Zypher: And like I know it; you all loved the first chapter! Thanks and here we are with the second! Enjoy!

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Yami no Game: Dark Saga

Chapter 2

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"Jii-chan!" Yugi called again, Azura whining pitifully, then looked back to Keara who was examining his body. "What's wrong with him, Keara?" he asked. "He's breathing, but he's not moving...it's like his body just became an empty shell. I think his soul was literally sucked into the TV." she confirmed before turning to Yugi. "But we'll see what we can do about this. You should head upstairs and comfort Yami. He took this awfully hard." she said and Yugi looked around, seeing that Yami was indeed not in the room after the duel ended. 'Oh no...Yami.' he thought as he got up and bolted to his room. When he came to the closed door, he could faintly hear Yami's muffled sobs and felt absolutely terrible. Taking a moment to test the knob to see if the door was unlocked, Yugi walked inside. His heart broke to see the usually proud demon on the bed, face buried into his knees as he let out the barely contained emotions. "Yami..." he whispered as he walked over to the bed and sat down beside him, rubbing his back. "It's ok. Everything will be alright." Yugi whispered. "No it won't. I lost your grandfather's soul, Yugi. I failed in protecting your family." he muttered, still crying softly into the pillow. "Yami, you did your best. What Pegasus did was unexpected and we couldn't think of a way to counter it. You fought well and I knew you would've won no matter what Pegasus' tricks were. Please don't beat yourself up for it." Yami was silent as he lifted up his head, showing red rimmed eyes from all the crying and Yugi gently wiped away his tears before wrapping his arms around him and bringing him close. "Everything will be alright, Yami. We'll head to Duelist Kingdom, you'll defeat Pegasus and get jii-chan's soul back. Promise me that you will."

Yami sniffed lightly but nodded. "I promise. I'm not going to fail you again, love."

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The next day at school, Ryou and Diamond walked in, looking over to the group. "Ohayou, minna!" Ryou greeted as he and Diamond walked in. Honda and Myrrh looked over to him but smiles weren't on their faces. "Hey." Honda whispered gloomily. "Ohayou, Ryou-kun." Myrrh whispered as they both walked over to them. "What's wrong? Did something happen?" Diamond asked as she looked down to Yugi who was watching something on a portable 8mm player. She knelt down beside the desk and looked at it as well. "What are you watching, Yugi?" she asked. Sugoroku looked up to her and smiled. "Ah! You must be Diamond, aren't you? Ohayou!" he spoke and Diamond jumped back. "Whoa! Is that a video phone, Yugi?" she asked. "Nope. My jii-chan is stuck in this video." he replied. "Really?! How did that happen?" she asked, appalled. "It's hard ta believe, but Yami lost a duel to this weird guy's video recordin'. He had a Sennen item an' he used that power to put jii-chan's soul on this videotape!" Jounouchi explained. "That's horrible!" she said but was intrigued about the Sennen item bit. Yugi sighed. "And after that duel, Yami locked himself away in the puzzle. He mentioned he'll come back out but I'm worried. He still thinks that even if he does win the tournament Pegasus is hosting, he won't be able to free jii-chan's soul. He's absolutely distraught about the entire thing." Yugi mumbled. "Now now! Tell him I'm doing just fine in here! Don't you all get so down in the dumps about me!" Sugoroku spoke. "He's right! Getting' depressed isn't gonna solve anythin'! Ya need ta tell him that! Better yet, I will!" Jounouchi took a book and rolled it up to resemble a megaphone.

"Hey, Yami! Cheer up in there!" he shouted, making Yugi jump out of his seat. "I'll tell him that later! No need to burst my eardrums, Jounouchi-kun!" Yugi whined. The blonde grinned before looking serious again. "But if we are planning to save jii-chan's soul, we will have to go to that kingdom and get back at Pegasus!" Yugi nodded. "That's what he told Yami. 'Come to my kingdom!' Pegasus said. That's where he's going to crown the King of Duel Monsters!" Yugi replied and Ryou was curious about this. "You said that Pegasus had a Sennen item, didn't you?" Ryou asked. "No duh! Not only does he have one but he probably dug his eye out ta put it in!" Jounouchi huffed. "That's a crazy thought but you might be right." Diamond said before crossing her arms. "Maybe if you go to this kingdom, you'll find out the secret of the Sennen items..." She reached into her bag and pulled out the Sennen Gem.

