Chapter One
It had only been a few months after the Kaiba Land Tournament, where Yugi had defeated Aigami. Marik was sitting on the couch in his penthouse. He was scrolling through his group messages on his phone. The whole crew kept in touch. They responded when they could, understanding that they were all in different time zones. Tèa was off studying abroad in America. Yugi, Joey and Tristan were in Japan. Yugi was studying in a prestigious university. He decided to continue his education while keeping duel monsters as a hobby. Joey was his roommate at the university. Recently, Joey had bumped into Mai at the university and had told the group chat all about it. Tristan and Serenity had moved in together finally. Tristan was going to a trade school to be a mechanic and Serenity was studying nursing. Duke was in China. He had begun a gaming store chain filled with many different games, not just Dungeon Dice Monsters. Ryou was in London. He had taken up his father's occupation of being an archivist working for museums. Marik was at home in Egypt.
Marik couldn't help but feel the least progressed out of the whole group. He was unable to completely separate with his Yami side as Ryou and Yugi had. His Yami side was not a separate entity, but a part of himself. While he did not care to destroy humanity, he did enjoy engaging in shady activities. Marik was the head of the Rare Hunters, which had now become a gambling group. With their devious practices, they had swindled multiple CEO's and Moguls out of millions. Marik and his organization had done well for themselves, which is how he ended up in this beautiful penthouse in Cairo. Ishizu did not approve of his choices, but Marik was an adult now, and there was little she could do.
Marik couldn't help but think of his true partner in crime, Bakura. Bakura now was a name that was used only to refer to the spirit inside of the millennium ring. Bakura had done so many evil things, posing as Ryou that the friend group decided not to use it when addressing Ryou. While the others might have less than fond memories of Bakura, Marik had some of the happiest days of his life with Bakura. That might not be saying much considering that before the group was in the picture, he was stuck underground in tomb, but still Marik couldn't help but reminisce constantly. Marik missed Bakura and felt that he never really got closure. He never even had the chance to say goodbye. Marik couldn't help but daydream about a Bakura that was free of Zorc's influence. While he still might have a dark side to him, he would not be hell-bent on destroying the world. They would probably make great partners, but Marik would never know because Bakura was gone. He honestly had no idea how he would even go about bringing him back. He knew nothing was impossible considering how Pharaoh Atem was able to hide in a puzzle for all those thousands of years. Or how Yugi was able to go to the past to meet Atem. Unfortunately, nothing like that had happened for many years. Well, nothing except for the unexplainable thing event that occured at the Kaiba Land Tournament a few months prior. Only if you had met the Pharaoh would you be able to notice the slight change in Yugi's demeanor for only a few seconds. But, there was no doubt in Marik's mind, it was Atem. That is when Marik noticed he was getting a phone call from Maxamillion Pegasus.