And Koromaru was his Namaeru (Rei no Kaado)

[Firebreath Fishslap]

Souji only continued to frown as Atem explained. So going to Haytham hadn't done any good after all. However, then Atem brought up the ghost.

"I don't recall hearing about a ghost either," Naoto said.

"Koromaru sensed one earlier," Minato spoke up. The dog lifted his head at the sound of his name. "We were pretty sure it was trailing Adil."

[mugenginga]

Yuugi winced as Minato mentioned Adil, and Atem's fingers twitched. He'd had to fight a facepalm. Honda looked away with a fashion that showed he expected some kind of explosion, and Jounouchi didn't seem to be bothered by Minato's comment in the slightest. Ryoji, recalling the conversation from earlier, winced a bit as well. Teddie wasn't sure what the nervous reactions were until Anzu reacted.

"What....? A ghost is... following Adil-kun?" Anzu looked surprised for a moment, then she looked angry, "Why didn't you tell me that?! Is he in trouble?!"

Atem shook his head, "I've been assured he isn't, and that no one's in danger because of it."

"You know who the ghost is then?! Who is it?! And who told you he wasn't in danger?!"

[Firebreath Fishslap]

Atem wasn't the only one who fought a facepalm there. Souji was definitely fighting one, and Naoto seemed to look a bit annoyed. She could tell that was something that wasn't supposed to have been brought up without even having to have been told.

"Er... sorry," Minato said. It was only now that he realized he'd been a bit tactless with that statement, particularly as Anzu started freaking out.

"Well, since that's out of the bag, you might as well tell us, Atem..." Naoto mumbled.

[mugenginga]

Yuugi didn't want to lie. So the thought of telling Anzu they hadn't intended on telling her until they knew the facts was put down. If she hadn't been in danger, he hadn't wanted to tell her at all. Anzu looked like her feelings were hurt aside from all her frustration, and Yuugi gave a pained grin and hung his head. Atem looked towards Yuugi with a concerned expression.

"We didn't want to say anything until we were sure about things," Atem said, mirroring what Yuugi had been thinking, "There was no reason for everyone to panic if it was something minor."

"But you said you know the ghost! Isn't that a problem?" Anzu said, still sounding angry.

"Haytham told me we didn't have to worry, but I don't know if we can trust him on this," Atem took a breath, "It's Shadi."

Yuugi's eyes widened and his head jerked up. Honda and Jounouchi exchanged a stunned glance, and Jounouchi let out a grimace. It was a ghost they knew alright, but he couldn't for the life of him figure out what he was doing up and around. Hadn't he wanted Atem to regain his memories? He hadn't been there when they'd gotten back either. Anzu blinked and looked confused at the revelation. Most everyone else would be confused as to who Shadi was. It was clear Yuugi's group knew him... as would Minato and Atsuro, for that matter.

(OOC: Minato from mainly the first arc of the manga, and Atsuro as an anime geek. XD)

[Firebreath Fishslap]

Minato did a double take, and Atsuro jerked his head up. They both were quite aware of who Shadi was, even though Souji, Naoto, and Kanji had no clue.

"Shadi?! You're sure it's Shadi?" Atsuro asked. He knew of Shadi from what he'd seen of the anime. He had been that ghost that had shown up several times over the course of the series. He'd actually creeped Atsuro out a little bit in most of his appearances. He couldn't think of why Shadi would be stalking Adil.

"Who's Shadi?" Souji asked. Everyone from Yuugi's world (plus Atsuro and Minato) seemed to be freaking out for no reason, though it was obvious this Shadi person was bad news.

[mugenginga]

Atem's expression was dead serious. The more observant of the group might realize that he looked so serious because he was masking some other emotion. Yuugi looked pained as he saw Atem's expression, more aware of the former Pharaoh's emotions than any of them. Atem gave a solid nod.

"Yes, he spoke to me before Haytham arrived," Atem said, his voice dangerously neutral.

"Shadi's this guy that helped us regain Atem's memories..." Yuugi said, "But I don't know why he's back. I thought he'd vanished after Atem got his memories back."

"He's also the ghost of one of my priests in Ancient Egypt," Atem said. His voice remained neutral, "His patron god was Anubis. He used the Key after Shimon retired as a Priest so he could better serve as my advisor. I thought he'd disappeared as a result of defending me in the world of my memories..."

"Did he say why he's back?" Yuugi asked.

"What about Adil-kun? Why would Shadi be following Adil-kun?" Anzu didn't sound very angry anymore, just concerned, "Atem, are you sure he's safe...?"

(OOC: I'm not ignoring the other characters, but they're just serving their background character roles at the moment. XD)

[Firebreath Fishslap]

Souji frowned. "I'm worried about this too. Ghosts typically don't follow people around for any kind of good reason."

"But he doesn't have any Millennium Items anymore, right?" Minato spoke up. "So he can't make Adil into some kind of... doll or something."

"Maybe," Atsuro thought to himself. He seemed unsure of something. "He's probably not all that happy about Atem not dying, too."

