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The Wrong Dragon	By : DarkTemptations Category: Yu-Gi-Oh > General Views: 1545 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own YuGiOh!, nor any of the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

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Title: The Wrong Dragon 1/4

Author: Dark Temptations

Beta: Vash is my Angel

Rating: R *smiles sweetly*

Summary: Annoyed at his life, envious of another's, Joey Wheeler makes a wish. But when it is granted, will his new life have everything he needs or will there be something missing from it?

Disclaimer: I do not own Yugioh. If I did own Yugioh... well let's just say that the only timeslot it would be suitable for would be after midnight *winks*.

Author's Notes: This was my original bunny for a writing challenge. I ended up going with 'Compensation' for the challenge, but this bunny kept nibbling on my ankles until I gave in and wrote it.

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Dark Temptations Presents

The Wrong Dragon

Chapter 1

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It had been a day he would not have wished on his worst enemy.

Joey threw himself onto his bed and groaned as he reached for his pillow. He pummelled it a few times, trying to release some of the frustration he had worked up that day, then dropped his head onto it and sighed. Now it was all lumpy. Great. He tried to ignore the lumpiness and closed his eyes, hoping that the sweet peace of sleep would come to him quickly, but knowing that it was more likely for him to end up tossing and turning for a few hours before he fell asleep due to sheer exhaustion. That was usually how it went for him.

Sure enough, as soon as his eyes closed, his mind began to provide him with a run-down of the day's 'highlights'. As if he really needed to be reminded of every rotten thing that had happened to him on that rotten day.

@-->-->----

It had started when his clock's batteries had run out during the night before. His alarm hadn't gone off and he'd woken up only fifteen minutes before he was supposed to be at school, which was a good half-hour away.

Naturally, his father had still been asleep and snoring on the couch as he'd dashed through the living room on his way to school. At least, he had been asleep and snoring until Joey, in his haste to get to the door, had accidentally bumped into the side table and knocked off the half dozen empty beer bottles that had been precariously balanced there. The noise had woken the man, who had started yelling at him; cursing him for being a lazy, worthless son, telling him to clean up the mess, ignoring Joey's protests that he was late for school and finally swearing at him when Joey had shouted back that he'd clean it up later and had slipped out the door before he could get to him.

Joey had run all the way to school, his body protesting at the exercise when he hadn't had any breakfast. Of course, he had still been late by over ten minutes. The teacher had not believed his excuse and had given him a lecture on punctuality in front of the whole class. His legs had felt like rubber from the run to school but the teacher hadn't let him sit down at his desk for another ten minutes. It hadn't helped when his stomach had decided halfway through to register its own complaint at the lack of breakfast. That had earned him a detention. Although Joey was pretty sure he would have been given one anyway for being late.

He'd finally managed to sit down just in time for homeroom to end and the first class to begin. Naturally, it had been Science, which meant that he'd had to get up again to go to the lab room. He'd collapsed into his seat and opened his bag, then realised in horror he'd forgotten to put his homework in before leaving home. He had been up so late finishing it the night before, he had fallen onto his bed and gone straight to sleep, without putting it in his bag.

His loud groan had earned him a sharp rebuke from the teacher. It was probably also the reason why she had picked on him throughout the class, asking him questions and telling him off when he couldn't answer. She had accused him of not paying enough attention, but the truth was that his stomach had been aching with hunger and there had been a constant buzzing in his ears, giving him a slight headache. The smell of the chemicals they were working with hadn't helped and he'd been feeling terrible by the time class had ended.

Japanese and Social Studies had been a bit better. He'd spent both lessons sitting quietly with his nose either buried in his textbook or writing down notes from the board. Although he'd still felt pretty bad, the lunch bell had made him feel a bit better. He'd rammed his books into his bag and jumped up.

The next thing he remembered was waking up in the nurse's office after fainting. The nurse had been sympathetic until Joey had told her he'd missed breakfast. Then she'd given him a scowling look and a lecture about how he should never miss meals. Ironically, by the time she'd finished telling him off for it, lunchtime was over. She had caused him to miss another meal.

His headache had been back in English class. Between it and his grumbling stomach, he'd been so distracted that he'd managed to make a complete fool of himself by translating 'the cook is in the kitchen' as 'the cock is in the kitchen'. The class had erupted into laughter but the teacher had not been impressed and had given Joey another detention for 'thinking himself funny'. Apparently she believed he had done it deliberately. He had been too ill and tired by that point to argue with her.

