"OHMYGOD! Joey, look out!"
"That's enough!"
A shining glow dazzled their vision; Yami Marik was suddenly stopped in his tracks.
"Who dares?!" he hissed, being forced to cover his face and back off.
Joey took the opportunity to scramble to his feet, pulling Aura with him; they darted behind the safety of their rescuer.
After the brightness had died down, a bloodless scowl could be seen plastered across Yami Marik's face.
"Ishizu…" he spluttered the name like it were a poison.
Aura blinked, staring stupefied up at the shawl-draped woman who had just saved their lives. She was glaring down Yami Marik, without a falter – Aura guessed she had rights to be confident, as her strange necklace had seemingly just dispelled the Millennium Rod. Looking to kill, Yami Marik glowered at them each in turn, before turning on his heels and abruptly slinking away.
"He's gone… for now…" Joey puffed; his heart was still pumping from the adrenaline rush. He wouldn't have admitted, though, that he'd seriously panicked.
Aura slumped to her knees, trying to catch her breath. If this woman had arrived any later than she did, then they surely wouldn't have made it.
"W-Who… who are you?" she murmured between gasps.
Joey looked up at the stranger, obviously wondering the same thing.
The Yami had called her Ishizu… so he already knew her?
With a swift movement, the woman removed her shawl, revealing a beautifully sculptured face, framed by raven hair and a stunning gold tiara, to match her necklace. Like the ring she had seen on Bakura earlier, Aura guessed that this necklace, too, was a Millennium Item.
"You saved us…" Aura managed a tiny, grateful smile, "Thank you…"
The woman smiled back, but her jewel blue eyes were stern.
"My brother's dark side is dangerous… unfortunately I won't be able to protect you, or myself for much longer. The further his soul steeps into darkness, the more powerful the evil spirit becomes."
"Wait!" Joey shook his head, "What are you talking about?! I don't get it!"
She had a solemn expression, as she began to unfasten the chain from her neck. She held the Millennium Item in her hand, gazing at it intently.
"My necklace has done a good job in protecting me thus far… but it's about time for me to pass it on, to the rightful Pharaoh."
Aura tilted her head, confused, as Ishizu began to walk away.
"H-Hold on!" she cried.
But the mysterious woman had already vanished.
…..
Thanks to Ishizu – whom they discovered was Marik's older sister – both Joey and Aura were able to survive that night.
They weren't sure their stomachs had sustained themselves during the scare, though.
There was no doubt Yami Marik was a lunatic. For the remainder of the semi-finals on Kaiba's aircraft, the two of them found themselves increasingly nervous whenever he wasn't around… they could never be sure of what he was up to, lurking about, but thankfully with everyone else close by, he wasn't inclined to make another move… yet.
They soon learned that his primary goal was obtaining all three of the Egyptian God cards, and Yugi's Millennium Puzzle – but according to Ishizu, the ancient scriptures foretold that he would need to obtain them by defeating the respected owners, in a game of Duel Monsters; hence why he was holding back from anything too rash.
Kaiba failed to believe Joey's accusations that Marik had tried to kill them, and so he continued conducting the tournament as he'd so properly prepared – it seemed nothing would get in his way of the chance to beat Yugi in his own tournament… not even the fact that Bakura had gone missing.
It was useless to argue; for now, there was no choice but to press on with the games. Ishizu urged that they could save all the people Marik had hurt, including her real brother, if they could stop his evil side from claiming victory in the tournament.
It seemed like no simple task.
…..
Not long after, the time arrived for the Battle City finals on KaibaCorp Island.
"Red-Eyes Black Dragon! Attack!"
Joey was fairing a lot better than Aura had done – the majority of his deck involved strokes of luck, and he was landing a lot of them so far.
But Yami Marik proved, once again, to be a tricky opponent.
"Hahahaha! Too bad, fool – did you forget about my face down trap card!?"
Joey flinched, "Aaack!"
"Activate Mirror Force!"
A translucent barrier cloaked Yami Marik's side of the duelling field, causing Joey's attack to rebound and destroy his own monster in a vivid explosion of sparkles. The blonde frowned.
"You're being reckless, Joey!" the Pharaoh called angrily.
Marik had taken over his mind once before; so he, Yugi, and everyone else feared that something might happen to Joey again, if the boy continued to make such careless moves.
"I have to win this!" Joey snapped back, keeping his eyes fixed only on his adversary, "I'm doing this for all the people who've been hurt by this creep!"
Aura bit her lip, "Joey… the Pharaoh's right! You can't rush your attacks!"
She was anxious more than anyone; the memories of Bakura disappearing into thin air kept haunting her, clear in her mind. On top of that, Marik's dark side was just so unpredictable – they had no idea what to expect.
"And don't forget!" Yami Marik's eyes lit up as he gave a toothy grin, "Thanks to my Coffin Seller trap, you lose an extra three hundred points for every monster that went to your graveyard!"
"Whaaaat?!" Joey's mouth fell open, as his life point counter reeled downwards; his haste had cost him a hefty penalty of life points, and a handful of monsters as well.
"Oh, and there's more to come…" the madman's eyes twinkled, "Haha! I haven't had my fill of tormenting you yet, little Joey!"
"Shut up! Just go!"
Yami Marik smirked, as Joey was clearly trying cover his nerves, "You have no cards in your hand, so it's my move – and I'll activate Machine Duplication!"
One Plasma Eel on Marik's side became three, thanks to his spell card. Joey pulled a face; they were only weak monsters anyway.
