6- the journey begins

Atem made it home to find his grandfather had arrived home before him as he was talking to his friends. Concern were on the friends faces when came walking up still wearing the bloody shirt.

"Atem what happened? Did you find Yugi?" Mr. Moto asked.

"Yeah I found him, the blood was from wounds that he inflicted on me. Right now Yugi is with a friend I trust who tole me what was going on." Atem replied.

"Then it is true what Mr. Moto had told us Atem. Yugi has become a demon and that strange book that he had gotten yesterday cursed him." stated Tea as Atem weakly nodded his head yes.

"Atem why don't you come inside and we will take a look at your wounds." stated Mr. Moto.

"You don't need to Grandpa. Yugi has already healed them." Atem stated as everyone looked at Atem in confusion. "I will explain everything inside." Atem stated as they all went into the house.

Atem told them everything that Shadi had told him. "Now I have to go on a journey with Yugi in order to discover the truth about myself and Yugi, develop these powers that I have, and attempt to keep Yugi away from Zorc." Atem told them.

"You must be nuts Atem. Yuge attacks you, then heals you. How do you know that he won't kill you when you are alone?" asked Joey.

"I don't Joey. But I trust my little brother. I know that he would never intentionally hurt me whether or not a demon has taken control over him. I made a promise to my mother before she died that I would watch after and protect Yugi. Even though Yugi may have transformed into a demon, he is still my little brother." replied Atem.

"Joey put yourself in Atem's shoes. Wouldn't you do the same thing if it happened to Serenity?" asked Tristan as Joey couldn't answer knowing that Tristan spoke the truth.

"So when do you leave Atem?" asked Mr. Moto as Atem shrugged his shoulders.

"I don't know grandpa." he replied.

Yugi awoke to the sounds of his stomach grumbling loudly. He was alone in Shadi's shop chained up to the wall to keep from attacking Shadi and/or fleeing. The magical shackles kept Yugi in check as every now and then he could feel the demon's influence take over.

*Give it up human, you belong to me. This curse will never be lifted. You are forever trapped like this.* snarled the beast in the back of his mind.

*No, I won't allow you to control me. I have all ready killed a human being because of you and nearly hurt my older brother.* Yugi replied. Evil laughter echoed in the back of Yugi's mind that is sent chills down his spine.

*You will be mine, it is just a matter of time.* the voice stated. Yugi curled up like a cat looking at his bat winged hands and scythed tail. Blood tears began to swell in Yugi's eyes feeling stupid that he didn't pay attention to that warning in the book that he had gotten. Suddenly his ears twitched at the sound of Shadi entering the room. In his hands he held a plate filled with several pieces of raw meat. Yugi's mouth began to water instantly.

"Oh I am glad to see that you are up Yugi. I thought that you might be hungry so I brought you something to eat." Shadi stated placing the plate down by Yugi. Yugi eagerly picked up a piece of meat digging into it with his sharp teeth having the piece of raw meat and blood fill his senses. "Just keep holding onto your humanity Yugi. I know that your brother Atem will find a way to defeat the darkness." stated Shadi as he walked around gathering up various items together putting them all into a large book bag. Everything was ready for Atem's and Yugi's journey.

Atem went up to the attic going through things to find something he and Yugi could relate too. In a chest that held items that had once belonged to his mother, he found a pair of gold diamond shaped pierced earrings which had an Amethyst birthstone in the middle of the diamond. Atem could remember what he and Yugi had to do to buy these earrings all on their own with their own money. When they gave it to their mother, she proceeded to always were them never taking them off. Granted neither Atem nor Yugi had pierced ears, it was the only item that he could find that had any sort of meaning to him and Yugi. Atem quickly put everything back away, put the earrings into his pocket, and ran down the stairs.

"Grandpa I am leaving. I can't guarantee when I will be back." Atem shouted out.

"Hey Atem." Atem stopped in his tracks as he turned towards his grandfather. Mr. Moto walked up to Atem giving him a great big hug. "You be careful out there and give Yugi my love. I hope that you both will make it back home to us. Remember we will all be praying for you." Mr. Moto stated with tears in his eyes as Atem returned the hug back.

"I will grandpa." Atem replied as he took off out the door heading towards Shadi's shop.

Atem arrived several minutes later at Shadi's shop to find him not up in the front of the store.

"Shadi are you here?" Atem called out into the shop.

"In the back Atem. You have perfect timing, I was just about to summon you." replied Shadi. Atem went to the back of the store to find Yugi munching on a piece of raw meat as Shadi had just finally finished packing up the backpack. "Did you find it?" Shadi asked as Atem reached into his pocket taking out the earrings.

"Both Yugi and I gave these to our mother as a birthday present. We both went through a lot to earn the money all on our own in order to get them. Our mother wore them all the time after she got them." replied Atem as he handed the earrings to Shadi.

"Yes this will work perfectly. Now I am going to need a drop of blood from you and Yugi. Make sure that it lands on the stone." Shadi stated as he handed Atem a needle. Atem pricked his finger making sure that a drop of blood landed on the Amethyst stones as Shadi held the earrings. Once done they walked over to Yugi to do the same thing. Once that was done, Shadi recited a couple of words in a foreign tongue as the earrings began to glow with magic. Shadi then walked over to Yugi putting an earring on his right ear. Then he did the same thing to Atem. Atem hardly felt the sharp pinch of the earring going into his ear. "This will help to keep your demon brother under control until you learn about your powers." stated Shadi before he handed Atem the book bag. "Everything that you will hopefully need will be inside of this book bag. I will teleport you both to the magic world where your journey will actually begin." Shadi added as with a wave of his hands the chains on Yugi's shackles broke as the shackles still remained on Yugi. Atem grabbed the loose chain hanging from Yugi's neck as Shadi used his magic to teleport the two teens to their destination sight.