Lu: Well, thank you to all my reviewers, especially DayDreamerz!

Yami Lu: Why?

Lu: 'Cause I've found a review waiting in my Inbox everyday from DayDreamerz!

Yami Lu: That is pretty cool.

Lu: Anyway, this chapter's longer than the rest. Like, a lot longer. Anyway, the romance is coming. Slowly. But there is some in this chappie. So I added a song! My first!

Chapter 4 – Duel: Kaiba vs Joey

As they pushed through the large doors that lead to the meeting room, Mokuba approached them.

"Joey, you look... different," giggled Mokuba, trying to hide the laughs that were pushing to come out.

"How is the company today?" asked Kaiba.

"The tournament is costing a lot of money," said Mokuba. "And the virtual game..."

"Another one?" groaned Joey. Kaiba kicked him, and then turned back to Mokuba.

"Is costing quite a bit," continued Mokuba. "But duel disk sales are up, and more and more duellists are renting arenas. Overall, we have a bit of a profit, but not a huge amount."

"Well, that's better than nothing," sighed Kaiba. "Thank you, Mokuba."

"What are you going to do now, Seto?" asked Mokuba.

"Well, I usually get challenged to a duel right about now, but I think I'll use my situation to my advantage," said Kaiba, looking at Joey. "Let's teach the puppy dog a few tricks."

Joey growled. "Bad dog," said Kaiba, hitting Joey over the head. Joey howled.

"Seto, be fair, give him a break," said Mokuba.

"He agreed that he'd do whatever I wanted," said Kaiba. Joey gulped and nodded.

"OK, mutt, sit," commanded Kaiba. Joey sat down like a dog. "Joey, beg," said Kaiba. Joey remained where he was. "OK, let's sweeten the deal," said Kaiba. He got a donut from a plate on the coffee table in the middle of the room. "Beg, Joey," repeated Kaiba. Joey got up on his knees, like a dog begs. "Good boy," said Kaiba, and threw the donut on the ground. Joey tried to pick it up.

"Act like a dog, eat like a dog," reminded Kaiba. Joey got down, and picked up the donut in his mouth. He chewed, swallowed, and looked back at Kaiba.

"Now, let's see how your friend is doing," said Kaiba. "Come, mutt." Joey followed Kaiba into yet another room. This one seemed to be a security room, with screens showing all the arenas.

"Here," said Kaiba, pointing at a screen.

Tea and Tristan were cheering, and Yugi and Rex were shaking hands.

"Woof," barked Joey joyfully.

"Yes, he does seem to have won," observed Kaiba. "Anyway, I'll duel you to pass the time." Joey looked at Kaiba.

"Me? I mean, woof?" asked Joey.

"Yes, I need a simple duel for once," said Kaiba. Joey swallowed the insults that he wanted to say, and dug inside his jacket pocket to retrieve his deck.

'OK, lunch money, booster pack, wallet and deck,' he thought, and got the final item from his pocket.

"OK, let's just have one here, not publicise it," said Kaiba. Joey nodded, and they went back into the meeting room.

"Yugi, Tea, Tristan and Mai are here to see Joey," announced Mokuba.

"Please," said Joey. Kaiba kicked him, but nodded to Mokuba.

"Let them in," he said. Mokuba opened the door. The gang rushed in, Mai in the lead. Her blonde hair billowed behind her.

"Joey, how can you let him do this to you?" she asked, giving him a hug.

"Woof," said Joey once again.

"Oh, Kaiba, at least let him speak," she said, staring daggers at Kaiba with her violet eyes.

"No, he agreed to do whatever I wanted," reasoned Kaiba.

"Bark," said Joey.

"Yugi, how long does he have to do this?" asked Mai furiously.

"He still has to do nine days," said Yugi cautiously.

"Kaiba, you're not going to make him go to school like that, are you?" said Mai, trying and failing to maintain a cool attitude.

"Maybe I will," said Kaiba evasively.

"Kaiba," growled Mai warningly.

"Joey and I were about to have a duel," said Kaiba quickly. Mai groaned.

"Joey, did you agree to this?" asked Mai.

"Bow wow," said Joey, nodding. "I was bored, OK?" he said, as Mai stared at him. Kaiba kicked him again. Joey howled.

"Kaiba, this must stop!" shouted Mai. Joey shook his head. "Why are you doing this?" she asked Joey.

"Umm, he was stopping Kaiba picking on Tea and I," said Yugi. "We tried to stop him, but he insisted. He didn't know what Kaiba was going to make him do."

"I would have done it anyway, Yuge," said Joey.

"Shall we begin?" asked Kaiba. Joey nodded.

"You can speak now, because I can't have a duel with a dog, although I have heard you are not much better than one," said Kaiba with an evil smile.