"Like the Sennen Ring and Gem." she finished and they all jumped back. "You still have that thing?!" They all chorused in horror. "It's ok! As long as I'm not wearing the Gem and Ryou's not wearing the Ring, it's nothing but harmless jewelry." Diamond commented, flicking the gem, and Ryou nodded in agreement. "Yeah. Our father brought them from an antique shop in Egypt...but as you all know, there are other spirits inside of them who are also demons like Yami and Aqua. The thing I want the most is to find out the secrets of these items and how they contain the spirits of demons. Not only that but what was the purpose of them being sealed away and what powers the items themselves hold. I'm betting Pegasus knows those answers." Ryou spoke and they nodded. Soon, Yugi stood up abruptly and they looked at him. "What's up, Yugi?" Honda asked. "Sorry, I just want to be alone for a bit and see if I can speak with Yami. Make him feel a little better." They nodded and Yugi left the classroom and headed up to the roof.

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When he was up there, he closed his eyes and appeared in the hallway splitting the two soul rooms apart. He walked over to the steel door of Yami and Aqua's soul room and opened the door. Violet hues looked around through the darkened room before closing his eyes again, pinpointing Yami's soul within the twisting halls. The boy arrived in front of a gold door with ancient hieroglyphics written on it. He knocked on the gold door and called for Yami. "Yami, please. Come out and talk to me. I hate seeing you like this." It was silent for a good few seconds or so before the door opened and Yami stood in the doorway. "Come on in, Yugi." he whispered as he walked back in and Yugi followed, looking around the room that he created. The walls shined with gold and the oak bed that sat in the center of the room was covered in scarlet, gold and black silk. Yami sat down on the bed and Yugi climbed up beside him. "Yami, are you still distressed about what happened yesterday?" Yugi asked and he nodded. "Yeah. I just can't get over it. If I just had a few spare seconds, I could've won..." Yami murmured, barely audible and Yugi strained to hear what he said.

"It's ok. I promise you. I know you lost that duel, Yami, but don't get angry at yourself. You fought tooth and nail against Pegasus. If it wasn't for his tricks and the Sennen Eye, I bet you would've won. I want you to feel better and not have this weight of guilt bringing you down." Yugi kissed Yami's cheek lightly. "Please? For me?" Yami looked to him before curling his tail around him and pulling him upon him as he lied down on the bed. "I'll feel better if you stay here with me."

Pouts. "I know what you're thinking, Yami, and I'll be in here forever if we do."

"Come on. You don't want me to be glum all day, do you?"

"...No." A sigh. "Fine but don't take long. Recess will be over soon and the last thing I need is for my friends to look for me and I'm absent from my body."

Smirk. "You know I would never take long~"

(Zypher: Behold my funny yet impossibly obvious innuendo! -grins- I just couldn't help myself by adding that!)

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After school, Yugi said goodbye to his friends before heading home. Yami appeared out of the puzzle when he was close to the game shop, a content smirk on his face. Yugi had to nudge him just to make him stop and Yami only chuckled. "I'm home!" Yugi called per usual. "Welcome back!" Sugoroku replied right by his shoulder, making him jump as he looked to the 8mm player. "You startled me...I'm so used to hearing your voice from inside the shop when I come home." Yugi hummed. "Me too. But I'm getting used to being in here..." His grandfather spoke as Yugi went to open the door but spotted the envelope wedged between the frames of the door. "What's this?" he questioned, mostly to himself, as he pulled the envelope from the door. Yami looked to it as well. "Do you think it's something from Pegasus?" he inquired. "Maybe." Yugi answered as he opened it and looked inside.

"These are Duel Monsters cards!"

