his blond friend's shoulder, in order to draw the latter's attention. 'Listen, dude,' he says. 'You'd better forget about her. I mean, she's considerably older than you. And I think it's highly unlikely that she'll select you over the owner of a financial empire.'

Joey turns his head and glares at Tristan, as if he's about to punch him on the spot. 'Mai is not such a person!' he snaps.

'I'm not saying she is,' Tristan replies. 'But still, you have to admit that the fact that that guy is a multibillionaire gives him an advantage, albeit in Mai's subconscious.'

'I guess you're right,' Joey turns his head back to its original position and starts staring into space.

Darn. Why can't he be a tycoon like Pegasus instead of the comic relief teenager that he is?


Joey walks over to a gang of female students who are standing and chatting. With confidence.

'Okay, Mister Wheeler, you've got this!' he says in his head. 'Who needs Mai? I can have any girlfriend I want. I'm a charming, bad boy.'

'Hey, girls,' he greets them to draw their attention.

The female teens turn their heads and look at him indifferently, blinking.

Joey sweatdrops. This is not good!

'Hey,' one of them suddenly cries. 'I know you! You're Joey Wheeler. You reached the Duelist Kingdom semi finals.'

Joey smiles. Good!

'Yes, ladies,' he closes his eyes, places his fists on his hips and smirks. 'I'm officially one of the best duelists in the world. Normally, I don't give autographs, but, for beautiful ladies like you, I can make an exception...'

'And then...' another girl interrupts him, giggling. 'And then he was disqualified because he lost his qualification card.'

This sends her peers into a fit of laughter.

'What a moron,' one of the girls comments, wiping a tear. 'I mean, seriously, who manages to get disqualified this way?'

Joey blushes, lowers his eyes and walks away in shame.

He still doesn't know how the hell he lost that card that day. He knows he's usually a goofy person (though he never admits it out loud), but still he was very careful with that card. Is he really that stupid? That goofy? Such a loser? Destined to always screw up because he was born so incompetent?

Those girls are right. Come to think of it, if Mai hadn't been kind enough to concede her prize money, his sister would have remained blind for life. All because of how much of a loser her worthless brother is.

'Let's face it, Joey,' the blond boy mumbles. 'You're a good for nothing bro.'


Night. Joey is walking in an alley, slightly drunk. He's wearing his green jacket and blue jeans. He's singing.

'No matter what, let the game begin. No matter what, may the best man win. No matter what, we're in this together. No matter what, we'll be friends forever. No mat...'

Suddenly, he realizes that he can hear another song. It's coming from... the dumpster!

'Don't say if I were you. Or tell me what you'd do. How things would be if you were in my shoes. Cuz you're not me.'

Some poor drunk hobo must be trying to get some sleep in there.

Joey remembers that he has some change left after visiting the pub. Let's give it to the homeless person. Though that person's voice sounds familiar, for some reason.

With some effort, he opens the dumpster. 'Hey, dude, here, take th...'

Joey's eyes bulge. 'KAIBA?'

'Yeah, it's me,' the tycoon, who was singing in his sleep, sits up, with a dazed expression and a hiccup. His cheeks are red. He's wearing the school uniform. He stinks.

The blond boy drops the lid in surprise, which falls on the brown haired peer's head, with a loud thud.

Joey gasps, covering his mouth with his palms. Oops, that must have hurt.

Nevertheless, it seems Kaiba is so drunk that he ignores the pain! Annoyed, he pushes the lid upwards, thus fully opening the trash bin.

'Kaiba, what are you doing here?' Joey asks, still shocked.

'Being a worthless brother mostly,' the richer boy laughs and jumps out of the dumpster.

'I know the feeling,' Joey sighs, though he doesn't really understand why Kaiba feels that way.

Kaiba tries to walk away, but he staggers.

'Hey, rich boy, you're not well,' Joey says, trying to hold him. 'Let me help you.'

'Leave me alone, Wheeler,' Kaiba tries to push him away.

