The last chapter was fun. Don't Yugi and Atem make a good couple? ROFL Just kidding! This is exciting, because I'm getting closer to when the gang meet Ryou Bakura. Now, I'm still having to work on him for various reasons. Now, I know a million yen isn't the same as a million dollars, but if I put that Joey could win 8,600 dollars, that would be kinda lame, now wouldn't it? Lol. Review please!
Joey was running outside on his way to Atem's house. He was excited about telling his best friend the good news. The thought was running through his head like a stampede and making his blood race through his veins. Joey finally made it to the house where Solomon was sweeping the porch.
"Good morning, Mr. Moto!" Joey greeted before running through the doors.
"That boy is sure in a rush," Solomon thought aloud.
Joey paused in the middle of the living room. Uka had just walked out of the kitchen with furrowed eyebrows and her hands on her hips. Joey never ran in the house like a banshee unless it was something beyond excitement.
"What in the world are you running for? I swear, you sometimes act weirder than my son, and that's saying something," Uka glared curiously.
"Where's Atem?" Joey asked anxiously. "I have to tell him something important."
"This should be good," Uka muttered sarcastically before replying. "He's up on the roof doing who knows what."
"Thanks!" Joey grinned before running upstairs leaving Uka to roll her eyes.
Joey entered Atem's room, which had a window roof. There was a latch where you could open the window roof to get to the top of the roof. Since it was a flat roof, Solomon and Uka never had to worry about Atem going up there. In fact, it was part of his bedroom. Atem was known to sometimes play on the roof as a small child. Of course, he was older than five years old, so he knew not to go over the edge.
Joey climbed on the ladder that led to the roof. The latch was open, so he didn't have to open it manually. When the blond made it to the top, he found Yugi with his shirt and pants off with his underwear showing. Since Joey was a guy and he and Atem once took a bath in the same tub at the age of three, this didn't bother him one bit. Still, this made Joey completely confound.
"Atem or Yugi?" Joey asked.
"Yugi," Yugi replied.
"What the hell are you doing?"
"Tanning," Yugi replied with a bright smile. "I heard on TV that girls like tanned guys."
"Let me guess, you're getting a tan to impress Tea?"
"YEP!"
"Shoulda known," Joey snorted while shaking his head. "Anyways, can I talk to your brother?"
"Sure, just a sec," Yugi replied before pulling himself up and changed to Atem.
"What do you need?" Atem asked.
"I just signed up for 'The Million Dollar Show'!" Joey replied with a huge grin. "If I win, I can get enough money to pay off my father's debt and get Serenity the money she needs for her eyes!"
"That's great!" Atem said with a simple smile. It then turned to a frown. "But you know getting into those shows is like a dim a dozen."
"So? All I need is one shot and I can get it!" Joey said as Atem smiled.
"Then I wish you all the lucky," Atem chuckled before lying down on his back with his eyes closed and his arms under his head. "I swear, sooner or later, Yugi is gonna be the death of me!"
"I HEARD THAT!" Yugi glared with his arms crossed.
"Seriously Atem, how do you put up with that?" Joey asked curiously.
"With Yugi? We just compromise," Atem replied before giving out a sigh. "For instance, he can't be seen with Tea in public."
"Not that, I mean... how do you... you know... change, shower, and... stuff. Don't you have to... strip?" Joey asked as Atem chuckled before pushing his body up.
"Yes and his cock looks like a mutated hot dog," Atem said teasingly before Yugi punched his brother on the shoulder. "OW! GEEZ!"
"DANG! Wait, don't you guys have the same body? That means your cocks are the same."
"Not really. When we change, our bodies change as well. The only reason we look alike in both ways is because we're like twins," Atem explained, pulling one leg up. "Like I have gold streaks in my hair while Yugi does not."
"Huh, I never really noticed that. Strange. Well, what about taking a bath?"
"We shower!" Atem declared with furrowed eyebrows. "Otherwise Yugi takes out my old rubber ducky toy and sings that annoying Rubber Ducky song from Sesame Street."
Joey gawked up laughing at the thought. Poor Atem, having to deal with the horrors of embarrassment. As if Yugi's love interest wasn't enough. At least Tea knew that Yugi and Atem were two different people in the same body. Joey was just thankful that Atem was still single. There was no way he could explain to anyone about Yugi. Not unless they were superstitious or something.
