Intro Notes: Um. . . hi. I know that I should've been writing the epilogue
to 'It's A Magical World', but now it's not Christmas anymore, really,
and I don't feel inspired. Sorry. Eventually I'll get it up. But in the
meantime I had this idea for a scene pop into my head, and I kind of made
up a storyline to go along with it.
Disclaimer: What moron here thinks I actually own Yu-Gi-Oh?
Warnings: Uh. . . this chapter is gonna suck because it's just chicken- scratchings scribbled down? Nah, nothing really for this chapter. Yaoi in the future. Along with better writing skills.
Title: Discovered, Not Found
Full Summary: A little competition has been planned. A scavenger hunt, you might call it. And it's global. The prize is secret, and the tasks make no sense, but everyone is eager to beat the King of Games at -something-. So what happens when they get a little. . . . sidetracked? YAOI: YxY, BxR, SxJ, MxM, mentioned HxO.
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Chapter 1
*Japan*
It was a beautiful summers day as Yugi and the gang, plus Seto Kaiba, headed for the Kame Game Shop.
This particular group of teenagers was on its way to hear about what a certain Sugoroku Motou's latest scheme was.
The elderly Motou had started to hint at a surprise to them a week or so ago, right after school had let out [A/N Do Japanese schools let out for the summer? If not, jeez, sucks to be -them-.] for the next 3 months, and by now they were all dying to know what it was.
The clever senior {1} had continuously let them catch small words and phrases including their names and something else that was big, but otherwise hadn't left them any other clues. When they had asked him about it, he played the fool.
But yesterday, he had finally given in and said they could all come to the Game Shop the next day to hear what it was, and to bring Seto Kaiba.
And that's where they were at the moment.
"Hey, Tristan! Heads up!" Joey called as he chucked a hackey sack at the formerly mentioned boy's head.
"Huh? Ouch!" the brunette cried out as the bean bag bounced off his skull. "Hey Joey! -Heads- -up-!" he yelled as he fired it right back with 10 times the original force.
"Ack!" Joey yelled and ducked, the hackey sack whizzing by and almost clipping Kaiba on the nose. Tristan laughed. Joey grinned and ran off to get their ball back. Kaiba sighed exasperatedly.
"Yugi, will you please remind me again why I have to come to your house with these morons?"
Yugi looked up and shrugged, smiling.
"I told you, Grandpa said it was a surprise and wouldn't tell me yet. . . seemed pretty happy about something though. He told me it'd be worth your while." Kaiba snorted.
"Uh huh. What could -he- possibly have to offer me that I don't already have?"
Yugi, whom Tea had engrossed in conversation in the split second it had taken Kaiba to answer, did not reply. Kaiba huffed and turned his eyes forward again.
Eventually, they reached the Game Shop. Everyone (with the exception of Kaiba) ran in excitedly and just about tackled the elderly Motou.
"Ohohoho! Watch out kids! What in the world has you young ones so excited?" he asked good-naturedly. Yugi jumped to give him a hug.
"You know very well! Tell us what the big surprise is, Grandpa!" he begged happily.
"Yeah! C'mon Gramps! No more suspense!" said Joey.
"Spit it out!" called Tristan.
"-Tristan-!" scolded Tea.
Ryou just smiled, but looked on curiously just the same. Sugoroku smiled as well.
"Okay, now. Hold your horses!" He moved sideways and picked up an envelope from the cashier table, hiding it behind his back, but making sure to give them all a glimpse of it. Kaiba's eyes gave a spark of recognition. He smirked.
"Ooo, what's that?" Yugi asked. Grandpa smiled.
"I suppose you youngsters -have- waited long enough. Okay, I'll tell you!" He put on a cheesy commercial voice. "Listen up, because you are about to get a once-in-a-lifetime offer!" he suddenly boomed, leaping up onto a chair. Kaiba stared, so close to putting his head in his hands at how utterly ridiculous he looked. "Your long waiting has finally paid off! I give you....th--!" But he was cut off as the shop door slammed open.
