Flashbacks are in bold.

Disclaimer: I don't own Yugioh GX.

Daitokuji leaned forward slightly, looking around the bridge support. "Pinch me! Is that really the Nameless Pharaoh!? The one they say saved our world from total destruction not so long ago!? This is incredible! Judai-kun, you're something else!"

While Daitokuji was geeking out, Judai was still staring in awe, his mouth agape. In other words, he was doing pretty much the same thing.

"What's wrong, Judai?" Atem asked, a grin on his face. "Cat got your tongue?"

"You're... So, you're really..." He grinned suddenly, saying, "Whoa, awesome!"

Atem crossed his arms and closed his eyes, nodding, an amused look on his face. Well, he reminds me of someone...

"Oh, wow! So, then, you...!"

No doubt Judai could keep this up all day, so Atem, still grinning, opened his eyes and said, "Alright, alright. That's enough flattery for now. I thought you were in a rush to return to life, weren't you?"

Judai sweat a bit, having been reminded of this fact. "R-right!"

"Well, then, if you're still interested, then we should get going to see the first god that wishes to help you." He started floating off toward the edge of the island, stopping to hold a hand out to Judai as he asked, "Coming, Judai?"

Judai took his hand, and the two of them turned into lights—something Judai was positive Atem was responsible for since he hadn't even known he could do it—and the yellow light that was Atem guided Judai off through the sky.

"So, Judai, still want to know how I know you so well and why?" Atem asked as they traveled.

"Uh, well, yeah," Judai admitted. "I mean..."

He trailed off. It wasn't like he had ever really known Yugi or Atem, so how they knew him was definitely a good question. He hadn't entered any tournaments. The only thing he could be considered famous for would be that interschool duel last year that Manjoume's brothers had broadcast across Japan, and he highly doubted that was how they knew him.

"Well, it all started about a year and a half ago," Atem began.

Yugi sat in his room, going over his cards for an upcoming tournament (which Jonouchi had insisted that they enter together). Aside from the distinct lack of schoolbooks, his room hadn't changed much in the past years. Well, there was the fact that he had replaced his childish alarm clock with a digital one.

His hair was just as unusual as it had always been—star-shaped, mostly black with red tips and yellow bangs. His time with the pharaoh had influenced his fashion sense. His wardrobe usually consisted of a black tanktop, leather pants, and some sort of jewelry on his arms.

As he checked over his deck one last time, he passed over a card he had gotten a couple days ago—a familiar little brown furball, but with wings and classified as a light attribute fairy rather than a dark fiend. As he did so, he heard a voice as it appeared beside him as a spirit.

"Kuri, kuri!"

"Huh?" Yugi looked at it curiously. "What is it, Winged Kuriboh?"

"Kuri!"

While Yugi didn't understand what it was saying, its tone sounded urgent, as if this message was important. Hmm. I wonder if my old partner knows what this means...

Deciding he didn't have anything to lose in asking, he cupped his hands together and decided to call out to the spirit of his old partner. "Oh, Pharaoh. If you can hear me, then please help me figure out what this Kuriboh is trying to say."

He wasn't entirely sure what to expect—maybe nothing. It wasn't like he had tried this before. Hell, he might even have been going about it in the wrong way, but that felt like the best way to contact a spirit besides a seance. But no sooner had he finished than a cold wind came through his open window, blowing passed him. He turned to see the pharaoh sitting cross-legged on his bed, looking at the Kuriboh with a puzzled expression.

"Atem!" Yugi exclaimed. "W-what are you doing here!?"

"You called me, didn't you? Now, about this Kuriboh... Where did you get it?"

"It came out of a pack of cards I bought the other day. Why?"

"Hmm." He looked back at the Kuriboh. "That's strange. I've never seen one with wings before."

"True. But you know Pegasus is always making new ones."

"That may be so. But I'm afraid this little guy's not one of his. Well, at least, it's not supposed to have been, anyway."

"Huh!? What do you mean!?"

"I mean, Yugi, that this little guy isn't from here. In fact, if I had to guess, he came to this world for a reason."