"Why would Marik do that?" Tea wondered out loud, a finger on her chin.
Aura was confused too; but then the answer struck her like a bombshell.
"Oh no!"
"What is it?!" everyone turned to look at her.
"Three monsters on his side…" her eyes had dilated, "He's going to…"
Only the Pharaoh caught on.
"…He's going to summon Ra!"
"Hahahahaha!"
Marik's laughter rang out, as his Egyptian God monster burst forth in all its fiery glory. With a cry it shook its magnificent wings, raining embers down on the field below.
"What's wrong, little Joey?" the Yami taunted, "Are you finally accepting your imminent demise!?"
Aura grimaced at the all-too-familiar God monster, "It's attack power isn't very high, but…"
She remembered well the burning sensation she'd felt, after the direct attack from Ra during her duel. Yami Marik clearly enjoyed torturing his opponents; and the shooting pain inflicted by Ra had been scarily real… it must have been to do with these "Shadow Games" Marik had spoken about.
Aura shook her head and cried out, "Joey! You can't let him attack with that thing! Please just step down while you can—"
"Are you kidding?!" the blonde turned to her; an assured smile on his face, "I can take this… he's hurt you, and a lotta others too. I might lose here, but there's no way I'm backing out now!"
"Such bravery… but words mean nothing against Ra's might! Now my beast, attack!"
No sooner had Marik called his command, than the Winged Dragon had descended toward Joey like a giant, flaming bullet.
"GYAAAAAAAAHHHHH!"
"JOEY!" everyone was thrown about by the shockwaves; a wall of fire sprung across the field, leaving shallow burns in its wake.
The direct attack was devastating, and cost Joey a lot more than the rest of his life points.
…..
"Joey! Please… please wake up!" Tea snivelled by his bedside aboard Kaiba's airship.
The duel had abruptly ended, with Joey out cold. He had been whisked down from the tower, and taken to the doctors still aboard the landed craft.
"No…" the Pharaoh screwed up his face in dismay, as the doctors were trying their best to monitor his pulse. The readings were miniscule.
"This is the result of Marik's Shadow game…" Ishizu was sombre, "I'm so sorry that this happened…"
The woman glanced around momentarily; she'd quietly noticed that Aura was missing from the room. In fact, she didn't recall Aura even coming with them to the aircraft. Was she still up in the tower?
"Well, my dear… it seems there's nobody left to save you this time."
Aura was frantic; she was mentally kicking herself for being so stupid as to wander away from the others. During all the frenzy of trying to rush Joey to the doctors, Yami Marik had seen his opportunity to snatch the girl and take her alone to a hidden room in the tower.
The muscular Egyptian man had a firm grip. His hand had locked tightly around her wrist, and there had been no chance of struggling away. He now had her pressed up against a wall, taking pleasure in ogling and watching fear dart about in her eyes.
"My dear sister was foolish to give up the one thing she could use to protect you… and now poor little Joey is gone too… there's nobody left." The man's whisper teased her ear, making the girl shudder. She trembled, her form quite small and powerless in comparison to his.
With a rapid jerk, he seized both of her arms up in one large hand, pinning them harshly above her head. Aura was about to cry out, but her lips were suddenly swallowed up by his mouth. He kissed her with forceful lust, running his free hand all across her body as he did so, claiming it for his own.
Aura moaned sharply in protest, adamant that she wouldn't give in – despite the difference in dominance. The way he touched and fondled her, with such disrespect, made her feel frighteningly vulnerable; she suddenly thought she might shatter in his grasp, or certainly bruise.
The Yami took his time exploring every inch of her mouth, selfishly cutting her off from any air. Aura felt her face flush, hot and scarlet, as his prowling hand began to slip underneath her skirt. She attempted a groan, but was beaten back by the aggression of his tongue. The skin on his hand was rough, as he caressed her inner thigh, and climbed higher still.
Aura's eyes popped open; she couldn't allow this to happen. She shifted her body weight, using all her strength to try and negate his advances; but Yami Marik's mouth still stuck to her like a leech. She did, however, stop his hand, and he instead used it to push her back and hold her securely against the wall. He moved to her chest, groping and squeezing quite hard; he was clearly getting carried away.
It wasn't long though, before he started travelling up her leg again. Aura's eyes were slightly swollen from all the pent up frustration; it was taking a lot of effort to hold in her emotions. She drew a deep breath, after he finally ceased in violating her mouth.
"You see? You're powerless…" he hummed against her skin, pecking her teasingly on the neck.
The girl beneath him had disintegrated, her eyes clouding over and her heartbeat pounding in her ears. She felt sick; inflamed from within.
What scared her most was his eyes: the first time she'd met Marik, those violet eyes had been so… gorgeous.
His Yami was like a different man – only with Marik's eyes.
For some reason, that thought was the only thing running through her mind while she gawked at him.
She'd momentarily zoned out.
Willing herself back into action, she took advantage of the second, shifting again and catching him off guard. He staggered backwards, but was quick to snatch her up again.
"Still with the feisty spark… I like that." The man's tone was deep now, full of appetite, "Yes… you'll be perfect as my queen."
"Never." she spat; despite her sorry state, Aura's spirit was still alive within her. She wasn't going to just let him do what he wanted… so long as she could do anything about it.
The Egyptian merely snickered at her defiance, regarding her with lechery.
"Once I defeat the Pharaoh in this final duel… you will be mine."
It seemed a very long time, before at last the announcer called the start of Marik's duel with the Pharaoh: the concluding duel of the Battle City tournament…
