Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter or Yu-Gi-Oh or Doctor Who
"YUGI!"
Without thinking, Mai threw herself off of her dragon and sped towards the first year. Her purple wings flared behind her and she screamed, pushing herself faster and faster.
As the tiny figure tumbled through the air he spread his arms, stabilizing the fall. He turned over quickly and pointed his staff at the thick cluster of birds surrounding his dragon overhead. With a silent apology he shouted.
"DARK MAGIC ATTACK!"
A blast of dark purple energy shot towards the cloud. The birds tried to fly away, but the stream hit too quickly. Within a second all that remained in the sky was a line of smoke, quickly scattered by the wind.
Yugi turned back over, and tried to stabilize his fall again. The rocky terrain beneath him grew quickly in his vision. He closed his eyes and grasped his puzzle tightly, preparing for the impact.
Something wrapped tightly around his chest and he jerked quickly to a halt. He opened his eyes and looked down at the rocks just beneath him as they moved away. Looking up he grinned.
"Mai."
"Hun. As much as I applaud you for getting rid of those pesky birds, please do NOT scare us like that again."
Yugi nodded meekly and let her carry him over to her dragon.
"YUG!" He grimaced and turned to look sheepishly at Joey. "What were you thinking?"
"I just wanted to keep you guys safe."
"You did? Or was it Yami?"
Yugi shook his head. "Just me." he winced. "Yami didn't like it anymore than you do."
"Yugi. I'm here to keep you safe! I can't do that if you won't tell me when you're going to do something like that!"
"I'm sorry. I just wanted to help everyone."
"By putting yourself in danger?"
"It was the only thing I could think of."
Yami sighed. "All right. But let me help you next time."
"Okay Yami."
"Yugi?"
"Oh. Sorry Joey. I was talking to Yami."
"Right."
"What I don't understand Yugi is why you killed your own dragon. You're never that reckless with your monsters when we play Duel Monsters, and they're more real here."
"I didn't kill him Harry."
"But you did. He vanished in a cloud of smoke with the birds."
Yugi laughed. "No he didn't."
"We all saw it Yugi. I'm sorry, but he's gone."
"Hermione, do you remember what dragon I had?"
"I believe you called it Different Dimension Dragon, right?"
"Exactly. And Different Dimension Dragon has a rather unique special ability."
Yami chuckled in the back of his head. "Very clever Yugi."
He grinned and turned again, pointing at the sky behind them. "See?"
They looked where he was pointing. Tea frowned. "I don't see anything."
"Wait for it." As they watched a portal formed over the place Yugi had fallen from. With a roar the teal colored dragon flew out of it and quickly caught up with them. Yugi pushed himself off Harpie's Pet Dragon and landed on its back.
"Good job." He whispered to it. The dragon roared again and started flying ahead of the others. Blue Eyes and Red Eyes quickly over took them again and they soon formed the same order they had before, flying to the Dark Castle.
Less than an hour later the horizon started to darken.
"But that doesn't make any sense! The sun is still up!"
"I don't think the castle cares Hermione."
She snorted and stared straight ahead at the shadows taking shape in the distance.
The Castle look like it was carved straight from a mountain peak. A tall tower rose above, everything else tapering down in jagged spikes until a wall at least a hundred feet high surrounded it, cutting it off from a crevasse that encircled the castle. It was as wide as the wall was tall and the bottom was hidden in a shadowy mist. Black clouds swirled around the tallest tower, streaks of what seemed like black lightning flashed and struck the spire on the top of the tower. Each strike sent a wave of dark energy flying over the stone.
"Please tell me that's not where we're going."
"I'm afraid so Tristan."
"Oh."
Joey gasped as a blast of icy air ghosted over them. His sword started to glow and he warmed up a bit, but looking around he saw that the others were shivering. As they got closer to the castle the gusts grew more frequent, until they were constantly bombarded by a freezing wind. When they were less than a mile from the castle the wind became so strong the dragons had to land or be blown away.
"So what do we do now?" Ron asked, jumping off Curse of Dragon's back.
The others dismounted as well and Joey took of his sword and stuck it in the ground. It flamed brightly and they sighed in relief at the warmth.
