Disclaimer:

Yugi: *blinks* Hmm, another fanfic...I wonder what's in store for us this time...

Joey: Well, I hope nuttin' weird happens. De last time I was here...

Yugi: They don't need to know that, Joey.

Joey: Whateves. Dis broad don't own nuttin' from Yugioh, just de plot o' dis story.

Prologue: The Nasty Trend

Walking home after school had always been the worst time of his day.

Being prey to oppression often in the past, Yugi was sadly no stranger to peer pressure or bullying. He had experienced more than his fair share of violence, usually on him, and a world of suppression on his self-esteem. His unwillingness to fight back was perhaps his only saving grace…or his curse. And it happened most frequently at that time of day when he would be walking home after school.

One glorious day, he met the three greatest people he had ever known, and his guardian angel. Becoming close friends with Joey, Tristan and Tea was perhaps the best thing that could have happened in his life. It had led to his meeting with the Pharaoh, the three-thousand year old quest to aid the spirit, and the exciting, arduous adventures that accompanied it. It had gained him invaluable companionship, and began to coax out from within him a strength he never dreamed he could have.

But even with this strength, it seemed he had not escaped the habit of being ambushed.

It was on one such unfortunate afternoon that Yugi was walking home by himself. Normally, he would have gone with his friends to a certain junction point, where they were all relatively the same short distance from their own homes, and would go their separate ways. But today Tea had a part-time job, Joey had been away on a trip with his sister, and Tristan had called in sick and was unable to attend school.

Happily, Yugi was not exactly alone. As he left the bustling streets of the city and passed into the neighborhood, he was conversing contentedly with the Pharaoh. There were times when Yugi would relinquish control over the body they shared to the Pharaoh so that the spirit could explore certain parts of the city, or to talk to their friends. But otherwise, until Yugi got home, the spirit would remain patiently dormant throughout the school day, not surfacing. This time, however, the spirit had emerged on his own, to comfort Yugi in his company until they reached home.

But as the spirit was invisible to all but the spiky-haired teen, alone was what Yugi appeared to be, and to be alone during this time of day, in a particular part of the neighborhood, was a hazardous state.

Yugi had not noticed the first student until he stepped out from around the corner suddenly, and Yugi unluckily bumped into him. Immediately the old sense of foreboding came over him, and he tried to reassert himself as he stammered out an apology. Naturally, the student was older and far, far larger than Yugi was. He was out of uniform (obviously skipping), and from the way he lazily smiled, Yugi's 'collision' was most likely pre-meditated.

The student's grin could not be described as anything other than malicious. Predictably, he was not alone, and at the student's barking command, three other thugs soon had the younger teen surrounded. Yugi did not even have enough time to quickly make his way around the group and attempt an escape.

And, predictably, the leader swiftly noticed the eye-catching, valuable glint of gold that made up the Millennium Puzzle. The leader did not have to ask for Yugi to know what he wanted.

The Pharaoh wasted no time. Without asking the permission of Yugi, he surfaced and took control. He projected his concern through their link, however, and hoped that Yugi could understand. To his relief, Yugi consented without any protest.

If he were as he was when he first awoke after his three-thousand-year long slumber, the Pharaoh would have not delayed in entrapping the minds of the young men as punishment for their harassment. But years of being connected to Yugi had calmed his bloodlust, and opened his generosity. That included, though he gritted his teeth to do so, giving even the lowest of thugs a chance.

"Please, let me pass," the Pharaoh asked politely, but firmly. "I don't want any trouble."

The four students tittered. The leader cracked his knuckles. "You got yourself landed with trouble when you greased up my shirt with your forehead, runt," he said with a wicked chuckle. "This was an expensive shirt, too. I'm gonna need a pretty hefty sum to get it cleaned."

His narrowed gaze slipped down to the Puzzle. "That shiny trinket oughtta cover it nicely, though. So if you don't want any more trouble, you can just pay that to me, and you can go on with only one broken leg."

Should've guessed as much.

None of the surrounding students carried a disk, so dueling for their freedom was out of the question. Perhaps another challenge to stall for time would suffice, then. The Pharaoh glanced around for anything that could be used to his advantage.

But these students were not interested in waiting. The Pharaoh's only warning was a rough "Pay up!" before the thug to the left landed a hard and heavy blow to the stomach. Gasping and coughing, the Pharaoh fell to one knee and doubled over.

The urge to retaliate suddenly flared up, and for a dangerous moment the image of the golden eye shone on his forehead.

No, Pharaoh. Yugi's pressing voice cut into the vengeful haze. Please. Don't do this. Just find a way to escape, and we can avoid this from getting any worse.

