I felt like writing a holiday/winter story in the Yu-Gi-Oh category, so here it is. It's completely pointless, really, but I'm happy with it. I tried to keep the conversations between Weevil and Rex as realistic as I could.

I hope you'll like the story!

Snowball's Chance

Chapter One

The temperature in Domino City, Japan, had dropped overnight, bringing along three inches of December snow. It was the first snowfall of the winter, though it was a light one; nothing like the blizzards of last year. Many of Domino's residents had already awoken and were delighted to see the first snow of the season, and also relieved that it didn't look like too much trouble to shovel.

Weevil Underwood was not one of them. Everything outside was unbeknownst to him, because on this Saturday morning he was still asleep, and didn't seem ready to wake up. It was still early. And not many teenagers got up at six 'o clock on the weekend.

However, Weevil was very rudely woken by the ringing of the phone across the room. He reached out of the blanket to the table next to his bed, fumbled around for his glasses, found them and sat up, putting them on. He got out of bed and trudged across the room to the still-ringing phone, and answered it in a tired voice.

"Hello?...WHAT?" It was Rex.

"Weevil! Good, you're awake."

"I'm awake now! Why are you awake? What do you want?"

"We're going over to the breakfast place. They're going to start serving sausage today, remember? We agreed to go as soon as they open, to be the first ones to get some," Rex reminded him.

"When did I agree to that? And when do they open?" asked Weevil.

"A long time ago! And they open at seven. Sheesh! I can't believe you forgot."

"I can't believe you remembered! So why are you calling when it opens in almost an hour?"

"So you can get prepared for the weather," Rex said simply. "Be sure to look outside before you walk out of the house! See you at the front of the café." He hung up before Weevil could argue or ask questions.

Weevil hung up the phone, grumbling, then went to the window and pulled up the shade. A world of white greeted him, and he realized that he'd have to get out his snow boots from the back of the closet. He didn't want to go outside, but now he remembered agreeing to this ridiculous idea a few days ago, and Rex would get mad if he decided to scrap the plan. And also, Rex was his only real friend and an argument over this didn't seem worth it, even to Weevil.

Ten minutes later he went outside wearing his boots and winter coat. As he was turning around and closing the front door of the house, there was a whap sound and he felt something cold on the back of his neck that sent a chilly shiver down his spine. Losing his breath in shock for a moment, he knew what it was. A snowball.

Angrily he turned around and glared at a few laughing young children in the street, one of whom shouted "Gotcha!" Weevil quickly bent down and scooped up some snow with his gloved hands and molded it into a ball. The kids screeched and began to run up the street, and Weevil ran a few steps and threw the snowball, which hit the ground a few feet away from them. They laughed again and continued on their way, probably going to search for more unsuspecting victims.

Weevil rolled his eyes and began walking down toward the stores and squares of the city. Stupid kids. If they knew what a prestigious duelist he was, they wouldn't dare be throwing anything at him!

A few blocks into the downtown district, Weevil arrived at the "breakfast place", or more specifically, one of the local diners/cafés. Rex was standing against the building wall, yawning and kicking up little piles of snow on the ground. As Weevil joined him, Rex just stared at him. "Hey, what happened to you?"

"What are you talking about?" said Weevil, and at that moment a clump of snow fell from his neck down onto his coat. "Oh…I kind of walked into a big bush covered in snow."

"Yeah, sure. More like a snowball flew into you," Rex grinned.

"Oh, quiet." Weevil peered into the darkened diner. "You really like the food at this place, don't you?" he asked.

"It's better than what I have at home. Hey, remember last time we were here? The sandwich you got for lunch had weird toasted bread, and you made the funniest faces while you ate it." Rex grinned at the memory and Weevil just frowned at it. "Yeah, yeah, yeah," Weevil said dully.

For a while they stood there waiting. Every so often Rex would pull his hat further down over his head and ears and Weevil would wipe the vapor off the lenses of his glasses. "Hey Rex, did you ever get your duel disk fixed?"

"Huh? Yeah, I did. The holograms actually appear now, so I can see what's going on. At least I don't need to ask for a new duel disk for Christmas."

