Last Time: Yami had a brief practice duel with Téa, but with a nosy reporter throwing him off, Yami wound up LOSING! Joey and Tristan were introduced to Mai's surprise: a warehouse full of workers all making up merchandise. Shortly after, Weevil Underwood and Rex Raptor arrived to make a challenge to Joey. Joey accepted the challenge and even put up his Red Eyes Black Dragon and Time Wizard on the line.


Tiebreaker: Part 4


The channels on the television kept switching on their own. Yugi had pressed the 'scan' button on his remote. Every channel was talking about tomorrow's duel with Kaiba. It was making him awfully nervous, but what made things even worse was the headline on the front page of today's newspaper…which covered his loss to Téa. But all of this wasn't getting to Yugi as much as it was getting to Yami.

/ Yami, I hope you're not letting any of this bother you. /

// Nobody ever did this to me in my day. There were no such things as…reporters…and…cameras…and…how can you LIVE with all this, Aibou?! //

/ Well…actually, I can't exactly picture myself living without it. It's been a staple of modern life. /

// My nerves are shot. I don't think I can focus. //

/ Yami, don't say that. You'll be fine. Just pretend the cameras aren't even there. /

// But they ARE there! And every time I look into one of them, I realize that there are…MILLIONS of people watching! It's a wicked kind of sorcery that even *I* could have never fathomed! //

/ It's not sorcery, it's technology. Look, Yami, if it makes you that nervous, then do what anyone else does when they're being watched by millions of people. Picture them all in their underwear. /

// You want me to WHAT?! //

Before Yugi could dig himself in a deeper hole, someone knocked at his front door. His grandpa, Solomon Moto, answered the door and called back to his grandson.

"Yugi? It's Téa."

Yugi got up from the couch. "Thanks, Grandpa!" He ran over to greet Téa. "Hi, Téa. What brings you here?"

"Yugi, I can tell you've been a little…distracted lately. I mean, you could hardly concentrate at school today. I think you've got tomorrow's duel on the brain."

"If you think *I* have it bad, you should see poor Yami. He's completely neurotic."

"That's why I'm here, Yugi. You think I could talk to Yami for just a minute?"

"Uh…sure thing, Téa."

/ Yami? Téa wants to… /

// I don't want to talk to anybody! //

/ Yami, at least come out and say hi! /

// No! I want to be alone! //

Téa bent down and held the Millennium Puzzle in her right hand. "Yami, it's me. Can we talk? I think I have something you might want to hear."

It looked like Yami was finally relenting, because the Millennium Puzzle began to react.

YU-GI-OH!!

The Millennium Puzzle emitted its light and once it faded, Yami Yugi now stood in Yugi Moto's place.

"What did you want to tell me, Téa?" Yami asked politely.

"You have a tough duel ahead of you tomorrow. And I realize that maybe your practice duel with me didn't make things any better, so…let me take you out and get your mind off tomorrow's duel. Let me help you relax and ease your tension."

"How do you propose to do that?"

"Well…what do you like to do to unwind?"

"I duel."

"Besides that! Remember, we're getting your mind OFF dueling! Yami, think back to your days in Egypt…"

"Téa, I hardly REMEMBER my days in ancient Egypt."

"Oh…sorry. Uh…ok…what would people from ancient Egypt do to unwind?"

Yami thought about that and could think of one answer. "People from my time would relax in the hot springs."

Téa thought about that. "Hot springs, huh? Yami, I think I have just what you're looking for."

Before Yami could even ask, Téa dragged him out by the arm. He was going out whether he liked it or not.

Joey walked around the warehouse with Tristan walking along behind him slowly with a nose buried in a book. With the added pressure of having his Red Eyes Black Dragon and Time Wizard up for grabs, Joey knew it was important to make sure everything was up to quality.

"So what have we got here so far?" Joey asked. He picked up a loose T-shirt. "Hmm…100 percent cotton, dramatic poses, uh…white shirt? Can we start making these in black?"

"We have them in black," Mai replied. She tossed a black T-shirt to Joey. It looked just like the white one.

"I'm telling you, Mai. These things had better sell. I don't want to lose my two best cards."

Mai shook her head and passed Joey a Yugi/Kaiba mug. "Here, have some coffee."

Joey took a sip and sighed contentedly. "Hey, that's pretty good."

