Arigatou, minasan!! My first two reviews!! Um....Well....Here's next chapter....^_^

-...- Yami & hikari talk

"..." Actual talking

(.....) Thinking

'......' Past talk

And....there's gonna be a duel in the story, & some.....Okay, MOST of the cards are created by my own imagination, I don't really know if some of the cards I created exists in the real world, but since this is only a fic, please bear with me ^_^;; And seems like Yugi DOES have a mother....I have to buy another manga on that episode....

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SCHOOL.....

Yugi ran hecticly to Domino High, he was late because of the little meeting he had with the lady & overslept thinking about her. He finally made it, with some spare time left & met his friends there.

"Hey guys!"

"Hey Yugi"

Joey replied him. Sure enough, the bell went & everyone took their seats as the teacher gave out some work to do. Yugi couldn't concentrate ever since what happened yesterday, he kept wondering what she meant by; 'I will come back to advance your powers...' & also the fact she seemed familiar...

SCHOOL ROOFTOP, LUNCH TIME....

"Yugi?"

"......"

"Yugi...."

"......"

"YUGI!!"

Mai shouted in Yugi's ears. Yugi jumped back, surprised & half deaf from the 'impact' Mai gave him & stared at everyone else, who looked back at him.

"Yug, are you still thinking about yesterday?"

Te`a asked him.

"Kinda....I still can't shake off the feeling I met somewhere...."

Yugi replied. Te`a sighed, & began eating her sandwich. The whole lunch period fell in complete silence until Joey & Tristen began fighting for The last of Yugi's tempura (A fried shrimp dish. Tasty =3)

Everyone else sweatdropped as the two fights in a dustcloud.

AFTER SCHOOL.....

Yugi waved goodbye to his friends as he walked opposite from their direction, but he wasn't going home, instead, he went back to the old abandoned house which is now half destroyed....But strangely, no one....Or so he thinks...Is doing anything about it....As if it doesn't exist....

"Weird..."

Yugi whispered to himself. He doesn't know why, but his feet walked inside the now almost destroyed house as if going against his will but at the same time of his curiosity.....

MEANWHILE

"Neon Mutou, I see...."

"Shadi"

The lady replied the man behind her, not surprised. She didn't bother looking behind her to see who it was, she already know of his presence a long time ago....Shadi noticed her reaction, & thought about entering her soul room when she stopped him.

"Don't bother. You won't be able to find anything, even if you were to use the millenium eye or key"

"How did you--"

"Like I said, you won't be able to find anything. Why'd you come here? & I'm not going to bother asking you how"

She asked straightly. Shadi was startled by her strange knowledge, how can she?

"Through your telepathy, you told me you would unfold a secret that not even I can find out, no matter what. And I'm here to know what it is"

"Yes....I remember....& here is the mystery you have waited to find out"

BACK WITH YUGI

(What...am I doing here?)

Yugi thought to himself.

-Yugi, I know of your curiosity, but are you sure it is wise to be here?-

-I don't know....But something's calling out to me here...Do you feel it too?-

-I guess...But why bring your deck?-

-I have no idea myself...It's as if I've been drawn to do so, without my concious...-

-Whatever you say, hikari-

As Yugi entered the abandoned mansion, he noticed how dark it was inside, even though some rays of light was shining through the cracks, holes & windows...When he heard other footsteps.

"Yugi?"

Joey asked him, from around the corner.

"Joey? What are you doing here?"

"Joey?! Yugi?! What are you two doing here?!!"

"Mai? Likewise, what are YOU doing here?"

What do you know....Not only is Mai, Joey & Yugi is here, but from the entrance Duke was also there, along with Seto & Te`a & not to mention Ryou were coming out from various corners. Not to mention Marik.

MEANWHILE.....

"You mean--?"

"Exactly"

The lady replied him. Shadi looked at her with a face of shock, while she began to leave, & said...

"For the rest, you're going to have to figure it out for yourself, for now I have some things to do"

"Yugi & his friends?"