"Ladies and gentlemen, Marik is -in- the house!" yelled a poof of platinum blonde hair, sliding in on his knees with gusto. He stood up and twirled around gracefully, humming the theme to 'Who Wants To Be A Millionaire'.
There was a dead silence in the room.
Suddenly, Tea squawked. "-Marik-!"
Kaiba groaned inwardly. 'He did his own -theme music-?! Big dumb, -and- tone-deaf! I -wish- I was unconcious for all of this!'
Marik seemed oblivious to the totally confused and a little bit fearful goggling at him. He continued, copying Grandpa's earlier announcer's voice. "And don't forget his irritable, vicious, and all around horrible sidekick, Malik!"
"-MARIK-!" yelled the 'sidekick', promptly appearing inside and punching his yami.
"Hey!" yelled Marik, and kicked Malik back.
"Why you--!" Soon the happy soulmates were in an all around war of flailing limbs, knawing teeth, and scraping nails, while everyone else's confused looks continued, albeit with a sweatdrop added.
"Whoa whoa whoa!" called Joey, snapping out of his reverie. "Break it up!" he said as he tried to intervene and pry them away from each other.
Kaiba, who had immediately backed up against the wall upon seeing the platinum blondes, also started yelling.
"Yugi! What are you trying to pull, anyway?! Why are -they- here?!"
Yugi tried desperately to prevent a death. "Grandpa said that they could come, so. . ." Just then a loud moan came from the fleshball of Ishtars.
When the dust cleared, they saw the two passionately kissing as they rolled around on the floor. As soon as Marik came up for air, Malik pulled away angrily.
"What was that for?!" he snapped. Marik looked up at him confusedly.
"Huh? -You- kissed -me-!" he said. Malik growled.
"It must've happened during the fight. Forget about it," he snapped, turning his back to the other, trying to hide the blush spreading across his face. All the others in the room sweatdropped again.
". . . . . . . . That was fast," Joey commented bluntly.
"Umm. . . the surprise, Grandpa?" Yugi tried meekly. Malik suddenly turned around with an immediate mood change.
"Yeah! Why'd you call us here, anyways?"
"Yes! Tell us!" They all dropped the prior events out of their minds immediately and mobbed Sugoroku again. The elder was thoroughly confused, but smiled just the same.
"Okay, supposing you're ready now. I recieved news today that I--!" But he was cut off -again- with the appearance of Yami out of the Millenium Puzzle.
He yawned and blinked around blearily. "What's going on, Hikari?" he asked slowly. Yugi elbowed him in the ribs.
"Ouch! What was that for?!"
"Shh!" Yugi rebuked. "Grandpa's is about to tell us a surprise!"
"Huh?"
"I said -SHH-!"
"As I was saying," Mr. Motou continued. "I just won--!"
"Yo, Marik! What's up, dirty?" came a voice suddenly from Ryou's direction.
"Bakura! I thought I told you to stay in the Ring!"
"It's cold in there!"
"WILL YOU ALL SHUT -UP-?!" Yugi yelled angrily. Everyone stared at him.
"Dang," said Bakura. "Why you all up in my grill?"
"You aren't ghetto!" said Ryou exasperatedly.
Bakura pouted. "And -you- aren't any fun."
"PMS?" suggested Marik. Ryou and Bakura glared at him.
"Will we please get to the point?" growled Kaiba. "-Some- of us don't have all day to stand around and display ourselves for the fools we are."
"Speak for yourself," grumbled Joey.
"Now now," said Grandpa. "He does have a point. -So-, if you all will finally let me tell you what I have without any more interruptions," Here he glanced at the Ishtars. "I'd like to annouce that I won. . . .(drumroll please). . . . THE LOTTERY!" he yelled, posing triumphantly with the envelope in hand.
Silence.
"That's awesome, Grandpa!" squealed Yugi. Malik looked at the elderly Motou increduously.
