Lu: Hello again! I've just realised why I thought I had no reviews: because they've stopped sending me the alerts, which is very irritating. Now I have to go on the website every time I want to check for reviews. Sorry this is late, but they suddenly decided that login was not allowed to work grumble

Yami Lu: She was swearing in our soul room for 15 minutes.

Lu: Shut up! I've got an innocent image to maintain here. Enjoy! Oh, and I am now perfectly aware that a Shadow Game is a duel monsters game in the Shadow Realm. But in this fic, it is comparing the strength of your Millennium items, K? OK, glad I got that off my chest.

Chapter 18 – Friends?

"Malik, I challenge you to a Shadow Game for the ownership of the Millennium items in this room," said Bakura

"I accept your challenge," said Malik with a slight manic grin on his face. Their Millennium items started to emit a golden light, and the beams clashed in the middle of them.

"What's going on, Yami?" asked Joey in a hoarse whisper.

"They're having a Shadow Game," said Yami. "It's easier than bringing the Shadow Realm here, so they compare the power of their items." Their items stopped glowing.

"The power of our items is equal, we must duel!" shouted Bakura. They both took their decks out from their pockets, and drew their first cards.

But at that moment, Tea and Tristan burst in.

"This... must... stop..." panted Tea.

"Try and stop us!" snarled Malik. "I play this card face down."

"No, this must be stopped immediately," said a voice behind Tristan and Tea. Kaiba stepped out from behind them.

"The main competitors in recent competitions are in this room. Yugi, Mai, myself, and... Joey," said Kaiba, although he said the last name with a look of disgust as he saw Joey on the ground. Joey scowled back.

"Hey, my arm's broken, OK?" he said.

"Shut up and be a good dog, Joey, while I talk to your master," said Kaiba in an amused voice. Joey let out snort of disapproval, but kept his mouth shut.

"Yugi, we have to get out of here, the tournament begins in one day. I have to win against you," said Kaiba with a small smirk. Malik cleared his throat.

"If you don't mind, myself and Bakura here are trying to have a Shadow Game," he said.

"I am calling an official halt to this duel," said Kaiba. "Save it for the tournament, Marik," he said as Malik began to protest.

"So you invited Malik to the tournament?" asked Yami.

"Yes, I needed all the best duellists for this tournament, and that meant inviting all of the finalists from previous tournaments. You and Mai have got to the finals in the last two tournaments, so you both had to come. And you, little dog," added Kaiba, as Joey made a sound of protest. "Marik and Ryou both succeeded to get to the finals in my previous tournament, so they were both invited, as was Ishizu Ishtar."

"My sister's coming?" asked Malik in surprise.

"Yes, Marik. Bandit Keith was not invited, as he cheated in the duel against Joey in the Duellist Kingdom tournament. And I am also participating. We are the only ones I really wanted to have, but I threw in a couple of duellists that I have seen around, just to stir up the competition. Mako Tsunami, Rex Raptor, Weevil Underwood, all of those duellists are also competing. Yes, they are second-rate, but I have seen some people here almost lose to them," He stared pointedly at Joey for a second. "And I thought there may be a chance of some new competition."

"Duke Devlin?" asked Joey.

"Ah, yes, the puppy dog man," said Kaiba. Joey let out a small growl.

"Growl all you want, you dog, you can't stop me or you are disqualified. And, yes, Duke Devlin is competing, but he is too wrapped up in his Dungeon Dice Monsters game to pay much attention to this tournament. He is coming in a couple of days late, because he is promoting his game," he finished.

Malik and Bakura were continuing with their duel. Malik had just destroyed one of Bakura's monsters, but he had lost life points in the process thanks to Bakura's trap card.

"Stop the duel!" shouted Kaiba. Bakura and Malik scowled, but they didn't want to be ejected from the competition before it had even started. They both knew that they would have a chance to duel for the Millennium items later. They removed their cards from their Duel Disks and placed them in their pockets.

"Now, can we please get to the city?" asked Kaiba. "I really need to make an announcement when the duellists arrive." Joey got to his feet with the help of Yami, and ran over to Mai.

"Wait a minute, Kaiba, Mai's still stuck here," he said loudly. Kaiba turned and smiled, but his smile turned into a frown when he saw Mai's condition.