Anything he said further was cut off as the thug on his right landed an equally hard kick to his ribs. The Pharaoh cried out as the sharp point of the heavy boot connected, and he rolled to the side. But instead of falling, he kept rolling until he came to his feet. He was now only a couple feet from the wall, and the students were closing in on him.

A hand suddenly closed down on the chain of the pendant, and yanked hard upwards; the leader had dashed forward and tried to take the Puzzle by force.

The Pharaoh felt the chain nearly slip off his neck, and he frantically seized the Puzzle. He kicked the leader hard in the shin and twisted the chain in his grip, and the student let go with a howl of pain. Another student aimed two punches at his head, and the Pharaoh ducked and evaded both of them easily. But there were four of them, and they were attacking all at once, and while he was preoccupied with one student's fists, another brought up a leg to the Pharaoh's middle and slammed him backwards. The Pharaoh stumbled back a couple of steps and hit the wall.

The urge came back, more fiercely, and this time the eye of the Puzzle glowed momentarily as well. But Yugi's pleas were stronger still, along with a small bout of his own reason: Yugi's body was more fragile, and was usually strained to the point of exhaustion whenever the Pharaoh gave a Penalty Game. Gritting his teeth and clenching his fists, the Pharaoh suppressed the rising dark magic within him. Instead, he tried a different stunt.

When he was alive, the Pharaoh had been naturally athletic. Even stripped of his memories and his original body, the Pharaoh had come to terms with this early on. He had not the fist fighting skills of Joey or Tristan, but it had helped get him and Yugi out of a tight situation on more than one occasion. The Pharaoh now jumped, not at his attackers, but at the wall. He kicked off the brick and flew upwards, sailing over the students. He aimed another kick at the leader to make him flinch as he went over, and took the moment when the leader ducked to pass safely.

But while it was true the Pharaoh retained a natural instinct for his skills, and while his takeover normally elicited a small change in Yugi's body, namely an increase in strength and durability, the body remained inexperienced and largely lacked the physical fitness that the Pharaoh had when he lived. As a result, when the Pharaoh used the wall to pass over the students, he was not quite able to jump high enough, and when he kicked out, he caught the leader's head, tipped forward, and both of them went sprawling on the pavement.

A sharp pain jolted through the Pharaoh's right shoulder and half of his chest as he landed. He rolled a considerable distance away and lay for a second or two, stunned and gasping. Yugi's concern and fear for his well-being swathed over him, but he hurriedly assured his partner that he was fine before painfully struggling to his feet. The other students, having gone to check on their leader, hadn't noticed he was up yet. The leader was sporting a brilliantly darkening black eye from the kick, and the Pharaoh was pleased to see it was swelling rapidly. He lingered a moment too long, however, and the thug spotted him, suddenly pointing and screaming at the others to go after him.

Instantly the Pharaoh took off, and soon disappeared around the corner.

It helped that Yugi knew the quickest escape routes, having run from bullies before, and soon they had lost the group easily in the maze of identical-looking houses. Breathing painfully, the Pharaoh rested against a wall of a house block for a few minutes. Each breath was difficult to draw, and his chest felt like it was wrapped tightly in rubber bands. He had been fortunate to get away with only two major bruises, but his right shoulder felt sprained.

I think we lost them, the Pharaoh said.

Yugi appeared besides him. Why don't you go back in and rest for a bit, he suggested gently. You need it after all that.

The Pharaoh shook his head. I'm not drained, just aching.

It's okay, Pharaoh, the Game Shop is only a few blocks away. Yugi's voice had a sharper edge to it. I can make it from here. You need the rest.

The Pharaoh frowned. He hadn't used any of his magic in the fight, and felt perfectly capable of walking to the Game Shop from here. But he could feel Yugi's persistence, as well as a hint of…annoyance?

It was odd, but not the time to dwell over it. Very well, then, if you insist, the Pharaoh said reluctantly. He surrendered his hold on the body to Yugi, and slipped back into the depths of the Puzzle to recover.

Yugi winced as he surfaced and the full extent of his injuries came into light. Stiffly, he stood upright and rolled his shoulders experimentally, stopping with a gasp as his right shoulder was shot through with aching pangs.

Yugi allowed himself a grim smile. It had been a while since this had happened. He had almost forgotten how painful it really was.

At least only his torso was targeted. He could walk, and mask the pain well enough so as not to worry Grandpa Mutou. But far more than his grandfather, Yugi was concerned about the following school day. His friends were much better at discerning anything wrong with him, like a sixth sense.

Joey's going to have a fit when he comes back tomorrow.

Joey: Damn straight I'm gonna have a fit!

Yugi: Joey, come on, it wasn't that bad...

Joey: YA SPRAINED YER FRIGGIN' SHOULDER, YUG!

Yugi: It says it only felt sprained! It's better now!

Joey: Dey ain't gettin' away wit' dis!

Yugi: Joey, wait!

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