Of Dice and Dragons

Disclaimer: See chapter 1

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Yugioh Sob Stories, 101

Otogi’s mind was racing after all that’s happened and he honestly didn’t understand what Seto wanted to know.

"What about him?"

"Another thing in which you and I are similar, we both have had bad experiences in our professional relationship with a certain unmentionable spiky haired brat. And I’ve got a sneaking suspicion he’s got something to do with your dog=dog=fun story." Seto said sweetly.

"If I tell you, will you tell me why you don’t get along with him?"

"Of course." Seto said, squeezing Otogi a little, reassuringly.

"Ok here goes:

"After the incident involving Jounouchi and the dog suit, Yugi valiantly came to his aid, as I had heard he often did. He challenged me to a duel in order to win back the puppy’s freedom, though personally, I still think he looked better in the suit. At the time, I thought it was a good idea, so I agreed with two conditions of my own: a) if I won, Yugi would never duel again, and b) we would duel to the proverbial death in a game of Dungeon Dice Monsters."

"Smart move, knowing Yugi would never turn down a chance to help his pathetic cheerleaders–I mean friends, you forced him to concede to a horrible disadvantage. Although Yugi was still able to compete in Battle City, I guess it didn’t go well?" Seto whispered.

"How perceptive of you Seto-chan." Otogi said sarcastically, smiling at the contented sound Seto made, signaling that he had indeed caught the change in suffix, "In any case, I ended up accusing Yugi of having cheated in order to have been able to defeat my idol, Pegasus, with whom I trust you are well-acquainted." Seto shuddered and growled, but let Otogi finish.

"To make a long story short, after it was all said and done, I ended up getting schooled in my own game. It was humiliating; not to mention it was on international television! Afterwards, Yugi had offered his friendship, which, to save face and preserve any shards that may have been left of my shattered ego, I grudgingly accepted. To this day it unnerves me to no end that I will never be the best gamer around, not even in the game I made up and know inside out and backwards. No, I’m not bitter." Otogi said, then started pouting.

"I can see that." Seto laughed, "The more I learn about you, the more I find parallels with myself. So now time for my Yugi sob story, come to k ofk of it, it’s more Yami than Yugi. Once upon a time… hey you, quit laughing. Anyway, I was once the World Champion duelist and was on a quest to procure all four Blue Eyes White Dragon cards. I used to be feared; the very mention of my name used to strike pure terror in the hearts of all who stood in my way. Well, that is until I actually found the fourth Blue Eyes White Dragon. It was in the possession of that other game shop in town, but Yugi’s stupid grandfather refused to sell it to me, claiming it had some sort of sentimental value. So, I did what any other red-blooded duelist would have done in my place."

"You dueled the old guy for it?" Otogi chimed.

"Exactly, and I beat the pants–and the card off of him. But them Yugi came to the rescue… as Yugi oftens."s." Seto added, using Otogi’s exact analogy which caused him to smile and blush an incalculable shade of pink, "Well,Yugi just complained and made Yami actually duel me, but whatever… Promptly, he was staring down all three of my Blue Eyes White Dragons. I still hadn’t thought to fuse them together into the Blue Eyes Ultimate Dragon yet. Strangely enough, I got that idea during a later duel with Yugi, well Yami, at Duelist Kingdom. But back to the story, the Swords of Revealing Light came to Yami’s rescue, but then the brat summoned Exodia on me! It had never been done before and it made me look like an amateur and it might as well have been my own game, it practically is anyway. I have never been able to avenge myself since that day, at least not honestly. You see, at Duelist Kingdom, I dueled Yami for entrance into Pegasus’s castle in the hopes of saving my brother’s soul, so I was forced to threaten suicide by jumping off the parapets to force Yami to concede. And Yami was about to knock me off the edge until Yugi finally stopped him, but he conceded anyway. Come to think of it, all I really got for my troubles was my soul trapped in a card, no thanks to somebody’s Millennium Eye! No offense Otogi-chan, but Pegasus is scary! So I ended up needing Yami to save me AND my brother. After that, Kaiba Corporation’s lower executives conspired to trap me in my own virtual reality game. Did I mention Pegasus was in on another mutiny attempt by my ‘minions’ during Duelist Kingdom? That’s not the point, the point is there I was, trapped in my own virtual world and who should come to my rescue? Yami. And who managed to beat me down in Battle City? Yami. Not to mention, who supposedly defeated my High Priest, Ancient Egyptian alter-ego during the Shadow Games? Pharaoh Yami. But I’m over being bitter… Now I’m just angry." Seto sighed, the realization hit him that he would never reclaim his title as Duel Monsters World Champion, he was no longer the master of his proverbial domain. Otogi cuddled up to Seto’s chest and sighed, at last someone understood completely. He turned his head so as to send his emerald gaze straight into Seto’s cobalt eyes, which the latter promptly closed and turned away in disgust with himself.

