Mokuba stood in the open arched doorway of the mansion's living room and admired his handiwork. Every blanket and pillow that didn't belong in either his room or his brother's was piled on a table in the far corner. The glass coffee table was pushed well out of the way from the center of the room, and plump floor cushions were placed in a wide semicircle around the tv. Gaming consoles were on, controllers were charged.

His tablet lay on the couch he had vacated hours ago in search of all the pillows he could find. Beyond the sleeping screen was the ordering page for takeout, already pre-loaded with his address, and the mansion gates were already open, ready to welcome both visitors and whoever would be lucky enough to score a ridiculously high tip for delivering their dinner.

He flopped down onto one of the floor cushions nearest the tv remotes and flipped idly through the channels. There was nothing more he could do but wait. Yugi and the others wouldn't show for at least another hour, and he honestly wasn't sure how he was going to handle the time. The anticipation of hosting (sort of) his first friends night was eager to burst from his belly.

This wasn't his first sleepover. Seto had allowed him to go once or twice to a classmate's home overnight. There was games, movies, staying up well past anyone's proper bedtime and plenty of junk food to keep them all wired for hours.

So far, he'd managed to replicate it all. A huge bowl of mixed salty snacks and a cluster of various canned sodas were on the glass table, a safe distance from the floor seats. Seto may have grudgingly agreed to allow everyone over overnight, but he would still have a cow if the group left food all over his living room, regardless of how dead he was at the time.

Another quick glance at the clock on the wall. Naturally, time hadn't progressed forward enough.

"Ughhhh," Mokuba moaned and clicked through to the next channel. It wasn't that he couldn't hold his enthusiasm in, though it was hard. There was no one to talk to! Seto was gone, off somewhere with Roland. Probably at Kaiba Corp, he said to himself. Seto wasn't one for wasting time. He was probably holed up somewhere, working in an office with Roland or toying around in one of his labs. It didn't matter. The important thing was that he wasn't here when the others arrived.

He reached for his phone and sent a quick text to his brother.

'What are you up to?'

His phone chimed almost instantly with a reply.

'Watching Roland ruin one of my suits.'

Mokuba snorted and sat up, thumbs flying across the screen. 'What!? WHY?'

Seto's response back wasn't nearly as fast as the last time. He watched the "…" bubble appear and disappear twice before a message finally whooshed up onto the screen.

'It will make sense later.'

Mokuba pouted. That would hardly help him pass the time now. He rolled onto his stomach and sent his fingers dancing across the screen keyboard again.

'Why can't you just tell me? I already know one of Yugi's friends is gonna ghost you tonight.'

'Then you already know more than most of the Nerd Herd.'

That was it. No additional follow-up, and Mokuba scowled. Of course Seto was going to be difficult.

"Can you at least say where you and Roland are hiding?" he asked to the empty room, typed it out, and hit 'send'.

'Kaiba Corp.'

Mokuba shook his head. "Of course."

"NOO!" Joey fell back dramatically, dropping the controller lightly onto the floor, mourning the loss of his hotdog-clad character as it fell off the track and into the slime pit. His aim for the cushion behind him was off and he ended up rolling off the edge with a surprised yelp.

"So much for that, Joey!" Duke laughed.

"That wasn't fair!" Joey cried, "I was so close to the end n' everything! That funky peg-legged pineapple pushed me!"

"Uh huh," Duke deadpanned, "Or maybe you're just not good at this game."

"I'd like to see you do better!"

"Well maybe I could if you'd just hand over the controller!"

"Come on guys, don't fight," said Serenity, and she looked to her brother. "It's okay, Joey! That was a practice run – you'll get it the next time!"

Joey waved a hand, still flopped on the floor. "Thanks, sis."

"How did you find this game, Mokuba?" asked Atem. He sat between Yugi and Téa, directly behind the huge popcorn bowl that Tristan and Duke kept making swipes into.

"It was free in the online store this month," said Mokuba.

"You've gotten really far though," said Téa. The game tallied up Joey's score and signaled a victory fanfare as Mokuba's account leveled up. "That's level 36!"