"It better be," Mai said. "It's official Yugi/Kaiba coffee."

Mai held up a coffee bag with Yugi and Kaiba's faces on it. It was obvious that Mai was sparing no expense.

"So what else do we got?" Joey asked.

Mai passed a pair of rubber masks to Joey. "Try these official Yugi and Kaiba masks."

Joey put a mask on as Mai held a mirror in front of him. He nearly startled himself. "Hey, those things look pretty real. I could have almost sworn I was looking straight at Yugi." Then he switched to the Kaiba mask. "And I could have almost sworn I was looking straight at that creep, Kaiba."

Mai moved on to her next product. "And here we have some Yugi/Kaiba bobbleheads. They're sure to be among our best-selling items."

Joey leaned over to see the small wooden dolls with gigantic heads shaped like Yugi and Kaiba. The heads just kept bobbing up and down with no sign of stopping.

"I love those things!" Joey grinned. "Call them collector's items and we'll double our sales, guaranteed."

Mai then moved on to her next product. "And over here we have some lovely Yugi/Kaiba perfume."

"Perfume? You've got a one-track mind, Mai."

Mai responded to that crack by spraying Joey with the official Yugi perfume. Joey coughed, then took a couple of deep sniffs.

"That smells pretty good. Don't you think so, Tristan? Tristan?"

Joey turned around and saw that Tristan still had his face buried in his book. Joey snatched it away from him.

"Joey! What's the idea?"

Joey looked at the book's cover and saw it was his history textbook. "History? Tristan, you're doing HOMEWORK at a time like this?!"

"We missed a week's worth of school," Tristan pointed out. "I'm not a nerd or anything, but even *I* know it's a bad idea to fall behind the way we are." He yawned. "We've been working nonstop and we've hardly gotten any sleep."

"Sleep is for the weak, Tristan," Joey growled. "I don't want to lose that bet to Weevil and Rex."

Mai tossed a sheet to Tristan. "If you're really that tired, then go sit on one of those Yugi/Kaiba beanbag chairs and sleep with that Yugi/Kaiba blanket."

"But don't sleep too long," Joey added. "I wouldn't want to have to wake you up by cracking you over the head with a Yugi/Kaiba commemorative plate."

"You will NOT crack him with one of our plates!" Mai snapped. "Those plates aren't free, you know!"

"Oh yeah."

"If you MUST wake Tristan up later, then use that Yugi/Kaiba alarm clock over there."

Tristan sweatdropped. "Why do I have a feeling that when I wake up, I'll be in Yugi/Kaiba land?"

"Because you'll be surrounded by tons of Yugi/Kaiba merchandise," Joey grinned. "And by the end of tomorrow, I'll be celebrating by raising up official Yugi/Kaiba balloons and lighting official Yugi/Kaiba firecrackers."

"Joey, we don't HAVE Yugi/Kaiba firecrackers," Mai muttered.

"Then what are we waiting for?" Joey shot back. "Let's get started!"

Tristan sweatdropped again. "I don't know WHY I ever agreed to this."

Téa wasn't kidding when she said she would help Yami unwind and get his mind off tomorrow's duel. He wasn't too familiar with the modern-day "gym", but he was comforted when Téa brought him to a place called the spa. It looked like a replica of the ancient hot springs, with water just as hot and soothing.

Keeping his towel on, Yami slowly stepped into the spa. The hot water was very relaxing and it didn't take long for him to sink in and make himself comfortable. It was nice to know he was all alone without the hassles of the media around. This was truly his time.

Yami closed his eyes and started daydreaming. At least he wanted to.

/ Yami? What are you thinking about? /

Of course, Yami would never truly be alone. He would always have Yugi around.

// I'm just daydreaming, Yugi. You know, I really should find a way to thank Téa for this. I couldn't have asked for anything better to help me relieve my tension. //

In his internal conversation with Yugi, Yami didn't notice someone else walk in. He didn't realize he was in a public spa, and therefore someone walked up from behind and settled into the spa right next to him. When he heard the gentle splash, Yami decided to greet the man while keeping his eyes closed.

"Relaxing, isn't it, friend?"

"Yugi?!"

Yami quickly opened his eyes and saw that the one who just came into the spa…was none other than Seto Kaiba.