"Wait, are you saying he's from some other dimension or something? Like that Dominion of the Beasts or the Capsule Monsters?"

Atem nodded. "Exactly."

Yugi didn't ask how Atem knew this—it wasn't like it mattered, anyway. "So what does he want?" he asked instead.

Shrugging, Atem said, "Beats me. You know I don't speak Kuriboh."

Which made it all the more interesting that he was so certain the spirit wasn't from around here.

"Hmm," Yugi said. Turning to the Kuriboh, he said, "Okay, little guy. Why are you here, and what is it you want from me?"

Winged Kuriboh shook its little furry body in the equivalent of a shake of the head and pointed one green-clawed foot out the window.

"Huh? Something out there?"

The Kuriboh bobbed—the equivalent of a nod.

"Well, then," Atem said, rising from the bed. "What are we waiting for? Let's go see what it wants."

Yugi nodded and headed for the door, Atem following behind. He started to reach for the doorknob, but stopped when he thought about a potential problem.

"Uh, Pharaoh, I just thought of something," Yugi said, turning to his spirit companion. "How many people will be able to see you now? Maybe you shouldn't come."

Ever since that incident with Dartz, Yugi had noticed that more and more people seemed to see spirits. It had been spreading like wildfire—it was getting to the point where somebody started talking to one of his duel monsters every time he left the house. He thought, at first, that they were just using that as an excuse to talk to him, guessing what was in his deck. Then he mixed his deck up a bit—or, rather, a lot, using many monsters he had never used in public. Before he had used that deck in even a private duel, some kid had come over and started talking to his Silent Magician.

That was when he decided that there was no denying it—spirit-seeing was spreading.

"You're right," Atem said. "That could be problematic. Hmm. Okay. I'll go home and wait. Just call me again when you get there, okay?"

Yugi nodded. "Okay. See you then!"

Atem nodded, and they gave each other a high five before Yugi headed out the door and Atem headed back to the afterlife.

"Okay, Winged Kuriboh!" Yugi said, stepping out onto the street. "Lead the way!"

It nodded and flew off, Yugi running to keep up.

"So, while I was waiting back home, Winged Kuriboh led Yugi to a train station."

Yugi stared at the building before him curiously. "Wait. Why are we at Domino Station?" he asked. "Are you saying we have to go somewhere out of town?"

Winged Kuriboh nodded as Yugi followed it inside. It flew over to a map and pointed to a small town a few hours' ride away.

Yugi looked at where it was pointing and cocked his head slightly. "Huh. Yonezato... Wonder what's up there?"

"Yonezato? That's my hometown!" Judai interrupted.

Atem nodded. "That's right. Winged Kuriboh led Yugi to Yonezato, right up to a rather large-looking house."

Yugi stared at the home before him. It wasn't exactly a mansion, but it was definitely bigger than anywhere his friends lived. Well, except for Kaiba, but he lived in a mansion, so he didn't count.

"Why are we here, Winged Kuriboh?"

His only answer was a single "kuri" before the spirit flew over to a large window and peeked in, as if it were afraid of being seen.

Thinking that he could easily end up in jail if caught snooping around here, Yugi carefully headed over to join the spirit, looking over his shoulder constantly as he did so. When he looked in the window, he was confused beyond words.

The duel spirit was spying on a teenage boy—a two-tone brunette in a black jacket and matching pants. He was asleep at a large table in a somewhat spacious dining room. Apparently he had been doing homework or something, considering that his head was face-down in a textbook that was slowly being covered in drool.

Yugi looked to the spirit and whispered. "Kuriboh. I don't understand. Why did you drag me all the way out here just to spy on some kid?"

"I don't think spying was his intention."

Yugi turned, slightly startled, to see Atem floating behind him, his arms crossed. He was looking through the window at the boy.

"Yeah," Yugi said. "I agree. But is he saying there's something wrong with that kid? Or does he maybe want to go with him for some reason?"

"I don't know. It's hard to say since neither of us actually speaks Kuriboh."

"So now what?"

Atem shrugged. "There's nothing we can do for now. Let's just go home and keep an eye on things just to be safe."

