Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction ❯ Things Change ❯ Some Explainin’ To Do! ( Chapter 18 )

Now here's the next chapter to this story! This morning, I went to the Sneak Preview of the next Yu-Gi-Oh Booster Pack set, The Lost Millennium and I managed to get some cool cards. Ultimate Insect LV7, Millennium Scorpion, Criosphinx, and of course, the exclusive card just for showing up, Amazoness Chain Master!

 

MagicmanSmokegirl- That's a very good question. Maybe that'll be visited.

 

Kizakitty - Thanks. What will happen, you're just gonna have to find out!

 

Jasmemini - No problem. I know that I'm repeating things over and over again, but I do try. On your theory about Joey and Kaiba, that's a very interesting one. Hmm…

 

 

 

Chapter 18: Some Explainin' To Do!

 

At Joey's apartment, everyone was at the table. Joey, on the other hand was in the kitchen fixing a few snacks. He figured that it'd be the only way to silence the over-active Arisa, let alone avoiding her “chibi-eyes” for the millionth time. He decided to just make the gang some sandwiches, since he wasn't going to go all out and make dinner. As today the family was going to order take out from Burger World! Personally, Joey would prefer Sonics, but then again beggars couldn't be choosers, especially when they were in the minority of the decision…

 

“So how's the sandwiches `coming?” Tristan called out. He had switched into his Red Jacket and a pair of blue jeans as Joey just placed away the peanut butter.

 

“Keep yer shirt on!” Joey called out. “So how many of yas wanted PBJ?”

 

“Just me and Tea!” Arisa reminded.

 

“Good, that leaves everyone else with Ham, Cheese, and Mayo!” Joey placed the peanut butter and mayo covered knives in the sink before carrying a plate filled with Sandwiches. “Alright gang-” He was then barraged by his friends getting into a pile as they went to take the sandwiches. Leaving the poor blonde on the floor, miraculously holding onto the plate which still contained one Ham/Cheese/Mayo sandwich. “…Dig in…”

 

“How about the drinks?” Tristan called out.

 

Joey got back on his feet. “I would've been back in the kitchen getting' them if I wasn't mugged!” He said a bit bitterly. “So what'cha want? Lemonade? Pepsi? Root Beer?”

 

“Don't you have any coke?” Tea asked. Like Tristan, she too has changed clothes, changing in a white jacket over a pink shirt and blue jean shorts. She would've worn a skirt, but all she could've remembered was the thought of Tristan's hand in her drawer, let alone touching her underwear! No matter what he said, that thought always made her feel…violated. She loathed the fact that he, or any man for that matter, would even want to go through her panty drawer. It could've been worse! That hand might have belonged to Duke Devlin, knowing how much of a playboy he was! After all, he was the one with the trio of Cheerleaders chasing him as if they were his shadow.

 

“We're a Pepsi family, Tea!” Joey informed, instantly shutting down any chance Tea could enjoy the taste of Coca Cola, at least while in this house. Personally, he wouldn't mind drinking a Coke every once in a while, but for some reason his mother had a huge thing against it. Serenity, on the other hand, preferred Coke instead of Pepsi, but that was hardly the case since she barely drank any soda in the first place.

 

“Okay, I'll take a Lemonade!” She decided.

 

“Us too!” Tristan and Arisa chirped.

 

“We all might as well have the same thing, right?” Yugi chirped. If it wasn't for the Black tank top, one could've sworn that Yugi hasn't changed from his school uniform at all!

 

“Okay, lemonade for everyone!” Joey said as he went to the fridge to take out five cans of Country Time Lemonade

 

“So Joey…” Yugi started.

 

“So…”

 

“About the duels you wagered your rarest card. How did you find yourself in them?” He asked.

 

“And you can't use the `Long Story' excuse!” Tea informed. “If we have to, we'll stay until midnight if we have to!”

 

“I told ya I was going to get to that!” Joey informed as he grabbed a seat. “Okay, it all started not too long before our duel… I was visiting at Gramps' shop, using what little money I had to buy some cards…” He explained.

 

-Flashback-

 

The door to the Kame Game Shop opened as Joey walked in, looking at his new pocket scale he had bought. He then waved at the owner. “Heya Gramps!”

 

“Hello Joey!” Soloman Moto greeted. “Yugi's on an errand right now. Would you like to wait for him?”

