Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction ❯ University Daze ❯ No Matter What - Pt. 2 ( Chapter 12 )

*Warning* Same as last chapter!

Yami: So what's next?

Kali: She's off on a tangent.

Caitlin: My fingers are going to kill me after this.

Yugi: Can we help?

Caitlin: No. I've just got to get this all down before I forget something.

Malik: Me and Marik will do the disclaimer. "She don't own it!"

Marik: "So don't sue!"

Pairs: Yugi/Yami, Ryou/Bakura, Marik/Malik, Joey/Mai, Tristan/Serenity, Kaiba/OC?, Ishizu/Isis

Chapter 12

No Matter What - Pt. 2

Yami looked around. "You know, I think it's time this place got some sun and a bit of airing out."

Kaiba glanced down at him. "What are you suggesting?"

"I'm thinking we've got all seven Millennium Items here and that we ought to give Professor Hawkins a very special Christmas present." Yami looked down at the Professor. "Tell me, Professor, how long would you say it will take you to excavate my Palace?"

"A few years, if we want it done properly and with few incidents."

Yami shook his head. "Too long. Well, I think we can speed thing up a bit." He gestured at Pegasus. "Pegasus, I'd suggest you have everyone evacuate the site immediately. Not to mention anyone within, oh, let's say a one mile radius."

"My Pharaoh," Ishizu looked up at him curiously. "Might I ask what it is you plan to do?"

"We'll use the Millennium Items to 'resurrect' my Palace, Ishizu."

"Ah, Yami? Do you think that's such a good idea?" Yugi asked. Yami just smiled.

//Do not worry, aibou. I know what I'm doing.//

//I know. I just thought I'd ask.//

Pegasus was issuing orders and commands into his walkie-talkie.

"It will take about an hour and a half to get everyone clear." He finally stated.

Rebecca stamped a foot. "So what are we supposed to do? Just sit here?"

A slow, slightly wicked smile spread over Kaiba's face. "You know, Yami, she has a point. Want to have a duel? For old time's sake?"

Everyone's attention was suddenly on them.

"A duel? Are you challenging me, High Priest?" Yami's eyes glittered. Yugi just sighed. His Yami never turned down a challenge.

"Why, yes. I think I am, Your Majesty." Kaiba reached down and picked up his leather carry bag, taking out two Battle City duel disk systems.

Yami laughed. "Always prepared, aren't you? Alright, fine. We'll duel. But let's put down some rules. No using magic - Millennium or otherwise."

"Agreed. And no God Cards. That's just not fair."

"Agreed. Give me one of those." Kaiba handed him a duel disk and Yami slid it on, taking out his deck (minus 3) and inserting it into the deck slot. Kaiba did the same.

Yugi slid off the arm and sat in Yami's place. While Yami was perfectly sized for the throne, Yugi was engulfed by it. "Hey guys! Take a seat on the steps up here. It's almost as good as stadium seating."

Rebecca sat down between her grandfather and Pegasus with a huff. "Darn. I wanted to duel Kaiba."

Ryou gave her one of his beautiful smiles. "Don't worry, Rebecca. Believe me, this duel will be a good one. Those two are the very best." He glanced up at Yugi. "Oh, and Yugi too, of course."

Pegasus yawned. "Oh they're both good. I'm better. I did create the game after all."

"Get real." Marik snorted. "The game is older than I am. You had nothing to do with its creation."

"And Yami's full title is 'Yu-Gi Oh.' It means 'King of Games.'" Malik added.

Professor Hawkins stared at them. "How can you know all this?"

It was Shadi who answered. "Malik and Ishizu come from the Ishtar family. There has been an Ishtar guarding the Pharaoh's tomb for over 5,000 years. They know most of the ancient secrets."

Bakura settled back, Ryou sitting on the step below him and between his Yami's legs and leaning back in Bakura's arms. "As for Marik, Isis, and myself, we are ancient Spirits just as the Pharaoh is. We know 'cause we were there."

Serenity and Joey were sitting on the floor next to the throne, and Yugi. "Kaiba and I were reincarnated. We were there, too. Only I was a commoner and Kaiba was High Priest."

"Amazing. Truly amazing." The Professor was awed.

Isis gave him a look of warning. "You mustn't reveal any of this to anyone, Professor. Nor you, Rebecca. It isn't meant to be known."

"And Pegasus?"

"He knows better." Shadi replied. "The Eye would punish him if he dared go against the Pharaoh's direct command."

