Summary: Yuuichi Motuo discovers and solves the Millennium Puzzle just in time to awaken the ancient spirit that dwells within it. With the help of the spirit and his friends, it's up to Yuuichi to save the world from a new threat.

A/N: After a couple of hours of editing and re-editing I finally have this chapter along with chapter two finished. I'm quite satisfied with these newer versions of chapter 1 and chapter 2. Now considering the fact that there are only about six to seven pages of per original copy for each chapter you'd think that it's be easy right? WRONG! -sighs-

Anyway for those of you who are barely reading this story for the first time, this deals with what happened after Yu-Gi-Oh ended, Atemu (for the most part I will use the name Atemu rather than Atem) regained his memories and then dueled against Yugi in the Ceremonial Battle. In the end Yugi defeats Atemu, meaning that the pharaoh will now have to leave and join his friends and family in the afterlife.

But of course you all know that.

Unlike in the series, Yugi ends up keeping the Millennium Puzzle and the other items are likely to have been destroyed… Or so Yugi and his friends thought. So um continue on reading after the disclaimer and if you have something to tell me, send me a review.

Disclaimer: I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh!

Code Thing
"Talking"
'Thinking'
--Flashback--

Chapter 1 Today was a good day
Today was a good day.

The sun was shining brightly, the birds were chirping; Yugi and his friends were all at his home relaxing and looking forward to the weekend.

Yugi had an idea that they should all go to the park the next day. Téa agreed and suggested that they could have a picnic, which seemed like a wonderful idea according to Yugi's grandfather.

It gave them an excuse to go out rather than staying home cooped up and doing nothing. Yugi's grandfather saw it as an opportunity to close the game shop and relax during a busy week of people coming in and purchasing duel monster cards for Kaiba's new tournament.

Solomon Motuo looked to his grandson when he mentioned Kaiba's tournament, but from the looks of it Yugi didn't seem interested in the game that much anymore.

He noticed how the boy stared down at the Millennium Puzzle that was around his neck. Yugi had been acting this way for quite some time now. Cheerful and optimistic yes, but when dueling came into the discussion, the King of Games' demeanor suddenly seemed to change… Then again his best friend had left this world, suddenly realizing it, Solomon Motuo remembered that it was a year ago today.

-- The Ceremonial Battle

Despite what Kaiba had said, Yugi decided to take the challenge for himself. It was not just a test to see whether Atemu was ready for the afterlife, but also a test for himself as well.

He knew that it would be his toughest, this wasn't just the other half to his soul, Atemu was his friend. Yugi knew that he had to give it his best in this duel, but he didn't want to. He didn't want to lose Atemu.

During the duel things were a bit extreme, sometimes he'd have the advantage over Atemu, then the tables would turn and it would be Atemu's turn whether it was because of he had one (or all) of his Egyptian Gods on the field, or because his Dark Magician had wiped Yugi's monsters from his side of the field.

The odds were overwhelmingly against him especially when Atemu used Monster Reborn to bring Slifer the Sky Dragon back the field, but with a stroke of luck and quick thinking, Yugi managed to save himself. By using his Silent Magician at his full level and a magic card he was able to stop Slifer once and for all and sealing Atemu's fate with a final attack.

He had actually won, yet he didn't feel good about it, now Atemu had to leave and he didn't want him to go. But Atemu didn't want him to feel that way.

"It's going to be alright," Atemu had said despite the fact that Yugi would not listen. He told him that he'd be okay, giving Yugi the strength to finally let go.

Atemu noticed the stone where he had placed the Millennium Items. He walked over to it and retrieved the Millennium Puzzle. The sounds of Téa gasping and Kaiba and Joey muttering could be heard wondering what it was that he was doing.

He walked back to Yugi bent down until they were facing each other eye to eye. Surely Yugi didn't think that he would leave him so empty-handed.

Yet the fact remained that he might be making a terrible mistake drifted in his mind, but Atemu didn't care. He wanted to give him something to remember him by.