Yugi nodded and said, "Okay! Come on, Winged Kuriboh! We're leaving!"

The Kuriboh started to protest. "Kuri kuri! Kur—" It sighed, cutting itself off—maybe it realized that they didn't know what it was saying in the first place. "Kuri..."

Pouting, it followed Yugi away from the house, but it kept looking back.

"So, Winged Kuriboh led you guys to my house?" Judai asked, blinking a couple times—the thought of one of his heroes spying on him was a bit strange.

Atem nodded. "He led us to you. Though we didn't know it at the time, that was the first sign that you were destined for greatness."

Judai blinked again. Greatness? I died at sixteen. He looked at Winged Kuriboh flying along beside him and asked, "You sure you got the right guy, Aibou?"

It looked at him, seemingly confused. "Kuri?"

Atem laughed. "That's exactly what Yugi and I thought. That is, until that one day a couple months later."

Yugi watched, totally confused, as Winged Kuriboh flew around his room in frantic circles.

"Kuri kuri kuri kuri!"

Atem appeared, sensing the urgency—he'd been keeping an eye on things with Yugi and this little Kuriboh since the day of their field trip to Yonezato.

"Glad you came," Yugi said to him.

"Well, this one sounded important. So what's that Kuriboh going on about?"

"Well, I—"

"KURI!" It bolted out of the room—probably even the building—at hyperspeed, cutting Yugi off.

"Hey! Kuriboh!" Yugi called, starting for the stairs. "Where are you going!?"

"Yugi! Wait!" Atem called.

He stopped and looked back. "What's wrong?"

"I'm going, too. This could be dangerous, and there's no way I'm leaving you alone."

"Thanks, pal, but you do know that I—"

"I know. You can take care of yourself. But what kind of friend would I be if I just stood by and made you do all the work, hmm? Besides, I'm bored," he added, grinning. "I could use a good adventure!"

Yugi returned the grin. "Just like old times, then?"

Nodding, Atem said, "It's been awhile, hasn't it?"

Yugi nodded as well, then said, "Okay, then! Then you better get in here so nobody sees you." He gestured to his body.

Atem laughed. "Well, okay, then, partner!" he said before diving into Yugi's body. Once inside, he spoke in Yugi's mind, saying, Alright, partner! Follow that Kuriboh!

Yugi just laughed as he ran out after the spirit.


The Kuriboh stopped in the middle of a park, looking around rather anxiously.

"Kuri, kuri!"

Yugi watched it from a distance. Hmm. What do you think he's looking for now? he silently asked Atem.

I don't know, came Atem's answer. I don't sense anything off about this place.

"Well, one way to find out," Yugi said aloud. He started toward the spirit.

Winged Kuriboh suddenly stopped looking around, staring eagerly behind Yugi at something. "Kuri kuri!"

"Hmm?"

Yugi started to turn, hearing a voice say, "Whoa, watch out!"

Someone crashed into him just then, falling to the ground. The Kuriboh, looking pleased, disappeared. The someone who had run into him apologized, but it was white noise to Yugi, who was stunned.

Sitting on the ground before him, picking up cards that had fallen all over the ground, was that two-tone brunette from before. He was wearing that black school uniform of his, a red shirt underneath the jacket, and red sneakers. Yugi and Atem just stared for a moment as the boy picked up his cards.

It's that kid again! What does this mean? Yugi wondered.

Atem answered, I'd say, based on how that Kuriboh was just acting—

Yeah, Yugi cut him off. I think you're right. Okay.

Regaining his composure, Yugi asked, "Do you duel?"

The boy glanced over his shoulder slightly, saying, "Yeah. I'm gonna take a test for the Duel Academy."

Yugi smiled and opened his deck box. The boy got to his feet, laughing, a hand on the back of his head. He took a closer look, realizing who he was talking to.

"H-hey, you're..."

Holding up the Winged Kuriboh card, Yugi said, "This is a lucky card. It wants to go with you."

He handed the card to the boy, who thanked him as he was walking off.

