Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction ❯ Things Change ❯ Meeting The Gang, Kaiba: Like a Balloon? ( Chapter 5 )

Here ya go, the next installment of A Different Beat!

It was 5 O'clock as Joey and Arisa were leaving a YMCA building. Prior to their arrival, they've changed from their school uniforms into more casual attire. Joey wore his usual white T-shirt, Jeans, and sneakers as Arisa wore a plaid skirt, medium-sleeved-length shirt, and white platform boots.

"That was fun!" Arisa smiled at Joey.

"You can say that again." Joey grinned as he placed his hands on the back of his head. "I've never felt this good in a long time."

"So, what now? The arcade?" Arisa pondered.

"Sure! Besides, I wanna whip yer tail in Marvel vs. Capcom 2 again!" Joey grinned.

"Only because I let you win!" Arisa smirked. "Alright then…loser buys the winner whatever she wants to eat." She challenged, knowing that she'll win.

"Yer on!" Joey grinned. "And I like to have an orange Fanta…make that two cans!"

"Okay then…on your marks…" Arisa, as well as Joey got into starting position. "Get set…" With a giggle, Arisa sprinted off.

"Hey! No fair, ya lil' cheat!" Joey protested as he raced after her.

At the Arcade, Yugi, Bakura, and Tristan were cheering as Tea won for the 5th time today on the DDR machine.

"Can anyone beat her?" Tristan wondered as Tea's challenger, a green-haired girl who was wearing a uniform different from their own, stepping off the DDR machine.

"There maybe someone who can…" Yugi suggested. "You just never know! Maybe someone any minute now would walk in and dethrone the Dancing Queen.

"Good point! Who would've thought that a pipsqueak like you could defeat Kaiba out of the blue?" Tristan joked, which earned a playful punch on the shoulder from Yugi.

"Hey!" Yugi protested.

The door opened as a familiar face walked in, slightly out of breath. "That's it, Arisa…you owe me not one, but two Fantas!"

Arisa walked in with a smirk, also breathing deeply. "I was wearing heels and you still barely beat me. But that fact alone is worth the 2 dollars."

"Remember just how I like em: Strawberry flavored, chilled and not shaken." Joey reminded.

"Hey Joey!" Tristan called out to greet his friend. "What's up?"

"Hey Tristan!" Joey greeted him with a high five. "So what's goin'?"

"I think I should be asking you the same question, man! Or should I ask your lady friend!" Tristan turned to Arisa, which made her giggle.

"Arisa, that's Tristan." Joey introduced. "Tristan, that's Arisa, but to you, she's off-limits!" He warned, knowing Tristan all too well when it came to girls.

Tristan snickered, hearing his own words again since the day he and Serenity ran into Duke while running from the Rare Hunters, as Yugi and Bakura came over.

"What's up guys?" Yugi asked as he then noticed Arisa. "Oh hi Arisa!"

"Hey Yugi!" Arisa greeted.

"Err…you two know each other?" Joey asked.

"Of course, Joey!" Arisa nodded.

"Arisa used to come by the shop!" Yugi explained.

"Okay, then why didn't we see you around then, Arisa?" Joey asked.

"Yeah!" Tristan added. "We practically live at the game shop!"

"Remember the period when you and Joey were still bullies?" Bakura reminded. "That may explain on how they know each other without you knowing."

"Good point…" Joey sighed, still not believing how much of a jerk he was.

"So what brings you here, Arisa?" Yugi asked.

"Well, Joey-kun and I decided to have a little rematch of Marvel vs. Capcom 2!" Arisa explained.

"After she gets me two fantas!" Joey reminded Arisa.

"Right…but why would you want two fantas, anyway?"

"Umm…maybe because I'm, y'know, thirsty?"

"Why would you want two cans of soda pop when I could give you something even better?" Arisa grinned, challenging him.

"Like what?" Joey asked, a bit skeptical.

"Anything…as long as it doesn't have anything to do with money!"

"Hey guys!" Tea walked over to the gang and saw that it possibly has a new member. "What's up?"

"Joey's got himself a new girlfriend, and she's trying to get out of some bet they had prior to coming here." Tristan explained.

"Joey has a girlfriend!?" Tea responded, skeptically.

"Okay then, but what's in it for you?" Joey asked, seeing that there's a catch.

"The catch is…" Arisa grinned. "That I get your Red Eyes Black Dragon card when I win!"

Joey blinked. "You can't be serious!"

"As a heart attack, Luvvy!" Arisa walked over to the game machine labeled "Marvel vs. Capcom 2."

"Let me guess: You want to place this wager on a game of MvC2?" Joey guessed.

