Konnichiwa, fans! (Did I spell that right? Probably not. :P) Anyway, I'm back with a new chapter! I must apologize, though - I was away in Baltimore this weekend with my school band, and I had originally meant to post this before I left. You can see how well that plan worked out. But this story's worth the wait, right? :D ...Right?

*nervous cough* Yeah. :D; HEY, WHO LIKES REESE'S CUPS? :D Free Reese's Cups for yamiandyugi11, kuroneko1571, sorinia24, and NichtSacred for the reviews - much appreciated! (And I'll throw one out to my little readlet, Strange Liou - she sent me a private review, you all just aren't cool enough to see it. XD)

So, enough of that - who's ready to see an update? :D On to chapter two!

LAWYERBOT SAYS: "Time for some legal stuff, oh, boy!"
WARNING: This chapter contains the occasional swear word, as well as a few moments of potentially-disturbing imagery. Readers beware.

CHAPTER TWO: THE FINAL PIECE

Just when all seemed lost, life was worth living again. Stumbling as he tried to take the stairs two at a time, Yugi Mutou clamored up to his bedroom, tightly clutching a little scrap of gold in his hand. Just moments ago, his heart was shattered when he realized that the puzzle he had been working to complete for so many years was missing the centerpiece - he had searched everywhere, and it was nowhere to be found.

Then, right when he was about to smash his progress and give up for good, his grandfather stopped him and told him that a friend of his had just dropped something off - and lo and behold, there was his missing puzzle piece!

For the life or death of him, Yugi couldn't figure out who could have returned the missing piece, but he could always show gratitude the next day at school - at the moment, the only thing on his mind was FINALLY finishing his puzzle.

The spike-haired youth sat down at his desk once more, sitting and admiring the sparkling treasure that laid before him. The Millenium Puzzle (at least, that's what Grandpa Mutou said the box read - it was enscribed with ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics that Yugi could never make heads or tails of) was a golden relic from ancient times. It was built in the shape of an upside-down pyramid, with a loop-piece at the top so it could be stringed and worn around the neck, and a sunburst hole in the dead center of what could be assumed to be the front panel.

Then there was the piece that was just returned to him. It was the exact same sunburst pattern, decorated with a large wadjet eye exactly like the one that was on the top of the box that held the pieces. The final piece - after eight years of failure, it all came down to this one last piece.

Still...now that the moment was so close, nerves began to seize his fingers as he toyed with the centerpiece. His grandfather had been warning him ever since he found the puzzle in the depths of the Game Shop to be wary of the artifact...

"You know the archaeologists who raided that tomb all DIED, right, Yugi? They went mad, clamored out of the tomb screaming about living corpses! Blood spewed from their eyes, they tried to eat each other alive as they clawed to escape! And the only thing to make it out of that expedition was that little gold box, and that little gold puzzle that they say hasn't been complete in nearly five-thousand years..."

Ugh. Then again, if Grandpa Mutou was known for anything, he was a master at telling stories, and he loved giving Yugi a good scare every now and again. This little puzzle couldn't have caused THAT much trouble...

...Right?

With a breath of preparation, Yugi lined up the centerpiece and slid the final part into place.

- - x - x - -

Joey Wheeler sighed as he made his way back down the dim Domino City streets, flipping his plastered-wet bangs out of his face. What was he thinking? Yugi was a twerp - no friends, bad at sports, sat around doing puzzles all day - why did he care? He was Joey Wheeler, bad boy of Domino High - any other day, he would have beaten up little Mutou for lunch money without looking back.

So he threw that piece of Yugi's puzzle out the window - why did he go through all of the work of giving it back?

He couldn't help but think back to Yugi sticking up to Ushio - could the two of them really be...friends?

"Man, what am I thinkin'?" the blond laughed. The great Joey Wheeler, friends with that twerp? Please. Joey was a man of the world, always having somewhere to go, something to do, and some girl to pick up - any "friend" of his needed to be a hard-core adventurer. What was he going to do with little Yugi Mutou?

CRASH!

Joey jumped as the ear-shattering smash of breaking glass assaulted his ears, and he turned back to find a swirl of dark shadows merging right outside of the Game Shop he was just walking away from. (Sure, breaking and entering was common enough in some parts of the city, but swirling clouds of darkness? Little on the conspicuous and suspicious side.)

Curiousity driving the cat to its grave, Joey couldn't help but run back towards the Shop to see what the disturbance was. Right as he came up to the store front, the neon sign up above the main doors fizzled out, drowning the block in eerie darkness. "Man, what the--?"

A scream shot out from across the empty streets. Turning to look, Joey's jaw dropped as his brain struggled to comprehend the scene that his eyes were witnessing. The victim was a young woman, nothing surprising there - one of the many nameless beauties scattered throughout the city, pinned to the ground, totally immobilized out of pain and terror and helpless in the hands of her attacker.

...Then there was her attacker. Not particularly tall or bulky like your usual attacker, with his stature off-set by his black spiked hair with red and blonde streaks shot throughout. He was robed in an old black shirt with tight, dark denim jeans - both clearly disguising the splashes of blood that were beginning to coat the scene. His nails were tightly dug into his victim's arm, streaks of red dripping from the wounds they were inflicting, and his mouth was clamped over the main vein in her wrist - as disgusting as it sounded, he was drinking her blood.

For a few seconds, Joey was glued to his spot as he tried to process what he was seeing. Eventually, though, bad boy Joey came back into the game, and the courageous blond moved into action. "Hey, freakazoid, get'cher filthy paws away from her!" he shouted, rushing towards the scene.

The attacker heard Joey coming, though, and by the time the young blond got close enough to do anything, he and the young lady vanished into the shadows, leaving only a few sparse stains of blood on the street to leave any hint they were there.

Joey was BEYOND confused. Glass exploding? Lights breaking? Guys drinking girls' blood, then disappearing into thin air? What was going on?

Suddenly, there was the gentle click of footsteps from the nearby alleyway. Wheeler looked up upon hearing it, and there was the attacker, watching him, waiting to see what he would do next. His face was hidden by the darkness, but Joey managed to make out the glint of a golden pyramid hanging around his neck.

"A'right, listen here, buddy!" the Brooklyn blond snapped. "What's yer deal, man? How the hell you doin' all d'is? And what the hell was up with--?"

"You'll receive your answers when the time is right, Joey."

The answer threw Joey off for a second (he wasn't exactly expecting one, especially one so calm and quiet), and that second was all the mysterious...whatever-it-was to vanish into the darkness once more.

Suddenly snapping back into a mode of panic, Joey searched the alleyway high and low for any trace of what happened or where the attacker went, but after a long search, there was nothing. He was just...gone.

"Man, definitely rack that up as one of the weirdest moments of my life," the blond sighed, slowly making his way home once more. What was that all about? Just what WAS that thing? How did it know his name?

And why did that thing around its neck look just like the piece of Yugi's puzzle he had just returned?

Again, really sorry this was delayed a couple of days - I'm out again this weekend, so I'll try REALLY hard to get another chapter up by Thursday! Until next time, my lovely readers!

§ Tucker's Mayflower, signing off! §