Disclaimer:

RN: Since I'm on parole, I've decided to lay off the fun disclaimers for a while, just until the police are off my back. Thanks to Ishizu for being kind enough to do a proper disclaimer.

Ishizu Ishtar: With my Millennium Eye, I have divined that it is completely impossible for Robin Nightingale to own Yu-Gi-Oh!, for she never created it and I have forseen that in the future she will never hold the desire to gain copyrights.

Chapter 15: To Find Peace

Step. Step. Step.

He was aware of the sounds before anything else. The echo of his boots clacking against the cold, stone hallways.

Step. Step. Step.

If I'm hearing a stone hallway, the Pharaoh reasoned, then I must be in my soul room.

And so he was. The rest of his senses faded in soon afterwards, and he found himself walking casually down a familiar, dimly-lit corridor.

Strange, I don't remember entering my soul room. I could swear I was just outside…

Yet he knew perfectly well he had been down here for at least forty-five minutes.

Step. Step. Step.

There was no purpose, no direction, to his pace. It was simply an aimless, marginally hopeful stroll. True, there was an ultimate goal: Find his true soul room. And in a way, he was continuing his duty. But after years of the same results, it seemed now just an excuse, and if the Pharaoh were completely honest with himself, he would have admitted he was merely poking around.

He came to a crossroads, one that continued ahead or opened to either side. Just by some random decision, or perhaps by some predestined memory path, the Pharaoh turned sharply to the left without slowing down, and resumed his pace.

Step. Step. Step.

It was odd, come to think of it, that he could actually hear his footsteps. The Pharaoh couldn't remember ever hearing them before. How could he, with the never-ending echoes of the Puzzle muffling them?

The Pharaoh paused, his boots making two final steps before coming to a rest besides each other. He looked up the walls, then to the ceiling, which ended not too far ahead of him, though the side walls stretched onwards into darkness. He frowned.

Where were the echoes?

His eyes wandered slowly around the corridor, as if searching for them. Then, as if he hadn't stopped at all, he continued his previous pace, his eyes falling to the floor before him once again.

He could try opening some of the doors…Maybe the echoes were hiding somewhere, he mused as he passed by a staircase that ended seemingly at the ceiling.

He observed it curiously as he went by. It was an ordinary staircase, yet he would never be able to reach the final step. There was a wistfulness roused by that realization, like a mystery that would never be able to be solved.

The corridor opened up to a much larger space, where several staircases began and many doors opened to.

He stopped directly in the center, and looked up. There was no true ceiling, only winding and criss-crossing staircases that got smaller and smaller in the distance until they disappeared. He circled slowly in the same spot several times, his piercing gaze never missing a detail, until he had found every possible route he could go.

There were 16 doors.

23 staircases.

9 corridors.

And no windows.

The Pharaoh gave a short, irritated sigh.

"I wish to leave," he stated aloud.

To his further frustration, there was no response of any sort. No doors opened, none of the staircases led to anywhere in particular, and not a single corridor revealed what lay beyond.

If the Puzzle will not help me, then I will do it myself, the Pharaoh resolved angrily. Now not caring where it led, he strode rapidly to a door at random and wrenched it open.

Pat. Pat. Pat. Pat. Pat.

He was outside; his boots made nearly no sound in the grass. He kept going forwards, glad to be outside, out in the fresher air, and away from the stifling—.

He slowed, puzzled, and turned to look behind him. Nothing but more grass and trees. Insects hopped and fluttered from grass stem to grass stem. He looked back to where he was going, which was practically the same image, except there was a gap in the trees.

…Why had he turned around?

He thought hard for a few seconds, trying to remember, then shrugged when nothing came to mind.

Something must have caught my attention for a moment, he thought. A sound, perhaps…

He had been going forward; he knew that much. He continued onwards, heading for the gap in the trees, though why he was going there he wasn't quite sure. Which was odd, because it was where he was supposed to be going…

He slowed to a stop again with a resigned sigh, then turned to look once more behind him. Still nothing was there. It didn't really matter, but he couldn't let it go. Maybe…maybe someone had said something, or something had called him—.

