Yugi still hadn't solved the problem of how he and Bakura were going to get to Egypt, but there wasn't much that he could do about it. He settled with the flight next week, and booked the tickets before they too sold out. Heaving a frustrated sigh, he grabbed his bag and headed downstairs. "I'm going out for a bit, Grandpa," he said as he left through the front door of the Game shop.

Out on the street, he made sure to steer clear of any groups of kids who would surely swamp him with autograph demands on sight. He gave another sigh and tilted his head back, looking at the sky. It felt so empty now that Atem was gone. Even after two years, it still felt as though part of him had left with his friend.

"Hey, isn't that Yugi? It is! Hey, Yuug!"

Yugi heard the voice from somewhere behind him, and pretended not to hear, hoping that he could escape before the fans caught him. Then something about the voice twigged in his memory, and he whipped around just in time to be grabbed in a giant bear hug.

"Joey! Tristan!" Yugi exclaimed, delighted. "What are you two doing here?"

After they released him from their strangling hug, Joey and Tristan both started incessantly talking over each other. Yugi laughed awkwardly and waited for one of them to get an audible word out. Eventually, Joey did.

"We haven't seen you in months!"

Yugi found himself looking at his feet. They didn't know the least of it. At least, it didn't seem that way...surely, if they had heard about the Millennium Items, they would have contacted him by now. It had been more that a week. "I've been so busy," he mumbled.

"We all have, man," Tristan admitted, "especially now that school's over, with jobs and stuff."

"But who cares!" Joey butted in. "We're all here now – are you doing something? We were just heading down to the arcade – you should come, Yuug."

Yugi hesitated. He hadn't really been doing anything before he had run into them, and he longed to be able to just hang out with his friends again, but...he remembered his vow not to get his friends involved in the disappearance of the Millennium Items. It was bad enough that he couldn't convince Bakura to stay behind. He didn't want Joey and Tristan coming along too, and if they tried to get him to come to something next week, they'd want to know why he couldn't come. And he couldn't exactly tell them that he was going to Egypt with Bakura...

Yugi pushed it aside. With any luck, it wouldn't come to telling them that, and he did want to spend time with his friends again. "Sure – let's go!"

As the three of them made there way towards the arcade, Yugi was bombarded with a tide of questions, both of them struggling to be heard. He found himself nodding and answering with a smile, but inside he was racked with guilt. Even though he hadn't spoken to them in months, he felt horrible knowing that he was keeping secrets from them, especially as secret as important as his. He sighed internally, knowing that it couldn't be helped.

After arriving at the arcade, the three of them set to trying out all of the games available, with Yugi proving victorious in absolutely everything – there was a reason he was the King of Games. This made him remember the old times even more, except that Téa wasn't with them.

"Have either of you spoken to Téa lately?" he asked, already knowing the answer.

"Téa's still in America," Joey said. "She'll be finished in her dance course in another couple of years."

Yugi nodded sadly. "I'm happy for her, but it really is a shame that she doesn't live here anymore."

As Joey and Tristan nodded their agreement, they made their way over to the vending machines, and then sat down at a table. Yugi sipped his cola absentmindedly, his thoughts elsewhere. It was such a shame that this reunion had to be sullied by the prospect of his upcoming trip.

"Yugi? Yuug?" Joey was asking. "Hey, are you in there?"

Yugi snapped back to the present. "Hmm? Sorry, what?"

"We were just saying how we should meet up and do this again some time," Tristan said.

"Oh..." Yugi suddenly found the lid of his cola bottle incredibly interesting. "Yeah, definitely." Here it comes...the part where I have to lie to my best friends.

Joey and Tristan exchanged glances, and Yugi felt their gazes burning into him. "Is...something the matter, Yugi?" Tristan asked.

Yugi made sure to look them in the eyes and laugh innocently when he replied. "Nope! It's just that I'm going to be out of town for a while. I'm leaving next week, and I don't know when I'll be getting back, so we'd have to do something before then."

They seemed to accept this as truthful enough. "Where are you going?" Joey asked, genuinely curious.

