Rock Bottom: Season One

Bluff

"Who else did you duel today, Joey?" Ryou asked as the five friends ascended the stairs to Pegasus' castle.

"This morning I took out Bandit Keith," the blond answered with a grin. "He was one cheating basta—Hey!" He was cut off as Anzu whacked him upside the head and shot him a glare. She utilized far more effective methods than his parents when it came to getting Joey to clean up his language. "I mean, he was a cheating jerk." He glared right back at her and muttered, "Happy now?"

"Very." She stuck her little nose in the air and marched up the steps as Ryou and Marik tried not to laugh at the exchange. Yugi just grinned as he watched her go ahead of Joey on the stairs, his eyes momentarily distracted by the way her skirt swished with her hips.

"How about you?" Joey asked Ryou, trying to change the subject

"I dueled a zombie duelist in the caves named Bonz. Like I told you when we met up in the maze, he ran away with his star-chips instead of giving me what I was due." He looked sad for a moment. "Well, what matters most is that in the end, you and I defeated the Paradox brothers and we all made it out of that cave safe and sound!" Ryou turned to Yugi then. "How did you get your ten star-chips, Yugi?"

"I dueled an Eliminator named PaniK last night," he answered, making Joey grimace a little. "He was a pretty sleazy guy who used a lot of underhanded tactics. He'd beaten Mai and taken all of her star-chips, so I won her star-chips back for her—and some for myself, of course!" It would have been foolish not to make that bet, especially since PaniK had been so confident that he would win he would have bet anything.

"I can't believe all three of you qualified for the finals!" Marik said cheerfully, reaching over to give Ryou's hand a squeeze. He was especially proud of Ryou, naturally. "I wonder if Seto qualified too."

"I wouldn't doubt it for a moment," Yugi said with a smile. "Seto's not the champion for nothing." Even though nearly every duel between Seto and Yugi had either ended in a tie or remained unfinished, and Yugi knew better than to think that was sheer luck. Seto was a winner by nature. He didn't stop until he was on top, whether it was a fistfight or a game of chess. Yugi was just glad that so far, it hadn't negatively impacted his friendships.

"Look!" Anzu pointed up ahead to the top of the stairs where Seto stood, his arms crossed, his long, dark purple coat being tugged by the wind. "I guess he did. Maybe he's waiting for us!"

Something was really bothering Ryou, though, as he looked up at Seto. He pulled Joey aside as the other three rushed up the stairs towards their mutual friend.

"Doesn't he seem... different to you?" Ryou asked quietly, looking up at Seto with a worried expression. "You two are really close. You can tell that something's off about him, right?"

"Yeah," Joey said quietly as he realized that Ryou was right. "That's how he looks when he's ready to tear someone's head off." Ryou gave Joey a strange look. "What? He and I used to fight all the time, remember? I know what he looks like when he's angry." They exchanged a worried glance before hurrying to catch up with their friends. They caught up just in time.

"Yugi." Seto sapphire eyes burned into the shorter teen from his higher ground. "Do you remember the day I defeated Noah Kaiba at Death-T?"

It seemed a strange way to open the conversation.

"Yes. I said I looked forward to dueling you someday." Yugi blinked up at Seto in understanding.

"I'd like to cash in that rain-check now, if that's alright with you."

"Of course," Yugi answered with a nod, but Anzu stopped him.

"Wait, Seto. Yugi already has ten star-chips. He doesn't have to duel you," she protested.