"Pharaoh!"

He jumped, startled, when a hand grabbed his arm, and twisted around to see Yugi smiling brightly at him. The Pharaoh stared at him, confused.

"Yugi?"

Yugi giggled. "What are you doing?" he asked, as if he had caught Pharaoh doing something strange.

"I…I was just…" The Pharaoh pointed vaguely in the direction he had been staring, but couldn't quite figure out how to finish the sentence.

Yugi looked at him expectantly for a few seconds, a bemused smile still on his face, then tugged enthusiastically on the Pharaoh's arm. "Come on, everyone's waiting," he said cheerfully, and bounded away towards the gap in the trees.

The Pharaoh watched him go, torn between following his partner and his need to remember what he had been looking at. He took one last beseeching glance at the spot before Yugi called out, "Come on! What are you waiting for?" At last he turned away and ran after Yugi, who was already at the edge of the forest.

"Aibou, wait!" the Pharaoh called, suddenly afraid of losing him. Yugi merely giggled again, and without wait for the Pharaoh to catch up, turned around and disappeared into the woods.

"Aibou!" The Pharaoh passed the forest line only moments later, yet when he searched the trees, Yugi was nowhere to be found.

He spent several minutes running back and forth, searching the undergrowth for some sign of his partner, calling out his name over and over. Each time he somehow managed to find his way back to the gap in the trees. For some reason, he didn't want to stray too far from it; the thought of doing so inexplicitly frightened him. Yet he had to find Yugi…

He returned to the gap in the trees for what felt like the tenth time. All of a sudden, he noticed something on the ground that hadn't been there before. It glinted in the sunlight, so at first the Pharaoh couldn't see what it was properly. As he got closer, the glare faded, and he could see that it was a Duel Disk, inactivated and without a Deck.

Slowly he bent to pick it up, a sense of foreboding accompanying his movement. As his fingers touched the cool plastic and metal, a rush of familiarity trickled up his arms and through his body. He knew immediately that this was Yugi's. The foreboding feeling grew stronger. Had something happened to his partner?

"Aibou!" the Pharaoh called out again, not realizing that he was already sliding the Duel Disk on his arm. He began to travel down the gap in the trees. Somehow, a part of him trusted Yugi had most likely gone this way.

The gap was widening…or maybe it was always wide. Before, he could have sworn there were stumps and boulders cluttering up the path, but only the path remained now. The trees were huge, he suddenly noticed. They towered over him, slender but unmoving, even in a breeze. Their branches didn't start until well over a hundred feet over the Pharaoh's head, and the leaves formed a thick filter for sunlight; indeed, the only well-lit part of the forest was the path the Pharaoh traveled on, while everywhere else was shadowed and hidden.

The longer he walked, the calmer he felt. The shadows in the trees seemed to thicken and grow even more menacing, but he found it easier more and more to ignore them and focus solely on what was directly ahead of him.

Almost as if angered by their inability to make the Pharaoh falter, the shadows writhed angrily, and out of the corner of his eye, a portion of it pulsed. It seemed limited to the trees, but the shadows were certainly putting up a fight. It pressed and rammed against the barrier, each time stretching a little bit farther. Finally, a blob of darkness forced its way into the light, and as it did so, a roaring rush of wind suddenly howled through the clearing.

The Pharaoh froze in horror and brought up his arms to shield his face as dead leaves and sticks whipped around him. A high-pitched screeching could now be heard over the gale, and as the Pharaoh looked on, the blob of darkness began to melt into a monstrous form. A female humanoid being with gigantic clawed feet, and a pair of enormous blue wings that flapped noisily to keep it aloft. Each time its wings swept forward a fresh blast of air hit the Pharaoh so that he had to keep his face shielded and couldn't get more than a second's look at the monster. The Pharaoh could only glimpse sharp teeth and pointed ears, as well as a pair of fierce green eyes behind the creature's long, pink hair.