Mokuba shrugged. "It's really easy to kill time waiting for Seto to finish working. I can access my account from Kaiba Corp too, which is how I racked up probably a third of all my costume pieces."

"How do you choose what to be all the time?" asked Yugi. He had watched Joey scroll through what seemed like endless pages just to decide on running around as a generic green jelly bean with arms and legs, dressed as a hotdog. And considering Mokuba said they could each pick a costume for themselves (and showed them how to save it as a favorite so they could easily toggle back later), he didn't see how he was going to pick just one thing.

"Have you ever won a complete game?" asked Atem.

"Once," said Mokuba, "Out of dumb luck. I had to jump over the spinner arms otherwise I'd fall and get eliminated. But technically, I got knocked off at the same time as the other guy I was trying to beat and he hit the slime first."

"Okay, now pass the controller over," said Téa, "It's my turn now!"

"Who are you going to be?" asked Serenity.

"I already know," said Téa, grinning as she cycled through the pages. "A fairy unicorn in a rainbow tutu!"

Tristan snickered and watched her change out of Joey's green character skin. "With pink heart underpants! I like it."

She leaned forward as the various levels cycled across the screen before landing on her playable round. "Huh. 'See-saw'. We haven't played this one before…."

Mokuba wrinkled his brow, scrunching his nose up in a pout. "Gross. Have fun."

"You've played this level before?" asked Joey.

"I've played all of them," said Mokuba, "This one isn't hard, but a lot of your success rides on the movements of everyone else, so it's just a big mess."

"Oh."

"But, at least there isn't any slime to fall into!"

"Lucky," Joey muttered, and sat up properly so he could watch Téa's run on the obstacle course.

"Okay, here goes," said Téa. The countdown on the screen ticked down to the flashing "START!" and then she surged forward, crowding onto the first tipping see-saw with the brunt of the other players. Her jump onto the third see-saw, the one right before the first checkpoint tilted against her and she slid off, respawning back at the very beginning of the level, along with half of her opponents.

"Oh boo," she muttered, and ran forward again.

"It looks like it gets easier once more people have passed by," said Atem, "You're not battling the sides of the see-saw and it will stay level for you."

"Yeah," said Téa, and sighed loudly in relief. First checkpoint achieved. She didn't have to start back at the beginning again.

"Not a lot of people made it to the end," Tristan said, and from his spot on the floor just off to the right of the tv, pointed up at the "QUALIFIED" tally. "Only six people have made it in so far."

"Yeah that's because they're all–" Téa cut herself off and whined as she slid off another see-saw. Back to the checkpoint. "Falling off."

"Isn't that the point of this game?" said Duke.

"Only if you're bad at it, like I apparently am," said Téa, and spared the briefest of glances to the closing number of qualified contestants. "There's no way I'm going to win this level."

"Don't give up, Téa!" said Yugi, "You can do this!"

"Yugi I haven't even made it to the final checkpoint yet, and there's only ten spots left!"

She jumped onto the first blue see-saw. Then the adjacent yellow one. Then pink. Back to blue.

"YES! Checkpoint!" She scooted forward enough that she was barely on the cushion. "Only four more see-saws…and then –"

ELIMINATED!

Téa closed her eyes, let out a long sigh, and then held the controller off to Atem. "…and then the game moved on without me."

Atem started cycling through the customization options when a door opened and shut from elsewhere in the mansion, and Mokuba straightened up in his seat to glance towards the doorway.

Duke craned his head to look out with him. "Expecting company?"

Mokuba shook his head. "That's probably just security. There's usually two or three guards for the perimeter at night, and Roland usually schedules an extra couple of guys when they know I'll be here alone."

"I've been meaning to ask," said Téa, and now that she was no longer playing, she could turn to face him properly. "Why did Kaiba leave you all by yourself?"

"Eh," Mokuba shrugged half-heartedly, "Sometimes he doesn't take me to his big business conferences. It's not like there'd be much for me to do."

"Yeah, but you're his V-P," said Joey, "Don't you gotta go?"

"Not really," Mokuba admitted, "Some of the time, I'm not allowed cuz I'm not an adult. And usually Roland goes off with Seto to help deal with any business stuff anyway."

