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Chapter 10

If Seto Kaiba could be said to have any flaws as a duelist, it would have to be overconfidence. Yet, as he took his place and began his duel, for once he operated with no more than a normal amount of confidence in himself, tempered by a wariness for the English girl standing across from him in her punk outfit and spiked pigtails. Shandy wore a smile as she played, but it was one of those dangerous sorts of smiles that told her opponents that she took great pleasure in dismantling their monsters and would gleefully tear them a new one. Even so, Kaiba played as ruthlessly as usual and hit her hard right away, not wanting to leave anything to chance. He decided to play simply what was in his hand rather than wait and wait to draw the right cards to make a particular strategy or combo work, though he kept an eye out for his favorite dragons nonetheless. As powerfully as he played, though, Shandy was tough and withstood some of his most blistering attacks, finding ways to replenish her life points and slip out of some of his customary traps. She had a mastery of Union monsters, and even stole Kaiba's Pitch Dark Dragon out from under him in order to unite it with her Dark Blade and mount a counterassault. The fast-paced techno music playing underneath all the duels seemed to suit her well, her own personal soundtrack to the game of a lifetime. Soon Kaiba was struggling, and those watching him could tell he was not enjoying himself in the least by the glare on his face. Yugi thought to himself that he hadn't seen Kaiba so riled up and frustrated and simply losing his ground since their last competitive duel. He was battling as hard as any of them had ever seen him duel, but somehow it just wasn't enough. Shandy was able to see his usual moves coming and put up a defense or escape route in time, as if she had studied him and knew every card in his deck. He finally got one Blue Eyes White Dragon on the field, but his opponent rendered it useless the minute he attacked, stripping it of half its attack points by activating Mirror Wall. Enraged, Kaiba could only lay a card face down and end his turn there. "A lot of good that will do you," he seethingly taunted Shandy across the field. "You'll have to pay two thousand life points to keep the Mirror Wall in play, and you don't have that many left."

Shandy snorted at him. "I don't need it, it's done what I needed it to do. Unless you can sacrifice to get another Blue Eyes out, but I got a good feeling I'll have something else planned by then." She drew with a flourish and got rid of the Mirror Wall trap card, not wanting to pay the life points. The Blue Eyes was already reduced to 1500 attack points, far less than the Dark Blade/Pitch Dark Dragon combo reigning on the field, so she took great pleasure in destroying Kaiba's favored dragon. Not to be outdone, she sent her Freezing/Burning Beast combo to attack his life points directly, slashing a huge chunk of them away and activating the Union's special effect that destroyed the card he had just laid on the field to protect himself. "There we are," she sang happily. "Now we're even in points. Your move!"

The experienced duelists at ringside were watching closely, and Valon was enthusiastically cheering Shandy on, when Joey suddenly sat up sharply. "Kaiba's gonna lose," he murmured incredulously.

"No way," Mai scoffed. "Sure, he's down, but he's not out. He's come back from worse situations."

Yugi heard them, and with a small gasp realized Joey was right. He rested a hand on the front of their private box as he leaned forward in his seat, his eyes riveted on Kaiba. He can't lose, his youthful inner voice cried out. He's Kaiba! He can do this!

Seeing his dragons destroyed, enslaved, or chained down irked Kaiba more than anything, but it usually had the effect of prompting him to great feats of dueling skill in order to make his opponent pay for the insult by losing the duel. This time, however, he had nothing. He drew, and growled openly at his lack of a decent hand, needing to lay down Traps to defend himself and summon his Spirit Ryu in defense until he could draw some help. She had the rather nasty Greed Trap out on the field, meaning that if he wanted to draw cards by use of Graceful Charity or Pot of Greed, he would have to pay 500 points per card. It left him with few options and glaring at the cards left on his field. One was the face-down Crush Virus, which he had been unable to inflict on her yet. I was hoping to activate that when she attacked my Pitch Dark Dragon, he complained to himself, but she took control of my monster before I could. Now I have to wait until I either draw a pathetic monster, or my Shrink card, in order to play it. Sighing, he glared at his hand and curtly ended his turn. Any one of several cards would turn things around, but he needed to draw them in his next turn or he would be finished. Unfortunately, he would not get another turn.

Shandy drew and bounced a little as she ordered her cards in her hand, not hiding her grin at all. "Hold on tight, Kaiba," she said brightly, "here we go! First thing's first…" She slapped down Cold Wave, making Kaiba's eyes widen in alarm. "Dunno why more people don't use this card, it's awesome."

Kaiba gritted his teeth and growled angrily. "Now neither of us can activate a magic or trap card this turn." He eyed the field; he had Traps down that he needed to use to come back, but noted that she had face down cards as well. "That means your cards are useless."

"I don't need mine," Shandy said with a flippant shrug. "It's just Formation Union, and I got no plans to break up my Union monsters this turn. Not when you've left me a tasty treat that'll take down the rest of your life points." She pointed across the field at the glimmering hologram hovering in defense. "Dark Blade, attack his Spirit Ryu and take out the rest of his life points!"

Kaiba took a step back in shock, remembering all too late that the Dark Blade Union combo with his own dragon allowed it to inflict life point damage even from a monster in defense. At the last second, as the dragon charged across the field, he swiftly yanked a card out of his hand and waved it before jamming it into his graveyard. "I'm discarding Luster Dragon to boost Spirit Ryu's defense up to two thousand!"

