Chapter 8

The first thing Yugi became aware of when he woke was how hot it was already. He'd underestimated how hot it could get in Egypt. The last time they'd been here it hadn't been in the height of summer so it'd been a more pleasant temperature but now it was certainly very hot. Opening his eyes he gazed at the grey ceiling above him for a while, giving himself time to fully wake up before he attempted moving. But soon enough he sat up, rubbing his eyes before looking around. The trailer was rather pleasant. There was a small kitchen at the opposite end of the trailer with a small table and two chairs. It wasn't a big enough kitchen to make a full meal with, besides they had the canteen to properly feed them. However, the small kitchen did allow them to keep some drinks and snacks in. There was also a couple of comfy chairs to relax in. It was a rather pleasant place to call home. Looking across the room Yugi's eyes fell on the other bed, but it was empty. Clearly the former Pharaoh was already awake and gone. Yugi smiled at this, he'd known that Atem would enjoy this trip. Now that he was fully recovered from his illness he'd thrown himself into the dig. It turned out he and Professor Roberts got along rather well. The professor was certainly enthusiastic about Ancient Egypt and the two of them spoke for hours on end about it. Atem had been most interested in what happened to Egypt after his time but when the Professor spoke about the time when Atem would have been Pharaoh it was very amusing to watch Atem's reaction. Although, the only person to work out his reaction was Yugi. The most amusing reaction for him had been when the professor had been taking the former Pharaoh through a detailed explanation about how much responsibility the great Pharaohs would have had. Yugi, who'd been stood opposite Atem a few metres away, saw how the latter had been trying not to let a smile cross his face. Yugi had nearly choked on his drink when the professor had asked Atem if he could ever imagine having that much responsibility and the former Pharaoh had replied saying something along the lines of;

"I don't believe I could ever imagine having such a huge responsibility."

Swinging his legs out of bed Yugi stretched and got to his feet. Throwing some clothes on he grabbed his water bottle and left the trailer in search of breakfast. The sun was already high in the sky, its rays bouncing off the walls of the other trailers and onto sand beneath him. There were numerous trailers around theirs. Directly opposite theirs was his grandfather's but when Yugi knocked on the door he found that he wasn't there. It seemed as though he was the last to wake up. Although there was still a chance that Joey and Tristan were still sleeping, those two could sleep for hours. Looking around, there were a few people milling about but not any of the people he was looking for. Walking away from the trailers he made his way towards the large white tent stationed in the middle of the group of trailers. Pushing the canvas door aside when he reached it Yugi stepped into the canteen. The tent was full of tables and chairs but also at the far end a series of metal units, all which held trays of food. Scanning the room he soon spotted two of his friends. They were sitting at one of the tables with an enormous pile of food on their plates. Shaking his head Yugi moved towards them.

"Of course, I'd find you guys here." Yugi said, taking a seat opposite them.

"Breakfast is the most important meal of the day. Besides it's an all you can eat buffet and we made a bet." Joey replied, he didn't look at Yugi his eyes were glued on his food.

"What was the bet?" Yugi asked, although he could easily guess.

"That I could eat all this before Tristan."

Yugi laughed, rolling his eyes before standing up and moving to the food counters. He snorted with amusement when he saw the trays mostly empty, clearly Joey and Tristan had taken most if not all the food. Around him a few other people seemed to be looking at the lack of food as well, he heard a few grumbles and glances in the direction of his friends. Returning to the table he found that Joey was victorious and giving Tristan a rather smug look. Tristan was not looking at Joey, he was taking a few careful sips of his drink looking rather annoyed. Grinning Yugi turned his attention to his food. The other two sat with him as he ate, as soon as he was finished they set off in search of the others who still hadn't appeared.

Although Yugi hadn't been in the canteen for that long it seemed as though the temperature outside had jumped up. The sun was practically baking them already.

"You know I was definitely right when I said we'd all be coming back like tomatoes." Joey said, fanning himself with one hand, "I don't remember it being this hot last time we came."

"Well, it was a completely different season." Yugi remarked.

"I guess but still this is intense…."

Joey trailed as a thought went through his mind.

"You know when I say we'll all be tomatoes I don't think that's true."

The other two looked at him, both wearing similar expressions of confusion.

"Atem." He elaborated, "He's definitely not going to be a tomato."

"Well, he was born here so it's hardly surprising that he's coping so well in the heat." Tristan said.

This was certainly true, out of all of them the once King was the only one who'd not made any sort of comment about the temperature. When the previous day where Yugi had been practically melting from the heat Atem hadn't seemed bothered one bit. There was also that fact that they'd barely been in Egypt for a week and yet his skin had begun returning to the way it had been when Yugi and the others had seen him in the memory world. It all made sense when they thought about it, they were in his home country so it only made sense that his body was well adjusted to coping with this heat. Something which Yugi was rather envious of.

"Have either of you seen him this morning?" Yugi asked, "He wasn't in our trailer when I got up."

"Nope." Joey replied, "But I'm sure he's around here somewhere."