He plucked a bit of stray fuzz off of the carpet and pinched it between his thumb and index finger. "I like helping Seto out at Kaiba Corp, don't get me wrong, but Seto doesn't make me do any actual company work unless I really want to."

"Kind of shirking your duty otherwise, isn't it?" asked Duke.

"I'm only twelve," said Mokuba stiffly. "I'm too young to have a real job anyways. Seto enjoys hiding down in the labs developing duel disks or the newest virtual technology. But he also knows that it may not be completely what I want, and he's okay with that."

The mystery footsteps from somewhere off in the mansion grew louder. Joey reached for his soda as Mokuba hesitantly got up and moved towards the doorway.

"Still trying to decide, huh?" Yugi asked, looking at Atem. He had circled back to the beginning of the costume collection twice now.

"I'm torn," Atem murmured, "Between the cactus and the magician."

"Oh," Yugi nodded, "I remember the magician, but not the cactus – where is it in the hub?"

Mokuba suddenly ran from the room, and they could hear the light whump of him barreling into someone. "Hey bro!"

Joey nearly choked on his drink, and started to frantically wave his arms, coughing. Once he was certain he wasn't going to die, he swiveled around and stared out the doorway. "I thought he was out of town!"

"That's what I thought," said Duke, scowling. "If he's going to be here, we can kiss the rest of this party goodbye."

"Seriously," Tristan muttered. "I thought the only reason we were able to come over was because he wasn't going to end up giving us a hard time."

"Now that's not fair!" said Serenity. "You can't judge someone by how they acted during Battle City!"

"It's not just Battle City, sis," said Joey. He crossed his arms over his chest. "Kaiba don't like us one bit, and that was before his tournament."

"And the feelings are mutual," Tristan said.

"Come see!" Mokuba said from somewhere out in the hall, and before they knew it, both Kaiba brothers were in the doorway. Seto, in a dark pinstripe suit, had the extended strap of his laptop bag perched on his shoulder and what appeared to be a garment bag of some kind draped over his other arm. He swept a hard gaze out at everyone in the room before his eyes landed on the tv screen. Atem's hunt for a caricature abandoned in order to greet him.

Seto rolled his eyes. "This game, Mokuba? I should have known."

"What's wrong with it?" asked Yugi.

"A game based entirely on luck and impulse with no thought behind it." Cold blue eyes honed in right on Joey. "Mindless entertainment."

Joey glared right back at him, but Yugi got up from the floor before he could say anything.

"Hi Kaiba," he said. "How was your trip?"

"Cancelled," Seto snapped. "How nice of the organizers to send that alert out after I had already left."

The pileup of blankets in the corner caught his eye and he looked down at Mokuba. "Did you leave anything upstairs?"

"Yeah, what was in your room. Come on, Seto. It's a sleepover! You can't expect everyone to just sleep on the floor, can you?"

Before Seto could clap back with something snide, Mokuba added, "And you did say we could have one."

"A decision I'm instantly regretting."

Mokuba pouted. "Want to play a round with us? You might feel better after showing us all up."

"Whose side are you on anyway?" Duke muttered.

"I have better things to do," said Seto. He turned to leave, then tossed another fleeting glace back into the room in Joey and Tristan's vague direction and finally back to his brother. "I'll be in my study getting some work done. I won't go back on my promise, Mokuba. The Nerd Herd can stay the night, so long as you keep the mutts from barking."

And with that, he stormed off down the hall and around a corner, out of sight.

Joey clenched his fists together.

"Kaiba must be incredibly on edge," said Atem. He stared down at the hallway where Kaiba had disappeared, and Yugi could catch the flecks of worry in his voice. "I know he was never fond of us as a group, but I haven't heard him sling words like those around in a long time."

"Yeah…" Yugi said. His hand started to go for the backpack at his feet, hiding his notes for the evening, just in case he needed to reference anything back for the others, before he checked himself and rested his hand instead against his leg.

"Well my mood is ruined," Duke said. "How are we supposed to enjoy ourselves with Kaiba probably looking over our shoulders, ready to kick us out at a moment's notice?"