"I don't think that wind was natural." Hermione frowned at the fire.
"I don't either. It's too cold, even for mountain air. And it's blowing from the Castle."
She nodded and pulled on a strand of her hair. "It's definitely magic then."
Mai looked up and grinned. "I think I might be able to help then." She pulled out the large feather Princess Alianora had given her. "It's a card I have in my dueling deck."
Yugi grinned. "I thought I recognized it. Harpie's Feather Duster can clear all your opponent's Magic and Trap cards."
"That's right. So maybe it can stop this cursed wind."
"But didn't the Princess say it only had one use? What if we need it when we get to the Castle?" Hermione bit her lip.
"Well it won't do us any good if we can't get there in the first place anyway."
"I think it's worth a shot."
They all nodded and gave one last, longing, look at the flaming sword before Joey pulled it out of the ground and they all mounted their dragons again.
It was hard going, even with Mai in the lead, sweeping her Feather Duster in front of the group and clearing the wind. The air was still ice cold and the wind started to push back as soon as Mai passed, so they had to fly as close together as their dragons could. Finally they made it over the great chasm surrounding the Castle and landed in the front courtyard in front of an enormous gate. As they dismounted the feather duster shattered into dust and blew away in the wind. Their dragons collapsed in exhaustion, nine heaps curled on the grass, breathing heavily.
"Well, it looks like we won't be leaving for awhile."
They nodded and walked to the gate. It was made of a black metal that seemed to absorb the light around it, creating shadows that drifted in streams around it's base. As they watched the swirling shadows something crashed in the castle and they heard a lout clicking and the gate slowly raised. They looked at each other briefly. The puzzle flashed and Yami led the way into the dark halls.
Their steps echoed against the stone. The hall was enormous. Crafted from black stone and illuminated not by torches, but from a dim, sickly, light that seemed to seep from between the walls themselves.
"This place is creepy." Joey whined, keeping a firm hand on his sword.
Ron nodded and let his hand rest on his own blade's hilt.
"I think this place needs a woman's touch. A chandelier and some nice paint would do wonders for this place."
They laughed nervously at Tea's comment, but it did little to lift the mood. The hall ended in three doors, each carved with a different symbol. The left door was carved with a pair of angel wings. The right door had three interconnecting spirals. The center door was inscribed with three wavy lines.
"We need to move quickly if we're going to save everyone. It might be best for us to split into pairs to try and find them."
They weren't happy about it, but it did make the most sense. Tristan, Ron, and Mai went through the door on the left, Kaiba, Hermione, and Tea chose the right and Yami, Joey, and Harry walked through the center door.
"This is creepy." Ron glared at one of the angel statues. The room was filled with them, hands or arms covering their eyes as if they were mourning.
"No kidding. They're freaking me out." Tristan shuddered slightly and rubbed his arm.
"Oh come on. You're acting like a couple of babies. They're just statues." Mai scoffed and walked further into the room.
"Yeah."
"Sure."
"Just statues."
"I can't see anything!" Kaiba, Hermione, and Tea had walked into a room filled with fog. Each step they took led them further into the mist until they didn't know which way they had come from. The swirling white blocked out everything.
Tea shuddered. The temperature in the room was low, and so soon after their freezing flight it was very uncomfortable. She took another step forward and felt her stomach drop as something crunched under her shoe. She heard similar crunches to either side. She was almost afraid to look down, but when she did all she could see was more mist.
As they walked further into the room the crunchy substance grew deeper and soon it was over their ankles. Kaiba stopped and turned.
"We aren't getting anywhere this way. We can't see where we're going and for all we know we could be walking in circles."
"Well even if we are we wouldn't know how to get back." Hermione pointed out, "Besides, we don't exactly know where we're supposed to be going anyway."
Kaiba growled and opened his mouth to reply but was interrupted by a small cough. He and Hermione turned to Tea. "What?"
"Something is moving around my ankles."
They looked down, the mist swirled and dissipated slightly and Hermione squeaked. They were wading through a river of insects.
Yami stared straight into a pair of large brown eyes.
"That is the biggest turtle I have ever seen."
"No kidding Harry."