"It won't be enough," Shandy chirped, "Dark Blade's got twenty-two."

"But I'll still be alive." The spirit dragon exploded off the field in a shower of sparks, and the life point counter dropped by two hundred, but Kaiba still clung to the battle with a handful of points. He had raised his duel disk to shield himself from the burst of light, and now glared over it at his opponent across the field. How he was going to stop her other monster, he didn't know. This can't be happening! he cried to himself. How can I be losing? This isn't right!

Shandy faced his glare with a grim smirk. "Burning Beast, attack his life points directly and end it all!" The monster swirled across the field, blasting through her opponent with more than enough power to strip him of everything he had left. Kaiba stood there and stared in cold shock as his life points hit zero and the crowd went wild.

The duelists in the private box were rendered just as stunned and motionless. "I don't believe it," Mai murmured. "He lost. Kaiba actually lost."

"Not like he hasn't before," Joey pointed out. "I just haven't gotten to see it in a long time."

"Look at him," Marik put in. "He's just standing there."

They did, noticing that he hadn't moved a muscle, his arms at his sides and his last hand of cards hanging loosely in his fingers. He was just staring absently at some spot on the wall across from him, while Shandy waved to the audience still lauding a public humiliation of the great Seto Kaiba. She called out to him and congratulated him on a tough and fun duel, but he didn't seem to hear her. Yugi watched him with pity, his heart going out to his rival. To have lost so early, and not even had the chance to face Yugi in the final round, must have been shattering. Then, a fleeting memory came to mind, Kaiba's comment to him prior to the beginning of the elimination rounds the day before: Should I somehow lose this tournament, I will have no choice but to retire from Duel Monsters for good. Yugi gasped softly to himself, realizing that Kaiba had made his vow not expecting to have to keep it. Yet, there he was, eliminated from the tournament in the semi-final round. He seemed to come to himself for a moment, but only long enough to turn on his heel and silently walk off the playing field, heading straight for the door that led to the green room. Yugi leaped up from his seat to go after him, but Joey called him back. "What, where are you going?" he wondered. "The last duel's about to start, and it'll determine who you face in the next round."

Yugi glanced back at him. "You'll just have to trust me, Joey. I'll be back."

He stepped out of the box and jogged after Kaiba, not catching Joey's bewildered shrug or the keen glance from Eiri, who had noticed him leave right before his duel. There was a short corridor between the arena and the conference room, which also led straight out to the lobby if one did not stop to enter the door to the green room, and as Yugi let the door close behind him, he saw that Kaiba was on his way out completely. "Kaiba!" he called after him. "Wait a minute!"

Kaiba came to a stop, but didn't turn around. "Whatever you want, I don't want to hear it, Yugi," he said seethingly. "Keep your sappy speeches about the heart of the cards. Just leave me alone."

Yami Yugi slowed to a stop a few feet behind him. They were far enough down the corridor that the closed door cut off all trace of sound from the arena except the noisiest of duel effects. "Actually," Yugi said gently, "I don't know what I want to say." Kaiba's head turned slightly, to show he was listening. Yugi gave him a sympathetic look. "I only know that you seemed to be in pain, and that concerned me."

Kaiba's eyes hardened as he turned fully around. "What do you know about pain?" he snapped. "You're still in this thing. I'm not just out, I'm out for good. I have to retire now, and give up the one thing that mattered to me!"

"No, you don't!" Yugi countered passionately. "Kaiba, you didn't tell anyone but me of your intention, you don't have to keep it. It was a rash vow, I won't hold you to it. You can't give up!"

Seto clenched a fist angrily. "It's not the vow, idiot! Don't you see? I'm worthless! I can't even make it past a semi-final round anymore, my days are over! I failed. My cards failed me." He pulled his deck out of his duel disk and thumbed furiously through it. "Where the hell are my other two Blue Eyes anyway?" He glared at the cards until the ones he wanted appeared, at which his eyes went wide in fury. "On the bottom of my deck? They never would have come up in time!" He pulled them out and looked at them alone, with the third from his graveyard. "I trusted these cards and they failed me. Well, they've failed me for the last time!" He grasped them in both hands, intending to tear all three dragons in half.

"No!" Yugi lunged and grabbed Kaiba's hands, holding them still. "Don't do it, Kaiba! You're the keeper of the Blue Eyes, don't do something you're going to regret!"

Kaiba glowered at him across their struggling fists, teeth bared. "Let go of me, Yugi!"

"Not until you promise not to destroy your cards." Yugi held on for dear life, realizing that Kaiba was very strong and if he wanted to, he could still rip the cards easily. "It's not their fault, don't do anything rash."

Kaiba's hands trembled with the strain of holding himself back, his head drooping so Yugi could no longer see his eyes beneath his tousled brown hair. He still grimaced painfully, taking short breaths through clenched teeth. "What do you care?" he whispered after a moment. "They're my cards…"

Yugi grasped him by the wrists, finding less resistance now to his efforts. "I know what it would do to you later, when your head is clear, to find out what you did in the heat of rage. You have to let it go!"

They grappled for a minute more in silence, and then Kaiba's shoulders began to shake. To Yugi's surprise, he wilted and dropped to one knee, his hands going slack. The three dragon cards fell out of them, though he still kept his fists balled up and didn't pull them away from Yugi. "Why?" he seethed under his breath. "Why is this happening to me?"

