Chapter Four: Party Invitation

A/N: O.o I have over a hundred and fifty hits in one night? Jeez. So I guess that this is good. Okay, I'll continue but remember, my goal is to finish it by Christmas. Hope you all enjoy this chapter, wait what am I saying, of course you will!

Joey crunched through the snow as he bought his mother a Christmas present. She was easy to buy for. All she really liked were scented candles and he knew her favorite, sugar cookie. Now came the hard part, what to get his little sister. She just now got into dueling but wasn't very good so far. He couldn't get her a rulebook, that would hurt her feelings. How about a new card? She might like that.

"Mutt," he heard and froze, knowing exactly who had called him mutt. Seto Kaiba walked up wearing a black trench coat, dark blue sweater and black pants. "Hold it."

Joey stiffly turned his head and saw the one thing he didn't need to see, the teenaged CEO. "What do you want Kaiba?" he asked, moving away from Seto.

Seto's eyes narrowed. "My brother told me that you did this," he said and a Blue Eyes White Dragon came out of the trench coat's pocket. "Did you?"

Joey looked at the Blue Eyes then back at Seto. "So what if I did? What are you going to do about it?" he said, setting his present down and getting into a fighting stance.

"How?" Joey blinked. "How did you do it?"

Joey looked disbelieving at the CEO and laughed. "It's not a machine you snot nosed brat. That dragon is as real as your little brother, though I can't say the same for you. I made a wish, happy?"

Seto picked up with dragon and looked at it. "I know that but a wish? Now you're pulling my leg. A wish can't bring dragons to life," he said as the dragon climbed around to his neck. "It's not possible."

"Jeez, you don't get into the Christmas holiday do you?" Seto didn't answer. "Fine, I made a wish and I believe that it was the Christmas spirit that made it come true, just not as big I had expected," Joey said, petting his dragon inside his hoodie. "See?" He pulled out a very relaxed Red Eyes Black Dragon and showed it to Seto.

Seto looked at the dragon and then back at Joey. "Right," and turned to leave.

Joey's face dropped. "You know Kaiba, you need to loosen up and enjoy the Christmas holiday around you. Anyways, Merry Christmas!" he said and picked up the candle he bought.

Seto stopped for a moment and turned his head slightly. "If you expect me to say 'Bah, humbug' then you really are dumb."

Joey grinned. "I was expecting that but I guess that I was wrong. Later Kaiba!"

"Merry Christmas to you too mutt." Both duelists walked in the opposite direction of each other as they headed for their destination.

Joey just couldn't understand why his wish came true; it had to be the spirit of Christmas, no doubt about that. He went into a shop hoping to find Serenity a present. She did like to read and take pictures of the things around her so he could get here a new album for her. Niobe came out of his pocket and climbed onto his shoulder as he walked through a bookstore. He went past the comics, past the fiction, non-fiction and straight to the journals, sketch books and albums.

"Which one should I get her, girl?" he asked his dragon as he held up two very pretty albums, one was dressed in a deep red velvet and had a space for her to put her name on the cover and the other had a pressed flower in the middle of the cover. "I can't decide," he said.

"Then get both," a voice said behind him. Turning around, he saw Rebecca Hawkins, a child prodigy, wearing a very seasonal dress. Around her neck was her Luster Dragon 2. The green emerald dragon looked up at Joey and yawned, showing a row of very sharp looking teeth. "If it was for a girl, I would say to get both," she said, adjusting her glasses.

Joey grinned at her then tucked the albums under his arm. "Thanks Becca. What are you doing here though, shouldn't you be at your grandfather's?" he asked looking around the store. Professor Hawkins wasn't in sight. They walked to the counter together as he was still trying to find her grandfather.

Becca giggled. "No, I came here on my own. Ever since I got my dragon, I've been trying to find so research on them, so I bought loads of dragon books!" she said as she put a heavy stack on the counter.

Joey's jaw dropped. "That's a lot of books. You sure you can read that all?" he said as he set his merchandise on the counter as well.

Rebecca adjusted her glasses again. "Well of course I am. I am in college so I can read all of these with no problem, though that's not the point. The point is the fact that we all got dragons. I don't care how they came about, all I care is that I have mine without any problem," she said petting her dragon's head lovingly. "Are those for Mai or your sister?" she asked slyly.

Joey's snapped his head in her direction. "These are for my sister. Mai is out of town somewhere and I don't know when she'll be back," he said and paid for his sister's albums. As the albums were being put in a bag, Niobe yawned in Joey's ear before her stomach grumbled. "I guess your hungry huh? Me too. Lunch?" The dragon made a chirping noise before tucking her head under Joey's chin.

"Like duelist, like dragon," Rebecca said, narrowing her eyes slightly. "Anyways, Duke's throwing this Christmas party and he wanted me to tell you and the others about it. Are you coming?"

Joey nodded. "Duke's okay in my book and if he's throwing a party then I'm going!" he said happily. He picked up his books and he and Rebecca walked out of the bookstore.

Rebecca grinned. "Good but he's also invited Kaiba over as well," she said and braced herself for his yelling.

"Say what? He invited Kaiba?" Joey exclaimed, jumping a foot away from the blonde girl. "You're kidding, right?" Rebecca shook her head. "That snot nosed brat is going to Duke's party? Fine, I'll still go but only because it's Duke's party and it's Christmas time."

Rebecca laughed. "Okay, well I have to tell the others and hopefully they'll come as well. See you there, Joey," she said and pecked his cheek. "You were standing under mistletoe. See you!" Rebecca ran off and waved goodbye.

"See you later, Becca!"

A/N: Okay, I hope that you all like this chapter and next chapter is Duke's party. You know the deal, hit the review button to review. Thanks.