So… Haven't written this in a LONG time. Hopefully none of you want to kill me. If so, I'll just hid somewhere until it's safe again. For those who've been patiently waiting for this story to continue, I'm sorry. I kind of lost inspiration for it and also… I'm lazy. Again, really sorry. Anyway… first chapter in a good few mouths, so enjoy!

Chapter 6: Victim

Yuugi had seen that suspicious guy earlier but didn't mention it as he notice said guy slip through the back doors of the game center. He knew he really should have called for the others, but his curiosity got the best of him. He easily made his way to the back door, completely unnoticed by the others. Entering into the back of the center, he immediately noticed that it was dark and many hallways branched off in all directions. It was like some grand maze. While he looked around, he didn't notice the staircase in front of him and fell down the stairs until he was a sore bunch of limbs on the bottom.

As he rubbed the back of his head, he saw a figure make his way down the hall. He ran after the figure, which entered a room to the right, and snuck into the room with the figure. In the dim light, Yuugi could see that it was the guy he had seen earlier, Ran's purse in his left hand.

"Ran-chan's purse!" he exclaimed.

The man turned towards the high-pitched voice. He saw that it was nothing more than a little kid and said, "I think you should go, kid."

"You took Ran-chan's purse," Yuugi said, "You shouldn't be taking other people's things."

"What the hell is this? A lecture?" the thief asked.

Yuugi took a step forward, "Please, let me have that. It's Ran-chan's."

The thief laughed, "Give it to you? After I stole it from the bitch? Not happening, kid." He walked over to Yuugi, setting the purse down. Once in front of the small boy, he cracked his knuckles, smiling a bit, "You know what they say, 'Finders keepers'. But I can't have you telling the police now, can I?" Before the boy could even react, the thief gave a hard blow across Yuugi's face, forcing him to land a few feet away. As Yuugi tried to stand back up, the thief kicked him in the gut and then proceeded to kick the down boy.

After he was satisfied, the thief turned around to pick up the purse, saying, "Don't worry, kid. It'll take them a while to find you. It's a maze down here."

"A maze, huh?" a deep voice drawled, "That sounds interesting."

Shocked by the sudden voice, the thief turned around to find the boy standing back up. But he was different. There were no bruise marks on his face, but rather a strangely, slightly evil smirk on his face. His eyes were red instead of purple, and stared at him with anticipated excitement. He stood casually, hands in his pockets, but the thief would have sworn he was a bit taller.

The thief narrowed his eyes, holding the purse tightly, "What are talking about, kid?"

Yami looked at the thief, smirking, "You're pretty determined to have Ran-chan's purse. Why don't we have a game?"

"Game?"

"Yes. If I win, you'll give me back Ran-chan's purse. If you win, I won't tell the authorities."

The thief laughed at this. What was this kid playing at? Was he stupid? He figured he might have some fun with this, though. If the kid did win the game, he could always beat him up. "Alright, kid. I'll play." He didn't notice the evil glint in the kid's eyes.

"It's game time. The rules are simple. Ran-chan's purse will be hidden in the maze and the first one to find it wins."

"Sounds easy enough," the thief said, unsure of how this was going to work though with the only the two of them.

"One more thing," Yami said, "This isn't an ordinary game. It's a Yami no Game." As soon as the words left his lips, the purse in the thief's hand disappeared in black smoke and the area around them changed slightly, showing before them a giant labyrinth.

"What the hell is this?"

"This is a Yami no Game. In this game, you put your life on the line," Yami said, nonchalantly.

The thief looked at the kid, wondering if he was serious, but judging by the grave look on his face, he'd guess he was. He looked back at the deep maze. This wasn't going to be easy as he thought.

"You remember the rules?" Yami said. The thief nodded. "Good," he said, focusing on the maze before him, "Then game, Start!"

The two of them took off into the maze, branching off into two different halls. The thief ran as fast as he could. He was going to end this stupid game as fast as he could. The longer he stayed here, the sooner he could get caught. Besides, what could the brat really do? He took a right, but came to a dead end. Turning back, he went done another hall, and another and another. He was quickly becoming confused, but he be damned if he lost to this kid. He took a step into a hallway and felt his foot sink just an inch into the ground. He heard a small click, and dodged just before a spear shot out of the wall. He looked back in shock. In this game you put your life on the line, the kid's words echoed in his mind. He was serious. He was starting to wonder if this was even worth it.