Yugi stood with a perplexed frown, unsure what to do now. He eased his grip, letting Kaiba's hands fall. "Kaiba?" he asked softly. "Are you all right?"

With one elbow braced on his knee, Kaiba pressed the heel of his hand to his forehead, trying to stop himself from shaking. His eyes were tightly closed, his face contorted in a painful scowl. When he didn't say anything for a while, Yugi took a step closer and gazed worriedly down at him. "Something is bothering you," he murmured wisely. "I could see it before the tournament even began."

"Stop it," Kaiba hissed. "Leave me alone, Yugi. It's none of your business."

Yugi did not move from where he stood. "It's too late to shut me out. I can already see past your hard, unfeeling walls. You've never taken a loss so hard, there's something else the matter."

Kaiba finally raised his head, but didn't look directly at his rival. His blue eyes glistened with unshed tears that stayed locked inside. "When I can't even enjoy Duel Monsters, what do I have left?" he muttered morosely. "I can't ever expect to regain my title from you if I can't even beat some upstart girl I've never heard of. There's nothing left for me. You heard those people out there…they loved to see me lose." He shook his head slowly. "I don't know why I even bother to try."

Within his mind, Yugi suddenly spoke up to his partner. "Yami, why don't you let me talk to him myself?" he gently requested. "I've got a lot I want to say to him."

"All right." Yami kindly receded, and the Puzzle flashed to signify the dissolution of their bond.

Yugi took a moment to study Kaiba, to listen to what he was saying and consider it. Kaiba had noticed the brief flicker from the Eye of the Puzzle, as it was right in front of him, but didn't realize until he heard the youthful voice what it meant. "You try because it's what you love," Yugi answered at last. "Meeting a challenge, striving to be the best. Isn't that what it's about for you? It's not about the cards or the game itself. Duel Monsters is just that…it's just a game. And winning or losing shouldn't matter so much to us."

"No offense, Yugi," Kaiba growled, "but that's a load of crap. What's the point in playing if you don't want to win?"

"I didn't say you can't try to win. But…if that's all that matters? It's no wonder you're not enjoying the game anymore."

"Back off." Kaiba swiped his cards up off the floor and stuck them back in his duel disk. "You don't understand. You don't know anything about me, so don't try to do me any favors."

"Oh yeah, get mad at me because I happened to see a moment of vulnerability where you let your emotions show," Yugi complained, frowning. "Look, I don't want to sound mean or anything, but get over it." Kaiba shot him a quick look, his expression returning to a more typical sullen Kaiba glare. Yugi held his ground. "If that's all it is, you taking losing a bit too hard, then you need a serious priority check. There are much more important things in life, even for you, you should focus your energy on those instead and forget about this loss. There'll be other tournaments, plenty of other chances to prove yourself. There's not even a guarantee I'm going to make it to the championship round, my next opponent may knock me out too. As long as I'm doing my best, and giving it all my heart, even if I get eliminated I'll know it was worth the attempt."

Kaiba lowered his head again, his anger deflating in the wake of all the other unpleasant emotions roiling through his head and heart, emotions that he lacked the strength to prevent Yugi from seeing. "The next time you lose," he murmured, "I'll find you and dare you to say that again, and mean it."

"Sure, it's no fun to lose," Yugi admitted. "But I'd get over it. As long as I've still got my friends, my grandpa, Yami…it doesn't matter. Maybe it's time." He shrugged, his voice and expression softening. "Maybe, our time is past. You, me, Mai, even Pegasus. We're the old guard. Maybe it's time for us to retreat into history, and let a new generation of duelists come up. One of these days, Joey's going to win it all, and then people will be hunting him down until they can take his place. Is that so bad?" He cocked his head questioningly. "We can't be on top forever. Maybe it's time to let go, and devote ourselves to the things that really matter in our lives."

"Easy for you to say," his rival hissed darkly. "You have your friendships to make you feel all warm and fuzzy inside. I have nothing. Duel Monsters is my only passion, and now it's gone too."

"Kaiba, what's wrong with you?" Yugi implored. "Even when you lost to me in your own tournament, you weren't this shaken. If there's something else going on, something that took your head out of the game and made you lose…"

Seto gritted his teeth and glared at the floor. That was it. That had to be it. But he wasn't about to reveal it to Yugi, no matter how sympathetic and kind the look in those wide, violet eyes. Instead, he closed his eyes and pushed himself to his feet. "I said, you wouldn't understand," he quietly reminded.

Yugi shook his head. "You're wrong. Stop being so angry with yourself, and don't punish yourself by quitting. You are not a quitter, Seto Kaiba." He looked up into the taller man's face with grim determination in his eyes. "You and I may have our differences, but I respect you because you fight to the best of your ability, just like me, and you never just give up. If you want to retire from tournaments because you have bigger, more important things in life to concentrate on, that's one thing. But don't just roll over and wallow in your self-pity now, with this loss weighing so hard on you. No one can respect a man who runs out just because he lost once in a stupid tournament."

Kaiba's gaze hardened. Everything Yugi said was true, there was no use dismissing it just because it came from Yugi. It was too late now, he'd already shown his weakness – it was pointless to try to save face now by being stuck up and disagreeable. "Fine," he said heavily, his voice no more than a whisper. "I won't retire. Not when you and Katsuya are still ranked above me."

