Ranko: Guess who's back? Hey guys! It's been a while! It feels a little weird being back…

Yuugi: Ranko! (glomps Ranko)

Yami: Ranko, welcome back, so I'm guessing that you're done with your novel.

Ranko: Actually, no. But I have won NaNoWriMo, I made my word goal but I'm not done with it yet, I still have to finish it and edit. Oh editing…(shudders)

Yuugi: We missed you!

Ranko: I missed you too! All of you, I've just been thinking about you guys all the time and so many people have been so supportive in their reviews since I've been gone! You guys are so nice that I just have to answer all of them! (holds up list)

Yami: Damn, that's a lot.

raindropdew: Thank you so much! It is good to know that my work is appreciated and honestly, last chapter was not my best, I'm kind of ashamed. Thank you anyway and please keep reviewing!

Pharaoh Silver: Hey, hey, hey, its Ranko twin! I'm back too! Yeah, buddy! Anyway, ahem, thank you for the awesome review, it really helped me get off my lazy butt and continue again. You're awesome! Please continue to review.

cashirecat1: Thank you so much, you're review made me laugh; it was awesome! I know, Kaiba and Jou need to pull their heads out of their own asses and make up, but hey? What are you going to do? Yeah, Soren does need help and of course Yuugi being our little hero will rescue him, and Yami isn't that bad, just misunderstood. And I miss Ryou too but you're right, then there would be no story. Also, spelled "asylum," so close. Thanks for the review, please continue to read and be supportive!

Magi Magi Magician Gal: Phew, I'm really glad I'm not boring anyone, you have no idea. If you are confused, please feel free to ask in your review; I don't bite…too hard, totally kidding! (Yuugi: L-O-L! Ranko is teaching me how to text!) I don't want you lovely readers to be lost in this story. Also, I'm not upset or anything, I actually also found the Barbie plots to be good potential stories. I thought, "If Magi Magi doesn't do this then I will!" The only think I would probably change is not having Yami and Atem sing, I couldn't stop laughing! Thanks for the review!

xChaoticDawnx: I know what you mean! Season 0 Yami is amazing! Anyway, I'm glad that I had such great timing with your birthday and everything! Happy late birthday now! The scene with Mai was also really creepy, I was writing that at night. And poor Bakura! Thanks for the review!

Doragon-chan: I was thinking more along the lines of hide-and-seek.

hikari no senshi17: I know, it would make more sense if Marik was the one controlling them but Yami is the puppeteer in this show, Marik is just a side kick in a way. Thanks for the support and please continue to review!

Oh

naomi: I try.

Dinogirl: Yeah, we puzzleshippers live off of angst don't we? And poor little Yuugi, no one understands him. Thank you, NaNoWriMo was very fun but its good to be back! Thanks for the review!

Atem: Thank you so much!

Tyrant Dragon Knight: Thank you so much! That makes me feel so good about my writing! And Yami/Atem is awesome! Whether he's insane or not! Thank you and I think it did turn out great!

SokiKuro: I've been looking forward to answering your review! Long story short, you made me feel so love and I felt so confident in my writing ability, I'm glad to know my work is appreciated. You are just so awesome! And I'm glad you read the Forbidden Games and I loved Julian and Jenny together so don't feel bad! I just smiled every time I read your review! Thank you so much!

Guest: Oh my, goodness. You are amazing and thank you for the awesome review!

Epona1995: I am so happy that I could "woah" you and you just made me feel so loved! Thanks for the awesome review!

Daemon Luciel: Thank you and please continue to review!

AmerillaRose: Thanks for the support and please continue to review!

Ranko: Answering all of those review probably wasn't my best idea, it was a lot.

Yami: I told you…

Yuugi: Ranko twin does not own anything related to Yu-Gi-Oh or the Forbidden Games.

Ranko: Enjoy!

-/-

Yuugi woke up the next morning with a feeling that he didn't get enough sleep. When he pulled his arm out from beneath his comforter, he immediately tucked it back under in the warmth of his bed. His bed was so warm and outside of it was cold…he needed more sleep. Maybe if he pretended to be asleep forever then that would mean he didn't have to worry about the Shadow Men and Soren.

He knew that would never happen. They would simply haunt him in his sleep. After staying in bed for a few more moments, Yuugi sat up, groaning as his bed springs creaked under his weight. He pushed himself to his feet and stretched, shivering from the early morning chill. He was half tempted to duck under his covers again.

