No "previously" section because I still don't feel like it. This chapter will be short as well.

Just so you know who is who, these are the names used: Hikari Marik is 'Marik'. Yami Marik is 'Malik*'. Hikari Bakura is 'Bakura', but sometimes called 'Ryou' by Yami Bakura and Marik. Yami Bakura is 'Bakura*' (don't worry you'll be able to tell the difference), sometimes called 'Yami' by Ryou or 'Touzoku' by Malik. Hikari Yugi is 'Yugi'. Yami Yugi is 'Pharaoh' or 'Yami'.

This is Part 1, chapter 6.

R&R

ENJOY~!

Chapter 6
Putting It All Together

"So how does this all relate to our minds being linked?" Yugi asked.

Everyone thought. No one had an answer.

Ryou thought of one. "Wait a moment..." he said.

"What?" everyone asked at the same time.

Ryou blushed from the sudden attention. "W-well... The answer to the mystery lies in the details that match up."

"Go ahead and solve the mystery, Professor Layton."

Ryou smiled at his yami. "I love that game. Of course." he walked to the center of the hallway. As he talked, he turned around and around so he could look at everyone. "The three details that match up are as follows." He counted off each detail on his fingers. "One, all of our arms hurt afterwards. Two, our hands were red on our palms and fingertips, and probably tingled a bit when touched. And three our Millenium Items all have little scratches and whatnot on them. The detail that is the same regardless was the place we were at."

"What?" Bakura asked impatiently. "The volcano? The plane? What?"

"Um... Yes I was getting to that. Marik's item had two groves in it. Yugi's item had three random specks. Mine had four. Rod to Ring is one. Rod to Puzzle is one. That leaves two on the Puzzle and three on the Ring."

"I..." Yami started. "Really don't see where you are going with this."

Ryou smiled. "You and Yugi aren't the only ones who are good at puzzles."

He walked over to Yugi and pointed to his Puzzle. "May I?" he asked.

Yugi was sure that Ryou knew what he was doing and trusted him. So he took off the chain and handed the item over.

"Thank you."

Next he walked over to Marik. "Marik?"

Marik also trusted him. He nodded and handed over his Rod.

"Thank you."

Ryou walked back to the center of the hallway and knelt down on the floor. He took off the Ring he wore. Then he started fiddling with the three items. Yami, Yugi, Marik, and Malik leaned forward trying to see what he was doing. Bakura didn't give a damn and just waited for his hikari to get to the point.

"Speaking of point," Ryou said. "That is precisely part of it!"

Bakura flinched at the fact that Ryou had read his mind. But that was nothing new, due to their bond.

"Done!" he finally announced.

Everyone perked up.

Ryou stood up and held the Rod by its handle. The Ring and Puzzle hung from the wings. Three of the points of the Ring were wedged into the cracks of the Puzzle, one of them in the eye symbol. "Yami... Anything look familiar?"

Yami Bakura examined the arrangement. It did! "That looks exactly like the way I put them together when I threw them... But how...?"

"If you were to take a closer look... You'd notice that I matched up the scratches and marks between them. Here is my theory. In the volcano, when everyone fell, the heat of the lava must have caused the gold in the items to melt slightly at the spots they touched another item. And since you three," he pointed at the three yamis in the room, "and your spirits are more or less connected to the items, when they linked, your minds linked." He held up his arms, indicating the hallway around them. "And here we are."

A long silence followed. During this silence, Ryou took apart the Millenium Items and returned them to their respective owners.

"So..." Marik said, breaking the silence. "I understand how this happened. But why? Just because the items linked doesn't mean our minds have to be linked as well. Besides, me and Malik aren't connected to the Millenium Rod the way everyone else here is linked to their items. Explain that."

"Actually... Bakura interjected. "This is the kind of stuff I don't let Ryou learn about. Gives him too much insight and I like him ignorant. This is where his realm of knowledge ends. And where mine begins." He stepped to the center of the room, grabbed his hikari's hand, and dragged him back to where they originally stood before. Then he began to speak.

"You would not have been able to use the Millenium Rod," he said to Malik and Marik, "had it not accepted you. So in a way you ARE linked to it. It allows you to use it's powers. So you are just as linked to it, Marik, as Ryou is to the Millenium Ring. So, since the three hikaris here are accepted by and linked to their Millenium items, and me and the Pharaoh over there are literally part of our items, the three of our minds were linked slightly when the items um... 'melted' together. And..." he sighed. "Ugh... Yes, Pharaoh. In a way this is all my fault because I used the connection between the two of us and our items to carry us up to that ledge which may have had a hand in linking us."

Another silence followed. But thankfully this one was short. "Thank you, Bakura," Yami said. "That made a lot of sense. The question is, what are we going to do about it?"

I'm sorry if part one isn't very exciting. But please bear with me because it's almost over and because part two is much more interesting and eventful. That's where the DRAMA happens tee hee hee!

I know that this chapter probably was and the next chapter will probably be lacking in terms of interestingness. BUT I PROMISE THAT PART 2 WILL BE BETTER~!

Next chapter:
PART 1: Chapter 7- What To Do Now...
~Everyone figures out how they are going to deal with the situation.

See you next chapter!

BYEEEEEEEEEE~!