Small Note

Sakura: I bet a lot of people thought I forgot to update this week... Nope I just made the choice to change the updates from Mondays to Fridays/Saturdays (depending on which day I can get on the computer) which I should have done for the last three chapters. It makes it a lot easier on me and by the end of the week I have more time to get on the computer. Other than that little piece of information this chapter is where things are going to get a lot more crazy. I hope it turned out alright after the weeks I've had I'm running on low energy.

Chapter 4

The Broken Bond

The tables had turned for Yugi in this dice monsters game as his black ninja used the warp crest without anyone seeing it and attacked Duke's low level monster. This left Yugi with at least one monster in Duke's territory and Duke with no monsters to defend his dungeon master as the rest were headed toward Yugi's dungeon master.

Duke still could not believe that Yugi had gotten a hold of a rare black die. 'The rare black dice with warp crests only work when two warp crests are on the field. They act like an entrance and an exit making it possible for creatures to leap across the dungeon instantaneously.' At least that had been Duke's plan until Yugi ended up doing it, 'I was going to play a second warp crest on my next turn but then Yugi played his and completed the warp route!'

'Duke's dungeon has me boxed in. There's no place left on my side to play my dice. The only way left for me to win is to warp into his territory and attack.' ' Yugi thought as he surveyed the field. He had a fighting chance now to get past Duke's monsters to attack the master. 'It's up to the Black Ninja.'

Duke could see what Yugi saw on the field and knew he had to be quick if he was going to save his life points, 'Black Ninja is one of the fastest creatures in the game. It can move three spaces with just one movement crest. On Yugi's next turn, he'll be able to attack my dungeon master.' He drew a dice prepared to take his turn, 'If I don't summon a guard this turn I'll lose…'

Rolling the dice Duke watched as for once his roll failed him leaving him with a wasted turn. No summon meant he was left unprotected for one full turn.

Yugi on the other hand was ready to go as he rolled his dice. The dice seem to roll in Yugi's favor now as he was given two movement crests to use on the Black Ninja. "Two movement crests means I can take a double move! Run Black Ninja!"

The Black Ninja did run all the way to stand in front of Duke's Dungeon master. He wasted no time in attacking it and bringing Duke to equal life points with Yugi again.

"Not bad at all, this is starting to become a real fight. However I won't let you touch my Dungeon master again," Duke warned Yugi as he rolled his own dice. Finally the dice wanted to work with him as he was given three summon crests and one of them happen to be a black die. "Alright a triple crests!" He looked up and noticed Yugi's confusion so it was one more thing he would have to explain which he did not mind, "On a triple crest, the level of summoned creatures goes up by one."

He took the black die in hand before placing it on the field on his side of the board, "I summon God Orgoth, once a level three creature now a level four." The warrior creature stood tall and proud from the die, he was one of the most powerful creatures now on the board. "In addition by spending three magic crests, I can equip Orgoth with the diamond blade. Lucky for me that I saved up those magic crests in my crest pool."

It was with those that Orgoth got a much bigger blade making him a much larger threat than a couple seconds ago. Black Ninja would not even stand a chance again him and Yugi could see that. He was quickly checking his crest pool to see what he had saved up thinking there may be one way to save him.

Orgoth attacked Black ninja making Duke think he had defeated him, "I got him!" Now his points were safe.

"Are you sure? Take a look at the Dungeon Duke."

"He didn't…" Duke did as Yugi said only to see Black Ninja reappearing where he had once been. 'It camouflaged itself like a chameleon!'

"The moment Orgoth attacked I paid three magic crests from my crest pool to activate Black Ninja's special power, invisibility." Yugi explained with a smirk on his face. This game wasn't as hard to figure out as it seemed to be when he first started.

'That move brought him back from the brink of death. It took quick insight and good judgment to survive that one…' Duke was impressed with that move, 'this is the Yugi I wanted to face since the beginning…'

"Duke no matter what happens I won't give up!" Yugi declared as he took his turn. With his turn he was able to once again attack Duke's Dungeon master leaving him with only one life left. 'One more attack and I win!'

Duke knew what was at stake here but his gamer pride was not going to let Yugi defeat him at his own game. 'I won't let you do it, no way Yugi!'