"Harpie Lady!" the Pharaoh gasped.

He had to defend himself…He automatically activated his Duel Disk, but the action was pointless; he had no Deck. What could he possibly do? There was no way he could run; he was sure that if he took even one step, the maelstrom of debris would shred him to pieces.

There was no time to think; with a terrible, triumphant cry, Harpie Lady raised one clawed wing and brought herself down upon him, mouth twisted in hungry anticipation.

"NO!"

His mind was fogged, but his reflexes weren't. Without thinking he drew a card and placed it in attack mode.

Wait…How did I…?

It shouldn't have been possible, but a monster was materializing before him, its back turned to him against the Harpie Lady. A dark, slender figure with its arms crossed and a long staff held before it.

The Pharaoh narrowed his eyes at the card cast before him. He recognized it immediately, and let out an amazed laugh at his stroke of luck.

"Dark Magician!"

At the sorcerer's appearance, Harpie Lady drew back with a shriek of fury. It hovered a safe distance, still beating its wings to keep up the maelstrom. It curled its lips and snarled in defiance.

The Pharaoh straightened, no longer afraid of the tempest still circling him. His arms fell in a confident stance to his sides, and he thrust out a commanding hand.

"Dark Magician! Dispel these winds and destroy the foul being!"

The Sorcerer of Black Magic twirled his staff before him, and let out a battle cry. He struck at the Harpie Lady, which screamed and tried to fly away.

"DARK MAGIC ATTACK!"

The scream was cut off as Harpie Lady exploded in a shower of tiny, writhing shadows. Unable to compete with the light, they each shriveled away to nothing.

The Dark Magician turned to face the Pharaoh wearing a smirk of triumph that mirrored the Pharaoh's own. Its duty done, it began to disappear in a whirl of dust.

It might have been the light and shadows, but for a moment, the Dark Magician's skin looked darker, his hair appeared brown instead of blue, and his eyes softened into a deep purple. And for a brief instant, the Pharaoh was gripped with a breathtaking sense of kinship, and a longing more ancient than he could bear.

But though the Pharaoh tried desperately to make sense of this, the feeling began to fade as the Dark Magician faded, and when he was gone, the feeling might as well have never existed.

The Pharaoh blinked, and looked around. The trees had gone back to normal. The light in the gap wasn't as bright. And when the Pharaoh checked his Duel Disk, the Deck had vanished.

He put a hand to his chest. Why do I feel so…depressed? And yet I'm breathing like I just ran a mile…

"Nice work, dude!"

The Pharaoh whirled around at the voice. "Joey!" he exclaimed.

The blond teen grinned confidently as he walked towards the Pharaoh. When he was a few feet away he stopped, and raised a hefty thumbs-up. "That was some quick thinkin', man. Tore up that bird-bitch like rice paper!"

"What do you mean?" The Pharaoh shook his head. "Never mind that. Have you seen Yugi?"

"Yugi?" Joey had one finger in his ear, which he twisted back and forth. "Can't say that I have. Why d'you ask?"

"I saw him earlier, and he asked me to follow him. But when I entered these woods, he disappeared. I found this—" he held up the Duel Disk, "—off the side of the path. It's his, I'm sure of it. I'm worried something may have happened to him."

"Is that so?" Joey removed the finger from his ear, studied it, then blew the wax from it. It was a maddeningly indifferent move. "Sorry, can't help ya. But don' worry so much about it. M'man Yug's a strong kid, I'm sure he's fine."

"Joey, you don't understand!" Needless to say, the Pharaoh was shocked, to the point of furious, with Joey's behavior. "I sense that he is in trouble! I can't explain it, but I don't think we have much time!"

