Author's Notes:

Let me preface this chapter by stating that I am a fan of neither Yami nor Tea, so this chapter was a bit hard to write. Let me also say how much fun it was to separate Yugi and Yami. If there powers that be could do it in Waking the Dragons, then I felt absolutely no shame in taking one of them and sealing him up in a doll. I actually debated for several minutes over which one to take before finally deciding it would have more impact if it was Yugi who was missing. Yami, for all that is truly annoying about him, really is the one who's better at being heartsick and emotional.

By this point in the story, all of the kids were blowing off play time to listen to the story. Some of them liked it so much that they thought I ought to submit it to become a story arc for the actual show. I laughed. It was very sweet.

The King of Games

"This is terrible! We're running out of time!" Tea Gardner was nearing a state of panic. They still hadn't found anybody, not even the others who were out searching. Despite being with Yugi, she felt terribly alone. For some reason, the fifteen year old was trapped in his own thoughts, barely acknowledging her presence. "We can't let Serenity, Mai, and Mokuba be turned permanently into dolls!"

Yami was also becoming more agitated with each passing hour. As Tea continued to fret, Yami decided to tell her the truth. "Or Yugi."

The graceful teenager stopped and turned to look at him. "What?" In the back of her mind, she realized she knew what he was about to say. She had noticed at the table that his voice was deeper and a familiar air of confidence had been surrounding her friend all day. This was the other Yugi.

Yami nodded. "Yugi's been missing since we entered the castle."

"You mean since Pegasus' invitation blasted us," Tea realized. "We have to find him."

"We will, Tea," Yami replied reassuringly, despite his own concerns that they wouldn't find Yugi in time. All ready, eighteen hours had passed, and there was still no sign of the teenager.

The dancer pointed to a door, "Have we tried that one yet?"

"I don't know. Let's try it, just to be sure." Yami felt like they had been going in circles. Every hallway looked the same as the next. The door opened before them into a room. Inside the unexpectedly spacious room, there were large mats on the floor. Tea and Yami wandered in between them, noticing that every mat looked exactly the same.

Tea shuddered as she looked around, "What is this place? I doubt Pegasus conducts exercise classes."

The duelist knelt to inspect one of the mats. "Just as I suspected, These aren't for exercise, Tea."

"What do you mean?"

"They're cards."

"Cards? Why would somebody make large cards and spread them out like this?"

"I was hoping you might want to play a game," replied a voice behind them.

They both turned. "Pegasus!"

He passed between them and walked to the far end of the room. "It's a simple game. You flip over two cards. If they match, they vanish."

"And if they don't?" Yami asked.

Pegasus smiled. "You can miss three times. Then, little Yugi becomes a doll forever." Yami fought to keep his face stoic. Pegasus knows what he's done!

Tea looked out over the cards, "There are so many. Where do we begin?"

Yami walked to the card nearest the door. "Take the corner opposite from me, Tea. We'll each flip a card." She walked across the room, butterflies taking over her stomach, and took her place. They both flipped over their first cards together, revealing an ankh and a sphere with an eye embossed on it. From somewhere near where Pegasus was watching the game, a loud gong sounded. The game designer clapped lightly in amusement.

"We can't make mistakes!" Tea reminded him. As if I could forget, he thought.

She flipped over her next card, a set of scales. Yami flipped over his next card. Another set of scales! They were in luck! The cards vanished, and an outline of the scales appeared on one wall. Tea's next flip revealed an ankh, and she quickly ran back to her other ankh card and flipped it over. The second mistake came a few moves later when a pyramid with an eye failed to match an image of Yugi. Seeing their friend on a card shocked them both. Again, Pegasus took delight in the sound of the gong and in the pair's distress.

"I thought Yugi was trapped in a doll," Tea sounded confused.

The pharaoh nodded. "Let's keep going and see what appears when we match them."

Luck continued to be on their side as they slowly and methodically made their way through the remaining cards, Yami prefacing every flip with a strong wish to find Yugi. The walls reflected their success. They were lined with outlines of a set of scales, an ankh, a pyramid with an eye, a circle with points hanging off, and a rod. Yami noted somewhere in the back of his mind that all of the cards were the Millennium items plus Yugi.

From his seat at the end of the room, Pegasus was watching the game intently. "Be careful! You wouldn't want Yugi-boy to be trapped here forever, would you?" he asked tauntingly as he watched the pair run to the next cards they intended to flip.

Tea flipped over a card with a necklace that had a long eye as the centerpiece. She moved to another card as Yami moved to one of his own cards. Realizing both had moved, they both froze. We have to be careful, Yami reminded himself. One more mistake will leave Yugi in doll form. "Tea, don't move. This is the right card."

"Are you sure?"

For Yugi's sake, I have to be sure. "Yes, Tea, I'm certain." She slowly backed away from her own card as Yami flipped his. Sure enough, the pharaoh was correct. The Millennium necklace appeared on the wall, quickly followed by the Millennium eye. Two cards remained face down, the two Yami knew contained the likeness of Yugi on them. He and Tea each grabbed a card and flipped them. The image grinned at them briefly before the cards disappeared, leaving the Yugi doll in their place.

"Yugi!" Tea scooped the doll into a crushing hug, twirling around. Relieved to see his other half, Yami just smiled at the display. As Tea completed her twirl, Yugi grew back to his normal size. She nearly dropped him in surprise. The teen walked over to face his alter ego. The two stared at each other for a long moment before Yami stepped forward. They separately occupied the same space for a moment before combining, leaving Yugi as the only one visible.

"Are you all right, Yugi?" Tea placed a hand on his shoulder.

As his heart skipped a beat, he smiled. "Yeah, I'm fine, Tea! Thanks for coming after me!"

She returned the smile, "I'm just happy you're back." Both looked toward the end of the room, toward Pegasus. To their great surprise, the man was no longer there. He must have wandered off when we beat his game, Yami supposed. His newly restored partner just nodded.

The friends headed out of the room, back into the maze of hallways. Tea tried to reconstruct the path she and the pharaoh had taken to end up in the room, but soon they were lost. As they rounded a corner, a man approached them, "Mister Pegasus would like you to return to the great hall."

They followed him down the hall and back to the room they first sat with Pegasus nearly a day before.