Both of them had still been completely unaware of the eyes that had been watching them until this turn around in the game. A very frustrated father made his presence known by that point as the peep hole he had been looking through opened up into a door way revealing him to them. "Duke I forbid you to lose to Solomon's grandson!"

'He's got my millennium puzzle!' Was Yugi's first thought as he saw his puzzle until he realized it was the same clown from before that still had it, "You're that clown! You framed me and took my puzzle!"

"Dad!" Duke should have known his father would be watching their game.

"It's been twenty years since I played a game with Solomon over this millennium puzzle and now the game has come full circle into the next generation!" Mr. Devlin announced not playing them both any mind.

"Give the millennium puzzle back!" Yugi shouted if Duke did not want it then there was no pointing in keeping it from him.

"Yugi!" The shout caused all eyes to turn to where the source of the voice had come from however no one appeared in the doorway.

"Yami!" Yugi turned angry eyes toward the clown his worry about the puzzle briefly gone, "Where is Yami?"

"That brat is fine," The clown snapped his fingers and the next thing they knew Yami was being shoved into the room, hands handcuffed in front of him. Due to the handcuffs he lost his footing and fell flat on his face.

Yugi wasted no time in getting up out of his chair to be by Yami's side helping him up. "Yami! Are you okay?"

"I've been better," Yami mumbled not believing that had just happened in front of them all. His pride was hurt more than his face. At least he was no longer in that damn chair and could see that Yugi was alright.

"Listen good kid," Mr. Devlin spoke up gaining their attention. "You're not the one who will inherit the power of the millennium puzzle only Duke is worthy."

Duke couldn't even look his friends in the eye with his father around. He was ashamed that any of this was even happening.

Now that Yami was in the room Yugi could stop his worry but that man still had his puzzle, "It doesn't belong to you! Give it back!"

"In your dreams…"

"Dad that's enough!" Duke shouted interrupting his father, "This is our fight now so don't…. just don't get in the way!"

Those words caught Duke's father off guard, "Wh-What are you saying Duke? Don't you know I'm doing this because I love you…" The whole time Duke wouldn't even look at him making him all the more furious, 'I'll help you… I'll do something that will shatter his will to fight…' He thought wanting to break Yugi to help Duke win easier.

No one expected that his next move was to try and break the millennium puzzle. Yugi's eyes widen as he watched him try, 'He's not gonna… he can't!' He went to stand up shouting, "Stop!"

"Take this! My hatred for Solomon!" With one small click a piece of the puzzle started to come out and with it started to come another one.

"Please stop!" Yugi tried again rushing over to stop the stupid clown before he did any more damage.

Duke was left frozen in his seat as he watched the puzzle Yugi had once worn around his neck shatter into multiple pieces and fall to the floor. There was a scream from Yugi as he broken down in tears over what he was witnessing however he wasn't the only one as another scream ripped through the air nearly drowning out Yugi.

Yami collapsed to the floor holding his head as best he could while being handcuffed as the pain racked through his body. He never felt anything like this before as it felt like his mind was splitting into two. This was ten times worst then having his soul taken out of his body.

The clown couldn't stop laughing despite their pain as he said, "Don't worry… my son will put it back together as the new successor of the legend!"

Walking up to the Black Crown game shop, Bakura found the place deserted but that did not faze him in the least as he walked toward the door. 'I sense an ill omen around the millennium puzzle… Something bad must have happened to it…'

"I guess I'll have to do the King's dirty work again…" Bakura commented as he threw open the doors to the shop paying no mind to the closed sign on the doors, 'The millennium items contain fragments of memories… memories destined to be united one day. I need Yugi Mutou. I need him to wield the puzzle. As long as I still have some use for him… anyone who harms him will have to answer to me.'

Barking from the two rather large dogs in front of him caused Tristan to look up confused on what has caused such a stir out of them. He thought he saw a familiar figure walk into Duke's game shop "Am I seeing things… or was that Bakura?" However that couldn't be right because Ryou said he worked a late shift. Plus it would make no sense for him to be at Duke's the place unless he was looking for Ryou. Then again that did not make sense either because even he knew that they were all going to meet up at Yugi's place after the thing at Duke's was over. That's where he was headed now after a long day at work.