Yugi smiled firmly and nodded. "That's the Kaiba I know." His smile faded, as he tried once more for the sympathy route. "I don't know what else is bothering you, and I'm pretty sure you're not going to tell me. But if you keep clinging to it and let it eat you up inside, you'll never be able to take back what you've lost. You're the only one who still stands in the way of you moving on, and getting back into the fight."

Kaiba nodded slowly to show he was listening, but made no further comment. Beyond them, through the closed door to the arena they could hear a muffled roar of sound as the audience cheered on some spectacular move, perhaps even the finish of the ongoing duel. Kaiba tossed his head in the direction of the great hall. "You'd better go see who's winning, if you want to be prepared for your next match."

Yugi glanced over his shoulder at the door, reluctantly agreeing. The Puzzle flashed again, as Yami's presence came to the fore and bonded with his partner to continue their journey to the final round. He lifted a calm, wise look to Kaiba. "You're angry and upset, I can understand that much. When you've calmed down some, think about what I've said. You have better things to live for, they're right in front of you. We are your friends, whether you want us or not. And, you have Mokuba. As long as you care about your younger brother and want to make things right for him, you can never say you have nothing." He turned on his heel and strode back down the corridor towards the arena, his black coat swirling along behind in his wake.

Just before Yugi reached the door, he heard Kaiba call his name. He turned back to see his rival still standing there, but now in a confident pose, his customary narrow-eyed gaze of complete seriousness on his face again. "Are you going to give up, and let this new generation of duelists you mention come up in your place while you just wimp out?"

A self-assured smile slowly worked its way onto Yami Yugi's face. "No," he answered boldly. "I won't just roll over for anyone. I will still fight with all my heart and strength. But if I am defeated, I will accept it." He held Kaiba's gaze for a moment, until the other man nodded. Yugi nodded back, and pulled the door to the arena open.

The duel was still going on, but it was in its final stages. Mako was holding his ground, but Eiri appeared to have just summoned Legendary Flame Lord with the proper ritual and was close to defeating the ocean duelist. Yugi stepped back up into the box and sat down beside Joey, asking if he had missed anything important. Meanwhile, Kaiba finally finished his walk down the corridor and let himself into the lobby, going to the restroom to splash cool water on his flushed face and pull himself together before slipping back into the arena via the main door, sneaking into a corner unnoticed to watch the outcome of the final rounds undisturbed.

With the destruction of Mako's last monster, Eiri clinched a win, and smiled brightly at the legion of new fans he had made. Mako sighed heavily, regretting the loss but knowing that he had played his best and simply couldn't stand up to Eiri's overpowering spellcaster assault. At least he had made it farther in the tournament than he had expected, farther than he had in the past few tournaments. Yugi and Joey both congratulated him on a good fight, and at least offered friendly smiles for Eiri even though he had defeated their good friend. In order to give Eiri proper time to rest before his next duel, the final round between Shandy and Joey would take place next, after a brief break of about five minutes. Joey gave his opponent a hesitant wave down the row of chairs and then slumped back in his, clapping a hand to his forehead. "Man, not again. She put me through the wringer last time. And you saw what she did to Kaiba."

"Just be glad you're not facing him," Mai encouraged. "With his eternal grudge against you, you wouldn't stand a chance. He'd beat you just to make sure you didn't have a right to gloat."

"Yeah, I know. But he's out, now." Joey turned to Yugi. "Did you go after him? What'd he say?"

Yugi smiled placidly. "I think Kaiba would prefer if I didn't share the details of our conversation. Don't worry, he'll still be hunting for you next time."

It was time, so both Joey and Shandy stood up when their names were called and stepped out onto the arena floor to fervent audience adulation. Joey unzipped his track jacket and pulled the sleeve out from under his duel disk, so he could take it off and tie it around his waist, leaving him in just a white tank with his necklace dangling down over the front. Mai was not the only woman in the audience who noticed his lean, tough physique. Their cards shuffled, the duelists got right down to it, seeing as they had dueled once before in this tournament and knew what to expect from each other. It was just as difficult and wrenching as the last time, but Joey remained focused on his goal and Mai's violet eyes watching him intently from the front row of the private box. Shandy was by no means going easy on him, and clearly thought she had him figured out, but he hadn't shown every last little trick in his deck yet and was able to pull a few surprises on her. She even fell victim to Time Wizard, for she hadn't expected him to have such a last-generation monster in his deck. He was ahead, but she was fighting hard to survive, her flippant demeanor tempered somewhat by the desperate need to beat him to advance, and to prove that she wouldn't let herself be defeated twice by the same opponent. Finally, a turn in which Joey played a card that forced her to discard something from her hand to the graveyard, and Shandy laughed with glee as she was able to summon Despair from the Dark directly to the field by its effect. With 2800 attack points, it was a force to be reckoned with, one that made Joey recoil in apprehension. She pounced and destroyed one of his monsters and left it at that. It was now Joey's turn, and he didn't draw the card he needed just yet, so he left one monster face down and sacrificed the other to summon Legendary Fisherman. In the audience, Mako suddenly sat up with a little noise of interest. "That's my monster!" he realized. "Joey still has it is his deck?"

Yugi smiled knowingly, thinking of the Time Wizard played earlier. "Of course. Joey likes to keep his friends close to his heart."

