AN: I have decided to redo the chapter. I have changed over time, and my fiction will change as well.

No use trying to completely follow what I planned last time, but I will of course try my best.

I've seen a bit of attempts at a Ranma/Yu-Gi-Oh crossovers, and quite frankly I believe I can do better. I absolutely love the idea of having the theme of friendship in Ranma, mostly because it is something that is absent for most of Ranma's life. All of Yu-Gi-Oh's themes will be present in this fiction of mine.

Also it should be noted that I am writing in the Anime version of Yu-Gi-Oh, and the manga version of Ranma. Obviously this takes place at the begining of Yu-Gi-Oh, and for Ranma, it takes place after the Herb arc, and before the Hinako arc. I will use the English names of every Yu-Gi-Oh character. I would like to thank my reviewers and the people who favorited the fic. Couldn't have continued this without you!

Game One: Puzzle

…

There is a history of games.

Game history is interwoven with human history starting with the Egyptian Empire five thousand years ago.

Ancient games foretold the future for citizens and kings.

As games were played, fate was decided by magical ceremonies.

These were called "Shadow Games."

…

"Hey, Daisuke, come on, lets go play basketball." Hiroshi called his friend hurriedly as the bell rung for lunch.

As usual, Ranma Saotome was eating his lunch, and as usual he was eating it like a hog, so no one bothered to ask him to play with them. Besides that, even if he did play with them, his team would always win due to his great abilities as a martial artist. Right now, however, was different than other days. Today he had something in his backpack that he hoped could solve a problem he'd been having. Ironically he had to solve it first.

Looking around to make sure no one was there he took out a box. This gold box had ancient Egyptian writing on it with the eye of Horus on the front. Inside this particular box, was something that Ranma wasn't sure he held dear, or just wanted to get a cheap shot out of. After that whole 'stealing it from pops' ordeal he was still deciding. Nonetheless, he wanted to try. He wanted to solve the Millenium Puzzle. So after he was sure no one was in the room, he took out the box that held in it the pieces to the Puzzle that could change his life in a way no one would probably expect. However as soon as he took out the pieces…

"So what's in the box Ran-chan." Ukyo Kuonji asked the surprised martial artist.

"Hey! Jeez Ucchan, you could warn me what ya sneak up on me next time." Ranma fumed, almost dropping his puzzlebox. Luckily, no pieces fell to the ground; confusing himself even more was not something he wanted to do. Ukyou just laughed.

"Okay, okay Ran-chan, but tell me what's in the box." She pressed her fiancee for answers. Ranma sweatdropped at first. Both seemed like a good choice, but he wanted to get it off his chest what he was doing for the past few weeks. And after all, who better then what could be his best friend?

"Okay Ucchan, but ya got to promise to keep it a secret." he told her with what looked like mock seriousness. He didn't want everyone and their mother to know about it yet, but he was certain that Ukyo wouldn't tell anyone. The thought of having the entire class and Mousse, and Happosai and everyone else laughing at him, calling him "dumb" or other names was something he justs din't need at the moment.

"Okay then Ranchan. My lips are sealed." Ukyo replied as Ranma took out some gold pieces. They didn't seem to be related in any way, but they were all really shiney. They also had some wierd dymbols on them, kind of like the symbols Egyptians use. The most noticable symbol was the biggest one - the eye in the middle.

"Well, it looks pretty enough. But what are they Ranma? If your father ever got a hold of it, I bet he'd sell it faster then you could say 'Panda'." Ukyo asked her friend questioningly as she knew all too well what that sorry father of his would do for food and/or money.

"Heh, he tried to do that for a long time Ucchan. Apparently he could never sell it for some reason. It's my memento from pops." Ranma exclaimed happily. That got Ukyo's attention. Memento implied that it was a gift from the grave.

"Really?..." Ukyo pressed. As much as she would liked to have seen the panda go, even Ranma would feel at least a bit sorry for the loss of his worthless father.

"Naaah. But look on the bright side. One day, it will be." He grinned smirking.

"Well, that's all nice and dandy, but you still haven't told me what it is yet." Ukyo reminded her martial artist fiancee.

"Fine, fine…feh, you never let me have any fun. Okay, well this is a puzzle. I don't know what it looks like because I haven't solved it yet." Ukyo raised her eyebrow. The pieces may look like they go together, but it seemed to be a very complicated puzzle. She doubted the smartest kids in school would have been able to solve it.

"Anyway when I asked pops about it, he said he got it off a strange guy in a turban. He said it was from Egypt. When the guy in the turban said that inside this box here would grant him his greatest wish, he said he took it in an instant. He says he regretted it though; he never could solve the thing, or sell it. When I asked him if I could try to solve it he said 'be my guest' and said it would actually be useful for a change if we really get our wish."

"That's quite a tale Ran-chan, but it seems a little farfetched to me."

"I turn into a girl half the time, I'm chased by an Amazon princess, and I can shoot ki out of the palm of my hand."

"…point taken. So what will it be Ran-chan?" she asked Ranma questioningly.