"And, after that, we decided to keep an eye on you," Atem finished up. "After all, there must have been some reason a card from another dimension chose you, right?"

Judai was stunned into silence.

"Ah, here we are," Atem said after another moment. He started downward, dragging Judai along with him.

They were above the Roman Coliseum. Well, the ruins of it, anyway.

Judai looked around a bit, getting his bearings. "So, what are we doing here?" he asked.

"We're here to see the god of rainbows," Atem answered.

Judai thought about it for a moment. He thought he'd heard of a god of rainbows in some book he'd read when he was a kid.

"Iris?" he asked, confused.

Atem laughed. "I'm surprised you know that name. No. This god's not of this world."

"Then why are we on this world?"

"Because the god is resting inside here. Come on."

Atem led the way into a tunnel beneath the coliseum, stopping in front of a stone wall. There wasn't anything particularly interesting about this wall, save that it was a dead end; but Atem knelt down, his left foot in front of him, his right arm across his chest, and his head lowered. His eyes were closed. It took Judai a moment to realize he was bowing. A look at Winged Kuriboh revealed that it was doing the Kuriboh equivalent of a bow—its face was tilted downward, eyes closed, and it was sitting on the ground.

With no idea what else to do, Judai followed Atem's lead, kneeling beside him. Turning his head slightly, he whispered, "What are we doing, exactly?"

"Shh," Atem murmured. "You'll see."

Suddenly the wall began to glow red, which faded to orange, then yellow, green, blue...it was swapping colors constantly, getting to the end of the rainbow before starting over.

Atem stood up and took a few steps forward, saying, "Great Guardian of the Rainbow. I have brought you what you asked for."

A roar came from the wall. At least, Judai thought it came from the wall. He didn't see anything else that could have let out that sound. The ground shook a bit, and some rocks fell from above.

Atem turned to look at Judai. "Don't be shy, boy. Come a little closer. It wants a better look at you."

Getting up, Judai said, "Uh, yeah, okay."

He stepped forward hesitantly, not even sure what it was he was approaching.

Winged Kuriboh bumped into his back, encouraging him forward. "Don't be nervous," he said in what Judai now knew was a language that few could understand. "It won't hurt you!"

The brunette stepped forward, more sure of himself now. As he did so, he felt as if something were staring at him. He looked up and saw orange glowing eyes looking back at him. Moaning noises were coming from the wall, like some sort of giant animal. It was staring at him sadly.

As Judai stared back, he briefly wondered if he was just losing his mind. A wall with eyes? Making noise?

Suddenly the eyes vanished and another roar came from the wall—longer this time. Immediately after the roar, a colorful rock in the shape of a dragon head came out of the wall. It floated over to Judai, stopping right in front of him. A blue light appeared, around his neck, connected to the stone. As the light faded, the blue object was still there—a string around his neck.

"What's this?" Judai asked, taking the stone in his hand and looking at it more closely. A wall...in Rome...just gave me a necklace... Now I know why they say to just do as the Romans do when in Rome. This place is weird.

"I see you've received the first piece," Atem said, walking over to Judai as the wall stopped glowing.

Winged Kuriboh flew over, excited. "Kuri kuri kuri!" it cried as it looked at the stone, waving its front feet around.

"First piece?" Judai asked.

Atem nodded. "In order to return you to the land of the living, you must first meet with the gods and receive their gifts to you. Once you have, then all you'll have to do is connect them together, and you'll be alive again in no time."

Somewhere along the line of that explanation, Judai got lost. He figured he'd just go with it for now, though. "Okay..."

"Come," Atem said. "We have a long journey ahead of us if we intend to visit the second god."

Taking Judai's hand again, the pharaoh darted straight upward into space.


While Judai was taking a field trip to Rome, the others had gone to confront Manjoume. Asuka and Sho joined Misawa and Kenzan, who were trying to talk sense into him out in front of the Red dorm. They were here to get him so that they could head out for Judai's funeral, but...

"Manjoume!" Asuka exclaimed. "That's enough! Why are you acting like this!?"

Sho looked in horror. Manjoume was standing there in a white version of the Obelisk uniforms. The others stood around, varying degrees of confusion and shock on their faces.

