It's July, and that means Camp NaNoWriMo. For me, this means redrafting a book I started unearthing back in April, and it also means trying to convince myself to actually write using a pen and paper, which is something I haven't done consistently since high school.

In light of that, I'll probably be rather scarce this month. But this story has a decent backlog, so it should still be moving forward. I do need to start working on it again soon, but right now we're okay.

Let's get started, shall we?


As Seto Yagami and the spirit of the dead king set up their second rematch—it was hard to tell if they were even conscious of their surroundings anymore—Kohaku Yagami stood up, gestured to Joey Wheeler, and stepped out onto the sidewalk. Joey found it immensely difficult to reconcile the idea that this man was Kaiba's father. The only person he could picture as an authority figure over Seto Goddamn Kaiba was Gozaburo Goddamn Kaiba.

"I appreciate what you guys are trying to do," Kohaku said, and Joey had learned from experience that a preface like that was never a good thing. "But we need to act. Quickly. Okay? My family is in danger, and card games aren't going to help us!"

"You'd be surprised what that card game can do," Joey muttered.

Kohaku wasn't interested. Anger flashed in his light grey eyes, and Joey saw a glimpse of Kaiba in them. "This man, this Gozaburo Kaiba, is threatening my family! My son! He's only eight years old, for God's sake, and this man is threatening him! We have to move! We have to act!"

"Best thing we can do right now," Joey said, "is keep our heads. Look, the kid's not in too good'a way right now, right? Scared, lost, confused. This stuff calms him down. Keeps him happy. That's the point, right? Bein' safe is important, sure, and yeah. That's your job. But it's also your job to keep him happy. We can help with that right now." He crossed his arms. "Look, man. I know. You're antsy. Ya wanna get goin'. I know the feelin'. But trust me on this. I know you ain't got no more reason to trust me than the Easter Bunny but try: we'll handle this. This motherfucker ain't got a damn clue who he's dealin' with here. Yami back there, he's pretty good. Guy's saved the fuckin' world before, a'right? Saved my ass more 'n once. But the key here, I think he's right. It's K—our Kaiba, we gotta convince. We get him onboard, we're golden."

"Why?" Kohaku demanded, exasperated. "What's so damned important? You tell me that in your world, Gozaburo Kaiba already took Seto away from us! He already won! So what's the point in…?!"

Joey smirked. "Gozaburo Kaiba didn't win shit. Fucker got himself killed. Our Kaiba don't let people win when family's on the table. So cool it. We got this. Just…give it some time. Won't take long for Mokuba to crack 'im."

"Why does it feel like everything revolves around this kid convincing Seto to help us? If he's going to help us, he's going to help us. If he's not, one child isn't going to make a difference!" Joey laughed aloud, and Kohaku scowled. "What? You can't seriously expect me to believe that someone that unhinged is going to take orders from a child."

"...I don't expect you to believe it, and he's not unhinged. Prob'ly thinks he is, though. Right now, Kaiba's trying to convince himself that you guys don't exist. The only way to get him to swallow his pride 'n help you guys is if he thinks Mokuba wants to help you."

"Fine, whatever," Kohaku threw up his hands. "So this Mokuba is the key. Then let's go talk to him. Convince him to help. We can't just sit around and wait for him to come around!"

"Well, we're going to," Joey said, and now his voice was stern. "The only thing you're gonna accomplish if you try talkin' to Mokuba right now is get your ass shot. We gotta be diplomatic here. And I'll tell ya this...you ain't gonna convince anybody of anything. Just...leave it t' us."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"You guys scared the living shit out of that kid." Joey tried to slow his breathing, to keep himself from punching the indignant look off of the man's face. "Not sayin' it was your fault, or you did it on purpose, but he was about ready to wet himself. So...you 'n your wife just take care o' your kid. Leave Mokuba 'n Kaiba to us."

"I...we can't just sit around! I'm getting sick of this!"

"Well, too frickin' bad." Joey's face went completely blank, and Kohaku frowned at him. "You go off tryin' to find Mokuba 'n start yellin' at him to help you guys, an' don't even try to tell me you're not thinkin' of doing that, 'cuz I can see it in your face...I'll send you to the fucking hospital. Got me?"

"So now you're threatening me. Great."