Mako smiled as well, gazing proudly at the Legendary Fisherman standing guard over Joey, and currently tossing his spear to destroy Shandy's other, weaker monster that she had left on her field. "I can see that. I'm honored."

With that, Joey laid a card on his field and ended his turn. "Make your move," he dared his opponent.

Shandy drew and examined her card, and simply placed it in her hand. "No sense wasting time, I guess," she said brashly. "I'm not going to make the same mistake Valon did, I'm not falling for your face-down monster trick. Taking out that fishy-boy will knock your life points almost all the way down." She pointed at the monster across the field. "Despair from the Dark, destroy!"

The hulking fiend slashed out with its claws, rending the Legendary Fisherman to its component pixels. Joey grimaced, more in disappointment that Mako had to watch his favorite monster be slaughtered, but didn't let it derail his game. He had a goal, and knew he could beat this girl. One more card to draw, and he had faith it would be the right one. Close, it was Graceful Charity, allowing him to draw more cards. This time, a light of joy awakened in his brown eyes as he saw the results. Down to his last hundred and fifty life points, this was the turn that would end it all one way or another. "You shoulda known better," he taunted his opponent. "You still made a mistake and attacked the wrong monster."

"What?" Shandy blinked incredulously at him. "No way, you're bluffing. You got hardly any life points now, that little defense monster isn't going to save you."

"That's where you would be wrong." Joey flipped the card up, into attack mode, and from the field popped a big red egg with a crack in it. A black beak poked out of the crack, and the egg split to reveal a small, bug-eyed black dragon that squealed at being released.

Most of the audience tittered. Shandy giggled. "It's so cute! I just want to run over there and pick it up and snuggle it!"

Joey boggled at her. "You got a weird sense of cute."

"But what the hell is it? Cute's not going to win the duel for you."

"You've never seen one before?" Joey grinned confidently. "It's a Red Eyes Black Chick. Funny thing about these little guys…they grow up to be really…really…big."

Before their eyes, the dragon chick began to swell, rapidly increasing in size and maturity, unfolding huge serrated wings and stretching out a long, heavy tail. Its leathery skin hardened into scales, and within seconds a fully-grown, fully-pointed Red Eyes Black Dragon stood on the field, as Joey was able to use his monster's effect and swap the Chick for the Red Eyes he had just drawn. Shandy swore impolitely at the size of it, but quickly regained her composure. "Good thing my Despair from the Dark still has more attack points."

"Not after I play this." Joey revealed his Trap card, and somewhere in a shadowy corner, Kaiba stared as he realized it was a card he had and used often – Katsuya was either learning from him or stealing his best moves. "Tyrant Wing will raise my dragon's attack just enough to not only crush your Despair, but end the game. Red Eyes Black Tyrant Dragon, attack!"

With a beat of its now-glowing wings, the Red Eyes roared and tore into Despair from the Dark, stomping it off the field and taking the rest of Shandy's life points in one fell swoop. She stamped a foot in frustration, but gave in and accepted her loss. Joey nodded triumphantly, looking up admiringly at his Red Eyes Black Dragon before the grid powered down and it vanished from the field. Only after he had been declared the winner and Shandy shook his hand to acknowledge no hard feelings did Joey celebrate, running to the box and catching Yugi in a big hug as he was just stepping down from his seat. "You did it, you're in the championship!" Yugi cheered him.

"Yeah! I'm going all the way!" He let go of Yugi and grabbed Mai instead, laughing and grinning like a maniac as she threw her arms around his neck. Mako and Valon both stood up and offered a hand, one after the other, in congratulations. It took a bit for them all to calm down, and the audience as well, and when they did, Joey took his seat with a sigh of relief. "Man, that was a killer. After all I've been through today, I really earned this. It was no easy road, let me tell you."

"And look who you're going to be facing." Mai nodded toward the field, where Yugi and Eiri were just beginning to step out and meet the judge in the center. "Unless Eiri pulls out another upset like he did against me, it's going to be you and Yugi…"

Joey stared, his enthusiasm ebbing. Far from afraid, he felt an odd sense of peace. "Again," he added. "If Yugi wins this, it'll be Duelist Kingdom all over again. And this time, he doesn't have to win to save his grandpa. It'll be just us playing like we do all the time back home."

"Except this time," Mai reminded, "the eyes of the whole world will be on you."

Yugi seemed relaxed as he shuffled decks with Eiri, though he, too, had not missed the significance of Joey's win and the importance of this duel. If he lost, there would truly be a new world champion, but if he won, he would get to play his best friend for the title. By now, the two of them knew each other's decks so well that such a duel had the potential to be either astoundingly amazing or patently boring, but at the end of it, Yugi knew that if he had to lose his title to anyone, he would have no problem with it being Joey. He had to get through this duel, first, and quickly turned his attention to it. Eiri had his rock-star looks and confidence turned up to maximum, and smiled pleasantly at Yugi as they shuffled each other's decks. "I admit, I've been really looking forward to this," he said quietly, so that only Yugi could hear him above the chatter of the audience. "Getting to face you was my whole intention for entering this tournament, and now I've got my chance."

Yami Yugi smiled coolly back. "So now that you're here, what are you going to do?"

"Actually, I had a little idea." Eiri turned his smile up even more, and lowered his voice to keep the judge from hearing. "What would you say to a friendly wager on our duel?"