"Why, Tenjoin-kun?" he asked. "Why do you ask? How else should I be acting?"

"Well, you could try acting like yourself and stop preaching about the greatness of the light," Misawa suggested.

"Wait, what's he been doing?" Sho asked.

"Sho-kun!" Manjoume said, sounding uncharacteristically...friendly? Polite? He wasn't sure what the right word was. "Why are you still here? I thought you were going to board the boat early?"

"Yeah, well, I heard you were acting weird, Manjoume-kun. Why are you wearing white!?"

Manjoume grinned. "I'll tell you, Sho-kun. It's because it's the most beautiful color in the world!" As he spoke, he lifted his hands above his head and tilted his head back. "You should try it, too!" he added, pointing at them all. Throwing his arms back up, he said, "You all should! The light of truth will illuminate everything!"

"Here he goes again!" Kenzan said. "Has everyone lost it lately?" He eyed Sho as he said this.

"Manjoume, just shut up, will you!?" Asuka demanded. "And get out of that ridiculous uniform!"

"Yeah!" Sho agreed. "I hate white! Did you forget that the guy who killed Aniki was dressed all in white!?"

"You don't understand! It wasn't that man who killed him! It was his destiny to go!"

Not too far away, Kathleen was walking by with the purple-haired girl who had burst into tears the other day. Their arms were filled with flowers for those heading off to the funeral.

Kathleen stopped, looking at the crowd gathered at the Red dorm. "Say, Haru? Any guesses what that's all about?"

Orange eyes turned toward the dorm as the purple-haired girl, Haru, shook her head. "Not a one. Hmm..."

"WHAT!?" Sho bellowed.

"ARE YOU INSANE, MANJOUME!?" Kenzan demanded. "HOW COULD YOU SAY SUCH A THING!?"

"Ooh. That so didn't sound good," Kathleen said.

"Oh, boy! What's going on!?"

The girls dropped their flowers, running over to see what all the commotion was about.

"What's going on, guys?" Haru asked.

"Yeah! 'Cause that so didn't sound right." Silently, Kathleen added, Wow. They sure feel mad! Wonder what he said?

Asuka glared daggers at Manjoume, pointing at him. "Manjoume over here just said Judai's death was supposed to happen!"

"YOU KILLED HIM, DIDN'T YOU!?" Sho bellowed.

Manjoume backed up slightly, startled. "What makes you say that!?"

Kenzan, his hands made into claws, approached Manjoume slowly, threateningly. "BECAUSE OF WHAT YOU JUST SAID! I was wondering why that man wouldn't speak!"

"You're wrong!" Manjoume protested, his eyes wide.

"I DON'T THINK SO, AND NOW YOU'RE GONNA PAY FOR IT!" Kenzan bellowed, letting out a roar as he lunged at the accused murderer. His eyes changed, too, turning reptilian as he did this.

Sho pounced as well, adding, "YEAH! WHAT HE SAID! ANIKI WAS MY BEST FRIEND, AND YOU TOOK HIM FROM ME! I'LL NEVER FORGIVE YOU!"

"Wait a minute, Manjoume's a murderer!?" Haru shrieked, her hands covering her mouth in shock.

Kathleen backed away as the fight got out of control, sighing. "Why me?"

She pulled out her PDA, calling her least favorite person on the whole island.

Aki answered with, "Oh, for the love of—What do you want?"

"Nice talking to you, too," Kathleen said sarcastically. "Think you can get over to the Red dorm, like, right now?"

"I s-swear!" Manjoume cried in the background. "It wasn't me!"

"LIAR!" Sho and Kenzan retorted.

"I'M NOT LYING! AAAHHH!"

Aki, having not heard that, asked, "Why? What's going on? Somebody else dead?"

"No! But if you don't get over here in five seconds or less someone might be!"

Aki didn't answer. The screen went black, though, as if she had hung up.

"Aki!? Hello!?" Kathleen said. Realizing she'd been ditched, she put the PDA away. "Great. As usual, she don't care at all!" she said, throwing her arms in the air in exasperation. Then she cupped her hands in front of her mouth. "HEY! QUIT IT! IT WASN'T HIM!"

