Don't own nothing. Names of random characters in this chapter are not based on anyone and any resemblance to a living or dead person is purely coincidental.


The three hesitantly entered the gym, and Marik was greeted by a sight that burned his eyes. A short, rather fat little man…reaching down to touch his toes and gracefully showing the world half of his butt crack. Ryou held back a laugh and Yugi cleared his throat, alerting the man of their presence. The man stood up and walked over to them. With a facial expression similar to that of a pig's, he turned to Ryou.

"Note." Ryou passed it to the sweating man, who read it and them motioned to a small room. "Go get the dodge balls." Marik could've sworn he heard Yugi whimper, but passed it off as his imagination. "Who are you?" Coming out of his little world, Malik realised the man was talking to him.

"Um…"

"Coach Daffy. This is Marik; he's a new boy in our class." Yugi's voice was barely audible, and Marik couldn't help but think of a time everyone talked about when Yugi was a shy, timid kid who rarely spoke. The teacher seemed happy enough with the answer.

"Locker room, into your sports uniform. NOW." Yugi ran off and Marik followed, heading to the said locker room. Soon as they were out of sight, Yugi sighed relieved.

"That man gives me nightmares. I pity his children." Marik could sense the smaller boy was still upset, so he cracked a dry joke.

"I'm surprised that guy even has a wife, let alone one that would have children with him." Yugi laughed.

"They're both adopted." Marik couldn't keep the goofy grin off his face.

"What a guess by Marik Ishtar!" The two quickly changed into their sport gear and headed outside, where Coach 'Pigface' Daffy was already sorting everyone into very uneven groups. "Alright… Wheeler, Taylor, Kaiba, Hunter, Woodhead, Shields, Jennings, Ray, Wilkinson. To the left of the gym. All you others, to the right." Everyone took to their respected places, while Ryou threw everyone a single ball. It was about the size of a volley ball and made of rubber. Marik winced, knowing he was most likely about to enter a world of pain. Coach Daffy blew a small whistle.

"GAME ON." The war began. Almost immediately about six dodge balls were thrown at Yugi, and not a single one missed. Poor Yugi was pushed over by the force of the rubber balls and Marik winced. So maybe Yugi wasn't the King of all games. Standing up, the shorter boy limped over to a bench on the sidelines. Ryou ran over to see if he was alright, before giving Marik thumbs up.

He's okay!

Marik gulped, before turning back to the game. Alright, nine against ten. Marik threw the ball in his hands, and successfully got a tall blonde girl out. One down, nine to go.

The game continued on and off for 5 or so minutes. People were coming off and on in the blink of an eye, but one thing Marik noticed was that Yugi never came back on. The Egyptian looked over at the smaller boy for a second, and finally figured out why. Someone caught the ball and it was defiantly time for Yugi to come back on…but instead he motioned to a tall boy standing next to him and the boy grinned, before running out. Marik stood confused for just a second, when something connected with his back and he yelped, turning around. A small smirk was written on Seto Kaiba's face and he knew what had happened...and so did Malik.

/That's it! Let me at him, let me at him/ Marik smiled to himself, and Malik could sense it.

/I don't believe him! The prick/

/A: we already knew that B: It's a game and C: Please stay in the rod/ Marik heard the yami mentally sigh but when he didn't try to take control, Marik almost leapt for joy, walking over to the side bench and sitting next to Yugi and Ryou. The albino sighed, before looking over to Marik.

"Help me talk Yugi into going back on next catch." Marik nodded in agreement.

"Yeah Yugi, I mean it's just for fun." Yugi had brought his knees brought up to his chin, sitting in a protective ball.

"I don't find it 'fun' to have a series of rubber balls thrown at me." I pat Yugi on the back, trying to cheer the shorter boy up.

"You know they only get you out because they know if they don't the king of games out they're screwed." Yugi sighed.

"I appreciate you trying to help, Marik... but I've heard that one three times already." Marik looked over to Ryou for confirmation, who nodded sadly.

"Damn…I thought I was being original." Yugi smiled a little, before pulling his legs in closer to his chest. Marik truly did pity the smaller boy, and could understand why he didn't want to go back out into the line of fire.

/I could always send the gym teacher to the shadow realm?/

Marik laughed aloud, not able to tell if the yami was really being sympathetic or just glad for an excuse to kill someone...or drive them insane at least.

"Malik says he'll send Coach to the shadow realm if you want." Yugi shook his head no, so Marik decided to leave the topic alone. It was ages til someone finally caught the ball, but right as Marik went to walk out Coach Daffy came over.

" Muto, you're in." Yugi looked at the man wide eyed.

"But Coach...I-" The pig glared at Yugi, and even though Yami was reminding the hikari that he would gladly mind crush the guy, Yugi walked out onto the court. With nine people now on his team and only eight on the others, Yugi had the upper hand. But everyone knew the shorter boy wasn't much of a threat. A dark haired boy saw the smaller walking out, his hair covering his eyes. The boy grinned before throwing the rubber ball in his hands at the tri-colored haired boy. Yugi didn't even look up, and shocked everyone by catching the ball. The boy who had thrown the ball actually stepped back in shock, and forgot to duck as the red sphere came flying back at his face. Marik walked out, since the ball had been caught, and hesitantly turned to look at the shorter boy. Yugi was chuckling under his breath, volume slowly increasing. He threw his head up and laughed.

