Disclaimer: No, I do not own anything to do with the Yu-Gi-Oh! franchise at all. No characters, no cards, no places, nothing. All credit goes to Kazuki Takahashi and Konami.

I know. This has been going on for a while. Hope I've kept you gripped. Anyway, are you ready for a climax? I know I am. So, refill that mug and open up the digestives, because it's time to duel!

Yami reappeared in a dark, empty room. There was a path leading outside, and Yami stepped out of the teleporter. He stumbled briefly, and he got a shiver all up his body. "Never going to get used to that…I wonder where Kaiba and Joey are." He brushed his sleeves off and followed the path outside. He was greeted by a dark day. Black clouds covered the once-beautiful sky, and it looked like it was preparing to rain. To the north of Yami was a large tower, much like the one he'd began this whole adventure by entering. He stepped into the tower, and saw Kaiba furiously trying to open a door.

"Open up! Open the door!" Kaiba kicked at the door. "Let me in!"

"Kaiba! What are you doing?" Yami held Kaiba back.

"Mokuba's in there! I can hear him Yugi!" Kaiba scrambled to get at the locked door again. "Mokuba! I'm here now! I'm here for you, Mokuba! Help him, Yugi!"

"I…don't hear anything." Yami looked puzzled.

"He's crying for me, Yugi! I need to get in there!" Kaiba looked desperate. "I'm here now, Mokuba!"

"Kaiba, it's another trick. It turns out this illusion isn't just visual. They're in your head, Kaiba. Ignore it, and follow me. We need to find Joey and discuss our next move." Yami walked his rival away from the door.

"I will rescue you, Mokuba…" Kaiba shut his eyes as he followed Yami.

After a while, they heard a voice crying out. It belonged to an older man, and was calling Yugi's name. Yugi's spirit appeared next to Yami and said "Grandpa! We need to get to him!"

Yami closed his eyes. "I never thought these people would be so corrupt and without morals. I suppose Joey will be kicking at a door for Serenity too. We need to find him." Yugi nodded, and disappeared.

They found Joey outside, digging through the ground. "I'm comin', sis! Just hang on! A few more minutes, and I'll be with you again, Serenity!" Yami touched his friend's shoulder. "What's up, Yugi?"

Yami explained the situation. Joey scratched his head. "So, you think these guys are in our heads, making us think we're close to our friends?" Yami nodded. "Wow, man, that's pretty messed up. What do we do?"

Kaiba raised his hand and pointed at the top of the tower. "Up there. That's where the boss must be. We go up there, and beat him until he sets them free."

Yami smiled. "A touch more violent than I'd like, but it's a good plan overall. Come on, Joey. It's time to rescue our friends." The three walked to the tower.

They had reached the first set of stairs before they heard a click. A window appeared, and what they saw was horrifying. They saw a van being unloaded, with three bodies inside. Yami gasped when he saw white hair. "That's Bakura!"

Joey nodded. "They got Mai too!"

Kaiba frowned. "And Pegasus…"

Joey shook. "Man, we don't have a chance, do we? Pretty soon, that's gonna be us, isn't it? We'll be fried like they were, and we'll be joining them, won't we? This whole business is crazy!"

Yami consoled Joey. "Don't worry. We will defeat this threat. For Kaiba's brother. For your sister. And for Yugi's grandfather, as well as for our friends and everybody else they've taken away. Rest assured, they won't get away with it."

"Hope you're right, Yugi. If you're not, we're in a heap of trouble."

The three continued up the stairs until they found another empty room. They walked in, and flames appeared on the walls around them. They saw a mixing pot of some kind, with three men stirring the contents. The men were wearing purple cloaks with hoods, to conceal the faces. "Hey, who are these guys? Seem familiar..." asked Joey.

The three men unmasked themselves. "Oh, no way! You three?" Joey was surprised.

"Recognise us, then? Even after you defeated us and abused us?" said Kester. "After you defiled us with your lack of respect for the Shadows?"

Doddison and Heaton nodded. "You beat us individually, but we wondered…what if we turned up the difficulty a little?" asked Heaton.

Kaiba stepped forward. "What are you proposing? A 3 on 3 duel? You're on, you psychopaths!"

Kester laughed. "Oh no…we have something much better in store for you three…see you upstairs, gentlemen." He disappeared, chuckling to himself. Doddison and Heaton soon followed, each chuckling as disturbingly as Kester was.