"Well, even showering! Do you have to keep Yugi outside the curtains or something?"
"No. Yugi likes being under the shower, so we take turns showering. It's no big whoop. I mean it doesn't cramp us or anything."
"Man! I don't know how you're able to manage having someone else stuck inside you and having him follow everywhere you go. That'd be enough for me to lose my mind."
"It's different with Yugi," Atem said with Yugi sitting beside him. He leaned his head on his brother's shoulder as Atem pulled his brother closer and started playing with his hair. "If he's not around, I get anxious."
"What do you mean by anxious?" Joey asked, watching his friend moving his hands around something invisible. Atem was now massaging Yugi's shoulders as a moan escaped from Yugi's nose.
"It's like..." Atem started, trying to find a way to put the reply in words. While doing this, he started rubbing and pressing his fingers on Yugi's top part of his back. "... I have to have Yugi with me or... I start panicking. I start wanting him more and more. I don't know how else to explain it."
"So you want Yugi following you around like a stalker?"
"I suppose," Atem shrugged. Yugi leaned his body against Atem. He wrapped his arms around Yugi's waist with his head resting on his brother's shoulder. "I don't ever want Yugi to leave me. I love him and I like having him with me. Otherwise, everything just seems so... lost."
"Wow, you must be really close with him," Joey said in amazement as Atem showed a smile. "You probably should get changed too. Tristan said he was gonna buy us pizza."
"SWEET!"
Joey and Atem jumped into the bedroom from the roof. Atem decided to change into something appropriate for Tristan's arrival. It was only a few days later that Joey received a letter from the game show The Million Dollar Show replying that he could attend the show. Joey was so excited that he squealed like a girl and jumped up and down. Atem chuckled while rolling his eyes.
Everyone made it to the game show The Million Dollar Show. Joey was excited to be part of the game show and win the million dollars he needed to pay his father's debts and to afford his sister's operation. Atem was excited as well. Serenity deserved to have a life, and a better one at that. She needed her eyesight and Atem and Joey worked too hard to let the plan fail.
"Welcome to The Million Dollar Show! I'm your host Ronald Pengan and here's our challenger, Joey Wheeler!" Ronald announced as everyone clapped loudly. Joey stood there boldly and proud.
"Hey Atem! Tristan! Hanaski! Tea!" Joey called to his friends as they all cheered for their friend.
"GO JOEY!" Tea cheered.
"GO FOR THE MILLION!" Tristan cheered.
"WE BELIEVE IN YOU!" Hanaski cheered with his bright smile.
"It is now time for the first game!" Ronald announced as the crowd cheered. He stood out by a dart board that was round. It looked like a pie graph. The bigger piece of the graph read "100,000 dollars" and the small piece read "loser." Joey showed a huge smirk on his face. "If you win this game, you win a hundred thousand dollars!"
"Sweet!" Joey smirked with his game face.
"The rules are simple! If you can hit the 'hundred thousand' area with your dart, you win a hundred thousand dollars! Are you ready?"
"I WAS BORN READY!" Joey cried aloud as he took the dart and threw it at the dart board. "Easy as pie." The dart landed right beside the loser area of the dart board. Joey mad a nervous look since he almost lost.
"YOU WIN A HUNDRED THOUSAND DOLLARS!"
"That was close," Joey sighed in relief. "I'm guessing the next game will be harder. This is for you, Serenity."
"NOW, OUR NEXT GAME WILL BE FOR FIVE HUNDRED THOUSAND DOLLARS! IT'S TIME FOR THE SECOND GAME!" The second game was on a rolling floor. It moved on the stage to where Joey and Ronald were at. "THE ELECTRIC HELMATE OF TERROR!" Everyone cheered and clapped. Joey was nervous, but ready to win his one million dollars. He put the helmet on as the announcer Ronald explained the rules. "The rules are simple! The challenger must reach the goal without touching his high-tension current before time runs out! If he fails, he'll be blasted by the electricity!"
"I'LL DO IT!" Joey declared with tension running through him.
