Disclaimer: I do not own the Yu-Gi-Oh characters. They are owned by Kazuki Takahashi. Though having Joey would be nice…

Summary: It's been three years since the Ceremonial Duel and things have calmed. However, that is all about to change as a supposedly normal day in a chemistry lab goes wrong. Now Yugi, Joey, and Serenity have to figure out how to deal with their new enemies as well as some new powers. This will have Yugi/Serenity and Joey/Mai and some Trinity Blood essence and some Tea-bashing of sorts. I need a villain to lead the enemies, and since she's not one of my favorite characters, well…

Please keep in mind this is one of my first stories to actually be put online, so any advice anyone has would be appreciated. Just please don't flame, I'm sorry if I don't have the same likes as you, but we all have our preferences. Oh, and I'm trying to use Joey's accent when typing, so please don't tell me there are mistakes with spelling, unless you can correct me on the way talks. If you're confused with his speech let me know, and I'll try to translate it for you. It's actually how I take notes in my college classes. Oh, and because of violence this maybe rated around T.

Well, here's the story:

Chapter One:

The Accident That Transpired

Yugi sat in a hospital room with two of his friends. He was really regretting having them and him take that science class. He wouldn't, had he known about the experimental nanomachines they would have been working on or the fact that Tea was in the class. In the bed beside him Joey sighed. "Kaiba jus had to have dat class work on dose stupid machines his company found. If he didn't know what dey were den why'd he have a college class work on them? Have you heard how da other students came out?"

"Not all of them made it…The doctors said the nanomachines attacked their organs and such and killed them. We were hit with some of the stronger nanomachines, but nothing's happened to us. Our doctor, Dr. Takani, said our wait period was up; we'll be fine, but they don't know if there will be any side effects or not." Serenity told her brother.

"I guess this is all my fault. If I hadn't wanted to get into this class so badly and waited like you guys wanted to, this wouldn't have happened. Or maybe I shouldn't have talked you two into taking it with me, and that way you two would be safe and I'd be the only one with this problem…"came Yugi sad comment.

"Yeah, and have us beatin ourselves up cuz of it, no way. We're glad we were wit you, cuz of dis week long holdin period wit no outside contact. Besides, da Shadow Magic is prolly holdin off any effects dose tings may have. Dat's why we ain't affected, or at least didn't die from it. But have ya heard if SHE made it out alive? SHE was kinda da reason for da explosion." Joey looked over at his best friends lowered head. Da lil' guy blames himself for everything, even if it ain't his fault. Dough he's always been like dat; even before HE came and changed our lives, but it got worse afta HE left and SHE betrayed us…I hope Yug doesn't still believe what SHE said dat day… Joey was broken from his thoughts when his sister began to speak again.



"They said she had a really nasty reaction to the machines even though she had a weaker dose than what we did. I wouldn't say it was because she was stripped of her Shadow Magic because those that lived other than us and her had those nano-robots in them, and they didn't act as violently to them as she did. Though they are all exhibiting the same symptoms and all of them are characteristic of a certain creature of myths: a vampire. It's strange, but I wonder why the nano-machines are making them act like that."

"Well, one dings for sure, SHE deserves dat after what she's done ("Joey, be nice."—Yugi). But you guys don't tink we'll end up like dat do ya. I mean da Shadow Magic could jus be holdin it off. What if dose tings react in us and we become vampires. I mean, den we couldn't go on wit da lives we had planned, could we?" Joey looked to Yugi for that answer. Of the three, the tri-colored haired young man knew the most about the Shadow Magic and its effects on the body.

"I'm not sure about that, Joey, but wouldn't it be safe to assume that if something like that was going to happen it would have already. I mean the others 'changed' already, and they had a weaker dose than we did. Was anyone else hit with the ones we were, Serenity?" Yugi answered, finally willing to become part of the conversation. Joey smiled; a puzzle to solve always broke the little guy out of his dark thoughts.