Kneeling down he calmed Yuki and Shadow down not knowing what caused such strange behavior from the two. They had been fine on the walk up to that point, "Hey guys let's keep it down okay…" He stood back up and smiled at the two now happy dogs. "Come on let's go find your parents." They were both a handful but they were cute dogs which everyone in their group treated them like children. The two had been more than ready to get out of the house making walking them that much easier on Tristan.

Continuing the walk toward the Kame Game shop, Tristan had no clue what was really going on inside the Black Crown Game shop.

Inside the Black Crown game shop, Bakura came face to face with two of the security guards. They seemed a little surprised by Bakura's appearance but tried not to let it get to them.

"Excuse me sir, we're closed for the day. Please come back tomorrow, okay?" One of the guards said with a smug smirk ready to kick Bakura back out if he caused trouble.

Bakura just stood there staring them down with a smirk of his own on his face.

"Hey I know you can hear us!" The other guard shouted.

A chuckle came from Bakura before all hell broke loose as he yelled, "Out of my way, you human scum!"

Back the room, Yugi in tears had been trying to get to the puzzle before all the pieces fell off until he heard his partner scream. The puzzle came in second place after having already been dismantled as he went back to Yami. He fell to his knees beside Yami carefully touching Yami's shoulders hoping not to hurt him anymore.

"Yami…Yami…What's wrong?" He frantically asked. Trying to be strong as the roller coaster of emotions went through him. The puzzle was destroyed, his partner was hurt for reasons he wasn't sure of yet, and then there was all this mess with revenge. He had just wanted a nice peaceful day with friends hanging out and learning a new game.

After what felt like forever of Yugi calling his name, the pain pulled back enough for Yami to give the simple breathless answer of, "He's…gone…" That's all Yami could say as he tried to calm his breathing. If nothing else he wanted the pain in his head to go away so he could think clearly. He never knew how deep his ties had become to the puzzle after Yugi solved it.

Yugi completely understood what Yami was trying to tell him and that made him all the more angry. Not only did Duke's father hurt Yami but he destroyed Yami's other self in the process causing all this pain.

"You see that? It's in pieces." Mr. Devlin continued to laugh having no clue what he just did knowing only that he was getting back at Yugi, "Now the legend of the millennium puzzle is back to where it began! But don't worry my son Duke will solve the puzzle. He'll become the new King of Games!"

Yugi paid the clown no mind as he lifted Yami's head and looked at him while saying, "I'll fix this…" He kissed him putting all his love in that kiss before he broke away and stood up. The young duelist turned and walked over to the pieces on the floor. He kept thinking over and over in his head how it had taken him years to complete it as he kneeled down on the floor to pick up the pieces of his puzzle. There was no telling how long it would take to put it back together again. And just judging by Yami's reaction the split from his other self had not been pleasant and he couldn't know if that pain would ever go away. Plus it wouldn't be fair to Yami's other self, they knew he was some kind of spirit tied to the puzzle and it just wasn't right to ripe him from some form of life when he had only gotten it back.

"How could you…" As he continued to pick up the pieces his tears turned into tears of anger before he clenched the piece he held and looked up at the mad man in front of him, "How could you break it!?"

The clown only chuckled still holding the remaining solid piece by its chain, "Get this Yugi, if you want the puzzle back you'll have to beat Duke. Too bad for you without the puzzle you won't have a chance." He would have taunted Yugi more until he felt movement beside him.

Duke passed his father up and kneeled down in front of Yugi and started helping him pick up the pieces, "Yugi I'm sorry, I know it was an important puzzle to you…" He looked at his friend letting him know he meant it, before he shocked them all by reaching up behind him snatching the puzzle out of his father's hands, "Don't touch the puzzle anymore dad!"

Yugi watched as Duke handed him all the pieces including the part he took from his father. Duke put a hand on his friend's shoulder and surprised them all by saying, "It was a fair fight but I think our battle ends here for the day."

Mr. Devlin was not happy about that as he watched Duke helped Yugi stand up holding the puzzle that should belong to them close to him. He was not going to let it end here as he pulled something out of his pocket, "Duke, this fight is far from over…"

Duke turned to his father, "Dad this is en-…." His words died when he noticed what his father had in his hands and who it was pointed at. "Dad!"

