Chapter 2

The night had drawn in, various lights around the room illuminated the papers spread out on the floor. Sat in their mist Yugi scanned through the papers trying to absorb as much information as he could. There was no denying that Kaiba was sparing no expense on this tournament and was leaving nothing that could potentially be a loophole. Inside the original packages was another box which Yugi was yet to open, he had wanted to get through all the papers before opening it as he had a suspicion he knew what was in there but did not want to get distracted by it. At least not yet. Sighing Yugi put down the paper he was holding and took hold of another. As he did there was a muffled thump on the wall in front of him. Ignoring it he continued to scan the page, although he was struggling to follow this one. This seemed to be all the legal things which Kaiba needed to have in place but why in the world Yugi needed to see this was beyond him. Thump. Thump. Thump. Taking a deep breath Yugi pushed on, he was determined to finish these before it was too late. He was also itching to open the remaining parcel. Thump. Thump. Thump. Why was legal jargon so hard to follow? Surely if lawyers made things simple to follow people wouldn't have such a hard time with this stuff. Thump. Thump. Thump. Although reading further down some of this legal jargon involved him, well that would explain why Kaiba had sent it to him. Thump. Thump. Thump.

Suppressing a groan, Yugi set down the papers and looked over at his bed. He looked at his closest friend who was lying on the bed throwing a tennis ball at the wall, catching it and then throwing it again. He knew that he shouldn't get bothered by what the Pharaoh was doing. He could clearly tell that from this movement and the look on his face that the latter was deep in thought. With the Pharaoh something was always moving when he was in thought. It didn't really matter what it was but something was always moving, sometimes he paced and others he would shuffle cards. Even when he'd been sealed inside the puzzle he was always moving when in thought. It was the Pharaoh's nature and who was he to be bothered by that, but he couldn't help getting slightly annoyed when he was struggling to concentrate on reading something rather confusing.

"Penny for your thoughts?" Yugi offered, keeping his gaze on the king.

There was a pause, the tennis ball continued to hit the wall. Yugi smiled, clearly the other was in deep thought.

"Pharaoh…?"

The use of his title, which was hardly used anymore, successfully roused him from his thoughts. He jumped slightly and failed to catch the returning tennis ball which sailed past his hand and smacked him straight in the eye. His hands went straight to the effected eye, he rolled over as Yugi started to laugh. Rubbing his palm into his eye Atem sat up turning to look at his laughing friend.

"Are… Are you... Are you alright?" Yugi managed, he was still laughing.

"Fine," Atem replied, rubbing his watering eye, "That just took me by surprise."

Yugi stifled a laugh and took a deep breath. He shook his head as he watched Atem grimace slightly still rubbing his eye.

"I asked for a penny for your thoughts but I might have to stretch to two pennies now." Yugi said.

"I was thinking –"

"Well that much is obvious." Yugi interrupted, a smirk on his face.

Atem gave him a look before continuing, "I was thinking about what Joey said earlier, he seemed disappointed in my answer to not joining in this tournament."

"I think he was Atem but you don't need to feel bad about it." Yugi replied, "We all understand your reasons for not duelling anymore and we don't blame you. You said it yourself, it's not that you've lost love for the game but after everything you've been through it's hardly surprising that you'd not want to do something that brings back bad memories."

Atem shook his head, "Not all the memories are bad ones."

"I know they're not but you had your life on the line in some of the duels and the weight of the world on your shoulders in others."

"In another I died." Atem murmured, although it was clear from the look in his eye he'd not meant to vocalise that.

His gaze had gone distant again and he was focused on the carpet as if it was the most interesting thing in the world. Yugi looked at his friend not quite knowing how to respond. They had never spoken about exactly how the Pharaoh had ended up in the puzzle. He had always said he'd defeated Zorc and sealed him in the puzzle then done the same to himself to ensure Zorc did not escape. He'd never said exactly how and that slip up gave Yugi even more idea why Atem had left the duelling to his friends. Yugi had seen Atem fight for not only his own life but the lives of his friends many times. He'd seen how hard he would try to defend everyone and how he'd put himself in harm's way to defend his friends. He never once imagined a duel which actually had cost him his life.

"You could talk about it if you wanted." Yugi offered quietly, "I know we've never really talked about that… not properly at least. But if you want to… you can."