"Exactly. I've used my powers to lure them back, I want to see how far their 'skills' are...I've used my power to lure them back with their decks"

"Let me tell you, they have gone quite far. Yugi even defeated String's....Or morely....Marik's Egyptian God card, & not to mention he has also passed my shadow game"

"The exact reason why I have to see this more. I have been too far away from 'his' side, & I have returned now"

With that, she dissappeared leaving Shadi standing there, silence in the air.

BACK WITH YUGI

Before they each could ask each other of their presence, the broken down place began to 'act' strangely, & suddenly the room they are standing began to change, & before them...A FORREST?! The forrest before them was nothing but barren trees, just bark & branches....Of cherry blossom trees (Sakura)

"What's going on?"

Duke asked. Apparantly everyone else was about to ask the same thing....When a writing shows up, in holographic form.

[Fear not the weather, not the season, not the care. But miracle. The Blossoms will bloom, the leaves will grow, from the old man's view, you will know. Destroy one, destroy another, until dust. that is the key for revive]

"Say wha--?"

"Joey, I think we're suppose to make the flowers & leaves grow from these trees"

Yugi replied him. They stopped when another writing shows up.

[Within this shadow game, only one of you may use one Duel Monster to do some work]

"Alright! Then I'm usin' my Flame Swordsman!"

"Joey, we must look this over first, let's think over the riddle before we do anything drastic"

Mai suggested him. 5 seconds pass....then 10, then a whole minute when everyone looked at Yugi.

"What?"

"Yugi, you're the puzzle genius here! Think!"

Seto concluded. Yugi sighed, & rethought about the riddle.

"Fear not the weather...not the season, not the care....But miracle....Obviously, these trees don't grow with water or sunshine or anything nature with that matter...."

"Mmmm hmmm...."

Mai said, listening carefully.

"But miracle....From the old man's view...destroy one, destroy another...."

"Errr....Maybe we should use an old geezer card like the dark mage &....destroy some of the trees?"

"I doubt that Joey...."

MEANWHILE.....

In the midst of the shadows, two figures, a short one & a tall one....As both looked at the claw orb in the lady's hand.

"Tee hee! Lookit Yuu-chan think!"

The short one said, hidden in the shadows like the tall one. The lady smiled & closed her eyes, & sighed.

"Do you think it's too hard for them?"

The tall one asked.

"It's a matter of thinking the obvious. There'll be more shadow games that awaits them that let's everyone there use their heads"

"Even Joey?"

"Yes, even Joey. It'll take everything they have in order to get through this, & if they can't....Well, none of us will have a chance to overcome what is in store in the future"

The lady replied the short one.

BACK WITH THE OTHERS.....

"This is hard..."

Mokuba said, getting irritable by the minute while Yugi is pondering hard over the riddle....

"Old man's view....Old man's view....Dust.....Destroy....revive....Cherry blossoms....I got it!!"

Everyone looked at Yugi.

"Guys, you know the story of the Hanasaka Jii-san'?" (Blooming Grandpa)

"The old man who uses the dusts remains of the mochi maker?"

Serenity asked.

"Yeah! That's right! Now...What did the old evil neighbour of the old man do to the mochi maker?"

"He burned it....?"

Mokuba answered.

"And when the evil neighbour gave back the mochi maker made from the tree that was grown on the dog's grave, what was left of it?"

"Dust?"

Ryou answered too.

"Yeah! And what did he do with the dust?"

Everyone then smiled, including Seto, when they realised what Yugi meant.

"Of course!! The old man made the trees bloom using the dust from the mochi maker!"

Te`a exclaimed, then, Mokuba asked:

"But...Where are we gonna find a mochi maker to burn?"

"Well, look back at the riddle: Destroy one, destroy another, until dust. That is the key of revive. We just have to burn down some of these trees & spread them. Besides, what was the mochi maker made of?"

"Another cherry blossom tree planted on the dog's grave....Yugi! You're a genius!!"

Mokuba shouted, exited.

"Joey, looks like we'll be using your Flame swordsman afterall!"

"Gotcha, Yuge!"

At that moment, Joey took out his Flame Swordsman. Before Joey could ask what to do, the card shined brightly, & before them stood the Flame Swordsman, ready to be commanded. Joey did what came first to mind; he ordered it to burn some of the trees, it did so until the trees that he took down became dust. After that, the Flame Swordsman automaticly returned to its card form as Joey picks it up.

