Chapter 18

Lindsey POV

Lindsey fell to her knees with a loud groan. "Can we please call it a day?"

"Nope. Duel Joey again Lindsey." Joey was on the other side of Lindsey's living room ready for another match.

"But I've already dueled him 23 times. I've also beaten him. 23 times!" She was begging at this point. It was the night before the big homecoming game, and Yugi had her duel Joey multiple times everyday. At this point she was exhausted and wanted real practice by dueling Yami. But Yugi refused to let her. In fact, Yami and Yugi hadn't switched for almost a week, which added to Lindsey's stress.

On the bright side, tomorrow Lindsey would have the class duels, riding in the parade as a princess, and cheering in the big game to look forward to. There would be no time to waste dueling Joey. It would be a well-needed break.

"Hey! I almost won at least 4 of dose duels!" Joey looked offended.

"Keep telling yourself that Joey." Joey's jaw dropped at Yugi's remark. Lindsey shifted to sit cross-legged on the floor. Yugi sat directly across from her.

"Why can't I just duel you? I love Joey and all, but you're much better at dueling than he is." Joey threw his hands up.

"I'm not standin' here or anything!" Lindsey gave him an apologetic look. She mouthed the word sorry to him.

"Yugi." She sighed. "I know his deck by heart, and I know all his strategies. This isn't practice anymore. It's just sad, on Joey's part at least."

"Screw you! I'm eating your food." He took off his duel disk and walked into the kitchen to dig through the fridge.

"Lindsey, do you wanna know the real reason why I'm making you duel Joey so much?"

"Oh please. Do humor me." Yugi mouth set into a line.

"I'm teaching you how to control your frustration." Lindsey got a really confused look on her face. "Lucian upsets you like no other. You need to be able to control that frustration otherwise you wont be able to focus. What better way to do that than duel Joey and to keep you from Yami for almost a week?"

"I'm still not following you. Why?"

Yugi looked uncomfortable and awkwardly shifted. "Well, you've never really dueled for anyone but yourself." Her face started to twist in a scowl. "You don't know what kind of pressure is put on you dueling for the people you love."

She scoffed. "Excuse you! I defended you that first day I met you in the cafeteria when Weevil went all douche like on you!"

"You did that to gain my trust so I would be your friend, and you could crush my spirits easier by defeating me in a duel."

Oh shit….

'Ha! He got you bitch!'

You want to find someone else to beat Lucian?

'No ma'am. Sorry ma'am.'

Yeah. That's what I thought.

"Okay. You're right."

"Just trust me. Grandpa would make you do the same thing. You need both physical and psychological skills to be a good duelist."

"I know. I'm kind of a champion." She paused for a moment. "At least I was."

"You're still that champion. You're still that same duelist. But even us people in the big leagues always have room to learn more. You're Lindsey Walsh, master of the magicians. I'm sure you could teach me techniques with the dark magician that I've never seen before. But right now, I'm teaching you what I know, and what I know is that Lucian is going to try your patience, you'll become frustrated and you'll lose focus. Yami knows it to." She heavily sighed and looked down. "And you know it to." Her head snapped back up to look at him. She nodded once, knowing it was true.

They sat in silence for a good while. Well, almost silence. The only sounds we're coming from the kitchen as Joey prepared himself a meal.

"Why don't we call it a day?" Lindsey looked at Yugi. "It's getting late, and you have a big day tomorrow." She gave a small smile. "Princess." She giggled.

"We have a big day tomorrow! Prince!" Yugi gave a wide grin. "I have one last question though."

"Yes?"

"Can I see Yami tomorrow?" She gave him puppy dog eyes.

"Maybe." She narrowed her eyes. "Joey let's go!" Joey was mid bite when Yugi spoke.

"Ok." He said with his mouth stuffed. Yugi waved bye and Lindsey watched as Joey walked out the door with a sandwich in hand and three more on a plate.

"I want that plate back!"

"Never!" The door closed and Lindsey couldn't help but laugh.

I've got a lot to think about Lyris.

"Yes you do. But for now you should think about how best to get mustard off the kitchen floor."

What!

She walked over into the kitchen to see mustard on the floor, the counters, and the side of the cabinet. There was also lunchmeat scattered across the counters and breadcrumbs covering every possible surface. Lindsey puffed up with anger.

"The real question here Linds, is… how? He literally made a sandwich. Just. How?"

"JOEY!"

Lindsey adjusted her skirt in the mirror. It was finally the day of homecoming and as usual, the cheerleaders were required to wear their uniforms, only Lindsey got to wear an accessory with the uniform today. A blue and white sash that said 'princess' and a tiara. Her hair was in its usual waist length curls and her makeup was bold and daring.

"Lindsey? I know I don't have a body and all, but I have a funny feeling about today."

How so?

"I don't know. Just do."

I had that feeling to, but now I'm fine. Today will be perfect!

"If you say so…"

"I summon, Grass Clown!" Grass clown appeared in the arena. "I end my turn!"

"Good move Drew!"

"Thanks Callie!"

It was the final round of the class duels, and as expected, it's seniors versus juniors. They were in the south gym and the stands were filled with the students of Domino, giving commentary on every move. Yugi didn't bother to switch over for these duels; they were nowhere near a challenge. He wore black slacks, black dress shoes, and a white dress shirt with a blue and silver tie at Lindsey's request. He wore the silver crown pin over his heart signifying he was a prince, as well as the Millennium Puzzle around his neck. She wanted nothing more than for Yami to switch over so she could see him in the yummy attire.