Yuugi didn't even bother to change out of his pajamas, he just entered the living room the way he was, not caring about his appearance. Everyone else was already up and awake and judging by their state of dress, no one was going to school today either. Mai, Seto and Honda had mugs of coffee in their hands.

Jounouchi sat on the loveseat with Honda, Seto sitting on the leather footstool next to them. Malik huddled on the couch next to Mai for warmth; obviously the chill was affecting him as well.

Everyone looked very tired and completely worn out. It was sad that they had been reduced to this state. Heavy bags were under everyone's dull eyes from lack of sleep and Mai's nails were chewed. Jounouchi and Malik's hair fell in greasy clumps. Honda and Seto were worse for wear. Yuugi probably didn't look that appealing either.

"Good morning, Yuugi," Mai greeted wearily, barely moving her head to look at him. Yuugi raised an eyebrow and took a seat on the individual plush chair that was across from Jou and Honda.

"Good morning," he said back. "What's wrong with everyone?" Yuugi asked.

"You mean besides the usual?" Jou asked crudely.

"No one could sleep," Mai said, deciding to ignore Jounouchi's comment. "Something weird happened to me last night, I don't even know what it was. But it seems like the rest of us had similar problems."

"I dreamt that I was being watched while I slept," Honda said, shuddering slightly and taking a sip from his coffee.

"Yeah, same here," Seto said grimly, his icy blue eyes were dull.

"I told you, it's because of Yami!" Yuugi exclaimed. "The Shadow Men are back and they are out! I saw Yami last night and I heard famished on the phone! Why don't you believe me?" Yuugi cried, generally upset.

Every exchanged looks; they weren't very surprised by Yuugi's outburst. "At this point, hun, its getting hard not to believe you," Mai said.

"So what are we going to do? We always sit here and talk but we never put things into action. Its time to do that!" Jou said defiantly.

"First we find Soren," Mai answered immediately. "Since he lives down town where you live Jounouchi, you're in charge of finding him."

"Why me?" the boy whined.

"You're the one who wanted to get into action," Mai answered. "Honda, you go with him."

The brunet gaped. "But I didn't say anything! Honestly, I would rather just sit here and not run into any Shadow Men."

"But you know the area better," Mai said logically.

"Fine, I'll do it, but I won't like it," Honda said, crossing his arms over his chest and pouting.

"That's what most of my dates say, you'll get over it," Mai said in annoyance.

Malik's cell phone buzzed in his pocket. He pulled it out and checked the caller I.D. before answering it. "Hello?" he greeted before walking out of the room to talk in private.

"Meanwhile, Malik, Yuugi and Seto will be looking for Anzu. She is still missing and she could be hurt," Mai said. Honda flinched at Mai's words.

"What are you going to be doing?" Seto asked Mai, drinking from his mug.

"I'll be at the police station with Miho; we'll be digging into Haga and Ryuzaki's death a little bit more."

At that moment, Malik came back in the room, looking like he was about to be sick. His pallor was pale and clammy, his eyes wide and frightened, and his whole body shaking violently. "Malik?" Yuugi asked, getting up and holding his friend's arms to keep him steady. "What's wrong? Who was that on the phone?"

"That was Bakura's dad," was his short and quiet response.

"What did he have to say?" Jounouchi asked from his seat.

"Bakura wasn't in his room when he went to check on him this morning," Malik continued. "He doesn't know where he went; Bakura's gone."

Elsewhere ~

Bakura slid down the mud slopes of the Domino Forest, following the path the police took the previous day to Haga and Ryuzaki's dead bodies. He looked down at the files he had swiped from Miho's desk while she wasn't looking. It looks like the bodies and the Game was found by the creek. Bakura looked back up to see where he was; it was just up ahead.

Bakura had decided to go check out the scene of the crime himself to see if he could find anything that the police might have missed. He stopped for a moment and shuffled through the files to the pictures of the boys' dead bodies. The way their bodies were mangled had to be caused by something, or someone.

He couldn't tell Yuugi and the rest of the gang because he knew that they would want to join and be a part of his group of merry men. They would be like little detectives and at the moment, Bakura couldn't be a babysitter to them right now; he was on a mission. If he found the Shadow Men, he would find the Game. And if Bakura found the Game, he found Ryou.

Then Bakura would rescue him and the whole incident between he and Malik would just be a thing of the past…right?

Bakura shook his head to clear himself of those thoughts and grabbed a hanging tree branch to balance him before he fell down the slope.