Yugi's eyes widened. "A wager? Whatever for?"

"Oh, not money or anything big. Just between friends, really." He held out Yugi's deck to be cut. "If I manage to defeat you, I'd like the prize to be a date with you."

Yugi's eyes flew even wider, and within his mind a separate presence freaked out. "What?"

Eiri let his eyes quickly travel up and down Yugi's lean form swathed in the dark coat. "I can tell you're into guys. I figured it would be safe to ask. That's all I want, really."

Internally, the younger Yugi responded, "No, no, no, no…"

Externally, the darker presence kept as calm a façade as he could. "But I can't imagine anything I would possibly want from you in exchange, should I be the winner."

"Well," Eiri pondered, "maybe there's a card I have in my deck that would make it worth your while? Say, maybe my ultra-rare Dark Magic Curtain?"

Inside, Yugi was still protesting vehemently, but Yami took a moment to speak with him. "Yugi? If it's all right with you, I'd like to take this bet."

Yugi couldn't believe what he was hearing. "What do you mean? We don't need to do it! We don't need that card and besides…I'm not taking the risk. He can't have me, I already belong to you."

"Yes, and I don't mean it as an insult to you." Yami glanced over his shoulder, where he envisioned Yugi to be standing staring at him. "But this young man obviously thinks he can claim you himself, and I have no intention of letting him. I will put a stop to his amorous intentions for good, to show that nothing will come between us. Besides." His gaze flicked forward, to Eiri watching and waiting as he placed his shuffled deck in his duel disk. "Making this request of us irks me. I want to put him in his place."

Yugi relaxed considerably, hearing the determination and possessiveness in his lover's tone. "All right, then. We'll take the bet. All the more reason to win and go on to the championship."

Their minds bonded together again, and Yami Yugi smiled darkly at his opponent. "Fine. I agree to your terms."

"So if I win, you'll go out with me." Eiri's smile took on a shade of darkness of its own. "Great. Let's duel."

They stalked to their places to begin, and though Yami's motivation for this duel was protecting his lover, they dueled as a team like always, fused into one complete entity. As the game began, it was clear that Eiri had studied the infamous Yugi Muto extensively and knew most of the cards in his deck, having built a fairly powerful spellcaster deck himself in order to combat it. But he didn't know everything, and didn't know that Yugi had swapped out some cards before the tournament to add a couple that Yami liked. They both struggled and threw everything they had into it, as this was Eiri's whole purpose for entering, the culmination of his efforts, and he wanted that prize more than anything, more than the championship itself. Even so, Yugi was not going to let himself be the prize, and kept glancing at the ring on his left hand whenever he played a card to remind himself of the reason. Playing against Eiri proved to be his most difficult challenge of the tournament so far, but there was a reason the world knew him as the King of Games. Just because Eiri knew his favorite cards didn't mean he knew when they were drawn, played, or used. He managed to counter several of Yugi's well-known Traps, but he completely failed to see Brain Control coming before it was too late, and his monster was being offered to summon a high-level mage. Eiri had been hoping to prevent that by never letting Yugi have more than two monsters on the field at a time, but Brain Control subverted that, and the next thing he knew he was staring into the wicked eyes of the Magician of Black Chaos. It was one of those minor developments that Eiri had not planned for. "You still have him?" he wondered incredulously. "I thought you dropped him in favor of Dark Paladin!"

"I don't simply drop my monsters for more powerful ones," Yugi said sternly. "All of my magicians mean a great deal to me, and each gets his time on the field in turn. When one needs a rest, another is there to take his place." He pointed dramatically at Eiri. "Magician of Black Chaos will not only destroy your monsters, but remove them from play, meaning you won't be able to bring them back to help you." He took back one Magic card from his graveyard as per the rules, and immediately played it again – Monster Reborn – to bring back the Dark Magician Eiri had sent to the graveyard very early on so as not to let Yugi do any of his favorite tricks with him. There was one more card he needed to play out of his hand, a new card he had added very recently, as Pegasus had created an actual Dark Magic Attack to use in conjunction. The Dark Magic Attack blew away all of Eiri's face-down cards, allowing the two mages to work in tandem to clear out the monsters on the field and do serious damage to his life points. This included the Vampire Lord Eiri had been relying on to keep something on the field to protect himself, though now he was removed from play and unable to automatically pop back on the field next turn. Eiri scrambled to try and find something to defend himself, but instead of drawing a monster with an effect that would surprise Yugi and damage him in repayment for an attack, he only drew Mystical Elf. Normally, she would have protected him in defense, but she was no match for either Dark Magician or Magician of Black Chaos. He refused to yield, however, and laid her in defense regardless. On his next turn, Yugi paused to gauge the threat. Only one card, one measly defense monster, but he knew not to underestimate those. Occasionally, they hid something nasty that would activate upon destruction. He glanced back and forth between his two mages before deciding to let Dark Magician do the dirty work, knowing that there were other methods of restoring him in his deck if he got destroyed again. He then studied Eiri, and realized the young man was sweating, staring in determination but with a slight tremor in his hand. He was trying a little too hard to bluff, and Yugi was not about to fall for it. "You've obviously trained very hard to make it this far in the world tournament," he complimented his opponent. "I'm glad I inspired you, in some sense, but it ends here. Dark Magician, attack his face-down monster!"