"Actually, bad move Drew." Lindsey smiled as Drew and Callie's faces dropped. "See, because you two are amateurs, Grass Clown is your only monster on the field, and you were dumb enough to set in attack mode."

"SHIT!" They said in unison. The crowd snickered

"Shit is right because I have two monsters on the field, both much more powerful than your Grass Clown. The attacks from my Magicians will destroy your clown, and your lifepoints, so you have two options. Either I embarrassingly destroy you, or you surrender with your dignity." Lindsey smirked.

"Little harsh Linds." Yugi whispered.

"Seniors need to be put in their place to." Drew growled.

"Fine. I surrender." The crowd gasped.

"Good boy. Callie, do you object?"

She scoffed. "You're such a bitch."

"Yea well, people like us don't get to where we are today by showing mercy. Have you met Seto Kaiba?" The crowd cheered the loudest they have all day. Lindsey even heard a couple 'Amens' in there. She looked over to him in the stands and he was smirking, obviously enjoying her humor.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, the winners of the class duel, Yugi Muto and Lindsey Walsh representing the junior class!" The corner where the junior class presided erupted into applause as Yugi and Lindsey received fake gold medals for their victory. "Our two victors will proudly wear these medals in the homecoming parade later today."

The crowd cheered again, as Lindsey and Yugi left the stage.

Taking the day off of school to duel amateurs while looking gorgeous? I could get used to this.

"The only thing that would make it better would be Yami…"

Seriously. It's been almost a week… I'm going through withdrawals.

"I'm sure Yugi will switch for the parade. That's a lot of attention."

I really hope so.

"Lindsey! That was awesome! I hope we get to do it again!"

Lindsey grinned. "Something tells me we'll be nominated next year. And the year after that."

"But Lindsey, next year we'll be seniors. We'll have graduated after that."

"I know. It's a joke Yug."

"Oh." He gave an awkward chuckle. "That's funny." The mini tournament now over, they were fighting their way through the crowd to exit the gym. After what felt like eternity, they finally found the exit to the hallway. They eventually made their way outside the front of the school and stopped to converse.

"So what do we do now? We still have an hour before the parade." Yugi thought for a moment.

"Lunch? I mean neither of us have really eaten today."

Lindsey beamed. "Yes! I'm starving! Can we do sushi?"

"Sure! The pharaoh loves sushi!" Lindsey wondered if she heard Yugi correctly.

"Wait what?" The puzzle flashed, and Lindsey squealed.

Yami gave Lindsey a lopsided grin that made her heart leap. She couldn't help herself. She practically launched herself into his arms and kissed him. Hard. Not that she was doing all the work. He was just as fierce as she was. The two were tangled in each other and lost in passion. They didn't know how much time had passed when they broke apart, but they were both breathless. Yami rested his chin on the top of Lindsey's head, still panting, and holding her.

"Miss me?" He whispered.

"A little." She shifted so she could stand on her tiptoes and sweetly kiss him. She pulled back to look at him. "But more importantly I'm hungry!" Yami started to laugh.

"Really? After all that you're thinking of food?" She giggled.

"Not just any food, sushi!" She was grinning ear to ear.

"You're pathetic."

"Just love me, feed me, and never leave me and I'll be happy!" She was dancing around him and this was the happiest Yami ever saw her.

"I'll consider it." She playfully swatted his arm. She started to walk away teasingly when he grabbed her hand and pulled her back to him. "I love you Lindsey Walsh."

"I love you too." They stared into each other's eyes lovingly. "I also love food."

Yami said nothing but sighed and slowly shook his head. Lindsey just smiled.

Seto POV

The only reason Seto would ever be at a parade would be because Mokuba wanted to go. Which is the exact reason why he was at the homecoming parade. It seemed as if the whole city was there watching the floats and various clubs walk down the street, waving and smiling.

This is bullshit. I have a company to run. And since when does our school have this many clubs?

Domino High had 150 different clubs to join and when the last one walked by, the class prince and princesses came riding by in fancy cars.

"Seto!" Mokuba tugged on his grey trench and he looked down. "Look! There's Yugi and Lindsey!" Seto looked up to see Yugi and Lindsey Riding on top of Mai's purple BMW, with Mai driving the car. Lindsey was holding a bouquet of blue and white roses and she looked happier than ever.

She looks so happy…

She and Yugi were waving to the crowd and throwing candy to the kids. Even Mai was smiling. It was a day for everyone to be happy, but Seto was the farthest thing from happy. He was disturbed.

I should be the only thing to make her smile like that…

The parade ended with the King and Queen candidates. Mokuba had a look of pure joy on his face, enough to form a slight smile on Seto's face. The joy on his face quickly disappeared as the ground started to shake and the ground began to scream.

"Wha- What's going on Seto!?" Seto's first thought it was an earthquake but something was off. This was so much more.

His intuition was correct as the ground cracked and soon a gaping hole opened. The crowd ran while uttering screams of terror.

"Seto!" Seto turned to see Lindsey, Yugi, and Mai running up to him.

Seto turned back to the scene to see a huge monster coming up from it. It was most definitely a duel monster, but an unidentifiable one.

"Lindsey," Seto started. "I think your duel with Lucian is coming a bit earlier than expected." On the top of the great beasts head stood a man. He wore a sleek black tux with his Lavender hair in a ponytail. Lindsey gasped.

The monster had fully emerged, and the ground stopped shaking. It was silent. A stare down between the stranger and Lindsey.

"Lucian." Lindsey whispered.

"Hello my dear." Lucian said.

The monster then roared, and attacked.