What's this? An update? Twice in the same month? For this story? Impossible.

In all seriousness though, I have been excited for this chapter for a long time because this kicks us off on the Memory World Arc, which honestly, could probably be published as its own story. I've teased at this arc before and now we're finally here!

First we have to wrap up some loose ends and then the ball starts rolling. Enjoy!

(Flashback)

The crowd was silent. Stunned and awed at the results before them. The duel ended with only 50 Life Points to spare… and a new king being crowned.

Joey might have been the only one who wasn't surprised at the outcome of the duel. He had seen about halfway through that this would be the end of his professional career, and quite frankly, he was satisfied with this outcome. He had given his all in this duel and his opponent honestly deserved this.

As Joey crossed the field to congratulate his opponent, the MP seemed to finally find his voice. "Ladies and gentlemen, I don't believe it! Joey Wheeler has been defeated!"

That statement seemed to break the spell that had fallen over the crowd and the stadium erupted into chaos. Perhaps the loudest section was the group visiting from Duel Academy seeing as it was one of their graduates who just inherited the title 'King of Games'.

Zane Truesdale was just as stunned as the audience had been a moment ago. He had actually beaten Joey Wheeler! Before he knew it, his opponent was in front of him.

"Congratulations, Mr. Truesdale," Joey said with no resentment in his voice, "I can honestly say that was one of the most enjoyable duels I've ever had and can't think of a better way to end my career."

That seemed to break Zane out of his trance. "Don't you say that to all of your opponents?" he asked, offering an uncertain smile

Joey grinned in return, "That statement is more true every time I say it. Now, how about your first taste of press conferences?"

"It wasn't the Spirit Duelist?" Malik asked, stunned.

The other Mages also sat stunned in the Shadows where they watched. All except Yugi who was sitting smuggly.

"Pay up."

"MOTHERF-!"

"You cheated!" Malik accused, cutting through Bakura's curse.

"And how did I cheat?" Yugi asked, crossing his arms expectantly.

"Ishizu must have told the Pharaoh who won the duel and he told you!"

"I told Ishizu I didn't want to know the outcome," Yami corrected, "But why would I throw away money on something like this?"

"Your hikari did."

"And you bet against him… for some reason. I suggest you do as he said and pay up."

(End flashback)

That duel had marked the end of an era of dueling. While Zane Truesdale wasn't the same kind of king Joey had been, he certainly honored his cards and his opponents, and after a rocky start he settled into a role as a mentor.

And before they knew it fifty years had passed.

Not exactly fifty years, but darn close to it. So much had changed over the decades, besides the numerous turnovers of the 'King of Games' title as nobody had been able to defend it as long as Joey had.

The Mages had effectively faded from the forefront of even their closest friends' and families' minds. Over the years they had all become very proficient fighters and their skills with the Shadows were more advanced than Yami had ever thought possible. But the most important change was one they had stumbled upon almost twenty years ago.

(Flashback)

Yugi walked into the common area holding a mirror in one hand and a picture frame in the other. His attention was split between those two items.

"Decide to be vain about your appearance, Yugi?" Malik teased.

Yugi ignored him, drawing some curious looks. "Hey guys, how...how long have we been here?"

"I want to say...nearly thirty years," Seto answered cautiously.

"So we should all be in our late forties or early fifties, right?"

"Last I checked, that's how math worked."

"Then why does it look like we haven't aged a day past twenty-five?" Yugi looked up wide-eyed as he turned the picture around.

It was a group photo they had taken before their 10-year mark. Yami hurried over to examine the picture. That he or Bakura didn't age wasn't all that surprising since their bodies were just Shadow constructs, but the rest of them? The other Mages were visibly unnerved now.

"How did we not notice before now?" Yami muttered in amazement.

"What if it's just because of the Shadows?" Ryou asked nervously, "What if we just look young because of the Shadows. I mean...we can't be…"

"Right," Seto agreed, "That would be impossible and illogical."

"Not words you can really use to describe us in any sense, Money Bags," Bakura reminded him.

"Do you remember that vision we had?" Yugi whispered to Yami, not because he didn't want to be overheard, but because his vocal chords refused to go any louder. "That one we had right before any of this started?"

He didn't need to. The memory was running through Yugi's mind and was broadcasting it across the bond. Images of seven figures standing still as buildings rose and fell around them played through his mind.

