Author's Note: Glad everyone seems to be enjoying this still! If anyone wants to beta read future chapters, drop me a line on AIM at LaceyW5480 (or if you want to just say hi – I don't bite!).

Virtually Yours

Mirror Mirror on the Wall

Surrounded... People wearing Gozaburo's face lumbered towards Joey and Weevil. Joey didn't try to count them. He knew how many there were - too many. With Weevil concentrating on keeping Seto in the air and the monsters working on guiding Seto to the portal, Joey found himself as the only defense. Joey wished he could take the time to watch the monsters work together, but the first of the Gozaburos was rapidly approaching.

The first Gozaburo went down quickly to Joey's knives, but he wouldn't be able to take them all on. "Fight smarter, not stronger," he muttered to himself. This wasn't a game puzzle, so there wouldn't be an actual solution. Joey's eyes lit on the gate and he smiled. "Or better yet, don't fight at all!"

Joey equipped one of his ever-useful grappling hooks, but then froze. Too many Gozaburo clones were between him and his target. "Let's see if you bastards can attack what you can't see!" Joey activated his Vanish ability and charged into the midst of the throng. Dodging with more agility than his real body possessed, Joey reached the gate and tied the rope to the bars before catching the hook on them. The other end of the rope knotted around his belt.

"Wheeler!" Weevil screamed as the Gozaburos were closing in. Praying that the rope would hold, Joey pounded his way through to Weevil. His dagger darted out in quick stabs to encourage the many Gozaburos to get out of his way. When he at last broke through to the mage, Joey kept running, taking a tight hold of Weevil and dragging him along, right over the edge of the city. Weevil's shrill shriek of terror rang in Joey's ears as they dropped.

The rope jerked taut, slackened briefly as their momentum was halted, and then went taut again. Joey laughed as Weevil held onto him for dear life. "Remind me to tell Seto to include bungee jumping in this place!"

"Are you insane?" Weevil cringed as he tightened his grip.

Joey winced as he realized that Weevil was clutching onto the feminine assets of his virtual body. With the two of them just swinging in mid-air, though, there wasn't anything he could do about it right at the moment. After a moment, though, Weevil slowly transferred his grip a little higher, whispering in Joey's ear, "Figured I might as well take you up on that five seconds before we die."

"Perverted roach," Joey growled without any real malice.

Weevil smirked in response. "And proud of it!"

The two hung around in companionable silence. This wasn't a bad way to spend the time, Joey decided. It was certainly better than getting ripped apart by people that looked like Seto's old man. Joey found that if he listened closely enough, he could pick up snatches of conversation going on in the real world. Unfortunately, he didn't like the bits and pieces that were coming through – not when phrases such as "no choice," "game-wide sweep," and "complete NPC file restoration" were overheard.

"They can't," Weevil yelped, and Joey realized that he, too, was listening in on the real world conversations. "If they restore all of the NPC files... The monsters are NPCs! They'll be restored to their original programming!" Even as Weevil finished stating the painfully obvious, the world went quiet. Weevil cast Levitate and the two began to rise back up to the city.

The two boys touched down in an empty city. There were no traces of the Gozaburo clones, the vampires, or the sphinx. "Dartz!" Joey yelled. "Pegasus!" The only response, though, came from his own echo. Joey called for his friends again and again until his throat became hoarse. By his side, Weevil scanned the skies, seeking some sign that the monsters were still alive.

Suddenly Weevil elbowed Joey, pointing to a form swooping down. For a moment, Joey dared to let himself hope. As the form came closer, Joey realized it was Seto and Siegfried. When they landed, Seto released Siegfried, heading straight to Joey. With no explanation, Joey wrapped his arms around Seto and began to cry. For once Seto didn't push away, and Joey was grateful. When Weevil told Seto what happened, Joey felt him tense up.

"Fools!" Siegfried growled. "There are larger problems to be faced and yet you cry over a few failed AI programs?"

The only thing that kept Joey from pounding Siegfried into the ground was the fact that Seto beat him to it. "They were our friends!" Seto bellowed into Siegfried's face in the most shocking display of emotion Joey had ever seen from him. Then Seto shoved Siegfried aside, resting his head against a building. Joey knew Seto well enough to know that he was trying to put his poker face back on. Seto turned back to Joey, his expression still broken up.