"Come on then." Joey grabbed Harry's arm and started dragging him down the corridor. "This place is creeping me out."
Harry nodded. An eerie blue glow filled the glass tunnels that made up the maze they were trapped in. A giant aquarium stretched above them, giving them the feeling of being on the bottom of a large lake, or the ocean. Shadows of fish and other marine creatures danced over the floor and flicked across the glass, but when they looked up at the water it seemed deserted. The loggerhead that had stared at Yami was one of the few creatures they had actually seen.
"Hey guys?" The tone in Joey's voice made the others pause.
"Yeah Joey?"
"How much water do you think is above us right now?" His voice quivered slightly as he spoke.
Yami shrugged. "Enough that I want to keep moving."
Harry nodded in agreement. "It makes me think of walking on the bottom of the Lake around Hogwarts."
"Do you think there's a giant squid here too?"
"I hope not."
"Quit it Tristan!"
"I didn't do anything Ron. Stop poking me."
"I didn't poke you. Stop tickling me."
"I told you I'm not tickling you Ron."
"Then who?" They turned to look behind them.
"BOO!"
"AHHH!" They fell back against a few of the statues and Mai laughed.
"Oh! You should see your faces!"
"Not funny Mai!"
"Yes. Yes it was." She snickered again and walked ahead of them.
Ron growled slightly and stalked after her.
"Hey guys?"
"What?" They turned to look at Tristan.
"Something is poking me."
"Tristan. I'm not going to fall for that. You're going to need to be a little more creative than this."
His face turned pale. "I'm not kidding. Something is touching my back."
Mai sighed and walked around behind him. "There's nothing there. Just another of those statues. You must have backed into it."
He shook his head. "I haven't moved at all. It did."
"That's ridiculous. Statues don't move."
"Um. I think he's right Mai."
"Ron. You too? I told you, this isn't going to work."
"No. I'm not joking Mai. Look." He pointed at one of the statues.
"What about it Ron. It's just another statue."
He shook his head. "That's the thing. This one used to be over there. And now it's staring at me."
"What?"
She walked over to it and then down at Ron. "What do you mean?"
"I mean it used to be over there with its hands over it's face. Now it's here and it's staring right at me."
They both looked over at the statue and jumped. It was leaning over them with its hands shaped in claws just next to their heads.
"AHH!"
"Run for it!"
"No problem here!"
Ron and Mai ducked under the statue's hands and ran towards Tristan. They ran past the statues, but when they looked back all the statues were turned towards them and some were in the process of walking after them.
"We need to get out of here!"
"Bugs. I hate bugs!"
"Quit whining." Kaiba walked forward quickly. Each step crunched under his feet and Hermione winced.
"This is not logical at all. Where did all these bugs come from?"
"I don't care where they came from. I just want them to go away." Tea wined again.
"Would you two stop complaining. They're just bugs." Kaiba snarled.
"OW!"
"What is it now?" Hermione's voice was starting to get annoyed.
"Something bit me!"
"We're wading through a sea of bugs Tea. What do you expect?" Hermione scoffed.
"They haven't bit you yet Hermione."
"Maybe you just taste better than me Tea."
"Oh very funny Hermione."
"I though so. Ow!"
"See see!? They bit you too didn't they!?"
"I don't know. Ow!" Hermione started hopping from foot to foot. "They keep nipping at my ankles!"
"I told you! Ow!"
"Would you two stop whining and just move already!?" Kaiba turned and glared at them.
Hermione gulped. "It's not our fault that they keep biting us."
"Yeah. And besides they have sharp teeth!"
"Insects don't have teeth."
"Whatever Kaiba. It still hurts."
He smirked and kept walking.
"Hey! Wait up!"
Harry, Joey, and Yami walked quickly down the glass tube. Before there had been hardly any marine life around them, now they were surrounded by a forest of kelp and fish, eels, crabs, and other animals that swarmed around the glass walls. Starfish crawled slowly above them. Hundreds of eyes watched them pass and they couldn't help but shudder at the overwhelming feeling of being watched. Joey turned to look at a particularly persistent puffer fish swam up to the glass and stared at him. He stopped briefly to stare back at it. While he was stopped the floor started shaking slightly and he heard a dim roar.