Maths had been the easiest class of the day. Their teacher had been away ill and the relief teacher had just set them some exercises to work through. When the bell had rung for the last class of the day, Joey had been careful to rise slowly from his seat, so he didn't faint again.

His last class had been art - his favourite class of all. He had been feeling too ill to hurry to it as he normally did, but that hadn't stopped him from thinking about the project he was going to be working on that day. Unfortunately, his distraction meant he hadn't seen Seto Kaiba coming the other way down the hall. He had walked right into him.

Joey hadn't even been able to finish saying he was sorry before the angry brunette had lashed out at him verbally. He had not gone easy on him, levelling one scathing accusation after another onto the blonde. A crowd had gathered, all snickering and leering at Joey, who by then had been feeling so ill and dazed that he had just stood there, letting Kaiba's words wash over him without really hearing any of them. The only part he'd really taken in had been the other teen's final words to him. Oddly, he'd heard them clearly over the loud buzzing in his ears.

"You are completely worthless. You are nothing. I refuse to waste any more of my valuable time talking to you."

After that, Joey vaguely remembered heading to his locker and then returning home, rather than going to art class. He wasn't sure what he'd been thinking. Maybe he'd just realised that if he tried to work on his project in the state he was in, he would have ruined it.

Whatever the reason, he'd come home and cleaned up the mess of bottles from that morning. He had just finished it when his father had arrived home early. One look at the man's eyes and Joey had known it was going to be bad. He had expected the yelling and cursing, but he hadn't expected his father to order him to his room without dinner. When he'd protested that he hadn't had anything to eat all day, his father had laughed and told him that maybe it would teach him to be more respectful of his betters.

That had hurt more than if his father had physically hit him.

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Was a guy who spent his days doing menial work and his nights drinking and sleeping on the couch really better than he was?

The thought filled Joey's mind, mixing with the harsh words Kaiba had spoken to him. He groaned and buried his face in his pillow until lack of air forced him to turn his head to the side again.

'Am I really nothing? Am I really so worthless that everyone is better than I am?' Joey frowned at the thought. 'I don't think so. My dad... well he's just being his usual self. Kaiba too. I wouldn't expect him to understand me. I mean, he has no idea what my life is like. His life is perfect. He has money, power, a limo, servants. He even has his little brother living with him. I bet he's never had to worry that his drunken father is going to find where he hides the month's rent money and drink it away, either. Kaiba has it all. Compared to him, I guess I really do have nothing.'

Joey sighed and sat up in bed, running a hand through his hair. Getting out of bed, he went over to the window and leaned his head against the cool glass. He could barely make out a few stars, bravely shining strongly enough to be seen despite the city lights. He hated pitying himself like this. It wasn't like he had it tougher than anyone else. He knew there were others in the same position he was, if not worse. He'd even known a few of them, back in his gang days. But sometimes he wondered what it would be like if he didn't have to live this way. If he had money - like Kaiba - or his own company - like Kaiba.

As he thought about it, one of the small twinkling points of light became a white streak across the night sky. Joey grinned, his usual good humour finally resurfacing. "Hey! A shootin' star! That means I get a wish. Now what should it be?" His mind went back to what he'd just been thinking and he shook his head. "Money and my own company... Man that's so lame. Let's face it, I wish I had Kaiba's life. It's as simple as..."

"... that!" Joey blinked as his world turned upside down.

Mokuba frowned at the papers in his hand, then brightened. "Oh! I see now! You're right, it is that simple!" He looked up at Joey and grinned happily. "Thanks, big brother!"

"You're welcome, Mokie." The words came automatically and Joey was shocked when he heard his voice speaking them. But not nearly as shocked as he was when he realised that Mokuba really was his little brother. He watched the raven-haired boy head out of his office, dazed and confused at what was going on.

As soon as the door closed behind Mokuba, Joey stumbled to his chair and collapsed into it, feeling a bit faint with shock. Had he really just been discussing the latest product line with his younger brother, or had he just fallen asleep in his bedroom and this was all some really weird dream?

Yeah, that had to be it. He'd had a bad day and had fallen asleep. He often had weird dreams when he was hungry. Like the time he'd dreamed he was a pizza and Kaiba had been eating him. As if Kaiba would ever eat something as common as pizza! He'd been nervous about going to sleep for a week after that one. So this had to just be a bad dream. All he had to do was pinch himself and...