"Kaiba, leave him alone," said Tea. "It's bad enough you're humiliating him, without you teasing him as well." Kaiba ignored her. Joey placed his deck on the coffee table, and took off the puppy dog suit. Kaiba followed suit, and knelt down. They drew their first cards.

Yugi peered over Joey's shoulder. Joey had drawn Red Eyes Black Dragon, Polymerisation, Time Wizard, Kunai Whip Chain and Baby Dragon. Yugi was amazed how good Joey's hand was.

"You can go first," said Kaiba.

"I summon de Baby Dragon," said Joey. "And I place a card face down."

Kaiba recognised this combo. He knew that Joey only ever played his Baby Dragon with his Time Wizard. "I play the Battle Ox," said Kaiba. "Battle Ox, attack the Baby Dragon!"

"Activate trap," said Joey, turning over his face down card. "Kunai Whip Chain," said Joey. "Baby Dragon, destroy his Battle Ox!"

Kaiba was shocked. He had thought beating Joey would be simple, but Joey had already set a trap for him that he hadn't expected.

Joey drew a card. "I play de Time Wizard," said Joey. "Time Wizard, Time Roulette!" The roulette landed on the Time Roulette, and his Baby Dragon was changed into the Thousand Dragon.

"Thousand Dragon, attack his life points!" shouted Joey. Kaiba's life points were reduced to a mere 50.

Kaiba scowled, but drew a card. But his scowl changed to a smile when he saw his card. "I'll play a card face down, and end my turn," he said.

Joey was nervous. 'Why is he so happy? I'm just about to wipe out de rest of his life points, and he's still smiling. What is he planning? Could dat face down card be a trap, or just another monster for me to destroy? What should I do?' he thought. He thought hard about it, and decided against attacking. "I'll pass," said Joey.

Kaiba smiled. 'If I draw the right card this turn, I can win this duel easily,' he thought. He drew his card, hoping that it would be the right one, because otherwise Joey would probably win the duel. He looked at his drawn card, and smiled. The Blue Eyes White Dragon!

"I play my three Blue Eyes White Dragon!" shouted Kaiba triumphantly. "And fuse them with my face down card, Polymerisation, to create the Blue Eyes Ultimate Dragon! Attack Joey's Thousand Dragon with White Lightning Blast!" Joey's life points were reduced to zero in a matter of seconds.

"But... but..." stammered Joey.

"Now that the duel has ended, mutt, you know what has to be done," said Kaiba.

Joey scowled and put his dog suit back on. "Woof," he said.

"There's a good boy," said Kaiba, patting Joey on the head. Joey growled. Kaiba kicked him.

Mai got down and help Joey back onto his knees. "Kaiba, leave Joey alone," she said firmly.

"Mai, please, I'll be fine," hissed Joey. Kaiba prepared to kick him again, but Mai stood in the way.

"Move out of the way, Mai," spat Kaiba.

"No, Kaiba, leave Joey alone," she said slowly and clearly.

"Mai, come on, I made a deal, please, just move out of the way or he'll kick you too!" said Joey. Mai snorted, but moved aside. Kaiba kicked Joey. Joey grunted, but held firm.

"We better go," said Tristan.

"No, I'm not going until Joey is set free," snapped Mai. She sat down on a chair, and pouted. Kaiba sighed.

"Well, you're going to be here a long time. He gets the weekend off, but apart from that he's stuck with me," he said. Mai grimaced.

"I pity you Joey," she said. She took his paw in her hand, and held it tightly. "I have to go, but I'll see you tomorrow at school," she whispered. Joey nodded.

'Wow, Mai's being really nice. Nicer than usual. It's like... no, she wouldn't,' he thought. Mai squeezed his paw, and then left the room.

"See you at school, Joey," said Yugi. Tea, Tristan and Yugi waved goodbye and exited the room. Joey was left with Kaiba and Mokuba once more, wondering why Mai was being so nice and not bickering with him.

Kaiba stood up. "We better get home, they don't need us here anymore," he said. Mokuba and Joey followed outside, and they went back to Kaiba's mansion in a limo.

Lu: Well, that's it! Apologies for the crappy duel scenes. I don't know how you guys will react to them. And I've got a huge 40 page duel later on. So please give me your honest opinions on the duel scenes. Oh, and the life points and stuff were done before I knew how to do any of them, so I apologise for that to. Review!

Yami Lu: Yeah, review.

Lu: Why are you nice all of a sudden?

Yami Lu: Well, Yami Bakura and Yami Marik suddenly got murderous, and I seemed to be the target, so I started hanging out with Yami Yugi.

Lu: Oh. Anyway, review!