"Hey guys. Do you hear that?"
"Hear what Joey?" Harry turned to look back at him. He and Yami stopped and listened.
"It sounds like something is coming from back there." Yami pointed down the tunnel they had just traveled. They looked back down a long, straight stretch before their view was interrupted by an abrupt turn. As they watched the shaking in the floor grew and the rumbling became progressively louder. A second later a white wall of water blasted around the turn and headed straight for them.
"RUN!" Joey followed his own advice and soon outstripped the other two.
The water seemed to be moving slower than it should have been, but it still gained on them. Yami, who was at the rear because of the Mutou's short legs, could feel the wind from it's passage.
"Must go faster. Must go faster!" Joey shrieked and tried to follow his own advise. The tunnel split ahead and he lurched to the left straight into a glass door. Yami and Harry followed quickly, crashing into him.
"Open it!"
"I'm trying!" Harry and Joey pulled at the door handle. The roar of the water grew behind them.
"Yami! Let me take over!"
"Yugi. It's too dangerous."
"Just let me take over! I can get us out of here."
"All right. Be careful." The puzzle flashed and Yugi swung his staff at the door.
"Alohomora!" He heard a soft clicking noise and the door shot open, slamming Joey and Harry into the glass next to it. They crawled out from behind it and stood dazedly.
Yugi rushed inside, pulling Harry and Joey with him. Joey turned and pulled the door shut just as the water rushed around the turn.
"Too close. That was too close." Harry panted and leaned against the wall.
Yugi nodded slowly and looked around. They were in an enormous room made of the same dark stone as the hall they had separated in. The same sickly green light glowed. He looked to the right as he heard a door crash open. Tea and Hermione spilled out in a heap as Kaiba stepped stately through behind them. Tea stood up quickly and shrieked. A multitude of bugs were crawling up the girl's legs and hanging off their robes. Hermione stood with Tea and they started brushing the bugs off each other as quickly as they could. Kaiba snorted and stepped to the side to avoid the insects the girls flung everywhere. He didn't have a single bug on his white cape or leather boots.
Their attention was quickly drawn to the left as yet another door flew open. Ron and Tristan ran into the room and straight into Yugi and Joey. Mai followed them quickly and turned to try and slam the door closed, but was blocked by what looked like a stone hand. She gasped and pushed all her weight against the door.
"GUYS HELP!" She screeched. Ron rushed over quickly and hacked at the hand with his sword. It shattered and Mai slammed the door closed. They sighed heavily and fell to the floor. Mai looked at Ron and they started laughing hysterically.
The rest of the group exchanged a confused glance. Joey opened his mouth to ask them what happened but before he could the room plunged into darkness.
Laughter echoed all around them and a freezing breeze blew through the darkness. Shivers ran up their spines as the laughter grew louder.
"Congratulations Pharaoh. You have found me."
The puzzle flashed, illuminating the area for a moment. Yami growled and whirled around, trying to see through the swirling shadows.
"Show yourself Bakura!"
"As you wish." The shadows abruptly moved to the side, leaving the area clear. The room had vanished, leaving behind a wide valley. Craggy mountain peaks surrounded them and a cold wind rushed around them. They turned to try and see where they were. Behind them was a deep pit and across from it was the castle. They turned back to Bakura.
"Where are the other students?"
"Oh them. They're right here." Bakura waved his hand and the shadows gathered behind him again before dissipating. A small group of figures appeared huddled in the center of a cage made of black metal.
"Let them go Bakura!" Joey stepped forward and held his flaming sword in front of him.
"Getting your guard dog to do your work Pharaoh?"
Yami growled again. "Leave it Joey. This is my fight."
"Yeah right! We're all involved in this, whether you like it or not!"
Yami sighed, but nodded slightly.
"How touching. But they're involved whether you like it or not Pharaoh." He raised his hands, fingers clawed, and a heavy wind blew around them. His white hair whipped around him and he laughed.
"What is he doing?"
"Help!"
"What is this place?"
Cries rose from the group huddled in the cage as the ground started to shake. The area beneath the cage heaved upward and they screamed as the cage rose into the air. Yami turned to glare at Bakura again and the ground beneath them began to shake as well. They fell to the ground as stone pillars rose around them and under them.