He didn't really think he wanted to hear the story of Atem's death but he wanted his friend to know that he could talk if he wanted. Atem bottled his feelings up, he was famous for that. But since being released from the puzzle he'd opened up even more to Yugi when previously he would have declined to burden him. Sometimes it took a bit of prodding from Yugi but eventually he did. But Yugi was still the only person Atem truly opened up with. Although he was starting to open up to Grandpa more, Yugi put this down to Grandpa having a striking resemblance to Atem's advisor when he'd been Pharaoh. Yugi had seen him in the memory world, Shimon had been almost the spitting image of his grandfather and from what Atem had said he'd shared a close relationship with him. He would go as far as to guess that Shimon had been one of the only people Atem had felt safe to open up to. It made sense as Shimon had been there when Atem was born and when he'd… when he'd died. Shaking himself internally Yugi refocused his attention on his friend. Atem was rubbing his arm slightly, a subtle sign of unease, but with a quick shake he looked up and smiled at his concerned friend.

"Thank you but that's a story I do not wish to tell. At least not yet."

Yugi nodded. Another pause came as Yugi looked down at the papers around him once more and Atem leaned back over the bed in search of the tennis ball. His gaze settled on the papers again and after that brief exchange the idea of getting lost in legal jargon wasn't very appealing. Not that it had been in the first place.

"Oh I give up." Yugi said suddenly, "I'm not a lawyer, if there's something that I really need to know Kaiba will tell me."

"Are you sure about that Yugi?" Atem asked, his voice was muffled slightly as he was hanging off the opposite side of the bed still in search of the ball, "If you don't read it then you may miss something or unknowingly sign some rights over to Kaiba. He could claim this house as part of his empire and you'd be none the wiser."

Yugi grinned, "With the amount of money Kaiba has I'm sure this game shop is the last thing he'd want as part of it."

"Well, you never know Yugi but if you make me and Solomon homeless I do not think either of us would be best pleased. Ah! There you are…"

Atem sat up, gripping the tennis ball in his hand. He looked at it for a moment before glancing between it and Yugi, the look in his eye became mischievous.

"Don't you dare." Yugi warned, knowing full well what the Pharaoh was thinking.

Grinning Atem placed the ball on the bedside table before his gaze fell on the still wrapped box.

"What do you suppose is in there?" He ventured, pointing at the box.

Yugi looked over and lifted the box into his lap, "Let's open it and find out."

Whilst he set to work unwrapping the box, Atem collected up the various bits of paper on the floor, placing them neatly on Yugi's desk. He settled himself on the floor across from Yugi just as the latter removed the final layer of brown parcel paper from the box. The image on top of the box drew both their eyes and for a moment neither of them spoke.

"Is it?" Yugi asked, after a while.

"I believe so." Atem replied.

Opening the lid Yugi looked inside. Inside the box was a brand new duel disk but a completely new design. Although the slots for the cards, deck and graveyard remained the same the design had been overhauled. The sharp corners of the existing duel disk were gone, replaced with rounded corners making it nicer for the wearer. It still split in half the same way but with the rounded edges and seemingly lighter build it certainly still held that typical duellist look. Carefully Yugi took it from the box, its light look was right. It wasn't as bulky as his existing duel disk. The colour scheme was the same but as he examined it closely he saw the outlines had been made gold when previously they were left white like the rest of the body.

"It's beautiful." Yugi said slowly, unable to take his eyes away from it.

"Indeed it is," Atem replied, he was similarly seemingly unable to draw his eyes away but then he frowned, "What's that written on the side?"

Flipping the duel disk round to where Atem indicated Yugi looked closely. There were words engraved on the arm which secured the deck in place.

"King of Games." Yugi read.

"Well that makes complete sense." Atem said, grinning at Yugi, "The King of Games is entitled to a superior duel disk to mark his rank and with the theme of the tournament making you involved from the start it would occur to me that if you were to lose a duel you would not only lose your title but your duel disk too."

Yugi grinned widely, "This is awesome! It's made me so excited for this tournament, no way will I lose this tournament and give up this fancy duel disk! Where's my phone? I have to show the guys this."

Looking around he spotted his phone on the desk, tossing it to Atem he placed the duel disk on his arm and activated it. The lights shone brightly as Yugi pulled his best champion pose and Atem took a photo. Laughing he showed Yugi the photo,

"Looks good Yugi, you look like a proper King."

"You bet I do!" Yugi said loudly, "Egh I just want to get started, it's a shame I have to wait three weeks for this all to kick off."

Standing up Atem stretched, "Don't get too excited Yugi because before you know it will be over and you'll be looking back with fond memories."