"What were those guys talkin' about?" Joey shrugged.

"I don't know, but it can't be good." Yami frowned. "Let's go. Let us see what the added difficulty entails."

The people of Domino City went about their usual routines, buying things, commuting, the normal. They hardly noticed the erratic weather systems above the tower. Little did they know of the impact those storms were about to have.

The trio reached the top of the tower, and were greeted by lightning clouds swarming overhead. Another pot stood in the middle of the room, and Kester, Doddison and Heaton were stood around it. "Greetings, gentlemen."

"Enough of your games, Kester! What's going on? Where's Mokuba?" Kaiba clenched his fist. "Tell me where he is, or I might be less polite!"

"Safe, for now. After all, you still have half an hour left." Kester pulled out another timer.

Joey jumped. "Half an hour?! Where'd the rest of the time go?" Joey scrambled for his timer, and Kester wasn't lying. The display showed 29 minutes 54 seconds, and Joey ran his hand through his hair in a stressed way.

"We cut off some of your time for breaking our machine earlier. Nice of you to fix it, though." Kester chuckled. "Very nice. Inventive. Never would've expected it. Still, you got a very significant penalty for such outrageous vandalism."

"That's not fair! You can't do that!" Joey was outraged.

"Our game, our rules." Heaton nodded in the background.

"You lyin', cheatin', kidnappin' freaks! We're gonna beat you up so bad you won't be able to forget us!" Joey waved his fist at Kester.

"Now now. You want to free your friends? You have to duel once more." Kester poured something into the pot.

"Show us the target, and we'll take it down. That's what we have been doing up to now, as you should be aware, Kester." Yami frowned.

"Very well…Master Jarius. The guests asked for you."

"Huh? Who's this Jarius creep?" Joey relaxed a little.

"I am Jarius!" A masked figure stepped forward, in a large purple cloak. Kester, Doddison and Heaton bowed as he walked past them. He walked straight up to Yami and sighed. "A Pharaoh…straight from Ancient Egypt. You would've been of so much use to me, you know? Imagine the power you must wield in that Puzzle of yours…" Yami placed his hand on the Millennium Puzzle. "I'm not going to take it. Oh no. I'm just going to drain it of all its energy so you'll just pop out of existence. As for the boy…he'll be dealt with like the others."

Jarius approached Kaiba. "The mighty CEO of KaibaCorp brought to his knees…again. If only you cared enough about your brother to protect him like you should, but no. You care too much about winning, and business, and profit to even look at him! Don't you?" Kaiba frowned, and gritted his teeth.

Jarius walked in front of Joey. "Ah, the one they call Wheeler. Yugi's loyal servant. You'll follow him anywhere, won't you? Even into something beyond what you could possibly imagine…your bravery is admirable, Joey Wheeler. Shame it'll all be a waste…you cannot possibly best me." Jarius chuckled, then approached the mixing pot.

Kaiba stomped on the ground. "I've heard enough! Set Mokuba and the others free, right now, Jarius!"

Jarius just laughed. "Or what? You can't hurt me."

"Maybe not now, but soon, when we've beaten you up in this game, we all can and will until you free Mokuba and the others!"

"Who's 'we'? In a few minutes, nobody will be left to help you."

"What?"

"We need only to give our life force to complete the Ritual."

"What are you babbling about?"

Just then, the storm clouds erupted in a shadowy fireball. Yami, Kaiba and Joey ran to the edge to see the eruption strike the Earth beneath them. "You monster! You're destroying innocents!" Yami gritted his teeth at Jarius. "This isn't their problem, Jarius!"

"Innocents? They're far from innocent. They're being purified. It's all their fault. They've broken the world. Now, they must be fixed."

"By what?"

"The Shadows. The Darkness. The world will be cleansed, gentlemen! You cannot stop it."

Joey ran towards Jarius, and stopped in front of him. "Oh yeah? Well, watch us! We'll stop you and your cronies! We'll save everybody, because nobody can stop us from beating you up!"

"Exactly. Nobody is left to stop you."

"What's that meant to mean?"

"We seven are all that's left of the human race right now."

"What? What've you done to everybody else?"

"They're being purified. Their souls are being used to rebuild the world in our image!"

Kaiba stood next to Joey. "You pathetic little man! You can't do this! I won't let you!"