"This makes for a much more interesting playing field, don't you think?" Bakura laughed.
The field was now composed of towers of stone, rising at different heights. They were spaced just close enough that you could still jump to them, but each was only large enough for two people to stand on relatively comfortably. Harry looked around and noticed each of his friends was on their own pillar. The pillars Bakura and the students were on were taller than the other pillars, with a series of columns that let up to them.
"Now, the rules of this little game are simple. All you have to do is get all your little friends over here safely. That doesn't sound too hard does it?" He laughed again.
Yami ground his teeth impatiently. "Is that all Bakura?"
"Oh no. You see there will be a few... surprises along the way. I didn't want to make it too easy for you Pharaoh. There are presents hidden through the field. Some are pleasant and could even help you, but others are much less so. I'm not unreasonable though. I'll give you hints. Whenever you step on a new pillar, if it doesn't have a present on it, I will tell you how many presents are near you and if you answer a riddle correctly I might even tell you what one of them is. Your friends will have to mirror your movements, so watch where you jump, because they have to copy you. Don't forget though, you aren't just playing for yourself here. If you lose here your soul belongs to the shadows, and if you lose, well, I won't have any use for these anymore, will I?" Bakura pointed to the students in the cage and maniacal laughter filled the air once more.
"This guy is nuts! You can't be seriously considering playing his game! Can you?"
Yami nodded sadly. "I have to Joey. I have to save them."
Joey nodded slowly. "Then I'll help."
"I'm right beside you." Harry grinned.
"Count me in!"
"Someone has to keep an eye on you boys."
"We trust you to win this."
Yami smiled and nodded. "Thank you, my friends."
Bakura's laughter increased in volume. "How sweet! You never had a choice anyway, but it's nice to know you volunteered. Game start."
Yami instantly shifted his stance to defensive.
"All right Pharaoh. Your first riddle is an easy one. How do you make the number one disappear?"
Yami stood back. "What?"
"How do you make the number one disappear?"
Yami ground his teeth. "What kind of a riddle is that?"
"Apparently one that's giving you trouble, Pharaoh."
Yami turned to his friends who shrugged.
"Yami?"
"Yugi?"
"I think I know. It's just a play on words. If you add the letter 'G' to one it's gone."
"That makes sense I suppose."
"It's a riddle my Grandpa told me a long time ago. It's just a silly riddle. Bakura's playing with you."
"I know. And I don't like it."
"You don't have to like it. You just have to beat him at his own game."
Yami nodded and turned to Bakura with a smirk. "The answer is to add the letter 'G' to 'one' and it's 'gone'."
Bakura grinned again, but it had lost a little of it's ferocity. "Correct. You each have one present near your present location. I won't tell you what it is right now though."
Yami nodded again and looked around. There were three pillars close enough to jump to. The one to his left was a little taller than the one he was on, while the other two were shorter. He studied the columns around his choices and the others for a moment before jumping to his right.
A brief gold light bloomed around him and the others turned to leap to their right as well.
"Hey! What is this?"
"I did tell you that you would have to mirror the Pharaoh's movements. Lucky for you he didn't jump ahead."
Tristan looked in front of where he had started and noticed there wouldn't have been a column for him to land on. He gulped and turned to Yami who nodded slowly.
"I trust you dude."
Yami smiled and turned back to Bakura. "What's the next riddle."
"I'm tall when I'm young and I'm short when I'm old. What am I?"
"A candle." Yami answered without hesitation.
Bakura nodded swiftly. "There are two near you now."
This time there were four choices: behind, front, right, and left. Yami studied the path again and leaped forward, his friends followed swiftly.
"Ooh. Good choice Pharaoh!"
Yami paled as a white light engulfed Kaiba.
"He won't be able to move the next time you do. That could either be a good thing or a bad thing for you in the end." He chuckled darkly and motioned for Yami to move again. "No riddle this round. You'll just have to guess."
Yami glared at him, but studied the terrain and jumped to his left. True to Bakura's word, Kaiba didn't move this time.