"-That's- the big surprise? You won the Lottery? Big whoop. I thought there was something in it for me," he scoffed. "Marik, come on. Let's ditch this."
"Ohohoho, don't be so hasty, now!" scolded Grandpa. "Who said there -wasn't- anything in it for you?" Malik turned around.
"Are you giving me money or something?" he asked hopefully.
Kaiba intervened impatiently. "If this was a charity, what need would -I- have to be here?"
"Will you all be quiet and let me finish?!" yelled Sugoroku. "This is not a charity, nor am I simply bragging! I called you all here because I am proposing a competition!"
This comment definitely sparked the attention of all but Tristan and Tea.
"What kind of competition?" asked Yami eagerly, his hand straying to his duel monsters deck in his belt.
"Oh no, Yami, I'm afraid this will have nothing to do with dueling," Grandpa said. Yami's arm dropped to his side in disappointment. Bakura perked up even more.
"A chance to beat the Pharoah where he doesn't have such a damn unfair advantage?" he asked. "Whatever it is, count me in!"
"Me too!" chimed in Malik enthusiastically.
"Shut up and let's hear what the competition -is-," said Kaiba, obviously just as impatient as Bakura to beat Yami.
"Well," said Grandpa slowly, relishing the rapt attention he was receiving with smugness. "As you already know, I won the lottery, but I only intend on keeping enough to have a comfortable retirement. I'm not going to move to a different house or a different city, both because my soul is here in this gameshop," He looked around fondly. "And because I know that Yugi is happiest here in Domino."
Yugi smiled appreciatively.
"How much money did you win?" asked Joey. Sugoroku smiled.
"One-hundred and forty-two million."
Tristan whistled.
[A/N Um, $142,000,000 is probably an utterly outrageous amout of money, and I'm sorry about that, but I just want to make sure it's as good as endless. And also, think dollars, not yen, cuz I have no idea how they do anything money-related over there. Yeah. I'm done now.]
"Wow!" exclaimed Tea.
"Yes, that's exactly what -I- said!" Grandpa agreed. "So anyway, I am proposing a scavenger hunt!"
He received blank stares from the yamis.
"What in hell is that?" asked Marik.
"It's a hunt where I give you a list of things to find, and you go find them all and bring them back here. The first one back wins!"
The blank stares continued.
"And this is relevant to -anything-, how? What kind of competition is -that- ?" asked Bakura. Ryou nudged him in the ribs.
"I think it'd be fun," he said quietly.
"But how does this have anything to do with you winning the lottery?" asked Kaiba.
"Well," said Sugoroku. "I figure $42 million should be more than enough to retire comfortably, so I have the other $100 million to plan out your trip with!"
"What trip?" asked Joey stupidly, the others thrown off for a moment as well. He received an evil grin. 'Uh oh.'
"Now Joseph," Grandpa said sweetly. "You don't think I would just have you play some silly -children's- game for my amusement, do you?" Joey shivered.
"Um. . . . no?"
Grandpa cackled. "Why of course not! -This- trip, my dear boy, will be -global-." Kaiba narrowed his eyes.
"To what point? You said this was to -your- amusement--,"
"What the heck?!" Malik abruptly asked. "What's up with -this-?! That was staight out of the blue! Are you on drugs or something? How did this come up? What are we talking about? Slow down!" he yelled despairingly.
"What's the prize?" asked Bakura suddenly. "What do I get for all my work if I beat Pharoah?"
"Yeah," cut in Marik. "What -gave- you this crazy idea, anyway?"
Mr. Motou smirked. "You want to know what you win? I can't tell you. Not until all the pieces are collected, at least." Yugi and Yami glanced at each other bewilderedly. "But it will be something that'll matter more to you than anything in the entire world, you can count on that." Grandpa said, attempting suspense. "As for the idea, let's just say I saw something on TV."
The teens looked around the room at each other in amazement.
"You--?"
"How?"
"Why?"
"What?"
"Crack?"
"Can we start over?"
"Huh?"
Yami looked over at Joey blankly. Joey shrugged.