However, he's so drunk that he fails. Not that Joey is totally sober, mind you. As a result, they both wind up on the asphalt.

They stay like that for a while, Joey on top of Kaiba. Then... they burst into laughter. With neither of them knowing why.

Finally, they manage to sit next to each other, their backs resting against the dumpster.

'We both are failures, Wheeler,' Kaiba declares, with another hiccup.

'We are identical failures. Twin bros!' Joey cries excitedly.

'Failure bros fistbump,' Seto offers his peer a fistbump.

'Failure bros fistbump,' Joey repeats and reciprocates.

That moment, they both realize that they can hear footsteps. Men in black, hooded cloaks approach, from both directions, blocking both exits of the alley.

Joey and Kaiba stand up, alerted.

'What are those freaks?' the blond boy wonders out loud.

One of the men takes a step forward and removes his hood, thus revealing his face. He seems to be the same age as Kaiba and Joey. He has blond, middle length hair and blue eyes. He's holding something. Something... golden. Something like... a scepter.

Joey notices it and points at it. 'Wait a minute. Is this... a Millenium Item?' he asks, with his eyes widened.

'Is this one of Yugi's friends, Master Marik?' one of the other men asks, seeming to address the one who removed his hood.

'Indeed he is,' Marik smiles, his eyes fixed on the flustered Joey. 'We have found one of them. At last!'

'And who's the other one?' another man points at Kaiba.

'Probably another friend of Yugi's,' Marik answers, without turning to look at the brown haired boy. 'So much the better. I'll brainwash him too.'

Marik starts pacing towards Joey. After years of investigation, his gang, the Rare Hunters, managed to locate the whereabouts of that boy who shares his body with the immortal soul of that bastard pharaoh who ruined his life. Of course, his initial plan was to send someone else first rather than come to Domino City himself so soon.

In the universe the series took place, that someone was Bandit Keith. However, in this universe, things are different.

'Who are you?' Kaiba asks.

Ignoring him, Marik stands before Joey and extends the arm he's holding the Millenium Rod with, about to brainwash Joey.

'HEY, I'M TALKING TO YOU, FREAK,' Kaiba yells.

This draws Marik's attention. He turns his eyes to the source of this annoying noise and... his eyes bulge. Wait, is this Seto Kaiba?

With his arm extended and his head turned to Kaiba, Marik freezes for a moment, pensive. Sure he can brainwash Joey right now, but what is he supposed to do with Seto afterward? He's not sure brainwashing would work on someone chosen by the Millenium Items. Someone chosen by Gods themselves! Maybe it's better to retreat for the time being.

Besides, Marik has an alternative plan too. He has already brainwashed another person he could use to attack Yugi. Let's use that other person instead. When the time is right!

The leader of the Rare Hunters sighs and lowers his scepter. 'Knock them unconscious. We're leaving,' he commands.

'Huh? Are you sure, Master Marik?' a man asks, confused.

'I SAID WE'RE LEAVING,' Marik snaps.

With knife hand strikes in the neck, both Joey and Kaiba are knocked unconscious by Marik's men. Next, the gang walks away.


A sunray falls on Joey's eyes, thus waking him up.

'Huh?' the boy opens his eyes, slowly and weakly. 'What the...'

He stands up, rubbing his head. He has a headache. The last thing he remembers, he was drunk, then he met Kaiba, then... he blacked out? Gosh, he must have been more drunk than he thought.

His eyes fall on the sleeping Kaiba next to him. Joey lightly kicks him, trying to wake him up.

Kaiba slowly opens his eyes, shields them from the sun with his hand and raises them to Joey. 'Huh? Where am I?' he wonders. 'What are you doing in my room, Wheeler?'

'You're not in your room, rich boy,' Joey rolls his eyes. Next, he crouches. 'Let me help you get up...'

'Take your filthy hands off me, you deadbeat duelist,' Kaiba yells and pushes him away, standing up by himself.

Next, he walks away.

'You're welcome, Kaiba,' Joey mutters, annoyed.