"I don’t get it. First you’re talking about Yugi, then this Yami person, yet you speak as though they are one in the same, I don’t understand. Please explain." Otogi said, brows knitted in confusion.

"You don’t know about Yami? Well, have you ever noticed how Yugi can be all nice and innocent and happy all the time, yet when he duels, he’s someone completely different?" Seto began.

Otogi nodded.

"Well, that’s because he is technically two people. You see, that large, gold, inverted pyramid he always wears is the Millennium Puzzle inside which is the soul of an ancient Pharaoh. Ever since Yugi solved the Puzzle, the spirit inside the Puzzle has been able to take over Yugi’s body. Yami is that ancient spirit. While Yugi used to do most things for himself, he’d always call on Yami to take over the body whenever things got to be over his head — which seemed to be about every thirty seconds during Duelist Kingdom. After Battle City, Yami retrieved all his lost memories by combining the power of the Millennium Puzzle and the three Egyptian God Cards, and now he just takes over Yugi’s body whenever he damn-well feels like it and does whatever he damn-well wants, regardless of what kind of implications it may have on other people. He doesn’t realize this isn’t Anicent Egypt and he’s not Pharaoh anymore, it’s not all about him." Seto said, trying to keep the angst out of his voice.

"So it wasn’t just my imagination that when he and I dueled, Yugi seemed to spontaneously get way better hair, grow like a foot, and have his voice drop an octave?" Otogi asked.

"Right. Turns out your Yugi sob story is actually a Yami sob story. Not that I’m really surprised, at least he didn’t banish part of your mind to the Shadow Realm."

"Shadow Realm?"

"Nevermind. It’s complicated, if you ever get sent there, you’ll know."

"Alright, but Seto you speak of this — Yami, is it? You talk about him like he’s your mortal enemy or something, what happened?" Otogi asked, shyly.

"Yami, that’s right. But I’d rather not talk about it…"

"Please? You’ll feel better if you get it out of your system." Otogi pouted, "You promised me you’d tell me why you don’t like Yugi so much, and if Yami is a part of Yugi…"

Seto let out a heavy sigh, knowing exactly what he had walked into.

"Alright, we were… involved… for a while. During Battle City, we had been spending so much time together, for match results and so on, that I guess we both became sexually frustrated and ended up using each other to relieve that tension. Over the course of the tournament, I had thought it had developed into something much more than that and wanted to step things up a bit, considering we really hadn’t done anything, just dated and made-out and such. Turns out I’m just not a good judge of Ancient Egyptian character, damn that Bakura." Seto said.

"That’s awful, but what does Ryou have to do with you?"

"Ryou? Nothing really. You see, Ryou possesses the Millennium Ring, which also houses an ancient, in this case homicidal, spirit named Bakura. He can also take control of Ryou’s body whenever he wants, though the two of them are practically physically idenitcal."

"Right. I think I’m missing something, sorry Seto-chan." Otogi pouted again.

"It’s alright, how about I tell you the whole story. You were right, I should get this out of my system, I’ve been holding on to it for far too long." Seto said, drawing in a deep breath before beginning.

"It all started a few weeks ago…"

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and so the Yami/Bakura begins…. I know you’ve all been desperately waiting for it…