Eiri winced as his Mystical Elf exploded into nothingness. But that was nothing compared to the direct attack to his life points now handled by the Magician of Black Chaos, who seemed to have something of the same look of vindication in his mysterious eyes as his master who had commanded the attack. The blast hit Eiri full-on, wiping out his life points and then some. Crushed, he dropped to his knees and hung his head as the crowd erupted with a huge cheer. Yugi stood for a moment after hearing the announcement made that he won, as if wanting to be sure, and gazed across the way at Eiri with a mix of pity and relief. He didn't even think that he was now going to the championship round to play Joey for the world title, he only knew that he had saved himself from a date with a strange man, and was glad for that, though he hated to see what it did to Eiri. He said nothing, simply turning and walking back to the seats where his friends were on their feet, lauding him enthusiastically.

When the field had cleared, Croquet made the announcement that there would now be a break of a little over an hour until the tournament resumed, giving both competitors and spectators time for dinner and for the advancing duelists to prepare themselves before the televised championship. When that hour was up, the final four needed to report to the green room, and the duel for third place would happen before the three-round match to determine the new world champion. Yugi and Joey finally looked at each other and realized they were opponents, their victorious smiles disappearing. As they stood to leave, Joey reached out and clasped his best friend's hand. "You did great. Never better."

"So did you."

"Um…" Joey glanced aside. "I think maybe we should go to dinner apart from each other. Dueling you for the world championship is going to be hard enough without spending a whole hour beforehand hanging out and being all friendly-like."

"I agree," Yugi nodded. "I want you to be at your best, Joey, when we meet again."

"Oh, I will." Joey smiled firmly. "I'm giving you everything I got. And don't go easy on me just because you know my goal."

"Believe me, I won't," Yugi said with a similar smile. "I have my own goals, you know."

"Good luck, man." Joey turned to Mai, beside him, and waved to Valon to invite him to come along with them. They exited the arena through the main door, now that most of the spectators had cleared out.

Yugi found Marik coming to congratulate him, and asked him if he'd like to join him for dinner. He wanted company, it would keep him from worrying about dueling Joey for a while. Marik agreed, and together the two of them headed for the corridor that led to the green room. Before they could leave, though, Yugi heard his name called. Eiri was heading straight for him, a contrite look on his face now that he had picked himself up from his loss. He still had some of that stunned, disbelieving air to him, since his dream had been shattered, but he appeared to be at least willing to speak to Yugi. "Please, wait," he requested. "Can we talk?"

Yami Yugi came to a stop, giving Marik a quick glance but deciding to consent to it in front of him. "I'm sorry," he said gently. "You dueled very well, you have impressive talent."

"Thank you," Eiri sighed. "I just wanted to…to ante up our bet. I owe you a card."

He had pulled the Dark Magic Curtain card from his deck and held it out, but Yugi stopped him with an upraised hand. "There's no need. You see, I already have one."

Eiri stared. "What? You do? Then…why did you take my bet if you didn't want the card?"

"Because, I couldn't let you think that you had won me, somehow." Yugi fixed him with a serious gaze. "I admire people who take up Duel Monsters with a dream in mind, but yours unsettled me. You should duel for your own enjoyment, not so you can prove anything to me."

"You don't understand. Yugi…" Eiri stepped closer to him, an earnest look on his pretty face. "I've fallen in love with you from afar, even though we never met. I entered this tournament to meet you, I hoped maybe we could get to know each other and you could see how much I love you."

Yugi stared without comment, trying not to look alarmed at the confession. Beside him, Marik bristled slightly but kept quiet. Eiri kept speaking, trying to get everything off his chest. "It's not just because you're the best duelist, either. That's only what put you in the public eye enough for me to find out about you and follow your career. You're a nice guy, everybody knows it. You're friendly to everyone and forgive your rivals, you stand up for the people you care about. And you're so cute," he added plaintively. "I've always thought you were good-looking, but now that I've met you I know why I fell for you. You're adorable and sweet, and when you're dueling you get this…I don't know, this sexy kind of vibe about you. Please…don't hold the bet against me. I really like you, I hope you can give me a chance."

Yugi sighed softly, closing his eyes and shaking his head. "I'm sorry, Eiri, but…I already have someone." He lifted his arm with the duel disk, holding up his hand with fingers splayed so Eiri could see the silver ring on his fourth finger.

A sinking look came into the man's eyes. "But…who?" His glance flicked to Marik. "Him?"

"No, not Marik," Yugi answered patiently. "It's someone very special to me, very close to my heart. You're right, it is another man, but it's no one you know. He tends to keep a fairly low profile." He lowered his hand, letting it instinctively come to rest on the Puzzle. "He came to visit me, here, the day before the tournament, but we kept to ourselves. I'm a private person, I don't flaunt my relationship."

Eiri looked more and more morose with each passing second. "No wonder I didn't hear anything about it. I know everything else about you, how could I have missed this?"

"You seem like a very nice person, Eiri. But trying to win someone's body in a duel is no way to treat them if you truly love them," Yugi reasoned. "I defeated you to teach you that, I hope you'll understand. I love my soulmate very much, and it wouldn't be fair to him to let you try to win me over." He turned slightly in order to signal that he was leaving. "Please, forget about me. Find someone who can love you in return, someone who will care about you regardless of your dueling skills or anything else. I'm not available." He departed with Marik immediately beside him, going to the green room and then out to the lobby without once looking back. Neither of them saw Eiri's face as they left him, or the determined frown that awakened out of his despair.