"Oh, er, just to visit some family members."

They looked disappointed. "That's a shame," Tristan said. "But it shouldn't be too long, right? I mean your Grandpa'll probably want you back soon to help with the shop."

"Yeah, he will," Yugi said, his mind drifting again for a second. "Anyway, who's up for another round of games again before closing time?" he asked, hoping the change of topic wasn't too obvious.

Both Tristan and Joey groaned in unison. "What's the point? You'll thrash us both anyway," Joey said, but getting to his feet none the less.

Yugi waved his friends goodbye with the same innocent smile he always wore, but as soon as he was out of earshot, Joey turned to Tristan. "I wonder what that was about."

"I know, man," Tristan agreed. "He was totally out of it the whole time he was with us."

"And the visiting family thing...I mean, it's not like his Grandpa's the only family Yugi has, but you don't usually visit family members indefinitely."

"You don't think he made it up to avoid us, do you?" Tristan asked.

Joey shook his head. "Yugi wouldn't do that. There must be something bothering him."

They stared after him, puzzling over his strange behaviour. "How are we supposed to help him out if he won't tell us what the problem is?" Tristan wondered.

Joey frowned thoughtfully. "He's probably just uncomfortable because we haven't spoken in so long. I guess we'll have to wait and see. He said that he wasn't leaving for another week. We'll have to call him tomorrow. Hopefully we'll be able to worm something out of him by next week. Anyway, I'm going home; I'm starving and I spent all my money at the arcade. See you tomorrow, Tristan."

Yugi made his way home slowly. He was suddenly terrified of the upcoming trip. As guilty as he felt in admitting it, he was glad that at least one friend would be with him for this adventure; the prospect of going alone daunted him.

"Aren't you Yugi Moto?" Yugi heard a voice say, and within five seconds, a bunch of kids had surrounded him. He groaned internally. This was just what he needed. "Yeah, hi, everyone," he said cheerfully, cursing himself for being so visible in a crowd. After all, it wasn't as if his hair made him inconspicuous.

"I'm gonna be just like you when I grow up," one of the kids said. "Can I have your autograph?" asked another. Yugi's hand set to work at signing all of the paper, hats, DuelDisks and everything else that they put in front of him.

Suddenly, he felt a weight lift from his shoulders...literally. He turned, just in time to see one of the kids make off with his back pack. "Hey!" he exclaimed, pushing through the crowd and chasing after the boy.

He had obviously planned his theft and knew where he was going as he ran purposefully towards the other side of town. Yugi's lungs started burning. However, the boy appeared to be tiring too; his sprint had fallen to a mere fast jog, with occasional moments where he would drop to a walk, if only for a few seconds. At one point, he looked over his shoulder and, seeing that Yugi was still following, kept going.

If only Tristan and Joey were still with me, he thought. They'd have caught this kid by now.

The boy turned another corner, and Yugi upped his pace a little. "Hey...stop!" he gasped as he followed the boy around the corner.

And remarkably, he did.

They both stood, panting. The boy had led him to an alleyway on the quieter side of town. There was a soft thud as Yugi's bag fell from the boy's hand and hit the ground.

"Why did you..." Yugi began, only to trail off as he realised with a jolt what had happened.

The boy had been leading him into a trap.

The boy started backing away, then turned and ran again, pushing past Yugi in his haste to leave, but this time Yugi didn't follow him. He was too preoccupied by the figures that had appeared from somewhere further down the alleyway. He only hesitated for a second, but by the time he had turned to run, they had already cut him off from his only escape route. Yugi gulped, taking a step back, only to bump into one of the people behind him. He couldn't see their faces – all of them wore balaclavas. Yugi braced himself for whatever it was they had in store for him.

"Yugi Moto, yes?" One of them stepped forward. Yugi stared at him, not daring to say a word. "We'd like for you to come with us," he said. "And I think-" He drew from within his enormous jacket a small but deadly looking pistol, and pointed it straight at Yugi's head. "-that you'll find it in your best interests to co-operate."

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