Besides, his friends were safe at school; but after everything that has happened, Bakura wasn't sure if that was the safest place to be at the moment too. He remembered Soren; the kid knew too much and Bakura had a funny feeling about him. When the two had a fight, Bakura saw this strange, dull look in Soren's eyes; it was almost like he was possessed and had no control over himself—a robot.

Bakura growled just at the thought of the kid with emerald eyes. He knew about the Game, he knew what happened last weekend, and he knew what happened to Ryou. No one at the school or in Domino knew that Ryou was dead; everyone just thought that he went travelling with his father. Bakura snorted; like that would ever happen.

But Bakura, being the logical person he was, put together that if Soren knew about Ryou's death, then he also knew about the Game and would eventually lead him to the Shadow Men. Bakura would get Ryou back no matter what it took.

So he figured the best way to get to the Shadow Men was to go where the Game was last seen and then he would track Soren down.

Bakura soon found the creek; the water was clearer then it was in the pictures, of course then it was running with blood and ink. There was a yellow "crime scene" ribbon along the bed of the creek and little flags of various colors were stuck in the mud. Bakura scrambled down the slope to where tiny traces of blood on the rocks were still shown.

He looked around. There were small traces of activity here and there. Tracks in the dried mud, fallen branches snapped, and a long, thick trail that looked to Bakura like the track of a snake. Bakura followed the trails and pulled out his pocket knife. The tracks were old but it was still best to be safe.

He came to a large tree, its trunk was carved out, making a nice little hallow for someone to live in. But the air here was thick and disturbing. It was feral, like a predator.

Despite the warning bells going off in his head, Bakura took another step closer to the tree and had to plug his nose. It smelled horrible, like something rotting. Bakura took a few steps closer and felt like he was almost pushing against the heavy aura, like walking through maples syrup. The smell came stronger until he could taste it in his mouth.

Then he saw it; something dark coated the hallow of the tree and there must have been so much of whatever it is that it was dripping out of the hallow and forming a small puddle in the grass below.

Bakura took a few steps closer and saw something catch the light in a patch of poison ivy. He moved the leaves around with the tip of his boot and saw a rather large kitchen knife. Bakura hissed in a breath and knelt beside the puddle of the strange substance in the grass.

It was too far away from where the bodies were found for the police to have noticed this. He scraped some of it away with his knife. On the ground it looked black but on the silver of his blade, one could easily tell that it was a deep red.

Bakura put a hand to his mouth. It didn't take a genius to figure out that this was Ryuzaki's and Haga's blood. Bakura was in a rage; not needing any proof, he already assumed who did it.

Soren Tiu and those damn Shadow Men.

Meanwhile ~

Seto, Malik, and Yuugi were currently looking for Anzu at all the places she went. They asked her boss at Burger World if she had come in for work recently but he said no. They didn't want to ask Anzu's mom because if she didn't know, they didn't want her to worry. The group of three was visiting Anzu's neighbors when they got the call.

"I'm sorry, Malik, but we don't have time to find Bakura right now, I'm sure he's fine," Yuugi responded when Malik asked if they could look for Bakura instead.

"But—" he began.

Yuugi's phone buzzed in his pocket, cutting Malik short; Yuugi scrambled to get his phone out. He answered it and asked, "Hello?" He didn't bother to check caller I.D.

"Hey, Yuugi, we've got him!" Jounouchi's cheerful voice blasted in Yuugi's ear. The boy vaguely heard the sound of struggle and shouting in the background.

"What? Got who?" Yuugi asked, totally confused.

"Soren, who else?"

"Get out of my house, you creeps!"

Yep, that was definitely Soren's voice.

"Jou, what did you do?" Yuugi asked, almost afraid to hear the answer.

"Well, Honda and I found Soren's apartment but he refused to buzz us in. So we broke in and tied him up." Jounouchi's voice sounded far too gleeful.

"Jounouchi!" Yuugi cried. "You broke into his house?"

"What? No one would notice in this neighborhood."

"That's not the point!" Yuugi argued.

"Well, whatever, I would hurry if I were you. Soren is beginning to struggle." Jounouchi pulled the phone away from his face for a moment to yell, "Honda! Find some stronger rope!"

"Working on it!"

"I'm gonna call the cops of you guys!" That was Soren.

"So, yeah, please hurry," Jounouchi said, quickly giving Yuugi the address.

"Wait, Jou—!" Yuugi cried.

"Bye!"

The call ended and Yuugi stared at his phone in shock, as if he were staring at Jounouchi. Yuugi shook his head and put the phone back in his pocket. When he looked up, Malik and Seto were giving him strange looks.

