Hey, welcome to my first official Yu-gi-oh fanfic. My first was a random drabble so I guess that doesn't really count eh? This fanfic won't be too long I hope. Whenever I start some sort of epic fanfic, it turns out to be way longer than I originally wanted and I start not knowing how to continue it. See my Hellsing fic Oblivion as an example. So, let's hope that doesn't happen here. I should be doing writing homework instead of this, but meh, there was a mix up in my course CD so I can't do the assignment I need and blah blah. You probably don't really care about my personal problems, heh. I'll be using the Japanese names of the characters since they're better so if you're not familiar, Anzu Tea, Jounouchi Joey, Honda Trysten.

This fic will be AU in the fact that card games are not the way characters duel. They use actual magic, which is way cooler in my opinion. So, everything that happened in the manga, did happen but with magic, not virtual game cards. So, everyone is an actual monster summoner. Make sense? I hope so. Need an in depth explanation of how exactly that's going to work? See the author note at the end of this chapter. That's really the only difference, but it still makes it AU. Also, sorry for any mistakes details wise like “how many years Yami was with Yuugi” for example. I've actually never read any of Duelist, I've only seen like half the anime version of that, but I have watched and read all of Shadow Games and Millennium World, which are the best parts anyway, ne? Lol. Yeah, ok, anyway, now on to the fic. Enjoy and don't forget to review with your opinions. ( I promise my author notes will not be this long from now on.)

Lightning streaked across the night sky and thunder shook the game shop where a boy with crazy looking hair sat at a desk. Nineteen year old Yuugi Mutou was studying for his university entrance exams in his room on the top floor of the shop. He looked out the window at the sky as rain began to fall and rested his head on his hand, his elbow on the desk. Sighing, he tapped his pencil on the desk. Studying for his entrance exams was important he knew, but he couldn't help being distracted. Today just happened to be the day Atem had left one year ago. A lot had happened since then. Anzu, Jounouchi, Honda, and Yuugi had all graduated high school. Anzu would be leaving in a few days to go to New York to fulfill her dream of becoming a dancer. Yuugi was going to really miss her, but he knew it was what she wanted more than anything, so he was resolved to see her off with a smile. Jounouchi was trying to get into the same school as Yuugi, the new prestigious summoners school, Kaiba Academy, owned by none other than Seto Kaiba. Honda, who lacked the ability to be a summoner, was trying to get into Domino University. In a week it would just be Jounouchi and Yuugi left from the group of friends. Though Honda and Anzu said they would keep in touch, Yuugi knew that would be tough. Both were getting into something that was a full-time effort.

Yuugi leaned back in his chair. Things had been tough for him since Atem left. It was like a part of him was gone and it left him hollow inside. He was lonely to put it simply. Jounouchi and the others had seemed to go on a couple months later, but Yuugi still hadn't gotten over the fact that his other self was no longer there. He rubbed his eyes and checked his clock. It was almost one in the morning. No wonder he was tired, but sleep eluded him most nights anyway. He hoped tonight would be different. He stood from his chair and shut off his desk lamp. Changing into his pajamas, he climbed into bed and fell into a fitful sleep full of dreams of the past.

“Yuugi! Yuugi!”

Yuugi awoke to sound of his grandfather shouting up to him. He grumbled and yawned as he sat up.

“Yuugi! Jounouchi is here!”

Jounouchi? What was he doing here? Yuugi looked at his clock.

“Twelve Thirty?” Yuugi mumbled. “Oh no! I'm late for our study group!” he cried jumping out of bed and hurrying to get dressed in his usual attire. Grabbing his backpack he raced out of his room and down the stairs to greet Jounouchi who stood out front of the shop with his arms crossed.

“Sorry I'm late Jounouchi!”

Jounouchi looked up at his friend. “What happened. You sleep in?” Jounouchi asked, obviously a little annoyed. “We're already half an hour late. I don't want to spend all day studying.”

“I know, I know.” Yuugi replied. “Sorry. Let's hurry to the library.”

The two friends fought through the crowds of people on the busy streets of Domino City. As much of a rush as they were in, it didn't stop Yuugi from noticing the news on a television in one of the shops they passed. He stopped to watch as Jounouchi kept going, oblivious to the fact that his friend had been captivated by the news. Yuugi walked up close to the shop so he could hear the reporter over the sound of the people on the streets. From what he could hear, and what he derived from the images being shown, there had been some attacks recently on random people by an unknown group. They were summoners it was believed and they used their abilities to attack innocent people. The reason behind the attacks was still inconclusive. Over six people were in the hospital already, two in critical condition. A reward was being offered to whoever found the people responsible. The channel switched to a commercial and Yuugi looked away from the screen. Summoners using their abilities to hurt people in Domino? It was pretty scary. Suddenly someone placed a hand on Yuugi's shoulder and he jumped.