"I reckon Tea will be nearby as well," Tristan said, "She's probably hanging out with that Elijah guy."

Yugi turned to look at Tristan.

"Who's Elijah?"

Tristan looked at him, rather confused, "You met him? He's Professor Roberts assistant?"

Yugi shook himself, "Oh yeah. Why is she hanging out with him?"

"Why do you think Yugi?"

Yugi didn't answer for a moment, the wheels in his head were turning.

"Well, it's always good to make new friends." He said finally.

The other two glanced at each other but made no reply. There was silence between them for a while as they continued to walk. They soon came across a large stretch of ground which was relatively flat. Shallow pits were scattered here and there, some pits had people standing in them with shovels in hand. Others had people on their hands and knees, gently brushing the sand away. Taking in the sight for a moment Yugi's eyes found Tea. She was talking to a man who must only be a few years older than they were, he was tall with brown hair and a kind smile. Judging by the smile on both of their faces they were certainly having a lovely conversation. For a while Yugi found he couldn't tear his eyes away from the pair of them until Tristan spoke up.

"You know I don't think I've ever seen Atem look so happy."

At these words Yugi managed to tear his eyes away and looked where Tristan was looking. Located at one of the larger pits a fair distance away was the former Pharaoh. He was crouched at the edge of the pit looking at Professor Roberts who was stood in the pit. Atem was wearing a wide smile as he listened to whatever the professor was telling him. As they watched they saw the professor hold something up to the former Pharaoh who laughed before responding. They couldn't hear the conversation given they were too far away, but it was clear that whatever they were up to they were both having a good time. Watching his closest friend Yugi couldn't help but smile at the scene. It was nice to see the once King looking so happy.

"Ah there you three are." A new voice said, "I thought you lot were sleeping the day away."

The three boys turned to see Grandpa heading towards them, wiping the sweat from his brow. He smiled at them in turn.

"I'd hardly say we were sleeping the day away." Yugi laughed, "Just enjoying not being in school!"

Grandpa smiled before turning to the other two boys.

"A little bird told me that there's no food left in the canteen at all. You wouldn't happen to know anything about that would you."

Joey's expression looked guilty, despite his attempt to hide it, "I… er… I have no idea what you're talking about."

"Me neither," Tristan added, looking similarly guilty, "I didn't even go near the canteen today."

Grandpa raised an eyebrow, "Oh really? Because the description of them sounded a lot like you two."

Joey and Tristan glanced at each other before looking back at Grandpa. There were a few seconds of silence before Grandpa started laughing. Beside him Yugi was grinning broadly.

"Well, I hope you had a good bet between you." Grandpa said, "But next time do leave something for everyone else."

The pair of them smiled sheepishly. Shaking his head Grandpa turned his gaze to the sight in front of him. His eyes found the former Pharaoh, he watched as Atem carefully jumped into the pit and knelt down next to the professor.

"Those two are getting along rather well." He commented.

Yugi nodded, "I'm just glad Atem is enjoying himself."

"I thought he would and we've definitely found a few things which date to his time so that's really exciting."

"How can you be sure?" Yugi asked, "After all this time isn't it difficult to date things properly."

Grandpa chuckled, "It is but it helps having someone who was alive at the time and can confirm it. I pulled Atem aside yesterday to show him and we had a very interesting conversation."

Yugi looked back to his friend, although he couldn't really see him as he was still knelt in the pit. He hadn't really asked Atem what he was thinking about everything so far, mainly because Atem had been so involved with everything that they'd not had much time to speak about it.

"He's definitely not feeling a bit weird about this?" Joey asked, "Especially if you did find stuff he remembers?"

Solomon shook his head slightly, "I don't think so. He was a little nostalgic maybe but other then that he seemed happy enough."

There was another pause as each of them were taken up by their own thoughts but then Solomon turned to the three of them.

"If you three want to have an explore then you can. I know we came here for this dig but I don't see a reason why you can't explore the surrounding areas, just be careful you never know what's out there."

The three teenagers smiled and nodded at Solomon as he walked away, heading towards Professor Roberts and the former Pharaoh. Once out of ear shot Joey immediately looked at Tristan.

"Are you thinking what I'm thinking Tristan?"

Tristan turned to him grinning, "Absolutely."

They immediately turned their backs on the dig and hurried away leaving a rather confused looking Yugi behind. Yugi watched them hurry away, what on earth were they up to? He heard Joey call to him, obviously they wanted him to come with them. Yugi glanced back at the dig before turning away and following the other two.

When he found the other two they were carrying two rather long pieces of cardboard. Yugi looked at them questioningly but Joey merely grinned and motioned to him. Together the three of them began walking away from the site and off into the desert. The site that the been chosen for this dig was surrounded by some sand dunes, some of them were higher then others. Joey, leading the way, chose the largest dune and led them to its peak. At the peak they stopped to stare around, taking in the view but also taking a minute to catch their breath and wipe the sweat from their brows. They could just see the dig site a way off in the distance, from this height it also looked like a miniature village. They could also see the River Nile, Yugi traced it's long winding path with his eyes. There was more, off in the distance were some cliffs which led to who knew where. The view was quite something.