 

“Sure.” Joey shrugged. He didn't have anything better to do anyways.

 

“I haven't seen you in weeks. Have you been busy?”

 

“Well…I've been grounded.” Joey admitted. “Let's just say that I really have a huge anger problem.”

 

“I see…” Soloman nodded, then notice what Joey has in his hands. “You have a pocket scale, I see.”

 

“Yeha…got it from a yard scale.” He explained. “It was only three bucks, but it appears to be in good condition. What people would use a Pocket Scale for anyway?”

 

“Various things…” He explained. “I'm sure you'll find a use for that scale…”

 

“Yeah right…” Joey muttered under his breath. Why he even buy the damn scale in the first place? Oh right, he won 100 bucks in a contest drawing and just needed to waste the last bits of dollar bills he had before he could start using the big ones. He guessed he could use some of the money to get some packs to improve his deck. Just barely beating him at Duelist Kingdom wasn't enough. He knew that he would have to get new cards and make a new theme deck. As much as he hated to admit it, Kaiba had a point! He would never be considered a good duelist unless he got rid of his gamble deck. Problem was, that was all the duel monster cards he had. He was lucky to have gotten Gilford The Lightning and Gearfried the Swordmaster in the last few packs he bought. Dark Magician Knight and Knight's Title were also lucky pulls, except that they were all but useless to him with a possible exception of his upcoming duel against Yugi.

 

With a sigh, Joey walked up to the counter. “I'll take ten packs.” He said. “Five of the dark green ones, the rest outta the gold ones.”

 

Solomon blinked a bit. “Ten packs Joey? You must really have some money on you today.”

 

“Yeah, for once I'm not broke…well at least at borderline.” He joked as he took out two twenties. “Here ya go!”

 

“And here are your packs.” Solomon took the money in exchange of the packs as Joey looked at the new packs he has purchased. The dark green packs had a picture on a silver falcon-like dragon firing a dark blackish violet blast. While the gold packs had a picture of an orange humanoid figure. “You're holding the Soul of the Duelist and Rise of Destiny packs.”

 

“Hmm…” Joey took a seat at a small table and looked at the cards. “Well…time to at least put this scale into some use…” He said as he took out the scale from his green jacket. He placed one of the Soul of the Duelist packs on the scale once it was turned on. “13.5 grams, huh?” Joey placed the pack aside as he placed another one on top. “Whoa, 13.6? What, did someone placed in more than one?” Joey decided to place that card in a different pile as he continued to measure them. At the end, Three of the Soul of the Duelist packs and one of the Rise of Destiny packs each weighed 13.6. Two more Rise of destiny packs weight 13.5, one SotD weighed at 13.4 and the rest weighed at a 13.3 “Wonder why they weigh differently…” Joey decided to open up one of the 13.7 packs, this was from the Rise of Destiny packs he bought. He sorted through the cards. “Junk…useless…useless…” He sorted the cards as he then saw one card. It was an Ultra Rare Mystic Swordsman Lv6. “Okay, this can't be real…” Joey went to open up another Rise of Destiny pack. This one weighting at 13.4 grams! The rare card in this was Fusilier the Dual Mode Beast. “Okay, not as rare as the first, but it'll do.” Joey continued to open his packs. By the end, he ended up having three Ultra Rares, three Super Rares and regular rares (Some cards contained more than one rare card as advertised.) and one Ultimate Rare: The monster that was advertised on the Soul of the Duelist pack: Horus the Black Flame Dragon Lv8. However, Joey wasn't too happy that this was the rarest card he got.

 

“Some use this card is…” He said, disappointment shown on his face.

 

“Something wrong Joey?” Solomon asked. “Didn't get a rare card? With these packs you should at least get one.”

 

“It's not that! Not only did I get a rare card, but I got the card advertised: I got Horus the Black Flame Dragon Lv8.”

 

“Joey, that's great! So why are you upset?”

 

“I can't use it!” He simply said.

 

“Sure you can Joey! It's just as I taught you, there's always a way.”

 

“Seriously, I can't use it!” Joey read the effects of the card. “`This card cannot be normal summoned or set. This card cannot be Special Summoned except by the effect of `Horus the Black Flame Dragon Lvl.6.'”

 

“So, what other cards did you pull from that Set?”