"Sounds good ta me. It's not like I have anything else to do this summer anyways."
"Yeah, me neither!" chimed in Yugi. Kaiba was shaking his head and pinching the bridge of his nose. Bakura seemed to still be making up his mind.
"Will it be dangerous?" he asked.
"Yep," said Grandpa happily.
"Will it be exotic?"
"Oh yeah."
"Will it be a one-time, life-threatening, totally new experience?"
"Most likely."
Bakura grinned.
"Bring it on."
"So, is everyone in?" asked Sugoroku. After another confused silence, there was a chorus of affirmation.
"Uh, I think I'll sit this one out, guys," said Tea.
"Yeah," agreed Tristan. "I'll be too busy screwing Otogi. Sorry."
"Your loss," shrugged Joey.
"Alright then!" Grandpa clapped his hands together enthusiastically. "It's settled! Time for rules!"
Tristan and Tea, deciding that they weren't that interested in hearing much more about it seeing as they weren't doing it anyway, left.
"Well, here goes this insane competition," muttered Kaiba, resigning himself to his instincts to beat Yami, no matter how pointless, out-of-the- blue, and crazy the game might have sounded.
"Anyway," continued Sugoroku. "First up, this will be a teamwork competition!" There was a series of groans.
"What?" whined Bakura. "You mean I'm stuck with someone to slow me down?"
"Yes," Grandpa said firmly. "Everyone, pick a partner." Bakura 'hmph'ed.
Yugi and Yami automatically looked at each other. Yami smiled.
"You've never failed me before, Aibou. Yugi will be my partner," he said, walking over and putting his hands on Yugi's shoulders. Yugi blushed.
"Then I call Mar--" started Bakura quickly.
"Oh no you don't!" shouted Malik. "Soul mate gets first dibs! -I- call Marik!" Bakura growled, but Malik ran over and put his arms around his yami possessively, even though Marik started to squirm uncomfortably at the foreign action.
Kaiba's eyes darted around the room, quickly sizing up how well everyone else would play, and how much they were likely to kill him whenever they felt like it. "I get Ryou!" he called.
"No way!" yelled Bakura, looking both Joey and Kaiba over. "You heard the psycho, soul mate gets soul mate!" He ran over and grabbed Ryou's hand, which made the British boy blush lightly.
"There is no way I'm partnering up with the -mutt-!" sputtered Kaiba.
"The feeling's mutual, snob," Joey snapped back, also having a rather twisted look on his face.
"You will if you want to qualify for this!" Grandpa insisted. Kaiba could have sworn he was snickering inwardly.
"Fine," the CEO spat, reluctantly walking over to stand beside the blonde, leaving a respectable distance in between them. "This prize had better be good."
Yami's eyes laughed at the two of them.
"Good then! Now that that's done, your list of objectives and the rest of the instructions are in these!" said Grandpa, all smiles, holding out a sealed envelope for each of them.
"Hey," said Marik. "How did you know we were going to agree to this nutty idea, anyway?"
"Just a feeling," replied Grandpa vaguely, his smile betraying him. "You will all be leaving for your first destination first thing tomorrow morning, so get packing!" he said as he pushed all but his grandson and the Pharoah out the door. "Have fun!" he chirped, and then slammed the door in their faces.
They all stared at the door for a minute as evil laughter drifted from behind it, then concluded to themselves that they were indeed crazy. They all let themselves have a loophole, and said that sometimes crazy people were the most great and ingenious ones of them all.
Lastly, they all made a mental note to schedule an appointment with a psychiatrist both for themselves, and for Yugi's Grandpa, first thing when they got back.
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End Notes: Okay, I need to know if anyone would be interested in a story like this. As far as I know, I'm the first one to come up with this idea. So, review and tell me, and I'll try to get the next chapter up soon. I'm not really sure where I'm going with this yet, it's just an experiment, so ideas would be welcome. {1}: I just needed to say this; at some churches there are groups called 'Seniors Alive' for
over-the-hill people, and I think it's hilarious because me and my friends are always like it's better than 'Seniors -Undead-'! Yeah. That's all. Sorry for bothering you
Disclaimer: What moron here thinks I actually own Yu-Gi-Oh?
