Chapter 1: The Power of Friendship

A/N- I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh or any of the characters. This is my first fanfic. I'm just starting out. Well Joey is in love with Mai, and Marik sends Mai to the Shadow Realm. Joey battles Marik, but just as he was about to beat Marik, he fell unconscious. What happens next?! Please read and review. Add any comments and criticism you wish to add! Thanks SRF

"Awww...what's the matter Joey, feeling bad?" asked Marik in a sarcastic voice.

"Man I don't know what's the matter with me. I can't loose now. I'm beating Marik, and I promised Mai I'd bring her back from the Shadow Realm" thought Joey to himself as he started to see things with is blurred vision.

"C'mon Joey, is that all you got?" replied Marik with an evil laugh.

Just as Marik made that remark, Joey fell to the ground.

"JOEY!!" shouted Yugi and the others. "What's wrong?! You have to get up! C'mon, if you don't get up Marik will banish you to the Shadow Realm!"

Still no movement came from Joey. Yugi and the others ran over to see what had happened to him.

"Looks like I win...what a shame, poor little Joey didn't know when to stop" said Marik in a careless attitude. "You will now live in the Shadow Realm forever!"

Marik started to use his magic on Joey, when Yugi leapt in front of him.

"No...you aren't going to banish him, I won't let you" replied Yugi.

"Then both of you will suffer Mai's fate!" said Marik. "Makes no difference to me."

Again Marik started to use his magic to banish Joey and Yugi to the Shadow Realm, but something stopped the spell.

"What the...but...what happened?! Both of you should be in the Shadow Realm!" shouted Marik in a confused but angry voice.

"There's one thing you forgot Marik" replied Yugi.

"Oh did I...then what is it?" asked Marik in and even madder tone.

"Certain types of friendship can stop your curses. In this case it was the friendship between Joey and I. The only thing your curse can do is put one of us in a dream state" answered Yugi.

"You've got to be kidding me. Nothing can stop my magic!" shouted Marik.

"Your wrong Marik. That must be the one thing your father forgot to tell you" replied Yugi.

"Oh well, it doesn't matter, your friend Joey still lost. So that means two things: I win and are able to advance to the finals, and your other friend Mai will stay in the Shadow Realm!" exclaimed Marik as he was laughing evilly.

After Marik said that he turned and walked off. Tristan, Serenity, and the others once again came running over to Yugi and Joey.

"Oh no! What are we going to do?! Joey isn't moving!" they all exclaimed to Yugi.

"We'll take him to the hospital. He'll be fine there. He's probably unconscious, but I know that he wasn't banished to the Shadow Realm" said Yugi.

A/N- I'm working on Chapter 2. What is going to happen to Joey and Yugi? Will Joey ever come out of his dream state? Will he ever be able to save Mai? All of this is yet to come. Please read and review. SRF