"He won't," Mokuba insisted. "He said we can have our party and he doesn't go back on his word. It doesn't matter if he's home; we can still have a good time."

He leaned over from his spot behind the couch and grabbed his tablet. "If you want we can continue this game so Atem and Yugi can have a go, and then we can move on to something else."

"What did you have in mind?" asked Serenity.

"There are other games we could play – actual multiplayer ones, I mean. But in the meantime, I thought we could order food for later." He blinked down at the near-empty popcorn bowl. "I…uh…didn't expect you guys to polish off all the snacks so fast."

"Hey, gamin' makes me hungry!" said Joey, all thought of Kaiba being in the mansion abandoned at the first sign of food.

"Everything makes you hungry," said Tristan.

"Ignore them," said Téa. "What were you thinking of getting?"

"We're in delivery range of this really good pizza place," said Mokuba. "It's easy to get a bunch of pies and feed a lot of people that way."

Atem set the controller down on his floor cushion. "What if we took a little breather after ordering dinner? We can always return to this game later. There's no rush after all. We have all night."

"Got anything else to do besides video games?" asked Duke.

"There's a game room," Mokuba shrugged. "We don't use it very much. It was something our stepfather used more when he was entertaining. But there's a bar and a pool table in there if you wanna do that."

"Hey that sounds fun," said Tristan. "Anyone up for hitting the cue sticks?"

"I've never played before," said Serenity.

"I'll teach you!" Tristan and Duke said, simultaneously, and then they exchanged dirty looks. Joey wasn't impressed.

"We can migrate over," said Mokuba, tapping away on the tablet. "I'm going to order six pizzas. Think that's enough?"'

Téa's eyes widened, jaw dropping. "Mokuba I think that's probably too many!"

"Nah," Mokuba shook his head. "There's eight of us, and Seto. And if there really are a ton of leftovers, you can take them home or the mansion staff can have some tomorrow. It's no big deal." He snickered. "And besides – we've already established that Joey can eat for two."

"Look here, little man," said Joey, slinging his arm around Mokuba. "I got a bottomless stomach and I'm proud of it!"

Téa giggled. "And Tristan is right there with him. Don't think Joey's the super-eater here all by himself."

"See?" Mokuba laughed and ducked out from under Joey's arm to start ordering. "Okay. What do you guys like on your pizza?"

"What do you like on your pizza?" asked Serenity.

"Me?" Mokuba blinked. "Oh, I go for ham and pineapple."

He looked around at the group's varying reactions. Yugi and Téa merely nodded. Joey looked as if someone had torn up his Time Wizard right in front of him, and Tristan looked repulsed.

"Mokuba," Tristan said, "Pineapple doesn't belong anywhere on a pizza."

Joey nodded in fierce agreement.

Mokuba stuck his tongue out. "Well then you don't have to have any."

"You know, I think I've tried almost every topping except pineapple," Duke said thoughtfully. "It doesn't sound bad."

"Don't do it, buddy," Tristan warned, "If there's ever one thing you ever listen to me about, let it be that."

"Don't listen to him!" Mokuba said, "Pineapple on pizza is amazing, and it goes really well with the ham!"

"Well, maybe I'll try a slice," said Duke, "But my go-to varies depending on my mood. So don't order anything specifically for me."

"Okay," Mokuba shrugged and looked to Joey and Tristan. "Alright you pineapple nonbelievers, then what do you like?"

"Meat," said Joey, without missing a beat, "And lots of it."

"Nothing beats a good ol' classic pepperoni," said Tristan.

Mokuba nodded. "Okay, one pepperoni, one meat – that has all of these on it." He turned the screen towards Joey. "That okay?"

"Oh yeah! Hey, can you toss extra bacon on that?"

"Done!" Mokuba looked to the others. "What about you guys?"

"I like veggie," said Yugi, gestured to Téa who nodded eagerly. "We can share one."

"What about you, sis?" asked Joey.

"I…I suppose a white pizza, if that's okay?" asked Serenity. "But you're already getting so many different ones to worry about one without sauce just for me…"

"No, it's fine!" Mokuba said, "Really, it is! White pizza! You want anything on it or just all the cheese." He glanced at the different options. A pure cheese-only pizza actually sounded really good.