Warnings: Uh. . . this chapter is gonna suck because it's just chicken- scratchings scribbled down? Nah, nothing really for this chapter. Yaoi in the future. Along with better writing skills.
Title: Discovered, Not Found
Full Summary: A little competition has been planned. A scavenger hunt, you might call it. And it's global. The prize is secret, and the tasks make no sense, but everyone is eager to beat the King of Games at -something-. So what happens when they get a little. . . . sidetracked? YAOI: YxY, BxR, SxJ, MxM, mentioned HxO.
=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=
Chapter 1
*Japan*
It was a beautiful summers day as Yugi and the gang, plus Seto Kaiba, headed for the Kame Game Shop.
This particular group of teenagers was on its way to hear about what a certain Sugoroku Motou's latest scheme was.
The elderly Motou had started to hint at a surprise to them a week or so ago, right after school had let out [A/N Do Japanese schools let out for the summer? If not, jeez, sucks to be -them-.] for the next 3 months, and by now they were all dying to know what it was.
The clever senior {1} had continuously let them catch small words and phrases including their names and something else that was big, but otherwise hadn't left them any other clues. When they had asked him about it, he played the fool.
But yesterday, he had finally given in and said they could all come to the Game Shop the next day to hear what it was, and to bring Seto Kaiba.
And that's where they were at the moment.
"Hey, Tristan! Heads up!" Joey called as he chucked a hackey sack at the formerly mentioned boy's head.
"Huh? Ouch!" the brunette cried out as the bean bag bounced off his skull. "Hey Joey! -Heads- -up-!" he yelled as he fired it right back with 10 times the original force.
"Ack!" Joey yelled and ducked, the hackey sack whizzing by and almost clipping Kaiba on the nose. Tristan laughed. Joey grinned and ran off to get their ball back. Kaiba sighed exasperatedly.
"Yugi, will you please remind me again why I have to come to your house with these morons?"
Yugi looked up and shrugged, smiling.
"I told you, Grandpa said it was a surprise and wouldn't tell me yet. . . seemed pretty happy about something though. He told me it'd be worth your while." Kaiba snorted.
"Uh huh. What could -he- possibly have to offer me that I don't already have?"
Yugi, whom Tea had engrossed in conversation in the split second it had taken Kaiba to answer, did not reply. Kaiba huffed and turned his eyes forward again.
Eventually, they reached the Game Shop. Everyone (with the exception of Kaiba) ran in excitedly and just about tackled the elderly Motou.
"Ohohoho! Watch out kids! What in the world has you young ones so excited?" he asked good-naturedly. Yugi jumped to give him a hug.
"You know very well! Tell us what the big surprise is, Grandpa!" he begged happily.
"Yeah! C'mon Gramps! No more suspense!" said Joey.
"Spit it out!" called Tristan.
"-Tristan-!" scolded Tea.
Ryou just smiled, but looked on curiously just the same. Sugoroku smiled as well.
"Okay, now. Hold your horses!" He moved sideways and picked up an envelope from the cashier table, hiding it behind his back, but making sure to give them all a glimpse of it. Kaiba's eyes gave a spark of recognition. He smirked.
"Ooo, what's that?" Yugi asked. Grandpa smiled.
"I suppose you youngsters -have- waited long enough. Okay, I'll tell you!" He put on a cheesy commercial voice. "Listen up, because you are about to get a once-in-a-lifetime offer!" he suddenly boomed, leaping up onto a chair. Kaiba stared, so close to putting his head in his hands at how utterly ridiculous he looked. "Your long waiting has finally paid off! I give you....th--!" But he was cut off as the shop door slammed open.
"Ladies and gentlemen, Marik is -in- the house!" yelled a poof of platinum blonde hair, sliding in on his knees with gusto. He stood up and twirled around gracefully, humming the theme to 'Who Wants To Be A Millionaire'.
