Updated January 5 2011

Okay, I know that last two chapters sucked, but that's because I didn't really know much about the tenses. But I should have fixed them now. And I'll TRY to get the other two chapters fixed soon too. Sorry for any misshaps!

Please enjoy and leave a review! Brownie's for those who review! :p

-Kairi

Chapter Three:

"Yami!"Joey said, talking to the Millennium Puzzle he was holing it in the air by the chain. Tea, Tristan, and Mr. Motou all gather around Joey as he tried to coax the pharaoh out.

Mr. Hopkins had already left, saying that Rebecca was probably missing him back at home. He did wish them all good luck, hugged his friends, and said his farewell.

No one knew how Mr. Mutou managed to get a hold of the puzzle, but it didn't matter, all that mattered was getting Yami out of the puzzle.

The four of them sat outside, far away from the cops so that no one would notice a transparent person, if he ever decided to come out. They stood behind an empty building with the game shop still in sight.

"YAMI!" Joey tried again, but nothing happened. "Err . . . Why won't you answer me, damn it? Yugi's in trouble! If you don't come out and help us, we won't know how to save him!" The golden blond glared at the puzzle in frustration.

Tristan gave one of his best friends a wary look. "Dude, chill. Yami'll come out; just be patient."

Joey removed his glaring eyes away from the puzzle and aimed them at Tristan. "How the hell can I chill when our best friend just got kidnapped? If there's a way to help Yugi, then we'll find it, no matter what! I won't let nothing happen to him!"

"Joey, we all feel the same way," Tea said. Her voice was held in a whisper and full of pain. Joey looked at her, his glare softening a bit. "You don't see us throwing a fuse, though, so you need to calm down. It won't help us any if you keep yelling at the puzzle."

With the end of her sentence, the puzzles' eye started to glow its golden light. Everybody looked at the puzzle with both excitement and surprise.

A figure casts itself out and the light disappeared. The figure was transparent, but you could still see him. The pharaoh's back was turned towards his friends, and, after a moment, he still didn't turn around.

"Yami?" Tea softly called out.

Slowly, the pharaoh turned around but kept his head bowed and his shoulders slump.

When he doesn't respond vocally, Joey clenched his hand around the puzzle. "Yami! Answer us, damn it!"

"Yeah, we need your help!" Tristan added.

"Do you know the whereabouts of Yugi?" Mr. Mutou asked with a hint of hopeful wishing.

"I'm sorry, I do not." Yami finally replied, his voice full of pain and sorrow. He looked up at his friends, his voice matching his facial expressions. Yami's eyes, his usual proud, stern eyes, were as hollow and dead as a dead tree lying on its side instead of standing upright, while they also looked distant.

"What do you mean?" Mr. Mutou asked, his voice dropping to barely a whisper.

Yami adverted his gaze to the ground. "Yugi's presence . . . I can no longer feel him anymore. Under any circumstances, I can always feel him, even if he's barely there, I could still feel him. But now, his presence as disappeared all together. I'm sorry, Oji- San."

Mr. Mutou bowed his head in defeat. "No need to apologize; there was nothing you could have done."

Yami's head shot up. "There was a lot I could have done!" His voice was full of anger and regret, surprising everyone. Then, his voice plummeted so that he spoke softly, "But . . . I couldn't do anything. I could have kept Yugi safe if it weren't for . . ." He looked back at the ground, lost for words as his unfinished sentence lingered in the air.

"None of it is your fault, Pharaoh. If any, it is mine."

"WHAT?" All three teens, plus Yami, (1) shrieked as they stared at the old man.

Mr. Mutou just shook his head. "If I had been home, none of this would have happened. Yugi would be safe. Instead, he's who-knows-where and probably hates my guts." Newly form tears slide down his cheeks. "My only grandson has been taken from me and I wasn't here to help!"

"Gramps." Joey said gently, walking to the old man. He moved the chain so that it dangled around his wrist before placing both hands on the elders' shoulders. "This ain't your fault. Hell, it ain't any one's fault. So pull yourself together, 'cause we'll find him or die tryin'.

Mr. Mutou looked up and met Joey's eyes. He nodded his head and wiped his eyes with the back of his hand. Joey gave his shoulder a reassuring squeeze before he lets go.

"And Gramps," Once Joey has moved back to where he was standing, Tristan smiled at him. "Yugi could never hate you; he loves you too much."

Mr. Mutou eyes seemed to brighten.

"I've never seen anyone who loves their grandfather as much as Yugi loves you." Tea added, smiling encouraging at him.

"He's very lucky to have you." Yami replied. Mr. Mutou gazed at the pharaoh with thoughtful eyes. Yami's expression never changed except for giving the elder a sadden smile.

Looking into the teens eyes, Mr. Mutou could see the serenity. "Arigato. All of you." He looked to all of their faces and each one of them smiled and nodded.

After a few moments of silence, Tea looked up to the pharaoh. "Yami, could you please tell us exactly what happened? The police gave us a guess . . . but . . ."

When she doesn't continue, Yami nodded his head before launching into his story that only happened a few hours ago.

No one said anything, not even a gasp or small noise, but one look to each pair of eyes said it all. Mr. Mutou wiped his red, puffy eyes while Tea has a few silent tears escape her blue ones.

When no one said anything, Tristan, feeling like he was the one to say something, (Since everyone was emotional) said, "You sure that's the reason why the guy kidnapped Yugi?" He shifts from foot to foot looking uncomfortable. He couldn't even imagine someone wanting to do dirty things to a sweet boy like Yugi.