"What? You mean okonomiyaki? I'll take squi-"

"I don't mean okonomiyaki Ran-chan…I mean your wish. You gonna wish for a cure for your curse?" Ukyo smirked knowing Ranma would never solve the puzzle anyway. But Ranma winced.

"Um, er…yeah. That's it. If I ever finish the puzzle of course." He added a little too quickly, but Ukyo didn't notice.

"Heh, I figured as much. Well, I'm going to go eat lunch now, se you later Ran-chan!" she waved as she walked out the door leaving Ranma alone in the classroom.

"See yah…Ucchan."

…

Flashback

…

Ranma was looking for stuff in his father's big pile of stuff. He had stolen some money from him again and this time, Ranma wasn't going to show mercy with his stuff. If he had to smash through every one of his father collection of stolen items, he would get his yen back. As watch, after book, after staff, after every other item preceding it came to be in a different pile, something caught his eye.

It was a golden box with weird letters on it. It caught Ranma's eye because it looked very valuable. Nothing valuable very stayed in the hands of a Saotome, but this box had dust on it as if it were old. It perplexed Ranma too much for his own taste and was about to throw it back when he heard the door opening.

"What's this noise I hear..RANMA! How could you do that to my precious stuff!" Genma Saotome, Ranma's father yelled and tried to recover his lost stuff. He then turned to Ranma.

"HOW DARE YOU TRY TO STEAL FROM YOUTR FA…oh, its just that worthless piece of junk." Ranma would have been mildly amused at his fathers antics to try and stop him, but he had just called what looked like to be a solid gold chest with a lot of gold pieces in it worthless junk.

"Pops I don't mean ta question ya…okay yes I do, but just why are ya callin solid gold junk?"

"Solid gold? Ha! If it was, I could sell it in a second. No that's just an old puzzle box with some worthless puzzle in it. Remember on our travels I got that thing from that guy in the turban?"

"Well…yeah I guess so. But I thought we sold that thing a long time ago."

"Um…yes, well uh I sorta…"

"Yeah, yeah you lied about it, tell me something I didn't already see coming."

"It grants wishes…" Genma muttered.

"What?" Ranma gaped wide-eyed.

"The turban guy said that the person that solves the puzzle will be granted a wish. He even called it the Millennium Puzzle' for show. How else could I react, but to take it? Anyway, it doesn't matter anymore, that puzzle will never be solved." He told his boy. But then he smirked.

"That is…unless you will be willing to try."

"What? You mean solve this old thing? And what would I get out of this eh old man?"

"I'll bet you that if you can't get it done by the end of the month, I'll give you all of the money I've ever taken from you. If you don't, all money you get for a month goes to me. And there's the matter of the wish…"

"Done." Ranma quickly muttered as he ran out of the room with a grin on his face, and the puzzlebox in his hand.

"Heh, heh, heh…sucker."

…

This was turning out to be a weird (but incredible) day for Ranma. For one, his father had actually been useful. Second, he held in his hands something that could very well solve all of his problems. All he had to do was solve a puzzle, and poof! Instant freedom of Jusenkyo curses, rampart fiancee's, and hard-headed rivals.

'Pops, I'd tell you I love you, but I'm not that kind of guy.'

Ranma quickly entered his room to try and put his newfound treasure together. 'This doesn't seem so hard. I've solved riddles from the old ghoul ten times harder then this, I should be finished by dinner!' Ranma thought giddily as he took out some pieces. Knowing that it was probably best to start off with the edges, he looked for pieces with pointy ends, and placed them in…okay four parallel spaces.

'That don't make any sense…how can something have only four sides?'

Ranma then decided to think of what could possibly have four sides. Nothing was coming to mind. Squares did, but the pieces looked too uneven for it to be flat. Nor did rectangles, or triangles. Triangles looked like they were what the original maker was going for, but it was suppost to be 3-d so…

'Wait. Turban guy. Where da turbans come from? Middle East. Maybe even Egypt. There are pyramids in Eg…That's it! The puzzle is in the shape of a pyramid!'

With newfound confidence, Ranma let three similar ends in triangular formation, and held the last irregular piece in the air imagining a pyramid in the shape he was making.

'This…is going to be harder then I thought.'

…

Hours went by and Ranma still hasn't finished the puzzle. He was doing okay…hell he hadn't even gotten one piece together. He still had his original pyramid outline and he couldn't even find one piece that went together. He even tried Amaguriken speeds putting puzzle pieces together, and still nothing. It was like the puzzle was mocking him on, and on, just laughing at his attempt to attain life-freedom. It was just like every other almost-cure for his Jusenkyo curse…

Jusenkyo curse. Its been a long time since he had it, and he's tried for a long time to get rid of it. And nothing ever worked. Every cure turned out to not work, move, or backfire. Waterproof Soup, instant Spring of Drowned Man, you name it. Nothing ever worked; it was like a repetitive cycle of 'find questionable cure, use questionable cure, questionable cure fails'. It was as if someone didn't want Ranma to find a cure. No matter what happened, it was like someone was playing some kind or cruel joke on him. Ranma was used to disappointment though; he'd gotten it all his life. The existence of his mother came to his knowledge at sixteen, whom he had to hide from anyway. His father had gotten him into a mess that was practically impossible to get out of. Because of him, he had who-knows-how many fiancee's, all of whom he'd preferably be friends with. But noooooo, they all wanted something more (or less in Akane's case, but Ranma was still skeptical about that) when he wanted a nice and simple friendship.