"You're goddamn right, I'm threatening you. Now I see where Kaiba got it from. You don't get how things work in Domino City. Not this Domino City, anyway. Kaiba's about the youngest billionaire in the fuckin' world. He buys and sells people like you 'n me. Do you understand? Do you get me? You need...to be...careful. You think Gozaburo Kaiba's bad? You think he's scary? You just remember that our Kaiba beat him. Our Kaiba took his place. Do not fuck with him."

"...You talk about him like he's a completely different person from the one I know. If your friend in there is telling the truth, this man is my son."

"No. The boy in the shop playin' games is your son. The guy you need help from is still a Kaiba. You don't really know what that means. Fuck, I don't know what it means. Two years back, I was ready to strangle his ass, now I'm talkin' about him like he's a fuckin' emperor. Just...trust me, a'right? We'll get him to come around. And then you'll be safe as anybody can be in this city. We'll handle this. I got an idea. Just...cool off for a while, okay?"

Kohaku scowled, and he looked so much like Kaiba that Joey flinched. But he nodded. He followed Joey back into the shop. Yami glanced over at them, and he looked absolutely ecstatic. His eyes were bright, his smile wide; energy seemed to radiate from him. He declared, with laughter in his voice, "He did it, Joseph. He did it."

"Did what?" Joey asked, raising an eyebrow.

"He beat me!" the spirit cried. "Checkmate! Game, set, match! I'm beaten!"

Joey blinked. "...You're fucking kidding me."

"No!" Yami looked like he'd just been given a Christmas present. "Not at all! This boy...this boy is magnificent." He held out a hand, and little Seto Yagami shook it, looking embarrassed but pleased. "We must play again sometime. You do not know what you have given me, little one. You haven't a single notion. Glorious. Absolutely glorious." He turned to Yuki as Kohaku stepped over to her side again. "You have no way of knowing why, but the both of you should be transcendently proud." He laughed, and suddenly he was Yugi again.

Yugi shook his head, stared down at the table where the cards were still laid out in the final move of the game, and he frowned thoughtfully. "That's...brilliant." He looked up at Joey. "I don't know how Yami beat this guy. Even the first time. He...he had us boxed in. He's been playing for less than a day and...and—I have to tell Grandpa about this." He stood up. "He has to hear about this."

"Oi. Hold up, Yug. Gotta talk to ya."

"I want to see him duel Kaiba," Yugi was saying, looking feverish. "Could you imagine? Oh, God. That would be...that would..."

"Yeah, yeah, it'd be awesome. I'll wanna hear all about it. But not right now. C'mon." And he all but dragged Yugi out into the kitchen, as Kohaku sat down with his wife and started talking to her.

"...What's up, Joey?"

"If Gozaburo Kaiba's anything like his son," the blond almost whispered, "we gotta move quick. Which means we gotta convince Mokuba to get involved soon as possible. We gotta tell 'im what's goin' on. What Yami did. Sooner he knows, sooner he can convince his brother to go along with it."

Yugi was nodding, suddenly somber. "You're right. But how?"

"Only Yami knows exactly what we did to bring 'em here," Joey guessed, "but the way he acts, he ain't gonna convince Mokuba of anything, other'n the fact that he's a loon. Do you know what happened?"

"More or less," Yugi said. "I'd have to do a bit of digging to get specific, but I know roughly what he did. Where they're from, what's going on."

"You talk to the kid," Joey suggested. "You know what's goin' on, but you ain't gonna act like an asshole. He trusts you. He knows how much you studied on this stuff. The Millennium Items, Egypt, everything. You can convince him."

Yugi was frowning again. "...I guess it's the only way," he admitted. "Okay. I'll give it a shot. I'll give him a call later this evening. Hopefully he'll have calmed down by then." He started heading back out to the main floor. "Yami's giggling like an idiot," he said, and Joey raised an eyebrow. "I don't know if I've ever heard him so happy."

"Wouldn't figure he'd be so happy for gettin' beat."

Yugi chuckled. "I don't know if our Yami would have been. But this one shot right past Cloud Nine into another galaxy."

Joey sighed, shaking his head. "...That guy makes no fuckin' sense."

Yugi looked up at the ceiling for a moment.

"He says 'thank you.'"


This manga version of Yami has been something of a loose cannon since I first came up with him, but I never considered him a villain; only a rather extreme sort of anti-hero. He's not all bad, and he's not all manipulative jerk-face. He just tries to get you to think that. This chapter shows a bit of that, I think, but I also think you'll understand what I mean as things progress.

He's not going away any time soon, after all.