Bakura clapped slowly. "Place eight queens on a chessboard so they cannot attack each other."
A chessboard appeared in front of Yami with eight queens on it. He studied it briefly before putting a queen on A5, B2, C4, D6, E8, F3, G1, and H7. Bakura nodded again.
"There are two presents near you."
Yami jumped forward and nothing happened.
The game went on. Ron and Mai also hit presents that made them skip turns, while Joey and Hermione hit ones that made them take two jumps the next turn. As they moved on the columns became less common and the presents grew more frequent. Kaiba hit one that made a shower of flowers follow him for five turns. He was in a rather bad mood after that. Harry was unfortunate enough to come across a 'present' that dyed his skin bright pink for three turns. Tea lost her voice for four turns just after that.
Bakura's mood grew darker and he laughed less as the game progressed and Yami continued to do well. As they drew closer to the end though he seemed to brighten slightly.
Finally Yami was within three turns of making it to Bakura. He grinned, looking at his friends, then paled considerably when he saw what was ahead of Joey. In order for him to get to Bakura he would have to move forward, left, and forward again. Joey didn't have a column to the left of the next pillar.
Joey grinned at him, then frowned. He looked at the path in front of Yami, then back to the one in front of himself. He looked back and forth for a moment before his shoulders sagged slightly. For a minute he just stood there, staring at the empty space before he shook his head sharply, making his hair wave around his face, and he stood straight.
"You know what you have to do Yami."
Yami stood stock still. "No."
"You have to bud. There's no other way. Look. Even if you back track there is no other way for this to happen. Any way you go you'll have to sacrifice one of us. And personally I'd prefer it be me than anyone else. I don't want to see anything happen to my friends."
"No. I can't do that to you Joey."
"Yes you can. Think about it. You have to win this. You have to save everyone here. We're all depending on you and if you don't do it everyone loses. It's a game, and sometimes you have to make sacrifices."
Yami nodded and leaped forward, pausing for a second before taking the next jump.
"If you don't jump now I'll never forgive you."
The others turned at Joey's statement. They hadn't heard the earlier conversation, but they could see now what had to happen.
"Wait! NO!" Tea called and tried to jump over, but her feet were stuck to the pillar. Tears fell down her cheeks.
"Tea, he has to do this. Don't make it harder."
She sobbed and collapsed to her knees.
"Move now Yami."
Yugi was screaming in his head.
"JOEY! NO!"
"Yugi, he's right. This is the only way."
"NO! There has to be another way! There just has to!"
"There isn't! If we go back then it will be Tea or Harry that will have to die. There isn't a way that we can save them all."
Yami could feel Yugi's spirit collapse and he could hear his sobs in the back of his head.
"I'm sorry Joey."
Joey grinned at him and gave him a thumbs up.
Yami jumped.
Joey fell.
"NO!"
Yami made the final jump before stepping onto the large pillar Bakura occupied. The others followed, eyes empty and some still staring at the empty space Joey should have stood in.
"No."
"Well done Pharaoh. You made it all the way here. Congratulations. Unfortunately that was only the first half of the game."
Yami glared at Bakura.
"You killed Joey."
"Not directly. That was all you."
Yami snarled and the Puzzle glowed on his chest.
"WAIT!"
They both turned at Hermione's voice.
"What is it girl? Can't you see we're a little busy?"
Hermione glared at Bakura before taking something out of the front of her robe. Yami grinned when he saw it.
Hermione knelt and started singing softly, cupping the pendant in her hands. It started to glow with a green hue and the object rose into the air. The glow started to gain a warmer tone and grew in the air. It turned red, then yellow, before turning bright orange. It grew to about five feet in diameter before the light blew outwards, bathing them all with a warm breeze and vanishing entirely. In the place where the glow had been stood Joey.
"JOEY!" Yugi, having taken over, ran over and leaped onto Joey, hugging him tightly.
"Hey. What happened?"
Hermione stood and grinned brightly. "Queen Alianora's gift was very useful."
Joey looked confused for a second, then brushed it off.
Bakura growled. "That Queen is more trouble than I thought. Never mind, it's of no matter in the end." He turned and started walking to the students in the cage. He raised his hands again and everyone fell to the ground as it started to shake again. The pillars dropped until the field was back to its original state.
