Chapter 1

It is said that time will wait for no man, perhaps that is true. Time is ever moving and no matter how hard anyone tries to slow it down it will eventually catch up. Even those who have appeared to cheat time must accept that it will get them in the end. But exactly when time will catch us no one knows, no one can know when exactly time will end. But then that is when people would say that life should be lived as though that day is the last day spent on this Earth. Days come, days go. Months come and months go with everyone enjoying the precious time they have. Time moves on and yet friends continue to make memories, memories that will stay with them for as long as time allows. Time moving on means the seasons move on with it. Autumn becomes winter, winter becomes spring and spring becomes summer. The summertime brings out the sun's warmth and bright, long days. For many summertime is the best time, others maybe not so much. The warmth of an mid-summer touched everything not obscured by a building or tree or even, although brief, a moving car. The Domino High Building stood tall, casting a great shadow on the ground as it blocked the sun's warmth. Around the building stood various members of the student body, some stood in patches of sun lights whereas others kept to the shade. The main doors to the school were shut, a feeble attempt to keep the heat out. But with a bang the doors burst open, a student stood tall with a grin on his face. He cast his eyes around before raising his hands to the skies above. At the bottom of the steps by these main doors three other students turned to look at the student, eying him suspiciously. At the door the student opened his mouth but was interrupted.

"If you're about to burst into song then I'm out of here Joey."

Joey Wheeler's mouth dropped open as he looked down at his friends.

"And why would you think I'd do that?" He asked, lowering his arms.

"Well, you look like one of those princesses in those films about to sing about life." Tristan said, a mischievous grin on his face.

Joey descended the stairs, whacking Tristan on the shoulder when he drew level.

"No I didn't. I was about to declare that I love the summer." He said, scowling, "After all, we've only got what a week now until the school year is over."

Tristan scoffed, "Oh yeah that's just what you want us to believe."

For a moment Joey considered making some comment back but instead he glared at Tristan before hurrying away. The others laughed before hurrying to catch up with him. The group of friends walked out of the gates to the school and along the main road, around them many students were doing the same. Some of the students called out greetings to the smallest member of the friends whose spikey multi-coloured hair stood out like a beckon. Yugi smiled and waved at the students as they past. He took in the many students around him who suddenly seemed a lot younger than himself. The reality was they actually weren't that much younger but Yugi would be heading into his final year of education come the autumn which was quite daunting. They would be the oldest students in the school, the ones that everyone looked up to and after that they'd be adults. Out in the big, bad world. The responsibilities of being a school student over and the responsibilities of an adult taking its place. All that might be a year away still but that didn't make it any less of a worry. Shaking himself Yugi pushed those thoughts out of his mind, he wasn't going to worry about that not yet. They had a whole summer to enjoy first.

They continued on their journey into town, stopping at their favourite ice cream parlour for a cheeky treat before splitting off in the directions of their various homes. Yugi wondered towards the Kame Game Shop which was just about visible ahead of him, his thoughts on the upcoming school break. He couldn't wait to unplug his alarm clock and shove it in a cupboard for good measure. He was not one for an early morning and the early school mornings were always the worst. But there was only a matter of days to go before that was over then he'd be able to sleep the day away. Ahead of him the Game Shop was coming closer, the first thing he noticed was his grandfather's absence. This was unusual, his grandfather could almost always be found sweeping outside the shop at this time. Frowning Yugi quickened his pace. He expected to find his grandfather inside the shop, perhaps dealing with a customer but he found the shop empty.

"Grandpa?" Yugi called, glancing round the shop before moving to the stairs.

He looked over his shoulder once again as he moved up the stairs slowly, surely Grandpa had to be here somewhere.

"Gramps? Are you here?"

Yugi bit his lip slightly, had something happened whilst he'd been at school. But then again why would it? What could have possibly happened during the hours he'd been at school? Reaching the top of the stairs Yugi looked around the living room. He immediately noticed the coffee table which was covered in many heavy books, some open and some not. On the floor around the table were sheets of paper but from this distance Yugi couldn't be sure what was written on them.

"Grandpa?" He called again.

"Up here Yugi!" A voice finally responded.

Letting out a sigh of relief, Yugi moved to the bottom of the next set of stairs pulling his school bag and jacket off as he did. As he did his Grandfather descended the stairs carrying a box which was full of even more books.

"What's with all the books Gramps?" Yugi asked, as Grandpa set this box next to the coffee table.

"Just a bit of light reading."

Raising an eyebrow Yugi moved back to the coffee table and picked up a rather heavy book.

"This is light reading?"

"Oh, hush you." Grandpa said, grabbing the book from his grandson, "I received an invitation from a friend of mine a few days ago to accompany him on an archaeological dig in Egypt and I wanted to refresh my memory before I went."

"You never told me about that." Yugi said, settling himself into the armchair.

"Well, I hadn't decided whether I would go or not but I've now decided to go. It's been a while since I've been on one."

Grandpa had always loved the digs he'd been on and even though he was not as young as he'd once been he was not one to let that stop him. Yugi thought about commenting on the fact that perhaps his grandfather was getting too old for these adventures, but he valued his life too much to make such a comment. Besides why would he stop his grandfather from doing something he enjoyed. As Grandpa turned the pages of the book he was holding Yugi glanced around the room looking for the other member of the household.

"Hey Gramps, where's Atem?"

"Oh, I sent him out to pick up a few parcels for this trip." Grandpa replied, he looked up at the clock, "Although that was nearly an hour ago, I wonder where he's got too?"