Cucumbers were boiling compared to Joey at that moment. With a sigh, he activated his Duel Disk and gave a disgruntled look at the Pharaoh. "So, where d'you suggest we start?" he asked dryly.

The Pharaoh turned and pointed down the path. "Yugi was leading me down this path when we met. I have a feeling he's at the end of it. If we hurry we might—."

He turned back to Joey, only to discover the blond had disappeared.

"Joey?" The Pharaoh twisted this way and that, with no results. "Joey!"

Now properly confused, the Pharaoh turned on the spot. He ran from either side of the path as far as he dared, searching frantically, but there was no sign of his friend.

"JOEY!"

He returned to path, his thoughts hopelessly chaotic. Where had he gone? Had he been taken? If so, did this same thing take Yugi as well? What was going on?

WHERE WERE THEY?

His fist lashed out and struck a tree, so hard it shook and leaves began to tumble down, falling for five minutes before they even reached the ground. He hardly noticed them, or the pain that had jolted up his arm. In fact, there was no pain. If the Pharaoh hadn't been so worried, it would have registered as something strange happening within this already-odd sequence of events.

His eyes suddenly caught something, a shape that broke the pattern in the dead leaves. He knelt and brushed away the debris before picking up the object. It was Joey's pendant, the card-shaped locket that held photos of himself and Serenity.

His fist closed over it and he stood, refreshed determination burning through his limbs. He would find them. He just had to focus.

He could think of no safer place for the pendant than around his own neck. As he slipped the cord over his head, he noticed for the first time the Puzzle was gone.

Oddly enough, he was perfectly fine with that.

The Pharaoh broke into a run, heading down the path he had been going from the beginning. He sprinted as fast as he could, not bothering to be careful or pace himself. Only the need to see his partner, to assure himself that Yugi and Joey were all right, drove him onward.

He had been running for what felt like five minutes when he finally paid attention to something that had been happening out of the corner of his eye. He dared to turn his head and look, just for a moment.

When he saw what was next to him, he felt as if he had stopped dead in his tracks. Yet he could tell he was still running, without even a hint of slowing down. Or perhaps that was simply the effect of the trees. The forest was blurring, speeding by him so fast it was as if he was staring at a painted background on a track that was just being rolled again and again. The colors were blending together, making one dark blur with flashes of light every now and then. There was a rushing sound, growing louder and louder the longer he ran…

No, he wasn't running anymore. He was certain of it, because he looked down at his legs and they were perfectly still. But he was still moving; more than that, he was speeding up. But this was impossible! How could he…?

The rushing noise was now so loud it was swallowing up his thoughts. He clutched his hands to the sides of his head, trying to block out the incessant pounding, to no avail. The forest was moving so fast now it didn't even look like a forest anymore…

No, it wasn't a forest anymore. It was water, running water, all of it, a vast, dark expanse of rushing liquid. The Pharaoh rushed to the side of the boat in astonishment, before realizing he was on a boat and no longer running along a path.

Huge cliffs had replaced the trees, and the Pharaoh was the sole occupant of a wooden longboat speeding down the rapids. It seemed preposterous that such a boat was managing to stay in one piece in such waters; on either end the wooden tops curved straight up and elongated several feet, and the entire thing was so shallow with rounded edges on the sides the Pharaoh wondered how he had managed to remain in the boat without being pitched over the side for a lack of anything to hold on to. It was a marvel neither mast had snapped in half yet, and that the boat had hardly taken in any water.

Now that he noticed it, however, it was actually a relatively smooth ride despite how fast he was going, with hardly a bump or crash over the waves. The rushing sound was now all that the Pharaoh could ever hear. He was quite sure that if he shouted at the top of his lungs, he wouldn't be able to hear himself. Where was it coming from?

His answer came to him in the form of a dive.

The boat was pitched without warning over the massive waterfall he had been approaching for some time. The Pharaoh shouted in alarm, scrambled for the mast, did anything except jump out of the boat, but could do nothing to prevent himself from going over. To his horror, there was nothing to greet him, quite literally. The waterfall poured into a gaping black chasm with no edges and no end in sight.