As he continued, much more carefully now, he came to a fork in the maze and stopped. While he tried to decide which path to take, he noticed a small scratch pattern on the left wall. It looked like someone had marked the wall on purpose. Then it hit him. The kid had that weird pyramid pendant and must be using it to mark the halls he already went down. Smirking, he walked over to the mark on the wall, smudged it, erasing it. He used his nail to etch a similar pattern on the other wall. He then proceeded down the path previously unmarked. Let's see that kid find his way around now. This was a routine as the thief continued through the maze. Every time he came across a symbol in the wall, he'd smudged it and put a similar one on the other wall. He hoped that the kid was completely lost now. He had to be now that his system was corrupted. He was still weary of the maze: just because a hall was unmarked, didn't mean it was safe.

He walked around for what felt like ages before he saw a light coming from a hallway to his left. His first impulse was to run towards it, but the last time he ran towards a strange light nearly had him electrocuted. He cautiously stalked over to the hallway, peaking through a doorway. Inside was bright and looked like a normal storage room. Sitting on a chair, Ran's purse in hand, waiting patiently, was a smirking Yami.

The thief gaped at the sight. "How?"

Yami smirked harder and got up, setting the purse on the table, "You know, that was clever trying to use my own system against me."

"You knew? How?"

"When I came to a mark, I initially thought it was one I marked and was going to head down it when I noticed the smudge on the other wall. So, I knew that you were trying to confuse me. Therefore, I began to mark the wrong wall, leading you down the wrong path as you tried to do to me."

"That's cheating!"

Yami cocked his head, "Is it? If I recall, I said that the only rule was who ever found the purse first wins. I never said that we couldn't try to lead the other astray. Also, I do believe it was you who first tried to confuse me."

Anger rising at being fooled by this kid, the thief charged Yami. Yami merely picked up the purse and sidestepped out of the way as the thief crashed into the table.

Yami looked at the man sternly, "You lost. The purse is mine. Those were the rules."

"Screw the rules! That purse belongs to me now and I'm not going to let a brat like you take it away from me!" He lunged again at Yami, who again merely moved out of the way.

"You have broken the rules of the game. Therefore, a punishment game awaits you."

The thief turned around to see a glowing gold eye on Yami's forehead, "What the-?"

"The Doors of Darkness have opened," Yami announced, void of any emotion.

Suddenly, he felt the floor give way under him and he dropped down into a darken place. There were moans of the damned around him and he felt a deep seeded dread gripping his very soul. He looked away for a way out but there was none, only a dark empty hole.

"What the hell is this?" he screamed, trying to drown out the moans with his hands.

"You would take what is not yours and sneak into the shadows away. This is what happens when one loses their way," Yami's voice echoed through the darkness. The man huddled into his knees, failing to keep the bone-chilling moans out of his head.

Yami watched as the thief huddle into himself as he shook in fear. Not his best work, but he was only a common thief. Had he actually harm someone, the consequences would have been much more severe. He picked up the purse, which the thief had dropped once he fell to the floor in terror. Though he didn't know Ran well, he liked her enough to do this for her. She was a friend and didn't deserve to have her things stolen. He got up and walked out of the room, not bothering to close the door.

-00000-

Ran and Conan were back in their hotel room, waiting for Kogoro. Despite the small upset with Ran's purse wen missing, they had a fun time. It was strange, that though neither of them played games that much before, but they found playing with the others was incredibly fun, even Conan. However, Conan could not get the short meeting with the strange kid out of his mind. He looked almost identical to Yuugi, but there was no way that those two were the same person. Yuugi was a timid kid, while the other one was mysterious and confident. He didn't really buy that the guy had just happened to fine the purse, but he knew that the others would have worried too much if he hadn't gone back right away. Also, he was still wondering about how Yuugi's face got like that. Sure, it was highly likely he fell down some stairs, but that couldn't be enough to do that kind of damage. But he said it so genuine, so it was possible.

It was about dinnertime when Kogoro came back. They asked if they found anything, but Kogoro just shook his head. He told them what they had but it was nothing substantial. Conan was in deep thought. Just what could it be? What was making these people lose their minds? As he tried to come up with a starting point, the image of the mysterious Yuugi look-a-like kept coming to mind. No matter how many times he pushed it aside, it just kept coming back. Why, he didn't know, but he was sure that kid had something to do with this.

As the three of them ate, Kogoro's phone rang. When he listened to whoever was on the other end, his face turned from mild annoyance to a shocked expression.

"WHAT!" he screamed, "The found another person in that terror state?"