Atemu smiled at Yugi as he handed him the Millennium Puzzle… --

"Hey I know we should call Ryou, maybe he'd want to go with us too," said Joey, Yugi suddenly looked at them forcing a bit of a smile as he picked up the phone and dialed Ryou's home number.

The phone rang at least four times; Yugi was ready to give up when he heard someone answer. All he heard was the sound of someone yelling incomprehensibly before saying, "Hello?"

"Ryou?"

"Oh… Yugi…What's going on?" He could hear Ryou say on the other line, his voice sounded distressed and frustrated. Maybe it was a bad time to call, but Yugi pushed on anyway.

"Hey Bakura, we're gonna have a picnic at the park tomorrow and we were just wondering if you'd like to come with us," Yugi asked.

"Uh, I'm really kinda busy right now, work you know." The line went silent for a moment. "I probably wont have time for that tomorrow," he added.

"You sure? Well maybe we can come over and help you," Yugi offered, only to have not so good results.

"NOOO DON'T!" Ryou yelled back causing Yugi to cringe slightly, Ryou laughed a few seconds later, "I mean it's okay, I can handle this by myself." he replied in a hurry.

"Umm okay but if you do finish early well you'll know where to find us," Yugi said but was interrupted by a really strange Ryou.

"NothanksI'mfinereallymaybenexttime," Ryou replied rather quickly whatever he said was too jumbled up to be understood. Yugi looked at the receiver oddly before hanging up.

"So what's it gonna be? He comin' or not?" Joey asked while he changed the channel.

"He said he had a lot of work to do, maybe though," Yugi replied still a bit confused to why Ryou was acting that way. Who was he yelling at, and why?

The next day Yugi and his grandfather met up with Joey, Tristan, and Téa at the park. Ryou did not show up, Yugi concluded that Ryou just wasn't going to show up.

After reaching the park they decided to set up their spot. Téa and Yugi's grandfather were too busy making sandwiches while Yugi and the other two teens were playing Frisbee.

Joey and Tristan were toying with Yugi; he was a bit short to catch the Frisbee. He managed to get back at Joey though when he was not paying attention to throw the disk at his head.

It wasn't his intention to really hurt the other teen especially with a Frisbee that couldn't do any harm other than maybe a bump, but it was funny when instead of hitting Joey in the back of the head, Joey turned around allowing the Frisbee to get caught in his mouth.

Yugi was a bit wide eyed in surprise but started giggling and laughing along with Tristan. Joey pulled the Frisbee from his mouth, 'Oh what the heck,' he thought as he too joined in and chuckled as well.

"Those boys," Téa said watching her friends from afar. She called out to them telling that the sandwiches were ready. To her surprise the three boys charged towards her and the food, making no comments as they rushed for their share. Tea didn't do much but sweat drop.

Joey as usual had been taking in as much as humanly possible while Tristan cheered, Tea had been talking to Yugi noticing that he was behaving a bit distant but trying to hide it, when she noticed that Ryou Bakura was heading their way.

"Hey 'bout time ya showed up," Joey stopped enjoying his meal as he noticed it was Ryou, yet something was definitely odd about his appearance.

"Yeah C'mon there's more than enough to go around well there was," Tea remarked as she looked at Joey who had gone back to wolfing down his sandwiches. Ryou lowered his head as he approached them.

"Earth to Ryou... Ryou?"

Ryou had not bothered looking at them; he had his left hand in his pocket. From the looks of it, it seemed that he was struggling to take out whatever he was holding on to.

Ryou was mumbling to himself angrily, he clutched his head with his other hand for a moment.

"Is something wrong?" Yugi suddenly said.

"Anything we can get you?"

Ryou Bakura lifted his face letting his hand go as he looked right at them. Ryou's appearance looked rundown, black circles forming under his eyes most likely from lack of sleep, but that wasn't the point.

Something about his brown eyes suddenly seemed to bring about a look of fear into his friends' faces. The sort of ravenous and deranged look that could make a person cringe in fear.

Yami Bakura smiled in delight as he took a step forward.

"As a matter of fact I do," he replied, sounding nothing like the person Yugi had been talking to a while earlier. A bright glow erupted in front of him causing some sort of object to materialize.