"You two will return to your game and Duke you will win!" Mr. Devlin shouted at his son as he continued to point the gun he held at Yami who for the life of him couldn't move because of the pain.

Yugi could only watch both scared and unsure what he could do. He was scared if he made a move to protect Yami would only provoke Mr. Devlin more and Yami was in no shape to save himself. Hell Yami looked like he could barely move, but he did have some fight in him to glare up at Mr. Devlin. The pounding headache was no laughing matter but he could still give a look that could kill a man if looks could kill.

"Dad just put the gun down, this has gone too far," Duke calmly tried to talk to his father. Something was seriously wrong with him as he had never seen him like this before. He had some bad days but never like this.

"Finish the game!" The clown shouted waving the gun causing Duke to pull Yugi back.

There was no other choice as far as Duke could see. His father had finally lost it and if they did not do what he said then someone was going to get hurt and at this point it was going to be Yami. "Yugi, lets finish the game…"

"But…" Yugi looked up at Duke and could see how serious he was being then he looked at Yami. His lover winked at him letting him know it was a good idea. If this was the only way they could get out of this without more pain, then Yugi would. He followed Duke's example and went back to his seat, placing the broken puzzle on the table near him away from Mr. Devlin.

At the point they had stopped the game it was Duke's turn and Yugi was one heart away from beating his friend. However Duke did not want to find out what his father would do if he lost so he figured he would play his hardest and as promised let Yugi and Yami leave together with the puzzle even if Yugi lost. No matter his father would not get his hands on the puzzle and he would make sure of that.

On his roll, Duke had Orgoth attack Black Ninja to which Yugi could do nothing thanks to having no more crests to use on that monster. This left Yugi with only three monsters in his own territory. Duke had four monsters with three being near Yugi's side and the strongest monster now protecting Duke's heart point.

"It's not as bad as it looks Yugi. I can't summon any more creatures to the board," Duke pointed out to him, "All the dice but the three in my hand have been 'dimensioned' already."

'I don't have any way to attack right now… He's going to come into my territory…' Yugi had no other plan than to defend his dungeon master. So he used his turn to move Duker of Twin Swords toward his dungeon master with his other two monsters, thus ending his turn.

Duke rolled the dice he had in his hand getting just what he needed to move Orgoth forward toward the warp crest and allowing him to warp onto Yugi's side, "I'm charging in! I'm taking the warp route right onto your home turf." With Orgoth on Yugi's side now was causing a lot of trouble for Yugi.

The three monsters Yugi had were no match for Duke's Orgoth and now Orgoth was blocking the warp crest stopping Yugi from heading to Duke's side. 'If I don't do something god Orgoth will rampage through my side of the board.' There was not anything else Yugi could do but roll and have his monsters stand their ground. "My army stands guard around my dungeon master."

"A wall of creatures won't stop Orgoth!" Duke informed him as he had Orgoth attack Golem killing it right on the spot.

Yugi quickly rolled on his turn hoping to get something good and ended up with no useful crests. He could only have his little wizard try and attack Orgoth to weaken him. However Duke was thinking ahead of him as he used defense crests to protect Orgoth. The little wizard's attacks reflected off Orgoth's sword leaving him still powerful. On Duke's turn he had Orgoth finish off little wizard leaving Yugi with one creature left to protect him.

"This is the end Yugi, it's impossible to fight back with just one creature," Duke told him wishing things could have been different.

"How do you like that Yugi?" Mr. Devlin laughed, "Now do you realize you're not match for Duke?"

Yugi knew Duke was trying to be nice while Mr. Devlin was taunting him trying to get him to surrender, but he couldn't. The puzzle no longer mattered he just did not want Yami to get hurt.

Another laugh quickly caught their attention as they looked toward the doorway to see another figure standing there, "Too bad Duke. You can't handle the puzzle like your father thinks."

"Who are you!" Mr. Devlin shouted.

"For the last three thousand years only one person has been able to wield the millennium puzzle," The figure said as he moved forward more into the light showing it to be Bakura who had entered the room, "And that person is Yugi!"

"Bakura…." Yugi's eyes widen at the sight of one of theirs friends. He did not think he of all people would show up with no one else. However there was that familiar look in his eyes that Yugi could not quite put.