"Ow!" Joey rubbed his arm, then stared at the red pinch mark in shock. "Oh man... it's not a dream." His voice was no more than a whisper, but it sounded overly loud in the silent room. Joey looked around, hoping no one had overheard him. If word got out that the CEO of Kaiba Corp. was having delusions...

Joey's thoughts stopped, then slowly reversed to the bit that had caught his attention. Had he really just thought of himself as the CEO of Kaiba Corp.? Yes, he certainly had. Why? The answer came easily to his dazed mind and left him wide-eyed in shock.

Because he was.

"I'm the CEO of Kaiba Corp." Joey looked around the office. His office. "I work here." He caressed the leather armrests of his chair. "I sit here every day." He looked at the computer on his desk and hesitantly reached for the mouse. Part of his mind said he'd never touched a computer before. The other part had him clicking on the screen, then keying in a passcode the first part of his mind insisted he didn't know. The welcome screen said otherwise.

Joey leaned back in his chair. "I'm the CEO of Kaiba Corp. But... no... I'm not..." He lifted his hand to his head, trying to work out what had happened and why he felt so lost and confused.

The last thing he remembered, he'd been speaking with Mokuba... No, that was the wrong... life? Joey frowned as a couple of things slipped into place. Two lives. He was remembering two lives. The one he was living and another - one in which he hadn't been the CEO of Kaiba Corp. In that life, the last thing he remembered was wishing that he had...

Joey tensed. "No. No way. It can't be." He jumped to his feet and walked over to the window, staring out at the same scene he had stared out at a million times, if not more. It was as familiar to him as his own name, Joey... Kaiba?

The room tilted and Joey leaned forward, resting his head against the cool glass as he tried to calm down, fighting the panic rising within him. He had to think. He needed to work this out.

"All right. Two lives. So let's start there." The sound of his voice was oddly reassuring to him. Even though his accent was not as obvious, it was still his voice. He recognised it. Just as he recognised the blonde hair and honey-brown eyes staring back at him from his reflection in the window. Whatever had happened, he was still himself.

"My name is Joey Wheeler." Although he felt a little silly talking to himself, Joey found it too comforting to stop. "I had a bad day and I was in my room. I made a wish. I wished for..." He slowly turned and looked around the luxurious office, taking it all in. Joey slowly began to smile. "This. I wished for this. Oh man. My wish came true. This can't be real. But... it is. This is my life."

He drew himself up proudly and grinned. "I am Joey Kaiba. CEO of Kaiba Corp. and one of the richest teenagers in the world." He knew without any doubt that it was the truth.

He almost ran to the desk and hit the intercom. When his secretary answered, Joey almost laughed in delight. He had a secretary. His new life was so cool! "Could you please tell Mokuba that he and I are taking the rest of the day off?"

"Of course, sir."

Joey knew it wasn't right. He had work to do. Important work that needed to be done. He also knew that this wasn't the first time he had given himself and Mokuba the day off and gone to do something fun. After all, he knew that all work and no play was no way to enjoy all that life had to offer.

If there had been anything urgent, he would have stayed to do it, of course, but there was nothing that he couldn't handle at his home office that night. Which reminded him... While he waited for his little brother to arrive, Joey got the documents and discs he'd need to work on at home. He did it without having to think about it, as if he'd done the same thing countless times before. By the time Mokuba entered the room, he was ready to go.

"Hey Mokie. Feel like taking off early?"

Mokuba grinned and ran to him, hugging him tightly. "Sure!" He eased back and eyed his brother, looking a little worried. "How come you didn't say anything about this earlier?"

Joey shrugged and grinned. "I didn't know myself, then. I just had a sudden urge to go do something fun." His heart felt warm as he looked down at the little brother he loved so very much. It was so good to see him happy. He would have hugged him again, if the raven-haired boy hadn't already been headed back towards the door.

"So what are we going to do, big brother?"

He hadn't really been thinking of anything in particular, but he couldn't resist saying what first popped into his mind. "Oh, I thought we could go count money, swim in money, bask in the glory that is us, you know the usual stuff that us rich folks do." He grinned at Mokuba as he caught up to him and ruffled his hair.

Mokuba laughed. "Joey! That joke is getting so old!"