Too busy yelling, they didn't hear her. "SAY HI TO ANIKI FOR ME!" Sho said.

As this got worse and worse, Kathleen danced around frantically. "Oh, great, oh great, oh great! What do I do!?"

"OI!" called Aki as she arrived on the scene. "WHAT'S GOING ON HERE!?"

No answer, save Manjoume's cries of agony and the cries of vengeance from the other two.

Kathleen, though, was a goldmine of information. She didn't even need to breathe, apparently. "What's going on? What's going on!? They think he killed Judai! That's what's going on! And he so didn't, and—"

While Aki had wanted answers, she would rather have gotten them from a calmer source instead of a frantic Kathleen dancing around in her face. Well, she had enough information now, so she rushed passed the rambling red-head and into the chaotic cloud that was the fight between the three.

In moments, she flung Sho off of Manjoume, followed shortly by Kenzan. The two landed in a heap. They started to get up, but a shadow looming over them made them both stop.

"What the hell are you two doing...?" Akiko said very slowly, pausing between each word—a dangerous form of speech with her. The deadly look on her face contributed to the effect, and there was no doubt—they were in deep shit.

The dead men looked up at her before clearing the lumps out of their throats.

Kathleen, meanwhile, ran over to the bloody heap that was Manjoume. "Manjoume! Are you okay!?"

Checking him over, she wasn't sure where the worst of the damage was. He had a bloody nose, a black eye forming, blood dripping from his mouth...and that was just his face! The rest wasn't much better. Blood was staining that white uniform he was wearing, and she wasn't entirely sure she wanted to know where it was coming from.

"Kathleen!" Haru called. "He's a murder—"

"Don't even finish that, Haruko!" Aki cut her off with a glare.

"Yeah! It ain't true! And even if it was, there's this old saying: an eye for an eye makes the whole world go blind! Get it!?"

"Hey. I never said I wanted them to do that!" Asuka defended.

"You didn't tell them to stop, either," Misawa pointed out.

"So!? Neither did you!"

He gave an awkward laugh, sweating.

Akiko put a hand to her face. "Oh, for the love of—What did he say that made you guys think he killed Judai, anyway?"

"H-he t-told u-us t-that it w-as An-Anik-Aniki's d-destiny t-to d-die?" Sho stammered.

"Really?" she asked, eying the offender. "Still, that doesn't make him a murderer—it just makes him a real jerk. Or crazy." Muttering, she added, "Hell, that last one seems about right. He's taking this worse than Sho..."

They heard Kathleen in the background, begging Misawa to get Manjoume to the infirmary.

"O-oh," Kenzan said. "Okay, then." Sneaking off, he started, "I'm...just gonna go—"

"Hold up, Tyranno Kenzan," Aki said, her voice filled to the brim with venom.

He cringed and froze where he was.

Misawa sighed before pulling Manjoume onto his back and running off for the infirmary, with Kathleen following behind.

"Didn't you just beat the tar out of your friend?" Aki asked. "Do you think we need more murderers on this island? Isn't it bad enough somebody killed your friend and hasn't been found?"

The two were sweating buckets, knowing they were in serious trouble now. They would be lucky, they were sure, to get out of this one with all of their limbs still attached. "Y-yes?" they both said, hoping that was the right answer.

Asuka watched for a second. Uh-oh. Akiko's not going to let them off easy for this. I'd better get out of here.

She walked off—it wasn't like she could stop her, and her wrath wasn't something that anyone would ever want to see. Even the students who were really eager to watch fights ran when Akiko was about to pulverize someone.

"Then, maybe, you shouldn't be trying to give that guy a run for his money?"Akiko said, her tone getting more dangerous by the second. "At least Judai probably didn't even feel it—you guys just went ape on Manjoume!"

"RUN, KENZAN-KUN!" Sho shrieked, getting to his feet and running for his life.

"R-right!" Kenzan said, following his lead.

"GET BACK HERE!" Akiko bellowed, running after the two of them.