"I remember being chained like that," he said in a far off voice. He racked his memory for the occasion.

"In the Virtual Reality game," prompted Yami.

"Ah, yes," said Kaiba. "I remember now. And all of you came and..." Kaiba trailed off. They were starting to sound like friends. "And," he stammered.

"And we came and saved you Kaiba," finished Joey triumphantly. Kaiba sighed.

"I suppose," he said, and walked over to Joey and Mai. He pulled at Mai's chains, but they wouldn't budge.

"Mai," said Joey quietly. She stirred slightly. "Mai, wake up, it's me," said Joey.

"Joey?" said Mai drowsily.

"Dat's right, Mai, you're OK now," he said. She opened her eyes.

"Thank you Joey," she said. He gave her a big hug.

"We're going to get you out of here," he said, and started pulling on her chains.

"Wait a second, Kaiba, if we both pull on dem at once, maybe dey'll come undone," said Joey. Kaiba nodded, and moved onto Joey's chain. They both pulled, Joey with one hand, and it broke. Mai's arm fell. Joey caught it, and held her hand.

"Hang on, Mai, I'm sure dere is a hospital in the city," he said, and looked at Kaiba.

"There is no actual hospital, but there is an experienced medical team," said Kaiba.

"Can dey try something for my face, too?" asked Joey. Kaiba noticed the long wound down the side of Joey's face.

"How long have you had it?" asked Kaiba.

"About a week," said Joey.

"I'm not sure, you will have to ask them. Can we please hurry up?" said Kaiba impatiently.

"Right," said Joey, and moved onto the other hand. With Kaiba's help, he pulled it off. Mai collapsed onto the ground, but was caught by Joey.

"It's OK, Mai," he said as she cried in pain. He put her on the floor. She leaned up and kissed him on the cheek.

He blushed and muttered "Not now, Mai. Kaiba's here." She looked around and saw Kaiba. He was staring at them in disgust.

"I can't believe you have sunken to liking him," he said to Mai. She scowled and blushed.

"Well, at least I like someone," she said furiously.

"Maybe I do. Just because I don't disclose personal information," he said, and trailed off. He glanced at Joey.

"Can we please go now?" said Malik impatiently.

"Huh?" said Ryou, like he was awakening from a deep sleep.

"Ryou?" said Yami. "Are you OK?"

"I think so," said Ryou.

"What is going on?" said Kaiba in a frustrated voice.

"OK, if we have to spell it out for you. Ryou has another personality, like myself and Marik," said Yami.

"I've told you before, Yugi, I don't believe in any of the Pharaoh nonsense," said Kaiba coldly. "And I wasn't asking about that, I was asking about Mai and Joey."

"That's none of your business, Kaiba," said Yami. "Joey and Mai can tell you if they want to." Kaiba looked at the pair on the ground.

"I think the most important thing at the moment is to get Joey and Mai to hospital," said Ryou. Joey had collapsed while Kaiba and Yugi had been talking. He seemed to have used up all his energy rescuing Mai, or trying to hold strong in front of Kaiba. He was unconscious. Mai looked too weak to help him. Ryou and Tristan picked up Mai and Joey, and they went to Kaiba's helicopter. They loaded Mai and Joey into the beds at the back, while the others squashed into the front. Mokuba greeted them.

"Hey, guys!" he said enthusiastically.

"How did you guys know we were here?" asked Yami curiously.

"We went to find them after we felt a stab of pain in our hearts," said Tea. "They owed us a favour, so they came and helped." Malik walked in, and they fell silent. Kaiba followed, closing the door.

"Start the engine, Mokuba," he said.

"Sure thing, Seto," said Mokuba, and the helicopter rose off the ground. The short journey to the city was silent. Malik kept staring daggers at everyone - Kaiba, Yami, Ryou, even Tristan and Tea.

When they landed, Malik was the first to get off, and he walked away without a word. Yugi's Puzzle flashed, and Yugi stood there instead, smiling. Kaiba hung back, wondering how he could help. He wasn't their friend, but he did feel partially responsible for the injury of Mai, because he invited Malik to the tournament. Mokuba fitted right in to their group. Kaiba felt so alone. He looked around, wishing that someone would talk to him. He knew he had never been very nice to their group, but he had just saved them.