In the moment the boat went over the edge, the Pharaoh had unwisely moved to the back end. Now, as the boat tilted, he was launched violently out of the boat and into nothing but air. For a single second he floated and came to a complete stop, arms and legs flailing, and then he was falling faster than he thought possible into the darkness. His scream echoed and was magnified a hundred times, so that he heard it again and again all around him, booming against his eardrums even though there should have been nothing for the sound to bounce against.

It was impossible for everything to go black, for he was drowning in blackness. But in unconsciousness his senses went dark, and so a fall that would have taken centuries in truth lasted only a few seconds.

When he came to, he had already landed. The rushing noise was still going on, though not as loud. He opened his eyes to find himself lying—no, he was standing. He was upright, on his feet, steady, and more to his amazement, there wasn't a mark on him. Somehow, he had survived a billion-mile drop and walked away without a scratch.

Moreover, he was in a mall. No mistaking it, he was in the middle of Domino City Mall, just in front of the arcade. The rushing noise, previously the sound of the waterfall, was in fact the chorus of hundreds of people passing back and forth behind and in front of him, their voices mingling into one huge echo.

"There you are!"

The Pharaoh snapped back to what was directly in front of him. His eyes widened. "Aibou!"

He rushed forward to greet his partner, who was emerging from the crowds before him. Yugi was grinning at him, amused. "What took you so long?" he asked.

"I..." The Pharaoh couldn't answer, simply because there was no answer to give. There was, naturally, no reason for him to be late.

"Sorry. Did I miss anything?"

"No, you're just in time." Yugi took him by the hand and led him through the arcade. The stations were filled to the brim with people, and the walkways even more so. At one point, Yugi's hand slipped from his grasp, just a little, and the Pharaoh anxiously tightened his hold. The crowds seemed to be getting thicker, so that the Pharaoh was squeezing his way between people left and right. The only sign left that Yugi was still there was the small, pale hand he clasped like a lifeline. Glittering lights, squeaks, clinks, explosions, bright colors, laughter, yells, cigarette smoke, candy, popcorn, chocolate, his senses were on fire. And it was only getting worse; the further Yugi dragged him, the tighter the crowd got, the louder the sounds became, the brighter the lights, the more suffocating the smells. He was surely going to drown in all of this, and Yugi would leave him behind, once again...

Then just like that, they broke through. And instantly all his senses but his eyes shut off, and before him were his friends.

All of them, and just them. Yugi. Joey. Téa. Tristan. Otogi. Serenity. Mai. Ryou. Rebecca. Kaiba. Mokuba. Solomon. Ishizu. Marik. Everyone who had ever supported him, had ever made an impact on his life, everyone who had earned their way into a certain place within his memories...They all sat around a gigantic circular table, and as soon as he arrived, they welcomed him with cheers, greetings, smiles, and even the smallest nod from Seto.

The Pharaoh stopped just a few feet away and released his grip on Yugi, who went onward to take his place next to Joey. He looked back and beckoned cheerfully. "Come on! We've been waiting for you!"

For the first time, a feeling of contentment arose. The Pharaoh stepped forward, happy to be with them all. He could spend the rest of eternity in this place, in this time, in this moment, if only he were always surrounded by these people.

But just before he reached them, a warm, firm voice stopped him.

"No, my son."

With the greatest amount of regret he had ever faced, the Pharaoh halted. He sighed knowingly, and tilted his head just a little towards the voice.

"But I must," he answered. "Or else I'll never be at peace."

"It is not your duty to be at peace," his father replied. "It is his."

The Pharaoh looked back one more time at his friends. They had frozen, though the sounds continued without them. Laughter and conversation came from motionless mouths, and the sounds of dining and drinking took place without a single fork being lifted. A single image, still waiting for him to come and break it.