And then Seto was on the ground as a delighted Dartz came rocketing out from between some buildings. Joey stared in shock as Dartz declared that "Seto Knight" was his friend, then his gaze strayed towards the direction the vampire had come from. Pegasus and the sphinx were back too! Weevil was already in motion, throwing his arms around the sphinx.

"Surely you guys didn't think I'd pull a stunt like that without backing up their files."

After taking his turn hugging the sphinx and giving Pegasus a welcome back noogie, Joey went to sit by Seto just in time to hear him say something about Siegfried being a prisoner. Seto's expression had gone grim, and Joey noticed that he still was holding onto Dartz. "Gozaburo's back," he told Joey. "The real one, not just a look-alike."

As if realizing that he was using the vampire for a teddy bear, Seto gave Dartz a quick shove off of his lap. The vampire flashed Seto a hurt pout. "I need to think," Seto told him in an effort to smooth ruffled feelings. "And you are a bit distracting." Dartz giggled at that and went scurrying to Pegasus's side.

Seto went still, his brow furrowing in deep thought. Joey watched, marveling at Seto's quiet intensity. Seto silently mouthed his thoughts, giving his head an occasional shake as he discarded various ideas. Finally, he said, "We're going back to Lilyvale. Mokuba, have the programmers move Dame Chat to the market. We'll set Siegfried up in her house. Tell the crew that the first person who can set it up so that I can use a webcam to display images on the big mirror there will get a bonus."

"I refuse to stay in some ridiculous little cottage," Siegfried snarled.

Seto whirled and backhanded Siegfried. Clutching at his face, Siegfried took a step back, swallowing in fear. Joey stifled a quick grin. He could've told Siegfried that antagonizing Seto at the moment was a bad idea. Hell had no fury like a pissed off Kaiba. Seto's lips curled back in the famous Kaiba sneer. "If you want out of this place, Siegfried, you will stay where I tell you to stay and do what I tell you to do. Otherwise I will leave you to rot away your existence in this world. Do you understand?"

Siegfried nodded, wisely keeping his mouth shut. "Good," Seto continued. "Now, we are going back to Lilyvale. You will stay in Dame Chat's house. And I won't hear a single complaint from you about it."

Before climbing on the sphinx's back behind Weevil, Joey waved Siegfried over. "Don't take it too hard. Seeing his old man always seems to put him in a bad mood."

With Seto on the vampire-powered sheet, Joey and Weevil on the sphinx, and Siegfried using his magic cape, the group flew back to Lilyvale. Dame Chat's home rested at the far end of town, for, even though she was the town gossip, the character was programmed to like her privacy. Siegfried glared at the house in disgust, but Joey thought it was rather cute. It was small, but two stories with a red shingled roof. An empty rocking chair normally occupied by the aptly named Dame Chat sat on the porch.

The inside of the home practically screamed little old lady. Lace doilies covered every available surface. A round woven rug spread across the middle of the wood floor. A basket of knitting rested by a small sofa. At least it did until the sphinx caught sight of it. In an instant, she had a yarn ball out and was chasing it across the floor.

"Just about...," Joey heard Mokuba murmuring, and then the kid's image appeared on the mirror over the fireplace. He waved to the assembled group. "We did it! Can you see me, Seto?"

Seto nodded, watching as Pegasus crept over to the mirror and began poking at it. "It's for communication purposes," Seto told the vampire. "It's time for us to go back to our world. We'll come back, though, and we'll be able to talk to each other through this. Whatever's going to happen next, it's not your fight. If you want out..."

"Do not be foolish, Seto Knight." Pegasus turned from the mirror with a smile. "We would be honored to be allowed to continue to fight be your side. If we can be of assistance in any way, let us know."

Seto jerked his thumb in Siegfried's direction. "For now, just keep him out of trouble." The group kept their farewells short, knowing they would see each other again soon. Then they logged out of the game.

After the disorientation that came with going from the game back into his body, Joey sat up, promptly banging his head on the virtual reality equipment. At his pained yelp, Seto came to Joey's aid, helping to extricate him from the virtual reality pod. "Easy, mutt," he murmured with his trademark smirk. "We wouldn't want you to bruise that little head of yours."

Seto dragged Joey over to the webcam to reintroduce themselves to the monsters. Weevil refused to join them. "Joey Thief is a boy!" Dartz giggled. "Does boy Joey Thief taste as good as girl Joey Thief?"

