Chapter 31

Kaiba felt as though he'd walked into the weirdest body swap situation ever. When Mai and Joey had first arrived clearly thinking they were each other, Kaiba had thought maybe they'd not been issued with a challenge yet. Then when that was proven wrong he had to figure he was able to see the truth now for the same reason he'd been able to play for Tristan as well as himself; the rules for him were different, he just didn't realise they would be quite so different.

A part of Kaiba found the situation highly amusing, especially after Yugi and Covo showed up acting like Catilin and Ahna. In some bizarre turn of events all four people he was with had done a mental gender swap.

'So how long did it take you lot to work out this was all a game?' Covo stretched as they waited to see if anyone else was going to show up.

'Pretty much when Sta challenged me,' Mai pulled a face.

'Kind of slow, don't you think Veronie,' he rolled his eyes, 'I mean, the three of us worked it out last night.'

'Well I apologise for being distracted, it's not every day you wake up seven months pregnant.'

Her words made Yugi giggle in that insane little girl way Catilin did and it was just as annoying coming from him as it would have been her.

'Did you find any clues yet hiet braysta?' Yugi grinned at Mai.

'Clues?' Mai blinked at him.

'Uh-huh,' he nodded, 'the henge we slept at last night had these phrases scratched into one of the stones which Ahna found; we think it must be a clue of some kind, right Ahna?'

'Mm,' Covo nodded.

'What did it say?' Mai's gaze turned towards him.

'I am. Reflection. I reflect. You are. Reflection. You reflect.'

'Hey, that sounds like the graffiti SK found on the stone table last night,' Joey almost jumped on his words. 'The sleeper dreams. The dreamer sleeps. What once was, sees what now is.'

'You never said SK was with you,' Kaiba narrowed his gaze, 'where is he now?'

'Well,' Joey turned away, 'he lost. And it was all my fault.'

'What do you mean?'

'Well I was the one who wanted to keep going, he and the others wanted to stay put and…'

'Wait,' Covo cried in alarm, 'others?'

'Yeah, Covo and Mokuba were there too.'

'Mokuba was there?' Kaiba stared at him. 'Just now, when you were asked if you'd seen any of the others, you didn't mention anything about Mokuba, Covo or SK. Why didn't you tell us about this sooner?'

'Because SK lost his challenge and Piida seemed pretty sure that Mokuba and Covo would too. I'm sorry; I know I should have said something but... I didn't see the point.'

'You didn't see the point,' Kaiba tried not to sound as angry as he felt.

'Well it wasn't as though they were about to show up and join us.'

'And? You were asked if you'd seen anyone else and you kept quiet about it; you really think that was the best idea considering the situation we're in?'

'Wow Tristan, calm down a little would you?' Mai cocked an eyebrow at him. 'Don't you think you're overreacting a little here?'

'Are you telling me you're fine with the fact he... she hid information from us,' Kaiba could have bit his own tongue off for his slip up and he found himself praying the others had somehow failed to notice.

Fortunately for him before anyone had a chance to show whether they'd heard what he'd said or not, Mokuba and Catilin entered the area of the pink stones.

'Duke, Yugi,' Mai's face filled with a stupid grin, 'we were about to give up on you.'

For a few moments Kaiba found himself studying the newcomers; he guessed all the swaps were straightforward which would mean Catilin was Yugi and Mokuba was Duke.

'So,' he lowered his head arrogantly, 'you guys win your challenges then?'

'You better believe it,' his brother held up the Squire of Dragons card, 'although I was a little disappointed not to have won your card Cat,' his eyes shifted towards Yugi.

'You didn't win my card either,' Yugi's child-like voice toned with disappointment.

'No and I was really hoping to as well, but... Yugi got your card,' he stared down at his own for a moment. 'So what did everyone else get?'

'Well I got Duel Soul and Ahna won the Male Gemini,' the real Yugi grinned.

'The Howling Wolf,' Joey gave a strange half smile, 'which I assume to be yours,' he glanced over at Mai.

'Lady of the Seven Harpies,' she pulled her card out of her pocket, 'I guess we were playing for each other.'

'What about you Tristan?' Catilin turned her attention towards him.