The Pharaoh lowered his arm, which had been outstretched towards the peaceful scene. Without looking at the shapeless figure behind him, he asked, "What must I do?"

"First, you must wake up, son."

"What?"

Everything around him melted away in an instant, and the Pharaoh awoke to someone gently shaking him. "Wake up, son, wake up. Come on, now, you've slept nearly the whole day away again!"

The Pharaoh cracked his eyelids open, then bolted upright. Grandpa jumped back from him, startled at the sudden action. "Whoa, there, son, no need to be that hasty about it!"

The Pharaoh blinked, confused. He was in his bed, in his room, and no one but Grandpa was standing next to him, amused but also shaken.

"I don't understand...How did I get here?" the Pharaoh asked. This was wrong, completely wrong. Or at the very least impossible.

"As I recall, Yugi helped you up the stairs and into bed," Grandpa informed him. "I don't blame you for not remembering much, you were pretty exhausted..."

"No, I mean how did I get here? I was in the arcade just a second ago. Where's everyone else? Where's Yugi?"

"At school, laddie! First day, remember?"

"First d...No, he can't be!" The Pharaoh shifted so that he was properly facing his grandfather. "Just before you shook me, I was in this trance, I'm not sure what it was. I was in the arcade at the mall, and everybody was there, including Yugi. I just saw him, I know I did!"

Grandpa nodded wholeheartedly. "Certainly you were in a trance! It took me ten whole minutes to get you out of it!"

"I was?" Now it made more sense. Perhaps someone had placed him under a spell when he had gone to bed last night and made him see those visions..."Someone must have done this to me. Grandpa, I believe we may be in danger."

Grandpa stared at him, his face utterly blank, and at last it seemed the Pharaoh had gotten through to him.

But to his dismay, a second later Grandpa let out a hearty laugh, one that lasted several seconds. "Pharaoh, you can relax. You've stopped dreaming now; nobody's in danger. I don't know what sort of dream you were having, but nobody's hypnotized you into any trances while you've been here."

"Dreaming?" The Pharaoh stared at him, utterly at loss for words. I was...dreaming? That was a dream?

He sat back. So that's dreaming...? He knew he'd get around to it at one point or another, but he'd never imagined it would be like that...It had certainly been the most bizarre experience he had ever faced. In the trance (the dream, he corrected himself, though it still felt strange to admit to it) everything, including the strangest occurrences, had felt right. Now, however, as he reflected on what little he could recall, the sequences of the dream hardly made any sense at all. What's more, he felt there was a great deal of the dream that was missing. If he wasn't mistaken, all he could remember was the most recent portion.

That's a familiar feeling, he remarked to himself as he slumped over, massaging his temples with both hands. Grandpa patted him on the shoulder. "I don't blame you for being so disorientated. You were very deep asleep, it looked like quite a dream!"

"Yes, it was very...vivid," the Pharaoh mumbled in response.

The door downstairs opened and closed noisily. "I'm home!" Yugi's voice floated into his room.

"Ah, Yugi! Welcome back!" Grandpa went out to the hallway. "Come on up here! I think your brother could use your assistance."

"Why? Did something happen?" His partner's voice took on a sharper tone, and his footsteps grew more rapid up the staircase.

"Oh, don't worry, nothing serious. The Phara—s'cuse me, Isashi, had a dream last night," Grandpa told him, just as Yugi entered the room.

At that, his partner's expression grew excited. "A dream? Really?" Yugi set his bag on his desk and drew up the desk chair besides the Pharaoh's bed. "What was it like? Was that your first one? It must have been, I can't remember you every saying you dreamed before. How was it?"

"Slow down, Yugi, please," the Pharaoh sighed, still rubbing his head. He pinched the bridge of his nose and scrunched up his face, trying to recall the images. "Already my memory of it is fading. It's strange, I can feel it slipping away the more I wake up..."