"Wait! Those tablets you once showed me, Shadi. The figures depicted on them were those two?" Pegasus exclaimed as the realization finally hit him.

"Yes."

Kaiba and Yami took their places and activated their duel disks, initiating the duel. Yami gave Pegasus an arch look and said, "Keep your Eye out of it, Pegasus. Got that?"

Pegasus tried to look innocent, but failed miserably.

"Oh, one last rule, Yami." Kaiba thought of something.

"What?"

"No talking with Yugi. This is one-on-one, not two-on-one."

Yami sighed. "Sorry, aibou."

"It's ok. You'll do just fine without me, Yami." Yugi grinned. "Besides, I can still cheer you on."

"Too bad we don't have any soda and hot dogs." Malik looked wistful.

"We just had breakfast, hikari." Marik pointed out.

"I'm still hungry."

"Alright. Let's go." Kaiba drew his starting hand, Yami doing the same.

"DUEL!"

(A/N: You've all seen enough duels between these two to know how it usually goes so I don't need to describe the whole thing, do I?)

***********************

As usual, the two duelists went at it with everything they had, keeping everyone on the edge of their seats. Yugi nearly fell off the throne because he was sitting on the edge in excitement.

In the end, however, Yami won (of course!). Kaiba sighed and they met to shake hands.

"Good duel, Seto."

"Yes. You know, it's funny, but I'm not really upset over loosing to you anymore."

"I'm glad. Yugi was right you know."

"About what?"

"We can be rivals and still be friends."

"I suppose so." They both looked at Yugi, who was smiling brilliantly at them from on high.

The duel only lasted half an hour, however. Rebecca had stars in her eyes as Yami came back to his throne, and Kaiba decided to lounge next to the throne on the floor.

"So does anyone want to duel me now?" She gave them all chibi-eyes. "It would waste more time."

Yugi pretended to think it over from his spot on Yami's armrest, then said, "Sure. I think we need a re-match anyway." He looked at Kaiba. "Can we borrow the duel disks?"

"Whatever." He took his off, removed his deck, and handed it to Yugi, who handed it to Rebecca. Yugi slipped on Yami's disk and shuffled his deck before inserting it.

This duel didn't last long. Yugi had vastly improved since their last duel and it was over in ten minutes. This isn't to say that Rebecca wasn't better too, only that she just wasn't quite as good as Yugi.

"I need more practice." She said, mournfully. Yugi put an arm around her shoulders and hugged her.

"You're still a great duelist, Rebecca."

"Thanks, Yugi."

Joey was going through his cards, wondering if he ought to challenge someone and waste some time when he spotted the Time Wizard card Yugi had given him so long ago. 'Hmm. That gives me an idea.'

"Hey, Yugi! Come here for a minute."

"What's up Joey?"

The blond looked around and spotted his nemesis wandering around, examining hieroglyphs. "Ok." He said in a low voice. "Do you think if I used my Time Wizard against Kaiba's three Blue Eyes I would stand a chance of winning?"

"Probably. If you used it right - not to mention got lucky and didn't hit a skull when it does the Time Roulette thing." Yugi answered. "But why? He won't duel you, Joey. You know how stubborn he is."

"I know. But we've never had a real duel. I'm not counting that little bashing he gave me at Duelist Kingdom. I wasn't ready to try taking him on then." Joey watched Kaiba sadly. "I don't know why, but for some reason I really want his respect. I mean, I may not be his friend, but at least I'd have his respect as a duelist."

"I understand Joey." And Yugi did. "But I don't know how you'll ever get him to agree to it."

Bakura, who'd been eavesdropping the entire time shamelessly, butted in. "Someone could dare him to duel you.

They looked at him. "I don't know, Bakura." Yugi didn't think it would work.

"Well, I'm not saying either of you dare him. It has to be someone he really dislikes who can get on this nerves enough to get him to accept the dare without stopping to think about it."

All three looked down at Marik and Malik, who, sensing someone staring at them, turned to glare.

"What?" They asked simultaneously.

"Shhh. Come here guys." Yugi waved them up.

Yami shook his head. //Please don't provoke him too much, aibou.// He pleaded. //I don't want to have to break up a fight.//

//I'll make sure they get the point, Yami.//

"Ok, Marik, Malik, here's what you need to do." Yugi and his friends huddled together and formulated a plan - one that would make Kaiba except the dare but not piss him off too badly.