Most of the people who had come to watch or play dissipated to various locations nearby to eat as quickly as possible, wanting to get back to get a good seat. Joey and his companions discovered, thanks to a tip from a security agent, that his current ranking in the tournament allowed him to go to the hotel restaurant and get seated and served right away, with Pegasus picking up the tab. They had no complaints about that, and settled in a quiet corner away from the handful of other spectators or participants who could afford to eat there. Seeing as Joey was not only being civil but outright friendly with Valon, Mai decided to let go of her own aversion to talking to her past flame. After all, she was just as curious as anyone about what he had done with himself since his soul and his lease on life had been restored. He told them he had returned to Australia, and was making something of himself on the country's surfing competition circuit. "You didn't want to stay in L.A.?" Mai questioned. "What about the beach house?"

Valon shrugged as he poked at his pre-dinner salad. "It kinda got repossessed, along with everything else Para-Deus owned after the place went belly-up and control of KaibaCorp and Industrial Illusions reverted to their owners. Eh, it's no big deal." He mustered a cute little smile. "I couldn't make a new start if I was clinging to all the old familiar things, could I?"

Joey sat across from him, tearing a dinner roll into little pieces out of nervousness and only eating about half of it. "Somehow, I can just see you bumming around Australia, on your motorcycle, getting into bar fights and surfing a lot. That sounds like you."

"Well, I'm no angel," Valon admitted, "but it's not that bad. I'm actually pretty comfortable, got a little flat in Melbourne and everything." He smiled over at Mai. "Sounds like you're doing just as well. Fashion industry, eh?"

"Yeah, it's not nearly as fun as dueling but the pay's a lot better." Mai gave him a sincere smile. "I guess we both just needed a good kick upside the head to figure out what we really needed out of life."

Valon nodded, and then thought of something and picked up his duel disk, getting out his deck and thumbing through it. He held up a card between slender, callused fingers. "Oh, did you want this back? Now that we've actually crossed paths again?"

Mai and Joey both looked to see he had one of her Cyber Harpie cards. She shook her head. "No, that was for you to remember me. We went through too much for me to just pretend you didn't exist, that's why I left it. It's yours, Valon."

"Thanks." He put it away while their food was brought to them, giving them a nice pause in which to change the subject. Valon looked across to Joey, who hadn't said much through their meal so far. "Oi, what's the matter, Katsuya?" he asked blithely. "Gettin' a little nervous, are ya?"

Joey sighed shortly. "Do you have any idea how difficult it is to be facing my best friend in this match? It was bad enough years ago when we duked it out at Duelist Kingdom, and now we've been through so much together, saved each other's lives, and each other's souls…I don't know how I can look at him across that arena and not want to just throw in the towel because I care about him so much."

Valon frowned slightly. "If you really cared about him, that's precisely why you won't throw in the towel. He's your best friend, right? That means you owe him your best game. And if he cares about you, he'll do the same thing."

Mai looked tenderly at him. "Don't psych yourself out, Joey. You and Yugi duel each other all the time. You just have to put aside the flashy lights and the crowd and any thoughts about prizes or titles and treat it like it's just one of those table-top duels. It's you and him across the table in his living room, that's all. The only reason you should want to win is because you want to beat him, and take a few minutes to gloat before you decide to play again, and again, and again."

"I suppose." But there's more on the line, he said to himself. Yugi said he had a goal, but he didn't say what it is. I know what my goal is… He looked aside at Mai, who had started in on her dinner. "I'm just not sure how to approach this one. I mean, he and I know each other's decks so well. How are we going to play a decent game without predicting what the other's gonna play and stopping him? And what about Rite of Transference?" He poked idly at his dinner, having lost his appetite completely. "Pegasus said he's allowed to have it. I have nothing that can stop it if he plays it."

"It's a Trap card, innit?" Valon said with his mouth half-full. "Play your Jinzo, dumbass."

"That's if he lets me play Jinzo," Joey groaned. "He knows I have that monster, he's not going to let me get it out if he's got a Trap on the field that he must play."

"You're over-thinking it again," Mai said, rolling her eyes. "Just play to your strengths, don't worry about which card he may or may not play. You both have this uncanny ability to draw the right card at the right time, I'm sure that if the situation comes up, you'll draw just what you need to stop his Sorcerer of Dark Magic."

"Yeah, you have to go in thinking you're gonna win, or you won't," Valon encouraged. "Are you gonna sit back and play second fiddle to him all your life, or are you gonna be the one who finally takes him down a notch? If anyone has the right to beat him and be made the new world champion, it's you, Katsuya." He pointed with his fork. "Focus on that." He ate another mouthful, looking thoughtful. "Though, I guess it wouldn't hurt to switch out a few cards in your deck. Keep him guessing."

"Yeah…" Joey looked at the empty fourth spot at their table, which was being occupied by his duel disk while he ate. He thought about the spare cards he had upstairs in his room, extras that he sometimes swapped out or had otherwise collected because they were cool. "Maybe you're right. Maybe I'll have to run up and get some cards, and rearrange my deck a bit."

"So hurry up and eat or you won't have time," Mai nagged. Joey gave a little laugh and finally attacked his dinner with renewed interest.