Yugi took a deep breath as he put his deck in his pocket and his duel disk on his wrist. 'I don't think I can do this...' Yugi thought, looking in the mirror. He walked to the door and placed his hand on the door knob. His hand was shaking, he couldn't turn the knob. He ran into the bathroom and locked the door. He rolled up his sleeve and looked at the scars on his arms and he looked at the scars. He had one for every day that Atem had been gone. "I should be stronger than this..." Yugi whispered and put the small blade to his wrist, he pressed it down and slid it slowly across his wrist. It calmed him down almost instantly.
He finally got the courage to open the door and walk down the street to meet up with Joey, Tristan, Tea, and Duke. "There he is!" Tristan smiled. "I didn't think you were going to come Yug." Joey said. "I almost didn't." Yugi said, walking past them without looking at them. "Yugi...you don't have to do this." Tea said, noticing how sad he looked. "I have to Tea...it's what he would have wanted." Yugi said, reaching for the puzzle that wasn't there. "Well, let's go get Kaiba!" Joey said. "Maybe you should calm down Joey, you haven't been able to beat him." Duke said. "Watch it!" Joey said. Everyone giggled, except Yugi.
"I can't take Yugi like this anymore." Tea whispered to Joey. "Don't worry Tea, I think this is exactly what he needs to snap out of this." Joey said. "I hope you're right." Tea said, worried. 'Oh Pharaoh, I wish you were still here.' Tea thought as she watched Yugi walk in front of her.
"It's Yugi Motou!"
"The King of Games!"
"He's back?!"
Yugi listened to all of the voices around him, praising him, remembering him. He really hadn't realized how long he had been out of the dueling scene. "Yugi?!" Mai exclaimed. "Mai!" Joey yelled and ran to her. "I said Yugi, not Joey, you big lug." Mai said, hugging him. "Yeah, I missed you too Mai." Joey said. "It's been so long since I've seen you Yugi...I heard you kinda dropped out of the dueling circuit." Mai said. "Yeah..." Yugi just nodded. "Kaiba always brings out the competitiveness in you, doesn't he?" Mai asked. "Yeah, I guess you could say that." Yugi faked a smile. "Well, I'm off to my first duel, smell you guys later!" Mai said and walked off towards her duel.
"I want to duel Yugi!"
"No, me! I'm gonna defeat him!"
"Wrong. I'm going to defeat Yugi." Kaiba said, making the crowd go silent. Kaiba and Yugi stood there and stared at each other. "I didn't think you would come out of retirement Yugi. Seems you've lost your fighting spirit since you're little friend went away." Kaiba snickered. "Hey! You better watch it Kaiba!" Joey said, Tristan had to hold him back. Yugi just looked away, he really couldn't face Kaiba. "I'll see you at the finals Yugi." Kaiba said, handing Yugi an entry card. "No sense in wasting any time on these amateurs Yugi." Kaiba said and walked away. "That jerk!" Tea said. Yugi just looked at his entry card.
"Yugi, you can't just jump into a duel with Kaiba after being out of loop for so long." Joey said. "I know Joey, but I'm not ready to just duel anybody." Yugi said. "Then duel me!" Joey said. "I mean, I guess we could try." Yugi said. "Let's go down to the marina, not too many duelist will be there." Duke said. They all made their way to marina and Yugi took a deep breath as he activated his duel disk, he was already shaking. "Yug, you can do this." Joey said. Yugi drew his cards with a shaky hand and looked at them, his vision was blurry. "I play two cards face down, and put The Feral Imp in defense mode." Yugi said. 'Yugi barely looked at his cards, this is a lot harder for him than I thought.' Joey thought. "I summon Baby Dragon in attack mode! I also put one card face down." Joey said. "Joey, you're going easy on me. You know that Baby Dragon has lower attack points than the Feral Imps defense points." Yugi said. "Maybe so, but look Yug...you're dueling." Joey said. Yugi drew his cards and he saw The Dark Magician. 'Yugi...' he heard Atem say. Yugi's eyes widened. "Yugi, are you okay?" Tea asked. "I just heard him speak to me..." Yugi said, shaking. "What? You heard the pharaoh?!" Tristan asked. "He just said my name...after I drew The Dark Magician." Yugi said and then The Dark Magician summoned himself and pointed his staff directly at the museum. "I'm sorry Joey, but I'm going to have to cut this duel short." Yugi said and he ran off towards the museum. "Yugi!" they all yelled and ran after him.
/~***~\\\\\
Yugi ran into the museum and ran straight to the stone tablet. "Yugi..." Ishizu said. "Ishizu..it's been a while." Yugi said. "Yes it has, I'm honestly surprised to see you here...I heard about the pharaoh." Ishizu said, speaking gently. "Yeah..." Yugi said, touching the tablet. "The Dark Magician lead you here, didn't he?" Ishizu asked. "How did you know?" Yugi asked. "You haven't dueled since that day, I knew that Kaiba's new tournament might bring you out of hiding. The Dark Magician was the pharaoh's guardian, it only makes sense that he would lead you here." Ishizu said. "I heard his voice when I drew that card..." Yugi said, shaking, letting tears fall from his face. "He's trying to contact you, Yugi." Ishizu said. Yugi turned to face her in surprise. "It's been years...why now?" Yugi asked. "He knows that you're in pain." Ishizu said. "Well, how do I contact him? I need to know!" Yugi said, frantic. "You need to duel Yugi." Joey said. Ishizu and Yugi turned to him, Tea, and Tristan. "He's right Yugi." Ishizu said. Yugi looked to the floor, his eyes still wet with tears. "Think about it Yugi, dueling is what brought you to the pharaoh in the first place." Tea said. "But Kaiba's tournament isn't the right way to do it, unfortunately." Ishizu said. "What do you mean?" Joey asked. "Yugi, this is something you need to figure out on your own. Your bond with the pharaoh will give you all the answers you need." Ishizu said.
Yugi left the museum, more confused than he was before. "Yug..." Joey began. "Don't." Yugi said, letting tears fall from his face. "Yugi..." Tea began, walking towards. "Don't Tea." Tristan said, holding her back. "I need to be alone right now." Yugi said and walked away. His friends didn't try to stop him, they let him go. "He's been alone...that's the whole problem." Joey whispered. "He really miss Atem." Tea said. "What do you expect? His best friend in the whole world is gone, I just don't think Yugi can get over that." Tristan said. "He needs to, it's destroying him from the inside out." Joey said, looking to the ground.