Joey was saved from having to come up with a suitable retort by the sphinx. "Wherefore does Weevil Mage hide? Of him I wish to see this side?"

Holding his finger up in the universal "just one moment" gesture, Joey ducked away from the webcam. He grabbed Weevil around the waist, dragging him back over. Or at least, he attempted to. Weevil's foot connected painfully with Joey's shin. "You little bastard!" Joey snarled, wincing in pain.

Weevil responded by sticking his tongue out before ducking beneath a desk. With a growl, Joey prepared to haul Weevil out of the little hidey-hole. He stopped, though, when he saw the look of utter misery on the boy's face. "Roach?"

"They'll laugh if they see me," Weevil muttered, pulling his knees up against his chest. "You guys still look impressive outside of the game, but I'm just... I'm just me." Joey blinked, having never realized before that Weevil was so self-conscious. In games, or at least among his fellow gaming geeks, the kid practically exuded confidence.

"Don't sweat it," Joey said, tousling Weevil's hair. He stood and went back to the webcam, limping slightly from the kick. "Weevil left a spell on the stove," he told the monsters. They wouldn't know otherwise, and seemed to buy the excuse for the time being.

The webcam was turned off, as Mokuba assured his big brother that he knew how to set it up on the laptops. Then Seto pointedly mentioned that he needed to get some work done today, ushering everyone up to his office. Once there, Seto settled at his desk, throwing himself into his paperwork as though he could forget about his troubles. It took Joey all of two minutes before he grew bored of watching Seto sign his name. "Seto, can we watch TV?" he whined.

Without a word, Seto tossed a remote to Joey. "Thanks," Joey said, as he flipped straight to a dueling competition. "Damn," he sighed when he saw Yugi wouldn't be dueling until tomorrow. Well, at least he could check out the other duelists and work on his own strategies in case he ever had the chance to go up against some of them.

"How long has it been since you talked to your friends?" Joey turned to stare at Seto, a guilty flush creeping up his cheeks. It had been too long, really. Between the game and working, Joey had fallen out of touch. Seto tossed Joey his phone. "Don't use up all my minutes, mutt."

"You like throwing stuff at me, don't you?" Seto just smirked and went back to work. "Bastard," Joey muttered as he started dialing Tristan's cell phone. After two rings, Tristan answered. "You guys missing me?"

"Joey? Hey, guys! Joey's on the phone!" Joey grinned as he heard Yugi and Tea call out greetings. "These duel tournaments aren't the same without you, man! So how've you been? How's the job?"

"I'm good," Joey answered. "As for the job, well..."

At the other end of the line, Tristan groaned. "You got fired, didn't you? I knew this summer job thing was a bad idea! You should have come to dueling tournaments with the rest of us! So, what happened?"

Joey shot a grin in Seto's direction before answering. "Oh, I called my boss a 'jerkface.' But he started it." Seto looked up from his work and flipped Joey off. Joey returned the gesture, pleased to see Seto loosening up a little.

"Joey, you moron! We're going to have to coach you on how to act on a job," Tristan laughed. "In the meantime, how about we pool our cash and get you a plane ticket out here. We can cheer Yugi on together!"

"No can do, pal," Joey chuckled. "Weird shit is happening out this way. Not quite the normal weird shit that follows Yugi, but I've got to stick around and see how it turns out."

"Hey, mutt!" Joey looked back over at Seto, raising an eyebrow. "Tell Yugi that if he loses his title before I get a chance to beat him, I'll thrash him soundly."

Joey gave Seto a thumbs up, nodding. "Hey, Tristan, tell Yugi Kaiba says good luck." Suddenly Joey found himself being shouted at on both ends of the line as Seto ordered Joey to take back those words and Tristan demanded to know why he was with Kaiba. Joey did his best to placate both conversations. "Look, it's a long story, man. I'll explain it when you guys get back to town next week – all the gory details. Promise! Oh, and Kaiba also says that if Yugi loses, he'll kick his ass. Anyway, I'll talk to you later, alright? Bye!"

Joey flipped the phone closed and tossed it back to Seto. It had felt good to hear his friends' voices again. "With a friend like you, mutt, who needs enemies?" Seto muttered. Joey turned his attention back to the TV, a smile spreading across his face. Once upon a time, he would have thought the devil would have to place an order for a million pairs of ice skates before Seto Kaiba deigned to call anyone a friend. The ice prince mask was starting to melt, and Joey found the person he could see beneath it likeable.