Yami stood next to him. "We won't let you get away with this, Jarius!"

"Oh yeah? How do you plan to stop us?"

Yami, Kaiba and Joey initiated their duel disks. "Just like we beat up your little friends over there!" Joey pointed to the pot, where Kester, Doddison and Heaton once stood. "Hey, where are they anyway?"

"It was their time. Now, all I need to do is take you three." Jarius produced a duel disk from the shadows surrounding the tower.

"You…betrayed them?" Joey looked horrified.

"They gave their souls to support the Shadows! That's what they wanted!"

"You don't always get what you want! And we're about to give you a lesson in that! It's time to stop you and your sick games!" Kaiba clenched his fist.

"Alright. You're on. On one condition."

"What is it now, Jarius?" Kaiba frowned.

"You three have to play as one."

"We were doing that anyway." Yami looked puzzled.

"As in, you three share a field and 4000 Life Points, and I'll have a field and 4000 Life Points. Fair?"

"Ugh, I suppose…fine." Kaiba looked hesitant.

"Well, who's going first?" Jarius tapped his duel disk.

"I'll start things off!" Kaiba drew a card and added it to his five. "I'll summon Battle Ox, in Attack Mode! And I'll set a card before passing on."

"I'll go next!" Yami drew a card. "I summon Maha Vailo in Attack Mode! I, too, shall set a card before ending my turn."

"Impressive moves, you two. Shame they'll be for nothing. I draw." Jarius examined his hand. "I summon Dark Jeroid, and I'll activate its special ability! Dark Jeroid, reduce Battle Ox's attack by 800!" Battle Ox trembled, and a shadow consumed it. Kaiba watched his monster's strength fall. It's Attack dropped to 900.

"No! My Ox!"

"I'll set two cards and leave it there."

"Nice move, I'll give you that. Just not nice enough to beat Joey Wheeler!" Joey drew a card. "Come on out, Axe Raider! And I'll back him up with a face-down, before passing on to my buddy Kaiba!" Joey smiled at Kaiba.

"I'm not your 'buddy', Wheeler!" Kaiba frowned at Joey as he drew. "My Battle Ox seems to be in a bad way, so I'll switch him to Defence Mode and summon La Jinn the Mystical Genie of the Lamp! La Jinn, attack Dark Jeroid!"

"Not so fast, Seto! I'll activate my Trap…Nightmare Mirror!"

"What?"

"Your attack is negated, and you lose 1000 Life Points!"

"No!" Kaiba felt the attack hit his body. He saw his duel disk's counter fall to 3000.

"Now I must discard one card, but it was worth it." Jarius smiled.

"You twisted psycho! Don't worry, Kaiba. We can do this." Joey smiled at Kaiba.

"I'll end my turn." Kaiba stood up straight.

"My move!" Yami drew again. "I'll activate Polymerization to summon Chimera the Flying Mythical Beast!" The monster flew down from above him. "Attack and destroy his Dark Jeroid!"

"Again, you fell for my Trap Card. Nightmare Wheel! I'll target your Chimera - now it cannot attack or change itself into Defence Mode."

"No!"

"Just end your turn, please."

"I'll leave it there, then."

"Ahah! Now I draw! And you lose 500 Life Points!" Jarius laughed.

"What? Why?" Yami looked puzzled.

"For every one of my Standby Phases that Nightmare Wheel remains in play, you lose 500 Life Points."

"No!"

"That's no fair!" Joey waved his fist at Jarius.

"Oh but it is…fair enough for me!" Jarius laughed.

Kaiba watched his Life Points fall to 2500. "Why don't you try and attack us, instead of hiding behind traps, Jarius?"

"Where's the fun in just bashing things out, when you can torture your opponent into submission?" Jarius smiled maniacally.

"You're insane! This is outrageous. We won't let you win, Jarius!" Kaiba clenched his fist again.

"You might not let me, but I still will. And there's nothing you can do to prevent the world from being cleansed! Soon, you three will join the rest of the world's former inhabitants in the purification ritual, and you will see things my way. Soon, you shall bow to the might of the Shadow!"

Yami gritted his teeth. How could he, Kaiba and Joey defeat an opponent that found so many ways of just bleeding them dry of Life Points? He guessed that it would've been tough, but not this tough! What could they do? Their friends and family were counting on them, as was everybody else in the world! They couldn't fail…but would they have a choice?