"But they're not just any ordinary Duel Monster cards." Yami murmured, both unaware of the man cloaked in black watching them from afar. "It says 'Voyage to the Kingdom'! This must be the ticket to Duelist Kingdom." he confirmed and Yugi nodded in agreement. "Hey, Yugi!" A voice called and they turned to see Jounouchi running towards them with the others trailing behind him. "Jounouchi-kun! Everyone! Glad to see you but why did you run here?" Yugi asked. "Brace yourself! Look what I just got! Two videotapes addressed ta me! The mailman delivered 'em today!" Jounouchi commented as he held the two packages up that held the two tapes. "Really? Do you think Pegasus sent one of them?" he questioned. "Dunno but can I watch 'em here? I don't have an 8mm VCR." Yugi nodded as they headed inside and into the living room again. Once they were there, Yugi placed the cards that he got on the floor and they all looked at them, momentarily forgetting about the videos Jounouchi had. "So these are supposed to be the invitation card?" Honda questioned and he nodded. "Yup! They were just delivered today!" Yugi replied. "Each one tells you a little bit about Duelist Kingdom!" Yami picked up the once that was labeled Voyage to the Kingdom. "Such as this one. This tells you where and when the boat that goes to the kingdom will be. One week from now...9:30 p.m. at the Domino Pier." he read. "And the next card is Duelist Kingdom itself! There's an island drawn on it! So the tournament must be on this island named Duelist Kingdom!" Yugi stated, holding up the card with Duelist Kingdom written on it. Jounouchi picked up the card labeled Duelist's Glove.

"Isn't this the glove ya got in that package yesterday?" Yugi nodded as he pulled out the box and dug through, grabbing the star chips and the Duelist's Glove. "These star chips must be proof of your status as a duelist. You must be betting these star chips in every duel you get into." Keara picked up the last two. "Then there are these cards. The Honor of the King's Right...which by the picture I'm guessing it's the prize money the Duelist King wins. But on this card, The Honor of the King Left, has nothing. This must be a secret that only the one who becomes king can get." Keara spoke. "And that's pretty much it for the cards." Yugi hummed before looking to Jounouchi. "Now, let's watch those videos, Jounouchi-kun!" Jounouchi nodded as he picked up one of the tapes and placed it in the VCR. The screen was blank before a picture of a blonde appeared. "Hey there, bro! It's me, Kaiser! Just sending this to tell you I'll be coming home tomorrow!" he said with a big grin. "So, this is the sibling you were talking about." Myrrh said. "Yeah. Honda told ya that day I went onto that phony game show that he went out of Domino to find a job. Guess he didn't find one." Jounouchi murmured as they continued to watch the recording.

"Well, as you can guess, I'm coming back and its cause all the crap jobs I got weren't paying off so I decided it'd be good to be living with my good ol' half-bro again. See you soon and maybe I'll stop by to meet your new buds that you told me so much about in your letters when I get back!" The video ended there. "Well, he's still as cheerful as he can be. Just like when you two were younger." Honda said with a laugh. "So, I'm guessin' the other tape must be from Pegasus. It has to be." Jounouchi stated as he took out the tape and place it into the VCR. Again, the screen was blank until a red headed girl appeared. "Hi there, onii-chan! How is my big brother doing?" The girl questioned and that surprised Jounouchi. "Jounouchi-kun! Did she say 'big brother'?!" Honda questioned in just as much surprise as everyone else. Jounouchi didn't respond and only continued to watch the video. "It's been a long time! I'm sending this video to you and hopefully Kaiser so you two don't forget what I look like! But I wish I could see your faces again!"

The girl's facade started to sadden a little. "Actually, I really wanted to see you and Kaiser in person instead of by video...but you both are so busy...and we live so far apart. I wanted to see you both...for one last time." she whispered. 'Shizuka!' Jounouchi thought in horror, knowing what she meant. '"One last time?" What could that mean? Is she...?' Yugi thought then looked to Jounouchi, seeing the look of abashed horror cross his face. "Onii-chan, don't tell dad about this video." She smiled again and gave a small wave. "Well, that's all...take care of yourselves. Goodbye onii-chan, Kaiser-kun." she spoke before the video ended and Jounouchi lowered his head. Someone was just about to ask what just happened when he started to speak softly. "Our parents split up 'bout six years ago. Our sister went with our mom. They live pretty far away now...however, our sister had problems with her eyes ever since she was born...so much so that the doctors say she'll go blind eventually..." he explained. "Blind?! That's horrible!" Diamond whispered, covering her mouth with a hand.