"Well, none of them are alive. We are the only ones out of the five that got hit with this version to survive, but before they died some weird things happened to them, though I couldn't hear what exactly. I think they realized they were by our door and didn't want to risk one of us hearing the things that happened." Serenity sighed. She hated not knowing what was going to happen to her or her friends. She had had enough of that during the time she was blind then the adventures her brother and his friends went on.

All of a sudden a knock on the door sounded and their doctor stepped in. She had long black hair that glistened blue in the light and wore a blue medical coat with white pants. She smiled at the three and said, "I see three young ones that are ready to leave the hospital, huh."

All three nodded in agreement and smiled when she showed them their release papers. "Just sign at the bottom and you can go, but remember I want to see you in two weeks for a check-up, unless something else comes up. Any strange occurrence or feeling, even an odd urge or craving, I want you to come back and report it to me personally. Of course if one needs to come, all of you come. It could affect all of you in some way. Well, I hope to see you again soon, but let's just hope not under these circumstances or because of problems," with that the doctor sat the papers down and stepped out of the room.

The three grabbed the papers, signed out, and spread out to change clothes. Serenity went to the bathroom, while the two boys changed in the room (Yugi, though, was behind the closet door where his clothes were). After they were done the friends walked out of the room and out into the waiting area to see Mai, Tristan, and Solomon waiting on them. The blonde haired woman ran to the blonde haired man and wrapped her arms around his neck, hugging him close to her. "I was so worried about you, Joey, all three of you. I thought I had lost my family again, baby."



"'ey we're alright now, Mai, and we're doin better den most da otha patients from da accident. We got our Shadow Magic so we're gonna be fine," Joey tried to comfort his girlfriend, but he understood. He knew how he would have felt if their roles would have been reversed. Heck, he knew they would have had to tie him down to keep him out of the room if the girl in his arms, Yugi, and his sister would have been in there instead.

Tristan one-arm hugged Yugi and Serenity, though he did bury his face in the boy's shoulder. His arms were too busy to be able to wipe the tears away and not let anyone see them. Yugi just smiled and patted the, still much taller, boy on the back. Both he and Serenity had their hands full, because Solomon decided he couldn't wait to hug his grandson any longer. He had been a nervous wreck after the school had called to inform him of the accident. He called the rest of the gang, the Kaibas, the Ishtars, and even Pegasus to tell them what happened before speeding down to the hospital to find out what was going on with his grandson and his 'adopted' grandkids. He had only beaten Tristan, Marik, and Ryou there by mere seconds with Duke, Mai, the remaining Ishtars, and the Kaibas next. Eventually Pegasus even showed up, worried. After spending more time with the group the half-blind man had come to see Yugi as a son, going as far as telling the boy's real father to not worry about ever having Yugi take over his company. He wanted him to take over I2 when he decided to retire. The boy had agreed as long as he could still go on archeological digs on the side. Of course it as allowed and the two had begun the papers of a semi-adoption. Yugi now had all of his college paid for and was also getting a large allowance, not counting the money he won at tournaments and received from governments due to some of the 'mishaps' of the old days. Though the boy was smart and invested most of it; keeping out only what he and his grandfather would need and (of course) some extra for fun. Joey ended up much the same way, and Pegasus was even overly willing to semi-adopt both him and Serenity. Since Yugi did it, Joey did, but Serenity refused it. She was grateful, and she made sure the man knew it. She just couldn't get over the weird feeling of her boyfriend being her adopted brother, even if it was just a limited adoption. Her older brother doing it made it feel weird enough. Pegasus laughed it off and let her know he understood, but the girl was still going to be in on everything the boys were. Pegasus really looked after the entire group, and it deeply scared him when Solomon called telling him the three were in an accident at school.

After a few more minutes of the reunion they all decided to go out and get something to eat before going home, or rather to Yugi's. Once they had returned to the Game Shop the others were waiting for them. Inside the three had to explain all that had happened. When the story was over the others took it all in. "And once again Yugi proves that hangin with him brings the weird stuff," Tristan joked while Yugi glared at him. "What? You know it's true, bro. Anyway, they're not sure what will end up happening to you guys?"

Yugi sighed, "Not yet. There may be nothing, or we may end up like the others. Or our Shadow Magic may change the outcome all the way around. Right now we just have to wait and see."