"We just might be," Yami said disbelievingly.

"That would explain why we never seem to age in any of my visions!" Ishizu gasped.

"We're immortal."

(End flashback)

It took all of them quite a while to come to terms with that revelation but any reservations they still had about having to abandon their friends and family suddenly vanished.

Today, Yami stared at the tablet with apprehension. Finally, Ishizu said it was time to retrieve his memories. While he couldn't deny that he had been beyond patient for this day, now that it was here, he was scared. Scared about what might happen; about what he might discover about himself.

He had built up a new persona. He knew what he liked and what he disliked; what he believed and what his morals were. What if when his memories came back, he didn't like who he was?

'Who you were is not who you are,' Yugi whispered in his mind, 'No matter what you learn, nothing will change here. We will all still stand beside you.'

'Thanks.'

"Pharaoh."

Yami turned to the unusually serious Bakura, but was a little taken aback by how nervous he looked.

"Before you do this… I want… just… sorry for everything that happened…"

Yami raised his eyebrows in surprise; Bakura was never one to be lost for words, far less to apologize for anything. Even Ryou seemed surprised and confused by this and it did nothing to soothe Yami's nerves.

Settling on a shaky nod of acceptance, he turned back to the tablet, his heart pounded and the god cards were clenched in his hands. The others took a step back, leaving him space, though Yugi did so reluctantly at Seto's slight tug.

Here goes nothing, Yami thought, raising the gods in front of him.

A blinding light filled the room...

When the light died down, Yugi was on his knees, clutching his head, and Yami lay motionless in front of the tablet. The Shadows flickered at the edges of his form, though it did not fade.

"What happened?" Malik asked, carefully eyeing the scene in front of him.

Seto knelt down next to Yugi to try to better see his face. "Yugi? Are you alright?"

Yugi ignored him and dropped his hands. He crawled the short distance to Yami's side and shook the still form of the Pharaoh, worry etched all over his face. "Yami?"

Bakura looked beyond surprised about something. If his shocked expression wasn't enough, the fact he kept looking around and patting down his body would have given it way.

"He's gone!" Yugi cried, tears forming at the corners of his eyes.

"Gone?" Seto asked, worry creeping into his voice.

"I can't sense him! It's like his presence has just...disappeared."

Seto's hand creeped forward to Yami's throat, searching for a pulse, but Yugi's words did not fill him with confidence.

"Fear not," a new voice entered the conversation, "The Pharaoh's mind is merely trapped in the world of his memories."

Everyone turned to see Shadi standing at the entrance of the room, Key around his neck and Scales in his hands. Immediately, the Mages stepped in front of Yugi and the motionless Pharaoh defensively. Malik and Ishizu remembered all of the trouble he'd caused them before, and while Seto had never met the man, he'd heard stories and that was enough.

"Shadi?" Yugi gasped.

"This is the elusive Bearer of the Millennium Scales and Key?" Bakura scoffed, "Where the hell have you been? Do you know how hard I tried to find you? Do you know how many times we could have used you here?"

"Why do you have two Items?" Ryou added, eyeing the Scales nervously.

"I am simply the protector of these Items until their rightful owners are ready," he fixed Yugi with a stare.

Yugi shifted uncomfortably under the gaze. "You said Yami is in a world of his memories," he said as he stood up, the others still standing protectively in front of him, "What does that mean?"

"The Pharaoh is reliving the past," Shadi explained, "In the time where the world was nearly destroyed by the Shadows. He will need your help, all of you, if he is to recover what was lost."

"His memories are booby trapped, Yugi," Bakura said, "When he held up the cards, his mind got transported to that time. Not only that, but the force of darkness that he locked away is now reawakened. He has entered the most dangerous Yami no Game of his life and is playing against someone who has the cards stacked heavily in their favor. If he loses, he dies and the world dies with him."

The Mages turned to look at Bakura with varying degrees of shock. Bakura on the other hand, was pointedly avoiding their gaze and waiting for the hellstorm to be unleashed. His apology made a lot more sense now, but...

"You knew?" Ishizu seethed, "Why didn't you tell us? Or at the very least Yami?"

"Because if he knew that getting his memories back would risk releasing the possible end of the world, he would have never done it," Bakura shot back, "I expected to get pulled into this with the Pharaoh since I existed in that time, and fifty years ago I might have been. Too much has changed. You can't say you didn't expect this since you insisted that Yami wait so long before doing this."