"Oh, and Joey?" Yugi lay a hand on his friend's shoulder as Marik and Malik went off to implement the plan. "If you want him to stop calling you 'puppy' and whatever, then act as if you couldn't care less what he thinks of you. It will confuse him and maybe he'll stop."

"I'll try."

//Marik? What if the plan doesn't work?// Malik asked as they headed down the steps and towards Kaiba.

//Well, if daring him doesn't work, then blackmail will.// Marik grinned mentally, sending a memory of Kaiba in his smock holding a paintbrush to his hikari.

Malik smothered a laugh. //Is that really what he looked like?//

//Yep. Hilarious isn't it?//

Kaiba heard the smothered giggle and eyed them warily as they approached. "What do you two want?"

Malik gave him an innocent look. "What do you mean?"

"Oh, please. Neither of you would come near me on your own without wanting something from me, so what?"

"Actually, we had a question for you." Marik nudged Malik.

"Yeah. See, we know you've dueled the very best and that you are one of the best, but how come you've never dueled Joey?"

"He's really good you know." Marik mused. "And he's managed to build a fairly impressive deck."

"Wheeler? So what! He's not worth my time. He wins most of his duels through dumb luck - and I emphasize dumb - not skill."

"Is that so?" Marik grinned. "Sounds like you're afraid."

"WHAT?!" Kaiba's voice rose, echoing in the cavernous room. The others looked over, curious.

Bakura winced and glanced at Yami. "Um, I'll accept the responsibility if he does something nasty to them."

Yami raised one eyebrow at him. "You'd get it whether you liked it or not."

"It would be partly my fault too, Yami. Don't place all the blame on Bakura." Yugi said.

"You heard me, High Priest. If you're not afraid, then prove it. We dare you to go challenge Joey."

Kaiba seethed. 'Duel that hack? Not likely. I have nothing to prove to these two psychopaths.'

//It's not working, Marik. Better try the blackmail.// Malik suggested.

//Right.// "So? Huh. I thought so. Well, if you don't accept the dare, then you'll have to pay the penalty."

Kaiba's glare would have turned them into a pile of ashes.

"Either you go challenge Joey or we spread the word about the sort of classes you're really taking at Domino University." Malik gave him his best evil, scheming grin.

Kaiba paled. "And just what sort of classes would those be?" He thought, 'Great Ra! How did they find out?'

"Let's just say you look adorable in a smock, Kaiba." Marik said, amused.

'Shit! They do know! But how ...' He turned and glared daggers at Yami. {You told them!} He shouted mentally at the Pharaoh. {You said you wouldn't tell anyone about my classes!}

Yami blinked, surprised. He hadn't known Kaiba could communicate this way. {No. I didn't. If they know, they found out on their own, though don't ask me how.}

{You swear, on Yugi's head, you told no one.}

He got a mental eye roll as a response. {I swear, Seto.}

Kaiba looked back at the two patiently waiting blond Egyptians. "Fine. But if you tell anyone about my classes." He left the threat hanging.

Marik waved it off. "Don't worry. We won't."

Malik made a cross over his heart, though with his other hand behind his back, Kaiba couldn't see his crossed fingers.

Kaiba frowned at them, knowing perfectly well he couldn't trust them, but unable to do anything about it. He turned and walked to the group.

Bakura was twitching with the effort not to laugh and turned away to study the throne, pretending he was still trying to come up with a way to steal it.

Yugi and Joey were sitting in front of Yami on the floor, seemingly oblivious, and going through Joey's deck.

"Wheeler. You still want to duel?" Kaiba's voice was back to its usual coldness but held a hint of pain at having to do this. "If so, get up and let's do this."

Joey stared up at him. He hadn't really expected the plan to work. "Uh, yeah! Sure. Yug, can I use that?" Yugi handed him the duel disk and Joey slid it on.

Rebecca handed Kaiba back his disk and Kaiba put it on, stalking down the steps and impatiently waiting for Joey to do the same.

Marik and Malik came back and sat next to Bakura and Ryou. Yugi whispered, "Good job, guys." Before going to sit on Yami's lap to watch the duel.

*************************************

Kali: Wow! It's a Yugi story with some actual duel action!

Caitlin: Well, kind of. I didn't want to sit down and try and come up with an entire duel. That would take forever!

Bakura: It was still good though. I can't wait to see how the rest goes.

Ryou: You just want to see that throne she described.

Bakura: So?

Marik: R/R!