"GOOOO!" Ronald signaled before Joey started twaddling under the maze with the helmet on his head. He knew he had to win this game for his sister and his father. Time was running out and Joey was almost to the goal. Finally, he made it before time ran out. "GOAL!"
"Whew! That was too close," Joey sighed in relief with sweat droplets dropping from his face.
"CONGRADULATIONS JOEY! YOU JUST WON FIVE HUNDRED THOUSAND DOLLARS!" Ronald announced as Joey screamed in joy. He was excited to have won two rounds. Just one more and he could win one million dollars.
"JO-EY! JO-EY! JO-EY! JO-EY!" The crowds cheered. Joey's friends were cheering too, including Atem. He was happy for his friend to be one round closer to winning the prize money.
"BEFORE THE FINAL GAME BEGAINS! A WORD FROM OUR SPONSERS!" Ronald announced before the cameras turned off for the commercial break. The crowds were cheering and screaming aloud. Joey was excited and happy that he was finally going to win the money he needed to pay off his father's debts and his sister's operation. Things were finally looking up.
"This is getting tense," Tristan thought.
"Yeah! I'm getting goosebumps already!" Hanaski grinned excitedly.
"I also need to go to the bathroom," Atem said with sweat pouring on his face.
"Perhaps because you drank a twelve ounce cup of soda!" Tea smirked teasingly.
"NOBODY ASKED YOU, TEA!" Atem glared before running from the audience chairs and through the narrow hallways. He finally made it to the bathroom and took a tinkle. He zipped down his pants and let the pee flow on the urinal.
"I wonder why girls don't have these things. They're so cool," Yugi grinned while looking at the urinals.
'Because women have pussies, not cocks,' Atem replied while rolling his eyes. 'Do you really need to ask that?'
"Well, most of my memories have been erased, so it's not like I know the answer to every single little thing. I have to know most of my stuff from you."
'Well, I ain't telling you about the birds and the bees!' Atem declared before zipping his pants up.
"Oh, I already know that. A man and a woman fall in love and they..."
"OH, HELL NO! DON'T EVEN SAY IT NOW OR EVER!" Atem cried aloud while covering his hears. He then looked up and saw two older men staring at him like he was drunk. "Uh... hi. I'm leaving now." Atem ran out the door as the two older men stared wide-eyed. 'You are such a pain, I swear!'
"What can I say? I'm cute and annoying. A perfect combination."
Atem happened to walk by two older men who looked like workers or producers. They were talking amongst themselves about something. The obese man asked about Joey's reaction to the games. Atem froze in place when he heard "And of course, he can never pass the roulette in the final game, right?" He looked behind him as the two older men stopped, not noticing the stare coming from Atem. He was completely shocked and horrified.
"Of course, sir. Nobody has ever passed the roulette challenge!" The guy with the sunglasses replied.
"What did he just say?" Yugi asked horrified.
'If Joey can't pass the roulette challenge, that means...' Atem concluded before Yugi finished his sentence.
"This game is ridged."
'We have to do something!'
"Let me take over!"
Atem changed to Yugi before he ran up and followed the Producer and his employee. He made sure nobody else could see him. They followed the two men behind the stage of the game show. Joey was at the final round of The Million Dollar Show. Atem was sad he couldn't be at the audience with his friends cheering for his best friend, but he had to make sure the game was fair.
Ronald was up on stage with Joey by his side and announcing, "NOW WE'RE BACK! IT'S TIME FOR THE FINAL GAME AND FOR JOEY WHEELER TO WIN ONE MILLION DOLLARS!" A spinning wheel was rolled up to the stage as the host pointed to it. "THE ROULETTE OF FATE! This is where you get one million dollars! If you fail, you lose all that you won! Are you ready to risk it?"
"I'LL TAKE IT!" Joey shouted victoriously. Atem and Yugi narrowed their eyebrows. They weren't gonna let some greedy producer ruin their friend's dream.
Yugi watched as the producer looked through the eye hole of the back stage. The wheel started spinning as Joey felt sweat droplets pouring from his head.
"THE ROULETTE IS SPINNING! WHEN THE CHALLENGER SHOUTS 'STOP' THE WHEEL WILL STOP!" Ronald announced as the audience cheered loudly.