Yugi looked up at the clock as well, not that he really needed too. A wave of concern coursing through him but he pushed it away, this wasn't like last year. After that tournament Yugi and Grandpa had insisted Atem got a phone so they could contact him, something the once King had objected too. But when Grandpa had gone out to the shop and bought one for him the argument was lost. That was not to say Atem had taken a liking to it, despite using Yugi's phone from time to time having his own was obviously something he really did not like. Yugi often caught glimpses of him glaring at it whilst using it. Something which he and his friends thought was highly amusing. Pulling out his phone Yugi dialled Atem's number before putting the phone to his ear. But as soon as he did there was a vibrating sound from somewhere nearby which attracted both of their attentions. Grandpa walked round the sofa, locating the source of the noise on a nearby bookshelf.

"Oh, he really is a menace when it comes to this." He said, holding up the phone so his grandson could see.

Yugi laughed, replacing his phone in his pocket. Grandpa rolled his eyes, replacing the phone where he'd found it and moved back to the stack of books on the coffee table. The pair fell silent for a while as Grandpa flicked through the pages of his book and Yugi went through his school bag. They were not quite sure how much time past before they heard the door to the shop open and the sounds of someone coming up the stairs. From the muffled banging sounds, it appeared whoever it was was carrying a fair number of bags. Yugi got to his feet and moved to the top of the stairs to help the former Pharaoh. Atem was certainly carrying a fair amount and some of the packages were rather large. Taking some of the packages from the once King they set them down by the other set of stairs.

"You've been gone awhile." Grandpa remarked, moving to inspect the various packages.

"I encountered a slight issue one the way back." Atem replied, sitting in a nearby chair.

Grandpa had picked up one of the packages and began opening the wrapping. "What was that?"

"Well, there was many of them and one of me."

Grandpa smiled, "I did order rather a lot, perhaps I didn't need this much."

Yugi had to stop himself from laughing as he caught a glimpse of Atem's unimpressed expression.

"You know you could have called if you needed help." Grandpa continued, "I would have come to help you if I knew you were struggling."

At this the former Pharaoh looked away, trying to hide his face from them. There was silence before Grandpa turned to look at him, a smirk on his face.

"Did you forget it?"

"Maybe." Atem replied, quietly, "But I've managed so far in this modern world without one so I see no need to change that now."

Grandpa laughed and shook his head, turning back to the packages and, with Yugi's help, began to open each one in turn. This turned out to be a task which took them some time but eventually each of the packages were opened and sorted ready for Grandpa to use.

As evening fell the three occupants of the Game shop were sat in the living room each engrossed in an activity. Grandpa and Atem were both reading one of the many books which were still spread all over the coffee table, whereas Yugi was engrossed in his phone. He was making summer plans with his friends over their group chat, plans which he wanted the once King to get involved with but Atem was ignoring the buzzing sound coming from next to him. There was no way he wasn't aware of the noise, the phone was balanced on the arm of the chair he was sitting in and the screen lit up every time a message came through. This was every few seconds at the moment as Joey and Tristan were currently engaged in their normal evening disagreement. Beside Yugi, Grandpa lowered the book he was holding.

"You know, I think you might find this dig rather interesting Atem." He said, looking up at the former Pharoah.

Atem looked up with a questioning look on his face.

"Well, from what my friend has sent it seems as though they might have found ruins of ancient shrines to the Gods and he thinks they date back to your time."

"How can he be sure they're from my time?" The former Pharaoh asked, "From my understanding the Kingdom moved locations a few generations after me."

"Ah yes but this is the thing, we're starting the dig where we think your kingdom may have been. We can't be sure where exactly your kingdom was but we're going to let the ruins tell us that."

Atem nodded thoughtfully for a moment before responding,

"I'm not sure I could tell you exactly where my kingdom was now. After all these years I imagine Egypt has changed."

"That's not a problem. Part of the fun of these digs is the discovery. My friend is quite excited about this and I will say I'm rather excited too."

Yugi, who'd been only partially listening, suddenly looked up and turned his gaze to his grandfather.

"This friend, this isn't the same friend who took you to India a couple of years ago."

Grandpa laughed, "You mean Alex? No no it's not him, it's my dear old friend Dr Marcus Roberts, I met him so many years ago. He's a good friend of mine and we've both been fascinated by Ancient Egypt all our lives."

"Well, just promise me that this trip won't end up with us having to come after you and play some ancient game."

"I can't promise that, but I did wonder whether you and your friends would come and join us when school has ended."

"Really?" Yugi asked, sitting up slightly, "I mean I can't answer for the others but it sounds interesting."

He exchanged a look with Atem who nodded his agreement.

"Well, I'll leave you to ask your friends but they would be more then welcome if they wanted to come." Grandpa smiled, he turned his gaze to the once King, "If you want Atem you could come with me when I go at the weekend."

Atem seemed slightly taken aback by the offer but after a quick glance at Yugi he nodded his agreement.

"Excellent, well that settles it." Grandpa said, brightly.

Grandpa clapped his hands together before diving back into the books, throwing books in both Yugi and Atem's direction. He wanted them to know as much as they could before they went. Yugi had put the idea to his friends who all seemed quite interested so it was certainly looking as though the summer adventures were about to begin.

My dear friends, I am back once again. Seems once I rekindled my interest with Yu-Gi-Oh I simply could not stop myself from thinking of stories. I may be approaching my thirties but well who is to say I have to grow up, but also if this is something I find fun then I shall do it and share it with you all and I do hope you enjoy this! This has been in the works since the beginning of the year and I am anxious yet excited to share this story with you. It is the longest story I have written so I shall be uploading twice a week! My friends, please enjoy!