Joey laughed too. "Sorry Mokie, I'll try to come up with a new one."

Even as he said it, he felt a twinge of weirdness at the fact that it didn't really feel like something he'd said before.

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He and Mokuba ended up going to a video game store where he treated them each to two games - much to his little brother's delight. Joey tried to push aside the thoughts he kept having as he looked at the games that he knew he owned... but could clearly remember wishing he could afford. He kept puzzling over those memories, until the answer hit him as he handed over his credit card to pay for his purchases.

In his other life, it had been more important to pay for food, the rent and school fees than it had been to buy games.

For the rest of the afternoon and evening, Joey laughed and joked around with Mokuba as they played their new games. He took great delight in having his younger sibling with him, and not so far away that he never saw her. Her? Him. He kept having to remind himself that Mokuba was not a girl. Although he certainly had the hair for it. Joey ruthlessly pushed the thought aside every time it came to him and focused on the pleasure of spending time with his little brother. He was even tempted to give in to Mokuba's pleas to let him stay up a bit later, but he knew he needed to get to the work he'd put aside earlier in the day. Besides, they had school the next day.

The documents took him longer than he had expected and it was close to midnight before Joey finally saved his work to disc and turned his computer off. A warm shower washed away the tension that had accumulated while he had been working and he was more than ready for sleep when he emerged from the bathroom in his black silk pyjama pants and padded across the bedroom carpet, his bare feet sinking into the thick pile. He turned his bed down and then paused as another of those strange other-life memories hit him.

He reached down and caressed the clean, white sheet. It was the finest quality cotton - imported directly from the manufacturers in Egypt - and was soft to the touch. The faint smell of lemons rose from it as he stroked it and he smiled. He had gone to sleep with that smell in his nose ever since the first night he had slept in this house. But in his memory, he distinctly remembered the smell of simple soap.

He had always made sure his sheets were clean, but he hadn't been able to afford any fancy scented washing powder. His sheets had been soft not because of their quality, but because they had been washed so many times that they were worn almost through.

The memory was as crisp and detailed as if he had really slept between those soap-scented sheets, but so was the memory with the lemon scent.

Joey groaned softly. As great as his new life was, he could definitely do without the constant reminders of his old life. They just left him feeling confused. He also had a feeling that he wouldn't be able to get any sleep unless he distracted himself from them.

Looking around for a good distraction, Joey's eyes fell on a sight that was familiar to him in both sets of memories. He grinned. Apparently, his habit of keeping his duel deck on his bedside table - so it was the first thing he saw each morning and the last thing he saw each night - was the same no matter what.

Sitting on his bed, Joey began to go through the familiar and comforting ritual of going through his cards. But when he turned over the first one... time seemed to stop. He stared at it, finding it impossible to believe that he was looking at the card he thought he was. But no, it was definitely there and definitely real. When he thought about it, he could even remember the day he had bought it.

"No way. I have a Blue Eyes White Dragon card now? That is so cool!" Joey beamed and quickly went through a few more cards. Within seconds, he was almost bouncing on his bed in his excitement at finding not just one, but three Blue Eyes White Dragons in his deck. "Yeah! All right!" He grinned at his deck. "Just goes to show you really can get anything if you have enough money. Let's see what else I have here."

As he went through the rest of his deck, his excitement was gradually replaced by an odd sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach. By the time he got down to the last card, he was shocked to see that his hand was trembling. He slowly turned the card over - although he knew before he saw it that it was Return from a Different Dimension and not the card he really wanted to see. His deck fell from his nerveless fingers, the cards scattering across the floor. The three Blue Eyes White Dragons were distinctive among the others and Joey stared at them - feeling numb.

"Three Blue Eyes White Dragons. Just what I always... wished for." His voice was very soft.

He leaned down and slowly collected his cards, stacking them neatly before returning the deck to its place on his bedside table. He went to stroke the top card, like he did every night, but stopped before he touched it. Lying down, he rolled over onto his side - away from his deck.

Joey was tired, but he didn't sleep. Instead, for the first time since he had made his wish, he began to seriously think about what had happened and, more importantly, what he was going to do about it.

It was several hours before mental exhaustion finally caused him to fall into a deep sleep - where four dragons flew on silent wings through a dark sky and a girl with long reddish-gold hair cried out for him to never forget her.

tbc
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The Wrong Dragon