"If I had known this would have occurred, I would not have given the college those machines. I did keep a few containers of them, but I'm not going to do anything with them. Maybe I could use them to find a way to reverse what has happened." Seto looked down at his hands with a calculating look.



"That may be a good idea, but something needs to be done quickly before this spreads, if that's possible. I'll look up information on it on the internet," Ryou added.

"I'll see what the Monsters say can be done about this occurrence. They will not be happy their king is in such possible trouble," came Ishizu's comment.

Yugi smiled and said, "Just let them know I'm ok. I know Mahado will be worried and probably come to check on me anyway, but just reassure the others, ok?"

Ishizu nodded, laughing lightly. "We should probably be going so that the three of you can get some rest. Please, young one, let us know if you need us for anything. We will be there for whatever you may need of us."

The tri-colored haired boy nodded in approval. "We'll let you know. Thank you, guys, for all your help. Knowing that all of you were waiting for us to get out made the long stay a little more bearable."

Soon after, the gang left the shop with only the three and Solomon. "Do you two need to stay here tonight? I'm sure your apartment will be waiting on you in the morning, and it's already after 10 o'clock," Solomon asked.

"Yea, we'll stay tonight. I tink we kinda need one more night togetha to rememba we all made it out of dat experience," Joey said. "Are our spare clothes still ova here, gramps?"

"Of course they are. You two are always over so there's no reason to give them back to you or throw them out," came Solomon's response.

The brother and sister nodded and set out to get baths, change, and get to bed. Once the two had left the room the elderly man turned to grandson. "Your mother asked if you were ok when I talked to her today. Even your father did. Pegasus called every day you three were in that room asking your conditions. He was really worried. He may be over tomorrow afternoon to see you."

"I'm glad he'll get to come. I haven't seen him in a few weeks what with his busy schedule and all. I'm just happy to hear he was actually worried about me; I'm not used to that from a parent figure other than you, grandpa. Were mom and dad happy or upset that I was fine?" The small young man looked over at his grandfather.

"Well, your mother was very relieved. She had been quite worried about you. She usually is, but she has a problem showing it to anyone. Now your father I'm not too sure about…He seemed to be happy you were ok, but I have a hard time reading that man when I talk to him. I'm just glad you took after me and not him." Solomon reached over and ruffled the boy's hair. Then he pulled his hand away and looked at him in an analytical fashion. "Every day, though, you look more and more like a different relative…One who left this world both a long time ago and just a few years ago…Your Egyptian coloring is coming in as is your height. Soon, your voice will even match his. You know, he would be very proud of the man you've become just like I am."



"Thanks, grandpa. And I know. We were always almost twins, but it really makes me feel good knowing that I really descended from him. I had looked up to him as someone I wanted to be like, and now my features are becoming more and more like his. Do you think my eyes'll ever be like his, though?"

"Now that, I'm not so sure of. They may narrow a bit, but I doubt that much. You've kept your innocent look for so long that they may not ever narrow or harden even a little. Especially if they haven't with all you've been through these past seven years. But try not to worry about that right now. You need to go on and get some rest. I'm very sure you're tired after the busy day today and being used to sitting around in a hospital room all day." The elderly man helped his grandson up and nudged toward the stairs.

"Alright, grandpa, I'll see you in the morning. I love you." Yugi yawned as he walked up the stairs.

"Good-night, Yugi, my boy. I love you, too." Solomon smiled up after his 20 year old grandson. It had been seven years since the boy had solved the Millennium Puzzle, set the ancient spirit of the Pharaoh free, and started his crazy and dangerous adventures of saving the world. It had been around three years since things had calmed down, mostly, with the departure of Atem in to the afterlife. Now the man wondered if it was all going to start again because of the accident. What are we going to have to deal with now? And I wonder if those kids are still up to saving the world like old times, or will this bring back depressing memories for my Yugi… Solomon sighed as he shook the thoughts from his head. Answers would come later and right then all the worry over the past week had caught up with the man. He yawned as he headed to get ready for bed and good night sleep now that his grandson was safe and sound back home with him.