Yami was steaming more than the spa. "What are YOU doing here, Kaiba?!"

Kaiba recognized the gruff voice of Yugi's alter ego. "I came here to unwind and get my mind off the insidious media circus surrounding our duel! I didn't come here to see you, Yami!"

"You won't have to see me, Kaiba! I'm leaving! And you won't see me again until tomorrow's duel!"

"That's right, I won't have to see you again until tomorrow when I defeat you, once and for all!"

"You'll never beat me, Seto Kaiba! You don't have what it takes!"

"Then why don't we make the stakes a little higher?"

Yami was caught off-guard, but kept his confident smirk. "What do you have in mind?"

"You know I'm a powerful man, Yami. If you beat me, I'll arrange it so that you get an equal share of my company. You'll be an equal partner in Kaibacorp. You'll wield just as much power as I do."

Yami was taken aback. He knew Kaiba was confident and wanted to win badly, but he never expected the stakes to be that high. Kaiba was literally putting control of his company on the line. There had to be a huge catch.

"But if *I* win, you'll give me something I've been wanting for a long time. I want the Millennium Puzzle!"

Yami didn't expect that either. "The Millennium Puzzle?"

"The Millennium Puzzle has some kind of special power. I know it! And it has something to do with Duel Monsters. Once I have it, I can have my company study it and they'll find out just what kind of power it wields. And more importantly, it'll eliminate you forever. So what do you say, Yami? Do you have enough confidence that you're willing to put your very existence on the line? Or will you back out and show me that you've realized what I've known all along. That you CAN'T beat me!"

"I CAN beat you, Seto Kaiba! I accept your terms!"

Kaiba chuckled. "And that'll be your undoing. Your pride will lead to your end. And I can feel it. Through your charade of confidence, I can hear the fear in your voice. You ARE afraid, because you KNOW you'll lose!"

"I AM NOT AFRAID OF YOU, KAIBA!!"

/ Yami, calm down! Take a deep breath! We're in a public place! /

// The nerve of him! I'll show him who's afraid!! //

/ Maybe we should leave. See that door over there, Yami? Walk out and don't look back. Please don't make a scene! /

Unable to mellow out with Kaiba in the same spa, Yami stepped out with his towel still wrapped around his waist and walked towards the changing room. But before he could even make it, several other uninvited guests rushed into the public spa. They were several members of the press.

"It's Yugi Moto!"

"And there's Seto Kaiba!"

"Mr. Moto, are you nervous at all about tomorrow's duel?"

"Mr. Kaiba, do you feel any pressure at all about winning tomorrow's duel?"

"Mr. Moto, Mr. Kaiba, uh…is there a reason you two are in the same spa?"

"Is there something we're not aware of, Mr. Moto?"

Yami couldn't take anymore. "VULTURES! Away with you!"

Yami tried to shove past the incessant questions and popping flashbulbs, but in his struggle to push through, a loose nail by the door caught his towel…

…and tore it off.

The press came to a hush…with the exception of one flashbulb.

"What a scoop! Playgirl will pay thousands!"

Yami finally turned beet red. "GET OUT!!"

/ Yami, it's ok! Calm down! /

// Please, Yugi! Let me teach them a lesson! //

/ No! What'll that do for our image? /

// OUR IMAGE?! Yugi, I'm… //

/ Just keep covering yourself and I'm sure no one will notice. /

Yami could only keep his front covered with his hands, as he backed out and headed back into the changing room. The press, shocked by Yami's outburst, decided to shift their attention to Kaiba.

"Mr. Kaiba, about tomorrow's duel…"

"Mr. Kaiba, do you have any new strategies…"

"Mr. Kaiba, any thoughts on Yugi Moto's outburst?"

"AAH! Get out of here!" Kaiba cried. "I came here to get away from all of you! GO AWAY!"

While the press continued to pester Kaiba, Yami sheepishly entered the changing room and quickly got back into his clothes.

Hopefully, he could get out before the press caught up to him again.


Next Time: This was quite an awkward segue, but next time, the big day has arrived. Yugi and Kaiba have their third duel in front of a capacity crowd…and a lot of press. Can both of them put aside the pressure and duel at their best? Who will win? And how will the Joey Wheeler merchandising campaign turn out?


Any comments? Then mail me at AmericanCaptor@hotmail.com and don't forget to review below!