Shampoo was one of the most graceful female fighters he had ever seen, and after beating her on purpose the first time she wanted to kill him, and after beating her a second time on accident, she wanted to marry him. She wanted him - and made no secret of it - and badly. He would have thought the idea of befriending Shampoo at the time of that tournament exciting. But now, there was literally no chance of that ever happening again. Her great-grandmother was tricky as well; He didn't know weather to be extremely greatful to her, or curse the day she had came into his life. She had given him help when he needed it most; and other times she had tried to get him to marry Shampoo. On any case, he didn't trust her; respected her greatly (although he would never say it out loud) but didn't trust her as far as he couldn't throw her.

Ranma really thought his life would turn around when he met Ryoga. Finally he had someone to spar with, to fight with, and to talk to sometimes. It was like a dream come true. He couldn't remember a friend so good ever since he left Ucchan for some reason (Ranma knows why now though…) and it felt great. But then Ryoga got more violent with his death threats, and his ability to fight hard. Now it seemed they would never go back to being those friends.

Ukyo was a different story. Ukyo - his good ol' Ucchan - was his best friend, his oldest friend, and perhaps one of the closest people to him in the world. He was likely the most comfortable with her. Talking to Ukyo was a hell of a lot easier than talking to anyone else though Akane was a close second. Ukyo was first though, because half the time she didn't knock him into last week. All compliments aside, she wanted something more. It wasn't enough that she was friends with Ranma, but she wanted to marry him as well. It also didn't help that she had the 'dowry' to back her up. Half the time she was a reliable source of liberation from his sucky life, the other half the contributed to it.

Kodachi, Kuno, and Mouse were all annoyances. They may have helped him one time each and that was it.

And finally Akane. Akane was violent, short-tempered, impatient, and sometimes very harsh to Ranma. Being the first faincee (not by choice) Ranma knew of, she didn't like it at all. She believed him to be a pervert that uses his martial arts as tools for his perverted acts. Then, things got better when she seemed to accept that her engagement to Ranma would be staying with her for a very long time. The result being, she was nicer to him. Of course this didn't stop her from being irrational, and violent toward him, but it was a start. And when she wasn't at his throat, she could be so nice…and warm. It was a really good feeling…but that feeling comes along so rarely it got Ranma hungry for more of it. It was like he had another friend…5 percent of the time. The other 95 percent was either an accuser, or an acquaintance. Ranma seeing this, decided to stop trying to bring it out…for now. Akane's good side was so rare; perhaps that's why it was so beautiful. The good side of Ukyo or Shampoo would be just as beautiful if it was as rare as Akane's. He would never tell them this though, he liked to see them smile too much. But…it didn't matter. No matter what, no matter how many times they smiled, no matter how many times he wanted to have a true friend in any of his fiancee's, it was likely they never would be.

And that was it. That was his life: to be what everyone wants, or everyone hates. Both choices were equally bad. It just wasn't fair. He didn't even have anybody to share it with. Literally every one was counting on him to be their 'fearless' hero, and showing them less would probably turn them off to being around him. And the people around him were the closest thing he had to friends.

Then Ranma turned to the puzzle pieces in his hand, and got an idea.

"Yeh know puzzle…even if by some miracle I happen to solve ya…and I wish for my Jusenkyo curse away…I bet it wont even work."

Ranma took two random pieces and tried to put them together.

"Everything I do to try and get rid of it doesn't work…its like I'm cursed in more than one way…like all wishes to make it gone are void, er something…"

Somehow, the pieces that seemed to not go together at all, suddenly stuck together like magnets. After seeing this Ranma smiled.

"So wishing for it to go away is probably just a waste of a wish…like it has been for the last…well who knows how long…"

Ranma put the rest of the puzzle pieces back into the box.

"So I've decided…when I wish for my wish…I aint gonna wish for that." Ranma declared. He just thought of a better thing in mind. It was something that wasn't too big, but wasn't small either. Something you didn't really need to wish for, but Ranma was desperate enough for it anyway. He wanted this badly, and no one around him seemed willing to give him a strait answer for it.

"My wish is for…friends…friends I can count on…friends who could count on me…no matter what…without it being an obligation…friends who could count on me…"

…

End of Flashback

…

Well, here's the updated version of Game King Ranma. BTW, has anyone in the Ranma section here heard the Newest OP for Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters Gx, Teardrop? I think that would make a great Ranma OP/AMV XD. Although Afureru Yuujou ga Tomaranai definately fits Ranma better.