"Yeah. When she said "one last time"...that means...the docs...told her that time has finally come..." Jounouchi finished. "Couldn't they do anything about it? That's not fair!" Myrrh exclaimed. "I know but they say that even with the most advanced medical treatments in the world, there's a 50 percent chance they can do the surgery. But where in the world can I get that kind of money...!" Tears started to come to Jounouchi's eyes as he lifted his head up. "Kaiser and I are supposed to be her big, supportive siblings...but even Kaiser can't do a thing ta help her if he can't make the money ta support that surgery an' help me pay off our old man's debts! We're useless!" Yami listened quietly before picking up one of the cards on the floor and walked over to him, placing a hand on his shoulder. "Like you told me before, cheer up, Jounouchi. Don't give up just yet." He held up the Honor of the King's Right card. "You remember this card, right?" He then asked Yugi to hand him a star chip and he did so, curious of what Yami was planning. "These star chips are your proof as a duelist! Take one of mine and let win those honors together!" he spoke, handing him both the card and the star chip. "Are ya serious...?" Jounouchi asked, not believing what he was hearing. "I'm about as serious as I can be. Let go win that tournament...to save jii-chan and your sister!" Jounouchi looked at him before smiling. "Alright! For jii-chan an' my sister!" he cheered in confidence. "We've got one week until we leave! We'll spend it training in Duel Monsters!" Yugi claimed happily.

"You bet!"

"But wait! What about Kaiser coming back?" Ryou questioned. "He can come with us! I'm sure he knows of the game too!" Jounouchi said and they all nodded as they prepared to train and also think of some quick day plans for when Kaiser comes.

-One week later-

On Domino Pier, at 9:00 p.m., the ship for the Kingdom awaited...

"Brr...it's cold out here..."

"Yeah...and awfully quiet."

"Makes you wonder if the ship's even out here." Yugi took out the card from his pocket and looked at it. "The date on the ticket card is tonight. There's no mistake about it!" he said then looked up. "Ah! There it is!" he called, pointing to the ship ahead. "And look at all those people!" Like Yugi said, many kids stood there, some checking out other's cards and talking with one another, mainly about the tournament. "They all must be duelists! No doubt about that!" Kaiser spoke. "But to you two, they're nothing but rivals!" he finished, looking at Jounouchi and Yami. "Looks like Yami wasn't the only one invited for his dueling skill. Look over there!" Aqua murmured, pointing over in one direction that revealed Dinosaur Ryuzaki and Insector Haga "Hey! It's that insect dude who won the last tournament and the runner up!" Jounouchi replied in fascination. "This is going to be a tough crowd." They walked over to the group and listened to the many conversations going amongst the kids before someone arrived on the deck of the boat. "Attention duelists! I2 (Industrial Illusions Inc.) welcomes you to this event! We researched your tournament records, even unofficial duels, and handpicked the best duelists of Japan! The star named glory shines above your heads, where any of you could reach. Now is the time, duelists! Come cross the seas! Reach for that light to the Duelist Kingdom!" The man announced loudly, gaining many cheers from the children below. But one duelist only laughed and the group turned to see who it was. It was an older woman with blonde hair holding a duffel bag in hand. "It's like a pep rally for little kids! But I guess it is mostly kids here anyways!" she said before taking a glance over to them. "I haven't seen any real competition yet." Of course, just like every other male that went against her before, Jounouchi and Honda were floored. She then looked over to Yami and laughed. "So, you're the one called Yami, right?"

"Yeah and what's it to you?" he huffed, crossing his arms before Yugi nudged him. "Be polite." The boy whispered. "What a surprise~! How can a person like you defeat Kaiba? You're famous, you know, although you don't look like what all the news has been talking about. No wings or a tail. Not even fancy little horns like the storybooks. Must be something to boost their ratings." she said before taking a glance towards Yugi. "And you must be Motou Yugi, the little dueling apprentice under Yami's wing." she said, giggling lightly and making a blush appear on the younger's face. Yami growled and pulled him away. During the moment, Honda and Jounouchi sidled up to the female duelist with big grins on their faces.

"Excuse me, ma'am! I'm the friend of the famous Yami! My name is Hon..."

"I'm Jono..."

