Yami Yugi slowly moved his hand to his deck and deliberately plucked a card off the top, closing his eyes in apparent meditation as he did so. He raised his arm over his head, and in a windmill slam, pounded the table with the force of the card's activation. "The almighty BLACK LUSTER--"

"What the f---! Horn of the Unicorn!"

"Other me...?"

"That's impossible! I was supposed to--this isn't--"

"Bad topdeck, huh?" Mai chuckled.

"Look...look, Mai, there's clearly a mistake here," Yami Yugi laughed. "Thanks to the Heart of the Cards, the card that was supposed to be on top of my deck was the Black Luster Ritual, and I was supposed to summon the Black Luster Soldier and open up a can of whoop-ass on that dragon of yours. Could you--" Yami said, slipping the card back into his hand, "--please, please surrender to me now so I can get on with the plotline and kick Pegasus' butt?"

"Surrender? When I've got the strongest monsters on the field, I know the only card in your hand, and you've only got 300 life points? Are you kidding me?"

"But--the plot!"

"I see what's going on. You're losing, and you blame your deck, nevermind that you've already had two game-saving topdecks this game. I mean, one is amazing, two is near godly, but did you really think you could pull off three? There's a point where skill becomes more important than luck, after all." Yami started to protest, but he was interrupted by a voice in his head.

"Other me!"

"What is it?"

"Let me talk to her. I'm sure I'll be able to explain."

"Very well, I suppose she might listen to a cute kid like you," Yami said as he let Yugi take over.

"Mai," Yugi said, "there's something I have to explain."

"If it's about me owning you in this card game..."

"No, it's nothing like that. You see," Yugi said, taking a deep breath, "if you win this duel, Pegasus will beat you and I'll never get my Grandpa's soul back, because he's a dirty cheater, and--oh, forget it. Let me start over. You see this funny golden necklace I have?" Yugi held up the Millennium Puzzle.

"Yeah, what about it?" said Mai.

"This is called the Millennium Puzzle, and it's a magical artifact from Egypt that's thousands of years old. Pegasus has one too, called the Millennium Eye, which is why he always covers half of his face with his hair. It's actually quite creepy. Anyways, he uses the magical powers of the Eye to cheat at card games, similar to the way I use the magical powers of the Puzzle--"

"To cheat at card games?"

"That's not the point! Pegasus used the power of the Millennium Eye to trap my grandfather's soul in a camcorder!"

"Yugi, did losing make you crazy?"

"Jounouchi! Throw it!" Mai caught the flying camcorder easily and stared at it in amazement as the image of the famous Turtle Game Shop owner appeared on the screen. "You're not Yugi," the old man said. "Who are you? Yugi? Are you there? Is this a friend of yours?"

"Grandpa, explain to her what happened with Pegasus!"

"Oh, there's no need to explain," Pegasus put in. "I'm guilty as charged."

"So you DO cheat at card games!" Mai said.

"I don't know if you can call it cheating, any more than what Yugi-boy does, of course."

"I do not cheat!" Yugi glared at Pegasus and turned to Mai. "But the point of the story is, the only way I can free my grandfather's soul is to defeat Pegasus in a duel with our Millennium Items at stake. I know it sounds stupid."

"What's your point, Yugi? That the only way to beat Pegasus is to cheat? I'll remind you, I'm quite skilled at cheating myself."

"Mai...I guess I have no choice."

"What are you doing?" asked Yami.

"If you surrender now and let me fight Pegasus, I'll give you half of the prize money."

"One and a half million yen, just for throwing the match? This is almost too good to pass up," Mai said. She turned to the camcorder, then to Pegasus' leering face, then back to Yugi. "It's settled then. You go rescue your grandfather." She put her hand on her deck. Pegasus announced Yugi's victory.

"You actually believe me?"

"Not exactly, but the less I'm involved with crazy people like you, the better. Remember our deal," she said, and walked out of the arena.

"Whew."

"What did you do that for? We could have won!"

"But how, other me?"

"I just realized now, if we put Horn of the Unicorn on Gaia the Fierce Knight's horse, it would have boosted Gaia's attack power to 3000 attack points, strong enough to defeat Mai's dragon!"

"We can do that?"

"Of course, we can bend the rules in our favor whenever we want!"

"But isn't that, well, cheating?"

"Of--of course not! It's only cheating if you're on the bad side!"

In the hallway, Mai was thinking about the recent duel. "Oh, I should have played my Harpy Lady when I had the chance. How could I not have expected the Black Luster Soldier? If he'd gotten lucky that time..."

"My prize card! I can't find it!"

"Jounouchi?"

"Mai!" Jounouchi dropped to his knees, clasping his hands in front of him as if in prayer. "Can I please, please, please borrow your prize card?"

"What is it with you people begging me for things?"

"It's not as if you need it anymore!" Jounouchi cried. "Keith stole my prize card, and I can't compete without one!"

"Why should I help you?" Mai said. "It's not my fault if you were dumb enough to get your card stolen."

"Please?" Jounouchi turned sad puppy-dog eyes upwards to Mai. "I...I need the three million yen for my sister's operation. She's going blind. Our family doesn't have near enough money, what with my father being a drunkard and a bum and my mother...I don't know what she does, but I need the prize money! It's for a noble cause!"

"You do realize that half that money belongs to me, don't you?"

"I..." Jounouchi slumped. "Stupid, stupid Yugi. One and a half million yen won't be nearly enough." He punched the floor, trying hard to hold in his tears.

"Oh, cheer up, Jounouchi." Mai wiped his face with a handkerchief. "Here's the prize card. I'm giving it to you, and I'll give you my share of the money, too."

"Really? But why..."

"I felt bad after hearing your sad little story, and I have a crush on you too, so I'll do you a favor."

"You believed me? You do realize I could have made it up, y'know, just so I could get the money."

"Naw," said Mai, winking. "I know a trusting sap when I see one, and I can tell you're terrible at lying. C'mon, take the prize card, and go kick some butt."

"Now that goes without saying!" Jounouchi took the card with a flourish. "I'm gonna wipe the floor with this Keith loser!"

"How can you be sure? He does have vastly more experience and more powerful cards than you."

"Because I'm a major character." Jounouchi beamed. "I could never lose to some guy from the minor leagues. "Like Keith. Also like you, Mai."

"You think you're so funny, don't you, Mr. Jounouchi Katsuya?"

"Naw," said Jounouchi. "After all, you minor characters can put up a pretty damn good fight. Sometimes even I think you might win. But you wanna know the real reason that a pro like Keith has no chance against a rookie like me?"

"And what's that?"

"Because Mister Bandit Keith Howard is a dirty cheater," said Jounouchi. "And cheaters like him never win."