 

“Not that were much help, but at least I got some cards to support my Red Eyes: Two Inferno Fire Blasts and lots of Red Eyes Black Chicks.” Joey said, being more optimistic.

 

“You've changed Joey!” Solomon said. “The last time you were disappointed with the cards you pulled, you were depressed.” He chuckled, “Not even a mountain of Donuts could cheer you up!”

 

“Let's just say that I've been getting some much needed help in my life.” He simply said before gathering his cards into his jacket and leaving. “I'll see ya later, Gramps.” He said as he left the game shop.

 

-End Flashback-

 

“I knew I saw Horus in your deck, Joey!” Yugi explained. “In the duel, I actually saw a glimpse of your cards after I played Card Destruction and Horus was in your hand.”

 

“I was thankful you did that.” Joey admitted. “I forgot to take that out of my deck as I didn't had the right cards.”

 

“So what did you do about that card?” Tristan asked.

 

“I did what any natural duelist who didn't want to blow money on a pack just to get a card in which Vegas odds were against ya: Start finding Ante-rule duels!” He explained. “I was basically searching for anyone who had a Horus Deck downtown. But that didn't mean I turned down challenges from other people! Unlike Kaiba, I'd duel anyone who challenged me.” Joey explained “With the cards I've won, I slowly began to remove my more useless gamble cards from my deck and replace them with more useful rare ones. Like Skill Drain and Mirror Force. My old deck was startin' to turn into a Fire Deck which, when you think about it, sorta makes sense.”

 

“With Flame Swordsman as one of your favorite cards it shouldn't be much of a surprise.” Tristan admitted.

 

“Unfortunately, I only managed to get Horus at Lv4. Meaning my Lv8's still useless. I did managed to win an Armed Dragon Lv7, but gave it to Mai since she probably had more of a use for it than I did, seeing that her deck is mostly Wind Monsters like her Harpies.”

 

Arisa blinked in shock and a bit of hurt. “…What about me?”

 

“Mai already had Lv5 that she won from someone at a tournament so basically she could use Lv7 with her Pet Dragon.” Joey explained. “Besides, don't you run a Union/Removal deck?”

 

Arisa pouted, arms crossed. “Thanks a lot Wheeler…”

 

“Anyway, I participated in those duels in the more rural parts of town so hardly anyone knows about them. On the other hand, people out of the blue had challenged me for my LV8 Horus. I'm half surprised that Kaiba didn't show up to challenge me, but then again, I'm just a `2nd rate amateur who relies on luck to win!' And to him, the thought of me with such a rare card is just a `hocus pocus fairytale.' So, what can ya do?”

 

“So basically you went the route of the Underground Duelist?” Tristan asked.

 

“Yeah!” He said, than noticed the slightly disappointed looks on their faces. Even Arisa was a bit shocked. “Hey, it's not like I was doing any shady activity! It's not like I was playing dice or anything!”

 

“But you could've gotten yourself hurt!” Tea said. “You know how dangerous it is down there!”

 

“For once, I agree with Tea.” Arisa added her two cents. “You know those guys have guns!”

 

“Hey, it's not like guns were involved. The only reason why I even joined was because I heard rumors about someone owning a Beatdown/Horus deck. When I found him, I had a hard time beating him and when I did finally won Lv6 Horus, it turned out to be a fake! Go figure!” Joey sighed as he took a sip of his Lemonade. “A total waste of time! `Least I gained some kick-butt cards `an some Street Cred.”

 

“Street Cred?” Yugi raised an eyebrow out of curiosity.

 

“It's your reputation on the streets.” Tristan explained. “The more you have, the tougher you appear to people, the less likely someone's gonna fuck with you!”

 

“What does Street Cred have to do with Dueling?”

 

“When playing with people who are as dangerous as they look,” He sighed. “You're riskin' to get jumped.”

 

Tea sighed. First she found out that Joey had a girlfriend, next she found out that he wasn't exactly the biggest idiot in school as rumored around school, now she finds him in dangerous duels? “At least it's not as dangerous as that Shadow Duel back in Battle City!”

 

Arisa sighed, “Yeah…talk about a close call!”

 

Tea glared at Joey, “Do you have to tell her everything?”

 

“What? Was Joey's near-death experience supposed to be a secret or something?”