"Oh, yeah, I hate it when that happens," Yugi agreed, chuckling.

The Pharaoh huffed through his nose. "I was in the arcade at Domino Mall," he said slowly, testing the words before he said them. "I walked in—no, you led me in, because...you had something to show me? That doesn't sound right..." He raked his fingers through his hair, face screwed up in thought. "I think...you were telling me that...you were waiting for me. You were all waiting for me, though I can't think why..." His hand tightened against his scalp, and he sighed in frustration. "Why cannot I remember?"

"Pharaoh, that's fine!" Yugi said quickly, putting one hand on his twin's shoulder and grasping the Pharaoh's wrist gently with the other, lowering it from his head. "Most people can't remember their dreams when they wake up, or only bits and pieces. It's irritating, but you just get used to it happening."

"Really?"

"Yeah." Yugi leaned back, putting his hands in his lap. "In any case, you dreamed! That's something to celebrate. We should have sukiyaki tonight!"

The Pharaoh gave a weary chuckle. "Aibou, there's no need to throw a celebration for every new experience. Besides, if all dreaming is like that, I don't know if I should repeat the experience. That was...exhausting, all on its own."

"Oh, don't worry, it's different every time. And now that you know what it's like, you won't be so surprised next time."

"Yes...perhaps..." The Pharaoh yawned, then stretched. "Did you have a good day at school?"

"Yeah, although the first days are always the hardest since I've got to adjust back to the school schedule," Yugi replied morosely. "The teachers even assigned me homework! I've got two assignments due tomorrow and another worksheet due the day after. It's unfair."

The Pharaoh smirked amusedly. "I'm sure it's not so bad. Though if you want, I can play a game with you in between assignments as a break."

"You will?" Yugi's face lit up.

"Of course."

"Awesome! I'm going to get started then." He was already rising and going for his backpack. He pulled out a notebook and a pencil, sat down at his desk, and began to write.

For his part, the PHaraoh waited until he was properly awake before deciding to stand. He walked slowly over to the game case where they kept their Duel Monsters cards, took out their Deck, then walked slowly back to the bed. All in all, it took about five minutes; a new record.

"You're getting stronger."

"Huh?"

Yugi looked at the Pharaoh with a pleased expression. "It's getting easier for you to move around, isn't it?"

One corner of the Pharaoh's mouth turned up. "Faster than I expected," he replied. "Soon I'll be able to Duel properly."

This struck Yugi with some amusement, for the shorter brother turned away to hide a grin. It was a quick and guilty move, one the Pharaoh caught all too easily.

"What's so funny?"

"Oh, nothing."

The Pharaoh scowled. "No, it's clearly something about me. What is it?"

Yugi turned back and gave the Pharaoh a mischievous grin. "Grandpa's not going to let you do nothing but Duel, you know," he said slyly.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, now that I'm at school, I won't be around as much to help out with the shop. Which means Grandpa's going to need a new assistant."

"Is that all?" The Pharaoh scoffed and returned to his Deck. "I'll gladly help Grandpa with whatever he needs. It's the least I can do to thank him."

"It's a good thing you're so eager. I can guarantee, as soon as Grandpa hears you're all better, he'll put you to work."

"Very well." The Pharaoh began shuffling through the deck and laying cards out on the bed. The only sounds were the quiet slap of cards on cloth and the scratching of Yugi's pencil.

After a minute, the Pharaoh turned to Yugi and asked hesitantly,

"What sort of work?"

RN: Loki has made a pact with me that if I can get up to 100 reviews, he'll turn me back into a human! I don't want to be a lizard forever, so please help me by sending in the reviews!

As promised, the answer to Chapter 13's challenge: Yu-Gi-Oh, meaning Game King, or King of Games! To most of you, it probably wasn't a challenge, but thanks for participating nevertheless! Those of you who got the answer right, if you haven't already, please send me your requests for a character and, if you want, a piece of dialogue or action you want that character to do for a disclaimer.