Yami nodded his head. "But if they lay one finger on him - -"

"- -They're going to die." Joey finished. He had placed the puzzle back in his hand and now, his hand was curled tightly around the puzzle that his knuckles turn white. "We have to find him, before anything happens to him."

"Don't worry, Joey, we'll find him." Tea says wiping her teary eyes. (Again.) "No matter how far away Yugi is, our hearts will always be able to find him. And . . ."

Tea immediately stopped talking when Yami mutters one word:

"Aibou?"

Everyone looked to see the confusion on Yami's face. He blinks once then shook his head as if to clear it. "Sorry, Tea; I just thought I heard . . ."

'Mou Hitori no boku!'

In an instance, Yami recognized the voice. "Aibou! Where are you? I'm- We're all worried about you!" Everything came out in a rush as he said everything aloud and through the connection he and Yugi shared. Taking a second, Yami recalled how soft his partner's voice was, taking it as a bad sign. "And I can barely hear you."

The gang looked at the pharaoh with wide eyes as they listen to him.

'Yugi?' Tea mouthed questioningly.

Yami nodded his head and frowns. "But I can barely understand him. The connection . . . it's getting worse."

Yugi spoke again, but this time softer. 'Don't leave . . . scared.'

The connection between the two broke then, leaving Yami alone.

"Yugi!" Yami yelled both aloud and as well as mentally. From the desperation in his voice, his friends seem to understand that Yugi was gone.

"We got lucky." Yami muttered.

"Lucky? What does luck have anything to do with this?" Joey barked out in anger. He glared off to where the afternoon sun burned brightly.

"The only reason why I heard him was because he was screaming." He said simply while his voice saddens.

The group fell into a tense silence for a while. Finally, after several moments, Tristan spoke up, breaking all silence.

"What did Yugi say?"

"He didn't want me to leave him . . . He was scared."

Tristan nodded his head. "So what now? We have proof that the connection between Yugi and Yami are too far apart. How else - -"

"Just shut up, Tristan!" Joey yelled as he returned his glaring eyes at him. Both Tea and Yami stare at Joey, clearly shocked with the outburst. "We'll find Yugi without the connection!"

Tristan returned the glare. "No, Joey. Don't you get it? We won't be able to find Yugi. If the connection barely held, that means Yugi is too far away, right?" He looked at Yami for confirmation.

"Yes, that is correct."

Turning his attention back to Joey, "Yugi could be out of Japan. He could be in the United States for all we know." Joey opened his mouth, but Tristan quickly continued on, leaving no room for Joey to speak. "Face it Joey, Yugi is just too far away for us to help. I really hate myself for tellin' the truth, but it has to be said."

Without even realizing it, the two boys had stood up during the heated conversation, both facing the other. Now, as if in defeat, Joey slumped down, sitting back down to the ground on a sitting position.

"I just . . . want to help him . . . but we have no leads." Joey mumbled. "Sorry, Tristan. It's just . . . without Yuge . . ."

"I know man." Tristan sat down next to one of his best friends.

Yami and Tea just sat on the ground, or in Yami's case, stood there. Yami had a distant look while Tea covered her mouth with one of her hands, worried about her friends. Once again, they don't say anything.

"You know," Tea spoke up, her voice sounding distant, "We're late for school . . ."

Tristan and Joey look at their female friend. Taking a deep breath of air, Joey mumbled, "Yeah, but one missed day of school doesn't really matter," 'Not like Yugi, who will probably miss a lot of school . . .' he thought. He rose to his feet, picking up his school bag that lay on the ground next to him. "I'll . . . see you guys later."

"Where're you going?" Tea asked, glancing up at him from her lap.

Joey shrugged. "Anywhere but school . . ."

The remaining of the group stood up, including the very quiet Mr. Mutou.

"Here, Gramps," Joey tried to hand Mr. Mutou the puzzle, but the elder shook his head.

"No, Joey. Out of any one of us, Yugi would rather you hold on to it until he gets back." Tears no longer slides down his checks, but he wipes them anyways.

Joey didn't seem surprised, knowing very well that Yugi would say the same thing. He looked at the spirit of the puzzle for approval.

"It's true, you're our best friend. With the puzzle in your hands, Yugi and I will feel safe knowing that you'll have it, keeping it out of harm's way." Yami said.

Joey nodded again, holding the puzzle firmly in his clenched fist. "So . . . I guess I'll see you guys later." Joey said after a moment had past.

"Same here." Tristan announced while grabbing his school bag that had also lay on the ground.

Tea looked at the two of them before looking at Mr. Mutou. "If you need anything, please, feel free to call one of us."

"Alright, and same goes for you three . . . four." He said including Yami.

Yami nodded his head. He turned towards his friends. "If you find any information, you'll tell me?" All three teenagers nodded their heads. "Thank you." Yami's transparent body starts to phase out and, once it completely disappeared, everybody looked at each other.

"Well, see ya guys later." Joey stated.

"See you."

"Byes."

Arigato- Thank You

Aibou- Partner

Mou Hitori no boku- other me

Oji- San- Grandfather or Grandpa.

1- I know Yami is like thousands of years old, but he's still considered a teen. My editor said that he ain't a teen, but he really is. Help me decide whose right!

Soooo, how is it? I think I did an okay job at fixing the tenses. I tried to make them all pretense and if ever it goes to a flashback, it should be past tense. Tell me if I messed up on it, I would gladly appreciate it.

And if you have any questions, comments, and/or concerns, just ask! I'd feel free to answer or make anything unclear go clear.

Please review! :D:D