To his surprise, Serenity looked almost afraid to answer him, and gave her brother a nervous smile, as if she didn't want to say her next words in front of him.

"Would you be able to put pineapple on it?"

Joey gasped dramatically and clutched at his heart. "Noo, Serenity! My own sister!"

Serenity laughed, "Just on half, please. I want to try it."

Mokuba snickered. "Another one joins the pro-pineapple squad, I love it!" Satisfied, Mokuba plunked down on the floor next to Atem. "You're the last one! Whatcha thinking of having?"

"I'm not sure," Atem admitted, "I made one myself at home with Yugi and his grandfather once, but I don't think fig or goat cheese are options at that place."

Mokuba frowned and shook his head. "Afraid not. But there's something called a Greek Pizza." He showed the topping list to him. "Would that be close enough?"

Atem read the description and then nodded, satisfied. "Yes, I think so. Can you add extra olives?"

"Sure!" He turned back to Duke. "Okay, so we have a super meaty pizza, pepperoni, Hawaiian, Greek, veggie, and a white pizza. Do those work for you?"

Duke nodded. "Oh yeah. All of those sound great."

"Cool. Thanks for being the least picky out of all of us."

Téa leaned back, splaying her palms flat along the floor to brace herself. "Wow. I'm impressed. That was six pizzas, just like you said."

"Technically seven. I gotta get one for Seto too," said Mokuba without looking up from the tablet.

"Nah you don't," Joey waved a hand flippantly. "Betcha he don't even eat pizza. Probably too greasy for Mr. Fancy Pants."

"Mr. Fancy Pants does eat pizza sometimes," said Mokuba, "And I'm not going to just leave him out because he decided not to hang in here with us."

He got up from the floor. "I'm gonna see what he wants and then place the order."

Joey also got to his feet and stretched out his arms. "Say, which way's the pool table?"

"Huh? Oh." Mokuba pointed down the hall opposite the way Seto had disappeared to his office. "It's that way." Then he too wandered off, in search of his brother.

"Are you going to take your go at the obstacle course, Atem?" asked Téa.

The controller still sat at Atem's feet as Tristan and Duke followed Joey out of the room. "I suppose I can," he said, "I might as well, after that extended hunt to find a caricature to play as."

Serenity cooed. "Aww, that's the cutest cactus I've ever seen!"

"Isn't it?" Yugi laughed.

Atem pushed hit the button to start the new game. His character free-fell through the loading screen and lined up with the new wave of online players in front of a row of pink and white doors.

"Oh, this one!" Yugi scooted further up on his cushion. "This was the one Duke almost won!"

"His poor little orc got trampled and left in the dust," said Serenity.

"This is absolutely based on luck," said Téa. "All those doors look the same."

Atem nodded as the countdown started, palms already feeling sweaty against the controller. He just had to find the real door in the lineup. And get through it. And get through the next one. And the one after that, and the one after that, and hope that he didn't get left behind. Only thirty players get to move forward, out of the starting sixty.

His little cactus-man ran forward once the round began. He had spawned right in the center of the pack, and a hotdog with fairy wings had already found the right door and was leading the pack through it. But its second attempt through the line fell short as it, and the others that had followed, plowed right into a fake door.

Atem veered his character the other way and barreled into the door farthest to the right, and it broke apart, allowing him entry.

"GO!" Serenity cheered, "Before the mob catches up to you!"

Spurred on, Atem then moved to the next line and hit the door second to the right. Correct again.

"There's no way you can be that lucky a third time," Téa whispered, eyes wide. She wanted so badly to turn and see the focus etched across Atem's face, but didn't dare look away from the screen.

He broke through the correct door. Second from the right. Again. And again.

And again.

The final door dropped him in a short sprint's distance from the finish line.

"Atem!" Yugi raised his hand up and Atem matched it in an echoing clap of a high five. "You made it to the end first!"

"That was amazing!" Serenity gasped. "How did you know those were going to be the right doors?"