It was the Millennium Ring.

"No way!!!"

"I thought they were destroyed!!"

"So did I, it's not possible!!"

"But that means…" said Téa but was interrupted by Yugi.

"He's back."

A smirk formed on Yami Bakura's face, those fools didn't expect for him to return did they?

"I guess you want my Puzzle don't you," Yugi yelled already knowing why the spirit was here in the first place. He clutched the chain of his Millennium Puzzle, "That's always what you want!"

Yami Bakura came to a halt, "Of course it is. Maybe its time you realized that no matter what you do you can never escape me. Even after you defeated me in the Memory World, I thought that I was a goner. But thanks to that idiot pharaoh friend of yours, I was able to come back."

"What? Atemu? What are you talking about? " Yugi stopped mid sentence as he looked at the Millennium Puzzle, when he realized, "Of course! Atemu removed the Puzzle from the tablet. When he did that the other items could not be bounded and were released from their resting place as well. But then why didn't Ryou…"

"Ryou that weak fool? Stupid vessel's been trying to keep me under control for quite a while now. He tried putting up a bit of a fight to stop me from getting here. I was surprise that he was able to take me on, but in the end he was no match for me. Enough now with all this talking, hand it over," Yami Bakura said as waited for the Millennium Puzzle.

"Or what tough guy?" Joey said standing next to Yugi while making a fist at the ancient spirit who now inhabited the body of his friend.

Yami Bakura chuckled, "Figures you idiots wouldn't hand over the Puzzle, so I thought it would be best to bring something that can persuade you a little better," he replied as he pulled out something from his pocket, a handgun.

Téa screamed aloud, "Oh my gosh! He's got a gun!!!"

"No kidding!" Joey yelled as he backed away waving his hands in front of him.

Yugi looked to Joey then back to Yami Bakura. He didn't want all of thins to happen again now that Atemu was gone and unable to protect him.

"What's the matter little Yugi? No all powerful pharaoh to protect you from the big bad thief?" He was right Atemu wasn't there to help him or his friends.

But wasn't that the point of the Ceremonial Battle? Not just to prove if Atemu was worthy of the afterlife, but to for him as well to see if he could let Atemu go. He was strong of heart and Atemu knew that in his mind; Yugi didn't need him anymore.

Yugi proved Atemu right when he defeated him. Yugi was strong and courageous enough to finally let go. He remembered that Atemu had assured him that he would never be alone because he still had his friends by his side.

Yugi took a deep breath as he stepped forward and removed the Millennium Puzzle from his neck; he held the puzzle by the chain a fearless expression on his face as he stared at Yami Bakura.

"That's right just hand it over," Yami Bakura said, his hand outstretched waiting to receive the item.

"Don't do it buddy," said Joey who was hiding behind Tristan.

"He has no other choice. Either it's the Millennium Puzzle or your lives, and it seems that Yugi has made the right choice."

Yugi stopped only about half a meter away from his foe, but he didn't give him what he wanted. "You're right Atemu's not here to help me, but there's one thing you're wrong about. I don't need Atemu anymore, because I have friends here that I care about, and there's nothing I wouldn't do to help and protect them."

"How touching…" Yami Bakura said revolted by the sound of those words.

"I know you won't guarantee the safety of my friends even if I give you my puzzle, I could give you the puzzle and you'd still shoot me," he said with a little more fierceness in his voice.

"Does that mean you're not going to give in? That's fine with me I'll just kill you first and take the Puzzle when I'm done." He smirked ready to pull the trigger.

"No I'm not going to let you… Ryou I know you're in there, so listen closely, I'm going to free you,"

"You really think that the boy can hear you?!" Yami Bakura realized that the Millennium Ring and Puzzle were both glowing, "What!! What are you doing!?" He yelled.

"Releasing Ryou and freeing him from your control," Yugi cried out as the glow got stronger. How he had managed to be able to use such an incredible amount of magic was a mystery. Yami Bakura was too distracted shielding his eyes from the light that he failed to notice as Yugi swung his Puzzle right at him striking him in the face.

