Chapter 3
Time To Duel!…Or…So We Thought

Now, I know Yugi wasn't friends with the others until AFTER he put together the puzzle, but we're gonna change that here. Just for the heck of it, he's already friends with Joey, Tristan, Tea, and Ryou.
Yugi shuffled his deck. "Well, let's start the duel."

Yami shifted uncomfortably. "Um…"

Yugi looked at him curiously. "What is it?"

"I can't read your language."

Yugi's hands stopped moving as he stared at the pharaoh. "You're kidding me, right?"

Yami shook his head. "Unless you have cards written in hieroglyphics, we can't duel."

Yugi fell off the bed anime style. "You mean you challenged me to a duel and you can't even read?"

Yami frowned. "I didn't say I couldn't read. I said I couldn't read your language."

"You can speak it well enough, can't you?"

"That comes from you, I think, since you're my reincarnation. I don't know why I can speak it, I just can. I just can't read it."

"Have you even tried?"

"I glanced at the card; couldn't make heads or tails of it."

Yugi rolled his eyes. "Let's try something." Covering up the picture on a card from his deck, he held it out. "Try to sound out the description at the bottom."

Yami tilted his head. "Okay, that's weird. I…know the names of those symbols, and kinda know the sounds they make."

"So sound it out already."

Yami did so, though haltingly. "A…deh…deh-ley………deh-ley-kayt…eh…teh……deh-ley-kay-teh……eh…luh……eh-luff…"

"A delicate elf," helped Yugi gently.

"A delicate elf…tuh…huh…ah…tuh…tuh-at…tat…A delicate elf tat…"

"That."

"A delicate elf that…that…" He stared at the next word before flopping back on the bed. "Reading this stuff is tiring," he moaned. "How do you do it, shorty?"

Yugi, though he had been greatly annoyed by the apparition, had begun feeling somewhat sorry for him – until the insult. "Would you stop calling me shorty?!" he yelled. "I can't help it if I'm small-boned!"

Yami smirked. "Yeah, but if we compare you to a baby rabbit, then – Oh wait, then you'd still look small-boned." He laughed as Yugi threw a pillow at him.

Solomon's voice wafted up the stairs. "Yugi, your friends are here!"

Yugi's eyes widened. "Uh…oh…I completely forgot…" He looked around wildly as approaching footsteps grew louder. He shoved Yami into the closet.

"Gah! Yugi, what – "

"Just stay in there and be quiet!" hissed the teen. "You even think of making a single noise – " He slammed the door shut just as the bedroom door came open.

"Hey Yuge!…Whatcha doing over by the closet?"

"I…I just finished cleaning my room."

Joey flopped on the bed. "Wuteva. Hey, Ryou's got this freaky necklace that looks kinda like that puzzle thing you've been working on."

Yugi looked interested. "Really? D'ya have it with you?"

Ryou nodded and tugged on a string around his neck, pulling out an object hidden under his shirt. "It's really rather strange," he said in his soft accent. "My father sent it home, said he found it in a bazaar – "

"Bizarre? How can you find something in a bizarre?"

"Bazaar, Joey. B-A-Z-A-A-R. It's like a marketplace."

"Oh."

They talked about random things for a while before Solomon called them. "Lunch is ready, kids!"

"Lunch!" Joey and Tristan jumped off the bed and fought each other all the way downstairs, leaving Tea, Ryou, and Yugi staring after them.

Tea sighed. "I'd better go and help your grampa make sure they don't kill each other." She stopped at the door and looked back. "Aren't you two coming?"

"I'll be right down," said Yugi, wanting to check on Yami.

"I wanted to speak with Yugi about something," said Ryou. Yugi suppressed a groan; he hoped Ryou wouldn't take too long. He had a feeling that Yami was really ticked.

"Well, okay."

When the door shut, Ryou turned to Yugi. "Hey Yugi? The puzzle you've been working on…Have you finished it yet?"

Yugi nodded hesitantly. "Yes…I finished it this morning."

Ryou also seemed hesitant about something. "Um…Have you…noticed anything?"

"Like what?"

"Well – " He froze as they heard thumps. Thumps that came from the closet. Yugi paled. "What was that?" asked Ryou curiously.

"Nothing!" squeaked Yugi.

"Yugi, let me out!" yelled Yami.

Ryou stood up and went to the closet before Yugi could stop him. "Erm…Hello."

"Hi," said Yami shortly. He glared at Yugi. "What's the big idea? I've been in there for an hour! It's cramped in there!"

"Oh, shut up already."

Yugi blinked as a mirror image of Ryou appeared. "Um…"

Ryou sighed. "Yugi, this is Bakura. He's the reason I was wondering if you'd finished the Puzzle. Bakura sorta appeared a few days ago and said he was from my Ring."

"Yami appeared and said he was from the Puzzle. He also claims to be the Pharaoh of Egypt."

"'Claims'?" raged Yami. "I am Pharaoh!"

Bakura sneered. "Yeah, and I'm the King of Thieves."

"Really, I am! I ruled Egypt!"

Bakura rolled his eyes. "And I'm really the King of Thieves. I never said you weren't pharaoh."

Yami stopped. "Oh."

Ryou laughed while Yugi just shook his head.

(whimpers) Why do I continue this again? I've botched it already, I just know it. Oh well. Review!