The round ended seconds later after the player herd caught up and surged across the finish line. Atem dropped the controller into his lap as the game comically booted off the disqualified players. "Honestly…I just guessed."

"Still, that was really impressive!"

"Oh, the next round is starting," Atem said and got himself into position again as Mokuba wandered back in.

"Okay, pizza should be here in about an hour…oh! You're still playing!"

"You missed it, Mokuba," Téa said, "Atem just destroyed everyone in the round with the doors!"

"Seriously? And I missed it too!" He plunked down next to Yugi. "So is this round two or three?"

"Two," said Atem. "It looks like here I just…have to not fall off the rotating wheels?"

"Uh huh," said Mokuba, "It's pretty easy."

"Here we go," Atem said, and moved his cactus to the next platform to avoid falling off the edge. "Oh, this isn't bad at all!"

He rotated the camera and jumped back to his original platform, and was only a step from the edge when an orange character with polka dot shorts and a jester cap nudged him right off the platform and into the abyss below.

ELIMINATED.

"WHAT!?" Atem shot up. "HOW!?"

"That clown didn't like your victory in the last round, I'm guessing." Yugi shrugged.

Atem pouted. "That is not good sportsmanship."

Serenity got up. "I'm going to see how Joey is doing. Anyone want to come?"

"Sure," said Atem. "I don't think I've ever really played pool."

"Don't say that near my brother – he will destroy you in it, and then afterwards show off with like a hundred trick shots," said Mokuba. He reached for the remotes and switched off the console and the tv. "We'll give that a break for a while."

"Say, Mokuba," Téa asked, "Are…um…are we allowed to move around the house?"

"Just the downstairs," said Mokuba. "Upstairs and the basement are off limits. But there's plenty to do down here. We got video games in the living room, I got board games I can bring down from my room, and there's the pool table room."

He pointed to a closed door off to the left. "That's the library."

"You have a library?"

"Uh huh. There's a really comfy reading chair in there, so if you get tired of games and want to find a book to read or something, totally hit it up."

Atem chuckled. "I think you'll be keeping us far too busy for that."

"Oh I don't know," Téa said thoughtfully, "I might take a peek after watching the pool game. We're really just waiting for pizza at the moment anyhow."

"Like I said, feel free," said Mokuba.

Duke then turned a corner, saw them, and waved his arms. "There you are – which way's the kitchen? I could use a drink that didn't come out of a can."

Mokuba pointed back towards the living room. "Go back, yeah, that way. And go across the foyer, past the stairs. You can either follow the hall around, or sneak in through the dining room. It's huge and you can't miss it. If you want water, glasses are in the cabinet next to the stove, and you can use the dispenser right in the freezer door."

"I'll come with you," said Téa, "I could use something to drink too."

"There's juice and tea in the fridge also!" Mokuba called after them.

Duke held up a thumbs up as he and Téa rounded the corner and disappeared out of sight.

It was hard to tell who was playing worse at the pool table. Joey had solids, Tristan stripes. Each had about half of their set still out on the table somewhere. From the doorway, Yugi could tell that they were both having fun with the game.

The cue ball was also having a fun ol' time avoiding everything it was sent to hit.

"How's it going?" asked Atem.

"Wonderful!" said Joey, and he waved his cue stick wildly enough he almost hit the side of the bar.

"Careful…." Mokuba warned.

"Heh, sorry. Anyhoo, I pegged Duke to be a master at this game. Sure showed him!" Joey said with a wild grin.

Tristan rolled his eyes. "Yeah, why don't you use some of that skill and play your turn already?"

Duke returned moments later and eyed the dartboard hanging on the wall. "Hey, Serenity, how about a game?"

"Sure!" she said, and snuck behind Tristan, who watched her cross the room with a scowl up until Joey snapped his fingers right in front of his eyes.

"Yo! Tris'! I took my turn! You can stare at Duke later!"

Tristan jerked his head back and lightly shoved Joey's hand away. "Hey! What makes you think I'm staring at him?"

Joey's voice was flat, in complete contrast to Yugi and Mokuba snickering from the doorway. "Cuz I know you weren't watchin' my sister, right?"