"I thought that was obvious! Jeez Joey, I love ya, but you can be so dense at times…"

"Let's just play!" Joey joined her as the game started, with Yugi, Tristan, Tea, and Bakura watching. It was a pretty close match, too close to call. But at the end, Joey's team of Wolverine (Bone Claws Version), Ken, and Venom came up short against Arisa's team of Cammy, Cable, and Iceman.

"Whoa…she's good!" Tristan commented as the game was over.

"But it could've gone either way." Yugi reminded, seeing the small amount of health of Iceman, Arisa's last fighter, who was, to add insult to injury, ice beaming at the fallen Venom.

"But still Yug, I've never seen a girl play that good!"

Tea just examined Arisa, not saying a word to her. There was something odd about her. Normally girls would rather go onto the DDR machine than to play games, let alone fighting games. But she appeared to be an expert at this game.

"Cough it up, Joe!" Arisa giggled as she extended her hand, her palm upwards. "Your Red Eyes Black Dragon, please!"

Joey moaned as he reached into his pocket and produced a Red Eyes Black Dragon Monster Card. "Here!"

"Poor Joey…" Bakura muttered, feeling sorry for him. "But it was his decision."

With a sigh, Joey left the machine as he now walked towards the vending machine. Arisa noticed as she then followed.

"Oh come on, Joey! I never thought of you being a whiny sore loser!" Arisa protested.

"It's not that. I have two more of them at home!" Joey stated as he placed a dollar into the machine. "I'm just thirsty."

"What do you mean you 'have two more of them at home?' Is there something you're not telling me Joey Wheeler?"

"I'm serious! Until now I had three Red Eyes Black Dragons." Joey explained.

"Aww…But I wanted it to be special." Arisa whined. "What's the fun in winning it if you only have few more left for back up?"

"That's the first Red Eyes that I won, from duel against Rex Raptor at Duelist Kingdom!" He explained.

"Oh!" Arisa smiled. "I'll take good care of Reddy Dragon!"

Joey slightly cringed at the nickname she gave her new dragon card. "Right…"

Yugi watched on from the machine. "They make a cute couple."

"I guess…" Tristan sighed. "Hopefully now that he's with Arisa he could care less if I tried to sweep Serenity off her feet."

"Oh God Tristan, that's soo good for you, isn't it? Is Serenity all that you ever think about?" Tea protested.

"Oh come on Tea! What's with you?"

"Tristan's right. Ever since Joey got here with Arisa, you seem to be rather cold." Bakura said.

"You're talking about the reason why Joey hasn't been hanging out with us as much as he used to?" Tea responded.

"Why are you so angry, Tea?" Yugi asked, concerned.

"Oh come on, Yugi! Like you don't see it right in front of you, after school, we all used to hang out together. Now Joey goes to some place without even telling us about it. And the only time we see him is at school, or on weekends if we're lucky! It's like we don't know him anymore…"

"Did you bother to even ask him about where he goes?" Bakura asked Tea.

"No…well…it's not like I actually had the chance." Tea stated.

"Well…looks like now have your chance…" Yugi stated as he saw Joey and Arisa heading towards them, hand in hand. "So what took you guys so long?"

"Nothin' really…" Joey replied, "Just some small talk!"

"Joey, can I ask you a question?" Tea asked, taking a glimpse at Arisa.

"Sure, Tea!"

"Where have you been after school?" She asked, almost in a nagging tone.

"What are you, my mother all of the sudden?" Joey responded, annoyed.

"Tea's right. You have been distant from us." Yugi said, adding in his two cents. "We're just worried about you."

"Yeah man, what's the secret?" Tristan asked.

"It's a long story…" Arisa said.

"We got time." Tea hastily said, arms crossed and all. "So why have you been flaking on us, Joey?"

"Okay, Ma!" Joey narrowed his eyes at Tea. "Grab a chair you guys, this may take a while."

The gang went to a table. However, since there were only 4 chairs, they had to bring in a few extras.

"Okay Joey, now tell us what's up?" Tea demanded.

"Okay…remember when I flipped out in class that time?" Joey asked.

"How could I forget? You got suspended for two whole weeks." Yugi remembered it all too well. Kaiba had got Joey into trouble again, and as expected, the teacher took Kaiba's side. Joey became sick of it and told the teacher exactly how he felt about her, the school, and Kaiba. He remembered the words perfectly. He'd called her a "Fucking pompous bitch who's her head stuck up so far in Moneybags' ass no one could tell where he end and she began." A trip to the principal's office later and he was then suspended for two weeks.

"Well…you guys all know I got suspended for two weeks. But that's not all that's happened. The principal put me into this program."

"What program?" Tristan asked.

"It's for kids who have personal issues. Like me." Joey explained.

Everyone was shock, especially Yugi and Tristan. Tristan always thought that Joey had some issues in his life, but he didn't think that they were that serious.