"Whatever!" she snapped, shutting them up. "Let me tell you this, in a duel...it doesn't matter if my opponent is a kid. Any man who stands in my way will be crushed!" she conveyed before walking off. "My name's Kujaku Mai. See you later...boys!" she cooed, making her way onto the boat. Once she was gone, Jounouchi and Honda gave a whistle. "Man, what a woman!" Honda replied. Jounouchi sniffed the air and smiled widely. "Mmm...the sweet perfume of a beautiful lady..." Kaiser groaned and pulled at Jounouchi's ear, walking towards the boat. "Let's go, Romeo. Even I don't go falling head over heels for the first woman I see." he mumbled, Jounouchi complaining as he was dragged off and the others followed, laughing quietly to themselves. Soon, the clock struck 9:30 and with a whistle, the boat was on its way. "Attention everyone! I will show you to your rooms. Please follow me!" The burly suit spoke as he walked off, the duelists following behind him. "With a ship this big, the rooms gotta be swanky!" Jounouchi chirped eagerly. As they walked, two familiar duelists walked over to Yugi's side. "Excuse me...aren't you Motou Yugi, the one that hangs out with the guy that defeated Kaiba?" The duelist asked and he turned to him. "Yeah! And you're Haga! And Ryuzaki!"

"Heya!" Ryuzaki greeted. "Congratulations on winning that tournament, Haga!" Yugi congratulated him and he chuckled. "It was nothing." Haga responded. "Yeah. It was only because I went easy on him!" Ryuzaki muttered. Haga focused his attention to Yugi. "Yami and I will probably duel when we get to the kingdom. I'm eagerly looking forward to it. The truth is that tournament I won didn't mean much to me. I can't really accept myself as a champion if I don't defeat him and Kaiba." Haga spoke and Yugi's eyes darkened at the thought of Kaiba. "By the way, did your friend happen to hear about the new rules being introduced to Duel Monsters at the tournament in Duelist Kingdom?"

"What? New rules?" Yugi questioned. Haga nodded. "Yes. I don't know the details myself but...apparently there's more strategy than before." Ryuzaki snorted to himself. "Hah! 'New rules'? Who cares! That's all hype!" He took a glance at them. "All I know is that in dueling, it's killed or be killed."

"What?!" Was the enraged shout and Yugi flinched, recognizing the loud voice. "You gotta be kiddin' me! Whaddya mean we sleep in this common room?!" Jounouchi questioned angrily. "We don't even get beds! We should be getting' big rooms like they give ta rich people!"

"Only the finalists from the last tournament have been given private rooms." Ryuzaki chuckled to himself as he looked to the still enraged duelist. "Tough luck! We get the luxury rooms!" Haga took a glance over to Yugi again as he was about to walk off to comfort his friend. "You know...in one way, this common room is better than our private rooms. The sponsors may have known that when they assigned our quarters." Haga explained. "See! Look over there!" he spoke, pointing over to the batch of kids already trading and talking about different dueling strategies. "The people staying in this room can trade cards and improve their decks! And while they're at it, get a peek at what cards their opponents have too..." he finished. 'That's surprising and he figured that out just by one pass over the room.' Haga turned away, ready to head to his own room. "Look, even your friend is fitting right in after making such a fuss..." Yugi looked over to where Jounouchi was and saw him hopping from person to person, asking to trade cards and seeing what they had. The teen sweat-dropped a little. 'Jounouchi-kun's ability to adjust to the situation in just a matter of seconds is surprising as well...' Ryuzaki only gave a short wave as he headed to his room. "Good luck "improving" your decks! I'll be chilling in the honeymoon suite!" he claimed as he continued to walk off towards his room. Haga nodded to him as he walked off as well. "Well, I'll see you and I hope that I'll be able to see the fabled duelist friend of yours."

