And so that is how it happened—at the time, no one saw it coming. In hindsight, it ought to have been obvious to each and every citizen of Domino City.

How easily our best intentions are led astray.

Yet thanks to Seto Kaiba, the haughty ex-CEO who had recently found his heart, and Ishizu Ishtar, the tireless museum director who had found her truth, Mayor Devlin soon faced conflict like he'd never seen—riots on the streets of Domino, calling for his impeachment, his removal, his resignation.

And for a moment it seemed as though the protestors might have won, Mayor Devlin managed to hold onto his seat until the next election two years away due to the combination of his money and influence on the city council.

Yet his power was greatly reduced—Ishizu managed to sway enough votes on the council to make him little more than a figurehead, with all of the ceremony but none of the veto power. And that suited the city just fine. The upcoming election was sure to be a slaughter, with the mayor's plans and control left to dust.

The consensus on the streets of Domino City were that once Mayor Devlin lost his reelection bid, he'd better run, and quickly. It was about to be open season on Duke Devlin, and everyone knew it. Even Detective Bakura, the vicious attack dog of the mayor, was soon turned against him—after all, the mayor had broken a good many laws, and Detective Bakura did not like law-breakers.

It was not easy, but due to further efforts from Ishizu, Seto, and even old Pegasus, the ban on Duel Monsters was lifted, with the Zoning Ordinances left in place to protect the peace. The reduction in plein air dueling proved to be positive for the city's economic health, as KaibaCorp and Industrial Illusions were able to hire many of their old employees, and a good deal of new ones, to refurbish the old KaibaLand theme park and to build new arenas around the city. Soon enough, the growling stopped—the duelists accepted their fate and soon grew re-used to playing it "old school" once more.

And now, what of our heroes? What of Yugi Moto, the troubled, tortured former King of Games turned criminal mastermind? What of Joey Wheeler, his big-hearted right-hand man with the torch for the buxom, flighty Mai Valentine? What of Mai Valentine, the conflicted onetime champion and pioneer for female duelists? What of Téa Gardner, the dancer with a chance at a new way of living? What of Ishizu Ishtar, the museum director who had been mired in politics for far too long? What of Seto Kaiba, the man who had everything and nothing?

Mai Valentine, much to Joey's chagrin, continued to travel around the world for most of the year, playing in tournaments and bolstering her international reputation as both a duelist and a veritable femme fatale. Yet she was faithful to Joey, who stayed behind, and when she returned to Domino one month out of the year, you could not wipe the smile from his face. Soon, though, Mai plans to settle down, and Joey Wheeler will be right there with her when she does.

Joey Wheeler re-entered Duel Monsters tournaments in Domino City as soon as he was able, and faced a few setbacks toward the beginning. Yet what was Joey if not the ultimate underdog? He soon won some major local tournaments, and the money kept flowing, which was a welcome change.

He also volunteers on weekends in the Domino Museum of Art and Artefacts and has befriended Marik and Odion, although the latter will never admit as much. He also does community service work in several of Domino's most underserved areas on a regular basis, which are slowly improving along with the rest of the city's fortunes.

With the help of some of Joey's winnings, Tristan and Serenity moved the Baby Dragon Café and Bar from its seedy location into a nicer part of town. The new restaurant benefited from the carefully chosen décor, courtesy of Serenity's keen eye, and soon became a popular local spot. Once business became steady, Tristan and Serenity finally got married, although she kept her last name.

Marik Namu and Odion Rishid are still working at the Domino Museum of Art and Artefacts with their de-facto sister Ishizu. They are still dating, and have recently made a down payment on a house near the parkway. Stoic Odion plans to propose soon, so let's keep that a secret, shall we?

Téa Gardner moved into her own studio apartment and enrolled in business classes in order to better prepare her for taking over the House of Pegasus. Once she got the knowledge in order to run the business, she met with each dancer individually and discussed what kind of establishment they would like the House to become. The greater consensus was that while stripping had its charms, the majority of dancers would prefer to turn the Dark Magician Girl Revue into a proper dance repertory company, with Téa as the manager and head choreographer. With Pegasus's blessing, for he had decided to stay on at Industrial Illusions once Duel Monsters had been legalized, Téa was able to achieve her dream of running her own dance company.

Yugi Moto, as promised, went with Serenity to the rehabilitation facility Téa had arranged for him to stay at. He ended up spending nearly five months in treatment—quite a lot was not all right with our former King of Games. Joey Wheeler was his most constant visitor—along with Tristan and Téa, while Ishizu and Mokuba Kaiba (on behalf of his brother, who refused to do such things) sent bouquets of roses to him every week—flowers befitting the champion.

While he and Téa have decided not to rekindle their relationship until Yugi has been out of treatment successfully for a long while, they are both quite optimistic for future changes, and have remained close friends.

When Yugi was released from rehab, he surprised many in Domino City by not returning to Duel Monsters. Instead, at the relatively young age of twenty-seven, Yugi Moto retired from Duel Monsters, leaving his crown as King of Games up for grabs, and re-opened his grandfather's old game shop, where to this day he regales lines of children and duelists spilling out the doors with his stories of past duels and knowledge of the game.

Ishizu Ishtar decided that politics was not quite for her, and decided to focus her energies on establishing the Domino Museum of Art and Artefacts as the most respected museum in the region. With the financial help of KaibaCorp, the recently renamed Kaiba Wing of the museum went up smoothly and won several awards for its attractive modern architecture.

After Duel Monsters became re-legalized, Ishizu worked together with Marik, her artifacts expert, Odion, her chief conservator, and with Pegasus, who had undertaken several excavations in Egypt, to curate an exhibit of Ancient Egyptian games of monsters and magic—which, it must be said, bore several key similarities to Duel Monsters. The exhibit drew massive numbers of attendance, surprising everyone, except for Seto Kaiba, who had predicted it all along.

Seto Kaiba was reinstated as CEO of KaibaCorp immediately, with Mokuba letting out a sigh of relief—he had never wanted his brother's job in the first place, and was perfectly fine planning the renovation of his beloved KaibaLand in great detail, making it as inclusive and family-friendly as he could. Seto soon began designing revolutionary new arenas all around the city, and although he missed the utility of the duel disk, he did enjoy creating new "Bubble Arenas", in which duels would be played, where all damage and shockwaves from the matches are absorbed by the "bubble", causing harm to no one.

He is still working on the name.

While Seto is the favorite to run for mayor against the wildly unpopular Mayor Devlin, he has publicly stated that he has no intention of doing so. Yet his love for the city is evident, and so we shall see, shan't we?

Seto and Ishizu began dating officially, taking Domino's most eligible bachelor off of the list, much to the chagrin of half the city. While neither has plans to get married for the time being, they are very much happy with one another. Seto Kaiba has even spoken the word "love" in this context more than once, no small feat, which is practically enough for Ishizu.

After much discussion (Ishizu's euphemism for "arguments"), Ishizu moved into Kaiba Manor with Seto. The palpable chemistry between them has failed to dissipate. They are both quite busy with their work, but when they have a spare few hours, they like to take the jet back to Manila, where Ishizu has become a regular at El Café Tagalog.

Someday soon, though, Seto will take a ring along with him when they make their trip to the café.

And now, dear reader, this is where we leave the scene.

After all, aren't there better games to play?