Joey continued, "With my dad being abusive, overall poor living conditions and all, I was quite the package."

With an exception for Arisa, everyone else's eyes went wide at that realization. No one, not even Yugi or Tristan knew that Joey had to go through all of that. Hell, even Serenity probably didn't know about it.

"And you didn't even bother to tell anyone?" Tea responded.

"Hey! I had no idea where my Mother was, and besides! Knowing him, my dad would've killed me if I told someone, then kill them." He said. "Besides Arisa and everyone who's in the group, you're the only ones I've told this too."

"But still, you could've been killed! That was probably the stupidest thing you ever did!"

"Hey, lay off him alright!?" Arisa snapped at Tea. "You wouldn't know anything about that, now would you Tea? How it feels to go through all of that everyday! The fear? The pain? The loneliness?"

"And how would you know, Arisa?" Tea asked, harshly.

"BECAUSE THAT'S EXACTLY WHAT I WENT THROUGH!" She screamed, causing everyone's eyes to go up. "Before I moved to Domino, my life was one big pile of shit where my pops was an abuser, boozer, and loser who wasn't very shitty to my mom and ignored me when he wasn't hitting me or even trying to…trying to…" Tears began to come out from her eyes as she then got out of her chair and ran off.

"Arisa wait!" Joey called out, but she had already left. He then glared at Tea. "Nice goin', Tea!"

Tea tried to explain, "But-"

"Save it!" Joey hissed, cutting her off as he went off to follow Arisa.

"I'll go with ya!" Tristan was about to leave his chair.

"No Tristan, I gotta do this on my own…"

"Okay buddy…" Tristan sat back down as he glared at Tea.

"I'm sorry…I didn't-"

"Yeah Tea, you didn't!" Bakura responded, not very happy with Tea's behavior.

"I'm very disappointed in you, Tea…" Yugi said.

"Just what the hell is your problem, Tea!?" Tristan snapped. "Joey manages to find a girlfriend, and instead of you being happy for him, you treat her as if she was the enemy! Seriously, what the hell did she ever do to you?"

"Why are you defending her anyway, Tristan?" Now it was Tea's turn to snap. "Other than she's just another piece of ass to you, that's why you're so oblivious to what's happening!"

"What's happening, Tea?" Tristan asked sarcastically.

"Don't you see? Ever since he's been hanging out with her, Joey's been distant with us! I mean come on, he tells his deepest, darkest secret to some stranger instead of telling us! It's like he doesn't have time for us anymore…"

"So you think that Arisa's stealing Joey from us?" Tristan asked, annoyed.

Yugi looked at Tea blankly. "Tea…"

"Yes?" Tea looked at Yugi.

"If I didn't know any better, I'd say you were jealous." He said.

Tea blinked. "Jealous? Why would I be jealous over someone, let alone someone who's dating Joey of all people?" She then gave a "you believe that, right?" look.

"First you chased off Arisa for some reason, and now you're playing the denial card?" Tristan responded, apparently he had it up to here with Tea's attitude.

"I'm sorry, but when a girl is that perky and is head over heels for Joey, something's up." Tea said.

"So what are you saying? No legit girl would want to date Joey?" Bakura asked.

"No…I'm not saying that!"

"You could've fooled me!" Tristan narrowed his eyes.

"Look, I don't want to talk about this anymore! Goodbye!" Tea got up from her chair and stormed out of the door.

"Tea, wait!" Yugi called out, but it was too late. Tea was already gone.

"Let her go!" Tristan muttered, feeling that he could care less about Tea. "To be honest I was about to leave if she didn't."

"Tristan, how could you say that?" Yugi retorted.

"Oh come on, Yugi! Everything that's happened is all Tea's fault: She practically made Arisa feel unwelcome from the start and made her run off crying. Now Joey's pissed off at her, and when we ask her a question why she hates her, she comes up with that ridiculous excuse! So what if he hasn't been around us as much as he used to. Tell me, if you had a girlfriend would you want to spend as much time as you would with her?"

Yugi and Bakura nodded in agreement. They had to admit that by the way Tea acted was out of line and immature.

Arisa continued to run as far as her legs could run. How could Joey be friends with a person like that? And he thought that Kaiba was a jerk? Tea was a grade-A bitch tonight. She then made it to the park as she then sat down on a bench as she bawled her eyes out with her head in her hands.

"Hey Arisa!" A familiar voice called out for her, but she didn't want to see anyone at the moment.

"Go away!" She shouted with her voice somewhat cracking. "Just leave me alone!"

Joey walked up to her. "You don't even want to talk to yer boyfriend?" He waited for Arisa to answer, but her silence said it all. "I got it, I'll leave ya alone." With a sigh he turned around and prepared to leave.

"Why is your friend such a bitch?" Arisa asked, looking at Joey.

