Before I begin, may I note that this chapter is not as clean as my other chapters.
It does not have bad words in it, but the situation may make some uneasy.
I take no responsibility if you read this, and then are uncomfortable later. Thank you.

PS-I do not own "Yu-Gi-Oh!" or any related characters. However, the character 'Janet' is mine.

Chapter 3-Shoeless Joey

:: Yugi ::

The unidentified person came towards Yugi who was lying on the floor. "So, have you figured me out yet, Yugi?" a female voice said.

Yugi, slowly regaining his strength looked up again to see his captor. "Why are you keeping me here?" he said softly, trying to save his strength.

"You've been looking around too much. I needed to keep you away from everyone else."

"What do you mean?" the frail Yugi asked.

"I mean you need to be looking one way, not a dozen ways. Now it's time for you to learn!" And with her angry voice echoing in the room, she left, thus diminishing the light remaining in the room, leaving Yugi to sit in the cold thinking about what would happen to him next.

:: Meanwhile, back in Domino::

Yami began to think about how he could possibly get Yugi back to where he was now. "His friends are smart. They'll know what to do." And thus began Yami's woeful journey attempting to persuade all of Yugi's friends to help him rescue Yugi. He started with Yugi's best friend, Joey. First, he had to find where Joey lived though. 'Now, if I were Yugi, where would I keep my address book?' he thought to himself. Yami searched through Yugi's desk, his closet, even under his bed. No luck. Then, Yami had one of those light-bulb sudden ideas you get. He remembered that Yugi was a practical person, and went to look next to the phone. He flipped through the pages, pulling out names and other information, starting with his closest friend-Joey Wheeler.

:: Ten minutes later, walking through the city::

Yami walked up the stairs to house number 308, the Wheeler residence. A ring of the bell brought a man, who appeared to be drunk. Yami wasn't quite sure from the sight of the man; tee shirt and boxers, socks an unshaved beard and wrinkled hair.

"Yeah," the man started in a mean, loud, drunk voice, "what do you want?"

"Mr. Wheeler, I presume?" Yami asked, coolly.

"Lovely day, isn't it stranger?" the man replied.

"Why yes," Yami started, a little unsure about the conversation he was involved in, "Yes it is. So, in the assumption that you are Mr. Wheeler, is Joey at home?"

"Who?" the man asked. "You want to see Joey? Is that what you want? Well, if you want to see him, there's something you've got to do for me first."

"Um, okay." Yami answered, nervously.

"The man leaned in towards Yami's face. Now Yami was 100 positive that this man was drunk-he could smell it. "You've got to kiss my–"

"Dad!" Joey yelled from atop the stairs where he had just arrived. He then descended the stairs towards Yami. However, before he could reach his friend, he had to go through his father first.

"Joseph! How many times must I tell you to not interrupt?" Joey's dad yelled. He raised his hand, about to hit Joey, when Yami jumped in to save Yugi's friend. He caught Mr. Wheeler's arm not three inches away from Joey's face. Joey ran outside, pulling Yami with him.

"Run!" Joey yelled to Yami. He obeyed, and ran up the street with Joey. They were at the end of the block when they heard Mr. Wheeler's scream of hate at Joey. The running didn't stop until they were about five blocks away. Joey spoke first, once he caught his breath. "Hey, thanks."

Yami, still trying to catch his breath spoke very shortly, "You're…welcome…" A few deep breaths later, he tried full sentences. "So, Joey, how longs has your dad been that way?"

"Since before you knew me, remember? I though I told you to always call before you came over. You knew you'd meet my dad at the door like that."

As Joey continued to speak to who he thought was Yugi, Yami looked down at what Joey was wearing. It was very similar to his father's outfit with the exceptions of the beard, and the fact that Joey had chosen to wear pants. However, his shirt was torn in a few places and stained, and his black jeans had some red and white plaid patches. His ensemble was completed with the absence of footwear, other than the socks on his feet. "Joey…"

Joey stopped talking, and looked up at Yami. "Yeah?"

"Maybe you should come back to my house. You look like you were attached by a tablecloth…and it looks like you lost."

"Thanks. I'd like that very much." Joey said to Yami. The two of them started walking back to the game shop, when Joey looked over and asked, "So, what did you come over to my house for anyway, Yugi?"

Yami stopped where he was and looked at the ground. He had no logical way of explaining his situation to Joey. He barely even knew who he was going to explain to him how he wasn't Yugi, but rather a 5,000 year old man from ancient Egypt. "I'll explain it to you back at the shop, Joey. I don't want to make you any more upset that you already are."

"What could you possibly say that would upset me?"

"Well, for one thing, I'm not Yugi."

This finally made Joey stop. Those last three words made Joey stop dead in his tracks. This time, Yami pulled Joey to safety, that is, out of the way of a car coming up the street that Joey was standing right in the middle of. It took Joey a minute before he was ready to speak again. When he did, he simply told him "we'll talk at the game shop." The two then remained quiet for the rest of their journey-all seven blocks.

When the two boys finally arrived, they headed straight for Yugi's room. Only then did the pair begin to speak again. This time, Yami started. "Here Joey," he said, opening Yugi's closet, "if you can find anything that fits, feel free to wear it."

"Ya know, I don't think ya have the right to, pardon the expression, but, open up his closet to me. Now, you was sayin'?"

"Um, okay, let me explain this whole situation."

"That would be nice." Joey added.