"What the hell, is every god and ghost pissed about that?" Kanji grumbled. "Geez, give the guy a break."

[mugenginga]

Atem looked over to Yuugi as the short teenager asked if he knew why he was back. Shadi hadn't been exactly upfront with the details, but Atem had been able to infer some things. Zorc was back, Zorc was active, Zorc had his memories. There was something more dire about that then simply the events of Ancient Egypt, wasn't there?

His train of thought was interuppted when Minato asked his question. Atem's eyes widened and he turned towards Minato with a startled expression. Yuugi blinked and looked confused for a moment before he realized what Minato was referencing. His friends just looked confused. Anzu frowned at the odd way Minato had put it. What were those two talking about? Atem seemed to relax, he'd forgotten that Minato and Atsuro knew those details for a moment, and spoke after Kanji put forth his question.

"He says the Items aren't safe and that Zorc... Zorc is back and has his memories."

[Firebreath Fishslap]

It was pretty much impossible for anyone who knew about Zorc (which was the entire group at this point) to not be shocked at that news. Saying Zorc was "bad" was a pretty grievous understatement.

"Shit," Atsuro finally muttered.

"I thought separating the Items would keep him from coming back?" Minato asked. "This is bad." Which was a pretty grievous understatement.

"You left some of the items with Abel, correct?" Naoto asked. "Is there a possibility he might in danger because of that?"

"...Abel can handle himself..." Atsuro mumbled.

[mugenginga]

A hush had fallen over the group as Atem spoke. Yuugi found himself figuring out all the issues they had to deal with now. Atsuro had split from Abel and was clearly depressed about it, Egyptian gods in human form were running around, Adil was being followed by Shadi for reasons they still didn't know, they needed Kaiba's help because Inpu had gotten himself tangled with a corrupt lawyer, and now Zorc was back. Zorc. Was. Back.

"Isn't that.. that thing from your Memory World?" Jounouchi asked with a grimace, "Can't you just use your name to summon that goddess chick again?"

"Jounouchi-kun's right! We're here for you, Atem! We can help you fuse the gods again, right?" Anzu said.

"I don't think that's possible with the gods not recognizing Atem's authority..." Yuugi said, "Atem, he's not at full power, right? We've still got a chance, right?"

Atem had looked towards Naoto and Atsuro. He gave a grim nod, "I don't agree with the decisions Abel made, but I understand he felt he had to make them. And I think the Items are safer with him then they would have been with Kaiba. This... in a way this works to our advantage. I don't know why Zorc is back, other than Haytham didn't give me the information I needed. I do know the Items are related to him and he'll try to get them back."

"Partner, I intend on fighting him. I don't know if we have a chance but I do know that just because I chose the present over the past doesn't mean I've disregarded my duties. Zorc is my burden to bear, and I won't rest until he's defeated for good. I'll... we'll do everything we can. I don't think I can fuse The Creator of Light, Horakhty without permission from Haytham, Asim... and Osiris, who we haven't even met."

"What about Solomon-san?" Yuugi asked, "Shadi has never trailed people for no reason, right?"

Atem nodded, "He always had an agenda, and I can't think of any reason he'd go after Adil. There definitely is one, he all but admitted to that..."

"Um... so we're back to square one?" Ryoji asked, "This sounds hopeless..."

[Firebreath Fishslap]

"Not true, Ryoji-kun," Naoto spoke up. "We learned Zorc has returned. It's not much, but it is still enough to allow us to develop a plan."

"...I need to get back to looking into how to destroy the Items," Atsuro said. "If we can at least take care of those, that'll be one of our problems out of the way."

Souji nodded. "First and foremost, though, I think we need to find out why Shadi's following Adil."

[mugenginga]

Ryoji frowned at Naoto. He'd never been the world's most optimistic person, not over truly serious things. But he ended with a nod that practically screamed how unconvinced he was. Everyone seemed to be focused on Atem and Yuugi. Atem looked at Atsuro and gave a nod. As far as what Haytham said, those seemed to be Zorc's power base. If they could destroy them, the threat had the potential to vanish completely. After all... they would have been destroyed had he passed onto the after life. He gave a nod.

"My best guess for how to do that involves locating the Millenium Spellbook, but I don't think its in this world. It's lost even in my world. However, I agree we should look into it. Haytham has said Zorc's power base seems to come from those, like they're a part of himself or something. They may be anchoring him to this world."

"Solomon-san did ask us to tell him if we figured out it was a ghost. I don't want to involve him in this more than we have to, but I think our best option may be to talk to him about it," Yuugi said, "I don't know why Shadi wouldn't tell Atem, but maybe Solomon-san does? It's a start."

Atem nodded, a soft smile towards Yuugi's reactions, "Atsuro can talk to Kousei tomorrow. Anzu, would you be willing to talk to Adil about the ghost?"

He looked towards Atsuro, and chose to end it there. While Abel was probably their best option for trying to figure out how to destroy demonic artifacts, Atsuro didn't need to be dragged into it.

"I can try..." Anzu said, clearly unhappy with it.