"You've got to be kidding me! You're putting a lady like me in this...this...dorm...without a shower?!" Another voice yelled and they all turned their gazes to see it was Mai. "Ah...it's her again." Aqua snorted as he, Yami and Keara came into the room and stood beside Yugi. "Man, she may be pretty but she sure is loud!" Honda grumbled. "Those are the rules, miss." A suit answered and she growled. "I want to talk to who's in charge!" she hissed and Ryuzaki chuckled. "Chill out, girly. Keep whining and they'll throw you off the ship to swim to the kingdom." he stated and she was surprised to hear him. 'Hey...that's the runner up from the last tournament...Ryuzaki~' She smirked to herself. 'He's ripe for the picking!' Ryuzaki grinned. "You can crash in my room if you want!" he claimed cheekily and she smiled with fake astonishment. "No way~! That's so sweet of you!" she exclaimed. "Let's go back to your room!" she said sweetly and he nodded, already falling for her trick. "Sure!" Ryuzaki led her away and both Jounouchi and Honda growled. 'Lucky jerk!' They both thought and Kaiser slapped them both over the head. "Get over it. She's way out of your league, anyway!" Kaiser then turned to everyone else.

"So, what are we going to do?"

"Let's just hang out in the common room! It can be something like a sleepover!" Yugi suggested and they all agreed. "Sounds like fun to me!" Kaiser said happily. "Yeah! And we got all night so let's continue my trainin' in Duel Monsters!" Jounouchi added.

"Alright!"

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Back with Mai and Ryuzaki, they just made it to his room and he grinned as he led her inside. "What do you think? Pretty choice, huh?" he questioned and she nodded in agreement. "Wow! This is great!" She turned to look at him. "And I heard you're a strong player, Ryuzaki-kun!"

"Well…you could say that!" Ryuzaki gloated. She giggled as she walked up behind him. "I like strong guys...as long as they're stronger than me..." she whispered, eyes narrowing a bit. Ryuzaki laughed as he took a glance at her over his shoulder. "Who d'you think you're talking to? No offense, but I think I could beat you." She sat down, taking out her deck. "I wonder then. You want to challenge me? If you win..." She winked. "I'll do whatever you want...all night long~" A flush of red covered the dinosaur duelist's face and he nodded eagerly. "But before that...could you shuffle my cards?" she asked, placing her deck on the table and he took it, shuffling it quickly. "Done!" he said. 'Finally! Tonight, my years of buying cards is going to pay off with a cute lady duelist!'

"Now you hold the cards...and I'll close my eyes...and name them in order from the top." Mai spoke. "No way...! There's no way you can do that!"

"Fine then. Let me prove that theory. The first card is Alluring Shadow." she said and Ryuzaki picked up the card.

'No way! She's right!'

"The next card is Harpie Lady. Then Blonde Wave. Then Cyber Bondage." she recited as he drew those cards, seeing that she was on point with each one. She laughed softly as she opened her eyes again. "I always know my cards. I can draw whatever card I like. That's my special ability! Still want to duel me. I warn you now, if you lose, this room is mine~" she claimed. "I'll do it!" he growled as he pulled out his own deck. Mai smirked. 'He's so going to regret this.'

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Back with the group, they all decided to head out the commons for a little fresh air, heading to different areas of the deck. Yugi carried the portable player with him as he walked up to the railing, Yami next to him and his grandfather looked up to him. "Yugi...something just doesn't feel right." he spoke as Yugi looked down to his grandfather's image. "Really? What's wrong?" he asked. "Why is Pegasus gathering all these duelists? There just seems to be something fishy about this event to me..." Yugi nodded in agreement. "I think so too but Yami's really determined to help you. I think he knows that something fishy is going on too." Yugi replied. They heard someone walk out the door and Yugi whispered a quick goodbye to his grandfather before cutting off the player and turned to see Haga standing there. "Ahh, Yugi! And Yami!" he spoke as he walked over to them. "Oh! Ohayou, Haga!" Yugi greeted as he ran over to him, Yami accompanying him at a slower pace. "I got a little bored in my room so I came out to feel the breeze. Did your trade any good cards in the common room?" he asked. "No. I'm sticking with the cards I picked myself." Yami replied, watching Haga with serious and wary eyes. "I thought so." he whispered. "The cards you used to defeat Kaiba...you have Exodia in your deck, don't you...?" he asked. "So, you know of my moves already...you must've been examining the duel well." he murmured, eyes narrowing just slightly. Haga didn't see his intense gaze and looked to Yugi. "If it's alright with your friend, could you show them to me? They're so rare that even I haven't seen them before." Yugi looked up to Yami, a little worried.