"I didn't know!" Ishizu denied vehemently, "All I knew was that he had to wait! If I had known, I would have told him!"

"You know what he's facing," Yugi spoke quietly, "You knew that he might be facing his death."

Bakura nodded warily, unsure how to deal with the inexplicably calm hikari; he could only assume this was the calm before the storm. "The 'me' of that time was possessed by a monster called Zorc… I'd hoped to be sent with Yami and help him behind the scenes."

"How long have you known about this?" Yugi asked, still quiet.

"Longer than I would have liked," Bakura admitted, "Do you remember the day you first dueled against Malik? The day you were stuck in the middle of the warehouse while it burned down?"

"Of course I remember," Yugi narrowed his eyes, "I nearly died trying to fix the Puzzle and ensure Yami could carry on."

"That day, I transferred a piece of my soul into a Puzzle piece, knowing that one day the Pharaoh would seek his memories and be taken into the past. When that day came, because my soul was in the Puzzle, I would travel back with him. With my knowledge of both worlds, my plan was to kill him there if my other plans failed."

"That was a long time ago," Ryou said, keeping a careful eye on Yugi, "But why are you still here?"

"At that time, Zorc still had a firm grip on my soul. I can only assume that that part of me died in that Yami no Game against Malik's dark side all those years ago," Bakura hypothesized, "But that was after I transferred that bit of my soul… it likely got pulled back with Yami."

"He'd better not die," Yugi hissed menacingly, shocking everyone who stood there, even Shadi. No threat was spoken, but it hung in the air between them anyway.

"Well let's make sure that doesn't happen," Seto spoke up, breaking some of the tension. He turned to Shadi, "You said Yami would need our help. How can we do that if he's trapped in his memories?"

"The Millennium Key can enter a person's soul room," Shadi explained, holding up the Item in question, "The Pharaoh's memories are trapped within the Puzzle. With the powers of the Key, I can take us into the Puzzle. If you can find the room with the Pharaoh's memories, you too can enter that world."

"He needs his name to win," Bakura piped up warily, "The first one to find it decides the fate of the world."

"So we go in and find his name for him," Malik surmised.

"It is dangerous," Shadi warned, "Within the Puzzle, not only do the traps pose a danger, but so does the labyrinth itself. At best, you could be trapped for years if you get lost, not that you would be able to tell. The passage of time flows differently within the Puzzle. At worst, your souls could be destroyed."

"Danger or not, he is our friend," Ryou said firmly, "He would risk it for us."

"It's not like we have anywhere to be," Seto smirked.

"We have dedicated our lives to the service of our Pharaoh," Ishizu added, "We will do whatever it takes to help him."

Yugi nodded determinedly, carefully removing the Puzzle from Yami's neck and placing it around his own. "Then let's go, and hope we don't take too long."

Yami rolled over in his bed, burrowing his head deeper into the pillows willing himself to go back to sleep. He had been dreaming about getting his memories back, as he had many times before, and maybe if he returned to the dream, he could actually get something from it. He was just starting to drift off again when a firm knock at his door jostled him out of it. Yami still didn't open his eyes, but scowled anyway with half a mind to tell Seto to get lost and let him sleep.

"My Prince? Are you awake?" an unfamiliar voice called through the barrier.

Prince?

Yami's eyes shot open as he bolted up. This was not his room.

The stone walls and foundations weren't all that different, but the sunlight filtering through an open window was definitely foreign. He lived underground now, he didn't get natural lighting when he was inside. Where on earth was he?

The door opened slowly to reveal a horde of people, all holding various items and kneeling respectfully. The person who opened the door looked disapproving, though he looked younger than Yami expected. He was expecting an adult, and instead stood an older teenager. Something about him seemed familiar, but he couldn't place it.

"My Prince, must I remind you, that as the future pharaoh, you should get used to rising with the sun?"

Yami didn't reply, still trying to figure out what was going on. He got out of bed to stand and noticed he was simply wearing a lower tunic and nothing else. Still curious about where he was, he walked over to the window, blinking in the bright light.

Ancient Egypt. It had to be.

The sands and the suns were still the same, but there were a couple of pyramids visible from his window and at least two others under construction.