"Seto, come over here!" shouted Mokuba. Kaiba looked up. Mokuba, Yugi, Ryou, Tristan and Tea were motioning for him to join them. He put on his most sullen face, and walked over to them.

"What is it?" said Kaiba irritably. He was glad that they had invited him over, but he had an image to maintain.

"We just wanna thank you," said Joey, who seemed to have woken up.

"We wouldn't have got out of there if it wasn't for you," said Yugi.

"Umm..." said Kaiba. He was not used to being praised by anyone but Mokuba, and especially not by these guys.

"What he means is you're welcome," said Mokuba. Joey laughed.

"Dat's exactly what Serenity said de other day," he said.

"Come, Mokuba," said Kaiba. "We must prepare the duelling platforms." He walked off. Mokuba shrugged and sighed, and ran after his brother.

"Well, you try to be nice to a guy," said Joey.

"He probably doesn't know how to react," said Yugi. "He's only used to Mokuba being nice to him, not us, especially since he's so used to us being not very nice."

Kaiba walked silently towards his hotel.

"Seto, why don't you try and be nice to them?" asked Mokuba. "They wanted to include you then. Yugi suggested it, not me." Kaiba remained silent, but he seemed slightly embarrassed.

"Seto, please, they're trying to be nice," said Mokuba.

"OK, I'll try to be nice to them," said Kaiba quickly.

"Thank you, Seto. These guys are my friends," said Mokuba gratefully. Kaiba walked up the steps to his hotel.

"Good night, Mokuba," said Kaiba. Mokuba gave Kaiba a big hug around the waist.

"Good night, Seto," said Mokuba. He ran off to his room. Kaiba looked after Mokuba. He knew that Yugi and company were trying to be nice. But he felt so uncomfortable with them. He supposed that if they were willing to make peace, then he should try to add them to his very limited group of contacts. He had no one to talk to except Mokuba. He walked into his room.

'Well, if they are willing to be friends, I might as well try,' thought Kaiba.

Meanwhile, Joey and Mai were lying in the hospital room, with Yugi, Ryou, Tristan and Tea sitting around them.

"Why won't Kaiba accept that we can't be enemies forever? We have too much in common" said Mai weakly.

"Mai, be quiet, you're just making your wound worse," said Joey.

"You too, Joey," said Ryou. Joey scowled, but was quiet.

"We should try to be nice again tomorrow," said Yugi. "Maybe Mokuba will talk to him."

"But we shouldn't force it," said Tea. "If he doesn't want to be friends, he'll make it obvious."

"In some ways, I hope he doesn't," said Tristan.

"Why?" asked Mai.

"Ssh," said Yugi.

"Because we've spent all this time opposing him, it would feel strange to be his friend," answered Tristan.

"Well, I still think we should try," said Yugi. "He always looks so lonely when Mokuba's with us. That's why I tried to include him today. Because Mokuba is always hanging out with us, Kaiba is always alone."

"Well, I think we should get some sleep," said Tea. They said goodnight to Joey and Mai and moved off to their rooms. Mai gave Joey a kiss goodnight, and they both went to sleep.

The next morning, the medical team had a look at their wounds. Apparently, Joey's face wasn't in the best condition - it wasn't infected, but it wasn't going to close without some help. Mai just needed a little bit of rest. They put Joey's arm with a splint in a sling. The competition was meant to begin that day, but Kaiba, in an attempt to be nice, postponed the opening for three days.

"This way, Duke Devlin will also be able to begin the competition at the right time," said Kaiba to Mokuba. But Mokuba knew that Kaiba was trying to be nice. He went and told Yugi, and he seemed pleased.

"Seto is trying," said Mokuba.

Lu: OK, this chapter was really stuffed up. And yes, they are trying to be friends. So ha. It makes it easier for me to put SetoxSerenity in later on. K? OK. In this story, nothing was really resolved at Battle City, because I didn't know the ending when I wrote it. And Kaiba, Yami and Malik still own the Egyptian God cards. Bakura has the Ring and Eye, Shadi has the Scales and Key, Yugi has the Puzzle and Necklace, and Malik has the Rod. Now that we've got all that cleared up...

Yami Lu: clicking of gun Don't say it!

Lu: Review! gunshot ducks Haha, you missed me!