 

Joey placed his head into his hands, seeing another argument between Tea and Arisa coming. “Oy vey…”

 

…

 

Back at Kaiba Corp., Kaiba was checking over documents in his office as he was still steaming over what he said to him! The never of that chump to judge him the way he did like he had the right too! But it didn't matter. That duel proved that you can give him a few rare cards, but he's still just a 2nd rate amateur who has no business even owning a deck.

 

“You know he has a point!”

 

Kaiba rolled his eyes as he sighed. “Why are you here? Don't you have someone else to annoy?”

 

Seto sighed, “How many times will we have to go through with this! I am your conscience! That means that I can't have `someone else to annoy.'”

 

“If you excuse me, I have a job to do.” Kaiba went to work on his computer. “I've already wasted enough time already dealing with Wheeler.”

 

“Oh yes! `The Liar' as you have recently dubbed him.”

 

“Wheeler's all about bullshit! And he has the nerve to judge me? Like I'm some book he can read?”

 

“Well…he did have a point! You did judge him first! I remember it correctly! He asked if you two could duel with each other sometime, and you said, what was it? `I'd have a better challenge playing solitaire?'”

 

“Hey, the truth hurts…” Kaiba scoffed. “Is that all…?”

 

Seto sighed, “On a more positive note, things seem to be sparkling a bit for you and Kara! You seem to have a bit in common with your girlfriend!” He said slyly.

 

Kaiba snapped. “SHE'S NOT MY GIRLFRIEND!”

 

“Umm…Seto? …Who are you talking to?”

 

Kaiba looked at the door to see a confused Mokuba, eyes wide. “Umm…er…”

 

“Do you have an imaginary friend, Seto? Because if you don't, are you talking to yourself?”

 

“It's nothing Mokuba, it's been a rough day…” Kaiba explained as he went back to his work. “Let's just say Wheeler really pissed me off…”

 

“Well…umm…Seto…? Then you're really gonna hate this.” Mokuba informed.

 

“What did that hack do now…?” Kaiba asked, annoyed.

 

“Well, I've been watching the Security Tapes of the duels in the Kaiba Land Dueling Arena.” Mokuba informed. “Even though Battle City's over, I still take my job as Commissioner seriously and make sure that there's no cheating involved, like Bandit Keith and Espa Roba did.” He said with pride. “I basically watched the duel between you and Joey.”

 

“Did you see him basically begging me to attack him?”

 

“I saw all of it, including this. Seto…you saw Joey playing Pot of Greed, right?”

 

“Where are you going with this Mokuba?” Impatience was shown in Kaiba's voice.

 

“One of the cards Joey drew was Meteor Dragon! And the other…well…”

 

“My patience is growing thin, Mokuba!”

 

“Let's just say that Joey got his wish!” He simply said.

 

“What?”

 

“The Security cameras showed that Joey drew Tremendous Fire with Pot of Greed's effect! Meaning that all Joey had to do is activate the card and he would've won the duel. Basically Joey lost on purpose, but in a way where he didn't lose face!” Mokuba then noticed his elder brother's silence. “Umm…Seto? Seto?” He was now deeply concerned as his hands began to shake…

 

On the lower floors in Kaiba Corp, the employees were working hard to finish the day's quota, but were then interrupted by the loud voice of their boss…

 

“WHEELER DID WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT!?”

 

“It's on tape in security if you want to see for yourself!” Mokuba uncovered his ears after Kaiba's screaming, `Way to go Joey! Now you really pissed him off.'

 

Kaiba was now standing, breathing deeply as his eyes narrowed as he seethed. “After all that, and Wheeler still took a dive? WHEELER STILL MADE A FUCKING CHARITY CASE OUT OF ME!?” It took all of his mental strength, as well as a reminder that he would be smashing a million dollar computer to keep him from physically displaying his anger.

 

“Seto? Are you okay?”

 

Kaiba sat back down as his eyes narrowed. “That's it…Joey Wheeler is a dead man!” He simply said. “That fleabag better watch his back tomorrow!”

 

“Seto, isn't there another way to-”

 

“Wheeler brought this on himself when he took a dive! As much as I hate to even think that loser's worthy of facing me, the fact of someone letting me win as if I'm some pathetic orphan boy named Oliver begging `Please Sir, I like some more' infuriates me even more!”

 

 

 

I told ya Kaiba was going to be pissed. Next chapter…Joey Wheeler's a dead man walking…or is he? What will happen when these two meet again?