A loud shot was heard, causing the birds that were nesting in the trees to be spooked and fly around to the point that Tea freaked out and grabbed Joey's arm.

They didn't hear the soft thudding sounds that were made as pieces of the Millennium Puzzle had fallen to the ground; the blinding light grew dim and faded away. The few pieces that had fallen to the ground were followed by the Millennium Puzzle that Yugi had been holding on to.

Ryou had fallen on his rear; one hand was on the ground still holding onto the pistol that had gone off, his other covering the cut on his face in which started bleeding. The teen seemed in shock to what was going on.

He looked up to Yugi who stood there for a few seconds not really noticing that he had just dropped his most prized possession. Instead his attention was focused on his hand that was over his chest. It was where the bullet had entered.

Not a second later he collapsed and fell over Ryou. Frightened, Ryou let go of the gun that he was holding on to and tried to catch Yugi.

"NO YUGI!!!!" Téa cried out ready to go to his aide.

"Téa don't," Yugi's grandfather said as he tried to reach her, but she had already ran to Yugi and Ryou.

She reached the two of them, Ryou was mumbling like crazily as she tried to drag the other teen away from him. Téa turned Yugi around having lie on his back, and smacked him in the cheeks a few times to keep him awake.

"Téa…" he whispered as he opened his eyes slightly.

"No, no, no I won't lose you Yugi! Please stay awake! SOMEONE CALL AN AMBULENCE!!" she screamed as she cried, Yugi's grandfather took out a cell phone and dialed for an ambulance.

"Ryou…" Yugi whispered once more Ryou snapped back to reality and looked to Yugi still in shock.

"Yugi?"

"You're free…" Yugi shook for a moment and coughed immensely as blood started coming out of his mouth.

"I… I'm so sorry Yugi… I should have told you… I should have…" The snowy white haired teen broke off mid sentence and fell to his knees as he yanked the Millennium Ring and cried, "It's all my fault!"

Ryou could see them slowly approaching him, looking at him terrified and alert in case something else happened. His brown eyes filled with tears as he tried to bring himself to grips with what had just happened. Thought, it was the entirely spirit's fault, Ryou knew that the thief wasn't entirely blameless in this.

He could have done something about it, he could have told Yugi and warned him about the spirit. Ryou looked down at the Millennium Ring in his hand, his hatred for the item began to surge within him. All it ever did was bring pain and suffering to him as well as everyone else.

There had to be a way to put a stop to this. Ryou stepped back, wiped the tears and the blood away from his face the best he could but it was no use. He picked up the handgun contemplating what to do next.

"Hey, what are you doing?" Tristan said as he and Joey noticed that their friend was holding the gun again; they stepped back fearing that it was the spirit who was doing this not Ryou.

"I'm sorry about this I truly am…" he said as he as he backed away in case something happened.

"Ryou? Wait what are you doing?" Joey said realizing that it was really Ryou who they were talking to, but what was he trying to do now? Was he going to run away?

"I have to put a stop to it. Even if I got rid of this ring, he'll always come back and who knows what he'll do. That's why I must…" He said. His hand trembled his mind already made up.

"Why you'll what?" Tea asked trying to hold in the tears that kept rolling down her cheeks, she continued to shake Yugi.

"Why I must say goodbye, as long as I'm around I'll always be a threat to you and everyone else," He replied as he slowly placed the barrel of the gun to his temple.

"Wait! No stop!" Joey yelled when he saw what Ryou was about to do.

"Don't do it!!" Tristan yelled out.

Ryou shook his head, "I wish there was another way, but there is no time, I'm sorry…" He closed his eyes tightly, gritting his teeth as he did. Joey and Tristan ran to him hoping that they would stop him in time, but their efforts were in vain as another shot was heard.

"RYOU!!" They both yelled in unison when they saw Ryou lying on the floor, eyes closed as a pool of blood collected from where he shot himself. His white hair slowly staining red with his own blood as he remained lifeless.

Within minutes the ambulance arrived at the scene. Medical assistance came and found two teens on the ground. One of them whose condition was critical and was getting worse by the second. As for the other, there was no hope he was already gone…

Gone forever...

To Be Continued