There was a dead silence in the room.
Suddenly, Tea squawked. "-Marik-!"
Kaiba groaned inwardly. 'He did his own -theme music-?! Big dumb, -and- tone-deaf! I -wish- I was unconcious for all of this!'
Marik seemed oblivious to the totally confused and a little bit fearful goggling at him. He continued, copying Grandpa's earlier announcer's voice. "And don't forget his irritable, vicious, and all around horrible sidekick, Malik!"
"-MARIK-!" yelled the 'sidekick', promptly appearing inside and punching his yami.
"Hey!" yelled Marik, and kicked Malik back.
"Why you--!" Soon the happy soulmates were in an all around war of flailing limbs, knawing teeth, and scraping nails, while everyone else's confused looks continued, albeit with a sweatdrop added.
"Whoa whoa whoa!" called Joey, snapping out of his reverie. "Break it up!" he said as he tried to intervene and pry them away from each other.
Kaiba, who had immediately backed up against the wall upon seeing the platinum blondes, also started yelling.
"Yugi! What are you trying to pull, anyway?! Why are -they- here?!"
Yugi tried desperately to prevent a death. "Grandpa said that they could come, so. . ." Just then a loud moan came from the fleshball of Ishtars.
When the dust cleared, they saw the two passionately kissing as they rolled around on the floor. As soon as Marik came up for air, Malik pulled away angrily.
"What was that for?!" he snapped. Marik looked up at him confusedly.
"Huh? -You- kissed -me-!" he said. Malik growled.
"It must've happened during the fight. Forget about it," he snapped, turning his back to the other, trying to hide the blush spreading across his face. All the others in the room sweatdropped again.
". . . . . . . . That was fast," Joey commented bluntly.
"Umm. . . the surprise, Grandpa?" Yugi tried meekly. Malik suddenly turned around with an immediate mood change.
"Yeah! Why'd you call us here, anyways?"
"Yes! Tell us!" They all dropped the prior events out of their minds immediately and mobbed Sugoroku again. The elder was thoroughly confused, but smiled just the same.
"Okay, supposing you're ready now. I recieved news today that I--!" But he was cut off -again- with the appearance of Yami out of the Millenium Puzzle.
He yawned and blinked around blearily. "What's going on, Hikari?" he asked slowly. Yugi elbowed him in the ribs.
"Ouch! What was that for?!"
"Shh!" Yugi rebuked. "Grandpa's is about to tell us a surprise!"
"Huh?"
"I said -SHH-!"
"As I was saying," Mr. Motou continued. "I just won--!"
"Yo, Marik! What's up, dirty?" came a voice suddenly from Ryou's direction.
"Bakura! I thought I told you to stay in the Ring!"
"It's cold in there!"
"WILL YOU ALL SHUT -UP-?!" Yugi yelled angrily. Everyone stared at him.
"Dang," said Bakura. "Why you all up in my grill?"
"You aren't ghetto!" said Ryou exasperatedly.
Bakura pouted. "And -you- aren't any fun."
"PMS?" suggested Marik. Ryou and Bakura glared at him.
"Will we please get to the point?" growled Kaiba. "-Some- of us don't have all day to stand around and display ourselves for the fools we are."
"Speak for yourself," grumbled Joey.
"Now now," said Grandpa. "He does have a point. -So-, if you all will finally let me tell you what I have without any more interruptions," Here he glanced at the Ishtars. "I'd like to annouce that I won. . . .(drumroll please). . . . THE LOTTERY!" he yelled, posing triumphantly with the envelope in hand.
Silence.
"That's awesome, Grandpa!" squealed Yugi. Malik looked at the elderly Motou increduously.
"-That's- the big surprise? You won the Lottery? Big whoop. I thought there was something in it for me," he scoffed. "Marik, come on. Let's ditch this."