Tristan wrinkled his brow. "I was – thinking – of how to kick your butt in this game, that's all." He turned, aimed the stick, and shot the cue ball right into the opposite corner pocket.

Joey gave him a sad pat on the shoulder. The goofball grin was back on his face. "Strategy could use some work."

"Mokuba, which way is the bathroom?" asked Serenity, and she got up from her spot on the floor.

"Over near the kitchen," said Mokuba, pointing across the foyer. After Tristan's disastrous run on the pool table, the cue sticks were handed off to Yugi and Atem, and Mokuba led Joey, Tristan, Duke, and Serenity back to the living room where he started them on a four-player controller-mashing game where, as funky gelatinous characters, the only goal was to slapstick wrestle everyone else out of the environment.

As a yellow blob dressed like a neighborhood granny, Tristan managed to throw Joey's red character clad in a penguin suit off of a moving truck in retaliation for kicking his ass at the pool table, only to get taken out by failing to duck under the overpass.

By some miracle, Serenity, in her blue kitty costume, managed to kick Duke off the back of the trailer and into oncoming traffic.

"You're good at this!" Joey had said in awe. When did his little sister get good at video games?

She had laughed. "I honestly had no idea what I was doing."

"That's the best way!" said Mokuba, "No instructions, you just figure it out." He took the controller she left behind on her quest for the bathroom and started a new game. "Okay. We did the highway. How about the subway?"

"Do I get to throw Tristan in front of a moving train?" asked Duke, ignoring the dirty look Tristan shot back in return.

Mokuba's grin was so wide it could have reached both of his ears. "Uh huh…"

"Then let's go!"

The doorbell rang out through the downstairs halfway into the level, not long after Tristan's miraculous escape off of the train tracks before the subway car plowed right over him.

"Food!"

Joey started hitting all the extra buttons on the controller. "How do we pause this?"

"We don't," Mokuba said casually, and used Joey's distracted moment to jump from the top of the steps, tackle him, and drag him near the subway tracks before Joey recovered enough to punch him in the face.

The blow knocked him off the edge just in time for the oncoming train to run him over.

"Then who's gonna get the door?" asked Tristan.

Mokuba started to get up, but heard footsteps in the hall. Roland had emerged from what looked like the hall leading to Seto's study and crossed the foyer.

"Oh, Roland's got it."

"Kaiba's spook? He's here too?"

Mokuba nodded. "Apparently so. I thought he just dropped Seto off from the convention that didn't happen, but I guess he's sticking around for a while."

Roland emerged in the doorway minutes later. "Pizza boxes are along the dining room table."

"Thanks, Roland!" He got up from the couch. "Okay, since I'm out, I'm going to grab plates and whatnot. When you finish your round, come find us, yeah? We'll grab slices and meet back here for a movie while we eat."

"Someone ought to tell the Kings of Duel Monsters that there's pizza before Joey eats it all," said Duke.

"I'll go," said Tristan.

Mokuba stopped halfway across the foyer. "Oh! Téa's in the Library!"

"On it," said Duke.

Mokuba wandered into the kitchen and made a grab for the bundle of plastic plates and cups he set out before the gang arrived. He was in the middle of digging through the fridge to pull out all the extra drinks when he heard Serenity behind him.

"Can I help?"

"Oh, sure!" He pointed to the plasticware. "Can you take those to the dining room?"

"No problem," she said.

He grabbed the juice and tea gallons and shuffled off after Serenity back into the dining room, where Duke and Téa were opening and sorting through the pies.

Tristan wandered in next with Yugi and Atem in tow. Joey was the last to arrive and grabbed a plate eagerly in search of his four-meat pizza. He stopped, however at the first pie on the very end. "Hey, what's this one?"

He looked to Atem. "This yours?"

Atem shook his head. "No, mine has olives on it. I think that might be Kaiba's."

Joey wrinkled his nose. "Hey, Mokuba! This Kaiba's?"

"What does it look like?" He didn't look up from the other side of the room, and was rapid-fire typing something into his phone.

"Like a limp salad on pizza dough."

A low sigh. "Yeah, that's his."

"That ain't no pizza," said Joey. "That's just…sad."