"Let's start the blooming!"

Te`a exclaimed, as she ran to the pile of dusts & began to take some. Everyone did so, & Yugi was the first to throw a handful of dusts towards the barren branches. The moment the dust came in contact with the branch, beautiful bunches of cherry blossoms grew immediately, & everyone began doing the same until no more dust were left & all the empty trees are filled with a sea of pink, with little green in them. Everyone was dazed, as they looked around them & saw nothing but fully seasoned cherry blossom trees, they all smiled cheerfully, even Kaiba smiled.....A bit....Not his sarcastic smile, or his evil smirk, just a smile.

MEANWHILE

"Aaaahhh!! Yuu-chan finally figured it out!!"

The small one shouted, mouth opened smiling.

"Since when have you called Yugi 'Yuu-chan'?"

The tall one asked the small one, smiling. The mysterious lady giggled a bit with her finger closing her mouth, amused by the nickname one of her comrade has given to Yugi.

"They have manage to get pass stage one....This is a good progress, let's advance with stage two, shall we?"

The two other mysterious figures nodded in smirk.

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Anou.....Guess that was a bit of a crummy riddle....But I tried....Those who don't know of the story of "Hanasaka Jii-san", here it is:

HANASAKA JII-SAN

An old man one day went to the markets, & when he came home, along the way, he came across a dying dog. Feeling sorry for the dog, he took it to his wife, who also pitied the dog. The old woman then took care of the dog, & it became healthy again. Then two old couple decided to keep him. One day, before the old man went to the markets to sell his goods, the dog barked loudly & worried if anything happened to the dog, he ran quickly to the dog, whom he named Pochi.

"Doshtando, Pochi?" (What's wrong, Pochi?)

The old woman then came out too, to see what was the matter. The dog began to dig in the earth, & out from the hole of where he dug, many gold coins came sprouting out like water. The old couple was dazed, as they began picking up the gold coins.

Next door, another old, greedy, selfish man saw everything. The next day, the old evil man went to the old couple's house to borrow the dog but the dog growled & snarled, not wanting to come. But, the old man was kind & giving, & lend his Pochi to the greedy man. The selfish man, after that commanded the dog to do the same, it did so, but instead of gold coins garbage sprouts out in the hole it made. Frustrated & felt he was cheated, he beat up the dog until it died, returning its dead body to the old couple next day.

The old couple was grieved, but could do nothing about it. They buried the dog & from its grave grew a cherry blossom tree, that miraculously grew gold coins like how Pochi dug the hole. Once again, the old evil man saw this, & one night he sneakily went to the old tree to pick some coins for himself, but what he picked was garbage yet again. Frustrated, he chopped down the tree where the next morning the old couple made a mochi maker out of the fallen tree.

When the old woman one day decided to make some mochi to present to Pochi's grave, the moment she put the wooden hammer to pound the rice with came in contact with the rice, gold coins sprouted out yet again from it. The evil man next door saw this & asked if he could borrow it again, before any of the old couple could answer, he took it with him. And yet again, as he makes the mochi, garbage flew out everywhere. This time, he burned the mochi maker & when the old man wanted it back, all he got was dust.

Sad, he took some of its dust home, & when some of them were blown from the wind, the trees of the cherry blossom trees that decorated the streets grew its beautiful blossoms, even though it was not its season yet. Seeing this, the old man spread more of the dust & more grew, the children went out to watch this magic while shouting:

"Hanasaka Jii-san!! Hanasaka Jii-san!!"

Then, a noble who happens to pass by saw this, & made the old man live in his palace along with his wife. Seeing this, the evil one took some of the dust that the kind old man left & spread it too, but nothing happened. Instead, the dust made everyone cough & their eyes went red even with the noble. Frustrated by the man's trickery, he prosecuted the evil one.

THE END

Umm....Well....There's other ways of this story like it use to be the evil one's dog, or he never did spread the leftover dust....But I'll stick to this one ^-^ Oh, & a mochi is a pounded rice cake. Tasty :)