"Ohohoho, don't be so hasty, now!" scolded Grandpa. "Who said there -wasn't- anything in it for you?" Malik turned around.
"Are you giving me money or something?" he asked hopefully.
Kaiba intervened impatiently. "If this was a charity, what need would -I- have to be here?"
"Will you all be quiet and let me finish?!" yelled Sugoroku. "This is not a charity, nor am I simply bragging! I called you all here because I am proposing a competition!"
This comment definitely sparked the attention of all but Tristan and Tea.
"What kind of competition?" asked Yami eagerly, his hand straying to his duel monsters deck in his belt.
"Oh no, Yami, I'm afraid this will have nothing to do with dueling," Grandpa said. Yami's arm dropped to his side in disappointment. Bakura perked up even more.
"A chance to beat the Pharoah where he doesn't have such a damn unfair advantage?" he asked. "Whatever it is, count me in!"
"Me too!" chimed in Malik enthusiastically.
"Shut up and let's hear what the competition -is-," said Kaiba, obviously just as impatient as Bakura to beat Yami.
"Well," said Grandpa slowly, relishing the rapt attention he was receiving with smugness. "As you already know, I won the lottery, but I only intend on keeping enough to have a comfortable retirement. I'm not going to move to a different house or a different city, both because my soul is here in this gameshop," He looked around fondly. "And because I know that Yugi is happiest here in Domino."
Yugi smiled appreciatively.
"How much money did you win?" asked Joey. Sugoroku smiled.
"One-hundred and forty-two million."
Tristan whistled.
[A/N Um, $142,000,000 is probably an utterly outrageous amout of money, and I'm sorry about that, but I just want to make sure it's as good as endless. And also, think dollars, not yen, cuz I have no idea how they do anything money-related over there. Yeah. I'm done now.]
"Wow!" exclaimed Tea.
"Yes, that's exactly what -I- said!" Grandpa agreed. "So anyway, I am proposing a scavenger hunt!"
He received blank stares from the yamis.
"What in hell is that?" asked Marik.
"It's a hunt where I give you a list of things to find, and you go find them all and bring them back here. The first one back wins!"
The blank stares continued.
"And this is relevant to -anything-, how? What kind of competition is -that- ?" asked Bakura. Ryou nudged him in the ribs.
"I think it'd be fun," he said quietly.
"But how does this have anything to do with you winning the lottery?" asked Kaiba.
"Well," said Sugoroku. "I figure $42 million should be more than enough to retire comfortably, so I have the other $100 million to plan out your trip with!"
"What trip?" asked Joey stupidly, the others thrown off for a moment as well. He received an evil grin. 'Uh oh.'
"Now Joseph," Grandpa said sweetly. "You don't think I would just have you play some silly -children's- game for my amusement, do you?" Joey shivered.
"Um. . . . no?"
Grandpa cackled. "Why of course not! -This- trip, my dear boy, will be -global-." Kaiba narrowed his eyes.
"To what point? You said this was to -your- amusement--,"
"What the heck?!" Malik abruptly asked. "What's up with -this-?! That was staight out of the blue! Are you on drugs or something? How did this come up? What are we talking about? Slow down!" he yelled despairingly.
"What's the prize?" asked Bakura suddenly. "What do I get for all my work if I beat Pharoah?"
"Yeah," cut in Marik. "What -gave- you this crazy idea, anyway?"
Mr. Motou smirked. "You want to know what you win? I can't tell you. Not until all the pieces are collected, at least." Yugi and Yami glanced at each other bewilderedly. "But it will be something that'll matter more to you than anything in the entire world, you can count on that." Grandpa said, attempting suspense. "As for the idea, let's just say I saw something on TV."
The teens looked around the room at each other in amazement.
"You--?"
"How?"
"Why?"
"What?"
"Crack?"
"Can we start over?"
"Huh?"
Yami looked over at Joey blankly. Joey shrugged.
"Sounds good ta me. It's not like I have anything else to do this summer anyways."