He laughed and leaped, landing on the top of the black cage, before turning back to stare directly at Yugi. The puzzle flashed brightly again and Yami returned his glare.
"Enough of this Bakura. We finished your twisted puzzle. Now return everyone to the school!"
"No, I don't think I will. I'm having too much fun here you see. This is my world. Everything answers to me. Here, I can be whatever I want!"
He shouted and the shadows swirled around him. His laughter boomed over the field, growing louder and more powerful. After a few seconds it grew deeper and moved from laughter to a roar. The shadows condensed and then blew apart, revealing a horrifying sight.
Bakura now towered over the field. Gigantic red wings beat at the air. His skin had turned black and now stretched over his frame, massive muscles hidden underneath. He wore jagged red wristbands and held an enormous sword, jagged and brutal on the inner curve while the outer curve was sharpened to such a point that the light shimmered along the blade and shone off the end. Red armor covered his legs and lower body, his boots pointed to knife sharpness. He laughed again and the sound alone almost knocked them back to the ground.
"Here, I am king."
Yami tightened his grip on his staff and turned to Harry. "Now might be a good time for you to take out Queen Alianora's gift to you as well."
He nodded and took the sword off his back. Instantly he could feel energy buzz through his veins and confidence grew within him. He handed his regular sword to Kaiba.
"I'm ready."
Yami nodded and turned to the others.
"We're with you."
"I've got to get back somehow."
"I'm right beside you."
Yami nodded and together they charged.
Bakura laughed and brushed aside their first attack easily. They shook off the blow and tried to attack again with similar results.
"He's too strong." Tristan panted with effort after yet another failed attack.
"We have to be smart about this. We keep attacking head on and he's just pounding us into the ground."
"Thank you Hermione for summing that up."
"I'm just saying that we need to be more strategic about this."
Yami nodded. "Yes. We do." He thought for a second, then turned to Harry.
"Harry, can you give your Legendary Sword to Joey?"
Harry shrugged and handed it over, Joey grinned at the influx of energy and swung the sword experimentally. "Now what?"
"Now we go on the attack. Joey, you and Harry attack from the front. Tristan and Mai, attack his left. Kaiba and Ron, attack his right. When he's busy with your three attacks I'll move in and attack. Hermione and Tea, I want you to try and sneak behind him and free the other students. See if anyone is hurt too. Kaiba, do you still have the Flute of Summoning Dragon?"
"Of course." Kaiba sneered.
"Good. Call the dragons. We'll need them."
"For your sake I hope this works Yugi." Kaiba snarled.
"Here Kaiba." Joey handed him his Flame Sword and grinned. Kaiba rolled his eyes, but accepted the sword and moved into position with Ron. He brought the flute to his lips and blew. The clear sound rolled across the field and echoed around them. Bakura clamped his hands to his ears. As the sound died the flute shattered in Kaiba's hands.
Yami nodded briefly at the others.
With a yell they all moved to attack. Bakura smirked and planted his sword into the ground. He crouched into a defensive stance and waited for them to attack.
The dragon's arrived with a roar, diving from the sky. Blue Eyes and Red Eyes led the charge, white lightning and molten fireball attacks grew in their maws as they dove.
Just before they made contact Bakura lashed out. A wall of shadows washed over them and they collapsed to the ground. The shadows slammed down on the dragons and dragged them from the sky. Joey tried to get up, but the shadows fell thickly over him, keeping him on the ground. The dragons roared as the shadows pinned them. Yami was the only one left standing.
He clenched his fists around his staff and turned to Bakura. "This has gone too far."
"But things were just starting to get interesting."
Yami reached into his robe and brought out the golden apple he had been given.
"Ooh. What are you going to do? Throw fruit at me? I'm shaking in my boots." Bakura laughed, his deep tones echoing off the mountains.
"No. There must be something I can do."
"Queen Alianora said to use that only when we were in real trouble."
"I know Yugi."
"What if we use it and it doesn't work? She said it would run out quickly and drain us of energy."
"Yes. But I think this may be out only chance to defeat Bakura."
"If you're sure."
"I am."
