Puzzling
By Saendie
Chapter One: Next Candidate
This story is from me watching too many Mystery Science Theater 3000 episodes while eating chocolate-covered cherries. I don't own Yugioh and if you thought I did I'm flattered, but I don't. I know Yugi's mother is named Ashita Wo, but so far there's no mention of Yugi's father or why his mother has a different last name. So I figured it couldn't hurt to take a shot at what I thought might be the reason. Anyone who's read Value will have a hint at my idea. It's a conspiracy theory fic and Diane is my form of repressed anger at a certain old boss. She traumatized me man, it's all her fault! *hiss from cave*
Rated PG for cussing and violence and anything else I feel like putting in here.

Gikyoku stared with wide, horrified eyes at the enormous screen just above him, then down at the smaller computer monitor with the complex riddle he had to solve.
The screams were deafening now and he wiped sweat from his face as more tiles gave out, sending another victim plunging to their death.
He kept hitting blocks.
Another fell.
He didn't know!
The last plummeted and both screens finally went blank. Gikyoku covered his face in his hands, left alone in the darkness for about ten minutes to let the guilt of his failure sink in. The door behind him opened and a woman with long red hair stepped inside with a very angered look on her face. "That was the third failure this month."
Gikyoku looked up at her, lavender eyes showing years of pain and torment. "I'm tired."
"You're obsolete. It's time for the next candidate."
The man regarded her oddly. "Next…candidate?" He had been there for fifteen years. "Who?"
"Someone you've never met, nor never will." Diane turned and waved a hand, calling in a few guards to take Gikyoku away. "Take him back to the center." Once he was taken away Diane pulled out her cell phone. "He's finally used up, have the child brought here." Turning back to the view screen it lit up with seven different images. The Millennium Items. The one of the Puzzle in the center had a red outline around the picture. "Time to dual." She laughed wickedly before leaving the room.

**********
Yugi Mutou placed the flowers gently on the grave and placed his hands together, saying an ancient prayer to the gods. When he was finished he smiled at the kanji carved on the smooth stone. "Hi dad, sorry I haven't visited in awhile. Things have been really busy ever since I won the tournament. I told you about it before I left on the ship to save grandpa. I'm glad he's still here, but you must be lonely. Mamma still won't talk about you…" Yugi fell silent for a few moments, then brightened up.
"The holidays are almost here and so is my birthday. I'll be fifteen but I still am not growing. Yami says that I'm just taking my time, although if I look like him when I start growing I'll really taking it for all it's worth. Yami stays inside the puzzle a lot now because girls keep chasing after him every time he comes out." Yugi laughed. "I think it's great, but he keeps saying it's annoying. Raving fangirls, he calls them. I don't know, I think he's just shy."
He raised a hand to lay it against the surface of the tombstone, his fingers tracing the carved kanji. "I wonder what you look like…" Suddenly the alarm on his watch went off, reminding him that he had to meet up with his friends. "Time to go dad, see ya!" Yugi stood up and jogged out of the cemetery.

The ride back to the center was routine. They had done it for years now, but now they no longer needed restraints or drugs. The fight was gone, as far as they were concerned. At first their prisoner was the worst, always balking at any authority and doing his best to be a troublemaker. Over time it had turned to pranks, then soon he just listlessly sat there for the rides to the 'torture chamber', then back to the holding cells of the center.
The words of Diane rang in their ears though. It was time to get rid of Gikyoku.
"No more rides huh?" Tetsuro finally broke the uneasy quiet.
Gikyoku smirked a little. "Doesn't matter. I'm sick of that bitch."
"Too bad. We'll miss ya."
"Yeah, but at least—" He didn't have time to finish his sentence as the van sudden swerved and rolled, slamming hard into a guard rail and ejecting the passengers as the backdoors flew open. Gikyoku gasped and reached scrambled for some kind of hand hold but gravity and momentum were too much and threw him out and over a river. He barely had enough time to register that this was going to hurt before plunging into the water.
He knew he blacked out at some point but all he remembered was clenching his eyes shut, then struggling against currents of water. By the time he managed to drag himself to the river's edge and up the bank he could barely remember how he managed to survive drowning. Laying his head down on the grass and trying to get his heart rate under control, only one thing kept him going. "Ashita…"

The sweatdrop on Yugi Mutou's head soon gained three more as Yami and Otogi went at it. The same old argument about dice versus cards. They were practically throwing things at each other but trying to be civil while keeping their cool. Otogi's cheerleading group weren't helping as Yugi swore he saw Yami's sennen eye appear several times, ready to turn them into Kentucky Fried Fangirl if they did another cheer for the green-eyed teenager. He let them goat it for a while before tapping Yami on the shoulder.
"-those dice are probably rigged-huh?" The Game King glanced down at his gentler self.
"Time to go home, mamma hates it when I'm late for dinner." Yugi reminded him patiently.
"We'll continue this later, Otogi." Yami said.
"Any time, you know I love showing you you're wrong." Otogi grinned, curling a lock of hair around his finger.
"Yay! Yay! Otogi!" The girls jumped up, doing their cheer and Yugi quickly reformed with Yami before things got ugly.
"Ahehehe…bye Ogoti!" Yugi waved and left Dark Crown to walk down the street to the Turtle Game Shop. It was dusk and getting dark but Yugi walked with a sure step. He knew if anything attacked him that Yami would make them very sorry. The Egyptian Pharaoh was his life-long guardian and protector.

Everything Yugi wanted to be…tall, brilliant, handsome, and full of courage. He counted himself as being blessed as Yami was nothing like the Millennium Ring that ruled Ryou with an iron grip. Yugi felt terrible that Ryou didn't have even a friendship with his Item.
Lost in thought he only noticed the man standing before the Turtle Game Shop door until he nearly bumped into him. The man had long black hair and was at least two feet taller than him. "Um, sir?" The man turned a little and Yugi stared at the violet colored eyes that matched his own. "Are you alright?"
The man snapped out of his trance. "Sogoroku. Is he still here?"

Yugi nodded and pushed open the door. "Yeah, is he expecting you?"

"Not exactly…I have to speak to him though."

"I'll go get him!" Yugi smiled and hurried up the stairs to where the rest of the household was above the Game Shop. He knocked on the door. "Jisan, there's a man here asking for you."

"Oh?" The door opened and Sogoroku stepped out. "Who?"

"Not sure…he's waiting downstairs though."

Sogoroku Mutou nodded and went down the stairs. Rounding a corner he nearly had a heart attack. "Gikyoku…?"

"Hi dad."

Sogoroku's eyes were wide with shock. "You're dead…is this your spirit?" He poked him but he was solid.

"I'm not dead…it's a long story."

"I'll say!"

Yugi frowned at the odd exchange between his grandfather and the stranger. "What's going on, Jisan?"

Sogoroku rubbed his forehead. "I wish I knew…Ashita-"

Gikyoku cut him off. "Does she still live around here?"

"She lives here now. Son, where have you been?"

A loud crash from the front door startled all of them and they turned to see Ashita having dropped the groceries she was carrying. Her face was pale, white as a sheet as she kept her gaze locked on Gikyoku.

The tall man took a step towards her. "Ashita, you're alright!" When he got near she fainted right there, making him have to catch her. "Why did she faint?"

"We all thought you were dead this whole time!" Sogoroku said, a bit of anger edged in his voice. "How dare you have just vanished like that."

"It wasn't my fault, dad!"

"You never even bothered to try and contact us or even your own son."

"….son?" Gikyoku's gaze traveled up to see Yugi standing there with a confused look. "I have a son?"

To Be Continued…