He was suddenly very glad that Ishizu had insisted they wait for him to retrieve his memories until he knew more about life during this time. Silently he thanked the gods that the Ishtars had drilled him in palace protocols, so while he didn't have his memories right now, he knew what was expected of him and wouldn't freak out.

Instinctively, he tried to reach for Yugi, but all that met him was emptiness. There was no one waiting at the other end; the path to get there didn't even exist. He was alone in this strange world it seemed.

"My Prince, is everything alright?" the stranger asked, interrupting his thoughts and venturing further into the room.

Yami turned to look at him, and noticed something else. Everyone seemed so much taller than him. Pretty much everyone was taller than him anyway, but this seemed more...extreme. He looked down at himself as best he could. His skin was deeply tanned, more so than it had become in the past fifty years, but more than that, he was smaller than he remembered.

Apparently it wasn't a dream. Or maybe it was and this was just the dream part of his day.

Assuming it wasn't... not only did holding up the Egyptian gods to the tablet send him to Ancient Egypt, it also put him into a time where he was younger than he ever remembered being. Why was he here? And why did he still not remember anything? Wasn't the whole reason he needed to approach the tablet to get his memories back?

A strange buzzing noise reached his ears, but he ignored it as worry took over. What had happened to the others? Were they okay? Yugi was probably worried sick.

Bakura's apology still rang through his head. Did he know this was going to happen? Why was he apologizing? He came from the same time, and was a thief, did he try to steal from the Pharaoh during this time? No, that didn't seem like something Bakura would apologize for. It had to be something more.

"Prince?"

Yami shook himself out of his thoughts. He could figure things out later when he was alone, for now though, instinct was telling he needed to play along and not draw attention to himself. The stranger stood closer to him now with a concerned look on his face, as if he didn't know what to make of the situation.

"Sorry, I had a strange dream," he lied. Great, his voice was higher too. Now he was glad the others weren't around for this. He could only imagine how much they would tease him...especially Bakura.

"A dream?" the stranger asked surprised, suspicion was barely noticeable in his voice, but Yami picked up on it. "Should I fetch a wiseman?" he continued.

"Don't bother," Yami shook his head, curious about the response, "It was silly."

"My lord, even dreams that appear such can hold hidden meanings from the gods! If you have truly been blessed to receive such a message, we must strive to understand it."

"The dream is faded," Yami covered smoothly, "If it was a gift from the gods, surely it would have lingered in my mind?"

The stranger seemed a bit taken aback at the response, but bowed low. "Of course, my lord. Forgive me for pressing the matter. May we ready you for the day?"

Yami looked past him at all the people still kneeling outside the door. How long had they been kneeling on the hard stone? Their knees had to be hurting by now.

"Please," Yami replied, wishing he could apologize for having them wait so long, but he felt that would be too out of character for the expectations of this time.

Almost immediately, he was swarmed with people who were going through a well practiced routine. These people had probably been dressing him since he was born. He should probably learn, well, relearn their names.

Again, he was silently thanking Ishizu and Malik for their lessons. He was somewhat familiar with what this routine should be and any slip ups on his part he hoped could be excused as tiredness. He wondered idly if the Necklace had foreseen something like this happening and that was what prompted Ishizu into making sure he was fully educated. Perhaps it was just that Ishizu wanted the Court to run as it should.

It wasn't long before he was deemed presentable and it was a lot simpler than how the Shadows dressed him in his time. He wore a simple tunic cinched at the waist with a gold band, gold gauntlets on his forearms and calves, and a simple collar piece sat on his shoulders. The fancier stuff must come when he became pharaoh.

"Come now, Prince," the stranger bowed and beckoned, "You are late for breakfast and then you have your studies to attend to."

Yami bit back a groan as he followed who he assumed was his escort, out of his room. Here he was, older than the collective age of probably everybody in the palace, and he still had tutors and studies. He took solace in the thought that at least Ishizu had taught him most, if not all, that he needed to know, so it should be easy to play along for now.

I warned you that I was going to make a major timeskip. I know it was kind of a lazy way to do it, but the thought of trying to make a whole chapter on it was seriously killing my motivation.

I also noticed there wasn't really any information about Yami growing up as a child, and if there was, it wasn't much. So I decided to give him more background than just the - what? - two/three weeks he spent as Pharaoh in the anime.

Hope you enjoy this new take on this arc. Please review :)