"Okay Yami. Let's do this."
Yami bit quickly into the fruit. A bright golden glow surrounded him and Bakura stepped back.
"What is this?!"
Yami turned, hefting his staff at him. New energy flowed through him and he grinned. His outfit had changed. His robes were gone. Black leather coated his arms and legs with purple buckles trailing on his arms, thighs, and calves. His hat had split into two points reaching out to either side, also lined with purple. The staff was slightly longer and black with a green gem glowing on one end of it and a narrow blade on the other.
"This is your defeat. Now I have the power of the Magician of Black Chaos."
He lunged toward Bakura, blasting through the wall of shadows and freeing his friends and the dragons. He floated level with Bakura's head and smirked.
"CHAOS SCEPTER BLAST!"
Bakura tried to block the attack with his sword, but it shattered under the assault. The black energy hit him directly in the chest and he screamed.
"This isn't over Pharaoh!"
With a last scream he vanished.
Yami grinned and floated to the ground. The cage around the other students vanished and they stood, confused. He nodded at his friends and leaned his staff on his shoulder. The edges of the valley and the castle started to fade.
"What's going on?"
"Bakura is gone and his Shadow Game is going with him. We won."
They nodded and grinned. Yami nodded back before a wave of exhaustion flowed over him. He collapsed to the ground and sighed heavily.
"Hey! You okay dude?"
Yami didn't answer. He breathed heavily as his friends rolled him over onto his back.
"Let me take over. You've done enough."
"Thank you."
The puzzle flashed and Yugi blinked heavily.
"Dude. You okay?"
"I'm fine Joey. Just tired."
Joey nodded and helped him sit up.
"So how do we get out of here?"
"Watch the shadows. They brought us here. They'll take us home."
They looked back at the mountains, only to find them gone. The other students had vanished already and the field was dissolving quickly back into the nothingness it came from.
"All right."
The shadows reached them and they closed their eyes.
Harry blinked his eyes open and looked around. They were back in the great hall. The decorations were undisturbed, but the students were all collapsed on the floor. The band was collapsed on the stage, most of them held their instruments closely. He shook his head an closed his eyes again. What had happened? When he opened his eyes again he looked at his friends. They were sprawled around him. Slowly they all blinked and sat up. Yugi stayed on the floor, breathing deeply.
"Did all that really happen?" Hermione turned to Harry, confusion written on her features.
He shrugged and pointed to Yugi. His costume had stayed changed. The purple robes were gone and the black leather remained.
She shuddered and turned to the others. "What should we tell them?" She pointed to the other sleeping students.
"Nothing." Yugi sat up slowly, with a pained gasp. "They'll think it was all a dream. A little too much pumpkin juice and dancing."
They nodded slowly.
"Should we go to the hospital wing?"
Yugi smiled grimly. "I don't know. How bad is everyone wounded?"
They looked over themselves briefly. They all had bruises, but it didn't appear that there was anything worse than that. Until Jeoy slapped Yugi on the back.
"Ahh!" He doubled over, wrapping his arms around his chest. His breath rattled in his chest as he gasped in pain.
"Dude. That does not sound good."
He nodded. "I think I need to see Madam Pomfrey."
"Gee, ya think?"
Joey sighed and picked up the smaller boy easily. He gasped in pain again and his eyes fluttered closed. His body went limp in Joey's grasp.
"He passed out."
"Let's get him to the hospital wing before he wakes up."
Joey nodded and the group headed towards the hospital wing with their wounded friend.
I am so sorry this is so late! Over two months! I gave you an extra long chapter to try and make up for it though. Twenty pages in Open Office, and almost 6,600 words!
I'd like to thank Anime0Taku for reading this over for me.
I won't make any promises about updates, except that there WILL be continued updates. The next chapters will follow the Harry Potter plot more though, so it should be easier for me to update.
Quidditch next. I'm excited.
This chapter has the first ever battle scene I've written. Let me know what you think of it, please.
I based Bakura's appearance in the battle off of the Darklord Zerato Yu-Gi-Oh card. It's pretty sweet looking if you want to see it.
Find the Jurassic Park quote? ;) Cookies for whoever does. Good Luck!