Ran and Conan immediately looked up, concerned.

Kogoro kept listening, unknowingly muttering everything that he heard, "I see, he's in a catatonic state. Where did you find him? In the game center on 1st street?"

Conan perked up at that and turned to Ran, "Isn't that the game center we were at today?"

Ran nodded, "Yeah, I think it was."

Kogoro turned to look at them, "What? You two were there?" They nodded. He went back to the phone, "Has there been any suspects? No? Alright, I'm on my way." With that he got his thing together and headed for the door.

Conan got up and followed, "Uncle, shouldn't we come to?"

"What? No!"

Ran came over as well, "Conan's right, dad. We were there earlier today. We should come and see if anything is out of place."

Kogoro thought about it for a while, but seeing their determined looks he sighed and gave in.

-00000-

Once at the game center, there were only a few cops at the scene, they didn't want to cause a panic. After conversing with an officer, they learned that the man in question was found in the basement of the game center. Conan blinked, blurting out, "That's where I found Ran-neechan's purse!"

Everyone one looked at him, asking him what he was talking about. Ran stepped in, "When we were here earlier, my purse disappeared. We looked around everywhere for it, but couldn't find it until Conan came back with it."

"Why did you go into the basement?" Kogoro asked.

"There was a suspicious guy that had bother Ran-neechan earlier," Conan said looking to Ran, who nodded, "I thought he might have took it. Since I didn't him, I thought he already ran away. I noticed that there was a backdoor and went back there. It was like a maze so I couldn't really tell where I was going. I thought I was lost when…" He stopped. Should he tell them about the kid? That was a stupid question, of course he should. But why was it so hard to tell them?

"When what, Conan?" Kogoro asked, irritated a bit.

"When… when I found it," Conan said, not believing he again refrained from mentioning the strange kid.

Kogoro looked at him suspiciously, but didn't say anything. The officer took out a picture and asked, "Was this the man you saw earlier?"

Ran and Conan looked at the picture and were stunned. It was the guy from the game center. They looked up, wondering who he was.

Seeing the question in their eyes, the officer said, "This is the man who we found in a catatonic state not too long ago."

Conan froze. He was the one who was in that state? He remembered the Inspector mentioning that the people involved were mostly all criminals or bullies. That was a fact now. The kid. He had been present twice now in the areas which a person has gone crazy. That couldn't be a coincidence. He wasn't certain if the kid was the culprit, but he was definitely involved. The uncanny appearance. He had to ask Yuugi about it.

Kogoro asked if there was anything else. The officer just shook his head, "No, we sent him to the hospital, but they don't know what the cause is. All they know is that he is in a perpetual state of shock and the most they can get out of him is some mumbling."

"What does he say?" Conan asked.

"Nothing much. He repeating mutters he's scared, I won't do it again, so dark, things like that," the officer stopped at thought for a moment, "but there is one thing that's odd."

"What's that?" they all asked.

"He constantly mutters about a creepy, glowing gold eye." None of them knew what that meant.

Yeah, haven't written this in a while, but I got random inspiration for it, so I wrote. But don't be expecting much for a while. I'm not sure how long I will keep having inspiration, so no promise on continuing this for a while.

So, I wasn't sure if I was going to tell you the Shadow Game that was done, letting it just be implied, but that's where my inspiration started so I said screw it and just did it. I hoped I did a good job creating a game. I know it's a bit similar to the one he had with Shadi, but the idea of maze was in my head and then I thought of the maze in Harry Potter and then this happened. Anyway, I hope I did a good job of it.

Anyway, just to point some things out. Yes, this is based on the first series of Yugioh, season 0 and volumes 1-8, before duel monsters became popular. So, I'm following the timeline of that, which as you can tell, is not long after the amusement park bomber.

Also, I should tell you, I'm using Yami as how he (at least to me) appears in the beginning. As an actual second personality of Yuugi, not an Egyptian pharaoh trapped in the puzzle. Yes, I know, I know, later you find out that he is, but originally, he seems like a split personality, hence the name of my story. I have a very detailed explanation for this, so if you want I'll share it but if not, that's fine. I'm not going to change his personality or anything I promise. I love Atem (more than I probably should XD) and think he is an awesome character. It just seemed to me, that he was more of a "Darker Yuugi," but this is me just speculating.

Anyway, I hoped you liked! And keep the reviews coming! They motivate me to actually write!

Disclaimer ~ Detective Conan, not mine. Yugioh, also not mine. Even if I wish dearly so.