“Woah, Yuugi, what's wrong?” Yuugi sighed. It was just Jounouchi. He had been thinking about the news broadcast so intently that he hadn't even noticed his friend come back to find him. “Why did you stop? I was walking and talking to myself and people were looking at me like I was nuts.”

“Sorry Jounouchi. I was distracted by the news.” Yuugi explained, “Apparently there have been some recent attacks on people by summoners. There's a reward for whoever finds the people responsible.”

“Attacks huh? Yeah, I think I heard about that. Didn't know there was a reward. I wonder what it is.”

Yuugi shrugged. “I don't know, but let's get to the library.”

Jounouchi nodded. “Yeah.”

They finally reached the library and sat at a table near the back. They opened their bags and began pulling out books, reading over things that looked like they'd be on the written test. That was going to be the hard part Yuugi imagined since summoning had become easier for him since his other self arrived. He quickly concentrated more on the books in front of him though, before he started thinking about the pharaoh too much. Jounouchi looked up at Yuugi and noticed a strange expression on his friend's face. The boy looked like he was trying to concentrate on the book too hard and his face was contorted into an expression that made Jounouchi laugh loudly. The librarian promptly looked up and glared. Jounouchi saw her and gulped, and immediately looked back to his books.

“What was so funny Jounouchi?” Yuugi asked.

“You had the weirdest look on your face.” Jounouchi snickered. “What were you thinking about?”

“Ah...” Yuugi was taken aback. He hadn't realized his inward struggle to concentrate on his studies and not the past had been apparent on his face. “I uh, just didn't understand this one part in this book.” he said, putting his hand behind his head and laughing nervously. Jounouchi raised an eyebrow at his friend.

“You're so weird.” Jounouchi shook his head. Yuugi changed the subject by telling Jounouchi to quiz him. The two took turns asking each other questions until they were interrupted by a girl running into the library and yelling loudly about her friend being attacked by a summoner. Yuugi and Jounouchi looked at each other and, leaving their books, ran to the girl who had fallen on the ground sobbing and was now surrounded by the people that had been in the library. People began asking the girl questions and once Yuugi heard where her friend was, he and Jounouchi looked at each other, nodded, and ran off to find the other girl.

“She should be just around the alley over here!” Yuugi said to Jounouchi as they ran. Sure enough, they found a young girl laying against a wall unconscious. No one else was in sight. Yuugi ran to the girl while Jounouchi kept looking around for signs of who had done this.

“Hey!” Yuugi tried to wake the girl, “Hey, wake up!”

Jounouchi picked the girl up. “Yuugi, let's get her to the hospital.”

“R...right.” Yuugi replied and the two hurried to get the girl to a doctor.

Author Note: First off, no the girl is not going to be a main character OC. She's just some random person that's going to help move the story along. The only OC's in this fic will be the villains (so far. Still not sure about that). Second, if you're reading this, you wanted to know how exactly magic is replacing the card games. It's pretty simple. Instead of Duel Disks, the characters summon monsters much like they did in the Pharaoh's Memory arc (manga version) minus the stone slabs. They use incantations to summon a monster to fight. The spells are written on tarot cards so those that are in training can use them if they forget the spells. Higher ranking summoners don't need the cards and can summon monsters from memory. The highest level summoners can summon monsters by reciting the spells in their heads which is a lot faster than reading the cards or saying spells out loud and summons a monster almost instantly. All summoners must say the monster's name out loud before it can be summoned. The monsters that are summoned are controlled by the person's will and soul. A person with a weaker will and/or soul can only summon low ranking monsters by reading the cards. If they try to summon a higher ranking monster there is more of a chance they could lose control of it and the monster would then run rampant attacking anyone in the area. The summoner could also pass out or even die. As for the trap cards, those are also spells, so technically the characters would be more than summoners, but for the sake of simplicity, I'm only going to just refer to them as summoners. I think that's about it. I hope this isn't too confusing, and if it is, I hope to clear that up as the fic progresses. Thanks for reading and I hope to see you next chapter!