"This place is amazing." Tristan said, he too was gazing around.

Yugi nodded, "It's even more impressive then the last time we were here."

"Well last time I don't think we had time to sight see." Joey replied.

Yugi nodded before turning to him.

"Are you going to tell me why we're up here? Why have you got cardboard?"

Joey's expression twisted into an excited grin.

"Sand surfing."

Yugi blinked, "I'm sorry?"

"Sand surfing!" He insisted, "We're going to ride these makeshift boards down the dunes! Loser has to do the washing up after dinner."

Yugi laughed, his gaze turned to the makeshift boards which in reality were still just long bits of cardboard. As he looked at them, he couldn't help but think that these boards were really not going to do what Joey wanted them too.

"You guys are mad, you're holding cardboard it's never going to survive this."

Joey scoffed, "Oh it will, ready Tristan?"

"Ready!"

The two boys lined up their 'boards' at the peak of the dunes and carefully sat on them. They looked at each other and nodded before pushing themselves down the dune. Yugi couldn't help but laugh at the sight of them zooming down the side of the dune. They got faster and faster before making it to the bottom. But it wasn't exactly a smooth stop, both Joey and Tristan ended up falling off the boards and rolled to a stop. Even with the distance between them Yugi could hear his two friends laughing. They hurried back up the dune, boards in hand clearly eager to have another go.

They kept this up for quite a while, Yugi even ended up having a go and he had to admit it was rather fun. Although at the moment it was rare that one of them actually manage to zoom down the dune without falling off. So far Joey was holding the record for the least amount of times falling off. He zoomed down the dune with Tristan hot on his heels. They were neck and neck for a moment before suddenly Tristan was no longer on his board, instead rolling next to it. Joey slid to a stop and turned to watch as Tristan rolled to a stop, spitting sand out of his mouth. He and Yugi laughed as Tristan dusted himself off before they heard a new voice.

"What on earth are you guys doing?"

Turning round, the boys saw their other two friends approaching. Tea and the former Pharaoh were heading towards them. Tea was looked rather confused but also amused at the same time. Atem was holding a certain look in his eye which Yugi judged to mean that he knew exactly what they were doing.

"What does it look like?" Joey called, getting to his feet.

"Sliding down a sand dune on cardboard?" Tea replied, drawing level with Yugi.

"You should try it Tea, it's great fun." Tristan said, although he was still spitting sand out of his mouth.

Tea didn't look so sure for a moment. She exchanged a look with the former Pharaoh before looking back at them.

"I think I'll watch you for a bit, not sure I fancy getting sand… well everywhere."

"Well, I need a new challenger." Joey declared, "I've beaten these two so many times. I am a master at this."

Joey looked at Tea for a moment before his gaze turned to the former Pharoah, who held his gaze. There was a brief pause as the two looked at each other before Joey spoke.

"Come on Atem, don't tell me you've never done this."

"Oh, I have Joey." Atem replied, a smirk making its way onto his face, "I'm just not sure you'd want to go up against me with this."

Joey grinned, "Oh that's fighting talk. Care to accept my challenge."

"I will. But with one slight change in the rules."

Joey frowned, "What might that be?"

"Sitting is too easy." Atem said, taking the board the Tristan offered him, "If you've really mastered this then you will be able to do it standing."

Another pause fell as Atem smirked at Joey who in return held his gaze, considering his words. But finally, the silence was broken. Joey smirked.

"Deal."

"Then lead the way."

Whilst Joey dashed up the dune once again, the once King made a more graceful ascent. The other three stood at the bottom, all of them grinning as they watched the two of them.

"Why do I think Atem is about to wipe that smirk off Joey's face?" Tristan asked.

"Because that's probably about to happen." Yugi replied, "But then if Atem falls then he's never going to live it down. Well, I certainly won't let him forget it."

The other two laughed. They watched the pair of them reach the top of the dune and get themselves into position. They couldn't hear what they were saying but they could guess that Joey was bigging himself up. Then they started their decent and the outcome was much how Yugi had expected it to be. Atem slid down the dune effortlessly, whilst Joey was flapping his arms around apparently trying to keep his balance. They only got about halfway down before Joey completely lost his balance. He fell backwards and rolled the rest of the way down the dune, the board sliding to a halt next to him. Atem slid to a very graceful stop before grinning in Joey's direction. Pushing himself off the sand Joey looked up at Atem.

"How? How did you do that?" He spluttered.

Atem merely shrugged, "Practice. I spent a lot of my youth doing that with Mana and Mahad except we made boards from payrus and bits of wood so they were slightly more sturdy then this which I suppose made it easier."

Joey got to his feet, he too was grinning, "Care to teach me? Then by the end of this trip we'll see who's better."

Atem, still grinning at him, nodded before they began the journey back up the dune. Yugi with a wide grin watched his friends make the way up the hill. This, this is what summer was all about.