Yugi stepped closer and peered into the box before closing it to keep the heat in. "It looks good actually! Fresh basil and all those tomatoes, and…is that…ham?"

"Porchetta," said Mokuba, "But yeah. Fancy ham."

"It's a dang salad on soggy bread instead o' a bowl," Joey cringed. "Can't decide what's worse – that or Mokuba's pineapple pizza." He paused. "Or that my own sister is into that nasty craze too!"

"I never said I was into it," Serenity laughed. "I just wanted to try it!"

"Look here, you're a Wheeler. Wheelers don't eat pineapple on pizza!"

She stuck her tongue out at him.

Tea grabbed a plate and pulled out a veggie slice for herself, and then for Yugi, and noticed Mokuba staring at his phone. "You alright?"

"I sent Seto a message saying his pizza was here, but he didn't respond back to it."

Tristan blinked. "You…texted your brother, when you're both in the same place?"

"Better than yelling across the house," Mokuba said stiffly. "Oh well. Maybe he's tinkering with that prototype again. It doesn't matter. I'll just…."

He grabbed his brother's pizza box and balanced a plate on top.

"If you guys want to grab a plate, and get yourself situated in the living room, I'll be right back. There's tea and juice here, water is through the tap on the fridge and I think there's still some sodas in the living room on the snack table. Seto is okay with us eating pizza in there so long as you don't get sauce or grease on anything. The tv remote has the streaming channels linked into it, so pick a movie to watch and once I give Seto his pizza I'll join you!"

Yugi nodded. "That works!"

Mokuba called out from out of sight. "The end table by the tv has drink coasters in it. Please use them!"

"Got it!"

Duke was the last to join them from the dining room, a slice of Mokuba's Hawaiian pizza on his plate, ("we can't be friends anymore, Duke" Joey laughed), when they heard Mokuba scream out from across the house.

"SETO!"

Joey lowered his pizza back to his plate. "That kid just scream bloody murder?"

Serenity got up and took a few hesitant steps into the main foyer. "M-Mokuba?" she called. "Are you okay?"

Atem moved into the hall after her, just in time for a crying Mokuba to round the corner and slam right into him.

"Mokuba – what is it?"

"It's S-Seto!" he cried, "He…he's…."

"He's what?" asked Téa.

Mokuba sniffed loudly and gave Yugi a quick look before looking up, watery-eyed, at Téa. "He's…"

He rubbed at his eyes with his sleeve, then grabbed Atem's hand and pulled him back towards the other hallway. "J-just come s-see…"

Out of the corner of his eye, Joey saw Yugi vanish back into the living room while they hurried after Mokuba, stopping short just outside the open door to Kaiba's home office.

Mokuba raised a shaking hand and pointed inside.

"What's Kaiba done thi– what the heck!?"

Joey froze instantly, half a step through the threshold.

The office was in disarray. The pizza box was left haphazardly on the couch against the wall by the door. Papers, most likely from the desk, were scattered all over the place.

Kaiba was sprawled out on the floor, eyes closed. There were red stains and small tears along his jacket. One arm was stretched out, away from him, the hand resting on a discarded document, staining it red.

He wasn't moving.

Tea gasped loudly from the doorway. "Kaiba!"

"He's….he's not," Tristan couldn't even pick his jaw up from where it hit the floor. "He's not dead right?"

"I shook him and he didn't answer me!" Mokuba wailed.

"Well," Yugi began, pushing past Joey and Tristan and into the middle of the room. Joey took one look at his best friend, wrinkled his brow, caught eyes with Tristan and pointed back at Yugi with a face that clearly said, 'What the heck!?'

Somehow he had smooshed his spiky hair under a deerstalker cap. A clipboard was hugged to his chest and he twirled a pen in his other hand.

And he didn't seem fazed by the sight of the office at all.

"Looks like we've stumbled upon a mystery," said Yugi.

"Yug', pal, what are you doin'?" asked Joey. "This ain't a time for games." He then looked at Kaiba before staring back at Yugi. "…Unless…"

Yugi held his arms out wide. "That's right, Joey. Welcome to game night!"