"I'll never fully understand why Yugi hates dodge ball. I mean it's such a fun sport!" Marik grinned, glad the pharaoh let Yugi take a break in his soul room.

"As long as you don't make a shadow game out of it, I'm fine." Yami turned to face the other Egyptian.

"Good to see you too Marik. Now how about we show these guys how this game is really played?" The blonde shrugged, before tossing Yami a ball of the ground.

"Lead the way Capitan." The pharaoh grinned, before looking through the other team members for a target. And once finding the said brunette, Yami smirked and prepared the throw.

Tristan had been thoroughly enjoying the sport session, on account Coach rarely let them play dodge ball. He'd been so caught up in the game play that he didn't notice Yugi come back onto the court…or Yami take the controls. Maybe if he had of been paying more attention, he would've expected this.

The pharaoh threw the ball as hard as he psychically could, and the rubber sphere flew across the room. The ball gained speed and slowly got closer to the ground, missing people by mere inches.

Tristan didn't see the ball coming towards him and even if he had, he wouldn't of time to dodge. The brunette didn't know what hit him, until it had…right in the family jewels.

The teen cried out in pain, before crumbling to the ground. Yami winced as Joey went to help the brunette over to the side lines, gym teacher cackling insanely in the background.

"Excellent aim Muto!" Yami looked over at the teacher, and put on his best Yugi act.

"Not really!" Yami looked back at his friend, talking loud enough for only Marik to hear. "I was aiming at his head." Marik started to laugh. He'd heard from Ryou that Yami had been acting more like a normal teen and less like a 5000 year old king of Egypt, but it was still hard to believe the once so serious spirit was just messing around now when he'd usually been stuck saving the world. The ex-king only shrugged. "Well, Yugi did tell Tristan I'd get him when he'd least expect it."


The game seemed to drag on forever. Marik managed to get at least two more people out, before being hit and sent to the bench. No more catches we're made by either team, and eventually it came down to the final round, a single player from each team. Those on the bench couldn't ask for a better show. Yugi Muto vs. Seto Kaiba. Or to those who knew the secret of the millennium puzzle, Yami Yugi vs. Seto Kaiba.

Deep down everyone knew who was going to win, having seen the battle play out before millions of times. Only instead of duel monsters, dodge balls, but what's the difference? The Kaiba dodged two balls while trying to throw one at the pharaoh, who easily avoided. The two played on for ages, both too fast for the other to hit, when on a shot carried only by luck managed to hit Seto Kaiba's leg. Coach Daffy blew hard on the metal whistle and the winning team cheered, while the rest were sore losers…Tristan more literally than the rest.

Yami retreated back into the millennium puzzle and when Yugi took back control, he sighed relieved. There was roughly five minutes left of class, and since it was last class of the day Coach let them stay in their uniform and get out early. Everyone was more than glad for the extra few minutes, because it was the weekend they could get their stuff before the stampede arrived. Yugi was following Tristan around like a lost puppy.

"I'm sorry."

"It's fine Yugi."

"I'm sorry."

"It's fine Yugi!"

"I'm sorry."

"Yugi!" The brunette turned to the shorter boy, who had a slightly amused smile on his face. "I. Am. FINE." Marik and Ryou walked behind the others, having their own little conversation.

"So, do you have anything planned for the weekend?" The Egyptian shrugged.

"Nothing really. I might have to help Ishizu a bit with the museum, but other than that my weekend will probably be spent sleeping." Yugi dropped behind to talk to the pair, having overheard what Marik had just said.

"Well… all of us were planning on meeting at the arcade tomorrow afternoon, and if you want to and you're not too busy, feel free to drop by." Marik raised an eyebrow at the offer.

"What's the catch?" Yugi just laughed.

"No catch, no evil people trying to take over the world…except Mokuba might come for a little so that means Kaiba will be there. If he counts as evil is up to you. But it's just gonna be a group of teens, hanging around and playing games." Marik closed his eyes and thought about it, the idea of just being able to hang out with friends sounded too good to be true.

"Yeah…I'll come." Yugi and Ryou cheered, before suddenly running ahead and leaving a very dumbfounded Marik. "What the?" The overly loud bell rang out over the school suddenly there was a massage herd of student, all running in Marik's direction. The Egyptian screamed, before running to the exit of the school grounds. Soon as he got out the gate ,Marik stepped to the right so as everyone pushed their way through the tiny one person gate he wouldn't be swept away in the crowd. Marik was panting for breath when unmistakable laughter hit his ears and he turn to see both Yugi and Ryou, fitting down on the footpath laughing at Marik like he was the world's funniest joke. The Egyptian sighed, before sitting down with the others.

"How long do we have to be here for?" Yugi's eyes were starting to water, as he leaned on Ryou for support.

"Only a few years." Marik paled and the laughter only increased. Ryou managed to choke out a line between gasping for breath.

"But at your rate, let's just hope you survive til next week."

"Great… Love this place already."