Yami took a deep breath and sat down on Yugi's bed while Joey attempted to find something to wear. "Well, you see, it all started a few years ago. Remember that puzzle Yugi solved? The one you stole a piece of?"

"You mean like the one you've got around your neck?"

"Yeah, that's the one. Well, that is my home…well; it's my mind's home. You see, originally, I came from Egypt, but then I sacrificed myself to stop evil from taking over the world. Now, it was said that it would happen again, and another would rise to fight off that evil. Yugi is that person. However, something went wring, and now Yugi's gone, and I need to get him back." Yami looked up to find Joey's mouth agape, and not wearing a shirt.

Once Joey came back to reality, he quickly threw a shirt on, and scolded Yami for this "breech of privacy" as Joey called it.

"Oh, please. I saw you dad in his underwear. If you think I haven't seen enough skin of the Wheeler family, you'd be wrong."

"Point taken. But give me some slack. This is a lot to take in. Yugi's some hero destined to save 'da world, and he's missing on top of all this? So wait," he said, pausing, "if Yugi's gone, then who are you?"

Yami was once again searching for words. He couldn't think of a way to explain this. However, being straight forward worked with him before, so why not try again? "Joey, I look like Yugi, that's because I'm a part of him. We share a mind. So, in a way, I am Yugi, but in Egypt, I was pharaoh. Now, for some reason, everyone calls me Yami."

"Well, nice to meet ya' Yami." Said Joey, extending a hand, which Yami politely accepted. Yami then looked at Joey's new clothes. Since they were all Yugi's everything was kind of small; the black shirt, the blue coat and pants, and the black shoes. "What, do you think I should put on one of his neck-belt things?" he asked, laughing.

"No, I think you're fine. So, will you help me?"

"How can I help, Yami?"

"Well, first, I need to get in contact with all of Yugi's friends, convince them who I am, find a way to a) find Yugi and b) get him back, and while we're at it, get Janet out of the picture."

"Hey! What's wrong with Janet?"

"As a person, nothing, but she's just nor right fro Yugi, and who known him better than I do?"

"Well, he does for one. And he must know that Janet is right for him." Said Joey, sticking up for his missing friend. Then, a big thought came to Joey. "Yami, how tall are you?"

'He's just catching on now?' Yami thought. "Taller than Yugi, if that's what you're getting to."

"I can't believe I, well, everyone didn't notice the difference. So wait, is that why we all though Yugi lost his marbles today?"

"Yep. I sat in Kaiba's seat. I didn't have a clue what I was doing."

"And to think I though Yugi had changed. I'm glad to hear it was you going after someone else, not Yugi."

"So," Yami began, getting up, "shall we go acquire everyone else?"

"No," Joey said, pulling Yami back to the bed, "we need to keep talking. Besides, I don't wanna be seen in public daylight like this. I say we get everyone tomorrow, and I get some new clothes tonight. Mind if I stay here until we mobilize? I don't think I can ever face my dad again-not after what happened today." Joey stopped talking, suddenly.

"Why Joey, what happened?" Yami asked, in a calm voice.

"Well, you told me about your past, so I guess it's only fair that I tell you about mine. Many years ago, my dad got a divorce from my mother. He took me, and I lost my sister, Serenity, to my mother."

"Oh, I'm sorry." Yami began, but before he could say anything else, Joey stopped him.

"Thanks, but let me tell my story. Anyway, I kept some pictures of my mother, and the one picture I had of my sister. The two of us were so close; we always wanted to be friends. Anyway, today, I took those pictures out. It's Serenity's birthday, and I go through the same thing every year. I look at the pictures, and my dad finds me, then he yells at me, and then he hits me. While I'm on the floor in pain, my dad goes out and gets drunk. I've seen it the past thirteen years, and I never get used to it. But this year, it was different. You came and rang the bell while this was going on. My dad was extra mad at that, and he said some stuff he couldn't take back. The worst part was, he meant it, every word, probably because he was drunk when he started."

These words hurt Yami so much, hearing that someone could have so many problems with their family. He looked over at Joey who was just about on the verge of tears. He leaned over and gave him a hug and said, "It's going to be all right. I'm here for you."

Joey sniffled, and then said, "I got over it, then got used to it, an' I don't wanna talk about it any more today, all right?"

Yami sighed and agreed. "Well, since you don't want to go get your clothes until later, should we order in a pizza?"

Joey looked up and smiled. "Now you're speakin' my language. Gimme the phone."

Once the pizza arrived, and Joey convinced Yami to try the pineapple and anchovy combo he had ordered, they only had a few hours left until the sun went down. "We should probably think of how we're going to get your clothes back." Yami suggested, swallowing one last bite of pizza.

"Yeah, I guess we should." Said Joey, going over to his pair of black jeans lying on the floor in front of the bed. He picked them up and started going through the pockets, desperately in search of something. Unsuccessful, he looked over at Yami. "We've got a problem." He said.

"What now?" asked Yami, going over to him.

"Well, when I left the house in such a rush, I didn't have my keys with me. I can't get into my house."

"Joey, I seem to recall Yugi, you, and the rest of the gang getting out of situations like this before. You guys always seemed to get out of problems with some weird plan. Willing to give one a try?"

After some thought, Joey spoke just three words; "Let's do this."

Okay, here is the EXTENDED version of the chapter. To my sole reviewer, there's quite a story behind this, but, you don't really need to know...unless you want to that is.

PS-A good friend once told me that not everyone who reads reviews, but people may still like it anyway. So to you, other readers, I say review. How else can I improve my story, without your guidance? Enjoy the new year!