Yugi was too lost in the look of the duel disk to hear him, "I can't believe Kaiba made this for me. This is incredible."

Looking fondly at his younger friend Atem stepped in front of him, placing his hands on his friend's shoulders.

"Promise me one thing Yugi."

Yugi looked up, expectantly. Clearly Atem was about to impart some wisdom which he was more then ready to receive. The little pep talks the former Pharaoh would give him were always welcome and were incredibly valuable to him.

"Don't go to sleep with it."

Yugi's jaw almost hit the floor, "What… what?! What on earth would make you say that?"

Atem laughed, "Knowing you, now you've got it on you'll never take it off!"

Yugi went to counter but after a pause he just sheepishly smiled, "I promise I'll put it back in the box before I go to sleep."

"Good." Atem nodded, moving away from Yugi and towards the bedroom door, "I think on that note Yugi it's time for sleep. You still have school tomorrow and rest is very important for learning."

"You sound like Grandpa." Yugi groaned, removing the duel disk and setting it back in its box.

"Your grandfather is a very wise man." Atem replied, "Good Night Yugi."

"Night Atem." Yugi called, as Atem left the room closing the door behind him.

Changing into his pyjamas, he climbed into bed and pulled his phone towards him. Opening the phone he found the chat group between himself and his friends. Apart from the messages about homework Yugi hadn't done yet there were no new messages. Yugi sent the photo of himself and the new duel disk to them. He hoped they all hadn't gone to bed yet, he wanted to see their reactions before he went to sleep. A few minutes trickled slowly past before a message pinged back.

'What! No way Yuge! Is that what was in the box from Kaiba?' Joey was the first to respond.

'Yes! Can you believe it! It looks so cool! I'm so excited to use it!'

'Nooo way Man! Looks great!' Tristan wrote.

'What's the betting that moneybags made that with himself in mind.' Joey wrote, 'I bet Kaiba really wouldn't mind strutting around town with that on his arm.'

'Not sure I like the image of Kaiba strutting in my mind this late at night.' It was Tea this time, 'Looks great by the way Yugi!'

'Come on we all know that's what Kaiba does in his office. He struts around like he owns the place.' Tristan replied.

'He does own the place idiot!' Joey retorted.

'I know that! I'm just saying that's what he does!'

'Lol why don't you ask him next time you see him and find out for sure.' Tea said.

'What has Atem said to it Yugi? Did you show him?' Joey asked

'Yeah he was here when I opened it. He likes it a lot. He made me promise not to wear it to bed.'

The reaction from his friends was instant.

'LOL! He knows you too well.'

'Lol I'm glad he said that! I was about to say the same!'

'Hahaha! Of course he thought you'd do that!'

'I wouldn't wear it to bed!' Yugi protested, 'I'd be too worried about breaking it.'

There was a pause before Joey wrote back.

'Suuuuuuuure.'

Yugi rolled his eyes.

'Is Atem definitely ok about not getting involved in this tournament? There's no reason why he can't if he wanted. It's just strange that he wouldn't get involved with something like this. Especially if Kaiba is running it, those two are always trying to out do each other.' Joey asked.

Yugi thought back on his conversation with Atem earlier that evening. He knew that in some ways Atem did miss duelling properly but when it came down to it the Pharaoh was free to choose and thus far he'd chosen to pursue other things outside the world of duel monsters.

'Yeah he's fine about this Joey. He would have said if he really wanted to get involved.'

'It's just strange to see him not duelling.' Joey replied.

'It's his choice Joey and as his friends we shouldn't push him to do something he doesn't want to.' Tea said.

'Don't worry Joey. He'll still be there to cheer us both on.' Yugi said, 'I think he quite enjoys watching and thinking about what he'd do during particular situations so he'll be fine. But if he changes his mind he'll tell me.'

'Well I guess as long as he knows the option is there for him and he'd have our full backing.'

'He knows Joey and he values the support you guys show him immensely. Right guys we should probably get some sleep. I'll see you guys in the morning.'

His friends sent messages back saying similar good night sentiments. Tristan wished bad dreams on Joey who retorted by saying that he hoped a gremlin ate him before they both went to bed. Smiling Yugi placed his phone on the bedside table, switched off the lamp and closed his eyes. Try as he might the thought of the new tournament was too much and while it took awhile he did eventually manage to drift off to sleep.

To my old friend, I saw your review, it's nice too see you again after all this time! Just like old times!