The producer turned his body toward his employee, who was sitting in front of a mini control machine with buttons. One of them was a red button. Yugi and Atem glanced curiously at the device as the producer explained what to do with the device.
"Remember, when he shouts 'stop,' hit the red button. This will make it impossible for the roulette to hit the 'million dollars,'" The producer instructed.
"Of course, sir. You can't miss the red button," The employee smirked as Yugi came walking around a scaffold with two ropes. The employee and producer turned their heads with raised eyebrows. They stared at Yugi curiously.
"What do you want? This is for authorized personal ONLY! Scram!" The producer glared.
"You guys must really feel lucky," Yugi smirked childishly. "You wanna play a game with me?"
"A game? What are you talking about?" The producer asked glaringly.
"Look up," Yugi said with his eyes pointing on top of the scaffold. There was a paint bucket with red paint. One rope was tied to the handle of the red paint bucket while another rope was barely being hung under the bucket. "The paint can on top of the scaffold is tied by one of these ropes. We're each to tie the rope to our arm. At the signal, we'll each tug on our rope. Winner take all!"
"Listen, pipsqueak, we don't have time for your little game! We're busy here!" The producer spat as Yugi let out a chuckle.
"Then I guess I'll have to expose your little ridged roulette scam," Yugi smirked while pointing his eyes toward the mini device with buttons and a red button.
The producer had sweat dripping from his face. His eyebrows furrowed as his pupils shrunk. He was thinking, the whole time, of how to stop this. He gave a humph in agreement as Yugi showed a grin.
"Okay! Grab a rope!" The producer ordered his employee.
"Wha... um, yes sir," The employee obeyed as he chose the right rope and tied it to his arm. Yugi kept his childish smile as he tied the left rope to his arm.
"Ready?" Yugi asked as the employee gave a nod, still keeping furrowed eyebrows. "GO!"
The employee and Yugi tugged on their rope with their arm and the paint can came pouring all over the employee. The can then landed on his head as red paint splattered everywhere. Yugi smiled victoriously and eyed on the little mini device. All the buttons were covered in red paint, just like he knew it would. He wasn't eying on winning or losing, just for the paint to cover the buttons.
The producer gasped in horror when he saw all the buttons covered in red paint. He panicked and searched for where the red button could be. He could not find it anywhere since all the buttons were red. Yugi and Atem smirked with a dark chuckle that escaped their noses.
"Wa... Where is it?" The producer wondered in panic. "If that roulette isn't fixed, I'll have to pay that scum a million dollars!"
"It seems your true nature is revealed," Yugi said while a third eye glowed on his forehead. The employee hit the ceiling and ran out the door. "TIMEOUT!"
"GIAHHH!" The producer yelled as dollar signs appeared in his eyeballs.
"STOOOP!" Joey shouted as the wheel of the roulette started slowing down. Yugi watched from the back of the stage to see if his friend won or not. The wheel stopped and landed on the million dollars.
"YOU DID IT, JOEY! CONGRADULATIONS! YOU JUST WON ONE MILLION DOLLARS!" Ronald declared as Joey began jumping in the air for joy. Ronald gave Joey the one million dollar check and he showed it to the camera.
The producer ran from the back of the stage and glued his face to the camera. The audience started muttering amongst themselves what the producer was doing. The producer was given stares and was talked about as if he just finished drinking a bottle of vodka. Yugi changed to Atem and he appeared walking from the back of the stage. Joey stared at the producer with question.
"HAHAHAHA! GIVE ME MONEY!" The producer cried aloud. "HEY! YOU SCUMS WATCHING THIS! GIVE ME MONEY!"
"Sir, it's all over!" One of the cameramen said.
"Good thing that wasn't on camera," Ronald muttered in embarrassment.
"Now that's what I call reality TV," Atem joked with a slight chuckle. Joey turned around puzzled.
"How did you get here? Do I even wanna know what happened?" Joey asked.
"The producer was ridging the roulette or almost did," Atem replied as Joey's head turned boiling red.
"WHAT! YOU MEAN THIS WHOLE GAME WAS A HOLKS?"
"Yugi took care of our producer. The guy just needed a timeout."