"What was that?" Seto asked.

"It was Jounouchi," Yuugi answered. "They found Soren and tied him up to keep him where he is. We have to hurry, come on," he said, leading the way to Soren's house by the directions Jounouchi told him.

Later ~

It wasn't hard to find where Soren lived. The first indication was that the door was kicked down and the second was the yelling that was coming from the open window above. Malik stared up in amusement and exchanged a look with Seto. Yuugi cast wary glances at the shadows in the alleys and quickly darted up the stairs, not caring if Seto and Malik followed behind him.

They passed a few other doors; people Soren probably shared the building with. But Soren's apartment was at the very top, it was the only door that was opened; probably not the safest thing to do in this area of town.

When the three entered they saw Honda and Jounouchi in a whole good cop, bad cop bit. They were holding a light to Soren's face, the shades were drawn and they were screaming in his face.

Soren screamed back, "I don't have any idea what you're talking about! Just leave me the fuck alone!"

"Not until you tell us what you know! We know that you're hiding something so spill it!" Jounouchi yelled, slamming his fist on the wooden kitchen table.

Soren looked like he was about to retaliate with a witty comment when he saw Yuugi standing in the foyer. His eyes widened and he shook his head until he was dizzy. "No, no, no! You get away! I don't want to see you! You'll just lead them back here to me!"

Seto stepped up to stand in between Honda and Jounouchi; he leaned into Soren's face. "Lead who here?" he asked in a low threatening tone.

"I don't want the Shadow Men back here! I'm done with them! Yami will come back to use me if he knows you're here! I don't want to see that bastard's face again! Get out!" Soren shouted out insanely, clenching his eyes closed.

Everyone fell silent for a moment; eyes were wide as saucers. Yuugi was frozen in his spot, too terrified to move or even breathe; Malik clung to Yuugi's arm.

Jounouchi snarled and grabbed a fistful of Soren's shirt, bringing him closer to his face; Soren's eyes still remained screwed shut, the boy was shaking violently. "What to you know about the Shadow Men?" Jounouchi shouted, shaking Soren. "Tell me now, you son of a bitch!"

"Yami wants Yuugi, if Yuugi's here then he'll come," Soren whispered in a haunted tone. "I don't want Yami to use me anymore! I'm done with him! I don't want to be a part of his twisted little game!"

"Tell me!"

Everyone turned to Yuugi who had shouted that in surprise. His fists were clenched and his eyes were stinging with tears. He was staring down Soren, shaking while Soren refused to meet his eyes. "Tell me what you know about Yami and his game!"

Soren didn't make a move to show that he heard Yuugi, but he softly spoke up. His arms opened but he refused to make eye contact with anyone, just decided to look down at the floor. "He made me kill Haga and Ryuzaki," Soren whispered, again in that haunting voice. "I had to stab them in the gut and those monsters Marik and Akefia keep as pets finished them off while they were still alive."

Soren clenched his eyes shut again as tears squeezed past his closed eyelids. He could see their terrified faces as they dyed every time he blinked. It haunted him every day and in his sleep; he could never escape it; he could never escape his sins.

"He made me kidnap Anzu," he continued in a hushed tone. "So the real game could begin. He's coming, he's coming for you all whether you're ready or not. He's coming."

By the time Soren was done, Yuugi was shaking and tears were rolling down his cheeks. His legs could no longer support him so he fell to his knees and hugged himself to provide him comfort. Yuugi fiddled with the gold ring on his left finger that he could never take off, being a constant reminder that he was Yami's.

"I don't want to do any more bad things to anyone," Soren said in a steady voice. "I don't know what they might make me do next if he finds out you're here. So please…leave."

-/-

Ranko: I am so sorry that this chapter is short! But I like it, except for the beginning, it was kind of slow (I was kind of-ahem-half asleep when I wrote that part) but things will pick up soon. I might have to skip a few chapters in the original book so we can get to the exciting, new Game!

Yuugi: (still hugging Ranko) I'm so happy you're back!

Yami: I wasn't in this chapter! That is bullsh—!

Ranko: Anyway! It was difficult to get back into the habit of writing in block paragraphs, it was weird. But I'll adjust again!

Yuugi: Also, Ranko put up a poll on her profile! Make sure to check it out and vote! We would really like the readers' support! It was will taken down December 8 so you guys have a week to vote!

Yami: Will I be in the next chapter?

Ranko: Maybe…

Yuugi: Review and make Ranko a happy person!