'He got Kaiba's card, Blue Eyes Knight,' Mai jumped in before he had a chance to say anything, 'and his own, the Sharpshooter, right?'

'Actually, the second card is blank,' Kaiba couldn't help but wince.

'Blank,' Mai frowned, 'are you sure?'

'Yeah,' he forced himself to pull the card out of his pocket and show it to them. 'I didn't want to have to show you this, but I get the feeling if I don't do it now then I'll be forced to reveal it later.'

'I don't understand,' Mai took several steps towards him, 'I thought Kaiba told us the Sharpshooter had been damaged by the evil future Mokuba, not destroyed, so why is the card blank? Then again, why am I so surprised, why wouldn't rich boy lie to us about it? It was probably his fault to begin with. Hell I'd even believe he was the one who wrecked the card to begin with.'

'I would never do that,' the words burst angrily out of Kaiba before he could stop them, 'I would never intentionally hurt him.'

'Err... Tristan, don't you want to rephrase that a little bit?' She cocked an eyebrow at him. 'I know you would never hurt him, but he would definitely hurt you.'

'Oh wake up Wheeler, I'm not Tristan.'

'Sorry, what?'

'I said I'm not Tristan,' Kaiba met and held Mai's gaze.

'Not Tristan?' Mai shook her head in confusion. 'Then who...?'

'Kaiba?' Yugi giggled as he took a step towards him. 'You're Kaiba, aren't you?'

'I'm sorry, what?' Joey stared at Catilin. 'You can't be serious?'

'She is,' Tristan's voice was flat and calm, 'I am.'

'I might have known you'd find some way out of that,' he jabbed a finger in Kaiba's direction, 'but don't you think body swapping's taking it a little far?'

'I haven't swapped bodies Wheeler,' he rolled his eyes.

'So then why do you look like Tristan?'

'I don't, your primitive little brain just thinks I do.'

'I don't understand.'

'We really are mirrors, aren't we?' Catilin laughed.

'Huh?' Joey shot a confused look in her direction.

'I am. Reflection. I reflect,' she clapped her hands together. 'It means we're mirrors.'

'I still don't get it.'

'Then you really are dumber than you look,' Tristan rolled his eyes. 'Or rather, you're dumber then she,' he pointed to Mai, 'looks.'

'Hey!' Mai glared at him.

'I'm sorry, but as far as I'm concerned Mai, you are Joey.'

'Wait a minute, as far as you're concerned we're the ones who've swapped bodies?' Joey began massaging his forehead. 'How the hell does that work?'

'You think I know?' He shrugged. 'Like I said before, the gods have one hell of a sense of humour.'

'Right,' he wasn't totally sure he was buying into the whole situation. 'So what you're saying is I'm not really a pregnant man, I'm actually a pregnant woman thinking I'm a pregnant man?'

'You know you're right, that really is a good joke,' Ahna smirked.

'Well you don't see me laughing about it,' Joey shot a look in her direction.

'That's because you don't have a sense of humour Wheeler,' Tristan lowered his head slightly. 'And in case the rest of you are wondering, you all won the soul card of the person you really are.'

'So that would make me your brother, huh?' Duke cocked an eyebrow at him. 'That has to be a little weird for you.'

'It's only weird if it's the truth,' Joey shook his head. 'And speaking of truth, weren't you about to tell us what really happened to yours… I mean, Tristan's card?'

'I told you the truth, that imposter Mokuba damaged the card.'

'Destroying the card and damaging the card are two completely different things Kaiba,' he gritted his teeth. 'So tell us the truth, now. The whole truth this time. Starting with how the hell the evil Mokuba got his hands on Tristan's card to begin with, because you were really sketchy about that before.'

'I told you all you need to know about what happened,' Tristan tensed.

'Then why do you look like you're hiding something? Did you do something or not do something which allowed my best friend to end up like that?' Joey once again jabbed his finger in Kaiba's direction.

'I didn't stop it,' Tristan's whole face scrunched up with unreadable emotions as he clenched his fists. 'I wasn't able to stop it from happening, okay? He took Tristan's card right off of my dueldisk and ripped it in two and I couldn't do a damn thing to stop him. It was my fault, okay? It was all my fault. I'm the reason he's like this,' he turned his head away, 'are you happy now?'