"Maybe we can duel later today then," said Weevil. "I just got the Insect Princess card the other day, and I'd like to test out its abilities against those dinos of yours. It's been a long time since I've whipped your butt!"

"Who else's butt are you going to whip?" Rex asked him. "There's no one else who'd take time to duel you."

"Same with you!" Weevil retorted.

"Well, we may have been all but forgotten," Rex said, clenching his fist, "but I could still beat you any day."

"Excuse me? I've beaten you before!"

"Not every time."

"Well, most of the time!"

"All right then, we're dueling later today."

"Excellent."

At that moment an employee of the diner approached and unlocked the door. The boys watched several workers hurry inside and turn on the lights, preparing for any customers who would stop in for breakfast. After a few minutes Weevil and Rex went in, in from the cold winter air.

They sat down at a table, taking off their coats and gloves. Rex searched the menu and Weevil began counting his money. "I'm not paying for you, Rex."

"I know. I brought my money. Ah! Here we are – sausages that aren't too expensive."

"That's great," replied Weevil dryly.

So Rex ordered a waffle and sausages, and Weevil decided on some French toast. The latter found that he was really beginning to wake up, and gradually becoming less grumpy. The food was pretty good, and they sat there going on about Duel Monsters and their cards and such. To get his Insect Princess card from the local gaming shop that was owned by Yugi Moto's grandfather, Weevil had had to go in when he was sure Yugi and his pals weren't there, and make up a fake name in case anyone thought they recognized him.

"Heh heh," said Rex, shoving a forkful of sausage in his mouth. He swallowed and went on: "I did something like that once when I went in there. No doubt Yugi would want to push us out if he saw us inside."

"At least they can't kick us out just for coming in," said Weevil. "It's a public place. Hey Rex?"

"Yeah?"

"What do you want for Christmas this year, anyway?"

Rex pretended to be thoughtful. "My two front teeth."

"Very funny! Come on, Rex!"

"Well, I don't know, really," he said. "I've wanted a TV of my own for my room for a long time."

"You should get a new hat, that's what."

"What? Have you lost your mind?" Rex looked horrified. "Never! Why are you asking me what I want this year, anyway?"

Weevil shrugged. "I don't know. I just…don't know what I want."

Rex put down his glass of juice. "Oh, come on. There's always something to want! How about…I don't know…insect stuff?"

"Insect stuff? Rex, I have insect field guides and capture jars, nets, everything. Oh, by the way, I finished looking through your book on the classification of Metazoan dinosaurs…they're all kind of the same, aren't they?"

Rex looked horrified again. "Kind of the same? What's wrong with you?"

"Will you calm down? I was only kidding around! That was for the time you said a butterfly and a moth were the same!"

Rex was silent for a moment. "Hey Weevil…are there any bugs around in winter?"

"Insects, Rex. Bugs are only a kind of insect. And yes, but only if you know where to look," replied Weevil, and finished his French toast. Then he suddenly looked up. "You know what I would like, actually?" he asked. "A new CD player. Mine has been broken for as long as I can remember."

"I knew you'd think of something," said Rex, nodding.

"Yep." Weevil wiped his mouth, then looked outside. A wind had picked up and had lifted some of the snow off of roofs of cars and awnings of buildings, and was blowing it away down the street. "I bet there'll be a crowd of kids over at the park," Rex mused from across the table.

"So?"

"We should go sledding today. Remember last year?"

"Yeah, I do." Oh yes, he remembered last year, when Rex had convinced him that they should try going down the shorter hill, the one above the parking lot next to the park, which was covered in skinny young trees and spiky weeds. It didn't look that frightening, but it was. They'd veered around the sticks and plants, and then had flown off the colossal clump of snow at the bottom that had been pushed there when the parking lot was plowed. Flying off the slope, Weevil had screamed that he was going to die, and that he would kill Rex for this (which was in fact a paradox and didn't make any sense). When they dropped directly down, they landed kind of lopsidedly, and half of their bodies got crushed. Nevertheless, Rex had been laughing with glee. Weevil had been raging, and it took a while for him to cool down that day.

"So you wanna go again? I still have my sled!"

"All right," said Weevil after a pause. "But we are NOT going to try to kill ourselves again!"

Rex laughed. "Fine, I'll go down that hill myself."