Chapter Text
It was a peaceful day at the game shop just like any other. Yugi is helping his grandfather clean the store for the customers. They remain silent, but both of them are humming to themselves while wiping away the glass, counters, and sweeping away at the floor.
Then all of a sudden...
"YUGI!!"
A voice shouts as the door slams open.
"What the-!?" Yugi faces the door and sees none other than Seto Kaiba standing in the doorway. "Seto Kaiba!?"
"That's right, Yugi!" Kaiba thrusts a pointing finger straight towards Yugi. "I've come to claim my title as King of Games from you, once and for all!"
"Is that right?" Yugi smirks. "I'll have you know I never turn down a challenge! Ready your deck, Kaiba!"
Grandpa simply chuckles. How this takes him back, ignoring the time he got kidnapped and turned into a card.
However, Kaiba grins. "As much as I'd love to crush you by my hand in a game of Duel Monsters, I've decided to test my luck on other games."
Yugi widens his eyes. "Huh?"
"Dueling with you day in and day out has taught me a valuable lesson, and that lesson is..." Kaiba clenches his fist. "Luck plays more of a factor in Duel Monsters than I'd like to admit. So with that in mind, the games that we will play will test that!"
"What do you mean?" Yugi asks.
"Yugi, this game we're about to play..." Kaiba opens the bag that he carried around his shoulder and shuffles through it. "It'll force you to ask yourself an important question. Do you feel lucky? DO YOU!?"
Cue Kaiba holding up what appears to be a sealed box for "Pop-Up Pirate".
Yugi blinks. "... Is that Pop-Up Pirate?"
"Yes!" Kaiba slams it down on the counter closest to him.
"Hey! Easy over there!" Grandpa yells.
Kaiba ignores grandpa and continues. "You see, in analyzing every bit of you, I've come across a detail that this was your favorite game before our encounter with Duel Monsters!" He folds his arms. "So what better game to truly test my luck against yours than the very game you hold near and dear to you?"
That's it, he just made it personal. It's one thing to challenge Yugi to a game, but a game that inspired him to be a game designer? That's a step too far. Yugi nods with a firm resolve in his gaze. "Fine, I accept your challenge, Kaiba! I don't intend to lose either!"
Kaiba grins. "Good. Let's play."
* * *
Yugi and Kaiba sit inside Yugi's humble abode with all the parts of Pop-Up Pirate placed at the center of the table. Grandpa is winding the barrel itself to prepare the two of them.
Kaiba leans back in his chair, arms folded. "Yugi, since this is a game you love so much, I don't need to explain the rules, do I?"
"Of course not," Yugi glares. "We each take turns putting plastic swords into the barrel's slots. Whoever puts in the sword that launches the pirate loses the game."
"That's what I thought." Kaiba sits straight up. "But we'll play under the rule that whoever launches the pirate wins. You got that?"
"I've got no problem with it," Yugi replies.
"Good." Kaiba turns to Yugi's grandpa. "Gramps, are you done with that?"
Grandpa places the barrel back on the table and puts the pirate inside, dusting his hands off afterward. "There! All done!" he says. "Ho ho ho, it's been a long time since I've seen Yugi play this game. You better not lose!"
"I won't lose, don't worry grandpa!" Yug smiles and nods. He faces Kaiba. "Well Kaiba? Who's going first?"
"Since this is your game, I'll give you the honors of making the first move. Now go!" Kaiba glares at Yugi.
"Very well, then my colors will be red and yellow!" Yugi grabs the colored swords in question and lays them in front of himself. "Okay, here goes!" Yugi plunges a yellow sword into one of the slots.
*click*
Nothing happens.
"It's your turn, Kaiba."
"Hmph." Kaiba unfolds his arms and swipes the other colored swords laid out. "Yugi, do you understand why I changed the victory conditions?"
"What do you mean?" Yugi asks.
Kaiba holds up one of the plastic swords. "If launching the pirate results in defeat, that means you're actively seeking desperate solutions to avoid failure. But that's not how I play!" Kaiba thrusts his sword into one of the holes.
*click*
Nothing happens again.
"No matter how many times I fall down, I will always find the path to victory! Defeat is not an option, because no matter how many tries it takes, I will always come out on top in the end!" Kaiba exclaims.
"So that's why you're challenging me to this game, to figure out how I work in other ways," Yugi says, still glaring. "By that logic, it seems that you and I are destined to play games until the end of days."
"If that's the fate that awaits us, then so be it!" Kaiba yells. "By the end of it all, victory will be mine!"
"We'll see about that!" Yugi puts in another sword into one of the barrel's holes. A click, and still nothing.
Yugi and Kaiba go back and forth inserting swords into the holes with no luck launching the pirate. Grandpa watches on, immersed into their game of chance. After some time, it comes down to Yugi's turn, where only two holes remain.
"Make your move, Yugi!" Kaiba folds his arms. "The final move will decide who wins this game. If you miss, victory will be mine!"
"Don't give up, Yugi!" Grandpa shouts. "It's not over until the very last sword! I believe in you! You can do this!"
Yugi nods. "Thank you, Grandpa! I'll put all of my faith into this final sword!" Yugi clutches the sword tight. He's breaking out in a nervous sweat. If he misses, it's all over for him. It's amazing how both he and Kaiba managed to narrow down the holes, but there can only be one winner. Yugi closes his eyes and imagines the barrel in his mind. He concentrates hard on which hole could be the one that will launch the pirate once and for all.
With a glimmer of light within his thoughts, he places his instincts on one of the holes that appears to glow from within.
"There!!" Yugi plunges the sword into the slot he believed would end the game in his favor.
*click*
*POP!!*
"Ahh!!" Kaiba flinches as the pirate launches into the air and stumbles on the table. He couldn't believe it, it was a 50/50 chance and Yugi guessed correctly. "H-How!?"
"Simple, Kaiba!" Yugi smiles. "I trusted in myself and my Grandpa's support! As long as there's hope, I'll always hold out!"
"Ho, ho, ho! I knew you could do it!" Grandpa claps.
"Grr..!" Kaiba slams his fist on the table.
"Hey, watch it!" Grandpa scolds Kaiba.
"No, not yet! This isn't over, Yugi!" Kaiba exclaims, ignoring grandpa. "This is all but one game! I didn't come to play only once, after all!"
"You've got other games with you?" Yugi asks.
"Of course I do! Now come on, the games have only begun!!"