"Yeah, me neither!" chimed in Yugi. Kaiba was shaking his head and pinching the bridge of his nose. Bakura seemed to still be making up his mind.
"Will it be dangerous?" he asked.
"Yep," said Grandpa happily.
"Will it be exotic?"
"Oh yeah."
"Will it be a one-time, life-threatening, totally new experience?"
"Most likely."
Bakura grinned.
"Bring it on."
"So, is everyone in?" asked Sugoroku. After another confused silence, there was a chorus of affirmation.
"Uh, I think I'll sit this one out, guys," said Tea.
"Yeah," agreed Tristan. "I'll be too busy screwing Otogi. Sorry."
"Your loss," shrugged Joey.
"Alright then!" Grandpa clapped his hands together enthusiastically. "It's settled! Time for rules!"
Tristan and Tea, deciding that they weren't that interested in hearing much more about it seeing as they weren't doing it anyway, left.
"Well, here goes this insane competition," muttered Kaiba, resigning himself to his instincts to beat Yami, no matter how pointless, out-of-the- blue, and crazy the game might have sounded.
"Anyway," continued Sugoroku. "First up, this will be a teamwork competition!" There was a series of groans.
"What?" whined Bakura. "You mean I'm stuck with someone to slow me down?"
"Yes," Grandpa said firmly. "Everyone, pick a partner." Bakura 'hmph'ed.
Yugi and Yami automatically looked at each other. Yami smiled.
"You've never failed me before, Aibou. Yugi will be my partner," he said, walking over and putting his hands on Yugi's shoulders. Yugi blushed.
"Then I call Mar--" started Bakura quickly.
"Oh no you don't!" shouted Malik. "Soul mate gets first dibs! -I- call Marik!" Bakura growled, but Malik ran over and put his arms around his yami possessively, even though Marik started to squirm uncomfortably at the foreign action.
Kaiba's eyes darted around the room, quickly sizing up how well everyone else would play, and how much they were likely to kill him whenever they felt like it. "I get Ryou!" he called.
"No way!" yelled Bakura, looking both Joey and Kaiba over. "You heard the psycho, soul mate gets soul mate!" He ran over and grabbed Ryou's hand, which made the British boy blush lightly.
"There is no way I'm partnering up with the -mutt-!" sputtered Kaiba.
"The feeling's mutual, snob," Joey snapped back, also having a rather twisted look on his face.
"You will if you want to qualify for this!" Grandpa insisted. Kaiba could have sworn he was snickering inwardly.
"Fine," the CEO spat, reluctantly walking over to stand beside the blonde, leaving a respectable distance in between them. "This prize had better be good."
Yami's eyes laughed at the two of them.
"Good then! Now that that's done, your list of objectives and the rest of the instructions are in these!" said Grandpa, all smiles, holding out a sealed envelope for each of them.
"Hey," said Marik. "How did you know we were going to agree to this nutty idea, anyway?"
"Just a feeling," replied Grandpa vaguely, his smile betraying him. "You will all be leaving for your first destination first thing tomorrow morning, so get packing!" he said as he pushed all but his grandson and the Pharoah out the door. "Have fun!" he chirped, and then slammed the door in their faces.
They all stared at the door for a minute as evil laughter drifted from behind it, then concluded to themselves that they were indeed crazy. They all let themselves have a loophole, and said that sometimes crazy people were the most great and ingenious ones of them all.
Lastly, they all made a mental note to schedule an appointment with a psychiatrist both for themselves, and for Yugi's Grandpa, first thing when they got back.
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End Notes: Okay, I need to know if anyone would be interested in a story like this. As far as I know, I'm the first one to come up with this idea. So, review and tell me, and I'll try to get the next chapter up soon. I'm not really sure where I'm going with this yet, it's just an experiment, so ideas would be welcome. {1}: I just needed to say this; at some churches there are groups called 'Seniors Alive' for
over-the-hill people, and I think it's hilarious because me and my friends are always like it's better than 'Seniors -Undead-'! Yeah. That's all. Sorry for bothering you