"GIVE ME MONEY! MONEY! MONEY! MONEY!" The producer cried lustfully.
"I guess having Yugi around has it's advantages," Joey smirked. He put his arm around his friend. "I think you should keep him."
"Who said I wouldn't?" Atem smirked before the two friends joined their other friends who were wondering how Atem got into the back of the studio. He explained to his friends what happened and they all were angry, but happy that the producer was given a penalty game or a timeout. Several days later, the company went bankrupt, so Joey never got his one million dollars for his sister's operation.
Atem felt stricken for his best friend. Even though it wasn't his fault for Joey being tricked like that, Atem still wished he could do something. After all, Serenity needed that operation and Joey needed his father's debts paid off. Atem sighed deeply before sitting by Joey on the bench. Atem was about to say something when he heard a limo being pulled up. The two friends cocked their eyebrows as they watched Mokuba exit from the limo.
"Mokuba?" The friends questioned in surprise.
"Atem, I need to ask you a favor," Mokuba said as he sat on the bench next to Atem. He raised two eyebrows at the small kid his size. "It's just an option, but... before my brother was... you know, comatose, he was invited to a dueling tournament being held by Maxamillion Pegasus."
"The inventor of Duel Monsters?" Atem asked awestruck as Mokuba nodded his head. "HOLY COW!"
"Though, when Seto got the invitation, he never told Mr. Pegasus that you were the only person that's ever beaten him. He... kept that a secret. I guess because this was a once and a lifetime opportunity, I don't know, but now he can't go. Maxamillion Pegasus called yesterday and asked about my brother. I told him what happened... or partially. Said that Seto had an accident during a tournament he was playing at Kaiba Land. Mr. Pegasus felt sorry about what happened and seemed disappointed. He asked if there was someone else that could take his place who's as good as him, or close to it. I told him about you and that you were the only one who's beaten my brother on several occasions. He was... rather shocked that Seto never mentioned your name. He asked if I could speak to you about taking my brother's spot in Duelist Kingdom."
Atem was shocked beyond comparison. He was invited by the inventor of Duel Monsters to enter a tournament being held in Duelist Kingdom. It seemed like a once in a lifetime opportunity, but still, being a duelist champion wasn't exactly Atem's biggest dream. Atem wasn't sure what answer to give. He loved playing Duel Monsters, but he didn't want to spend the rest of his life based on that particular game.
"I don't know, Mokuba," Atem replied. His eyes were staring at the ground. "I want to go, really, but I have other priorities to care for. You see, Joey and I are working part time jobs to earn money for his sister's operation on her eyes."
"You need money?" Mokuba asked with a smile on his face. "Then go! The winner of Duelist Kingdom wins a million dollars!"
"WHAT? YOU'RE JOKING!" Joey shouted aloud.
"Nope, I ain't. Compared to most game shows, this one is no game show. Game shows usually have ridged games made to make the player lose, so they'd only have a slim chance of winning. This one, however, is only invited by the best of the best and one can walk away with booty on his shoulders," Mokuba explained with a smirk.
"I... I don't know. There's a good chance I could win, but I'll be facing pros," Atem said.
"Atem, you know we've been working hard to get that money. Heck, I had to be on a game show to try to win that money. Mokuba's right! You should take that chance, for my sister," Joey encouraged.
"Common brother!" Yugi encouraged Atem with a cheerful smile. "You haven't lost a game yet. Just enter and win!"
"Seto wouldn't admit it, but I think he'd want you to enter," Mokuba admitted as Atem nodded.
"I... I'll think about it. When is the deadline?" Atem asked.
"I think five month," Mokuba guessed.
"When Mr. Pegasus calls, give him my number and address and ask him for a month to think about it. I'll have to talk to my school principal and my bosses."
"That's fine. He expected you to call him back by a month or two anyways. I asked him to give you sometime to think about it."
"Thank you."
Mokuba walked back to his limo and it drove off. Atem stared at the limo driving down the road. Was it really worth risking playing a game to win money for Joey? The chances were slim, just like the game show, without being ridged. Atem had the chance to win that prize money. He needed it, but that was something to be thought about. Although, for some odd reason, something told Atem that this tournament might lead to something big, bigger than him and Yugi would bargain for.