/Should I?/

/Go ahead. I want to see what he's up to./

/Ok and if he plans something, I won't restrain you. Even a champion like him won't have everyone believing that you're a demon. Those people who saw the duel must've thought they were props or something like that anyway. Demonic possession isn't all that common a concept in this day and age./ Yugi told him before pulling out Yami's deck which his grandfather entrusted to him and Yugi now. Picking out the five pieces of Exodia, Yugi handed them to Haga. The bug duelist held the cards, looking at them with false amazement. "Well...so this is Exodia, the Forbidden One!" He then turned to look at Yami and Yugi. "You know...I thought for so long about a strategy to defeat these cards, but I couldn't come up with anything." he murmured, walking closer to the railing of the ship as he was left unaware of the creeping shadows over the deck. "But just now, I figured it out..." he whispered and was about to toss the cards overboard when he heard a snarl. "I wouldn't do that if you value your life." Haga flinched, shakily turning back to where they stood and only saw Yugi there with a huge, looming shadow bearing wings and a tail behind him. The only key feature he saw in that shadows was the same glowing scarlet eyes of Yami. "W-who are y-y-y-you?!" he squeaked. The shadow jumped and landed in front of him, revealing himself to be Yami, demon features out in full, causing him to fall back in shock and fear. But mostly fear.

"Your worst nightmare if you don't hand back those cards." he hissed and Haga quickly but shakily held up the cards. Yugi calmly walked over and took them from him. "Thank you." He smiled up to Yami before backing off. Yami glared back down at Haga's whimpering form. "Now...I suggest you get going back to your little private room and prepare yourself cause for what you almost did, I will duel you first and take you out of the tournament." Haga, still frozen in fear, jumped up when Yami gave a menacing roar, bearing sharp rows of teeth and bolted back into the ship's interior. Once he was gone, Yugi walked back over to his side and wrapped his arms around his waist. The others, who saw the spectacle, ran over and Jounouchi started howling with laughter. "Man, did ya see that?! He looked like he went an' pissed himself when he saw Yami!" he said, still laughing. "I know! That was so funny to watch! He look like he was scared shitless!" Kaiser added, holding onto Jounouchi as they both collapsed in laughter. "Dude! This guy is great! Man I wish I were here before to see some of the stuff he did in person!" Yugi placed the cards back into his pocket while placing the deck into his other pocket before looking up to Yami. "Glad you were suspicious about him. If you weren't, I would've lost those cards and jii-chan would be upset."

"I would never let anything happen to these cards again. Your grandfather trusts us with these now and after what Kaiba did to his Blue-Eyes, I'm not letting any more cards be thrown casually away like cheap trash." Yami replied, curling his tail around Yugi's waist and pulled him into his arms. Yugi smiled up to him and placed a soft kiss upon his lips. His friends, after Jounouchi and Kaiser got over their laughing fit, headed back inside to leave them alone. With the peacefulness of the night, they both decided to stay out a little while longer before heading back inside to head to bed after eating.

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Back inside, Ryuzaki yelped as he was kicked out the room, his cards fluttering to the floor. "Get out, twerp!" Mai sneered before shutting the door in his face. She laughed to herself as she sat down on the bed. "Men are so easy..." she hummed to herself.

As the ship continued its quiet voyage through the night, everyone on board was asleep except for the captain and some guards to make sure nothing happened throughout the night. And as morning rose once again to start the new day, the ship reached its destination...

Duelist Kingdom!

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Zypher: There! Done with the second chapter and had fun scaring the pants off Haga while sitting here tired as ever for fitting two to three duel stories into one chapter! And you wonder why they're so long! At this rate, I'll probably bypass the point Angel's Nocturne stopped in her sequel! Anyways, I hope you like and as for the monster pairings in the side stories, since you are alright with them now, I'll start adding them in.

Now, the pairings you have suggested is Black Magician/Celtic Guardian (since two of you asked for it compared to BM/BMG so Yami and Yugi's Genie, please tell me you'll be fine with this pairing instead), Magician of Black Chaos/Black Luster Soldier, and REBD/BEWD. If they're any other pairings in mind, start suggesting them now. At the moment, I was thinking of pairing Flame Swordsman with someone but you'll have to give me suggestions for that. All in all, as I said before, hoped you enjoyed this chapter and will be waiting for the next! See you soon!