Normally, Joey would've got pissed if someone dissed his friends, with some exception of his friends. But he didn't because one: Thanks to the group, he was now a more calm, laid back person. And two: He had to agree. He sighed. "I dunno… Usually Tea isn't like this."

"Not usually like this? Come on, Joey! You saw the looks she gave me. You saw how she really felt about me." Arisa argued with him.

"Yeah…I did. Tea and I are gonna have a long talk about this." Joey sat on the bench next to Arisa

"Well…at least the rest of your friends don't seem to be against us being together." Arisa said.

"Yugi and Bakura are probably happy for us. And the only reason why Tristan wouldn't is because he's jealous that he doesn't have you."

Arisa giggled, feeling a little better. "So are we really a couple?"

"Of course!" Joey smiled, placing an arm around her waist, pulling her closer to him.

Arisa's head rested on Joey's shoulders. "I'm glad…"

"Me too…"

Arisa then moved herself from Joey, having a smile on her face. "Then why don't we go over to your house?"

"What?"

"You know, to meet your mom and your sister!" Arisa chirped.

"Now?" Joey complained. "You serious?"

"Yes! I figure since you've already telling people about us? Why stop at your friends?"

"Great…another mouth to feed…" Joey muttered.

"And what's wrong with that, Joey Wheeler?" Arisa placed her hands on her hips.

"Now I gotta cook for four!" He said. "Ma doesn't like to cook much so I do most of the cooking, plus she usually works at night so it's probably gonna be Serenity and me."

"Now I know I gotta be there!" Arisa smiled, with admiration in her eyes. "You know how much I love a man in the kitchen!" She grabbed Joey. "Now come along, Joseph!"

"I just had to open my big mouth…" He muttered as Arisa lead him towards the direction that would lead them to his house.

"What have I done…" Kaiba muttered as he slouched in the back seat of his limo. "To deserve this…"

"Plenty!" Seto explained, sitting opposite of Kaiba. "You're a bully, inconsiderate, insensitive, need I go on!?"

"Are you supposedly trying to help me, or are you just here to annoy me." Kaiba hissed.

"I say 66 help, 34 annoy. I mean, working should be fun!"

"Working should not be fun! Working is should be nothing but that! Work! The one thing that can keep a person from the poor house!"

"Tell me something, Seto Kaiba. Do you love your job?"

Kaiba snorted. "Do I love my job? If I didn't like my job, would you think that I would've quitted by now?"

Seto sighed, "Do you love your job or not?"

Now it was Kaiba's turn to sigh. "As much as I enjoy creating new holographic systems, it does become difficult to deal with."

"How so?"

Kaiba let out a groan of frustration. "What do you think? Being cramped up in a office all day, surrounded by idiots who can't do anything right! Meanwhile, other people my are out having fun, acting like morons as if they don't have any care in the world! I may be the CEO of Kaiba Corp, but I'm still a kid! I'm 16 freaking years old! I have feelings! I need to be held!"

"I see…"

"Why am I telling you this anyway…?" Kaiba muttered.

"Because you have to tell someone, Seto…" His younger self of a conscience told them. "Otherwise, it's a balloon being filled up with air:" As if on cue, a red balloon appeared in Seto's hand from out of nowhere as it began to inflate by itself… "Too much could cause a disastrous result, such as this…" The balloon continued to inflate until it couldn't take in anymore air as it then popped. "See?"

Kaiba blinked in confusion. "What's so disastrous about a simple balloon popping?"

"Simple: That was my favorite balloon. And that was just a model to show you about how keeping your emotions inside without expressing them could cause negative results." Seto explained.

"But I do express my emotions."

Seto sighed, "Yes, but you do not need to take it out on other people."

Kaiba smirked, "Let me guess: Wheeler again?"

"And Yugi, and Tristan, and-"

"I get the picture." Kaiba cut Seto off. "Those geeks just annoy me that's all…"

"Everything annoys you…" Seto muttered. "Maybe this upcoming group session will give you hope…" Within a blink of an eye, Seto vanished.

Kaiba crossed his arms, annoyed. His Conscience was becoming more and more annoying. "Do I love my job?" Of course he loved his job! It's not his fault that people decided that it would be a good idea to annoy or even piss him off. Some Conscience. If anything he was becoming nearly as much of an annoyance as Wheeler. And knowing how Kaiba has felt about him lately, that's saying a lot. Kaiba knew that Joey couldn't keep up his "anger management" nonsense for long, and as soon as it failed, Kaiba would be the first one to shoot him down back to the level where he belongs: Beneath him.

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Whew. That's it for this chapter, kids. Next chapter, it's meet the parents as Joey will not only be cooking for his family, but for Arisa as well. The next day will be Kaiba's first day in the group. What will happen there? Y'all know the drill, review now!