Bakura chuckled as he walked further into the room and right up to Yugi's side bypassing Yami and the gun all together like it was just a friendly visit. He leaned on the back of Yugi's chair and said, "I can't believe someone of your level would actually think he could use the puzzle…" He was addressing Duke as if he was the one trying to steal it probably because he did not know the full story, "If I were you I wouldn't try it. If you do… you'll die horribly."

It was then Yugi realized why that look in Bakura's eyes was so familiar. It was the same way when they played monster world. But he thought they had taken care of that and Bakura was better, "Bakura, it's not what…" He didn't know what this other Bakura would do in a situation like this and that just made things all the more worse.

"Don't worry Yugi I'm not the same as before. I've turned over a new leaf you know," Bakura had this strange smile on his face as he told Yugi, "Right now, I'm your friend."

Yugi did not believe him one bit but at this point he could not do much with all that was going on. He could only watch as Bakura surveyed the board in front of him, "The odds are a bit against you, but that doesn't mean you've lost yet…" He commented before he looked toward Duke once more, "Duke, listen and listen good… In the next few turns Yugi will turn the tables on you. Take a good look at the power of the millennium puzzle."

'Bakura…. Are you telling the truth?' Yugi thought as he looked back at the board. He wasn't sure what Bakura was seeing but it had to be something for him to say that, 'Right now whether or not Bakura is lying… the important thing is winning the game. I have one creature left and I don't have anything that can stop that super powerful monster of his. Bakura said I could turn the tables but how? I don't know what to do!'

Bakura watched as Yugi struggled with making his turn. He knew not of the true power he held and was lacking some serious faith in himself. By no means was Bakura here to cheer Yugi on like some cheerleader, he was only here to insure the puzzle stayed with its true owner for his own purpose. 'Come on Yugi, you solved the millennium puzzle… you should be able to find the one way out!'

"If I was in your shoes I don't think even I could turn this around, but let's roll the dice and find out for ourselves." Duke stated slightly curious to see why so many people thought Yugi could defeat him with just that one monster.

'All I can do is fight till the end!' Yugi thought as he rolled the dice ending up with a magic crest and two attack crests. 'God Orgoth has two thousand attack points. Duker's special attack gets stronger for every attack crest I spend.' He checked his crest pool to see how many he had saved up without using the ones he just rolled, 'Right now my crest pool has a lot of crests save up from previous rolls. If I spend all my attack crests Duker of Twin Swords will have two thousand one hundred and sixty attack points just for one turn. It'll actually be stronger than God Orgoth.'

At this point this would be Yugi's final gamble in trying to get rid of Orgoth before it took him out. "I spend all my attack crests to multiply Duker's attack by six." Yugi announced before sending his warrior out to attack Orgoth.

The thing is that attack would have been a sure thing if it had not been for a sneaky move pulled off by Duke, "Creature advance!" He sent one of his creatures into the line of fire protecting Orgoth and causing Duker to attack the other monster killing it. "Sorry Yugi but my low level monster gives his life to protect Orgoth from your attack."

Yugi slammed his fist down on the table mad at himself for not seeing something like that happening. He should have thought more steps ahead but there was so much already on his plate. Every time he turned around Duke found a way to one up him and take him back down. He could only watch as on Duke's turn Orgoth killed his warrior leaving him with nothing. 'M-My creatures are wiped out….I….lose…' If it had been different he may have not felt so bad, but one look at Yami out of the corner of his eye and he knew this may not end well.

"Your dungeon still has two life points left. We'll play the game out to the end." Duke informed him not wanting to see Yugi throw in the towel until one of them had no points left. Surrender was never an opinion for gamers like them.

By now Yugi was getting ready to face defeat as he just tossed the dice down and watched them roll. When they stopped he used a movement crest to move his Dungeon master out of the way. Orgoth would be right behind it still ready to attack but he could at least try to save his points.

Orgoth as Yugi knew was moved and sent to attack the Dungeon master on Duke's turn bringing Yugi down to one point. The game would be over on Duke's next turn.

Mr. Devlin continued to laugh at Yugi's weak attempts at trying to stay in the game, "You're dead Yugi, my son wins on his next turn and the puzzle will be ours!"

