After hanging up with Ishizu Marik moved quickly off to find Odion, his loyal friend and guard. He found the large Egyptian man on the second floor of the house that he and his sister moved into after they had fulfilled their duty as Tomb Keepers. Odion looked up as Marik walked in.

"What is it Marik? Is there something wrong with your sister?" he asked standing.

"Nothing is wrong with Ishizu. I was coming to ask you if you could open a spiritual connection with one of the pharaoh's guardians. I need to talk to one of them. It is quite urgent." Marik said sitting calmly on the window sill.

Odion nodded and moved toward the door. He heard the sound of his former master follow lightly behind him. They walked easily up the stairs to the third floor. After opening the door Odion motioned for Marik to step back. The young Egyptian did as he was told and moved back out of the symbol that was carved on the floor.

The symbol was one of the only ways to get into contact with the spirit world. In order to activate it a being with a strong tie to the physical world was needed. Odion fit the bill perfectly.

He stepped into the center of the circle and prepared to open the connection. Marik sat back and let his mind wander for a moment. It was strange that the great pharaoh Atem was somehow stepping out of the Spirit World and into the Real World. He must have been thinking longer than he meant to because a rather annoyed voice broke into his thoughts.

"Ishtar, I hope you have a good reason for contacting us."

It was the Priest Seto. As usual he was annoyed with the fact that someone had called on him to talk instead of one of the other Guardians. Marik quickly apologized and that seemed to calm him down a bit.

After calming him down Marik got to the pint of his call. As he talked Seto's eyes widened slightly when he heard the speculation that Marik and his sister had. Over and over again the guardian denied the speculations.

"I simply don't see how he can appear in the human world since he has come here. Before I can understand but not now. My Lord, if he could leave would have told us about it. Besides who is this 'Yugi' boy you keep talking about?" Seto asked looking a little confused.

"Wait... You don't know who Yugi is? That makes this very interesting then. It seems that your pharaoh has left some things out of the tales that he's told you." Marik said in surprise.

"We have heard nothing of this Yugi-kid. His Majesty has told us nothing of his tirades in the Real World."

Leaning back a bit Marik put a hand to his head. If the Sacred Guardians didn't know about Yugi then they didn't know about how the king was helping Yugi out when he was in trouble. It all seemed really strange. Just as he was about to ask Seto about something Atem walked into the room.

"Majesty. How are you doing this morning?" the guardian asked stepping back slightly for his king.

*Yawn*"I'm doing good, Seto. Thank you for asking." the young pharaoh replied stretching his arms high above his head.

"It is good to see you, my king." Marik said on the other side of the magical portal.

"Oh. Hello Marik. It's good to see you too. How is Ishizu?"

"She is good. Still doing her job as a museum exhibit director for Egypt of course." you young blond Egyptian nodded smiling.

The two of them talked lightly for a moment before Seto began to feel like he had been forgotten. He spoke up as Marik was about to open his mouth. What he said seemed to surprise his young king. Atem clenched his fists and glared at Marik who shrugged and tried to look innocent.

"You told him about Yugi?" Atem asked, his voice deadly calm.

"Yes. Yugi came to the Domino museum today and talked with my sister about something. I thought that your guardians might know something about it but I was wrong." Marik squeaked looking very nervous.

Atem took a deep breath and put his hand to his head. Shaking his head and not looking at the young man in front of him he explained in simple words why he hadn't told the guardians about Yugi. The way he explained it made the Guardians seem like they would stop at nothing to keep him from trying to do anything to help Yugi. Marik flinched when the Pharaoh said that Marik was acting like an idiot when he talked to Seto about Yugi.

"I am really sorry. I really, really am. I didn't realize that you didn't want them to know about him. I-"

A ringing sounded on Marik's side and he got up to get it. The two men on the other side of the portal saw a shocked expression cross Marik's tanned face before it vanished easily. Saying something to whoever was on the other end of the line he hung up. Taking a deep breath he moved back to the portal.

"That was Ishizu. Yugi left a minute ago but this guy was waiting for him and took off after him as soon as he was out the door."

"What? He's getting chased by some guy?" Atem asked looking worried.

Marik nodded then spoke up again, "Ishizu thinks it's the same guy who Yugi said was chasing him before. She isn't positive though."

Atem looked away and seemed to think about something really hard. Turning back around he stared at Marik with a stern look in his eyes. It was clear that the Pharaoh was going to help Yugi despite what Seto and the other Guardians were going to do. Marik nodded and motioned to Odion who nodded.

The big burly man made some minor adjustments to the circle they were in. the modifications would allow the Pharaoh to channel his power through the gem and take on a physical form in the Real World. The only problem with that was the fact that he would remove his form from the Spirit World; in other words he would return to the Real World and would have to use a portal to get back to the Spirit World.

Odion nodded at Marik and he gave the Pharaoh a thumbs up. With a curt nod Atem relaxed his hold on the Spirit World. Seto panicked when his king's form started to fade out of existence. Only the calm look on his face stopped him from going to get the other five Guardians. Then he noticed the small stream passing through the portal and into the Real World.

After a moment the Pharaoh had fully disappeared Seto turned to Marik and demanded to know what was going on. It took the former Tomb Keeper ten minutes to explain the whole situation to the Guardian. With a small nod he released the connection.

Meanwhile Yugi and the football captain were watching the golden gem on Yugi's wrist. It had started glowing about ten minutes after Yugi had been forced into an ally. Suddenly, as the captain started to advance the gem flashed brightly. Both of them had to cover their eyes at the light.

Yugi was the first to look up. When he did he gasped; standing in front of him was the Pharaoh. His violet eyes widened as the ancient king turned to look at him. Atem smiled easily at his former host and Yugi threw himself into his arms.

The football captain looked up and saw the purple cape and the back of his head. It was a shock to see someone who looked so much like Yugi but so different. The tall man released Yugi and turned to face the football team captain. The look on his face made the burly man take a step back. There was no way that he could take on this stranger and the kid at the same time.

Scrambling to his feet the football team captain turned to run away. He didn't get very far before a hand caught the collar of his shirt. A sharp yank pulled the college student off his feet and landed him on his butt.

"I have a question for you and you will answer me." a deep accented voice said.

"OK! Sure! What do you want to know?" he cried trying not to look back.

"Are youth one who's been harassing Yugi for the past week?"

"Yes!"

"Why?"

"He always acted like he knew more than I did and it really bugged me! I may be on the football team but I'm not an idiot!" the captain cried.

"Well, actually you are an idiot if you try to mess with my Yugi. You come near him ever again and I'll pound you into the dirt. Got it?" Atem hissed releasing the young man's collar.

"Yeah! I got it!" the young man stammered as he started to move away.

Easily the ancient king turned away from the cowardly man in front of him and turned back to Yugi. The boy's astounded look turned to one of extreme happiness and joy. Atem had somehow come back and stood before his former host, a gentle smile on his face. Stepping forward Yugi felt like a void that had once filled his heart vanished and he once again threw himself into the Pharaoh's arms.

Things were really starting to get better for him an having Atem here made him feel so much better. He released his friend and smiled at him. Then Atem asked if they could go back to Yugi's house. The violet eyed young man gave him a weird look and said it would be better if they went to his grandfather's shop. With a nod and a smile the pharaoh agreed and they walked of together; Atem had and arm across Yugi's shoulders and Yugi wore the biggest smile he had had in the longest time.