"No it won't…" Yami growled out keeping his position knowing if he moved Mr. Devlin might shoot. He was still in pain but that was nothing compared to seeing his lover giving up so easily. Turning to look at his partner he reminded him of who he was, "It's not over until the King of Games wins…."

Meanwhile at the Kame Game Shop, Joey, Tea, Ryou, and Grandpa stepped outside when Tristan came by with Yugi and Yami's dogs. Tristan couldn't help but mention what he thought he saw passing by Duke's place. There was a look of confusion on all their faces when they heard the news.

"That's not right he should still be at work," Ryou pointed out as he pulled out his phone to see if he got any messages. "I mean I told him what we were doing today but he didn't seem interested."

"Maybe he got off early and thought he would drop by. Although Duke's shop should be closed by now," Tea said as she checked her watch and sure enough Duke's shop closed over an hour ago. They were already worried about Yugi and Yami, so she did not want to mention her concern about her boyfriend who had yet to show up either. He said he would meet up with them after his shop closed to show them how his new game worked. They weren't going to do it at his place due to his father. She just didn't want to stress over it too much because Duke could still be working after the day he had with the release of his game.

Shadow and Yuki started to whine and pace causing Tristan to kneel down and pet them to calm them down, "By the way where are Yugi and Yami? I thought they be with you all."

"As a matter of fact, we don't know either," Solomon told him. He knew his grandson was old enough to take care of himself but he and Yami seemed to just disappear on them and it wasn't like them at all. "It's not like those two to just disappear without telling anyone where they are going."

The ringing of a cell phone caught all their attention causing all of them besides Grandpa to check who's it was. Joey was the one as he stepped away from them for a second to answer his phone. They watched as he listened to whoever it was on the other end.

"Ten bucks it's his boyfriend," Tristan figured that or it happened to be Yugi and Yami.

Tea nodded agreeing with him, "I think he tried texting him earlier to see if he had seen Yami."

Sure enough when Joey finally hung up the phone he turned to them with some news, "That was Seto, apparently he hasn't seen Yami or Yugi and neither has Mokuba."

"Then were in the world can they be…." Tea wondered if even Seto hasn't seen them.

"But…" Joey said getting their attention again, "Seto did check Yami's phone location after he got my text. Due to some meeting he couldn't get back to me until now…."

"Wait, he just gave Yami's location up just like that? Did you tell him what was going on?" Tea asked, sometimes the way Seto found out things scared her. It must be tough for Yami to hide much.

Joey shook his head, "I just told him I wanted to talk to him and I couldn't get a hold of him. Play a little of the worry card on him and Seto gave it up like that." He turned and pointed back toward Duke's Game store, "And according to the phone's location he is still at Duke's shop."

They couldn't believe it could be that simple as they all looked toward the other game store. If they were still there why hasn't they contacted them. However they wouldn't find out the truth just standing there. All of them coming to an agreement to check it out, Tristan left the dogs with Solomon who decided to hang back encase Yugi and Yami showed up or called.

Yugi looked at the dice in his hands and then back at the board. 'I can't…I just can't find a way to turn this around and I don't have a single creature on the board. I'm down to one life….'

"Yugi…" Yami spoke up again pulling Yugi's attention back on him. "You were the one to solve the puzzle…I know you can win."

'Puzzle….' Yugi looked at the puzzle beside him before something seemed to click as he quickly looked back at the board. There was one spot on the board that one more creature could fit, 'Maybe…' He put all his faith in his dice as he took his turn. There was one chance left to be able to win but that was only if he could summon another creature.

The dice rolled from his hand before they stopped with two summon crests facing both players. 'Yes I got two summon crests…' Yugi picked up one of the die prepared to summon whatever creature it was and hopefully it was something helpful.

Duke could see what spot Yugi was eyeing for a summon, but there was just no way it could work, "You only have one tiny complicated space left on your side of the board. You don't have enough room to summon another monster."

Yugi did not care he was willing to gamble it all on the die as he placed it on the board. 'The Dungeon squares are like a puzzle and if this die won't solve I will lose…' He watched careful as the die began to unfold.

Sakura: Another chapter done and at least one more before Duke and Yugi are finished. Before long we will be in battle city along with a few other things that will be happening. The next few chapters are going to be a roller coaster of emotions...

Yumi: Please Review!